Weekly Connect

HELLO HOPE…

There are three things I wanted to touch on quickly and make sure you had an updated schedule of our calendar. [FYI: The calendar is on the Hope Fellowship Facebook page and is updated regularly]

1. God has been moving radically within our church. Yes, I know some of you are struggling with job loss, job decisions, family deaths, and the many other burdens or roadblocks that come with life, but that does not mean that God is not moving. I believe that God is just beginning to move in unique and real ways among our church.
2. It’s here: Online giving. In recent weeks, some people have asked if we had on-line or website based giving opportunities. We now have an on-line portal through Pay-pal. The portal is on our website at www.hopefellowshipfc.com/give.php and is a safe, secure national provider for online donations, purchases, and e-commerce. If you click on the link above you will see the DONATION button. FYI: you do not have to have a Pay-pal account to use the service. You do need a credit or debit card.
   It does not allow for repeat transactions: It is a single transaction process.
   Multiple Transaction Support will be available sometime in the future
3. Facebook Ads: We are running Facebook adds at this time.  Please be praying for this opportunity. 10,000 unique impressions or views this week alone! We have two separate adds running.
   • We have one general Hope Fellowship add that shows our logo & the below phrase:
     You’re important to God, You’re important to us. Connect – Grow – Engage
   • We have a series specific one that has the logo for the series: The Benefits of Experiencing God. It has this tag line:
     Hope can’t solve life’s problems in 5 steps. We are a place full of people like you seeking God.

Calendar:
October 22          Band of Brothers Men’s Breakfast
October 23          Sunday Service – the Promises of God [faithfulness]
Membership Lunch / Outreach Summit – if you have outreach or evangelism ideas… bring THEM

October 28-29   Women’s Burning Fire Within Retreat
October 30          Special Guest & Testimonies from BFW
No Sunday Night Life Group This Night

November 10    Hope’s Ladies Night Out – Fondue Night
November 12    Hope’s Prayer and Worship Night

Important Prayer Concerns:

• Please be praying for the Women’s BFW next weekend.
  • Pray for the team, the flames (attendee’s), the Holy Spirit to impact and impart the Kingdom a this retreat
  • Please be praying about who to invite to our series launching November 6. I believe that God wants to touch lives through this series. YES… I know I say that a lot, but I really believe that this is THE series that can completely change the lives of those around YOU!
    • Hints: write their name down, pray for them daily, and invite them the week of November 1-5.
    • Please be praying for your Hope family. Pray for unity in families; favor, protection & provision with jobs; and wisdom & direction relating to family, work, and finances.

In Conclusion:
I am completely blessed to serve as your pastor. This week I will be praying for you, and I ask that you be praying for me. We will only see the glory of God and the move of His spirit in our church and in the lives of each and every one in our body through prayer. So please, be praying for your Hope body this week.

I look forwarding to seeing you this Sunday. Meet me at 10:00 AM for some coffee and donuts before we get the privilege of connecting with God in worship!

Pastor Kevin
www.hopefellowshipfc.com

Our Story

Our Story…

In the last few weeks I have been studying a lot for the min-series I am currently preaching called “Our Story”. The overall theme of the first message was that we must understand the church, our history, our purpose in order to understand “our story”.

In all of the preparation I felt like the message was really about understanding the need to be in a local body of believers. However over the last 24 hours God has been doing something in my spirit. God has been really challenging me. To be honest, some things that I might not want others to see as a living epistle of the Word of God were surfaced. Now, understand me here, these are not deal breakers or horrible things, but just not the direction.

To give you an example, yesterday was the first day of school and swimming lessons for my girls. One of my daughters did not want to eat breakfast before she left for swimming lessons. My wife knew she would be hungry by the time they got back so she was instructing her to eat something before they left. The two were discussing it with some frustration in both of their voices. I came in and began to get involved, but instead of being a calming voice of reason, I was an immediate instigator or lighter fuel to the flame. I walked in and made a decision that was not fair to either of them. Sounds awful right? Well, it does not sound awful, but I should have walked in consoled my daughter and encouraged her lovingly why mommy wanted her to eat. You see the reason I walked in was to protect, and be a helpmate to my wife. Man… I blew it!

I know that is something little to what many of you might be going through, but the principle is the same.

How does that tie to “our story”? The connection is this simple. God does not want your story to be the same ole, same ole! I want your story to be different!

The normal today is go to church, get hurt, offended, bored, frustrated, ignored, or apathetic, then move onto no church or the next place until you get hurt, offended… I think you get the point. A growing trend is to be a Christian that does not belong to a local church, which is not God’s plan according to the New Testament.

