This weekend cechome.com reached the 25,000 hit mark. Thanks again for all of the visitors, readers and contributors.

Name

Darren August Jones

Church

Church of the Holy Spirit, Stephens City, Virginia

Position at church (if any)

Deacon, music leader (keyboard and vocals), catechist

Favorite liturgical color and season

Purple, Easter

If you could have dinner with 3 people dead or alive, whom would you choose?

C.S. Lewis, St. Athanasius, my wife

Name 3 of your favorite books

Lord of the Rings (it only counts as one, okay?), Beowulf (the Seamus Heaney translation, which has nothing to do with the execrable screen version of Beowulf that came out last year), and Patricia McKillip’s Riddle Master trilogy.

Name 3 of your favorite movies

Pride & Prejudice (the 6-hour long one, although I very much enjoyed both the Kiera Knightley version and Bride and Prejudice as well), Henry V (the Branagh version, which has a totally awesome version of Non Nobis Domine in it), and Ladyhawke (dashing knights, fair ladies, nasty villains, and 80s rock – what could be better??)

Name 3 of your favorite TV shows

We don’t have a TV. However, I like Law and Order and football.

What music are you listening to?

Here’s a sample of what I’ve listened to in the last couple days: Amy Grant’s Breath of Heaven (Mary’s Song), Abbess Hildegard Bingen’s Feather on the Breath of God, the Adoremus Society’s chant of Gloria (the English version, not the Latin one), A Debtor to Mercy Alone as done by Bob Kauflin, There is a Higher Throne by Keith Getty, For the Beauty of the Earth from the John Rutter Collection, Garments of Praise by Robin Mark, Jesus King of Angels by Fernando Ortega, God Be Merciful to Me by Jars of Clay, One Faith by John Michael Talbot, Christe Eleison by Michelle Tumes, The Song of Benedict by Oremus, and Glorious One by Steve Fee. That’s a pretty representative sample of my taste.

Favorite websites and blogs:

thebookbeast.blogspot.com – my wife’s and my personal blog

merecomments.typepad.com/merecomments – the blog of Touchstone Magazine, a must-read

frmartinfox.blogspot.com – a Catholic priest in Ohio who’s a fun read

cechome.wordpress.com – obvious, since you’re here

cecworship.wordpress.com – good ideas on worship music

www.cardinalseansblog.com – weekly update from the cardinal archbishop of Boston

www.hatrack.com – website for Orson Scott Card, who wrote a terrific book (Ender’s Game)

johncwright.livejournal.com – atheist turned Christian science fiction writer

www.testosterhome.net – mom to five boys writes about life with males

www.worshipmatters.com – meditations on leading worship

www.foxnews.com

www.dawneden.com/blogger.html – pro-life blogger extraordinaire – buy her book Thrill of the Chaste too!

www.snopes.com – debunker of urban legends. Everyone should be required to read this site daily before being allowed on the internet.

www.screenit.com/search_movies.html – how I find out what movies I want to see

www.baen.com – my favorite publishing company, with tons of free books to read online

Tell us a little more about yourself and your family

My wife Sara and I have been married for 7 years, and we’re still as happy as newlyweds (bonus points if you can tell me what movie that’s from). We’re both voracious readers, as are our 3 children (two girls and a boy). We like computer games, writing, going out to eat, and living a fairly quiet life. Sara is a homemaker who homeschools the two older ones, while I am a lawyer for a civil rights organization.

If you are in ministry, what are you involved in?

I was a Gideon until I was ordained. Now most of my ministry is either through the local church or by means of financially supporting others (a local crisis pregnancy center, several missionaries, and a Christian college).

Get prophetic

Where do you see God taking your ministry? I’m a behind-the-scenes type helper. I see myself helping Fr. Tim and Dn. Dave become more visible in the community, supporting them by preaching and teaching, and helping others through music to see what a big and loving God we serve.

For Sunday worship, do you use a hymnal, sheets of paper, or a computer?

Some of the songs are printed in a service booklet, while others are on paper bulletin inserts.

Share a word of wisdom with the readers:

Here are two quotes from great Englishmen:
1) Nitwit, blubber, oddment, tweak.

2) It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbour. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor’s glory should be laid on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly temped to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics.

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations — these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit — immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously — no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner–no mere tolerance, or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbour, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat — the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden.

