Worship at 2 Pillars

I've been able to travel to various churches during the month of October. This is one of the great benefits of a sabbatical, a pastor like me gets to be able to see the broader work of God in the city and get outside his own "institutional setting." Yesterday I was able to attend 2 Pillars, an Acts 29 church planted by Pastor Todd Bumgarner in the last couple of years. I especially enjoyed the attention given to teaching the Scriptures as Pastor Bumgarner preached on the importance of men leading as Biblical men in marriage. From the limited experience of one Sunday, I would describe the worship music of 2 Pillars as a combination of southern gospel, re-tuned hymns and some original music: very much enjoyed it. Finally, I was taken back to the early years of Grace Chapel when we were planted back in 2000, remembering the smaller setting, sense of sweetness, vibrancy and also when we had only one service. The service went from start to finish for about two hours: I loved it! At Grace Chapel, we are unable to run such long services currently since our space limitations requires us to run three services on a Sunday morning; however, I recall those earlier days with much fondness when gathering in worship was not restrained or determined by the clock, when we were able to say to folks, "It's the Lord's Day! So come and worship, don't be in a hurry to bolt afterwards, connect, learn,... then invite folks over for lunch and spend the day together in fellowship!" We still run a fairly "open-ended" 3rd service, but those days of not needing to be worried too much about the clock on a Sunday morning are no longer,... and are remembered with great fondness.

Chad Pirotte's Return to the Pulpit

I blogged earlier about my 35-yr.-old cousin Gloria Pirotte having passed away on Aug. 21st. Gloria left behind a 6-month-old baby named Karinna and a 3-yr.-old named Kelissa. Gloria's passing was one of the contributors to my sorrow and grief that culminated in the sabbatical I am currently on. Gloria's husband Chad recently returned to the pulpit for the first time since July. Chad is a Presbyterian pastor in the Chicago area. Here was Chad's first sermon back:

"Persevering Through the Status Quo" from NCPC on Vimeo.

The Unsettling of America

Written in 1977 as a prophetic word into the dangers of industrialism, Wendell Berry writes about the connections between good farming practices, cultural formation and the character development of a people group. Whenever I run into someone who has been reading Berry for thirty or more years, without fail, The Unsettling of America receives mention. It really has been a seminal work that captured an entire generation of folks who embrace Berry's vision of goodness, community, work, economics and creation. I quote here from a section where Berry is direct in identifying the unbridled enthusiasm with which the institutional church in America has tended to be in bed with industrialism and its dangerous assumptions regarding unlimited growth, consumption and technology. We can hear the voice of the evangelist saying, "I don't care what it is, as long as it works" or the preacher speaking about the evils of this world without giving a second thought to the ways in which he is dependent upon the world's production and fruitfulness. In a word, the message of Contemporary American Christianity has often been "have nothing to do with 'the world,'" all the while has embraced the destructive zeitgeist/spirit/patterns of the world. Berry writes here about how Contemporary American Christianity, to the detriment of the Bible's vision of life, often has tended to separate the physical elements of Creation from the spiritual aspects of our existence:

“For many of the churchly, the life of the spirit is reduced to a dull preoccupation with getting to Heaven. At best, the world is no more than an embarrassment and a trial to the spirit, which is otherwise radically separated from it. The true lover of God must not be burdened with any care or respect for His works. While the body goes about its business of destroying the earth, the soul is supposed to lie back and wait for Sunday, keeping itself free of earthly contaminants. While the body exploits other bodies, the soul stands aloof, free from sin, crying to the gawking bystanders: ‘I am not enjoying it!’ As far as this sort of ‘religion’ is concerned, the body is no more than the lusterless container of the soul, a mere ‘package,’ that will nevertheless light up in eternity, forever cool and shiny as a neon cross. This separation of soul from the body and from the world is no disease of the fringe, no aberration, but a fracture that runs through the mentality of institutional religion like a geologic fault. And this rift in the mentality of religion continues to characterize the modern mind, no matter how secular or worldly it becomes.

But I have not stated my point exactly enough. This rift is not like a geologic fault; it is a geologic fault. It is a flaw in the mind that runs inevitably into the earth. Thought affects or afflicts substance neither by intention nor by accident, but because, occurring in the Creation that is unified and whole, it must; there is no help for it.

