Ratatouille–St. Louis Style!!

ratatouille.jpgJenny and I got the honor and opportunity to marry a couple in our church in St. Louis over the weekend (pictures to come . . . hopefully!) We decided to get some well needed R&R while the grandparents (thanks Tom & Gwen and Bill & Betty!!!) were watching our little angels, so we stayed an extra night and day in St. Louis.

We went to eat at a restaurant on Friday night that shall remain nameless (on the Landing.) We were pumped that we were able to get in well under the 30 minute wait. Unfortunately we were seated in between a table of 15 or so people and another table of almost 30 (no joke). We left our little “angels” at home and got the opportunity to hang out with some other peoples little angels! Bummer!

Everything was going well as we enjoyed our soup and bread when another table was pointing and talking about us! I’m pretty used to that, but usually it is followed by mocking and laughing! Not very often is Jenny publicly ridiculed like this. Finally, Jenny said, “what is the deal?” Read more

Merry Christmas–Boy Band Style!

I have been so busy with life that the blog has taken a back seat for almost a month–yikes.? We started off December with KidStuf and haven’t slowed down since with everything from school parties to children’s choir concerts at Wee Hope and the Giloiz.? I hope to get into a little more regular “blog groove” after the first of the year, but until then, I will hope to have a year in review post soon and also an update on why the blog silence here in a week or so–but no promises.

In the meantime, we have two of the best kids on the planet.? Taylor is pretty much figuring out this whole Santa thing, but hasn’t said anything to ruin it for Tucker.

Christmas Eve started at the Jeffries’ for breakfast, opening presents, and Christmas lunch.? The kids (big and small alike) had a good time testing out the toys and hiking in the back pasture!? We had an awesome time at our church’s Christmas Eve service.? Kris, Eric, Daniel, and Jenny did a great job with a very meaningful worship experience.? I am really blessed to be a part of such an unbelievable team that lifts me up when I am down (and hopefully vice versa!) ? Then Santa had a hard time getting to put out the presents because of an overzealous 6 year old–but finally was able to come and drop off some goodies.
garageband.jpgTaylor got an electric guitar and an amp (if you want to call it that–more like a transistor radio, remember those?).? Tucker got a tackle box full of Play-Dough stuff as one of his “big” presents.? Then later on at Grandma and Grandpa Stone’s, Tucker got a “matching” guitar while Taylor got a microphone and mic stand!? They did a great job “performing” for us in the living room.? Watch out Jonas Brothers!? (That’s for all those parents who have to watch the Disney Channel.)

Just seems like it was yesterday when we were having our first Christmas in Pryor, OK, first Christmas with Taylor, first Christmas (heart monitor-less) with Tucker. . . and wasn’t last Christmas about a month ago??? We are so thankful for all of our friends and family surrounding us to make life so enjoyable!? I hope you all have a wonderful new year in 2008!

Sunday Night Potpourri

Wow, what a week! Lots of eating and hanging out by the TV watching football! Taylor wishes that we would watch the Disney Channel as much as we watched football this week. We watch way too much of both, I imagine!

fooddrive1.jpgWe kicked off our Holiday Food Drive this morning by actually going out and didn’t “do” church this morning in a service, but we “were” the church. We sent out our folks to several neighborhoods to collect non-perishable food items for The Least of These here in Nixa. Even though the weather didn’t cooperate with us with a bunch of rain, we still had afood.jpg lot of fun–and we got a bunch of food (it covered the front to the stage!)

We decided at lunch that we are going to go out again the next couple of weeks! We are going to go drop off bags explaining what we are doing on NEXT Saturday. Then we will go pick up food items from those people on the FOLLOWING Saturday.

I think it is a great picture of what can happen if we all get together and do a little effort–huge results happen!! A small group of people giving about an hours worth of their time can benefit many, many families here in Christian County. It reminds me of this scripture from James.

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:14-17 (NIV)

mulogo.jpgOn the football watching front . . . How ’bout the Missouri Tigers?!?!

  • The KU/MU “Border Battle” proved to be as good as the hype. Mizzou looked strong the entire game and KU came back in the second half to give them a big scare. Mizzou should have a really good chance to win the Big 12 on Saturday in San Antonio against OU. Who wouldn’t really want the Sooners to go down??
  • Mizzou is actually #1 in the NATION!! Who would have thunk it?? My dad went to Mizzou, so we have always followed them, but kind of like KC, the lovable losers of late. They are back and as good as ever!!
  • The Arkansas/LSU game on Friday was awesome as well. 3 overtimes and the hogs come out with a win! Pig Sooooeee! Things are not good at the Terrell household these days I’m sure. Sorry Brad!
  • The Chiefs laid a huge egg today. Correction. The coaches at the end of the game laid a huge egg. Are you telling me your kicker can’t hit a 25-30 yard field goal to TIE the game? 4th and 1 and not even close. Against the Oakland Raiders at home. Not good.

