The day the batteries died...

This morning I ran into a too frequent occurrence at my house. I got into my van, turned the key and then nothing. Dead battery in my 2004 Toyota Sienna. Completely dead. I looked at the dome lights and noticed they were in the "on" position. So that was the culprit...just like always.

So I decided to walk. (gotta love city living- I live close enough to things that I can use my legs--the original fossil fuel free form of public transportation) I walked over to my favorite French Cafe for some coffee. (La Vazza coffee- I love it)

My laptop battery was dead. So I reached in my bag for my power cable. That was gone. No car, no laptop power...this is a bad start to a Monday.

Isn 't it amazing how much better things run when they are plugged into the power?

The same is true for churches. This Sunday is the launch of the Area 10 Faith Community. We begin having regular worship services in the Byrd. Here's what I know to be true and I'll be as blunt as possible: If people do not pray for this church, there is a good chance this church will suck.

So please help us out. God is the source of all power. We need to be plugged in big time. So please pray this week for our church. Pray...right now...I'm waiting...go on! Get yer pray on...

And every day of this week at 10 (am or pm)- stop...take a moment, and pray for God to show up in a big way at Area 10 this Sunday.

I need you all to get plugged into the power this week. The last thing I want to do is step into our brand new church, turn the key...and nothing...

Mondays

When I'm elected president, I'm passing a new law. All Mondays will officially begin at noon, not 8 a.m.

Congress would not be able to stop this, because there would be a massive wave of public support.

Meet the Children's Director

Ok, this is kind of old news. But it's good stuff! Amanda Peck signed on board to be our children's minister. Amanda comes to us from Cincinnati, OH where she was a Kindergarten teacher in the public school system there. She has an educator's background and is constantly looking at what we're going to do with kids through that lens...She sees children's ministry as a chance to help spiritual form our shortest church members! I'm excited to have Amanda as part of the team.
So that's the 4 of us on staff. Me, Laura Shibut (administrative genius), Aaron (creative arts genius), and Amanda (small people genius). I'm excited to move forward with these people on the team. God brought to us who we needed!

This picture of Amanda is pensive...I think. Or thoughtful...but I think she was going for pensive.

Area 10 has one more preview service in the Byrd

We're in the Byrd tomorrow (after all this rain!). Come on out. 10 A.M. It should be a good time. If you can, plan on going out with some people for lunch afterwards.

Cartwheels and Coffee gets some pub in the RTD

The Times Dispatch, the local paper ran a great article yesterday in the Metro Business section. Thanks to Louis Llovio for some fine reporting. The article mentions the church a little which is nice. There is another article for the church that is coming soon.

Perhaps the funniest line in the article is where it says that I might be a "genius".

I have now been called a "genius" and a "fixture" by local media. That's nice. I'm a genius that hangs around a lot I guess. I'm like a really smart lamppost or something. Nice.

The truth is, my wife is the genius behind Cartwheels. I really just work for her.

I am humbled as I remember this great truth: Behind every great man, is a woman rolling her eyes.

School Supplies for the kiddies

I'm amazed at God sometimes. You'd think that would get old but it really doesn't.

I'm amazed by our launch team.


This past Friday, our church (with a few more turned in today!) delivered up over 70 school bags full of school supplies to kids that need them at Fox Elementary. The principal emailed me and was thrilled. I had hoped we would get that many, but I wasn't sure we would.

One of our launch team members, Sommer, when I told her how many bags we had as of Tuesday (14!) said to me, "you need to ask the launch team again to step it up." So I did...and they did.

Over 70 bags. God is good. This is fun. Thank you to all who rose to the challenge. You are truly loving our city beyond reason.

The first practice service is a success!

Yesterday, Area 10 showed up at the Byrd Theatre for our first practice service and it was a blast.
We had volunteers helping with set up, sound, lights, children's ministry, and all that. The place, once it was all set up, looked amazing. The worship band sounded great. It was an exciting time. We had several people join us for the first time which was pretty awesome. I'm always surprised when people find us, even if we've done no advertising whatsoever, for that service.

Thanks to the launch team, who are doing the heavy lifting here to make it go. We had our share of technical glitches, but it's nothing we can't get worked out. Thanks also to Todd, from the Byrd, who helped us immensely with our setup.

We have 13 days to work on the details until we do it again. I can't wait.