From the sadness of taking a funeral on Thursday to the joy of taking a wedding on Saturday; this is the variety of privilege and emotion a Pastor has. Neena our Young Adults Pastor and Chris had their special day with a service in St George’s Church in Epsom. Neena was so keen she arrived early and had to wait around the corner from the church. They are a great couple and faithful servants in our church.

Yesterday I had my last lecture with our interns at Ministry Training College; first year students have a few more weeks before the term ends. I teach the interns on church health/growth. And then tonight it looks like I will be attending my first ever cooking demonstration. Not really my thing, but one of our Elim College students has invited TV cooking celebrity Annabelle White to demonstrate as a fundraiser for the college Israel trip. Marilyn is hoping I might learn something, but I don’t think you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Saturday night is our staff Christmas party, and then I am back in the East on Sunday after being in the North last Sunday. We are into number four of our series on Forgotten Virtues; this week talking about integrity.

Sunday was a big Mother’s Day morning. In the East around 2000 attended, the South had their largest morning ever and the City, even with the International group having a camp, was still was well attended. The services were abuzz with Liz, Karen and Nic all preaching great messages. Sadly Mother’s day was not so good for Marilyn as her mum had a fall and spent the weekend in hospital. She has had to move from the retirement village into more care but at 97 she is probably doing ok.

On Saturday I took the wedding for Evan Burger and Juanita Aucamp. It was a sunny day sandwiched between some wet days. I think I may have been the only person not from South Africa. It was a really nice family wedding.

There is some intense planning going on at the moment with building due to start on the primary school at the Golflands site next month. The architects have done a fantastic job and fortunately I have Bill Kathagen on staff to attend all the planning meetings. Bill has an amazing gift for managing projects. So next month is the beginning of a building programme in the East campus that will continue for several years. Work will begin soon in the South also as we convert the bottom building into a childcare. Added to that we are putting some seating into the mezzanine of the chapel. Boyd and Sharon are doing so well in the south we need to start planning for a large auditorium there.