Exhaling

The last week or so since Ana's passing has been a time of holding my breath, metaphorically speaking. Anticipating the next thing as we moved along the course to the memorial service was a little tense at times. I looked forward to the service with prayer, that every detail would be just right, the family members would be honored, loved, cared for, and served. The team of people who helped did not disappoint.

We had a wonderful team from New Life and EQUIP who coordinated, shopped, cooked, and served with smiles on their faces and love in their hearts. What a huge blessing!

Greg did a fantastic job with the service. It was planned well, his message was great, the testimonies were so very touching, and the music was just perfect.

We actually left energized. Steve, Ana's husband, said it was the best memorial service he had ever been to. I had to agree.

I know Ana would have been pleased.

Quite a Week

This has been quite a week for us. Greg is doing very well, with all the preparations for the memorial service Sunday. I can tell, though, that he is needing a little break away for rest. Me, well, all this is pretty new to me. I didn't get the opportunity to be involved in memorial services when I worked at the church, other than scheduling ushers for one service. I've been surprised at the number of details involved in this, it's almost like a wedding.

We had one special request from her sisters. That she be sprinkled with Holy Water. Not being Catholic, this was a surprise. It was too late for Last Rights from a priest when the request came in, but her sisters felt it was important, though she didn't consider herself Catholic anymore.

We inquired at one of the churches that we do landscaping for, and were able to obtain a bottle of Holy Water. Yesterday afternoon we went down to the mortuary and after a brief preparation, were allowed to go in for Greg to sprinkle the Holy Water on Ana. I had been holding up pretty well until then, but when I saw her, it hit me. Ana really wasn't on this earth anymore. Like I said in a previous post, she had a very strong presence on this earth and it was surreal that she was gone. I couldn't approach her. I stayed by the door and let Greg go forward pray and sprinkle. As we left the building the tears finally came. I missed her deeply.

We got in the truck and headed for the Hoggatt's to pick up the scriptures Steven wanted to read at the service. I had to try and pull myself together in less than 5 minutes, before walking into a room full of people who had already gone through this and so much more. Greg said he wouldn't take me to any more of these types of situations. I told him I wanted him to because I needed to be de-sensitized to this. He said he didn't want me de-sensitized. I do feel I need to be more comfortable with this situation, though, as God may put me in more difficult situations than this and I need to be a little more strong, not stoic, but a little stronger to help the family. It was hard to sleep last night, seeing her in my thoughts most of the night.

Today I'm still sad. I had a good conversation with Greg last night about how he is able to be near a body and not be affected. He went through what it was like with his uncle, Grandmother, and first wife. I talked about how I was with the open casket funerals of a boyfriend, my grandmother, and someone I didn't know. I trust God will toughen me up, just enough to do this well. Sometimes God prepares you on your journey before he calls you, and sometimes, it's on the job training.

Blessings on this cooler Friday. I will try and get to the Old Testament Era 2 next week, hopefully when life slows just a bit. Being before our launch August 2nd, no promises.

Ana's Memorial Service

Ana Hoggatt's memorial service will be this Sunday, July 26th at 4:00 p.m. at New Life Christian Center.

A Great Loss

We've had our first loss in our church family. Ana Hoggatt, 47, died suddenly and in her sleep on Friday morning. Arrangements are still being made and I will update the post when I learn more.

This is all very surreal. She had such a strong presence on this earth, that it doesn't feel like she's gone and living with the Lord. Besides her great love for her family, I will remember Ana for her hospitality, generosity, compassion, and prayerfulness. She was always crocheting blankets and giving them away, the last one had only one more row to complete. She was always interested in others, their family, and their plans. I chuckled when she asked me if Greg and I were going to have more children. I explained all the reasons why not.

Ana hosted our small group for a year and a half in her home. During that time everyone involved got to see how much she had changed. She finished well. She has been described as both the backbone and glue of her family.

She came to our commissioning last Sunday. I was so glad God allowed her to share that special moment with us. Ana always had "God bless you" and a kiss for your cheek, on her lips.

She is greatly missed.

Dominican Republic Missions Trip

Here are Kristen's pictures from her two-week trip to the Dominican Republic. Sorry about the sideways shots. It would take too much time to fix. Enjoy!

Commissioned!

