...to everyday life

Mid-Week Memo

Hi Five Oakers:

I have a few things I want to share with you today.

#1 - I'm not the most on-time person I know. Okay, those of who know me would say I'm one of the least on-time people you know. I contend it has a lot to do with wiring, but that's another story (or an excuse). Anyway, as I saw many of you wandering in late for the services and missing the opening song I had told you about (which started about 3 minutes early...sorry, but we have to do that), it hit me that maybe I'm missing some good stuff when I arrive late to other things. Just a thought.

#2 - Here are your comments from the Communication Cards (and my responses):

• Thank you to staff of Five Oaks for sharing your gifts with others. Pastor Henry, leadership and oral charisma! And all who make it a strong community. [It really is a team effort!]
• Great message Henry. Thanks! I’m curious what the other analogy was? [An analogy hit me in the middle of my message on Saturday night that I said I better not share until I think it through. It had to do with coming Biggest Loser mid-season and watching a weigh-in and hearing all the cheers. Not seeing the before, you might be tempted to think, "Actually, they don't look so good." (And who would, wearing what they make them wear.) Someone may have lost 100 pounds and still have 150 to go. Coming in mid-season, you don't see the change and may focus on what is still needed. But the real point is comparing them to how they started. So it is with spiritual growth. It's not about comparing myself to others but comparing my current self to my earlier self. Am I growing in greater, deeper love for God and people?]
• Gratitude for the messages given here. They have relevance all thru my week. Love the way he uses Henry and opens my ears!
• Captivating service. Thank you for a great message, and also to the worship team, beautiful music. Beautiful Sunday. [Couldn't agree more! So many worshipful songs played so well. Great sound mixing too. It was loud without being harsh, so nothing got in the way. Loved it.]
• Really nifty communion method!
• Praise the Lord!
• I came early to hear “the new song”. [I was in there early every service so I could catch it. Love it!]
• Very nice having communion together for a change so everyone could comfortably participate! [It's good to change things up. Dan Lukas' idea and I appreciated it too.]
• Sweet to hear voices over music. Thanks. [I love it when the worship leader pulls back and you can hear the congregation. God is listening!]
  
• Powerful message! [Powerful passage.]
  
• Praise the Lord!
• Pastor Henry, thank you for clarifying we don’t compare ourselves to each other, but only to God when it comes to our personal salvation! Also, were you referring to Isaiah 61 at the beginning when asking us what Jesus came to do?  [I was referring to Jesus' sermon in Luke 4 where he indeed quotes Isaiah 61 and several other passages.]
• Pastor Henry, thank you for being bold and for speaking so powerfully to us. The healing topic can be so difficult, but you approached it so honestly and biblically. It’s not about me… how few pastors preach this to their flock. Thank you.
• Thanks Justin for playing your song today! Thanks also for the prayer “please forgive me for not forgiving others”. Henry, GREAT, GREAT message – thanks or the honesty and clarity – for not soft balling it and for challenging us to be honest with ourselves. So many great message today – too much to write! I LOVE MY CHURCH! [The call to worship, the prayers of confession, the biblical words of assurance we include in every service are powerful. I agree. All killer; no filler.]
  
• Very cool message on healing. Liked seeing people engaged in worship. [Saw a line four deep waiting for prayer with the prayer team at the 9:30am. It's been a dream come true to see this kind of praying going on in our services, especially that kind of personal contact.]
  
• Thank you for speaking to the spiritual realm. I sometimes get so focused on this physical world; it’s problems that I forget the spiritual is the eternal. This world is Satan’s, but Jesus has overcome the world. I need to take heart and believe enough that it changes the way I think, what I say and what I do. [Me too.]
• Beautiful Majesty song today! Great sermon, really challenging us, great, great closing worship set! [On Majesty, I loved the way Justin came in slowly and beautifully with the guitar at the start.]
• Love Justin’s new song! Didn’t care for prepackaged communion – too much fumbling. Loses meaning. [Thanks for the helpful feedback. We too were concerned that it might keep people from focusing on the Scripture reading beforehand.]
• While I liked doing communion in a more traditional way once in a while, I found the new communion cups very distracting. [Traditional for some and totally new for others. But I, like you, passed the plate while growing up.]
  

#3 - While I'm on a one-month sabbatical this summer we will hear messages from John Ortberg (on video from the Summit), Tim Keller (on video from the Summit), Tim Bubar and Vince Miller. All but John Ortberg will be preaching from our series on Luke, even Tim Keller. He's up when we get to Luke 15 and the story of the prodigal son(s). It's a great line-up.

#4 - Speaking of the Summit, we will be promoting this year's Willow Creek Leadership Summit starting in June. The dates for the Summit (held live via satellite at Eagle Brook's Lino Lakes campus) are August 9 and 10. Save the date. This is the best conference I attend every year. You know it's great. Your friends have told you it's great. Maybe this year you'll attend. 120 from our church attended last year. Our pricing is hard to beat because of our partnership with Eagle Brook in this event. This isn't only for people who consider themselves to be "leaders." It's for everyone and you'll be inspired in your journey with God.

 #5 - Here's the video faith story from the weekend. We had a little trouble with the color mix but the content is outstanding and inspiring. 

#6 - Interesting passage from Luke 14 this weekend. All I'll say is that it surprised me. Here's this coming weekend's benediction based on Luke 14. You can start to hear the blessing in it now.

Put your mind on your life with God
The way to life is God.

His way is not easy,
But it is simple and good.

His promise is to be with us.
He will not leave us.
He will not leave us.

I am so privileged to serve as your pastor. I spent a few minutes talking to one of our members after one of the services. We talked about our struggles in recent years and what God has been teaching us. Then I received such a kind email from him thanking me for stopping to talk with him. I was the one blessed. It was a great time of reflecting together. I love you all, and I pray for you. If you write a request, I pray for your request specifically. Thank you for praying for me and blessing my life.

Blessings to you, Pastor Henry

Good Question

I received this question in an email today regarding my Mid-Week Memo from last night:

Hey Henry,

Curious about your opening paragraph. Why would you not choose to preach on this type of passage normally?

If you have the same question, here was my answer:

Great question.

There are three approaches to preaching: topical, expository, and lectionary.

The topical approach asks questions like "what does the church need" and "what will be a good series to help our folks invite their friends." The series are usually highly relevant in that they speak to everyday life in a way that shows that Bible speaks to our everyday lives.

Expository follows along in a book or section of a book. The lectionary approach uses a book that pays close attention to the Christian year and gives an OT, Psalm and NT passage for that week. With expository and lectionary, choosing the passage is to some degree out of your control.

There's a lot to commend topical approach and we have used it in the past [and will continue to from time to time], but I've never seen anyone who follows this approach actually choose a passage like the one from last week. Only exception might be a series called "the hard sayings of Jesus." It's very confrontative. It lacks what people today would consider appealing. It requires a lot of explanation (topical series don't usually major on actually teaching the text but on application of the text with minimal teaching). It requires much more than a quick reading to find the message of grace that permeates it. It doesn't seem "relevant" to everyday life. [I'll just add here: It may not seem relevant but there is nothing more relevant than a passage like this one.]

From a more personal standpoint, it was daunting to figure out how to communicate the message in a way that held the passage together and didn't lose attention. And my personal preference is a passage like the one this week where Jesus is very compassionate. Doesn't feel too compassionate when Jesus says, "Yeah, 18 people died in that accident and you will suffer similarly if you don't repent."

If you have time, check out John Piper's blog post on the night of the I35 bridge collapse. Fascinating. He's the pastor of Bethlehem Baptist in Minneapolis, in case you don't know. But he was heavily criticized for writing what he wrote and most people don't think this deeply (or want to) about our sin and culpability before a God who judges.

So, that's why I wrote what I wrote. Thanks for asking.

 

Mid-Week Memo

Hi Five Oakers,

I have a few things I want to share with you today.

#1 - Last weekend's message was the kind of passage I would not choose to preach on. The only reason I would ever spend an entire message talking about the fire of judgment and division Jesus said he would bring is because we're working our way through a book of the Bible and that was the next passage. I'm thankful for that discipline and that it takes my preferences out of the mix. Here were your comments about the service from the Communication Cards:

• The sermon two weeks ago revealed to me that I’ve been greedy with my time which is really His time. Thank you for your words that helped God to speak to me. Thank you for the reminder of pride today.  
• Thank you for helping me understand repenting in a new way. The Bible study you sent is tremendous and full of grace.
• Great message Henry!
• Loved the music today. Heard the guitar and playing nuances. The drums blended well with the rest of band. Noticeably louder than in weeks past. I know we get complaints about harshness or loudness. I at least enjoyed the volume/energy level.
• Henry, thank you for sharing God’s truth with us. Your message, God’s message, was heard loud and clear! Thanks! 
• Great message, Henry. Praise God for His continued deliverance in my life!
• Thank you for not making a change in your sermon just because it’s Mothers Day! God bless you!
• Thank you for the encouragement to the Group Life writer this week - yes, great lesson! For anyone reading the blog, are you feeling any prodding of the Holy Spirit to join the writing team? Contact Dave Baar (davebaar@comcast.net) [Amen!]
• Great opening set. Thank you. Henry, thanks for introducing this message in the context of Mother’s Day – nice and important tie in. I like the board – whether post-it, whiteboard or chalk – it tends to impression we are digging in learning, being taught. Great message closing with tender assurances and call to salvation. Great closing set – from “How Great Thou Art”…on!
• The Cross was enough – reminded me of what Jesus did for me. Amen! 
• Love hearing Kara sing!
• Enjoyed the music today. Nice to have singable songs.
• Thank you for this series Henry.

#2 - I received this email from Will and CarrieAnn Standfest who led the 13-week Financial Peace University class. They concluded it this last weekend.

Hey Henry,

Financial Peace University was great this year, we had a great group of families participate. We all learned together, and were able to encourage each other throughout the class. Six of the families taking the class were able to attend graduation this weekend. Since the beginning of class, these families were able to pay off $27,000 in debt, and put $4100 into savings!! It has been a blessing to be a part of lasting change in the lives of these families.

Thanks again for supporting FPU at Five Oaks, and I hope others can be encouraged by this.

Amazing! This course really works. Thanks to the Stanfests for leading this. It's a lot of work and their enthusiasm for it is contagious. 

#3 - Friend me on Facebook if you haven't already. Anyway, I changed my profile picture for the first time ever. I was playing with a new photo app while watching American Idol and loved the "sketch" option. So I got this email today:

Emerson loved the idea of coloring the photo you posted on facebook this morning.  Once finished, she hung it on the fridge next to her mother's day photo of herself she made in kindergarten.

Not bad, although I had to go brush my teeth after seeing this. 

By the way, that's in San Diego from this last March, not far from Hodad's, Ocean Beach (huge hamburgers and featured in Diners and Dives).

#4 - Have I told you how much I'm loving my Kid's Hope mentoring hour each week? As a matter of fact, I think I have. Well our director Sarah Bowers and Jerry Meras met with the principle and they are loving it too. They would like TEN more mentors for next fall! Not everyone has the flexibility to do this during the working day, but if you can...

#5 - Speaking of Kid's Hope. One of the teachers at Woodbury Elementary sent me this email this week:

Today a third grader looked at my “Bible” tie and said, “Hey, I know those books.  Those are the books of the Bible."  I said, “What church do you go to?” “Five Oaks and some people from our church come here.”...She was reading, “Genesis, Matthew, Hebrews, Ephesians…” pronouncing them correctly.  It’s always good to know of a Bible teaching church!

#6 - Important News Flash: We're changing the time of the Saturday service for the summer starting in two Saturdays (June 2). And we're adding dinner afterward for anyone who wants to stay and eat. After surveying our Saturday Nighters, we found that lots of them preferred a later time for the summer, but we also found that starting later creates some trouble for families because it makes supper so late. So we're going going a bit later, 5pm, and we'll have some pizza or subs each week after the service. Should be fun. Come and try it out!

#7 - If you show up late this week to our worship gathering, you'll miss a new song written by several folks on our worship team. I asked Justin about the song and he wrote...

...Nathan Stocker, Alex Hovda, Alex and Analisa Gerbig, and I wrote it. We had a worship night where we all got together just to sing. It was the same night Erinn painted the Easter painting. She painted that while we were writing the song. The song came pretty quickly then we recorded a demo version of the song. Later we reworked the lyrics and it all came together.

It's really a great song. I heard it for the first time at Encounter last week. Be early because they start about 3 minutes BEFORE the service starts!

#8 - Not sure yet how much I'll focus on it, but we'll spend some time talking about spiritual warfare this weekend as we study Luke 13:10-21.

Blessings to you, Pastor Henry

Not-So-Mid-Week Memo

Hi Five Oakers,

I'm a little late this week, but there are still some things I want to share with you.

#1 - My message last week was about the continuation of Jesus' warnings about greed in Luke 12:22-34. Jesus tells us how to fight greed and not end up like the rich fool: look at our money and possessions through the lens of eternity and reflect deeply on our worth to God. God treasures us. We are his treasured possession. Justin and the worship team led us in a quiet reprise of "Furious" as we reflected on our worth to God and prepared for Communion. Here are the lyrics:

Nothing can tear us from
The grip of His mighty love
We’ve only glimpsed, His vast affection
Heard whispers of, His heart and passion
It’s pouring out…

His love is deep, His love is wide
And it covers us
His love is fierce, His love is strong
It is furious
His love is sweet, His love is wild
And it's waking hearts to life

The Father loves and sends His son
The Son lays down His life for all
He lavishes His love upon us
He calls us now, His sons and daughters
He’s reaching out…

#2 - Here are you comments from the Communication Cards:

• Timely (for me!) topic and great sermon today!
• Thanks for the great worship set. Liked the new opening song. Tim I love the stuff you say (great word huh?) in the middle of the opening set. Nice stage – setting contemplative words. Henry, love how you slowed down to let the words sink in. you’ve been doing that consistently for some time now. Another great convicting/inspiring message Henry. [I too love what Tim says and how he says it. All of that is planned as we seek to have every moment count and Tim throws his heart and soul into leading us in worship. Lots of thanks also for Dan Lukas who works behind the scenes planning our prayers, Scripture readings and other elements so critical to our worship each week.]
• Henry, thanks for all that you do. Keep up the good work. Aloha!!  Steve Chorpening [Steve, you will be missed. Thanks for serving faithfully all your years with us. Enjoy Hawaii and God bless you in the time you are stationed there!]
• The lengthier quiet time for reflection/confession at beginning so good. Good that it was longer than a few seconds. Also, great analogy with meals = quiet time daily. [It was good to have two of those kinds of times in our worship this week. Tim's time leading us in quiet confession and Justin's playing softly, leading us in quiet reflection.]
• Love the benedictions at the end of the service – such a blessing as we leave. Thanks!
• Thank you Pastor Henry! Your sermon today, as usual, was timed perfectly with something we have been struggling with personally. It brought perspective insight and most importantly God’s purpose for our lives through His words. You affirm that we need to trust God and I am grateful that you so eloquently say this to us. It is a verbal “slap” that I occasionally need! [Just heeding your comment from a few weeks ago to keep challenging you more. :-)]
• Thank you, Henry, for the very impactful sermon.
• Henry, great sermon today. A topic we all can relate to at varying levels. I noticed you also used lots of “we” statements today. “We struggle with this…” “We all need help with…” etc. this is a great way to level the playing field from the pulpit. Helps folks remember that you are working on these things, too. Thanks for keeping it real, Henry! God bless you.  [Best way to give feedback: Catch someone doing something right and underscore it. Love it. Thank you and a great reminder.]
• Amazing message today!
• Henry, thank you for this message. It’s more than money and more than possessions. God is in control and the more we give complete control, the greatest result is growth in our walk. It’s a life long goal to remember this no matter the anxieties on this earth.
• Love the worship last week and this week. Thanks Justin! 
• God’s got us. We are humbled, grateful, all He has shown us in these horrible times for our family. I will be scared, but I will keep moving because He’s got us, and we will do our part. [Well said, especially with all you are going through. God bless you and keep you strong.] 
• Furious. Like the analogy of “little flock”.  [Yes, that really stood out to me as I reflected on the passage. He does treasure us!]
• Good to be back, sitting under Pastor Henry’s teaching. Thank you Pastor.
• Your message last week may have changed my life. God is working in my life as I act out what I learned through your message. Thank you!  [This is what it's about. God's transformation as we hear his Word, trust him and act on it. Thanks for letting me know.]
• Furious – awesome! [Like I said, my new favorite song, although there are several close seconds.]
• Very passionate! Such an important and powerful reminder for all of us. Thank you, Henry!
• Pastor Henry talked about books on Easter for “skeptics”. Could he recommend one? [It depends how deeply someone is willing to go and what is the nature of the skepticism. But we send out A Search for the Spiritual by James Emery White to anyone who wants to know more. Shorter book, very well written, comprehensive. One of my favorite books of all time is Tim Keller's A Reason for God. But it's much more challenging. And if someone is struggling with anger toward God, The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel is great (this is also available as a documentary on DVD). Another small but powerful book is How Good is Good Enough? by Andy Stanley. His sermon by the same title is powerful. Bill Wilson gives the CD out to folks, and I think I'm going to start doing the same thing. You can download the mp3 here for $1.]
• No lesson outline available on way in! Song words late coming on. [Maybe more people are taking outlines and we need to do more!!! That's good news. Yeah, on the words coming in late, we had an amateur at the wheel this week...sorry to throw you under the bus Dan.]

#3 - In my personal opinion, the addition of prayer stations before Encounter, the addition the prayer times at three points in the evening and the reduction of volume (although still strong) made Encounter a quite powerful experience for Lois and me this week. Justin and some others from the worship team wrote a song that they debuted at Encounter that I think will become a Five Oaks favorite. Loved it!!! And one of the elements I most love about Encounter is how inter-generational it is. Seeing those pre-school kids loving the music and dancing all evening alongside youth and adults...precious! Thanks to all who made the evening of worship and connecting with God so powerful.

#4 - When people write books about the Hard Sayings of Jesus, this week's passage is usually listed. Come ready to be challenged, to learn more about our God and to worship.

That's it for this week. I love you. I pray for you (by name if you give us a request on the Com Cards). See you on the weekend.

Pastor Henry

Mid-Week Memo

Hi Five Oakers,

I have a few things I want to share with you today.

#1 - I loved the third service last weekend. The other two didn't impact me as much. Seemed a little disjointed and irrelevant. But the third service engaged my heart and helped me focus on God. I connected with God in that service.

