YOU COULD HAVE HEARD A PIN DROP.

When in England , at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of ’empire building’ by George Bush. 

       

He answered by saying, ‘Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.’

        

 You could have heard a pin drop   

There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break, one of the French engineers came back into the room saying ‘Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done?  He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?’

 

A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: ‘Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?’

        

 You could have heard a pin drop.          

 

A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries.

 

Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English.’ He then asked, ‘Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking
French?’

 

Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied ‘Maybe it’s because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn’t have to speak German.’ 

       

You could have heard a pin drop.

 

AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE…

        

Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane.  At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on.

‘You have been to France before, monsieur?’ the customs officer asked sarcastically.

Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. ‘Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.’ The American said, “The last time I was here, I didn’t have to show it.”

 

“Impossible Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in France!’The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained, “‘Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country. I couldn’t find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to.” 

      

You could have heard a pin drop.

 

 

We Need Change…But What Kind Of Change

The political rhetoric if flowing. Few like the direction we are going in our country from a number of directions, but radical liberal change I fear will create a world in which our grand children will pay a heavy price. With out future comment I simply ask you to look at the following two videos for your grand children’s sake.

PRAY!

Operation Dad 2008 A “Mustard Seed” Idea Blessed By God

Operation Dad 2008 all started with Shannon Brown, a soldiers wife and new member at Madison, and a conversation about doing something special for Father’s Day for a few of the men in her husbands unit. That seed idea blossomed into a project that only God could bring to success…and He did.

Operation Dad 2008 was not a statement for or against the war, it was a message to the troops that you are loved by those of us who are so far away.

Tom Haddon, our Involement Minister, along with Shannon spearheaded this effort that raised over 100,000.00 in supplies and cash. People from all over Middle Tennessee set up collections boxes. Over 8000 personal notes were written to the troops, many of them by children. 6000 small denim back packs were filled with everything from eye drops, chap stick to playing cards (David Hardin, one of our members drove all the way to Tunica to pick up 6000 decks of cards). Also in each back pack was one special Beenie baby toy to be given away with the back pack to a child as a gift of love.

We thank God for all of those who gave their time, money and material gifts. We trust God will take these seeds of love and plant them in open hearts for a harvest one day of His design.

Below is a picture of our Gym during Operation Dad 2008. Click on the picture to be taken to more pictures.

 

Picures courtesy of Todd Hibbs, Madison’s Director of Media Operations.

Operation Dad 2008 A Great Success!!!

Tommorrow Is Packing Day

1500 boxes each containing 4 small back packs filled with goodies will be packed and made ready to ship on Friday. Each of the 6000 back packs will contain a small stuffed animal to be giving to a child. Over 31,000 dollars has been given to pay for the shipping and even the Post Office is finally on board. They will come to our building to do the paper work and then provide a truck to take all the boxes to the shipping point. Praise our Father who provides! Channel 5 did an on location shoot for their 6:00pm broad cast. Here is the video.

Final Push For Operation Dad 2008

WKRN Channel 2 in Nashville joined other media outlets in promoting Operation Dad 2008. After listen to the video below please read a personal message from Tom Haddon, our Involvment Minister (featured in the video) whose message is listed below.

5/17/08 Good morning,

We have one week to go – This is sorting and packing week. We have enough money to ship just over 4000 packages! That’s 2/3 of the way there.

Need:
Individuals: We need shipping on 2,000 more packages. Can you go to your friends and neighbors today asking them to contribute $ 5.00 to ship one box. The $ 5.00 covers the cost of the bag (small backpak with nothing in it) and the cost to ship it. For every $ 5.00 that you raise, that’s one more bag going to Afghanistan. Individual donations, for tax purposes, are treated like a donation to any qualified ‘church’.

Business:
If you own a business or know someone who does, can you ask for a corportate donation? Remember – every $ 100.00 sends 20 packages. Remind them that we will be sending out tax receipts to them the first part of June. Corporate donations are tax deductible.

Together, with our community, we can get over the hump. I thank you all for what you have already done. Let’s work together to make this happen for our men and women.

Thank you,

Tom Haddon for Operation Dad 2008

 

Steve Gill Takes His Show On The Road For Operation Dad 2008

Will You Be A Drop of Rain?

Operation Dad needs 25,000 drops of rain. One drop won’t accomplish much, but enough drops can turn a desert into an Oasis. We need 25,000 people to give 1 dollar by May 21st. It will cost a little over 5 dollars to send each package. (Yes we have checked with the Post Office and they won’t, and we have checked with the Military and they don’t have a plane).

Side Note! 500 of the 6000 packages being prepared with be for the ladies in the 506th Combat Brigade.

Here is the Fox Channel 17 report from last night.

 

Local Media Spreading The Word About Operation Dad

Most of the local TV Stations and a few of the radio stations are spreading the word about Operation Dad. Here is just a couple reports. One from local TV Report from WSMV Channel 4. and the other The Steve Gill Radio show with our own Tom Haddon and LaVern Vivio known on many radio stations in Nashville as U-Turn Lavern traffic reporter.

 

Operation Dad – Help Make This A Special Father’s Day

Help us tell our troops we love them!

The Goal:  To pack and ship 6000 backpacks filled with personal items such as phone cards, encouraging notes, small toys etc to the members of the 506th Brigade Combat Team home based from Ft Campbell, KY. in time for them to receive them before Father’s Day.

The Deadline:  Everything needs to be collected by May 21st in order to be packed and shipped in time to arrive by  June 15th.

The Need:  HELP!!!  We need donations, we need letters of support and cards of encouragement.  We need people to pack and assemble the bags.  We need businesses, churches, schools, day cares and clubs to help sponsor the shipping and provide the donations.  We also need additional locations to become drop off points for donations to assist those who can’t get to Madison to donate.

Click here for more information on how you can help make this a very special Father’s Day for our troops! www.OperationDAD2008.com