Do you want to know a secret? Do you promise not to tell?
Somehow, those lines from the classic Beatles song were whirling through my head.
The secret of how much our congregation has pledged toward our Beyond These Walls initiative will finally…finally!…be revealed this weekend. It’s kind of killing me, honestly! But on Saturday night at 6:30pm (in the sanctuary!) when I open the envelope, we will discover together what that secret is. And then, I hope that you all will “promise not to tell” so that our Sunday crowd (one service, 10:00am) will be just as surprised and, hopefully, delighted.
Since it wasn’t enough to announce the history-making result of our Beyond These Walls initiative, we thought we’d throw in Bluegrass AND Father’s Day to boot! So, nothing going on at all this weekend!
Because our two services (6:30pm Saturday, 10:00am Sunday) are identical in every way, I’m hoping that 200-300 of our Sunday crowd will come on Saturday night. It might also make graduation and Father’s Day a little less hectic! Only requirement is: You’ve got to keep your yapper shut! If you can’t keep a secret, you can’t come on Saturday!
And for some, MOST important of all….BBQ! Whoo-whooo! On Saturday we will serve the pork at 5:00pm, before worship in the Gathering Place. On Sunday, it will be after the service (also in the Gathering Place). If you have not yet RSVPd, please do so here. We need to make sure we have enough for everyone…and I’d hate to break out the microwave TV dinners!
Also, because of the big crowd in a single service on Sunday morning, if you are able, please park at Century Link or Discovery Elementary! We are going to be packed out!
Perhaps you sense my giddiness. Bluegrass music, blue jeans, pulled pork—and one of the most important announcements in our church’s history. I can hardly wait! I believe this weekend will set us on an exciting new trajectory—a trajectory of freedom and community-impact that will, well, make history!
You won’t want to miss this!
See you Saturday night—or Sunday morning. And keep praying.
Pastor Mark
P.S. We are trying a new experiment! Oxford graduate Michael Bouterse (one of our pastoral interns) who also completed a year with the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (where we found Ellis White) will be teaching an ongoing 45 minute summer class on apologetics, including the exclusivity of Jesus and how to talk to your friends about those claims, between worship services in the prayer chapel starting next Sunday, June 25. Michael is brilliant, and this class will equip you to share your faith “beyond these walls.” You’ll hear more about this in worship this weekend. It should be fascinating and will help you in your own discipleship and disciple-making!