Too much to begin to take in

There are so many things about this weekend and particularly last night at Mountain Springs Community Church http://www.mountainsprings.org/

in Colorado Springs that I am still reeling and I am struggling to know exactly where to start.

Let me just give you a quick snapshot of the Rites of Passage (ROP). As of Thursday, before the ceremony, 64 young men and women had signed up. Each day the number grew but after the services on Saturday night and Sunday morning, the number exploded to 207. The largest ceremony we had ever done was for about 115.

Now to the night of the actual Rites of Passage...... 207 young men and women were welcomed and blessed by their families, ministry leaders, church and pastors as young adults. In addition to the total number in the ROP, 33 young men and women prayed to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior. Several of those were clearly "re-dedications" but the number is remarkable.

While that was taking place, 5 of the current adults/parents did the same thing in the sanctuary.

We could have just stopped there but obviously did not.

In the picture above, You see one of the ministry leaders holding a poster board, life-size photo of Cpt Shawn McAniff. Cpt Shawn is serving our nation in Iraq. For the ceremony, his wife brought the photo to be with her and their daughter. I cannot begin to explain the range of emotions of everyone in the auditorium when they saw this happening.

Mountain Springs is a powerful church and force for our Lord. What a privilege for Billie and me to be a part of this incredible weekend. Pastor Steve Holt and his staff were amazing.

We have so much to be thankful and grateful for to God.