Continuing Series in the Life of a Pastoral Care Pastor

May30, 2010, – Sunday: Today started in a more relaxed mode as the wedding and the reception was now behind us and we decided to “do” the falls today…Memorial Day. Our party was 8, so we took 2 cars and headed out to Niagara Falls to see the infamous water falling over a high cliff. If was, I must say, awesome. We stood in line to ride the Misty Mist boat for a close up look at the falls. We stood in line for 1 and ½ hours before actually getting onto the boat … but it was worth the wait. Wow, such power from the water and I got some great shots from all directions. We also stood in line to get something to eat and then in line again to get some ice cream. There must have been a zillion people, wow, everywhere people. We spent the whole day touring around the park and seeing the falls from different angles before returning to our room to fresh up before dinner. We all went to the famous Anchor Bar, the Original Wings beginning place and had a very delightful meal. The restaurant was decorated with some old motorcycles and license plates from every state in the union and a lot of countries. Bought a tee shirt so we could say we had been there…it was a wonderful time with some friends and the food was good as well. We all head our own ways tomorrow, Brian and Denise leave early to drive back to New Jersey, Martha and Darryl will be staying around some to vacation. We will be flying home via United at 2 so we have some time to sleep in tomorrow. Great time this weekend.

Continuing Series in the Life of a Pastoral Care Pastor

May29, 2010, – Saturday: Today started very well. Jeanette and I had breakfast with Brian and Denise, our friends from New Jersey and then we went into the city of Buffalo to look around and do some site seeing. We decided to take pictures of the Peace Bridge linking Buffalo with Canada and got stuck and had to go into Canada. None of us had our passports so it was a complete hassle on the Canadian side but worst on the US side. Had to get out of the car and be escorted, by armed guard, to the immigration station to be processed back into the US…seemed very un-necessary but I guess our people were only doing their jobs and they did them very well. Later, once back on US soil we rode around the downtown section and went to the waterfront before having lunch at a nice Greek Restaurant not far from the hotel. We arrived back at the hotel to rest before getting dressed for the wedding. Wow a great wedding that the beautiful couple put together. They had a wonderful ceremony and a great reception. We did some fellowshipping and some dancing before returning to our room for a good night’s sleep.

Continuing Series in the Life of a Pastoral Care Pastor

May27 & 28, 2010, – Thursday - Friday: Thursday started early as we had to be at Union Station in DC to catch the train taking us to Buffalo, NY. We are going to be part of a wedding of Pastor Darryl’s son. It was a long train ride but nice as we had the chance to get up and move around. This was our first train ride and it was long…I think we stopped in every town between here and Buffalo…left DC at 8:30 A.M. and arrived in Buffalo at 9:30 P.M. Long trip and we had to take a taxi to the hotel so we arrived around 10:20. On Friday we slept in some and then helped Martha and Darryl with decorating for the rehearsal party. It was an Hawaiian theme we had a very nice time. Our friends from New Jersey arrived so we rode with them to the rehearsal and dinner and then back to the hotel. This is part of my vacation but had to help two people out with benevolence cases with traveling…very nice to have a great admin who can get things done.

Continuing Series in the Life of a Pastoral Care Pastor

May 23 & 24, 2010, – Sunday - Monday: Sunday services were very powerful as Pastor Kent finished up his series on Revelation with an awesome call to all who believe and had never been baptized…116 came just as they were and were baptized. This was the Sunday right after Pentecost and many came forward confessing Jesus as their savior and wanted to be baptized. Pastor Kent led them right to the baptismal pool and as he climbed in fully clothed so did those who responded. It was an awesome service. The whole series had been powerful each week and today the Holy Spirit moved in a marvelous way. Revelation chapter 22 was clearly preached and the Gospel was proclaimed and then the words from Revelation 22: verses 14 & 17 "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city....The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" and let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life." Then Acts 22:16 "Now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on His name." The worship team lead is in the old hymn “Just As I AM”. After the baptizing was finished the new song “Revelation” was loudly sang by all. Great service. After church I had several meetings with some of my altar prayer team members as we will begin teaching a new series on Prayer during the summer. On Monday I started my vacation…Wahoo!! But, my alarm clock did not care if it was my vacation or not she wanted to get up and continue on with her normal routine…so up I was at the “normal” time. Had an early doctor’s appointment and had to get a prescription filled…which by the way took longer than the doctor’s visit. Had a scheduled lunch meeting with a man from church to discuss some spiritual issues he as dealing with and had some “deep” questions about how the Spirit moved and how to discern how to read what God was saying. It was a very nice time and we ended with an intense time of prayer. I relaxed the remainder of the afternoon except for one project of cleaning out the gutter on the front porch which didn’t take very long. Cooked dinner for my wife and had some down time during the evening.

