While we were planning this last week’s service, I started to think that I wanted someone in our church to share the testimony of how they came to Christ. The first person I thought of was my friend Pedro. Pedro has been attending our church for years and years, and he was a real encouragement to me when I first came here. So I asked him if he would share, and he obliged me.
We ended up having this amazing service on Sunday,and he was able to be a part of it – more than he may know. He shared about his life in the state prison of Massachusetts and how one of his old friends had come to visit him there in the late 80′s, who had turned his life around, went to Bible college, and became an assistant pastor at what is not Fellowship Church. This friend ultimately shared with Pedro the good news of the gospel, and soon Pedro made a decision to follow Christ.
After the service two things happened that made my day, and I hope Pedros too. The daughter of his friend who at one time was a pastor and shared Christ with him, attended our services with her husband for the first time in probably 15 years. Also, someone came to me after the service, who had just recently retired as a supervising commanding officer in the Massachusetts State prison system, and said this:
“Marty, when I went into this line of work, I set my bar high. I wanted to see people change because I believe they can. I wanted to see one person change after they left our prisons, but it never happened. Today I found that person. Now that I’m retired I found that person.”
This weekend will be one of the most fascinating services we’ve had at Fellowship Church in a long time. 4 baptisms, including the baptism videos, from ages 10-70, the Lord’s Supper for the first time in several years in our church (Generally we take this ordinance of the church in our “life groups”), A focus on this ministerial use of technology in our church, and a testimony that is one of the most powerful testimonies of coming to Christ I’ve ever heard.
It’s also the last message in this 2 part series called “Something old, something new.”
Next week, we’ll begin the series, “One Prayer” with 1200 other churches and 750,000 other church attenders. This is a four week series where we will ask this question: “If we had one prayer to pray for the church at large, what would it be?”
Over the next four weeks will hear from 4 pastors (3 on a video venue) where they will be answering that question. The first two weeks are:
So my encouragement to you over the next few months is not to get in a summer rut, but be ready to see God work in amazing ways here at Fellowship Church. Invite your friends. Play a part in something bigger than rest and relaxation. (by the way, I’m not talking about vacation, I think people need that)
So I’ll start off with the bad news today. One of my heroes in the late 80′s and the 90′s was Christian music star Steven Curtis Chapman. His songs were and are always so honest and contemplative, sometimes cheesy and refreshingly honest. I admit recently I haven’t been into his current music much, but I appreciate the musical influence he’s put into my life.
Yesterday afternoon, Maria Chapman, 5 years old, was struck by a car on the property of the Chapmans house. You can see the details here or at the first link in this post.
Our prayers our with the Chapman family during this really hard time they are going through. If you read what they’ve done for the Kingdom of God, you will get a better understanding of how amazing they are by reputation.
I don’t want to minimize the aforementioned news with unimportant news, but I was really happy for Mr. David Cook last night as he went through 5 or more grueling months of work and became this year’s American Idol. This has been the first season ever that I’ve watched, and I really thought it was done right and that the right person won in the end. At the risk of sounding incredibly cheesy and poppy, this year’s show show inspired me to take a step, go out on a limb, and work hard to fulfill the vision God has given me.
And lastly, for those of you who attend Fellowship Church in Holden, Massachusetts, this Sunday, we’ll be starting a new series called “Something old, something new.” The purpose of this 2 week series is to look at 3 things that every follower of Christ must go through along their walk with God – To identify, to Act, and to Remember.
How are we going to fit 3 items into 2?
