The Commons

I just am amazed more and more, every day, how much God has really done for me. I love the people I serve with and the people of The Commons.

This a view of the new school that we are meeting at, Pioneer Elementary.

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So Many Thoughts.....

I realized I have so much to say that I don't know where to start. The Commons has been greatly blessed these last few months. It's outrageous the amount of God's love that I have been allowed to see.
This past Sunday we had a block party after service. But the number of attendees for the service was BIG. We had 128 people show up for The Commons service on Sunday!! 128!! This is a big number. And we were even missing a few families that we might consider regular!! Amazing blessing from God here folks!
The block party was excellent. The weather couldn't have been better! The kids always enjoy the inflatables and snow cones. We had BBQ sandwiches for the big kids. And they enjoyed it as well.
It was a busy day. At the church at 8:30 for set up. Tear down after service while setting up for block party. Break down block party. We had a small crew for set up and a small crew for tear down. The cool thing is a guy took his family home just to turn around and help us put everything back.
One of the coolest things lately is seeing a few of our people step up. I never realized how much it took to 'set-up' church. I have mentioned before how I think some take for granted that the coffee is there in the coffee pot....but do you know who set up the coffee station--is it always there--who made that pot--and how is it magically being filled...when there is an actual person that does it. This is what I did at Summit in Little Rock. I took it all for granted. Now after being at the Commons for 9 months....I see....

The Latest

Well there is so much to update from just a month ago. I really am going to try and get better at this folks. Maybe you guys can ask questions and I can answer them on my next blogs. Just a thought.
Anyways....so the Commons launched The Commons 2.0 this morning!! It's nothing big but it is for us (leadership). This however was really a big day for the parents of some kinders because the kinders moved up to the 'big' kids area. I am excited to serve in that area to see all the 'new' faces!
A little bit on that area--the kids meet in the band room of the middle school and they go through a dvd based curriculum. Jason Coles leads and has them go through the lesson while pausing in different areas to ask questions a long the way, thus earning points (also known as balls) to put in their basket. It's a very lovely thing. There are songs that the kids get up and participate in hand movements and such as well as a verse and a quiz at the end for them to earn more points.
As for The Commons 'adults' the message today was great. Tim talked about different stages that people are in their walk with Christ. Resisting, Questioning, Responding, Infancy, Adolescent, Serving and Reproducing. This was such an eye opener for me. I struggled with the Adolescent and Serving area. I feel that sometimes I sit in the Adolescent stage for a bit and then go to the Serving. I have yet to get the the Reproducing state but that was a huge part of my prayer to Him this morning. If you would join me in praying for that I would greatly appreciate it.
We'll leave it at this for now. I hope I haven't lost my readers.....I do update this! :-)

Gotta love the God stories.....

Ok...so let's talk about something crazy!! Let's talk about how big God really is and here's a story for ya.
When I went home in May some friends of mine got engaged. They mentioned me being in their wedding and said that they would help me financially to be able to pay for the dress and get a ticket to fly back.
I have a friend that told me he was going to support me for a month instead of tithing to his church because he wasn't going to be attending for a month.
I come across a really good deal for a ticket to go back home for wedding....round trip for $240.00!! A friend helped me get this but paying her back was going to stretch me pretty good.
When I got the first 'tithe' from my friend, guess how much it was for..........$240!!
And the kicker is that my tithing friend had no idea of any of this. He was just doing what God told him to do.
Just amazing!!

I don't even know.....

where to start......

Sports Camp week brought so much!! Learning, meeting, learning about myself, learning more about ministry and just when I thought I couldn't get any more busy......it got busy!! :-)