——– C.S. Lewis, *The Weight of Glory*. (if any): Deacon, music leader (keyboard and vocals), catechist

A couple years ago I was unemployed, recovering from surgery and overall pretty down about things. My sister had just gotten married, a ground that proved too fertile for my divorced parents to leave alone and they successfully threw daggers at one another putting a damper on what should have been a very happy occasion. That situation led the way for some really tense interactions between me, my mom and my sister. I was wallowing in self-pity, depression and self-loathing.

Many people in that situation turn to alcohol, or drugs (I might have if I wasn’t allergic to them all!) but I instead passed away the hours each day playing internet backgammon. Weird, I know, but that’s what I did. The game I was playing allowed for internet chat during play, and I embraced it. It was somewhat intelligent conversation…usually. My screen name referred to my hobby, dog training. It was a great ice breaker.

During one afternoon of play, I was randomly matched with a player who, when I asked for his name, replied with simply “David”. Aside from our common like of backgammon, David and I shared the common ground of owning multiple dogs. That was how we met. I learned that he lived in Florida; he learned I live in New England. As the game progressed, I asked David about himself, more specifically what he did for a living. Something else we had in common: we were both unemployed. I however was surprised to learn that David was a priest. I remember saying to him “I didn’t think priests could be unemployed!” He told me a little about his church and its association with CEC, and organization I had never heard of. He explained that it was not associated with ECUSA, but that didn’t mean a whole lot to me since I wasn’t familiar with that one either.

Our game was interrupted when my phone rang; mom “digging” for information about my sister. Darn, caught in the middle yet again! When I returned to the game, my tone was apparently different, and I expressed to my new acquaintance my disdain at this old familiar triangulation. I felt trapped between my loyalty to my sister and my obligation to my mother. He offered to me that he could help me with that. He piqued my interest. How could some one who didn’t know me, AND several hundred miles away help me with my little ‘problem’? He said one word to me that changed my life: forgiveness. He went on to TEACH me how to forgive my sister and my mother, explaining to me that forgiveness wouldn’t let the other person off the hook, but rather free me from the burden that I was carrying. Not too long after that, we exchanged phone numbers since our conversation was becoming difficult in a chat window.

I spoke with Fr. David a few times before he led me in a prayer of salvation and into a new life in Christ. He urged me to find a church to become a part of. He offered me resources to find a CEC church near me. It turned out the nearest one is 40 min away. I wasn’t too interested in that kind of travel but maybe the Episcopal Church down the street would serve as a good starting point. Fr. David urged me again to reach out to the CEC church, just to give it a try. He suggested I give the church a call, and speak to the priest to at least become familiar with a voice before making the trip. I took his advice and called.

That could be the end of the story but it’s really not. The number Fr. David provided me with supposedly for the local church was disconnected. I was mortified. Here I was, ‘naked’ and newly born again, raw to the core with every conceivable emotion floating just beneath the surface of my new tender skin, and no where to go. In a panic, I called Fr. David and let him know. He reassured me, he would call his cathedral and get a number for the cathedral in the North East and find out what the scoop was with my local CEC church. Fast forward a few days: my cell phone rings, and the voice on the other end says “Hi, my name is Fr. Dave Klampert from St. Michael’s CEC…” The rest, as they say, is history!

Lori Reynolds- St. Michael’s Church RI

It is with joy that I congratulate The Most Rev’d Craig Bates on his unanimous election as the Second Patriarch of the ICCEC. I believe the scriptures teach that it is God who raises up leaders for His own purposes at His appointed times. While Moses received God’s vision for God’s purposes for His people, when the time of Moses was concluded, Joshua was presented with the same task and the same vision–the vision was never the property of Moses or of Joshua but the vision of God! There have been a number of gifted visionaries and leaders in the first decade and a half of the ICCEC and for this I am most grateful. Now, as we begin a new season, I am also grateful that the stewardship for God’s vision for the ICCEC has been placed upon the shoulders of Bishop Bates. I trust and am confident that he and those who assist him are well able to continue the journey of our communion into a wonderful and glorious future. May humility fill our new Patriarch’s heart and may his leadership sustain and nourish God’s people and boldly proclaim His Kingdom!

