SGF Saturday, July 2012

July 7th is a Shepherd's Gate Fellowship Saturday.  This is open to friends and friends-of-friends of SGF, and please get back to me at sgfbend@gmail.com with a headcount if you're coming and/or bringing friends.

Theme/Venue/Time:

We're doing India on the River as our theme--you'll see why below.  We'll be down at the Deschutes at a location to be disclosed (yes, it's a surprise, and no, we haven't been there before).  From 10:30 to 3:30, roughly speaking.

Fun:

We'll rent Standup Paddleboards and bring canoes and floating islands and bocce balls and nice things to eat and drink and have fun.  We mean to do it up "right" with Karen's gala tent and streamers and tablecloths for the tables and torches and bean bags and whatnot.  Feel free to bring high expectations.

Churchy-Content:

At the river, I'll provide three printed-out prayers from the Apostle Paul.  As you move about and talk with others during the day, offer to pray one of those prayers for them, substituting their name in the appropriate places.  I'll put the printed prayers in ziplocs so that if you need to be on a standup paddleboard or kayak to pray, that's okay.

At some point I'll gather people (it's optional, but I hope you'll want to) to talk with a guest of mine about her work with Indian women who are rescuing others out of the sex trade there.  Please read ahead about the organization that she founded, The International Princess Project.  Later on I'll gather a group (also optional) to help me find what the Bible says about certain topic (and no, it's not gay-marriage).  I'll bring Bibles to share around, but if you bring your own that's all right, too.  I think this research will lead to "fruitful" discussions.

Kids:

This is an adults-only day at the river, and all our kids and the kids of our guests will be welcome to participate with our Children's Weekend Bible School, provided we give the WBS team several days' notice on how many kids to expect.  They'll be taking all the big kids to Juniper Pool and their home-base will be the Chase's house that day.  Little ones can stay at the house with adult supervision and play in the sprinklers.  We'll drop kids off an hour later than usual (10:20) at the Chases' house and return pick them up at 4:00.

Food:

The church will provide the main dishes and drinks for this day.  Everyone who comes should bring a side or dessert--though it's possible we'll be making it more organized and having an Indian food-theme to go along with the decor and whatnot.  That would be way cooler but would require someone with the vision for it to step in and organize that aspect.

~Tim and Janet