We are now back home after a pretty long day. We stopped by my parent's place before coming here to chit-chat a bit and get our presents from my grandparents.

Boston keeps coming up in conversations... much more so than any other city. It came up again while talking to Deb and Thomas on Sunday night. We need to be more serious about praying about it.... I think God may be trying to tell us something.

Been a busy couple of days. Yesterday we headed down to Stafford, Virginia to attend the wedding of my friend Kim Meadows to her now husband Tony Mesida. Well, we got stuck in HORRIBLE traffic and missed the entire ceremony. So we just right to the reception, which was nice. Kim has finished her Masters from Southeastern and Tony will finish his PhD in preaching from New Orleans in May. They seem like a good fit for each other. I'll put some pictures in our photo album when I get home.

From there we came down to see Alicia's family. We did the whole Christmas thing here last night at like 1AM. It is a very different experience than it is with my family. They are really fun people. We'll be here until Tuesday.

Wow, Alan Creech went off last night about postmodern and emerging church... definitely worth a read.

Well, it's almost been one and a half years since we got married... and just this morning did I get a good photo album online. I scanned in 105 pictures, I hope you enjoy them. There are also some Christmas photos in their own album. And now that I have a digital camera(Christmas present from Alicia) expect to see more photo albums show up.

I have been thinking some lately of what it means to be post-reformation. The Reformation, you know, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Urlich Zwingli and all them... it was so tied to the Enlightenment. What does that mean for us now that we are moving beyond the Enlightenment? We are starting to restore what was lost when the Enlightenment came. I see the same thing happening in the post-reformation church. Communal living, set times of prayer, common scripture readings, an emphasis on faith and works(obedience)... It has been interesting to see and it is interesting to think about.

I just found out this morning that my old friend/pastor JR Woodward has a blog. Thank you Clay for mentioning it on the message board.

Merry Christmas everyone! Alicia and I were up early and opened our presents from each other. She is so adorable! She is now napping and it's not even 8 yet. Today we are going to Northern Virginia for a lunch/dinner thing, then back to my parent's place for some family time... and then I think we are going to stop by the Dehring's place to say hi. Gonna be a busy day. Happy Birthday Lord!

Merry Christmas eve! We have had an enjoyable day so far. I slept in some while Alicia worked this morning. Then we went shopping for our final gifts. It was nice to just be out together... we weren't stressed or rushed, just out. After things got done this afternoon we took a nap together on the chair in our living room. Now we are getting ready to go to Joy's place for a party. It has been a very enjoyable day with my incredible wife!

Alicia and I have gotten ourselves a domain name... simplepilgrimage.org I'll be moving this blog there sometime in the not so distant future. We are also trying to come up with other cool stuff to do there. If you have any cool ideas please let me know.

This morning's service at Horizon was very enjoyable. It was a Towson+Owings Mills gathering. First one of those. The band Reveal played mostly Christmas stuff and were very good. Then we took communion. Alicia and I both enjoyed it very much.

I went over to Clay's house for our fantasy football party. It was a fun season, thank's for inviting me to play guys.

And lastly, tonight we went to Jenn and Christina's place for their Christmas party. It was nice to see some people, but man was it crowded!

Everything is now ready for our trip to Cincinnati in January from the 9th to the 11th... We are signed up for the conference, got our hotel room and have made basic arrangements to hang out with Jeff and Mindy after the conference.

For those who don't know... we will be going to the Not Alone conference to learn and hopefully meet some really cool people... It is a simple church conference that is being sponsored by the likes of Allelon and Vineyard Central.

Oh man, found a freakin hilarious site this morning... You guys have to check out Holy Observer...

I wonder if we have lost something... Almost all of the original followers of Jesus were killed because the world was offended by the way they lived and what they talked about. Now we are careful not to offend anyone and we have made ourselves cool.

In other news... I was reminded of the sermon Ten Shekels and a Shirt while thinking about the recent thread on the Horizon board. If you haven't listened to it and have an extra 50 minutes, I suggest you give it a listen. Good stuff.

