WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW!

I know the date is no longer 11-12-13 (wasn't that a neat date to have our closing on) but I felt I just had to give comment to something that occurred yesterday that was very, very special in the life of Life Pointe Church. After spending several months of completing paperwork, making application, being approved, doing an appraisal, getting insurance on both me and the building, and spending much time discussing and talking about plans and procedures, we were finally able to have our "closing" yesterday for a building on Williamson Road that will become the NEW home of Life Pointe Church! It's exciting...A Brand New Home for us! I still can't quite believe that it has taken place. Today I went back down to the bank to pick up the packet of info that Ginny and I signed yesterday at 9:40 am to make having a new church home a reality. It is scary somewhat yet exciting in other ways. But most of all it is a sign of God's faithfulness and blessing to grow us as He has over the past few years. We still have things to do and details to work out with the architect's office and getting applications filled in and such with the city planner's office but at least...We Now Own A Building! God is good!

This past week was a very busy one as usual in the process of finally getting into our new church home! Consider that on Monday, I was told I needed an insurance policy on me before the bank loan could be finalized. We had just got an insurance policy on the building in the last week or so and that was finally settled, so now I need more insurance! So...on Tuesday I filled in an application and then on Wednesday I got my blood taken for tests, etc. by a nurse at my house and the results for some of that testing came back on Saturday, so at least the results are going to be fast,....hopefully! And then I have spoken to the architect firm several times. For instance on Tuesday, I sat down with them to finalize those plans only to discover I didn't really like any of the 5 things suggested for our building. We may have to finally put in a handicap ramp where the existing steps are now, so I finally got that option on Friday, so I may just do that now. Today at church we had a leadership meeting and everyone gave me what they thought, so now...I go back to the architect firm tomorrow and let them know what we decided. Then they submit their plans to the city building inspector and we go from there. So we continue to wait at times, push ahead at times. and look forward to getting into our new church home maybe even this week.....THIS WEEK! I can't believe I am typing those words, could we actually be close to closing and getting in our building...it sure has been a long time coming but God is good, so prayerfully this is it! Finally! And on a note of good news....Lindsey joined the church today and I just know good things are ahead for all of us! She is a blessing and hopefully we will be a blessing to her as well! I'm glad she is going to be with us and help us as we grow in Jesus!

Well, here it is the 6th of October already! Yet another month as time flies along like a Stealth bomber! Several things have happened recently that I need to record on my Life Pointe blog page so that when a lot of these things come to pass, we can look back and rejoice to know that OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD...and yes, He reigns from both heaven on high and here in our little corner of the world. Last week I finally was able...to....(drum roll please) sign the contract for our new building! While that makes me smile and rejoice, I am quite aware there is still much to do. But I want to make sure and thank the Lord as He brings things to pass. For one, getting the contract signed took: 1)me talking to the Life Pointe Leadership Team and running things past them; 2)me getting my friends John Fralin and Steve Love to check out the building and the heating and the A/C, and then me getting an architect to walk through the building and both listen to me share Life Pointe's plans for the future plus get an idea for what the building looks like now. So then I also, in addition to signing the contract for the building, also received the contract from the architect this past week and was able to sign and return it to the office this past Friday. So...things are happening! So now this morning at church on Sunday at 11:00am, I share some of the victories God has given us recently plus showed a general rough draft of the new building and hopefully spurred some folks onward as we look forward to getting in our new church home! It's exciting but I admit sometimes the waiting has taken a little of the momentum from us, so I am praying that God gives us that back in BIG fashion and we continue to be a light at Life Pointe! Now, we hopefully and prayerfully CLOSE on our building this coming week and then we can go in and so some things, like at least clean off the cobwebs from the front doors! We must continue to pray and be faithful as we march ahead for the Lord and as we seek Him in all that we do.  Hopefully, moving day is soon!

