Front row (left to right): Patrice Toensing, Roseanne Thurmond, Dee Zellinger, Laura Lentner and Gail Shepard; Back row: Al Toensing, Don Thurmond, Gary Zellinger, Charlie Lentner and Ken Shepard
David Stanard
The Resurrection Church Men’s Breakfast season has come to an end. The last breakfast was Saturday, May 4, closing out eight months of great food, outstanding programs and record attendance. Featured at the breakfast was Elisabeth Wheeler, SaddleBrooke resident, hiking enthusiast and leader of the Resurrection Church Hiking Life Group.
Life Groups bring together people who share a common interest. They provide a platform for pursuit of that interest and a setting in which friendships are made or strengthened, as well as offering an opportunity for spiritual growth. The groups have been well received, particularly at the main campus; there are now over twenty actively functioning Life Groups which range in focus from Elisabeth’s hiking group to ones centered on motorcycles, young families, the life of Paul, card playing, Bible studies and the study of other faiths to name a few.
Elisabeth’s fascinating slide presentation, “Spiritual Lessons Learned in the Grand Canyon,” took everyone on most of the hiking/backpacking trails of the North and South Rims of the Canyon. Elisabeth, who has literally hiked thousands of miles over the past few years, has traveled all these trails and the slides she presented graphically displayed both the perils and the beauty of the trails and the canyon.
The Resurrection Church Men’s Breakfasts take place the first Saturday of the month from October through May. Beginning at 7:30 a.m. at the main campus in Oro Valley, the breakfasts are organized by a five-member steering committee; four of the five members, Duane Hartzler, Ron McNutt, Al Toensing and Gary Zellinger, live in SaddleBrooke. The fifth member, Ken Shepard, lives in Sun City.
On Saturday, April 27, the committee and their wives were treated to a year-end brunch at the home of committee “Dean” Al Toensing and his wife Patrice. Special guests were the volunteer cooks for the breakfasts, Laura and Charlie Lentner and Rosanne and Don Thurmond. After the May 4 breakfast, Laura and Charlie hung up their aprons and officially retired as cooks for the group. The Thurmonds, however, will be back next year.
Cooking breakfast for a crowd that can easily number eighty during peak season is no simple task. First, the menu has to be planned and the food needs to be purchased. Then the food needs to be prepared, cooked and timed to be served at just the right moment. In addition, since the breakfast start time is 7:30 a.m., the cooks need to be up early and at the church around 5:30 a.m. Volunteers like the Lentners and Thurmonds who really go the extra mile are hard to find and are very much appreciated.
According to Al Toensing, the first breakfast next season will be on Saturday, October 5.
Resurrection Church at SaddleBrooke holds its all-denominational Sunday worship service at 10:00 a.m. in the Vermilion Room at the SaddleBrooke One Clubhouse. All are welcome.