It was great to be home Sunday. Thanks to all for the welcome home and thanks for noticing we were gone! We had a wonderful trip and I’m sure I’ll be months processing all we saw. In 15 days we traveled 13,845 miles, were in 5 countries, met some incredible people and visited some wonderful places. To walk the ancient streets of Ephesus and visualize the clamoring crowd angered at the teaching of Paul; to stand at the Colosseum considering those who died for their faith as the crowd cheered for blood; to walk through the ruins of Capernaum and wonder “if that was the house where the cripple man was lowered through the roof,” was an incredible experience. To stand on the Mount of Beatitude and walk the road from the Mount of Olives toward Jerusalem and then make our way through the streets of the crowded city was unforgettable. A reminder that our faith is grounded in history. Real time. Real places. For our Sunday evening service, September 25, we’ll be sharing pictures and reflecting on what we learned. I hope you will join us.

In the meantime I want to thank Jerry Deason for taking the leadership of our Good News Club at Robertson Elementary. We’re off to a great start. Several folks have already committed to work but we need more. In addition to those who will be on campus and leading the club we need prayer warriors. Jerry is going to be visiting Sunday School classes and seeking commitments to pray. I hope you will join with us. We’ve also gotten off to a great start with the game day football dinners for Webster. Thanks to those who have committed to serve. We had good participation at the Vision West Block Party last Saturday. Thank you for reaching out to our community.

I look forward to seeing you and your family as we gather for study and worship this coming Lord’s Day.

Rod

Several have asked about our trip. We leave Tulsa on the afternoon of August 31 and return home the evening of September 15. Below is our itinerary for the next two weeks:
Aug 31 depart Tulsa and fly to Washington D.C. Catch a flight to Rome.

Arrive in Rome on Sept 1 a day to relax.
Sept 2 - full day tour of Rome

Sept 3 - Depart Civitavecchia (Rome)

Sept 4–5 - At sea – Lectures on the early days of the church.

Sept 6 - Haifa arrive 1 pm – tour Caesrea, drive across Mt. Carmel to the ancient city of Acre, dinner in the courtyard of Knight’s Hall.

Sept 7 – Tour Galilee, Mount of Beatitudes, Capernaum, boat ride on Sea of Galilee. Depart 10 pm

Sept 8 - Arrive Ashdod AM. We will spend the 8th and 9th touring the Jerusalem.

Sept 9 - Depart Ashdod 10 pm

Sept 10 - At sea. Lectures/Bible Study.

Sept 11 – Ephesus. After a reading of the book of Ephesians in St. John’s Basilica we’ll tour the city.

Sept 12 - Mykonos, Greece a day free for sightseeing.

Sept 13 - At sea Lectures/Bible Studies.

Sept 14 – Naples were we’ll tour Capri and Pompeii.

Sept 15 - Arrive Civitavecchia (Rome) start the trip home.

We are so grateful for this unbelievable gift. Thank you is so inadequate! We can’t wait to get back and share with you what we see and hear.

See you on the 18!

Rod

We had a great meeting Sunday afternoon about the Good News Club for Robertson Elementary. We need more volunteers to join our team. You may not be able to make it every Tuesday but you could once a month or a couple of times a semester. We also need members of our prayer team to pray for students, their families’ and for faculty and staff at Robertson. There are several ways for you to be involved. Keep watching for details as they become available.

We’ve also have had good response for the football dinners but we have a few spots to fill. If you are interested in helping you can sign up on Sunday or you can talk to Marie Taylor. This is another great opportunity to serve our community and partner with our local high school.

For years we’ve prayed for opportunities to increase our evangelistic efforts and to impact our community. We’ve faithfully and persistently done what we could to be available to the schools and community and now we’ve reached the point that they are coming to us and asking for help. With the Good News Club we’ve been handed the opportunity to walk into a local elementary school for an after school program and teach a Bible lesson and present the Gospel once a week for 28 weeks during this school year! We must not fail to take this step. We need your involvement. This is your opportunity to love the children of this community and bring the Gospel to them. Will you join us?

I’ll see you Sunday.

