Dear Fam,

• It's Memorial Day weekend.  Let’s not neglect to remember the selfless sacrifice so many have made for us.  My dad is buried at Camp Nelson National cemetery just outside Lexington, KY.  Last December, I got to take my grandson, Barrett to visit his grave. 
  


• Sundays in June (2, 9, 16, 23) all men are invited to join us for a hot breakfast in the Student Ministry Center. Breakfast begins at 8:00 am and the cost is $5. After breakfast each week, we'll watch a portion of and discuss Walk His Trail. Walk His Trail is a theatrical adaptation of the inspiring and compelling true story of young missionaries Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully, Nate Saint, and Roger Youderian, who were martyred in the jungles of Ecuador in 1956 while trying to reach the Waodani ("Auca") Indians with the Gospel.   Week 1--A Message on Sacrifice...“I watched five widows accept the sudden, unexpected deaths of their husbands—the fathers of their children—with that very same confident trust that God had a plan and that He would someday make sense of their excruciating pain and loss.  My mom kept on praying for the very warriors who had just brutally killed my dad.”


• Camp Seven Rivers is amazing.  This summer we're expanding our camp from 5 to 7 weeks.   Camp begins June 3 and runs through July 19.  Here's a video we produced on Camp Seven Rivers last year! 


• Summer Sundays are coming!  Get your kids outside and meet other young families at Summer Sundays. Join us behind the Student Ministry Building from 5:00 – 7:00 pm on June 9, June 23, July 14, and July 28. We’ll have food, music, volleyball, basketball, and water activities for the kids. Bring blankets, chairs, or whatever else you want to have fun. Cost is $5 per family. Contact Brandon Lauranzon for more information.


• Whoops! We made a big booboo.  We got 520 commitment cards for the MORE campaign (an amazing response) and after receiving them, we wrote each family to confirm that we interpreted what they put on the card properly.  On 519 cards, we were right, but for one card, we were wrong to the tune of $143,100.  You can imagine how relieved the family was when this was corrected!! So, our revised MORE total is $3,462,905.  You guys are off to a great start in actually giving the money--in just March/April 2013, we received 10% of the total pledged!  This strong giving may aid in allowing us to move up our groundbreaking on the preschool from January 2014 to the fall of 2013!

• My daughter and son-in-law are planting a new church in a tough neighborhood in Orlando.  Here's a video that explains their ministry.  (My son-in-law is Eric Stites!)

• Seven Rivers Christian School has incredible momentum.  Though it's just May, we already have more children enrolled for next year (351) than we had in this school year (328).  We have an unprecedented level of interest and project a total enrollment around 390!  SRCS graduation is tonight at 7:00 in the sanctuary.  Chad Turner will give the commencement address.  The whole congregation is invited to come and see the fruits of your commitment to sow Jesus into the hearts and minds of our children.

• This weekend we welcome 28 new members into our church and I'll be preaching the last of the Old Paths messages.  Won’t it be great to celebrate together!

BTW--Last Sunday in worship we honored Ted & Betty Santana on their 70th anniversary. Here's a picture of the two lovebirds!