Short Notes

Our first college meeting is tonight! I've been having a good week catching up with some of the guys I worked with last year. There's so many possibilities for ministry for and with these guys.

-----

We got Australians! Things that have been in progress for several months came into focus this week when we picked up an Australian family at the airport late Tuesday night. G will be interning with the most senior pastor and I. He has a wife and three kids; so far it's been great getting to know them. It's the first time we've had a full-time intern, although the most senior pastor has had plenty of interns (including me) in the past. So pray that it'll be a great year for G to grow in ministry skills and that he might be used mightily in our midst.

----

Some more from the elder planning conference. It was a great time, as usual; I always come away from session meetings, especially these planning retreats, with great thankfulness in my heart for being a presbyterian. The wisdom of the plurality of elders is no joke - the thought of trying to do church planting without them gives me the hives. The most significant part of the weekend was spent on our vision for church planting.

But another important development was a concern that God has laid on the hearts of the elders to be giving more help to the fathers (old, new, and not-quite-yet) in the congregation. Because we love our kids and pray that they'll be faithful to God, we realize our most important work for the kids will be discipling these young fathers, myself included. So we're going to work that into the schedule this year. More than anything, I pray we can develop an atmosphere where fathers don't feel like they're going at it alone, that they're willing and excited to get encouragement and teaching - whether from older men or the elders. We just can't do this parenting stuff by ourselves.

-----

And, because you've worked so hard this week, here are some funnies:

More fun than four regular horses
Who's on first? political edition
Words barely suffice