Seth Hinrichs

Hey Evergreen!

We’ve officially launched into the 2011-2012 ministry year with the beginning of our series, “Restored,” the car show, and the countdown to October 9 when somebody’s goin’ home from church with a new ride! It was an awesome weekend, and as we approach week 2 there are a few things I’d like to share with you:

1. You guys rocked it this weekend! Our volunteers were AWESOME, and I’m blown away at the commitment and dedication of so many! Our attendance this past weekend was up over 60% from the weekend before. There are churches that would KILL for that kind of a start to the year. When our church gets intentional about being the hands and feet of Christ and we actually INVITE people, God does CRAZY-AWESOME things with it!! You SLAYED IT this weekend, Evergreen!! I’m so proud of you!! God is ready to do something amazing for His glory in this church!

2. I heard from a number of you who were bummed, hurt, disappointed, or frustrated because you invited people and had them back out at the last minute on you. Let me give you some encouragement… FIRST: don’t take it personally. In a lot of cases, it takes more than one invitation to people to get them to attend. I’ve had people that it’s taken me YEARS to get them to darken the door of a church, but once they did they gave their lives to Jesus, caught fire, and brought THEIR friends to faith as well!

SECOND: Keep inviting them! Don’t give up!! God placed them on your heart for a reason last week, and just because they flaked out, punked out, bailed, or ditched on you – it doesn’t mean that God does that to them. You are in their life for a reason – so keep it up!! Don’t lose your tenaciously invitational spirit you’ve had the last couple of weeks! I’m proud of you for your boldness and your perseverance, and so is Jesus… He had people say no, flake out, punk out, bail and ditch on him too, and He knows what it feels like. Give it to him – it’s ALL ABOUT HIM…

3. Whether you’ve invited someone in the last couple of weeks or not, show up this weekend WITH FRIENDS! Restored is still in full effect, there are still plenty of chances to win a car, the set is still amazing, the music is still rockin’, the iced mocha at the Holy Grounds Cafe is still the best drink in town, and Jesus is still ready to do something in their lives – but he’s waiting on YOU to be the one that brings them to church. So bring your peeps this weekend and let’s blow the roof off the house again! More importantly, let’s blow the roof of somebody’s life as we introduce them to a Savior who loves them beyond measure.

4. There are so many people to thank from the last week it’s not even funny. So let me rattle off just a few:

• Kjell Burg, Michael Lein and John Rancour for their work on the RESTORED set – unbelievable work, fellas. I’m blown away!
• Our staff and volunteers, who absolutely KILLED IT in the way they served the whole week long – Sara Estenson in KIDS, Garrett Estenson & Tammi VanGrinsven in Evergreen eXtreme, John Rancour in organizing the car show – you guys all rocked the mother last week, and I was so proud to serve along side you.
• The worship team for leading us in some AMAZING worship music all weekend long – keeping your eyes on Jesus so we could get ours there as well.

…I could keep going…

THE POINT: I have seen Evergreen step up and start getting how to be and do church in the last 2-3 weeks like I never have. You guys are taking it to a WHOLE ‘NUTHA LEVEL – and I’m so proud to be your pastor!! Don’t let this momentum go away! Stay hungry. Stay TENACIOUSLY INVITATIONAL! Love the people around you with reckless abandon and show them Jesus! Pine City, this is how we do church!!!

This morning I was interviewed on WCMP Radio about Evergreen’s upcoming fall launch and our new series, “Restored”. Check it out HERE! Use this link to invite your family and friends to Evergreen beginning September 11!

I’m asking for your help this fall like I’ve never asked for it, Evergreen. We’ve got a little over one week until the boldest, most audacious launch of a year that this church has ever seen! We’re going to do our best to create worship experiences that are easy to invite people to and that have Jesus as their center and heartbeat. We’re going to get the word out about Him any and every way we can. But we need your help! Our SAVIOR needs your help!

