Spring 2019
INDEPENDENT Presbyterian Church
WINDOWS
Across the Street. Around the World. HOLY WEEK
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RESURRECTION WITNESSES
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A TIME TO PLANT | SEVEN DAYS
A New People. A New Memphis.
My dear Friends:
Windows is a publication of Independent Presbyterian Church. Go to ipcmemphis.org to view online.
In this issue:
2 RESURRECTION WITNESSES 4 A TIME TO PLANT 6 WHAT CAN HAPPEN IN SEVEN DAYS?
ON THE COVER: Vincent van Gogh: Enclosed Field with Rising Sun
I first heard the theme for this issue, “Across the Street, Around the World,” from my former colleague at Covenant Seminary, Dr. Nelson Jennings. Nelson was not only a member of the 1980 SEC champion Vanderbilt Commodores baseball team, but also a missionary to Japan prior to teaching missions at the seminary. He impressed on his students, as well as his colleagues, that missions is not us going over “there”—rather, it is everyone going everywhere, multidirectional, as God’s people share the Gospel “across the street and around the world.” That phrase has stuck with me—and this issue shows how God’s people at IPC are on mission across the street. I know you will enjoy the article on church planting in the Mid-South region—IPC has been instrumental in the leadership of the Mid-South Church Planting Network, working beside Hunter Brewer and now Clint Wilcke. I’m grateful you will have an opportunity to learn more about this mission and how it affects our efforts to plant churches here in Memphis. This issue also demonstrates how we are on mission around the world. The report from our short-term mission trips to Greece, working with House Damaris, and to Scotland, working in a Holiday Club in Glasgow, will remind us that God’s work advances as we surrender to his call to join with his church in far-flung places. Having just had an opportunity to meet Rev. Ivor MacDonald, pastor at Hope Church Coatbridge, at our missions conference, I know you’ll read that article with special interest. Never forget as you look through this issue of Windows and look out the windows in our sanctuary at IPC: God is at work across the street and around the world as we take the Good News that Christ is risen, he is risen indeed!
In the grip of God’s grace,
Dr. Sean Michael Lucas Senior Pastor Independent Presbyterian Church
4738 Walnut Grove Road Memphis, Tennessee 38117 901-685-8206 | ipcmemphis.org
Martin C. Shea
Holy Week Palm Sunday Program Handel’s Messiah Complete April 14 | 5:00 p.m. | Sanctuary
Adult Choir, Senior High Choir, and Junior High Choir accompanied by soloists and members of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra
Maundy Thursday Communion Service April 18 | 6:00 p.m. | Sanctuary
Good Friday Service
April 19 | Noon | Sanctuary
Easter Eve Concert with Sandra McCracken April 20 | 6:00 p.m. | IPC Soccer Field
Featuring Nashville songwriter and recording artist Sandra McCracken
Easter Sunday Worship Services
April 21 | 8:30 and 11:00 a.m. | Sanctuary Handel’s
Messiah C O M P L E T E
palm sunday Music
April 14 | 5:00 p.m. | Sanctuary Handel’s glorious oratorio telling the story of Jesus the Messiah’s life and triumph over death is rarely heard live in its entirety. Please don’t miss this 1 presentation by our Adult, Senior High, and Junior High Choirs, plus soloists and orchestra.
Sandra McCracken
Easter Eve Concert April 20 • 6:00 p.m. IPC Soccer Field (west of the Sanctuary)
Sandra McCracken’s soulful, acoustic hymns (“Thy Mercy My God,” “We Will Feast in the House of Zion”) are wellloved at IPC. Bring a picnic blanket or lawn chairs and enjoy Sandra live at our outdoor Easter Eve concert. In case of rain, we’ll move to the Sanctuary.