The soul, in its loneliness, hopes only for ‘salvation.’ And yet what is the burden of the Bible if not a sense of the mutuality of influence, rising out of an essential unity, among soul and body and community and world? These are all the works of God, and it is therefore the confluence of soul and body, word and flesh, where thoughts must become deeds, where goodness is to be enacted. This is the great meeting place, the narrow passage where spirit and flesh, word and world, pass into each other. The Bible’s aim, as I read it, is not the freeing of the spirit from the world. It is the handbook of their interaction. It says that they cannot be divided; that their mutuality, their unity, is inescapable; that they are not reconciled in division, but in harmony. What else can be meant by the resurrection of the body? The body should be ‘filled with light,’ perfected in understanding. And so everywhere there is the sense of consequence, fear and desire, grief and joy. What is desirable is repeatedly defined in the tensions of the sense of consequence. False prophets are known ‘by their fruits.’ We are to treat others as we would be treated; thought is thus barred from any easy escape into aspiration or ideal, is turned around and forced into action”  (pp. 108-09).

Mosaic

One of the things I love doing is visiting other church families. I travelled to a number of area churches back in 2008 when I had a summer sabbatical from my Sunday responsibilities. Since I have a sabbatical this month in October, I am traveling to different churches each Sunday as well. A pastor friend of mine was once visiting another congregation on a Sunday and someone recognized him as being the pastor of another church. My friend was asked, "so Pastor, are you checking out the competition?" My friend responded beautifully, "no, just another part of the family." Unity / Catholicity in the church is something I care about a great deal and have blogged quite a bit about:

http://hsumike.blogspot.com/2011/09/finale-unitive-vision-of-christendom.html
http://hsumike.blogspot.com/2012/03/unfinished-agenda-by-lesslie-newbigin.html
http://hsumike.blogspot.com/2011/09/true-church-behind-curtain.html

Well, so I enjoyed my time yesterday at Mosaic. First of all, I was struck by this body's search for and offer of authentic Gospel living. Secondly, I was glad for the reach of Mosaic's ministry drawing in folks that probably would not fit in most traditional church settings. Good for Mosaic, for I think folks on the margins would have been those Jesus would have spent most his time with. Finally, as I looked at their website, I was struck by the natural beauty of this picture of Lincoln located on their opening page. It reminded me that we really do have a beautiful city worth giving our lives for.

"But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare."  -Jer. 29:7

PBS on The Land Institute

PBS documents some of the work of The Land Institute in Salina, KS. You can find the documentation from 6:40 min. to the 12 min. mark of the clip.

Some Reflections on the Weekend

Tanya and I just returned from Salina, KS from an event called “The Prairie Festival” put on by The Land Institute of Salina, KS. The Land Institute really is a remarkable organization, not necessarily overtly Christian, but one that cares about the world and its people. One speaker P Sainath, Indian journalist and writer, spoke of the 270,000 Indian farmers who have committed suicide in the last couple of decades because of the pressure of multinational corporations, lenders and creditors putting a squeeze on their ability to farm their 1, 2 or 3 acre farms (all farms in India are really “family farms”) for subsistence rather than for corporate interests, treating and viewing such farms and farmers primarily for export/cash crops. 

Sainath spoke of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization that places a Food Price Index that measures the relationship between hunger and world violence, that when the hunger index reaches a certain level, violence begins to spike exponentially in the hungriest nations. Here I thought a lot about the fears that folks here have of a place like Haiti, wondering why the people can’t get their act together and violence so often erupts during political and other seasons. I tell folks, “it’s because the Haitians are hungry and when a bag of rice doubles overnight because of a hurricane, earthquake or otherwise, you tell me what you would do were you in their shoes!” that the people become testy, but it’s not because they are on whole a violent people. Sanaith made the case that the Arab Spring was a result of the Food Prices Index spiking before the twitter and social media forces took off, that hunger was the behind the violence, really.

Well, I finish by quoting from an earlier publication that described one participant’s reflections back in 2010, after the Prairie Festival (it’s an annual event). These words reminded me a lot of Dr. Kelly Kapic’s words Saturday morning Sept. 15th to a few of us that “feast” and “fast” must be held together in our lives, in proper tension. Let me quote the excerpt from the PF participant:

When preparing for a Prairie Festival, college instructor Howard Stoner doesn’t tell colleagues that he’s going to a festival, but to a conference. And the meeting really is mostly talk. But Stoner said the festival name fits. "It’s that sense of celebrating when you’re in the middle of what I call doom," he said. "Face the music, but don’t forget to celebrate."  Land Report of The Land Institute, Fall 2010

My earlier estimates of number of participants this last weekend at the festival was way off. Initially, I guessed 200 people and then 500. Actually there were 1200 participants in this weekend conference. Pretty amazing seeing that the accommodations were in an open-air barn and the sleeping accommodations were in tents!

