"Pastor Gary" is a United Methodist minister from the Virginia Conference, who most  recently retired after serving over 28 years in the US Army – three years as an Infantry Officer in the 82d Airborne before resigning my commission to attend Seminary.

   After Seminary Pastor Pendrak served churches in Salem and Hamilton, Virginia, before re-entering the Army as a Chaplain again assigned to the 82d Airborne, Fort Bragg, NC.  His other duty stations included Fort Monmouth, NJ; two tours in Germany; Tobyhanna, PA; Fort Sill, Oklahoma; Fort Lee, Virginia; and deployments to Egypt, Bahrain, the Persian Gulf and Honduras.

   In his letter to the congregation, Pastor Gary wrote, "In Corinthians Paul wrote how the Church is to be united, working together as one body. 'Your body has many parts – limbs, organs, cells – but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body.' It’s exactly the same with Christ. By means of His one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which He has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of His resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain – His Spirit – where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves – labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free – are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive….If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where He wanted it.

I Corinthians 12:12 – 18 (The Message Bible)

  "It is my prayer that God will help each of us remember we all stand equal at the foot of the Cross. No one stands so tall spiritually that we are not in desperate need of God’s Grace and new Mercies each morning. And not one of us has stooped so low that we are beyond the reach of His ever Merciful and Loving arms. I pray that we will learn to love God and each other better such that our lives will reflect His love within our church and throughout our community.

  "As a Church, we look forward to the future as we expect God to do great things here in Avon Park. I look forward to being a part of His work here. I ask for your prayers as we work together allowing God to unify us as His church so that we continue to be the hands and feet of Christ reaching out to others and carrying His Love.