I think this will be my last blog post on here. For those who may follow this and don't know, Rachel and I are moving to Charlotte, North Carolina next week. Our last day working at the Flint Sal is Wednesday. On Thursday, my sister Erin and I will drive down there with Rachel, Hannah, and my mom (she's helping us get settled) flying out on Friday. We will continue to work for The Salvation Army as the 614 directors of 614 Charlotte. This is upward move career wise, and also provides benefits that allow for our family to continue to grow and move out of debt and into stability. We're very excited, but it is a bittersweet move. We will miss everyone that we have been blessed to spend time with over the past six years. Regarding the future for the Flint Sal, that remains to be seen. There are no plans to immediately fill our jobs, but rather, wait until after the new year when Christmas kettles are done and assess things. There are 2-3 part time positions available for anyone interested in working with our after school program.

Thanks for being a part of what we have done here in Flint and we will continue to provide narrative of what we are up to in Charlotte either through another blog or other means. I am sure that we will be visiting Flint often as we have lots of family and friends here. So this is not goodbye, but see you later.

Just a quick note that we will likely be closing down this blog in the near future. There are some changes going on as far as what we focus on or how much time we spend on certain things, and narration of what we are up to is no longer as essential. We have enjoyed sharing with you what we are up to and what is on our hearts. If you want to keep up to date on what is going on there is a Flint.Citadel facebook and the sparks newsletter for info on what we are doing.

Well we're coming to the end of the summer programs here at the corps. Day camp and Picnics in the park both wrap up this Friday. We end our program with a pizza party a the corps for the kids who read at home and also finished Mission: Literacy at the park. Afterwards, we part ways with Dave Mantel who has been living with us for the past year and has been participating in the Ignite program. There are so many changes happening in our corps, and personal life, and other areas right now that this will be a sad but exciting time for us. Dave goes on to a job at a corps in Wisconsin. He will do great I am sure.

Summer update!

Wow! We have not updated for a month or so. Tons of things are going on. Let's see...

Picnics in the Park is going well. We have had up to 70 kids attending and as few as 19. We have three reading groups going on and kids reading levels are going up and up. We have several ladies from the corps who are volunteering to teach these classes and some parents are also involved. I spend a good deal of my time playing tag with kids on the playground. It is a great way to get kids to know each other' names and then interact more when the game is done. Kid's go from saying "the kid in the green is it!" to using that person's name.

We are seeing lots of relationships strengthened, and new ones created this Summer. I hope that we will continue to see growth in our corps.

We do not have anyone lined up to be a part of the Ignite year after August. As much as we have tried to recruit, people either do not have the money for it, or are in the middle of college, or are pursuing other ministry ventures. Dave Mantel will be finishing up his time here in this month and will likely be moving on to employment with The Salvation Army. He's been submitting his resume and interviewing at a few locations, some of which look like really good opportunities for him.

Also, Rachel is pregnant and we are expecting our second child in late January/early February. With our family growing, we are going to be moving out of our house on Oak Street. We're not too sure where we will be yet. Rachel has a desire to be a stay at home mom, and so we are looking at potential changes that would allow for this to happen in the future. I guess stay tuned for updates on this when we know more and keep us in your prayers.

Our first week of Picnics in the Park went very well. When it was sunny and nice out we averaged around 30 kids. When it was cloudy and rainy we were around 20, which is good because usually we would see one kid if any at all. We have several kids pre tested for Mission: Literacy, and we have organized activities going on almost every day of the week. This week we'll have some volunteers helping out which is nice because Dave our Ignite person is off earning some money at a Fishing Camp for the week.

Daycamp (which we're not a part of) seems to be going very well too. I would say there are around 30-40 kids here each day.

Our first day of Picnics in the Park went very well. We had around 30 kids at the park, 23 of them ate lunches. We met some new families in the neighborhood too. Rachel said there is a lot of interest in Mission: Literacy by the parents and kids too. We'll be doing pretesting on Friday and then placing kids in groups the following week. This is going to be a good summer in the park. I like being outdoors.

In my daily quiet time I have been trying a new year long bible reading plan. It has five parts: heart, wisdom, power, preaching, and leadership. Day 1 involves reading a psalm. Day 2 involves reading from Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, or Job. Day 3 involves reading a chapter or part of Acts. Day 4 involves reading a selected book of the bible. I am currently working through 2 Corinthians. And day 5 involves reading from 1 or 2 Timothy or Titus. I've been taking the weekend off but coming back to what I wrote in my moleskin book about that week's readings. I try to pick one truth or verse to reflect on each day and revisit throughout the day.

I also have been rereading The Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster, and Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. There are additional materials/articles that I will read that I find on the Internet on sites like The Resurgence that are also helpful too.

Sorry to report that we have no Ignite interest yet, but we're still trying. Young adults are either in the middle of college, or have jobs, or are not interested. If God wants this ministry to succeed he'll provide the people. And so, we'll keep looking, promoting, and talking to people about Ignite.

We're back from Commissioning Weekend. We were fortunate enough to have a table with our friends at St. Louis Temple Corps in the Resource Connection room. We had lots of promotional materials for Ignite and got to talk to a few people about it. I also was part of an urban mission discussion on Saturday afternoon which was very good. Overall, the weekend was good. Lots of time catching up with friends.

Here's the Ignite video which we premiered this weekend.