Yes, there is a "John Boat" in our worship center at First Farragut. And no, I don't know why they call it a "John Boat". All I know is that I asked if anyone had a boat that we could put in the worship center and Voila, there is was [Bayou VBS is over and I'm still speaking French!]. So here's the reason for the boat, as I wrote in my July Newsletter Article.
June kicked off our “Get on the Boat: Adventures with Jesus” worship series. It continues through JULY! So far we’ve looked at what it means to take an adventure with Jesus – what we can expect when we “Get on the Boat” with Jesus. First we learned that being on a boat with someone naturally leads to a growing relationship with that person. The same is true with Jesus. Jesus wants to spend some quality time with us and wants us to have a growing relationship with Him. But, we also learned that getting on the boat with Jesus is a busy and wearisome experience. Even when we make plans, sometimes those plans are interrupted. Jesus showed us how to handle interruptions with grace and compassion. We closed out June with a merging of our “Get on the Boat” theme and our Vacation Bible School’s theme of “Crocodile Dock: Where Fearless Kids Shine God’s Light”. Our children led both of our worship services in the 5 VBS promises: God is with us; God is powerful, God does what He says He’ll do; God gives us life; and, God Cares for us. We discovered what happened to the disciples when they got in a boat without Jesus.In July we’ll look at how getting on the boat with Jesus is not always as easy as it looks, using the disciples own struggle with understanding Jesus as our example. We’ll also look at how getting on the boat with Jesus means risk, but that it also means healing change. To close out our series we’ll take a look at what happens after we’ve been boating with Jesus.
The challenge this summer is to make sure you carve out some time in your busy summer schedules to take a spiritual adventure with Jesus and to spend some quality time with Him. An adventure with Jesus is something you won’t soon forget!
BIT: So, if you're reading this and your church doesn't have a boat in it's worship center (aka Sanctuary), then what are you waiting for? Get on the Boat. I promise you'll get a fantastic reaction when you bring it up at your next church council meeting.
