Sunday, June 15, 2008 - Father's Day

Thank you for all your prayers on behalf of our family as Joshua and Emily were married last Saturday. All went very well, it was a beautiful day and ceremony. Thank you to many who ventured up to Orchard Park, NY early in the morning (or some stayed Friday night) to be present. Remember that we are hosting a reception at our church this Sunday afternoon from 3:00 to 5:00 PM for all who could not make it to the wedding and still would like to take part in seeing them and the family - please come if you can. Here are a few pictures from their special day (I have tried for an hour to figure out how to post an "album / slideshow" in this blog, but finally gave up until I can get some help.)

We are grateful that my parents were able to be with us for a month, what a blessing as we shared in their first meeting with their great - grandson, Nicholas. It gave us an opportunity to get a "Four Generation" picture: They got back to Florida safely, but after getting resettled at home my father suffered a severe injury playing "pickleball" (a combination of tennis/raquetball) with one of their granddaughters. He stumbled and fell into the net, bruising his chin and nose, and broke two fingers on his left hand which required emergency surgery to repair the damage. He is quite swollen and sore all over, and his hand will take at least 5 - 6 weeks to heal before he can get back to golfing. He was scheduled for carpel tunnel hand surgery on his other hand next week, but I believe all that is on hold for now. Please keep him in your prayers.

On the way back to Indiana, Sam, Sarah, and Nicholas had a very close encounter with a tornado in western Ohio. They took some extreme measures (ie: entering an unoccupied home for refuge - long, strange story) until the worst part of it blew over, then continued on their way. Nicholas was basically unaware of it all as he continued coloring in his carseat. We are thankful for God's protection of them through this.

Jon arrived safely in Oregon after getting "bumped" in San Francisco on the last leg of his flight - resulting in a free ticket for the future. Hannah rearranged her arrangements, and stayed another week, going home next Tuesday. Thanks for your prayers for them.

Joshua and Emily will be here Saturday, fresh from their honeymoon. We have not heard a thing from them all week - I can't imagine there is not an email connection in Cancun, Mexico! They left no contact information with me as to where they were staying - he knows better than to do that! Hmmm....

As for this Sunday, Father's Day, we anticipate many blessings as fathers are honored in special ways and our Heavenly Father is offered worship that is pleasing and acceptable to Him. In our 10:45 AM service we will consider "A Father's Worship" and see how it is illustrated in the life of Abraham from a familiar story in Genesis 22:1 - 19. It can be summed up in this quote by Dr. Allan Ross from his commentary on Genesis (p. 402): The one who fears God, that is, the faithful worshipper, will obediently surrender to God whatever He asks, trusting in God's promises of provision and blessing.

We will see how this applies to fathers, as well as all, as we continue to be worshippers that God accepts.

Our Sunday school and Adult Bible Fellowships continue at 9:30 AM with opportunities for learning and fellowship for all. Three ABF's are available from which to choose, all studying Bible books.

Please remember that there will be NO evening service or activities at 6:00 PM. And this Sunday begins our "Summer Hiatus" of our regular Sunday evening services until September14. There will be several Small Group meetings through the summer, though, both in homes and at church - see the Sunday bulletin for details. We want to see if the Small Group format will enhance our learning, fellowship, and assimilation of our church family - please give one a try.

A few of our families are on vacation and there will be more to come. Please pray for safety and blessing as this season is upon us.

Thank you for continued prayer for Beth's vocal chord situation. She finally saw her surgeon this past Thursday, and we are moving closer to her surgery to remove this lesion that seems to be the problem. Dr. Michael Benninger, chairman of the Head and Neck Institute of the Cleveland Clinic, is world-renown for his techniques and instruments that he has developed for such delicate surgery. He assured us that this is a fairly simple procedure for him (not for everyone!) It is still amazing to me as I watched him "stick" the same fingers in Beth's mouth that were used to help and fix similar problems for Luciano Pavarotti, Celine Dion, Madonna, Wayne Newton, and a host of others. We will let you know when her surgery will take place, hopefully in the next few weeks.

Though our summer schedule slows a bit, remember the graduation open house for Kurtis Biltz (June 28) and the wedding of Nikki Carroll / Bobby Childs on July 19. Then on to VBS July 20 - 24, and we host some of the Baptist Mid Missions Candidates on Sunday AM, July 29 - always a blessing! Our annual "Dinner on the Grounds" day will be on September 7, but more on that another time.

It was our blessing and privilege to see Christine put her faith in Christ last Sunday. She followed two more Lysiak girls who accepted Jesus the week before. Both their families are now "complete in Christ" and we look forward to their baptisms very soon. As we pray and honor God, He has been pleased to bless our church in the most important way - bringing more to faith in Him through our ministry. Praise God, pray and prepare to worship together this Sunday, and anticipate many others to come to Him as we do our part. I can hardly wait to see what God will do next here at Faith!

Pastor Don Workman
http://www.faithbaptiststreetsboro.org/

Katie Klumpp's photography is beautiful! We recommend her to anyone.