A Special Lunch, a Productive Dinner

Today we had a retirement lunch for Tom Riehle who has worked at Standard Publishing since he got out of high school, more than 40 years. He started as valet to the company president! I've worked with him through the years in his service as a job operator and a procurement specialist, and all of us wish him well for a retirement well earned.
Tonight I met with Rafa Soares and Larry Travis to nail down details about our trip to Brazil for the World Convention. Rafa will be our host in Brazil, as well as the man finding the hotels, renting the buses, planning the itinerary, and buying our in-country plane tickets. We're going to have a wonderful time there. I'm starting to get really excited after our conversation tonight at Olive Garden.

Home Today, Remembering Seth

We left Nashville about 10:00 central time and drove into our driveway about 5:15 Eastern. We stopped once for gas and stopped longer than we planned for lunch/dinner in Louisville. We were south of Cincinnati just as the traffic report was describing stop-and-go conditions along much of I-75 through the city, so we took I-275 around past the airport and on up to home.  Evelyn called the Vineyard to say she'd probably be a few minutes late for her volunteer floor monitor duty at the Healing Center, and, after checking, they told her she didn't have to come in. She was delighted! Me too!
We were able to sort mail, cut the grass, and settle in for the rest of the week during the evening and ate pop corn while watching the "60 Minutes" we had recorded while we were out of town Sunday night.
None of this created any scenes really worth photographing, so I'm posting a couple of pictures from our outing Monday night in Nashville.

We went to a dairy bar for dinner with two of Jennifer's best friends, Greg and Jana Perry. We love Greg and Jana, but the most smiles come in interacting with their 2-1/2-year-old, Seth.

We had a big time with  Seth, and he had a big time at the dairy bar. Not only did he get to eat his own grilled cheese sandwich and enjoy spoonfuls of chocolate soft serve from his mom's banana boat, but he also got to greet and jabber with another toddler who came for ice cream that night, and play with two puppies who enjoyed his hugs and pats.

We had lots of fun connecting with his folks, and playing with Seth. Greg and Jana plan to come to Jen's wedding next month, but we'll probably have to enjoy seeing Seth grow up as Jana posts pictures on Facebook.

Workday in Nashville

Today was work day at Jennifer's Nashville home. We worked a couple of hours this morning and several hours this afternoon turning her house into a warehouse. Actually, we started yesterday afternoon, and by suppertime today we had packed all her books (and that's a lot of books!), her office, and most of her kitchen. I snapped a couple pictures of the boxes stacked in her living room and her kitchen. There are more in the sun room. (Jen packed all her nice china herself.)

We have a trunk full of stuff either for the wedding reception or items Jennifer offered to us on their way to Goodwill. We'll head home tomorrow by 10:00. This will have been our last visit to Jennifer in Nashville.

 We celebrated this evening with dinner at Jack's barbecue, a great little place tucked between the honky-tonks downtown. Tasty pulled pork and green beans and macaroni and cheese.

Relationships Rekindled and Savored

After 108 days, I broke my record for daily posts this weekend. It was for a good cause, though. We spent Friday through Sunday nights with good friends Jim and Norma Pierson in their comfortable home in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Norma and Evelyn relaxed in a shady spot in their yard.

As usual, Jim hosted us with flair. Everywhere we went, Jim knew someone who gave him and usually us special attention—the car dealership (we were checking on a service light that popped on while we were headed to Knoxville Friday evening), the Walgreen's, the Blount Mansion where he gave us a tour, the restaurants we visited, the soccer field where his grandson was playing, and of course the church. Norma is a most gracious hostess and a wonderful cook. I don't think we've ever eaten more in three days! Jim and Norma are both avid gardeners, and touring or just sitting in their lush, green yard is a relaxing treat. We ate dinner one evening on their shaded deck, overlooking their beautiful back yard. It was wonderful.

Sunday morning we were surprised to see Jana Stiles at the Pierson's church, Woodlawn Christian. She's attending there now and playing piano for their traditional worship service, which we were blessed to attend Sunday morning.