Continuing Series in the Life of a Pastoral Care Pastor

May 18 - 22, 2010, – Tuesday - Saturday: Tuesday was my birthday and I got several special gifts from some of the staff. One was a large German Chocolate cup cake which was very good. The other was a nice coffee cup with Golf pictures from my Admin. I also got about 150 happy birthday wishes from my facebook friends which really surprised me. Thanks very much to everyone who sent me greetings. Jeanette took me out to eat and bought me a golf club, Cleveland wedge 52 degree so I bought one, a 56 degree. Played on Friday with John and had the chance to use both and they really helped. Anyway, had a great day. Wednesday started early as I had a breakfast meeting with several guys from church. We talked and planned how we could implement some lay counseling into our church to help married couples who are struggling in their marriage. I was a good meeting. After returning to the office had two benevolence appointments and one meeting with a couple wanting to go through our pre-marital program. Had lunch with our senior pastor…wanted to treat me to lunch for my birthday…very nice as he is very busy. Thursday was a day I was taking off but had to go into the office in the morning to do a walk through on some new baptisms we will be doing this coming Sunday. Then in the afternoon Jeanette and I went to a dinner theater with our senior group from church. Had a nice lunch and watch a production of Shenandoah. Arrived home just in time to meet with a couple we are mentoring through the pre-marital process. Finally to bed and some rest later than usual. Friday I was up early as I had a golf game with John. My game is improving each week as I am getting in some playing time. I then had a wedding rehearsal to attend in preparation of a Saturday wedding. On Saturday I relaxed some during the morning and then arrived at the church around noon to make sure things were in place for the 2 PM ceremony. I have some very good wedding coordinators and everything was perfect. This was a very special wedding as I have been involved in the lives of this couple for several years. I was instrumental in their salvation experience and baptized both of them and now…performing a very special and beautiful wedding. I then had a dinner meeting with some other Financial Peace University teachers to discuss how we can make the program better. Decided on changing several things and hopefully make the program much better. Now I am at home updating my blog and watching my New York Yankees play the Mets…good game but the Yanks are losing at the present.

Continuing Series in the Life of a Pastoral Care Pastor

May 15 & 16, 2010, – Sunday & Monday: Sunday was a great day and a busy day. Pastor is finishing up his series on Revelation, one more to go and this last one will be very good. Was there for both services as usual and we served full communion without a hitch…great job done by the team. We had our monthly prayer and praise meeting that evening with about 20 showing. We had great praise and worship by Michael and very good teaching by Betty. On Monday the day started out as normal, had one meeting first thing and then one other walk-in crisis I had to help with and they both ended very good. I had to have my Admin help me correct some marriage mentor teaching notes I put together and she is currently working on them. My afternoon was uneventful and I left for home on time. Jeanette and I have been mentoring a young lady at church with her finances and normally meet on Tuesday evenings but we moved it to Monday evening as tomorrow is my birthday and Jeanette is treating me to dinner and taking me to Dicks Sporting Goods. I think she is going to buy me a golf club…I can only hope…more to come.

Continuing Series in the Life of a Pastoral Care Pastor

May 14, 2010, – Saturday: My alarm clock is off a little as she was trying to get me up at the normal time…I hit the snooze button as I wanted to sleep until at least 7. But, at 6:45 she was back at trying to get me up, 15 extra minutes is better than none. I had to take care of her normal routine. Jeanette went to have her hair cut and do some woman things so I worked some in the garage as I am “downsizing” and getting rid of some junk, actually wanting to put my car inside so by the end of the month I will have that accomplished…hopefully. Later in the evening had potluck with my SWAT group. They are a group of volunteers who help people move from one place to another. I just wanted to thank them for such compassionate and giving hearts. Then back home to get some sleep and start all over once again on Sunday…

