Woodland
Hills Church of Christ
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Sunday, April 23, 2006 Volume 50, Issue 15 SUCCESSFUL TENT MEETING DEPENDS ON US! 1. IT DEPENDS ON OUR ATTITUDE. Are we looking forward to it? Do we realize its potential for good? Are we excited about the cause of Christ? 2. IT DEPENDS ON OUR ATTENDANCE. Some meetings fail because 50% of the members do not attend any service except Sunday. Will we clear our schedule so we can be present at every service? 3. IT DEPENDS ON OUR INVITATIONS. Regardless of all the advertising done through printed announcements, the newspapers, radio, etc., visitors will usually attend only if personally invited by a Christian friends. How many do you plan to invite? 4. IT DEPENDS ON OUR FRIENDLINESS. Do our visitors feel welcome and wanted in our services? How many of us make a special effort to greet visitors and invite them back? 5. IT DEPENDS ON OUR PARTICIPATION. Nothing "kills" a service so effectively as a combination of back-seat sitting, inattention during the services, and poor singing. How simple these problems are to solve! Will we? 6. IT DEPENDS ON OUR PRAYERS. Are we praying for the preacher, the song leader, those who need to respond? 7. IT DEPENDS ON OUR ENCOURAGEMENT. A word of love and encouragement to one who needs to respond to heaven’s invitation means so much. Words of appreciation to those who work in behalf of the meeting will help insure success. Let’s all encourage one another! Yes, Christian friends, a successful tent meeting for Christ depends on us. Let’s do our part! Our meeting is planned for May 19 - 21 - speaker Stan Butt. Let’s make it a success!! See You In Bible Class Sunday,
TAFT TALK YOUTH BOARD TEEN DEVOTIONAL TENT MEETING ACTION: Much Love,
FAMILY NEWS WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS THANK YOU We want to thank each and every one for the many food,
cards, calls, and visits, and especially your prayers. Each act of kindness
has meant so much since we have been ill. Continue to remember us in your
prayers. YARD SALE OOPS!! SERVICE GROUP #4 SENIOR EXPO 2006 TEN WAYS TO FIND TIME TO READ THE BIBLE
Plan Now to Attend Our with guest speaker Theme: Saturday - 6:30 Singing / 7:00 Preaching Sunday - Regular Times
EDIFICATION I think it is a compliment to anyone’s lesson, class, or sermon to want to say more about it. Certainly, such is the case with Taft’s sermon on deacons last Sunday evening. I appreciated his message and found myself driven to think more deeply about the actual contribution that our deacons at Woodland Hills are making. And when I think about deacons, I am also thinking about those individuals who are currently working with our deacons - future deacons, as Taft would call them. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to compliment our deacons for the realistic work they do. First of all, when one considers that our deacons make up the personnel committee, the finance committee, the building and grounds committee, etc., then it begins to hit home just how awesome they really are. They do not just serve on these committees - they run them! They actually create, coordinate, fine tune and submit the annual budget for review. They forecast the shortfalls and recommend solutions long before they can become crises. They wrestle with the day-to-day personnel issues that will often plague any church staff. They conduct counseling and arbitrations. Certainly, because of the maturity and effectiveness of our deacons, all of our ministries and programs are more effective. In summary, this is saying that all of their work is genuinely real. They are contributing in ways - and performing in areas that are usually trusted only to paid staff - yet, most receive absolutely nothing monetarily for it. It is not this way in every congregation. I remember serving once as a deacon for a congregation in Arkansas; as deacons, we put speed bumps in the parking lot. Later, we lowered them because they were too high. Finally, I remember we had them sealed because they began to crack. That was about all the deacons did - speed bumps. Guess what? I have never seen the Woodland Hills deacons doing speed bumps. Not once. May God bless our deacons and future deacons. We all commend you; Woodland Hills is a great church - and we will be greater - because of you. For the Elders, Dick Holt
BRING A FRIEND When Andrew met Jesus the first thing he did was go and get his brother, Peter. He told him, "We have found the Messiah, which is being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus." (John 1:41-42) Andrew did not want his brother to be in darkness so he told him the good news. When we look in John 1:44-45, we read of Philip bringing another to Christ as well. "Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see." Both Andrew and Philip set great examples for us of bringing others to Christ. On May 21st, we will be having a "Bring A Friend Day." This day has been set aside as a special opportunity to invite our neighbors, relatives, co-workers, classmates and friends to join us for our gospel meeting. I hope that all of us will put forth our best effort to invite as many as we can to come and see. This will require effort on our part. We will need to reach out and ask people to come. We may need to offer a ride to and from our building. You will want to invite your guest(s) to join you for our meals following our services. We will also all want to be as friendly as we can to our visitors. We can greet people with a friendly welcome. We can help our guests to their seats and direct them to our classes. After services we can make a special effort to thank our visitors for coming, and invite them to come again. There is much we can and should be doing. I hope you are praying for this effort. I also hope we will all follow the examples of Andrew and Philip. Let’s invite others to come and see. Let’s do our best to bring others to Jesus. Don’t Forget Our...
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