August 27, 2022

How wonderful it was to be back with you last Sunday! Cheri and I had just returned from a fabulous three-week trip to the northeast.

We worshipped at a church while we were away, but it's not like being at Asbury. How good it was to be in our sanctuary, to hear our choir, and to see you...our church family.

On our trip, Cheri and I got to see many friends from our past. 

In Maryland, we spent time with Cheri's first theatre teacher and mentor, who is about to be honored for her 50 years of teaching. We got to be with Jock and Day Cowperthwaite in Maine. The Cowperthwaites worship with us at Asbury whenever they are visiting the southeast. We spent time with former Asbury member, Mike Mathewson, and his family on a lighthouse island off the coast of Massachusetts. (I'll be talking about that experience on Sunday.) We got to see friends from our New York days who now live in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. And of course, we got to see our children in New York City. 

We also made a couple of surprise visits to see Asburians Terry Harman and Pat Ciccodicola in New Jersey and Alice and Jim Burris and Shelbi Hanton in Virginia. 

Before the trip, Cheri and I bought 15 bottles of Asbury's Heavenly Honey and dropped them off to all of these good folks along the way!

Our September Newsletter will soon be available online and hard copies will be at the church. We're just about to kick off the new church season and the newsletter is filled with good information, so be sure to check it out. You may want to post some of the promos and articles on your bulletin board. Here's just a sample of what's in the Newsletter:

Pulled Pork Dinner sponsored by our youth group on Saturday, September 10th.

Our Kick-Off Sunday on September 11th that will include a Welcome Back Service at Wesley Oak at 9:30 a.m., a Welcome Back Service at Asbury Memorial at 11:15 a.m., and a Ministry Fair after the service. Rumor is that there will be Leopold's Ice Cream served at the Ministry Fair!

There are also pictures of our newest church members, an article about the play that will be produced at Asbury in September that is in collaboration with The Savannah Repertory Theatre Company, an article about our Stephen Ministry, a list of small group, fellowship, and service opportunities, and articles about what's happening at the Wesley Oak Campus! Check it out!!!

God On Broadway (Change in Shows)

The recent upswing in Covid cases has touched our choir, and we are having to make an adjustment to God on Broadway. Even though everyone will be healthy by October, the most important time for God on Broadway is now...because this is when the choir rehearses. But unfortunately, we won't have enough choir members at our rehearsals to use the shows we had planned to use. So, this year's shows will be postponed until October 2023.

HOWEVER, we still will be doing God on Broadway. Instead of using musicals, we'll be using straight shows (non-musicals) that have been on Broadway. I'm really looking forward to this new challenge and doing things a little differently. We will be announcing one of the shows we'll be using each of the next five Sundays. I'll announce one of the shows this Sunday!

This week I will be talking about growing deep roots. I can't wait to tell you about a man named Doctor Gibbs and his theory on root growing!

Love, Peace, & Blessings,
Billy