E-Flash Friends;
Because of the planning that is a necessary part of church work, I’m often thinking about projects and sermon series and church events that will be happening 3 or 4 or 5 months from now. (If you have any good ideas for a Christmas message, let me know.)
I was in that “advance planning” mode for a while, earlier today—thinking about some issues that will be coming up for us in the fall. And in the midst of my “fall” planning, it occurred to me that summer hasn’t even arrived yet. (When I start to forget about summer, you know something strange is happening because I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE summer, it’s my favorite season. I’m pretty sure it’s God’s favorite season, too.)
Many of us typically have some vacation time in the summer and do some traveling, so BE CAREFUL, if you’re planning on traveling. We love you and want you to come back safe and sound.
But don’t forget that we have some fun things coming up this summer, too.
On Sunday, June 7th, 5:30 p.m., writer and speaker Rick Green will be speaking here at our church, in person. (I know, technically, that’s still not summer yet.) If you haven’t gotten your tickets, there’s still time. Five dollars per ticket, simply to pay for the expenses, not to make a profit. Rick is an expert on issues of church and government and the writings of the American founders regarding their intentions on the role of religion in government and society. Hope you can make it. This will be a great learning opportunity.
Also, our children’s ministry, Promiseland, kicks off their summer-time theme on June 28th. That will great fun, as well as, great spiritual learning for our kids. (The Promiseland picnic will be at the end of July, this year. That’s always a riot! And I say “riot” in the best sense of that word.)
Also, wait to you hear some of Chris’ teaching this summer. He will draw us to God and deliver the Word with power and effectiveness.
Also, our church will be participating in a spiritual growth survey later in the summer. You’ll be hearing more about that later, but I thought I’d stir up a little curiosity, for now.
I’m switching gears, now, so this won’t have anything to do with what I’ve written up to this point. Hope you don’t mind an abrupt change in thinking. I had a conversation this week that reminded me that churches can get so wrapped up in doing the next thing on the agenda that we can move along without God, if we’re not careful. It’s not intentional, when something like this happens. Nobody means to leave God out of the equation, but we can get too busy doing things and just don’t notice.
I don’t want that to happen. We don’t want that to happen. We need God! Our church is here because of Him; and only because of His goodness and grace. We exist to help people connect with Him and know Him and follow Him and worship Him and serve Him. I realize these might be unusual thoughts to communicate in an e-mail message, but even now, I pray that God would be a part of everything I do and everything that we, as a church, do. In fact, I would greatly appreciate it if you would take a moment, right now, to invite God’s presence into everything you do today, this week, this summer, the rest of this year.
An authentic encounter with God is what changes our lives. That’s what we need! I’m hoping that lots of people are saying “Amen!!!” right now.
Alright, I know this has been a lengthy message. I’ll wrap it up. Thank you for taking the time to read it.
I love you, but more importantly, God loves you.
Blessings,
Dan
P.S. I’m sending this on Saturday afternoon/evening, so, by the time many of you read this, it will probably be too late for me to invite you to the service on Sunday, May 24th. We will be dealing with “Practical Advice About Anger”. This is a very relevant and helpful teaching from God’s word. If you receive this message after the services on May 24th, then I’m inviting you to the services on Sunday, May 31st, “Can We Make God Sad?” That will be interesting and helpful teaching, too. Really. I promise.
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