Pastor’s blog 6/29/10 unexpected connections
June 29, 2010
We truly live in an amazing time in this world. Yesterday I was on my facebook page and completely out of the blue I received a friend request on my facebook page from my uncle Bud. Bud isn’t actually my uncle he is my cousin. Bud is my father brother’s son. I have always called him uncle Bud because he is much older than I am. I haven’t communicated with Bud for years and here he is showing up on facebook. After accepting Bud’s request to be a friend on facebook I connected with his daughter Barbara through facebook. There is much critizism and discussion about facebook and its effect on communication. I guess that is only natural when 500 million people are using a technology like this. I certainly would love to see Bud and Barbara in person but that hasn’t happened for many years. Facebook gave me an easy way to reconnect with them and that is a blessing. Chatting with him yesterday dusted off many great memories and I am grateful for that.
Pastor’s blog 6/21/10 Joyful reunions
June 21, 2010
This past Saturday I was reunited unexpectedly with Matt and Sarah Pearson. Matt was our Youth and Family Ministries Director before Amy. He was here for the wedding of Ashley Feller and Derek Hellstrom. When they were kids at the church they were active in the youth program. Matt and Sarah now have a little 3 year old boy named Josiah. It was fun to connect with Matt again. We talked quite awhile as he watched his very active son climb up and down on chairs exploring everything he could reach. While we were talking, Josiah got more comfortable with me and let me hold him for a couple of minutes. I haven’t held an active 3 year old in a long while and I found out that he was a very solid, wirey little guy. I made friends with him by offering him some candy from the little tins of candy that were on the table. When the tin was empty he was playing around with it and managed to ding me in the head with it. His parents said Josiah say your sorry and he made the saddest little face. I felt bad for him so I said oh how about a kiss. He smiled and gave me a wonderful hug and kiss. Seeing Matt, Sarah and Josiah reminded me of the importance of relationship and God’s abundant love for us. Many memories came to mind of Matt building our youth program and the beautiful way it continues to grow under the leadership of Amy Lein. You know God isn’t only good sometimes he is extravagent.
Pastor’s blog 6/14/10 The joy of 1st weddings
June 14, 2010
I can’t believe that I am now presiding at the weddings of confirmation students. Wow! That must mean that I have been here awhile. This past Saturday I conducted the wedding of Ashley Bents (a former confirmation student) and Josh Hein. What a great day it was for them and for me. I remember Ashley being a very active member at First. She sang in the youth choir that her mother lead. She was active in our youth program and always seemed to be around the church. I am amazed at how quickly her college years went. It doesn’t seem like nearly five years have past since she graduated from high school. She asked her grandfather John to sing the Lord’s Prayer at the wedding which was a moving experience for many. John’s voice has an intimate quality that really reached our hearts when he sang. At the reception instead of tinkling or bells to make the couple kiss we were invited to sing a verse or two of any song with the word love in it. This lead to many spirited renditions of love songs. Once again grandpa John charmed us all with his singing of the alphabet song. Yes Saturday was a memorable day. May God richly bless the marriage of Josh and Ashley!
Pastor’s Blog 5/31/10 Living the Great Commission
June 1, 2010
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations… these are the words of the great commission Matthew 28. They are words that we all know yet we struggle to live them out. We your staff at First are working to express this commission using the powerful communication tools that are available today. We have a web page and have just created Facebook and Twitter accounts. Some of you will know immediately what these are and some of you will be a little confused. We want to use the technology that is available to reach all people with the Good News of Jesus. We encourage you to sign up as a friend of ours on Facebook and/or to follow us on Twitter. Join us in this new adventure as we see to be the hands, heart, feet and voice of Jesus in this world. God’s peace Pastor Richard
