An unfortunate aspect of our service at the Iris Festival is that the whole event comes and goes so quickly. It is like an ice cream cone: really cool, but it gets done too soon and it's gone. We want to be a church that serves God by serving people every day, not just once a year. For this week's installment of my Messages About Purpose and Strategy, I'll make an appeal for Iris Festival volunteers to keep it up - to say yes to new ways to honor God here where we live for Christ. The sign-ups for Iris Festival participation have been great. Momentum is high. I want to take advantage of the excitement by letting you know about just one of many more opportunities you will have to keep on serving your community.

You may have heard of the Cascade Surge, a soccer team with a seriously Christian slant. These young semi-pro players put on youth camps in various locations every summer. They run their own program and have a good track record. We will be hosting one of their camps this year from June 22-26. You can find out more about the team and these camps by going to their website: www.cascadesurge.com. The actual camp will be on the Whiteaker fields but they will be having drop off, lunch, and pick up in our lot and building. We can do as little or as much as we want in making this a ministry opportunity. We can be as uninvolved as we are when we host Whiteaker events like their band or choir concerts, or we can enlist many more volunteers and up the ante to something closer to our Iris Festival participation. All that remains to be seen. Right now it is all in the prayer, planning and promotion stage. Stay tuned to hear more in coming weeks from my friend, Josiah McDill, who is taking great initiative to lead this event. He will be letting you know about how you can serve and we will get serious about sign-ups just after the Iris Festival.