Glad Tidings

JUNE EVENTS
YOUTH—TBA
WOMEN—Pizza
night with Stephany
Bruno—date TBA

JULY EVENTS
VBS
July 30-Aug. 3

Blue skies, flowers blooming, cows swatting flies, crops growing, kids swimming; oh how I love summer! As a young girl growing up in West Tennessee it was truly the “best of times…” We didn’t have air conditioning, but we had something better, an attic fan. “What’s that?” some very deprived souls are saying. A very large fan in the attic that had a heavenly roar to it and at night with all the windows open, you floated off to a peaceful night’s sleep. And then there was the front porch swing. Sitting out on the porch at night was just what you did’ swinging, watching neighbors go by , and often they’d join you on the porch. Playing “kick-the-can” by the street light was the favorite game. Can’t talk about summer without remembering homemade ice cream. Not the kind that comes from a mix that you put in an electric freezer. The carefully cooked kind that is cooled and then put in a hand-cranked freezer and turned until your arm goes numb and you think it’s going to fall off. Usually you had a couple of people for the cranking. But the anticipation of eating boiled custard ice cream would keep you cranking.

Solomon said, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”

Let’s all take time this summer to remember all the blessings God has given. Take time to rest because exhausted Christians are usually negative Christians. Take time to say, “No” to the unnecessary urgent, and “Yes” to the simple important. Don’t mistake “doing“ for “being”. God’s not nearly as concerned about what we are doing, as much as who we are “being”. Let summer 2006 be an intimate time of refreshing with God and with family. Don’t let intimacy with God and family be replaced by the busyness of life.

Cathy Taylor

June 4, 2006— Jennifer Hill leaves for East Asia to work with Team Expansion.
June 18, 2006—Tim and Erin MacSaveny leave for Tanzania. They will be working with Pioneer Bible Translators assisting missionaries and researching possibilities for future mission work. Their return date is August 27, 2006.
June 18, 2006—Bottles for Babies need to be turned in.
November 16 –19, 2006—The National Missionary Convention will be in Indianapolis, Indiana. Plan early to attend as hotel rooms are going fast.

Brothers and Sisters,

First, Tess and I would like to thank everyone for the support, prayers, kindnesses, meals, visits, calls and Christian love. You are part of our family. We are so blessed to have the opportunity to begin raising Ryland within such a great congregation.

Let me assure the youth, I plan to have events for them in June and July but I have not yet had the opportunity to sit down and set some concrete dates. Scheduling events quickly went out the door on May 9th when Ryland was born.

Nonetheless I would like to make an appeal to the congregation, especially those interested in working with the youth. We have prayed, dreamed, and talked, but it is now time to take action. To effectively minister to the youth, this community, and our families I would like to put together a youth ministry team. This would be a team of people (5-7 possibly) who are passionate about serving our youth and their families. As a team we will help lead an effective youth ministry; a youth ministry that will actively pursue prayer, evangelism, mission, fellowship, and biblical studies among our young people. This youth ministry team needs to consist of every type of person, from the dreamer/visionary to the detail/concrete minded. Outside of a youth ministry team we need drivers for youth events and sponsors for various activities.

If you have dreams for the youth or wish to actively participate in the development of our growing youth ministry, please let me know. If you already teach the youth on a weekly basis, please do not hesitate to express your concerns and/or dreams about the youth ministry. After I hear from enough people we will set a time to meet and start hammering out the details. The Lord is doing good things at Gap Creek, and I am excited to see what He continues to do in the future.

Love in Our Lord,
Jason