I have been thinking thoughts about worldviews and such lately. It came out of that thread on the Horizon board I mentioned yesterday. I am trying to figure out if I really do think differently about the world than most other people. Here are some things I have come up with:

1. I think being is much more important than doing. When I read I don't read to gain knowledge, I read to be changed. It is the reason I don't take notes or mark up the book I am reading.

2. I believe that humanism, the idea that man's happiness and progress for the human race is the goal of life, is opposed to the life God intended for us. Not that it is bad to be happy or for us to progress, it's just bad for it to be the goal of life.

3. I believe God is still working powerfully in this world. I believe He still speaks to us and guides us. I believe that often what He tells us to do is foolishness to the world.

4. I believe this world is at war... that Satan is still in control of most of the world... and that we as christians need to be working to overthrow him.

I've been a part of a very interesting thread on Horizon's message board... we are discussing education, public school vs homeschooling, and other such things.

I'm at work doing some prep work for job... and like usual I got a little distracted on the internet. Found this really cool article by Mark Priddy. It is suggested reading.

We had a very enjoyable evening last night looking at Christmas lights, watching The Santa Clause 2 and having tea and dessert with Joy, Scott and Francine. Good food, good friends, fun stuff.

For those who haven't been down to Hamden to see 34th street I would suggest it! It is very cool!

Read an interesting post on Eric Kecks blog this morning... give it a read.

We got more snow last night... Horizon didn't have a service today because of it. Alicia and I have just been hanging out around the house. I have been reading and thinking and she has been napping.

We are/were supposed to go to the Maryland basketball game this afternoon. I haven't heard any news on whether that is still on or not.

Went to a party at Jeremiah and Maryanne's house last night. Was a lot of fun! Nice party guys! Tried one of Bobby's homebrew beers. I must say, I was impressed! It got me reading on the internet today about what it takes to brew your own. I think after the holidays are over I may order a beginner's kit. Mmmmmm beer...

We talked about forgiveness and pride in our gathering last night. It was a section of the book that really spoke to all of us. Then I read something in another book about forgiveness as well. I see a theme here...

I want to clarify something wrote a little while back... my comment about being "frustrated with the currect priorities and direction I see" at Horizon. After further thought I can say that I really don't know what the current priorities and direction of Horizon are. That wasn't a fair comment.

We just watched Fight Club. I had only seen the beginning before, but people had told me the main plot twist that happened later. It was interesting to watch it from that perspective. It seemed to me to be one big demonstration of demon possession. In fact, the more I think of it the more it seems like what the enemy is trying to do. Even the idea of destroying the banks to reset everything to equal. It basically is destroying people's identities. Hmmmm....

Wow, we have about 6 inches of snow outside right now... and it's still snowing. Well, that's just great because we don't own a shovel. Guess I am here for a while.

Creative Commons is a great project everyone should check out. What I would really like to see is a CC licensed(preferably Share-Alike) bible translation. It would also be really cool if a lot of post-modern churches shared their media stuff with each other under something like this.

So apparently Charles Colson wrote an article in Christianity Today that states that the postmodern generation does not believe in truth. [sarcasm]I'm so glad that well known "christian leaders" have a good grasp of the direction the world, and the church, is going in...[/sarcasm]

I'm looking into how I can get a high quality blog setup that I can post pictures to and have a more personalized layout. Hmmmm...

Played football with the guys from Horizon yesterday. Man, what a bunch of tough guys! I hurt some this morning... more from bruises than from the normal soreness.

Man, reading Waking The Dead has really been opening my eyes to some things. Like the ways that Satan has been attacking me and how I have been thinking it was something else. Also the idea that people(including me) will be drawn to attack people in the same ways that Satan is attacking them. That one should really be good way to figure out how to help people.

