Good morning on this Saturday, September 29th. Today's blog is a potpourri of subjects I wanted to cover.

(1) Please pray for our missionaries to Kenya and former interns, the Bobby Bechtels. Their son Dylan, underwent a procedure to repair a hole in his heart and subsequently suffered a blood clot on his brain. The Bechtels were to be with us this weekend for our Missions Emphasis Day, but were told by their son's doctor that they are to stay within 20 minutes of the hospital in Des Moines until the crisis passes. We will have a special video testimony from the Bechtels in tomorrow's services, but our Mission's Pastor, Dan Cullett, former missionary to Thailand, will be speaking in the Bechtel's absence. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Bechtel family today and in the days ahead.
May God heal Dylan and comfort the Bechtel family.

(2) Special thanks to those Edgewooders who invited and brought first-time visitors to last Sunday's special gospel-outreach services. We had nearly 40 first-time adult visitors attend our various services to hear the message about the necessity of the new birth. For those who did not receive Christ during these services, we are following up their visits and attempting to win them to the Lord. Please urge them to keep attending. I remind you that most adults do not respond to the gospel the first time they hear it. The majority of adults respond only after hearing it several times.

(3) We have only about 25 openings left for my 44th Anniversary/Retirement Banquet on Thursday, November 8th at the Davenport Fair Grounds facility. You need to make your reservation as soon as possible because of the limited seating. When we have filled all of the reserved seating, we will have to add people to a waiting list and some will not be able to attend. Since we don't want that to happen to you, we are reminding you to be sure to sign up during tomorrow's a.m. services.

(4) Our current missionary interns, Derek and Melissa Glynn, will be concluding their internship on October 31st. Derek will be ordained at 6:00 p.m., October 14th. On Sunday evening October 28th, Edgewood will celebrate the conclusion of their internship with a reception in the church's Multipurpose Center. Mark your calendar with these dates and don't miss these events. We want to do everything we can to encourage the Glynn's as they prepare for their missionary work in Costa Rica. With Stacy Lovett now in Japan after her commissioning service last month, and the Glynn's preparing to go to Costa Rica, we will have two of our finest young people who have grown up at Edgewood fulfilling their calling as missionaries. We thank God for our mission's emphasis at Edgewood and the fruit it is bearing.

I'll look forward to seeing you in tomorrow's services.
Mel Brown