I saw a school bus on my street today. The temps may still be in the 80’s, and leaves are not even thinking about turning colors yet. But when the big yellow busses start down the streets, you know what time of year it is. Fall is coming. This Fall is a time for connecting. This fall, we are teaching through a few series on Sundays to help us connect more to be the people GOD wants us to be and the church God wants us to be. We can be at all different stages of life right now. Some of you are getting ready for school – parents are cheering, kids are groaning. Some of us dropped our kids at school for the whole next year. Some haven’t thought about school in long time. Regardless of what stage you are in life, your connection to God and His church is a vital part of your life. In the first series, Christian vs. Disciple, we will take a hard look at how God calls us to live. Jesus never asked us to be Christians, he called us to be disciples. And while there may be a lot of confusion about what a Christian may be or might not be, there is no confusion about the life that Jesus called us to live as His disciples. We need a real connection to who Jesus actually asked us to be. The second series will look at our connection to the church, Church – a Real Community. This one will explore in greater depth the meaning of our value: a Strength of Real Community. As God built the church, they were connected together in real and tangible ways. Ways that have stood the test of time. Ways that we can still live today. We live in times that are getting more and more confusing. People are willing to live just about any way they want and claim to be Christians. People want to believe in God as a whole (one study as high as 89%), yet they don’t know what to do about Him. Our belief in God doesn’t affect most people’s desire to attend a church (the figure is as low as 17% of Americans go to church every week). We want to believe in God, but we don’t want to learn about Him. Even in active membership circles, the idea of weekly attendance is losing popularity (it’s a good thing that God doesn’t really rely on popularity polls). The need to understand who God is really calling us to be and what our connection to the church has never been more confusing… and yet, in scripture it is still very clear. So, we will spend our fall correcting the thinking of average America and rebuilding a faith that actually connects us to God and His church. Regardless of your stage of life, there is something we can learn and grow in our connection to God and His church. Let’s connect to God and His church this fall.