Week Unwind

Instead of a Sunday Unwind or one day wrap up, I want to recap this whole past week. So much happened and was accomplished that it needs to be recorded.

This week was VBS which made it busy to begin with. On top of that there was a seminar, surgeries, medical tests, work days, a ministry anniversary celebration, and life.

I'll start with the medical stuff. My wife has been having a few health related issues that may all have a singular cause. So last Sunday night and most of the day Monday she underwent testing. We will have the full results at a follow-up visit with her doctor in a few weeks. Thank you for your prayers as we are trusting God for a healing for her.

This past week we had two friends undergo cancer surgery. Both are recovering and moving forward. One had a tremendous report from the surgeon. Next to a "total healing surgery wasn't necessary" kind of report, this was the best possible word coming from the surgeon after surgery. As we walk through this time for this couple, it is awesome to see the peace of God and the provision of God in their lives. I firmly believe there is something significant that is coming out of this whole thing; something God is doing that when revealed will be a serious "WOW!" moment.

This was also a Teen Challenge work day week, which always means at least two days for me. You know, like those 2 day "One Day ONLY" sales that certain department stores are famous for?! Anyway, Friday and Saturday I was at the local Teen Challenge center working on the entrance ramp and steps for their soon to be office building. This is a summer long project that I am heading up for the men's ministry in this region of Ohio. We have had a couple of other churches participate so far and expecting others in the next couple of months as we finish the project. Saturday went well as we had a smaller crew, but turned out to be the right size for the day. With the rain, we could not have painted and the building work was more detail and only required so many. We got quite a bit accomplished in spite of some challenges we faced (you can read that mistakes as well as normal construction glitches). We overcame them and got everything fixed and the front entrance ramp is finished.

Tuesday, Pastor Staci and I attended the "Killing Cockroaches" seminar with author Tony Morgan. I posted my notes already and will dedicate a separate post to some of my thoughts that came out of that day. I'll just say it was good.

VBS was exceptional. What an incredible job by our volunteers and workers! They went above and beyond expectations and just nailed it all week. The stage and the themed rooms around the building were impressive. If you are on Facebook, you can see it all in photos on the Capital City Fan Page here. The children had a blast! The adult and teen workers did as well. 55% of the children that attended were guests! That is a big WHY we do these things. Reaching those far from Christ is our purpose. We put so much energy and resources and time into what we do so that lives can be touched and changed and for people of all ages to be introduced to the God who loves them. I am very proud of Pastor Staci and her team! Everyone deserves recognition, but I want to highlight two: Matt Muir and Scott Crawford were awesome this past week! So many are worthy of mention, so I will just say, "THANK YOU!" to all those who prepped food, taught, cleaned, ran tech, assisted, and did anything with VBS. The finale Friday night was great. Thank you to 104.9 the River and Dr. Magic Smile for being a part of the night.

This weekend marked the 5 year anniversary for Pastor Staci here at Capital City. What an awesome outpouring of love from the people! Staci does an amazing job with our children! Her love for and passion for God drives her love and passion for kids. Great things are in store for our children's ministry.

Our worship gathering on Sunday was incredible! God is so faithful! I love that I get to be a part of what he is doing at Capital City. Worship was full and very real as the congregation connected right away. The kids did a VBS wrap up with some songs. Then we recognized Pastor Staci's five years which included a nice video from Pastor Jim & Renee Palmer. We also had a missionary; one of our own, Madeline Wengert. She is heading to the University of Indianapolis with Chi Alpha campus missions. Then we continued the series, "What I Wish Someone Had Told Me..." I talked about honor today. As Americans in our busy lives we dont' honor others enough. It is too easy to get caught up in the routines and tasks we face everyday and we forget about the people around us. We need to do better at giving honor to others and keeping "love and faithfulnes... wrtitten on our hearts." (Proverbs 3:3-4). The podcast should be up on Monday late or Tuesday early.

Have a great week!