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GOOD TIDINGS

The Weekly Newsletter for Park Road Baptist Church

August 23, 2023

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Getting off the beaten path…

Amy and I recently spent nine days in southern Utah. Thanks for letting us be gone, and thanks to Dan and JD for holding down the fort for us. It’s great to be able to get away and not worry about a thing home!

The acclaimed Ken Burns film is entitled “The National Parks,” and the subtitle is exactly right: “America’s Best Idea.” The PBS website says the film, is “the story of an idea as uniquely American as the Declaration of Independence and just as radical: that the most special places in the nation should be preserved, but not for royalty or the rich, but for everyone.” While Theodore Roosevelt is remembered as the “conservation president,” it was Woodrow Wilson who signed an act in 1916 creating the National Park Service, which now oversees more than 400 areas covering more than 84 million acres in 50 states, the District of Columbia, and US territories.

We have had the fortune of seeing a number of our national parks, and we’ll be visiting as many more in the coming years as possible! We’ve made two trips into the Grand Canyon, and we visited Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks on our last trip there. However, there was so much more in Utah we wanted to see, so we loaded four carry-on bags’ worth of camping clothes, a little gear, and headed out.

Our trip breaks down like this: 1527 miles driven… 8 nights in 8 campgrounds… 10 National Parks or Monuments or Recreational areas visited… 26 miles hiked… 1 snake encountered. We got back to Salt Lake on August 16, just in time to spend one night in luxury, celebrating our 37th anniversary!

In order, we saw: Arches NP, Dead Horse SP, Canyonlands NP (2 separate districts), Natural Bridges National Monument, Monument Valley (a Navajo Territory), Glen Canyon Recreational Area, Kodachrome Basin SP, Grand Staircase/Escalante NM, and Capital Reef NP. If you’ve not been to southern Utah, let us encourage you, don’t walk, run! It’s just amazing!

The really wonderful thing about our National Park Service is that the visionaries who set aside the lands also made a priority of making them very accessible. Much of what we saw in our nine days is available just by driving in and rolling down the window. If all you can do is fly to SLC, rent a car and roll down the window, let us encourage you. It’s just amazing.

Just as with our other trips, we’re not satisfied to see what everyone can see. We tried to devote, at least a few steps in every place, getting off the beaten path. None of our hikes was very long, but getting beyond the crowds makes all the difference. All of the best places were the ones we had to sweat a little bit to see – so, maybe it’s not ironic that our favorite also happened to be at the end of our longest hike (6.4 miles round trip). Oh my. If you get a chance to see Lower Calf Creek Falls in Grand Staircase NM, I promise you, it’s worth the hike!

All of these details are just to say, with visiting American’s National Parks and everything else in life, you get out of something what you put into it. Getting off the beaten path is always worthwhile.

Sunday, we get a chance to start another school year together. We hope you’ll make a special effort to be here for Kickoff Sunday. Increasingly, in our secular society, just being part of church means getting off the beaten path a little. If you want to be here, you’ll have to make it a priority… plan for it… work a little… organize your life (and your kids’ lives) around a little time with your community of faith.

We’ve been doing this ministry a long time with you, friends. This is our 23rd time around the sun with you, and while it may be getting a little harder, as society moves farther from a kind of default church mode, like those miles to Lower Calf Creek Falls… it’s still worth it to us to make the effort.

Hope you’ll join us. – Russ

Backyard Meet and Greet at the Deans!

It’s our last one of the summer, and the fig tree is still producing so expect some fig appetizers and a fig dessert – otherwise you know the drill: BYOE – Bring Your Own Everything. We love this time to hang out with all of you in our backyard. We will have cornhole set up and, of course, the pool is open for swimming. Come one, come all. Come and stay or just drop in. Backyard opens at 6p but come any time after that and stay for as long as you like. It will be a good way to end our summer together.

Labor Day intergenerational Retreat - September 1-3

Our Labor Day weekend retreat is fast-approaching, so here’s some information that you might find useful. The retreat will take place at the Lutheridge Conference Center, 2511 Hendersonville Road in Arden, NC. Check-in begins at 3p. at the Efird Registration Office where room keys will be available. The office will stay open until 8p. If you arrive after that time, please call Guest Services at 828-601-5684. (That number is also posted on the Efird Office door). When you enter the property, stay right at the fork and Efird is the first building on the left at the top of the hill.