The Most Rev’d W. David Epps

Bishop, Serving the Mid-South Diocese, USA

Yucca Valley, CA, January 9, 2008 –

IndieHeaven.com, the leading organization supporting Independent artists in Christian music, is pleased to announce that Janelle Ross has been nominated as “Best Acoustic Artist of the Year” in the 3rd annual “Momentum Awards”. This prestigious award will be handed out at the upcoming IndieHeaven CIA Summit2008 conference March 29, 2008.

For the past 7 years Janelle has been a parishioner of St. John’s Charismatic Episcopal Church in Yucca Valley, California.

IndieHeaven founder and CIA Summit director Keith Mohr states,

“It’s important to recognize and applaud the efforts made in recent years by artists who are independent. By providing them the recognition they have earned, we hope to increase their platform and awareness. There are many independent artists who are doing an incredible job with their music and most importantly their mission. We look forward to the awards being a part of our annual artist’s conference.”

Visit www.ciasummit.com for more information about the Christian Independent Alliance Summit.

” Janelle Ross’ unique vocal qualities and writing style appeals to a wide audience base. Her haunting melodies and penetrating lyrics are as meaningful in the coffeehouse setting as they are echoing through the halls of a “mega-church”. Make no mistake, though her lyrics are tender and heartfelt, she

has established herself as Christian music’s newest vocal powerhouse.”

To register your vote for Janelle Ross as “Best Acoustic Artist” in this year’s Momentum awards, please visit {http://www.indieheaven.com/momentum_awards.php} (Click on her name from the drop down menu) or visit any of the pages below for more information about Janelle Ross.

http://www.indieheaven.com/artists/janelleross

http://www.myspace.com/janelleross76

http://www.shoutlife.com/janelleross

and/or contact this artist at:

Jross873@juno.com

Many of you saw the post with the logo above. To avoid confusion we want to explain what this is all about. We decided that since the whole goal of cechome is to bridge the gap for news, resources and connectivity that we should profile the inner workings of the “church”. We all know that the church is made up of its people, so we will be periodically profiling different people. There will be some of women/men in ministry, women/men not in ministry, priests, decons, bishops, and others. We think one of the greatest insights we can have when looking at the CEC is looking at the people who make up our churches.

Some of the questions are simple, some are lighthearted and fun, and some give us a real in depth look at those who are helping our churches advance the kingdom. We will have the logo on the side soon so you can go back and read about these great men and women.

We hope you enjoy these profiles and get a sense of family from them.

CECCommunications Team

Name

Joann Maciejewski

Church

All Saints, Santa Clarita, CA

Position at church (if any)

Rector’s Wife/Queen of Bulletin and Liturgy Printing (though some mishaps of late have demoted me to Lady of Bulletin and Liturgy Printing).

Favorite liturgical color and season

Well, I love Lent, with all its repentance and purple. But I have been getting very cranky on the Daniel Fast the last few years, and think I may need to do an amended fast using eggs and cheese, for the sake of my friends and family. Also, my husband has a beautiful green chasuble with fish on it that his parents bought him, and that makes me love Kingdomtide.

If you could have dinner with 3 people dead or alive, whom would you choose?

This is a bit of a problem, because I am fairly shy and don’t know what in the world I would do, except be relatively awkward, during dinner with people I don’t really know. But, I am assuming that we would get along well and the conversation would flow. So I guess I would say Jesus, although I don’t know that I would be able to eat well, I’d just fall down. I want to have dinner with my mom and dad, who died before our youngest two kids were born, and tell them about our lives. And lastly my old best friend Carolyn Kanno, who committed suicide while we were in college. Carolyn and I have a few pieces of unfinished business we need to talk through.

Name 3 of your favorite books

Gosh, I used to be a big book reader and would like nothing better than to spend the whole afternoon laying on the couch reading. Now, I can barely pay attention to finish a magazine. I’ve been relegated to audiobooks that we listen to on road trips mostly. 1. The Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon – a neighborhood mystery viewed through the eyes of a teenage autistic boy. 2. I Thought My Father Was God by Paul Auster – a compiled set of stories from NPR (yes, I know, NPR). 3. At Home in Mitford, (the whole series), Jan Karon – a fun idealized small town priest and his adventures.

Name 3 of your favorite movies

Sweet Home Alabama, Men in Black, The Preacher’s Wife. (I guess I only like movies with three words in the title). Although my six year old son and I are on a Star Wars kick now, so should I add them? We seem to be watching all 6 Star Wars movies all the time, and I kinda like it.

