1) My husband is super awesome at always sending out monthly church-planting updates via email. He's kind of like clockwork. So if you REALLY want to know what's going on (on a regular basis) and you haven't already asked to be on that email list, let us know and we'll add you! His email address is ben@rockhillvineyard.org
2) Ben also told me a while ago that he started a blog post (one of his "it's been a long time since I preached and I have thoughts that need to get out" posts), but it's been sitting in the draft page for a month or more. So it's his fault too.
3) There is some sort of radar in my kids that goes off when I am either on the computer or on the phone. It signals that it is time to whine, cry, fight, cling, or otherwise cause havoc. Thus I've acquired an aversion to sitting at the computer for longer than 10 minutes at a time.
4) I'm unfortunately task-oriented and a lover of efficiency. And since this blog isn't always on the top of my list, and since reason #3 is detrimental to efficiency, I've pushed it off several times even though I kind of enjoy it.
Now that I am fully justified, here's a quick recap of where we're at:
- Summer was pretty relationship-heavy for everyone. Since I knew playdates would be harder to do once homeschool started up again, I tried to get together with friends several times a week. There was also some traveling, and a lot of our team traveled as well for family reunions, etc.
- Mike and Carrie Zieber (Ben's sister) and their four girls moved to Rock Hill to help with the church plant, and since they bought a little fixer-upper, we've spent a good bit of time helping them get it all settled. The Hanford's have also just moved into a house that Amanda's Dad bought here in Rock Hill. Us Ganson's are looking for a house to buy so we can save a little money when our lease is up here in October. (Rent in Rock Hill is ridiculous. Buying, though a little more expensive than what we were used to in Ohio, is much more reasonable, and would save us a good amount of money every month. Plus I could -hopefully - have STORAGE!! And a washing machine that holds more than four towels!! And a living room/dining room/kitchen area that is big enough for us to stop tripping over each other!! And NO light berber carpet that shows every piece of dirt!!! (or shows orange soda that your friends spill on the carpet before you even move in) :) Okay, in reality, I really am very thankful for the place we've been this year. It has worked out great, and I'm glad we rented at first. I just - as you can tell - have a few vices with the place. :)
- We just got back from a trip to Springfield. It's the first time we've been back in 10 months and it was FANTASTIC. We love so many people there like family, and it was especially good to visit VCN Sunday morning. Ben preached and then we had a lunch afterward. (When we pulled up to VCN, Caleb said, "THAT'S the church! That's the church I wanted to go to!" Every Sunday in South Carolina when we visit a church, Caleb always said, "Not this one! The OTHER one!")
- We are still searching for a building in which to hold Sunday services. Our hope was to do a monthly "preview" service October, November, and December, and then start weekly services in January, but if something doesn't open up soon we may have to postpone a little. Ben had slowed down the search a little because the facility we really wanted seemed like it was going to work out, but in the end, the cost was too high. There are still two other facilities that have expressed positive responses, but in true Southern style, it is very hard to nail down the person who needs to give the "yes" and to get a definite price. This is becoming priority 1.
- When people ask "How is it going?" it's hard to know what to say because we're trying not to base our "success" on normal, objective things, like how many people are "members" or how many "converts" we've had. We don't even have a Sunday morning service yet (or even structured "programs") which is when people tend to view us as "legitimate", so we can't tell you what attendance is like. What we do know is that our team has done an awesome job at building authentic relationships with folks. Of those people, some are definitely already following Christ, some are people who have some church background and would call themselves Christians but don't attend any church and might not be able to explain exactly what makes them a Christian , and a few are definitely not following Christ. There's also several great examples of people who seem to be growing closer to Jesus, and who have caught a bit of a spark or interest. I think we are close to being able to start two or three separate "community groups" within the next several months. If we started a Sunday service right now, our guess is that we might have between 30-50 people who would be regular attenders, but who knows! According to our church planting coaches through the Vineyard, we are right on track, whatever that means! :) And ALL of that - if it's even accurate - is just a reflection of God's faithfulness because the past 10 months (or closer to a year for the rest of the team) has not seemed at all like we really dug in and worked hard. There was a lot of hard emotional stuff that happened this year, and with lots of our team moving and issues with jobs and folks visiting from out-of-state and traveling ourselves, it's amazing that anyone on our team had time and energy to build relationships at all! But somehow it's working.
- For our family, we're also really praying for a new job breakthrough for Ben. He continues to valet at the Charlotte airport three 10-hour days a week, but we'd love to have something closer for him. Plus, the pay has decreased since the new valet company has taken over. The management has recognized Ben's leadership potential, and they have talked about promoting Ben to a supervisor which would be fantastic financially, but we don't know if that will actually pan out or not. Regardless, he has developed some great relationships with his co-workers. (They unfortunately just all live 45 minutes away from us or more!)
We continue to covet your prayers. We know the Lord has a plan for absolutely everything; pray that we would be discerning in where he is leading us and that we don't try to run ahead of him.
