H. Henry Williams

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

 

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.

Like a particular song on the weekend?

Then check out this link, updated weekly by Anissa Stumbo and Juli Pennington Servatius. Here's a screenshot of what's up right now.

Inception

Here's the video from the weekend reminding everyone that if you show up at the Woodbury or Hudson campuses this weekend, no one will be there. We're at the Hudson Bandshell on the St. Croix at 10:30am for an all-Five Oaks service, baptism and picnic. Bring your own food and beverage, chairs and an umbrella to protect from the sun.

Here's our video followed and the Inception movie trailer (it might help explain our video a bit if you did not see the movie).

Kids in the Weekend Service

Our parenting conference speaker made his case for for families worshiping together a few weeks ago and I've been meaning to add my two cents. Our boys attended adult worship services most of their lives, and it didn't make them hate going to church. I'm not sure it helped them either. I think a lot depends on your kids and on your parenting style or skills.

So I think it's a great idea for many (but not all) families, but only if...

• Your kids are also attending their weekend small group (i.e., Sunday School) so that they can learn, grow and fellowship at their own level. You can go to the service together and then you (the parents) can serve the other hour while your kids are in their small group.
• Your kids are not constantly distracting you. If you are the primary spiritual director in your child's life (and you are), it's not a good idea for you to put your spiritual growth on hold until your slightly to very hyperactive child grows up. 
• Your kids are not distracting the people around you. Sorry, but constant movement and even cute noise is distracting.

I just read an article by a pastor from a church that doesn't ever allow kids in their services. He gives five reasons that I think can be remedied in other ways. But here are his reasons for your consideration:

1. Children learn at their level - Appropriate topics are given at appropriate ages and presented in appropriate methods for their particular stage of development.
2. Children like church - How many people do you meet that say they hate church because their parents forced them and it was boring? Why do that to your kids? Don't you want them to learn about Jesus AND enjoy it?
3. It allows parents to worship/learn undistracted - Our conviction is that the parent is more responsible for the spiritual development of a child than the church, so we need to make sure parents are being edified and encouraged in God's Word. This is much easier when they're not trying to keep their children pacified or entertained during service.
4. It allows people throughout the service, both seekers and disciples alike, to focus on the experience rather than being distracted by crying, fussing, or bored kids.
5. It frees the pastor to discuss "adult" topics without having to filter things for young ears. I don't mean this allows me to cuss, but it does allow me to discuss serious things like sex without having kids hear things they are not ready for yet. [We try to warn parents when the topic is PG or PG-13, but it's not easy to always remember.]

A Broad Response to Response

One of the things I'm loving about our response services is that I'm getting glowing reviews from people at both ends of the spiritual life spectrum--from seekers to long-time, mature believers. They tell me they are experiencing God's presence in a deeper way and loving the indepth Bible teaching. I think we will be seeing more dimensions of worship and teaching unfold over the coming weeks and months. And I also think we'll be seeing Christ's grip on our hearts tighten, freeing us to serve him more consistently from his grace and love in all aspects of our lives.

Worship Response Stations Pictures

Harold Ennulat took these pictures of the stations last weekend.  

 



 

Way Beyond the Call of Duty

Here's a picture of the candle lighting station that is in the process of being built for the Woodbury campus (for praying for the light of Christ to shine in someone's life). Five Oaks member Kevin Haley designed it and is building it. But please read on.

The rest of the stations at both campuses will be placed on modular tables (or pedestals) we're constructing. But this is where it gets really interesting. I'll let Dave Belford tell you the rest of the story.

Wednesday, I stopped by Home Depot to price materials & cutting.... Home Depot usually charges for each cut of 4x8 on their Panel saw. Each pedestal has 5 sides by 20 pedestals (well over 150 cuts).  They said "no charge" for the cuts.

Thursday @ 10am I bring in the precise measurements & they started asking what I'm building & what it was going to be used for.  I told them what I was going to be doing all weekend.  They offered to build all 20 & asked how soon I needed them. I was reluctant at first, but they graciously insisted that my design needed modification.  Finally, in shock, I agreed & said I needed a few by Monday night for a Communion Servers meeting.  We ball parked materials ($250).  I payed & left.

Friday (30 hrs. later) I got a phone call @ 2pm wanting to know when I can pick all of them up.  Got them Friday night with a refund of $65 (material estimation was higher than actual need)

20 station pedestals built for less than $10 a piece & paid only for materials!

Way beyond the call of duty. Thank you Home Depot. (FYI, Dave sent a letter of commendation to corporate in Georgia.)

On Time More of the Time

I'm not the most on-time person in the world, so I have to be careful here, but I want to address getting into our worship gatherings on time, at least more of the time. I know the reason most of you walk in late is because you're in the Commons/Lobby talking to friends. That's a pretty good reason to walk in late, and sometimes that conversation should be the higher priority. But I want to give you permission to interrupt most of those conversations and say, "Let's finish this conversation after the service because the service is about to start." For our part, I've asked our Worship Arts leaders to give us a bit more of a musical cue that our corporate worship is about to start so we can extricate ourselves from not-so-urgent conversations and head to the Worship Center.

Here's why this is important. Over the coming weeks, we're going to be doing more to "call" our congregation to worship. Most weeks it takes some time and effort for most of us to engage in worship. Engagement is our personal responsibility. But as leaders, we need to do more to help you engage. When the majority come in late (and that's not an exaggeration), they miss out on the call to worship and they distract those that are seeking to engage in worship. When only a few people come in late, it's not so disruptive. So if we all make an effort to come into the worship gathering on time more of the time, maybe we'll go from a majority coming in late to just a reasonable trickle of latecomers.

Going Deeper (Part 5 of 5)

What do some people mean when they say they want messages to go deeper?

Number Five: Applicational Depth

Here's another issue where REVEAL has been very instructive for my preaching. It has helped identify two things people need for the kind of applicational depth that leads to spiritual growth:

• Offer Next Steps: Whenever possible, we're all looking for what our next step should be as a result of hearing God's Word and having it speak to our hearts. Those next steps are where our faith really grows, and the message can help point the way. For example, this fall we will launch a new prayer initiative akin to last year's challenge to pray for up to ten people and invite at least one to the Miracle series. This year's challenge will be a very specific next step all of us can take coming out of the last two messages in the Jonah series. I am convinced it will yield spiritual fruit in our lives while bringing more people into the Kingdom of God. Our folks have told me many times that these kinds of all-church challenges have been major catalysts in their spiritual growth.

• Differentiate Next Steps: Sometimes it is important to differentiate between the next step a newer or less mature believer might want to take versus a more mature believer. For example, I firmly believe the Bible gives the tithe as a basic benchmark for giving generously. Lois and I give beyond a tithe, so I'm not asking anyone to do something I don't practice myself. So I will challenge anyone to start tithing, even if they are not currently giving anything to God. However, I realize that not everyone is ready to take that kind of faith challenge, so last year I recommended that some may want to set a percentage they are ready to commit to and then seek to regularly and systematically give to reach that percentage goal over the coming year, raising it each year until they reach a tithe and beyond. (By the way, electronic giving is a great way to keep to your giving goals.) It's not much different from wanting everyone to cross the line of faith, but realizing that not everyone is ready, so the next step may be to read a particular book or participate in a investigative Bible study.