June/July Rector’s Letter
Dear Parish Family,
In this Rector’s letter, we’re talking about the incredible progress being made behind the scenes toward our expansion and giving thanks for the summertime activities that are underway!
Expansion Progress
Our Expansion committee, led by Shea Kirkman, has been hard at work and is happy to report tons of progress. Our Civil Engineering submittals have been finalized with the City of Southlake and our architectural submittals are currently under review. Rebecca Smith, one of the members of our Expansion Committee, worked hard with our architects to put together a very impressive bid package that we sent out to 6 different potential Contractors. Each of the 6 firms had some connection to either our architects or someone who serves on our Expansion Committee. So, these are "warm leads," with reputable, experienced firms. On Friday, June 18 representatives from the 6 different Contractors came to St. Laurence for a "bid walk," essentially to take a look around and get questions answered. The Parish Hall was full and all 6 firms seemed very eager to bid on our project…a very good sign.
By the end of June, we should receive all of the bids and then, of course, the committee will get together to review them. We hope to schedule interviews during the month of July and we have set a goal for ourselves to have our contractor selected by August 1. The selection of our builder is a really important milestone for us. Please keep praying for guidance for those who serve on the Expansion Committee. As I’ve written before, we are blessed to have a top-notch group of rockstars on the committee. The quality of the discussion in the expansion meetings is incredible. We are so blessed.
The Rooted and Rising Together Campaign
At the moment, the campaign has been supported by 177 commitments for a total of $4.542 million. The generosity has been amazing! The stories that were shared during the campaign of how God has been working in so many lives have been so inspiring to me, and I know to many of you. Thank you to everyone who has made a commitment to the campaign. I also want to express my gratitude to our campaign Chairs: Mark Jameson, Greg Jones, and Lisa Lapiska. They have been outstanding leaders for us! We are trying to wrap up the campaign this week, gathering in the last of the commitments. If you still want to make a commitment to the campaign, click here to do so. If you are unable to make a financial commitment, please commit to praying for this effort.
We have a groundbreaking scheduled on Sun, August 11 (St. Laurence Day) in between the services. The Bishop and the Mayor will join us as we do the whole gold shovel thing. It will also be a time to thank God for all that He’s already done and ask His blessing on our construction efforts. Beginning at noon will be our St. Laurence Day Picnic with all the festivities that we enjoy so much.
The following Sunday, August 18, we will have an all-parish meeting between the services. In that meeting, we will be discussing next steps and the funding details for our expansion efforts. Please mark your calendars for both of those Sundays.
Summertime Activities
We’ve had a great few weeks with the kids and youth of St. Laurence!
Summer kicked off with VBS, which was a really fun time for our Parish kids to be together to learn about how God is a friend. Our Lord said to His apostles "No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15) I love that we are teaching our kids this aspect of our relationship with God. Many people all around us envision God as distant, aloof, or even angry. Focusing on the fact that He is our friend, who wants to be close with us and near us, is a beautiful thing. It was a great week.
As I write this we’ve completed the High School Mission Trip and the Middle School Mission Trip is just underway. The high school group went to New Orleans and worked closely with the New Orleans Mission. The New Orleans Mission feeds the homeless of New Orleans lunch every day and also has programs that last up to a year, trying to help people rebuild their lives who are living on the streets. Our high school kids fed hundreds of meals and also helped to spruce up the physical space at the mission. When they finished there, they went out two different times to engage the homeless on the streets: to offer a prayer, a word of hope, and a blessing bag, containing some food and basic toiletries. The mission trips are meant to offer our young people an experience serving those who really need our help. Many people in our country are hurting and an act of love blesses those who receive it, along with those who give it. The middle school group is now in Austin serving at Community First Village. You can follow along with all that they're doing on the St. Laurence Facebook and Instagram pages.
Camp Crucis is underway and I’m happy to again tell you that St. Laurence is represented there in full force. Many of you know that I went to Camp Crucis growing up and it played a really important role in my life. I’m so happy to see so many of our young people from St. Laurence going to Camp Crucis and having their lives touched by the ministry that takes place out there. St. Laurence has a number of staff members serving out there this summer: Marcus Green, Summer Camp Director, and Agnes Damp, Liam Estes, Mary Gill, staff members. St. Laurence sends more kids to Camp Crucis than any other single church and for good reason: what they do there is symbiotic with what we do at St. Laurence. Their ministry is an extension of ours. If your kids or grandkids aren’t yet signed up to go to Camp Crucis this summer, it’s not too late. Click here and find a way to get them out there.
Still to come are several outreach ministries: the Daughters of the King sock and underwear drive to help kids get ready to go back to school, and Feed Our Kids where we provide lunch to around 150 kids a day. Please support both of these ministries as generously as you can.
Many blessings. Stay Cool!
Fr. John Jordan