We just got back in town from Virginia... and I am the driving fool! I made the return trip in about 4.5 hours... roughly 1 hour shorter than it should have taken... and that included a bathroom stop and a 5 minute traffic stop for a medivac chopper.

The trip was good. It was really nice to see Alicia's family.

I also have almost finishing Waking The Dead by John Eldredge. Very good book that has been helpful in starting the healing process on my heart.

I have been getting a feeling from people that implies the reason we aren't more involved in Horizon is because Alicia does not want to be. It's really getting on my nerves. Alicia has been nothing but supportive of me... and while she has had some frustrations with how things have gone, so have I. The reason we aren't more involved with Horizon is because I don't want to be. I'm frustrated with the currect priorities and direction I see... and I'm feeling somewhat hurt/damaged.

27 Years old today... Man, 27 sounds much older than I feel.

Alicia is amazing! Last night when I got home from work she had the house decorated for my birthday and she made a vegetarian lasagna from scratch, which was excellent! Then we went shopping and got me some football cleats as my gift! She is so awesome!

Tonight we are going to The Melting Pot with my fam, which should be fun.

Well, maybe the toe isn't broken after all... it's somewhat better today. The limp is almost gone... hopefully I'll be able to play football this Sunday.

Well, I haven't written this here yet because I didn't want to be a whiner... but in case you see me limping around and wanted to know what happened. I'm pretty sure I broke a toe playing football on Sunday. But man was it good to be out there. That group of guys is great.

Well... we just got back from our bible study thing with Joy and Scot... Joy did an evening of praise, prayer and worship... and I didn't enjoy it much. So during the praying time I was praying about why I wasn't enjoying it and I realized that since everything with Horizon went down I feel damaged. I feel like my spirit has been damaged. Alicia and I talked it on the way home and she says she feels the same way.

Holy crap!!! I am SOOOOO glad I didn't agree to work with the SBC!!! Now I know why I didn't feel comfortable signing on... here is a good quote from International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin:

"(R)eflection upon the negative response from individuals and the media over the past year has revealed that an alarming number of Southern Baptists have succumbed to the subtle influence of postmodern thinking and theological compromise,"

This was written in response to questions about why any international missionaries unwilling to sign the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message have been fired.

And this from his predecessor Keith Parks:

Rankin "accuses those who reject the 2000 BF&M of postmodern theology, which he seems to define as rejection of absolute truth as revealed in Jesus Christ and recorded in Scripture," said Parks. "Let it be understood that liberal, postmodern theology was never accepted among staff or missionaries of the Foreign Mission Board (now the IMB)."

Here are some choice articles: Here, here, here and here. And here is another one that puts the casualties at 77.

Well, there have finally been some thing going on... so I figured I'd blog. Really, Alicia keeps on me about blogging, so you can thank her for this. We went up to see the Virginia Tech vs Temple game in Philly yesterday. Man, Tech looked horrible. None of them were playing hard, tackling hard, or even trying hard at all. They won a squeaker in OT when Temple missed an extra point. They tried hard to give that game away, but Temple wouldn't take it.

I read this blog on Real Live Preacher today and it definitely made me think. I'd suggest everyone give it a read.

I am finally using the internet at our new place... it's about time. There was some mixup with Verizon not switching the account and then the computer decided to act weird. But we are up and running and it is very nice!

I'm in Orlando, FL at a Windows and .NET Connections/Exchange Connections conference. It's got me thinking about some computer stuff. There are a lot of enterprise people here and I am realizing just how different that is from the small businesses we deal with. Different needs, different requirements, different solutions to many of the problems. I'm also seeing just how much work Microsoft has put into making the Windows/Exchange platform a good enterprise platform. The other thing it has made me realize is that I should start writing articles for websites, magazines, etc and get some name recognition and eventually get to present at places like this. Certainly I could do a better Linux presentation than Mark Minasi did.

This is also the first time Alicia and I have been apart since we got married. I miss her very much. When I am a bigtime speaker at things like this I will have to bring her along.

