Contributing to the delinquency of a minor!

The pictures are actually backwards, but you will get the picture. This is the first baby Marc ever dedicated at WABC. Soon she will be leaving us to be with her Mom and Dad (her dad is in the military). She will be missed for sure. Anytime Marc gets a chanceto hold her he does (my poor children, one day they will give us a grandchild and they will be lucky if they get to spend time with their own child because I guarantee my husband will be spoiling them rotten). Cece has a very special relationship with her Pastor. She even says amen during his sermons. The day of my father in laws funeral her mom brought her by to see us. It was after everyone had left for the day and the house was really quiet. Cece kept checking on him as if to say are you ok? She would look at him, then rub his face as if to say its going to be alright. Then she would turn her head to the side and look at him again and then go back to rubbing his face. Yesterday Marc and I were asked to step out of the sanctuary after service while the congregation discussed some surprises for his first anniversary at WABC. As you will see in the picture below my husband decided to take the opportunity to contribute to the delinquency of a minor. LOL


This picture was taken when the doors opened ....oops I think we have been caught!

Thank goodness he didn't let her near the box!

Well, maybe just a small taste!

It's mighty tempting!

This was the first picture that I snapped. She looked at me as if to say.....are you sure I'm suppose to have this?

Sunday Mind Dump (through the eyes of the wife)

1) Its been a great week of fellowship at WABC.

2) It started with Youth Revival on Monday and Tuesday (lead by our friend Pastor Patillo, a youth pastor at one of the local churches in our area). Followed by two nights of Church Revival on Wednesday and Thursday. Our friend Pastor Ricky Lee had folks standing on their feet. We had a couple of technical glitches here and there, but I'm already looking forward to the planning for next year (with a few changes here and there).

3) Pastor Patillo has already offered to help me next year. I love when you make a connection with someone who is willing to help even when it may not benefit them. Pastor P and I met a number of years ago and he immediately clicked with my girls. Whenever Marc and I have called on him he has been there. He has a heart and mind for the youth of our cities that is totally genuine.

4) Friday night the girls and I "snuck" out of the house so that they could meet two other young ladies from WABC to practice for a special worship service on Sunday. We "snuck" out because the group were surprising Marc on Sunday.

5) He says he had no idea, but it was worth it to see the grin on his face on Sunday morning when he realized they were leading worship. He wasn't the only one. I looked up at one point and noticed that one of our deacons (who daughter just happened to be singing with them) was grinning all over himself. Then I looked at the grandmother of one of the young ladies and she had a big grin on her face.

6) Of course, there is no telling how much grinning I was doing at the time. LOL I'm so proud of these girls.

7) This weekend several members of our women's ministry team will be walking in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk. Originally we planned to ask for a donation for the walk from the church to add to our donations. But after the floods this past week in GA and after several pleas for help from some special friends in the trenches in Atlanta we decided instead to take up an offering for one of the families devastated by the flood.

8) We are in the midst of several ministry events at WABC in the upcoming month. Our suit drive is coming along nicely and it has even allowed my husband to free up some space in his (our) closet! Hallelujah!!!!

9) Soon our youth will be starting a coat drive for the same school that we recently adopted during our backpack drive. Add in the Thanksgiving baskets, and our now Annual Adopt a Family for Christmas Campaign. Lets just say their is not much time for sitting in the pews at WABC (We don't allow no pew sitters at WABC). So if you come and join us be prepared to work!

10) Next month WABC will celebrate its 71st Church Anniversary, and in November Marc and I will have been at Woodland for a year (not counting his time as interim pastor). I can't believe its been that long!

11) October begins the crazy birthday month in my family. My youngest and oldest celebrate their birthdays along with several cousins, my nephew Alex and my mom. October kills our pocketbook! LOL

12) Next month Marc and I will be honored along with several others at a banquet celebrating our work in ministry (mainly local missions). Even though we have been in ministry almost our entire life it still seems strange to me to be recognized for my work. I think for both us its more about doing God's work. Having said all of that I am excited that several of family members will be with us that day along with our church family. Pray I don't fall on my face or do something else to embarrass my husband or family (in case you have not figured it out by now...I hate being in the spotlight)!

13) A perfect example of my reluctance to be front and center occurred today when I had to go before the church to ask for the special offering. Marc and Nicki said my voice was quivering (they should have seen my knees) and Marc said at one point I was rambling. HA! They keep forgetting that I don't take to the spotlight the way they do (Nicki and her dad are a lot a like. I have always said that pastors and ministers are just frustrated actors...LOL).

