Letters to the Churches of Carbon County - Jan 11 2010

January 11, 2010

Ok folks this is going to be a busy week. I have three days to write a sermon, attend a couple of important meetings, and then I am off to Casper for three days (Thursday through Saturday) before returning to Carbon County to preside at two services on Sunday. Ok it looks like 2010 is going to be a “crazy and wild” year! (Think Steve Martin, hint, hint). The quick glimpse around the County looks like this; Ray Grieb has moved to Wheatland and so Jess Smith and I are making adjustments on service schedules to make sure everybody gets covered; St. Luke had a report on the progress on the pre-school (report from Ida’s FB status); St. Thomas is working on making preparations for Karen’s ordination; St. Paul is reentering their flow from the Christmas break; and I was able to catch up (briefly) with the leadership of St. James in Encampment this past Sunday. I hope this letter finds you well.

Last Monday I spent an hour with the Gospel Study group of St. Thomas. They meet weekly and I drop in on the week that I am to preach in Rawlins. It is a good time to listen and discern what is happening at St. Thomas and through out time together I get inspired. One of my personal goals for this year is to deepen my preaching. I also assisted Karen in putting together an invitation that she will be mailing out in the days to come to various churches and people throughout the Diocese for her ordination.

Tuesday I met with Andy and Pat in the afternoon to prepare for a web/phone meeting with the Wyoming Wilderness Camp leadership that night. Andy taught Pat how to up-date the WWC on-line calendar and I got to learn a bit more on how to use WebEx. That evening the leadership group for WWC (Wyoming Wilderness Camp) got together on-line reviewed dates for camps and decided to go with “I Will With God’s Help” as the theme for this year’s camp. Good stuff.

On Wednesday I was on the weekly web/phone meeting with the Ministry Developers in which we finalized our agenda for the up-coming face to face meeting in Casper; reviewed the on-line Ethics course and general check in. That afternoon I was on another web/phone meeting to set a date and set a general out-line for a Latino Workshop that will be hosted in Wyoming on Feb 13, 2010. More details will be coming out in the days to come.

Thursday I wrote my sermon and caught with the Ministry Support Team at St. Thomas. The MST discussed Karen’s ordination and scheduled a time for the local paper to come and interview Karen. The group also made plans for Wade in the Water study for the season of Lent. Following that meeting I headed out and the vestry met.

Saturday I was at the monthly Worship Breakfast at St. Thomas in which they discussed ways to improve the flow of the service, and brought up the idea of having a public speaking session scheduled in the coming months.

Sunday I was at St. Thomas for the service. My girls are becoming more comfortable with serving with me around the Table and there were a couple of children in attendance during the service. There was a house blessing that afternoon in which Burke Epp had his newly built home blessed and open to people to take a tour. Burke had designed this house and it clearly has his touch. Nicely done.

What is on deck for this week? Tuesday I will attempt to write my sermon and be present to be a resource person for Karen’s interview with the local newspaper. I will also be on a WebEx meeting with Linda Fleming to discuss service schedules for the coming months. Wednesday I will be meeting with a friend from Encampment for breakfast and then off to Kraft Hall for office hours. That evening I will be on a WebEx meeting with the Evangelism Team of the Diocese. Then I will be out of town for the next thee days for a Ministry Developer face to face meeting from Thursday to Friday. On Saturday there is a face to face meeting with the Ethics on-line group. Whew; like I said “wild and crazy!” (Again think about the comedian Steve Martin the wild and crazy guy from the 80’s).