Labor Day weekly update

As I sit in my office a little past 6pm on Labor Day Monday, I'm pretty tired. But it is a really good kind of tired. Much has happened over the past several days and it continues to remind me of God's goodness and blessing. Thursday through Saturday brought the 2020 Vision Ride we have been promoting for several weeks - a fundraising ride for the LGCC Dining Hall project. Les Evans from Tuscola, Ed Bacon from Decatur and myself, along w/ our van driver Tom Seggelke from Lincoln, rode 215 miles over three days from Flora to Mulberry Grove to Springfield to LGCC. God blessed our group with good weather, favorable wind and physical endurance!

On Saturday, five riders - led by Rusty Richards from Minier and Bob Heintrich from Chilicothe rode 109 miles - in one day! All of this was for one purpose - to raise as much money as possible for the Dining Hall project! And as of Monday morning, right at $25,000.00 has been received! God is good! Thank you so much to each and every person who has given generously to Little Galilee! And it is NOT too late to make a contribution to this effort - just make your check out to LGCC and write 2020 Vision Ride in the memo!

This weekend brought the annual Labor Day Family Camp at Little Galilee - 443 were part of the weekend! We were blessed by the preaching of Darrell Bolen, who served Greenville FCC for 44 years before his recent retirement and the music/worship of the Cornell family from Mattoon. Mike Mallick from Jefferson St CC in Lincoln did a great job putting together the weekend and God was glorified once again as families gathered on this holiday weekend to grow in their relationships with Jesus Christ! The highlight of the weekend for me was Sunday evening when Ken and Jan Rutledge were honored for 20 summers of service as Camp Manager - what a great evening to hear testimony after testimony about the impact the Rutledge's have made on the kingdom through ministry at LGCC! Thank you Ken and Jan for serving the Lord!

And the Little Galilee fun times are not over - tomorrow night - Tuesday September 4 - our church is blessed to host the Area Men's Fellowship in our Family Life Center at 6:30pm. Our church will now be hosting two Area Men's gatherings each year - in January and in September - and our hope is to get more and more MEN connected to this monthly, 90 minute evening that includes a great meal, good fellowship, spiritual encouragement and a camp update each time we gather together. My friend Ed Bacon will be sharing the message tomorrow evening and I cannot wait to hear the update on construction progress on the new Dining Hall - it sure looks good from a distance!

This Friday September 7 brings four different important programs of our church:

******* RELOAD for Men returns - at the Clinton Y at 6:15am - and will meet on the first and third Friday's of each month moving forward. ALL men are welcome as we study together!  The breakfast will be a light continental style and the coffee will be hot!

******* BREAKFAST Club returns at 7:15am - ALL Jr High and High School students are welcome!

******* Mom and Tot's play day at 10am in the First Kids area - take advantage of this moms!

******* September Young at Heart at 10:30am in the Family Life Center - "Take Me Out to the Ballgame!"

This Saturday September 8 is the God's Shelter of Love annual banquet at the Grand Palace in Decatur at 6pm - would you like to attend? Let me know and we will get you signed up!

On Sunday, the 4th annual FCC Block Party  will happen - September 9 from 5-7pm and once again food, fun, games, music, fellowship and all the fixings are on the menu! Spread the word!

And also on Sunday, ROOTED launches - there is STILL room for you! Connect with Samuel Green this week and he will get you signed up!

** Tuesday September 11 - Women's and Men's Bible Study Fellowship groups begin meeting at our church - learn everything you need to know about BSF at www.bsfinternational.org!

** Wednesday September 12 - FIRST KIDS Midweek is back from 6-7:30pm!

** Saturday September 15 - FCC will be once again hosting the Beth Moore simulcast and thanks to the generosity of a local Christian businessman, there is NO cost to attend! Our generous friend wishes to remain anonymous and we will honor this request, but we would love to pack the sanctuary on Saturday September 15!

Finally, thanks to Ben Pertl for preaching Sunday - I've heard many positives about the morning and especially the sermon from several in our church, including my wife Martha! lol!

Blessings to you - see you Sunday as we continue our journey through the book of James, looking at the first 12 verses of chapter 3 and  the use (and misuse) of our tongues.

GT