Dear Members and Friends of First Church,
We have moved past our nation’s birthday and the baseball All-Star game; here we are already in the second half of Summer 2019. Here is a brief update from your Florida church home.
LOCAL NEWS
The Gulf of Mexico has so far not seen a reprise of last year’s nasty Red Tide bloom, which is good news for local tourism, beach-going and fishing. We are getting our regular near-daily showers most afternoons. Housing units continue to mushroom in southwest Florida (including two big new apartment complexes in Bonita Springs—one on Dean Street near Old 41 and one just east of 41 and south of Bonita Beach Road, behind Pinchers Crab Shack). There is no question we need more rental properties; the big concern is the extra load all these apartments will add to traffic on our roads. The new Bonita Springs Library is nearing completion (one block east of Riverside Park in the “Old Bonita” or “Downtown Bonita” area).
CHURCH NEWS
We had a great week of Vacation Bible School in late June, with over 100 kids in attendance. In early July we welcomed the newest addition to our pastoral staff: Rev. Su Kim. Su just graduated from Gordon Conwell and was ordained as a Presbyterian missionary. He and his family (wife Christina and five kids) will be with us for approximately two years while they develop their prayer support and funding base and get ready to move to Thailand. We are privileged as a congregation to assist this gifted pastor in his “tool-sharpening” for his upcoming ministry (Su was one of our January interns a year ago, and many of you have already met him). Our right-turn lane project has been delayed (both the contractor and the Lee County office share in the responsibility), and I can’t give a definitive date yet for its completion. A large number of our congregation will be gathering at the beautiful “Cove” (the conference center operated by the Billy Graham organization) in the mountains near Asheville, NC in late July. We expect about 175 to come—some from Florida, and others from their summer homes across the northern tier of the U.S. Pastors Allen Walworth and June Barrow will be teaching, Jeff Faux and I will also be there, and many of us will be taking a tour of the US operations of Samaritan’s Purse (a short bus ride from the Cove).
PERSONAL NEWS
Our house has been in disruption for over a month as a kitchen remodeling project (including new flooring) has dragged on beyond the estimated completion date. Why can’t contractors and workers do a job right the first time? Surely it would save them money (not to mention the aggravation of the customer) if they didn’t have to keep coming back in order to fix mistakes! I’m sure many of you have gone through this little ordeal. I guess if it all comes out in the end we will forget the annoyances. Earlier this month my wife and I traveled to my hometown in Pennsylvania to attend my 50th high school class reunion. That came just a few weeks after we celebrated with our congregation here in Bonita Springs the personal milestone of the 40thanniversary of my ordination to be a pastor. In order to “recharge my batteries” for the remaining years of my ministry here, the Session has granted me a 6-week sabbatical (beginning on August 5 and ending on September 15). I have a long list of books I can’t wait to read; we will also be doing a bit of traveling during this time.
Since I will be out of the office, I will not be able to send an email update to you in August. Until I depart for my sabbatical I would love to hear from you—especially if there are any needs we can be praying about for you or your loved ones.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Doug Pratt