Name 3 of your favorite TV shows

House, Monk, Heroes. (I guess for TV shows, only one word in the title will do). TV is my biggest relaxation these days.

What music are you listening to?

Not a whole lot. I like the “iworship Platinum” CDs. (Although I have been told we should worship Jesus and not platinum.) I have a few other worship CDs, like the very ominous and commanding sounding “The 51 Must Have Modern Worship Hits.” I also like John Mayer, The Fray, country music, typically anything non-rap. We have been enjoying the Mylie Cyrus Hannah Montana CD, though I’m not sure I’m pleased to admit that. Most of the time I would listen to Bp. Adler’s cechome sermons on CD while driving, which were great and helped make driving to work in traffic a spiritually refreshing time.

Favorite websites and blogs

Well, the www.cechome.com of course! And cecworship.com. I usually read the Wall Street Journal online every day to keep up to date for my job. I love the online Daily Office on the CEC’s www.bookofcommonprayer.net, which is the best Daily Office on the net. It also has the Sunday lectionaries and such so I can make bulletins and things. I also visit the Pastors’ Wives Forum daily (www.pastorswivesonline.com), which has been a surprising source of friendship and fellowship with a lot of PWs from a variety of denominations. To keep up with celebrities (hey, I do live in L.A.) I’ll use www.people.com or www.tmz.com. I have a Bloglines.com account that keeps me up to date on blogs – and there are about 90 that I monitor. Some great ones are The “Blog” of Unnecessary “Quotation Marks” (http://quotation-marks.blogspot.com/), and Passive Aggressive Notes.com (http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/). I also like to keep up with the blogs from my church people, friends, CEC people, and also of my friends from the Pastors’ Wives Forum. You can find those linked from my own blog, www.joannmski.blogspot.com.

Tell us a little more about yourself and your family

My husband and I were high school sweethearts. I was a Southern Baptist and he was a Roman Catholic. I don’t think we would have foreseen our life now when we started dating, in 1981. Rich was a handsome angsty bad boy who smoked, played electric guitar, but had a tender, passionate and compassionate heart and deep faith in God. I immediately had a huge crush on and fell in love with him. We have four really, really great kids: Nadia (4), Luke (6), Naomi (15), and Jessica (17). We have been blessed to take a mysterious journey into ministry that led first to the Lutheran church (where a married man could minister, unlike the Roman church) and ultimately to St. Michael’s in San Clemente, where we discovered the CEC in 1997. We moved to Santa Clarita in 1998, while Rich was still at Fuller Theological Seminary, to help start All Saints Church, which my husband now pastors. We are a multi cultural family – I am half Japanese-American and half Caucasian, and my husband is half Mexican-American and half Caucasian. We incorporate various customs, traits, and foods from the different heritages. I like to cook, and I like to scrapbook (but hardly ever do it), and I like to blog (which I do, every day M-F). I somehow stumbled out of UCLA right into big business (I am a headhunter for a major executive search firm). Life is busy, and crazy, but so fun.

If you are in ministry, what are you involved in?

I do a lot of behind the scenes things. I am typically in charge of printing the liturgies, bulletins, the church picnic, and throw a lot of potlucks. I coordinate our womens’ Bible study (we are currently doing the Beth Moore Book of Daniel series). I edit our diocesan newsletter, The Current. I like to make dinners for people who’ve come out of the hospital. But I think my main ministry is to enable my husband to give his time to ministry.

Get prophetic: Where do you see God taking your ministry?

I think my own ministry will be mainly electronic and financial. We have had a lot of ministry to clergy wives through the Pastors’ Wives Forum, which I host, and that makes me very happy. I am good at writing and communications and God seems to be able to use that. I also think He will bless my work so that my husband is free to eventually travel to minister abroad, or do some other good stuff for the kingdom.

For Sunday worship, do you use a hymnal, sheets of paper, or a computer?

We print our opening and closing hymns in the bulletin. We do the praise set on overheads. We do the sung liturgy portions from the printed liturgy booklets.

Share a word of wisdom with the readers

In 1997, on a rainy day, our family traveled an hours’ drive to San Clemente to visit St. Michael’s for the first time. We found a church that felt like home for both of us – people speaking in tongues and using incense in the same service. A family type feel with high church liturgy. Good preaching and passion about the service. People said the service with feeling, and didn’t just mumble through as fast as they could. We sang modern songs with our whole souls. People received prayer for healing. As we drove home, a rainbow lit up the sky and it felt like a symbol of what happened in our hearts. I would say to you readers, the CEC is still that good. We are on the right track. Let go and let God light up the sky with a rainbow for you.

