On the Right Path The News let ter of the South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu nity

Transcription

1 On the Right Path The News let ter of the South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu nity First Quar ter, 2014 Walk In the Light Vol ume 14 Is sue 1 Se ra pes, Can dles, Sand, and Ma ra cas - Ro man tic Mex i can Get Away? It may sound like the mak ings of a Mex i can va ca tion, but in fact these are just a few of the thou sands of items stored on the Emmaus Sup ply trailer! Ever won dered how the Cha pel was dec o rated so beau ti fully on your pil grim week end? Or where those fas ci nat ing props came from for your ta ble s skits? Or how about those crazy se - ra pes and ma ra cas used for the DeColores skit? And surely West River can t per ma nently sup port a flock of Roost ers THAT large. Well, the South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu nity has a Sup ply Trailer full of those items and many, many oth ers - main tained just to sup port the Walk Week ends. Be fore each week end, a team of ded i cated ser vants gath ers to clean, in ven tory and tidy the trailer. For the Spring 2014 Walks, the Trailer Cleanout oc curred Sat ur day March 8th at Lexington Park UMC. A trusty crew of about a dozen peo ple, emp tied the trailer of its con tents, sorted and in ven to ried the con tents and re loaded the trailer. To give the up com ing Agape Teams ex pe - ri ence and first-hand knowl edge of the trailer, the Agape Teams were re spon si ble for much of the clean-up, un der the tu te lage of sev eral Trailer Cleanout vet er ans. Fu eled by do - nuts, fruit, cheese, and plenty of cof fee and tea, the trailer was com pletely re loaded and ready to be hauled back to its per ma - nent home, in less than three hours. Be tween Walks, the Sup ply Trailer lives at the home of Len Lent (As sis tant Com mu nity Agape Co or di na tor) and his wife Mar cia. It is hauled from Leonardtown to West River be fore each set of Walk week ends. Dur ing the Walk Week ends, sup plies and agape flow freely from the trailer to out fit the Con fer ence Room, the Cha pel and See TRAILER page 7. Southern Maryland Emmaus 4th Day Seminar April 12 Sem i nar at 4:00 p.m. Gath er ing 6:00 PM at Good Shep herd UMC 305 East Smallwood Drive Wal dorf, Mary land Childcare Pro vided Bring Friends, Fam ily, Neigh bors Ev ery one Wel come

2 Spring Walks West River Men s Walk #47 March Women s Walk #48 April 3-6 Make plans to at tend the com mu nity events for each walk: Thurs day - Spon sor s Hour - 7:00 p.m. Sat ur day - Can dle light - 8:00 p.m. Sunday - Closing - 4:00 p.m. Sign up to pray for our walks (and oth ers) online at: Pil grim and Team Ap pli ca tions and this news let ter may be down loaded from the web at CLICK on Doc u ments, Lists and News let ters Recurring Events of the Southern Maryland Emmaus Community Next Gath er ing - No Gath er ing in March due to Spring Walks, but join us for the 4th Day Sem i nar on April 12 at Good Shep herd UMC 305 E. Smallwood Drive Wal dorf, MD Sem i nar at 4:00 p.m. Gath er ing 6:00 PM 4th Day Sem i nars Sem i nars are held in the spring and in the fall fol low ing the men s and women s walks. The next sem i nar date will be April 12. At ten dance at a 4th Day Sem i nar is re quired in or der to spon sor pil grims, and highly rec om mended for those who wish to team. The sem i nar will be held at Good Shep herd UMC. 2

