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I hope this email finds you well rested after a weekend of summer and celebrating dads! Whether you’re a biological dad, a grandpa, an uncle, a coach or a spiritual dad - thank you! The world is better because we have good dads!

Speaking of dads, we had a great time celebrating fathers and daughters at the first annual “Great Father-Daughter Adventure!” It was a super special, yet simple day together at the beautiful Black Rock Retreat! Morgan Holzhauer led the dad-daughter pairs in a bible study activity looking at three specific attributes of God. Then they had an opportunity to exchange some notes with each other, build a garden planter, enjoy lunch and the Nature Center together.  A special thanks to Jim Krantz and Janelle (Krantz) Brown, who were our father-daughter “panelists’ during our Bible Study time. 

Don’t forget, next Sunday we’re celebrating the faith decisions of three Roots Kids - Isaac Kreider, Amber Grumbling and Kinsey Grumbling! Make a point to join us for their baptism service, immediately following the 10:30am worship service! The baptism will take place in the sanctuary! It is a joy to watch our church family members walk in faith! 

Tomorrow, Bobbie Davis and I depart with six Jr. High Youth Roots for our “Summer Service Sprint!” The Jr. High Work Camp for this summer is a tour around Lancaster and surrounding areas to serve various non-profit and parachurch organizations. We’ll be making stops to serve at Solanco Neighborhood Ministries, Blessings of Hope, Brethren Housing Association and Bridlepath Equine Center. We’ll be staying on Mt. Gretna and will certainly enjoy plenty of fellowship and fun as we serve! You can pray for healthy bodies, traveling mercies and servant attitudes for our crew! We’ll be sharing about our experiences next Sunday, 6/28. 

Before I wrap this one up, don’t forget to join in with generational, podcast-based, Bible study on the book of Ephesians that I’m kicking out over on “The DIG!” Mini-episodes drop on Monday, Wednesday and Friday! You can follow along in a lot of different places… Spotify, Apple Podcasts, our Church Website and now YOUTUBE!

 

What WE’RE Learning This Week: A nugget of what our Lil’, Youth and Adults Roots heard this week

Lil’ & Bridge Roots Psalm + Big Idea: Psalm 19 – God is worthy of worship and praise! (Confidence)

Youth Roots Psalm + Big Idea: Psalm 33: The Steadfast Love of the Lord

How Every Generation Lives This Out: Talk as a family... Why is it important for our confidence to be in God?

 

What I’M Learning This Week: Sharing what I’m reading and listening to lately

While reading in Mark 11 this morning, I’m particularly pondering Jesus’ interaction with the fig tree. The passage tells us that the tree had leaves, but no fruit. However, “the fruit of the fig tree generally appears before the leaves, and, because the fruit is green it blends in with the leaves right up until it is almost ripe. Therefore, when Jesus and His disciples saw from a distance that the tree had leaves, they would have expected it to also have fruit on it even though it was earlier in the season than what would be normal for a fig tree to be bearing fruit.”

Jesus is frustrated and probably disgusted by the fact that God’s people look fruitful on the outside (religion!) but are actually fruitless on the inside. They were great at religious practices and observations but spiritually dead. 

Good works don’t produce fruit. Being connected to the vine (John 15) does. 

I don’t want to appear to be fruit-producing. Lord, guard me from striving my way towards fruit. May fruit be a product of my life because I’m connected to you! “If the root is holy, so are the branches.” Romans 11:16

 

Make Every Week Count: Parenting, Grandparenting & Spiritual Mentoring Resources

Something to Read: Just listened to a podcast interview about this book and I’d bet there’s a lot of us who would benefit from reading “Release, Rest, Remain: A 30-day Devotional to Embrace Abiding Over Striving" 

Something to Listen to: Just a good little, encouraging podcast about family discipleship to check out… “Studying the Gospel as a Family with The Krugers”

Something to Follow: This was a sweet prayer about the speed and sweetness of summer, especially for moms. Give it a read!

 

How Can You Pray? Prayer Requests and Praises from Roots Ministries

PRAY for the Jr. High Work Camp - Summer Service Sprint Crew!

PRAISE for all the dads in our lives - biological and spiritual!