Tuesday and Back in the Office...

Greetings to my...five loyal readers. :)

This past weekend was a busy, but immensely enjoyable. It also included a great deal of firsts. I wanted to take some time to share them with you.

On Friday, I was part of my first wedding rehearsal. Thankfully, with the wedding being hosted outdoors at the Paine Art Center, the wedding planner took primary responsibility for running the show. This helped to assuage some of the angst I was feeling for my portion of the rehearsal. When Christa and I got married, our rehearsal was quite the show. I was with friends that I hadn't seen for awhile, so we joked around...a lot. We were squirrelly and not very attentive. I could only hope they wouldn't be that way for me. They weren't. Thank goodness. :)

The wedding on Saturday was absolutely wonderful. The weather was perfect. It was 78 degrees and sunny. Perhaps a little too sunny for the pastor who was slightly nervous and in direct line of sight to the sun. I was sweating quite a bit. Enough, in fact, that when beginning my homily a bead of sweat made it into my eye and caused me to give a one-eyed sermon for about 10 seconds. Other than that, the ceremony went very well. Everything came together well.

On Sunday, we had the service to celebrate the Byron Center, as it will be closing later this year. There were many who shared wonderful memories and wonderful friendships that were fostered on those grounds. It was also nice to hear a message from Steve Polster and work with my circuit colleagues on the service.

New Clregy Orientation

As you may have read in the bulletin from the last few weeks, I was out of the office on Monday and Tuesday so that I could attend the New Clergy Orientation at the Byron Center. This was focused on folks who were in their first appointment in the Wisconsin Annual Conference. So, there was quite a sample of individuals.

In those two days, I was given a lot of information about resources available in the conference. I hope to use many of those tools. I also learned a lot about my benefits and other financial information. Wow...it's confusing and overwhelming, but helpful.

I will be getting back into the swing of things this week and look forward to more regular posting.

Byron Center Worship Service

As many of you may already know, it is with great sorrow that the Byron Center will be closing its doors as a camp site for the United Methodist Church. It has a long and rich history of camps and has provided many wonderful memories. On September 13, 2009 there will be an opportunity to come together to share memories and celebrate the ministry that the Byron Center and its staff have helped foster over its life.

The grounds will be open to visitors at 2:00 PM for folks to walk around the grounds. There will be a worship service at 4:00 PM. There will be a pot luck supper beginning at 5:30 PM. I encourage you to come out to this event if you have been been involved in any way with the Byron Center.

If you are at all interested in helping out with the service, please contact me at: jbdroste@gmail.com or (920) 583-3352.

If you are unsure of how to get to Byron Center, check this map.

*** I will be announcing this event in the Oakfield and Tabor worship bulletins as well as the September "Good News"Newsletter. ***