Assessment Center

We survived the New Start Assessment this past week! It actually turned out much better than I thought it would. It was a lot of work and they kept us busy almost the whole 3 days. Over the years, because of how the new start assessments were done, I was certain that I (we) would not even be considered to start a new church for our denomination. In fact, I'm pretty certain about it and that I would be "Re-directed" (their term) But, over the past year there has been a shift in philosophy of what it means to be a church starter. The model that was in place was to start a new church out of a church by taking people and moving across time to do the same thing. Which in essence was to take an unhealthy model of the body of Christ and duplicate it. Anyway, after the week of stretching and digging into our lives the assessors gave us an unconditional approval to start a church. So, what does that mean? Nothing yet. We still don't know where or what, but I did walk away with some great compliments. I've mentioned before that I know that God has called me to preach. Well, we had to do a 10 minute sermon and afterwards I was reminded that I was gifted in that way. The head assessor even said he was jealous as I scored a 95 out of a 100 on their score. I really don't know what that means other than it's just another confirmation for me. Now, preaching is much different than pastoring and I'm still pretty sure that most of what we call a "pastor" I'm not, but in any case God is still working on us and doing some great things in our lives. So, I guess we have the blessings of our denomination we're just trying to figure out where and what God wants us to do. Continue to pray for us as we continue on this journey. We will continue to pray for you!

New Start Church Planting

I'm kinda excited and kinda nervous as Dawn and I take three days this coming week to attend the New Start Assessement that our denomination is putting on here on our district. If you don't know what that is, it's an assessement process done by psychologists, counselors and a slew of others to help us determine whether or not Dawn and I should be pursuing the direction as church planters. It's a series of personality tests, psychological exams and different counseling and observation sessions for three full days. I'm excited about it as it has already been a learning experience for the two of us as we've filled out a ton of tests and questionairs already and learned/reaffirmed some stuff about us. I'm looking forward to finding out more about us and possibly helping us narrow down our direction and where God is leading us. I'm nervous for all the same reasons! I'm nervous that people are going to be evaluating us and, in essence, saying we should or shouldn't be church planters. On top of all that, I'm not real sure that I want to plant a church anyway. At least not in the traditonal sense. I don't see myself in that role. Anyway, as you think about us this coming week, please spend some time praying for us as we go through all of this.

As for how life is going right now it's good. Many of you have asked about how the real estate stuff is going for me, well, pretty good. I closed on my first home last month and am scheduled to close on 4 more this month and I have one scheduled for next already. Keep praying for us as we are still trying to get all of this under control and figure out exactly how to do all that God wants us to do.