Rod

Continue to pray for our nominating committee and our committee on committees as they finish up their work for the new church year. In talking with them Sunday, they are very close to finishing up their work. Speaking of Sunday, I forgot something very important. We had sign-up sheets for helping with the football dinners this fall. They were on the front pews but how were you supposed to know that when I didn’t announce it? I apologize and they will be available next Sunday. Marie Taylor is heading up this ministry. If you would like to help please sign up on the date or dates you can help. We appreciate your faithfulness.

The other big opportunity is the Good News Club at Robertson Elementary. The club will meet on Tuesdays from 2:50-4:30. This is a great opportunity to minister to the children of Robertson, their families and the school staff. We will have an informational meeting on Sunday, August 21, at 4:30 pm in fellowship hall. We’ll see a brief video giving an overview and talk about the program and the ways you can be involved. This is open to youth through senior adult. If you have a desire to minister to children and see them come to faith in Christ, this is an opportunity for you!

I look forward to seeing you and your family in Bible study and worship this coming Lord’s Day.

Rod

We had a great week of camp with the youth! As always I want to thank you for your support of our young people. You have always been very generous with your giving. Your faithful in giving to the budget pays for the cabin, your faithfulness in providing food items enables us to keep cost down for the kids and of course you’ve always been good about providing scholarships for those in need. You are a giving people and I’m so grateful for your generous spirit.

Dan and Tina did their normal outstanding job in putting things together and running a very good camp. I appreciate their leadership, devotion and sacrificial commitment more than I can ever say. Mark Dix and Liana Deason made sure the troops were well fed, and are much appreciated. Thanks as well to Taylor Dix, Nathan Foote and Bob Lowery for serving as sponsors and excellent role models. We are blessed to have such caring and quality people serving Christ by serving our youth. Finally, thanks to our youth. You were a pleasure to be around and I’m proud of you and the way handled yourselves all week. Thanks for letting me hang out for most of the week.

In the weeks to come you will be seeing the fruit from the week. We have several kids who made professions of faith and a few who rededicated their lives. We also have some who are wrestling with issues and are on the verge of making commitments. Pray for Danny and Tina as they work with those who’ve made decisions and those who are working through issues.

I’ll see you Sunday.

Rod

We got everyone off this morning for Kid’s Kamp. Relatively uneventful and they left on time! They should be rolling back in Thursday afternoon. This is also prep-week for youth camp. Cooks and sponsors are rushing around getting the final details taken care of. With camps in full swing that can mean only one thing – school is just around the corner. That means some great opportunities for ministry. Our Mission Team met Sunday afternoon and discussed projects for this fall. We will be doing some things for teacher appreciation as school starts up at Clinton (now Webster Jr. High) and possibly Webster High School. We will also provide a game day meal for the Webster football team again this year. This is a great outreach that gives us additional opportunities for ministry on the campus at Webster. We will be looking for a coordinator for this ministry. If you are interested please see me. We are also planning to have a booth again this year at the Community Block Party on September 17. We will need volunteers to man the table stay tuned for details to come in the next month.

In the meantime our nominating committee and committee on committees continues to fill ministry spots for 2011-2012. We also have an opportunity to take over a Good News Club at Robertson Elementary. This evangelistic Bible study was started last March, just after Spring Break, and have averaged 40 kids with 75 enrolled. There were also 17 professions of faith in just the few weeks the program operated before the end of school. The couple that started the club has asked if we would take over the ministry so that a church in the community would be tied to the program. This is an exciting evangelistic opportunity. All of this to say we have much to pray about and much to do. But we cannot do any of it unless you are willing to be a part. Pray about it. Give it careful consideration. Then let us hear from you!

I’ll see you Sunday.

Rod

I read the other day that things are getting bad. In fact it is so dry the Baptist have started sprinkling; the Methodist and Presbyterians are using wet wipes while the Catholics are giving rain checks. But the most desperate are the Episcopalians who are praying that the wine turns into water! I guess it is true, desperate times call for desperate measures. I’m not desperate but I think it is time to make coats and ties optional on Sundays. I for one will be a little more casual on Sunday mornings for the remainder of the summer.