It has been less than two weeks that this site has been in its new format, and we have already hit a major milestone. Today we have reached 10,000 hits. This is an amazing number and a testament to the importance of communication, unity, and connectivity. Thank you for making this site so successful. Thank you too for all of the great emails expressing how much you are enjoying the site.

We have many more plans to continue improving the site, including adding more resources. We want to equip the local church to better spread the gospel, and we are extremely happy with the response to the initial stage.

Thanks again!

CECCommunications Team

Dear Friends and Family

Greetings from Al Anbar Province where I have been deployed since July
supporting our teams of Marines, Sailors, Soldiers and a few Airmen and
US Border and Customs Service advisors serving at Training Teams to the
Iraqi Army, Border Enforcement, Port of Entry, Police and Highway
Patrol. Some of you have heard some of this before, but most for most of
you I had lost your e-mail addresses and just found them yesterday and I
was looking thru my files cleaning them up.

It has been a great tour, we have travelled the entirety of the
province, which is about the size of the state of Oregon by Hummer, Helo
(Helicopters-Ch46, CH-47, CH-53 and MV-22 Osprey) and Herc (C-130
Hercules), in what would be called in the old west a “circuit riding”
ministry. I think we did about 30 air missions and 40 or so convoys.
Sometimes it takes two aircraft flights and a convoy or two small (2-6
vehicles, often mixed US and Iraqi Hummers) to get out to the isolated
Iraqi bases where our teams serve alongside Iraqi units. We usually went
out for about a week to ten days and in for a week, travel was hard, we
would have to be at the air terminals in all our great 2-3 hours in
advance, sometimes waiting an hour or more in the elements staged for
our flights. During the summer it was hot, we had over 100 days straight
over 100 degrees. In the winter it has been cold, on our last trip back
from the Syrian border lows were in the low 20s and in one place the
showers had ice on the floor when you walked in first thing in the
morning. The helicopter ride was freezing; the temperature was about 21
and I sat next to the forward door gunner in a CH-53, with the wind
blowing thru right on me. In some of the places we went porta-johns were
a luxury, we would pee into a tube in ground and poop in something
called a “wag bag” or a vat of diesel fuel.  Travel was demanding, but
we have done well.  It was worth it to be with our guys and our Iraqis.
Christmas services in two of the most isolated Iraqi bases were special,
like I said we were the first chaplain team many of these guys had seen,
and personally for me there is nothing like celebrating Eucharist in
primitive conditions with people hungry for God.  One of the things tat
made this Christmas a powerful time for me was having been out with the
Bedouin, seeing them in the middle of the desert, in their tents, with
their flocks and donkeys, shepherd dogs, their families and in some
cases mangers, and to know that for them it is much like what Mary and
Joseph and the shepherds experienced that first Christmas. When I read
the Christmas Gospel out of Luke talking about the shepherds I thought
of Linus reading the passage in the Charlie Brown Christmas and almost
lost it, because that is what Christmas is about, no commercialization,
just God coming to us in the flesh, born in the fullness of time, born
of a woman, born in the most humble of circumstances.

There are a lot of good things happening out here that you seldom hear
in the media.  When we first got here it was at the beginning of the
“surge.” A lot of things looked dicey, and I compared my deployment to
the Yankees going into Fenway in the playoffs behind by a couple of runs
to the Red Sox in the bottom of the 8th inning. But things are changing,
and peace is breaking out all over the place especially out here in Al
Anbar.  I’ve had a lot of great times with our guys, celebrating
Eucharist and spending time with them.  We usually go out and stay for a
few days with each team, and many times we have the first chaplain team
that the teams have seen on their deployment. The atmosphere is
different in the teams than on the big bases, they are tight groups with
a great focus on the mission and who have built great relationships with
the Iraqis.  The fruit of their work is showing as the Iraqi Army
especially is beginning to take the lead in many operations, many of the
best officers have come back and units are doing their own training and
operations.  They are not Americans, they have their own ways, but they
are doing better every day, they still need some assistance, but every
day they get more capable, what you read in the media and that some
politicians in all the political parties say about them is often
incorrect and biased.