Resurrection Witnesses
Vincent van Gogh, The Sower
Sean Michael Lucas
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There is no point to evangelism if Jesus is not bodily raised from the dead, if Jesus is not alive. That’s not just my opinion. That’s clearly the sense that you get from the Gospel accounts themselves. Resurrection was both the message and motivation for evangelism, for taking the Gospel across the street and around the world.
from his lips, she recognized him. She fell down and grabbed
the women see the stone rolled back, the empty tomb, and
has dawned and resurrection life has invaded the present
Think about Matthew’s account of the resurrection. When
then the angel, what do they hear? “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead” (Matthew 28:5-7). These women, what were they commissioned to do? Hear the news—Christ is risen; see the proof—he is not here; go tell others as resurrection witnesses. Or Luke’s three accounts, you hear the same emphasis. First the angel appeared: “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen” (Luke 24:5-6). Then the women went back to the apostles and “told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest” (Luke 24:9). Christ is risen; go tell the others. And then, this scene is followed by the account of Cleopas and his companion meeting Christ on the road to Emmaus. After Christ explained the Scriptures to them, showing “that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory,” they ate with him (Luke 24:26). When he broke bread, they recognized the resurrected
his feet—cannot do that to a ghost, can you?—and then heard Jesus say: “Do not cling to me, for I have not ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them…” (John 20:17). We see the pattern again: Christ is risen; see the proof; go tell others as resurrection witnesses. And so, the resurrection served as the message and the motivation for evangelism. The apostles and others were resurrection witnesses: they heard the news, they saw the proof, and they told others that Christ is risen! The new age through the resurrection of Jesus. But here’s the thing: that wasn’t just the pattern for the first-century church. That’s still the case for us today. Only if we are absolutely persuaded that Jesus is risen and reigning will we be emboldened to witness to that reality to our family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are resurrection witnesses, called to go across the street and around the world. Why would someone leave a comfortable spot on a church staff or a relative safe place as a senior pastor to go plant a church or lead a church planting network? It only makes sense if you really believe that Jesus is risen, that the new age has come in him, and that the power of the Spirit who raised Jesus
But if we have heard and we have seen and we do believe— then we are called to go across the street and around the world as resurrection witnesses.
Christ—and they went back to Jerusalem as witnesses (Luke 24:35). Finally, Jesus himself appeared, demonstrated that he is not a ghost but physically alive, and then sent them out: “Repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:47-48). Over and over the same pattern: hear the news that Christ is risen; see the proof; go tell others as resurrection witnesses. And in John’s account we have the same pattern. Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene—and once she heard her name
from the dead is at work raising us to new life in him (Eph 1:15-2:10). Why would someone leave a successful career in law or business or medicine to go to the mission field, whether for the short-term or the long-term? It only makes
sense if you really believe that Jesus is risen, vindicated by the Father as the Son of God and the Son of David, the true King of the world (Rom 1:3-4). In other words, we will only go on mission, evangelizing others if we hear the Good News and see and believe the evidence by the power of the Spirit. But if we have heard and we have seen and we do believe—then we are called to go across the street and around the world as resurrection witnesses. Will you go? Have you heard and seen? Do you believe?
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A Time to Plant New churches for a new people
Where are church plants needed? The Mid-South, at the heart of the so-called Bible Belt, may not spring to mind—but it’s precisely where several PCA planters feel called to settle. In 2013, Rev. Hunter Brewer partnered with several Mid-South pastors, among them Rev. Richie Sessions and Dr. Sean Lucas, to create a support system for regional PCA planters. Brewer led his own plant, ten-year-old Madison Heights Church PCA, in the formation of the network; in the years since, the Mid-South Church Planting Network has garnered support from 28 partner churches in four presbyteries, including IPC and Covenant Presbytery. “Our vision is to be a catalyst and resource for church planting in Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and West Tennessee,” said Brewer, who is currently the network coordinator. “We coach and equip church planters and help the process of planting come to fruition.” A church in its infancy must balance fundraising, discipleship, budget, and establishment of a core group. Throughout the critical first few years, the network aims to walk alongside each planter, offering encouragement, leadership training, and guidance. The network trains aspiring Mid-South PCA planters free of charge. Currently offering a one-year leadership program, it’s in the process of transitioning to a new model that will be rolled out next year: a three-year cohort training in which planters from the Mid-South, and across the country, gather multiple times annually for no-cost coaching, prayer, and peer fellowship.