This morning we were commissioned by our originating church.
I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be, in front of 400 people. Probably from the lack of sleep. (See previous post) Greg asked the Pastor if we could honor him by giving 30 seconds of thanks, but due to time constraints, wasn't allowed to. I was blessed to see good friends come to see us commissioned, that would have missed it otherwise.

We received our letter of license and confirmation last week. We're off! It will be interesting to see God work on the west side and other areas of our community in the near future.

We got a good 3 hour nap this morning. Unfortunately, Kristen couldn't sleep at all! She's going to sleep early tonight.

Blessings on this breezy Sunday evening.

Oh, What a Night!

Kristen's plane came into San Francisco last night at 11:00, so Greg and I went up to get her. We say on the way up that 238 northbound would be closed at 11:00 so we knew there would be a detour on the way home.

Sure enough, after the San Mateo bridge, we were detoured and had to go through a town (San Mateo? Hayward?) Anyway, we stopped at Burger King to get Kristen some food and were trying to find our way back to the freeway. That's when it happened.

We were at an intersection and Greg turned left. As he did I looked up from my hamburger and said, "Look out!" We were T-boned on my side. Fortunately Kristen was on the driver's side behind Greg. It was in slow motion. The car rocked forwards and backwards as I felt my door push me towards Greg. Then an incredible pain on the back side of my right arm, hot and stinging. Greg pulled over and made sure everyone was relatively okay, then went to talk with the 50 year old mall security guard in his little compact car, which was sitting in the intersection, smashed at the hood.

Looking around in shock, I saw the remnants of my 1/2 hamburger all over the dash, door, window, seat, floor, purse, jacket, you name it. I tried to get out, but my door wouldn't open. Kristen was shaken and when I said my arm hurt, she got upset that this man hurt her mom. (We restrained her verbally :-) )

The man was very nice, said he was glad we were God fearing people, and commented on Kristen coming back from the missions trip. He hoped he could get over the hill with his car, we hoped we could get home for our commissioning this morning. After he left, I crawled over Greg's seat and looked at the damage from the outside. It didn't look all that bad, actually. Black streak and pushed in bottom of two doors. I still don't know if the back passenger door will open. The back passenger window had a breeze all the way home, though.

I crawled back in and decided to sit in the back and console Kristen on the way home. That's when I noticed that my passenger side airbag in the seat had exploded, causing the still hot sting on my arm. That lasted about 1/2 hour, then I was fine.

We've had 5 hours sleep, and will soon get ready to be commissioned (prayed for and sent out) with our launch team up front at our originating church this morning. Kristen had been up 24 hours at the time we got home, so she will be even more exhausted that us. There are naps in our near future. We also have promised to pick up 4 people from our small group and bring them to church. Since we probably only have the driver's side doors that open, Greg will be dropping Kristen and I off first, then getting them. It will be interesting to see how they get in and out, only using one side and having to use the last 2 rows of seats.

Blessings on this momentous, cloudy Sunday.

Old Testament Era #1

It's been about 5 days since the OT overview. Did you memorize the Eras? How about the books of the Old Testament? Did you read Gen. 1-11? We're plunging ahead with Era #1.

Quiz: Without looking, how many books are in the Historical category of the OT?
How many Poetical books? How many Prophetical books? Answers at the bottom of this blog.

This Era is called the Nothing Era. It is followed by the Something Era, but that's next time.

During the Nothing Era, God created the human race. He made it from nothing. There were 4 major events in the nothing era. The first was Creation, found in Gen. chapters 1-2 and the main character was . . . God!

The second major event was the Fall. It is found in Gen. 3-5 and the main characters are Adam and Eve.

The third major era was the Flood, found in Gen. 6-9. The main character was Noah.

The fourth major era was the Tower of Babel, found in Gen. 10-11. The main character again, was God.

The Nothing Era occurred from Creation to 2090 BC. These 4 major events in the Nothing Era occurred in the Fertile Crescent. The Garden of Eden is located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. This is actually located where Iraq or maybe Syria and Turkey are located. Noah's ark, which landed in the mountains of Ararat, is the land of Turkey today. The Tower of Babel, where God confused man's language and divided the human race into cultures, was erected in what is today called Turkey.

Taken a look at the Fall, we see Eve, tempted by the devil in the form of a serpent, to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It was God's only rule. The devil tempts her to question God, then twists God's words, minimizes the consequences and maximizing the perceived benefits of disobeying God. Note how the devil does this in Genesis 3:4-5. Eve sins in a way which we still sin today:

Eve saw the fruit.
Even wanted the fruit.
Eve ate the fruit.
Eve shared the fruit.

