We planned for months and months to receive 8 members of our church (Hyde Park United Methodist, Tampa) and one exceptional friend of the church for a four day experience with us at the seminary. The verdict is out on who benefitted most.
It was on just this kind of trip that tilled the soil of South Africa that we might later plant ourselves here. But like any plants, we need to be nourished to bear fruit. That has been well supplied by the seminary, its staff and its seminarians. We have grown immensely.
Still there is nothing like mom and her apple pie. Though we have been lifetime members of churches in Indiana, Ohio, it is our training in discipleship at Hyde Park that has given us the the courage to take a three year plunge. Not that our childhood Sunday school teachers, youth leaders, and role models were insignificant. Rather, they supplied the bedrock of faith, a faith to be shaped and put to action.
And so we have enjoyed a feast of friendship with our friends of many years who have come here for many reasons. By their mere presence, we have been refueled, reminded with clarity of the congregation that sends us here and supports us.
Our prayer is that through this experience, God will direct them in ways they might not otherwise consider. May they too be refueled to take on the though commands of the Gospel and enter into the next level of their servanthood.
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