Pray for some friends

The Washburns, our former neighbors, fellow small group members, and friends have traveled to Rochester, MN to the Mayo Clinic.? Tiffany is having a ton of tests done and seeing a team of endocrinologists at the Mayo Clinic.? She says this about the Mayo Clinic–“When you have endocrine issues, you go to Mayo- sort of like when you have cancer you go to MD Anderson.? They are the top endocrinology hospital in the world, and if I can be helped- they will know how to do it.”? So we trust that God will be with them and that the doctors can help her get to feeling better.? Pray also for Justin, Reagan, and her mom as they are with her in Rochester.? See her report on her blog here.

Happy Birthday Tucker Liam!!

elmo.jpegWe have had a CRAZY weekend with our two year old Elmo Birthday party!!? We had a great time celebrating all things Elmo.? Elmo plates, Elmo cups, Elmo cake (pictures soon of the masterpiece that dad spent WAY too much time decorating!), and an Elmo penata.? Tucker was all fine with us hitting Elmo with the sticks and he himself actually really enjoyed that part of the party.? He was quite upset when Elmo’s body got knocked off and his head was still hanging on the hanger!? Needless to say, we tried to divert his attention to the candy strewn all over the back deck and threw away the Elmo penata as soon as possible.

It seems that transportation was the theme of the presents this year.? Pretty much had most mass transportation covered.? Elmo garage with cars, rocket ship complete with martians, train book, airplane, and of course an RV from Papa Bill and Grandma Betty.? It was a really good time.? Plus Tad and Katie’s kids are at very similar ages and play together well.

I can’t believe that it has been two years since we spent some time in the NICU and brought him home with that crazy monitor until just before Christmas.? (That was the best Christmas present we could ever have–a healthy baby with no need for the apnea monitor!)? We are so grateful to God for our family!

Happy Reformation Day . . . and Halloween!!

Most of us know of Halloween being the day before “All Saints Day.” (See John’s blog for a nice little history lesson!) Sidebar: By the way, if you haven’t heard John’s act, you need to!! He did an awesome job for us at Blowout! He really connects with people . . . and is a great magician. You can see his act tonight at South Gate Baptist Church in Springfield.

Besides being Halloween, October 31st is Reformation Day–the anniversary of 225px-luther46c.jpgMartin Luther, a Roman Catholic monk, nailing his “95 Theses” to the Castle Church doors in Wittenberg, Germany. It was common in that day that the Church doors would be a place of public notice, much like our modern day bulletin boards. This public display began a debate of doctrine–specifically the Roman Catholic practice of indulgences, the granting of penance of sin. Luther’s argument was that the church had gone away from the central idea of Christianity of justification–God’s act of declaring a sinner righteous–by “Faith Alone,” not by anything any human can do. This act began what is now called the Protestant Reformation and a breaking away from the Roman Catholic church.

All this talk about Halloween being a terrible thing is funny. I really think it is a great opportunity to reach out to be a good neighbor. Here is a good perspective about Halloween I read today:

This year we?re doing something else. We?ve invited all of the neighbors over for dinner before the festivities begin. We?ve got at least 40 or 50 people who are planning on coming by for a barbeque. We?re doing this simply because we enjoy our neighbors and love to spend time with them. Halloween evening can be hectic, with parents getting home from work and then rushing to prepare their children, so we thought we?d attempt to relieve one burden by taking care of dinner for everyone. It should be fun and we?re looking forward to it.

My encouragement to you today is to think and pray about this issue so that you can do what your conscience dictates for that day. I do not see Halloween as a great evangelistic occasion and this is where some of my thought on the issue has probably developed most. In the past I may have tried to convince myself that Halloween would offer occasions to share the gospel, but I don?t think this is usually the case. Nor does it have to be. I think Halloween is a time that you can prove to your neighbors that you care about them, that you care about their children, and that you are glad to be in this world and this culture, even if you are not of this world or this culture. Aileen and I feel that God has deliberately placed us here and among these people. We want to celebrate with them, even on an occasion of such dubious importance as Halloween.

Have a Great Halloween . . . and Reformation Day!!

Why we do what we do!

We had our 5th annual Harvest Blowout banner-07-web.jpgon Saturday.? It was really great . . . but not for the reasons most people would say it was great.? We didn’t have near the crowd of people there that we have had in years past.? We had WAY too much food left over.? We had less people come to church on Sunday than the week before.? All of those things can really bum you out–if you were strictly evaluating an event by just numbers and things you can measure.? But we HAVE to evaluate everything we do by numbers AND intangible ways as well.

