Monday Morning Reflections

We really had a good day yesterday.? It was good to get back to preaching after Chris did such a great job last week starting this series off with a great message.? I preached on “The Man.”? Jesus is the most loved and hated man in history.? There are so many differing opinions about Jesus from believer and non-believer alike.? I felt like that we need to take an in depth look at this man Jesus.? We are continuing some of the Scriptures that we didn’t get to on the devotional blog.? You will want to check them out.?

On that note, I feel like I am getting into a rhythm with the devos and sermon prep.? I think it helps me feel like I don’t have to preach everything on Sunday.? I have a tendency to not cut enough out of my sermons because “there is just so much good stuff.”? With the devotionals, we can study the Scriptures that we didn’t talk about in the sermon, or was only able to mention in passing.? Now, I am not at all in a blogging rhythm with this site, but of the two blogs, I would rather have the devotional be more consistent.? I know Fran would like that!? Love you Fran, I just had to throw you under the bus.

Our worship band is sounding better each week!? I think next week there will be another new member helping sing as well as play keyboard for us!? You will want to be here to hear the band, they are really working hard to lead us each week.

We got a whole bunch of our invite cards handed out to our people.? We are going the invite card route this year instead of the mass mailing.? Mainly it is a financial issue, but it is also an issue of focus.? We feel like our strategy of “invest and invite” is much better than sending out a mass mailing.? Basically, I am more likely to attend a church because someone personally invited me.? We had a huge success with the Harvest Blowout invite cards and had the largest attendance in that event’s history.? Plus we will save around a thousand dollars over the mailing in just postage!

Tucker was/is under the weather a bit and Jenny had to take him to the doctor after getting the All Stars set up yesterday morning.? (He is doing a whole lot better. . . Mr. Destructo is back in business again . . . put away all your valuables!)? This was a huge bummer for her as she will be serving in the service next month and wanted to hear the sermon.? BUT, drum roll please . . . she will be able to hear the sermon audio soon via download and podcast! We are working to get our sermon podcasting up and going so that our church family can hear when they are gone, working in the children’s ministry, etc.? We have several people who are traveling with work. . . some out of the country, but have access to the internet.? They will be able to hear the message via downloaded podcast and not miss a beat when they return home.

I know pod casted sermons have been huge in my faith journey over the last couple of years and I want to be able to leverage technology for His Glory.? It is really inexpensive and the benefits far outweigh the costs. We already record the sermons on CD, so it is just a couple more steps to get them on the web for our people to benefit.

Hope you all have a great week.? I will post later when the podcasts are up and going.