Dear Family,


Chain Bridge, Budapest

Good to be back.  Traveled to Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Hungary on a Reformation Tour with 20 of the SRPC Family.  What were the highlights?  The Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the Castle Church in Wittenberg where Luther jumpstarted the Reformation, St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig where the revolt against communism began in 1989, the Erfurt Monastery where Luther was converted, a rebuilt Dresden—especially the stunning Frauenkirche Church, a nighttime boat tour on the Danube in Budapest, and the Schöenbrunn Palace in Vienna.  The best moment of the trip however was meeting Dan and Jen Beilman and their newborn son Christian in charming Grinzing, a suburb of Vienna.  People you love always trump history, architecture, art and even food!

Brandenburg Gate, Berlin

·       Read a great book on the trip.  Bonhoeffer:  Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy…A Righteous Gentile vs. the Third Reich by Eric Metaxas.  Great writer, great reading, great man!

·       I have an exciting announcement to make!  After a year of diligent searching, after wading through scores of resumes and after much fervent prayer that God would send new leadership to love and shepherd students in Citrus County – we have hired a new Student Ministries Director.  Marty and Meredith Cates will be moving here from St. Louis, Missouri where Marty will have earned his Masters of Divinity degree from Covenant Theological Seminary.  Marty is 29 years old, from just south of Richmond, Virginia and like his wife, a graduate of Virginia Tech University.  Meredith is from Philadelphia, is a primary school teacher and they are yet to have children.  Marty is a leader, loves to pursue students and has strong relational skills. 

·       SRPC’s own Disaster Recovery Team was recently featured on the front cover of our denomination’s home mission’s newsletter for their work in tornado-ravaged Alabama, and northern Georgia.  You guys are awesome!

·        Are your kids signed up for Camp Seven Rivers and for middle school and high school camps?  We have an amazing staff for Camp Seven Rivers and a great group of student ministry interns.  Our kids are going to be well led and well loved this summer.  Our interns are: Austin Stephens, Stephen Griffith, Cassidy Wahl, Maria Gigliotti, Carol Ann Dumas, Rachel Dumas, Hannah Johnson, Sarah Pisano and Jenny Barlow.

·       Enthusiasm is high at Seven Rivers Christian School.  Monday night’s Community Celebration banquet dinner has 400 reservations (they would have been thrilled with 250!).  SRCS Graduation is on May 25.  Did you know some members of SRPC attend graduation every year though they have no kids in the school—every child in the school matters to them.  Beautiful!

·        Attendance is up.  You did a beautiful job bringing your friends at Easter—we had 2,400 people here! Monthly attendance in April averaged 1266 up 135 people per week from last year!

·       This weekend we’ll not only continue our series on God’s Crazy Love but we’ll feast on it as well as we partake of the Lord’s Supper.  After each service our Student Ministry will be serving smoked chicken dinners to raise money for their summer mission trip to New Orleans.  I’ll see you there!

Ray