August Rector’s Letter
Dear Parish Family,
In this Rector’s Letter, we’re reflecting on St. Laurence Day, clergy milestones, fall ministry launch, and Sunday’s expansion update meeting.
St. Laurence Day
What an incredible blessing we had on Sun, Aug. 10 as we celebrated the feast of our Parish’s patron saint: St. Laurence. We had 450 people in Sunday morning services, 4 baptisms, and we estimate somewhere around 500 people attended the St. Laurence Day picnic. The atmosphere was so joyful…everywhere I looked people were smiling. Maybe it was the air conditioned tent, but I’d like to think it was the sense of togetherness that made it such a joyful event! Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to bring people together to share fellowship and to celebrate God’s blessings on this community.
I was standing outside near the waterslides during the picnic and there were about 40 or so kids in line waiting their turn to go down the slide. One of our long-time members asked me, “who are all these kids?” After a quick survey of the line I said back to him, “these are all OUR kids” meaning they are all members here at St. Laurence. He was blown away and I have to admit that I was too. It was an incredible turnout from our youngest to our most senior members and an incredible day to give thanks to God for His many blessings.
Clergy Milestones
I am so happy to report to you that Fr. Travis Province has been called to be the Rector of St. Matthias Church in Dallas. I am so excited for Fr. Travis as he takes this leadership role in our diocese! St. Matthias is a wonderful parish and I am confident he will accomplish great things there. He starts in September and I’m sure he would appreciate your prayers and any fun text messages that you’d want to send to him!
I’m also happy to report that Deacon Jacob Hootman will be ordained to the priesthood on Mon, Aug. 25 at St. John’s Church in Fort Worth where he will be serving as Curate. He’ll be the Curate underneath the new Rector there, Fr. Sam Wilgus, who was one of our summer seminarians here at St. Laurence several years ago. St. Laurence brought Jacob into the faith: he was baptized and confirmed here. You all generously supported him through seminary both financially and by prayer, and now he takes another big step forward as he is ordained a priest in Christ’s one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.
You all have had a huge impact on both Fr. Travis and Fr. Jacob who will now be serving at other parishes in our diocese. They both had an opportunity to learn a great deal at St. Laurence and we hope they will take much of that knowledge with them into our other diocesan churches. I am confident that both Fr. Travis and Fr. Jacob will serve with distinction in their respective parishes. Thank you for the ways that all of you have built them up and supported them so that they may now in turn support others.
On a personal note, I learned the other day that I am now the senior tenured Rector in our Diocese, meaning that I have been the Rector here at St. Laurence longer than any other Rector has been in place at any parish in our diocese. That was hard for me to believe! I’m so blessed to have served for so long — 14 years as Rector — at St. Laurence and I look forward to many more years of serving here!
Expansion Update Meeting this Sunday
This Sunday between the services we will have another expansion update. Our goal is to have these updates regularly through the construction project to keep everyone up to date. You’ll hear updates on the construction side from our Expansion Committee Chair Shea Kirkman and our Owner’s Representative Carl Lapiska. You’ll also hear from our Trasurer, David Hayes, on how we’re doing financially. They’ll give you all the details, but the summary version is that things are going very well on both fronts. We’re so blessed to have such amazing leaders working hard on our behalf who really know their stuff when it comes to building projects AND who also love the Lord and His Church.
Be on the lookout soon for a video tour of the renovation that is underway!
Bricks for the Prayer Garden
There’s just a short time left to purchase your engraved brick for the Prayer Garden and I don’t want anyone who wants one to miss out. This is such a memorable way to leave something meaningful and enduring in this outdoor sacred space. You can order it online here or you can see Sarah Lueking outside the Church between the services and she will help you. The deadline is Aug. 31.
Fall Ministry Launch
Now that the kids have gone back to school, we are preparing everything for our fall ministries. There will be all kinds of opportunities to step forward in faith, connect with one another, and find new ways to serve and grow. We’ve got lots to accomplish in terms of worship, education, and serving others in the months ahead.
The summer has been amazing in terms of so many things achieved. From mission trips to VBS to summer camps at Camp Crucis, we’ve done so much. And that was during our “slow” time! We’re looking forward to picking up the pace and seeing how the Holy Spirit works among us. Get ready for a great fall!
Many blessings,
Fr. John Jordan