Worship Service in the Park Today!

There's a little city-wide festival that started here a few years ago and this year, our church decided to hold services in the park!   Not only that, but we also hosted a charcoal chicken dinner as a fundraiser for our "Raise the Roof" fund.  Our church needs a new roof, and unlike us, insurance is not going to pay for it.  It's also quite a bit more expensive than our roof, so we're doing what we can to raise funds to pay for the new roof.   Apparently, last year they also held the chicken dinner, but we weren't a part of the church yet.  They did not hold services in the park, so that was a first.  We had volunteered to help out, and Greg was helping to cook the chicken.  That meant he had to be at the park at 7 a.m. today!  Lucky me, I didn't have to be there until services started at 9 a.m.  :-)

HUGE kudos go out to Brian and the worship team.  I know that this was a LOT of work to get all the instruments set up and ready to go.  I also know that although our worship team is amazing at what they do, performing in church is totally different from performing in a park!

I've got LOTS of pics here . . . hope you enjoy them all!

Pastor Will is on the left in front, and his wonderful wife, Jen is next to him.  In this picture, we're singing "Happy Day."  The kids learned this song in Children's Church, and had a great dance to go along with it.  I was trying to capture the kids and their dancing in this photo.  I wish they had all gone into the street to dance and show their joy at singing for the Lord!





Here's a video from Tim Hughes of the song "Happy Day."  If this doesn't make your heart sing, I don't know what will!

That's my dear daughter, Erica, being goofy with the thumbs up sign.  My other daughter, Abby, is in the pink sweatshirt, being held by their friend, Ashley.

This ADORABLE little boy is the son of our friend, Nate.  Malin is just the sweetest little boy and SO picturesque!

Our Worship Team!  They did such an AMAZING job today!  I'm so proud to be a member of this church!

Andrea does a great job on keyboards, and has a beautiful voice, too!

A few pictures of the folks attending services today . . .

That's Pastor Will.

More of the folks attending our services.   Many of them are "regulars" at services on Sundays, but we did have a bunch of folks who aren't normally at our services.

Pastor Will and his lovely wife, Jen.  An AMAZING couple!

Our friends, Nate and Jessica, and the adorable little boy, Bernie, that we babysit on Sundays!  What a great picture of Nate and Bernie!  I love it!

Pastor Will is starting our services with a prayer.

Pastor Will is truly a fabulous pastor!  I so look forward to going to services on Sundays!  I think I've only missed three times in the last 10 months.  Something would definitely be missing from my life if I was not able to attend services, that's for sure.  I learn so much more than I ever did before.  Pastor Will's sermons are always interesting.  He has such a great way of teaching us about Jesus and the Bible.  What I think I like the most is that he uses REAL LIFE examples to teach us the Word of God.  He uses himself as an example and his family, too. He makes us realize that we're all human and uses those real-world human experiences (as a husband, dad, friend, neighbor, etc.) to teach us.  He even uses his experiences as a . . . ahem . . . "male" . . . and the stupid things that men have a habit of doing!  LOL  

Brian is the leader of the Worship Team and does a GREAT job!  If not for him and his family, I'm not sure what the rest of the team would do!  Brian's son is a bit chopped off in this picture, but he's behind him, playing guitar.  In the other pictures of the whole team, the young man on drums is also Brian's son.  His wife, Charlotte, is on the keyboards next to the drummer.  Their family is VERY talented and some of the nicest people you will ever meet!











As I stated in the beginning, we also had a charcoal chicken dinner as a fundraiser for the Church's new roof.  Here's a bunch of pictures from the dinner.

Long before services began, the guys were busy cooking chicken!  Isn't that an AWESOME setup for cooking it?!

That's a LOT of chicken!

You didn't really think all those chickens were turned one at a time, did you?  You need special tools to turn that many chicken!  You can tell this has been done once or twice before!  LOL

Oh yes, that chicken is looking GOOD!!!!!

Hungry yet?  LOL!

If you're not licking your lips at this picture, there's something wrong!!!!

Did someone ask for baked beans?  We had LOTS to go with the rest of the chicken dinner!

LOTS of help from church members!

Jen was enjoying her watermelon that came with the chicken dinner!  We had a good laugh over me taking this picture!

The younger folks were having fun and enjoying each other's company!

One of my FAVORITE pictures EVER!  Such unadulterated joy!  Absolutely a beautiful picture of Jen!

And finally, another picture of Jen!  Such a beautiful smile!  Makes sense, as she's a beautiful person, both inside and out!









I hope you've enjoyed this virtual journey with me!  We had an incredible day with our church family.  Oh, and in case you think some of these folks look familiar, but you're not sure why . . . you're not seeing things!  Brian and his family are the ones that put the new roof on our house!  

Blessings to All!

Julie