At the time of this writing, it is t-minus 63 hours till my family and I leave for our vacation to Branson, Missouri. We are very excited! It will be so nice to get away for a couple of weeks to recharge, rejuvenate, and reconnect with one another as a family. When you think of us, pray for us…and thank you for allowing us to take some time off. We certainly appreciate it.

As I get ready to close up shop here, and hang up the microphone (so to speak), let me give you a few parting thoughts:

1. You’re in good, competent hands while I’m gone. That is to say, Pastor Jon will be taking very good care of you while I’m on vacation. I’ve also left him 3 1/2 pages of things to remember and do while I’m gone…so pray for him…he’ll be a busy pastor over these next two weeks! Also, be sure to pray for Pastor Jon as he gears up to preach the next two installments in our Proverbs mini-series entitled, “Dear Solomon”. He’ll be preaching on Time Management on May 22nd and Money Matters on May 29th.
2. To those of you who’ve stepped up to the plate to serve – THANK YOU!  Our church has exploded with so many ministry opportunities since the start of 2016 and we are beyond grateful for those who are ministering and serving in a variety of different ways. To those of you serving in Nursery, Sunday School, Children’s Church, the Praise Team, Cleaning Operations, Friendship Bible Study, AWANA, Youth Group, and the list goes on and on…THANK YOU! We are truly grateful for all of your enthusiasm, hard work, and volunteer spirit. Because of you, we continue to experience people getting saved, baptized, and added to the membership of Prairie Flower Baptist Church. We’ve also seen rising numbers of new people attending our church, more app downloads and sermon listens, and have had an increase in exposure on social media and other media outlets such as the Baptist Bulletin, the GARBC website, and the Ottumwa Courier. We have so much going on…and the oil that keeps things running smoothly is our awesome volunteer force – THANK YOU!
3. We have a very busy summer in front of us. Currently, Pastor Jon is in the process of organizing and leading two major missions’ trips: The Creation Trip (June 5-11) and The Ukraine Trip (June 29 – July 11). We also have another team from our church leaving for Grenada in early July. As for me, I’ll be speaking at Camp Fairwood in Wisconsin on Aug. 1-6 as the Family Camp Speaker. I’ll be preaching 9 times in six days…your prayers are certainly appreciated. All you have to do then is sprinkle in some youth camps and VBS this summer and you come to the conclusion that we truly have a very busy summer in front of us. Thus, we covet your prayers for safety and ministry effectiveness.

Finally, let me just encourage you to continue to stay relational and missional for the glory of God as we enter the Summer of 2016. Also, be sure to catalog your #PrairieMiles this summer (this will make more sense after Pastor Jon’s sermon this Sunday). And always remember that your strength comes from the Lord and not from your own ingenuity and resourcefulness.

Well, as always, let me say what I typically say (but I mean it every time): God bless you guys. I do love you guys. And I’ll see you when I see you. Blessings.