Hey Church Family,

I hope you’re having a great week! This past Sunday after the 11:00 service a young lady came up to me and said with a smile on her face, “I’ve found my new home and it’s right here.” I was so encouraged to hear that our congregation and corporate times together made this person feel like she was “part of the family.”

She will be getting baptized on Sunday! She is now part of our spiritual family and Broadview is home for her. I can echo her spirit in my own life. Broadview does feel like home and it always has. My prayer is that in the coming days more and more people will be able to say the same thing she did.

In last week’s update I gave you a brief update on an upcoming Spiritual Growth Campaign entitled “Lost & Found.” For those of you who don’t like reading, I filmed a quick video explaining the campaign so you can watch that instead of having to read.

I think the Lord is going to use this campaign to make many of the new folks visiting Broadview be able to say “I’ve found my new home and it’s right here.” That has been my prayer for the past few months.

Remember that the Sanctuary is open all day today if you wanted to come up and pray. We will also have a prayer meeting tonight at 6:30 that focuses on the campaign so please join us for that. This Sunday is the last Sunday before Easter so if you’ve been waiting to pull the trigger on your personal involvement, today is the day.

Here are some ways to get involved.

If you haven’t yet joined a small group, join one. There are campaign resources that will ONLY be available to those attending a small group. Even if it’s just for the 5 weeks of the campaign, it’s going to be worth the investment of your time and energy. I promise.

If you are able to host a group in your home or at the church then please host one! You have a circle of influence and there are people who you could invite to your group. We’ve made it super easy to do and we have a team who can help you with all the logistics if you have any questions. 

If you’re still curious what the campaign is about then you can read the campaign overview. Essentially it’s a 5 week series on the parable of the Prodigal Son. Each week we will explore the spiritual awakenings a person goes through as they find their way back to God. Whether you’ve been a Christian for a long time or are just now exploring Christianity, I know the content will be helpful and relevant.

If you have any other questions you can read our FAQ document. You can also pray with us for the campaign by following our church blog. I already mentioned tonight’s campaign prayer meeting at 6:30 so if you have any other questions just reply back to this email.

CRASE Training – April 13th | 10:00am

I also wanted to use this update to fill you in on an upcoming training we are having at our church THIS SATURDAY at 10am called CRASE. It’s an acrostic that stands for “civilian response to an active shooter event.” As you may remember, it was not long ago that a sister church in our state convention was attacked by a gunman. 

This is something that no church expects to happen to them but that does not negate the need to be prepared should anything ever happen. If even only a few people are trained with a plan of action should something like this happen, our chance of minimizing the damage increases exponentially.

We have a member of our church who will be leading the training. He is also the head of our Safety Team. His name is Fred Biddle. He works as a highway patrolman for the state fo Texas and is well equipped to lead this study and ministry of our church.

As you may have heard me say before, we also still need several people to serve on our safety team. We’re looking for an additional 5-6 team members who can work the various posts attached to our safety plan.

You don’t have to be licensed to carry or trained in any kind of security (though, if you are, that’s a plus!) You just need to be available and willing to go through the one hour safety team orientation. We will have a safety team orientation directly following the CRASE training this Saturday.

We will have a meal available for those who sign up for the training. If you haven’t yet signed up then please fill out this form. We only have a few days left so please respond ASAP.

Compassion Sunday

This past Sunday we had an opportunity for people to sponsor a needy child through Compassion International. We’ve partnered with Compassion in the past and I think they’re a great organization with an effective strategy and honest leadership. When it comes to organizations like Compassion, honesty and integrity matter. I think Compassion passes the test from my personal experience thus far.

Many of you already sponsor a child through Compassion from the time we had them visit in the past. But this Sunday we’ll have another chance to bless these kids by partnering with Compassion to alleviate their poverty and share with them the good news of Jesus Christ.

This came onto my radar because a member in our church felt led to put this opportunity in front of our congregation. This was not Compassion International “reaching out” to us. This is coming from within and I want to encourage you to consider sponsoring if the Lord leads. It’s $38 a month and you can register to sponsor a child by getting a card in the Gathering Place this Sunday.

Some of our small groups have chosen to do this together as a group. If we can help you do that then please just respond to this email and let me know. As we’ve seen from our study in the Gospel of Luke, these types of investments always bring about an eternal reward. If you don’t want to give through Compassion, you can always give through our own World Missions Offering.

Good Friday Service

Next Friday, April 19th, we will have a special night of worship to observe “Good Friday.” This date on the calendar historically reflects on the Passion week of Jesus and his sacrificial death on the cross. During this night of worship we will do the same thing.

There will be singing and Scripture reading that commemorates the journey of Jesus to the cross. We will also have creative media elements that take us through the various scenes of that last week in the life of Christ. The message will direct our attention to the meaning of the death of Christ on the cross.

We will also observe the Lord’s Supper during this service. The Lord’s Supper is such a special gift given to the local church by Jesus himself. He gave it to his disciples so that they would “remember.” Join us as we remember the death of Jesus on the cross and leave with hopeful expectation of the resurrection celebration that will come that following Sunday. 

Easter At Broadview

Easter Sunday at Broadview is going to be AWESOME! Historically it’s the biggest Sunday of the year. We’ve been making preparation for this day for months now. We’ve remodeled the Gathering Place and Worship Center hallway. We’ve worked hard on the music and the message. We’ve prayed and are praying that the Lord will use this day in a uniquely powerful way.

We will offer services at our normal worship times: 8:25, 9:40 & 11:00. There will also be the 11:00 service at Broadview West that you can attend. Typically we encourage 9:40 goers to consider attending 11:00 but most of our new growth is coming at 11:00 so just attend when it’s most convenient for you to do so. There will be no small groups meeting that day but we have kids programming birth through 5th grade.

If you’re in town and you’re connected to Broadview in ANY way I really hope you’ll join us for this day. The message is going to offer up all the reasons why the resurrection of Jesus really happened and why it really matters. It will also encourage people to join us for the Lost & Found Spiritual Growth Campaign.

Group Connect – April 21st

We will have a Group Connect that same day after each worship service. Folks from our various small groups and our new Lost & Found groups will be out in the Gathering Place to help connect people to a group environment for the campaign. If you want to go ahead and get connected to a new group you can reach out now using our website.

Other Upcoming Events

After Easter our Lost & Found growth campaign will officially launch. The first Sunday of the campaign is April 28th. Our youth ministry will provide a lunch on that Sunday for anybody who wants to attend. They will start serving food at 11:00 (after the 9:40 small group hour) and up to 12:30 (after the 11:00 service). You can stay as long as you like.

This lunch will help raise money for their upcoming youth camp. If you have any questions you can contact Claire or Joseph. If you’d like to help sponsor a child for camp but cannot attend the lunch then just let Claire or Joseph know and they can help you out. 

There’s more to share but I’ll have to save it for next time. This update is getting too long for even the most dedicated of readers. If there’s any way I can pray for you please let me know. Have a great rest of your week!

Blessings,

Pastor Wes