August Rector’s Letter

Dear Parish Family,   

Summer of Prayer 
Everyone who is reading this email has been lifted up in prayer every day this summer by a brother or sister in Christ who attends St. Laurence. For many years, the first sentence on our Prayer Cards that are in the pews has read, “St. Laurence Church believes in the power of prayer.” Thanks be to God for this reality. This is a praying Parish, with over 900 public services of prayer each year. A day never goes by where there aren’t prayers being offered at St. Laurence. Every day of the year, we pray for all of you by name at our Morning Prayer service in the Lady Chapel. This summer, in addition to those prayers, a huge prayer team has been mobilized to “double down” on praying for everyone by name. I hope you can see the incredible commitment to prayer. If you’re not on the prayer team, I hope you’ll join in, praying for the needs of our Parish and our world.

St. Laurence at Camp Crucis this Summer
Do you know that St. Laurence sends more campers to Camp Crucis each summer than any other Parish in our diocese? The ministry of Camp Crucis, as many of you know, was very important in my own life and I am so thrilled that it is helping to form the next generation of Godly young people. In many ways, Camp Crucis serves as a leadership pipeline, raising up the future lay and clergy leaders of our Parish and diocese. Camp Crucis enhances what we offer at St. Laurence in our ministry to young people and I want to emphasize how beautifully it all works together. They help our young people to form deep relationships with the Lord Jesus and with brother and sister Anglicans. We want St. Laurence to be strong for many generations to come and so I’m really hoping that our families will lean into all that we offer, and that Camp Crucis offers, because together it works.

Let’s talk about specifics with our involvement with Camp Crucis: this summer, we had three members of our Church serve as staff members at Camp: Liam Estes, Aidan Jordan, and Christian Bechner. Megan Mecca and Catherine Marshall, both of whom serve on our diocesan staff, played a significant support and coaching role for the summer staff. Catherine was so involved that she was honored by the Camp Board this summer with the “Crucis Cross,” an honor shared by quite a few members of our Parish. Jessica Green, of our Parish, serves as a Camp Crucis board member. Both Fr. Province and Fr. Rogers served as clergy down there. My wife Liz served on the Camp Crucis strategic planning committee and now serves on the hiring committee for a new Camp Director. All of that is in addition to the kids and youth who attended camp this summer or served as Volunteer Cabin Counselors. You can see that there is a real synergy with what’s happening there.

I am so thankful that so many of you have seen the tremendous value of what’s happening at Camp Crucis and have sent your children there. If you haven’t sent your kids or grandkids down there yet, be sure to do it next summer.

Update on the Upcoming Expansion
Both the Expansion Committee and Capital Campaign Steering Committee have been meeting through the summer. As you know, Shea Kirkman serves as the chair of the Expansion Committee. In addition to Lisa Lapiska, I have asked Greg Jones to serve as co-chairs for the upcoming Capital Campaign. I’m thankful that we are in the hands of good leaders, who love the Lord and love this place. 

So many of you have asked how you can help and I’m so thankful for those offers. We’re still in the early days of planning, even despite months of meetings. Once the structure for each side of our expansion is put in place, there will be literally hundreds of opportunities to serve. I promise that you’ll hear from us on how you can help once we get there. In the meantime, please continue to pray for the Parish and for wisdom on how best to proceed.

St. Laurence Day
On Sunday, August 13 we will be celebrating the feast of our Patron Saint, St. Laurence. The life and ministry of St. Laurence, known for his generosity, his sense of humor, his devotion to the Lord, and his heart for service has deeply shaped the identity of our Church, which is a cause for tremendous thanksgiving. So, on August 13, that’s what we will be doing: giving thanks to God for 72 years of ministry and witness. I hope you’ll invite family and friends to join us for what I’m sure will be a joyous celebration.

It’s HOT...But Fall Is Coming
The Parish staff has had a number of planning meetings lately and we're gearing up for a very busy and very amazing fall ministry season! All kinds of things will be the same and all kinds of things will be different! It kicks off with our Ministry Fair on August 27 between the services. Be on the lookout for so many ways to grow in the love and knowledge of the Lord.

Thank you all for the opportunity to continue to serve the Lord here at St. Laurence.  

With love,
Fr. John