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Annie Howard
“The three-year leadership program will take these planters through pre-launch, launch, and Uptown post-launch,” said Rev. Clint Wilcke, who planted Christ Covenant Church Crosstown in Hernando and is the incoming coordinator and catalyst for the network. “It’ll develop the guy on the ground; it’ll help him think through what life and family look like, spiritual disciplines, on IPC’s area and denomination, Brewer budget.” also noted room for improvement. Before “In some sense, we’re a consultant to the network’s establishment in 2013, there these planters, making sure they do the had been “one new PCA plant in Arkansas, best job possible and the plant succeeds,” Mississippi, Louisiana, and West Tennessee Brewer said. “We want to hold their hand in the previous five years,” he said. the best way we can through the beginning Since 2013, the network has facilitated stages of starting a new church.” 11 out of 13 new plants in the same area. Why hone in on the Mid-South? It’s a Even in a region as churched as question Brewer answers often. the Mid-South, high concentration of “If there’s one thing that I’ve been established churches may not equal asked more than any other in the last five consistently filled pews. years, it’s why plant in a region where there “Generally, 70 percent of any church seems to be a church on every corner,” he culture doesn’t really go to church,” said said. Wilcke. “If you ask a Memphian or a Though our area is replete with Mississippian, ‘Do you go to church?’ they churches, the statistics tell a surprising might reply, ‘Yes, I go to St. Mary’s.’ But that story. may be twice a year. They’re not regularly Wilcke drew on numbers from Tim going to church.” Keller and Ed Stetzer. “About 4,000 Thriving plants are vital for engaging churches are planted every year in the U.S., the unchurched—a group including 65 and that includes every denomination,” he percent of the population, which Brewer said. “While 4,000 churches are planted, calls a “conservative estimate.” 3,700 churches shut down every year. Even Plants are “wired,” he says, to pull in if you just look at those numbers without that demographic. factoring in population growth, you get a “At my own plant in Madison, I really grasp of how immense this task is.” saw the effectiveness of new churches Paring down the numbers to focus reaching people who were unchurched and
dechurched and ‘quasi-churched’—that’s my term for people who maybe flirted with church, but weren’t very involved anywhere,” he said. “A church plant has advantages that a traditional church doesn’t. Not to say traditional churches can’t reach those folks, but plants are designed in a certain way.” For its first few years, a young church is singularly focused on outreach. Not yet large enough to support various branches of ministry, the plant’s energy funnels straight into community engagement. “It’s frontline ministries,” said Wilcke. “There’s no structure; you go to meet people, share the gospel. You’re engaging in one-on-one discipleship immediately. It’s entrepreneurial, face to face, raw. You’re dealing with questions about Christ and the church, walking through hard things with people.” “The statistics show that evangelization of unchurched people actually advances most quickly when new churches are planted,” said Lucas. Regional church planting benefits not only the unchurched, but the local church body. Memphis has a surprising dearth of established PCA churches; in a metro area of 1.4 million people, there are nine churches total. “When you compare that to, say, Jackson, Mississippi, which is about 275,000 metro, there are 22 PCA churches there,” said Lucas. According to Brewer, Birmingham has 29 PCA churches; Nashville, 26. PCA church planting helps ensure a healthy, localized presbytery. Covenant Presbytery, with which the church plant network and IPC are aligned, covers West Tennessee, Arkansas, and North Mississippi. “That’s a big presbytery,” said Lucas. “The greater the concentration of churches, then the smaller the presbytery can be. That creates local control more responsive
