Pastor Randy Hoskins




​Senior Pastor - First Congregational, Ashland, NE
September 19, 2020

If you've been following the church on Facebook this week, you've probably noticed we are stressing that this week is Back To Church Sunday (BTCS). We are going to do things differently, starting with holding our worship service outside, then eating a really early lunch afterwards.

Why the big deal? With the baptisms last week, we had over 40 people in attendance. I don't know about you, but I thought there was a lot more energy with more people there. What if we could start doing that every week? Let's not stop at 40, let's see how many we can get there and still maintain our social distancing! Once that's done, let's make it so the trustees have to figure out a way to handle even more people.

The problem is, none of this happens if you're not inviting people to join us. Sure, we might add a few people over time as people stumble across us or move to town, but that's going to take a long time just to fill a couple extra rows. This Sunday is a great, non-threatening way to invite people to come check us out. It's outside, so they can easily slip away early if they are bored by my message. There will be food, that's always a draw. Plus they will get to meet all of you, which is the real factor that will make people want to keep coming (it worked on me!). It will be a good chance to get a jump on practicing our fellowship, which will be covered in week three of the upcoming message series.

Speaking of which, I think this message series I'm starting on Rick Warren's book The Purpose Driven Life will be really good, and good for us. That's why I'm encouraging folks not to miss a week of the five week series. So if you haven't already done so, invite someone to join us for BTCS. Then commit to attending every week for the rest of September and October as we discover God's purpose for our lives.
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Pastor Randy
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PASTOR RANDY HOSKINS
After serving as part-time pastor, Pastor Randy was called to full-time ministry in February of 2020.
​He and Velvet now live in Ashland.