What a busy and beautiful month it has been as we have worked to increase our visibility in and ministry to our community with the Blessing of Hands, participation in the first ever Riverside Pride event, and resumption of in-person worship in conjunction with our on-going Zoom worship availability.
There are more thanks to hand around than can ever be fully expressed, and I hesitate to name one lest I unintentionally forget to mention another, but please take a second to express gratitude to all who have worked so hard this past month to share their time and talents and passion in so many ways:
Our Blessing of the Hands volunteers (Janet, Sheila, Joe, Mikki, Bob, Shirley, Kathy, Karen, Jan, Mike, Ralph, Sandy, Lindsey, Pam, Charlie, and Lauren)
Pastor Janet and all the members of the Pastoral Care Committee who write notes and cards and make calls (Sheila, Shirley, Mike, Karen, Val, and others)
Our newest prospective member, Lauren, who almost single-handedly put together our booth for Riverside Pride and stood in the heat all day to love on our rainbow siblings, along with Tim, Fischer, Hayes, Gage, and Sam who helped set up and take down and Janet and Charlie and Pam who also provided loving presence and help at our booth, and Val, Lisa, Michelle, Nicolle, Devyn, Grace, Cade, Quinn, and Kai for joining us, as well.
Our dedicated COVID Committee (Jim, Judith, Bob, and Nicolle) who met and discussed and prayed and researched to discern when and how best to re-engage with in-person worship in a safe and faithfully responsible way.
Our amazing tech team and jack-of-all-that-needs-to-be-done Ward family (Joe, Sam, and Mikki) quietly spending literally hundreds of hours getting us ready for hybrid worship (and welcome to Philip, the newest member of our tech team!!)
Lauren and her husband, Slim Bawb, and his bandmate, Jordan, for providing (free of charge) a beautiful and celebratory outdoor Gospel Sing after our first in-person worship June 27th and to Sam and Joe, Jim, Will, Adam, Quinn, and Kai for their help setting up and taking down chairs and canopies.
And then, there are those who help with our day to day ministries like our KIVA Microloan Program (Mike, Frank, Fischer, and Hayes), our participation in Texas Impact and the Refugee Network led by Sheila, our SOS Food Bank ministry (Mike, Janet, Weldon, Joe, Mike (friend of Joe), Judith, Karen D., and Lauren), David for putting together this newsletter for us each month, Michael for making name-tags for our members and guests, Dennis for keeping our lawn looking spiffy, our Council members (Sam, Devyn, Val, Mikki, Beth, and Carol), and so many more of you who keep this church going and growing!!
God bless you all for your service and giving of gifts and presence and time. Until there is a bigger word than thank you…THANK YOU!!
