IGNITE.....

Here are some pics from IGNITE (Jr. High Ministry) this past Sunday Night!

Andrew Sentell leading worship at Ignite.

Hanging out~!

Anyone up for knock-out?

Tonight Jonathan and I will be introduced to the FUSE (High School Ministry)! I will post some pics later from FUSE! By the way, Deanna and I are officialy "homeless", our house closed yesterday with no problems! Later.....

FIRST DAY….

Today was my first official day at NewSpring! It was great! I spent the morning having to do some paperwork to make sure that my file had everything it needed in it and straighten up my office. I went to lunch with Trevor Cox, Jaime Salmon, David Nimmons, and Jared Barden at Sonny’s BBQ. I do not remember a time that I laughed as much as I did today. These guys are great guys to work with at NSCC, as well as the rest of the staff. After lunch, I spent time trying to get everything squared away with my office and computer. (By the way, Deanna and I signed over the deed to our house today and sent it back to Florence. Tomorrow at 11:30AM we will no longer be home owners!)

Today was a great first day at a great church! God is getting ready to blow the doors off of NewSpring and all the ministries of NSCC. Pray for Jonathan and Amber, as they are traveling as I type, today they loaded the truck and began the looooonnnngggg trip down to Anderson. It is going to be great to get Jonathan down here and plugging away at the student ministry of NewSpring.

Thanks for all your prayers for us in this time of transition. God is doing some great stuff, Deanna and I are amazed that we get to be a part of it! Note: Deanna did some job hunting today, but nothing that looks promising; still keep this a matter of prayer! God blessed us by getting in touch with an insurance agent who is not hiring, but knows a lot of insurance agents real well and he is making some calls on Deanna’s behalf. We will keep you updated as we walk through this process! God Bless!

COMMUNITY.....

Today was an awesome day! Deanna and I went to the 9:45 AM Service at NewSpring and it was great! Perry preached a message about fellowship as the church is walking through the core values of the church (evangelism, fellowship, worship, discipleship, ministry, biblical authority, and excellence). He challenged Deanna and I, as well as the whole congregation, to get involved in a Home Group (Small Group)with other married couples this next month. We are both really excited about getting involved with a group and building a sense of community within the church.

Tonight, we went to IGNITE (6th-8th Grade Ministry) at the FUSEBOX! It was awesome to see 133 middle schoolers tonight. Pudge Huckaby, the Elementary School Pastor at NewSpring, spoke about the conspiracy theory that the world loves you and God and your family doesn't, which is false (He made that quite clear!)! He did an outstanding job!

After IGNITE, Jake and Suzanne Beaty invited us over to their home to have dinner. It was an awesome time of fellowship and learning from another married couple that absolutely loves Jesus! I am excited to be working with Jake, who I got to know in College and be a youthworker under when I attended NewSpring in college. Tonight was the definition of fellowship, not just the awesome Chinese food we ate, but how much we enjoyed each other's company and learn from one another. God has his hand on this family and has blessed them tremendously! Take a moment to stop and think, when is the last time that you sat down and enjoyed fellowship with someone/a couple. If it has been a while, remember that we are called to fellowship with other believers so that we can be encouraged, built up, taught, loves, cared for, and more importantly honor God!

Tomorrow is my official first day at NewSpring! I am so excited!!! Be praying for Deanna as she goes in search of a job tomorrow! More later.....

PEACE…..

Peace like a river, peace like waterfall, peace that passes all knowledge, understanding! That is what we have experienced while walking along God’s path that he has laid for us. During the interview process for us to come to NEWSPRING, God gave us peace. We knew that this is what God wanted us to do; we never second guessed.

Today, I stopped by the NEWSPRING offices and got to see some of the part-time staff. Tommy, Tyler, and Caroline were there plugging away! It was great to get to see there excitement and also see that my office is connected to theirs! I am stoked about getting to work with them! God is getting ready to take this ministry to another level! Jonathan Herron is the man that God has called to shepherd this ministry. Please pray for him as he is speaking at a camp this week (His wife, Amber, is so faithfully tying up loose ends!) They will be driving from Michigan next Tuesday and Wednesday (that is soooooo long of a drive). Oh by the way I forgot to tell you, God is getting ready to take this ministry to another level!

Deanna and I will be looking at another house tomorrow! Say a brief prayer, not that this will be the house, but we will be patient and wait on the right one for us!

One side note, if you are looking for some deep theological thought everyday, you won’t get it here – I ain’t that deep ;), check out Perry’s Blog or Jonathan’s Blog!!

More later…..

THE PRESENT…..

Today was the present, right now is the present. The present time is a gift from God. Today was a gift from God. If tomorrow comes then it will also be a gift from God! What a great day today was! It was awesome to wake up and not be in a rush. Deanna and I were able to enjoy ourselves and take our time getting ready. We meet with our local realtor, Rozz Hood, to get to see some houses in the area. Nothing happening today, but we are keeping our eyes open and the Lord will guide us in the right direction when He sees fit for us to move forward. By the way, if you need a realtor, call Roz! She is a blast; we had a great time getting to spend time with her and Ria Wright, who is working with her!

After some time of house searching, we went by Circuit City and Wal-Mart for some things that we needed and then headed by the house. I finally got my desktop up and running this afternoon and updated with virus protection, etc.

Tonight, I got to experience FUZE, the High School Ministry of NewSpring Community Church. WOW! It was awesome to see 177 students from all over Anderson, SC there to learn more about Jesus Christ. It was also great to meet some of the volunteers of the student ministry. They are doing an outstanding job! I cannot wait to get to know each of them! Each one that I talked to had such a passion to reach the students and share with them. Tonight was so awesome! Thank you Lord, for allowing me to experience that tonight and to look forward to being apart of that every week! Once, I get my hands on a digital camera, I am going to post some pics! Have a great night and enjoy the present…..

