Jupiter, FL
January 31 - February 2, 2003

Thirty people from twenty-two ministries located in US and Canada were invited to this first time ever event held in Jupiter FL January 31 - February 2, 2003. Seventeen people from eleven different ministries were able to join us. We all had a great time of prayer fellowship and sharing our hopes for the future of nursing home ministry.


We met at noon on Friday at Courtyard Gardens, an assisted living facility where we spent the majority of our meeting time and ate excellent meals prepared by their chef. As we opened the conference, Bill Goodrich led us in prayer and invited others to pray that God would guide and direct us as He saw fit and that His will would be done during our time together. After everyone prayed, we each took time to give an overview of our ministry's history and purpose. It was very interesting and humbling to hear what God is doing and how He is doing it.

After dinner we adjourned for the day and a few of us met back at the hotel to watch video clips from three of the ministries. On Saturday we had a nice continental breakfast at the hotel. It was great to see that most of the people in the little breakfast area were from the fellowship and were all talking and smiling ear to ear. What a testimony that must have been for the other guests to see this joy so early in the morning.

At 9:00 AM we headed back to Courtyard Gardens for a wonderful time of prayer. We began with a few songs led by Terry and Glenda Mason. Tom McCormick led a devotional and guided prayer time that the Lord deeply and richly blessed. In fact, we had to force ourselves to stop because the chef was waiting to serve us.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in open discussion about what each of us would like to see happen through this fellowship. Several good ideas were discussed. We also talked about giving our fellowship a name and purpose statement. Just before dinner, we decided to break for personal prayer to discern more clearly a direction in the matter of officially organizing. After dinner, we re-addressed the issue and at this time we agreed not to develop beyond the fact that we are simply a fellowship of Christ-centered Nursing Home Ministry Leaders that:

• Have a deep love and concern for all people living in long-term care centers
• Have a ministry focus beyond our own church
• Have a need and desire to support each other in prayer, communication and fellowship
• Will make it a priority to meet again this year

One concept that was brought out during this time was that we recognized all of us are doing an important work in our own backyards. We need to allow our ministries and influence to expand until all of our backyards meet, and no resident is forgotten.

On Sunday morning, we gathered at Courtyard Gardens and held a worship service with some of the residents. Jerry Johnson led us in singing, Larry Wasserman gave a teaching and a few others participated in prayer. It was a blessing to serve together. After the service, most of the group had to return home. The remainder met for lunch and further fellowship at a nearby restaurant.

Bill Goodrich asked everyone who attended to send comments regarding the weekend. Comments and Encourements can be found here.