September 2008

Dear Friends,

    I would really like to thank each of the churches that hosted Open Door Christian Ministries as their Vacation Bible School Mission. The offerings, enthusiasm, and support were tremendous. As you know, the economy has taken a turn for the worse. Inflation is driving the prices of many things through the roof. Gas in Columbia went up over $4.22 the other day when the "panic" it but has come back down to $3.99 (still about 45 cents higher than before). The VBS funds have helped cushion this blow to our budget.

    Open Door Day is coming up this Sunday. This is a special day of prayer for Open Door Christian Ministries, the staff, the kids, the directors, and our funding. It would be great to see some new supporters and increased support come out of it as well. We are incredibly grateful for any offerings or support we receive.

    Someone asked me the other day if they had to do Open Door Day on Sept. 21st. The answer is no, you can do it anytime. I personally know of several churches that are doing it next month instead. The congregation I minister too will be viewing the video and praying on the 21st but taking up the offering the next Sunday. Frankly, the idea of Open Door Day is two-fold: To raise awareness of the ministry and to get people praying for it. Everything else is gravy.

    We finally got the pool up and working this month. The problem was that the pool liner kept coming out. Do you know how hard it is to get a pool company to come out to an above-ground pool that they didn't set up. No one was willing to come out and help. I tried many things and failed 6 times. I was ready to take the whole thing down because I was afraid one of the tropical storms would take it out. Someone finally pointed me in the right direction and I was able to get "bead lock" to help keep the liner in place. The pool went down June 5th and went back up on Aug. 28th. The kids have enjoyed swimming even though they have missed a big chunk of the summer. Well, we're all set for next year!

God Bless You,

Loren Harold Lung

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