salida colorado

Well, week one of the Rocky Mountain Preaching Retreat is drawing to a close. I have been so blessed by my time here. I have gotten weeks – even months – worth of work done during this time. So far, I have completed the upraise and unite preaching calendars for 2007 & 2008. (Seriously, every week is titled with Scriptures included). I have the first 11 weeks of sermons in 2008 outlined. I have written several articles for our uzine, The Encourager, as well as some church wide correspondence that has to go out next month. I finished updating the 2008 Confirmation Curriculum and even managed to squeeze in a little reading. Of all that, I am most excited about the 2008 preaching calendar. Next year in upraise & unite we will be doing the following sermon series:

Alpha: Basic Training for Christians
Living Beyond Myself: based on the Volunteer Revolution curriculum
Forgive us our Debts . . . Please: some practical teaching on managing family finance in a godly way
Meaning in a Meaningless World: this will be our summer series and we will study the entire book of Ecclesiastes.
University for Life: We will present the Vision Map for discipleship at the U.
Enough: Next year’s stewardship campaign
Maximum Exposure: God’s character revealed
Christmas Now & Then: a look at the people who witnessed the birth and what it means for us today

I still have a lot of work on tap for next week, but even if I didn’t get anything else done, it has been hugely productive.

It has also been fun to share meals with some of Charles’ oldest friends and peers in ministry. They are great men who I have enjoyed laughing and sharing the fellowship of the table with.