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Weekly Update from the Senior Pastor
September 20, 2006
Dear Family and Friends,
Descriptive adjectives are overused. We’ve slaughtered the meaning of “awesome” (something so majestic it stuns us to reverent silence and elicits awe) by turning it into a standard response to even mediocre statements.
With that caution in mind, I’d still say last Sunday was over the top! Even awesome! It was a steady stream of God-infused moments honoring the Lord’s work in/through our lives in the last six years. The front end was seven praise-filled baptisms and the crescendo came when we finished with 44 brief “I was…I am now” testimonies to transformed lives, restored relationships, healed minds and hearts, broken addictions and new dreams through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. The final testimony was a thank-you to the whole congregation from Zach Gordon, an autistic young man, for hearts open to accept God’s special children. Well over 600 folks partied and celebrated God’s presence among us, and as we did, God honored His promise to show up:
“Whenever I cause My Name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you.” Exodus 20:24
UPDATES:
- DHS : Now: Back to the Future!This Sunday we worship together at Damascus High School , 10:30 a.m. - noon .
If the Lord leads His people back to a former place, they have unfinished business there, a deeper trust to grow or greater opportunities to grasp. DHS is a God-opportunity. We’re not waiting until we are on our land to be a “Light on a Hill” for this region. This shift is a new opportunity to enlarge the true temple of God , one precious life at a time.
- Set-Up Teams : Brett’s team is setting up the auditorium for this Sunday, so only the four team captains (Kris, Ralph, Woody and Bernie) and the four team elders: (Eric, Glynn and Paul, me) need to arrive at 8:30 a.m. for a tutorial. Then Bernie and Paul’s PURPLE team #4, you’re on from 8:56 a.m. through tear down after the service. Next Sunday we begin our normal rotation with Kris, Richard and BLUE team #1 (Go Blues!) arriving at 7:45 a.m.
- All 360 Small Group Members : Following God’s Heart to Our Future is our theme for this October-December stretch. Study Guides for this theme and message-series are available at the lobby on Sunday after service. Please pick up a copy. We have one for each person. Our life groups will be following this guide beginning October 8.
- New Church Home : Next week, September 25-28, the Building God’s Way architectural team will be here in Damascus , helping us design our basic footprint for our “Light on a Hill” home on the land. They’ll meet with the Development Team, staff and key leaders from ministries such as Haven, Youth, First Contact and Children’s, to design the basic interior of our building. Remember, at this point we are going for a 50,000 square foot building—with 30,000 square feet of finished interior area and 20,000 sf unfinished interior for future expansion—such as a gymnasium. The BGW architects final presentation of their building footprint recommendations to the staff, leaders and Dev Team will be on Thursday evening, 7:00-8:30 in our now vacated worship center. Any member or regular attender is invited to that meeting, to listen, ask questions and share reactions. You are invited. Our goal from these meetings is to have a CAD computer virtual tour of our new facility on DVD by November 1 of this year.
We who are in Christ form one Body and each member belongs to all the others . Romans 12:5. Whether you’re a Damascus Road old-timer or a new member, you play a crucial part in God’s purpose to build a prevailing community of faith where the gospel is proclaimed, people called into full devotion to the Lord Jesus and together live out the Great Commission. It all comes down to trusting God’s heart for your life, and obeying God’s call on your life. The energy is building around here as we move into our future together, so keep your hearts tuned and your courage high, because with the risen Christ—the best is yet to come.
Love,
Richard
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