I was thinking about what I would say about "Love Your City" if I was asked questions, and particularly "Are you not just doing this to get more people in your church?". If that question had been asked of me a year ago I would have said "Yes" because at the time that is really what I thought the focus was. But after having been on the Discernment committee for over a year, my focus has changed. I think now that the reason we do the "random acts of kindness with no strings attached" is so that the people at the receiving end of the acts of kindness will be moved to investigate what drives us to do it. Having them establish or re-open their relationship with God is the focus.

Today was Pentecost and obviously the church service centered on that. There was also a baptism and I think that our minister did a very good job of tying the two together. I enjoyed the drama as well as the reflection. For whatever reason, I really was in the mood to sing and I had a great time singing all of the hymns as well as the choir anthem. Brooke, our music director, as a real interest in Gospel music so we have been singing some gospel music for the last few weeks. The anthem for this week was "Down by the Riverside" and we certainly had a good time singing it - well I had a great time.

Now that the "Love Your City" events are behind me, it is time to start looking at the next meeting of the Discernment Committee which is a week from Monday on June 12th. We are supposed to review Bible passages to find a biblical basis for the Vision, Mission, and Core Values statements. Needless to say (but yet I will say it anyway) I have not yet begun to look at the passages.

God Bless You!