Circle It

As you start to piece together your calendar for the summer, I want you to circle June 10th. I want you to circle it because that day will be an opportunity for us to Renew Rural Iowa. Last year we voted on a new vision for our church. It was a long process of looking up to God, looking in at ourselves, and looking out at our community. Braiding those three strands together we put together our Renewing Rural Iowa Vison for 2026 and beyond. Go Day in many respects hits on all five parts of that vision. It will help us to Develop Disciples, Foster Unity, Embrace Service, Empower the Community, and Launch the Next Generation. Go Day is an opportunity for us as a church to live out our vision for the world to see.

I have been so deeply encouraged and challenged by the work our team has been doing to pull the pieces together for this year’s Go Day. Sandy Trampe, Tim Stearns, Rodney Folkerts, and Andrea Folkerts have put in some real leg work to make this year’s Go Day bigger and better than past years. We decided as a congregation to focus on Eldora and that decision has opened some unique opportunities. We don’t have all the details ready for you just yet, but I want to share what we do know. What we do know is that this Go Day will be an opportunity for us to empower our community. We have found different community organizations to partner with and ways for the community to come make an impact.

So far, we’ll be working with the Community Garden, The Pine Lake Food Shelf, Little Rock Ministry, and Hardin County, Iowa Helps. There will be opportunities to clean up and repair. People from our church and the community will get the chance to donate blood, food, or home goods. We’ll be grilling food for passersby, volunteers, and those who donate. We’ll be on the Eldora Square. You’ll get opportunities to share God’s heart for the people of Eldora.

More details will be coming over the next month. For now, I need you to just do one thing, circle June 10th. Then once it’s circled either join us or pray for us. We’d love to have either contribution in helping us Renew Rural Iowa.