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Tuesday, November 16, 2010

It All Begins in Buffalo . . . Again!

On the first day of December I will begin my church planting venture with Orchard Group by meeting with our church planting team in urban Buffalo, New York.

It is somewhat ironic that my new mission will begin with a day in Buffalo because my first ever ministry experience in the Northeast was in . . . Buffalo.

During the summer of 1991 I was the summer intern for a church in the suburbs just east of Buffalo. I was supposed to intern at a church in southeastern Indiana, but a last-minute change of plans landed me in Buffalo instead. It was more than a coincedence as my experience that summer planted within me the seeds that would grow into a passion for the Northeast.

Also somewhat ironic is this: During my summer in suburban Buffalo I lived with a family who had small children. One of the kids was a boy named Sean, who must have been less than five-years old at the time. I recently found out that Sean, who is now in his twenties, is serving on the urban church planting staff team for the new church in Buffalo - the same one I will be meeting with on my first real day of working with Orchard Group! It should be a very interesting, meaningful, and "full-circle" kind of day on December 1.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Before the Mission Begins, the Challenging Part . . .

This week we are sending out letters to many of our friends and family all over the country announcing our new venture and asking for financial support. If you are reading this, there is a good chance you will get one of the letters!

We hope you will prayerfully consider not only a year-end gift to help us get started (Greg begins full-time in about three weeks!) but also seriously consider partnering with us for monthly support. It is always a sensitive thing to ask for financial support from friends and family. I admit that I am sometimes tempted to run the other way when I see such a request coming my way.

But we really believe in this mission we are going on, and we really would like our friends and family to be involved with us in many different ways, financial support included. This mission is too important for us to think any other way about it. We are prayerful that the letters will be received with the same enthusiasm and genuine concern with which they are being sent!

We will be making ourselves available to meet with anyone who would like to hear more about this and ask questions, no matter where in the country that may be.