One of our teenagers was so excited to help at Blowout.? You know why?? Because he came to our church for the first time last year at Harvest Blowout.? His mom works with one of our members and was invited with an invite card (like these for KidStuf.) invite-cards.jpg The mom has yet to attend any services that I know of, but this student and his older sister got plugged into our church.? He went to camp with us this summer, volunteers in the cafe most Sundays he is here, and is really growing!? It is awesome to get confirmation from the Lord that He is really doing something in people’s lives–something that we often don’t get to see, much less can we quantify it or put a statistic on it.

Just one more reason why we do what we do here at CFC–Life Change.? We want people to come to an event like Blowout and realize that church can actually be fun and come back for a regular service or for another fun event like our monthly KidStuf.? Then they start to get plugged into small groups and service and God begins to change their heart.? Then they begin the process over again and invest in people’s lives that they have influence with and invite them to CFC to experience the same amazing God that they experience!

Just thought I would share with you the GREAT THINGS going on in my life.? Especially after the last post.? With a post like that, sometimes people think they need to keep me away from sharp objects!!

God has done some AMAZING THINGS the past week and a half that I HAVE TO SHARE!? More on that next time!!

Difficult Times

I haven’t really been in the blogging mood the last couple of weeks. Honestly, it is difficult to really focus on this type of medium when things are not going well in your life. I think that there was this naivety that thought that since we have been doing this for almost 5 years now, that the “hard part” was over. Now that we are at this point, I am hearing and reading that there is a “wall” at about year 5 for most church plants. Naive indeed!

It sure seems on the surface that things are good at church . . . on the surface. We, like many churches in this area, are struggling with finances. I think it is a matter of trust (sounds like a Billy Joel song!) We really do have a hard time “waiting” on Him as the Scriptures tell us. However, in the midst of these difficult times, there is a sense that God is really moving in a powerful way! We have always prayed that God would allow us to be a part of something only He could do–and as Bill Bright says, “God, you’ve got a problem.”

I think we have exhausted all of OUR resources and God is going to have to provide HIS resources. As if we really have much of anything to offer to the God of the universe. I often wonder if He kind of sits back and smiles as we do all of our stuff and really try harder to do things “for Him.” I think there are times, like these, when He simply says, “Are you finished?” Then He comes in and does what He wills to do.

In the midst of a pretty dark time, I am reminded of what a cool people we have at Finley Crossings. Jenny and I got this email today and was a HUGE encouragement to us both!? Here is the prayer/email.

God I pray right now that you would reach down and wrap your arms of Love around David and Jenny.

I pray that you provide for their every need. I ask you to give them peace that passes all understanding.

God I ask that you give us wisdom, discernment, vision, and clarity. I ask that you provide us with every thing we need to complete the task you have placed before us and that you would make it completely clear what that task is. God may we be disciplined in being on our faces before you, that as we seek you, you will be found by us. Fall on us. Do a work. Provide our needs. Move in a way you have never moved before. With everything that we have Lord, we believe. Help our unbelief. where there is doubt, grant reassurance. where there is pain, grant comfort. where there is confusion, grant clarity. where there is pride, purge us. Break us of everything that is not of you and rebuild us resting solely on who You are. It is not about us God. But about You, and glorifying your name. Glorify your name in us and through us. Make us rest in your strength alone. Not in our capabilities-but in yours. Without you, we can do nothing.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

Thank you for the encouragement!!? The Lord really knew we needed it!!

Good Luck Lady Tiger Softballers!

softball.jpgFriday is for FINAL FOUR! The Ozark Lady Tiger Softball team is playing a semifinal game this morning at 11:00 a.m. in Columbia against Oakville. Oakville (29-0) is going to be a real test for Ozark (29-2). This is the first team in Ozark’s history to have 29 wins as well as get to the Final Four. Way to go girls, good luck at State!!

Disturbed

Just read this post from Sam Shaw. I absolutely love to read his blog. I had a really good friend that was on staff with him at Germantown Baptist Church outside of Memphis, TN and heard him preach on a Sunday night and it was probably one of the best messages I had heard in a long time–and on a Sunday night!! I absolutely love his heart . . . it really comes out in his blog. Enjoy.

Here is the great quote from Sir Francis Drake circa 1577 (emphasis mine):

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
with the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;

Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push back the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.

I pray this would be our prayer at Finley Crossings as we continue to reach out to an unchurched world the life changing message of the Gospel–especially when it seems we are dangerously close to becoming just like the words of this poem!