I simply want to see your life different. My wife and I, our family, values and strives for life change in people. We do what we do, because Christ gave His life for change. It is not about simply giving lip service, occasionally attending a local church, and staying the same for the most part. The Kingdom of God is at hand, and God wants to see Heaven here on Earth. God wants to see more and more people respond to the transforming grace through His love. That’s OUR STORY

I would like to invite you to join us on the journey, and allow us to be your tour guide!

Growth

Today at Hope Fellowship I wrapped up a series on Growth. I shared the following truths:

• Real Growth takes a new life, and not a new leaf!

This refers to the fact that many times we simply cover up our shame or problems, instead of receiving the FREEDOM that God promised us!

• Real Growth is a process, and not a destination!

No one every obtains the goals they set or the plan that God has for them overnight! The physician you saw the last time, hopefully spent the required 7 to 10 years in the process of becoming a physician! Jesus waited for 30 years to begin in ministry, and He is the King of Kings!

• Real Growth requires us to “let go” and “grab a hold”

Basically we must let go of what we think is right, appropriate, proper, and the right way to grab a hold of what God has for us!

We often do not do this because we are: Stubborn, feel Trapped, Comfortable where we are, afraid, or change hurts to much!

The truth is that change is difficult, and it is not always easy! It can be uncomfortable, it does require stepping out into the unknown many times. The rewards and benefits are greater than the discomfort!

The main question today is: is the pain of staying where you are, greater than the pain of accomplishing what God has for you?

A Community of Hope

Even with all of the advances in technology and the ease of connecting with others, many people still feel that they do not fit in.

The reason for this change is that we substitute technology for face to face, text for conversation, email to postcards, and friends from across the country for friends across the road. The technology has made it easy for people who struggle in social situations to quickly become comfortable over the net! One that might struggle in face-to-face situations but have an easy time chatting over YAHOO or Facebook. I know, I know I sound like I am anti-technology. The reality is that I love my iPhone as much as anyone, and email is an amazing gift! Unfortunately, I am borderline addicted to Facebook and Twitter.

The real reason I am concerned is the fact that people are failing to have community. The idea of independent, private, individualistic faith, Lone Ranger mentality is completely contrary to scripture.

This week Hope Fellowship kicks off our Growth Groups. The great thing about this vehicle our church has developed is that people get together over meals and discussion oriented lessons. During this time designed to help people deepen their faith and seek out Father on the questions they might have concerning their faith, they are also developing community! The community comes in the form of meaningful relationships where people can begin to open up, see others struggles, and provide encouragement. The amazing thing about these groups is that one person struggling with issue A, may have a great testimony concerning issue B. Growth groups are an amazing place for people to develop those meaningful relationships that really does allow Iron to Sharpen Iron (Proverbs 27:17).

If you or someone you know is struggling to plug in or simply looking for a place to fit in, they should check-out Hope Fellowship!

Hope Fellowship has focused on making sure that people feel welcomed, wanted, and accepted. We have created an atmosphere where people can feel comfortable no matter what socioeconomic class, ethnic background, work they do, where they have been, or what they have done! You are important to God, and You are important to us!

I personally believe it is those things that make us a loving place! The Love of Father is experienced and discussed in our body of believers. Love creates Hope! One of the things we do best is love people where they are at, and help provide an opportunity for them to reach their potential by loving one another, comforting each other, encouraging (provoking) others, and touching those in need!

We have what you need at Hope Fellowship to deepen your faith, connect with God and others,  and grow to be like Jesus!

Hope Fellowship truly is a Community of Hope!

Important Update

Exciting News…

Over the last few months I have been on a journey of seeking God and where he is taking out church!

During that time God began to speak to me about who we are as a church and what His plans are for our body of believers. With the help of our advisory team we began to explore what kind of disciples He wants us to develop, and what the next phase of ministry would be for Overflow Church.

As this process proceeded we could tell that God was birthing something new, and wanted to eliminate some of the roadblocks and barriers. One of those barriers over the last year has been our name Overflow Church. People, believers and non-believers, have had a hard time understanding the meaning behind Overflow Church. Another roadblock in creating disciples was not having a formal systematic process of creating disciples who passionately connected with God, and engage their community.

God began to speak to me about the various people in scripture where a name change was indicative of a new level of faith or authority. Some samples include Sarai to Sarah, Abram to Abraham, Simon to Peter, and Saul to Paul.

Through this process we realized we needed to bring clarity, movement, alignment, and focus. This new process would not change the DNA of who we are, nor would it change the vision or direction that God has been leading us! Instead it brings clarify that would allow us to more effectively transform lives and reach people for the Kingdom.

The clarity required for a simple combination of our vision, mission, purpose, and process.

Our new vision, mission, and process statement is: Connect, Grow, & Engage.

The process has not only birthed a new process, but also a new name: Hope Fellowship

Effective Immediately: Overflow Church will be Hope Fellowship.
Check out our new website at: www.hopefellowshipfc.com