Update Tuesday 22/03/11 - Looking Back as We Look Forward

We are quickly approaching the 11th anniversary of the date on which my wife first ventured out alone one Sunday morning to check out a new church that was starting in our community called the Sanctuary. It wasn't long after that morning, that our family was worshiping with this new group.  As I look back on our time in Oakville, I recognize how God has worked in our lives and just how formative those years were for me and my family.  We really look back to the community we shared with our Home Church (small group) and see how influential that was in the development of our current thinking about our new work in Hamilton.  It is also where we were first introduced to church planting, something that would see us go to Milton where we have been serving for the past six years.  It is that same thing that sees us preparing now, to head for the Hammer.  Although I don't look back with revisionist rose coloured glasses - our time in the Sanctuary network has had some very challenging times as well - we cannot deny just how influential and formative those years in Oakville have been, and continue to be.
This past Sunday, at the invitation of Peter Roebbelen and the Oakville staff, we had the opportunity to visit, to bring the message, and to share what God has been doing in our lives.  It was a great opportunity to share about where we have come from, and where we are heading.  Being the first "grandchild" work in the Sanctuary network it was amazing to be able to go back to where it all started to share about this next step and next generation.
After six years, it was fun to go back and see some familiar sights.  We were able to share that not only did my wife and I worship for a number of years in their White Oaks Secondary School location, but that we actually went to High School there.  I was able to take my kids down the halls and show them pictures of their uncle and their mom (thankfully my graduating year poster was missing!).  It really was a retro throw-back morning for us.
It was also a great opportunity to visit with some familiar faces.  I was reminded of some of the old stories that I remember from my days in Oakville.  Brad (an executive pastor in the Sanctuary Network and Toronto Church Planting) and I reminisced about our first Home Church together, and that out of the original families, three have gone on to some sort of ministry while a number of others have gone on to serve significant roles in their churches in a lay capacity.  Some are still with the Sanctuary network, some have since moved across country or farther, and to be perfectly honest, some have felt the need to move on from the Sanctuary network for other reasons, but it is hard to deny just how significant a time that was in many of our lives.
It was also great to see our friend Peter Homsey, the drummer in the worship team that morning.  Not only did we get to laugh about the Phil Collins drum fill that he managed to work into worship that morning, but I was reminded about the first time I had ever heard about him.   It was actually his ex-wife who was a part of my first Home Church, who shared with me about her ex-husband being a great drummer but that he would never be caught playing in a church.  It was only a short time later that he walked through the doors of the Sanctuary with their son.  It was his weekend for visitation, and his son wanted to go to church.  Peter brought his son to church, maybe to make sure this wasn't a cult his ex-wife had gotten their son into, and he has been with the Sanctuary ever since.  It was not too long after that, when I had the opportunity to lead the band for a while, and seeing as I was the drummer at the time, I needed a drummer when I stepped out to lead.  Peter is still the go to drummer today!
Sunday morning was also a great time to meet and share with many new faces.  We pray that our time of sharing was helpful for those who are newer to the church to get a taste and a sense of why church planting is such an important part of it's DNA.   We hope that we might be an example of the importance of doing what they do as a church.  We pray that they might recognize the significance of the time, energy and resources that they continue to invest for the sake of seeing the Kingdom expand through church planting.  I truly appreciated the opportunity to share.

On another note, our house sold!  The offer went firm on Friday night and we are so thankful.
We continue to ask for your prayers for a house in Hamilton.  We think we have found the house, and are currently working on the details to make an offer.  There are just a few administrative details that we need to address and have covered with regards to putting together an offer on a house, in which the renovations are not actually completed yet.  We don't really expect any major problems, but are working to figure things out.  We are praying that those details will be figured out this week.
We are really getting excited about our transition to Hamilton and we thank you for your continued support and prayer.