Well, it's been a while since I posted last. Things are finally moving forward with getting into our new apartment. We will be in The Gates of Owings Mills in a beautiful(and clean) 2 bedroom apartment. We sign the lease today. We can move in this weekend at the latest. Anyone who can help us move this Saturday will be our friends forever.

A lot has been happening in the family. My grandfather broke his hip and had surgery yesterday. It went well. Then my brother Mike dislocated his knee at work yesterday. I spent the evening in the hospital with him.

I have the sweetest wife in the world! The more time I get to spend with her the more she amazes me! I am sooo looking forward to spending the rest of my life with her!

Well, so much for posting more often. I've been getting a little frustrated with work lately... I wonder what that is about. Leash and I hung out with Leslie last night. We went to dinner at Panera Bread and then hung out at Barnes and Nobles.

I'm still reading John Eldridge's Journey of Desire. It's very good.

Well, I changed the template for my blog... hopefully I'll tweak it in the next few days to be nicer, but for now it's ok.

God has been teaching me a lot about myself lately. It's been a lot about what I desire, and how I try to get that. And a conclusion? There are better ways to fulfill my desires than how I normally try to do it. God is the ultimate fulfillment of all my desires.

Woo hoo! I won a fantasy football game! I even got the highest point total in the league this week! That's worth $5!

My parents got power back last night! Yay! Now they don't have to bum showers off of people!

Well, we are finally back up and running from the hurricane. We were without power from late Thursday until 4PM today. It is so nice to have power back.

In other news, we went to Horizon Towson this morning and to a Luau for both Horizon's tonight. I'll write real stuff later.

Well, there is a hurricane coming. It's what everyone is talking about. It could very easily cancel our work project for Friday night. Either way, it shouldn't be boring.

Another fantasy football loss... I'm 0-2 and I have the lowest point total of anyone in the league. Go me!

Well, we went to Horizon Towson yesterday. It was nice to see people I haven't seen in a while. The event was nice, I'm digging the extra push for creativity. Tonight we have the Mere Christianity group with Joy and her work peeps which was pretty cool last week.

The memorial service for Jack was last night. Thank you everyone who came and supported the family, it was very nice. Today we spent the morning goofing off and the afternoon with my parents. Now we are just watching some college football and discussing where we are going to church tomorrow.

Visit Jack's website

Hey, if you haven't been there, you can visit Jack's website which my dad has been running.

Well, today was the day. My brother Jack finally lost his battle with a brain tumor. It's been an emotional day, and we are back home for now. There will be a memorial service Friday night at 7 at Freedom Christian Church in Carrolltown Mall in Eldersburg.

Alicia and I went to a bible study last night that Joy is starting for people at her work. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was pretty cool. Everyone was very open and honest about where they are. We are going through Mere Christianity. Good stuff.

Alicia and I just got back from a nice walk down to Bateman's for dinner. There was a little jazz/swing concert going on in Towson that we stopped and listened to a song or 2 of on the way back. Very nice little evening.

In other news, our apartment is giving us problems. The dishwasher has been broken about a month now without getting replaced. Water is leaking in from our vents in the bathrooms. And the outside isn't nice when it rains. We are going to write a letter to the management of our complex to tell them to stuff or we are going to terminate our contract. They haven't been living up to their end of the deal, and the contract has a provisoin about giving them 30 days to fix things or we can terminate the contract. We shall see...

Well, my uncle Mark is getting married to a lady he met on the internet... they are planning to get married right after her divorce is final. Strange stuff... but I am happy for him that he is in love.

We went to Horizon Owings Mills this morning. It was very nice to see people. Felt very much like home. We still don't know what we are going to be doing regularly. We'll see.

Papa John's pizza is on the way... Sam Adams is in the fidge... Alicia will be home from work in a few minutes... man, I am the luckiest guy alive!

Watched the first game of the NFL season at Clay's house last night with some guys. It was cool. The game was exciting at first, but got boring in the second half. The Redskins(sorry for the offensive language Native Americans) pulled it out in the last seconds.

