I cannot begin to tell you what an amazing day God gave us Monday for our 3rd Annual Golf Tournament.  It was an over the moon, awesome, God ordained day!!!

For starters, remember I asked you to pray for the weather???

Despite the forecast of 93 degrees, sunny and humid –  it was a sunny, breezy, low humidity, comfortable weather day that felt more like late spring rather than mid summer!

The Lord heard our prayers from His Throne room.  The breezes kept the summer temperatures feeling VERY COMFORTABLE.   Thank you for praying!

And thanks to so many people, our golf tournament fundraiser was a huge success!  Many of you provided donations, beverages for our players, goodies for the Goody Bag, prizes for the raffle, and Tee sponsorships.

Therefore, since you were not able to be there, I’ll give you a glimpse through Fuller’s lens.  (To see all the pics, click HERE)

Huge thanks to my Dad, Charles Early who does a tremendous amount to help us.  It’s become an annual project that we really enjoy working on together.

Not only my Dad, but this tournament becomes a family effort as not only immediate family being involved, but extended as well.  I have aunts, uncles, in laws, my sister and sister in law – coming together to help.

I also have a Board Member, whose husband is a HUGE help.  Shout out to the Hester family!  Thank you for the privilege of doing ministry with you.

This was registration – a busy, busy time from 7:30-9:00am.  I call this GO TIME.

Look at the beverages that were donated.  (This isn’t even all of it.)   ALL but ~10 Cokes were consumed.  Had you not donated these drinks – we would have spent a fortune on beverages.
Thank you.  Such answered prayer.

These were the Goody Bags.  We made 76 of them.

In these goody bags were a sleeve of golf balls, snacks, pen/pad of paper, golf tees, Outback Coupon for free Appetizer, Golden Corral Coupon for a free buffet and drink.  (Donated by the Fuquay Varina restaurant.)

We also placed a salvation card in each bag that gave, “Steps for Being Right with God?” 

This was taken after the morning welcome and prayer.  So happy Phase 1 of 3 was complete!

A few missing team members – but it was a TEAM EFFORT.  We could not have done it without the selfless volunteers that serve Jesus in this ministry.

The Beaver Creek Chick-fil-A, in Apex is our favorite CFA.  They partner with us not only for golf, but for our Women’s Conference as well.  I’ll often go out of my way to go to THAT CFA.   Bless them by doing the same!

We had 19 teams this year.  This was our only all women’s team!  So awesome!  They are big luncheon supporters – so grateful for their willingness to come out and play.

Then comes lunch and the awards ceremony…

The food was fantastic!

These are the prizes YOU donated.  THANK YOU!  (Not all prizes seen.)

The luncheon is always the most nerve wracking time for me.

This year, I shared my testimony; I shared the gospel message and I shared what KGM is doing – all within 8 minutes.  Whew!

These guys are looking attentive – actually they were!  However, there are some tables looking at you like you have 3 heads; others ignoring you; yet others very engaged.

I’ve learned that I’m not responsible for what happens to the seed, HOWEVER, I am responsible to my Employer, Jesus, to sow the seed.

Can I tell you, between the morning prayer and this segment – it takes EVERY MICRO OUNCE OF COURAGE that I can summon.  I’m often so nervous, I’m almost sick.

Yet I often find great strength in the knowledge that these women have prayed.  (Ellen and Melody (picture above at the Putting Contest)  in specific – find a quiet spot in the dining room while all are golfing and spend no less than hour in prayer for the luncheon segment.)

KNOWING they have prayed, makes a big difference.

Then comes the raffle – which is lots of fun!  MANY complimented us on the quality of the prizes and the money that was given for 1st and 2nd place.  THIS IS BECAUSE OF MANY OF YOU!!!

Some of you may ask, why is this important?  Well, it’ll hopefully bring them back each year to grow God’s work in this corner of the world.  Secondly, it brings credibility to Kingdom Work and therefore to our amazing God.  (Often Kingdom Work is often portrayed by the world as being cheap or second rate.)

I want everything we do to be a reflection of how GREAT our God is – even down to giving HIM CREDIT for the weather.

My prayer is for us to always represent Jesus in such a way – that others will want to know Him personally because of our walk with Him.

And because we want things of eternal significance happening at our golf tournament, my team prayed for months.

Two weeks prior, Fuller, our photographer, spear headed prayer conference calls at 6:30 am each Monday.  I would send my list to Fuller, she sent it out and lead the calls.  They lasted no longer than an hour.

What a DIFFERENCE PRAYER MAKES when doing any kind of ministry – in the church or on the golf course.

I know that I know  – God heard our prayers from His heavenly throne room.  He heard and He answered.  He made it an over the top awesome day.   Thank you for helping us.

May the Lord be glorified in and through it.