My dear partners in ministry,
I write a little depleted today. On top of being a Monday and adrenalin depressed, it was a bit of a discouraging Sunday for me and I am pretty congested with a growing cough, starting malaria meds and wondering if I will get my visa in time to be able to go to India. But I am tired of whining and growing intolerant of it (particularly in myself!). So allow me to search my medicated brain for the highlight reel of the week that was. Tuesday was a wonderful trip with the COGS to Lupton’s Fat Boy BBQ. At the end of the day we had 18 come. Our regular group plus Ira and Norma’s friends Odell, Lois and Carol. After lunch I checked in with Tammy and Pat. This battle with cancer has started tough and they and Jeanie need your prayers. I stopped in to see Teresa’s D at the nursing home but he was sound asleep and there was no waking him! Of course Tue night was ping pong and we took some video to share on Sunday morning.
Pastor Karen had a good group for small group Wed morning and some of the Danish spilled over into my office :^) Curt M stopped by for a visit. We had an exciting night Wed with an in-depth look at Matthew 6 with a good crowd. We needed to open up the curtain to fit everyone in. Rose Marie came across the street and visited us. Pastor Karen had two hand-fulls of children and Danny and Michele had a good group that worked well after 8:00pm. Got out Thursday and played some of the better golf I can remember of late with Tom and his brother and checked up on Tammy and Pat again. I had big plans for Friday but I discovered Fri morning that my India visa had expired. So I was making copies, filling out forms, taking passport pictures, filling in blanks and doing all I could to get the necessary paperwork to Fed Ex over-night. In the meantime Scott took time off to give Adam some training on the office software and Andy came in to put a light in the ministry center garage. Both brought doughnuts! Ira was a busy bee all week making the ministry house look like a café. Thanks to JoAnn who cleaned up the carpet in the sanctuary. It made everything ready for Friday Night. Friday night Pastor Karen and Michelle Mc had D.I. in the back of the building. Las Mujeres (the women’s group) was in the middle. The youth were in the sanctuary and N.A. was at the ministry house! Whew! For me, that is the definition of good stewardship!
Many have asked about Sikkim and the earthquake. This is the word I have gotten from Sanjay: A 6.8 earthquake has hit the Himalayan region of Sikkim, India, Sunday evening. 6 people have been killed and at least 60 injured. One church has collapsed. Several buildings have collapsed in Sikkim’s capital Gangtok, with widespread power outages across the state. There have been reports of landslides in Sikkim and West Bengal. The Indian Air Force has sent several jets with personnel and equipment . We need you to pray for this region and all the people affected. Pray as we are work on details to our response to this devastating earthquake. To read more: http://toi.in/vf_5FY
I rode the bike in Sunday so Andy could rest. It smelled like Fall and I enjoyed the sunrise and the breeze. Vaughn was worshipping and working. I was anointing. I shared another of my father’s writings on worry for the Chapel. Johnny did a fine job of serving there and lifting me in prayer for the day. We prayed for the worship team and did our best to prepare ourselves in many ways for our service on the day.
There were lots of people out, gone, traveling and sick Sunday. My small group was pretty thin. I was overly discouraged by the attendance yesterday. I really wanted the Fall and the Desert series to supply some outreach, evangelism, momentum for Sunday morning but I think I failed at securing enough passion and investment up front. Pretty posters and cards do not a movement make. It has been a good series and I am considering packaging it some way but the fruit has not been as I envisioned. We were visited by some Kairos friends, Ken and Sandy Jones!
We started with a video that I made of the pictures from the Oak Grove cookout for Alpha House and a couple seconds of ping pong. We opened with a worship set that was a bit sleepy mostly because of the day I think. The band did a nice offertory and Pastor Karen shared with the children about geese. She explained the aerodynamics of v-shaped flying and how that helps each goose support the other on their long journeys. She told then that God’s plan for the church was much the same – working together to support one another over the long journey. Then Clinton and Kathy took the kids back to Children’s Church. I bought an iPad to take to India and thought I would practice preaching from it yesterday. It was a distraction, my head was in too many places and thus the sermon was pretty weak. My apologies for yesterday’s offering. My testimony about God’s provision was better than the sermon so at least we didn’t go home empty handed. The prayer set was good and as usual our folk took the challenge very seriously to trust God for provision. I love sharing prayer time with you. There is seldom a day when our prayers do not drive us deeper into divine dependence and relational intimacy with our Creator. To watch the service click here.
Sunday night the attendance was great and there were bookoo kids for Renee, Emily, Elaine, William and Myra. Worship was good and Carlos sang a little. His throat is getting better. Please keep praying. Pastor Karen added the word goose to her Spanish vocabulary and repeated her morning sermon for the youngsters. Pastor Jorge preached a passionate sermon about the death of the seed in order to bear fruit from Col 3. They had special prayer for a member battling cancer and I got to dedicate a baby. We dedicated Valentina Baca to the Lord last night. She was just a treat. The reason I got up and went to work today :^) She smiled and waved and pointed and cooperated. Her parents cried and took so seriously the call to Christian parenting. It was a nice moment of laughter, tears and cheers as we were reminded of our call to raise up a new generation of followers of Jesus Christ. It was a good, exhausting day. To hear the sermon click here.
Notes I can remember:
- Next Sunday is Spanglish!
- Melissa T has surgery tomorrow.
- Friday ends the D.I. 7-week intensive.
- Next Monday P.D. heads to India.
- Kairos is the end of the month. Sign-up to pray and bring cookies.
That’s all for today, except to say thank you to you again for all you do – continue to connect with God, each other and the world.
Know that I love you – Denny