Dear SRPC Family,

We are kicking off the year with three big events. A) Pastor's Class begins September 1, Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. in the Florida Room. Is there someone you could bring to Pastor's Class or cajole them, guilt them, blackmail them or bribe them to attend!? It could make an eternal difference. People's lives change when they hear the gospel and the Pastor's Class is all about the gospel. B) Vision Weekend is September 4/5. This is the official launch of the new church year. In worship, we'll focus on why we exist and what our mission is. After, we'll share hot dogs and cokes (a sort of mini-Labor Day cookout -- only with no sweat, mosquitoes or beer!) and celebrate the community God has given us at SRPC. C) Beilman Commissioning -- September 18/19. Dan and Jen and their three boys are going to Vienna, Austria as missionaries -- and we get to send them as an extension of our ministry. In a sense, SRPC is opening a branch of our ministry in Austria and sending the Beilmans to inaugurate it!

• So, who is our future worship leader at SRPC? I should be able to answer that question next week! In the meantime, Dan is continuing to lead us and Josh Bales will continue to come one time per month. Josh has become the director of worship at Lake Baldwin PCA in Orlando. He accepted the job on the condition that he still be allowed to lead worship here monthly! Speaking of Josh, last weekend I had the privilege of officiating at his wedding to the lovely Mindy Cribbs -- the wedding reception was at the Museum of Fine Arts in downtown St. Petersburg -- truly stunning!

The Entrance

The Dance

The Cake

• There is a baby boom going on at SRPC which is awesome. Every one of those pregnancies deserves our joyous praise and prayerful attention. One of these pregnancies is having some complications. Kristen Turner is pregnant with a little boy she and Chad have named Knox. The doctors have informed them that Knox has an enlarged heart and kidneys and will be moved to the NICU immediately upon birth where they'll assess his health and take appropriate measures to correct whatever needs it. On top of that, Kristen is having contractions and her doctors want her to go another 3-4 weeks before giving birth. Will you pray for the Turners and their little boy?

• I know you've been faithfully praying for Sashi Jones and her family. Here's the latest update: Here we are a month and a half out of surgery. Thanks for your continued prayers and care. The Jones girls are getting weary but we can now see the end of the road. Sashi's day leaves next to nothing for "fun" - today she had two and a half hours of PT, one hour of OT, one hour of ST, we're supposed to be staying up somewhat with her 4th grade class (not happening), and all total - she has 20 minutes to play her Build-a-Bear game before dinner. But, she's a trooper. Emotions are becoming more like mountains and valleys. Within one hour of therapy, she will laugh, sing and cry big tears all in the same session. ..... The big news of this week is her brother is coming for a visit! He's actually coming a day early (tomorrow), with every intent of surprising her. I think she may fall out of her chair, when she sees him. And then, on Friday, we get to go to the St. Louis Zoo as a field trip (first and only time away from the hospital, other than to go to another hospital). It will be a great outing with Sam here, and I have no doubt her spirits will remain high all weekend. ..... In preparation for his arrival, she started calling everyone "dude" today and giving high 5's left and right. ..... We are hoping to come home on Sept. 10th. Our number one doctor at Children's Hospital said that she should only do a half day of school daily this fall semester. Walking and strengthening are too important to be sitting for 6 hours per day. We will do that, and gladly. But Sashi is so excited to get back to school. ..... Thank you for your care, prayers, cards, and emails. Sashi's path has been smooth and bearable by the Lord's gracious and daily strengthening and provision for her (and me too!) Thank you for your part in that with your prayers. ..... With love, Anne.

• So proud of Lou Miele. In a day when politics have gotten incredibly caustic, even on the local level -- Lou showed incredible graciousness despite losing a local election. His sincere congratulations and embrace of his opponent was front and center in the Chronicle and a beautiful picture of what living out the gospel looks like!

• Ray Cannata is the founder of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New Orleans and a missionary of SRPC. As an expression of his love for the city, God called him to set out to eat in every non-chain restaurant in the city. Ray has been to 592 eateries with 12 more to go. There is a book and documentary coming out on his quest -- I think it's called, "The Man Who Ate New Orleans"! This is all garnering a lot of press attention and was recently featured on World News with Diane Sawyer, here's the interview clip. All the proceeds from the whole project will go to post-Katrina restoration!

• What is our greatest longing as a church? To see our children embrace Jesus. I received an awesome letter of encouragement from a young mom recently who is seeing the word of God become a part of the fabric of her child's life:   Thank you to everyone who gives of time, talent and resources to make Seven Rivers Christian School possible for my family and others! ..... I'm writing in with a praise report for all who serve at Seven Rivers Presbyterian Church and Christian School. I'm writing to share a glimpse that I got of the beauty of Christ, his church and how it is changing the life of my son so that he doesn't have to grow up in darkness the way I did. ..... We decided several years ago that nothing was more important to our family than having Mason grow up learning the Truth. So, we enrolled him in Seven Rivers Christian School and made a personal commitment to keep him there until he graduates from high school. We want Mason to have something that we didn't have growing up; a personal relationship with Jesus, an understanding of his purpose in life, to know God through the study of his Word, serve God and others bringing the hope and joy found in Him to others, and, well, even more stuff that I'm not wise enough to know about. I just know Mason has to be there! ..... As I grow in Christ myself, I know just having Mason in a Christian School doesn't mean he'll get it. I don't even get it. I pray regularly for Mason to be touched by the Holy Spirit so that he may know he is rooted and established in love and grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ for him. My hope is that Mason will not pretend to be a Christian like I had done for years, but that he will have a real and personal relationship with his Savior, I was encouraged by a few happenings while Mason was sick recently. ...... Mason was recently very ill requiring hospitalization and some rather serious potential diagnoses were being thrown around. In the end, he had a simple yet very serious case of bacterial pneumonia that has been treated and resolved. Some of you prayed for him, thank you. I want to share a story of some real "high" points in our low times. ..... Mason had been lethargic and sick with a fever for two days when he began vomiting uncontrollably. A visit to our pediatrician, who gave medicine for the nausea, seemed to help, but as it turned out, for only a short time. The following day was one of his lowest points during this illness. Mason was hunched over experiencing both diarrhea and vomiting simultaneously in the middle of the night for hours when he mumbled something. I said, "What was that?" He said, "Man was made to suffer as sure as the sparks fly." He said, "It's from Job, the book of Job." My 9-year-old was reflecting on the fact that all men suffer in this fallen world, that he was not alone in his suffering and that even "bad things" happen to "good people." It would have been so easy for Mason to throw himself into a vat of self-pity (like his mother would do) wondering why this was happening to him especially when the common American theology would be, what did he do to deserve this. How encouraging! ..... Another day later after being released from the hospital upon our return home at a very late hour, Mason crawled into bed proclaiming that, "We can't. see it now but God has some good planned to come out of this suffering," Clearly remembering lessons at school, church and home, that, "God has only plans to prosper you not harm you." Praise God that Mason might yet truly be - being rooting in the rock foundation of Jesus and will have an everlasting hope in this life! ..... I feel blessed to have witnessed Mason, at a very young age, apply the Scripture written in his heart and mind to his life circumstances. At these two moments, I was reminded again how blessed we are to have SRPC and SRCS and all who lay down their lives to serve us. I am forever indebted to and will choose also to serve the bride of Christ!

• In concluding our series on Psalms this weekend, I'm preaching on Psalm 81. Next week, we'll begin to learn the story of the church in the book of Acts. How did we get from a crucified messiah with a small band of discouraged followers to a billion followers of Jesus found in virtually every city, village and family on the planet? Can't wait to see you this weekend.

Ray