Thoughts from a Great Weekend...

1. For the second year Sarai's band summer trip has taken us away from the RGV and made it a family weekend trip. The destination for this year's trip was the beautiful and progressive city of Dallas, Texas. We have a beautiful state with gorgeous cities. As we arrived home last night, I was reminded of the memories we have built as a family throughout the years. All three of my kids had a great school year. Areli and I are officially the parents of two High School girls and one Middle-School boy. (Prayers REALLY appreciated!)

2. There are many values we strive to pass on to our children, and friendship in the context of community is one of them. What a privilege it was to see and fellowship with two of my college friends, Juan Carlos and Michelle Martinez. It is always an enjoyable experience to spend time with their three precious girls. God has been good to Juan and Michelle and as always, they continue to serve the God of their parents in the context of their education careers. Great people, amazing family.

3. I live to preach. I also live to take breaks away from preaching. It was a very good Sunday to simply join my family and worship together in the house of the Lord. I do not take lightly every opportunity I have to hear the Word of God spoken into my life and The Village Church is a great place to be refreshed and encouraged.

4. As I read all communication cards from Sunday's visitors and members, my office desk is the recipient of multiple prayer requests, praises and personal decisions for salvation and baptism. No better way to start my Monday than to see what God is doing in our community while I ask Him for wisdom and a contrite heart to join Him and His agenda. It is good to hear the good reports of our Sunday guest speaker, my brother and friend, Joe Aguilar.

5. I wasn't even home last night when I received the great news about our Vacation Bible School orientation meeting. More than 60 volunteers joined our time to pray, plan, strategize as the Gospel impacts and transforms our community through this amazing outreach. Please, make sure you make plans to join us June 23-27 at Register here for Vacation Bible School 2014

6. It is a lot easier to do ministry with friends and like-minded people. I have no better way to describe my

short, but effective and pleasant, interactions with my German brothers and sisters throughout 2014. I'm privileged and excited to join our church family during our yearly Baseball Camp in Detmold, Germany

7. Totally grateful and excited to see my three kids join Youth Camp 2014 I'm believing and anticipating eternal decisions, life-long friendships and eternal transformation in the souls of my beautiful teenagers. We have dedicated time and effort to support and encourage our youth pastor, Fabian Pacheco and the rest of our youth ministry team.

8. After a week off from preaching, I'm eager to speak to men (young and not so young) this Sunday during our Father's Day celebration. It's going to be a special experience to see our God move among our current generation of men. Online Sermon Series

9. After seeing my Retina Specialist and through the injections to my right eye, I can feel the sallowness come down and my vision gradually return. God has been faithful, my family remains strong throughout this hard season. My church family keeps on making the journey through life more pleasant and exciting. I love life, I love people, I love my community.

Vidal