Welcome to the world, Kennedy!
Kennedy Quinn Tesdahl, you are such a well-mannered baby! You knew that your daddy, Pastor Gunnar, had a big Easter Sunday to lead. So, very politely, you delayed your arrival until Tuesday at 12:46 pm; all six pounds and 10 ounces of you.
Welcome to the world, Kennedy, and to your Chapel Hill family! We’ve been eagerly awaiting your arrival…although you just missed witnessing one of the most exciting Sunday mornings at Chapel Hill in a long time!
On Easter Sunday, we welcomed 2,700+ worshippers in our three services, virtually identical to our 2019 pre-COVID Easter attendance numbers. We were hoping for 1,500. 2,700 blew us away! Your dad and the rest of the worship team did a remarkable job. Twenty-five people raised their hands to follow Jesus, including a bunch of your bigger brothers and sisters. In fact, we gave away every kid’s Bible we had after the services, there were so many children who prayed to give their hearts to Jesus. And Alpha sign-ups were off the chart! You weren’t around during the good old days before a bug called “COVID” came along, but this Easter sure felt like we were back to one of those good old days!
And Kennedy, because we have so many new folks joining the Chapel Hill family, just like you only a little older, we thought it would be a good time to explain to everyone who we are as a church. So, starting this Sunday, the preaching team and I will be preaching a series on “Our DNA,” a nine-week study on the things we value most…the markers that make us uniquely Chapel Hill. All of this might be slightly over your head at this point (although we KNOW you’ll be brilliant.) BUT, the things we value most highly are those qualities that will shape the church you will grow up in, you and all of your big brothers and sisters who have been filling our Sunday School classrooms recently.
In fact, Kennedy, this week Pastor Julie and I are going to tackle one of THE most distinctive…and for some…controversial aspects of our Chapel Hill DNA: the ordination of women as well as men. The equal treatment and calling of men and women matter deeply to us and, since you are a woman in the making, it might matter to you, too!
We are so glad to welcome you to our world and to our church family, Kennedy. There’s been a lot of crazy stuff going on the last couple of years. But it appears you might have arrived at a time when things are starting back on the rise. I hope so. At any rate, through good and through ill, you are one of us. We love you and we’re so happy for your mommy, daddy, and everyone else who has been waiting for you.
Your Pastor-Papa,
Mark