Preachers? Celebrate life? Yes!!

Just in case you haven't noticed or for some reason you don't know this about me . . .I love a party. I love a celebration. I love to laugh. I love to eat. We were talking at work the other day and felt like we needed to celebrate something (which of course, is actually just an excuse to take a longer lunch break and eat some good food - hee hee). I said that I would send out an email to all the staff and as I was typing the email, I realized that three of our preachers had a birthday in August (or maybe even four of them). One of our preachers just finished all her treatments for breast cancer and is cancer free!! One of our preachers just returned from three weeks out of the country. Those all sound like reasons to celebrate to me!! So we planned a celebration.

Our celebration was held in the Holy Grounds Cafe area which is in our youth building. It is just the right size for all of us to gather and we have an ice machine and serving tables, etc.  The Dollar Tree has the best deal on balloons and I pre-ordered 15 smiley face balloons - they just scream celebration, don't they?  When I stopped on the way to work to pick up those balloons, they also had some that said, "Today is your day" or something like that so I bought one for each of the ministers.

Let's see . . .who is waiting in line for the food?  That is Haley on the left.  She is our Communications Coordinator and she does such an awesome job.  Haley is talking to Jeanne (our Assistant Children's Director) whose baby is due in about six weeks (I think we might need to celebrate again!!) and Karen, who is also pregnant (she is our director of lay involvement).  Ann is next.  Ann is my "boss" and she is also the business administrator.

Here are three of our ministers - from the back.  I was having a hard time getting photos of folks.  Suzanne is on the left - she still has on her wig in this picture but this week has been coming to work wigless and she looks so cute.  She has little short dark hair all over her head.  We are so very happy that she is cancer free.  She is an amazing minister with a heart of gold . . .and more importantly, a heart for God!!   Drew is in the middle - his birthday is in August and if you check out a previous post, you can see him at my house celebrating with Mark.  Drew is our minister over evanglism and young adults.  I work directly with Drew and am enjoying getting to know him better and better.  Our church is his first major appointment out of seminary and I think we are doing a good job of teaching him about ministry in a large church.  Listen to me saying "we are doing a good job" - but in reality I guess that is true!!  On the right is Bobby and I do believe his birthday is this coming Monday!!  Bobby is our minister of visitation.  He calls and visits all of our shut-ins and those who live in retirment homes and nursing homes.  He is only in the office about three days a week but all of those folks really love him.  He brightens many days for many folks!!  His wife's name is Twink and I think that is the cutest name ever.  She is just as cute and matches her name well!!

Here is Mack. He is our minister of administration (or something like that - I should know since I work there!!) He is over our maintenance crew and our kitchen among other things. He and Bobby are both retired United Methodist ministers who are serving part time on our staff. Here is a picture of the front of Suzanne. Isn't she beautiful? God's light just shines through her in amazing ways!!

Our maintenance crew was all over in one corner. That is David sitting in the back and Fred toward the front. Fred is in charge of all of the maintenance operations at Trinity. He recently repaired my air conditioner in my office and has made me a much happier middle-aged woman. Some folks think that you could hang meat in my office now because it is so cold . . .but I'm LOVING it!  David is sitting up on a platform so that is why he looks so much higher/taller than Fred.

You know I couldn't write a post about a celebration with talking about the food. We ordered our BBQ from Moe's BBQ and it was delicious. A church member is part owner and we do love to support our church members. I made oriental brocoli slaw and Ann brought baked beans and two different folks brought potato salad. We  had (and ate!!) the biggest platter of deviled eggs you have ever seen!!  We also had chips and dip and desserts. The food was yummy and I had fun taking this photograph. I told several folks yesterday that I would love to be a food photographer.


So far, this post has been all about the celebration and just some "fun facts to know and tell" about our staff. I also just want to say that I think our church is such a wonderful place to worship God and to serve in His name and to grow in His grace. Not only can I say those things as a long time member, but I can say them as a staff member also. We offer something for every age and stage of life. I truly cannot imagine my life without my church family. Back when our kids were small, Mark was offered a job opportunity out of town. After much prayer and thought, we actually turned it down because we could not imagine leaving our church family. This middle-aged mom loves God and loves her church and her church family and even loves her job working in that same church!!