Seward Boat Trip at Kenai National Park

We took a boat trip on Saturday July 18th from Seward, Alaska in the ocean around the Kenai Peninsula. It was an overcast and rainy day and the ocean got a little rough for me. I spent at least 2 of the 6 hours on the bakc of the ship fighting nausea brought on by motion sickness. But, we saw so many wondeful sights that my discomfort was nothing in comparison.



I spliced together a some of the secenery and marine life we witnessed. We saw sea otters, bald eagles, gulls of many varieties, sea lions, tufted puffins and horned puffins, humpback wahles, orcas, porpoise and a massive 1/2 mile wide still active glacier which originates to the last ice age 10,000 years ago. It is an amazing planet on which we live.

VBS Sunday Sermon(s)

What do you get when you have two preachers preaching together as a team on the same Sunday? You get a very long sermon! Rev. Jim Doepken was kind enough to invite me to join him in preaching, so we tag teamed the sermon in parts with the VBS music in the middle, I have broken the sermon up in parts for your convenience.

Sermon Introduction...

King David was our subject for Camp Iwilligoway. We learned about following David's example as a way to learn how to live God's way.

King David was chosen by God through Samuel the prophet to become the second king of Israel. Hear Pastor Jim Doepken of Girdwood Chapel UMC tell about it. We will live God's way by "Having a Heart for God." Humans look at outward qualities, but God looks inward at the heart or the spirit or a person. God saw that David loved and honored the God of Israel. This quality brought God to tkae David from tending sheep to leading a nation.

Later when David deafted the giant Goliath, we learned to live God's way by "Trusting God to Help Us." Pastor Jim continues the story.

After singing some of the songs we learned at Camp Iwilligoway, Pastor Scott Tyring of Zionsville UMC, shared about David and King Saul. Saul had grown jealsous or David and tried to have him killed. We learned from this story to live God's way by "Asking for Help."

And finally we learned to live God's way by "Believing" that Jesus is the Son of David, the Messiah and savior of the world. Pastor Scott Ends the sermon with the gospel.

A special Thanks to Mike Voigt for video operation on this service (Sermon and Music). His arm got very tired! God Bless you, Mike!

VBS Sunday!!!

We wrapped up the VBS portion of the week through celebration at Girdwood Chapel UMC. Here you can enjoy the children and the VBS crew singing the songs we learned at Camp Iwilligoway. Here's the Theme song....

And a fun little action song called, Everybody Sing A Song.

God's Love was shared all week and this song sums it up...Amazing Love

The final song we shared was Davey Davey which honored our chief biblical character whom we learned about, King David.

A special thank you to Julie Doepken for putting together flipcharts of the song lyrics!!!!

Camp Iwilligoway Summary Video

Hey folks! I discovered Windows Movie Maker and here's a quick and dirty summary video of the VBS week at Girdwood, Alaska for Camp Iwilligoway...I Will Live God's Way. Enjoy.

Scott's Job Lesson

How would you like to learn how to drywall window frames? Join Pastor Scott in this instructional video. Don't eat the gypsum dust! Thanks to my camera woman, Michele!

The Girdwood Construction Crew

Michele went around and filmed some of the crew at work today on Friday, July 17th. Hard working people. Praises to God for their service.

Camp Iwilligoway Opens

We praise God for the 27 children who gathered for the first night of Camp Iwilligoway Vacation Bible School! Iwilligoway is short for "I will Go God's Way." We had children as young as 2 years old and up to 10 years. Some older kids from the area came to help, too. One child said during closing prayer that she thanked God for VBS and the building in which we were meeting. :)

Enjoy the clips.

Pastor Jim Doepken leads the children in a lesson about the heart of King David and in prayer.