Exciting Church Stuff

it's not really new news that i LOVE church. :) i used to not enjoy it that much for a whole host of reasons. god started working on my heart in some personal areas, and somehow through it i ended up loving to fellowship with the people at my church. i wanted to worship with them (swing from the chandeliers if i could...hehe). i started to want to be mentored by the "olders"...in fact, i wanted to be friends with them too. haha. it's been a really cool experience to have that happen personally in the midst of a cool 'community' thing that god has been doing in the corporate body. corporate worship is happening, learning is happening, fellowship is happening...and a TON of FUN too! :)

(oh...and by the way...i totally get that tons of great stuff is happening in churches all over...so please don't think i'm only all about my fellowship place.) :)

well, today, something cool happened. the elders of the church granted a ministry license to a man (his wife soon to follow). ben and abby are a young couple that love the lord more than life itself. they have a passion for young people...but even more, they have a heart for "bringing heaven to earth". i love it because they have a bigger picture of what faith is about...not just getting a "get outta hell" card. their heart is for "becoming" in this lifetime.

the other thing i love about it is that ben and abby are not "newtons". hahahahaha. i just love it because i think some people get the impression that only "newtons" minister at my church. not true at all, but because there are a lot of us that go there, it can look like it. i think my family just likes to be together. :) and, if you know anything about being a "newton", the word "family" is quite broadly defined....heck, i probably consider you to be related...hehe. anyway, i love that ministry is a matter of the heart...not the bloodline. i'm so excited for ben and abby and all that god has for them.

OH...my sis debbie sent some pics from the last two picnic sundays at church.

this first one is from 'sewer pipe sunday'. :) we do ice cream sundae assembly races. much fun!

brandy's team won!!! (i got to be on that team too!!!) winning means getting cherries to top your sundae.

this is water balloon/wiffle ball sunday. water mayhem would be a better description.