SEPTEMBER 2009

A month after surgery Jim has almost completely recovered. Within less than 2 weeks he was able to do an 8-hour recording session with no set backs, and now is back to his regular routine with the exception of heavy lifting for a while longer.

OCTOBER: Next week we will be on our way to Ft. Worth TX for a mini tour to assist in outreach with a local Christian charitable community organization and a church reaching out to a neighboring apartment complex of 2200 people. The jazz/fusion band Next Exit will be made up of most of the US-based Proclaim! musicians plus Proclaim! tour regulars Patti Robertson (vocals) and Jeremy Good (keyboard). Our former sound tech Jon Thiessen will also come down from Canada to help out.

In addition to the Next Exit concerts, some of the musicians will perform for a home outreach event featuring Proclaim! artist/speaker Vicki McIntyre’s presentation The Tale of a Tapestry (see details here).

This is the first time Proclaim! has officially done an evangelistic tour in the US. We are excited about encouraging these local ministries by giving them more visibility in the community and increasing their contacts as we have done in hundreds of places in other countries.

NOVEMBER: We plan to finally make that trip north that we have had to postpone a couple times. We will be based in Winona Lake but will do some visiting in Michigan, Wisconsin and the Chicago area to catch up with friends we haven't seen in way too long. We're looking forward to getting to Grace homecoming for the first time and being with family for Thanksgiving. Jami is planning to also come up the week of Thanksgiving.

We would appreciate prayer for:

TEXAS OUTREACH

Oct 7-8 rehearsals

Oct 8 Tapestry presentation

Oct 9 Next Exit evening concert - Cornerstone Ministries

Oct 10 Next Exit all day music festival - Cornerstone

Oct 11 Next Exit church outreach concert

PLANNING OF NOVEMBER TRIP

Making contacts and arranging the schedule to see as many people as possible during this time

Jim's surgery update

Jim had his hernia surgery yesterday (Monday Aug. 31) and things really went well, and more quickly than we anticipated. We walked in at 11:30, he got in quickly for prep, 30-minute surgery, an hour of recovery, and we were on our way home by 2:30! The pain med has kept discomfort to a minimum and a day later he is doing well, mostly following the doctor’s orders except for the 24-hour clear liquid diet. He managed that for about 3 hours and then decided to move on since he was starving. But the 11pm turkey sandwich didn’t seem to cause any ill effects. He was encouraged to get up and move around which he has been doing without any problem. He will have a follow up doctor visit in a few days. Thanks for the prayers – we have been very pleased with how things are going and very thankful for this provision.

Sorry, no photos for this event.

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They say laughter is the best medicine -- except maybe when you're recovering from abdominal surgery. Jim probably should have rethought his post-op viewing choices.