#2 - Oh yeah, maybe I should tell you why the third service connected with me? It's the only one I attended from start to finish. It's the only one where I heard the call to worship, prayed a Scriptural prayer of confession, sang all the songs and participated in the response stations with my heart engaged and seeking God. It's the one Lois attends (she teaches 5th-6th graders on Saturday nights), so it's the service I attend from start to finish. I was in and out of the other two at various points (mostly in the back of the worship center), and I could hear most of what was happening in the green room, but there's nothing like being in there from start to finish. And, for me, it's important to sit toward the front where there are less distractions. Do I need to spell out the moral of this story? I think you get the point.

#3 - Here are some of the comments on the Com Cards from this last weekend:

• Female vocalist that led song has a beautiful voice. Thanks for sharing your gift and obvious heart for worship. 
• Thank you for telling us what we need to hear. Not what we want to hear. Pastor Henry called out the “ritual” followers – awesome! Do you mean it, when you invite Jesus? Loved it! 
• Great drum work this a.m.! 
• I liked that prayer, the corporate prayer. 
• Thank you for the worship set. Really great message Henry – very well constructed. Great closing song. Cool video Tim! [I love the video. Tim made it in one piece and from what I hear, the conference was quite impacting on the students.]
• Pastor Henry, thank you for your love of God’s word and your desire to share that with all of us. You and your family are in our prayers for wisdom, protection and the daily filling of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for all you do! 
• Thank you Henry, for the “picture” reminder of putting/letting Jesus get in the driver’s seat.[You'll be hearing that one more and more. It's a great illustration of spiritual maturity I picked up from the REVEAL team when I went down to Chicago a few weeks ago. We'll be unpacking that one for some time to come.]
  
• Thank you for your excellent teaching on this passage.
• Excellent illustration of Jesus in the car!
• Henry, your lesson today came at the perfect time for me. It’s so amazing how God continues to work in my personal life. I will be sharing your lesson with a young man [from Africa] that my husband and I have been mentoring. It will be a good spiritual lesson that I hope helps in an area our friend has been struggling in. Thank you. [The more spiritually mature you are in your faith, the more sharing what you've learned with someone else (to help and mentor them) will impact you more than learning it.]
  
• Thank you Worship Band! Henry, thank you for exposing my gods and revealing God’s desire more fully in my life. Thank you. 
• Henry, powerful sermon. Thanks for speaking into our lives.
• Henry, one of your best sermons ever. Thanks! Jon – great to see you on the bass again.
• We enjoyed the dinner at church last week. Any way to make it a regular event! [Maybe. It's something we have begun to consider, but I have no idea if we will.]
• What version was being used today? Didn’t seem to be ESV. [I double checked and it was. Let me know if you notice it again. I wonder if there are differences in the edition I'm using and the one you had.]
• Flickering lights during response too much.

#4 - I received this message from a Five Oaker on Facebook: "My 'Timehop Abe' service that tells me what I was doing a year ago today informs me that last year on this date I was in church, and we were just starting into the book of Luke! I think the last year has been awesome, btw." I had no idea. Looks like it will be a two-year journey since we're about halfway through it.

#5 - My nickle collection is growing! Thank you all who are praying for me and letting me know by giving me a nickle. I want you all to know that I pray for you too. I pray through the prayer requests with the Elders, but then I take it home and continue praying for you every day. If you let me know how to pray for you, you can be assured I will.

#6 - The nickle and prayer idea came from Stephen Kendrick. I love seeing people applying what they learned when he was here. I'd like to know if some of you have started using his family devotions idea. The Elders and I were talking this morning about prayer and Kendrick's sermon and it got me thinking about all the ways we pray as a congregation:

• We pray for people far from God at the Light station.
• Our prayer team and Elders keep busy praying for people who come for prayer during the response time.
• Several other stations focus on prayers of one kind or another.
• We often pray Scripture together in the call to worship, confession and assurance times at the outset of our worship services.
• The worship team prays over every chair every week (representing the people who will sit there) before the Saturday service, and they have several other prayer times each week during rehearsal and during the services.
• We have prayer partners for all of our Kid's Hope mentors. My prayer partner is in regular contact with me. When she drops her daughter off at school on Mondays (the day I mentor), they pray together for the kindergarten boy I'm mentoring at Woodbury Elementary. On Sunday the prayer partners went out to lunch, shared ideas and then went to the school for a "prayer walk."
• The Student Ministry is doing one of the twice a year prayer nights tonight. Justin will lead on acoustic, candles will line the worship area, the kids will have an open mic for sharing requests, and a lot of praying will be happening.
• The Prayer team also prays through the Communication Card prayer requests and sends notes out to the people they prayed for.
• Our daily Group Life integrates prayer into the Bible reflection time for each day.
• All of our small groups spend time praying for each other.

That is just scratching the surface. God invites you to pray. He calls you to prayer. I wish there was a way to pray in your place, reflect on Scripture for you daily and provide substitutionary prayer on your behalf, but there isn't. Only you can do it. And only commitment to it daily will help you grow spiritually. Praying once a week in corporate worship won't cut it (even if you add a second time at your small group meeting.) You simply won't grow into deeper love with God that way. Offering more prayer ministries in our church won't cut it. You have to pray...daily! At some point you need to grow up enough to pray without a pastor leading  you or a program at church facilitating your prayer time. You don't know how? Well Paul Miller gives very practical advice on how to develop a daily prayer habit toward the end of A Praying Life. Get the book. Or meet with someone who knows how to pray and ask them to teach you.

#7 - Here's the only comment we received back this week from the cards we send first time attenders:

• My first impression of Five Oaks was extremely positive.  After one service, I felt I had found a new church home.

#8 - I just downloaded a book from one of the Summit speakers from last year: Humilitas. It cost me $2.99 and I will read it on my Kindle app on my iPad or iPhone. I knew it was on sale because I subscribe to a daily email that announces special deals (I have already downloaded a couple of other books for free this week). Go to Gospel eBooks and get on their mailing list right here. Most deals disappear after 24 hours!

#9 - See if you can detect the order in our worship this coming week. I've been hinting at changes we've been incorporating for weeks now. Nothing different this week from the previous weeks. But when we plan, there is a general movement to the service. Below is what guides our decisions on what to do for each element of the service. All killer; no filler. (At some point in the not-to-distant-future we will begin to offer a worship guide that spells this out, but we're going to keep on just doing it before we start showing it.)

There are basically four movements. There are also movements within movements. But the basic pattern is Revelation and Response. We hear from God through his Word and we respond to his revelation.

So our worship begins with prayers and songs inspired from the Scripture to PREPARE our hearts to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed from the Bible (this includes hearing God's call to gather and worship, confession and assurance of God's forgiveness). As we hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we experience his REVELATION through his Word and the inner, mysterious working of the Holy Spirit. Our RESPONSE to this revelation (and it is crucial that we response) is accomplished through songs, prayers, and practices facilitated through our stations. We close by celebrating the witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that is, God's church at Five Oaks through stories, testimonies and announcements about our church family life; SENDING us off with a benediction reminding us of how we can live in the blessing of God's grace.

Come ready to worship this weekend and God bless you.

In God's love and grace, Pastor Henry

Mid-Week Memo

Hi Five Oakers,

I have a SEVEN things I want to share with you.

#1 - "All killer; no filler." (Bill Hybels quoting Willow's worship director at the Leadership Summit) That's the best description of last week's worship gathering in my opinion. Every element had a purpose and supported other elements--the call to worship, Scripture prayers of confession and assurance, songs, response stations, the video faith story and so much more. And every element effectively supported our purpose--to help everyone worship God personally and authentically. We geek out a bit on seeing certain threads run through various elements whether planned or not. This was one of those weeks where those threads were in clear relief. SO worshipful.

#2 - If you missed it, check out this faith story. Even if you saw it on the weekend, it's worth seeing again. Talk about weaving a beautiful story and all the elements coming together! And talk about a whole family being impacted by our ministry. Beautifully told, Charlie. And great cinematography, Jonathan. 

Faith Story - Charlie Cain from Five Oaks on Vimeo.

#3 - Here are some of the comments from the Communication Cards:

• What a fun, creative and spirit-filled Women’s Ministry event this morning! Jeni’s message was meaningful, relevant and convicting. Thanks to all who made it happen!
• Beautiful opening with only the guitars. Clint, you will be missed. Response time, beautiful. [Justin and Clint's playing was truly amazing and skillful. Filled the whole room with just two guys playing guitar for the whole service. Loved it too!]
• What amazing musicians! Wow! What about the celebrities/politicians who use God’s word to promote hate? Thank you for a great sermon. Pastor Henry – Sherlock is also streaming on Netflix, three episodes a season! [I don't have NetFlix. Maybe one more reason to consider it. Lois and I loved the 1980's PBS Sherlock series. I wonder if they stream that.]
  
• Thanks for the great music this morning. 
• Really enjoy reading Pastor Henry’s blog site mid-week, it is a blessing to hear all the positive comments, it strengthens my resolve for Him – Christ.
• Clever quote from Oswald.  Very comfortable Saturday night service.  Loved the “mood” with the acoustic worship.  Liked the references to our Mission Field.
• Awesome music and message!
• Very touching/humbling time of adoration (Justin and Clint).
• I loved the quiet change-up in the worship set. Beautiful job guys. Nice job with announcements Tim, staying in the low key approach to the morning. Great, great message Henry. I loved the explanation of not delivering inspiring messages, but covering scripture and letting it inspire us. Loved the closing worship set! [Here's approximately what I said: "I’m no longer satisfied with preaching biblical sermons that inspire. I used to be. I want you to understand the Bible itself and let that message—it’s life-giving, God-inspired message—give you something solid and reliable to serve as a foundation for your life. I want his Word to inspire you and drive your life. But not just here on the weekend. I want this message to inspire you to turn to God’s Word every day on your own to hear from God. It’s why we do Group Life. But if you don’t use the Group Life daily study, find something else that works well for you to read and reflect on the Bible every day.]
• Thanks for “Nothing But the Blood”! Awesome!
• I loved the acoustic music! Be not afraid, I will follow you.
• Loved the message – great reminders! Loved the acoustic set – so worshipful!
• I know Pastor Henry fears God, because he said all the right things. We have an awesome God!
• Love the acoustic set-up! So cool to listen to the guitar highlighted. We have amazing musical talent in our church.
• Music fit tone of service. Reflective and thoughtful.
• Thanks for the beautiful worship today – excellent.
• Henry – thank you for having the courage to talk about consequences and the experience of judgment and hell. I appreciate the straight talk – hard hitting, relevant, and impactful context! I wish the communion music was acoustic every week.
• Loved the two guitars!
• Awesome to hear my daughter (7) sing “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again”! It was a great teaching moment to explain what Redeem means.
• Thanks for the acoustic worship song sets. Very nice and contemplative, especially for the response time.  My wife and daughter also appreciate not having the spinning/blinking backgrounds.
• Awesome worship.
• I always enjoy every week worship here at Five Oaks and the talents of all the people who play for the worship team, but it was wonderful this morning hearing the voices of the congregation while we were singing. It reminded me of when I was younger. Thanks for the unplugged service and looking forward to whatever you plan for next week. [Music to my ears when we hear the congregation singing praises. You might notice that from time to time (almost every week) the vocalists all pull away from the mics so we can hear each other.]
• Henry’s been answering/commenting related to what people write here. So those of us who see the blog, see his responses. Many comments are from newcomers, or others that don’t see the blog. What about adding a prompt to check out the blog in this section. Somewhere, rather than just on the front of the worship program?  [Great idea. We do send notes to guests or new folks pointing them to the Memo if I address one of their questions.]
• I’d love to hear “deeper” prayers before the sermon. [One of the things I've been doing over the last couple of months or so is what's often called "A Prayer of Illumination." It's a regular part of most "high church" liturgies. Sounds ominous for those of us from "low church" traditions. But it doesn't have to be high churchy. I simply talk about why we look at the Bible and then pray for God's illumination of his Word and the message from his Word. I'll consider your suggestion. Thanks.]
• If you want the scriptures to teach us, speak to us, why do you show movie clips or other quotes? I think God will reveal what he wants us to know thru His word. [Thank you for this comment. It's a very complex subject and I'll just address one small aspect of it. The Bible not only gives us the words of God, it also teaches us by example. What we see in the Bible is that Jesus and other teachers always illustrated their messages with stuff from life. Think about Jesus illustrating evangelistic concepts by talking about a sower who sowed seed on hard ground, etc. As he spoke people would look up and see a field or a farmer working. His messages were mostly given in the outdoors. It's not hard to imagine him even pointing to what they were looking at. Jesus teaches us to use what pastors call "illustrations." Unfortunately, we are confined to a room for most of our teaching so we can't point, but we can bring stories and scenes from everyday life into our teaching. I don't know of any pastor that doesn't illustrate their messages in one way or another in order to drive home biblical truth, make it understandable or apply it to life. Movie clips and quotes are just two ways of doing it. I guess I'll only mention one more thing. The Holy Spirit gives gifts to build up the body and one is teaching. Teaching is more than simply reading the Word together. It requires unpacking it in a variety of ways. Well, there's a lot more I could say, but I hope that helps. Thanks again for raising this question.]

#4 - As I am writing, Tim Bubar is walking from the church building to Rochester in two days and one evening to raise money for the Challenge youth trip and because ... how can I say it ... he's a little different, eccentric, adventurous, slightly off.... And we love it! Go Tim! Only 37 miles today and 25 tomorrow. Last night he went as far as Hastings. Pray for safety and great adventures along the way. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter. Also pray for your students who will spend the weekend in Rochester at our denomination's district conference with several thousand students from around the state.

#5 - Our Staff Leadership Team spent a few days away this week working on our strategic plans for the coming ministry year starting in September. Maybe the best and most productive we've ever had. I can't wait to start sharing ideas for input from our leaders. Here's the bottom line: We know what brings spiritual growth (i.e., what grows disciples) and what is only marginally helpful. This is based on clear teaching in the Bible and rigorous empirical studies. Therefore we want to structure our ministry with what works and drop what is good but not great. Once again, "all killer and no filler" in all of our ministries. Getting there will not be easy, but it's not rocket science either. It requires God's power and all of us working together in cooperation with him.

#6 - We're two weeks into our Story of God small group experience. The new elements we added this time are going great. For one, the reading guide is in book form. I'm also giving a mini-lecture at the end of our time together, rather than assigning everyone to listen to the Story of God message series messages during the week. We have a great group of people going through it. Many have never understood the Bible and some are looking for a renewal of spiritual passion. I'm having a blast!

#7 - My message this weekend is on a familiar passage from Luke 12. Take a look at this confession (based on Deuteronomy 7) we'll be praying together in all of our services. I asked Dan Lukas to prepare it so that we can be prepared to listen to what Jesus teaches us. You can start praying it even now:

Merciful Father,

we think we can live without you.

In our pride we have said:

we are great.

we are strong.

we are self-sufficient.

we admit we often forget you,

even as we follow you.

Holy Spirit,

we live on the word you speak;

on the scriptures you've given.

our life is tethered to you.

Jesus, Son of God,

we want to live like you did;

connected and dependent on the Father.

confident that when we admit our need,

you will be our help.

Come ready to worship. Jesus invites us to gather. This is not our idea. He calls us to gather and worship as the body of Christ.

Blessings to you, Pastor Henry

 

Mid-Week Memo

Hi Five Oakers,

I have a few things I want to share with you.

#1 - Wow, what a weekend with Stephen Kendrick. Thanks for Matt Turvey, Bill Wilson and the Journeymen's ministry we got a huge faith lift. His talk to fathers on Saturday was challenging and very practical. Over 400 men showed up. His message on Sunday was the most inspiring message I've ever heard on prayer. I loved his personal stories and you come away convinced that those movies could never have been made without God. Simply amazing.

#2 - I loved Stephen's answer to the guy who asked how to broach the subject of leadership in his home with his wife. Stephen said, "Don't ask your wife to step back. You step up." Listen, that's the essential problem in most Christian homes. The Bible rarely addresses the matter of who is in charge in the home. But it does speak of leadership as sacrificial love. Paul tells men to step up to leadership by loving like Jesus loved when he gave his life for the church. And as far as parenting is concerned, the problem is that men don't step up enough as spiritual leaders for their kids in their homes. Way too many leave it to their wives and the church. I love that one of the couples who attended one of our Story of God groups last year came because the husband was convicted about his lack of spiritual leadership with his kids at our Visionary Parenting Conference with Rob Rienow. He felt he needed to learn more about the Bible and ground his faith so he could lead out. Great answer, Stephen!

#3 - On Saturday Stephen talked about how one of his mentors taught him how to lead family devotions/worship at home.

• Gather the family and ask them how their day went. He does it before bedtime for his young kids.
• Pray.
• Read a chapter of the Bible. He started at the beginning. I'd like to put together a list of the top 365 chapters of the Bible for families to read in one year. I could even add the Story of God icons. What do you think? Anyway, Stephen noted that you don't have to know what the chapter is about before you read it. No special preparation is necessary.
• Quiz the kids and give away quarters for right answers. Make it fun. And you can make the questions up right there from the reading. That's it. Simple, but the Bible is central and it gets into your kids' hearts.

#4 - I've seen Fireproof and Courageous but never got around to seeing Facing the Giants. I certainly plan to see it now, and I'd also like to see their first movie even though he admits the quality of the filming isn't outstanding. 

#5 - Here are the comments we received on the Communication Cards this weekend (and one by email):

• Thank you for bringing Stephen Kendrick to Five Oaks. Awesome lesson. 
• Thank you for your support of the Courageous Challenge. We’ve already heard from so many men of life changes, new commitments to Christ, first time accepters of Christ, and men asking for next steps. Thanks to Dan and Kent for their support with logistics.
• I attended the Courageous event and it was awesome! Thank you! 
• Thank you – I was so moved. Praise God for touching me with the desire to learn, to pray unceasingly. [Loved what he said in the first service. Praying without ceasing is like starting your day with a phone call from God and then keeping him on the line all day.]
• Powerful service! Thank you! 
• Wow! How awesome this was. Thank you Men’s ministries!
• I would like Steven’s sermon notes for Saturday and Sunday. [We can't post the message, but we can make it available to you if you contact the church office or let us know on your Communication Card.]
• Thank you for the absolutely awesome men’s event on Saturday morning. I went with my son and I was so happy that we went! Great work Men’s Ministry! Awesome message today from Stephen! 
• Thanks to God for Bill Wilson and Men’s group for what you have done for my family (Turvey’s). God is good.
• I’m so inspired and feel challenged to pray every day. I know God has a plan for me and I want to see and feel what He will do through me for others. 
• This ties in completely with the Beth Moore (Stephen) study Believing God – I’m doing right now. Praise the Lord I made it today! Amen! I hope this will be on a podcast so I can share it with my women’s group ladies who don’t attend Five Oaks.
• I received another Beginning Bible and Purpose Driven Life. My plan is to give the second “dose” to a friend who is in need. 
• I do not belong to Five Oaks, but have visited there three times and am very impressed by what you have to offer. I particularly wanted to express my appreciation to Five Oaks for hosting the Stephen Kendrick events this weekend. I attended the Courageous Challenge event on Saturday and also visited your church to hear him speak on Sunday. The events were life-changing and I appreciated the opportunity to share in those events more than I can say.  Thank you to the organizers and to Five Oaks for such terrific opportunities for us to connect with Christ.