God had tried to protect Adam and Eve from the consequences of disobedience. They "die" and the rest of the human race "dies" with them. Scripture uses the word "die" in two ways: First, to die physically, separating man from the earth. Second, to die spiritually, separating man from God.

There are a few lessons to be learned from the Fall:
1. Whenever God gives a command it is to provide us with benefits and to protect us from consequences.
2. The devil entices us to disobey God by maximizing the benefits of sin and minimizing the consequences of sin.
3. Our sin tends to follow this pattern: it starts in our head, moves to our heart, and ends with our hands.

Temptation is the desire to fulfill a God-given drive in a God-forbidden way.

4. There are two wrong ways to handle disobedience: hiding from God and blaming our wrong-doing on others.
5. Adam and Eve's original sin broke fellowship with God and brought us death, both physical and spiritual death.

The main topic of the Bible is God receiving glory by restoring fellowship between the human race and Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ. This era explains God's purpose for man (fellowship with Him for eternity) and God's problem with man (fellowship broken because of man's disobedience). This era also shows God's solution for man - God would provide a Messiah to save man from the consequences of his disobedience. Where does it say God would provide a Messiah?

Look at Genesis 3:15 when God rebukes Satan, who has taken the form of a snake. God says, "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel." This verse speaks of two future events: Satan bruising the heel of mankind and the seed of woman crushing the head of Satan. The seed of woman refers to Jesus Christ who would one day come to overcome the works of the devil. First John 3:8 says, "The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil."

There's a brief overview of the Nothing Era. For next time, memorize the 4 major events of the Nothing Era. You can also read Genesis 12-36. Memorize Gen. 1:27. (There will be a quiz at the beginning of each Era.)

Answers to today's quiz: 17 Historical books, 5 Poetical books, 17 Prophetical books.

Have a blessed warm Friday evening!

Old Testament Overview

Since I finished a book on the Old Testament, I thought I would try my hand and trying to make it an online study. Some of the reason I'm doing this is completely selfish. I figure if I have to regurgitate it, I'll learn it better. Who knows, this might be the beginning of a class we offer at church. Who knows! I hope you enjoy it. I hope I do too! :-) Taken from the book "Putting Together the Puzzle of the Old Testament" by Bill Jones.

We find that this puzzle has 39 pieces, the 39 books of the Bible. They are arranged from Genesis to Malachi.

There are 3 categories of books of the old testament. First, the first 17 books are Historical in nature. They tell "His-story", chronologically from creation to the years before the coming of Christ. The first 5 of these 17 are called the Law or the Pentateuch. (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) The next 12 are called History (Joshua through Esther) Follow along with your table of contents in your Bible.

The next 5 are Poetical books. (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon) Job teaches us how to respond to suffering. Psalms teach us how to worship God, Proverbs is known as the book of wisdom, Ecclesiastes teaches how to live a life of significance by showing how much of what we do leads to vanity or emptiness. Sons of Solomon speaks about true love.

The last 17 are prophetical books. The first 5 of these are called the major prophets. (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel) The next 12 are called the minor prophets. (Hosea through Malachi)

Each of these three areas or categories has a particular focus. The historical books focus on the past. They cover "His-story" 8 times. The poetical books focus on the present and contain 5 topics of interest. The prophetical books focus on the future and contain 5 types of prophesy. Cool, huh?

When we look at the first 17 or historical books, it is important to note that not all the books contain historical content. All but 4 do however. The four that don't (Ruth, 1 & 2 Chronicles, and Esther) contain historical commentary.

Now that you have a good structure to start with, let's look at giving a name to each of the 8 eras of the old testament. As I go through this study, I will explore each era in more detail. For now, here is the starting place.

Nothing Era------The human race out of nothing
Something Era---The Hebrew race into something
Exiting Era-------Exiting Egypt
Entering Era-----Entering Canaan
United Era-------United kings stand
Divided Era------Divided kings fall
Scattered Era----Scattered Judah
Gathered Era-----Gathered Judah

If you can memorize the eras, that would be a big help. If you would like to read in preparation for the next lesson, you can read Genesis chapters 1-11. As a bonus, memorize the books of the old testament. It's good exercise for your brain!

Next time we'll cover the nothing era. Have a blessed sunny, cool, breezy Monday!

