Dear Christ Church Family,
I usually try to send out my monthly letter at the first of the month, but as I suspect you’ve heard, God had other plans. The good news is: I’m now back home. My Spontaneous Cerebral Arterial Dissection (and subsequent stroke) took place on Good Friday. I spent a few hours in Lake Forest Hospital, a week in neuro-ICU at Northwestern Hospital, another week at Northwestern and then nearly three weeks at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. I’m very glad to say that the stroke did not affect my memory or cognitive abilities but it did leave me with some deficits. The chief one is balance. I lean left pretty hard. It’s getting better but it will take more time before my brain rewires itself and I can easily stand up straight. (FYI, I am able to walk and stand, but it’s a long way from normal). Enough about me!
Today, I spent a couple of hours visiting with staff. We have a great team and they have done an excellent job in my absence. I do not think they missed a beat.
- Last weekend, 550 volunteers packed over 200,000 meals for the hungry in Nicaragua.
- Many of you also served on the HOGS service day last Saturday.
- We continue to work on some the homes that our members have purchased in North Chicago in order to expand ministry there.
- You continue to invite your friends and neighbors to weekly services and we are excited to introduce them to God.
- I heard great reports of how our church family came together last weekend for the Long family.
You are the church and I am very excited that we continue to transform lives and communities in His name.
Now that I am home…what does this mean?
- We continue to look for ways to lean more fully into our mission to Proclaim the Good News and Engage in Good Works – including expanding the church by adding another location.
- We continue to look for ways to serve those in need – especially in North Chicago.
- I am working hard on the fall series – tentatively entitled Broken.
- I am working hard on my remaining recovery – FYI, I start outpatient therapy 3 days a week starting tomorrow.
Please mark your calendars for our annual meeting which will be held on June 22 at 4:00 pm at the Highland Park campus. This is our NEW fiscal year end so we will be voting on new elders and deacons, providing the “state of the union” and asking for fiscal 2014-2015 budget approval. As we approach our fiscal year end, you may have noticed that we are $250,000 in the red. While we have been managing expenses, we want to continue to do the good works we have been called to do. We prayerfully ask that you consider helping us make up this shortfall.
Finally, while I will not be speaking this summer, we have lined up a great set of speakers including Skye Jethani, Bob Thomas, Dan Myer and more!
I look forward to seeing all of you soon.
Press On,
Mike