Cindypalooza!

Cindypalooza!!

Cindypalooza Mosaic
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

NOT ONLY was this the weekend that our church had the Jeff Street book release celebration, it was also the weekend we had a Surprise Celebration for our beloved pastor, Cindy!

We surprised her at the book party which was only a book release party superficially. The main celebration was to honor Cindy's years of service at Jeff Street, and what a celebration it was! There was music, skits, silly songs, book readings, friends from out of town, fellowship and at least a little intrigue.

Cindy has ministered at Jeff Street for going on 25 years and what a joy and privilege it has been to have her leading our community. Cindy is an incredibly gifted and Godly preacher and we have had blessing upon blessing flow over us by her delightful presence.

In addition to the party Friday night (which was covered by the newspaper here), we had a picnic today (Saturday) and will continue to rejoice in and honor our sister, Cindy, in our church service tomorrow.

And a grand time has been had, and will be had, by all.

Thanks, Cindy, for all you are and do. We thank our God upon every remembrance of you.

We love you!

Bread for the Journey

Bread for the Journey
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

It's official! Jeff Street has a brand spanking new book of stories, poetry and miscellanea covering mostly our last 25 years of ministry. This, from a church that is also celebrating our (roughly) 125th anniversary of ministry in downtown Louisville, a ministry that has always been amongst the marginalized and down-trodden.

Another excerpt from the book (last one for a while, I promise):

Throughout Jeff Street’s history, we’ve never been a large church - mostly averaging fewer than 100 in attendance on any given Sunday.
We’ve never been a rich church, being made up of the homeless, the mentally ill, the working poor, and – moreso in these last 20 years – teachers, mental health workers, social workers, labor and justice organizers, and those working in environmental fields: sort of the seamy side of the working class.

What we have been is there. We’ve consistently been there, on the frontlines of Louisville’s poverty issues, homeless concerns, and justice and peace issues. What a blessed history to remember!

What a future yet to tell!

JEFF STREET BOOK RELEASE PARTY!!!

Paul
Originally uploaded by paynehollow

For the last six or so months, our church, Jeff Street, has been working on a book of stories, poems, songs and essays from church members and friends. We have finally wrapped that project up and are having a book release party this weekend.

There are some 33 writing contributors, as well as artwork from three other contributors (all of this in a church with only about 70-90 members) who have contributed 66 stories, essays and poetry (same as the number of books in the Bible, hmmm...). The participants are from every age range, and from every part of our church.

The book is called, Bread for the Journey: Stories and Whatnot from Jeff Street and we self-published it through lulu.com, which has been a great experience for us. At this point, I've just printed out enough for Jeff Street folk and friends who wanted it, but we may eventually make it public if others are interested.

The book cover is still secret at this point, but I'll put it up online after the party this weekend.

Congratulations, Jeff Street!