The Work of The Land Institute

"Thousands of new perennial grain plants live year-round at The Land Institute, prototypes we developed in pursuit of a new agriculture that mimics natural ecosystems. Grown in polycultures, perennial crops require less fertilizer, herbicide and pesticide. Their root systems are massive. They manage water better, exchange nutrients more efficiently and hold soil against the erosion of water and wind. This strengthens the plants' resilience to weather extremes, and restores the soil's capacity to hold carbon. Our aim is to make conservation a consequence, not a casualty, of agricultural production."

Website: The Land Institute

The Mission Statement of The Land Institute

"When people, land and community are as one, all three members prosper; when they relate not as members but as competing interests, all three are exploited. By consulting nature as the source and measure of that membership, The Land Institute seeks to develop an agriculture that will save soil from being lost or poisoned, while promoting a community life at once prosperous and enduring."

Here's the link: The Land Institute Mission Statement

To See Most Clearly

"To imagine is to see most clearly, to see not passively but with a force of vision.... To have a right understanding of our place in the world, we must imagine it properly."

-paraphrase of Wes Jackson quoting from Wendell Berry's 2012 Jefferson Lecture

Berry Book Signing

I am rarely star-struck. However I can remember two meetings in the last fifteen years when I reverted to a little kid again, meeting Tim Keller in 2010 and meeting Wendell Berry today.

Wendell Berry at the Land Institute

My earlier estimate was probably off by around 300 or so. There are probably 500 folks here. Wendell Berry is currently in the center of this picture, just to the right of the pole in the center (he's in a blue shirt, though hard to see). It's hard to get a good seat here, but we can clearly hear Berry on the loudspeaker. When asked, "How fair is the land?" Berry replies, "Not very fair."

Seminar About Perennial Wheat

I'm going to guess there are a couple hundred folks here in Salina at the Land Institute. We're currently listening to Land Institute scientists talking about polycultures and developing seeds that are "perennials" (do not need to be replanted to reproduce) rather than "annuals" (need to be replanted to be reproduced).

Sabbatical Start at a Prairie Festival!

After a very difficult summer, the elders of Grace Chapel granted me a sabbatical through the month of October. I'm very grateful for their care as well as the support of the Grace Chapel congregation. My sabbatical is focused really on three areas: 1) to spend quality time with my wife Tanya and kids; 2) to take retreat days to sit at the feet of Jesus and 3) to work on my doctoral work.

I launch the sabbatical today by traveling to Salina, KS with my wife Tanya for a two days, two nights Prairie Festival with The Land Institute.  Tanya and I don't know entirely what to expect, but one of my favorite authors, Wendell Berry, will be among the keynote speakers. I may do my doctoral work on some of Berry's writings. Tanya and I will get to sleep in a tent, enjoy some local music, local food, dance and hear about sustainability issues, i.e. "creation care" issues that I've written some about:

http://hsumike.blogspot.com/2011/04/things-eternal.html
http://hsumike.blogspot.com/2011/05/creation-care-and-justice-wright-p-270.html
http://hsumike.blogspot.com/2011/05/creation-care-and-obedience-wright-p.html
http://hsumike.blogspot.com/2011/04/imaging-god-by-douglas-john-hall.html

Prayers are appreciated!  Some have referred to this as a "hippie festival." I don't know if that is exactly good or bad, but I'm going into all of it with an open mind!

More Berry, from 2012 Jefferson Lecture

I don’t like to deal in categorical approvals, and certainly not of the arts. Even so, I do not concede that the “fine arts,” in general, are useless or unnecessary or even impractical. I can testify that some works of art, by the usual classification fine, have instructed, sustained, and comforted me for many years in my opposition to industrial pillage.

But I would insist that the economic arts are just as honorably and authentically refinable as the fine arts. And so I am nominating economy for an equal standing among the arts and humanities. I mean, not economics, but economy, the making of the human household upon the earth: the arts of adapting kindly the many human households to the earth’s many ecosystems and human neighborhoods. This is the economy that the most public and influential economists never talk about, the economy that is the primary vocation and responsibility of every one of us.

