From Sampler to Sower

On May 14-16, we took a group of teens to Regional Celebrate Life at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, IL. We were representing the Northeastern Indiana District Church of the Nazarene in an athletic and talent competition against students from Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan.

You can see my photos from the event on my flickr page.

Here is a video compilation of photos from the event:

My top ten favorite photos from the event are after the jump.

NEI-NYI President Dane Matthews and Celebrate Life Director Dan Garde contemplate the possibility of taking a bite out of a wad of pre-chewed gum.

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Sunday, May 17 was Emergency Personnel Sunday at the Middletown Church of the Nazarene.  We invited local police fire and emergency medical personnel from our communities to our service so that we could thank and honor them.  We had representatives not only from Middletown, but Muncie, Anderson, New Castle and Sulphur Springs, as well as from all three counties that surround us.  It really was a special day.

And it was a successful day for outreach.  Attendance was up 11% from last week (Mother’s Day) and up 32% from two weeks ago.

But the best part though, weren’t the number, but the faces.  Taking pictures of the event, I saw lots of smiling kids.  Even better, in the backgrounds of a lot of the pictures are smiling parents and grandparents.  That’s the best part.

Here’s a video compilation of the pictures from the event, as well as my top ten favorite photos of the day.  You can find the all the photos on my flickr page.

My top ten photos after the jump…

My two youngest children look in to watch their oldest brother, Brenden, sit behind the controls of the St. Vincent's/ PHI Dove Flight helicopter. Almost missed the photo too - one of the Dove Flight technicians pointed them out to me while I was taking pictures of Brenden.

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