to the needs of the congregation in a particular context. North Mississippi is different from Arkansas, which is different from West Tennessee.” Planting also ensures a space for IPC covenant children to land. “I’d love for our covenant children, when they move to New Orleans, or Baton Rouge, or Little Rock, to have multiple PCA church options,” said Lucas. “We’re really trying to plant churches for our children, if they transition out of Memphis.” While the network addresses a region, some planters are focused on revitalizing very local turf. Rev. Samuel Husband, currently in a parish planting residency at Downtown Church, ultimately plans to begin a multiethnic PCA plant in Memphis. He likens his future church to two things: a bridge and a table. “When you think about a bridge, what you’re doing is you’re thinking about connecting things. We want to be a bridge church that testifies to the risen Jesus, because these people are hanging out and loving each other,” he said. “And then in Luke, Jesus talks about how people from the North and the South, the East and the West, will come and recline at my table in the Kingdom. I want to plant a church that feels more like a table than a temple, different folks from different backgrounds celebrating their gifts and cultural expressions together.” Husband’s vision is sensitive to its place. “Memphis has an amazing history and a scarred history. Crossing divides is going
to take time and partnership and trust,” he said. “We’re seeking to cross divides. My heart’s desire is to have a church where class and culture aren’t what define us. Jesus is.” For now, Husband is ministering in a multiethnic context at his residency, learning, preparing, and searching for an African-American plant partner. Brewer will hand the network coordinator title to Wilcke in April, moving from Mississippi to Memphis to pursue a Collierville PCA plant. Supported by both Covenant Presbytery and IPC, he hopes to level out the lack of young PCA churches in the Memphis area. “When you’re trying to raise support to plant in Collierville, the reaction you sometimes get is, there’re plenty of churches in the South,” Brewer said. “But this area’s underrepresented in PCA churches compared to everywhere else.” Collierville is the second-largest city in Tennessee without a PCA church. Brewer holds casual interest meetings in Collierville on the last Sunday of each month; in August, once he and his family have transitioned to Memphis, meetings will bump to each Sunday. Both Husband and Brewer seek prayer, support, and word of mouth as they begin to translate their visions into a flesh-andblood community. In every place and context, there are hearts waiting to be reached; each church that sprouts up in the Mid-South holds potential for renewal. “Jesus, with his divine optimism, seizes these opportunities,” said Wilcke. “There are lost people that he wants found.” Young plants shine like a beacon, guiding the lost home.
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A
s IPC members step off leave the country? the plane and into Dr. Sean Lucas, IPC’s senior a week of short-term pastor, calls his missions philosophy ministry, whether in Scotland, the “praying-giving-going model.” Greece, Tanzania, or New York “People pray and give when City, need becomes real. Teams they know,” he said. “And the only leave their world and enter into way you can really know is to go. others’, encountering poverty and When you actually go to Glasgow, hardship; but as those same teams and you’re in the neighborhood return to Memphis, they bring that they want to plant, and you’re Annie Howard home stories of the healing power getting to know people, suddenly, one week can hold. your heart is more engaged.” “Each year, IPC members Entering another person’s world minister in places near and far. creates empathy—a transformation Throughout 2019, teams plan to that can’t stop when members board visit New York City, Colombia, the plane home. As teams return, Greece, Puerto Rico, Tanzania, the Lucas hopes they see their city with Bahamas, and Scotland. Financial “new eyes.” assistance is available if a person is “Part of the reason we do unable to pay the full fare to go. cross-cultural work is so that we can “Sometimes it’s construction see our own place more clearly,” he work, sometimes just ministry, said. “This is where we are 51 out and sometimes it’s encouraging of 52 weeks of the year. If you have those on a mission field who are a concern for women coming out already there,” said Matt Buyer, a of sex trafficking, but you’re only member of IPC’s short-term missions subcommittee. Buyer has concerned about people in Greece, then you don’t realize that visited Tanzania twice on missions to Musoma, teaching at the actually sex trafficking is a major issue in Memphis. Say you go annual diocese pastoral conference. to Tanzania. That helps us see, ‘Guess what? There are Africans Whether hammering nails, connecting with strangers, or here in Memphis who need our assistance, need the Gospel, teaching VBS to wriggly students, missions teams seek to express need to find work.’” God’s love. Memphis struggles with its own needs, however; why Short-term missions can shift perspective, feeding back
What can happen in
SCOTLAND
seven days?