Continual Amazement…..

Once again, God shows me how much I do NOT know! After saying goodbye to my parents, grandparents, my cousin, Chaz, and Billy Isgett, we hit the road to Anderson, SC. On the way to Anderson, we got a call from somebody who wanted to talk to Deanna about the possibility of coming for a job interview. WOW! Go GOD! We were not even in Anderson, and she has already got the opportunity to interview for a potential job. Be praying for her as she is going for an interview on Thursday at 2:30 PM. No details right now, until we know something more substantial. If this is what God wants her to do, then we will post something on Thursday night or Friday morning. Check back to get the details….

By the way, I got the opportunity to talk with the NEW Lead Pastor to Students at NewSpring Community Church, Jonathan Herron. He and his wife, Amber, are in the process of moving from Michigan down here to the good ole’ south. Please be praying for them during this transition in their life. I am really looking forward to working with him, he sounds like a really great guy. They got some great news today, as the offer that they put on a house was accepted! I know that they are really excited and ready to get down to Anderson. It is great to be coming in at the same time as him, which I believe will help with the transition for the both of us. Be sure to check out his blog, it is always a great read!

Tomorrow, we are meeting with a local realtor (By the way, no realtor could be better than Nancy & Bobby Ellis, REMAX Professionals, Florence, SC! They listed our house and sold it in 22 hours! You guys are the bomb! Thank you for all you have done for us!) to see what is available in the Anderson area for potential lodging and protection from the weather elements. Please be praying for us as we search for the house that God would want us to live in. That is a big decision and we do not want to take it lightly! Just think, the house we buy, could change someone else’s life for eternity. I could have the opportunity to share Christ with my neighbors and see them become followers of Christ. How cool will that be! I cannot wait to meet them!

Check back later to see more updates on our transition to Anderson, SC…..

PACKING DAY…..

Today was the day that we packed up and put it on a truck. (My dad manages a moving company that my grandfather owns, Ellis Transfer and Storage. What a blessing from God!) I realized that moving is not fun at all. I could not get a grasp on the whole deal and I did not enjoy the whole packing process. I am so thankful that my dad is wired that way and was there to supervise and make sure that everything went as it should. I did not realize how much stuff that you can accumulate in only two years of being house. Man, can you please back the dump truck to the house! It is so funny to think that we, as a culture, are so concerned with gaining things or material possessions for ourselves and all we do is get tired of them and throw them away, and they have no eternal value of any sort!

After the packing for the WHOLE day, we got ready to go to dinner with Barry, Donna, Kara Moon and Matt Dickerson to celebrate Barry’s BDAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BARRY! Barry, You are the man and I thank God that our paths crossed! You are a lifelong friend! Anyways, this was a great time to spend with great friends (also our second family in Florence). Deanna and I are so thankful for the friends that we gained from our time here in Florence.

Please be praying for us as we travel tomorrow and getting settled in at our temporary home (over the garage at my sister-in-law’s house), which is another blessing, that we do not have to rent an apartment until we find a house! We will post more later…..

Our Cup Overfloweth…..

Our Cup Overfloweth…..is an actual two-fold post. First is that my wife, looked at me this morning and said, “My cup overfloweth with love for you! I love you so much!” Needless to say, I melted, swept her off her feet and swung her around in the air. No, not really, but I did tell her that I loved her! I am so blessed to have a wonderful wife that is a passionate follower of Jesus Christ and someone who loves me so much!

Secondly, tonight was a humbling experience. Tonight Deanna and I had to say goodbye to FBC Florence. They held a reception after the evening worship service for us to say goodbye to the church family. I cannot say how many times we hugged, shook hands, and cried with somebody. It was great to be able to also laugh about so many memories that were made during our time at FBC Florence. God greatly blessed us by allowing us to serve at a great church. We saw tonight and felt that our cup overfloweth, with blessings of serving at FBC Florence.

Tonight, the youth group gave me a scrapbook, with pictures from some of our many adventures. This book is filled with some great memories from our time together. At the end of the book, they left it open for people to sign and write a message, as I read through the many notes, God reassured me that He used us at FBC Florence. One young girl state, “I have grown so much in my walk with Christ, with you being my youth pastor. Thank you for all you have done for us.” Another stated, “You were always willing to go through so much for each one of us and you stilled loved us anyway.” WOW! Thank you God for allowing me to be a small part of these students’ foundations in their walk with you!

My prayer for the Crossfire Student Ministry at FBC Florence, it that they will continue to grow in the grace, knowledge, and wisdom of our Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ. God is doing some great stuff in the lives of the students at FBC Florence and we are grateful to be a small part of it! Deanna and I love you and will continue to be praying for you!

Be praying for us tomorrow, as we are packing for our move to Anderson, SC. We will spend the day packing and tying up loose ends and then heading to Anderson to start house hunting before, I begin at NewSpring on August 29th. More random thoughts…..later.

first post

This is my first post on blogger.com. After spending a lot of time reading many different blogs, of so many different people I decided that this is a great way to allow our family and close friends to keep up with us as we are transitioning. Please continue to pray for us as we move to our new minsitry at NewSpring Community Church in Anderson, SC . Check out my pastor's blog, Perry Noble. God has his hand all over NewSpring and it an honor to be called to serve there! Be sure to keep checking back for updated posts and pics. More random thoughts.....later.