14) Last thought of the day. . . During our 11:30 service one of our youngest members at WABC came up and said he wanted to baptized (actually he said he wanted to baptizing). Marc told him that they would be working with him to fully understand what this meant but as soon as possible he would be baptized. I know some of you offer a class to your young ones who want to be baptised. Would love to hear more on this. Drop me a line or DM me on twitter.

Our Now Generation

As much as I love directing our Women's Ministry, my heart will always belong to Youth Ministry. Its been in my blood for over to 17 years. I dream of leading our youth towards a more personal relationship with Christ. I know we can't use the same old stuff to reach the youth of today. They face things in life that we never had to face. As the mom of 3 young adults I realize that if we are not careful we will lose this generation to the street. Its time for churches to stand up and be counted. Be counted for more then just a gathering place on Sunday. If we don't show our youth (I call them Generation Now) that we care about them, and the things that are important to them in the here and now........If we don't learn to speak their language we may lose them to the enemy for good.

Sunday Mind Dump (Through the eyes of the wife)

1) I love being busy, but this week went by way to fast. I had so much to do before the weekend, and this week is even busier!

2) My middle child turned 25 on Friday, and celebrated the whole weekend (blame it on me I am a party planner not just by profession but also because I loved celebrating. If I can find something to celebrate I will and I passed this little gift down to my girls).

3) We ate at the Cheesecake Factory for her birthday along with 25 of her favorite people (there were more on the list but this just happened to be the group that showed up).

4) Good thing there were only 25 people because our server (yes, 1 waitress for 25 people) seemed to have a hard time serving a large group (and its not like we were the nightmare party). They also messed up the reservations which were made weeks ago, and at the end of the night they took forever getting the checks ready. As much as I love that restaurant I was very disappointed in the service we received that night. It will probably be a little while before I have a my favorite dessert (key lime cheesecake) again.

5) Before the party Friday night I went to the hairdresser and in case you missed it I gave her permission to cut it off! As she started snipping I started to panic, but when she finished I was one happy girl! I love it, There is nothing worse then paying to get your hair "did" and coming home that night and the hair do is gone. Thankfully I have never had that problem with my stylist (who just happens to do the girls hair also). Several people that we have referred to her are now clients. I'm thinking we are due for a finders fee. LOL

6) Today my mom's church came to celebrate with us for our Homecoming Celebration (half of the church is family). I say it all of the time, but I'm saying it again......I love my family. They are the most supportive bunch of people you will ever find. I felt very proud to be able to introduce them to my WABC family. After the service we served dinner. You can't beat good food and great fellowship.

7) This week we begin our Revival 09 service. Its time to be refreshed and on fire for God. This will be the first year that we include our youth and even though everything has not come together as smoothly as I would like, I know that over time this will evolve into something major for our youth and the youth of our city.

8) Speaking of vision, this morning I twittered about having this strange dream. WABC had moved from the church to a auditorium venue. The strange part was that I was doing laundry under the bleachers while Marc was doing the service. Several of my friends were sitting up front at tables set up for dining as if you were at a dinner theatre. There were also lots of different groups singing in between the service and some lady who managed the place was mad because she found out Marc was married (thinking I have spent too much time hanging out with you crazy church planters)! Either WABC has some seriously crazy stuff happening in the future or I have spent to much time in the closet purging. LOL

9) I will try really hard to post some photos from the week, but if you don't hear from me in a couple of days its not because I don't love you all.

10) Speaking of crazy. The title of Marc's message today was "Let's Get Ready To Rumble". Let's just say that the enemy has been put on notice!

Q's Birthday

Sorry this took so long. Its been a long weekend! But here is the Birthday Girl.


WABC folks in the house!


Quisha's high school and college friend.


Quisha's big sister from college.


Friends from our home church.

The birthday girl opening her gifts.

Quisha and her godparents.

Tired

Its been a long full day. I am tired (can't you tell...lol). I have been waiting almost a month for my Key Lime Cheesecake, but right now its in the fridge waiting for tomorrow. The party was great but we had a couple of glitches with our reservation, add in some really bad service (which has never happened before) and lets just say....the party is over. I took lots of pictures and will post them in the am. Tell then, have a great night everyone.

New Look

Well I guess I can put the ponytail holders away for awhile!

