YESSS!!!!

As promised, here's a photo of me jumping in my front lawn.

Today I accepted a very, very nice offer from Ingram Micro to work as a Copy Writer in their Marketing Department.

I start on Monday, August 13th.

PRAISE GOD!!!

kg

ANOTHER AMAZING WEEK

On Thursday of this week we had an "Arts and Worship" night at The Mission. Our group all spent time together worshipping in song, and then we went outside and all of us worked together on a giant shower curtain (seen here on the wall where we meet each week) where each of us added our thoughts, drawings, feelings, on the idea of community and "Christ in Us". It was such an amazing time!

Saturday morning Wendy and the boys and I lead our second "Kids Club" meeting for the neighborhood kids. This week we talked about what it means to "Love our Neighbor". I was reflecting on how it's less important to get our program down and more important that we model and live out the messages we proclaim. When I was young I can remember going to a Good News Club and the way I knew that Jesus loved me was that the ladies who lead that group loved me first. That's what we're trying to do here on our street...model the message of "Love Your Neighbor" more than we preach it...and if we do preach it we need to act it out in practical, tangible ways.

Saturday afternoon we lead our monthly motel service to the kids and their families at the California Studio Inn. We had a bounce house, puppet show, ice cream, and sang songs together. It, as always, blessed me more than anyone else, I suspect.

Saturday night our dearest friends, Lito and Ruthie came over and the ladies went to see "Wicked" while the Dads hosted the kids for home-made pizza, some Looney Tunes and Charlie Brown cartoons, and hung out until after midnight.

This morning we hosted our Sunday Morning house church and had an amazing discussion time about God's heart for the poor, when and how to give to those in need, and what it means to love others...(sensing a theme here?)

Tonight we're having The Wrights and The Swopes families over for some Southern food (fried okra, hushpuppies, etc.) and some deeper relationship time.

My life is good.

Tomorrow I hope to finalize my salary negotiations with Ingram Micro and then I will start my new job at Ingram Micro on Wednesday as their new Copy Writer in their marketing department.

Over a year out of work, and now I return to the company I left four years ago in order to seek out my pastoral calling. God had to lead me on a journey to discover that I could be a pastor without working at a Church...in fact, now I want to return to Ingram so I can be a minister to my co-workers, and learn to befriend people, and serve others, and still pastor our house church and serve in our community and love our neighbors.

God has brought me full circle now.

He is good.

Peace,
Keith

AMAZING WEEKEND

 

What an amazing weekend this was. I don’t think I’ve had so much back-to-back stuff going on before and enjoyed it all so much.

 

On Saturday morning Wendy and I hosted our Second Annual “KID’S CLUB” in our den with our two boys and a couple of the neighborhood kids.

We sang songs, played games, and talked about how Jesus commands us to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Next week we’ll talk about how we’re also called to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

 

Saturday night we hosted the very first local House Church Leader’s meeting in our home. We had one couple from Bellflower, and one leader from Cypress, and one potential leader from Fullerton join us for pizza and some really amazing and encouraging share time. We all agreed to do it again next month and to continue inviting other house church leaders to join us. We talked about how God had called each of us to step into the House Church, and shared our testimonies over lemon cookies and good coffee. Next time we want to talk about how we can help new house church leaders understand how to go about starting and leading a house church, but at the same time, to avoid a “This is how it’s done” set of “Right Way” instructions. One thing I think we all love about House Church is the fact that it’s truly Organic. There is no right way or perfect way to do house church. In fact, no one ever seems to do it just exactly the same as anyone else…and I love that! In fact, I think it would be tragic if anyone took The Mission model and tried to duplicate it exactly in their own home. I honestly believe it would kill any sense of spontaneity or individuality in the group. Every group is different. Every leader is different. So, next time we want to discuss the best way to provide guidelines without turning it into a set of step-by-step instructions.

 

On Sunday morning we probably one of our best house church meetings ever. My son, Dylan (11), read from 2 Chronicles and our entire discussion for the morning flowed from that one chapter. We ended up sharing about God’s heart for the poor, and discussed the mystery of healing and miracles, and even had time to weep together and encourage one of our sisters in Christ who is loosing a dear friend to cancer. That’s Church my friends!

 

Last night we ran over to The Wright’s house for dinner and some very encouraging discussions ensued about how we can really build a stronger, and deeper, sense of community within our house church. It was amazing for me to find out that they had been wrestling over these issues and wanted to become more invested in the leadership of the Mission. What a blessing!!

 

This morning one of our dear Mission family’s, The Pannell’s, left for Ecuador for a six week missions trip. They’ve got a blog which I’ve linked off of our Mission House Church page. How exciting it is to send out our first Missionaries from The Mission! I have to admit we really had very little to do with this, other than to pray for them and to encourage them to take the steps that The Father has already laid out in front of them. But, still…what an awesome thing it is to see so many of our Mission Family discovering their own Mission Field and stepping into it like this!

 

So, as I think about what God might have in store for us, our family, our house church, our ministry, etc., I am very encouraged by what I’ve seen and experienced these last two days.

 

I am even more encouraged to pray for God’s blessing and direction as we continue to minister and to worship and seek Jesus in this way. I know I have never in my life enjoyed following Jesus than I do right now.

 

God is good.

 

Peace,

Keith

 

NEW JOB? ALMOST THERE.....

Well today I had my third interview with the good people at Ingram Micro. Isn't a third interview (the second one this week, btw), a good thing? I think so...

Anyway, I've got a little sample copy writing assignment to complete and send over to them later. Assuming they like what I do, it's highly possible I'll get an offer from them early next week. I think so...

So, please keep praying and I'll keep everyone posted.

If I get this job a photograph of me jumping into the air for joy will be posted here in the next few days.

Gotta go do some copy writing now....

peas,
kg

NON-CON DATE AND LOCATION ANNOUNCED!

[Subversive Underground] Presents:
The Non-Con 2008
"A Conference for people who never want to attend another conference again."

WHEN: March 14 & 15, 2008
WHERE: Triangle Square in Newport Beach, California

WHAT: A two day conference in March of 2008
with facilitators: JACKIE PULLINGER (Missionary and author of "Chasing The Dragon") and DAVID RUIS (Songwriter and author of "The Justice God Is Seeking")

WHAT IS THE NON-CON?
*An intentionally small gathering of 100 people who are curious about living out their faith outside their comfort zone.
*A time for serving the poor in the community together.
*A dialog-driven, interactive discussion with front-line practitioners of Justice and Mercy.
*Shared meals.
*Simple worship with one guitar in the center of our circle.
*Time for Artistic expression and interaction.

WHY "Non-Con"?
*The aim is to create something unlike any previous conference experience. We want this to be small, hype-free, intentional and interactive where everyone who attends is free to speak, to minister and to become involved with our leaders, and others.

FIND OUT MORE ONLINE
at WWW.NON-CON.COM