Pastor’s Corner June 2012

The following was published in our monthly newsletter, the Redeemer Report.

Summer- A break in routine

For the last several years, Pastor Brian and I have taken a few days around Memorial Day to drive across Missouri on the historic KATY trail.

The KATY trail is a bike path made from the old Kansas-Texas-Missouri railroad line that shut down in the early 1980’s.  The State of Missouri made the trail by adding to and pressing down the limestone rock bed where the train tracks used to lie. The trail is relatively hard, despite being made of pressed limestone. Usually, like this year, we have someone drop us off in Clinton, Missouri where the trail starts, then pick us up in four days near St. Louis where the trail ends.

The trail goes for over 230 miles through beautiful Missouri forests and farm land, and along side the Missouri River for many miles.  Each year Brian and I contemplate finding a new trail to ride, but come back to wanting to do the KATY again.  Each day we ride 60-80 miles and stop at some small town for night lodging and food, then take off the next morning.

For us, riding the Katy each year has become a time to decompress after an intense school year of ministry.

Riding the KATY also marks the beginning of summer ministries with Brian overseeing special youth ministries like a mission trip and two summer camps.

For me, summer brings the PCA General Assembly in June, speaking at Horn Creek for two weeks in July, and our junior high camp in August. Lord willing, I will finish the last of my doctoral requirements this summer.

We all needs breaks in our routines.  Such changes of pace keep life and ministry fresh.

What breaks in your routine does summer bring?  Some of you have children going off to college in the Fall, so this summer has taken on a special significance to you.  Others in our congregation will travel to see family or take a vacation somewhere very different from Kansas. There are a few families (including mine) who will be moving to different houses over the summer, so that will shake things up.

However your routine changes during June, July, and August, make sure being with God’s people for worship, fellowship, and service doesn’t fall away.  Even if you find yourself away from Kansas City for a few weeks, be sure to find a good church to attend  on Sunday morning.  One routine that should never change is our observance and celebration of the Lord’s Day with the Lord’s people.

At Redeemer this summer we have a slight break in our normal routine with the much loved addition of cookouts every Sunday night after the evening gathering.  We have VBS coming soon, another “in town” mission trip to Oasis later this month, two youth camps (one in July, the other in August), and a great slate of summer Sunday School classes for you to participate in.  Have a refreshing summer, may it be a time of recharging as we head in to another ministry year!

In the Lamb,

Tony Felich.

In the Lamb,
Pastor Tony Felich