"It All Turns on Affection"

This excerpt is taken from Wendell Berry's 2012 Jefferson lecture:

The term “imagination” in what I take to be its truest sense refers to a mental faculty that some people have used and thought about with the utmost seriousness. The sense of the verb “to imagine” contains the full richness of the verb “to see.” To imagine is to see most clearly, familiarly, and understandingly with the eyes, but also to see inwardly, with “the mind’s eye.” It is to see, not passively, but with a force of vision and even with visionary force. To take it seriously we must give up at once any notion that imagination is disconnected from reality or truth or knowledge. It has nothing to do either with clever imitation of appearances or with “dreaming up.” It does not depend upon one’s attitude or point of view, but grasps securely the qualities of things seen or envisioned.

I will say, from my own belief and experience, that imagination thrives on contact, on tangible connection. For humans to have a responsible relationship to the world, they must imagine their places in it. To have a place, to live and belong in a place, to live from a place without destroying it, we must imagine it. By imagination we see it illuminated by its own unique character and by our love for it. By imagination we recognize with sympathy the fellow members, human and nonhuman, with whom we share our place. By that local experience we see the need to grant a sort of preemptive sympathy to all the fellow members, the neighbors, with whom we share the world. As imagination enables sympathy, sympathy enables affection. And it is in affection that we find the possibility of a neighborly, kind, and conserving economy.

Obviously there is some risk in making affection the pivot of an argument about economy. The charge will be made that affection is an emotion, merely “subjective,” and therefore that all affections are more or less equal: people may have affection for their children and their automobiles, their neighbors and their weapons. But the risk, I think, is only that affection is personal. If it is not personal, it is nothing; we don’t, at least, have to worry about governmental or corporate affection. And one of the endeavors of human cultures, from the beginning, has been to qualify and direct the influence of emotion. The word “affection” and the terms of value that cluster around it—love, care, sympathy, mercy, forbearance, respect, reverence—have histories and meanings that raise the issue of worth. We should, as our culture has warned us over and over again, give our affection to things that are true, just, and beautiful. When we give affection to things that are destructive, we are wrong. A large machine in a large, toxic, eroded cornfield is not, properly speaking, an object or a sign of affection.

The Work of a Chef and a Furniture Maker

These were two videos about John Perkins the chef and Harrison Higgins the furniture maker. We tried to run the videos during today's worship services as we talked about the "Stewardship of Our Vocations" today; however, we were met with mild success in the first service, great success in the second and no success in the third service! Such is life on the journey, I suppose. Also, for those interested, here was today's sermon: Work and Our Earthly Hope. It comes in the middle of our annual fall stewardship series.

Of Salt and Light from The Other Journal on Vimeo.

John Piper on Reading Books and Dying Well

I've dealt with a lot of death this summer, and I love books. So I thought I'd post this short clip from John Piper that ties the two together:

(re)integrate

With the challenges of ministry this summer, I haven’t been working much on my D.Min. program much as of late (I’ve participated in a funeral every month since May). I hope to return to my D.Min. work this fall; however, while things have been slow for me regarding my program, I’m thrilled that my D.Min. co-hort member Bob Robinson just launched his new ministry (re)integrate on Labor Day. I believe (re)integrate will be a tremendous resource for those thinking intentionally about the connection between faith and vocation, whether at the college level or professional level: http://www.re-integrate.org.

Kapic is Coming!

My friend Dr. Kelly Kapic is coming to Lincoln to talk about his book God So Loved He Gave, speaking at a city-wide event at Berean Church (enter north lobby doors and head to room D-103/104) at 5:30pm on Saturday Sept. 15th and then at Grace Chapel on Sunday morning Sept. 16th for our morning services. Join us and get the word out; dinner is on us Saturday evening!

Gloria's Burial

Tanya and I, my parents and sister just returned from Chicago, from Gloria's funeral. It was wonderful to be with the entire family, and to have the Gospel so central to the entire weekend, but our hearts are very heavy as well. Here was Gloria's burial site:

"Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed." 

