Dear Glen Mar friends,

This week’s Greatest Hit is Marvin Gaye’s song, “What’s Goin’ On,” an important social activism anthem from the Vietnam War era. We’ll be pairing it with the story of David and Goliath, a “Greatest Hit” from the Bible. In a world filled with Goliaths, how can the church respond to “What’s Goin’ On” in a way that brings down the Goliath, but on our own terms as the Body of Christ? If you have some Goliaths in your life, listen to Marvin, and join us in worship on Sunday!

VBS begins this week and we will welcome about 150 kids to learn more about Jesus and themselves and have a lot of fun as part of our “Monumental” Vacation Bible School. If you’d like to help with setup, we’ll be working on Saturday from 9-12 and on Sunday afternoon at 1. Stop in!

We’ll also share on Sunday some “Hail and Farewells,” as we say in the Navy. We welcome Mary Ellen Conley (who has already started) as our new Pastor’s Assistant and Julie Metakes as our new Minister for Children and Families (starting in August). We prepare to say goodbye to Margaret, who is retiring on July 31, and also wish Sean Danaher well as he moves on to new opportunities (in keeping with his role as “new Dad”). Sean’s last day will be August 15. We will be filling that position as soon as we can, and we have put some teams of committed adults together to support our Youth Ministry as we search.

Pastor Heerak will be going on what we hope will be a short leave of absence as we wait for Immigration to process his paperwork for the next phase of his stay in the US. Prayers appreciated for Pastor Heerak and family.

We welcome two new members to our facilities team, Mike and Cyrus, who I’ll be sharing more about in the days to come. They are excited to be here and are eager to help as VBS begins! You may see them around the building and you’ll know them by their smiles! Jason is also stepping away for a “leave of absence” to do some traveling and discern next steps as his mom retires. His last day for now will be July 17.

We will be sharing appreciation for Margaret and Sean on Sunday, July 31 from noon-2 pm as we have church and ELC-wide games and fun and food and fellowship together! “Greek on the Street” food truck will be there to feed us (Y’all come! Invite friends!).

That’s a lot of transition but God’s hand is in it. We’ll be posting for any “open positions” soon. We are so grateful for the way God has brought these friends into our lives and we rejoice in what God has in store, no matter where we serve!

See you in Church,
Pastor Mandy

For more information on what’s going on at Glen Mar, check out our blog “This Just In.”