Continuing Series in the Life of a Pastoral Care Pastor

May 14, 2010, – Friday: Try to play golf on Friday’s and today was just right as two friends from church and I played 18 holes at Brambleton Golf Club. Weather was great and I shot very good, had a few bad holes but overall shot very well. Had to take several phone calls from church but nothing I couldn’t handle over the phone. Our youngest granddaughter was coming home from Space Camp and we wanted to meet her at the airport and the plane kept getting delayed so we had dinner and I bought some communion juice as we are having full communion this Sunday. After delivering it to the church we came back home and waited until the plane arrived. It was nice seeing her and hearing some stories of her adventure…the plane arrived late but it was worth it to see her once again…

Continuing Series in the Life of a Pastoral Care Pastor

May 12 & 13, 2010, – Wednesday & Thursday: Both days have been full days at the office. On Wednesday I had several meeting in the morning before heading out to a lunch meeting with my altar prayer team where we discussed several upcoming issues. We are plotting out the direction that we see God taking us through the summer as we gear up for the Fall kick-off in September. Had a chance to slip home after the lunch and take care of my little alarm clock, i.e. feed her and take her for a walk before heading back to church to teach the FPU class that evening. On Thursday I made several hospital visits in the morning before arriving back at the church for an 11 AM meeting with my Health Director. She is an RN and has volunteered to help set up a health care ministry. She is recovering from breast cancer and wants to serve the church in this way so we are planning how it should look. We are purchasing 3 AED’s and re-stocking the first-aid kits that the various ministries have in their areas. All afternoon, until 4 was involved in our church budget process as I am on the Leadership Team. We had our first look at the total overall budget and processed through several big budget items. How much do we project our church growth to be and how much to we project our tithes and offerings for the coming year. We need lots of prayer to discern the right path to take. As soon as that meeting was over had a scheduled meeting with a young man who needed some advice about his upcoming wedding but shortly before he arrived another young man came in asking for me. We talked some about some issues he was having at home with his mom and I gave him some “fatherly” advice about how to treat his mother and appreciate her as she has raised him as a single mom. Then my scheduled appointment came in that needed some advice on his upcoming wedding but as we talked I discerned that was not the issue so as I listened and asked questions that God gave me to ask, it turned out he felt this black cloud hanging over him and just could not seemed to connect with God. As he talked about how religious he was I knew that he did not have a personal experience with Jesus….he just knew about Him…like a lot of people. I shared with him the gospel and he prayed and asked Jesus to forgive him and come into his life and lead him from now on…it was a great experience watching his new birth. His whole countenance changed as relief came to him and he immediately wanted to know how to learn and serve this Jesus, the savior of his soul. We rejoiced some afterwards and as we were leaving I introduced him to Lynn and she will get him connected into the GUSH ministry. Afterwards headed home for supper and a meeting with a couple Jeanette and I are mentoring through the pre-marital process. Overall it was a good day…now I am looking forward to playing some golf tomorrow with John, my golf partner on Friday’s.

Continuing Series in the Life of a Pastoral Care Pastor

May 10 & 11, 2010, –Monday & Tuesday: Both days have been busy at the office with several benevolence cases and some marriage problems. I have two ladies from our prayer team working with the lady going through a separation with her husband of 24 years. She thinks she wants a divorce so the spiritual battle is very intense. These two ladies have met with her and she has agreed that it is very intense spiritually. It seems like she is backing off the separation for a time. More prayer is needed. On another front I have a very nice lady helping me with making my offices look better and helping me with some purging and re-filing of some files. It is a very nice jester on her part as she is volunteering her time. Had several meetings on Monday afternoon before heading home to take care of my little dog. Jeanette had to work late as payroll so supper was later than normal. Tuesday morning my alarm clock was a little surprised once again as I was up early as I had an early meeting at church. Had a young couple come in for some pre-marital counseling then had back to back staff meeting for the remainder of the day. Our mission director shared where the mission budget was headed for the coming budget cycle. His budget is the largest on in the church as we allot ten percent to missions of our tithes and offerings. It was a rather long meeting but very necessary. Arrived home a little later than normal and rushed to prepare for our mentoring of a young lady from church in financial trouble. We have agreed to meet with her on Tuesday evenings until we get her back on her feet. We have met with her several times and she is struggling somewhat with getting the hang of the budget process. We have her enrolled in the FPU class at church and we are working with her along those guidelines. Now getting ready for a long day tomorrow…