Happy Birthday Q

She is going to have a fit when she see's this. But 25 years ago today I gave birth to this precious child. Quisha has always been daddy's girl. From the moment she saw him she has had eyes only for him. At the time I had her Marc had already left for Germany to pave the way for TJ, Quisha and I to come and join him. My mom was actually in the delivery room with me and I remember how scared she was that she wouldn't be able to hold it together. By then I knew that any children I gave birth to would be by C-section. I had a few complications with Q's birth. For one she was my largest child and at the time TJ had not begin to walk (they are only 11 months apart in age. And as a matter of fact for a short while they are both 25 years old. Most of the time people even thought they were twins). I was carrying her around in my belly and TJ on my hip. I started to get severe pain in my back, and the further along I got the more Quisha started to move. Eventually she settled in on a nerve in my leg and whenever she moved my leg would give out. At one point my doctor threatened to put me in traction which he warned would be extremely painful, especially for a pregnant women. The only solution was to put TJ down and let him crawl or let someone else carry him. Not a problem since at the time I lived with Marc's parents and between them and Marc's two sisters I was pretty much covered. The week before I was scheduled for surgery the doctor noticed that Quisha had dropped down a lot, so much so that she could see her head and her full head of hair! She decided I couldn't wait and the next day we were on our way to Norfolk GH (the same hospital that Marc was born in). After a few hours Quisha entered the world. The first person to hold her was my mom, who by this time had gone completely around the other side of the curtain to see them pull her out (so much for being afraid). It would be nearly 6 months before Marc set eyes on his oldest daughter, but from the moment he held her it was a done deal. To this day he jokes about how chubby she was (his exact words were that she was 2ft by 2ft, by 2ft), and the very first question he asked me was what had I been feeding her. Quisha loved food then and she still loves it today. The girl can cook better then me, and I know its a gift because I know I didn't teach her. LOL I wanted her story to be told today because 25 is a very special age to reach. And even though I may not say it all the time, I wanted her to know that she is loved, that we are proud of the accomplishments she has made in her life and I look forward to seeing what the next 5 years will hold for her. Happy Birthday Q!

Sunday Mind Dump (through the eyes of the wife).

1) We had a great day at WABC. Marc's message was "We Came To Have Churrch". And yes that's with two rr's. LOL

2) Last week I was really moody. Apparently soo much so that someone told me about myself in church today (and they were probably right). Last week I was in a funk and even though I put on a brave face, I just wasn't feeling church.

3) Don't get me wrong, I love WABC. But sometimes the behind the scenes stuff can get heavy and I'm one of those people that would rather concentrate on the fun stuff. I realize that this is something God is working on in me.

4) By weeks end something even more pressing caught my attention and all of the stuff that I had spent the week stressing over seemed irrelevant. If you missed it, you can read about it here.

5) In comparison this week has been wonderful. My daughter and I spent a wonderful day together. We went shopping on Saturday (great way to wash away the blues) and ended the evening by watching Tyler Perry's newest movie "I Can Do Bad All By Myself". You have to go and see this movie. I actually think its one of his best.

6) I'm very proud of some of the projects WABC has going on in the coming weeks and months, and I very excited about some of the upcoming Women's Ministry projects. One of which is the Cancer walk. And I'm trying hard not to be nervous about my first speaking engagement at our Winter Tea in January.

7) The Men's Ministry is taking on a major project. They are collecting suits to donate to men who may be going out on their first job interview. Some who have been incarcerated and having now been returned to society are looking to begin their life anew. A week in they have already received quite a few suits (many from my sweet husband's closet). In case you missed it we have been doing some serious purging around the house.

8) This past Friday our church hosted a dinner for an organization that ministers to men who have been incarcerated and are now trying to get back on their feet. They has asked that those attending the dinner bring a few bags of clothing for their thrift store which benefits the ministry. So many people brought in donations that the minister had to call one of his members to come to the church with their van. Marc said he was overwhelmed by the generosity.

9) Now I know some people don't like Revival's, but at this moment and time that is where WABC and many other churches in this area are (some just change the name). And I'm excited about our upcoming youth revival. A very special young man who is a really good friend will be speaking to our youth. This afternoon Marc and I went out to get T-shirts for the youth to wear. Actually it felt like we were running a marathon (we were trying to get to two different stores before they closed at 6). This was one time I was glad that we didn't have a large youth group. But I am praying hard for that to change.

10) Speaking of speakers. I heard some amazing speakers this past week at the Nines Conference. If you missed it you should be able to view most of them here within the next few days. My friend Scott Williams was one of my favorites. Loved his presentation on diversity.

11) Lastly I wanted to say congrats to a special friend who's daughter was baptised today. I love the way they do baptism at Granger. I would have loved it if Marc and I could have been in the pool with our kids when they were baptised. I especially loved the way her husband got down eye level with his child just before she went down in the water. Congratulations Rob, Michelle and Whit.

Fearless (Imagine Your Life Without Fear) by Max Lucado

Recently I got a chance to preview a new release by Max Lucado entitled "Fearless". The book talks about all of the fears that we have when we don't put all of our hope and trust in God. Well what if we allowed our Lord and Savior to handle all of our fears? What would our life be like then? Mr. Lucado invites his readers to consider and invitation from Jesus to have courage.

