Here’s my catch-all post. First off, tune into WNRI tomorrow morning from 10 am through 11 to hear Scott Gunn and I talk about the recent Pew report on religion in America. It said, among other things, that a good majority of Americans believe that there are numerous ways to God, not one exclusive path. We’ll also talk a bit about the recent passage of Rhode Island’s state budget that is balanced on the backs of the poor and marginalized. It’s 1380 on your AM dial, and www.wnri.com online.
We’ve been meeting with a few capital campaign consultants over the past two weeks. Our final interview is tonight, and the process has been terribly exciting and informative. I don’t think we’ll be able to make a bad choice, as each group we’ve met with has tremendous experience and seems to be chomping at the bit to work with us. We’ll keep you up to date throughout the summer. For now, we expect to begin ‘discerning’ this fall: ‘discerning’ is a fancy church word that means ‘deciding’, or ‘figuring out’. It’s what we do all the time. Ordinary people say they’re ‘thinking about stuff’. Church people say they’re ‘discerning’. So we’ll discern what our vision will be: what space we want to see, what ministries will benefit, and how our growth will be best suited by renovation and expansion.
In other news, I continue to meet with applicants for our position of choir director. I’ve already met some very qualified candidates, and I expect that when I get back from vacation, I will be calling a few to meet with members of our music team and choir. The goal is to have the right person in place for September.
Our last Saltshakers dinner was this past Sunday evening at Marilyn Sayles’ house in Lonsdale. I don’t know what your experience with the Saltshakers ministry has been, but ours has been nothing short of fantastic. All the people we’ve had the pleasure of meeting with (the Freunds, Crowleys and Nancy Ryan in year 1; the Hales, Cunninghams and Marilyn Sayles in year 2) are great friends at this point. I’ve heard great stories about other groups as well. If you haven’t gotten involved in a Saltshakers group (it’s dinner rotated between three or four houses over eight months), we’ll be starting up again in September. Look for it.
We’ve been told by American Lawnmower of Cranston that our tractor will be delivered back to us today. Many thanks to Brad Dean for the use of his tractor mower this past Sunday, thanks to Brian Smith and Ed Greene for doing the mowing, and thanks to Bill and William Hawthorne who showed up after church to see if they could help! When we all pitch in, look what happens! Anyway, I look forward to getting the tractor back.
One more note: we took one of our capital campaign visitors to Andrew’s Bistro on Tuesday (in the midst of one of our big thunderstorms). I had called Andrew about 30 minutes before to let him know we were coming–mostly to make sure he was open. Since I hadn’t been in a while, I wanted to make sure. When we showed up around 6:20, the place was PACKED. And who was the first one to greet us but Andrew himself. We were seated immediately, and had a great meal. I am so glad the Bistro seems to be doing well, and that they haven’t lost their hospitality. Do yourself a favor and visit them, but make reservations if you can.