Happy 4th of July

I don't have a patriotic message for today. As a matter of fact, as I get older and my kids get older, the desire to celebrate the 4th in a traditional way wanes. I had a string of thoughts in the shower this morning as I thought about the 4th and what we might do today.

I thought about staying home and watching fireworks on TV tonight. Mark will be working a fireworks booth for the youth and Kristen is in Central America. I thought about watching the White House fireworks, then thought about the president and how much money the federal government spends on this spectacular. I thought how nice it would be if he made a stand and said, "In honor of those who are out of work, in poverty, etc., I have decided not to spend the $$$$$$$ on fireworks. Instead, I will give it to", this part of the budget, or this state that is struggling, or this charity, or even hold it in reserve. Some might think that is unpatriotic, but some could see the wisdom in not spending money on a tradition that is in the want category, rather than the need category. If our government is to lead us, they should be an example of responsible spending, don't you think? I heard that CSU Stanislaus won't be having fireworks this year because of the financial impact. Wise decision. I'm sure the students who pay tuition appreciate that.

What other areas could be cut by our government to better the American people that they govern? How about the huge amount of money spent on inaugurations? State dinners? The list goes on. I'm not a government spending expert, I don't even follow politics that closely. I just know that it bugs me when I see millions spent on a visual image when there are so many who are homeless and hungry in this country. It bugs me when I see people on government assistance who are perfectly able to work and aren't even spending 2 hours a day looking for a job.

My son recommended that we give a donation to Teen Challenge today and then go out to dinner, instead of spending money on fireworks. Probably not many people will be in restaurants tonight. Since he'll be out most of the afternoon and evening, we may just lay low. I hope you have a wonderful 4th, whatever you decide to do.

Blessings on this sunny Saturday.

Out o' Here!

My baby is out of the country. Kristen left for the Dominican Republic Sunday. We got word that she arrived safely and today, that they had breakfast, were leaving for their first full day of working, and all were doing well.

Kristen came to us months ago and said that she felt God was telling her she was going to the Dominican Republic this year. (Good thing, they're not doing the trip next year!) We prayed about it and didn't feel any hesitation to her going on the trip. We just had one requirement for her: If God provided all the money ($1800), she would give Him all the glory. If God didn't provide the money, she would give Him all the glory. Through the generous giving of friends and family, she got $1270 in by the week before she was to leave. A friend of her dad's and her dad gave the last $530 she needed. She had the greatest look of awe, relief, joy, and amazement that I've ever seen grace her face.

A day or two before she left, she started to get cold feet. We did everything we could think of to reassure her. She knew she was going, she was just anxious about leaving all the comforts of home. (I told her she better not do this on her wedding day! :-) ) When we got to the school, 30 minutes before she left for the San Francisco airport, she was still apprehensive, but was reassured by fellow students, some of whom went last year, teachers, and parents. And off she went.






It sure is quiet here without her. I can't tell if the cat knows she's gone or not. There is a lot less laundry and dishes. All adjustments until she comes home.

Thank you to those who gave to make this trip possible. I'll post pictures and stories when she returns July 11th. Can't wait to pick her up in San Francisco.

Blessings on this late Wednesday.

Each One, Doing Their Part

Before I tell this story, let me update you on our Father's Day service. We were extremely blessed to have Steven and Lori Dougherty lead worship for us. Sometimes you don't realize the hole of not having live worship leaves in your heart. You could say, "Well you can worship God anytime!" Yep, but there is something about corporate worship and live leading, that makes it so three-dimensional.

We handed out a cup of beer nuts (in church!) to every dad and gave them a book as they left. Our daughter put together a beautiful video called Daddy's Hands and we had a clip from Wild at Heart, a men's study we're starting. The sermon was brief but to the point about Peter's encounter with Jesus, and coffee and lemonade topped off the fellowship time afterwards. It was nice to be in a building. It felt 'official' in a good way.



Here is most of our team after praying for the service. Josh was inside working out the sound with Steven and Lori.

Now for the story: Last night was our final night of Greg's series on community, sharing our vision with our small group. We focused on the P of EQUIP (Everyone Qualified, Unified, Ignited in Purpose). Purpose has to do with God's story. We focused on reaching out to others far away (missions). Greg told a story that was told to us Tuesday as we had lunch with one of our board members who was visiting from Arizona.