#6 - Here are the comments we received back from Easter weekend guests:

• My wife and I liked the childcare, very much enjoyed the sermon and enjoyed the music.  The volume of the music is/was too loud.  Mustering up the courage to wear ear plugs in church is too akin to a rock concert, and an experience not usually associated with church music.  How about acoustic?  The handoff of kids was rather hectic given we were attending the second service and there were kids both coming and going at the same time.  Felt like we had to be diligent because there were so many people! 
• We really enjoy Five Oaks.  We will be back.
• I did find/feel the music and sermon to be gospel/Bible based.  No one greeted me or made me to feel welcomed at Five Oaks at all. [I'm truly sorry you didn't feel welcomed. You're likely to have a different experience on a regular weekend. So many new faces and so much congestion on Easter.]

#7 - Todd and Kellie Stocker are the keynote speakers for the Woodbury Area Prayer Breakfast on May 1 this year!!! You will not want to miss this. Go here to register.

#8 - My message this weekend is on Luke 12:1-12 and focuses on standing strong for Christ in environments that are hostile to our faith. What Jesus says may surprise you.

#9 - Justin will lead us in worship with a simple, acoustic set this weekend. I love it when the worship team changes it up like this.

It's going to be a great great weekend and I look forward to seeing all of you.

Pastor Henry

Mid-Week Memo

Hi Five Oakers!

I have NINE things I want to share with you today.

#1- Good Friday and Easter services were incredible! I was so blessed and so were you, judging by your comments. I can't list all the comments from the Communication Cards. Three pages on a Word document. But we had about 15 first-time decisions between our services and Treehouse. Dozens asked for more information or the challenging book I mentioned. Here are some of your comments:

• Have appreciated the way your church's services are. Good production value.
• I hope you all feel as loved today as I do!
• Amen to the message and Bill’s message too!
• Thank you for your tremendous message of hope, of courage… the gospel. Happy Easter.
• Awesome message and to absolutely minister by the I Corinthians 15 message. Another bedrock truth for my personal apologetics to defend my belief in Christ. We all need to be prepared to defend our faith. Thank you Pastor Henry and Justin – you are blessed.
• He is risen! Happy Easter! 
• Beautiful service. One of the best I have ever been a part of. 
• The cross was enough. So I need to start letting my thoughts, words and actions reflect that truth more and more in my life each day. 
• Thank you for being so faithful to the Word of God! 
• Loved the new version of “Christ the Lord Has Risen”.  However, I have to say, seeing Justin all “dressed up” was weird.
• Bill’s video is awesome! I have a friend that must see it. Will it be on YouTube? [See it below in my next point. You can trace it down to Vimeo and share it with others.]
• I feel so blessed to be here today.
• The music makes me dance! Great sermon. Awesome preaching today. 
• Thank you for opening wide all the levels of faith throughout life.
• Thank you for being an amazing church that helps to sustain and grow God’s light in me.
• Thank you Bill for your testimony. What a powerful way to connect to the message and Christ in a more personal way.
• So blessed by God and the ministries of Five Oaks.
• Loved the music! Missed having more flowers.
• Great service! I like that the format was based on our standard service. Nice portrayal of what services at Five Oaks are lie for first time guests/visitors. Faith story was a good addition.
• Thanks for sharing your story Bill. 
• Happy Easter! May God bless the staff and volunteers of Five Oaks! 
• Great Easter service. Very hopeful. Loved the connection between the Good Friday service and the Easter service in the music.  [Justin was wondering how many would make the connection. The closing song of Good Friday was the opening song of Easter.]
• Last night's service was so wonderful, so powerful, great music and video! The message, Tim, was amazing and clear. Good message today Henry, thanks for calling people to Christ.
• We loved the message. We love Five Oaks. Great faith story. Nice “Beretta” reference.  
• Our neighbor...whom we’ve been praying for, for several years, came with us tonight. Praise God!
• Wonderful message, you get the truth out! (Like always.) 
• Thank you for a beautiful Easter service. So proud to be a part of Five Oaks.
• Awesome service – you all did an amazing job. Our 5^th anniversary with Five Oaks was fabulous! Complete chills. Thank you all so much.
• Powerful sermon, Henry. I was praying for you before you started speaking, that your words would reach many this morning. He is risen indeed! Please list the names of the books on your blogs – for friends and family members. [We normally send out A Search for the Spiritual: Exploring Real Christianity by James Emery White for people who would like more information on Christianity, as well as an Alpha booklet called "Why Jesus?" The more challenging book I spoke of was The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Tim Keller.]
• Henry – I loved today’s message and the story of faith Bill shared. I want to be challenged more in my belief of Christ so please challenge me!  
• Strong faith story – so real and authentic. 
• ...thank you for leading us into a great time of worship. He is risen! 
• I enjoy offering communion and like the dipping, but would enjoy having individual cups occasionally too. 
• What’s between “?” & “√”, “?” and “C”. please?  [I'm not sure what you mean. I'm guessing it has to do with the marks I asked for response. I wasn't trying to be comprehensive. Just was looking for the first two responses and the last one was to give everyone something to mark down. It encourages everyone who is making a decision to see everyone marking something.]
• It is very loud. Good message. 

#2- Here's Bill Wilson's faith story. It was shot by Jonathan Haage. I love how sharp, colorful and bright it is. And I can't say enough about how well Bill told his story. It sparked some thoughts about why people reject Christ that I was able to address after the video.

Faith Story - Bill Wilson from Five Oaks on Vimeo.

#3- The new Story of God small group experience launches this weekend. Register here. Lois and I will lead it with the O'Grady's so we can better accommodate another large group. I'm going to try a couple new innovations this time. The 40-Day Bible reading guide books arrived. I'm excited about how they came out. Much better than using the handouts.

#4- Here are the comments we received from the cards send to first-time guests (these are not from our Easter services):

• I may be moving to Woodbury – my daughter...attends – I was a teacher and LOVED the stations – excellent participation for all! I attend New Hope Church in Crystal now – your pastor’s sermon was powerful!! I will visit again. God Bless you!!
• Thank you for welcoming us so promptly! We enjoyed worshiping with you, especially the music, the informality and the use of AV. We have always attended churches that utilize visual media to support the message, but I missed being able to follow the Bible verses along with the pastor since they were not as readily displayed. Loved the coffee shop too, nice, homey, comforting touch! [

#5- In case you missed it in my blue comments on the comments, I mention the books I send inquirers and the challenging book I talked about. Look for the blue bracketed comments. Someone told me that Lee Strobel's "The Case for Christ" (1h 11m) and "The Case for Faith" (1h 19m) documentaries are both available on Netflix streaming. The Case for Faith is only available on Netflix streaming until 4/13/2012.

#6- The Women's Ministry continues to make a big impact on those who attend their small groups, on the hungry in our city and even on women in other countries. In March they partnered with our own Margo Neibling who led and taught at a Women's Conference in Ethiopia. Before leaving, Margo made up information cards on the women who would be attending so the women here could pray. Many were also able to send notes of encouragement to the women they were praying for. Here's what Margo wrote about the event:

We covered some every significant topics (personal boundaries, parenting, abuse and sexuality)... Some topics we covered "kicked in" doors as the women wrestled with something they had been taught as "culturally" correct but was not "Biblically" correct! I know your prayers made a HUGE difference. When I shared with the ladies that they each had a prayer partner through Five Oaks Women's Ministry...they were so excited and wanted me to share with you how special that was for them to have a "sister-in-Christ" from another culture praying for them!

#7- Speaking of the Women's Ministry, my mom will be one of the runway models for the spring event and fashion show! The event is April 21, 10am – 12pm and tickets are $5. Register here. Jeni Carlson will be speaking at the event.

#8- Guys, this is the big Courageous Challenge event weekend on Saturday morning.

Register here to hear Stephen Kendrick, the co-writer and producer of the Courageous movie. 

#9- Remember, we don't have any Saturday services this weekend. We'll only have two Sunday services and Stephen Kendrick will be speaking again. Guys, as I said before, the message on Saturday will be focused on guys and will have a special impact on our lives because of that. Bring your sons, brothers, dad's and friends. I hope you can all make it on Saturday morning.

God bless you all. See you on the weekend!

Pastor Henry

 

 

Mid-Week Memo

Hi Five Oakers,

I have TEN things I want to share with you,

# 1- Dan Lukas did a great job leading worship last weekend. A big thank you to worship band. I love the first song they did for reflection, "Search Me." It's a Dan Lukas original. We've done it at least one other time, and it's a perfect song for reflection and response.

"Search Me"

even the dark is light to you

nothing is hidden from your eyes

steal away the broken lies

breath truth, bring life

search me and know me

discern my thoughts oh God

search me and know me

see if there be any wicked ways

# 2- We looked at another encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees (from Luke 11) and I noted five traits of religious hypocrisy. One was that it is OCD on minors and MIA on majors. I love that a high school student came up afterward with his note sheet and asked what those letters stood for. His note sheet was full of his notes!

# 3- Here are all the comments from the Communication Cards:

• Great music, great song choice. “Washed White as Snow” was great for Palm Sunday. Nice job Dan. “Let God Arise."
• If you want people to recite things on the screen, speak slow enough people can get the words out. Music was great!
• Great job on the worship set. Loved the crescendos! Really appreciating our drummers lately – the nuanced strokes. Henry great example with coffee cup – vivid! Excellent message, Henry! Your pauses and pace were very effective. Great closing song.
• Great message. Thanks.
• Great message Henry! It challenged me, especially the part about resisting change.
• Powerful message. 
• Henry, thanks for the extra encouragement for the men’s event. Your little tidbit about you and Lois is much appreciated!
• One of the most powerful messages I can remember. Ever. Thank you. [That means a lot to me coming from you. Thank you.]
• Good job Dan Lukas.
• Great job Dan and worship team.
• Especially appreciated Dan’s call for reflection after Christ be the center of our lives. What would that look like… made me really thing about what I was singing and challenged me to live like that.[I agree. Love the way he went back to that part of the song and asked us to reflect on it. Both Dan and Justin deeply and passionately want to LEAD us into worship...straight from the heart to our hearts toward God.]
• Thank you worship team.
• Thanks for your mid-week memo’s Henry. First response song was awesome!
• Loved the message, but where’s Palm Sunday? [Not sure if you were looking for more of if you missed the Call to Worship at the beginning of worship. That's where we focused on it.]
• I love Five Oaks – awesome church, awesome people, awesome staff. Thank you.
• Thanks for your honesty, Henry.
• Thanks for your promotion of the “Courageous” event. It’s going to be awesome.
• I forgot my notebook, wished for a small spot to take notes on bulletin, inspired sermons need notes for me to study later. [Not sure if you're aware that we have outlines on tables as you come in. Check it out. If you forget to pick it up, don't be shy. Feel free to get up and go get one. And I'm really glad you take notes and reflect on the message!!!]

# 4- After looking for feedback from a bunch of people we decided to keep our summer outdoor service, baptism, and all-church picnic at Hudson on the St. Croix River. It'll take place on July 22, so put it on the calendar. We want to add some new elements this year to keep it fresh. If you've not been baptised as a believer in Christ, maybe this is your year!

# 5- Jerry Meras is moving along in his plans to bike from CA to MN this summer with a group of Five Oakers to raise money and exposure for Feed My Starving Children (and to fund our event for next year). He met this week with people from FMSC and they are already proving to be a huge help in making this a great event. They are full of great ideas.

# 6- For all of you who love statistics, here's some information on the volume of sound in our worship services in relation to other sounds and OSHA standards for safety:

• Normal Conversation - 60-65dB
• Telephone Dial Tone - 80dB
• Hand Drill - 98dB
• Snowmobile/Motorcycle - 100dB
• Mower (at 3 ft) - 107dB
• OSHA Daily Permissible Noise Levels (hours per day)
  • 90dB - 8 hrs
  • 92dB - 6 hrs
  • 95dB - 4 hrs
  • 97dB - 3 hrs
  • 100dB - 2 hrs
  • 102dB - 1.5 hrs
  • 105dB - 1 hr

We normally run our volume in our gatherings around 93-94dB with peaks up to 95-96dB. Just thought you might be interested.

#7 - The book edition of the 40-day guided journey through the Bible that I wrote arrives this week in time for the next Story of God 7-week small group experience. (Register to attend here.) I did the self-publishing thing through Amazon (great experience), but I hope to make some more edits and seek out a publisher in the coming year. If you have any inroads with any publishers and could put in a word for me, let me know. I think it's a unique tool that can help a lot of people become biblically literate and enhance understanding for people who have been reading the Bible all their lives. 

# 8- The Good Friday service will be very similar to last year. It was very moving and high effective. We ran out of room last year, so arrive early. Sorry, but we're not ready to do two yet. Maybe if we run high again this year we can consider it.

# 9- Easter is going to be awesome because (1) it's all about the resurrection (you can't go wrong with that); (2) we have a great Faith Story on video; (3) we're singing "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" and we're having the full complement of Response Stations;  (4) my message is shaping up really well and focuses on 1 Corinthians 15:13-20 (I've got a great opening illustration that sets things up and serves as a metaphor for the message); (5) Christians will be challenged to live in the reality of the resurrection (and better understand what that means); and (6) the gospel will be clearly presented and people will be crossing the line of faith. It doesn't get any better than that so bring yourself and your unchurched friends and participate as heaven cheers!

# 10- Have you registered for the Easter service you'll be attending? 9:45am on Sunday is closed! Register for an open service here.

God bless you and see you on the greatest weekend of the year,

Pastor Henry

Mid-Week Memo

Hey Five Oakers,

I have TEN things I want to share with you this week.

#1- Last weekend's message focused on unreasonable doubt as we looked at Luke 11:29-36. We also spent some time looking at the benefits of reasonable doubt. Justin played and sang "Doubting Thomas" by Nickel Creek toward the end of my message. It was just him and the guitar and it was beautiful. The words are worth contemplating:

What will be left when I've drawn my last breath
Besides the folks I've met and the folks who've known me
Will I discover a soul-saving love
Or just the dirt above and below me

I'm a doubting Thomas
I took a promise
But I do not feel safe
Oh me of little faith

Sometimes I pray for a slap in the face
Then I beg to be spared cause I'm a coward
If there's a master of death
I bet he's holding his breath
As I show the blind and tell the deaf about his power

I'm a doubting Thomas
I can't keep my promises
Cause I don't know what's safe
Oh me of little faith

Can I be used to help others find truth
When I'm scared I'll find proof that it's a lie
Can I be led down a trail dropping bread crumbs
That prove I'm not ready to die

Please give me time to decipher the signs
Please forgive me for time that I've wasted

I'm a doubting Thomas
I'll take your promise
Though I know nothin's safe
Oh me of little faith

#2- Here are most of the comments from the Communication Cards from the weekend:

• I’ve never felt that the worship music was too loud. I feel I can worship better when I can sing loudly (is that crazy!). [Nope.]
• Great message!
• Really cold today! Brrr!
• Why is it always so cold in the worship center? [The time of year when it's hard to get it right is when the weather is up and down (fall and spring usually, but what can I say about this crazy weather). It's not just about setting a temperature. It's about whether or not it should be heat or cool and the effects of 100's of people's body temperature.
• I am visiting Five Oaks with one of my confirmation students to see how worship is conducted (from Woodbury Korean UMC) thank you and God bless you on a wonderful ministry. [I sat right across from you but didn't get to say hi. Thanks for coming.]
  
• Great sermon Henry.
• Thank you very much for all the very hard “behind the scenes” work the staff does. Several times this week, we have taken advantage of archived audio messages and they had direct application in what we are going through now. We were so blessed by the ease and convenience of being able to bring God’s truth directly into our lives and living room.
  
• “Majesty” … beautiful! “Little Faith” great message! Henry, great message. My wife's dad used to say that “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” Good intentions produce no fruits. By fruit you will know we are Christians.
• Meant to share this weeks ago: lighting with different colors moving around into the faces of audience is cool but can trigger seizure – even in those who haven’t had one in awhile, lead to too much sensory for those with autism/EBD/Aspergers and migraines. So may want to forsake “cool” for the health of all. Thank you lighting for being so servant hearted.
• Excellent sermon! Henry, you have so much passion for Christ. Way to go Lois! The burden is on them. 
• Dear Pastor and Five Oaks. I love being here.
• Henry, thank you so much for bringing God’s instruction for me and my life – to me through your message. Thank you God for creating Five Oaks.
• Just tried to savor and enjoy all the instruments this service. Thanks, for Aaron’s “touches” on the drums, Jonathan on the keyboard (even backing up prayer), the guitars, the vocals – thanks. Love this sermon series. Thanks Henry. Liked Justin’s song, good tie-in. Great closing call Henry! Great closing set! 
• I really like the plus and minus station. It is a reminder that there are others working towards knowing God better. 
• Is there a study version of the Bible app for iphone/ipad? [Yes, but it costs about $10. It's the ESV Study Bible + from Crossway.]
• Thanks for placing the notes at the worship center entry!

#3- Guys, you don't want to miss the Courageous Challenge on the Saturday morning after Easter. There have been some people saying that women can come, but I don't advice it. Changes the whole dynamics of the event. I'm going to share a bit this weekend about how a great all-men's event is such a powerful catalyst for growth as a follower of Christ, husband and dad. I'll share one story of how it has impacted my life. I'm sure this is dynamic is true for all-women's events, but I've never attended one. :-) It's just a different dynamic. Get info and sign up here.

#4- Here are the results of our most recent quarterly survey. These help us see how we're doing (at least on certain important behavioral factors). We had 100 more responses than in December, so thanks for taking the 30 seconds it takes to complete it. The first number is the most recent survey and the second is December's number.

• Volunteer at Five Oaks: 67% Now / 67% in December
• Invited someone to Five Oaks: 55% / 55%
• Read and reflected on the Bible at least five days a week: 62% / 61%
• Participated in an Impact initiative (e.g., the Feed Event, tutoring, etc.): 77% / 63%S

#5- Speaking of Impact, I'm loving my weekly mentoring relationship at Woodbury Elementary through our Kid's Hope ministry. One of the best parts for me is that it fits my schedule so well. It's amazing how time and busyness gets in the way of serving hurting people. I just want to encourage you not to give up trying to find your niche for service in our world. Our Impact ministry is chock full of ideas for you, your family or small group.