I had 2 fantasy players in the game, Loverneus Coles and Curtis Martin. Coles had a great first half but didn't get the ball in the second half. And the Jet's didn't run enough, and used someone else on the goal line so Martin wasn't a big factor. Oh well...

Well, nothing too interesting to post today. I started to learn to program in Python yesterday. I hope to get good enough to make some helpful utilities for Debian/Gnome and maybe port some Python/Gnome1 software to Gnome2.

Last night Alicia and I just spent an evening goofing around and watching TV. It was really nice. Word of advice for any single guys reading this, try to marry the fun girl! Alicia amazes me everyday! She is my best friend, and she is just so much fun to be around! It's one of those situations where, even if we couldn't have gotten married, I'd still want to hang out with her everyday.

Had a nice evening last night hanging out with Alicia and Leslie. We ate at Ruby Tuesday's and watched Chicago at Leslie's place. What a strange movie... Alicia really liked it though, so that makes it ok. It was good to really talk to someone in the know about the whole "not a pastor anymore" thing too.

In other news, this new blogging software gnome-blog rocks the house! It is the reason for the recent flurry of posts.

i love alicia!

Well, I have figured out quite a few things in the past week or so. One is that dealing with the whole "not a pastor anymore" situation has been much harder for me than I thought it would be. I just rearranged so much of my life to do it. Another is that the situation was and is entirely my fault. When it was suggested to me it really fed my pride, and I didn't take the time to discuss it with God that I should have. More later...

Well, hopefully I will be able to get back into blogging at some point. Who knows, maybe this will kick off the new blogging Dan. Things have been interesting during our Horizon vacation. We took one week for some rest... and then we took the next week for our anniversary trip to Niagara Falls and Toronto(both very cool places, come highly recommended)... and now I miss Horizon. I've really been praying for God's perspective in our whole situation and I think I got at least a glimpse of it in Toronto.

After our vacation is over I really want to concentrate on Men's stuff, prayer and link groups... I feel like I gave up all the stuff I was really passionate about(mostly due to time constrants and some to just where we were) when I took on the pastor role. Isn't it weird how that happens sometimes... people see something in you as you do what you are passionate about and then give you some role because of it... then you are too busy with that role to do what you are passionate about and no one is happy with the situation. You see it in the workplace as much as in churches.

Anyways... back to work...

Well, it has been a little while since I posted last. I've talked to a few people about the whole no-longer-pastor thing and gotten different responses. Alicia and I have decided to take a few week long break from all official Horizon activities to get our heads straight and see if we can find out what God has for us. One thing that really excites both of us is the whole house church/open church/simple church thing. We'll see what God has in store.

Man, this morning felt weird. After a week of explaining to people why I am not a Pastor at Horizon, Towson anymore... which actually wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. But this morning made up for it. It just felt so weird to be there and not have any significant role. There wasn't anything bad... the band sounded really good, and Clay gave a good sermon on The Road to Perdition. It just felt so weird. If I figure out anything else besides that it felt weird, I'll elaborate...

Wow, busy last 5 days... Things are changing around here. My role at Horizon Towson is changing. Call it a demotion, or being fired, or something like that. Either way, I'm not a Pastor there anymore. I'm something more like pastor-in-training or something like that now. I guess it's good. I do feel like I was thrown in without knowing what I was doing. And I do feel like I wasn't doing a very good job. Plus the whole no good funding options thing makes it look like things weren't going to change. I really appreciate how the leadership handled the situation. There was lots of love and a intense desire to do what God wanted. We all have a lot to learn along the way, and this I'm sure will be one of those learning experiences. But, regardless of what my role is, we as a group are going to do all we can to reach Towson for Christ!

Well... last night was interesting. I went to investigate a down server to get to ISG and find the server working properly. So Alicia and I went to see Bruce Almighty instead. Pretty good movie, but I think I would have liked it better if I hadn't heard people say how great it was. There is some very good stuff in the movie. It really made me realize how much of my life has revolved around me lately and how that needs to change.

