As you receive this, I am probably on my family’s island in Canada, where the Barry’s have been vacationing for about 50 years. It is a quiet place, miles away from roads, lights or the power grid. Rather than waking up to the sounds of traffic, I wake to the haunting call of the loon.
With so many people on vacation and so much of our programming taking a break until the Fall, things look pretty quiet around Christ the Redeemer in many ways. But let me assure you that there is actually quite a bit happening. Here are a couple things that I am pretty excited about:
– We have added two new members to our office staff. Olivia Spinney came on board in June to fill the role of Office Administrator, and Katie Smith will join us at the end of this month as our new Communications Coordinator. (You can read a bit about them below.)
– Earlier this month we secured an Architecture and Engineering Team for the new building. This is a huge milestone so praise God for that!
– We expect the first phase of our building project—the construction of a wall in the parish hall to create classroom space for our children—to begin later this summer. Please pray for favor with the Town of Danvers as we continue in the permitting process. (And see Mike Reid’s architectural rendering below of what we can expect!)
But these quieter moments are also times where we take a deep breath and begin making plans for the year to come. Some things we’re preparing for:
– In addition to weekly student ministries, which will restart in the Fall, we are also making plans for a new sort of outreach to youth in the community. More details on that to come later!
– Our annual church picnic will take place at the Sears’ home on August 25.
– We’ll celebrate Christ the Redeemer’s 10-year anniversary (!) in September.
– In October we are hosting Break Through, a two-day seminar focused on prayer and healing, led by Judith MacNutt (and Deacon Wendy has plenty more details on that).
– In November, we will host a musical production of Charlotte Brontë’s renowned novel Jane Eyre.
Often in the middle of the summer, I find that I turn a corner. At first, I am just so glad that the busy pace of the previous year has slowed down. I am catching my breath and, perhaps, licking my wounds. But then, when that rest has begun to do its work, I start looking forward to what is in front of me. New hopes and dreams start to come alive. Anticipation begins to build for the next season, and what might be in store.
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