The Orchard Blog

Wow…….what a day!  Wonderful gatherings this morning…  tons of new faces…  so much excitement and momentum in the air…  AWESOME Orchard 101 class full of a bunch of people who are SO EXCITED about they're experiencing….  

It really doesn't get any better than this.  

So thankful…and now, so READY for bed.

G'nite!
Posted by Scott Hodge 

Quick "congrat!" shout out to the Orchard's very own Scott McGinnis for the first feature win of his career in the opening race of the 2006 Great Lakes Allison Legacy season!

Awesome job Scott!!

Posted by Scott Hodge

As a mother of four older children (my oldest is 17 and my youngest is 12) I have been thinking a lot lately about the journey my children have taken and what still lies ahead. It's incredible how fast these years have gone!

As we look forward to college next year I think how hard it will be to not have my oldest daughter home. I never realized until I came to this place in my life how difficult it was for parents when their children left home – if even for a short time.

I am so thankful that my daughter and I have had such a great relationship. Dont get me wrong, there have been plenty of times I could have given her away! But she has truly been a blessing and we have grown to appreciate each other.

With Mother's Day coming up (May 14th) I think about my mom and how great it is to have such a special relationship with her. We were not always as close as we are today, and we worked hard to get to this point. Now that I am a "grown up" I can truly appreciate the difficulties she had raising four children!

I thank God for giving me to my mom – he had it planned all along!

If you have children, appreciate the time you have with them. They will be grown up and gone before you know it!

Posted by Terri Casey

The more I think about this past weekend at The Orchard, the more excited I get! We had our largest Easter weekend EVER! Over 1,000 people walked through our doors this past weekend!

And the Easter Egg Hunt…WOW! TONS OF EGGS. TONS OF KIDS. TONS OF INCREDIBLE VOLUNTEERS. It was really an awesome site!

And our teams… WOW! Our teams did a stellar job at all four services. Production and media was top notch. Our music team was incredible. The Welcome Teams, the Orchard Kid's volunteers, the Common Grounds coffeehouse team, the Orchard Maintenance team, the parking lot gang and whoever else I'm missing – YOU GUYS DID AN INCREDIBLE JOB!

Sunday afternoon I walked away pretty exhuasted, yet SO PROUD of everyone! I have no doubt that the experience we created for every person who walked onto our campus was top notch! It's amazing what happens when a team pulls together and decides to put others first!

Thank you Orchard community for giving it your best! God used ALL OF US in a HUGE way!

Well guys – Easter weekend is almost here! There has been some serious buzz going on around our campus as we have been excitedly preparing to host four weekend services and a huge Easter Egg hunt!

Everyone from our Music Team to our Common Grounds Coffeehouse team to our Welcome Teams are seriously EXCITED to be a part of our largest weekend of the year!

I'm especially excited to begin our new series entitled, "simple." Today, I am hard at work in a quiet home putting the finishes touches on this weekend's talk, and then tonight our music and production teams will gather to rehearse and put the finishing touches on everything!

Gotta run for one last staff conference call. But…….before I go, let me ask you:

WHO HAVE YOU INVITED TO THE ORCHARD THIS WEEKEND?

It's not too late! Pick up the phone, shoot out an email, send a text message or an IM and invite your friends and family to celebrate Easter with us! Saturday at 4:30pm & 6:30pm or Sunday at 9:00am & 10:45am.

See you there!

Posted by Scott Hodge

Jim Larson is one of the missionaries that we are partnered with in Bangkok, Thailand. Jim and his family are doing an exciting and very unique work there working with bar girls (prostitutes) by reaching out to them with love and practical care. Their ministry is growing like crazy and the stories are amazing!

I can't tell you how excited I get every time I think of what Jim and his family are doing!

Here's a chance for you to see Jim's work first hand on Friday, April 7th at 7pm where the Christian Life Council at North Central College will be hosting "Art Night @ The Union" at The Union in downtown Naperville. Click the image below to view the poster with all of the details.

You can also download the .pdf version here.

Hope you can make it out and show your support!

Posted by Scott Hodge