Besides that, God seems to be doing something with my family. Some strange stuff is going on. I'll post more after it comes full circle.

I was informed by a friend that I talk about money too much on here, and I completely agree. So, new rule for Dan's blog... no talking about money.

My brother Jack has had a rough week. We've been to visit him just about every day.

Besides that I've just been doing sermon prep for today's sermon on the Trinity. I'm feeling pretty good about it, we'll see how it goes.

Well... this week has been quite stinky. My brother Jack has taken a turn for the worse and is now bedridden and unable to talk. Please be praying for my family as we cope with the upcoming days/weeks. And then tonight I got two different funding news updates. One, Horizon's officers decided unanimously that we should be pursuing SBC funding. I had told them I would submit if they were unanimous. Then, after that item, I called my grandfather to find out what his church had decided about supporting us. And, the worst news of the night award goes to, absolutely no money from National Garden's Baptist Church. I'm very interested in seeing what God is going to do in the months ahead.

I had a meeting with the officers of Horizon on Wednesday night that was very good. We got the whole communication thing going pretty good. We agreed to pray about SBC funding this week and meet again next Wednesday night to share what we heard. I'm feeling very good about how things are going right now.

Ok... I found out something from Dave today that could make me one of the happiest people alive! But I can't tell you yet... Here's hoping it works out!

Like always, it's been a few days since I blogged. I hurt my back the other night... not sure how, but it's getting better. I need to do a better job of stretching and doing Pilates. Besides that, Alicia's brother Jarrett is in town. It has been really cool to see how much Alicia enjoys having him around.

Besides that there is a meeting with the Horizon officers on Wednesday night. I've asked the officers to pray about us accepting $$ from the SBC. If they are in agreement that God wants us to pursue SBC funding then we will. That's the deal. We'll see what God has for us.

Working like crazy... I did a nice install of servers for Customer 1 Title last night... Took them off of Crown Title's servers and onto their own. It was a big job, the first one my boss Jeff gave me to do all by myself. I was there from 7:45PM-2AM, then worked about an hour at home before sleeping from like 3:30-6:15 and worked an hour before getting back there at 8 and working until 12... Not much sleep, but I rocked it! I missed Alicia though...

More sermon prep... still working on the Mere Christianity series... Tronster had a houseparty last night, it was fun... props to Tronster! Tym mentioned he reads this blog, so... hi Tym! If you read this and want to be mentioned here, let me know that you read this...

Sermon prep... we are starting a Mere Christianity series at Horizon this week. It's ok, but Right and Wrong as a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe isn't the most appealing sermon talk... We'll see how it goes...

Frustration... I had a meeting with Dave and Clay last night, and realized just how bad our communication has been. Apparently lots of misunderstandings and frustrations had been piling up. But we took the first steps to deal with that stuff. This morning I finished Dallas Willard's Renovation of the Heart, very good book! But like his other books, it takes a long time to read. I wonder what I will read next... hmmm...

Back to work... Last week we did quite the little tour. We went to Kings Dominion on Wednesday with Jeff, Mindy, Christina and Mark. From there we stayed the night at a Sleep Inn in Charlottesville, VA. Thank you to the night clerk for the hookup on price. From there we went to Natural Bridge, VA and enjoyed an afternoon seeing nature. That was awesome! Then we went to Narrows, VA and spent time with Alicia's family. Her brother Jarrett graduated from High School on Friday night. Congrats Jarrett! Then we came home on Saturday, but not without a stop at the Hagerstown Outlets on the way. Then yesterday was busy with church, visiting Christina(you are in my prayers girl!) and going to Falls Church, VA to ask my grandfather's church for money. Quite the busy time... but for now, it's back to the grind...