Bruce is on the Barnabas team at Frontiers, a missions agency that is in every Muslim country. Bruce's job is to send his team members anywhere in the world where one of their missionaries is in crisis. This story has to do with a couple in Pakistan who's marriage was in crisis and they called Bruce for help, saying they wanted to go back to the states. As Bruce prayed about who to send, he realized he was going to be near Pakistan shortly and decided to go himself.

The couple that was there had been brought by God to replace a couple who had been there for 15 years. This couple went to vising the existing couple to see if they wanted to be missionaries in the area. While there, the husband who had been there died suddenly. The wife decided it wasn't a safe place for her and her children without a husband and decided to come back to the states. The visiting couple felt God's calling to take over the group this couple had worked with for 15 years. They spent the next year preparing to go and went.

Now Bruce is there counseling the couple. The couple decided after a few days of reconciling to stay in the country and continue ministering to their group of young men. The group had become bold in their outreach to the Muslims in the area. One of the men decided to go into Taliban camps and share the gospel. The cook for the Taliban camp accepted Jesus. The cook realized it may not be safe for him to be following Jesus amongst these extremists and secretly snuck out of the camp. The Taliban group searched for him and found him and begged him to come back. "But I'm following Jesus now, and you're not." The Taliban replied, "That's okay, you're a really good cook and we need a cook, please come back." So he did.

The cook continued to witness to the Taliban and some also became Christ followers. One day as the gentleman who led the cook to Christ was entering the camp, he was met by one of the new Taliban members. As the Taliban member reached out his hand to greet the bold witnesser, he set off a bomb and they were both killed.

The moral of the story is, that was we support Frontiers and Bruce, he does his part by saving marriages on the mission field. The missionaries do their part by discipling a group of men. One of the men did his part and witnessed in a Taliban camp, converting the cook. The cook did his part by witnessing to the Taliban, many of whom have accepted Christ. Little by little, if we all do our part, souls are saved from an eternity in hell. God loves every Taliban member. Wouldn't it be awesome to see all the Taliban come to Christ?

Have a blessed sunny Thursday.

Good News of Great Joy!

Last week Greg and I took Steven (our Teen Challenge grad) to Old Tyme Pastries to offer him an intern position for one year with our church. Though he wanted to say yes at the time, Greg asked him to pray about it for a week, which he did. He announced to us last night that God said, yes, he should take the position. We are so excited about what God is going to do through this young man.

We handed out invitations to every person last night for our Father's Day service. Greg decided to hand the invitations out so that Steven would get all the leftover invitations after everyone took 5. He got a pile and told Greg after the meeting, that he didn't have enough! Greg will start meeting with him each week to disciple him.

We gave Steven a ride home last night and he told us that they took a picture of many of the Teen Challenge folks from the area. Steven held a 300lb. man on his shoulders for the picture. Yes, Steven is quite a strong young man.

Blessings, on this clear blue sunny Thursday!

Long Time No See!

Okay, two people have hit me up to blog, so here I am.

First, an update on EQUIP. Today we rented the Rube Boesch building for our Father's Day Celebration June 21st. We plan to start weekly services August 2nd. We also got our liability insurance, required to rent from the City.

The last two weeks we had Jason Hicks come and teach our team about Crown Financial Ministries principles. He gave us amazing tools and did an excellent job teaching. It's a bummer, he was only here for two weeks!

As for us, it seems spiritual warfare has heated up recently. Jason experienced some, including becoming very ill a few days before he was scheduled to come teach. We had our large mower's accelerator cable break when training our daughter to ride it, then the axle on the trail slipped out of place the same day, then the next day we had a flat on the trailer before we pulled out to pick up the mower from repair. Our small group, the same week and week before, went through several difficulties as well. Greg has also battled bronchitis the last couple of weeks, but is doing better with antibiotics, though the cough is still there. But, on the bright side, I've had two people tell me they know God is going to do great things through EQUIP. That makes all the irritation well worth it.

I think I mentioned previously we got tile in our master bath and bedroom. I'm now painting the bathroom and caulking and painting the base boards in the bedroom. Can't wait until the bedroom is back in the bedroom, instead of the dining room!

The treadmill of our life is still on warp speed. If it hits the speed of light, I'm jumping off!

Mark is being a big help around the house, making dinner 4 times this week and doing odd jobs. Kristen just finished her Typhoid medication and will start her Malaria pills in a week or two. She goes to the Dominican Republic in a couple of weeks.