3 Observations From an Overworked Editor Watch ing Paint Dry Life is full of choices. From the mo ment we make that first pain ful choice to get out of that nice warm bed, we face a diz - zy ing pleth ora of de ci sions. Granted most of our choices are rel a tively in con se - quen tial - break fast or no break fast, ba con or sau sage, match ing socks or not (hey, some times it s hard in the dark.) But oc ca sion ally our choices can re sult in lost hours of pro duc tiv ity (or sleep). Recently I had such a choice. I could have spent the hours from 8:30 to mid - night watch ing paint dry, or I could watch the Os cars. I chose the Os cars, but ad mit tedly about ten min utes into the host's va pid open ing mono logue, I found my self wan der ing into the den to check on the sta tus of the paint. It was far ing much better than the host's jokes. In that TV world once de scribed by New ton Min now as a vast waste land, the Os cars no doubt re side in a spe - cial sec tion re served for shows that score lower than My Mother the Car and The Jerry Springer Show on the en ter tain ment scale. Yes, there were beau ti ful dresses, and yes there were the usual mis matched tux - edo parts worn by hip young ac tors who long ago for - got how to tie a tie (much less a bow.) And yet still, mil lions of of us watch each year as Hol ly wood pa rades its hu bris across an ever more elab o rate stage setting. Life is full of choices. Each week we have to de cide where we re go ing to gro cery shop. Will it be Safeway, Gi ant, Food Lion, Shop pers, BJ s, Sam s Club, Costco, or the dreaded Wal-Mart? How to make the choice? Do we choose price alone? Do we look for the best se lec - tion? How about cus tomer ser vice? Each store has things to at tract us, and things that make us want to stay away. Me? Well, I do most of the gro cery shop ping for our house, and I usu ally end up at 2 or 3 dif fer ent stores each week. It seems no one out let has ev ery thing I m looking for. Life is full of choices, and it can some times seem as if there are no easy an swers. But we do have one choice in life that is a no-brainer - to fol low Je sus. It s an easy choice be cause we know when we fol low the path that Je sus has laid out for us we will re ceive all that we need to be happy and ful filled. The Bi ble is the roadmap, and it will take us where we need to go. And when we choose to fol low Je sus, all of our other de ci sions will be eas ier to make as well. And now, if you ll ex cuse me, I need to get home. I ap - plied a sec ond coat of paint to the den, and I know if I m not there to watch it, it will just never dry. Be sides the Emmys aren t on un til Sep tem ber. - Dan Brennan On the Right Path Dead line for next is sue is June 10, The pre ferred method of sub mis sion is as an MSWord doc u ment file or a WordPerfect file (.rtf file also ac cept able) sent via- to the fol low ing ad dress: dbrennan6@verizon.net. Very short ar ti cles or notes may be sent in the body of the mes sage. Please send your com ments and rec om men - da tions as well to the ed i tor, Dan Brennan, at the ad dress above. "On the Right Path" is pub lished by the South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu nity. Dan Brennan Ed i tor. 3

4 Southern Maryland Emmaus - Leadership & Service Re sources on Our Web Site Visit for these and other com mu nity re sources: Southern Maryland Emmaus Leadership Roster & Board of Directors Southern Maryland Emmaus Prayer Points of Contact Team & Pilgrim Applications Team & Pilgrim Lists (where available) Prayer Coordinator Ken Cain ken.cain@capitaltristate.com Visit our website. No need to reg is ter at our new website as no per sonal in for ma tion is main tained. On The Right Path This is the news let ter of the South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu nity. It is Pub lished quarterly by , dis trib - uted by the Point of Con tact for each par tic i pat ing church, hard copy mailed, and avail - able on the South ern Mary - land Emmaus website. South ern Mary land Emmaus is af fil i ated with the In ter na - tional Emmaus Move ment of The Up per Room, Nash ville, Tn. Emmaus is a pro gram of - fer ing of Up per Room Min is - tries of the United Meth od ist Church. Our pur pose is to in - spire, chal lenge, and equip church mem bers for Chris - tian Ac tion. Please con tact the POC for your church as listed in this news let ter if you are not re - ceiv ing the news let ter. Southern Maryland Emmaus Community Reunion & Accountability Groups The Re union Group list ing is tem po rarily un avail able while we are in the pro cess of ob tain - ing up dated in for ma tion on Re union Groups in the com mu nity. Pub li ca tion will re sume shortly. 4

