Ephphatha

here is a link to the pics, if you are not a snapfish member sign up and you can view them!

Payton Pics

born at 10:20 pm est on January 18th- weight-7lb 14oz length- 20 inches

anna started labor this AM about 4- we are still at home, but all things point to a baby sometime in the near future- this is when she started with l man too, and he came at 230 the next am.....



on another note- any suggestions how one teaches confirmation to a senior girl- who desparately wants to be confirmed this spring before she graduates- what is the best way to do this?

jg

Tim and Erik began a conversation regarding mission in this country and mission out of this country that got me thinking a little bit.....see their comments here.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the costs of doing mission development. Advent continues to be an amazing blessing- to this community and to us- but the reality of it is that it costs money to be able to do the things we are doing. We have to pay rent, pay musicians, pay the other "staff" their stipends, cover my salary and benefits, and the list goes on and on. We also are trying to secure a lease on a fire- garage which them will cost money to fix-up for our use until we outgrow that and find land to buy- again costing money. Part of my call has been to find mission partners from within the Synod and out and to be honest it has not been the most exciting part of my job, nor the most productive. There are a lot of churches around here that have excess money, but who are not willing to get in our camp at this point. I do not wish to rag on them for not giving us money because the things they do support are important (LSS, Global Mission, etc), but do wonder why the conversation never really get beyond a request to check into possibilities. My prayer and hope continues to be that God will provide for the needs of Advent so that we can walk this journey for a long, long time.

Now, on the flip side I must say that I have been very lifted up by the work of my Synod. They have started a campaign entitled "To Whom Shall We Go" taken from our Alleluia around the gospel. I have been able to be part of three events which take place in homes and have conversations regarding the three-tier approach of this campaign. Usually, there is a seminary student present to talk about the needs of students and the incredible debt load we graduate with, I have been there to speak on Mission Developent (and debt!), and the bishop is there to talk about the plans for a new mission support center and office for the synod. The gatherings have been incredible and thus-far the response has been pretty good. These folks that gather, as well as the synod seem to get the importance of raising money for two things I hold very close to my heart- development and seminary debt. what will it take for us to help others realize the importance of the work that needs to be done on our own soil (not to downgrade global mission because I think it is sooooo important but feel there needs to be more of a both/and approach).

What does it mean to be missional? someone help me with that please- how are we as a church doing at it? we are still in a place where upwards of 70 percent don't go to church on a regular basis.....now has to be the time eh? what are we presenting, where are we presenting (pubs- as tim points out,malls, streets?)

On a personal note- Anna still has the baby in her oven....hopefully that will change soon- and our worship continues to grow back to the our initial numbers- today we had around 80 and about 25 new faces- I am so blessed to be part of this.

Peace

JG