Because people will be arriving at various times, Friday supper is “find your own” nearby restaurants. There are usually small groups leaving from the conference center to go and eat together, so find a group and join them! The first session will start on Friday evening at 8:30p. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are provided on Saturday, and the last shared meal is breakfast on Sunday morning. Check-out time is 11a Sunday following worship.

Please take a rain jacket, refreshments to share with the group and your favorite board games.

If you are interested in carpooling from the church, please call the church office and let us know.

Call Dan if you have any questions (for Dan's number please call the church office).

Men's Shelter Lunch

On August 11 at the Men’s Shelter Lunch, we prepared and served food for about 150 residents. This opportunity to volunteer occurs on the second Saturday, every other month, so your next chance to serve will be on October 14. A big thank-you to everyone who came to help in August! Click here to volunteer for upcoming lunches!

Sunday Worship

August 20, 2 023

Introducing: "Park Road University" - Fall Semester Begins September 10!

With the decline in Sunday school participation (Sunday Morning Connection Groups), many folks are not utilizing any specific opportunity to expand their understanding of their faith. “Park Road University” will provide a variety of course offerings, led by some of Park Road’s best teachers. Each semester (August-December and January-May) we will provide several classes (4-6 weeks each), which will be taught during the traditional Sunday school hour (9:45-10:45a). Over the course of several years, we want to delve into a variety of subjects - from ethics and spiritual practice to Christian history and biblical study. This semester’s course offerings will be announced in next week’s newsletter. Our first class will begin on Sunday, September 10. Individuals are encouraged to participate, and our existing Connection Groups may choose to take advantage of one or more of these studies.

Are you deepening your faith? Park Road University may be just for you!

"Men's Work" - Cornhole Evening

We invite to attend an evening of cornhole on Thursday, September 7 from 6:30 to 8p. The location is the church courtyard (with a backup location of the gym in case of inclement weather). Ideally, we will have 6 sets of boards in play (24 players) at the same time. We currently have 3 sets of boards/bags; if you could loan a set of boards and bags, please reach out to the church office (info@ParkRoadBaptist.org) or Kevin Kline.

Youth, Children, and Families Corner

Upperclassman Retreat

The upperclassman retreat was a wonderful time with our students. We learned about servant leadership, prayed together, listened to one another, imagined the year of youth ministry and ultimately… we enjoyed resting together. We also were able to do some hiking, swimming, alpine roller coasteering, campfire songs and much more.

Ask your junior or senior about Trollis, getting scared, and what they plan to bring as a leader this year.

Sunday, August 27, 2023 – Kick Off Sunday | Lake Day following Sunday School donuts and service.

JD is so excited to share and receive feedback on his vision for Children's ministry at PRBC. Please join JD tonight, Wednesday in the Youth Building at 7p. We understand that it is not an ideal time, especially given the fact we are unable to provide childcare at this time. JD wants to introduce you to a new program called Godly Play that he will lead on Wednesdays and occasionally on Sundays. If you and/or another caregiver of your PRBC kiddo cannot attend please make sure to fill out our survey: PRBC Parent Survey - Google Forms (If you haven’t already done so.)

Aquarium Trip This Saturday! - We'll meet at church at 9:45a for a brief lesson, song, and craft and then go to the Aquarium together! We will be able to follow our time at the aquarium in the mall's food court (which also has a carousel).

Children’s Sunday School Is Back- This Sunday, August 27, 2023 Children’s Sunday School starts back! It will function in a similar way to years past but likely will have some more alignment with the worship service. JD will lead games/music for part of the time to provide a touch point with your kiddos.

Volunteers Needed - Parents and Caregivers if you are interested in volunteering on Sunday mornings or Wednesday nights, please let JD know. JD need’s one or two more people for Sunday Mornings, and he is short a fair number of volunteers for Wednesday nights. JD will lead the Wednesday night program so there is minimal planning required. For Sunday mornings, JD will share curriculum with volunteers and he is available to help with the planning, but he cannot attend the entire time because he will also be teaching the youth.

Friends at Home

Please check in on each other via phone,

email, text, Zoom, or letters.

Thank you.

We list an individual each week that we call our “Friends at Home” with their contact information.

Drop a card or give a call to check-in. Even if you do not know someone personally, a contact from someone from their church is always an encouragement.