Reflections on My Hudson Weekend

I had a great morning of worship on Sunday at the Hudson Campus. It was the first time I preached in person at the theater and I really enjoyed it. Dan Lukas and worship team led us in a great time of worship.

I have to tell you, it really helped me out that we have started to use the seats in the front section. Thanks to all of you who sat in that section (including some Woodbury Campus folks that came to worship with the Hudson Campus). Keep doing it so we can close that gap between the worship leaders and the congregation. There are 75 seats in that front section and I'm sure it has a subconscious detrimental effect on everyone to have that sitting empty.

Our next step is to get some portable, lightweight staging to get the worship leaders up and out of what looks like a pit from the congregation's perspective. This will be coming very soon, and I think we'll all ask, "Why didn't we do this a long time ago?"

Drum Roll Please...

Here's Jerry's report on the Feed My Starving Children event from the weekend. Way to go Five Oaks and friends! I had a great time with the Hudson Campus group yesterday afternoon.

The Feed Event is over and we are finished tearing down. A huge, "Thank you!" to all who participated! The final numbers are, drum roll please...306,504 meals packed in 1,419 boxes, on 43 pallets. That feeds 839 children for a full year! We had 1,379 volunteers who packed food or worked the warehouse over 11 shifts in three days.

I also have to give a loud shout out to Deb Carr, who really was the backbone of this operation, and to my lovely wife, Patti, who assisted me in countless ways this weekend. Also a big thanks to Mary Hilton who kept the staff fed with tasty food overthe three days, and to all the behind the scenes volunteers who made the event a huge success. (I feel like I am giving an acceptance speech at the Oscars and do not want to forget anyone.) Thanks again!