H. Henry Williams

Mid-Week Memo

Hi Five Oakers,

There are several things I want to share with you today.

#1 - Get a recap of the weekend services with highlights of our prayers, readings and songs here.

#2 – Are you praying for me, that I might proclaim the gospel clearly during our family series in September? Please pray for me and for the person you would love to see attend. This series is not just for parents. “To Raise a Family” is about what the Bible says to all of us in the church about raising a family. It takes a church to raise a family. We're in this together.

#3 – Your mission field is where you work and live. I’m praying for you as you seek to share your life and faith with others and as you invite some to attend the series.

#4 – The brick work on the new street sign is about done! That sign is going to look great! The rest of it goes up in mid-September.

#5 – Family worship this weekend. That means we’ll only have classes for kindergarteners and younger. Your kids need to experience grown up worship from time to time. And you can help them participate, especially during Communion. Go as a family and pray a simple prayer together after taking the elements. If you’re not use to praying except at meals and the thought of it freaks you out, memorize something simple and pray it from your heart. You can do this!  

#6 – We had about ten folks come to the Story of God Ministry information meeting on Saturday to see how they might be able to help run that ministry. My biggest hope is that of our folks at Five Oaks get a vision for how they can use this ministry to reach their friends for Christ. By expanding the team, we will be ready to expand its reach.

#7 – There’s still room to help make lunch at the Dorothy Day Center on Saturday, September 7. If you’ve never done this, it’s a great event. You will be glad you did it. Contact the church office at [email protected] or mark your Communication Card this weekend.

#8 – Best training event I’ve ever been to led by Sarah Bowers for Kids Hope mentors. It was great and I can’t wait for the new year to start. I’ll be going on my third school year with the same mentee.

#9 – Here are most of your comments from the Communication Cards:

• Such passion and love in your sermon Henry. Thank you.
• Great worship set.
• Ken and Libby – your words at the beginning of the service were filled with biblical truth that challenged me to surrender some issues I am holding on to. God used you both to touch my heart. May He bless you as you serve in ministry here at Five Oaks. Henry, one of the best sermons by anyone I’ve heard EVER. 
• Pastor Henry’s messages are more meaningful to me than any I have listened to I my almost 70 years. Thank you for helping me. [It’s amazing when long unanswered questions are addressed in a way that makes sense biblically, logically and emotionally. I often feel that way in my own personal study, preparing for a sermon.]
• Great message Henry, thank you for bringing God’s truth and HOPE to our community. Thank you Worship team! Awesome praises to God! 
• Great worship set gang. Powerful message on the plagues sent on Pharaoh to illustrate obedience, judgment and worship. Thank you. 
• Thank you Pastor Henry for your message on the “true and real” God of the Bible. 
• Thanks for the reminder to worship God and not pursue other false hopes.  Jeremiah 29:11-13.
• Brilliant message. Ties the Old Testament passage to the One who is the focus of the whole Word of God, Jesus Christ…
• Thank you so much for offering gluten free communion bread. It is awesome for my daughter to be able to have communion with everyone. [How about those gluten free mini donuts the Fizel’s made for the Women’s Ministry table? Wow, they were good. Actually, I thought they were the best I’ve had. Now if they could only create fat free and sugar free mini donuts that taste just as good and are made from only healthy ingredients! Might have to wait until heaven to have those.]
• In the September series, please address well – why the Bible is true – not just stories passed down. Have any antiquities been found showing evidence of the plagues, for instance? Will the series be available on CD/DVD? That would be great! (with notes too?)  [The September series will be focused on family. All the sermons in every series are available online, but we don’t produce CD’s or DVD’s. Sorry. As far as I know, no archeological evidence of the plagues has yet been found. However, there was no historical evidence of the Davidic kingdom until relatively recently either, but it was only a matter of time before it was found.]
• Summer 2014 – 5 p.m. worship, Saturdays. [Probably. And dinners, too!]
• [We also received and noted a couple of comments regarding improvements we can make to the worship service. Thanks.]

#10 – Here’s my sermon in 10 tweets, “The Plagues,” Exodus 7:8-10:29:

1. "The Elantrians were lax gods. the didn't really care if the people worshipped them--they were secure in their divinity."
2. Every man’s fantasy God. Helps u when you need him, keeps company when u want him & doesn't care when you ignore him. Not the God of Exodus
3. The plagues account has the perfect trifecta of things people love to hate about God: judgment, obedience & worship.
4. Judgment is meant to save you. The judgment of plagues was not just for the Israelites but for the Egyptians & the world.
5. The plagues are a symbolic presentation of how disobedience unleashes horrors into the world. Obedience protects you.
6. You don’t accuse a doctor of trying to control you when he tells you what you have to do to survive and thrive.
7. God doesn’t call us to worship to meet a need in him. He calls us to worship to fulfill the deepest need in us.
8. The fantasy god doesn’t exist. It's no different than other hopeful fantasies. Why expect this one to be true?
9. The fantasy god can’t exist. A god who doesn’t care if u worship him is a god who doesn’t care. He won't be there when you want or need him
10. The plague of darkness & God's wrath fell on Christ on the cross. "He was unmade on the cross so he could remake you and me."