-Corinthians 15:51,52 

Gloria

Some have asked about Gloria's story and how she went from giving birth to a child to being so sick, so here is a very abrieviated explanation:

Gloria and Chad delivered a baby named Karinna, as a result of preterm labor back in mid-Feb. Baby Karinna ended up spending around 100 days in NICU, progressed and got stronger. Karinna was able to go home at the end of May. However, Gloria had developed a terrible condition called interstitial lung disease, I believe the culprit behind Karinna’s preterm labor, a condition which causes severe scarring of the lungs and eventually shuts down the body entirely. I talked to Gloria on the phone last back in April and she seemed OK at the time but evidently the condition degenerated very quickly.

Tanya and I were surprised to learn just at the end of July that Gloria was in a fairly desperate situation and on life support. The doctors tried many things to save her life, for example they tried a trach procedure a week ago to try and get oxygen to Gloria, but her condition didn't allow for the procedure to be accomplished.

Gloria was a music minister at the same church her husband Chad serves as a pastor on. You can see descriptions of both of them at: http://ncpcbetasite.publishpath.com/staffbios

Thank you for your prayers and interest.

Gloria In Excelsis Deo

My cousin Gloria passed away last night. Thank you for your prayers. This is how her CaringBridge site reads:

Gloria Hsu Pirotte
8/23/1976 - 8/21/2012
Gloria In Excelsis Deo

God's Grieving

My cousin Gloria will likely pass away today. I thought of these words of Wendell Berry's:

“Those who wish to see Him must see Him in the poor, the hungry, and hurt, the wordless creatures, the groaning and travailing beautiful world.... We are too tightly tangled together to be able to separate ourselves from one another either by good or by evil. We all are involved in all and any good, and in all and any evil. For any sin, we all suffer. That is why our suffering is endless. It is why God grieves and Christ’s wounds still are bleeding” (Jayber Crow, p. 295).

Prayers Needed

I just received word early this morning that my cousin Gloria Pirotte is preparing to be with the Lord this week. She may pass before Thursday but that is the day her husband Chad and her family have set to take her off of life support. Gloria will leave behind her husband, 3-yr.-old daughter Kelissa and newborn daughter Karinna. Please pray for the Pirottes.

Joy Too!

I don't have a compelling need to make things happy, when they are not (see previous post); however, I do have great news! Our 14-yr.-old foster son went to Young Life Camp a couple of weeks ago in Colorado and God got a hold of him in amazing ways. I don't fully have words for it, but Darius can barely talk about camp without tearing up. I'm grateful; we've known Darius since he was a 1-yr.-old, and I've not seen him this soft to the Lord and others since he was little. Aslan is on the move!

Update as Fall Approaches

I haven't blogged for almost 1.5 months. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the nature of my doctoral work has shifted so that my reading is a little more focused, a little less broad. However, the explanation for my 1.5 month delay is really that I haven't put much into my degree work at all as of late, having had a brutal summer of emotional toil. Here is what I wrote today to my doctoral mentor and good friend Steven Garber. I think the explanation sums up things fairly well:

"I spent 10 days up in Portland, Seattle, Vancouver which was a nice reprieve from things. Otherwise, a hard summer: buried a 28-yr.-old, a 86-yr.-old, and my 30something cousin, mother of a newborn as well as 3-yr.-old is on life support currently because of a terrible condition called interstitial lung disease. It’s pretty desperate. Good friends of ours who have raised two Nigerian girls for most of their lives (the girls are 9 & 7) lost a court case in late June for custody of the girls- the father came into the picture recently, sought custody and was awarded it; the 9-yr.-old girl is my daughter’s closest friend and the 7-yr.-old is pretty good friends with my middle son, so my kids have been broken by much of this as well. My daughter hasn’t seen her friend for three weeks now (they were used to seeing one another multiple times every week and every Sunday; just got a message today where the 9-yr.-old was reminding her “mama” to make sure and take care of her friend, my daughter, since they can’t be together right now). I haven’t blogged since early July and am just trying to stir up a little juice for our fall project. Overall, very tired and overcome by sorrow."

So prayers are appreciated. I love writing, blogging and reading, so pray for the joy (and ability) to return, for my cousin Gloria on life support and her husband Chad and family. Pray for all those grieving all around us and for Thy Kingdom to Come.

