This morning Jess and I had the opportunity to visit the Nappanee Missionary Church on our final day of vacation. This church is about 50-minutes away from our home in Winona Lake, and the drive there was filled with the Amish scenery I have grown to love!
The service was great – we went to the “Connections” service – which meets in the gym. It’s mainly a youth and young adult service with modern worship songs – after the praise and worship time, they play a video of the Senior Pastor’s – Pastor Dave Engbrecht – sermon from the 8:30AM service! Very interesting way to hold a “contemporary” worship service!
The band was great, the atmosphere was “young adult-ish” with coffee and refreshments available as you walked in the door.
We were greeted VERY warmly when we first walked into Nappanee Missionary church – and were given directions to the “Connections” service in the gym without hesitation – it felt good, again to be “visitors”!
Pastor Dave spoke openly this morning about sexuality and the church’s responsibility of talking openly about how God intended sex to be for his people – an act that should only take place between a man and woman who have taken the covenant of marriage upon themselves. He related the covenant of marriage to the covenant God has with Israel – a neat perspective that I am sure I’ve heard, but heard in a new way today.
Following the service, we met up with Craig Helfrich – who now attends Nappanee Missionary, and he gave us a tour of the facility and joined us for lunch in Goshen at the Backyard Barbeque! It was his first time and he was impressed!
After a leisurely meal, we headed back home for the afternoon. On the way, just outside of Goshen, we saw a car on the side of the road that was engulfed in smoke – with fire dripping from the engine compartment onto the road. We approached cautiously as a number of men guided us past and maintained a safe distance from the flaming car. Of course I took a picture:
Tomorrow I will head to the office just after 7AM. I will pick up 7 Junior Highers and drive them down to Fairmount Camp where they will spend the next week at Junior High Camp. And then it’s back to the office! I’m looking forward to getting back to the grind of things!