#6- Welcome back to the Nicaragua Family Mission Trip team. I heard you had a great and profitable time.

#7- We're looking for people to donate toward the Student Ministry Silent Auction. We'll be offering the Cuban meal as usual. What might you be able to offer?

#8- Easter is just two weekends away. The service times are all different. And don't forget to let us know what service you will be attending (click here). We will be focusing on the resurrection, but our service will include all the usual elements, including the time of response (and stations). That's who we are and we've finally figured out that changing for Easter or Christmas is not very smart. My message will be on 1 Corinthians 15:16-20. Paul explores what the ramifications would be if Jesus had not risen from the dead. In doing so we see the impact the truth of the resurrection brings to our lives. It's going to be an incredible weekend of worship and the gospel will be clearly preached. Is there someone you can invite who needs to hear the message of the gospel? Invite now!

#9- Over the last two weeks I have been able to participate in some incredible leadership growth experiences. Last week I was in a room with about six pastors for three hours with the creator of REVEAL learning about new insights and the best practices of top 5% churches. Then three hours with about a dozen pastors and Bill Hybels, peppering him with questions. Bill Hybels is one of my life heroes so it was especially fun to be so up close and personal. I came back so full of ideas and encouraged that I just can't quantify it. The week before that I met for two days with about 40 EFree pastors of large churches for my annual K-Club meeting in CA. Two days of open discussion facilitated by Larry Osborne. Larry always brings such a fresh perspective to spiritual growth, church life and leadership. I've learned tons from him and the other pastors in that group. It's one of the most valuable leadership experienced I get to do every year. Right up there with the Summit.

#10- This weekend's message is on Luke 11:37-54 and focuses on what religious hypocrisy looks like. Jesus isn't very "nice" in this passage, and for good reason. The most surprising insight I had in my study is that religious hypocrites not only turn others off to Christianity, but they also bully other believers. That's just one of the insights. Unfortunately we're all in danger of becoming first-class hypocrites and we all slip into it from time to time...even irreligious people do!

See you on the weekend. God bless you all,

Pastor Henry

 

Mid-Week Memo

Hey Five Oakers,

I have just FOUR things I want to share with you this week:

#1- I missed last weekend but I heard great things about the service and about Vince’s message. Vince listed some of the quotes and books he mentioned on his timeline on Facebook. Here are all the Com Card comments (made me wish so much that I was there):

• Love the Jam session. 
• I like the “pre-show” song, but why the change? It makes me worry that I’m late!  [I’ve joked that this is going to drive punctual people crazy and you’re the first to let me know. :-) There’s a reason for it, but I hesitate to go into it in detail. Here’s the short answer: Our call to worship at the beginning of the worship gathering is a crucial part of our worship. We are being very intentional about reminding everyone that God calls us to gather together to worship him, looking to his Word or singing a call and then taking time for confession and for receiving assurance of forgiveness. Yes, all that is packed into the first few minutes. But 2/3 of the congregation was missing most of it…until we started early. That’s all I’m going to say.]
• So very thankful for the God given talent given to the worship team(s). Loved the guitars solos. Whoop! 
• Great display of talent that God gives! 
• Thanks for joining us Vince! Thank you Worship Team, awesome! 
• Last song – amazing! 
• Great solos on final worship song! 
• Loved the version of “How Great Is Our God” – cool rhythm. 
• Justin – you keep getting better! Wonderful. “More than Amazing” was amazing. 
• Yes, following God is indeed a party. Thank you for the rocking song! 
• Worship team! Wow! 
• Awesome worship! 
• Great message. 
• Nice jam! 
• Worship (praise) is so full of Jesus this morning. Thank you Worship Team! 
• Missed you guys last week (spring break vacation). Great to be back in my worship home! Vince great to see and hear from you! Great message Vince, thank you. Really hit home – either we are with Him or against Him. Please avoid turning up guitars during final prayer, very distracting. 
• Vince Miller had a great message today! He’s helped me begin my week with a positive goal. Thanks to his love for the Word. 
• Great worship time. Very real message. Thanks. 
• Great job on the last song worship team! Awesome! 
• Looks like we forgot to let Vince know that we now use ESV version. [Yep, my bad.]
• The music is great, except too loud, especially the last song. Please tone it down. Thanks. 
• I was very upset with the guitar solo during worship. It should be about God, not the people on stage.
• The volume of the first worship set was very loud. I had one lady ask for ear plugs (I was at the info desk working security.) I went in and I must agree it was loud.
• Music was very loud, almost painful - 9:30. 

#2- Okay, so I want to speak a little to the “too loud” issue.

• First, in our evaluation, we think that the 9:30am was probably the service that drew the most comments about loudness. With spring break, that service is was not as full as usual and was much less attended than the 11am. We may not have made proper adjustments in sound since people in the seats absorb sound.
• Second, we have taken many, many additional steps to make the sound less abrasive over the last year including changing the symbols, working with our drummers and sound volunteers to take out abrasive sounds and many other steps (I’ll detail them in another post some time).
• Third, we still have one more investment to make to help the sound that will be applied in coming weeks (i.e., putting sound reinforcements on the stage area ceiling).
• Fourth, I want you to know that we never run the decibels loud enough to damage hearing. We are always monitoring the level and we stayed in our normal range, even in the 9:30am this week. But sometimes the mix is such that some sounds are harsher on the hearing.

I just want everyone to know that we are CONSTANTLY working on removing harsh sounds while, at the same time, keeping the energy and volume levels up (and, yes, the two are connected).

#3- A couple of weeks ago I was talking to Justin about all that goes on behind the scenes each week for the worship team to prepare for the service…besides rehearsing. I’m talking about the spiritual prep that takes place.

• Since the team can’t do the stations, they take time to worship with some iPod music and they do the stations together.
• The team walks through the worship center praying about what will take place in the service and touching every chair as a representation of the folks that will be sitting in the chairs.
• During rehearsal, they have a time of sharing prayer requests and praying for each other.
• Lastly, during the third service and during the transition to the message, they circle around and “popcorn” prayers of thanks. Justin doesn’t want a week to go by where they don’t thank God for making it all possible.

#4- Congratulations to head coach (and Five Oaker) Brad Frost and his Gopher Women’s Hockey team on their national championship! We're talking about a collegiate National championship folks!!!

I can’t wait to be back in the saddle this weekend. I’m teaching on Luke 11:29-36 and addressing reasonable and unreasonable doubt. Jesus is very patient with the Thomas’ of this world who struggle with doubts, but in this passage he becomes quite impatient with some doubters. What’s the difference? Come and see how our doubts can become unreasonable.

See you on the weekend.

With much love,

Pastor Henry

Mid-Week Memo

Hey Five Oakers,

I have quite a few things I want to share with you today:

#1- We completed the "A Praying Life" series on Luke 11:1-13. I hope it was a boost to your praying life. But the bottom line is the only lasting boost is growing in greater knowledge of our dependence on God. As I said on the weekend, you don't need discipline to ask for directions when it's the last resort to get to your destination. I can't live the life God designed for me without him...every step of the way. I need God all the time. It's just that I don't get that. But I'm getting it more and more.

#2- I hope the story I read from Paul Millers book whets your appetite for the book. His book is filled with stories like that one that you'll never forget and will impact how you pray.

#3- I've been at a pastor's meeting in San Diego for three days. It's kind of a round table discussion with 45 senior pastors of larger churches. It's facilitated by Larry Osborne (we have one of Larry's books on our resource table and it's very much in the vein of Paul Miller's book). We were having a discussion on parenting and pastor's kids when one of the pastors recommended reading Paul Miller's book on prayer as a book on parenting! Exactly! If you haven't read a book in a while, start with this one. (Although you may also want to get the first Hunger Games book done before the movie comes out in a couple of weeks. :-))

#4- Here's the Feed Event video from last weekend

#5- Here is some of the feedback and comments from the Communication Cards:

• Thank you for Feed My Starving Children. So meaningful!
• Henry, thank you for addressing those of us who have experienced extremely ‘sinful’ fathers.  Your words were comforting, healing and encouraging.  Beautiful song (I am yours)! [A good friend asked why I didn't mention my not having a dad in my life (mine left soon after I was born and I never met him or his family). My experience (and studies I've read support it) is that not having a dad in your life is better than having a seriously flawed one, especially if you have some strong, positive male figures in your life. I had those in my family and at church.]
• I think my prayers are going to change dramatically, which is a good thing. 
• Love this series!!  Great worship today!  
• Henry – keep up the great work and everyday life blogs it’s a great ‘pick me up’ and ‘nudge’ for me when the daily grinds have me on a short term path. [Someone is actually reading this? :-)]
• Looking for any regular members/attenders who live in/near downtown Mpls. for transportation. [I don't think we have many or any coming from that direction and that far. If you're having trouble making it to Five Oaks regularly and decide to look for something closer to home, I've heard GREAT things about Hope Community in downtown Minneapolis and met the pastor this week. It's predominantly young adults, but I think that would be my preference, even at my age. Former Five Oaks members that moved to downtown Minneapolis love First Covenant, which has experienced some great transformations with their new pastor.] 
• Loudness of Acorn Café staff conversing with each other made it difficult to hear the monitor.  Maybe remind workers that people are trying to listen a few feet away.  I ended up asking them to use a lower volume and it was much better.  [We are devising a plan...... More on that on another day.]
• Thank you Five Oaks team!!  [You are welcome!]
• Excellent first response time song!  [I agree! And its message was so perfect coming out of the message. We're doing some new things behind the scenes in designing the services that you may be noticing, but we're geeking out on these changes. I'll talk more about it once we're farther into it.] 

#6- The Nicaragua family missions team should have arrived there yesterday. I'm told the staff gathered around Jerry and prayed for him and the team at our weekly check-in. Pray for their effectiveness and safety.

#7- The Treehouse ministry is gearing up for a "Cross the Line Weekend" on April 7/8.  On this weekend we'll present the gospel message and ask kids where they are at in their faith journey. We also give the parents a head-up, in case they want to be the ones to pray with their kids to receive Christ (if the child is ready). We provide resources to help with that too.

#8- The weekend after "Cross the Line Weekend" the Treehouse will be helping kids take next steps in their spiritual growth by challenging and equipping them to practice spiritual disciplines like daily prayer, Bible reading and Bible memorization. I love that our Children's Ministry is so intentional with our kids. Thank you to all volunteers and staff who make this happen every weekend!

#9- Need prayer?  Did you know you can make an appointment to pray with a prayer team member on March 22 any time between 7 - 8:30 p.m. Schedule an appointment through the office at office@fiveoakschurch.org.

#10- So the weather in San Diego is cooler than in Minnesota...IN MARCH! So weird. We're bragging about it here, but then everyone says, "But you're here in San Diego."

#11- We're launching a new station on this weekend for the new series. All I'm going to tell you is that it's BIG.

#12- Our new series focuses on Luke 11-14. One of the themes that dominates these chapters is choosing the good and narrow path that leads to Christ and to a better life in him (for now and eternity). It made me think of what Andy Stanley calls "the principle of the path": Direction, not intention, determines our destination. The reality is that the quality of your life (your marriage, your career, your parenting, your finances) is determined by the paths you choose. It's a principle built into the fabric of the universe. So we're using his title and promoting his book as an additional resource for growth during the next 11 weeks or so of this series.

#13- The new series logo is inspired by the classic Zelda video game. If you've played it, you know why it fits great with a series on choosing the right path. (Great idea and design, Geoff.) And the Easter graphic was painted by Erinn Schaap. It's beautiful! Check both out here.

God bless you,

Pastor Henry

 

My Comments on Your Comments

Every week, during our worship gatherings, we ask you to fill out the Communication Cards and give us feedback, ask questions, mark decisions, request more information, or write a prayer request. I've explained elsewhere why this is such an important practice for our church and why we need everyone to fill out a card every week. (You can read about it here.) But I've never commented on the comments. And only recently have I started listing them (or most of them) in my Mid-Week Memo.

Yesterday, one of our staff members came in to my office  and shared his concern that by asking for comments and feedback feels like we're offering a consumer product and that we're feeding a consumer mentality. (If you've not thought about the danger of turning church into a consumer product, just ponder it for a few moments, shudder, then come back to this post.) He explained that he was at a restaurant where he received a card that basically said, "We want your feedback and we will change to make you happy." (If only we would ask God for feedback with that mindset!)

I told him I have felt uneasy about this too, and we talked about how we can counteract it. We agreed that comments and feedback are a good thing and that making it easier to give it has it's advantages. So here are a few thoughts about commenting and giving feedback, without denigrating church in your mind to a consumer product that's all about you:

• Tell us how you were impacted spiritually by the service or an element in the service. I recently heard a story from a worship leader who took a tour of a Greek Orthodox Church. He commented on how wonderful it must be to worship while looking at the beautiful icons. The priest stopped the tour and said, "No, we don't look at them. We see through them." There's lots going on in our services that can catch your eye or your ear, and it's okay to like that guitar solo, a funny story in the message or singing your new favorite song. But don't make that your ultimate focus. It's okay to comment on it, but more than anything we want you to "see through" all of that to God--to worship and adore Christ; to be moved to make a decision or confess a sin; to commit to some change in your life. Try not to focus so much on the beautiful "icon" that you fail to see through it to God.  

• Tell us when something we're doing is getting in the way of worship. But please remember that our congregation is diverse and what you hate is someone else's joy. Take the loudness issue...please. Okay, bad joke. But the truth is we've had weekends where one person tells us it was way too loud and someone else tells us it was way too low and lacking in energy. We listen, but it is absolutely impossible to make everyone happy. We continue to do everything we can to eliminate harsh sounds, but our music requires a certain amount of loudness or it wilts. And loudness is only one issue. Add to that communion bread, number of songs we sing, the length of the service...you've seen the comments so you can add to the list.

• Be specific, especially in your critique. Don't exaggerate or we won't listen (just being honest). For example, if one song was too loud, don't say, "It was so loud today I had to leave." Say, "That one song killed my ears." If you add, "Is it only me?," that kind of humility can go a long way.

• You know how easy it is to write things in an email in anger that you regret later? Well it's the same way with the cards. Like email, don't write anything you'll regret later or would never say face-to-face. I've had some people apologize for hasty, harsh remarks on cards, and I've been very appreciative of that. If you've been around Five Oaks long enough you've seen me apologize for harsh remarks I've made while preaching or in conversations, so I completely understand.

• Be encouraging. What's the ratio of encouragement versus critique you need to hear? If you want to have the right to make critical comments when something goes wrong (and be heard), you need to be in the habit of making positive comments along the way.

• Don't avoid a good fight. The caricature of the typical Minnesotan is someone who avoids conflict at all costs. So if there's something that's bothering them at their church, they think it's easier to just be nice, leave and not stir things up, rather than have a good and fair fight. Conflict is inevitable in families. So don't be that person. Don't live up to the caricature. Speak up...nicely (that part of the caricature is okay). Give us feedback on the card or later in an email or after the service. You'll be healthier and we'll all be better for it. 

Ultimately this post isn't about Communication Card etiquette. It's about gathering each week at God's invitation, honoring him in everything and growing bigger hearts for God. This was just one more opportunity for me to pastor you and help you grow as a disciple. Don't make worship into a consumer product. See through rather than looking at. Communicate in a godly way. And, by all means, keep communicating.

Mid-Week Memo

Hey Five Oakers,

What a great weekend packing meals. I want to talk to you about that and a few other things:

# 1- I think this was our third year of devoting the entire weekend to partner with Feed My Starving Children to feed hungry kids around the world. It's still just as much fun and just as impacting for those kids who receive the meals. How did we do? 1,260 volunteers packed 257,040 meals. That will feed 704 starving children for a full year! Seriously, don't gloss over that. Praise God over it! We also helped local folks by collecting approximately 1,500 non-perishable food items for Good in the Hood, a food shelf partner of Union Gospel Mission. We'll be celebrating this weekend and showing you a video. At the end of this post you can see a little video Jerry Meras produced for our staff team of some of the staff working at the Feed Event.

# 2- I received several reports/stories about interesting spiritual conversations that occurred with invitees. One of the teachers from a local elementary school commented to one of our Five Oaks parents, while tearing up, how she couldn't believe her student (a Five Oaks' third grader) prayed in front of all those people out loud at the end of the session. Another Five Oaker brought a bunch of co-workers. One of them asked, "Is this your church?" And then explained that she lives right close by, with the implication being that she needed to try it out.

# 3- We have no Communication Cards this week, so I have no comments to list. But I was going to take this opportunity to say a few things about feedback and comments, but it got too long. So I'll do it in a separate post tomorrow. You won't want to miss it.

# 4- We received one first impression card response this week from a first-time guest: "Love the response time in service."

# 5- I recieved this email from Dee Meyers, our Women's Ministry Director:

Hi Pastor Henry -

We are so excited about an awesome event we have coming up.  Kim Dorantes, our Impact Coordinator has organized an opportunity for us to take advantage of the Spring Break week to make an impact on our area. 

On Wednesday March 14, in lieu of bible study, we are going to be making sandwiches for 363.org from 9:30 - 11:30am and everyone is welcome. The idea behind this organization is help a void for the other 363 days of the year (besides Thanksgiving and Christmas which receive so much attention).

While the moms are making sandwiches, the young children are going to be making "take home snack kits" for the families staying at Tubman Shelter.  These are going to be bags filled with granola bars, pop tarts, easy mac, etc.  We are asking those who would like to attend to bring a box of something to donate for the snack kit (a non-perishable box item that these dislocated families can easily use). 

The folks that run 363 are so grateful for our help and they are going to be coming to our event to film, take pictures, etc. for their promotional materials!

Way to go Women's Ministry. One of my daily prayers for our church is that Impact ministry take hold in our lives. This is more evidence of that prayer being answered!

# 6- VBS registration is now live. I'll never forget the energy of the final large group session I attended last summer. I hope we can capture some of that on video this year. Register here.

Remember to check out my comments on comments tomorrow and the staff Feed video below. And remember to "spring" your clocks forward this weekend.

I love you guys and am blessed to serve you,

Pastor Henry

Mid-Week Memo

Hi Five Oakers,

I have NINE things to share with you:

#1- Great service last weekend. Loved Justin's arrangements of "It is Well With My Soul" and "Happy Day." It really underscored the message of the songs.

#2- I taught on the Lord's Prayer last weekend. We looked at five surprises that can lead to breakthroughs in our prayer lives.