Here I am again, giving praise to the Lord and just being amazed at how God works things out for the prayerfully close, moving in, of our new church building on 4624 Williamson Road. I just couldn't bring myself to signing the contract without first running it past my Life Pointe Leadership Team. So I did and then with their input and what I felt in my heart to go along with it, I wanted to seek some folks to give the building a good looking over and tell me what they thought. While I didn't think they would find anything wrong and was hoping they wouldn't find anything wrong, I still had to have them look. And so I called Steve Love, our missionary friend soon going to Zimbabwe and asked him to come by and check out the finance and air-conditioning. He called me back after I had left a message and said he was working in the area, but I didn't realize how close it was until he showed up the next morning. And then on Monday morning the Lord brought another friend to mind, John Fralin, who I feel has great experience with building since either he owns many of them, has had a hand in building them, or knows a lot about them.  So I thought of him and actually looked up his number; then I couldn't find it; then I called a number in the book of John Fralin but it turned out to be his cousin thus was a wrong number. Then I remember Kate and Joey had previously rented from him. So I called Kate, then Joey, and finally Kate again and she gave me his number. While all that may have taken a few minutes, I then saw God's perfect timing in His prompting me to call John. As I called and as his phone was ringing, and as he answered it, I told him I would appreciate it if he could go by and look at a building for me that I was hoping would be our new church.  When I told him the address, John said, "I'm driving by it right now...I'll pull in the parking lot and be waiting on you." How is that for God's timing? And then while John and I were looking over the building, I was thinking "I told Steve Love I would be waiting at the house for his call, so I wonder how I can get him word and tell him where I am?" And so then, God answered that prayer too, in that Steve pulled in while John and I were on the roof of the building.  God is just so good sometimes to give us what we need and what He wants us to have.  Both men looked through the building and while most things looked good, I am praying that the bathroom doors past the building inspection since they may have to be a little wider for handicap accessibility. I barely made it to school on time but it was a great morning! And then that afternoon I went downtown to see if I could speak to a building inspector. At first I couldn't but then one came in that talked with me and when I said, "I'm a man of prayer especially since I am a church planter and driver's ed. teacher!" he said, my daughter is going to have to take that soon. When I asked him where his daughter went to school, he replied "Salem High School" so how cool is that that his daughter will probably be one of my students next semester. God again just amazes me.....so then today I finally spoke with an architect who I am going to meet with on Friday, September 27, at 8:00 am to see how many changes we may have to do with the building. This too is a blessing in that I spoke with a teacher from Salem, Sarah Gerroll, who happens to be going to a church plant in Salem whose pastor is Scott Hamilton. So when I told her what I was going to do, she was very helpful and when I told her I need an architect, she said Mr. Gerroll, her father in law, knew someone who was a strong believer who was an architect, so I then asked Bill Gerroll to call her and he did and she emailed me today and I called her right back. So, again, I just can't believe how God puts people in our lives to bring about His will. God is so good!

I forgot to mention in my previous post that not only did we finally get our appraisal this past Tuesday, but then Jim and I were able to go over and get the remainder of the chairs we bought from Calvary Chapel on this past Friday as well.  It took us about 2 hours but even though it was hot and muggy and tiring, it was just so good again to get a job completed and be reminded of how God brings things about. His orchestration of how He left Brian see the offer on Craig's list on a Friday night; Brian lets me know Saturday morning; I call the man at Calvary; and then Ginny and I go over to actually see the chairs after getting a time set up with the seller. Then Ben and I went over to pick up the first load, a number of 50 chairs, and then here a few weeks later, Jim and I going over to pick up not another 50 but actually another 56! Turns out the seller had a few more than he thought he had. So God continues to bless and we continue to get ready for the move! It's an exciting time to be at Life Pointe Church! God is definitely Good!

Wow, what a good service today! I shared with the Life Pointe Family about our appraisal being received and it being the exact amount of our loan application and what Gary, the owner, and I had already talked about, so it just seemed like once again God was right in the middle of what we were doing and it's always good to have God in all that we do! But it was exciting to finally have the appraisal received.  I must admit after talking to Debby Williams, the nice lady from the bank who called on Tuesday morning to tell me about the appraisal, that I was excited! I at first wanted the appraisal to be lower but then again, in God's wisdom, He gave me the exact amount that would cause the least strife or contention on getting approved. Since it was the amount already agreed on, there was no need to offer, counter offer, and all that sort of stuff....it's done! So now we are working on the all the details, like transferring the deed, making up the contract, working on the building inspection stuff, and just all sorts of things. I must admit Tuesday I felt a bit overwhelmed on seeing all the things we had to do; but then as the week passed, God lifted the cloud of "overwhelmness" and gave me energy, vigor, and the courage to press on, for the end is in sight! Today's message of having something in common and being strong and courageous, just like God told Joshua to be, was encouraging to me. I felt like God was in the message and right in the middle of us. Hope it was ok to be blessed by my own preaching because I was; I say that somewhat jokingly but God did bless me today and I am again encouraged to keep pressing on because I know He is with me personally, with us as a church, and with us as a family as we continue to experience the journey He has us on. God is good!

Well, here it is almost at the end of August and once again I feel like I have been a little lax in my posting efforts. As for the building we are soon going to call home for Life Pointe Church, the situation is still one that calls for patience so in some ways, not a lot has changed from my last post, however, I asked the Life Pointe family to pray about 4 A's and so far, the first 3 are just about done. Our application, was received; our application was approved; and now the appraisal has been done and we are awaiting the results which the appraiser told me that he would have it done the first part of the week and today is Wednesday, so I would think for sure that he will call the bank tomorrow with his results. So....as soon as the bank calls, we can then meet with Gary Francisco, the owner and hopefully do the last A which is find an Agreement on the price of the building. I must admit I think I was more excited months ago about getting into the building and I felt like momentum was on our side and now has lessened a little bit; but God's timing is perfect so even if I wanted to get into the building weeks ago, God has a reason for letting us wait until now.  And so, I just pray we can get into the building and that we will be just as excited as we have been when we first thought of the possibility of moving into a new church home! And so...we wait...and we pray, and we look for BIG things from God because He is a BIG God! I went over this past Sunday and walked around the building 7 times like Joshua did around Jericho, and then today I went over and took some pictures to share on Sunday. It was good to see Lucas sitting in the parking lot while I was at the building because it is always nice to share the vision with someone so I appreciated seeing someone while I was there! May God give us the call tomorrow from the bank and then give us as a church family a CALL to step out in faith and grow as His church!@ Praise the Lord!