"How good is that" may sound like a question but it's NOT. "How Good is That" is actually an exclamation when uttered by our pastor Jean Ferraro as she communicates with her Garrison flock on all sorts of topics: family matters, church matters, community events. You name the topic and Jean's standard, bright, sunshiny response is "How Good it That!"
Rev. Ferraro's bright, sunny disposition certainly must have come in handy about three years ago when she assumed the responsibility of the Attoyac Charge confirming her duties not only to Garrison, but also to Timpson and Caledonia. That's three congregations worth of sermons, funerals, christenings, weddings, hospital visits, counseling sessions, Bible study classes, administrative board meetings, building facility responsibilities, district meetings and conferences. All of that plus coordinating three congregation's worth of holiday services like Christmas and Easter and Thanksgiving.
It takes a very adept person to walk into such a massive undertaking. But she didn't just walk into this Attoyac Charge all figured out and ready to go. She designed it and implemented it and pulled all three congregations along through out the process and we loved it. How Good Is That!!
Jean, these past few years have truly been a joyous journey. We here in the Garrison church love our new friends from the Timpson Church. The spiritual relationships we have developed at our shared services and events have carried over into our personal lives. We truly like those Timpson people and not only do we enjoy meeting them at church, we enjoy their friendship out in the community as well. Our little East Texas world has been enlarged.
Your leadership here at the Garrison church has had a dramatic effect on all of us. We seem to be more cooperative these days. We tend to look for the positive and pay little or no attention to negative issues. We just love getting ready for 5th Sunday services. We love preparing for musical presentations and making our sanctuary and fellowship hall festive and beautiful. That positive shift we have experiences these past three years is most likely in direct relation to the positive spin you put on everything.
• Thank you, Jean, for managing us in such a way that we thought that it was our idea.
• Thank you for having a sense of style and a love of beauty that is evident as you work with our
committees when we are preparing for something special.
• Thank you for making it your business to know all of our names whether you are serving
communion or meeting us on the street.
• Thank you for Pat, the preacher's perfect spouse. He can sing in the choir, bake a cake, cook a brisket, trim trees - you name it and Pat can meet the challenge.
• Thank you for being the teacher that you are as you follow the Methodist church lectionary giving structure and meaning to our Sunday services and weekly Bible study classes.
• Thank you for giving us our share of your time and talent and not ignoring us as you tend to your other responsibilities at Caledonia and Timpson.
• Thank you for keeping us apprised of all major district and conference issues as you led us to meet Bishop Huey's goals of radical hospitality, extravagant generosity and passionate worship.
• Thank you for sharing your own personal problems, letting us know that ours aren't so
monumental after all.
• Thank you, Jean and Pat, for serving us these past few years. Just know that we are reluctantly letting you go and that we will give you our blessing only if you promise to stay close and visit often.
• Jean, thank you for being the ray of sunshine that you are. "How Good is That!!"
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