We spent the majority of Saturday on a combined church field trip to the Florida United Methodist Children's Home in Enterprise, about 90 minutes away. Between Belleview UMC and Druid Hills UMC we had 29 people in four vehicles (and I drove the Belleview bus!). For 106 years, the ministry of the Children's Home has been supported by 5th Sunday offerings from United Methodist churches across our conference. And later this year they will open a second site called Madison Youth Ranch in north Florida.
Every March the Children's Home invites pastors and churches from three districts in our conference to a special Day on Campus event. This year it was time for our district - North Central. We arrived at the Children's Home about 9am and took advantage of the great snacks in the welcome tent before heading off onto one of the trams for a quick tour around the property. We spent time checking out the archives in the original building Hardin Hall and eventually found our seats in the gymnasium for the program. While we were waiting for things to start, we ran into folks from Seffner UMC where we grew up and it was so nice to get a chance to catch up with some of our clergy friends. The program was a wonderful treat showcasing some of the music and dance groups that the residents participate in and featured testimonies from one of the residents, one of the foster families and also one of the alumni.
We walked around and checked out the education building as well as one of the resident cottages for boys - Blanton. But our favorite building on campus hands down is the chapel. Our friend Lauren is the chaplain here.
Making the place their own and running races on the sidewalk.
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