Hey friends!

I am really excited for our upcoming Sunday series, and I want to invite your participation in it as well. First let me call you attention to two other items:

• Prayer - our Mexico team leaves tomorrow morning for the orphanage. Will you keep them in prayer? Pray for safe travel, great ministry, and that God really meets and bonds the team.

• BBQ - We began the summer barbecuing and want to close it out the same way! On Sept 7 we will be having a barbecue and pool party at the Bettino home before our worship gathering (11am-3pm). It promises to be a great time of grub and enjoying one another. If you’d like to bring a dessert email Deanne at deannefunk_at_gmail_dot_com.

In recent months you may have heard me refer to a new, comprehensive study which talks about the impressions young adults outside the church have about Christians. The top three, in order, are that Christians hate homosexuals, are judgmental, and are hypocritical. In three weeks we’ll be starting a new teaching series which will deal with these and the other impressions /objections that many outside the church raise. Our hope is to be super honest with ourselves about where the church has done well and where we’ve blown it, and together move closer to the vision Jesus has for his people.

Here is your part: I want to invite you to help shape the content of the series by engaging your friends outside the church with these two questions: “What do you think of the church?” and “what do you think of Jesus?” Email and let me know what kind of feedback you receive and we’ll try to make it part of the series. As I’ve been doing this over the last month, I’ve been amazed at how appreciative my friends are to have their opinions heard and valued, and it’s opened up some amazing spiritual conversations that I’ve been praying for. Even the fact that we’re dealing with these topics has been surprising to my friends, and a couple conversations have ended with, “what time do you hold your services?” I trust that God will meet you in your conversations as well.

Lord bless you my friends –

Tim
Mt 6:33