This fall, don’t bring your excuses. Bring your friends and family! Invite them to the car show on September 11! Tell them about the car giveaway on October 9 – the more you attend ECC between 9/11-10/9, the more chances you have to win! Utilize invitation cards, postcards and every social media outlet at your disposal (for ideas about how to do this see my blog at www.sethhinrichs.wordpress.com under the post, “Restored Resources”). Change your Facebook profile picture. Get bolder and more daring in your invitations to people and trust that Jesus has your back as you share your faith! Let’s walk in faith and confidence as we head into the year knowing that even in a small town like ours, nobody’s perfect, but anything’s possible!

Hey Evergreen!

As promised, here are both some ideas and resources for you to help promote our fall launch series, “Restored,” and invite people to church!

1. Click here to download the Restored Poster that’s being plastered all over East Central, MN!
IDEAS FOR USE: Print copies of this poster and plaster it all over your place of work, a business you frequently go to, a coffee house, your fridge, your notebook for school, or wherever you think it might be visible. Let’s canvas PC and beyond with the word about Restored, the car-giveaway, the car show, and ULTIMATATELY JESUS!

2. Click the image to view a copy of the RESTORED BANNER, and then drag the image over to the desktop of your computer!
IDEAS FOR USE: Make this picture your facebook profile picture for the next 3 weeks! Post it on Facebook and other social networking sites to draw attention to it! Print it out and place it in visible places! E-mail it to people, even TEXT IT to them as a kind of e-invite card! Be creative!

Evergreen, it is on YOU to get the word out about this fall’s launch and spread the word about what God can do to change the lives of your peeps this fall. Use these resources and pray over them – ask God to use them to start conversations, raise questions, and create moments of invitation!

Ok, I don’t normally do this, but today, I’m re-posting a blog entry from a Pastor that I follow closely and have learned so much from – Perry Noble from New Spring Church in Anderson, South Carolina.

Pastor Perry recently wrote a blog about sharing our faith and evangelism that I thought I’d share with you here as it seemed fitting given the fact that we’re talking a lot these days about inviting people to church and how we share our faith. This was such a great post that I wanted to share it with you here.

If you’re interested in reading more of Perry Noble’s blog entries, you can check him out HERE.

Pastor Perry, take it away…

Evangelism (telling others about Jesus) is not a great idea…it is a COMMAND issued by CHRIST Himself.

It’s not easy, it does cause us to get uncomfortable, people will think you are crazy and following the command of Christ will create tension at times…
Nonetheless we are still called and empowered to do this!

So, today I hope you will take a little time to read Acts 8:4-8 and then Acts 8:26-40 and let’s think about six things together…

#1 – Evangelism Is The Proclamation of Jesus Christ–PERIOD! (Acts 8:4-8)
One of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard in my life is, “preach the Gospel all of the time and, when necessary, use words!” DUMB!!!! Because…GOD SAID in Romans 10:14-17 its through THE WORD that people are saved.

Listen, good deeds are never a bad thing…but please don’t try to convince me that cutting someone’s grass or paying for their coffee is evangelism…it’s NOT! The BIBLICAL definition of evangelism is when we PROCLAIM CHRIST…and unfortunately a cowardly church culture has turned it into a whole lot of things that Jesus never intended for it to be. The Bible says in Acts 8:5 that Phillip proclaimed CHRIST…Acts 4:12 says there is no other name by which we must be saved…I Timothy 2:5 says there is ONE mediator and we’ve been commissioned and commanded by Jesus with this calling/responsibility! (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:45-48, John 20:21, Acts 1:8, II Corinthians 5:17-21!)

#2 – Evangelism Will Disrupt Our “Normal” Routine!
In Acts 8:4-8 Phillip is declaring Christ to the masses…but notice in Acts 8:26 God specifically speaks to His heart and leads him in a different direction. One of the things we’ve GOT to do is beg God to disrupt our “normal” routine and make ourselves available to do whatever He wants us to do. (I HIGHLY recommend “Just Walk Across The Room” by Bill Hybels, the BEST book I’ve ever read on the subject of Evangelism!)