I want to encourage you to continue to pray for our nominating committee and our committee on committees as they seek to find those who will be serving this next church year. If you would like an opportunity to serve don’t wait to be asked – seek out the committee and let them know where you would like to serve. If you are approached about serving please understand that they others have been praying and seeking the Lord’s guidance so don’t turn them down without careful consideration. I’m not suggesting that you must do whatever you are approached about doing but I am saying that you are here for a reason. Why is it God brought you to Trinity? Why here? Why now? You are called and gifted by God for service to his body and the church, where are you serving? It’s worth thinking about.

I’ll see you Sunday.

Rod

If you were not here on Sunday morning than you missed it. A once in a lifetime kind of moment and you missed it – I was speechless. One of our fine deacons said to me, “The only thing wrong with that presentation this morning was that they should have given it to you before the service. I would have preferred that you were speechless during the service!” I would have slapped him but I draw the line at hitting and old man walking with a cane. (Now we’re even John.)

I still don’t know what to say. I am overwhelmed by such an extravagant gift. I’m shocked and yet I’m not. For 20 years we, as a family, have known your love and support. You have always been generous and gracious to us. You have abundantly supplied our needs financially, spiritually and emotionally. I count it a great joy and privilege to be your pastor. I hope and pray that along the journey I have been of help and encouragement to you. I pray that God has used what gifts I have to feed and encourage your soul. Where I have failed you I ask your forgiveness. Where I’ve disappointed you I beg your patience endurance. Knowing my faults and my inabilities I can’t believe you’ve put up with me this long.

Rheadon and I are so grateful for this gift but even more grateful for the gift that you have been to us. I know it is inadequate but, thank you.

I’ll see you Sunday.

Rod

We got off to a great start last night with our Big Apple Adventure for Vacation Bible School. We’ve got a great group of kids, fantastic workers and a topnotch kitchen crew! This is going to be a good week. Pray that we will see fruit from our labor this week.

Sunday will be a big day as we gather for worship and recognize God’s grace given to our Nation. I know that many have plans for this holiday weekend but I hope that you will join us for worship on Sunday morning July 3. We’ll not have evening service on the 3rd and encourage you to enjoy time with family and friends.

It is important to recognize God’s grace given to us nationally. We are who we are by God’s grace. We’ve enjoyed a place of prominence in world events but that is not because we are entitled. It is not because we are righteous but because of God’s sovereign will and purpose. I’m grateful for the fact that the church and the teachings of Christ have played a dominate role in our history but only the most naïve among us would fail to recognize the landscape has changed. We are well on our way to being a secularized society (if we are not there already). The church’s influence is waning, attendance is in sharp decline and hostility towards our faith is increasing. I love this country. There’s no place I’d rather live but we need a spiritual rebirth. We need a fresh movement of the Spirit of God in our land. That comes not through arrogance or demanding our seat at the table. It comes through humility and repentance. It comes as a result of our crying out to God to be merciful to us. It comes when we understand that God does not need the USA but we are helpless without Him.

I’ll see you Sunday.

Rod

This Sunday is Fathers Day. I was joking the other day with a friend and said, “I didn’t get my dad anything for Fathers Day, he already has everything.” I’m grateful for the knowledge that my dad is in heaven enjoying the presence of the Lord and the glories of eternity and I’m grateful for what he taught me. Billy Sunday is credited with saying, “Give a boy a godly mother and any old stick will do for a dad.” I can appreciate Mr. Sunday’s enthusiasm for mothers but I’m afraid he underestimates dad’s role.

A father sets a standard of manhood for his children. He teaches his sons what it means to be a man and he model’s for his daughter what she should expect from a husband. Dad your role is important and it will have long-term affects on your children and grandchildren. My father was not a perfect man. He was a frail child of dust, broken, flawed yet redeemed. Yes I’ve inherited some of his flaws and added a few of my own. But he taught me unconditional love. He taught me to sacrifice myself for the sake of my family. He taught me the importance of demonstrating, in tangible ways, the value of my children. He taught me the power of “presence,” of love and support. He taught me to stand up for what I believe, even if it is unpopular. He taught me to live by conviction. Most importantly he taught me to love Christ, the Word of God and the church.

I hope and pray that through my own brokenness I’ve been able to pass on those valuable lessons to my own children. Happy Fathers Day. I’ll see you Sunday.

Rod