5 You had a great week end. Your walk was some thing you'll never for get. You have n't been able to stop talk ing about it since you re turned. You're driv ing your spouse and ev ery one around you a lit tle crazy. Don't Worry. You're not sick. You sim ply have all the symp toms of a po ten tial 4th Day Speaker at one of our gath er ings. So what's stop ping you? A lit tle ner - vous? Hey, that's called liv ing. Don't let it bother you. Think about the 4th Day talks you've heard and loved. What was it about the speakers that con nected with you? Odds are it was n't how pol ished or pro fes sional they were, but rather that they were speak ing from their hearts. You knew that what they were tell ing you was real and meant some thing to them. So You'd Like to be a 4th Day Speaker Emmaus 4th Day Re union Groups When you think about it, they were prob a bly ev ery bit as ner vous as you might be, but that did n't mat ter to you, did it? You were too wrapped up in the con tent to worry about the de liv ery. It's im por tant to us as broth ers and sis ters that we share the ex pe ri ences of our walks, and how they have changed and en hanced our lives. It helps us to know that we are not alone in the feel ings and emo tions that we deal with as ser vants of the Lord. We want to hear from you, to learn from you, to share with you the won ders of your walk, and the bless ings that God has con tin ued to give you since your walk. Give us the chance. - Dan Brennan Re union Group Guide lines Made up of 2 to 6 per sons Meet once a week Goal is to sup port one an other Not lim ited to Emmaus com mu nity Pur pose is to share faith Or der of meet ing based on Ser vice Card (over) o Prayer o Dis cuss Spir i tu al ity, Study, Ac tion o Sub ject Dis cus sion clos est to Christ, Call to dis ci ple ship, Dis ci ple ship de nied, Your plan, group ac tiv i ties o Pray for Spe cial Needs Ef fec tive Groups o Com mit not only to God but one an other o Pre pare ahead of time o Prac tice what you preach o Up hold one an other o Pray for one an other o Fo cus on the ser vice card o Re treat with one an other once or twice a year o Set and test per sonal goals o Act as a group o Be spir i tual friends o Reg u lar at ten dance o Prayer of Thanksgiving 5

6 The com mu nity as sem bled. A re cent So. Md. Emmaus Gath er ing. Will We See You at the Next Gath er ing? As you can see from the photo at the left, our Gath er ings have been gen er at ing a lot of ex cite ment lately. We're meet ing at Good Shep herd United Meth od ist Church in Wal dorf which is a great place to meet and so cial ize, and of course to share Com mu nion, mu sic, and mes sages. But we need your help. Of course we want you to be there to ben e fit from the fel low ship of other Emmaus broth ers and sis ters, but we are also look ing for those who would like to share their 4th Day ex pe ri - ences with the com mu nity. You need not be an ac com plished speaker (see the ar ti cle on page 5). Hon esty and sin cer ity are more de sir able. Your talk can be se ri ous, amus ing, or what ever your 4th Day has been for you. New pil grims as well as those who walked years ago are equally en cour aged to be a part of the eve ning. Please plan on join ing us on Sat ur day, April 12 for our 4th Day Sem i nar which will take the place of our reg u lar gath er ing. We won't be hav ing a gath er ing in March due to the Spring Walks. Bring a food item to share for the pot luck. Gath er ings are a way for us to keep the fire of our walk burn ing. The mu sic will be great, and we'll get to wel come our new broth ers and sis ters from the Spring Walks. Pil grim and team ap pli ca tion dead lines are ap proach ing for the fall walks. Ap pli ca tions are are al ways avail - able at the gath er ings. Fall Walk Dates An nounced Men's Walk #49 - No vem ber 6 Women's Walk #50 - No vem ber 13 maybe I should just quit/give up and start again next year. How ever, dur ing my prayer time this week end, I had an epiph any God does n t re ally care if I read through the Bi ble in a year or if it takes me 13 or 14 months. What God re ally wants is that I read the Bi - ble, study and pray over it. I need to be read ing for un der stand ing and not just to fin ish in a year! Whew pres sure off!!! So, if you got a lit tle be hind, don t worry, for give your self and get back on the jour ney! My name is Con nie Wells; I at tend Lexington Park United Meth od ist Church. I walked on SME #28 and sat at the ta ble of Na omi (clap). Did you take the chal lenge to read through the Bi ble in 2014? And if so, are you on sched ule? I need to be hon est I m about a week be hind and I was putt - ing a lot of guilt on my self and started think ing that Please let me know if you ve read a good book lately that you think the com mu nity might en joy as well. I m also look ing for my next book! me at: conniewells@md.metrocast.net 6

