This is by far the most famous (and favorite) line in the movie Jaws. It was uttered by Roy Scheider’s character Sheriff Brody after he gets his first glance of great white shark. It wasn’t in the script originally. At the time, Steven Spielberg was an unknown director that the studio was taking a chance on with this film about a shark. They didn’t exactly bless him with all the resources he needed to make the film. His production crew looked at the boats the studios gave him to carry equipment and to film the movie and told Steven, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

The line became the catch-phrase for the whole crew whenever something went wrong during the shoot. It became the explanation when what they needed to make the film was not available to them. So during the shooting of the scene when Sheriff Brody finally sees the shark for the first time, Roy Scheider threw the line in there during one of the takes as a joke. It stayed.

When I look at the summer in front of us, this is all I can think of – “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

May 29 – Marriage Night with Les & Leslie Parrot, Francis & Lisa Chan, and Michael Jr.
Fun night, lots of laughter, great food, and it is going to be HUGE in your marriage.

June 2nd – July 28th – The Book of Jonah Sermon Series
We are partnering with Antioch Missionary Baptist Church this summer teaching through the book of Jonah. We are going to have combined services, shared connect groups, and round table discussions. More details are coming, but this is going to be HUGE.

June 2nd – Family Fun Night @ WHC
We kick off the summer with games, blow-up houses, food, and music.

June 3-7 – Into The Wild VBS
A week of games, laughter, and fun for kids. Complete with the best snacks in the… wild.

Wednesday nights in June & July – Summer of Awesomeness
Games, adventures, and food for our students in 7th-12th grade.

July 15-19 – Super Summer
Our week long camp for middle-schoolers and high-schoolers.

July 19-22 – Giant Slayers Mission Trip
Our first time ever mission trip for 5th-6th graders!!

July 28th – Combined Worship with Antioch @ WHC
We are putting the worship teams together from Antioch and WHC for Sunday worship. We may not have a roof when this over with, but it’s going to be fun!

Late Summer/Early Fall – 30 Year Anniversary of Western Hills Church
WHC is 30 years young this summer! We are excited to celebrate this later in the summer.

We’re gonna need a bigger boat. 

I’m so excited about this summer. I’m amped about what’s going on with our kids and youth. We’ve got a couple of other things working in the background that are just going to be awesome. I can’t spill the beans yet, but it’s going to be…well, you know. (How many times have I said awesome in this post??)

Let me nudge you a bit to do 3 things this summer in light of all of this.

1. Pray
Pray for the opportunity for those far from the gospel to hear Jesus’ story at every single one of these events. An event is pointless if it doesn’t allow us to connect with people who are far from the gospel.

2. Engage
These are places and opportunities for us to meaningfully engage with other people, and God has divine appointments for you this summer. I know that He does. So pick a couple of things and serve at them. Give God a chance to have a divine appointment through you.

3. Invite
The Book of Jonah and how we are going to walk through it with Antioch this summer is going to be a perfect time to invite someone you know to WHC. The summer is a great time to invite someone to your Connect Group to grill out, have a swim party, shoot fireworks (legally of course). Take that chance, invite someone on the journey with you.

Pray. Engage. Invite.

We do these three things and it will be a summer where we will definitely need a bigger boat.