Catching Up

Okay first, thanks for hanging in and being patient with me. Things have been intense lately, and I haven't had moments to read blogs, much less write one. So, here's the update, and the plan going forward:

After a process that tried my patience to the MAXIMUM, Beth and I were able to purchase a house last month. It's a very nice three bedroom home with a great kitchen, and a back yard full of... potential. It was bank owned, so the yard was abandoned months and months ago, leaving the grass and most of the trees dead. It will be a project for the spring, but some nice folks from church put in new grass in the front yard, so the neighbors like us right away. The house is closer to the church and in a nice neighborhood, close to Rachel's school and Mac's best friends. I just tried out the walking trail this morning, it is in great shape. I, however, am not.

We have spent the last month packing up, moving our stuff over, unpacking and setting up the new house, so workouts and just about anything else has been on the back burner. Other than cheering the SF Giants to the World Series win (while unpacking boxes), there's been little on the 'fun' side of the ledger. I'm so tired of cardboard right now...

Also while all the packing and moving and unpacking has gone on, we've been working on the budget for LifePoint Church. We're changing our fiscal year to start in July, so we're doing a 'mini-budget' for January through June. It's been a challenge to change how we think about budgeting and to try to forecast our congregation's giving going into the New Year. What's the economy going to do here? What's the excitement level going to be for what God is unveiling to us about the future?

The move of placing Pastor Mark Marsella over our small group ministry and take him out of Worship Arts has already paid dividends. We're seeing a huge influx of people wanting to be in groups, and we're praying and looking for leaders to rising to the surface to take on those groups. Mark and Gayle just went to a training event in Stockton this week, so progress and a plan for the future are both being made.

I'm excited about the current series, "Name That 'Tude," and Pastor Roy gets another opportunity to teach in this one. The Christmas series, set design, Christmas Eve services and all that are coming together very nicely right now, and the energy is building. I'm fired up to see what the end of this year and the start of 2011 have in store for us in God's plan.

Okay, that will get you (mostly) caught up. I'm going to try to blog two to three times a week, and we'll see what comes out of it. God is teaching me some great lessons, reminding me of some more great lessons I learned along my journey, and preparing me for more lessons to learn. It's an exciting time, and a time to learn to trust God more and more.