Wednesday, March 9th 2016

Let's Get Ready for Easter at Friendship!

Hey Team!

Wow, I cannot believe that Easter is just around the corner! To say I’m excited is, well, let’s just say it’s an understatement. For the past three years all of us have been praying, sacrificing, working, and volunteering to help build the MOMENTUM. The most obvious part of this project, is of course the new building. If you haven’t taken a few moments to walk the new space, I HIGHLY encourage you to do so this Sunday either before or after one of the services. It is amazing to see what God has allowed us to accomplish, and I am so looking forward to how God is going to use this new space to reach more people for Christ!

As excited as I am for the new space, that excitement pales in comparison to what I believe God is going to do through us on March 27th, Easter Sunday. When we announced this project three years ago, we believed that we would see 700+ people at our first big Sunday. Of course, we kind of thought that we’d have several weeks of breaking in the new place before having that many people show up, but hey, don’t ever let anyone tell you that God doesn’t have a sense of humor.

“He loves to keep us on our toes, and I think part of that is because He always wants to remind us that it’s not us, it’s HIM.”

As Easter draws near I’d like to ask you to do a few things:

• Pray like you’ve never prayed before! We believe in the power of prayer, in fact, if it weren’t for prayer, we wouldn’t be where we are today. Pray that God gives us strength during this home stretch. Pray that God gives us great wisdom and clarity in how to make sure everything goes the way we are planning. Pray that the move of God in that place, on that day, is so overwhelming that we all walk away absolutely amazed at what He’s done.
• Invite every person you know that is unchurched or dechurched to experience Friendship on Sunday, March 27th. For those of you that are newer to Friendship, let me explain those two words. When we say unchurched, we mean people who just don’t go to church anywhere. Oh, maybe they’ll go somewhere on Easter or head to granny’s church for Christmas, but they do not have a place they call home. When we say dechurched, we are talking about the thousands of people who at one point in their life were a part of a church, but for whatever reason aren’t now (they got burned, hurt, or simply just stopped). We of course welcome everyone that comes to Friendship, but our focus is those people who are not connected to Christ or His Church.
• Volunteer, even if it’s just for Easter. All of our teams are going to be working their tails off to make every person’s experience that day (and every Sunday) the best possible. The more people we have, serving the people who come, the better chance they’ll clearly hear the message of Christ.
• Park as far from the doors as possible, and if there are spots open, park in the new back lot. Your first time guests will more than likely park in the front parking lot because it’s easy to see. I know it means you might have to walk a little further, but it may also mean that one more person/family feel like they are welcomed.

You are all so amazing, and I am incredibly blessed to be your pastor. I am so proud of what God has done through and in each of you through this process…but THE BEST IS YET TO COME!!!

-Dave