Continuing Series in the Life of a Pastoral Care Pastor

May 8 & 9, 2010, – Saturday and Sunday: My alarm clock is back to normal and woke me at the appointed time on both days. Saturday was a day to relax but had to involve the church SWAT team to help move some items for Pastor Paul and myself in the morning. Worked in the garage the remainder of the day as I am downsizing and re-arraigning so I can get my car in the space allotted for it…good luck with that…got invited out to my daughters house in Warrenton for dinner to celebrate Mother’s Day. She cooked fish on the grill and it was delicious. Sunday was a great day…we dedicated 35 or 36 babies in our two services. Five of us pastors had our hands full but it is one of the better things I get to do in the ministry. Took my wife out to eat and then we returned home to relax and I watched the end of the golf match on TV. Jeanette and I rented a movie…2012 and watched it before turning in for the night. I though it interesting that Hollywood would plan for the end of the world to be a giant flood so they built giant arks…wow seems like if the really read the bible the flood has already occurred and God has said never again with water…next time it will be with fire…they will get the picture right next time…maybe.

Continuing Series in the Life of a Pastoral Care Pastor

May 7, 2010, – Friday: I surprised my alarm clock today by getting up before her…threw her whole routine out of wack…My golfing buddy and I were leaving quite early to travel to a new golf course to play golf today. It was about a 2 hour drive but if was great and challenging. We played 36 holes and I did better on the second 18 than the first 18. Maybe it was because I had to handle some calls from the church…emergency type as the receptionist knows I only handle that type on my day off. Anyway was able to return some phone calls and get those taken care of as we played along…I am happy to blame that on the way I played so poorly the first 18…but it probably was not the only reason dah… Anyway had a great relaxing day.

Continuing Series in the Life of a Pastoral Care Pastor

May 6, 2010, – Thursday: My happy alarm clock seems back to normal and is now very hungry so she had to eat first thing…that’s a good sign. So, my day started as normal and after taking care of her and breakfast it was off to the office. I had an appointment for budgeting and benevolence at 9:30 so my day started early. Sandy, the volunteer, is still coming in and helping me organize several offices and helping with purging of files in between my appointments. I had a lunch appointment that lasted for 2 hours – some prayer as today was national day of prayer but mostly counseling. I then had to teach the teachers of our school for an hour. My last appointment for the day was at 4:30 and she was a little late making my day stretched past 5:30. The one to home where Jeanette and I had a quick dinner of leftovers before our session would start with a couple thinking of marriage. We are taking them through the pre-marital process and tonight was our first session. It lasted until 9:30…now off to bed and will be dreaming of golf tomorrow…visions of holes in one dancing in my head….

Continuing Series in the Life of a Pastoral Care Pastor

May 5, 2010, – Wednesday: My alarm clock is back to normal, PTL. She was up at the normal time wanting to do her normal routine once again. I am keeping her on the boiled chicken and rice for the remainder of the day and maybe the first part of Thursday morning. I got to church and immediately had a benevolence case waiting for me. She came from the community of Sterling, single mom with three kids and just had her electricity cut off. She was un-churched but hoped that God would help her…which He did and I had the pleasure of introducing her to Him…she did commit her life and now the work begins. My volunteer arrived right on schedule to help with purging and re-organizing the offices I have under Pastoral Care. I put the final touches on the proposed budget and passed it on to the Executive Pastors office. Did some studying for my class tomorrow; this is a class for the school teachers who need to keep up with their CEU credits…have about 15 in the class. Then I did some studying for the evening class I lead on Financial Peace. Had a noon appointment for counseling and some benevolence issues which I was able to help. After eating about 1:30 had one other appointment for the afternoon and left to see how my little dog was doing and then returned to church for my class in the evening.

