Sunday Wrap-Up

Some Sundays I cannot wait to get home and tell everyone what happened. Others, not so much. Add to that the anxieties caused by Larry Smith's hospitalization after lunch yesterday, and I'm just now approaching the review.

FYI - There are changes ahead for New Hope. No doubt in my heart that we have some areas of "needs improvement", and some areas where present practices need to end if we are to become more effective. We've had an awesome year so far praise God, but that's exactly why we need to look at what we do with a critical eye and see what else we can do to be more engaging, more effective, more in love with Jesus. So I'll be looking through our normal practices this week and seeking feedback from you all on how we can achieve Christ's vision of what New Hope can be.

One area that I am very interested in improving is our communication both outside our worship gatherings and especially in them. We definitely try to over communicate what is happening with an eye toward education of what we are about, but it can get out of sync with the purpose of worship. When we print a worship guide, run ppt slides before the service, then make personal announcements too, it can consume a good deal of resources. The worship guide contains our communication card, so it is multipurpose, but I wonder if something we did in house might be better. Ideas?

Back to Sunday - music was...

O Worship the King (the chorus always gets me)
Better Is One Day (GREAT job praise team!)
God of This City (awesome)
Come Home Running (I LOVE this)

We're going to work harder as a praise team, and get the media folks more integrated into what we do. Sound levels are hard in our building, but we can do better.

The message-

Well, we are almost at the end of the series looking at the churches of Revelation, and everyone's favorite whipping boy - Laodecia is next. But before we move on, a look back at what we saw in the church at Philadelphia. Maybe a better summation that yesterday.

- Weakness is opportunity - when we realize that it has to be God working through us and not our (strength, wisdom, skill, whatever)then we can fully work with Him
- Opportunity is Mission - God has opened doors and regardless of what we see with our vision, they are there for us to walk through
- Mission leads to "well done!" - the reward of being a faithful steward of what God has given is His continued protection and His blessings both now and later