Hope Notes 5-12-2011

Hi Everyone!

 

Pastor Mark here this week!  Lois is away on a well deserved getaway, so I thought I'd take a chance to write to everyone this week.  I want to remind you about many different opportunities to be a part of what God is doing at Hope, and invite you to jump in! 

 

Our family is certainly busy at this time of year.  I'm sure all of you are as well. So there are plenty of reasons to let weekends slip by without being able to join us for worship.  Or to feel unable to be around for activities or "Workshop Wednesdays".  But let me encourage you to recognize what we talked about last week - your spiritual health is the highest priority of your life.  It is the fountain head from which EVERY healthy thing flows for each of us.  We all need the encouragement, fellowship, and spiritual nourishment that comes from making sure we stay involved, invested, and connected at church!  And more than that, we need you at Hope... our church is all about the people God has brought, and how He uses us in one another's lives as we grow together in grace.

 

After all, God's plan for showing His love and grace to this world is US!  We are witnesses and ambassadors for His redeeming plan for every person.  There are plenty of simple ways to let your light shine.  You can invite someone out to a service or activity at church, or pass along a CD of a service that could speak to a need in their life.  You can speak an encouraging word or ask if you can pray for them about some need.  You can live out your faith in the love and compassion of God, and grow in your faithfulness to follow Jesus in the choices you make with what you do and say.  So ask the Lord to show you how you can be a testimony to others for Him!

 

These past few weeks at church have been powerful.  Easter was just amazing, and Mother's Day overwhelmed me with a sense of the Spirit's power and presence as we worshipped and looked into the Word.  I see people making the effort to welcome new folks each week, and keeping Hope a place where people feel "at home".  We can never rest on a reputation - each time we get together, we need each one who is a part of Hope to look around and make sure that no one is ignored or pushed aside.  I am grateful to be a part of a church where the people have that kind of heart for one another!

 

Our Workshop Wednesdays have been amazing!  We are thankful for the way God is using them.  Please pray with us that God will accomplish all that He has in mind as we go forward in this exciting setup for Wednesday nights.  And pray for Franne and Liz as they take the lead on what our kids will be doing in the next few months!  We never want them to be left behind in these exciting times.

 

Don't miss Sunday - in fact, come out early and grab a cup of coffee or tea and spend some time visiting with one another.  We'll lift up our hearts in worship, and then we'll get back into our story about David.  This week, we'll take a look at how we sometimes wind up back in mistakes that we thought we had left in our past.  I'm sure most of us have at some point been surprised when we stumble back into something we've regretted.  Maybe we thought we'd never struggle with it again, or maybe we thought we'd grown past being pulled toward a particular mistake.  But we'll see that David walks right back into a mistake he made before.  And we'll see how we get into those situations, and how to avoid them!

 

Monday is our "Fiesta de Mayo" for our Young Adults.  We are going to host a dinner at church in the youth room for all our young adults (post high school through early thirties), and it will be a blast!  Dana and I already have our outfits started so that we can be appropriately Mexican.  Please make sure you're with us on Monday night if you're in this age group.  And please invite out friends - we want to see God use our group to include more and more young adults, and to help each of us grow in our faith!

 

Mark your calendars for our upcoming Music Ministry meeting.  If you are a part of our music ministry or would like to be a part, join us on Saturday morning, May 21 from 9:30-noon.  We'll have coffee, bagels, and donuts, so we can all get our brains functioning as we look at our philosophy of music ministry - basically, why we do what we do!

 

Also, we have our Spring Cafe coming up on May 25 (Wed night) at 7 pm.  We need people to sign up (in the Resource Room) to bring snacks and dessert, and we need people willing to share a talent with us.  It is always an amazing time together as a church family, so don't miss it!

 

And, our Leadership Team is planning a fellowhip at church for "New Families" on June 17th.  We'll get more details out in the coming weeks, but if you've started attending in the past 6 months or so and want to get to know our elders and leaders better, come out and spend some time with us that evening!  With so many new faces at Hope, we're looking forward to the opportunity to put some names with faces and get to visit with many of you.

 

We have lots of opportunities in our church to serve one another and the cause of Christ.  We need each person who is a part of Hope to be serving the body in some way.  We need passionate teachers for our kids who see how great of an opportunity it is to share the love of Jesus with our young people.  We need people to help with Sound and Media ministry who understand the vital importance of these 'background' technical ministries.  I'd love to see people who have skills and a passion to serve step up and join those teams to make them even better.  Our deacons can use people willing to help out as needs arise in the body and at the church building.  Each week, look at the opportunities to serve and ask the Lord how you can help!  Then, followup and volunteer every time you can!

 

Also, as summer approaches and some of you travel, don't forget that technology makes it easy to keep up with what's going on.  Each week, the recording of the Sunday message is available on our website - you can listen on your computer, or save it to a CD or MP3 player and take it with you!  And our FACEBOOK account will keep updating the latest news and upcoming events.  If you're a part of Facebook, don't forget to encourage Emily and "like" our page!  It's a simple and easy way to let her know we appreciate all that she does!

 

I'll let you all get back to your busy day - but as I go, I just want to tell you that God is using you all in my life as a great encouragement.  So many times over the past year, He has used YOU in ways that you may not even have known to be a blessing to me.  So thank you all.  It is a privilege to partner with you for the cause of Christ at Hope!

 

God bless you all and have a great week!

Pastor Mark