#3 – God Is Preparing The Hearts Of The People He Is Prompting Us To Share Christ With!
Check out Acts 8:27-28, the reason God sent Phillip down this road is that He was working on the heart of a man who desperately needed Him! Please understand that we NEVER know what God may be doing in someone else’s life. They may portray that they have it all together and they are not interested…but you never know what God is doing in their heart. If God is prompting you to share Christ with someone then He has gone ahead of you and is preparing them as well!!!

#4 – Be Normal!
Please notice in Acts 8:29-30 that Phillip did not say, “Hello hell bound sinner, did you know that unless you repent of your sin and give your life to Jesus you are going to fry like bacon in a devil’s hell?” He did not scream, yell, hold up signs… He simply listened to the Spirit, ran up to the chariot (it does take effort) and asked a simply question, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

It’s amazing the opportunities that God puts in front of us every single day…and when we see them and embrace them we simply need to be normal, engage them in conversation and communicate that we are interested in them.

#5 – Evangelism Must Come Back Around To A Conversation About Christ.
I said it in point one…I will say it here…we are called to PROCLAIM CHRIST!!! Notice in Acts 8:31-35 that Phillip began where the eunuch was and brought the conversation back around to JESUS! It HAS TO come back to Christ…we can’t allow the conversation to get sidetracked with political and sociological issues…no one EVER surrendered their lives to Christ because they had all of their questions answered!!! Always bring it around to JESUS!!!

PLEASE understand this…if Phillip had simply said, “I am not going to share Christ with him…I’m just going to buy him a cup of coffee and give him a warm smile” then we would have had nothing more than a story about a caffeinated eunuch who felt good about himself for a moment but NEVER HEARD ABOUT JESUS!!! BAD STORY!!!

#6 – Evangelism Isn’t A One Time Deal.
Notice Acts 8:36-40 (one of the coolest sections in the Bible…God literally teleports someone!!!) The eunuch receives Christ, is baptized and then God moves Phillip some where else to KEEP proclaiming Christ. We are NEVER done with this…God has strategically placed each one of us in places of work, in neighborhoods and in certain social situations NOT for our comfort…but rather He placed us there with specific relationships so that we can literally tell others about Jesus!!! It’s NOT a one time deal…it’s a core value that we must embrace in our lives if we are going to follow Christ!!!

Hey Evergreen!

There are a few things I want to make sure you’re up to speed on this week as we look ahead to the weekend and the end of summer:

1. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! To Todd Waxberg and the crew working on the cafe downstairs. Floors are getting re-finished this week. This place is going to look HOT for fall launch!

2. This weekend is our annual summer baptism service @ ECC. REMEMBER – we’re doing ONE SERVICE @ 10AM out in the parking lot of the church (NOT in Robinson Park as we’ve done the last number of years). This is hands down one of the best worship experiences of the year at our church and one that I’d really encourage you to not miss. You’re going to hear stories that are going to make you cry, see parents baptizing their own children (I’m one of them – Josh and Abby are BOTH getting baptized this year – I’m so PUMPED), and have a chance to remember why we do what we do.

My message this week is continuing in our series, “Kickin’ It!” and it’s called “Little Big Town”. We’re going to talk about what’s possible when the church decides to be the church in a small town – the kind of life change that can happen. It’s going to be AWESOME, and I hope you’re planning not only on attending, but inviting people to this weekend’s service. There is no better way to convince someone that they need Jesus than for them to hear it out of the stories and the lives of others – baptism week is one of the most invitational weeks of the year! Who are you bringing?