Ahhh... back to work... we had a Horizon Church leadership retreat this past weekend at Deep Creek Lake. Some good time with people... but it was a little too much stuff for the time we had and a little too crowded for the space we had. But we are back. We went and saw my parents last night, and my grandparents who are visiting them. It was nice to see them, it had been a while. We also found out from my parents that my grandfather's church(the one we are going to be asking for money this Sunday) left the SBC a few years ago over the same things we have problems with the SBC about. That was very encouraging. Anyways, got to get to work.

I'm a celebrity! An email I sent to Andrew Jones got posted on his blog! Woo hoo! We have a Horizon leadership retreat this weekend in Deep Creek this weekend, that should be cool. We are leaving tonight for it. I'm trying to have lunch with Dave today about our link group... but I'm working on a recovery for Ramirez and it's not going great. We'll see...

Well, I've been enjoying a rest day... and thinking some more about association. And you know who I identify most with? GCM. Probably from days at VT and my involvement with NLCF there. What an incredible growing time. And everytime I really pray and consider association I'm drawn back to them. I really need to contact JR or Jeff Kern about what it would take. Maybe this week.

Ahhh... man, I should be asleep... I've been sooo exhausted lately. But I've decided to write some thoughts to the 2 or 3 people who read this. Well, I had my meeting with Dave and Clay the other day. Told them we didn't want SBC funding. Dealt with that. Tossing around ideas for funding and support. Nothing totally solid yet. To me, the best scenario is getting a group of people who would be committed to supporting me. That funding could follow us in our ministry. I'm getting really sick of talking about money. I think I'm going to go on a money talk fast. As much as we never talk about money on Sunday's at Horizon, I feel like it's all we talk about in leadership/pastoral meetings. It drives me crazy.

Another slow day... I'm having lunch with Dave and Clay today at 12... gonna talk funding... should be interesting. Then I actually have a job to go to, I'm heading to Crown Title to fix some scanning problems. It will be nice to get out of the office anyways...

bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored... man, work is boring today...

Well, the weekend is over... Alicia was gone Friday to Saturday, our first night apart since we got married. It was strange to be apart. I missed her a lot and felt like half a person. Ashes Remain played at the Recher theater in Towson Friday night, and man, what a show! That was the best I've seen the guys play! Saturday I spent most of the day doing sermon prep for Sunday, plus I designed a theme for Metacity. Yesterday we had church, went to lunch at Panerra Bread(good food), and signed our lease for our new place in Towson. Very cool!

I've been thinking about association this afternoon... A mention of Gandhi on the Horizon Message Board got me thinking. Gandhi huh? Yeah, Gandhi would have become a christian if it didn't mean associating himself with the christians he saw. Clay and I talked about this a bit the other day... Anyways, it's back on my mind... Can I reach the Northeast US while being associated with the Southern Baptist Convention? Or even a group like Vineyard for that matter? I don't think it can happen... lot's on my mind today...

well, I've been thinking a lot about money... getting supported, getting paid, the church as business... I have lots of questions and not a lot of answers. I know I don't feel comfortable getting SBC money at this point, and I don't feel comfortable "going for the money." But what does that mean for me as a church planter? Do I just look for a job that will be conducive to church planting? Do I look for support to do it full time? I haven't been very comfortable with the current support options... That includes support from my grandfather's church... lately something hasn't been sitting right about that option. We'll see...

Well, this weekend was busy. Friday night I went with a video team to our office and filmed some Matrix/World Religions video. Then I spent a good part of the day on Saturday working on the sermon for Sunday. Sunday was the end of the Women series at Horizon, went pretty well. It was also Mother's day(Happy Mother's day Mom!) and we spent some time with the family. And today, back to work... I did get a call from the Colony this morning, and we are approved! And with the lowest security deposit available(good credit rocks!), $250. And perfect timing, no overlap of leases and a week to move it! God is awesome!

