Thursday, June 28, 2007

Great Commission Coffee Company

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Alliance - 100% Colombian Blend

Tozer - French Roast Blend

Simpson - Sunday Morning Blend

Thursday, June 21, 2007

The Look of the Improved Sanctuary

On June 11, the Sanctuary Improvement Team met and studied drawings, made by Bob Shaw, based on their own discussions and the feedback they have received from church attenders. Bob, an architect, chairs the meetings, and the other members are Tom Hight, Jeremy McAninch, Kirk Sherrell (an engineer), Katrina Mendenhall (an interior designer), Jean Imholte, and Leon Rennells (a recently retired City of Longview building inspector).

As you enter the East Hills building as shown on the drawings, you come in through glass doors. Changing the layout of the stairwells is not practical, but much can be done in the foyer to make it feel more open. The partial walls left over from previous remodeling are pared to only the structurally essential pieces. The large window in the rear wall of the sanctuary is replaced with two smaller ones, one on either side, and all the doors into the sanctuary are also glass. The coffee area is upgraded with a permanent counter, sink, and its own hot water heater.

The sanctuary is fully carpeted, and chairs replace the pews. Darker wainscoting comes up as far as the horizontal divider in the windows, then gives way to lighter paint. The ceiling fans are gone, and the lights replaced, probably with new pendant lights in a similar arrangement.

In the drawings, the platform is the same height, but extends about three feet farther out. The platform reaches all the way to the wall on the congregation's right, and to the edge of the outer doorway on the left. Instead of a lip, almost the entire raised area is surrounded by two steps, 18 inches wide in front and a foot on the sides. The steps in the very back of the stage are gone, and the projector is mounted from the ceiling. The overall effect is that the usable platform area gained is much larger than the seating area lost.

The railing on the loft is raised to bring it up to code, and the partial wall above it removed to improve air circulation. The handrails along the stairs leading to Kidville are replaced as well. The foyer carpet treatment continues up and down both sets of stairs and into the loft.

Although the full SIT has yet to weigh in, and many details of wiring, ventilation, and insulation are still uncertain, a majority of the team has seen the designs and is positive toward the look and general intent of them. After the full team has had its say, the next step is to get bids on the biggest expenses-- carpet, 255 chairs, and construction of the new platform-- and determine how much of the work we can do ourselves.

"We're very happy with the quality of comments we've gotten," Tom said. "The drawings are tracking pretty well with what people want."

Arrr... again!

Pirate University, our 2007 Vacation Bible School, will be in session next week, June 25-29, 9:00 to noon.

Each day, 60-80 children, entering kindergarten through fifth grade, will meet in the sanctuary, now transformed into a pirate ship with the help of some sails on loan from Bob Simmons. After a morning meeting with Captain Nick Sparrow as master of ceremonies and Captain Calebarbossa in charge of music and games, the kids will break up by age groups and take turns attending one of four different sites on each of the first four days. Pastor Ann helped plan the week's events and will help at one of the sites, and Lori Shero is VBS Director.

Never a small project, this year's VBS was made more difficult by the need to create all of the materials and lessons from scratch, rather than using one of the store-bought, canned curriculum sets as we have in the past.

"We did it all, all out of our creative team's heads," Lori said. "It's just going to teach them how to be good pirates."

The Wilson family is writing a serial drama for Pirate University, and they will also take the lead in performing it. About 20 people will work all five days, not counting others who helped beforehand or have smaller jobs. And many church members contributed small toys and other prizes.

"We are delighted with the volunteers we have," Ann said. "They are capable. Many are veterans of VBS in other years."

On the first four days, each age group will learn about one of the University's four piratical virtues: courage, teamwork, kindness, and following directions. The teamwork site has a salvation message, but because many of the young pirates will already know Christ, all sites will have value for Christian kids as well. On the last day, instead of breaking up, the kids will participate in a "pirate fair" together, including a treasure hunt at Rotary Park, the finale of the drama, and the handing out of the final loot.

"Pray for each of the kids that come," Lori asked. "Some of them don't know what they're going to be hearing. Pray for them to extend what they hear to their families."

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

McRae Castle Highlights Scotland Trip

Noel McRae was nice enough to share this account of his recent trip to Scotland. I know you will enjoy reading it, and maybe he and Georgia will even show you a few of their favorite pictures! ~Ann


Our Scotland Trip

Scotland was an experience that Georgia and I will treasure. We spent three weeks visiting areas that our ancestors came from or were involved with. From palaces to the McRae Castle we gained insights into what life was like centuries ago.

We planned the trip on our own. I drove the car while Georgia worked at keeping me on the "wrong" side of the road. We have vivid memories of narrow, curvy roads where we wondered if there was enough room to safely pass the on-coming vehicle.

We spent a lot of time in small more remote areas of the Scottish Highlands, hiking, and seeing small - sometimes tiny - villages.

The contrast of extreme wealth in enormous palaces to the simplicity of thatched cottages had a real impact on our perceptions of how life used to be. A highlight was to find my uncle's name on a plaque of WWI McRae heroes. This was something I had heard about for a long time. After a search at the McRae castle I found it on an outside wall.

We have lots of stories and pictures to share. We have commented that, like so many things in life, one can hear about the experiences of others, even see pictures, but until one experiences some of the sights, smells, and life, it is very difficult to feel the impact with much empathy. Seeing a picture of the Grand Canyon is nothing like standing on the edge and looking across. When we share our Scotland stories with Mike and Marilyn Perry, who have recently visited Scotland, we know they can more fully appreciate our experiences.

Georgia and I now feel like we have a little more feel for our Scottich ancestors.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Happy Feathers Day!

The final meeting of our regular Kidville season coincided with Father's Day weekend, and we took advantage of the timing. Will Dunn made birdhouse kits out of oldgrowth cedar, and our kids had a chance to build a birdhouse or bird feeder and make a Father's Day card as well. I visited the fellowship hall while the kids were hard at work. Some of the men of our church were bending over a project with a small child, helping them, encouraging and celebrating success with them! Remember the old saying, "no one stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child." That was happening this past weekend. Kids and helpers even got to eat bird's-nest snacks made by Michelle Stumbo before they left. Kids walked out with bright smiles and finished projects.

Next weekend we will go to our summer Kidville schedule. Children through age 4 will be downstairs with summer staff; older kids will be upstairs in the sanctuary with their own materials and quiet projects.

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Thursday, June 14, 2007

Better than Expected

Sometimes you have an idea, and it just doesn't pan out. But once in a while it works out better than you ever expected. That is how I feel this week.

In September when we were planning Kidville for the year I knew we wanted to put together a craft day for the kids as their last class of summer. We decided to help the kids make bird houses and bird feeders and to do it on Father's Day weekend. So far, so good. Now all I needed was a bird house design, wood, skill, tools, time...

Today, sitting on the counter in my office is the better-than-expected result of God's blessing on this project for our kids. When I asked Will Dunn what he thought of the idea and if he, as a home builder, had any suggestions, little did I know what he would do.

I now have 40 hand crafted bird house kits ready for Kidville citizen's to assemble this weekend; and get this: they are beautifully and precisely made from pieces of old growth cedar! They are going to make wonderful fragrant homes for our feathered friends.

This is such an encouragement to our children's ministry. It really represents our value that we will do our very best for our kids, give our very best, even precious old growth wood! Thanks Will for taking over a project that was just an idea when you got your hands on it. You have blessed all of us...and my office smells like a forest!

Stay tuned to see pictures of little home-builders at work. We'll post them here after the weekend services.