Meetin' the Mucky Mucks and Cool Stuff

Tuesday night, we had a dinner hosted at our church for all the Assembly of God pastors in our section of the district. We had the pleasure of meeting the Tennessee state superintendent and some of the other leadership. One guy I was super impressed with was the state District Youth Director, Terry Allen. What a great guy. He and I have had a few e-mail conversations but we got to talk about one of my favorite things in person....CAMP! He showed a video of one of their youth camps and I just sat at our table with tears running down my face as the video highlighted kids lost in worship and prayer. I cannot wait to take my new kids to camp! It was nice to meet some other area pastors and our dinner was delllll-ish. Can't beat Joe's Steak House and their flat iron steak!

I had a great meeting with the assistant principal at the UC Elementary today! God is opening doors for us to have opportunities to spend time with kids and have influence. Thank you Lord for these opportunities and may we be good stewards with each path you are clearing. The principal invited me to come to their programs and said "We would love your presence at any of our events or programs." Wow! I am praying hard for the schools to allow me to do a Character Connex by next fall. I truly believe that if UC is gonna be won for Jesus, it will be greatly dependent upon children leading them! The kids of UC are going to be "chain-breakers" in this community. It's a place where single moms abound and in Jesus name that will no longer be the "norm"!! As we touch kids with the love of Jesus and are careful to disciple them, they will carry the Gospel to places I cannot go and influence a circle of people I cannot influence. It thrills me to think how Jesus is going to do this and keeps me crying out to Him for inspiration and creative thinking to reach as many kids as possible. I have my third principal meeting scheduled and I'm praying for more favor.

Tonight, before service, it happened. I felt "the connection" starting. I had two little girls who are sisters come find me and give me some un-asked-for hugs and they were super excited to tell me the scripture verse from Sunday. I was so proud of them and Pastor Tommy arrived just in time to hear the older one recite the verse. I get so blessed when a child can tell me what they learned 3 or 4 days later and sometimes even after a month when you aren't sure if they are listening. God's Word never returns void! I've had so many parents and church members tell us how thankful they are to have us in UC but they don't understand it is we who are blessed.

Randy's foot is doing much better and he is able to walk some without the crutches. Yeah! He is still waiting on job news. I am at peace about it...trusting in God's perfect timing and fully confident that He is my source, not a paycheck. We are praying, of course, but not panicking.