Pics. of Melissa at the women's tea

Here are a few shots my brother-in-law got of Melissa at the women's tea. She spoke last night and will again today. Then after that she'll enjoy spending some time with her sister Marcie and the kids. She gets back into town late Monday night.

Melissa speaks at a women's tea

I dropped my sweetheart off at the airport today around 12:30pm She's heading to NJ to speak at a women's tea on Friday night and Saturday morning. Her sister Marcie asked her to come and be the speaker. This is the second time Melissa has had an opportunity like this. I believe she is a very gifted speaker and does an excellent job organizing her thoughts. I know b/c of how many times she's helped me with my messages over the years:-)
She gets back Monday night so this weekend I'm a bachelor, but with four active children. Thankfully Jeff Persall is preaching this Sunday.

At NewThing Info. Gathering w/ Adam & KJ

So last night my buddies Adam Koloff and KJ Davis arrived here in Knoxville to join about 50 other men and women today at an intro to NewThing gathering. They got to hear all about the mission and vision of NewThing from Dave Ferguson, lead pastor of Community Christian Church in Naperville, Ill. as well as from Eric Metcalf the director of NewThing. We were hosted by Crossings lead by Mark & Monica Nelson. They did a great job making us feel comfortable, fed and even arranged for us to go on an authentic paddle boat ride for supper Monday night. Their rented facility is literally in the heart of Knoxville's Market Square. Very cool. Today's time will be over around 2pm and then the three of us will drive back to Columbus.

On my way to Tenn. for NewThing Lead Pastor Gathering

I'm sitting at my gate waiting to board a flight to Knoxville, TN to join the other lead pastors of NewThing Affiliate churches across the US. If you've been reading my blog over the last year you've likely heard me speak of this fine group of church planters who are sold out to multiplying churches. They are creating church planting networks in hopes of seeing a movement sweep across the nation and world of churches planting churches. These are the same folks who put on the largest church planting conference in the country called Exponential. Check out the link. We have five of us going this coming April so far with hopes of seeing a few more attend.
I'm really looking forward to reconnecting with these guys tonight, tomorrow and Tuesday. There's a lot I can glean from their experience.
On Tuesday I have two guys from Encounter joining me for an intro to NewThing time for those who haven't heard much about them. I'll tell you more about that later.

A Multi-Cultural Christmas Party

How fun to see almost half of the people at this years party were not at last years. And then ad to that, there were eight Indians, two Syrians (I guess Ammar is technically American now), one China born guest and one Canadian:-)
Like I said two entries ago, the Grace Church basement was an ideal location for our party last year and this year was no exception.

Here is a link to view an album of pics. from last night.