That's a quick update for now. Have a blessed windy Tuesday evening.

Mother's Day at EQUIP Church

First, I have to brag on my kids. I woke up and got ready for the service and went out to the kitchen where Kristen was making me pancakes for breakfast! Then Mark gave me an 8GB Zune. I'm still loading my favorite songs, 2 days later!

We had a great time during our Mother's Day service. Greg decided to keep in more intimate, just the leadership team and our Small Group. The mothers were honored with seven red roses each and the mothers to be got 1 red rose each. Our children got up shared a special memory of their mom, or why they loved their mom.

Mark shared how I would hold him before bedtime when he was little and rock him and sing silent night. Kristen shared how I was always there for her during her medical procedures and how hard it was to raise 2 kids as a single mom.

Afterwards we had muffins. Then it was off to take Kristen to her play, a quick lunch, then back to the play to sell tickets and see it a second time. Then Greg took us all out for a Mother's Day dinner at Red Robbin. I fell asleep on the sofa at 8:00 and didn't get up until Greg woke me at 9:30 to go to bed. So much fun pooped me out!

I hope your Mother's Day was wonderful too! Blessings on this breezy, sunny Tuesday.

A Great One-Liner

There are times when I feel I don't have anything worthwhile to say. Then something comes across my path that I have to share. Today is one of those days.

I received my WorldVision magazine today (you can download the entire magazine free here)and read a brief article about a church in Texas. I love it when the lightbulb goes on for a church. I've included the text here for your convenience.

When Springcreek Church of Garland, Texas, ran a full-page ad in The Dallas Morning News headlined, “We Were Wrong,” the vigorous reaction shattered expectations.

The local TV station sent a camera, The Dallas Morning News ran a story, TV director and author David Burchett blogged, and fiery AIDS activist David Miller called to congratulate the church.

So what was the big deal? Underneath the headline, the ad copy ran: “We live in the land of plenty, denying ourselves nothing, while ignoring our neighbors who actually have nothing. We sat on the sidelines doing nothing while AIDS ravaged Africa.”

Springcreek senior pastor Keith Stewart says the line about Africa was prompted after church members joined a World Vision trip to Katito—an AIDS-devastated region in central Kenya. Afterward, church members were so moved that they began sponsoring more than 500 children in the community to improve their nutrition, health, and education.

The church also became more active locally in the high-crime, low income
neighborhood of Glynnhill, assisting elderly people and single moms and cleaning up rubbish-strewn parks and alleyways.

Despite the good works, Keith says he felt God prompting him to apologize
for former times when the church was preoccupied with serving itself rather than others. “Jesus said the gospel is first and foremost good news to the poor. We were not that,” he says.

“I really felt the ad was the best way to tell the community we were
wrong, because the people we have hurt are all outside the church.”

In response, one blogger wrote: “I wish more churches and their congregations would think this way, then maybe the wounded sheep (including myself) would venture back in.”

There were some negative reactions, mostly from Christians complaining about wasting money on the ad. But Keith says that had the church spent the money on a self-serving promotion, nobody would have objected.

He feels the ad touched a raw nerve because Springcreek has not been alone in its neglect of the poor. “When something gets close enough to convict, then people either confess it or find a way to invalidate it,” he says. ■

Keith Stewart

EQUIP Update

It has been quite a week! We called a special meeting of some of our Wednesday night group and it went well. I can't go into details here, but we could tell the result we wanted was there the following night.

Today our leadership team had teacher training. Dick led it and we had three teachers present besides our leadership team. A lot was covered and paperwork distributed. We went over our calendar for the next 2 months and leadership training will be morphing a bit as we head towards a launch date.

We will be having an intimate Mother's Day service, just with our leadership team and Bible Study group. We're looking at a Father's Day service too, if we haven't launched yet. If we have, we will definitely have one!

Thanks for following! Our next prayer letter will be coming out soon.

Blessings on this gorgeous Sunday evening.

Missions Conference

Just thought I would share about my experience at The Harvest Gathering Missions Conference. Facebook pictures.

Greg and I signed in around 12:15 Friday and waited for our team to arrive. Josh and Monica brought Dick and Mary and they decided to stay over, where Greg and I wanted to drive back and forth to see the kids Friday night. We saw the Coordinator for the conference and one of our board members, John DuPree.

