Hey BCC Family!

All I could say yesterday was "Wow and Praise God!"

The outreach breakfast and praise in the park worship service was outstanding!  God blessed us in every way. From the great weather which we had for both the parade the night before, as we passed out 2,000 tickets, to the weather for the outreach and praise service was great! Not only did God keep the rain away on the few hours on both Saturday and Sunday that we needed it, but He even gave a gentle haze on Sunday morning so that it cut much of the direct sunlight and heat to be a very pleasant and wonderful summertime morning. Praise God for the great weather!

As usual, the worship through music and the Word went great. This year we had the additional benefit of having the youth praise band play during the first half of breakfast and the Cowboy Band played during the second half of the breakfast, followed of course by our own praise band for the worship service, which was very worshipful. And Pastor Max's message on Who is My Neighbor was a perfect match for that park venue.

One of the real heroes in my mind this year was Pat Wessman. She did an amazing job of organizing the breakfast in a short period of time - three weeks! She was helped by Jolene Huston and her hospitality crew; there were too many people to recount at this point, but we owe them all a great big thanks. They did wonderfully well. The planning which Pat W did really helped this to be a success. Everyone knew what they needed to do, and they all faithfully showed up and did it.  

I am told that we served up 750 plates for breakfast. Wow! In one hour. There was only one pan of sausage, and one pan of gravy left (plus lots of eggs). But really, it was amazing that everything came out that close. We really had no idea how many people would show. The big fear was that either very few would show, and we would have tons of food left over, or way too many would show, and we would run out. Neither fear materialized because God blessed.

But we had many guests with us for that day. Both Pastor Max and I had the chance to meet and talk with individuals who were here for the very first time. One couple told Max that they had known about the service in the past, but had never come. But they came this year because of the breakfast invite, and said they enjoyed it and would be back. 

Many thanks to all of you who so faithfully handed out tickets (which Pastor Mary prepared). Not only the dozen or so, who helped to pass them out during the parade - which was loads of fun by the way - but to all of you who invited friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors. I spoke with people who said they were specifically given a ticket by a member of BCC who invited them. Well done BCC!

I am really proud of the church for stepping out in faith. This was a big faith step. A month ago we had a staff meeting in which we watched a video from a pastor challenging the church to step out in faith. Then God the Holy Spirit just touched our hearts, and we said as a ministry staff that we needed to take advantage of the great outreach opportunity which God gives us each year at the park. And then when Pastor Mary presented the idea to the BCC LIFE ministry team, they agreed and stepped out in faith, although the idea of feeding a thousand people seemed very daunting to them. They didn't let fear overrule their faith. Thanks BCC LIFE  & hospitality team! The Elders also agreed that it was a great opportunity and approved the additional expense it would take to make it happen.  

So to the breakfast people, to the setup crew, to the worship teams, and youth, and all the volunteers who helped make this a success we must say, "Thank You", and especially to God for helping to make it happen. Special thanks to Pat Wessman for doing a great job of organizing, and to the ministry staff with whom it is my privilege to serve, Thanks and Praise God!

In His Service,

Pastor Bill