Wow again!!!  FOUR-HUNDRED-AND-FIVE!!!!  Work and pray for the day that’s a normal attendance.  Then on Easter and Christmas we’ll be putting chairs in the aisles and talking about expansion!  “Farfetched,” you might think, but no more farfetched than this building was only a few short years ago.  If God has done amazing things among us before, why would He not do so again if we are faithful?   

You know, some of our Easter “guests” might come back before next Easter if some of us simply made it a point to call them and invite them back.  Hope could provide you with a list of who they were.  Sic ‘em.  

Our directories are here.  They look great and I have already been matching faces and names.  Our intent is that every Bono family unit get one, whether you had your photo made or not.  They will be available for pick-up before and after services over the next two or three weeks.  Should you believe you have a real need for more than one, you’ll have to make a request in the office, simply to preserve as many directories as we can for new members as they come to us—a picture directory is a very valuable tool for them!  

Some of you might not know, but I had a good friend pay all my expenses to travel last Thursday through Saturday to the National Lads to Leaders / Leaderettes Convention at Opryland Hotel in Nashville.   I lack words to tell you how impressed I was with what I saw.  Counting both participants, parents, and sponsor/teachers, ten-thousand people were present.  Of 2100 hotel rooms, the convention booked all but 70! 

I saw “Lads” beginning at the age of three quote Bible verses (or read if they choose when they’re able to read), lead singing, and speak.  Older boys did all those things and also spoke, debated, and competed in “Bible Bowl” activities.  “Leaderettes” teach classes, speak, and lead singing, but I personally saw none of their activities since no men were allowed.  From junior high up, both boys and girls competed in presenting puppet skits.  

One of the most moving parts was an event called “Bartimaeus” (a blind beggar healed by Jesus in Mark 10:46-52).  It is a special program for handicapped “lads” where the speak and lead singing (there is a corresponding Bartimaeus program for Leaderettes). We don’t think our handicapped folks want to be or could be a part of such activities, but obviously they do and can!  Probably the best speech I heard while there was delivered by a teen with spina bifida.  

Anyway, my friend believes this is the best program going to teach our young people the Bible.  Hard to argue.   

The Lads to Leaders / Leaderettes program has been around now for forty years.  Leaders of the program are now boasting that they are being told by our Bible universities that the majority of Bible majors are coming from the Lads / Leaderettes program.  

Thanks to Tony Sauser for preaching for me again Sunday night.  This church enjoys Tony’s preaching very much, and rightfully so.  So it seems like a good idea to me that you should prevail on him to preach on a regular basis, say once a month, Sunday morning or Sunday night.  Accuse me of trying to shirk my preaching responsibility if you want, but  I really believe it does a church good to hear a different voice in the pulpit occasionally.  If you want to see me at work, I will happily lead singing.  

Preaching plans over the next few weeks include a Sunday morning series on worship I’ll entitle “In Search of Wonder.”  Our worship is excellent, but it can be improved.  Sunday nights, we’ll leave the Corinthian letters for a while—we’ve finished 1 Corinthians.  Tonight I’ll start a series we’ll call “The Gospel of Isaiah;" Isaiah is the most-often quoted Old Testament prophet, especially by Jesus and the gospel writers.  

Preacher Joe Barnett tells a story in one of his tracts of a conversion that occurred in Texas because a Christian woman, working in an office, noticed a newly hired girl seemed embarrassed about her wardrobe—compared to the other women working there—and at her own expense took her shopping at lunchtime her second day on the job so her clothes wouldn’t present a problem.  Of course, the new girl asked, “Why would anyone be so kind?  And the answer she heard was, “Because Jesus has been kind to me.”  I’ve already told you where things went from there.  

I love and appreciate the Bono church for being filled with concern and compassion for our neighbors to the point of sacrifice.  God will not allow your goodness and grace to go unseen and unrewarded.  What a great way to fish!