Thank you!

Last Saturday’s 2009 CEM conference was a wonderful day! I personally felt richly blessed, and need to express some of my gratitude to you, the members of this great community.

Many, many, many thanks to all who came to Guelph on Saturday, and also to those who couldn’t come but sent loving thoughts and prayers our way. Your warm response to the invitation and to the information presented was truly a blessing to those of us who carried the responsibilities of the day. Your loving support for our team and your warm reception to the information and ideas presented are not only encouraging but gratifying. Two days later, I am still filled with gratitude and want simply to say “thank you” over and over again.

Thank you too, to all those who responded so willingly to the invitation to take a leadership role. The music, the presentations, the business session, and the conference worship would not have been possible without your gracious efforts. We are so grateful for what you have given and your willingness to step forward when asked. What a richly blessed community we are to have so many fine, capable leaders with such diverse and wonderful skills!

Thank you for your support for the three new Evangelists ordained at this conference: William McCarty, Grace Moor, and Mary Robb, and thanks to those three for their willingness. They take their place in an august body charged with the task of being ministers of blessing. They are, every one of them, equal to the challenge.

As the theme of the day suggests, this conference was all about preparing and planning for the future. Increasingly, I face that journey with excitement. As wonderful and important as our story has been thus far, the present and immediate future now urgently beckon us. We are called, we are sent, and we search the horizon with great gratitude and anticipation as we continue to prepare “For the Journey Yet to Come.”