3. If you missed last week’s message and the launch of “Kickin’ It!” I’d highly encourage you to get online to Evergreen’s website and listen to it (check it out HERE). Or you can head down to the EverGear Store in the cafe when it re-opens on September 4 and pick up a copy of the CD. Before we launch out into the new year, we’re doing some sacred-cow tipping about doing ministry in the stix, and if you care at all about doing church in the rurals you don’t want to miss a week of this series!

4. Speaking of fall launch, we have just 2 weekends left before our fall launch on September 11! You know what that means? It means that church, you should be inviting, inviting, INVITING the pants off this town to join us for our fall launch series called, “Restored”. We’re going to spend the first 5 weeks of the year talking about how God restores a life and the things that drive us. So between now and then, let me make a few suggestions that aren’t really suggestions – they’re MUSTS for people who love this community too much to let the people in it stay far away from JESUS:

• Use the invite cards being passed out in church to invite one person per day to church between now and September 11. …Yes, I said, 1 person PER DAY!

• In order to make inviting people even easier, we’re passing out post-cards for you to mail an invite to a family member or friend. How simple is that?

• Guys, God has placed you and called you into relationships in your life for a reason – to influence people to take steps closer to HIM. What does that mean? It means that you can utilize your Facebook page, Twitter account, text messaging, conversations, and anything else you can think of to invite people to church starting September 11! Make it easy for them – pick them up, drive them there, introduce them to some peeps at church, take them out to lunch afterwards, invite them to your small group – get out there and use the life God gave you to reach people FOR HIM!

Copy links of Evergreen videos into your Facebook page and chat them up – get them some airtime and play with people – they’re a great resource and conversation starter and we make them with LOST PEOPLE IN MIND! Change your Facebook profile pic to that of our RESTORED banner. I’ll post it here tomorrow! Ask the people close to you who’s interested in winning a car! We’re raffling one off on October 9 as a part of the RESTORED series! Invite them to the car show on Sept. 11! Get creative with it – there are a hundred ways to invite people and use your influence to bring people to church. But we have to accept the fact that Jesus has made US his hands and feet to this community and we have a job to do – actually inviting them in!

We’ve got three weeks, Evergreen, until the boldest, most audacious launch of a year that this church has ever seen. We’re going to do our best to create worship experiences that are easy to invite people to. So this fall, don’t bring your excuses. Bring your friends and family. Get bolder and more daring and trust that Jesus has your back as you share your faith with people!

I can’t wait to see what God does with the many efforts we’re undertaking to reach people for Him this fall. In the next three weeks, I’d challenge and encourage you to give like you’ve never given, serve like you’ve never served, share Jesus like people’s lives depend on it… Because they do. That’s the reason we do EVERYTHING at Evergreen. It’s for him, church! It’s always and only about HIM.

This is a video we used last week as a part of our series about church in the stix called “Kickin’ It!” Church traditionalists beware – this one is not for the faint of heart among you!

This week we’re starting a new series at Evergreen about doing ministry in the sticks called, “Kickin’ It!” I’ve been waiting 2 years to preach this series – you don’t want to miss a week! Check out the trailer for the series here:

Hey Evergreen!

I’m back from my first 2-week break from church in almost 6 years, and I’m so excited to be back in the saddle! I had a great vacation traveling to see family, spending time at the cabin and bumming around the house (and not doing ANY of the projects there that I said I’d do!).

Now that I’m back, here are 6 things bouncing around in my head that I REALLY WANT YOU TO KNOW over the next few weeks:

1. Some people have never discovered that one of the real keys to maintaining passion for what you do day in and day out is taking a regular sabbath and time away. I know so many people who don’t know how to REST WELL. For some, resting or taking time away means they become something or do things they wouldn’t otherwise do – their “break” becomes a break from their character as much as their responsibilities. For others, resting means becoming listless and passionless and when they return they aren’t fueled for the journey ahead at all! Instead, they’re drained by the thought of it. If you don’t have a minimum of one day a week that’s a Sabbath/Rest day – time for you to be with your family and God – then you need to begin scheduling it.