7 TRAILER from page 1 many other build ings at West River. And on Sunday Af - ter noon, a vol un teer team, known as the Clean-up Crew, repacks ev ery thing back into stor age bins and re - loads the bins onto the trailer, un til the next Trailer Cleanout and the next set of Walks. If you re ally want to learn what goes on be hind the scenes for a Walk week end, there is no better way than to help with a Trailer Cleanout or serve on the Clean-up Crew. As the next set of Walks ap proaches, be sure to watch your for op por tu ni ties to serve... then quickly re spond to the call and vol un teer. You will be amazed to see all that goes into the trailer, and you will be blessed by serv ing in this self less but re ward ing role. There is an abun dance of God s love that flows through the Sup ply Trailer on each Walk week end. I would re - ally like to re mind and en cour age the Emmaus Com mu - nity to bathe the Trailer, its con tents and all who en ter it, in prayer - that all that co mes forth from the Trailer will be used to dem on strate God s amaz ing, mag nif i cent, ex trav a gant love for the Pil grims and Teams. And that God will place a hedge of pro tec tion around the trailer, its con tents and his faith ful Agape Ser vants. Amen? Amen! DeColores! Cheryl Merkle South ern Mary land Emmaus Agape Co or di na tor Mis sion Trip to Haiti: St Paul UMC is spon sor ing a United Meth od ist Vol un - teers in Mis sion team to Merger, Haiti June 18-25, The team will be led by Rev. Da vid Graves and will work with the In sti tute of Grace, which is run ning a Pri mary School and build ing a hos pi tal. The team will of fer VBS to lo cal kids, ed u ca tion pro grams to adults, med i cal clin ics, and pro vide con struc tion sup port. The cost per trav eler is $1200, which in cludes air fare and ev ery thing in coun try ex cept sou ve nirs. The trip is phys i cally chal leng ing (heat and hu mid ity) and of fers an op por tu nity to share God s love in a third world coun try. It is not a com fort able sight-see ing tour and con di tions are rus tic (no elec tric ity or air con di tion ing). if you would like ad di tional in for ma tion, please contact davidgraves1982@gmail.com. Do na tions are also wel - come and can be sent to St Paul UMC, HG Trueman Rd, Lusby, MD 20657, des ig nated Haiti Trip. 100% of do na tions will go to sup port the mis sion. Uni ver sity of Grace - Haiti - Da vid Graves 7

