What a whirlwind of destinations in the past week! Titus and i flew out of Nashville last Saturday morning and arrived in Boise, Idaho -- we've never been to this part of the country so all of this is an adventure. We were warmly greeted by Pastor Tom of the Cloverdale Church who took us to some good eats at Juds (famous for a hamburger challenge on Man vs. Food) and ice cream at a little shop not far from the Boise State Campus. Pastor Tom has a few radio programs and is often a chaplain speaker for the BSU team and their opponents; he is also the chaplain for the Idaho State House of Representatives. The Cloverdale Church is equally as impressive: the children's program warmly greeted and included Titus (and were ecstatic to see him come back on the next Wednesday night). We stayed with an exceptional couple, Wes and Tricia, who shared their lives as well as their home with us--it was great! Pastor Tom further blessed us by loaning us their minivan so we would have to rent a car for the next part of our trip! By the way, Boise is absolutely beautiful--we loved the community with the mountains in the background.
Titus and i drove to Eastern Washington through Eastern Oregon, which took us over and through a lot of mountains and valley/canyon passes -- the distance "as the crow flies" is not that great, but the twists and turns made it about a 4 hour trip with breathtaking scenery -- i highly encourage this drive.
We wandered into Walla Walla last Tuesday where we met with Pastor Jim Snyder of the Blue Mountain Community Church -- also a beautiful area! Pastor Jim was in seminary about the same time we were at AU. And, to our surprise, BMCC used to support Franco and Bea's monthly work in Cairo--so there looks to be good partnership already established that could continue to us. Pastor Jim treated us to lunch and with a Starbucks card (a true friend in the faith!) before encouraging us to cross back into Oregon to Milton-Freewater where we met Pastor Doug; he was a warm and engaging pastor who has been serving the church there for over 20 years. Pastor Doug's congregation supports a couple who retired from military service only to enter the mission field in Africa (Tanzania?) -- what a testimony!
We then went on Wednesday a full mile from where we were staying to the Columbia Community Church in Richland, WA. Pastor Mark Barker along with staff Chad, Curt, and Jason met and dialogued with us about calling, and mission, and hope for the Middle East -- it was a truly positive and interesting time of sharing. C3 has some exciting things happening with a lot of new conversion growth and a new emphasis on creating missional relationships internationally--they were asking all the right questions and excited about the answers for future partnership.
After the drive back to Boise, we had one more evening with the good folks of Cloverdale. We then flew out of Boise EARLY Thursday morning and were greeted a short time later by our Portland contacts, Larry & Patty Deacon. The Deacons have been great hosts even before we landed, arranging a full schedule for the next 7 days to interact with most of the churches, pastors and leaders in the area. They helped us get some laundry done, took us to see a 2-story chocolate fountain (Titus' new happy place) and a trip to Multnomah Falls--breathtaking once again. Portland is beautiful, too -- but now its cold -- but the people are o-so warm. We're staying with Walt & Martha Perry (parents of Danette Biesley serving in New Zealand)--they've been great and very encouraging. We shared with a very engaging and curious class of ministry students in one of Dr. John Johnson's classes at Warner Pacific today--that was great, and weird: great because we love interacting with young leaders, but weird because i realized in my preparation that i was twice their age!
now it's time to run -- lots of great pics will show up soon on a new pic page -- keep us in prayer for safety, favor, and for family as we operate away from each other...
Titus and i drove to Eastern Washington through Eastern Oregon, which took us over and through a lot of mountains and valley/canyon passes -- the distance "as the crow flies" is not that great, but the twists and turns made it about a 4 hour trip with breathtaking scenery -- i highly encourage this drive.
We wandered into Walla Walla last Tuesday where we met with Pastor Jim Snyder of the Blue Mountain Community Church -- also a beautiful area! Pastor Jim was in seminary about the same time we were at AU. And, to our surprise, BMCC used to support Franco and Bea's monthly work in Cairo--so there looks to be good partnership already established that could continue to us. Pastor Jim treated us to lunch and with a Starbucks card (a true friend in the faith!) before encouraging us to cross back into Oregon to Milton-Freewater where we met Pastor Doug; he was a warm and engaging pastor who has been serving the church there for over 20 years. Pastor Doug's congregation supports a couple who retired from military service only to enter the mission field in Africa (Tanzania?) -- what a testimony!
We then went on Wednesday a full mile from where we were staying to the Columbia Community Church in Richland, WA. Pastor Mark Barker along with staff Chad, Curt, and Jason met and dialogued with us about calling, and mission, and hope for the Middle East -- it was a truly positive and interesting time of sharing. C3 has some exciting things happening with a lot of new conversion growth and a new emphasis on creating missional relationships internationally--they were asking all the right questions and excited about the answers for future partnership.
After the drive back to Boise, we had one more evening with the good folks of Cloverdale. We then flew out of Boise EARLY Thursday morning and were greeted a short time later by our Portland contacts, Larry & Patty Deacon. The Deacons have been great hosts even before we landed, arranging a full schedule for the next 7 days to interact with most of the churches, pastors and leaders in the area. They helped us get some laundry done, took us to see a 2-story chocolate fountain (Titus' new happy place) and a trip to Multnomah Falls--breathtaking once again. Portland is beautiful, too -- but now its cold -- but the people are o-so warm. We're staying with Walt & Martha Perry (parents of Danette Biesley serving in New Zealand)--they've been great and very encouraging. We shared with a very engaging and curious class of ministry students in one of Dr. John Johnson's classes at Warner Pacific today--that was great, and weird: great because we love interacting with young leaders, but weird because i realized in my preparation that i was twice their age!
now it's time to run -- lots of great pics will show up soon on a new pic page -- keep us in prayer for safety, favor, and for family as we operate away from each other...
No comments:
Post a Comment