Holy smoke! We have a new pope. Sorry, I couldn't resist. White smoke produced by a mixture of potassium chlorate, lactose, and pine resin is a strange, yet charmingly primitive way to announce “Habemus Papem” to the world.
Bob the Tomato, Larry the Cucumber, Junior Asparagus and a cast of other vegetables made an appearance at Hope Fellowship during Spring Break. It happened when Big Idea Productions latest Veggie Tales movie, The Little House That Stood, held its premier on our auditorium screens on Wednesday morning, March 13, at 10 a.m.
Testimonies about God’s work in our lives are often in our Sunday services. On Wednesday night, they were heard in the Youth Room and in the Prayer Room.
Church consultant Jack Tacoma began last week’s Discovery Weekend by reassuring the twenty-five leaders that Hope Fellowship was a very healthy church. Maurice, one of our pastoral elders, immediately quipped, “So why are we here?” Why, indeed?
“I invite you to try Listening Prayer,” Jack Tacoma, the ministry specialist who guided last week’s leadership retreat, told us. “Be still for ten minutes. Then tell each other what you saw and heard as you listened for God’s will.” Our group of seven had been told to focus on “Belonging” while the other two groups focused on “Believing” and “Blessing.”
When you have young people who want to come to church in order to practice for a youth service, you know that something good is happening. That’s the case right now for the group of ten teens that worked hours on perfecting the drama they are performing for us today.