We spent the weekend looking at the end of the world, as we wrapped up our “War of the Worlds” message series. But endings always bring beginnings. This coming weekend we begin a “new year” since we tend to measure our years from the weekend after Labor Day to the weekend of Father’s Day.
I am really excited about the weekend ahead. We have put a lot of effort and planning into it already and I think it will show when you arrive. This weekend we kick off our new message series, Boiling Point, which is a message series I have wanted to do for some time because I think it is so relevant to our community. The topic is anger and what to do with it, and we will be looking at it for five weeks. The student and kids programs will have compatible message series too, so hopefully families can look at this issue together. By the way, the music for this series is going to be over the top, I heard the band rehearsing on Sunday afternoon and I was blown away. If you are going to be inviting a visitor, this is the weekend to do it. And it looks like more than a few generous people have responded to our call to create empty seats at optimum times (by changing the time they go to Mass), which means there should be more room at 9 and 10:30 for your guests.
Of course, we’ll have a tent on the Plaza, which we could definitely use every weekend, but absolutely need on bigger than usual weekends. And there’ll be ministers in the tent to help people learn more and go deeper. Our Small Groups Leadership Team is making a new pitch to get involved and they’ll be out in the tent too, maybe you’ve noticed them already, sporting purple tee shirts. Access Point, Vantage Point and Starting Point are accepting new members too.
Beyond our “launch” weekend and our September series we have two other series planned for the fall. “1” is all about our priorities, how we set them and how we keep them and what God’s word has to say about them. As part of this series, we will be hosting “Stewardship Weekend” where we’ll take a closer look at our own church community and our priorities here. We will again be hosting “Project Thanksgiving,” our annual holiday outreach to the needy in our community. In December we will be getting into another “conspiracy.” “Advent Conspiracy II” repeats the same themes as last year: spend less, give more, worship fully, love all. This year our “Conspiracy” will be focused on establishing our mission in Haiti.
Of course, we will be celebrating Christmas at the Fairgrounds and returning to Crowne Plaza in 2011. Lent and Easter planning is going forward too.
None of this would be possible without our outstanding volunteer staff, our ministers. This fall we will have more ministers than ever and I am really grateful for those who have recently answered the call to serve. They are supported in turn by our awesome full and part time staff and I am excited to welcome some new additions to our team this fall. Jeremy Travlos joins our full time staff, as part of our Creative Team (you might know Jeremy as a fixture at the “Tech Booth” on the weekends). Jill Becker is coming on part time, to work on environments for our kid and student programs, Maggie German will be expanding her responsibilities with our kids programs, Chris Pierorazio, the drummer in our band, will be working with music for our student programs and Mike Hamilton will be on weekend tech. By the way, we still have some part time positions available we’re looking to fill,if you’re already involved in our volunteer ministry staff just contact Maria Folsom-Kovarick.
We are heading into a great new year with a great program and an outstanding team. Can’t wait.