No seriously, He filled out a Connect Card today! Actually, it was my son’s sense of humor. Every week during this series, “Reel to Real” we’ve been giving away movie passes, Blockbuster gift cards, DVD players, movies, etc. by pulling Connect Cards at the end of the service. By the way, if you’re wondering about how to get people to fill out their cards – this has worked! We get more cards than ever before – visitors and members. Let’s just hope it continues after this series is over. And yes, Jesus won some movie passes!

We were definitely down as far as attendance goes today. But, the Summer is a great time for family vacations and travel so I try not to get too upset. It’s also a great time for churches and leaders to reflect, regroup, examine, plan, and prepare for the new year. But every Pastor in America would be lying if they didn’t honestly tell you that they’re ready for everyone to get back in town and get in the groove. We continue to have visitors each and every week and return visitors. We are really going to be rocking in the Fall!

The movie we used today was Harry Potter 5. For those of you who are in shock – listen to the message. For those of you still upset, get over it, and then go to another church. Actually, the message was about the spiritual battle we are in and the text I used was Ephesians 6:10-18. We are at war. We have an enemy who is intent on our destruction. But, ultimately we have the victory in Jesus Christ! And in the meantime, He’s given us the armor we need to resist and stand strong.

In the last two weeks, really with no notice at all, we’ve given over $1000 for our Missions Trip and the Crisis Ministry Homeless Shelter. It’s great to be a part of such a generous church. Janet has had many people the last couple of weeks volunteer for VBS, even several new people. The Mission Team comes back from Jamaica this Tuesday. I’m excited to hear all about their trip. We’ll probably be sharing that this Sunday.

Some of you might be wondering what we’re going to be doing next as far as our Sunday morning message series. Well, after “Reel to Real” we’re going to be doing a 4 week series entitled, “Just Walk Across the Room” based on the book of the same title by Bill Hybels. Check out the book and material provided for churches here. I’ll blog more about it later this week. And then we’re going to “blow the roof off” with our Fall series (beginning the Sunday after Labor Day) entitled, “Wild Ride!” It’s going to be an over the top opportunity to reach out to our community. We’re going to attempt some things we’ve never done! I am pumped! Well, that’s about it for now, it’s great to have Janet and the kids back. Oh, and Christopher – Jesus is at Coastal every week!