#3- Here are some of the comments from the Communication Cards (and some of my answers):

• Excellent service from start to finish.
• Sometimes I have to stop in awe and amazement that I have the privilege, week after week, of being part of the worship I am involved in.  I am the beneficiary of such great music and phenomenal teaching.  Lord, please don’t let me take this for granted...
• I am just thankful to be here today!  I had some life circumstances which prevented me from being here the last 3 weeks.  Praise Jesus! 
• Loved the hymn!  
• The bass amp was quite loud today.  Loud enough to vibrate the left projector at times and blur the words. [Maybe we need to bolt that projector down better. :-)]
• Henry, you might already know but almost every AA meeting I’ve been to in 8 years ends with the Lord’s Prayer.  It’s always cool. 
• Liked the hymn.  Bass too loud today. [Or maybe we need to lower the bass amp. :-)]
• The moving images give our daughter and my wife headaches.
• Speaking of recitations: Apostle’s Creed, Doxology, too.  This coming from my Baptist background!  Special prayers on Veteran’s/Memorial Days, too. 
• Nice stage design!  I love the new look.
• Thanks for the teaching today – I always wondered why some said a longer version of the Lord’s Prayer.  Loved the “communal” part! 
• Henry – thank you for helping to make prayer seem easier. 
• That gluten-free bread is far from tasty. 
• Can we get the titles of the songs we sing every Sunday? [You can find them right here every week.]
• Thank you, Henry for a new understanding of the Lord’s Prayer! 
• During response, why does the worship leader have the attendees stand and join in the singing at the beginning of the second song?  Attendance at the stations mostly comes to a halt.  This seems to defeat the purpose of praying, reflecting and reading scripture.  Reflecting during just one song is too short for this response time. [I would love to extend the reflective response time by one song. Until then here's the issue as I see it: Most people are done with the stations by that time and singing while sitting down (especially as the tone and tempo is becoming more celebratory) doesn't work well. The tone of the service is shifting and standing is natural at that point. We are looking at how we might get more time for reflection without cutting celebration.]
• Forgiveness is the part I have to work on. 
• Pastor Henry – Would you please put a small summary of the part about Surprise 5 on your blog?  I was frantically taking notes and trying to understand and am confused.  Thanks. [I'll add an addendum at the bottom of this post.]

#4- Soon we'll be sending a survey to your email box about a possible time change for the Saturday night service. The idea is to move the start time to 5:30pm so that people's afternoons aren't interrupted quite as much when the days are longer (while still preserving an evening after the service). Then we''ll move it back to 4:30pm some time in the early fall. But we want to hear from those of you who attend Saturday regularly so that we can make a good decision.

#5- I've been trying to figure out why I've been crashing several times a day. Total fatigue until I sit, close my eyes and recover for a few minutes. Thought it might be that I didn't have enough strenuous exercise in my life. Started doing a spinning class. No help (but loving he class). Made sure I was eating right and getting enough sleep. Not the issue. Then Jim Hill suggested I might be getting too much caffiene. True, I've been drinking a lot more coffee since Christmas (got a bunch of great coffee stuff). Cut back. Fatigue gone!!!

#6- A special thanks from Lois and I to one of our small groups. You know who you are, even if we don't. God bless you for your kindness! We are blessed.

#7- The Treehouse kids put together a bunch of supplies for the Nicaragua family missions trip. Way to go kids!

#8- Got an email from one of our members regarding A Praying Life: "What a great book.  Thanks." My mom is loving it. I'm also hearing from many others. We sold over 50 copies! I hope at least 25 get read. :-)

#9- This is one of the great weekends of the year for our church family--our Feed My Starving Children Event. Think of the all the hungry and hurting children that will enjoy meals this coming year. Thank you all for your generosity anbd your commitment to this work at this event! We got this email from Gold's Gym employee and Five Oaks member Ashley Perry this week:

Hi Deb!  I reserved 40 slots for the Sunday 11:30-1:30 time-slot for the Gold's Gym Team (FMSC).  God has been so awesome and has filled each and every slot. Incredibly, I have 4 more Gold's peeps who would love to join our team.  Are there any slots available during our time frame?  I promised them I would check even though you guys have been very clearly telling us it is FULL!! :)

Don't forget to scroll down to read the addendum if you're interested.

God bless you all,

Pastor Henry

Addendum: Here's the main ideas I was trying to get across in the last point of the message.

• Don't let the brevity of the prayer fool you. It's quite complex. It's incomprehensible the first time you really stop and look at it.
• This prayer begins with requests for God to make things right (to fix this mess) and then it ends with requests to help us live in the mess in the meantime.
• The last three requests don't make sense unless you see that they look to the day when God rules on earth as he does in heaven (i.e., at the return of Christ and the time of the new creation). In this life we will have to work for food, we might go hungry, most of us don't need God to put bread on the table, we are forgiven in spite of the fact that we don't forgive everyone (we are not forgiven as we have forgiven), and we are led into temptation just as Jesus was (Matthew 4:1). But we pray for God to rule and the day to come when we will not have to work for food or no one will ever go hungry again, when we will forgive everyone, and when there will be no temptation.
• Thank God he doesn't answer the prayer to be forgiven as we forgive EVERYONE. But we pray it because we are being transformed into the kind of people who live in grace so deeply that we can and do forgive EVERYONE who is indebted to us.
• Why pray not to be led into temptation when we find temptation everywhere? For the same reason we pray for healing in spite of the fact that God doesn't always provide it and we all eventually die. Sometimes God heals miraculously and sometimes he spares us the ordeal of temptation by miraculously protecting us from it. 
• I didn't say this, but in seminary talk, this is an eschatological prayer.

 

Mid-Week Memo

Hey Five Oakers,

I have a few things I want to share with you today:

#1- I was in Louisville over the weekend so I missed our worship gathering. I did, however, listen to Tim's message and he did an excellent job kicking off the "A Praying Life" series on Luke 11. Highlights...

• You'd think that with all Jesus' power, all he came to do and his 24/7 broadband connection with God that he would be more efficient with the use of his time.
• You have to put effort into making time for God just like making arrangements for a date with your spouse.
• Start small and keep going. Consistency is crucial.
• Jesus REALLY needed to pray. We REALLY need to pray.
• Some day we will die and we will know reality: we exist now only because God sustains us.
• When we get how dependent we are on God, we will pray.

#2- Thanks for comments on your Communication Cards this weekend. Here are a few:

• "Oh my!  You raised the questions I have about prayer.  Good to know I’m not alone.  Loved your analogies Tim." [No, you are alone. He included that stuff to make YOU feel better. (That comment was written by a personal friend, so don't worry, I can poke her.)]
• "Beautiful harmony by the worship team!  Tim, thanks for the encouragement in my prayer life!"
• "Really appreciated blessing/benediction/challenge at end of service." [You can expect more of this in the future.] 
• "As I speak to individuals in the community I am amazed how many people know about Five Oaks.  They are also considering coming.  That’s great - Praise the Lord!" [People are primed to be invited. We all need to pray about who we can invite for this weekend.]
• "The gluten free communion is terrible!  Please have some regular bread." [We'll consider it, but I'll just say that it gets very confusing and difficult to explain where the glutten free bread is when it's only in one place. There are several other factors in going all gluten free, but we hear you.]
• "Any chance we could have a communion station with cups?  For some like me that might have some germ-phobic tendencies we avoid the dipping because we know fingers have been in the juice." [Don't worry. It will build your resistance to germs. Okay, I'm only kidding. Again, we'll consider it, but just know that it's very hard to provide options (a lot more work for volunteers) and to communicate the options to everyone. But maybe there is a way we haven't yet thought of.]

#3- Justin Schaap and Dan Lukas came with me to Louisville so we could poke around Sojourn Church. Our time there was super impacting. We came away with some concrete ideas on how to bring more Scripture into our services, how to deepen our congregation's understanding of what we are doing whenever we gather for worship and how to deepen our engagement in worship. We are changing the whole way we plan our worship, but the differences may not be evident until mid to late March. I truly believe you will love it, and it will deepen your engagement with God in worship and your response to God and his Word.

#4- Why Sojourn Church? It's the church my son attends, but I've known about it for years through some other Five Oakers that moved there and attended. It's one of the most interesting churches I've ever attended. I hate to even try to convey why, because it's one of those things that has to be experienced. But our primary reason for going is that they have a very clear and thought-out order and form to their worship that in instructive to us and to how we do our Response services. This church also knows how to create great music. They are highly talented. You can check out their music here or on iTunes. You can check out a recap of one of the services from this last weekend here (we attended two of their locations, but not this one). We were very grateful for the time we had over supper with two of their worship leaders, Brooks Ritter and Chad Watson (and one of their musicians). Simply a GREAT trip!

#5- Lots of hipsters in Louisville and at Sojourn so took a few moments to see what it feels like.

It feels good. Also found some time to play Catan.

#6- Who gets a negative message on a fortune cookie? I did yesterday at our staff luncheon. The only one who did in the entire room. Take a look. (Sorry about it being sideways but I can't fix it.)

#7- Don't forget about the Jaime Jorge concert on Friday. Lois and I are making a date night out of it. Dinner then the concert. Interestingly, I heard a Cuban violinist in Miami recently. One of the highlights of our trip to clean out my uncle's house. He and a guitarist were playing beautiful music in front of a hotel on South Beach.

#8- We continue in our prayer series on the weekend as we look at the Lord's Prayer in Luke 11:1-4. Think about how odd this is:

• Jesus regularly spent entire nights in prayer, but when the disciples asked him to teach them to pray, he gave them a four-sentence prayer they could recite.
• When they ask to be taught, he doesn’t give a lecture on prayer. He goes on to tell them some stories about prayer, but his first action is to give them a prayer.
• The prayer can be recited. Jesus says, "When you pray, say, 'Father...'" Interesting that most commentators I read for this message can't see that. These are super-smart scholars, but I'm afraid their bias against recited prayers is too strong to see what the text actually says.
• It also teaches us about the content of prayer. Jesus doesn't say, "Only pray this prayer."
• Strangely, the content of the prayer is a series of requests. There are no direct statements of praise or thanksgiving or even confession. 

I hope you come to learn more. This message builds on last week's. Jesus was totally dependent on the Father. And the prayer he gave us to pray is a prayer communicating our dependence on the same Father: We need his purpose in our lives, his provision and his protection. (Yeah, three P's...it just happened...must be directly from God!).

Can't wait for the weekend! Love you all.

Pastor Henry

Mid-Week Memo

Hey Everybody,

I have a few things I want to share with you:

#1- Loved the opening last weekend with the slides and music calling us to worship. And I heard lots of comments on the stripped down worship that included the upright bass. I loved it. Oh yeah, the jazzy/funky outro was fun and engaging. Lots of people hung around to hear it to the end (not really the purpose of it, but fun). Thank you worship team.

#2- We wrapped up the EVERYTHING series talking about our work. I think the last point about being able to rest when you know your work belongs to God hit home the most. It certainly did with me.

#3- Lots of child dedications this last weekend too. I love the commitment we're all making when we dedicate children. Interesting thing is that we have more and more diversity of age groups every year. More and more of the empty-nesters like Lois and me and lots of young families. When I first came fifteen years ago we had one handful of people over 50. 

#4- 88 students are registered for the Challenge Conference in New Orleans! That's the largest group we've ever had go. It's a life changing conference. They also do a fair amount of community work at the conference. In fact, they're staying longer this year to do more work in the community. 

#5- The Jr. High ministry is working on raising funds to support a Compassion child for five years! I look forward to hearing how that goes.

#6- The Feed Event is full but you can call the office and get on a waiting list. Some spots will open. I love that people are bringing groups from work. Ashley Perry told me twenty plus Gold's Gym employees are coming (that's the gym where I work out). Love it!

#7- I'm loving my Kid's Hope sessions, but the child I'm mentoring is constantly afraid that he's missing lunch or recess. How do you explain that we're meeting for an hour with to a kindergartener? Anyway, the time flies by.

#8- We've set Easter times: Saturday at 5pm and Sunday at 8:30am, 9:45am and 11:15am. If they fill up, we'll add Saturday at 3:30pm. We hope to start registerations early so we can add the extra service with plenty of time.

#9- Several of our staff will be going to the Relevance Conference at Eagle Brook in May.

#10- We launch our new "A Praying Life" series on Luke 11 this weekend. This week our focus is on why Jesus prayed. If you figure that out, you have a big motivation for your own prayer life. We're also promoting a book by the same name that's my absolute favorite on prayer (and, interestingly, on parenting). Great stories and insights. Really, if you want a boost to encourage your relationship with God, this book will give it. We'll be selling it at the Resource Table. Check it out.

God bless you all,

Pastor Henry

 

Mid-Week Memo

Hey Five Oakers,

There are a few things I want to share with you:

#1- This last weekend was the high point of the EVERYTHING series. We looked at Luke 12:35-48, where Jesus talks about life as a trust. We talked about giving an account to God for how we manage his stuff and the consequences of mismanagement. But the reward is quite amazing: he will serve us. As Tim Keller puts it:

“Jesus is saying, ‘…I’m going to gather up all my infinities and all the immensities of my being, all of my omnipotent power, and I’m going to bring it to bear on one thing when I meet you…. I’m going to inflict so much honor, so much joy, so much love, so much glory on you as I can.’

#2- The response time of worship was precious. It was very moving.

#3- We're thrilled that Stephen Kendrick, the co-writer and producer of Courageous, Fireproof and Facing the Giants, will be speaking at a men's event at Five Oaks on April 14 and then preach on Sunday morning the 15th (this is the weekend after Easter). It's going to be quite a weekend!

#4- Two of our staff are a little out of their minds. Tim Bubar (Student Ministries) will go to the youth district conference in Rochester BY FOOT in April...from his house in Cottage Grove...in THREE days! Jerry Meras (Impact Ministries) and a group of fellow nuts are planning to ride their bikes from CA to MN in August to raise money for next years Feed My Starving Children event...in three weeks...100 miles per day! I got so inspired that I went to my first spinning class at the gym this morning at 5:30am and survived. Maybe I'll get in good enough shape to ride my bike all the way across Woodbury some day! By the way, let Jerry know if you're interested in joining his team.

#5- I met my Kids Hope USA student on Monday, and we had our first weekly session! He's in kindergarten and we had a great start. I feel like I'm cheating, but Lois just brought home some materials for me to use with him in our mentor sessions (she's a Reading Specialist). One of the great aspects of this ministry is that every mentor and child has a prayer partner and I'm very thankful for mine.

#6- We received one card back this week from a guest saying, "I really enjoyed the worship music and am planning to bring my wife the next time I come.  Thank you!"

#7 - Have you registered for the Feed Event? Lois has 24 people coming from her school! Is there a group you can invite? Neighbors? Work associates? Register here.

#8- This weekend's message concludes the EVERYTHING series and focuses on our work: our work belongs to God. My hope is that you'll go to work (or school) on Monday with a deeper sense of its meaning and your purpose. The following week we start a three-week series on prayer based on Luke 11.

#9- Worship songs for this weekend include:

• "Glorious"
• "Jesus Paid it All"
• "10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)"
• "Strong"
• "Glory to God Forever"

Looking forward to seeing you this weekend, and many blessing to you,

Pastor Henry

Mid-Week Memo

Hi Five Oakers,

I have EIGHT things I want to share with you (one day late):

#1- I absolutely loved the choir this last weekend. They sounded great!  It was so high energy and fun backstage with everyone in the "green room." Thank you to all of you sang.

#2- Justin introduced a new song that's not easy to sing the first time around but I think it will be a favorite before long. And Tim did a great job teaching on influence from Daniel 2 in our EVERYTHING series. Even our influence belongs to God.

#3- Looks like some of us will start mentoring our Kids Hope students next week. Some of us went to a monthly convocation at Woodbury Elementary yesterday, met the principle and checked out the mentoring room. Looks like I'm being matched to a kindergartner. I can't wait to meet him.

#4- I'm starting a new three-week series on prayer based on Luke 11 in a couple of weeks. We're going to be selling copies of "A Praying Life" by Paul Miller at a reduced price during the series. It's the best book I've read on prayer. I can't recommend it enough. We also have ESV Study Bibles available at the Resources & Registrations table.

#5- Dale Peterson is one of the pastors at Eagle Brook Church. Dale is passionate about the church, reaching lost people and leadership. For a couple of years I was part of a pastor cohort he led through the Eagle Brook Association. Dale keeps in touch with all the pastors that have participated. Here's some really great news he passed on to us about recorded first-time decision in the last six months among the 30 churches that have been in a cohort (including us and Eagle Brook): 3,545! That's not a typo!

#6- Another small group doing Impact story: The Gerbigs are adopting a child from Uganda. AnaLisa (she was one of the choir leaders on the weekend) and her mom are there right now working in the orphanage for a week before bringing home their child, and their small group sent them oof with a care package and a financial gift for the orphanage.

#7- I think we're up to about 21 people (including Lois and me) in our Story of God group. If you haven't experienced this yet, we'll offer it again this spring, some time after Easter. Learn the framework of the Story and you'll understand the Bible better for the rest of your life.

#8- This weekend is week five of the EVERYTHING series. We're looking at the "Salvation" scene and a passage where Jesus tells several parables that drive home the entire theme of this series in a powerful and very encouraging way. Jesus says that if we orient EVERYTHING toward him, he will do two absolutely amazing things for us. Come and see what they are.

Hope to see you on the weekend.

Blessings to you,

Pastor Henry

Tenth Avenue North @ Five Oaks this Sunday, 2:30pm, Free

This just came in. The band Tenth Avenue North will be at Five Oaks this Sunday at 2:30pm. It's free, but you have to 18 and older to come. They needed a venue to record an acoustic set with congregational voices singing along. Their record label requires 18 and older for the recording (legal reasons regarding consent). Sorry. They are playing at the Excel Center on Sunday evening as part of the Rock & Worship Roadshow with MercyMe. Come for this short concert (maybe an hour or so). Bring friends. KTIS will be promoting it on the radio.

Haiti Orphanage Update & Some Amazing Pictures

Jeff Schwartz and Wes Lindburg recently returned from an 8-day mission trip to the GVCM orphanage in Haiti. Last time Jeff was there was during the earthquake! Wes was with me on my first trip so he has seen immense change over the last few years. Here's a portion of their report:

A lot has changed since we were last down there two years ago!  From the perimeter wall, virtual classroom, library, radio station, playground, and food depot, to the school rooms being built right outside the front gate, it was a lot to take in on our first day.  Our mission was to run electric to the generator room, 3 depots, and the guard house. ...God is still working in big ways at the orphanage, not just in buildings, but in the people as well. Yves, Wilfred, and Jude are still going strong running the place and the children are as healthy and happy as I have ever seen them. One thing that stuck out to me was the amount of people who are attending services on Sunday, about 200!  God is good and His church is growing!

