Last weekend was one of those that was consumed by work. It started Friday morning with a summer camp meeting at the church in Varaždin (an hour’s drive north of Zagreb), with which our congregation in Zagreb frequently partners. A group of us from our two churches are planning a camp for our teens this summer. We have been developing curriculum, the schedule, our budget, staff roster, camp rules, and more. We are excited to share Jesus with our teens through this experience.
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| Putting together teen camp |
Next came our church leaders’ meeting on Saturday morning. We have been seeking God over the last year and defining our mission, vision, goals, and ministry emphases for the next several years. We met Saturday to work out how to roll out the results to the congregation, which we will be doing throughout the spring. Please pray for this process, as a core part of the vision is to challenge and encourage involvement on the part of every church member in at least one ministry of the church.
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| Preaching on Sunday |
The rest of my time on Friday and Saturday was spent finishing the preparation of my sermon for Sunday. I have been sharing the preaching rotation over the last year and a half with three other men in our congregation. Last Sunday was my turn. We have been preaching through the book of Mark and last Sunday we were in Mark chapter 14. I preached on the extravagant love that Mary of Bethany showed to Jesus when she anointed him with the expensive perfume. This was a good prelude to our challenge to the congregation over the next weeks. We are going to have the opportunity to show our love for Jesus in extravagant ways as we serve the church and reach out to our community.
Sunday afternoon finally brought some time to rest. I was able to work some with my little balcony container garden at my apartment, cleaning up and getting ready for the spring. I also went out to my property and had a walk on the surrounding hills.
