- Great kick-off to the One Prayer series.
- After being gone for 2 weeks it was great to be back.
- Set-up this morning was a mess…someone from the time the team finished practicing Thursday night, to this morning, rearranged stuff on the stage and unplugged a lot of stuff. Guess they thought it was just a matter of plugging it back in, but it’s not…
- So we ran around like chicken’s with our heads cut-off trying to get things working…we were about 30 minutes late getting practiced started which then cuts into some of the other prep time that’s needed…needless to say I was hoping for a smoother morning on my first day back.
- Once we got settled, everything else seemed to run pretty smoothly.
- Usually on communion Sunday’s the team and I take communion together afterwards, but we did it today beforehand and it was great…think we’ll do it that way from now on….really set the mood.
- Wow we packed a lot of stuff into today’s Experience…but I really wanted to take communion since it fit so well with Craig’s message and of course the Child Dedications made sense on Father’s Day…so we ran a little over but it was worth it.
- I was extremely pleased with the reaction to Craig’s message. I was a little nervous having the message come via video. even though I know it’s very successful in a lot of churches on a weekly basis.
- You all responded when he asked t, laughed at his jokes and seemed to be really into it.
- At one point Andy leaned over to me and said, “It’s about time we got a good preacher in here.”
- Ah with friends like that who needs enemies.
- Hannah did an awesome job with the special communion song…she and the rest of our team are so talented and I feel blessed to be able to work with them.
- I messed up the child dedication although you wouldn’t have known it if I weren’t telling you it right now. I should have asked the commitment questions then prayed, but did it the opposite way. In the grand scheme of things it’s not a big deal, but I was definitely rusty in my public speaking after 2 weeks of R&R.
- Afterwards many of you stopped me to tell me how much you liked the One Prayer message and also to offer support after my blog confession last week. Thanks to all!
- I especially was grateful for the gift certificate that I was given to Red Robin, by one of the couples from the church…thanks…I will definitely put it to good use…and more than likely this week since hardly a week goes by that I don’t eat at least one meal there.
- All in all a great day…and since I didn’t have to preach, I don’t even feel like I need a nap! So I’ll watch Tiger try to win the Open this afternoon and then we’ll head down to WV to visit with some friends this evening before I get back into the swing of things tomorrow.
- Happy Father’s Day to all you dad’s out there…enjoy your day!
Inside Today’s Experience…sort of
Important Up-date on this week’s vote
I found out yesterday that the vote for the Creative Arts Pastor has been postponed until June 22nd at 9:30am. Again it is important for all members to be there to cast your vote. Below is a copy of the e-mail Earl sent out last night in case you didn’t receive it.
Dear Church Family,
Concerns have been expressed from our congregation that having a congregational meeting at 11:45 a.m. this Sunday would be unfair to the persons who come to our 8:15 worship service because they would be coming to the early worship and possibly Sunday School and then would have to return to the church later for a meeting. This might prevent some from having the opportunity of hearing the presentation and then voting. We do not want any of our members to feel excluded from the voting and so the congregational meeting for this coming Sunday has been postponed until Sunday morning June 22 at 9:30 a.m. in the sanctuary. On that day, a Sunday School teachers meeting had already previously been scheduled so all of the adults and youth were to meet in the sanctuary for Sunday School together.
There will now be a congregational meeting held at 9:30 a.m. in the sanctuary on June 22 instead of having a combined Sunday School class. During that meeting, a presentation will be given for the proposal concerning adding the Pastor of Creative Arts. The presentation and discussion part of the meeting will end at or before 10:05 a.m. so voting by secret ballot can take place at that time. Ballots will also be given to those at the Sunday School teachers’ meeting and to the child care workers who are members. By scheduling the meeting at 9:30 a.m., those members attending the 8:15 service will be able to stay after that service and participate in the voting. Persons who come to the 10:30 services will be able to come early for the meeting at 9:30 a.m. and then to stay for 10:30 worship immediately following the meeting. No one should be inconvienced or excluded. We encourage everyone who is a member to attend the meeting on June 22 and to participate in the voting.
So, just to recap.
The congregational meeting this Sunday June 8 is postponed until June 22 during the Sunday School hour. On June 22 promptly at 9:30 a.m., an informational meeting about the new Pastor of Creative Arts position will be held with discussion ending at or before 10:05 a.m. and then a vote by secret ballot will be taken.
Pastor Earl, on behalf of our Administrative Council
Below is the job description for the Pastor of Creative Arts:
Chambersburg
First
Church of God
Pastor of Creative Arts
Vacation Up-date
- We’re in Williamsburg, Va for the week with a 1 day stop down in Virginia Beach to go to a church I’ve been wanting to visit.
- The weather has been phenomenal…although it’s supposed to hit 100 for 2 of the days we’re here.
- We’ve played some tennis, gone swimming, ate out a lot, played in the arcade, shopped, watched some movies and yesterday…
- …we went to Busch Gardens. I wasn’t feeling 100% but that didn’t stop us from riding everyone of the rides. The lines were really small…most of the time we were able to walk right up and get on…the longest line was for a new ride but that was only about 1/2 hour. It was hot and so I was looking forward to the water rides…but I hardly got wet at all…Lisa however…
- Best ride of the day was the Griffon. The first drop is 205 feet at a 90 degree angle…in other words…straight down…the best part is they actually stop you at the top while you’re facing straight down before they release you…sweet!
- Ok, for those of you who passed out just at the thought…welcome back.
- The most ironic thing of the day was when we went to get on the Escape from Pompeii water ride, they shut it down right as we got to the front of the line. 13 years ago Lisa and I visited Busch Gardens as a part of our honeymoon when this ride was in it’s first year. We never did get on it that year because twice we were in line and it got shut down…so here we were 13 years later and the same thing happens. We decided to stick it out in line and finally after about 15 minutes they got it repaired and we we’re on our way…uhhh, I waited 13 years for that?
- Speaking of years flying by…the Loch Ness Monster is celebrating it’s 30th year in existence. I remember as a kid when it opened and everyone was so excited about it…boy do I feel old.
- Speaking of old…or maybe it’s just that I’m short…in the quest to do riskier things with roller-coasters, most of them now have the pull down over your shoulders restraints…which means when you quickly go around a corner your head smacks up-side the restraint. By the time we were done yesterday I felt like I had been repeatedly punched by Mike Tyson when he was in his hey-day.
- Have I mentioned that we pay a lot of money for the privilege of doing this, that we call it entertainment and that if I could I’d be back there doing it again today?
- Today we’re just hanging out and doing some more shopping.
- Other than Sunday visiting ForeFront Churchand having lunch with Vince Antonucci and his wife, we’re just taking things one day at a time at this point and will do things as we feel like it.
A Confession
Jesus said in Matthew 12:26 the following…”But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.”
One of the reasons people express that they like my speaking/writing is that I’m so honest about what’s going on in my life….sometimes that gets me into trouble. Last week I posted about some frustrations I was having and as the post started to take on a life of it’s own, I have now been made aware by others and have realized it myself that I said some things that I shouldn’t have in such a public forum as this.
In other words, I got careless in my words and will now have to stand before Jesus on account of them. Jesus instructed us if we have a problem with a fellow Christian that we are to go to them privately to try to resolve it, not go blab it to everyone on a blog.
So I’ll be meeting individually when I get back with those that I have hurt to offer my personal apologizes…however, since I publicly hurt them I also wanted to publicly apologize as well. I have taken down the blog post itself and would appreciate it if no one responds to this post either so that we can close the matter and move on in our joint effort to kick the devil’s butt.