Indiana Trip 2009 -- Brushwood, Leo, First Wayne Street, Monroe

Pastor Jim is in Indiana for a couple of weeks, to visit some of the churches that support Gidrwood Chapel and to attend the first Annual Conference of the Indiana Conference (combining North and South Indiana Conferences).  Here are some of the pictures from the first week.

BRUSHWOOD UMC IN RENSSALAER, INDIANA -- Tuesday, June 16

Thank you to the Mission Chair, Merrie Etta Stowers for setting up the VBS visit and to Jack and Cleota Warne for making our very tired pastor feel at home.

For what many would consider a "small country church,"  Brushwood is not very small and puts on a great VBS.  There were a lot of kids there that night and Pastor Jim gave 5 presentations to groups of kids and another one for the adults.

Here's a few pictures of that evening.

 

LEO UMC IN LEO, INDIANA -- Wednesday, June 17

Thank you to the Beattys for their hospitality and for Dave Beatty for setting up the evening presentation.  (I stayed at their home on a previous trip to Leo).

About 30 people gathered for the full presentation that evening and we had some great deserts as we gathered for fellowship time afterwards.  I even made an extra trip to the church later in the evening when we found out that my camera had been left there.

FIRST WAYNE STREET UMC, FORT WAYNE, IN -- Thursday, June 18

Thanks to Dan Daniels for setting up a wonderful breakfast on the nearby campus of Indiana Tech. Also, thank you to Pastor Greg Enstrom for guiding me to to the campus

Indiana Tech has a beautiful small campus with a wonderful new building.  It was a 7 AM breakfast and it was dynamite.  This is a church that is thinking of at trip to Girdwood in 2010.

I apologize for not having any pictures because, for some reason, I never took the camera out of the bag.  The people were great and I look forward to being in further dialogue with them.

MONROE UMC, MONROE, IN -- Thursday, June 18

Thank you to Alan and Pam Arnold for setting up the evening and planning ahead to a work team in 2010 (They've already started fundraising).  Also, thank you to Pastor Stoops for his company during dinner and his support of the various ministries of the church.

About 25 people gathered for the presentation that evening.  I've included some pictures of their facility because I thought their mutli-purpose room, with a half-court basketball court was a great model for a smaller church.  And I thought I'd highight their food pantry that services over 100 families a month.

After the presentation, Pastor Jim headed on the road to Zionsville to spend a couple of nights with his parents.