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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

It is All Happening Now!

So many things are happening right now!

Our church plant teams in Buffalo and in New York City are preparing for their churches to begin meeting this fall. Constant arrangements to be made in preparation for those. We also have teams on the ground in the LA area and in central Phoenix who are at various stages in their launches.

We have a deal to sell our house in Indiana (closing this Friday!). We have also just entered an agreement to buy a townhouse right in the region where the New York City Metro Area intersects the Philadelphia Metro Area, in Newtown, PA. It is minutes from the New Jersey border and centrally located between all of the projects with which I will be involved! Lots of details still to come together. It will probably be mid-July before we are moved in there.

Lots of churches around the country are also getting involved in Love Prevails this coming Sunday, September 11, the 10 year anniversary of 9/11. The celebration on that day will be a key part to raising the funding Orchard Group needs to prepare for the next decade of church planting in the Northeast and beyond. It will also help us with our personal fundraising for this year. Lots to do for our fundraising for next year, though!

Please pray for Rebekah, Tori, Lucas, Niles, and me as the transition is now not just a future event, but is now right on top of us!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Good News About Our House!

We are now in contract to sell our house in Indiana! Please pray with us that the deal closes without any glitches.

This is a huge milestone as we prepare to re-locate to the Northeast in between our kids' school years! Please pray that the details all come together!

Speaking of which, we could use help with a few things.

If anyone has any connections with any movers, we could use a deal on moving and storage. Perhpas someone could use this as their way to contriubte to church planting in the Northeast! The task we have before us is beyond a "do-it-yourself" move (we've done that one more than a few times in the past) and we will likely need to store some things for a few weeks as part of the move. Let us know of any leads!

Along those lines, it would be a tremendous one-time giving opportunity for anyone who would could help us cover moving expenses!

Monday, May 2, 2011

From New York City, the News About Osama Bin Laden


I am writing this from New York City. It is fascinating to be here as the news reports about Bin Laden's death are taking over everyone's attention. People are saying things like "justice is served" and "we have prevailed."

On the one hand, it is strange that everyone is celebrating the death of a human being. Yet on the other hand, I am sure the world is a better place with one less terrorist mastermind.

Overall, though, what has impressed me today is that we (people like you and me) already knew that love overcame the evil of 9/11 long before we heard this fascinating news about the death of Osama.

I've blogged about it before, but it bears repeating at a time (and from a place) like this:

September 11, 2001

We all remember where we were and what we were doing.

3,000 lives were lost that day. America was changed forever.

Many of us gave sacrifically to help the families impacted by the terrorist strikes.

Ten years later it is clear…

LOVE PREVAILS

Out of the rubble, God is bringing good.

Since 2001 Orchard Group has been involved with -

12 new churches in the New York City area

24 new churches around the northeast region

Over 2,000 baptisms

September 11, 2011 falls on a Sunday. Mark an anniversary of sorrow with a message of hope –

LOVE PREVAILS!

One way in which we will be encouraging churches to participate is by receiving an offering on September 11, 2011 so more new churches can join those already thriving in New York and Washington and Pennsylvania.

If this news about Bin Laden's death has impacted you, I would like to challenge you, your family, and/or your church to invest in the real victories, the kindgom victories, being won each day as new churches are coming to life in New York and the Northeast, the very same places targeted by terrorists almost ten years ago.