|
Pastor's Corner Newsletter Page |
 |
As our summer months draw quickly to a close we prepare ourselves for a new year filled with ministry opportunities at Prince of Peace. We have just completed Vacation Bible School and a wonderful time was had by all with many delightful crafts and lots of happy children. It was a busy week and hopefully the children will take home many fond memories of their time at VBS.
I would personally like to say thank you to all who helped to make this VBS so successful. I am not going to name names because I would surely miss someone, but there were a lot of folks who made it all come together. We had good food to begin with and wonderful crafts. There were skits to share the Bible stories and songs to sing, as well as other activities to tie the Bible stories together with fun activities. Thanks to all who made this possible.
We have another exciting ministry that has come out of our week of VBS and that is a reorganizing of our middle-school and high-school youth. Ben Mandrick has felt led to lead these young folks on a new adventure in spending time with God while at the same time doing fun activities. They will be meeting during August with plans for the school year yet to be worked out. This will be part of the discussion during the activities this summer. We are thankful for Ben and his commitment to our Lord and our Lord’s work. Keep our young folks in your prayers and especially Ben as he pulls this together.
Our construction continues and with the walls up we can get an idea of what is to come. A big thanks to all who patiently work their way around any obstacles that the construction presents. Pr. Ed says the brick work looks great so I think we are off to a good start. We have added additional drains to the roof as part of the project and it appears to be carrying the water of very efficiently—no more waterfall by the office entrance—this is a good thing. If you have questions about what is going on call the office and we will try to answer them.
We had our first meeting of those interested in making the Honduras mission trip in 2009. We need to know as soon as possible who is interested in making the trip to ensure we have enough to fill the team. We have some folks from other churches who are interested and we need to pull this all together as soon as possible. I am sure World Gospel Outreach would like to know as soon as possible so they can book flights, especially with the proposed air fare increases planned for November. The turmoil in the economy is affecting ministry activities as well as business and recreation and the sooner we can firm up some numbers the sooner flights can be booked. This may become a stretch for some because of the economy but our situation doesn’t change what is happening in Honduras and the other areas who need our help. We are the ones who have the ability to stretch and so I ask that you prayerfully consider your participation this year.
Financially we seem to be making our way through the economic and summer slow downs in giving, but it could always be better. It seems as though we are experiencing a decrease in our giving because of not having as many people visit while on vacation in the area. Thankfully our membership seems to be keeping up even with the economic downturn but the bottom-line is that the decrease in those visiting and vacationing for the first part of this year has affected our finances. Your council remains diligent in their spending and in their watching our financial situation but there are always issues to deal with such as air-conditioner repairs, and the like. We will keep you posted.
As we gear-up for a new year at Prince of Peace I pray that everyone will continue to reach out to friends and neighbors who may not have a church home and invite them to be a part of our ministry here. With our three services plus the healing service I am sure they will find one that meets their needs. We are excited about the new folks who are worshipping with us now and pray as well that they would make Prince of Peace their home. It’s a good time to be the church.
Blessings,
Pr. Ray
God’s Blessings,
Pr. Ray