When you rest, don’t become something you aren’t. And don’t get lazy and lose your passion. Just take time to do things you enjoy with people you love and a God who loves you. The school and church years are starting soon, and I’ll give you fair warning on this one: We are going to hit it harder than we ever have, Evergreen! We need you at your healthiest and your most rested! So get some rest the next few weeks – a season of harvest is coming, and it’s all hands on deck!

2. Wern’t the video messages by Pastor Judah Smith from The City Church in Seattle, WA AWESOME? If you’d like to see more of Pastor Judah or view other messages in his series, “Ricky Business,” check him out at the city Church’s website, which you can get to by clicking HERE. I’m so grateful for the technology that brings such awesome teaching to Evergreen while I’m away!

3. Didn’t Garrett & Sara Estenson, along with Jeni Rancour and a small army of Evergreen KIDS volunteers rock it out at the Pine County Fair’s Parade? It was so fun to be a bystander for the parade this year and see our float go by with so many smiling faces, kids, and volunteers passing out invitation cards. MAJOR PROPS AND KUDOS TO EVERYONE WHO TOOK PART IN THE PARADE!!

4. Have you seen the work that’s begun in the Holy Grounds Cafe? HOLY BUCKETS, IT LOOKS AMAZING DOWN THERE!!! When I saw it last it looked like a giant, tope-ish rusty, moldy church basement – but now? Wow! Marta Lein has been heading up the renovation in the cafe and she’s been doing such an INCREDIBLE job! I’m so excited to see the rest of the project come together as walls and floors get finished off before our fall launch on September 11. To ANYONE that’s been helping out with the rennovation of the HGC – THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! Your pastor is so much happier because of you!

For those of you that have yet to give to the HGC Renovation project, I’d really encourage you to. We’re in the process of creating a space that’s warm, fun, and inviting to people who are far away from God to hang out, get some coffee (the iced coffees are the best thing I’ve ever had at our cafe! I have a standing order for one after I’m done teaching every Sunday), and be welcomed home in a way that makes sense to them. We need your help to finish this project, so please come this weekend prepared to give towards making it a reality!

5. Evergreen’s August LEADERSHIP SUMMIT is TONIGHT @ 6:30 PM. All staff, council, and volunteers are welcome to come! Tonight we’re going to be casting some vision and getting you in the loop about plans for Fall Launch 2011 and some of the awesomeness in store at your church that’s going to be unveiled in the next few weeks. If you serve in ANY capacity, if you’re a member, or even if you’re just an attender – get yourself to the Summit tonight and get in the loop! It’s going to seriously rock and you really don’t want to miss this! Our Fall Kickoff series launches September 11 and it’s called, “Restored” It’s got a car-theme to it. We’re going to be having a car show. We’re turning the entire front of the platform into the front of a car. We’re even GIVING AWAY A CAR as a part of the series! Come to the summit tonight to find out more about the anatomy of a fall-launch at Evergreen!

6. This weekend we’re beginning a 3-week series called, “Kickin’ It” where we’re going to be talking about doing big mission in small towns, and I’ll just tip my hand to you right now: I have been waiting for 2 years to preach this series. I’ve had 2-weeks off, a lot of coffee, and a lot of time with God on this topic, so by the time I hit the platform on Sunday, I might just explode! We’re going to challenge some assumptions, we’re going to breakdown some strong-holds, we’re going to say and name some things about ministry in the sticks that people have been afraid to say for too long, the band is going to be playing some songs you don’t normally hear in church (Little Big Town, anybody?), and we’re gonna take some old ideas about small town churches and give them a good swift KICKIN’ IT in the pants as we cast vision for what the church could be in towns like ours. Invite a friend this Sunday @ 9 & 11 and don’t miss one single week of Kickin’ It! Seriously, you’ll kick YOURSELF for it!