We’re Not in Kansas Anymore
Wow. What a whirlwind.
It’s now been two months since I worked as a staff member at West Ridge. Now I’m an upstart Worship “Pastor” (still trying to get my brain around that) with barely a clue of how to get upstarted.
Since Memorial Day, we have moved into a rental house in Charleston (South Carolina), rented out our home in Paulding County (Georgia), taken two or three trips back and forth to get (most) of our flammable possessions, celebrated Caia’s second birthday, recognized Jack’s 6-month birthday, scheduled back surgery for Annette…and that’s only the first 5% of what’s taken up our time.
I say “flammable possessions” because there is no more honest time to realize just how meaningless stuff is than moving day(s). It’s all gonna burn. (a lot of it I wish would burn, quite honestly.) more »
Whole lotta packin’ going on
Well, this week is the week. We are TRYING to get motivated to pack boxes, set up for a garage sale this weekend, clean up this place, and get our final load of ’stuff’ to our new place in Charleston.
It’s moved beyond surreal and into, “We’ve GOT to get this done” mode.
So if you have any time to come help pack up some dishes or do a little painting, holler our way!
We’re looking forward to seeing many of our friends this Sunday at West Ridge. It will be our “last” day there…as Georgia residents, at least.
Things are going great in Charleston. We’ve gotten all of the “big stuff” moved in and in place. The girls LOVE their new backyard (it’s all they talk about while we’re back here at the old house…but living out of suitcases and on air-mattresses here doesn’t make it to tough to miss being there). And we’ve had some GREAT times with the folks who are already onsite in Charleston.
Here goes… Somethin’!
Well, it’s official. We have rented a house in Charleston and are headed there today to scope things out and attend our first River Church launch team cookout! Needless to say we’re very excited. The girls are ready to get out the door. We’ll stay in the new house for a couple of nights, head back here for a couple of nights, and then start moving the “big stuff” this weekend!
Please pray for safety during our trip… Some of us have been under the weather. And pray for CALM. Three kids under 5 in a crew cab pickup doesn’t make for the best travel scenario.
Thank you so much for your encouragement and support. We can’t wait to bring you some amazing stories of what God is doing in Charleston through River Church!
Wrapping up an era
Good Saturday night! Stephen here.
Well, it’s come very quickly. I knew in my head that it would, but my heart wanted to put it in slow motion. This Sunday (the 17th) is my last day as a staff member at West Ridge Church, and Monday is my first ‘official’ day as a church planter. I’ll be leading worship at WRC as I wrap up an experience that has comprised a quarter of my life.
We still have soooo much to do to prepare for our move… Fix some things around the house, pack, put it up for rent, raise support to fund my salary, find a new place to live, move… It’s a wee bit overwhelming. But our excitement is building. We really are chomping at the bit to head east.
In our last post we mentioned a house we were hoping to rent in Charleston. Well, at this point, it hasn’t worked out. Annette has had some pretty serious back problems that have slowed down our preparation for getting our own house on the rental market, so we just couldn’t pull the trigger in time. And we’d still like to have a little more certainty financially before we commit to a lease.
Regarding the back problem, Annette has one ruptured disc and another disk that’s bulging. She began an outpatient treatment process last week that we’re hoping will help relieve the pain and put off the need for surgery. But so far it hasn’t done too much to help. We’ll keep you posted. Please pray for relief for her… It’s been tough to see her in so much pain. She’s been such an encouragement to me during this process and her spirits have been so high. But the pain is visible in her face.
We have been so encouraged by the folks telling us they want to support us financially. Thank you so very much for partnering with us. We will have support kits out to you very shortly.
We’ve added a new page that lists our financial needs…both immediate and long-term. Some folks have asked for this so they can help in specific areas.
In the meantime, if you want to go ahead and begin the process, go here and follow the instructions. And beginning this summer you’ll be able to set up recurring giving through online. More about that in June.
And so it begins
For me, the preparation for moving to Charleston to plant River Church couldn’t really begin until Easter had passed. In my line of work, Easter is THE big event of the year. For all the spiritual reasons, obviously. But also because I am a worship service program director. It represents a day where everything is on the line.
I guess Easter in the Church today is not so different from the first Easter… Eyes seem to be more aware of Jesus than normal, and the significance of the day is more apt to fall on listening ears. So the bar gets raised a notch to make sure we do all we can to clearly tell the story of what Christ accomplished for us that day.
So, now that the preparation for Easter is past, Annette and I are beginning to turn our focus more towards preparation for our move. We’re feeling a bit overwhelmed, to be honest. We need to find a place to live in Charleston, begin identifying our financial support team, prepare our house for selling or renting, pack, toss, paint, fix… Lots of major projects.
Step one is to make another trip to C-town. We leave this afternoon with the fam in tow and will be there through Saturday. There are a few rental houses we want to visit…one in particular that we’re very interested in. I’ll be spending a lot of time with Todd (our Lead Pastor) and Mark (our Community Pastor) developing a schedule for the next several months and thinking ahead to our launch and how the team should be structured. And I’ll be connecting with some like-minded folks in the area over coffee.
We feel the excitement growing! Let the games begin!