Blessings,

Mike

NPR Interview with Nuenkes

Here's a remarkable picture taken from an NPR piece interviewing Doug and Pam Nuenke, U.S. Directors of the Navigators, who lost their home in the Waldo Canyon fires. As mentioned previously, Doug and Pam's son Will Nuenke attends Grace Chapel:

http://www.npr.org/2012/06/30/156034889/colorado-firefighters-gain-ground-on-blaze

Colorado Wildfires (Updated)

Will Nuenke is a young man who goes to Grace Chapel. His parents, Doug and Pam, are friends from my home church in Lawrence, KS, Grace Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Currently, Doug is the president of the Navigators ministry in Colorado Springs and recently the Nuenkes had to evacuate their home; the Navigator retreat and camp locations Glenn Eyrie and Eagle Lake Camp are being threatened (if not already overcome) by the wildfires. Above is an interview with Doug on Fox News. Please be in prayer for the Nuenke family as well as the people impacted dramatically by the fires. Another friend who lives in Colorado Springs emails:

The effects of these fires will be felt for years, if not decades. It saddens me that my kids will never know the mountains around here like I knew them. I've been utterly amazed by the heroism of the firefighters. Many local firefighters here lost their homes while they were saving others'. Their incident command is near our office and we pass through their check point every day and see their tent camps and I can't imagine how they do it. The outpouring of support by the community here has been so heart warming and has made me proud.

Updated Portion: Will Nuenke texted me about an hour ago (it's almost 11am now), "Prayer, prayer prayer. We found out our home is gone because of the fire."

New Season in Blogging Practice?

Hi Friends,

Since returning from St. Louis in late May, I haven't been blogging a lot. This has been due to a couple of reasons: first of all, now that I'm about half way done with my coursework, I am needing to focus in more on a mini-project that is before me; this project is what we might call a mini-dissertation where I get some "practice" at writing the eventual dissertation. I'm spending most of my "degree time" thinking and working on a "question" I want to research for this mini-dissertation, which will be due sometime this fall. So the broadness of my reading has been put on hold for a little while, and so my blogging about various works has as well. As for what I have been reading lately, I've been reading quite a bit of Wendell Berry, since Jake Meador and I are co-leading a summer class through his collection of short stories That Distant Land. Also, I read recently a book on marriage I Married You by Walter Trobisch, also am working through John Frame's book The Escondido Theology: A Reformed Response to Two Kingdom Theology. Secondly, I haven't been blogging lately because my pastoral concerns have been particularly heavy as of late: yesterday I officiated a funeral for a 28-yr.-old woman whose wedding I performed less than three years ago. A few weeks back, I traveled to Lawrence, KS to participate in the funeral of a 32-yr.-old woman who was in my high school youth group back when Tanya and I did youth ministry back in the mid-90s. I'm particularly heavy-hearted after a string of heart-breaking shepherding situations at various levels among Grace Chapel folks, at the Presbytery level (our denominational churches in Nebraska) as well as outside of Grace Chapel. So, in a word, I haven't had much "juice" to blog much as of late. I've got great elders, a great associate pastor in Ben Loos, great wife, amazing kids, a great church family and through this degree program, I've found a couple of mentors, one in his 60s (Steve Garber) and another retired PCA pastor who is 74-yrs.-old (Paul Woodard), so God has been more than gracious to sustain me in this very difficult season. Prayers are much appreciated: anything you can muster, anything at all :-).

Blessings and thanks,

Mike

Walthill

I'm running a game of "elbow tag" here

I just returned from Walthll, NE last night. I spent a partial week serving the Omaha natives who live in Walthill. This was/is a remarkable week for many reasons (the work is in progress through Friday evening)- 34 people from Grand Island, Omaha, Lincoln, Atlanta and Dallas have come together to serve on the rez, located barely 2 hours north of Lincoln, NE. Yesterday, we ran a Vacation Bible School (VBS) for 57 kids. Grace Chapel has been in Walthill for five summers now (since 2008), and the growth of our VBS has been nothing short of explosive; even last year, we ran one VBS afternoon for 8 kids. While numbers aren't the point, nonetheless, it is exciting to see so many kids hearing the Bible stories and the Gospel of Christ. One boy who has stuck in my heart and mind these last five years is a kid named Sonny. Sonny is an 11-yr.-old and has always been among the first to try and memorize the Scripture verses at VBS- I pray that God would honor Sonny's eagerness to learn and raise up this young man to be a man of God. Pray with me for this work!

Present on the trip this year from Grace Chapel have been: Melissa Taylor, Sara Gronewold, Jane Gronewold, Ben Loos, Karma Larsen, Steve Allen, Jake Moore, Ben and Crystal Davy, Ben Unruh and Mike Hsu