In addition to my work with our guys I have gotten to know a good number
of Iraqis.  They are a friendly and hospitable people; even the poorest
Iraqi or Bedouin will invite you in for Chi (tea) or for a meal. This is
a big thing in their culture; it is them letting you into their lives,
in the sharing of a meal bonds are forged, friendships built. In Al
Anbar it is very tribal and family is more important than almost
anything. In Ramadi I had dinner with General Sabah, a Iraqi Brigade
commander and we had a wonderful 3 hour visit, much of it focusing on
similarities between what Christians and Moslems believe and friendly
discussions about what we disagree, the last time I saw him was at the
Ramadi flight-line where I was on the way in and he was on the way out
and he came up and gave me a bear hug. General Ali, with the support
unit of another Division had me to tea last weekend and though he is a
Moslem took the time to show me his well ready Arabic/New International
Version English interlinear Bible. He told me that he hopes that in a
few years that I can come as a visitor and tourist.  I spoke with the
first ever class of Iraqi Police female officers going thru their
training, have been with Iraqi Border and Army units and have had good
times.  When I have given prayers and blessed mixed US and Iraqi convoys
before they departed on missions I have had Iraqis come to thank me for
the prayers and blessings, especially when I sprinkle Holy Water on the
vehicles. Most Iraqis, with the exception of extremists and the foreign
terrorist are fairly tolerant; most view Christians as friends and
“people of the Book.”  I had one Iraqi officer, a Shite Moslem, tell me
that the Iraqi Army needed men like our Chaplains, but that many
professional officers didn’t trust many of their own Imams (many have
compromised themselves in the past few years) and he said it would be
good if they could have Christian priests because Christians would take
care of their soldiers and families.  The Iraqis are a good people, I’ve
come respect and love them and will miss them when I leave in a few
weeks. I believe that they will do fine in the long run; that they have
turned the corner, some tough work still needs to be done in parts of
the country, but the Iraqi Arabs are coming together again, they (even
the Shia) do not like the Iranians, who they call the Persians very
much, and many Americans forget that a huge number of Iraqi Shia died
fighting for Iraq against the Iranians in the 1980-1988 war.  When the
Iraqi Soccer Team won the Asia cup, they regained a sense of national
pride and identity.

We have made many friends here.  On my last trip out to the Syrian
border I was at a small Iraqi base and one of the officers (a Sunni
Moslem Lieutenant) came to me and thanked me for what I do for our
Marines and other advisors and for what we Americans have done for them
in the past few years.  He asked me to keep their country in my prayers
and let other Americans know how they appreciate what we do and not to
give up on them.  The turn-around started out here in Al Anbar and is
spreading rapidly to other parts of Iraq, people have turned against the
foreign terrorists who have killed far more Iraqis than Americans and
have attempted to impose harsh interpretations of Islam on a people who
for many centuries were some of the most tolerant and moderate in the
Islamic world.  Citizen councils and local Sheiks have taken the lead,
their military and security forces are getting better, corrupt people
who joined as opportunists after the fall of Sadaam are being weeded
out, everywhere I go in almost every city and town shops are opening,
people coming back and homes and businesses are being re-built.  I know
that most of you get none of this in the media, but it is happening all
over the place. Yes there are still problems, there is still some
violence, but the Iraqis are doing great things, our troops have given
them the breathing room to take back their country. It has started at
the grass roots and it is really cool. I ask you when you pray for the
American troops to also remember the people of Iraq, that God would give
them peace and that they would be able to have peace, security and
prosperity.

I have attached some photos of my tour, I wish I could send a lot more
but size limitations for e-mail keep that from happening.

I want to thank you guys for your prayers and support, hopefully will
have a chance to see at least some of you in the coming year and again I
ask you to pray for the people of Iraq, I have made friends here and
will miss them when I go.  I hope that someday, even soon, that the
conditions will be such that Americans and others can come here and see
this country and meet these people.

Special thanks to the churches and groups that sent things to us to
support our troops, you know who you are; everything that you sent us
was so greatly appreciated by our troops.

Again, take care and may God bless you in the coming year.

Blessings,

Steve+

From Fr. Steve Dundas-CEC chaplain in Iraq

as seen on www.iccec.org

December 31st:

Bishop John and Elaine

Please keep the Holloway family in your daily prayers.