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May 2009 Pastoral Letter

 
Dear Members and Friends of First Church,

This is the first of my electronic greetings that I’ll be sending during the summer/fall of 2009 to you and others of our church family who spend these months far from Southwest Florida. I trust that your travels to your summer home have gone smoothly and you are settling in. Life in the Bonita/Naples/Estero area is becoming decidedly slower and more relaxed now that the peak season is ending. The weather is still dry and sunny, with highs in the 80’s daily. The lack of rain through the winter is causing our usual spate of brush fires, including a large one in the Everglades area of eastern Collier County that temporarily closed “Alligator Alley” (I-75 between Naples and Fort Lauderdale) for several days this past week. We expect that the daily rains will be starting within a month. Until they arrive, the weather is just perfect for tennis, golf, fishing and all the other outdoor activities we love.

As the church’s programs shift into the “off-season” mode, we are anticipating a big disruption in our usual activities due to the closing of McClure Hall for badly-needed and long-overdue renovations. We expect McClure will be “off-limits” until at least sometime in September. The latest issue of The Epistle newsletter (mailed earlier today) will show you some artist’s drawings. When you return to our area the project should be completed, and a beautiful showcase room will be available for use.

Summer also allows the pastoral staff of the church to do some vacationing and work-related travel. Paul Fahnestock is currently on a two-week mission trip to Eastern Europe, working with some of our missionary partners. I will be traveling to speak at a college baccalaureate and then preach to my former congregation in Pennsylvania in mid-May. Dan Oedy is currently devoting significant time to bringing to a conclusion his Master of Divinity degree studies. Dan has just finished Hebrew, is working on intensive Bible courses, and will be taking preaching courses this summer and fall. He and Sarah and their family are spending a significant portion of each month at the seminary campus in Charlotte. If all goes well, we will be celebrating with Dan his graduation and ordination next May.

The slower schedules and change of pace that summer affords to many of us provide a great opportunity for reading. This year our church’s “Summer Reading Challenge” is Billy Graham’s final book, The Journey. It is a wonderful book, and I encourage you to get a copy and read it. The great evangelist (now in his 90’s) looks back on an amazing lifetime and sums up the lessons and truths he has learned. If you don’t have a copy of The Journey, you can look for it at a Christian book store or on a website (try amazon.com or christianbook.com), or you can contact the church and our new Book Center can send a copy to you.

If any prayer concerns or personal news emerges in your life over the next several months, please feel free to contact us and let us at First Church be prayer partners with you. I would also love to hear from you at any time!

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Doug Pratt

Note: Due to changes in electronic security on the part of some email providers, the church has been unable to email these greetings to some of our members. If your email service is through sbcglobal.net, worldnet.att.net or att.net, it is possible our attempts to contact you are being blocked as spam. You can check here for monthly pastoral letters and/or contact your provider to allow church emails to reach you.