Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Full Steam Ahead

School has started, work has begun, connections are being made, and relationships strengthening.  All in all, we're happy and busy.  After just over two months on the ground in Spokane, the progress is encouraging even though it's really just the beginning stage of a marathon.  We are balancing church life with family life and work life so here's an update on all fronts.  For us, it's all integrated!

Gabe, our oldest, is running cross country for what turns out to be one of the top running schools in the USA!  Who knew?!  We had been planning to enroll him in another high school in town but found out we were just a few blocks outside of the district's boundary line.  When we went to petition to register him in the school anyway, we found out that this unexpected new school has an absolutely excellent academic program as well as a top-ranked cross country program.  We quickly decided to cancel our petition plans and Gabe is now a proud member of the North Central Cross Country team.

Bethany, our middle schooler, is also trying out cross country for the first time and making great friends along the way.  While she has sometimes struggled academically, she is doing very well this fall and seems to have started off her schooling in Spokane on the right foot!

Michaela, our youngest, has joined the An Daire Irish Dance school, and is continuing with her step-dancing (think Riverdance).  She is also making friends at school and is proud to already have the nick-name "Montana."  (She actually went to school today wearing cowboy boots and a western-style dress!  I had to laugh, because she never did that when we actually lived in Montana!)

Becca landed an elementary music teaching job at a Title 1 school in a pretty tough neighborhood.  Students who come from families ravaged through drug use, others whose only meals are those provided at school, and others dealing with various challenges arising from broken homes and frequent moves are served by a great teaching staff and administration committed to providing a quality education. We've been praying for connections into a school like this and God seems to have held the door wide open for us!  I've already been asked by the principal if we can offer after-school guitar instruction for students if he can get it sponsored by local businesses - which he thinks he can do quite easily!  We are also hoping to sponsor a holiday program at the school through Grace Church Spokane.  We found out that they don't do Christmas programs because the parents don't turn out for events like this unless a meal is provided.  Well, we're hoping to provide the food so it can happen in the future!  We've heard from the Newfrontiers church in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho that they would like to partner with us in this endeavor as well so we'll see what develops!

The after-school guitar club I'm doing is actually an extension of a program developed by Jonathan Eftychiou in Atlanta, Georgia.  He's a fellow Newfrontiers guy, and has graciously helped me to get this up and running in Spokane.  This program is helping me meet school administrators, teachers, students, and parents, while also giving me an outlet into the community using Rock & Roll and guitar - right up my alley!  We are currently running Guitar Club through Rock On Music in three different schools in Spokane and I'm hoping to expand that to five schools soon.  The doors are open, but it's proved quite costly to walk through those doors!  We know that God will provide financially to help us serve the schools in this way, but please pray for great wisdom on the business end of this community opportunity.

Finally, we are meeting on Friday nights for leadership development with our launch team, and then meeting on Sunday mornings to worship together.  Last Sunday our family was back in Missoula, where I spoke at Clark Fork City Church, so the team here in Spokane fanned out to other churches in the city to see how they "do church."  We'll meet up on Friday night for dinner, where we'll also discuss the various aspects of welcoming guests and friends  into our life together:  how guests are made to feel welcome, how worship, teaching, announcements, giving, etc. are approached.

Thanks for praying for us on all the various fronts of establishing a fresh, life-giving church into Spokane, Washington!  I'm praying we set a great example to others who desire to step out in faith to follow God into "Glocal" (global and local) mission with their families, businesses, etc.