Personal

Let’s start this new season of blogging off with a simple and quick update.

1. My wife and boys are doing great. Whittaker is a little over two years old now and Fletcher is 15 months old now. We’ve grown a lot over the last few months. We’ve grown a greater appreciation for our marriage and family.

2. Church Life. I’ve worked part-time at Chets Creek Church for the last five months. The staff has been incredible towards me. I love those guys. My official title is ‘Ministry Intern’ but I’ve been treated more like pastoral staff. They have been gracious and good to my family.

3. Travel. We were able to travel this past September to Vancouver and Alaska. Vancouver was hands down one of the best cities I’ve ever visited. We celebrated an early five year anniversary there and then later joined up with her family for an Alaskan cruise.

4. South Africa. Last month I was able to go on our a mission trip with about 25 people from our church. I experienced some stuff I’ve never seen before and was able to preach twice there as well.

5. December. This is random, but December is probably my favorite month. I love it. The colder weather and celebration of Christmas.

{ 0 comments }

:: a little back story

I’ll just start off by saying this, the last nine months of my life and ministry have been very painful, joyful, and refining months. After we decided to not launch a church plant, it was very difficult to navigate what to do next. Around March, we begin interviewing with churches about possible positions from student ministry to college. But, we never had a peace about any of the churches.

For some reason we couldn’t come to terms with leaving the church we started attending while we navigated what our next ministry move was going to be. We started attending Chets Creek Church in January. We thought we’d only be camped out there until we took a position some where…

But while we were interviewing, we kept sensing that God brought us to Chets Creek Church for a reason. During the interview process, we decided we’d stop interviewing and just keep attending Chets Creek. Even if that meant all we would do is attend there and serve in whatever areas they needed help in. I’ll be honest this was a little difficult for me. I was turning down full time jobs in some great churches. I was thinking, ‘Ok Lord, we’ll just attend here…no full time paycheck or doing what I love.’ I wasn’t too keen on this!

:: so what’s next for us?

Well, on August 1st, I will be starting at Chets Creek Church as a ministry intern! We are still finalizing all the details of what my work week will look like. But, it will most likely consist of the usual intern stuff: cleaning restrooms, getting coffee and donuts for staff, and being called in for funny jokes. Just kidding.

I am very excited about this opportunity to serve a great church and learn from the staff. We have been incredibly blessed by the people God has surrounded us with at Chets Creek for the last seven months. We are very thankful for the people and staff of Chets Creek, as they have been a huge encouragement to my wife and I as we’ve been sorting out what to do with our ministry.

I appreciate all your prayers and words of encouragement you guys have been to me! I know there has been a lot of you praying for us as we have sought the Lord on what to do. As far as we know this where we’ll be until God tells us to move on. The staff and I both affirm that being an intern isn’t a long term job. But, we do know it’s a part of this ‘in between’ period of ministry.

{ 0 comments }

Well this week has been flying by! Here’s a little Thursday Happiness for you with some updates.

1. Launched a new website last week. We’ve moved all the photography stuff to a new site and have been in the process of working out some killer details to make that business even better! Check out the new site here.

2. Preaching a couple times in the next few weeks. Next Thursday I’ll be at Neptune Baptist Church preaching to a group of young adults and the Jacksonville BCM crew. Next month, I’ll be preaching at the monthly Ascension Worship event.

3. I ran my first triathlon last Saturday. I survived! It was harder and easier than I thought it would be. Now, I’m hooked, just started a 16 week training program to get me in better shape to run my second triathlon in October! So, does this make me a legit triathlete now?!

4. This September I’m traveling to Vancouver for a couple days with my wife! And, then meeting up with the rest of her family for a cruise through the Alaskan water ways!

5. In October/November I’ll be traveling with Chets Creek Church to South Africa. It’s been an amazing God working story for this trip. One of the things I’m most excited about is getting the honor to preach part of a revival we are helping out at in one of the townships.

6. Ministry Job Update: We’ve been talking with a few churches over the last few months. We haven’t really sensed any strong leading on any of them yet. But, we are hopeful and know God is going to put us where we need to be!

{ 0 comments }