My parents’ retirement and our church’s 34th anniversary last Sunday was an exciting day! It was a joyful day. It was not a sad day, but now that it’s our first Sunday without the founding pastor, it’s just… well… different.
VIDEO. As time marches on and life brings changes, we can’t forget to celebrate what God has done in the past. We can’t LIVE in the past, but we shouldn’t IGNORE it, either. I wanted to start today with a video to celebrate your generosity to a faithful couple.
CHANGES. Any time staff changes happen, people have a right to wonder how much change will take place in the church. The main changes this week will be:
1. New bulletin layout. Again! We just redesigned the bulletin and now we’re at it again. I had so many words… they just couldn’t fit on the trifold any more. This new format allows for more content to help us worship better and gain more from the preaching.
2. Staff schedule. The new day off for staff is now Tuesday instead of Monday. We figure that working Mondays will let us strike while the iron is hot and follow up from Sundays better. Every Sunday I fill a paper FULL of red ink from all the random notes to follow up on, and now we will have a chance to move more quickly on critical things. In addition, Mrs. Maricela will work in the office to do our guest followup, absentee reports, Wednesday service prep, and much, MUCH more. She is SO good at her job… we’re making her work more! This will free up my wife to help me better connect to people.
3. Deliberate worship. This isn’t so much a change as it is a highlight. We make constant adjustments to the services, and over the past year we have added screens to help us focus on the truths of the offertories, we have front-loaded the schedule with praise (which leads to a response of worship), and we have taken the time weekly to bow in worship to God. With the new bulletin layout, we can add details that are not always highlighted in a service (e.g. the background story of a hymn, or an encouragement to focus on the truth.)
Those are minor changes, but they’ve already made a powerful difference, at least in my heart. I’m praying they will for you, too.
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! Finally, Happy Mother’s Day! My own mom said, “Don’t get me anything. You’ve given me enough!” I had some help. Thanks for helping me with my Mother’s Day gift this year!
I love Mother’s Day, and I view moms as the greatest superheros of our day. Marvel and DC Comics can’t come close. Iron Man and Spiderman and Superman have zero powers compared to moms, and I want to talk about the eternal power of motherhood in today’s sermon as we kick off sermon one from our new series in 2 Timothy: “A Mother’s Eternal Superpower.”
I’m looking forward to the services today. -Pastor Ryan