Ministry Update: Curtis' Additional Duties

I've done a really poor job of updating on Curtis' ministry at Grace Church of the Islands lately.  As I have previously mentioned on our blog, Curtis has been ministering in Savannah as an Associate Pastor since he graduated from seminary for the past three and a half years.  Most of his ministry has been focused on middle school and high school students, but he has enjoyed many other responsibilities that a small church can bring.  This includes developing and implementing a small group ministry, preaching and teaching, as well as other pastoral duties.  These duties have increased over the last year and a half due to our Senior Pastor's deployment for 4 months as a chaplain (2011) and more recently, because he has stepped down from his position at our church as of August 2012.  Curtis is now the only ordained pastor on staff at our church.  As we await a new Senior Pastor at Grace, Curtis has been gaining valuable experience preaching 75% of the time, overseeing the small group ministry and the youth ministry.  (Thankfully, our church hired an intern to help with the youth ministry since Curtis' responsibilities have changed.)  It has been quite the transition for Curtis to handle all this as we prepare to have a baby in February.  

General Assembly 2012

One day after our anniversary trip ended, we headed to Louisville, Kentucky for our denomination's annual pastor/elder's conference.  This was my second time going (see last year's in Virginia Beach here).

Carol, Debbie & I at the Women's Luncheon

We took the church van and traveled with our Senior Pastor, Brannon, his wife, Carol & their son, Thomas; and one of our Ruling Elders, Tom, and his wife, Debbie.

It was nice to explore Louisville - I had never visited it before and it was where my dad went to seminary (Southern).  Most of the time, Curtis was in meetings and seminars so I got to spend a lot of time just relaxing and reading.  I attended all the women's events and was able to meet other women that are serving in the ministry like me.  I really enjoyed hearing from Dr. Tim Lane at our Women's Program.  I also went to a Pastor Wives Panel and was able to get some great advice for various circumstances.  

I was happy that I was able to spend time with Curtis' aunt, who works for Covenant Seminary.  She faithfully comes every year to General Assembly to be in the Covenant Theological Seminary booth in the Exhibit Hall.

I also got to visit and talk with several women that I knew from our days in seminary.  It was neat to be able to meet their new babies and catch up.  I can't believe it's already been 3 years since I had seen most of them!  It was an encouraging week.

Praise! Curt's New Call

We are happy to announce that Curtis' father, Curt McDaniel, is now the Interim Senior Pastor of New Hope Presbyterian Church in Fort Myers, Florida.  We are so excited that he is living closer to us!  In fact, we hope to visit him during our anniversary trip to Florida in a few months.  We had the privilege to house him for a night on his way down to Fort Myers last week.  Here's the link to the church's announcement about my father-in-law.  This is an answer to prayer and we are praising the Lord for His provision to our family!

Welcome Home, Brannon!

 On October 30, we were so happy to welcome Brannon back to Savannah!  Brannon is the Senior Pastor at our church and he had been gone for almost 4 months.  He was deployed near Afghanistan as a Chaplain in the National Guard.  While Brannon was away, Curtis had a lot more responsibility at our church and I think he did a wonderful job.  As you can see, about 60 people came to the airport with smiles and signs.

Everyone was in line hoping to get a hug from Brannon!  

It brought tears to my eyes to see all the little kids at our church excitedly running towards him when they first saw him.  I couldn't help but think about how this was a small taste of how awesome it will be when Jesus Christ returns - when there will be no more partings, no more crying, no more sorrow, or death, or pain any longer (Revelation 21:4).  How I long for that day!