Midweek on the Northcoast...

Hey,

Kindof a weird day. I'm still miserable with this cold/flu mess. I simply can't remember being this sick in a LOOONNNGG time! And I'm truly a baby when I'm sick, so please pray for Denise and Tabitha.

We're slowly trying to get settled into our new house. We have our first house party this Friday. The TU Dance Team will invade my house around 5:00pm, and who knows when they'll go home! :) They're a great group of gals. Should be time for some 'steppin' in Jim's house on Friday!!!

Got a lot going on, gathering food for a Thanksgiving Food Drive for h20, getting ready for Thanksgiving break, planning next semester's activities for h20, working, being sick...you get the picture.

We're almost secure with our new location for our new contemporary church plant. We're in the last of the negotiations now (I PRAY). It will be such a relief for our family to get back to a contemporary style church. The praise & worship music, full multi-media, the 'come as you are' atmosphere (where there is NO dress code), the cafe' type setting where relationships are built. Please join us in prayer as we near our launch.

And also, my best friend is just a few short weeks away from releasing his new book, "If The Truth Be Told." I'll keep you posted on that, and you will be sure to want to get a copy. I've read it, unbelievable stuff!

Have a great week.....

Weekly Round~Up...

It's Friday night late, and man has it been a long week. Denise and I are just now getting over this cold/congestion/flu/mess that has taken it's toll on us. Thank you for your prayers.

It was great to get internet back up and running, it's amazing how our family uses the 'net.

We had another great time last night at h2o, we had 30 in attendance, WOW! And to top that all off, 19 of us crashed McDonalds afterwards for a McFlurry Run! That was way too funny! But seriously, 30 in worship...now on a regular basis...I'm praying for 50 before the Christmas break. Join me in that prayer, wont' you.

I'm really glad it's the weekend. We've planned absolutely nothing! And I'm so excited! We do have to assemble a few pieces of furniture this weekend...I've borrowed a drill...for Denise (for those of you who don't know, Denise doesn't allow me NEAR tools and any shape, form or fashion)...so that small project shouldn't take long.

I built my first fire in a fireplace this past week, now that I'm proud of! But the repeat performance didn't fare as well. I really need to gather some wood this weekend, if an effort to attempt it again.

Have a great weekend, we'll talk to you soon...now where did I put my coffee cup...

Our First Snowfall...

It’s awful hard for this word to come out of my mouth...SNOW!

It’s our first snow of the winter. Just a few flakes, mixed in with a light rain. And AMAZINGLY COLD! We had a steady wind of over 30 mph with gusts over 40mph. Our wind chill today was in the mid to high 20’s. The temperature probably wouldn’t seem so bad, but Denise and I both have this ridiculous cold, congestion, runny nose, you get the picture.

Should be consistently in the 30’s for a while now.

I’m sure for many of you, life is still in the 70’s! I spoke with some great friends in Odessa Texas yesterday, and it was 89! Unreal!

Saying Goodbye To Our Temporary Mansion...

The day was bittersweet…

What was supposed to have only been for four weeks quickly turned into four months. It was the home that should not have been vacant…it was the home we NEVER should have been able to find…it was the home that was least expected…it was the home that God provided…it was the right home.

It was our sanctuary…a place of peace in the eye of the storm…

I could write for hours about our temporary mansion, but I’m saving those thoughts and memories for another literary work.

Denise and Tabitha had taken many smaller loads over during the week, but on Saturday, we rented a 15’ Budget Truck to take care of everything else. We really got started much later that I had planned. We were scheduled to pick up our truck at 9am, but instead, it was almost 1pm when they called us to tell us it was ready. That made for a loooonnnggg Saturday. We did spend Saturday night in our new house, which was a massive blessing.

Sunday, we still had to get all of the living room furniture, spare bedroom stuff, and numerous other things still in boxes that we haven’t seen since July.

At the end of the day Sunday, all three of us were totally exhausted…the truck was returned…but we were ALL here with ALL of our belongings in one house…our new home…here's one of the first pictures of our new home…

Urgent Prayer Request...

Hello everyone,

I'm writing, asking for specific prayer for the Tiffin University campus. On Tuesday night of this week, something happened to many of our students and they became very ill, to the point of overwhelming the local hospital emergency room. The numbers were so large, that a special tri-age unit was set up in the hospital just for TU students and staff. No one is sure quite what the illness is at this point. Food poisoning was the initial reaction, but that was quickly ruled out.

It certainly took it's toll on our h2o Bible Study tonight. We had almost 20 students out with this mess. Currently, the numbers are over 120 that have caught this, and the numbers are growing. It's not contageous, but we're taking as much precaution as necessary.

All events for the campus have been cancelled, even Family Weekend for this coming weekend. Please pray that God will do a miraculous work on our campus, and that this will be a phenominal opportunity to share the Good News with our students.

Here is a link to an article in our local paper today about this epidemic.

Thank you so much for your prayer support.

Midweek Rain on the Coast...

Moving has started! We spent yesterday and most of today cleaning our new home. We did manage to take over 6 loads of our stuff that has remained in boxes today. To say the least, we're tired. And to add to that, Denise has got a horrible cold...please pray that she'll get better and get her strength back quick! Tomorrow, I'm sure that Denise will take over a couple of more loads of our stuff, because tomorrow night is our h2o Worship Gathering on the TU campus.

As I write this, it's raining, here on the Northcoast...the wind has a steady breeze, which makes it colder than it really is. Oh, the changes in the weather....

I can sense the fact that we're almost able to settle down, and get our routine going. Can't wait. I've got so much to write about, I just can't get to it.

Time to wrap up my last pot of coffee for the night...and crash. Can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring.

The Season's Are A'Changing....

Just a quick 'Hey' from the northcoast! The last several days have been extremely hectic, I've actually met myself a couple of time, I've been so busy.

We had a chance to visit with the incredible congregation at First Baptist Church in Sheffield Lake, Ohio this past Sunday. Had a WONDERFUL time. And to all those folks, 'Thanks so much for your warm welcome!'

The weather is changing drastically now. We've had to scrape the frost from the vehicle windows the past couple of days. Can't wait to get moved so we can find all of our winter clothing...and our coats!

Speaking of moving, we signed the lease this past Saturday on our new house. Denise and I have spent today cleaning it, and getting ready to start moving tomorrow. We plan on getting all of our boxed stuff over during the week, then on Saturday and Sunday, get all of the heavy stuff, like the furniture, bedroom suits, upright freezer...and don't forget about my TWO pianos!! Our plans are to spend our first night there this coming Saturday.

Our h2o Worship Gathering is growing like I truly never expected. We had 32 last Thursday night...I'm praying for 50 by Thanksgiving.

We're very near to the point where we have our location to launch our new church plant. Please join us in prayer that this will all work out ASAP..

I'm including some new pictures on this blog of shots that we took around town, hope you enjoy!

Stay in touch....