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...