For Those Who missed Out Last Night....

For Those Who missed Out Last Night....here's a virtual tour of our meeting!

-Phil opened with prayer.

-Then we got a sneek preview of the funny Heir Force Room drama for this weekend directed by Dalene and starring Sammy, Sierra, and Levi.

Then we got another sneek preview of the weekend drama starring Phil and Ryan called "The Nickel"

-Announcements:
1.)Improv Show Next Saturday Night June 6th at 7pm at Moran Elementary-fundraiser for local community theatre, starring Jen, Julie, Shelley, Dalene, Paul, Cody, and Tom! Come as an audience member and volunteer to come up and play with us! Family friendly, fun and unique, affordable, and helping support local arts! Win, win!
2.) Uncoming Series brainstorm online (see below "Online brianstorm" and next series is "Sandtraps" a series about communication with a golfing theme. E-mail any ideas.
3.)Next meeting is June 25th, we'll get to hear from those who didn't get to share this month. Last official meeting of the summer.
4.) Summer Creative Arts Picnic is Friday July 17th at Kim Stewart's House. More details to come! Mark the date on your calendars.
5.) Brad is looking for volunteers to play characters in a training he's putting together for all-stars teachers. He's trying to help them with their storytelling, dramatic and communication skills to enhance our kids classroon experience. (see below "Storytelling Boot Camp"

-And then came the best part: a series of captivating original monologs about how God intersects our lives.

Mary volunteered to go first and drew us in with her lullaby-like voice. She gave us a beautiful story of God's comfort in her life from losing her mother. How he showed up in the little things like lost coins and beautiful flowers... we also discovered she was the first female attorney in Elkhart County! Way to go, Mary! (P.S. Tom all of a sudden realized that he was her paperboy for years! Small world.)

Levi told us about the time he knew he was really a Christ follower instead of a keeper of a hand me down faith of his parents. He led someone to Christ on a mission trip and realized it's one thing to know Christ but them to share Him with someone else was a different story. Incredibly powerful and moving!

Julie gave us a beautifully honest piece about the many lessons she's learned from the instability of her earthly father and the constancy of her heavenly father. We were amazed when she said she thought it was all about fixing her father's issues, but then realized it was more about becoming a better daughter to him. A great example of how God redeems even the toughest situations.

Diane told us a great story about her "ethereal" mother and her helpful advice about the promptings of the Holy Spirit. We loved how she changed her posture and mannerisms when speaking like her mother. A great example of how you can listen for God's promting even in something as common as potty training your kiddos! : )

Leslie gave is a moving performance when she told us about a scary night when she was six months pregnant and said a prayer that filled her with peace that passes understanding. Her description of the Holy Spirit moving throughout her body to release all the fear, panic and tension was something I don't think we'll ever forget.

Shannon's sweet spirit shone through once again with her authentic confessional monolog about how hard it's been for her to find true friends. Even though high school was lonely, she admitted she was glad she never fell away from God due to peer pressure or did anything against her morals. Many of the parents of teenagers commented on how they hope their kids follow in her footsteps.

And then came Pauls' monolog....




As you can see from the reactions ans standing ovation, it was shockingly hysterical. I won't be able to give you all the hilarious details, but all I can offer is two words as a clue--fertility clinic.

Brad's brilliantly written monolog about God's love and a man's love in return kept us on the edge of our seats..all we could say was wow!

Lisa told us an adorably funny monolog about her first job interview and hire when she actually showed up at the wrong veterinary clinic and got hired on the spot!

Phil is an amzing storyteller and drew us in when he shared the true meaning of the word "leaving" when it comes to marriage and how listening to God's prompting can help your life in more ways than one.

Art is often very similar to therapy... I shared a monolog about how God is helping me survive parenthood. I told a story about an incident that happened to Lauren on the bus on the way home from school..still sad that it happened, but thankful for what God taught me through it. And also thankful for a great group of people to share it with.
-After that, we closed with prayer which included prayer for CHip and Diane in regards to their careers, Diane's uncle who is dying and her dad is who is still hopeing to lead him to Christ, Shannon's school, Fletch's move, Levi's summer as his parents head to Indonesia and he heads to college in the fall, and Paul's theatre class he's teaching this summer.
It was a great night, so sad many of you missed it, but we'll see you on June 25th!