As most of you know, one of our 150 seeker small group leaders, Denise Blocker, experience a tragedy this past week when her husband Brad Blocker was in a serious skiing accident at Lake Tahoe. He was in a drug-induced coma with severe head and chest injuries in a Reno hospital. I sent out an e-mail to all of you, asking you to pray.
I was astonished at the response! So many of you sent e-mails back saying that you were praying for Brad, Denise and her family. It showed me how much this group values prayer. We may all not be able to show up to some of the events that are being planned for seeker small group leaders, or even get that seeker small group going yet, but what I witnessed through this recent tragedy is a high value on prayer and reliance on God's power within our SSG contingent. This prayer response continued when the very sad news came in on Friday night (2/22) that Brad had passed away. Some of you have offered to put together a love of offering for the family. Someone had a friend in Reno that is a pastor who could go visit the Blocker family in the hospital. Others knew Brad personally through his love of basketball.
For those that may be interested, Brad's memorial service is 11:00 a.m. Saturday, March 1st at the Woodside Priory, Portola Valley. There will also be a viewing at Spangler Mortuary, 399 South San Antonio Rd. in Los Altos on Friday night (2/29) from 5-8 p.m.
I must confess that there have been times over this past year that I was discouraged, because this is so new and I don't really know how this whole movement of seeker small groups is going to unfold. But this week's response has taught me that there is a community forming of like-minded people that know how to pray and come together when we need it most.
I hope I see many of you at the Conversational Evangelism Conference. Unfortunately I will miss most of the lunch, due to the funeral. However, Garry Poole and Fran Goodrich of NBS as well as Bruce Stryd another key SSG catalyst, will all be there to make that hour count for each one of you that attend. I continue to be so grateful for each one of you. Thank you for praying for the Blockers and also for the all the prayers you have been praying for me over this past year. I feel them. Love, Mary
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