Our faithful friend Megan once again reminded me it has been too long since I have written anything here.  I can only plead busyness – work has gone ballistic in the sense that I feel like I am in a rocket right now at work.  IT is a good thing as God has been blessing like nobody’s business.  It’s almost like he knows we need the money for that new van!

On top of work, of course this is our big “Great Canadian Adventure” Week here in Surrey.  We have 46 people up from two churches – Ripon, CA and Ashland, OH.  They have been incredible servants and we’ve seen some powerful things happen as we serve alongside them.  I’ve been running the Yard Cleanup teams, and the reaction of people to completely free acts of service as big as yard cleanup has been amazing.  I myself have had 3 families tell me they will be at church on Sunday because of this – others I have talked to said there could be as many as 10-15.  Cheryl and I also had the opportunity to speak to the teams about our vision for Medicine Hat.  What a privelege!  More to come in our newsletter, which we will be emailing probably this weekend.

Anyways quick points:

• Thanks goes to Mike Silliman, fellow Grace Brethren Church Planter back east for the encouragement.  Check out his blog – he does good posts that really make you think.
• I found a neat Scripture memory application that I am going to try and talk Cheryl into letting me buy… when we have a moment to actually… you know… talk or something.  Yes, we are that busy this week!
• Just ran across a very good article (as usual) by Jonathan Dodson.  Advice for a 1st Year Planter.  I’ll be reviewing this article next year for sure.

Until next time!

God continues to provide us with opportunity to grow, but in terms of direct preparation, not much is happening right now with all the other events swirling around us.

We are beginning the wrap-up of our Awana year and that has been an incredible experience.  I think I can safely say that both of us have grown to love the program itself and how it teaches our kids key spiritual disciplines alongside building a foundation for their faith and heart for evangelism.  I fully expect to see great things next year with all our leaders having a year under their belts and feeling comfortable, and kids returning understanding what is being asked of them, and even more intently reaching out to their friends and neighbours.  Shane Schneider’s leadership has grown so much in the last year, and we think he and his wife Laurie will take Awana to a whole other place next year.

Last Monday I had the opportunity to meet with a young man named Seth (follow the link to his Facebook group), who has been burdened with a heart for church planting.  He is currently touring Canada, connecting with churches and organizations who are seeing God move in this fashion, and seeking where God would have him serve.  We are praying for him to find his place (although it would be REALLY cool if he found his way back to us to join our team!)

Philip has had me organizing some things related to he Great Canadian Adventure here in Surrey.  We will be having fifty people from two churches in the USA come up in two short weeks from now, for a week of service and love on our community.  I have been working on arranging a couple of Senior’s Appreciation events at nursing homes, and I will also be organizing the service teams to do yardwork in a couple of target neighbourhoods.  There is much much more in store for that week.  But this is all run-up for me, because once that is over with, I will be working on plans for the 2010 Great Canadian Adventure, to Medicine Hat!  Stay tuned for more on that, and how you can join us for a week of foundation-building in Medicine Hat!

I’ve been truly blessed with my service in our Discovery class on Sunday mornings.  I am taking a family through a study of the Gospel of John and have been so excited to watch their excitement to learn about Jesus and the Bible and what it means to follow Christ.  We had them over for a barbeque on Thursday night, and found out that she is a fantastic singer and he play guitar!  They may have thought we were joking about guitar lessons but we’re pretty serious!  Last Sunday we were talking about what baptism looks like at our church, and I told them about the baptistry at Sunshine Ridge we have used the last couple of times.  They were thinking something much more literal, and told me they wanted to be baptized in the ocean!  Given our leanings toward practicing as closely to New Testament as possible, I think they will fit right in with us!

So now you are pretty close to up-to-date.  We will have our next newsletter out in a few days so stay tuned, and please keep us in your prayers!

On top of all in the previous post, we’re challenged by the need for a larger vehicle, sooner than later.   With the Twins coming earlier, we may outgrow our minivan as early as 4 weeks from now.

By God’s grace, we have reached consensus on what we need, the challenge now is how to get it.  We have decided that for us, the Dodge Sprinter will be the best vehicle.  They are not actually made by any of the big 3 – they are actually bult in Europe by Mercedes, then dismantled and reassembled, and rebranded Dodge.  They have an incredibly fuel efficient 2.7 liter 5 cylinder Diesel engine, which surprisingly isn’t that noisy, and the interior appointments are vastly more comfortable than the usual GM or Ford 12 passenger vans.  The seats are actually built for adults, with headrests, and the overhead clearance means you don’t have to crumple yourself to get in, even in the back.  Tons of cargo space and 10 seats means we will be set.  Cheryl test drove one and we were both impressed by the handling and the sightlines, which are nothing like the big vans we have driven in the past – you can actually see out the windows where other cars are!

However, used ones are rare.  We found one at the lot about 5 minutes away from us, but the dealer would not let it go for a price we could afford.  Probably for the best – it had some questionable things about it.  Our approach now is going to be selling my 08 Dodge Caliber (and taking a massive loss, but it’s got more value than our 04 Ford Freestar) privately, and then taking our cash and the cash from the Caliber and going shopping south of the border.  Cars are MUCH cheaper in the USA because the recession is heavier down there, and the Canadian dollar has conveniently creeped back up to close to par, so the savings are really substantial.  If you’re in the USA, please let us know if you spot any Dodge Sprinter Wagons in the 15-20k price range!  We are serious.  I don’t care where you live, if it is a good deal we can come get it. Philip Bryant has airmiles he can lend and he or another friend and I can tag-team drive it home.

Please pray that our car will sell soon and for a good price, and that God would provide a window to a well-kept used van, and the time in my schedule to retrieve it.

Thanks for kicking my butt to write more, Megan!

Life is quite packed full right now.

Changes at work have left me with a lot less time on my hands during the day.  After work, with Cheryl now showing about 37 weeks in size (though she is just finishing off the 29th of the pregnancy, as you can see to the right), there is a lot more to do around the house.

We’ve got a pile of things to run with right now, and I kind of feel bad that there are some things that are getting left by the wayside though I wish they weren’t.  I think about three different couples that will be moving at the end of the month, and how much I’d like to help but don’t think I will have the time.

Besides the size, there is another reason why Cheryl needs help.   We got word with the last ultrasound appointment that one of the twins isn’t growing as quickly as the doctor would like.  It is getting to the point where questions are being asked about bringing them out early.  Quite early.  Ca. 32 weeks (a regular pregnancy is 40 weeks, for those who might not know).  That’s the beginning of July.

Of course the longer they stay in the better, but if the Drs think they will be healthier by coming out, then that is what will be.  In the meantime, we are trying to do everything we can to make sure they dont’ have to.  Cheryl is on “couchrest” I call it.  She isn’t allowed to move around a lot.  That means I spend a lot of time leading the charge against the household chores when I get home.  My housework platoon is a little distracible, so sometimes the work doesn’t go as smoothly as I would like.

Not much to do with the church plant, I know.  I’ll do another post here to talk more about that.

Just to let you all know, if you’ve tried signing up for our email newsletter (see the sidebar) and you couldn’t because it would flip you over to my Twitter, I have fixed that.  You can now sign up for the e-newsletter.  Next update will be in a few days!