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July 2009 Pastoral Letter

 
Dear Members and Friends of First Church,

I pray that you and your loved ones are well and enjoying your summer season, wherever you may be. This is your July update from your church home in Southwest Florida. Our slow summer season is being seen all around us here in the Bonita/Naples/Estero area. The economy continues to limp along, and we are seeing some closures of retail establishments (the Regal Cinemas on US 41 in Bonita, the Dixie Moon Café on Old 41, and several stores at Coconut Point Mall are among the latest to close), and continued government cutbacks in services due to reduced tax revenue.

The programs and worship services at First Church are scaled back for the summer months, but still go on with a number of special features. In the past couple of weeks we have enjoyed:

• a great Vacation Bible School for our kids, with over 100 in attendance, led by over 40 adult and teen volunteers;


• a special mission program with a missionary guest from India;


• a free patriotic concert in our sanctuary with a military band performing all the favorites.

In the next few weeks our youth group (23 teens and leaders) will be heading west on a 10-day mission and service trip to Washington state. We will also be gathering at the church on July 16 for a pot luck dinner and discussion of the book The Journey, by Billy Graham. This book is our “Summer Reading Challenge,” and we have sold over 600 copies of it to our congregation. If you haven’t read it, I encourage you to do so. It is the finest and most comprehensive book Dr. Graham has ever written, encompassing lessons learned from a lifetime of preaching and personal ministry (he is now 90 years old). The book touches on all the major truths and teachings of the Christian faith and uses wonderful examples and illustrations to drive home the message. If someone you know is not a Christian, this book would be an excellent introduction to the faith for them.

This summer is also intended to be construction season at FPC. Unfortunately, we have experienced a delay of almost four weeks in getting all of our permitting from government agencies. The biggest hold-up has been in the Bonita Springs Fire Department. Due to payroll cutbacks, the Bonita office is handling permitting for a large portion of southern Lee County, and the reduced manpower has resulted in a big bottleneck. As a result of this delay, we are concerned that our anticipated completion date in October won’t be accomplished. As much as we would have liked to have McClure Hall finished before our seasonal members return, it’s possible that it will still be closed. I’ll keep you updated on the progress once construction begins (which we hope will occur in the next week).

We have also had to do some scrambling this summer in the area of our church’s banking relationship. We received indications in June that the bank we have been using for our checking and other regular activities was undergoing financial stress, so our Fiscal Stewardship Committee has put in hours to research and then to complete all the negotiations and paperwork to move our accounts to other banks. We feel that we have done the best job possible to protect our church’s resources. (As we continue to hear about in the news and experience in our personal and business lives, these have not been normal economic times!)

This past weekend we have all celebrated our nation’s independence in our traditional ways. This is clearly a critical and dangerous time for our nation. The message I gave this past Sunday, July 5, attempted to address some of the issues before America today and put them in a historical and biblical context. I encourage you to read or listen to this message (The Statutes of Liberty) available here on our website in both written and audio versions.

As always, I would love to hear from you during these summer months. And if you have a special prayer concern for yourself or a loved one, please write, email or call First Church.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Doug Pratt