We had over 200 kids register for our Sports Camp!! We would start at 8:30 and we would have kids show up as early as 8:45. The camp started at 9:30 and ended at 11:30. We made some great connections with some great families!! More than anything....we had some great folks come to town to help us with this camp week! This was very interesting for me to see since last year I was in their shoes. I remember thinking when I came on the mission trip to help with this Sports Camp that I didn't do much to help. One of the first things that Tim told the groups was that they were here to do the things we would otherwise be doing that take us away from meeting and talking to new folks. He was clear to them that they were helping us in such a huge way.....and they did!! It was awesome to not have to worry about putting things up or running anything. For me this week was a crazy week! I was getting up and setting up registry every morning. Running out early from tear down of Sports Camp to go home and get ready for work. I would get to work about 1pm and then I leave at 3pm. I would hurry home and get ready to head to the block parties that we were having every night. The one night we didn't have one a small group of us went for a hike and that was truly refreshing for me!! Our last night we had a big Family Celebration night with 6....yup....6 blow up bouncy things, tattoo and face painting tables, all the cotton candy, popcorn and snow cones you could want and the grand prize give away! It was a great night for The Commons. It was a huge, busy and very tiring week for the leadership staff but a glorious payoff in the end. God truly had His hand in it from the very beginning!!

Now that I work two jobs, which is very nice it feels like I have just been running and running. After Sports Camp I needed to get ready for Corrie coming. Needlesstosay....I didn't do that well of a job. The week that she arrived (Jul. 31st) was the HOTTEST week for Arlington. It was crazy!! This made it very hard to motivate myself to do something. The last thing I wanted to do when I got home was vaccum. But if she is going to live with me then she needs to see my true colors, right?! Yup....she accepts me just the way I am!! :-)

More soon folks....promise.....sleepy....

SPORTS CAMP.....and other things

So yeah we are in the throws of it folks! Sports Camp is next week and I never really put much thought into what goes on for this. We are doing Sports Camp and block parties starting as early as this Saturday!!!
And get this folks....you have to tell people about the block parties and the sports camp....so you can in turn tell them about Jesus!! OHHH....that's how this is working.
We have these killer announcements about the Sports Camp on one side and then about the Commons on the other and those are the main announcement sheets. Then we attach a small piece of white paper talking about the Block Party in their neighborhood going on whatever day its going to be and the location.
So how do you get the announcements out.....well the folks come to your door and ask for the announcements for their neighborhood....ummm not quite. We put on our shoes and get our folks out and put them on peoples doors. I was with Amy and the girls so at different times I had Madison and Tait or just me and Riley. It was super fun! The girls were really getting into it...until lip gloss came into play.....long story! :-)
In addition to the excitement of Sports Camp....I have a job! No...another one. I am still doing the office work for Mark but I know have a job....in an office....and will have benefits!! YAY!! It's a business called Pacnor Marketing and I am loving it! It's just a small team and a smaller business and that's what I like! This is going to be hard though during Sports Camp as I will be doing the Sports Camp in the mornings and then coming straight to work!! It will be tough but God's strength will get me through this!! I know it!
I am getting more and more excited about Corrie coming up here!! I really can't wait! Please pray that God provides the house that we would like to have to use for ministry!! Please pray that He provides in every which a way for the coffee shop!!
I know there is probably more I have to say but that's I will say for now. I don't know how much I will blog during Sports Camp but I will try to give a mid-week update.
Thanks so much!! Love you all!! Thanks for the prayers and the support!! May God bless you in ways you never imagined!!

A Deep Valley

I knew it had been awhile since I had posted a blog but I didn't realize that it was that long. It's been a month!! Sheesh! I should be fired or something!

I have to tell ya'll that this has been hard. A hard set of months. I knew when I moved up here that I was going to have to deal with lonliness but I didn't know what that was going to look like at all! I wouldn't have pictured it to look the way that it has for me the months of March/April and May.

I was at a low. I was at a low because of my finances. I was at a low because of the lack of friends in my new city. I was at a low because I wasn't hearing from folks back home as much as I thought I would. I was at a low, most importantly, because I was focusing inward and not upward. I was letting myself dwell on self-pity! I was letting my circumstances define my life!!

It was the counsel of some great women and from my mom that helped me to get through this! A very good friend told me I needed to get down on my face and cry out to my Father...and I did. I can't tell you how wonderful the following two weeks were for me.

I just ask for you all to continue to pray for me. This isn't the last that the enemy has for me and I know that. Pray for my support and my family. I am currently in Arkansas until Friday and will blog about that when I get back home. Thanks for everything folks!