Thoughts
1. The trustees are having some cement poured in the next week or two. They are fixing the sidewalk along Dover St. and pouring a new sidewalk at the West end of the west wing.
2. The Leadership Team is very close to scheduling the first meetings of Narcotics Anonymous, to meet on Friday nights. We will tell you when they actually start.
3. I am going to teach from the Old Testament book of Habakkuk. I am calling the class "The Prophet and the Problem of Evil". The Prophet asked God why he permits evil people and go about unchecked, ruining the country. God replies with "You won't believe this answer." This will be a read the Bible and discuss it type of class. This class will last 4 weeks.
4. I spent some time this morning with Jeff Chapman. He is getting settled in Minnesota for the coming year. We are working on a time when he can bring a report to the church.
5. My time with Jeff and some conversations I have had with Doug Flanagan have me thinking more about our missions budget. As I reported several weeks ago, we have increased our support for Jeff, but still not committed the rest of our "special project missions budget. Here is my thinking on missions budgets. First we ought to support the missionaries that come from here. (Jeff and Barb Chapman and Lynn and Barb Conner) We ought to support our Conference missionaries, and we ought to support the missionary efforts going on right here in Iowa City. This is a unique opportunity place, both to reach university students, and to reach international students.
5. I have enjoyed the two visits we have had from Scott Kelsey. We have him scheduled to come back again in August. He will again invite us to host an international family. They really want to get out of the university setting and get to know real Americans. And when they do meet American families, wouldn't it be better if they met Christians?
6. Scott Kelsey is working to reach a very important people: International students in Iowa City. All those who become Christians here, go back to their own countries to leadership roles. Scott is not fully funded yet. I think we should channel our special project budget his way and work together with Him to reach internationals right here.