Dear Fam,

Wow—what a past month we’ve had. Global Outreach month was stellar, capped by Steve Saint’s preaching. If you missed Steve, here’s his story. Missions trips to Montgomery, Alabama and Kenya are coming together for the summer. If you don’t want to miss out, there’s more information here. Then to top it all off, last weekend we welcomed 60 new members into the church family. (Here’s our welcome to SRPC video.)

•  I think you’d be thrilled to know that twenty-two members of the Disaster Relief team just returned from their 789^th trip (or something close to that) to House to House ministry in Montgomery.

•  The Senior Class of SRCS has been doing tornado relief / building Habitat houses in Tuscaloosa, Alabama this past week. Dana James said—Our seniors are doing a great job. They have worked hard and have been a joy to work with. A team here from Indiana said, "We've heard such great things about th kids from Seven Rivers!"  Our last three senior classes have developed a wonderful reputation. At a meeting of all the volunteers yesterday, the leader from Habitat said, "We love having Seven Rivers.  They'll do anything, and it's such a big help to us."  I'm like a proud papa!

•  The deacons hosted a lunch in February for 50 SRPC widows!

•  Our Divorce Care ministry was launched and is off to a great start with 10-12 people participating.

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•  Would you pray for wisdom and protection for Wendy and Chris Bergstrom. The Bergstroms both grew up at SRPC, married, have 4 children and live in Kiev, Ukraine where Chris serves with the U.S. Air Force.

•  American Folk & Hymn Festival is Sunday evening, March 30. Tickets are on sale here!

•  Got this request from Rayburn Greene, SRCS football coach. Let him know if you can help. Do you know of anyone in the church that has some land (cleared) with some buildings (perhaps cabins) that could host our team camp from 8/10—8/15. We conduct our two-a-days practices during this time.They aren't allowed to bring electronics of any kind.It's just team and God.At night we have worship together and they spend a lot of time in their small groups.It's a pivotal part of the season.

•  Here’s a host of helpful articles to read. Valentine the Brave—loving your wife…all year; Five Really Bad Reasons to Leave Your Church; Let Them Come Home—John Piper on dealing with a wayward adult son; The World the Missionaries Made—the article I referenced in my sermon last weekend. The most encouraging article I’ve read in the past year.

•  It is joyful to report to you that Bill O’Neal has found a wonderful job in Kingsport, Tennessee and is moving there to begin work immediately. We will miss Bill—he’s been a part of SRPC since the beginning! Sad to report that our beloved Sheri O’Neal intends to move with him!! We do rejoice in this grand new adventure for the O’Neals, but I don’t think anyone at SRPC can imagine the contribution Sheri has made to our ministry over the past 15 years as a staff member. Our bulletins, screens in worship, website, podcasts, brochures /graphics / advertisement / design, and virtually every large church eating event for the past two decades have had Sheri’s stamp of creativity, excellence and passionate love for Jesus and his gospel. On top of all that—she’s been our friend. Sheri O’Neal is an SRPC treasure and thankfully, we’ll get to recognize her and thank her before she joins her husband in their new locale.

•  This weekend we’ll have baptisms in worship, food to share (donuts between service on Sunday and something shamefully unhealthy after Saturday night service, too), and I’ll be preaching on the concluding parables of Matthew 13. It should be a blast to be together so be sure to change your clocks on Saturday night (spring forward!).

Sincerely,

Ray