Clearly God was uniquely generous and kind to us this past Sunday. It was a beautiful day. We started with a great group of men at the sunrise service. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and worship. As people began trickling, then streaming in for the morning service, it really seemed like God was going to do something significant. There was a great sense of anticipation in the air, really. The music was absolutely awesome. The congregational singing was great. The choir was great. The special music was great. The gospel was, as always, great. Some came to faith in Christ. Many believers were encouraged in our service to Him. It took a long time for the fellowship after the service to disperse, as we went to our family dinners. It was amazing, a great blessing from God! It has stayed on my heart and mind all week.

Now we come to a new week, a new Sunday. Tomorrow we begin our study of the book of Acts. Our study will focus on our theme for this year, Be the Church. We will begin by studying 1:1-5, which should inflame our appetite for the rest of our study. The following Sunday, May 8, is Mother’s Day…so this is a friendly reminder! Then we will be back in our study of Acts on the 15^th. That day we will focus our attention on “Be My Witnesses”. I’ll be preaching the morning service, we will have a “picnic lunch” (bring your own lunch or raid McDonalds) time right after the service, then have our “evening” service immediately following. In that service Pastor Troy and Pastor Tim II will be sharing a vision for missions “over there” and “right here.” These missions emphasis Sundays also allow us to focus on our grace giving to missions. Our goal for that day is $20,000 above our regular tithes and offering.

A special prayer request…Dave Ridge, one of our deacons, works as an adjuster for Liberty Mutual. He was been “deployed” to the tornado damaged areas in Alabama for the next few weeks. We should pray for his safety and for his family in his absence. We should also pray that God gives him wonderful opportunities to share the gospel and encouragement to hurting brothers in Christ.

See you tomorrow, the Lord willing.

In Him,

P. Tim

Well, it’s been a loooooooooooooooong time since I last blogged, too long…sorry! Four weeks ago I was working like crazy to get prepared for a trip to China to be immediately followed by a trip to Chicago. So, my attention was focused on covering all my bases for when I would be gone. Then the trip came. I preached Sunday morning March 27^th, finished packing, and went to the airport to begin a Philly to LA, LA to Beijing, then Beijing to Qing Dao flight. It was about 25 hours of travel, 19 of them in the air!

I spent most of the time in Qing Dao with Rob Clarke, did some teaching/training, and some other speaking. The next week he and I flew to Xian to spend a couple of days with the Smiths and the Rices. We had a great and mutually encouraging time of fellowship. The trip was very profitable, timely, and while physically taxing, it was spiritually refreshing. I did the reverse trip home getting back around midnight Friday night/Saturday morning. Saturday was spend taking care of business and preparing to leave again for Chicago on Sunday.

Sunday morning we had the privilege of having Dr. O with us for our morning service. He and his dear wife had come to speak at our couples retreat at Camp Calvary. So after the service, my wife and I got in the car and drove to Chicago. This is not the doctor recommended procedure to readjust and avoid jet lag. There was a pastor’s conference in Chicago with several speakers that I felt I should hear personally, so we planned (Tim II, Troy Gahman, and I) to go and make it a time for professional growth and team building. The conference was great, but what made it all greater for me was I would have the chance to visit Steph and Frank and the kids before and after the conference. THAT WAS GREAT! The church where Frank had just become the senior pastor was about a 30 minute drive from the conference center.

The conference ended Thursday at noon. We spent the afternoon with the Taylors, had dinner, ate ice cream, said our farewells, and started home. We drove to Toledo, stayed the night, got up and headed for Camp, for our annual Staff and Wives retreat. We got in Friday afternoon for the retreat and had a great time of fellowship with our ministry leaders and their wives. The food was great, fellowship was sweet, and the time was refreshing. About lunch time we headed for home ready for church the next day!

So, I think I’m pretty well over the jet lag. I’m almost done digging out of the backed up work that always greets you when you get home. Now, I’m looking forward to our worship together as a church family on Good Friday and Easter morning. Hope to see you hear this weekend!

In Him,

P. Tim