#11 – Got this email after the sermon on serving and volunteering.

Are you at all familiar with My Little Pony? I don't imagine you are but as a girl child of the '80s, I adored them. There's been a serious reboot a few years ago. Why do I bring this up? A theme in the series is the "cutie mark" which identifies each pony. In the new series, when a pony tries things and finds their talent, they earn their "cutie mark" and the only way to earn it is by trying things. It would be a lot easier to know what our spiritual gifts are if we had marks appear when we tried them. I'm glad that we don't have it that easy though. I wanted to share this with you because it seemed like a great visual way to explain spiritual gifts to someone, especially children. There's a trio of ponies in the series that don't have their "cutie mark" yet and throughout the series try all kinds of ridiculous things in order to earn it. They have learned a lot of what they aren't good at and yet they keep trying. Wouldn't it be wonderful if everyone tried everything to find out what they were meant to be doing?

Amen!

Blessings to all of you, Pastor Henry

Mid-Week Memo

Hi Five Oakers,

There are several things I want to share with you today.

#1 - One person counts. One person. So when I here that 41 volunteers helped with the Karen VBS, I’m excited, but I’m equally excited when I hear about one of our members ministering in a prison or helping an elderly neighbor. For a while I think our church had fallen into thinking that an Impact event was only successful if dozens of Five Oakers joined in. But that assumed everyone else is sitting around doing nothing. The reality is that hundreds of you are involved in ministry outside the church already. One person counts. 41 of us working together or 41 of us working with 41 other groups to bring the gospel and do compassion…it’s all good!

#2 – The Journeymen Men’s Ministry is doing an impact event September 21 through Hearts and Hammers Ministry. It’s open to all guys (even guys like me who are not handymen), but what an opportunity for those who are skilled with tools to use that skill to help people in need.

#3 – The parking lot is being resurfaced this week. I think it will be all painted and done by the weekend.

#4 – I love how we were able to link the backpack drive to other ministries we are involved in, including the Karen VBS and Kids Hope USA.

#5 – I have an information meeting for those who might be interested in helping with the Story of God ministry. We need both behind the scenes people and small group leaders. The meeting is at 4:45 and will last less than an hour. Let me know if you’d like to come. Pizza will be served.

#6 – Here are most of your comments from the Communication Cards:

• Henry, your sermon hit home. I haven’t found my niche yet at Five Oaks, but I continue to serve in different ministries. All have been a positive experience and I appreciate the patience and kindness of your team! 
• Love the first song today! 
• Libby – difficult to hear, on some songs and while praying with background music. – maybe need move mic. Beautiful – keyboard and guitar work. Love having Nathan and hearing Nathan on vocals. [Nathan did another stellar job on the songs he led.]
• Great job worship team! [It was fantastic and led by volunteers in ministry!]
• Great inspirational message. 
• Amazing music! Loved revelation song!
• Love my church, love our worship, love the hearts of our leaders! I never tire of us explaining the order, meaning and reason for our service. The best worship service musically I have been part of for a year or more!
• Thank you, Pastor Henry, for such an awesome message to call the church body to step up to the plate and do their calling to serve! We’re one body with many parts and I appreciate how your message wasn’t guilt-driven…but proclaimed the truth in love! 
• I like the 6 p.m. start time for Saturday service. Maybe continue it for winter? [Glad you like it. Like I’ve said before, I wish we could bottle up the energy of a 6pm time and open it at 4:30. But we’re going back to 4:30 the weekend after Labor Day.]
• I’m a visiting scholar in U of M in next one year. I’m a Mongolian from China. My wife is coming in one month to join me. Our baby will be born next April. [I would love to meet you! Come on up to 10-Minute Connect when you get a chance.] 
• Need some new candles at Lighting Station. [Noted. Thanks.]
• I’d like to see something for couples and families – events/ - game nights/ activities on a regular basis and not just in small groups. [It’s not something we do on a regular basis for a bunch of reasons I won’t go into here and now (email me if you’d like to hear why), but more frequently would be good. If you want to organize something like this, all you need to do is reserve the Commons or a room on a night when it is open. Then invite some people. You can even announce it in the Worship Program. I did one of these this year using Facebook. We had a Settlers of Catan night after a Saturday service and it was a lot of fun. Our one big night for this kind of thing most years is Coffee House night. Let Tim Bubar know if you would like to help pull that off.]