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NEW YORK
GREECE
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GREECE
“Just getting them out isn’t enough. If they’re trafficked early, they have no education. They don’t know how to make money so they don’t go into that trade again. They need somewhere safe to process their trauma.” Kathy Garrett
has to deal with. When you’re down in the trenches, Satan likes to get to you; he likes to discourage. He says no one else cares what you’re doing. We’re there to say, ‘Oh yes they do.’” The team also assisted at the Petalouda Center, an educational community center offering schooling to the surrounding, troubled Romani neighborhoods. The prospect of stepping into the deep end of another culture can be daunting. “Especially if you’ve never been out of the country, or have to have immunizations, it is kind of a scary thing,” said Sam Olson, another subcommittee member and veteran of many a trip. “Maybe you’re thinking, ‘I don’t know that I’d be that useful. I don’t know that I could help.’” That discomfort, however, can refine us as tools of ministry. Buyer, at last year’s pastoral conference in Tanzania, taught an audience of 250 diocese ministers for five hours. “I was so far out of my comfort zone, it was nowhere to be seen,” he laughed. Though unpleasant in the moment, discomfort strips away “natural barriers,” as he calls them. “Our natural minds, our natural way of thinking about things, our creature comforts—all of that can be a barrier,” he said. “We like to be comfortable. We like to walk in our own strength. Then God takes us out of our comfort zone and shows us
GREECE
into local renewal, but transformation abroad is just as vital. In January, seven IPC women visited Athens to assist at House Damaris, a Christian safe house for women escaping sex trafficking and abuse. Dina Petrou, House Damaris’ founder, began the program three years ago. While ministering to trafficked women in brothels, she encountered the many different factors that trap survivors in their environment. “Just getting them out isn’t enough,” said Kathy Garrett, a subcommittee member who visited House Damaris both this year and on a 2018 mission trip. “If they’re trafficked early, they have no education. They don’t know how to make money so they don’t go into that trade again. They need somewhere safe to process their trauma.” House Damaris has become that safe place, offering a roof, a support system, and a program covering everything from finance training to therapy. For the past two years, IPC women have traveled over to serve both the women in residence and the House staff. “It’s a spiritual warfare,” said Garrett. “It is a very dark place where these ladies have been, what the staff
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SCOTLAND
RWANDA
how desperately dependent on him We had enough eggs for every child we really are.” to eat.” When teams lean into that Short-term missions can be far dependence, Olson says, “You see from predictable. In many ways, trips miracles happen right in front of are a surrender of power and self, you.” removing ourselves from the familiar Having served in many places, and comfortable. she recalled one particular trip as That surrender creates room for “the biggest blessing I believe I’ve genuine connection. Members show ever had.” Christ’s love through service and Several years back, IPC humility, stepping out of comfort to “I remember walking out of that organized a mission to Rwanda, minister face to face, equal to equal. hosting a VBS in conjunction with As Garrett recalled her time at sanctuary across the courtyard, the local diocese. House Damaris, she remembered over to the top of the steps, “We planned for about 800 how carefully the team gained trust. and looking down, there were kids,” Olson said. “We got materials “One of the things they said was, 1,800 kids. We went back into together for 1,000, and we got ‘Don’t force these girls to open up,’” the sanctuary, we got our team hard-boiled eggs for a snack, because said Garrett. “Our goal was to do many people there can’t afford things to relax them, let them know together, we huddled in a circle protein.” that we’re safe. We’re not going to ask and we prayed. Sam Olson As the VBS team prepped inside about your story; that doesn’t matter. the sanctuary for their first morning, What we’re here to do is show you Olson stepped outside. “I remember that we love you.” walking out of that sanctuary across the courtyard, over to the Icebreakers turned into makeovers, and as team members top of the steps, and looking down,” she said. “There were 1,800 made new friendships, they reaffirmed old ones: several of the kids. women who had graduated from House Damaris since the 2018 “We went back into the sanctuary, we got our team together, trip returned to catch up. we huddled in a circle and we prayed. We didn’t have the “We didn’t know the relationships we’d built until they supplies, the eggs, the resources.” returned this year, which also encouraged the staff,” said Garrett. For three days, the 21-person team made do with what they “They see it works; what we’re doing with these teams coming in had. “We were cutting eggs, halving eggs, someone went and got and loving these ladies works.” more eggs,” Olson said. Short-term missions can also tug on the sometimes On the final day of the VBS, the team was in for a surprise. imperceptible threads that connect us. Though trips provide a “I was standing in the middle of a field,” she said, “And I space for relational, concrete, boots-on-the-ground ministry, had one egg left over. I was relaying through all the classrooms some payoffs we may never see. asking, ‘Do you have enough? Do you have enough?’ And we did. “I always take a coin with me from the country that I’ve visited, and I put it in my change purse,” said Olson. “Every time I open my wallet and see that coin, I pray for the specific people who I’ve met there. Years and years and years later, I’m still praying for those specific people I met. I may never know what happened. But I know that God honors prayer.” Trips may last a few short days, but the impact— short and long term—is immeasurable. In each culture and context, IPC teams reach out to strangers, missionaries, and those in need; and whether their love sees fruit in seven days, a year, or a decade, God will use it. “IPC has encouragement in its DNA,” said Garrett. “From what we do in Memphis, to around the world.”