8 Meet Dale and Cheryl Merkle My name is Dale Merkle, I wor ship at Cal vary UMC in Wal dorf MD, I walked South ern Mary land Emmaus #3 and I sat at the ta ble of Pe ter. And my name is Cheryl Merkle, I also wor ship at Cal - vary UMC in Wal dorf, I walked Fredericksburg, VA Emmaus #42 and sat at the ta ble of Faith ful ness. We were asked to write a brief ar ti cle in tro duc ing our - selves to the South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu nity. We are both cur rently serv ing on the South ern Mary - land Emmaus Board of Di rec tors. Cheryl is serv ing in her sec ond year as the Com mu nity Agape Co or di na tor, and Dale is cur rently serv ing as As sis tant Pil grim Reg - is trar. This is Cheryl s sec ond year on the Board. This is the first year of Dale s three year term, but it is ac tu - ally his sec ond term on the Board - hav ing served as Com mu nity Agape Co or di na tor, As sis tant Com - mu nity Lay Di rec tor, and Com mu - nity Lay Di rec tor from 2008 to We ve been in volved with SOMD Emmaus since the early years of the Com mu nity - Cheryl since 2001 and Dale We ve had the op - por tu nity to spon sor sev eral pil - grims over the years. We ve been blessed to serve on team many times, and we ve both served as Week end Lay Di rec - tors - Dale for Walks 25 and 41, Cheryl for Walk 42. We ve seen SOMD Emmaus grow from a new Com mu - nity strug gling to sur vive, to a Com mu nity that is gain ing mo men tum for long term growth. Hav ing served in nu mer ous ser vant and lead er ship roles in SOMD Emmaus, we want to en cour age oth ers to serve. We have ob served first-hand the fruits of hard-work, care ful plan ning and ad her ing to the Emmaus model. We ve also seen what hap pens when we, as a Com mu nity, try to push our own agen das, try to force per sonal pref er ences and elicit spe cific out - comes, rather than trust ing the Holy Spirit and the sim - plic ity of the Emmaus model. We have both seen first-hand the im por tance of be ing in volved in Re union Groups and ben e fit ted from the sup port and Chris tian Fel low ship these groups pro vide. If you aren t al ready in a Re union Group - FIND ONE OR START YOUR OWN. It only takes two. As the Spring Walks come to fru ition and we move for - ward to the Fall Walks, we as a Com mu nity need to re - mem ber the im por tance of prayer fol lowed by ac tion. We need to pray for the Holy Spirit s guid ance, to lead us to the right pil grims to spon sor for the Fall Walks, and the Walks be yond that. Af ter pray ing and lis ten ing for the Holy Spirit s guid ance, we then need to take ac tion where the Spirit leads. If the Spirit is plac ing some one on your heart to spon sor, ap proach that per son. Pres - ent to them what The Walk to Emmaus has meant to you. Of fer to spon sor them, in vite them to pray about at - tend ing, give them an ap pli ca tion. Give them time to pray and lis ten to the Holy Spirit, then fol low-up. Now is the time to ap proach pro spec tive pil grims for the Fall 2014 and Spring 2015 Walks. If spon sor ship is n t where you are be ing led, pray about where you can best serve your Emmaus Com mu nity. You may feel con - victed to put in an ap pli ca tion to serve on Team for an up com ing Walk. Now is also the time to pray about that de ci sion and to sub mit a team ap pli ca tion, if that is where you are be ing led. Re mem ber, you can not spon sor and team at the same time. If spon sor ship or team ing aren t your call - ing, per haps the Spirit is work ing on you to serve through acts of agape - dem on strat - ing God s love - by serv ing as a be - hind-the-scenes ser vant. Op por tu ni ties in clude serv ing as a walk-on agape as sis tant or serv ing on the Clean-up Crew Sunday af ter noon of a Walk Week end. Par tic i pat ing in the 72-Hour Prayer Vigil is a self less act of Agape. An other op por tu nity is to work with your Re - union Group to make agape for an up com ing Week end. For the South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu nity to grow and be come a strong com mu nity, it will re quire a com mu nity-wide ef fort. If you have n t been in volved for awhile, come back and get in volved. Come to the Gath - er ings, Come to Com mu nity Events for the Walk Week - ends, Spon sor, Team, vol un teer, make agape. Get in volved! Most im por tantly... PRAY! Re mem ber what was said at Com mis sion ing on Sunday af ter noon of your Pil grim Walk? CHRIST is COUNTING on YOU! And the South ern Mary land Emmaus Com mu nity is count ing on you to be part of the 8

9 Body of Christ as we move ahead. It may seem daunt - ing... but re mem ber your re sponse? And I am count ing on Christ! When you rely on HIS LEADING and HIS STRENGTH, noth ing is im pos si ble. DeColores! Dale and Cheryl Merkle Educational Tour of Israel the team: Rev. Dr. Charles Harrell, Rev. Pat Dols, Rev. Tricia Wat son, and Rev. Da vid Graves. For a dig i tal flier de tail ing the trip, con tact davidgraves1982@gmail.com. - Da vid Graves St Paul UMC is co-host ing a trip to Is rael Jan u ary 8-18, Peo ple from sev eral churches will travel to gether on an un for get ta ble tour of the Holy Land with Ed u ca - tional Op por tu ni ties Tours. We will stay in fine ho tels and en joy buf fet break fast and din ners and travel by air con di tioned coach to Caesarea, the Gal i lee, Golan Heights, Naz a reth, Je ri cho, Qumran, Old Je ru sa lem, and other sites. Four pas tors will share the lead er ship of Welcome To Our New Website? A clean, at trac tive ban ner wel comes you to our com mu nity's new website: While you may be used to us ing other URLs to reach our site, please up date your book marks and re cords to use only the ad dress pro vided above. There are some tech ni cal is sues we are deal ing with re gard ing our older sites that may take a lit tle time to re solve, but we want you to be able to look at and com ment on our re de signed site. We know there are up dates still to be ap plied to the new site, and we are in the pro cess of tran si tioning re spon si bil i ties for main te nance of the site. So please bear with us. Your sug ges tions are al ways wel come. 9

