Do I look young to you?

I need your help. Several people over the last couple weeks have told me I look really young. What do you think? Do I have a baby face? How old do you think I'm turning next Thursday? Should I grow a mustache like my Dad?

Lots of good stuff

Greetings from Dallas! I've been glancing over the calendar this morning, and I was reminded again how fortunate we are to have so many wonderful opportunities. During the month of September, I have helped lead worship at The Branch every Sunday morning, and I helped at Richland Hills one Saturday night as well. Claudia and I went to Lectureship in Abilene and enjoyed our time there. I was also a groomsmen on Saturday for my friend Trevor Rose.

This weekend, I am leading worship for a retreat called City on a Hill. It is a retreat for emerging leaders in some local church plants. It will be a good experience. In October, Claudia and I will travel to the ZOE conference, attend a Theology Lab for church planters, and make a quick trip for ACU Homecoming. I will lead worship at The Branch on October 21 and at South MacArthur on October 28.

Most urgent, however, is our timeline for deciding exactly where we will plant this new church. We hope to have this decision made by Thursday. It's such an important decision. We hope you'll join us in prayer. I'll post again to announce the new community where we will be living and serving in the name of Christ. Thanks for reading.

Ah...transitions

Well, transitions are stressful. But God continues to provide just what we need and open wonderful doors of opportunity for growth.

The apprenticeship is off to a good start. There are four major components to my time this Fall. The first is worship training. Many of you are aware that I love to play my keyboard. In my ministry experience, however, I have had few to no opportunities to use my instrumental abilities in collaboration with my worship leading gifts. So, one of my primary focuses with Farmers Branch and Richland Hills is to get more experience using both.

The second component is spiritual formation. My new role with the church plant this spring will be a combination of worship ministry and spiritual formation / equipping leaders. Therefore, I am doing a tremendous amount of reading and learning about the venues lending themselves to the most spiritual formation, leadership development, and authentic community.

I am also making time for my own personal development. Most recently, this has included substantial growth in the area of patience as I have been trying to register our vehicles in the state of Texas. :o)

Finally, I'm spending a lot of time with Charles Kiser (co-staff member of the church plant). As you can imagine, we have a number of things to work through before we officially "begin." It's also nice to have ample time for relationship building with a co-worker. I can't say enough good things about Charles.

Claudia has been hired at a Starbucks around the corner from the home where we are staying. She opened the store this morning at 4:45! I'm ashamed to announce I did not send her off as well as a good husband should. I'll have another opportunity tomorrow.

We are very grateful for the opportunities God has provided for us. We want to make the most of them. Thanks to those of you who pray for us often. For those of you who do not, you could say a prayer for us right now if you'd like.