I have to admit I was intrigued by this book for many reasons. For one I was offered the chance to read for free. What bookworm would turn down that offer? Secondly (and the most important part) was that I live with fear everyday. I am a worry wart by nature. Just ask my children, my husband, my friends ( I could go on, but I won't). In the beginning I had a hard time concentrating on the book. Most of the time I can read a book within a couple of days, or at least by the end of the week. Fearless took a bit longer (in the back of my head I kept thinking if I read this I will no longer have an excuse for living my life in fear. And frankly fear is a comfortable place to be. Its been my companion for years. Sort of like an old family friend that you know is not good for you, but you keep around anyway). But I kept reading because I knew this was something I needed to hear. I have to give it to my man Max, he is a great storyteller. As you read the book and start to listen to the stories of others who have had to confront fear you realize that you are not by yourself. As you continue to read you realize that God did not design you to be in fear. He designed you to be fearless.

By the end of the book I was holding my head in shame because I knew I was not living the life that God had designed me for. And yesterday evening I finally got why it took me so long to read the book. This past weekend my youngest daughter went to NY to celebrate the holidays. Sunday night while out with friends someone started shooting not far from where my child was standing. Her words to me the next day were that she had never been so afraid in her life (if you knew Nicki you know this is out of character for her. She is like her dad and most of the time they walk around fierce and fearless). A few weeks ago I would have freaked out, and would probably have been begging my husband to go and get her. Instead I remained calm and reminded her that she had angels watching over her, people who pray for her everyday of her life and that she has a God who loves her and cares for her. I cried tears of relief after getting off of the phone with her, but I also thanked God for being in my life and in hers and for giving her courage in the mist of the storm. I honestly believe that if I had not been reading this book that day that I would have added to my child's fears. I recommend this book to anyone who is living a life of fear ( I highly recommend this as a group reading. There is even a discussion guide in the back). After all God's got your back! Its time to become fierce and fearless!

Sunday Mind Dump (through the eyes of the wife).

1) This post is going to be short and sweet. If you follow me on Facebook and Twitter you know most of the week I have been purging my house of clutter like crazy. Its been a good feeling to just toss out years of stuff that I have been holding on to. If I had known that it would feel this good, I would have tossed years ago.

2) The big news this week at WABC was the Back To School Backpack giveaway at a local elementary school. It was a big success. Don't take my word for it. Go here and see the pictures.

3) Partnering with the Life Enrichment Center proved to be a good idea. Marc was told by one of the organizations leaders that in the five years that they have been in the area we are the first church to offer assistance. Marc was given a long list of needs in the community! Really hoping this will not be our last partnership with them.

4) This coming week our church will be hosting and event for an organization that ministers to inmates who have been incarcerated and are now adjusting to the world outside of prison. As usual I am amazed at the things this small church does. Way to go WABC!

5) We are looking at several different curriculum for our children's church. One is Hands On Bible from Group. Last night my friend Shaun posted info about 252Basics. It actually looks pretty interesting. So what curriculum does your church use? Care to share?

6) Today Marc prayed for our youth, teachers and bus drivers who will all begin school on Tuesday. After all of their hard work this week on the backpack campaign we didn't want to leave out our kids so they each received a bag full of school supplies to start them on the right track.

7) Like I said this post is short, sweet and to the point. I'm going to enjoy the rest of the evening hanging out with my husband. I hope everyone has a great Labor Day Monday.

8) One last thing. One of the families from our church recently moved to Texas. Marc received a letter from the young man he baptised last month. He ended his letter to the church by saying WABC was a Real Church, Serving the Real God, Reaching Out To Real People, To Effect Real Change. At the very end of his letter he wrote....and you effected me!

Tonight Was A Good Night!

Tonight was one of those nights when you "get" why you are in ministry (especially when the week didn't start off so good). Just watching the kids pack up the backpacks tonight made my heart sing (and they did it with a smile on their face). Our little church collected enough supplies and bags to bless 50 kids at Richard Bowling Elementary School. An inner city school almost in our backyard. During the week of VBS this summer the teen kids developed a plan for giving back to their community. They started with the Back To School Campaign (they have already started planning their next outreach opportunity). A first for WABC, but you could tell by the participation that this was a cause everyone wanted to get behind. Friday afternoon a group of us along with volunteers from the Life Enrichment Center of Norfolk (this just happens to be the center highlighted in the movie Nicki was in) who we partnered with will dispatch the bags to the kids at the school. Yes, tonight was a good night!