I had a lot of fun yesterday at Foothills Community Church. It was pretty much an all-day event, but it was so worthwhile.
* Our morning services were solid. The band was on it, the people were singing out. Well done worship team.
* My message was what I called a "kick in the rear end" message. It was a challenge to quit procrastinating about doing what the Lord commands us to do. Sometimes we all need those type of messages to bring us back to center.
* We had quite a few people respond to the salvation invitation. I'm not sure exactly, but probably around 8-10 people.
* We had a ton of first-time guests. I love that our people love their church enough to invite their friends!
* I am so thankful for all of our volunteers at Foothills. We couldn't do it without you!
* Yesterday afternoon we held our Party In The Pasture which is a huge blow-out to celebrate baptisms. But this is no ordinary party. We had a petting zoo, inflatables, a car show, lots of food, a live band (Stone Echo), and of course, baptisms.
* A couple of people have asked why we invited Stone Echo to a church event. For those that don't know, Stone Echo is a local classic rock band, that is awesome by the way. First of all, music is not necessarily a good thing or a bad thing. It is a neutral thing. If you think about it, music is just a compilation of words and notes. A certain genre doesn't mean it's bad, nor do certain instruments. Secondly most of the band members are also church members. They love Jesus and they love Foothills. Thirdly they were extra careful to play songs that would be appropriate in our setting. But the best part about having them play was that many unchurched people from the community came yesterday because they are fans of Stone Echo. And in addition to a concert, they witnessed something very moving and powerful. They saw 31 people baptized as an outward expression of their faith in Jesus Christ. And for that reason alone it was totally worth it!! Think about that for a minute. Many of those people were not in Church yesterday, but they were inspired by what they saw at Party In The Pasture! I am praying that many of those people will be joining us for worship some Sunday. And when they come, I can promise you they will hear the Gospel.
* Yes, I said that we baptized 31 more people yesterday!
* Thanks to everyone for coming to the party. We estimate 1,200-1,500 people partied with us!
* All in all it was a long, exhausting, wonderful day! Thanks to all the volunteers that went the extra mile to serve at the Party In The Pasture.
