We've got a Harvest Party scheduled for next Saturday! I gave the church just under two weeks notice to pull if and they are responding with great excitement and are jumping in with both feet. We'll have carnival games, a picture taking area, a Bible Story tour, a cupcake walk, and no Harvest Party would be complete without a bouncy jungle :). It's crazy some churches don't have inflatables on hand. I'm hoping to have t-shirts printed for all our workers the church name and logo on them, maroon of course :)
My (Kevin) parents came and visited for a long weekend. It was a really nice visit. We had a good time with them and they got to see all that's going on around here. They watched the kids ride the horse, my dad helped me with some projects around "the farm," and we celebrated Jolee's 3rd birthday; I can't believe my baby is 3! It seemed like Christmas as my parents went crazy and bought all of us a bunch of stuff (clothes, books, tools, food and more), they are really generous that way. We are a blessed family.As a church we are continuing to go through the book of Acts. It's been really good for me and I hope the church too. This morning we examined Acts 4:32-5:11, it's the story of Ananias and Sapphira who drop dead at Peter's feet after they lied about the amount of money they gave to the church from the sale of their property. It's tough when the Bible exposes our heart's deceit. Read it and see what you think and if you want to know more, then you can go to www.blackfootfellowship.org and learn more. Did I mention that our website is live? It has been for just over a week. I've got to add more info, but our tech guy (Jon Swain) has done an incredible job of making it look awesome.
Tomorrow I'm headed to another pastors conference for the day. This one is for the the Southern Baptist Church (SBC). If you recall, our church is a dually aligned church with both the SBC and the American Baptist Church (ABC). I'm going to introduce myself to the that group and get to know some of them. It should be a good thing and I'm looking forward to it.
This week I begin coaching 1st and 2nd grade basketball! I'm not sure what I was thinking when I signed up to do this. That's not true, I know exactly what the rationale behind the decision was, but holy smokes, it s gonna be crazy. Can I just say that the Parks and Rec Department in Anacortes is top notch! Here's a big shout out to Dustin South. Things aren't quite as organized here, but it'll be fun none the less, but let me assure you that I'll be glad when the season is done and hasn't even started yet.
We (I) launched an all church initiative a couple of weeks ago called "Dinner with my Neighbor." On Saturday, November 1, everyone from BCF is supposed to invite a neighbor over for dinner just to get to know them, no other agenda. I can't wait for Sunday, Nov 2, to hear how it went for everyone. It's gonna be very cool.
We're also about to launch something called Simple: A Large Small Group Experience. In order to get peoples minds wrapped around the idea of small groups, we're bringing everyone to the church for three Mondays in November to introduce them to the concept. We'll show the video teaching by none other than Andy Stanley and then we'll have small group discussion around tables. At the end of the three weeks, I'll say something along the lines of, "Wow, wasn't that easy and great! Now who can do this in their own house?" I know it'll be good or at least I'm hoping and trusting God to bring people to it.
We've continued to have between 80-90 on Sunday mornings and several new faces each week, many who are return visitors. It's great to see people from both congregations getting to know one another and the new folks too. Our offering have been up substantially too! Thats a relief because for a while I felt like we were bleeding. There is sill so much for me to wrap my mind around and get a handle on in terms of the business side of the church. Oh for the good old days when I didn't have to worry or think about such things, just kidding, I love the challenge.
What else can I tell you? Oh yeah, next week is our first baptism!!! I met with Melody on Friday and she's ready to publicly declare that Jesus is her Lord and Savior. She's got quite a story and God is doing a great work in her heart. It's so fun to see people trusting and growing. It reminds me of you, my friends in Anacortes who God was and is doing a great work in. I want to say again thank you for allowing me the chance to be there and learn, to struggle and grow with y'all, to mourn and to rejoice too. I will always count Anacortes, as four of the best (sometimes toughest) years of my ministry.
Kate and the kids are doing well. I'd love to say we've settled into a routine, but that's not exactly true. Kate is an incredible trooper and has been wonderful for our kids. She is with them all the time, teaching, loving, training, feeding, answering questions, and generally being an all around incredible mother, wife, and woman. I'd love to send her on a vacation but unfortunately I can't.
It's now 9 PM here and I'm just about to eat some yummy baked apple stuff that I made. Yes you read that correctly, I baked a cinnamon, brown sugar, oatmeal apple something. We picked the apples off the tree in our back yard. To be more accurate, I used a football to knock most of them down. I'll sign off for now, but once again thanks for all the prayers, for taking the time to read my random ramblings.
We love and miss you all and you are always in our thoughts and prayers. See you soon!
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