Written in Heaven

Connection Groups are just around the corner and I am stoked! It's going to be an awesome time of seeing God's community built through meaningful relationships. I'm pretty excited.

A couple things:

• Connection Groups are Sept. 7th and 14th from 5:00-6:30. We will have childcare and snacks provided. This is for groups that are already in existence as well as people getting into groups for the first time.
• "Get Off the Couch Ideas" will be available shortly. We have contacted a few organizations in the area and they are working to get back to us, hopefully by next week.

As always, if you have any questions about groupings, your role in Connection Groups, want to sign up for Connection Groups or just want to chat, hit me up at the BridgeWay office - 309-291-0320.

Another great Sunday at BridgeWay. Here are some highlights:

• It was simply perfect outside today! However, I am noticing that it is soon going to be dark during set up in the coming days...
• Great to hear Connie speak today! I had never heard her speak before in that capacity, great job. I was feverishly taking notes about parenting!
• The band had a rocking set - made ya get up and move a little...
• Missed our fearless leader again this week, but Dale Schaeffer returns live and in person this Sunday!
• I really appreciate all of our volunteers at BridgeWay. It's amazing to see our greeters, info table ladies, ushers, BridgeCafe folks, and the seemingly countless children's workers work for the glory of God on a Sunday morning. It's really a site that gets me excited.
• I also should say that the microphone cutting out during announcements in the first service was my fault. The sound guys take the brunt sometimes, but it was all me. Keep up the good work fellas!

I hope all is well in your neck of the woods friends. One special shout out this week - Shawn Hazlett is going in Thursday for an exploratory heart procedure that could lead to a surgery, depending on what they find. Shawn's only a teenager. This week, let's keep Shawn in our prayers. We believe in miracles and will be praying this week.

This past week has been pretty incredible. I've seen two of my close friends go out on huge leaps of faith to pursue the calling God has for their lives. I've heard stories about how salvation has come to individuals after years of prayer. I've gotten a chance to meet with leaders in the church and hear their heartbeat and passion for God. It's been an incredible week - and it's barely Thursday morning! This is the stuff that makes me tick.

I was reading in Titus 3 yesterday and I ran across this passage that uses a lot of pronouns. One of my favorite 'drive home the point' exercises is to replace the plural pronouns with singular or individual ones. This is what it looks like: "But when the kindness and love of God my Savior appeared, he saved me, not because of righteous things I had done, but because of his mercy. He saved me through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on me generously through Jesus Christ my Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, I might become an heir having the hope of eternal life."

That hit me hard! Thank you Jesus.

Great day at BridgeWay! Here are some thoughts:

• 256 today! Still pretty amazing for the dog days of August...
• We missed Dale and Steph and fam today. Hopefully they're enjoying some much deserved time away together.
• The morning started off kind of rough with sound system issues, however once the service started, you would have never known!
• The band was KILLER this morning! They did an incredible job this week at our denominational assembly, and it just got better today.
• Tangible presence of God today (as nearly always it seems) during both services.
• Chuck walks in today and tells me that (and I quote) "I wrote a song about our experience at the campground this week. We're going to do it today." I have to admit, I was pretty worried. However, what Chuck broke out was truly a God-inspired piece of music that was simply incredible! Chuck, sorry I ever doubted you!
• Great response from our folks for the need to jump into small groups.
• Thanks to my wife for laughing at the "We're going to name our kid Michael Phelps Robinson" joke. She's a good sport - but I was serious... Just kidding!
• Just wanted to give a shout out to my man Chris Donnelly who is embarking on an incredible faith journey with God starting tomorrow. Chris is driving out to Colorado to enroll in Nazarene Bible College to fulfill God's call on his life to become a pastor. Chris, we love you and are proud of you!

As Brooke and I drove away from the theater this afternoon, we looked at each other and said, "We have an awesome church!" We thank God daily for this opportunity to serve here and are just amazed by what He's doing. Every week we here story after story of how God is moving and how his people are responding. Great stuff. Thanks to all of you and have a great week!

Well, my wife and I found out today that our child that we are having is a boy! Very exciting news. The Robinson family name will live on for another generation.

The coolest part of the day was seeing the ultrasound. That is simply incredible. This was a first for me. To see the baby that way was breathtaking. I was mesmirized by the screen. It was incredible to see our baby moving around and opening his mouth and doing all sorts of cool stuff. God is the author of life and I can't wait to see what plans he has for our son!