Friday, May 9, 2003

Friday, May 9 Tons of last-minute details today. My brother Alan flies in from Tupelo, MS this AM. Tonight I’m speaking at the Allied Force Senior Banquet. Then at 3:45 AM our Haiti team leaves for the airport.

Thursday, May 8 48 hours from now our team will be en routeto Haiti. I’m busy checking things off my last-second to-do list, including Pepto-Bismol tablets. Current weather in Haiti (for today through next week): highs in the upper 80s to lower 90s, lows around 70. We’re leaving the sweaters at home. Very exciting Awana closing program last night. This year we had 319 children enrolled. They came from 27 different churches. We are bursting at the seams in our children’s ministry, which is one reason we’re moving forward on a $2 million renovation program the congregation approved several weeks ago. Work on the air conditioning in the west wing should begin before the end of the month. We are assembling a large steering committee to lead us in the challenge of raising the necessary funds. Brian and Donna Ondracek have accepted the call to co-chair that committee. We have planned a groundbreaking ceremony for June 29, with full construction to begin in early July. God willing, the entire project should be completed by late October. Yesterday I had breakfast with Jerry Rose, chairman of the Total Living Network. He is a good friend who has spoken at Calvary several times.

Cliff Raad and I are organizing a tour of Civil War battlefields in June 2004. We plan to visit Gettysburg, Harpers Ferry, Antietam, Monocacy, Washington, Manassas, Fredericksburg, Spottsylvania, Richmond and Appomattox. We’ll formally announce the tour and start taking reservations sometime this summer.

Tuesday, May 6 Big events this week: Wednesday 7 PM Awana Closing Program Friday 7 PM Allied Force Senior Banquet Friday 7 PM Prayer Vigil Saturday 11 AM Women’s Ministries Luncheon Sunday all services: Pastor Bob Gray speaking. Bob Gray served as our pastor from 1958 to 1974. It is a joy to welcome Bob and June back to Calvary for Mother’s Day. This week Marlene and I are scurrying around getting last-second details done because on Saturday we leave for a week’s trip to Haiti. We’ll be working with Caleb Lucien who leads a very effective ministry in Pignon, a town in the north-central region of Haiti. I first met Caleb and his brother Henoc when they were students at Dallas Seminary and I was a pastor in Garland,Texas. This will be my fourth trip to Haiti. Our team will lead a Bible conference for students in the morning, a marriage conference in the evening, and Alan (a plastic surgeon) will do surgery at the missionary hospital in Pignon.