At 1:00 we had worship with Todd Anderson, which was great. Then there was a drama titled "Terrorists Interrupt Worship", which actually happened. Our keynote speaker was Pastor Wally Magdangal, you can see his very powerful story about being kidnapped in Saudi Arabia for preaching the gospel and his death sentence here.

Exhibits, bookstore and refreshments were from 2:30 to 3:00. Then the Workshops started. I went to "Raising Missions Visibility in the Local Church". It was great. We got a handout with about 30-40 ways to do this, broken down into different areas like Worship, Sundays, Visual Technology, Published Media, Special Events, and Special Projects. Lots of great ideas!

After another 30 minute break, it was off to the next Workshop. I went to "The Story of the Bible: Discover God's Heart from Genesis to Revelation". It was taught by Bob Sjogren, president of UnveilinGLORY. He wrote Cat and Dog Theology. Again, great workshop. Monica went to this with me and loved it as well. We couldn't write fast enough. Check it out here.

At 5:30 we had a great dinner, donated by Mt. Hermon. At 7:00 we had a general session with Todd Anderson and Brenda Myers doing worship. We had Hmong Dancers and the keynote speaker was Dr. Fermin Whittaker.

The next day, we got there about 8:15 and had worship and our Keynote Speaker was Bob Sjogren. It was fantastic! The workshop I chose that morning was "Chef's Recipe for Church Staff and Missions" by Dr. Sam Earp. Yes, he is related to Wyatt Earp. His great-great grandfather was Wyatt's brother. It was about how to get your staff to take ownership of and participate in the lives of the missionaries. Very good stuff!

Lunch was great and met some very interesting people.

Greg and I skipped the workshop part where 4 exhibitor spoke at a session and took a walk, sat on the grass, and had a great conversation with Monica. I invited Mary to go to the next session with me, which was "Loving Our Neighbors". I got some great info on a program I'd like to bring to our community. More on that another time.

Our last General Session was with John DuPree and it was a Commissioning Prayer service. He had those who felt called to "Go" and "Evangelize" stand up and everyone around them layed hands on them and prayed for them. Our whole team stood up as Evangelists. Next, he had those who felt called to "Send" (by prayer or giving) do the same. Next, "Welcomers", those felt called to welcome the nations here. Then the "Mobilizers", which we also all stood up for. It was a very touching, tear invoking time. Then John had everyone break into geographical areas, we had Modesto, Lodi, Gustine and even South Carolina (we didn't want him to feel left out!) We talked about events and things going on in our areas.

We came home well fed to be sure. Greg had prayed that a fire would be lit under our team members and it surely was. As a result, Monica and I will be having a Bible study together on the Old Testament. Can't wait! I enjoyed doing the first lesson already!

More on this week

Tuesday we started the Parenting Bible study. I wrote this 10-week study by merging a few resources and adding my own stuff. While putting the finishing touches on that this week, I finished going through the Crisis Care DVDs and transposing my notes into a document for Greg to teach to our leadership team next month. I somehow managed to squeeze in the payroll tax reporting for the business for the first quarter, read a chapter in the Unstoppable Force book and answer the questions for tomorrow's leadership meeting, and help Greg squeeze 5 days work into 4 because we went to the Harvest Gathering Missions Conference in Fresno with our team Friday and Saturday. I came home to spend the next 2 hours doing laundry, cleaning house for the meeting tomorrow, putting away our tax stuff for personal, the business, and EQUIP, updating my blog, and doing miscellaneous stuff at my desk. Last week was no easier, getting 3 churches ready for Easter and our corporate client ready for a big tour.

Here's the great news! I have Thursday off to do the tax-exempt form for the government! Also, Monica and I are going to go through an Old Testament Bible Study book we found at the conference on Tuesdays before my other Bible Study.

On the Missions Conference, it was great! Lead by our board member John DuPree, we got to go to some great sessions and the keynote speakers were fabulous. It was so good, we bought the CDs to all the sessions. It confirmed the things we knew were true and inspired us. Greg prayed it would light a fire under the team and it did!
I hope to share some of that in an upcoming blog.

So, we still need a building and a worship leader! Please keep praying.
Time for bed, I'm pooped!

Our First (Easter) Service

What a week it's been!!!!!!!
We had a wonderful Easter service in the Pritchard's backyard. The weather was beautiful and it was a touching service. Thank you to New Life Christian Center who blessed us with tables and chairs which came in extremely handy! Enjoy the pictures!