10 10 Time Flies! It s just amaz ing to me how fast time goes by. My dad used to tell me that the older you get the faster time goes. It - Ken Cain took me years to un der - stand how smart the old man was. But years af - ter his pass ing I re al ized that he was right about many things, and this was just one more of them. It s been al - most 3 years since I be gan my ser vice on the Emmaus board. I will ac tu ally have the honor of serv ing 3 1/2 years be cause of the term change that was made in The elec tions will be com ing up soon, and we need you, yes I am talk ing about you, to con sider run ning for the 2015 board. Please prayer fully con sider serv ing Christ in this way. We need you, your tal ent and your ex pe ri - ence. I will be pray ing that you feel called to this im por - tant min is try, and it is, from my per sonal per spec tive, a min is try. I want to take this op por tu nity to share with the com mu nity my thoughts on a num ber of top ics. First, The Walks. I seem to have a burn ing need to ad - dress this is sue in ev ery news let ter. When I first joined the Board there was a lot of talk about this thing we call South ern Mary land Emmaus not even hav ing a fu ture. To day the talk is more of how we deal with the com mu - nity s suc cess. There are a cou ple of points I d like to make here. First of all the suc cess that has been en - joyed by this com mu nity did not come about as a re sult of any in di vid ual ef fort, but rather a lot of peo ple, and I do mean a lot, mak ing sub stan tial sac ri fices. It s not easy to team, and it s even in my hum ble opin ion a lit tle harder to spon sor. We seem to have fallen into some - what of a cy cle of get ting right up to the edge on the time frame of hav ing to make a de ci sion to can cel the walks or press for ward. This al ways seems to re volve around be ing just a few pil grims short of the num ber we had hoped for. The risk of can cel la tion is un fair to the team which is in prep a ra tion. Re mem ber, the team meets sev eral week ends prior to the walks, and they and lots of other com mu nity mem bers put in sub stan tial time get ting ev ery thing ready. I ve come to sev eral con clu sions: We all know that this is about Christ and the Pil grims. We all want to serve God. I don t ex pect the prob lem of last min ute de ci sions to im - prove dras ti cally over any sin gle pe riod of time. I ex pect we will have some of the same is sues in the fall, but I have faith that the board will per se vere to hold the walks. As Cheryl Merkle says, we need to bathe this in prayer. We need a man age able pol icy for mak ing walk de ci - sions. We tried set ting re quired num bers that we would ei ther meet or a de ci sion to can cel would re sult, but no body re ally wants to can cel a walk. Da vid Graves our Spiritual Director said it best when he said, and I m para phras - ing, that with out the walks there is no pur pose for the com mu nity to ex ist. He s right, if we can not achieve our mis sion of help ing lead ers in the lo cal church ob tain their po ten tial by mov ing them a lit tle fur ther in their walk with Christ, then what is all this about? Con nie Wells gave us great counsel at her last meet ing as a mem ber of the Board in She sim ply said, rather than hav ing a num ber let s have a prayer. Her sug ges tion was that in words she likes to use, prayer - fully con sider what to do each time we come up on this junc ture the in di vid ual walks. I thank God of ten for the words she said. That begs the ques tion why is this so hard? Well first of all, team ing and spon sor ship, as well as be ing a Pil grim, re quire a huge com mit ment. I also think there are a lot of un an swered ques tions about the pro cess of team ing and spon sor ship that we need to clear up in the com mu - nity. I m chal leng ing my self to come up withan FAQ sheet of some kind that will help the sit u a tion (Sug ges - tions Wel come), but in the mean time let me make some ob ser va tions from my point of view. Ap pli ca tions have to be re newed on an an nual ba sis, so any ap pli ca tion is good for 12 roll ing months. Just be cause you put in an ap pli ca tion does not com mit you to par tic i pate in any par tic u lar walk. In each case if se lected to team or if you are a spon sor you will be called to con firm your avail abil ity. If you re not avail able your ap pli ca tion will be con sid ered for the next walk, but keep in mind you must re new your ap pli ca tion ev ery 12 months. As far as the teams go, the idea is that each team con - sists of three groups those that are new, those that have a me dium level of ex pe ri ence, and a bunch of old goats,

