HOLY WEEK/PASSION WEEK

Starting this past Sunday, Holy week began with Palm Sunday, sometimes referred to as the Triumphal Entry. This past Sunday was a wonderful day of worship. Attendance was up, singing was joyful, the preschoolers and children did a fantastic job with the parade of the Palm Branches. Celebrate Recovery had a good night supporting one another.

Two of our events will be over by the time you read this. Wednesday night will be our Children and Family Resurrection Party. I know it will be a wonderful event. Our Day School Spring Sing will be Thursday morning. It is always an over load of cuteness! Great leaders put together great teams! Way to go.

Perhaps you will get this newsletter in time to be reminded of this year’s Good Friday service. We will have a Concert of Prayer from 7:00 to 8:00 pm. Pastor David and his talented team have planned a very beautiful service combining the Passion of Christ and the ACTS of prayer. I hope you will be able to join us. We are scheduled to have Communion at the Good Friday Concert of Prayer.

And then…HE IS RISEN…HE IS RISEN INDEED. We celebrate Resurrection Sunday. It looks like this year’s weather will favor our Flowering of the Cross. Each year we take a cross specifically built to be decorated with flowers and cover it with beautiful flowers…most of which come out of our yards. You are invited to bring your flowers to the worship center/sanctuary Sunday before the 9:00 service and before the 11:00 service. We will have volunteers there to help put the flowers on the cross. It is really beautiful once it is completed. The old rugged cross is transformed into a wondrous attraction to me!

Sunday will also be the pre-launch Sunday for our 40 Days of Prayer. The 40 DOP is an intentional, church-wide study on the power of God and the power of prayer designed to help us grow closer to God individually, deeper in our connections with each other and wider in our outreach to family and friends.

There are 3 basic parts to the 40 Days of Prayer. First, will be the Sunday gathering for worship. For the next 6 weeks, my teachings and our worship will all be centered around prayer. Second, you can join a small group/connection group to journey together. You will be led by Rick Warren on video. The third part of the 40 DOP will be your daily devotional using the 40 DOP Daily Devotional guide. I think you will really enjoy it!

Let’s start practicing: “He is risen! He is risen indeed!” See you Sunday, good Lord willing.

Pastor Tom

North American Missions: Annie Armstrong Easter Offering

There are approximately 371 Million people living t in the United States; there are over 350 languages spoken (I did not know there were that many languages anywhere!); there are 281 Million people in the U.S. that are without the Gospel. That is why we support the North American Mission Board. A few weeks ago we put the “Make Jesus Known” North American Missions Prayer Guide in the worship bulletin. This is a wonderfully helpful guide to help us pray specifically for a few of our missionaries. Here is a number that will thrill you…O.K., at least make you a little impressed. This year we help sponsor 6,300 full time missionaries. Out of that number 3,300 are chaplains and 3000 are of various type of church planters, Evangelists, etc. That is why I do not hesitate inviting you to consider a financial gift to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions. You can give on line at our church website or bring an offering any Sunday. If you do not have one of the Week of Prayer guides, please pick one up. The missionaries would love to know and believe they are being lifted to God in prayer.

HOLY WEEK STARTS THIS SUNDAY
I know it seems so incredibly quick, but this Sunday is Palm Sunday. The Children will help start our service with a praise and palm branch processional at the 11:00 service. Friday, March 29 at 7 PM we will have a Concert of Prayer. This will be a lovely and meaningful service a little different from our usual Good Friday service. It will include some interactive time for all who attend. And then Sunday, March 31 is Resurrection Sunday. Easter Sunday is a day of hope, a day of assurance, a day of rejoicing!

This Easter message will be “Do You Really Want To Grow Up?” It will be the official launch of our 40 Days of Prayer Campaign. We are thrilled that we have 20 small groups: our 9 Connection Groups that meet every Sunday and 11 (so far, but more are coming) new groups that will be meeting.

Listen to this. One of our volunteer Hosts is targeting several neighbors inviting them to participate. Perfect! Another Host has enlisted 11 from his ball team to form a group! Wow. I cannot wait to hear the stories of all He is doing!

I love our church family. What a privilege to work with our staff, our leadership teams and our church family and friends. See you Sunday, good Lord willing!

Pastor Tom

40 DAYS OF PRAYER…JUST AROUND THE CORNER

For the next few weeks you should be hearing your staff praise, promote and ask for participation in 40 Days of Prayer. This will be 40 Days of INTENTIONAL, CHURCH WIDE-STUDY ON THE POWER OF PRAYER to grow us closer to God individually, deeper in our connections with one another, and wider in our outreach to our friends and community.

Why do we choose 40 days and not 60 Days? For some reason, the Holy Spirit of God led the saints and heroes of the Bible to choose 40 days. The idea of 40 Days appears 24 times in the Bible. Noah was on the ark for 40 Days; Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the 10 Commandments for 40 Days; Jesus was in the wilderness praying and fasting for 40 Days. Perhaps staying at something for 40 Days is a good way to start a new habit and to stop a bad one!

When Jesus’ disciples asked him to “teach us to pray” that was a golden ask! They had watched Him do mighty miracles and wonders…often first led by prayer. They saw many breakthroughs related to Jesus’ habit of prayer. “Teach us to pray” is a pretty good request. So, for the 40 Days following Easter, we will be echoing the request of the disciples: Jesus, teach us to pray. In 40 Days Nineveh had the chance to repent and was not destroyed. In 40 Days the spies of Israel were able to go into the Promised Land and see what God said would be their own land. What could God do with a people who spent 40 days asking Jesus to teach us to pray? Is there a breakthrough coming? Is there a trial or test like Jesus faced? Is this the next step of your spiritual journey of discipleship? I am so excited about the possibilities.

LET ME BREAK IT DOWN. There are 3 basic parts to this campaign. First, our worship service beginning the Sunday after Easter will all focus on prayer. I will have 6 sermons related to prayer in my teaching series. Second, there will be a teaching series, taught by Rick Warren, that you will work through with your small group. We will have over 10 brand new small groups meeting! We will provide, free of charge, one of the nicest, most helpful books on prayer that you have ever seen or used. You will get your prayer devotional book from your group HOST. Third, that prayer book will also have a daily devotional for you. It will consist of one verse a day for 40 days. It will ask you questions that will help you meditate and think about what these verses mean to you. We will provide you, free of charge, with a key ring with 6 verses and a few other free resources for you.

Imagine, the entire church family, all on the same page for 40 days. I think it will be fabulous. I hope you will consider joining a group if you are not in one already. Or perhaps you would be willing to open your home serving as a HOST.

See you this Sunday, good Lord willing!

Pastor Tom