Man Down…

See what happened to Pastor Chuck here.

(He’s “down” with blogging, now…so please visit his blog and make a comment and let him know what kinds of conversations you’d like to start with him in the blogosphere!)

 

Sunday Night Mind Dump

• 8:45 service is growing! It was fun to see the family who’s baby was baptized last week in church (doesn’t always happen that way!).
• Cool: the Old Testament reading (Psalm 119:73-80) was done responsively at the 8:45 service (and at the 5:30pm Saturday service). Karen Ruch was the reader at 8:45 and she did a great job of it. I loved it–great way for the congregation to engage with the Word!
• Heard some great stories about the FREE car wash that the Crossroads kids did on Saturday. One about a family that was amazed that the car wash was free and then mentioned they were looking for a church home. Don’t know if they came today or not, but they were talking about it. You can help sponsor our Crossroads kids to Workcamp this summer by contacting Jason Christ. They could use some more help!
• We had a blast at the Servant Adventures with Bible Story improv. Samuel was an awesome Jonah. Christian was great at being the “off-stage voice of God”. You should see Marsha Peth do the Tango! It was fun having several generations together! God’s Word is sure. God’s Word is alive.
• Thankful for Jen Weber who has designed a great program for 5 year olds and younger during the Summer Education Hour. If you’d like to give her a hand, let me know!
• Thankful for Pastor Chuck for leading an Adult Bible Class this summer on Old Testament Bible Characters. Looked like they had a fun bunch today!
• I hated saying good-bye to the Cramer family. They are moving to Florida. Booooo. The “boooooo” is selfish, I know. I’m thinking about how much I loved having themas a part of First Trinity. I pray God will bless their new life and help them to find a faith community that rocks.

 

Sunday Night Mind Dump

• SO glad to be back at First Trinity today, after missing last Sunday with the flu. I love it!
• I saw Pastor’s PIT (Pastor’s Intercession Team) Crew praying with him before the 8:45 service. It is such a good feeling to know that people pray for those of us in leadership.
• The last regular day of the My Bible Everyday Faith event brought me to tears. Everyday Faith Team Leader Wendy Morris said it well: “there is no way to thank Pam Stone and Marsha Peth for all they did to make this event what it is for families.” When I dream Big Dreams for families at First Trinity and their walk with Jesus, this My Bible event shows up in those dreams.
• Great to see so many graduating seniors and their parents in front of church at the 11:15 service for a blessing. This is also and Everyday Faith deal. It’s the first time for that tradition. I am thankful for the Thrivent bunch (Pam Jones, Maxine Ehrman and Fern Innes) who have long had a heart for helping us celebrate with our seniors. They planned the special coffee hour (complete with balloons) and helped us buy a memory-gift of this family blessing.
• I met a family with two teen-aged girls who were visiting today (at the 8:45 service). Tracy Bramwell saw them wandering a bit and was answering their questions. They said they liked our Pastor’s sense of humor. It’s good that someone does! Seriously, I am thankful that we communicate a sense of lightness and fun at First Trinity–as well as a sense of anchordness in the Word (another thing that family mentioned).
• My hope for this week is that when Saturday comes, I will no longer feel behind. I will be caught up. Wouldn’t that be awesome??!?

 

Monday Morning Mind Dump

• The flu got me good. I am feeling better, but no where close to 100%, yet. I notice that one of my character flaws is consistently underestimating how sick I am (or how long it will take me to recover).
• I really dislike missing Sundays at First Trinity. I guess it’s a good thing to love your job as much as I do.
• THANKS to Jason who took the children’s messages at the last minute and came to get my computer for the Everyday Faith folks (AND brought it back so I could play Bubble Words while recuperating).
• Thanks to Jaime, Cathy and Lauren who led the way for Kingdom Quest games day. They were a great team, from what I heard!
• I heard that Pastor Chuck’s sermon was awesome and I can’t wait to listen to it, online. Someone from the A-Team (Acclimation Team) said it was meaningful to that team’s work.
• I am sitting in my office in that foggy place where I know there is SO MUCH TO DO but I can’t quite put my hands on what that is (except it’s pretty clear that one of the things that needs doing is cleaning my office).
• I watched something like 8 episodes of “Law & Order SVU” (they were having a marathon). I know it is a fictional series, but I also know they get their ideas from real world cases. There are a lot of sick people in this world. Sin is very very dark.  We need Jesus.

 

Sunday Night Mind Dump

• Was relieved I remembered to bring my goulash for Friends of Night People. More than once, I’ve had to make a trip back home during the 8:45 service.
• Renee Gietz showed me these cute little knitted dolls that we could knit and get other knitters to knit and then use them as the “stuffing” in our suitcases when we go to Haiti. Then give them away to children, there. Great idea.
• Shawn McKinnon had a special guest in the Wired Word class. His name is Gabriel and he is a refugee from Congo. Sounded like he had a great testimony!
• I LOVE assisting with Communion and I’m almost always on. But today–not. I was really refreshed by just being able to pray in the pew and also by sitting with Sean Guetti who was counting commun-ers. I was sitting in the front row and when I came back from communion, Sean whispered to me, “You’re #1.” Nothing like a little affirmation!
• Had several HILARIOUS conversations with people about the Youtube post from Thursday. Seems like there’s a lot of Man Colds going around.
• I loved the way the kids were singing in Kingdom Quest today…Jaime was doing a great job of leading them!
• For Welcome Activities today (led by Dawn Guetti), the kids made flags for Pastor Carl to take to our homebound folks. So cool.
• Pastor Chuck’s sermon did not disappoint…I love that he talked about spiritual growth as a gradual, lifelong process. This is SO true!! The question is not “how can I get to be as spiritual as her?”, but rather, “What baby step is God calling me to next, in my own spiritual growth?”. It is about the actions we take. Reminded me of a quote I saw on Jaime’s Facebook:

“The world of thought is escape, freedom only comes through action.”

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

 

Don’t miss it!

I just got a look at the sermon outline for this weekend (they hide in the workroom until some awesome ushers come and get them out).”Spiritual Growth Fact and Fiction”. Pastor Chuck’s sermons are always good–and this one looks awesome. I can’t wait. Don’t miss it!!

 

Sermon’s Up: Easter Life

Pastor Chuck’s sermon  from yesterday is up. You can listen to it and comment on it here.

It was a great one (again!). My favorite quote: “The anti-dote for stress is not a program–it’s a Person”.

 

Sermon’s Up: Easter 2008

Pastor Chuck’s Easter sermon is available for listening and commenting! Check it out here.