Update Tuesday 03/05/11 - Dedicated

Wow, what a crazy, busy and fun week!  As I mentioned last week, we were in Alpharetta, Georgia visiting NAMB.  We took some photos, shot some video, had many great meals with some new friends and colleagues.  It was great to begin some new relationships, as well as put some faces to the names of those who had previously been on-line acquaintances. 
We did spend a fairly nervous night in the hotel our last night as we were glued to the news tracking the tornadoes that tore through the Southern US.  As it turns out, the tornadoes travelled just north and just south of the area we were in, and by about 1:00am we were able to go to sleep in preparation for our 5:00am wake up and departure.  Although, we were not affected by the tornadoes, we did see some of the aftermath as we drove north.  One tornado had obviously crossed the highway reducing the steel highway median barriers to what looked like a ball of crumpled tin foil, and ripping open a transport trailer as if with a can opener.  What we saw, however, paled in comparison to some of the photos we would see on the news and on the Internet.  We were especially shocked by the images from Alabama.  We are praying specifically for our friends from Parkview Baptist Church in Alabama.  They did not suffer any damage, and all of their families are safe, and so now they have an enormous task as they reach out and organize efforts to serve their friends, family and neighbours who have suffered greatly in this tragedy.
We arrived home on Thursday evening with just enough time to plan for a busy weekend.  We welcomed some new friends, Matt and Tony, on Friday evening.  They are a video team from NAMB visiting to get some footage of our new neighbourhood in Hamilton, as well as some footage of our sending church here in Milton.  We spent most of Saturday filming.  In  the morning, were interviews here in our home and then off to Hamilton for the afternoon.  What an amazing time in our neighbourhood!  The weather was great and we got to visit our new home as well as visit the sights.   It is amazing how conspicuous you can be when walking down the street with a video camera following you.  We had many opportunities to meet and talk with people, including a number of people who will be our new neighbours.  As part of our neighbourhood prayer initiative, I was able to share some names of residents from particular streets that we met with groups from our church who have adopted those streets.  They were timely encounters seeing as we had a prayer walk scheduled for the following afternoon.
On Sunday the video guys joined us for worship to get some footage of the set up (although not as much footage as they may have hoped seeing as our new set up team has gotten so proficient and fast!), of the music and the rest of the service as well as some interviews with our sending church.  It really is a great story, this fairly small church plant is now preparing to plant its own daughter church.
After the service, we hosted a lunch for all those from the church who were planning on joining us for the prayer walk that afternoon.  We had over thirty people over for lunch, including the video team, after which we all made the drive into Hamilton.  After meeting up together in the park, we all headed out to our particular adopted streets praying for what God will do and how He wants to use us to impact this community for His Kingdom and His glory.  It is here that I must stop and mention, in particular, the dedication of the video crew and our church family in Milton.  We began our prayers under a dark and drizzly sky, which eventually become the wet, rainy and fully saturating day that we ended in.  And yet, I did not hear one word of complaint but witnessed dedicated servants joyfully serving despite the circumstances.  
We woke up the following morning to run out to the polls and vote (what a crazy election this one turned out to be!)  before the crew arrived to film a few last shots.   We finished up with the crew by spending time on the front porch of our new house singing 'Tis So Sweet, which has become a very meaningful hymn for my wife and I.  Again, we caught the eyes of some of our neighbours.  Our only fear now is that they will be disappointed to find that we are just regular folks and not rock stars after having a camera following us around for days!
As we continue to move forward, I would invite you to pray one of the scriptures that I gave to our prayer walk team this past week, John 13:34-35.  This really has become our central verse, summarizing what it is that we hope to accomplish in Hamilton.  You can read some of our thoughts by going backwards through these past posts: John 13:34-35