#7 – Here’s my sermon in 10 tweets, “You are Needed,” Ephesians 4:11-16:

1. From your vantage point it may seem like you are not needed. But you are needed.
2. You are needed because that’s how God designed things to work in the church.
3. Volunteers serving in ministry cleaned the bathrooms…led you in worship…taught your kids…made & served the coffee..
4. I’m accountable and report to a group of volunteers serving in ministry.
5. Colin Powell wanted the cleaning crew at the White House to know the impact they made & that they were part of his team.
6. Almighty God wants you to know that you are part of his team.
7. He gives spiritual gifts to ALL his people. Some have leadership gifts to equip all to do the work of ministry (Eph 4:11-12)
8. The goal is for all to work to build up the body of Christ = spiritual maturity = become like Christ
9. How do you discover your gift: start doing something.
10. What if everybody here today knew they were needed? What if everyone wanted to get in the game?

Blessings to all of you, Pastor Henry

13-year Old Girls, Bass Guitarists and the Lonely Instrument

That’s a picture of Legend Rutledge playing and singing with the Worship Team this last weekend. It was her first weekend on the worship team. Here’s what I love about it, and so will you: she just turned 13! She basically taught herself to play guitar. She served with excellence, and we’ll be seeing more of her on the team.

Now look to the right of Legend, the space usually occupied by one of our bass guitarists. Yeah, it’s empty. The ones who serve us faithfully, week in and week out, weren’t able to play this weekend. The guy Dan called from outside the church to fill in dropped out at the last minute. Apparently something better came along. No buy-in like our Five Oaks’ regulars. Dan made up for it, sort of, with his Mac.

This last picture represents that instrument you use to play that is stored down in your basement or  deep in one of your closets. You took lessons and played that for more years than Legend has been alive. You’ve been thinking about dusting if off and giving it a try again. You were once good enough at it to contribute to a band. You’re thinking right now you might be able to help us fill that space (or others like it) and touch someone’s heart by serving on the worship team.

Think you're off the hook because you don't play anything? Think again. I could also show you pictures of thirteen-year-olds that help in our Children's Minsitry and do a great job week in and week out. You can make a contribution in almost any area of our ministry. So check out the opportunities this weekend.

Mid-Week Memo

Hi Five Oakers,

There are several things I want to share with you today.

#1 - Get a recap of the weekend services with highlights of our prayers, readings and songs here.

#2 - One of our greeters noticed 7 new families come to our services this weekend. There were more.

#3 - The Bryant small group is leading VBS for the Karen children this week right in a predominantly Karen neighborhood. Lots of others have joined them to help. The Jersey youth team joined in on Monday evening when one of our youth suggested they do that before having their reunion meeting.

#4 - Speaking of the Jersey team, here’s a video produced by one of the youth team members, Benjamin Visness. It’s really good!

#5 - The foundation of the new street sign will go in within two weeks and it should be completed by mid-September.

#6 - Here’s the River Baptism video.

#7 - Huge thanks to Deb Johnson for all her efforts to get as many people as possible to the Summit. Over 100 were inspired and equipped. Most veterans said it was the best yet.

#8 - Did you miss this year's Summit? Put next years Summit in your calendar right now: August 14-15.

#9 - Come on. I’m serious. Put it in your calendar right now. You know you don’t want to miss it again due to poor planning.

#10 - Get some good Summit talk summaries here and here.

#11 – Here are most of your comments from the Communication Cards:

• Really excited for the meal and looking forward to the family weekend. Realized I am so mal-nourished and really needed today’s message. Thank you. 
• One thing I appreciated about a church I went to was the interaction at end of message. Allowing any questions some nights to have with what was said. (Observations.) [I’ve done that through email and this blog, but the questions stopped coming. I’ll do again some time. I should do it on occasion live. Like the idea.]
• Thank you for connecting with Christ, reading materials too!! 
• Excited for the new sign! My husband use to be late to church because he would not see the sign. 
• Today is our last day at Five Oaks as we relocate to Charlotte, NC. We want to thank everyone at Five Oaks for being such a special and important part of our lives. God is using Five Oaks in great ways. We will continue to pray for Five Oaks and follow along remotely.  Brad & Michelle Wiger [We love you guys and will miss you in a big way. Thank you for serving so well over the years.]
• Henry, the reason we come to this church is because you are teaching the Bible. …Thank you for teaching the Bible! 
• Beautiful opening song. Henry, thanks for your honesty and vulnerability. Happy to be a Five Oaker.
• Great message Henry! I could have listened all day. Moving and uplifting and inspiring!
• Nice to have restful, restorative music – reflective compared to entertaining spectator music. [So glad you resonated so well with the worship this week. Let me use this comment to share an observation that may or may not relate to this comment. I find that people who don't particularly resonate with our style of music think it's performance oriented and people who resonate don't feel that way at all. All I can say is that we're all about personal engagement and we don't do anything at all with performance in mind.]
• Henry, you knocked it out of the park! Thank you for always challenging us, and not letting us just sit here. 
• Just wanted to let you know one of the reasons my family and I started coming to Five Oaks last year was because of the biblical/expository teaching. Love it! 
• Beautiful job – LeNae! [I agree!]
• Dan – emotional, beautiful ending to “Lord I Need You” and prayer with piano – background. Wonderful prayer. I never though about “My one defense”. My one and only, complete and capable defense. 
• Great message today (again). Method 1. New: Teach the Bible. 2. Old: Teach from biblical principles in a way that inspires I need the “Bible learning”, but Monday – Saturday still need the inspiration.  (1) Is there an acceptable hybrid? (2) Does a stronger service always equate to longer lasting impact? [(1) Yes! Sermons that inspire AND teach the Bible. Absolutely necessary. It’s simply not enough to reference the Bible and be biblical. But communication that sticks is still essential and inspiring stories, videos, and other such elements help it stick. (2) I think it has more potential to hit the mark if done well. Willow Creek’s REVEAL research, for one, has shown (empirically) that people who are well grounded in the Bible and doctrine live significantly different, more devoted lives of love for God and others evidenced by loving action and intimacy with God. A thoroughly biblical worldview changes everything. They’ve made big changes at Willow based on this research, and it’s making a demonstrable difference in their congregation. They’re still super inspiring, but now it’s "all-killer-no-filler" in their services, it’s more about grounding people in Scripture and challenging people more deeply, and it's more about helping establish people in personal spiritual disciples, especially daily Bible reflection. I highly recommend Move by Greg Hawkins and Cally Parkinson to anyone interested in learning more about what actually results in spiritual growth and life impact. Chuck Colson and Barna have also done a lot of work on how a thoroughly biblical worldview changes everything. I especially recommend The Faith: What Christians Believe, Why They Believe it, and Why it Matter by Chuck Colson.]
• Nice to see Legend playing with the worship team this weekend! LeNae, love seeing you with the worship team again also. [I've got a post on Legend's first time on our worship team coming tomorrow.]
• Best worship at beginning I’ve heard in awhile! Great connection and preparation. 
• Thank you Henry, and Tim, for your obedience to God when He said to speak to me, through you, via Exodus. It is exactly what I needed!
• Awesome worship! 
• Thank you for playing “This is the Stuff you use” during the visitation time at 11 a.m. service. My daughter Loves Francesca Battistelli, and she loved it! 
• Nice job, Legend! Welcome to music team!
• Thanks for the message. I’m a top down person and I enjoyed the big picture to help me make sense of the little things we do at Five Oaks. 
• As our church looks at building changes, can we please consider separating social space (i.e. Acorn Café) from the space for people watching service on the monitors? Maybe a specified room for one of them? Otherwise maybe speakers by the seating? It’s hard to hear over people talking in the halls. [We are aware of this problem. We’ve done a little, but we have to do a lot more. IT's been a hard nut to crack. Basically, we’ve got to make sure it’s quiet in the areas with the monitors by the worship center doors. It’s hard to monitor that and raise awareness. I know I’m even the culprit sometimes. We will revisit this! Thank you.]
• “Lord, I Need You” – awesome song!  Thanks. 

#12 – Here’s my sermon in 10 tweets, “The Meal,” Matthew 4:1-4:

1. Five Oaks has been working on a meal to get it just right. The meal represents everything we do for spiritual nourishment.
2. Jesus spoke of the Word of God as a meal. God the Son needed it for his sustenance.
3. I was devastated when I came to the conclusion that I was not feeding you the most nutritious meal possible.
4. You can preach biblical, inspiring sermons that don’t teach the Bible.
5. While my own ministry and passion was fueled by the Word, I wasn’t filling our congregation with the same fuel.
6. Our worship isn’t better than other churches or perfect. Our “liturgy” is simply better than what we were doing before. More nutritious.
7. A great meal needs a great presentation and then an invitation to the meal.
8. A church that effectively makes disciples needs to be the most invitational church of all.
9. “Father, help Henry proclaim the gospel as clearly as he should” (Col 4:4)
10. Inviting someone to the family series or Story of God will catalyze your spirit more than just about anything you can do.

