Signatures, Closings, and Spiritual Heritage

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Well, we are currently the owners of TWO HOUSES now . . . for just a few more days!? We closed on our house in Carthage and will move in on Friday and Saturday!? We close on our house in Ozark on August 12th at the latest.? Thank you Lord for really working this stuff all out so smoothly!

I was just sitting here processing the whole real estate closing process this morning as it all happened so quickly.? That is pretty amazing all of the forms and signatures. The worst thing is the final several documents that you sign that show how much you are “really” spending on your loan if you just pay the payment the entire period of the loan.? Boy, we need to get on it and apply extra to that principle!

I am finding that my signature (at least the “William” part) is looking WAY too much like my dad’s.? I guess that is the way things are supposed to be.? We are supposed to look and act like our parents aren’t we?? Read more

Sweet Home Carthage, Missouri!

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Go ahead and sing along to the?Lynyrd Skynyrd tune! . . . That was nice!!

We will hopefully have the keys to our new house tomorrow around NOON!!? We are really excited to get moved this weekend!? We have the truck rented for Friday and Saturday.? I am really grateful to the folks who are going to help us on Friday and Saturday!

Will sent some pics tomorrow!!

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

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We are continuing our Extreme Makeover series this weekend with a message from the Book of Haggai called “Rebuilding.”? I will be preaching at the Carthage campus and I am REALLY excited about this message!? Pastor John will be joining us at the Carthage campus to help us with our baptisms that we are having in both services!

The baptism service is going to be extra special for me as I am going to have the privilege of baptizing Taylor! We are really proud of him and all of the awesome things that God is going to do in his life!? A whole bunch of our family and friends are going to be down to celebrate this awesome day with us!

Then later on in the evening, Pastor John and I are teaching the 1st Base, Discovering Forest Park Class.? Wow, lots of stuff!? You don’t want to miss this Sunday at Forest Park Carthage!!? See you there!

Sweet Sign!!

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Just a picture of a really sweet sign for us yesterday!!? Close on the August 12th.? Contract in only 20 days on the market!? Thank you God!!

By the way, I think the “I’M GORGEOUS INSIDE” was the major seller in the whole deal!!

Tucker’s Surgery

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Well, he is getting back to himself . . . climbing up the bunk beds with one good arm, jumping off of everything, etc.? Here are some pics of him immediately after his surgery on Tuesday.

Tucker’s Surgery Went Great!

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Tucker just got out of recovery and did really well!.? He is drinking apple juice and red popcicles.? What a brave little boy!? We are ready for some Chick-fil-A soon–Jenny promised him chicken nuggets from Chick-fil-A after he got done.

Sunday Night Ramblings & HOUSE CONTRACT!!

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Had an awesome “first Sunday” at Forest Park Carthage.? Actually my second Sunday on staff, but my first being “on my own” doing all of the Campus Pastor elements.

I really felt good doing all of them!? It is great to feel like God has really gifted you and placed you here “for such a time as this!”? Pastor John talked about “Loving Your Enemies.”? In the worship response time, I extended an invitation to Christ–basically, there is no way you can truly love your enemies unless you have the love of God in your heart.? The New Testament also talks about those who are without Christ are “enemies of God.”? We all need to realize that Christ loves all of us unconditionally and therefore we need to love the way He loves us.

John had a great idea of putting Post-It notes in the VISION to write down initials of people we have a hard time loving.? We extended the illustration a step further here and had people leave their Post-Its on the altar.? We will be praying over those Post-Its tomorrow at Carthage staff meeting!! It was really cool seeing people at the altar placing their Post-Its, praying, and taking communion.? I love it when we can give someone a “takeaway” to hang the idea on as people leave!? I am working on my “takeaway” for July 27th when I preach!? It is going to be pretty cool!!

We had a Life Group “huddle” tonight and had a great time of prayer, encouragement and dreaming about the future of groups here at Forest Park Carthage.? I can’t tell you how excited I am about groups this year!!? They are going to be AWESOME.? You will definately want to be here AUGUST 17th for the GROUPLINK and jump into Life Groups!!? We had so many great stories of life change that happened because of Life Groups.? I love that stuff!!

Oh yeah!!? We have a CONTRACT on our HOUSE IN OZARK!!! It was on the market 20 days!!? That is stinking awesome!!? What a God thing!!? We close on the 12th of August!!? Yeah God!!? Thank you, LORD!!

Friday Fun

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We got Tucker into the Cox/Freeman orthopedic surgeon yesterday morning to look at his broken wrist. The doctor is a really nice older gentleman that is a wrist and hand specialist.? He suggested that we wait until next week to let the swelling go down and keep it in the splint until Tuesday when he is going to do a “closed reduction.” It is not in the growth plate or anything complicated like that, so we are thankful for that!

We spent the afternoon trying to rest up a little bit.? I got some work done that I needed to do on Thursday and we managed to get Tucker a nap.? Before we knew it, we had to head across town to Taylor’s baseball game.? HUGE game against the Mudcats!! We lost pretty big to them the first game of the season, but our guys WON last night!!? Pretty exciting to see much the guys are improving!! Then, we had an unplanned double-header because one of the teams in the game after us didn’t show and so we went ahead and stayed to help the other team get a game in.? Our guys did really well even though they were all pretty tired by the time we had played 10 innings!