Continuing Series in the Life of a Pastoral Care Pastor

May 4, 2010, – Tuesday: My alarm clock is very sick and threw up during the night. Must decide soon to take her to the vet or try to let it run its course. We are getting a new front door installed and the door was delivered yesterday. The installers came early to install the door and before taking out the old door and frame they decided to measure the new door to see if it would fit…I am very grateful they did as it was the wrong door…PTL they measure it before starting. I arrived at the office around 9 and talked to my prayer director almost all the way to the church and then sat in the parking lot continuing our conversation…she has some wonderful ideas the Lord has given her and it is up to the Lord to make them come to pass…I want them too but it is in God’s hands. Anyway I had a 10 AM appointment on a couple needing some marriage counseling. God showed up and He gave them some good advice and some homework to do before our next meeting. I am leaning on having a mentor couple from our church walk along side them to see if they can sow into their life and get them back on the right track. This will be my first hand off and much prayer is going with the mentor couple. We will see how it works out. I have had the luxury of a volunteer coming in all week to help me with file purging and organization of books and some other materials. She has been a huge help and much progress has been accomplished already. She has agreed to serve from 10 to 2 each day as long as needed…can you say PTL. I had a budget meeting with my staff as we needed to put the final touches on the proposed budget before submitting it to the ELT. Started around 11:30 and finally finished around 4, of course we had several interruptions, one being someone who needed some benevolence help with gas which I was able to meet. Then had on other appointment with someone who needed some spiritual guidance as they figured everyone was a fake. I must say this meeting was quite interesting as we dialoged back and forth until we both decided to meet again at a later time. Then on to home to check on my alarm clock that was sick…she has accidents in the dining room and living room and as I cleaned it my wife took her to the vet. She had a temperature and was dehydrated. Vet gave her a shot to hydrate her and some medicine to bring her fever down. Jeanette and I are helping a young lady from our Spanish church with her budget so she came over for our normal Tuesday evening session. Wow now on to bed.

Continuing Series in the Life of a Pastoral Care Pastor

May32, 2010, – Monday: Trying to get back to normal after a great weekend but my alarm clock is sick. Not something you want to wake up to; seems she got overheated while at my daughters and now we are trying to work through this with her. I’ll wait one more day before deciding on a doctor visit for her. Got to the office around 9 and had one appointment starting at 9:15 which lasted about 20 minutes then got a call from the delivery service that is delivering my new front door. Yes I am getting a brand new front door with side lights and new storm door, should make the place look like a million dollars. Anyway, had to leave and come back home in order to show them where to put the door because it will not be installed until Tuesday. I had two appointments starting at 10 which my admin met and had them wait until I returned so this started my day a little in a rush. But everything went very well as one of the ladies missed the baby dedication class so I met with her and the other lady I had scheduled to come in and start volunteering. She is going to help me organized some book shelves and do some purging of files for a few days this week. Had a 1 PM appointment with a lady who is having trouble with her mom. Her mom is suffering from Alzheimer’s and is at her wits end. I also found out she is having marital problems as well and her husband is coming in later today to see me. This lady made an appointment for Tuesday at 10 to discuss her marriage as well. After this meeting I went to our school and arraigned for two more classes that I need to teach for the teachers later this month. Then at 4 the husband came in to discuss his marriage problems. At 5:10 I was on my way home for dinner with my wife which we were eating on our deck. At 9, watched 24, one of my favorite TV programs then on to bed, see ya tomorrow.

Continuing Series in the Life of a Pastoral Care Pastor

May 2, 2010, – Sunday: Home after a very nice weekend in New York celebrating my grandbabies 16th birthday. We (Jeanette, Amber, myself and Kelsey the birthday girl) left Friday morning early on the Mega Bus from DC. Did some sightseeing and then took a cab to a great restaurant where the locals eat…Named Vincent’s the Original. The sauce is out of this world good and the service was great. We took the train back to Times Square before turning in for some sleep before a busy Saturday. On Saturday the girls did some shopping and looking at all the sights before returning to the room so we could freshen up before the Broadway play Mamma Mia. It was great and when we left the theater we found out that Times Square was closed because of a bomb scare…it was a little scary looking at an empty Times Square…betcha never seen that before….then back to the room for some sleep before returning to good old Virginia. We took the Mega Bus from Penn Station and just as we entered Maryland if broke down. We had to wait for almost 2 hours for a bus to arrive to continue us on our journey. Our daughter and son-n-law picked us up and had some food waiting for us…very nice. Now back home relaxing and getting ready for Monday…see everyone then.