Whole In One: July 2006

Emily's Dedication

~Emily Joy VanBriggle~

July 30, 2006 at O'Fallon Assembly of God, we had Emily dedicated to the Lord. We feel very blessed that our pastor and friend, Pastor Dale Edwards, could dedicate both Anthony and, now, Emily.

Parenting has to be one of the most rewarding, yet challenging tasks for a human being. If a child could simply be programmed like a computer, with all the newest and finest software, and with the guarantee of never 'crashing'...I'd be game for that. However, God did not create little robots, but free-willed individuals with unique personalities, and a mind of their own. I suppose that's the scariest part of parenting.

Baby dedication is not a new thing. Abraham dedicated Isaac, Samuel was dedicated and blessed by Eli, and Jesus blessed the little children who came to Him. This pattern is seen throughout the Bible and is still a practice of many churches today. While baby dedication is not salvation, we see a clear pattern of blessing and dedicating our babies to God.

By dedicating Emily to the Lord, we recognize that we need God's help to raise Emily to be all that God desires for her, and with the knowledge that God loves her!! Not just a knowledge that is transferable by book or flashcard, but at the earliest age, she would develop a personal relationship with Jesus. We will never be perfect parents, but we pray that we will do our best with God's help.

Here are some pictures of the dedication:

Daddy, Anthony, Mommy, Emily, and Pastor Edwards

Grandpa and Grandma Gummerman

Gail and I sang for special music

Pictures Provided By Kurt Gummerman

Proud Grandpa AND New Nikon D50 owner :)

Abducted By Aliens

It's was horrible. We've been held hostage and probed by aliens since May 31. They sent replacement drones who looked exactly like us to fill our Whole In One dates. The drones did a pretty good job, but to make things worse, they wouldn't BLOG those events. We had no way of blogging as the aliens were relentless in their probing, interrogations, and endless mind games.

Ah.....

Okay, maybe it didn't quite happen this way. I've spoken with many of you, and you've all wondered about the silence. Well there's no excuse. There has been sooo much to blog, I got intimidated by the mounting blog...I put my head in the sand...thinking little trolls would blog for me and help everyone catch up with Whole In One...but it never happened.

So here I am today. Hanging my head in shame. With my superhero blog powers, I will back date a variety of events for your blogging pleasure!! Enjoy!!

Our Joel & Gail Drones in Antioch, IL ~ Kids' Crusade

(I think my drone looks bigger than I really am!!)

Abundant Life Community Church

On July 23, We had the privilege of sharing in ministry at

Abundant Life Community Church in Alton, IL.

Pastor Sam and Judy Henning

Pastor Sam Henning has served there as Pastor for well over a decade! It has grown to be a strong and vibrant church under his ministry. He has also been a great friend to us personally and in ministry. In the coming months, we will be assisting their church as they prepare for their major Christmas production. While we still have a full travel schedule, we will be coming back periodically to provide direction and workshops designed to hone their production as well as leading worship for the congregation.

Joel and the ALCC Worship Team

Gail, Zack, and Bruce, the drummer

Anthony, "Can I be your poster boy for Kids?"

Come on...I'm adorable!!

Cabin Fever

It's camp time again!! Release Time Bible Camp 2006 ~ July 9-14. This is our third consecutive year to come to RTBC!

For those who may not know, Release Time Bible Program functions under the 'Release Time' law in Pennsylvania that affords students one hour a week during school time to receive 'religious instruction'. The program meets off school grounds, and is a Bible based program that is non-denominational. The program in the past 30+ years has seen hundreds, if not thousands, of young people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Each student has the opportunity to participate in the Mailbox Club which serves to disciple these young people. My mom serves as the 'Mailbox Lady' - the title may not be fancy, but it's exciting to see the faith of these kids strengthened througth this process. The Washington/Green County chapter conducts a summer camp each year.

Whole In One has served Release Time for the past 3 years as the camp speaker, worship, teaching, missions, devotions, as well as custom writing a full Bible study. We've even designed their camp T-shirts. As a side note: I'm also the Tennis Instructor for the camp!!

Our theme this year was 'AmazinGrace'. Our theme verse was Hebrew 12:1-2. One of the unique advantages of our ministry is that there is a great unity and sense of flow in all of the materials. The camp structure is very unique. There is a 45 minute Bible study after breakfast, followed by a 45 minute missions time. Activities fill the day and our evening service is usually a little over an hour. Then the students go to their cabins for devotions. Having experienced a variety of camps, we scratch our heads and wonder why it works so well...but it does.

We saw over 15 young people accept Christ and another 25+ make recommitments. It was amazing to see God growing and maturing these young people. We even know of one student who was called to South Africa as a missionary. Praise the Lord! Did I mention that only about 1/3 of these kids attend church regularly? Most of them have stories that would break your heart...there is nothing more awesome than looking into these kids eyes and telling them that God has a plan for their lives. That kind of love is absolutely life changing!!

Unfortunately, I'm having difficulty with uploading pictures. I will hopefully add some pictures soon!!

****Pictures Below****