Mid-Week Memo

Dear Five Oakers,

I have ELEVEN things I want to share with you today:

#1- I want to strongly encourage you to use the Commitment Cards we passed out this weekend for your personal giving planning. They are not to be turned in. But will you trust God more this year with your resources? Will you seek his leading in this area of your life? God owns it or it owns you.

#2- Loved the opening song for response this weekend. It was written by Dan Lukas, a meditation based on Psalm 139.

#3- We have a choir this coming weekend. You can sing in it if you come to rehearsal on Thursday evening from 7-9pm at our building. Email Justin if you plan on coming (jschaap@fiveoakschurch.org).

#4- We've got about 18 people in our Story of God small group experience at our house! We're going to find creative ways of getting everyone involved in the dialogues, which are so crucial for learning. This is so much fun. And I recently found out that one of our members is leading a Story of God experience at Stonecrest retirement community in Woodbury. More people reading the Bible with greater understanding and deeper impact.

#5- Got a very funny message on my voicemail from a friend of someone who signed up for Story of God. Wanted to ask me to cancel on the Super Bowl weekend so his friend could come to his party! Didn't leave a number. By the way, we're meeting earlier on that Sunday. I guess I'm not spiritual enough to miss the Super Bowl for a small group. :-)

#6- Here are some of the results from our last quarterly survey (the first one we've done online):

• 63% participated in an Impact initiative in the last three months.
• 67% volunteered in ministry at Five Oaks in the last three months.
• 55% invited someone to Five Oaks in the last three months.

#7- Some responses from first-time guests:

• We would have appreciated more information about the stations before the service (maybe on the website?).  Everything else was great.  We will visit again.
• We enjoyed the service.  Very good sermon.

#8- The Diaper Drive for New Life Family Services brought in 4007 diapers + $50 cash donation! Thanks for your generosity. Check out their ministry here.

#9- Matches are being made right now for our Five Oaks trained mentors and the children in our partnership with Woodbury Elementary (Kids Hope USA). Woodbury Elementary identified 10 kids to participate. We had exactly 10 mentors go through training! And as of this past weekend we have exactly 10 prayer partners!! Simply amazing. I can't wait to get started. 

#10- LifeWay Christian Store in Woodbury has a sale going on right now for the ESV Study Bible for $24.49. I've not seen it that cheap anywhere. Go out and get it. Remember, if you buy the hard copy, it gives you access to the whole study Bible online. 

#11- This weekend we're continuing in our "EVERYTHING" series. We'll be looking at how EVERYTHING includes our influence. We're focusing our worship response on Communion with the small group leaders handling the elements. Music for the weekend includes:

• "All Because of Jesus"
• "How Great Thou Art"
• "Here I am to Worship"
• "Awakening"
• "With Everything"
• "Draw Me Close"
• "Awesome is the Lord Most High"

I have a quick update from the orphanage in Haiti posting tomorrow. Some GREAT pictures.

I hope I get to see you on the weekend. Blessings to you,

Pastor Henry

Mid-Week Memo

Hey Five Oakers,

I'm out of town this week working on getting my uncle's house ready for sale, but I will be back on the weekend for the third message in the EVERYTHING series. I have to keep this short, so I have only THREE things I want to share with you today:

#1- Check out this explanation of the EVERYTHING station. You can go deeper with it if you come prepared.  

Everything Response Station from Five Oaks on Vimeo.

#2- Here's a clip from last weekend's message.  

Everything: Promise & Sacrifice (Pearl) from Five Oaks on Vimeo.

#3- Register for the next trimester for small groups this weekend. And register for Five Oaks Universtity classes here.

Loving the weather here in Miami. We've been able to take some time to enjoy it in spite of working on the house. But we're looking forward to being home again.

Blessings to you,

Pastor Henry

Going Deeper with the Weekend Message

If you want to go deeper regarding the ethics of in vitro fertilization, a good start is an article from Christianity Today called "Souls on Ice."

If you want to go deeper with the whole of idea of God requiring a redemption for the firstborn sons, as well as more material on the Abraham and Isaac story, listen to one of my favorite all-time messages by Tim Keller called "The Story of the Lamb" (much of this material is also found in Counterfeit Gods chapter 1, but I think the message is masterful).

 

Mid-Week Memo

Hi Five Oakers, I have EIGHT things I want to share with you:

#1- The special Feed My Starving Children offering on Christmas weekend was over $17,000!!! Yes, your generosity blows me away.

#2- We kicked off the new EVERYTHING series. I was super nervous before just before teaching on Saturday night, partly because of my excitement for what I wanted to share and partly because of using the whiteboard (that extra element can be tricky). If you missed the message, I highly recommend getting in online or through iTunes before next weekend. You'll get more from the series and I think the insights we get from the Creation account are stunning. Here are some of the ideas shared, just as a reminder:

• We were designed by God to find peace, joy and our purpose by orienting EVERYTHING in our lives toward him.
• EVERYTHING includes:
  • The BODY you occupy
  • The TIME you inhabit
  • The PLEASURES you relish
  • The INFLUENCE you wield
  • The SUCCESS you’ve achieved
  • The POSSESSIONS you hold
  • The WORK you perform
  • The STRENGTHS you possess
  • The CHILDREN you raise
• God created all so he owns EVERYTHING. Think "go to your room."
• The movement of creation toward God and rest. The frantic, bored or meaningless life we choose when we reverse the flow and turn our backs on God, focusing on what he created instead of on him.

• It's not either God owns it or I own it. It's either God owns it or IT OWNS ME.

#3- Here's a more complete list of what our students did for the second annual Student Service Project Overnight during Christmas break (I'm so proud of our Students and Student Ministries leaders):

• Red Cross Hands Only CPR training.
• Poverty simulation exercise where students were put into "families" with a very limited income and sent around to various stations where they were required to make decisions for their family on housing, transportation, childcare, insurance and more.  This was eye opening for many of the students.
• Served the homeless by making 600 sandwiches that were delivered to two different place in the area for distribution.
• Served the Karen Refugees by making 26 fleece tie blankets to warm them in body and soul.
• Labeled all the new "pew" Bibles.
• Prepared bags for "10 Minute Connect."
• Prepared Group Life to be picked up at the Small Groups table.
• Took down many of the Christmas decorations.
• Cleaned toys in the children's wing.

#4- Here are some of the Impact activities reported by different small groups from the fall:

• 3 Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes.
• 10 grocery bags for Union Gospel Mission and a "change" jar for Christmas donations.
• Donated and made 600 sandwiches for 363days.org. Raked and removed leaves for an elderly neighbor. Pained and cleaned a rental unit for a SG member.
• Helped out at the Gary Reinhardt Benefit and helped a family in need.
• Salvation Army Bell Ringing.
• Catered a lunch/bingo event for 40 residents of St. Christopher's Place. Sponsored two families for Christmas through Adopt-a-Family.
• Helped pack 1000 grocery bags at Union Gospel Mission. Send care package to missionaries in China. Volunteered at One Starry Night.
• Adopted a family in need--repaired car, helped with bills.

#5- Lots of folks commented on how much they liked the whiteboard and the outlines. I'll be using a flip chart this week in a way that I think will be helpful in much the same way. We'll also have outlines for the rest of this series.

#6- We have a new EVERYTHING station for this series where you can lay something at the cross that you want to offer back to God as owner of EVERYTHING. Bring something from home or write it down on a card. 

#7- The worship team did another GREAT job leading us in worship. Love the new song and glad we're singing it this week again. Here are the songs we're planning for worship this weekend:

• "Age to Age"
• "Because of Your Love"
• "Oh Lord You're Beautiful"
• "Holy Holy Holy"
• "Your Grace is Enough"

#8- This week we're looking at what might be the hardest thing on the EVERYTHING list to entrust to God: our kids (or our most prized relationships). I think you'll come away with a clear understanding of why this is crucial for the spiritual development of your kids and for your own relationship with God.

That's it. Love you all and blessing to you, Pastor Henry

 

Creation, Science and Evolution in the Story of God

The biblical story of creation in Genesis raises important questions regarding science and evolution. If you want to delve into this important topic, I want to recommend two introductory resources.

• Creation Evolution and Christian Laypeople by Tim Keller (click to download .pdf) goes deeper but still serves as a great introduction to the topic for those that want to take it to the next level.
• "Is There Conflict Between Christianity and Science?" by Mark Driscoll on Facebook. This is a very quick overview of the topic. Great orientation and about as deep as most of us will want to go.

New Bibles, New Translation

We're making an important change for 2012. After years of using the New Living Translation as our base translation for the weekend messages and Group life, we are switching to the English Standard Translation (ESV).

If you have a NLT or NIV, you'll still use them a lot. Contrasting translations can help lead you deeper. But I'd also suggest adding the ESV to your collection. The NLT (New Living Translation) is still the best translation for reading through large portions of Scripture, in my opinion. If you're doing a "read through the Bible in a year" challenge or reading with your kids, I would not recommend the ESV.

Here's why we're switching:

• For the kind of verse-by-verse study we do on the weekends and in Group Life (for personal and group study), it's hard to beat. It's more "literal" in nature, which affords the opportunity to see more of the dynamics in the original languages. This also makes it a little harder to relate to immediately and requires more digging in for meaning, but this is good. As we have been doing more detailed study, I've become increasingly frustrated with the translation choices the NLT makes and the loss of some of those dynamics. So now, instead of saying, "In a more literal translation it reads...," I'll be saying, "Here's how the NLT (or NIV or Message) translates it." Subtle but important difference.

• The newest NIV revision would have been an equally good choice but the fact that the new NIV is called the NIV and not something like the R(evised)NIV would just lead to a lot of confusion. (Yes, even trying to explain it is confusing!) But other factors favoring the ESV are below.

• It has the best study Bible available by far. I always say that if you're only going to have one Bible resource, get a good study Bible. If you have a million resources, it's still one you'll use all the time. We just purchased and distributed the study Bible to all staff so they can lead the way on this. You can check it out here.

• It has the best study Bible app available for smart phones and tablets. Check it out here for iPad and iPhone (I'm not sure this same app is available outside of the Apple line). You get the whole thing in a very intuitive and easy to use format. And don't be fooled by ESV Study Bible apps that are cheap (under $10). They're just an ebook version of the print version, unless that's all you want. If you use an iPhone or iPad for most of your Bible study, I'd get the app first and then page through someones print version to make sure you find all the content in the app.

• If you buy the Study Bible print version, you have full access to it online. They give you a code. This is a great resource that's free only if you buy the print version. The apps are not included, though.

Mid-Week Memo

Dear Five Oakers, I have SEVEN things I want to share with you (actually EIGHT, with the addendum I added about our Christmas services):

#1- What a great service this last weekend. I loved it!

• The whole Stocker family was represented on the worship team. Todd (dad) was on the piano. You've heard him speak at Five Oaks (he shared the story of losing their 16-year-old daughter a couple of years ago). Kelly (mom) and Maddie (daughter, she led one of the songs) sang. Nathan (son) played bass. Todd is a college chaplain and often preaches in a variety of churches on the weekends. We're always glad to have them with visit with us (they are part of our "close extended church family").
• You may have also noticed our guest guitarist, Ethan Lynn. He's a former guitar student of Justin from Michigan, but he's become a phenom at 13-years of age! Justin is happy to admit that Ethan has surpassed him in guitar skills and is one of the best guitarist's he knows.
• I preached on Philippians 2:12-13 and what it takes to sustain change in our lives: vigilant effort and inner transformation.

#2- I don't know what the final number is, but thanks to your generosity and obedience to God in giving tithes and offerings, we finished the year well in the black! I don't have final numbers yet, but this is such a blessing for ministry. A lot of credit goes to Brian Burquest (our Business Admin) and our staff for keeping expenses well below budget as well. Our Board also does a great job of overseeing the big picture and setting great goals. Way to go team!

#3- I'm very glad to announce that Casey Hayden is coming on staff (part-time) to lead the Jr. High ministry under Tim. Casey's dad, Dana, use to serve as our Outreach Director, and when the Haydens came to Five Oaks, Casey was in 9th grade. Casey has completed two internships with us, most recently this last fall, focusing on The Retreat ministry and Jr. High. Casey is a lot of fun, he has a passion to help hurting people and I love the way he thinks.

#4- The Student Ministry had an overnighter last week where they completed several projects around the church and some for our Impact Ministry outside the church. One of the projects was to label all the new chair Bibles. (I'll write about the translation change tomorrow.) They were also trained in CPR, making it the first 80 in a new push to train hundreds (or is 1000's?) in Woodbury. This was led by Five Oaker J.B. Guiton, the EMS Commander for the City of Woodbury.

#5- Great opportunity to grow your faith: You can download a Christian classic for free for this month, Knowing God by J.I. Packer, at ChristianAudio. This is a great book. I'm pretty sure you'll grow to know and love God better by listenting to it.

#6- We're starting a 6-week series this weekend that I think will have a profound effect on us. It's called "EVERYTHING (A 'Story of God' Series)." It's another run through the whole Story of God, but it's focused on how real peace, joy and purpose come from orienting EVERYTHING in our lives toward God. The Story of God was written not only to make that point but to convince us that it’s true! Basically we're tracing the thread of one of the mega-themes of the Bible through the whole story, starting with Creation and working our way to the New Creation.

#7- Look for the new Five Oaks University Catalog this weekend. We're offering some great classes, including Financial Peace University. I'll talk more about FOU next week.

I just want to add this one thing for those who are interested. I met today with our Programming Team to evaluate our Christmas services. We've received some very constructive feedback in person and via email and Facebook. I'm not exaggerating when I say that many people told us they loved it and, for some, it was the best ever. But there were as many people who went out of their way to tell us that they were disappointed.

We believe we could have done much better. In my opinion, we over-programmed the service (something we tend to do on these special weekends), which just feels disjointed for some people and moves us away from what we do best. We included elements that some people found offensive to one degree or another, and that's just REALLY dumb on our part (thank God he loves people who do dumb things, right?). And we didn't keep little kids in mind when planning a couple of elements that were scary, on a weekend where we offer limited children's programing!

This, I believe, spoiled (for some) all the GREAT elements that were represented in the service. Yes, many of you come to these kinds of services with such diverse and sometimes impossibly high expectations that it is truly impossible to please everyone (you know that, right?), but in this case we deserved many of the criticisms we received.

We are partners together in ministry, therefore you need to know that you can expect good things to happen if you bring a guest to our services. Too many of you didn't feel that way and you let me know very gracefully, keeping our partnership in reaching people for Christ at the forefront of your critique. THAT'S  the kind of criticism I'm always going to listen to. Thank you!

Blessing to all of you. I love being your pastor. Henry

 

Going Deeper with the Weekend Message

Here are some details on the five steps I suggested this weekend for keeping our resolve.

• Admit to God where you’re deviating from his will for your life. It may be in a relationship or in your thought life or in the use of your time or money. Confess it to him.
• Write down your resolution for change and review it regularly.
• Share it with someone who will ask you about it. Encouragement and accountability. Just sharing your goal may hurt your chances of success.
• Put Edwards’ words at the top of the page. (Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God's help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these resolutions.)
• Set aside a regular time for cultivating your relationship with God. The more you know him and spend time with him, the more you will grow to love him and desire to honor him.

And here is an article on the limits of willpower.

Mid-Week Memo

Dear Five Oakers, I hope your Christmas was a blessed one. I want to share FIVE things with you today:

#1- Thank you to a ton of volunteers who made the seven Christmas weekend services great at Five Oaks. Looks like Volunteer Central was a hit with great food and plenty of it.

#2- My Christmas service highlights:

• Giving the message of the gospel. I loved the seven buses story. Fifteen people recorded making a first-time decision and six asked for more information on the gospel.
• The Silent Night closer with candles. I was in the worship center for every one. Loved looking around and celebrating the light of Christ.
• The drama. It was fun to watch and it evolved over the course of the services. The reaction of the congregation to the first time Emily interjected her two cents into the reading was different every service. My son Henry Michael asked where we found those videos. We didn't. Our team produced them and that was Tim's voice for each trailer. The idea was hatched in the mind of Erica Berglund and written by her and Marcie Berglund with input from the creative arts team.
• All the great Christmas music to sing along to. I loved the quietness and reflective nature of all the response songs after the message.
• The quiet opening that broke into "The Arrival." Great non-Christmas Christmas song that was excellently executed by the Worship Team.
• The band. The more services I watched, the more I appreciated the excellence of the band and the many special touches they brought to the songs. Love the xylophone (or was it a marimba). And I loved that two of our youth band members were part of the team. 
• Your comments. Several people said it was the best Christmas service we've ever done. A few made some constructive comments for improvements that will be considered as we review the weekend. I think most were deeply blessed. Thanks Dan, Justin, Geoff, Jonathan and Marcie for all the work you did planning the services. Here are a few of the Com Card comments:
  • Thank you for Friday night Christmas. I wouldn’t have gone to one otherwise due to work.
  • I love the Lord and my church.
  • Thank you for bringing me even closer to Jesus my savior.
  • Beautiful service! The best since we’ve been here (about seven years).
  • Thanks for having services that no matter what age the teaching is relevant.
  • Awesome service! Loved the dramatic reading and all the videos (before and during service).
  • I absolutely hated the opening. [I think this is a reverence to the pre-service videos.] Message was great. 
  • The music is awe-inspiring.

#3- This was the first time I got tired during a series of Christmas services. But I always recouped in time to speak. And I didn't feel physically exhausted (though my thighs were sore). But I've been fighting emotional exhaustion and lows all week. Normally I'm energized by preaching for several days. I guess I found my limit. :-)

#4- In spite of being emotionally tired, the message for the launch of the new series on January 6/7 is coming along and I believe it will be very powerful. I'm launching a series that will break from Luke for seven weeks. It's called "EVERYTHING (A 'Story of God' Series)." This series has the potential to change the very orientation of EVERYTHING in your life for the better.

#5- Lois and I are launching a new Story of God small group experience in about three weeks. Let me know if you want to participate.

 

Mid-Week Memo

Dear Five Oakers, Big weekend coming up! With that very much on my mind, I have NINE Christmasy things I want to share with you:

#1 - Dan Lukas asked me today, "Is it too soon to say 'I told you so.'" He was referring to attendance for the weekend. I admit, I was lobbying for six services a few weeks back, and he was lobbying for seven. He won the debate. And judging from our online pre-registrations, I'm going to be very glad to hear him say "I told you so!" Very glad indeed.

#2 - We're going to have a packed house, so... cuddle in close to the big smelly hairy guy in your row; he won't bite.

#3 - Our service at 12:30 on 12/24 has the most space. This probably has something to do with the Bears, er... Vikings game at noon. If you don't want to cuddle with the aforementioned  big-hairy-dude, then come to this service because he'll probably be home watching the Bears, er... Vikings.

#4 - Pam Hawley, one of our ministry assistants, asked for prayer at our staff check-in this week. Seems next week is one of the busiest of the year for her because of having to send out follow-up material to people who make first-time decisions. Pretty cool! The office staff gathers around the books and Bibles and prays before sending them out. Maybe a package will be sent to a friend or relative you bring with you on the weekend!

#5 - I'm SO pumped about this service! We just went over all the elements this morning to take care of last minute details. It's our first time back to our own building for Christmas services after two years at the high school. The feel we're shooting for is "warmth," "home for Christmas," "joy." I really think you're going to love it. And my message, presenting the gospel, is clear and shoots for the heart.

#6 - Don't light your hair on fire. We have real candles for everyone for a certain song at the end of the service.

#7 - When the ushers hand you a program for EVERYONE in your party, take it! Everyone needs a Com Card. Insider info here: When everyone takes a card, everyone pulls out the card, everyone fills out the card on my cue, then anyone receiving Christ or asking for more information on Christ feels comfortable doing so. Taking a Com Card and filling it out is evangelism in action.

#8 - If you didn't rsvp, there's still time (5oakschristmas.com), OR you have guests you did not rsvp for... BRING THEM ANYHOW. COME. Don't let our rsvp thing keep you away.

#9 - I listened to Tim's message from last weekend and it was GREAT! Vintage Tim. Great stories and illustrations. The dead fawn story was priceless for explaining God's rejection of sin. Great explanation of the wages of sin. Someone wrote on their card that it was Tim's best ever. Definitely top three. And I heard about the small group that came and sat up front with their ugly sweaters. One had a red flashing light. I'm bummed I wasn't preaching because I always love to preach to a bunch of people dressed in ugly sweaters that are flashing a light in my face. :-)

See you for Christmas services. If you're out of town, God bless you this Christmas and keep you safe on the road. Pastor Henry

Mid-Week Memo (Part 2)

Hi Five Oakers, Here are SEVEN more things I want to share with you this week:

#1 - GREAT weekend of worship. The Fusion band led us and did their usual incredible job. The Kids Choir opened the service and they were adorable. Great crowd on Saturday night made for room on Sunday at 9:30am. Thank you! Some of your comments on the cards:

• Loved the kids worship! Great, simple message Henry. Thank. Hakuna Matata, very funny! Great closing prayer. Love the final worship set. Thanks youth!
• “Mighty To Save” arrangement was great. 
• Nice job Fusion Band! I love how Justin uses the high school kids and their “gifts”. Thank you.
• Hannah – your voice put such a beautiful peace into Silent Night. Thank you. Hannah sang like an angel.  
• Love it when the Fusion Band plays. Sweet voices too! Love the parts in Silent Night.
• I never realized the manger symbolized our rejection of Jesus. Thank you for the tie-in to his mission and our need to respond.

#2 - All week long I see a steady stream of our members doing behind the scenes ministry at the church building from addressing and stamping envelopes to counting money to painting, building or fixing stuff around the building. Thanks to all of you. And how about that incredible manger scene built by Dave Holland! You can see another piece of his incredible word working skills during Tru in the CLC. We use every week in Children's Ministry.

#3 - More behind the scenes ministry: Each week, after the Saturday morning study, the guys from the men's Bible study put up 12 tables and 96 chairs in the CLC for kid's programming. What takes a couple people up to a half hour is done in minutes with this team. Then, after three weekend services, Casey Hayden's High school boys small group comes in takes the tables and chairs down! I love it!

#4 - I'm continually amazed at what the Women's Ministry continues to do. I love that they invited the East Ridge Choir to sing at the Christmas event. If you receive Dee's updates you know:

• In November, as an Impact project, twelve women (and some children) went over to the Union Gospel mission and bagged over 650 bags of groceries. The December initiative was to buy Christmas gifts for the women and children staying at the Tubman Shelter.
• Fitness classes have remained steady with about 12-20 women attending the 6:00 and 25-30 for the 7:00 Prayerful Flow.
• At the first annual Boutique and Craft Fair 37 vendors saw a steady flow of traffic and several folks asked about our church.
• Minnesota author Kristie Kerr will be coming on Wednesday mornings to Five Oaks to teach her Bible study, "The Search for Me: Finding your True Identity in Christ." She was also the speaker at the Women's Ministry Christmas event. I think it's so cool that they also invited

#5 - This week's message in the Vintage Christmas series (Luke 1-2) is "The Shepherds." The angels have an incredible message to share with the shepherds. It reveals the true nature of our predicament and our deepest needs...and how God meets our needs and rescues us from our predicament.

#6 - Don't forget to sign up for Christmas Eve service you will attend. The early service on the 24th has the most room and could use some love. Sign up here.

#7 - Invitation cards you can use to invite friends will be available this weekend. Grab a bunch and make your invitations. As usual, I will be presenting the great gospel story and asking people to respond. We've got a great drama/video planned that sets up the message. Here's the big idea: If the Christmas story were made into a movie, what genre of movie would it be? Science fiction? Road trip buddy movie? Epic drama?

God bless you all. Your hard work and service is making my Christmas that much more special.

Pastor Henry

Mid-Week Memo (Part 1)

Dear Five Oakers, I have way too much to share in one post so I'll start today and finish tomorrow. I'll just share EIGHT things with you today.

#1 - I can't believe how many people I've talked to that haven't yet picked up the Christmas CD. I'm telling you, it's really good. Listen to the whole thing here and decide for yourself (and download it you like). It's not too late to get it and enjoy it for this Christmas (or get as a stocking stuffer). Only $5. The only complaint I've heard is that it's only five songs and people want more!

#2 - One Starry Night was truly a great event! I had a blast playing a rabbi that asked kids if they knew the fifth of the 10 Commandments. I also asked the husbands why they allowed their wives to go out in public without a head covering. You know I love to scare kids, but the youngest were genuinely afraid of the thieves that lurked around the building. I kept telling them that I wasn't a crook and they didn't need to fear me.

#3 - Over 900 people came to One Starry Night and dozens more worked as actors, singers or behind the scenes. Jeni Carlson, Director of Family Ministries, wrote a post on the planning and process. Read it here. Here are some comments posted on Facebook:

• "...our family had a great time, and the level of immersion was impressive. This wasn't just a couple of stations with people standing in for nativity players, this was a bustling city complete with a marketplace. Well played, everyone, well played."
• "...there is no words that can describe the whole evening. We got there at 6pm, and intended on leaving, but ended up staying until after 8pm! WE all just loved it and just wanted to sit and take it all in!! Fabulous job and kudos to all!! We have THE most amazing church!
• "BEST Christmas event ever!!!"

Trying to keep all ages engaged!!!

#4 - This is from an email from "the old beggar woman":

I asked for "shekels for an old widow." Small children looked at me in wonder... Many children would hand me their entire bag of money!  I would insist they only give me one coin, and then I would touch their hair or shoulder and say, "God Bless you sir/miss; God will do wonderful things for you."  Most of the children would look very serious, and nod their heads, then move into the marketplace with their family. ...the astounding thing was that many kids on their way out of "Bethlehem" would stop back and give me all their leftover money, and wait for another "blessing."  Not always little kids either, some around 10 or 12! I was touched by the tenderness of the children, and their generosity. Often the compassion on their faces took my breath away.

#5 - So many people and ministries came together to make this event run beautifully. The parking lot team moved hundreds of cars throughout the two hours. They moved cars into stalls from front to back and then repeated. It moved like clock work.

#6 - The live animals were a huge hit. Some kids didn't want to leave the animals. I told kids to look for the baby polar bear. If you saw him, you know what I mean.

#7 - The stable scene was unbelievable. Little kids were amazed by the baby Jesus. We had a very hard time finding wise men, so we settled......just kidding! Although one of the "wise men" did make the baby Jesus cry with his enthusiastic speech when he arrived at the stable. Way to go Tom Berg. (Okay, I must admit I made the baby Jesus cry earlier that evening. All I said was, "I hope he behaves better than he does at staff meetings when his mom brings him." I was just kidding, of course, but he cried as if on cue!)

#8 - I loved hearing the Fusion band all evening playing Christmas music. Some really interesting instruments and arrangements and a great ending. People tipped them (with real money) and the team when out to Applebees with Justin when it was all done.

So much more I could say about this event and the work our folks put into it. Thanks to all of you. God bless you,

Pastor Henry

Heads Up

 

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Also, as Christmas is approaching, you might consider giving the ESV Study Bible as a gift. It's the most comprehensive and up-to-date study Bible available. If you get the hard copy, it gives you an access code to all the study Bible tools and articles online. You can read about it here. The iPad and iPhone apps are outstanding. Check the iPhone app out here.

Mid-Week Memo

Five Oakers, I have TWELVE things I want to share with you:

#1 - Last weekend's message was again a very personal one for me as I talked about some of the happenings in our family over the last few months (and years) in light of Mary's song of praise during an uncertain time in her life. My sister-in-law's answer to prayer after 27 years of praying for her husband to come to Christ is incredible, but I know we don't always see answers like that in our lives. Ultimately we have to trust God no matter what (and he is trustworthy), even with the souls of our loved ones. And even if we don't SEE an answer, we never know what is happening in someones soul. Some comments on the service:

• "Pastor Henry, your message was exactly what my heart has needed to hear."
• "Thank you Henry for the sharing Russ’ story, it gives me hope for my brother."
• "Thank you for the message of hope as I continue to pray for my husband to come to faith in Jesus over 31 years, and for our children to come back to church with their families."

#2 - Justin did an incredible job leading the worship team on the weekend, especially considering the circumstances. Justin and his new wife Erinn were blessed to be home with Erinn's dad when he died this last week at the age of 55. They have an amazing story to tell that brings glory to God. Here's just one small part of it:

Errin's dad (Mark) was a firm believer and lead many to Christ, including his father.... He wanted us to celebrate what God is doing. So we did! It was a really amazing experience. On Sunday (the day he died), in the morning he said "Tonight, tonight, we will all worship Him." We knew that he meant that we will all worship Him but with Mark worshiping in heaven. All day waiting for that moment and then he passed at 8:13pm (his birthday 8-13-56). His last words were "We win, I'm free, I'm free."

#3 - We also received this comment last weekend: "Yesterday I told a co-worker that I go to Five Oaks and she said, 'People love that church!'" One of the area pastors I meet with recently told me, "You guys have a great reputation in the community." Really, this is all because of God and for God. And I'm so thankful for our congregation and for your impact in our community and beyond. I love you guys.

#4 - Justin and Dan are busy forming the worship team to lead SEVEN Christmas services. Yeah, that's not easy. Kari is busy filling dozens of slots for our First Impressions team. The Retreat will be offered for two of the services for kids with disabilities. Nursery and preschool classes will be offered for all services. Register for the service you will be attending here.

#5 - Our drummer for this last weekend is bummed that he has a concert with his band on the first night of our Christmas services because he wanted to play in them again...all seven...and he doesn't attend Five Oaks! Dan is a great guy who fills in quite often for us and we are very hopeful that one of these days we'll call him a brother in Christ. We're working on him and he knows it.

#6 - Can't wait for you to see our promo video for the Christmas services. I saw them filming a small part of it in my front yard while I was working on a message from my dining room table. I had no idea what they were doing until I saw the video yesterday. You'll like it!

#7 - We were hoping for a small start to our first One Starry Night event. Maybe a hundred fifty people. We would start small and build from there. All hope is gone. 700+ have signed up, oh my! As Kent O'Grady told me with a smile on his face, "It's all hands on deck." Pray for the team putting this on. (I'll be a rabbi, but I wish I was a tax collector because they get to harass people.) So get ready to enter first century Bethlehem circa the time of Christ's birth. It's going to be fun!

#8 - The Women's Ministry put on a great Christmas event on Monday. Lois invited some teachers from her workplace (Red Rock Elementary) and they all had a great time. Dan Lukas shot a funny little video (posted on our Facebook page) as the women were getting ready for the event that can be viewed here.

#9 - Kids Hope mentor training on Saturday! I'll be there. We're partnering with Woodbury Elementary to provide mentors for kids who need some encouragement.

#10 - Each week during our 5th-6th grade ministry (KidsROCK) the leaders do what they call a Grapple Dare that challenges the kids to bring God into their life in the week ahead. This week's had to do with having fun with friends. Here's one KidsROCKer's response: "I went bowling with my friends and family. I believe everyone had a great time. The kinds of things that happened that would make it fun for God were: People were kind and friendly to each other. There was no foul language and everyone enjoyed themselves."

#11 - Kids Choir this weekend. Come early to get a good seat. If possible, come to Saturday night.

#12 - I can't wait to share an insight I received as I prepared for this weekend's message in the Vintage Christmas series. It was one of those that come while I'm writing the message, heading in one direction, and it's like the Holy Spirit says, "No, I want you to talk about this," and Pow, the "this" is so cool. Love those moments!

I'll say it again, I love you guys.

Blessings to you, Pastor Henry

Going Deeper with the Weekend Message

Two items for going deeper. The second one is POWERFUL!!!

#1 - I did a bit of research on what Mary's song would have sounded like and I had to let it go for the sake of time before coming to any conclusions or really getting much understanding. I went with New Testament scholar N.T. Wright's description. But here are a couple of sites that you can explore. One includes what might be the earliest document of a Christian song that includes notes. You can even hear a rendition at one of these sites.

• Go here for a quick introduction
• Go here for the song performed. 
• Go here for a quick introduction to one scholar's work on ancient Jewish and Christian music.

#2 - One of the themes I did not address in Luke 1:39-80 this weekend is the value of life in the womb. John the Baptist is filled with the Holy Spirit from conception and leaps for joy in Elizabeth's womb. The word describing John in the womb and the word for the baby Jesus are identical. Mark Driscoll deals with this topic in a powerful way in a message he did on Luke 1:39-45. Start at 10:22 into the message and it finishes at 37:19 into the message. You have to stick with him. There's a emotionally powerful twist well into his "diatribe" on abortion. You might be tempted to quit before you get there. Don't! In fact, please don't start listening unless you are willing to finish it no matter what. I wish all the parents at Five Oaks would play this for their pre-teen and teenage children.

Mid-Week Memo

Hey Five Oakers, I have a THIRTEEN things I want to share with you today. I know that's a lot but too many exciting things happening right now. Please read them all.

#1 - It was great having a weekend off from teaching so I could focus on my family for Thanksgiving and get a breather. Thanks to Tim who did a very thorough analysis of Gabriel's appearances to Zechariah and Mary. I learned and was blessed by the message.

#2 - Dan Lucas opened the services with one of the songs from the new Five Oaks Christmas CD, "Joy of Every Heart." We sold about 100 this last weekend and I bought several for my visiting family. I absolutely love the album. It greatly surpassed my expectations...and I had high expectations for it! I'm listening to it right now. I would love to hear your impressions of it. (I hear there might be a small concert featuring these songs coming up soon, but don't hold me to it.)

#3 - Speaking of the Christmas CD, morning news anchor Mike Binkley (WCCO) got permission from his producer to play portions of the CD as a bumper in and out of commercial breaks during his morning show with a link to Five Oaks on the WCCO website!

#4 - Over 400 people have registered to attend One Starry Night! Reminds me of a tradition we use to have when we were first married. We'd go to New Hampshire (we lived in MA) to a recreated village from pilgrim days that featured character actors, singers and such. I can't wait.

#5 - We're gearing up for an interesting sketch to set up the message at our Christmas Eve services. Yep, a drama. Been a long time. And it does have an interesting video element and twist. Marcie Berglund (better known as Pippen's owner, the dog in the First Things First series bumper), her daughter Erica and the programming team have been working on it.

#6 - The youth are preparing already for Challenge this summer in New Orleans. Looks like it will be the largest group ever from Five Oaks, joining about 5000 other students from around the country. We always have one of the largest groups there, thanks in part to your generosity through the yearly Silent Auction. Parents, this event is life changing and impacting. Don't let your kids miss it.

#7 - Tim Bubar met a couple at 10-Minute Connect on Saturday that explained, after the whole presentation, that they are actually looking for a much smaller church.  They said it would be better for their pre-school age daughter who is autistic...yeah, they came back for The Retreat the next morning!

#8 - We were able to donate 11 bins of children's ministry materials to New Salem Church. New Salem is cross-cultural, urban EFree church in Minneapolis.

#9 - Kids Christmas Choir practice started tonight.

#10 - SEVEN services this Christmas, December 23 and 24. Christmas day is off for all volunteers and staff to get reacquainted with their families. :-)

#11 - Got this email from a Five Oaks family this week:

On Thanksgiving Day, when we were discussing all of our blessings, we asked our girls if there was any one person they would really like to thank this year. Our 12 year old Sarah jumped right on it, and said, "For me, it's Tim Bubar. I really have to thank him for making me love church and our faith." That resulted in a long conversation about how we are all thankful for our Five Oaks community. All three of our girls had lots to add to the conversation. They named their favorite Sunday school teachers, Jeni and Cindy Yarrington, and Kent and Cindy O'Grady particularly. We'd like to thank you for partnering with us in raising our family.

#12 - You've got to read this online article on one of our Five Oaks families, the Brunz's. You may recognize Caleb from playing the drums and Stephanie oversees the Nursery ministry. But they are also very active in the community and they are leveraging their influence for Christ in the marketplace.

#13 - This is the time for Christmas music. This weekend we go back to the first songs of Christmas, sung by Mary and Zechariah and known as The Magnificat and The Benedictus (named after the first words of each song in the Latin translation of the Bible). We don't have the tune, but the words are timeless and rich in meaning. I think they have the potential of deepening your joy this Christmas, whatever your circumstances. 

Surviving the Holidays Class at Five Oaks

This class is an abbreviated Griefshare. There is a video, a discussion and prayer. There is also a separate class with activities for children 5 and over. 

2:00 p.m., Sunday, December 4, 2011 at Five Oaks Church, Room 202

To register for this session contact griefshare@fiveoakschurch.org or the church office.

GriefShare: Surviving the Holidays from Church Initiative on Vimeo.

 

 

The Weekends...and so much more

I have ELEVEN things I want to share with you today...

#1 - We had a first this last weekend. The first response song was a Justin Schaap original! It's the first time he's sung one of his songs in our worship services. I'm looking forward to more.

#2 - My message on Luke 10:38-42 (Mary and Martha) really hit home with a lot of people. Strong response. I think partly because it hit me so strongly in preparing it. I never saw the parallels with other passages where Jesus talks about worry and anxiety, but here its related to ministry worry ("she was distracted with much serving"). It have to say that it was therapeutic talking about my uncle.