I’m very thankful for all of you. I know most of you who read these memos are the ones who are making a difference. You make a difference in my life.

Blessings to all of you, Pastor Henry

Batman

Something we learned at the Summit this year...

Put a bowl of apple slices and a bowl of candy bars out for Halloween and about 9% of the kids will choose the apples slices. How do you get about half to choose the apples? A social scientist made one change: A picture of Batman over the two bowls with the caption, "What would Batman eat?"

So Dan Lukas got this idea for our next invite card.

The Meal

Five Oakers, if you missed this last weekend’s message, I’d love for you to listen online. If you were there, here’s a quick hit list of some of the items I mentioned under the meal, the presentation and the invitation.

The Meal

Most of these are items we've already completed:

• More Bible teaching in the sermons.
• Preaching through books of the Bible.
• Daily version of Group Life.
• 8-week spiritual boot camp: Story of God
• Story of God themed series each year
• Tru curriculum for kids
• Prayer and Scripture saturated services
• Worship structured around the gospel story
• Stations that provide a variety of ways to worship
• Clear path for discipleship: Connect, Deepen, Impact
• Clear path for connection: 10-Minute Connect, Discovery, Story of God

The Presentation

• 10-Minute Connect
• Worship Guide
• New FYI Sheets (coming this month)
• Children’s Wing Tree House theme and paint face lift (coming this month)
• New concrete entrance and parking lot resurfacing
• CLC changes for learning environment (Campaign)
• Commons kiosks (Campaign)
• Walls that tell our Impact story (Campaign)

The Invitation

• New website (coming this month)
• New road sign (by October)
• Long-term connection strategy for new move-ins (by January)
• Story of God as outreach tool (September)
• “To Raise a Family” Series (September)
• Praying Colossians 4:4 for Henry (August, September)
• Inviting someone to the series or the Story of God (August, September)

Mid-Week Memo

Hi Five Oakers,

There are several things I want to share with you today.

#1 – What a great baptism service. Over 40 people were baptized! The sounds of worship reverberated into downtown Hudson. The gospel of God’s grace and our need for his grace was preached. And, to top it all off, the weather was absolutely perfect.

#2 – I’m writing this on Wednesday, the day before the Global Leadership Summit. By the time this goes online, I’ll be exhausted from the first day and loving it. Can’t wait to see how God will speak to us during the this year’s Summit.

#3 – SO much work being done inside and outside our building. Walls being re-painted, parking lot being resurfaced, concrete being poured. Soon the street sign will be going up. Radio drive will be opened. Carpet will be installed. The Children’s Wing will be receiving a major new look. And all will be ready for fall kickoff of our new ministry year. .

#4 – One of our members was at the Washington County Fair last week and was checking out the Union Gospel Mission booth. He told the man at the booth that our church contributes to the Thanksgiving food bags. So the guy asked, “What church?” When he told him the guy said, “Five Oaks? They’re our greatest contributor to the Thanksgiving drive for years.” Way to go Five Oaks!

#5 – Here’s my sermon in 8 tweets, “Be Prepared,” Exodus 5:1-7:7:

1. How to prepare for baptism. Hold your breath Hold your nose. Hold your ground.
2. Keep holding your ground. Difficulty, tests of your faith, suffering and trouble are coming!
3. The Holy Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan right after his baptism.
4. Moses was surprised in spite of the fact that God told him Pharaoh would not give up easily. Don’t be surprised like he was.
5. There are no mountain top experiences that aren’t followed by a valley.
6. Moses was surprised but he did the right thing. We can do it too. He went to God and poured out his heart to him.
7. Difficulty is how God deepens your dependence on him.
8. Kyle’s four-year-old helping him push the heavy desk. “Dad, can you get out of my way?” He actually thought he was doing the pushing.

I’m still looking for that magic wand to get you there for this weekend.

Blessings to all of you, Pastor Henry

"The Meal" This Weekend

This weekend may be the most important vision sermon I've given in two or three years. No, it's not about the fall campaign. It's about "the meal." The meal is my way of talking about all that we do as a church to make new and better disciples.

If I could wave a magic wand to get all Five Oakers there, I would. I've been looking for one of those wands on eBay and Amazon, but no luck yet. So the next best thing is to ask you to be there if you can and to listen online if you can't. It's that important.

P.S. Here's a preview of tomorrow's post with more pictures from the baptism service last weekend!