April Fools

In recognition of the day let me begin with the words of God: Psalm 14:1, The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."  They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good.  (ESV)  From the words of Mr. T: "I pity the fool."  (It's not everyday you can quote from Mr. T).  Saying that, let us be dedicated to making our world, our community, wise.  Reach out to others with the message of Christ.

Easter Sunday is always a great day.  People just seem to be in a good mood.  Whether it is the resurrection of Jesus or the sugar high from chocolate bunnies, it's always a blessing to see smiling faces.  If we could just understand that the Messiah is still risen today as much as he was yesterday, our world would be filled with joy 365 days.

Coffee Connection had 3 guests - 2 first time visitors and another for his second week in a row.  Every one of these were invited by people of this church (fellow worker, neighbor, and sister).  Let us continue to reach out to others and keep praying for our Coffee Connection.  I was getting ready to shut the whole thing down and suddenly God began sending great prospects the last couple of weeks.  The same thing goes for our Celebrate Recovery on Monday nights.  It is more than a place to deal with issues, it is also a place for others to meet the Lord.  Use this program as a tool to bring others to Christ.  I can tell you from experience, it is when people are broken they are the most likely to seek God.

I cannot give an Easter report without talking about the kids program.  David and Christin Paladin, as well as Jim and Lisa Soop, did a good job with our Easter egg hunt Saturday.  They used the hurricane shutters to black out the Lynn Center so the kids could hunt eggs with flashlights.  It's pretty cool.  They had several kids who had never been to this church and some who had never been in a church.  In fact, I know of one lady who recently let it be known she would never darken the door of a church, but there she was and she also let me know she would like to visit sometime because of her experience.  We want all of our events to be more than "an event."

Of course, I can't leave out the youth program.  Joel has been busy this week with several events for our teenagers, since they were out for Spring Break.  These are great actives to help our young people get closer as well as provide a means to invite their friends.  Joel has several volunteers, among our young adults, who give much of their time to help out with our teens.

By the way, it's good to be back at Panera blogging and researching this week's sermon.  Although, I do enjoy getting away with my favorite church members - Missy and the kids.