11 ex cuse me I mean ex pe ri - enced peo ple. I m old so I can get away with that. To par tic i pate in the team you will need to at tend sev eral pre-plan ning meet ings so that by the time of the walk, you will be well pre pared. I can tell you that if you team 10 times you will have 10 unique ex pe ri ences. Team ing is re ally cool, and that s part of the is sue that I see. As badly as we need team mem bers we need spon sors even more, and spon sor ship can be very in - tim i dat ing. Here I am 2 1/2 years on the board, and I am em bar rassed to say this spring walk I will spon sor my first Pil grim. To tell you the truth I m scared. I m afraid I won t do ev ery thing I need to per fectly and the clock is tick ing very fast. I ve got ten out my re quests for let ters; a dear friend of mine is part ner ing with me, and he will trans port our pil grim as I am do not drive well in the dark (back to that old goat thing). I m fran ti cally re view ing ev - ery I ve been sent con tain ing ad vice from my broth ers in our small group re gard ing this busi ness of spon sor ship. Now let me ad dress one more thing that s both er ing me. I am leav ing the board, but I am not go ing to Mars, so I hope to serve on a com mu ni ca tions com mit tee re - port ing to the next per son that oc cu pies my cur rent po - si tion. These are some items on my mind: This news let ter is com ing out a cou ple of weeks late. That s no body s fault but mine. As we move for ward and the com mu nity con tin ues to grow and be ac tive some of these re spon si bil i ties, po ten tially the news let - ter co or di na tion po si tion as an ex am ple, might be best as signed to a com mit tee mem ber rather than the com - mu ni ca tions co or di na tor. All com mit tee mem bers would still re port to the board mem ber for that spe cific area. This would spread the work load over the com mit - tee and re duce the pres sure on the board mem ber. We have a great news let ter, in my opin ion. Af ter this year, I will con tinue the print ing and mail ing and Dan Brennan, God bless him, will hope fully con tinue on as ed i tor. Re gard ing the news let ter, I started, or at least at - tempted to start, a cub re porter po si tion in each church. We gave out fancy base ball bats, but I m not sure that ev ery one who de served one got one. I had it all planned hats, cer tif i cates, and even press passes. The prob lem was the clock has got ten away from me. We do, of course, need ma te rial of in ter est to the com - mu nity for the news let ter. I thought it was a great idea to have the lo cal churches sub mit news ar ti cles or an - nounce ments of up com ing events, but if this is sue is any in di ca tion we re off to a very slow start. Is it a good idea? We have been able to launch a new website, but we have not been able to get rid of the old ones. There are sto ries be hind each of them, and my plan is to ad dress this af ter I leave the board. The mail ing list for the news let ter and the PPOC list are both in pretty good shape but al ways need up dat ing. Our so cial me dia ef fort is for most pur poses non ex is - tent. I can tell you a good part of what I do for a liv ing is man - ag ing com mu ni ca tions, and as our com mu nity grows this is go ing to take team ef fort, or it is sim ply not go ing to get done. To that end I have a cou ple of re quests. If you feel there s a spe cific area that you would be good at, such as man ag ing the PPOC list and send ing out those com mu ni ca tions, or per haps writ ing ar ti cles for the news let ter, or man ag ing one of the so cial me dia sites or help ing in any other way in any board func tion, please step for ward. Just send me an and I ll get the in for ma tion to the right per son. if I have made ob li ga tions to some of you per son ally and not got ten it done or if you sent me an that I have not fol lowed through on, please send me a re - minder and put in the sub ject mat ter the words "Emmaus ur gent. One spe cial re quest on this sub ject, if I had told you in the past that I want to do an ar ti cle on your mis sion in your Chris tian walk or any other sub ject, please re-con tact me. Fi nally, let me say this: Ev ery thing I have said in this ar - ti cle, taken in con text, is a re flec tion of one per son s view point. I ab so lutely be lieve that this Chris tian Com - mu nity that we call South ern Mary land Emmaus is thriv - ing, grow ing, and serv ing Christ. Yes, there are go ing to be frus tra tions and oc ca sion ally set backs. For me per - son ally I am so proud of what the com mu nity has done and all the in di vid ual ef forts that have gone into the suc - cess that has been en joyed over the pre ced ing few years, I do not have the words to ex press my grat i tude to each and ev ery one of you. I am sure that Emmaus will con tinue to thrive, grow, and bring peo ple closer to Christ for many many years to come. 11

12 Walk in the Light - South ern Mary land Emmaus Visit us on the web at "Were not our hearts burn ing within us while He was speak ing to us on the road, while He was ex plain ing the Scrip tures to us? Luke 24:32 In for ma tion on the South ern Mary land Walk to Emmaus, as well as pil grim and team ap pli ca tions may be found on our website: