I missed you last Sunday, but Bethany and I were so thankful to have a getaway weekend to celebrate our anniversary.  We spent the weekend enjoying good food and the outdoors in Wimberley, and we even got a chance to worship together at FBC Wimberley on Sunday morning.  It was a refreshing weekend, and we had a blast spending time together in the beautiful hill country.

Every time I step away to spend time with my family, I’m always reminded of how great our staff is at ABC.  We are truly blessed to have such a talented and passionate staff who serve our church so faithfully.  It’s a blessing as a Pastor to be able to step back and know in full confidence that our team will continue to lead well in my absence.  Be sure to encourage a staff member this week and let them know how grateful you are for their service to our church.

It’s going to be a big patriotic weekend at ABC!  I hope you’re planning to wear red, white, and blue all Sunday long.  We will honor our veterans in worship this weekend, feature special music, and I’ll be preaching a special message from God’s Word.  Then, make plans to return to the church at 7pm for our 3^rd annual Freedom Over Austin event.  We’ll have an all-American carnival, food trucks, live music, and a fireworks show when it gets dark. Because of your continued generosity, we are able to offer this event FREE of charge to the entire community!

Take the opportunity to invite a neighbor or friend to join you this weekend for all the festivities.  This is not a Sunday you want to come alone to church.  Invite someone to come celebrate the freedom of our great nation, and most importantly, to celebrate the freedom that Jesus Christ has given us through His life, death, and resurrection.  I’ll see you Sunday at 8:45am or 11:15am.

Onward and upward,

Jonathan Spencer

Psalm 122:1 says, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord’!”  I’ve always loved those words from David.  David did not dread going to the temple, but rather he longed to be there (cf. Psalm 84).  He did not see his travel to the temple as a begrudging obligation.  He recognized that it was a blessing from God.  He was excited to participate in the gathering of God’s people and was looking forward to being near God’s presence.

We should not view church as something we have to do, we should view it as something we get to do.  Every Sunday is another divine opportunity from God.  Through the gathering of the saints, God gives His people the opportunity to worship and experience Him in a unique way.  We are also given the opportunity to encourage each other, to build community, and to serve one another with our spiritual gifts.  If you are married, Sundays provide an opportunity for you to grow spiritually with your spouse.  If you have kids, Sundays provide an opportunity for you to help them grow in their faith in their most formative years.

Because Sunday morning gatherings are indeed a blessing from God, I encourage you to do two things this Summer.  First, commit to be here when you are in town.  I understand Summer brings lots of travel and activities.  But if you are in town, make plans to go to the house of the Lord.  I’ll be starting a new summer sermon series titled “Summer on the Mount.”  We’ll be examining the greatest sermon ever delivered by the greatest preacher, Jesus Christ, all summer long (Matthew 5-7). 

Second, I encourage you to share your gladness with others around you.  Paul tells us, “Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Romans 15:7).  We are blessed every week to have new visitors attend each of our worship services.  I realize we all have friends, but we cannot become so insular in our thinking that we miss the opportunity to live on mission right there in the worship center.  Look for someone you do not know and make the intentional effort to introduce yourself. The truth is church can be intimidating for new people.  Many new visitors don’t feel glad, they feel fearful.  You can alleviate those fears and discomforts by simply welcoming them and getting acquainted.

Our time change goes into effect this Sunday (8:45am choir-led service, 10am BFGs, 11:15am band-led service).  Remember that one of the primary reasons we are making this change is to create more time to welcome each other.  I already know we are the friendliest church in Austin, but let’s prove that this Sunday.  Parents, remember that this weekend is also Promotion Sunday.  Our kiddos will be “moving up” to their new classes, so make sure they are here to enjoy that special day.

Have a great week and I look forward to seeing you Sunday at 8:45am or 11:15am.

Onward and upward,

Jonathan Spencer

Be sure to join us this Sunday for ABC Student Weekend.  Our student ministry will be activated this Sunday to lead our church across all areas.  They will be greeting, ushering, leading in music and prayers, and three of our students will be sharing their testimonies in our worship services.  I’m so proud of these students and cannot wait to see God shine through them .  Additionally, we’ll be honoring our graduating seniors in both of our worship services and praying for them as they press on to God’s next steps for their lives.

The Apostle Paul told young Pastor Timothy, “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12).  I believe you will be encouraged by these teenagers as they set the example for our church this weekend.   Make sure you come to church hungry and stick around for lunch.  Our students will be serving spaghetti after the BFG hour (for those who attend the 9am service), and they will serve again at 12:15pm (for those who attend the 11:11am service).  This lunch is a fundraiser to help our students get to camp.  Make plans to enjoy the sweet time of fellowship with our church, but I also encourage you to bless these students with a generous contribution to help them get to camp.

Last Sunday was a milestone moment in the life of our church.  We experienced our largest Sunday morning attendance ever, outside of our Grand Opening and Easter Sundays.  We welcomed 1,060 people to our two worship services.  God is moving in our church, and I’m grateful for it.  I hope you were encouraged by Lori DeVillez as she reported all that God is doing through our partnership with the Trotter House.  I was also encouraged to see our Spanish translation ministry launch for the first time at the 11:11am service.  Pray for this new ministry to reach more Spanish speakers and pray for God to bring us additional bilingual members to help lead in this area.

Pray for our student ministry this week.  Come early to church and encourage these students as they set the pace for our church this weekend.  I believe God is going to do a powerful work through them and we’ll all be blessed because of it.  I’ll see you at 9am or 11:11am.

Onward and upward,

Jonathan Spencer

I hope you are gearing up for a special Mother’s Day weekend!  We are looking forward to honoring all mothers in our worship services.  We will also be celebrating some of our young moms and dads through our Parent Child Dedication.  These sweet families will stand on stage and publicly commit to raise their children in Christ-centered homes.  We as the church will also have the opportunity to commit to pray for them, encourage them, and equip them to shine their light in their homes. 

This Mother’s Day will also have a special mission’s component.  We are proud supporters of the Pro-Life ministry of The Trotter House, and we will hear from their Executive Director, Lori DeVillez.  She will share a few words about the mission of Trotter House, and we will have an opportunity to bless moms in crisis through our “baby bottle campaign.”  I will also present a special stand-alone sermon that will offer words of encouragement for moms in attendance.  Plan to join us and invite other moms to be a part of this special day.

Last Sunday, we wrapped up our vision and values series, “Let There Be Light,” by looking to our 4^th core value, impact.  I am thrilled to report that 121 people signed up to make an impact in our church as new volunteers.  Our staff and ministry team leaders are currently following up with these individuals to equip them to shine their light at ABC.  This series may now be over, but I must remind you that the work is just beginning.  May we all do our part to make an impact and fulfill our mission to lead people into a life-changing relationship with the Light of the World, Jesus Christ.

Have a great rest of the week and I look forward to seeing you Sunday.

Onward and upward,

Jonathan Spencer

Our vision here at ABC is to see God light up your life, your home, your neighborhood, and the world.  However, we have been learning through our sermon series that we will only fulfill that shared vision if we first share the same core values.  We have examined three core values thus far: truth, grace, and authenticity.  This Sunday, I will conclude our series by looking to our final core value, impact.

Light is supposed to make an impact.  Darkness cannot move light, but rather light was created to move away darkness.  Sadly, many Christians are failing to live impactful lives in their churches and in the world.  This Sunday, we are going to discover that Jesus has called each of us to do big things for His glory and for the good of others.  Immediately following both worship services, you will have an opportunity to make an impact in our church by finding a place to serve in one of our vibrant ministries.  I hope you come prayed up and prepared to find your place to shine here at ABC.

I will warn you though, it always takes some level of personal sacrifice to make an impact.  With this principle in mind, I’m asking for your assistance in helping our church make a greater impact on our Sunday morning gatherings.  Beginning Sunday June 4^th, we are going to alter our Sunday morning schedule to create more margin for transition time between our worship services and the Bible Fellowship Group hour.  Starting that Sunday, our choir and orchestra led service will begin at 8:45am, BFG’s will begin at 10am, and our band-led service will move to 11:15am.

There are multiple factors leading to this change, but the most pressing problem that needs to be addressed occurs between our BFG hour and 11:11am service.  I love that we give a full hour to BFG’s as I am a proud advocate for on-campus discipleship groups in churches.  However, our current schedule does not provide any transition time for folks to make it to the 11:11am worship service on time.  BFG’s are currently running from 10:10am to 11:10am, and our second hour folks cannot make it across our church in one minute.  Instead, most arrive 10-15 minutes late and they miss out on the opportunity to greet and welcome the dozens of new visitors that show up for that service each week.

If you pop your head into the worship center from around 11:00-11:15am, you will find myself and a small group of people in their chairs.  You will also discover that almost all those people in their chairs are new to the church and stepping into a cold and empty room for their first impression.  We do not have proper greeter teams in place because our second hour members would have to forgo much of their BFG hour in order to serve.  Additionally, we lack a critical mass of worshippers in the room to lovingly welcome all these new people that are coming to our church.  This lack warmth in our first impression is causing us to lose new visitors each week at 11:11am.

This schedule change will create margin for us to build up a proper first impression team that will replicate the excellence that we already offer in our first service.  It will also give us enough time for BFG class members to enjoy a full hour of fellowship and not have to sacrifice missing a large portion of worship because of it.  I understand this change will require many in our church to wake up a little earlier, and it will cause others to stay a little longer.  However, it is worth making this small sacrifice because we must always be a church that exists for those who are not here yet. 

This small change will help our church make a greater impact each weekend.  We will recruit and empower more volunteer leaders in the second service, and by God’s grace, we will welcome more people into the fellowship of our church.  Thank you for helping us through this transition which will become effective on promotion Sunday, June 4^th.  As for this Sunday, I look forward to unpacking this 4^th core value with your further at 9am or 11:11am.  Let your light shine this week, and I look forward to seeing you Sunday.

Onward and upward,

Jonathan Spencer

ABC’s vision is to see God light up your life, your home, your neighborhood, and the world.  We are currently examining this vision statement in our sermon series and aligning our hearts to four core values.  Core values are essential for any organization because you cannot carry out a shared vision if you are not first united by the same shared values.

In week one of our series, we saw that the church is called to lift up the lamp for others to see.  The City of Austin needs to see the light, so we must always value truth here at ABC (1 Timothy 3:15).  Then last Sunday we learned that Jesus shined differently because He was uniquely full of grace AND truth (John 1:14).  We can only shine like Jesus if we learn to value grace like Him.  A grace-saturated church offers warmth, love, and hope for all.

This week we will press on to our third core value, authenticity.  Have you ever noticed that light switches cannot lie?  For instance, right now you are either sitting in a room with the lights turned on or off.  Light cannot pretend.  In the same way God’s people should not pretend. 

We all find ourselves in dark places and situations at times, but sadly many Christians pretend to be shining amidst those storms.  God wants His church to be authentic.  It’s ok to not be ok.  God wants to minister to you wherever you are at, and He’s called the church to be His hands and feet.  The Lord will pour out His light and renew us when we learn how to be authentic with Him and His people.

Take the time to invite a friend to join you this Sunday as this series is the perfect time for someone new to learn what we are all about here at ABC.  As a final note, I hope you can join us at 5pm this Sunday for a special ordination service for Nathan Wood.  We will be setting him apart and affirming God’s call on his life for the Gospel ministry.  I know your presence will be a great encouragement to him that day.

Have a great week, and I look forward to seeing you Sunday. 

Onward and upward,

Jonathan Spencer