June 2, 2015

Dear LABC Family,
I had a marvelous sojourn in Wisconsin last week with my sisters. We connected with family and family history on both our mother’s and father’s sides of the family.
The first week of June holds great promise for us. On Tuesday night Melanie Baggao, who will soon be serving as an Endorsed Development Worker in Lebanon as part of the International Ministries of American Baptist Churches USA, will be the speaker at Soup and Study. I hope you will find a way to join us for this unique opportunity to learn about American Baptist witness in the Middle East.
On Saturday representatives of the congregations of the Pacific Coast Baptist Association will gather for our spring conference. The theme of the conference is  “Connecting Generations.” The conference will be held from 9-1 at the First Baptist Church of Alameda. Please register online at  pcba.org
Our annual Anne Anderson Memorial Hunger Walk follows worship on Sunday. I trust that you will be able to participate by walking, pledging, helping with the meal or saying a prayer for this essential ministry. My sermon will be “On Getting There Together.” My simple point will be that even if we reach our goal of $10,000 dollars the walk will not be successful unless every last participant gets  back   to the church safely.  This dream of no one being left out or left behind represents God’s will for humanity. The Creator is not happy when  a few folks have more the enough and many have far less than enough. It can only be said that God’s will has been done only when we get there together, when every last child of God has enough to thrive.

Prayers of the Congregation

• Thanksgiving with all our graduates and their families
• Thanksgiving with Sydney and Kendall Harris, Elijah and Ally Scott, and Elmer Keyes and their families on their baptisms
• Prayers for the Harris family as re-settle in London
• Thanksgiving with Kay Baxter that Stacey has found safe lodging and that Jamie  continues to be clean and sober
• Thanksgiving with Jim Jeffery for his grandson Christopher who graduated from high school and is joining the Air Force
• Thanksgiving with Gail Carter that her husband, Dennis, continues to gain strength
• Thanksgiving with Darlene and Dayle Scott that their granddaughter is doing well following surgery
• Phil and Gloria Meads for June, Alice and Jean
• Paige Bence and John Lee as they remember their friend Bradley Harrison
• Rowena Jackson for the mentally ill, especially those who are homeless
• Alice Butler  for her friend Hans
• Joan Thatcher, health concerns
• Karen Okusu as she cares for her mom
• Angela Glann for a friend recently diagnosed with HIV
• Linda Earl for her sister
• Thanksgiving with Carol Leichter that her granddaughter was sworn in at the Supreme Court. for the life of her aunt who died at home on the family farm in Minnesota, and for Steve who has been struggling mentally and physically
• Thanksgiving for the ministry of the Pacific Coast Baptist Association
• Thanksgiving for all the lives the Hunger Walk has touched over the years
• Thanksgiving with The Reverend Cherie Smith on the wedding of her son
• Prayers for the people of the South and Midwest who have been devastated by floods and tornados
• Dale and Alice Edmondson as they mourn the death of Robert Lehman, a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania
• Dave And Cheryl Gattey for Cheryl’s mom and for the their nephew Phil
• The Picou-Broadnax family
• Ann Fields and family
• Bettigene Johnson
• Ted and Doris Evans for the Evans and Leche families
• Larry Sims for the Sims family
• Myra Saxton for her mother
• Sandra Dunn for her father