Growth

This past Saturday Gayle and I trimmed the hibiscus and bougainvillea next to the back of the house in between the rain showers. That got me thinking about the way things looked just a year ago when we re-worked the backyard triangle between the house and the waterway. Just look at the difference a year makes! Gotta love that Florida growing season...all 12 months!
In related news, we had our particularization service for Conway Community Presbyterian Church last night. After more than three years as a mission of the Central Florida Presbytery, we have become a bona fide church in the PCA. We have about 50 charter members - those who have gone through the new member classes - and about 18 baptized children. We also have around 40 regular attenders, so that makes for a good fellowship on Sundays. We had a number of guests from other area PCA churches at Sunday evening's service. There were three pastors and four ruling elders present who constituted the commission for particularization. In addition to the regular service, we had a vote by the charter members to call Don Bailey as our teaching elder, and a vote to accept another man and me as the initial ruling elders. Don and I were installed (I am already a RE in the PCA from a term in Ft. Myers) and Brian, my fellow RE, was ordained. A charge was given to Don, Brian, and me for our work with the members, and the charge was also given to the congregation. We had a fellowship time after the service. It was a thoroughly delightful time!
I'm going to my first Presbytery meeting with Don next Monday; I'm taking a personal day from school. There are about 35 churches in the Central Florida Presbytery, from Dunellon, Ocala, and Lecanto in the west to Ormond Beach, Port Orange, and Vero Beach on the east...and many points in between. We're meeting in Longwood, about 15 miles north of Conway, so that should be an easy ride. We will have our organizational Session meeting next week also. And then the work really begins...