Team Retreat - Day 01

So, the National Missionary Convention ended this morning and our Team Retreat started this afternoon. It was a great first day, breaking the ice, doing some Team Building exercises and hearing from John & Judy Webb, Team Care Pastors. We are looking forward to a full day tomorrow and a half day on Tuesday. We'll post more pictures soon.

First Day with the Team - some pictures

First Day with the Team

First, Brandon & Savannah arrived last night. Then the rest of the team started arriving in waves today. Brandi arrived around 11:45 AM, April about 1 PM and John, Ann & their kids arrived around 1:30 PM or so. When the last of our team got there, our team was complete. We had a group prayer to start things off right. Then the Blackburns unpacked and it was off to downtown to set-up for the reception at the Doubletree Hotel. It was really cool to see our team working together to set up for the event. It was the first time that our team collaborated together on a project in person.

After setting up, we went to a Team Expansion meeting then dinner at Qdoba's on 15th, four blocks East of Peoria. After dinner we headed back over to the convention center, got our name tags and headed back over to the Doubletree banquet room for some final touches for the reception. People had already started arriving and it was 7:40 PM (it wasn't supposed to start until 8:30 PM). As the night went on, the people streamed in. Not sure what the final count was, but I wrote down the names of everyone I talked to, as well as few that signed the guest list that I didn't talk to and I came up with 85!!! So, assuming there were a few people who I didn't see, didn't remember or didn't sign the list we probably had 90-100 people come to the reception! That totally blew me away, I was hoping for maxing out the room with fifty, but thought maybe thirty or more would show up. It was very encouraging to see the support and interest about what God is doing and wants to do in Verona.

National Missionary Convention

In a little over a month, the National Missionary Convention will be in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Our entire team will be in Tulsa for the convention and will be staying afterwards for a few days so that we can spend some time bonding as a team. This will be the very first time that our entire team will be in the same place at the same time. It will be a great time! During the convention we will be having a reception for all those who are connected with the Verona project. That means all team members, supporting personnel, Team Expansion staff, prayer partners, supporters, family members, etc.... In other words, if you are interested in the Go Verona project...we WANT you there!! We will be having a meet and greet with all team members, as well as a special time of prayer for the team and the mission in Verona. I will be hearing from the organizers for the convention this week, so I will be able to announce when the retreat is going to be and where at. It will be at either the Tulsa Convention Center OR the downtown Doubletree Hotel. We really want to see you there!!!! For more information about the National Missionary Convention check out their website at:
http://www.nmc-windows.org/nmc/tulsa__08