• "Henry, thank you for your message and honesty about worrying. (I bet my worrying could rival yours, plus my out of control imagination, usually adds to it all.)"
• (Prayer request on the Com Cards) "Being less like a Martha, just like a Mary. Being less like an agnostic Fernando, more like an obedient Fernando."
• (From a staff member email) "I have heard more 'buzz' about this sermon than any other sermon at Five Oaks. I have talked to several people who were personally impacted by your sermon; including two attendees who are going through some financial struggles..." (Then he added) "So….how are you going to top that one?" (Exactly. Now I'm worrying again!)

#3 - How about the simplicity of the weekend? No staging, just Justin and his guitar. Simply worshipful!

• "I really liked the acoustic set today. Gave praise time a different feel. I also like the simplicity of communion, just it alone. Time to reflect. Thank you."
• "Really like the change this week. It’s great how you guys continue to balance tradition/repetition/familiarity with not allowing things to get stale/boring/predictable."
• "Amazing worship. Loved the single guitar and Justin – so touching."
• "Loved the Justin unplugged session. Very intimate feel to the service."

#4 - One of our members told me that when he saw the staging he wondered, 'Did Henry go for that?' Oh, he knows me too well. Christmas staging is now up for the first week of Advent. Something else will be missing for this series. Dan Lucas is the culprit when things go missing. He's constantly thinking up ways to shake things up.

#5 - Kids Hope volunteers keep streaming in. If you're interested, let us know. Training takes place on Saturday, December 10, 9 a.m. I'll be there for training!

#6 - Our own Kent O'Grady (Director of Small Groups; formerly our security team director) in the most recent online issue of our denominational magazine, EFCA Today (an article on safety in churches):

“The key to emergency planning,” says Kent O’Grady, director of safety and security for Five Oaks Church (EFCA) in Woodbury, Minn., “is to plan for events that are likely to occur but have marginal impact (like slips and falls, bloody noses, etc.) and for things that are far less likely but would have major or catastrophic impact (tornadoes, shootings, etc.). Churches don’t need to hire a SWAT team or install thousands of dollars of security equipment to make an impact on their risk. They can start by identifying existing resources in the church (police officers, firefighters and EMS personnel) and leveraging their expertise."

I'll just add how thankful I am for our Safety and Security Team at church. They do a great job!

#7 - Got this exciting email from a Five Oaker this week:

Last night our son told us that he crossed the line of faith in his Sunday school class!  [My husband] and I were overcome with excitement for him!  He was thrilled to get his new Bible from Jeni Carlson and Five Oaks and even took it out to dinner with us to "start at the beginning with reading it all the way through"!  It's a great Bible that he's so proud of, but I'm wondering which kind of study Bible that I could get him to go along with it.... He was so shocked and excited to find out that this Saturday at church he gets to have his "First Communion", now that he's made his decision.  We've decided to invite the grandparents to come along because they have been asking us for years, "When is his First Communion going to be?  Doesn't he go to classes about this like we do at [our] church? Shouldn't he have done that by now?  How does 'your church' handle this?"

#8 - We kick off the new "Vintage Christmas" series this weekend. We're going to the early chapters of Luke for this series. This week's message is on "The Angels."

#9 - Just when I was resigning myself to missing the boys (and Leah) for holidays, they're all coming! My cousin Henry and his family will also be with us (minus daughter Mia). This is going to spoil us.

#10 - Ever notice how much "Pumped up Kicks" steals from the theme song for Petticoat Junction? Looked it up in Google and sure enough, others have noticed. (Okay, that was random, but it's playing right now in the coffee shop.)

#11 - Thanks for the great turnout to the Congregational Meeting. Wish I'd shared some behind-the-scenes stuff instead of what I did end up sharing. Made a note for next year. Live and learn.

Love you all. Have a blessed Thanksgiving! Henry

 

Christmas CD Preview!!!

Here's a preview of the five songs on the new and soon-to-be-released Five Oaks Christmas album. Get excited Five Oakers. It's very good!

 

The Weekends...and so much more

I have nine things I want to share with you today...

#1 - It was so much fun teaching on "The Despised Samaritan" on the weekend and celebrating how God is using YOU to impact our world for Christ in our communities! If you missed it, at least go and listen 23:07 minutes into the message audio of "The Hole in Our Gospel." Here are a couple of comments from the Communication Cards:

• "I’m tearing up listening to all the ways our Five Oaks friends are making a difference." 
• "Thanks to everyone for all you do to make our church such a great place."

#2 - We need to make more room on Sunday mornings by moving some of you to Saturday nights. We're going to be talking more about this, but if you can move now it would be super helpful. Please don't move if your kids are connecting with their class and teacher on Sunday morning. Choosing to attend at the same time every week is vitally important for your kids. 

#3 - 340. That's how many tables you filled with food for hurting people this Thanksgiving. Think about how many people that impacts. Wow! I think that's a Five Oaks record.

#4 - 153. That's how many "One Starry Night" tickets have gone out already...before making our big push! The start of a new Five Oaks Christmas tradition.

#5 - Woodbury Elementary is the school we're partnering with for mentoring (Kids Hope USA). Just got the go-ahead from the school this week. Lots of folks already signed up for training. What a great video this past weekend telling one story of one mentor with one child.

#6 - My message this weekend on Luke 10:38-42 focuses on "The One Thing." We're doing something very different for staging. Come and see.

#7 - We launch our 4-week series on Luke 1-2, "Vintage Christmas," starting right after Thanksgiving. It's about recovering wonder and awe in the events of the first Christmas that transcend our own circumstances, changed history and transform our lives.

#8 - We had nine kids in The Retreat ministry on Sunday! And more people are signing up to help.

#9 - Can't wait for Encounter tonight! Our small group is meeting for a meal and Bible study and ending in time for the evening of worship.

I'm so blessed to be your pastor. You simply blow me away.

Henry

 

First-time Guest Comments

Here are the latest comments we solicited from first-time guests:

• I asked about Baptism and received calls right away – I didn’t call back and I can’t really explain why.  Even though Woodbury is a tad of a drive for us, we will be back.  My two boys (ages 7 & 4) LOVED the Treehouse, AND they learned about God!  I’ve been enjoying my new cup, and we will be back on 10/29.  Thank you!!
• I’ve thought that if I were to pastor a church I’d look at my congregation as the Hands and Feet of Jesus who I’m charged to equip, heal and support as they reach the community and serve in Christ’s name.  I was greatly encouraged by your efforts for Five Oaks in this regard.  Keep up the great work building and strengthening the Kingdom through Christ’s bride.

The Weekends...and Other Great Stuff

- What's Starbuck's comeback and watching your flat screen without an HD package got to do with your mission in life? Check out last weekend's message on Luke 9:57-10:24 if you missed it. It was about how we can lose our missional authority.

- Jim continues his antics in our message bumper as the story continues. A little birdie told me that no one was laughing louder than John Rudin who plays Jim.

- I paraphrased Larry Osborne: “Compassionate action without Jesus has no eternal value; Jesus without compassionate action has no credibility.”

- I was also struck that the first instruction to the 72 disciples Jesus sends out is to pray (first things first)...and specifically for more harvesters (people are ready and not enough are proclaiming the gospel).

- I love that our worship team had two high schoolers in it this week. It's a regular thing now and they're great! Great work Justin and Tim!

- How about "The Retreat" ministry!!! One person in my Story of God group is so excited to help. I heard about others too. Thanks to Elaine Wilde and Abby Carlson for their vision and service!

- Met a young lady after a service that brought a friend. She's been on a journey to faith in Christ. She's from another religion and is very concerned about her parents finding out. When she shared her journey at Fusion, the day before crossing the line of faith, one of the high schoolers shouted: "I lit a candle for you!" Putting first things first!

- Some comments we got on the worship: "Love, love, love 'It is Well'! Thank you." And “'It is Well with My Soul'! let’s do again and again." And "Worship was so worship 'full' today. My soul is filled with Jesus from listening and singing. Thanks worship team!"

- I met a lady before a service who was brought to church by her son who attends Fusion. She's been coming a couple of weeks. The Bible is new to her and she's loving hearing the Story. She said, "We'll have a bunch more family members here next week."

- Jeni Carlson, Traci Schroeder and Jerry Meras headed to a bilingual Free Church in the city and we're donating a lot of the Hudson children's equipment for their ministry. Jeni reports: "Really cool people. The best part was when Jerry busted out in Spanish with Pastor Vido from Nicaragua.  We ended our time in prayer and it's so beautiful to hear Spanish prayers and English prayers being offered up."

- Another church plant just north of Hudson is asking about some of our stuff. A few Hudson Five Oakers are attending there! We'll see what we can do.

- Plans for One Starry Night are developing: It's a family Christmas experience where all are invited to come to Five Oaks on Sunday night, December 11 from 6 - 8 p.m. to enjoy 1st century Bethlehem as they journey through venues of the Census taker's office, the cafe and marketplace, with live music, Star Gazer's Hill, and the Stable. 

- Special features for One Starry night: live animals, the Fusion Band, 1st Century Character Actors, and the launch of the Christmas Family Bible reading challenge.

-Completed our Story of God group on Sunday. Great group once again. One participant shared how she can't stop talking about what she's learning with her unchurched friends. Another wrote to thank us and said, "It was a wonderful study that has truly transformed the way we view the Bible."

- This weekend is about Impact ministries of compassion as we look at the parable of the Good Samaritan. Some interesting twists in the story that you might have missed.

- I'll be sharing about the results of the 3x5 cards I collect two weekends ago. You'll be encouraged by what you hear!!! I hope you will have one of those "I love my church" moments. I certainly did reading through the cards.

- We'll be introducing the new Kids Hope USA ministry. This is going to be a big part of our future as a church.

Did you know?

Really cool all that's happening in Women's ministry. Take a look. This is from an update letter from Dee Meyers, our Women's Ministry Leader.

Bible Studies: Our Fall Bible Studies are off to an amazing start.  Lives are truly being impacted by these studies:

• There are 15 women attending on Monday nights – one group of Jesus: The One and Only; and one group of Breaking Free, both by Beth Moore.
• There are 7 very committed members of “First Place for Health” meeting every Monday night at 7pm.  They have set goals and are on their way to meeting them. Three of the members of this group do not attend Five Oaks!
• There are over 50 women on Wednesday mornings – two groups of Jesus: The One and Only; and 5 groups of Breaking Free.
• Margo Neibling has a group of 7 women in her “Sharpening Your Focus” class.  We are receiving great feedback from the ladies in this study about how much they are learning about themselves in such a short period!  These ladies are some of the key women leaders in our church and I know some great things are going to aspire out of this group.

Health and Fitness: Our Health and Fitness Team has been hosting Free Exercise Classes each Monday evening. We have a solid group of 8-12 regular attenders to the 6 pm classes, and we're getting between 20 and 30 women every week for Prayerful Flow.  About 1/3 of the ladies attending the Flow class are guests, some of whom haven't been attending church.  Kristen has been humbled by seeing two of those guests attending our worship services after coming to class!

Book Club: Our October Book Club is: The Resolution for Women, by Priscilla Shirer – this is a follow up to the movie Courageous.  We have sold 15 books. 

Christmas Event:  We are busy planning our Christmas Event for Monday Dec. 5 at 7pm, an event that will truly celebrate Jesus being “Here With Us”.  MN Author, speaker, worship leader, Kristie Kerr, from Fourth Floor Ministries will be our guest speaker! 

Impact Event: On Sunday, October 23, a group of volunteers went to the Ronald McDonald House at Children’s Hospital in Mpls with huge donations of food from our congregation to feed a “burrito buffet” to over 65 families with sick children at the hospital.  We truly made a difference for these families that night. 

Women's Conference: 47 Women joined us for the Women of Faith “Imagine” Conference on Oct. 21 and 22.  We know for sure that two women made first-time decisions for Christ on Saturday!  It was very powerful! 

The Weekend

- Started "First Things First" series last weekend with a message on five mistakes disciples make based on Luke 9:27-56). I said the last point was going to be powerful: What you think God thinks of you will determine almost everything in your life. Do you see disappointment on God's face or adoration? After the service someone told me that one hit him right between the eyes. 

- Some Com Card comments on the service: "[Replacing] faith w/formulas and fighting the wrong enemy points really hit home with me" - "Thank you for the [point] about loving people who might hold other political views than our own. As a pro-life democrat, I always feel like fellow church members are not welcoming of democrats." - "Thanks for awesome worship Justin..."

- Handed out 3x5 cards and asked everyone to write down any ministry they've done in the last couple of months for people outside of Five Oaks. Just wait until you see the size of the stack in two weekends!

- People really hung around in the Commons after services this weekend. That's normal, but it seemed like more than usual. A lot of buzz in the building.

- The Christmas CD has gone to the guy who will mix it all (he's the drummer from the Crowder Band).

- I'm very excited about a new Five Oaks Christmas tradition starting in December: "One Starry Night: A Family Christmas Experience." It will be very good this year, but I think this is going to grow in intensity and quality each year. Music by the Fusion Band, live animals, drama...all throughout our Commons. More info coming soon.

- This weekend's message is on Luke 9:57-10:24. Lots of ground to cover. I recently read the book on Starbucks' comeback by its founder. He talked about trying to regain Starbucks' coffee authority. Come find out three ways to lose your missional authority. One of them is to proclaim an optional Jesus. Who would do that? Some of you who are reading this right now! Come and see.

- Met a young family from Madison during 10-Minute Connect. Went to Blackhawk there (love that church). They miss the town and the church. I wanted to tell them about how great the Twin Cities are and the fun places they will get to discover...but I didn't get a chance. I hope they end up at Five Oaks so I can finish the conversation.

- Next Monday and Tuesday our Staff Leadership Team is going to go write a script in a two-day off-site meeting. I'll tell you more about that next week.

The Weekend (and some other stuff)

- Amazing anyone was around last weekend since no one in my small group, including Lois, had been able to make it to the service. I gave them a 5-minute version of my message.

- Someone wrote on the Communication Card: "Henry, I love to see you all nerd-excited about the story of God." I was. Doing the set up to the Transfiguration by tracing its themes through the Story of God made it come alive for me.

- Response time was awesome! Several of the themes in the songs tied so closely with the message in ways we didn't plan. And my favorite Communion weekends are the ones where our small group leaders hold the elements and preach the gospel to everyone as they receive them. It doesn't get old.

- Given the subject of the message, I spent some extra time reviewing why we do Response worship and stations. I've never experienced worship in a way that called for more participation and engagement. Prayer is at the center of our services like never before.

- This weekend we start a new series called "First Things First," continuing in Luke. The hodgepodge of stories told at the end of Luke 9 come together beautifully under the theme "mistakes disciples are prone to make." We'll look at five. The fifth one is POWERFUL. Learn from the disciples' mistakes. Better yet, learn from your own mistakes as you reflect on your mistakes in light of their mistakes.

- New small group Bible study is being started at Park High School by some Five Oaks students. Check it out here. Did you know some of our students have also started Bible studies at East Ridge and Math & Science Academy? I didn't until yesterday. I love it!

- Also on the Student Ministries front: We have 90 active high schoolers in small groups! And did you know that many of the leaders in our weekend Sunday school class for kids with disabilities (the Retreat) are youth? Did you know we had the Retreat ministry going? Just met two families over the last two weeks in 10-Minute Connect that have come because of the Retreat.

- This weekend is week 6 in our Story of God small group for the fall. We'll do it again come January. Is there someone you could invite to get the bigger picture, to learn how to better understand the Bible, to hear the message of our rescue and redemption?

- The Five Oaks Christmas album is coming together well. Five songs. Great invitiation tool. You'll here more later.

First-time Guest Comments

Here are the latest we received:

• Excellent service with a solid message and applicable lesson.  Love the casual atmosphere, praise music, and Acorn Café.
• Very happy there is the special needs class.
• Good for Eaglebrookers looking for a smaller church, but maybe too ‘contemp-ervent’ for someone who likes deep theological study. I felt at home. Loved the stations to express worship. I plan to visit a 2nd time!

First-time Guest Comments

Here are comments from feedback we solicit from first-time guests. I've excluded one this time that was simply too long to include on this site. Normally they all make it this site.

• I really like the response stations, the way the service is set up and the worship band is really great.
• Teaching is really well done.
• I’d like to return a second time!
• Friendly church, interesting service – good message, great music, love the use of technology.
• Loved it!
• I enjoyed my visit at Five Oaks Church and I will be back.
• Visited to spend more time with my daughters.  Greatly enjoyed the service.
• Friendly, Helpful people
• I would be ‘proud’ to be a member of your church.  I felt as if among mature Christians fulfilling God’s plan.

Illiterate and Misguided

I use prayer cards in my personal devotions. It's an idea I got from one of the best books I've ever read on prayer, A Praying Life by Paul Miller. One of those cards is focused on Five Oaks. I don't list immediate needs on it. I don't need to write those down. I have four big prayers. One is for the people who walk through our doors and stay. I pray that they develop a biblical worldview and biblical literacy within three years of joining our church family. I pray this almost every day.

I don't need to review the statistics. Most people today lack a strong, spiritual foundation, including those sitting in churches who are simply hoping for a shot of spiritual adrenaline to keep them going for the next week. They are mostly biblically illiterate and misguided for lack of a biblical worldview. It's why I developed the Story of God series and now the Story of God small group for people who missed the series or were unable to fully engage at that time. And it's why we're offering Five Oaks U courses that help us take the message deep into our hearts and into our lives.

Will you pray with me for this? Will you encourage others to engage in their own spiritual growth? Are you modeling it for others?

Five Oaks U: "Living Your Stengths & Finding Your Place"

Living Your Strengths & Finding Your Place (Featuring the StengthsFinder and S.H.A.P.E. Profiles)

Based on the Gallup StrengthsFinder inventory and S.H.A.P.E. (Spiritual Gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, Experience), this class will enable you to discover your own distinctive blend of strengths and spiritual gifts and discern how God can use you! God has gifted each of us with unique talents, abilities, personalities, and experiences. Investing in and utilizing these allows us to fully experience God’s potential and understand our calling to serve Him with our unique strengths. What has God given you, and what is He asking you to do?

• Dates: Eight Weeks - Sundays, Sept. 25, Oct. 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, Nov. 6, 13
• Time: 9:30am
• Location: Woodbury Campus
• Instructor: Emily Johnson
• Cost: $15 per person
• Registration: Online by linking here.

Faculty

Emily Johnson has worked in higher education for eleven years, and is currently in the Registrar’s Office at St. Catherine University. She has her Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Bethel Seminary, and she particularly enjoys studying the Old Testament. Her husband, Scot, their two boys and their dog live in Oakdale. The Johnsons have attended Five Oaks for about three years. Emily’s top five strengths are: Achiever, Adaptability, Relator, Responsibility, Developer. She dreams of one day owning her own pie shop.