End of the Year at Covenant

Today we had our end of year congregational meeting. As usual, this includes a meal. In past years, it has been a pot luck. Today we had a soup and salad lunch prepared by the ladies of the church. There was a Caesar Salad, and a tossed salad. We had a choice of Bean soup, Turkey soup, a Chili with hamburger, beans, tomatoes, and onions. There was also a Minestrone type soup. Sue had the Chili and said it was delicious. I had the Turkey and thought it was pretty tasty.
We also had cookies, fudge, and a banana/vanilla wafer pudding, along with a chocolate pudding that had chocolate chips, and cherries in it. The latter is similar to a dessert Sue makes that has Chocolate pudding, cherries, whipped cream, and Oreo cookies. That one is to die for, but what we had at the church was pretty tasty!

We then got to the reason for the meeting. We always have a congregational meeting to explain the budget for the next year. Earlier in the morning, before the service, we folks on the Session met to approve the budget to present to the congregation. Later at the congregational meeting, we also had to approve the salary and housing budget for Terry, (Our Pastor) While that was discussed, we had to request Terry and his wife Kay leave the room. When we called them back in, we all applauded them. Terry quipped:, "I don't know if that applause means you're glad we're staying, or glad we're leaving!"

To be perfectly honest, we can't envision Covenant Presbyterian Church without Terry. He became the Pastor about a month before Sue and I became members of the church. We got a ride home from Terry and Kay last week, and we had mentioned a Presbyterian Church that is in The Colony. I commented that we might check out this church sometime, and Terry said, "Oh no you don't. You can't leave!" We laughed and assured them that we have no intention of leaving Covenant. Terry knows this of course, he was just kidding. But he did tell us tat they enjoy having us as members of the church. This really makes Sue and I feel good. It is nice to be a part of something. Covenant is a very warm, caring church. We have felt welcomed from the first day we walked through the doors. You can worship anywhere, but when you find a church home, home is a very apt word.