Friday, December 12, 2008

Staff/Elder Christmas Party


You never know what could come out of a wrapped package at my house. Last night we hosted our pastors and elders Christmas Party. It was a blast. We enjoyed a great meal together, and spent time loving on each other. One of the fun parts is our white-elephant gift exchange. Every year someone brings out the gift that tops them all. Time nor space can show you everything but here are a few.

Well there were some doozies this year. Tara got a sample of .. well you take a close look.
Rich got a Ricky bobby baby...
Shari received, well you see what she got, I just wish Dick would have opened it.
Linda got a foot-massage , a used one at that...
Karen received an HDTV... look close at the hand written letters...
Well as you can see, it was a ton of fun. We even busted out in a game of Mennonite Manners, that turned into a wrestling match with the men. In fact, at one point Jon was under the table, while Miah and I dragged him out. And we went went through 3 ink pens. And no one followed the rules!
My favorite part was when I passed out a piece of paper with the names of the couples on it, and had everyone write something they appreciated about that couple. We passed them around, and eventually the couple to their left read it. That way no one knew who wrote what, and it gave them a chance to just listen. It was very moving to hear what others had to say about you. Without a doubt it was my favorite part, because most of these guys never get to hear this kind of encouragement in a public way.
Man I love my team and am grateful to serve with them.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You guys are definitely an amazing group and your leadership at Grace is appreciated... I am glad you were able to unwind and have some fun and that you were all able to walk away encouraged. I am thankful for GCC.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Andy, Thanks for all that you do here too!