Ok, it's been a few days... a few busy days. We had our Link Group on Tuesday night, and it was pretty good. Certainly very different than the one the night before, but it fit the people more. We also got our applications in for our apartment in Towson. Things look very good there! Our name is on 13 Oberton Ct... for a July 25th move in, as long as our credit looks fine(it should). I need to be getting more time for sermon prep for this Sunday, but it just hasn't been happening. I guess Saturday is going to be busy.

We went to Christina, Jenn, Josh, Ben and Cara Shey's link group last night. It was really awesome! We were the only married people there, but we still felt more at home than at ours. Awesome people and awesome leaders. That group is going to define Horizon Towson. We also looked at Lea and Mel's apartment, which is in the complex we are looking at. It was nice, although it's smaller than what we have now, doesn't have washer/dryer in the apartment, and is more money than what we have now... gotta love Towson. Tonight is our link group, which I'm leading. We are going through 1st Peter... also need to spend some time planning this week's sermon. Gonna be a busy week...

Busy day today... we had our fourth service at Horizon Towson today. We started a two part series on women in church. Dave left a lot for me to deal with next week. Should be fun. We hit the Towson festival for a few minutes after church... then we had a leadership meeting. I thought it went pretty well. We heard from Leslie about her community center plans, and did some talk about the leadership retreat coming up. We also talked about what it will take to get me started full time. Should be an interesting time in the next couple of months!

Ahhh... the rave scene. It was a new experience for me last night. I went to Cross Rhythms, put on by Ictus Ichthus Productions. Tronster asked me to come and be a pastor type person in the chill room. Well, the chill room wasn't very crowded, so mostly I just walked around, danced a little, and talked to people. It was a good experience. Got me thinking some about new ways of worship. There were some of the people there who were very worshipful in their dancing. Very cool.

Ok, haven't posted in a few days... I guess that means my life has been boring. We are still looking for a place to live in Towson if anyone knows of a place. I talked to a lady at The Colony at Kenilworth today and they have a waiting list until September... that doesn't work. We could get in in June, but the overlap would kill us. She also said all the affordable places in Towson will be the same way because of the college students... yucky... on a better note I'm going to Cross Rythmes tonight... a christian rave... should be interesting... I get to be a pastor person in the chill room... I'll let you know how it was...

Ok, not too busy of a day... Spent some time at Crown Title this morning. Then I had a very enjoyable lunch with Dave Cowan... then I've been at the office working on a server. I did get a nice PM from Tim about the sermon yesterday, which was very nice. Thanks Tim!

Awwww... another weekend come and gone... this one was pretty nice. Spent Saturday struggling some with what it means to speak to the church and preparing a sermon... and relaxing a lot with my incredible wife... and today I presented the sermon, which I feel much better about than the one from 2 weeks ago... much more me, much more in keeping with what I want feel I should be doing with my speaking oppurtunities... creating a life changing experience... Then went to lunch after church and napped... then went and celebrated my dad's b-day with the fam... which was also nice... :-)

Well, I have spent a lot of today trying to figure out the point of a sermon and what it's supposed to look like... plus some time actually preparing for one tomorrow... We got the 2nd issue of Relevant Magazine and it's very good! Made Maui Maui for dinner tonight... first time meat has been cooked in our house... :-) That's it for now I guess...

wow, quite the day... I was down in southern maryland... prince frederick and california... gotta love this job... lots of time to think and pray...

Well, we got a note on our door today that said our apartment is being inspected by the apartment complex and their mortgage company... so, tonight, after working on Sunday's sermon some I rewired all the lightswitches I changed before... didn't even get shocked this time... and I needed to do it before we moved anyways... now if I would only fix the holes in the ceiling... :-)

Thinking through the final installment of the revolution series for this Sunday... just talked to Clay... I think we are going to gloss the first part of the chapter and make a discussion thread on the Message Board to cover that stuff... kind of like what they are doing with the Matrix movies and video games... fill in the pieces elsewhere...

Starting fresh on discipledaniel.blogspot.com... will be updating the template and trying to post more regularly...