July 21, 2023
What an encouraging week VBS has been! There have been so many children and Sonbeams adults across our campus. I'm thankful for Kristi Clark and Adelle Johnson leading VBS again this year, and for Tammy ZumMallen and Daphne Clark heading up the effort with Sonbeams. The youth helpers and adult volunteers have sacrificed time and energy to bring the gospel of Christ to our POPC children and to many from outside the church. Thank you for giving yourself away for the Lord! It was a joy to watch new relationships among the volunteers formed, and old relationships deepened. I was also delighted to see so many friends from Christ Covenant School in the various classes - I'm reminded once again of the blessings of having this ministry, and how it interfaces beautifully with our other ministries. Be in prayer for this final day, and for fruit to grow to maturity in God's time and by His power.
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We are heading up to Hendersonville, North Carolina, this weekend to spend a week with my brothers' families at a camp called Kanuga. My dad grew up going to this camp as a child with his family, and he and his siblings took their families as we were growing up. We've been able to go a few times with our children, though not as often as I would like. I have so many memories of being here with my siblings and cousins as a child and youth, and it's fun to see similar memories form in the lives of my children. We actually moved up to Hendersonville for about five months before and during my sixth grade year, so this town (and nearby Brevard) feel somewhat like a second hometown for me. I only wish it were closer.
Kanuga is a place that in many ways is the same as it was forty years ago. That's part of the appeal, to see my children enjoy the same activities we enjoyed as children, to stay in the same cottages, to rock on the same rocking chair porch, to hike the same trails, to hear the same bugle call welcoming us to meals, to swim in the same lake, to play in the same gym, etc. It's always about ten degrees cooler up there than down here. The smells and sounds are strikingly familiar every time we've been. There are always lightning bugs at night in July. It's a week of nostalgia, and to be there with my brothers I'm sure it will be even more so. Like anything, some things have changed, for better or for worse. It's an Episcopalian family camp, so unfortunately over the last fifty years it has become much more theologically liberal (think labyrinths and "sound bathing"??). But fortunately there is a solid PCA congregation in Hendersonville that we'll worship with this Lord's Day, and it's easy to opt out of the wacky spirituality and enjoy God's creation. Pray that it will be a week of peace, unplugging, rest, refreshment, and rejuvenation for me and for my family.
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Hopefully you heard the sad news that our brother Walter Denny passed away this past Sunday. Walter was a founding member of POPC, and though he and his wife Peggy moved their membership to First Baptist Madison a couple years ago, he was still a good friend to many in our congregation. He was a generous and faithful servant of Christ, and was a moving force behind our church's becoming a more ethnically diverse congregation. His investment in kingdom work and its fruit will only be known when Christ returns on the last day. Please keep the whole Denny family, especially his wife Peggy, in your prayers. His memorial service will be held at First Baptist of Madison this coming Monday. Visitation will begin at 9:30 a.m. and the service will follow at 11:00 a.m. The burial will be at Parkway Memorial Cemetery on Highland Colony Parkway.
I had hoped to interview Walter soon for our 50th anniversary celebration in 2027, so I regret that his memories will not be a part of that event. If you were there when POPC was particularized on November 13, 1977, or if you were there in the early years of the church, I encourage you to start writing down everything you can remember about those early days, so that we might be able to preserve your memories in some form. If you have pictures, set them aside. No matter how long you've been a member, if you're interested in helping to plan this event, please let me know! I have a growing list in my mind of things I'd love to see us do, but I definitely can't do them all myself, nor should I for such a congregational celebration. God has been and remains faithful to POPC, so let us press on to serve Him in faith, hope, and love!
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Men, if you're interested in coming to the small group Bible study on Ecclesiastes, please sign up and purchase the book we'll be using ($5) here. We'll be meeting in the Parlor on Mondays from 12:00-1:00, starting on August 7. I look forward to digging into this puzzling book with you!