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IPC vbs | jUNe 10-14
It’s about to get Wild!
A Call for Torch Bearers!
This year’s Vacation Bible School is a Jungle Jamboree. Grab your binoculars and trek boots, because we’re leaping into quite an adventure exploring the risk and reward of following Jesus. VBS is a fun-filled, Christ-centered week for children and adults. Our preparations are in full swing, and we can’t wait for the excitement to begin! Please pray that seeds of faith will be planted in our young explorers, and pray for how YOU might jump in to help! Pre-K through 5th grade registration opens in May (children must be age four by June 1 to participate).
We believe the Lord will do incredible work during VBS to further His Kingdom, and we encourage you to consider participating in this work with us. Registration for adult volunteers begins Monday, April 15. Sign-ups will be online at ipcmemphis.org.
Choose one of these training times and save the date: Wednesday, April 24, 6:15 p.m. | Room 109 Sunday, May 5, 9:45 a.m. | Room 109 Sunday, May 19, 9:45 a.m. | Room 109
VBS Prep Week: June 3-6; 9:00 a.m. to noon or 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Nursery provided by reservation from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Contact Lucy Green at lgreen@ipcmemphis.org to make reservations.
Women’s Ministry Spring Luncheon Tuesday, May 7 | 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. | $7 Guest speakers Sherry Lanier and Ronjannett Taylor will present “A Shared Journey,” touching on our oneness in Christ and how the Gospel can move us beyond comfort zones to a place of unity, honesty, and edification. Sherry Lanier
Ronjannett Taylor
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Dated Material — Please Expedite
SPRING
CALENDAR At Independent Presbyterian Church
March
May
21 Women’s Spring Dinner 22-23 Women’s Spring Retreat 30 Memphis Express Pro Football with IPC Recreation
1 4 4
April 5 8 13 14
Junior High at Redbirds Game IPC Scouts Blue and Gold Banquet Senior High Crawfish Boil Palm Sunday Music Program Handel’s Messiah Complete 18 Maundy Thursday Communion Service 19 Good Friday Service 20 Easter Eve Concert with Sandra McCracken 21 Easter Sunday 24 Junior High Choir Commissioning Concert 26-28 Junior High Choir Spring Trip to Panama City Beach 28 Pathway Class for Prospective Members begins 30 Women’s Spring Luncheon
Children’s Spring BLAST! Program: A Faith That Sings IPC Ballet Recital Memphis 901 FC Pro Soccer with IPC Recreation 5 Senior High Recognition Sunday Lunch 5 Last Sunday Evening Praise for Spring 19 Palmer Home Hernando Campus Evening Worship Service 24-29 Camp Palmer 30 Senior High Choir leaves for Tour of Northeastern States
June 1 6
College Summer Kick-off Cookout Senior High Choir Homecoming Concert 7, 21 College Drive-in Movie Nights 10-14 Vacation Bible School 14, 28 College Flapjack Freshmen Fridays 16 Summer Evening Praise begins (through July 21) 22-26 Junior High at The Edge