We're Supposed to Celebrate ...

Yesterday we said goodbye to our friend, Charles. I can't begin to pay adequate tribute to this man who was one of my professors at Emmanuel. I got to know him better, though, when I became preaching minister at Grandview. What I discovered as his minister surprised me. He understood church at a practical, as well as theological, level. As a located pastor/minister it can become easy to see only your corner of the church, like a man stuck at the bottom of a refreshing well. Charles' life and service to the church (here and overseas) allowed him to view the church like a man standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon. Broad. Deep. Colorful. In Awe.

Yesterday, after lunch with the European Evangelistic Society board, I dismissed myself from the meeting in order to check on Charles and his wife. I arrived at their house about 10 minutes after he died. The timing was a blessing, I think. I'll share more about him in a later blog, after I've put together the service.

Charles' death comes at the end of a busy and strange week. Tuesday morning marked the unsettledness of this week. The story is too long for this entry, but I arrived in my office to discover that one of my pictures of Jesus had been vandalized. I took some pictures and will share them sometime next week (if I get the chance).

Two4Two went well. Here three pictures from Wednesday:

Isaac and Matt preparing to lead worship.

Carter and Nolan hamming it up.

And I love this picture of Jacob. It captures his verve.

Wednesday and Thursday found me at the board meetings for Emmanuel School of Religion. The meetings themselves can be slow, but it's good to reconnect with some of the people I have known over the years. This year Brian was there. Brian is on the preaching staff at Savannah Christian Church.
On Thursday the school dedicated the new student housing and the Thompson Community Center. We had a good turnout for the service.
As you can see, the weather was nice, too. The housing is the nicest student housing I have ever seen (and there are no trains anywhere near it).
Once the ESR board meetings ended, the European Evangelistic Society meetings began (after supper on Thursday night). We gathered for a common meal at Daisy Mae's on Milligan Highway before getting down to business.
We met at Hopwood Christian Church to discuss by-laws, budgets, and the great new joint effort with Globalscope to bring a campus ministry to Tubingen, Germany.
Wye Huxford, who heads the operations stateside, gave us his report and update. As I said earlier, though, I didn't make it to the end of the meeting because of pastoral issues.

Now I'm going to quit stalling and get back to work on the sermon...