A Family That Prays Together Eats Together!

Hi..this is David and I want to welcome you to our inaugural post to the "Dinner And A Sermon" blog. My beautiful fiance Debbie and I love each other very much, but first and foremost we love God. I think the best description of the hierarchy of our love pyramid would go...
God, Each Other, Family, Everyone Else, and Food. The first and latter of those inspired us to go on a whirlwind quest in 2010 to visit the 50 most dynamic churches in America while at the same time sampling unique and tasty local fare from the neighboring areas the churches belong to. First up on our mission is a church near and dear to my own heart. Northland, A Church Distributed, is a mega church in Longwood, Fl. Longwood is just outside of Orlando and the church is pastored by Dr. Joel Hunter. Dr. Hunter recently hit the big time spot light when he was selected to be a part of Barack Obama's advisory council. All the politics aside we would be in for a real treat today. My Mom would be joining us today so she drove down from Gainesville to meet us in Daytona so we could all drive down to Longwood together. We arrived just in time to get three seats up close and center. The service began with a quick reminder of how important it is to serve others and then without further ado the music began with the soul inspiring angelic sounds of Mighty To Save. The Broadway like special effects and top notch musicians were nothing short of spectacular. I almost forgot that this was a church, and not a christian rock concert. After the first song my Mom looked up at me and winked as if to say...wow...this is amazing. When the songs were over, the associate pastor went through a list of about 10 things we could all do to help with the aftermath of the recent earthquake in Haiti. There were a group of about 20 church members that came forward so the congregation could pray for them as they will be leaving tomorrow to join the relief effort on the ground. Brave souls! Dr. Hunter came up on the stage next and started with a brief reminder about having compassion for people when they are going through a tragedy....it isn't the time for a lecture. I think he was referencing the lunatic comments made by Pat Robertson earlier this week. Good to know Dr. Hunter is willing to take a stand when fundamentalists make such damaging comments. Moving on he delved deeply in to how important our families are and how we should treat each other. It was one of the most moving sermons I've ever heard and it brought tears to my eyes on several occasions. In the end there was an altar call with about 60 to 70 people coming forward to commit their lives to Christ. I was again in tears and holding my Mom and Debbie's hands as we watched in wonderment. It really turned out to be one of the best church services I have ever attended. A great beginning to our 50 week journey with God.

Ratings Scale: Great = Hallelujah
Average = I'm Grateful
Not Good = Could Use A Prayer

Northland Gets....................Hallelujah

Now its my turn (Debbie)... If you know Dave and I, you know that food just HAD to be incorporated in our adventure! Having personally grown up in a large Italian family, I've grown to feel as if food was a way of celebrating. We do it up ; )
For our first food stop, we met a woman that seems to share this same tradition. Vittoria is the owner of an Italian Bakery in Daytona Beach Shores that shares her name. Upon entry to the bakery, you see a case filled with biscotti and assorted cookies.... Around the corner, a case with cannoli, cream puffs, ricotta pie, and other assorted baked goods. Remember the tears of joy that Dave spoke of above? It was heavenly! Dave ordered a cannoli, I had a cream puff, and Mom had a lemon cake topped with pastry cream and powdered sugar. Yummy. Now, today was Vittoria's 70th birthday, according to her daughter who was working behind the counter. Yet, she was still in the kitchen creating these mouth watering concoctions in a way that demonstrated her passion for baking and love for Italian tradition. Thank you, Vittoria, for sharing a piece of yourself with us...and for sharing a piece of your dessert with us as well. Happy Birthday!

Ratings Scale: Great = I Split My Pants
Average = I Cleaned My Plate
Not Good = Could Use A Prayer

Vittoria's Gets....................I Split My Pants


Next stop... Savannah Georgia!