Taylor is really hitting well and playing good defense (played some catcher last night). It seems that all of the times in practice when we are trying to teach them game situations are paying off–they are knowing where the ball should go more often than not now.? I am really proud of ALL of THEM!!

We got an OFFER on our HOUSE LAST NIGHT!! It is a good start and I think we are going to have our house sold SOON!!? Praise the LORD!!? We are going to work out a compromise this afternoon hopefully and close as soon as possible.? The buyer wants to move quickly too!

Here are some pics of Taylor’s Game and teammates as well as our Tucker boy in his splint and fat lip.

Crazy Week Indeed!!

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This has been a crazy week indeed for my first week at Forest Park Carthage–and it’s ONLY THURSDAY!!? Here is a few of the highlights:

  • Attended my first Forest Park Carthage staff meeting–AWESOME!? This is a really good team we are putting together!!? Really sharp people!? Exciting things on the horizon.
  • Had to go the Social Security Administration to get a new Social Security Card because you need two forms of ID for the Homeland Security Administration form–guess how many forms of ID the Social Security Administration asked for??? One! My drivers license–WHICH IS MY SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER!!!
  • Drove around with Mark Dinwiddie to see where a good location for the West Joplin Campus might be!!
  • Went by AT&T store to see about my new iPhone!! They come tomorrow, but I probably won’t be getting it then for a myriad of reasons . . . I’ll get to them in a second!!!
  • Hung out with a Forest Park Carthage Small Group on Monday night until like 10:30 p.m. and then stayed up until almost midnight talking about groups with our groups coordinator (I am staying at his house when in Carthage.)
  • Met with Don (small groups guy) all morning and hammered out a lot of stuff for groups.
  • Had my first “one-on-one” with Pastor John!! Was really good!? He gave me a bunch of preaching resources right off the bat!? Funny, I thought I wasn’t going to preach that much!? Actually going to be preaching my first message at FPCarthage on the 27th!? I feel like I am really going to learn a TON about how to “do” church from John!
  • He also gave me the secret staff knock to get in to his office–I’m not telling!!
  • John and I are teaching the 1st Base class (membership) on the 27th too!
  • I am BAPTIZING TAYLOR on the 27th!! WAY COOL!!!
  • We are moving on the 25th and 26th after closing on our house on the 24th–can you say CRAZY WEEKEND!?!
  • Ran home to Taylor’s game on Tuesday night–canceled because of the monsoons that occurred on Tuesday morning!? Good to be in my own bed!
  • Had my first Forest Park Carthage Staff meeting Wednesday afternoon!
  • Stayed up late working on Small Groups with Don and Brenda again!!? I am PUMPED about Groups this fall! Exciting things a-brewing!
  • Ordered small group books from my cousin, Mark Sanders, at For All Bible in Joplin–he’s the manager!? Good to be close to them again!
  • Mark Dinwiddie had a surgery this morning and the staff went to see him and “serenaded” him in his room!? TOTAL SWEETNESS!? “Do Wa Dinwiddie, What Did He Do??” Let you mind wander!!!? I have a feeling their will be a “ENCORE PERFORMANCE” in staff on Wednesday!!
  • Right when I got back to church, had Ryan Hunter help install some software on my new Mac and got a call from Jenny that TUCKER had an accident and she was taking him to the doctor (in the St. John’s network).
  • Got another call that HE BROKE HIS ARM!!? NO WAY!!
  • Spent the rest of the day on the phone with doctors, nurses, and several insurance companies to figure out what to do because we had just switched over to a new insurance on Monday.? We hope to get him in to an orthopedic surgeon tomorrow (in the Cox network now) or early next week to set his arm.? When it rains it pours!!
  • AWESOME NEWS–We have an offer on our house!!!! Don’t know what it is yet, but we are praying and hoping we have good news in the morning!!!
  • Exhausted!! Heading to bed early tonight!!!

First Sunday at Forest Park Carthage!!

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We had our first Sunday at Forest Park Carthage yesterday and it was AWESOME!!

We got a ton of gift cards to restaurants and such from the church–awesome!!

There was a HUGE basket of stuff in the hotel room when we got back from hanging out with Mark & Debbie Clements.? Mark is on staff at Forest Park, Joplin as the worship pastor.? Debbie was one of Jenny’s roommates in college at OBU.

We also rushed out to Neosho to see Lyndall and Kari Jones new baby boy, Landon Max!? That was great to see them and Kari’s mom and dad, Max and Sherri were there visiting the grandbaby!

I am TOTALLY EXHAUSTED after a full day of Forest Park Carthage staff meeting and TONS of paperwork and stuff to get started.? Had to go by the Social Security Administration to get a SS card.? Went by the AT&T store to get my phone stuff looked at . . . drove all over the “west Joplin” area (including Carl Junction, Briarbrooke, and Webb City) for possible sites for WEST campus!? Exciting stuff!!

By the way, I have a new email address:? it is david (at) fpbc (dot) net. . . drop me a line and say ‘Hi.”? I also will have my finleycrossings.com account for a bit before I turn it off soon.? I also have dalestine (at) gmail (dot) com.

Here are some photos from yesterday. . . I will try to get some photos up of the last day of camp . . . including horrible headwound Harry ahem Tucker!!? Enjoy!