Sunday afternoon we drove to Johnson City and spent the afternoon and early evening with Dick Morris, who is associate minister at Boone's Creek Christian Church. I discovered when I met him last fall that he has a varied career in broadcasting and has done a lot of voice over work. I wrote him this winter and asked if we could come visit with him so I could learn how he does the voice over work from his home. He was a most gracious host, telling me everything he could about how to get started in this business and protesting when I told him we wanted to take him to dinner.  It was a great visit.

Sunday afternoon Jim Pierson's sister, Peggy Doty, came to visit the Piersons, and she was there when we got back to their house Sunday evening. We had a delightful time visiting with her and posed for pictures before leaving for Jennifer's house this morning.
We got here about lunch time and spent the afternoon packing books and some clothes. We filled several boxes, but not as many as we hope to polish off tomorrow.

Time Off Tomorrow!

They say you should work every day like it's the last day before a two-week vacation, because those pre-vacation days are some of the most productive of the year.

Well, we're not taking two weeks of vacation, just several days. And I've been in full production mode since Monday morning. It's nice to see the list of what's getting done. It's difficult to think of all the things I could get done here if I wasn't taking off tomorrow afternoon through next Wednesday.
But I've always said, "There's never time to take a vacation," so I proceed with plans for time off without guilt.

Occasionally I notice a blurb in the newspaper where a columnist's weekly or daily column usually appear. "Sally So-and-So is on vacation. Her column will return next week." And I think, "I wonder what would happen if we just didn't publish an edition of Christian Standard because we all went on vacation!"

But I'm not complaining. We're making progress toward our plan of introducing a new monthly version of Christian Standard in September, and I'm pleased with the way the content is shaping up. So that's very gratifying.

I bought these vining impatiens to give to Jim and Norma
Pierson. He's more of a gardener than I am, but
maybe this will be something new they'll enjoy. 

Tomorrow we head to Knoxville, TN to visit with Jim and Norma Pierson over the weekend. Sunday afternoon we're driving from their place over to Johnson City to visit with Dick Morris whose varied career has included more than one ministry stint as well as disc jockeying and quite a career as a part-time voice over artist. He told me a little about that last fall when I was at his church for a seniors rally. I asked him if he could tell me some more if we'd come visit him this spring. Sunday is the day.

Sunday night we'll stay with Piersons and then drive to Jennifer's Monday morning/afternoon with our car full of empty boxes to help her pack. We'll work Monday afternoon and evening and all day Tuesday and then drive home Wednesday morning/afternoon in time for Evelyn to volunteer at the Healing Center next Wednesday evening. It's supposed to be pretty weather here the next couple of days; I haven't checked the longterm forecasts for Tennessee, but I'm not worried about it. We're looking forward to happy days.

100 Years of Ministry

I asked longtime preacher Glen Wheeler to pose with me after the minister's meeting in Worthington this morning. He figures between the two of us this picture represents about 100 years of ministry! Glen is now a resident of Worthington Christian Village, but he still has a heart for ministry. "I've taught many new residents here from other religious groups about the meaning of the Lord's Supper," he said during our discussion time. He has a goal of writing a book a year, and he volunteered to help lead this minister's meeting next year!

Their attendance was low, by their own estimate, and their attendance has been waning for the last several years. Meanwhile, Kingdom Synergy Partners meets every other month at the Worthington Christian Church, and its meetings are thriving with large attendances of leaders from all over the state. This is indicative of something, but I'm not sure what.

My work this week has been dominated by planning, meeting, arranging, discussing, and resolving conflict surrounding our plan to convert Christian Standard to a monthly publication, beginning with its September issue. The good news is that folks are accepting the writing assignments and the systems issues are closer to being resolved. Tomorrow we address marketing.

All that, plus preparing for this workshop today, plus doing some recruiting for the Stone-Campbell Dialogue meeting next fall, has kept my very busy--moving from one e-mail to the next meeting to the next phone call with no slack time in between. But it's satisfying to see a lot accomplished.

Tomorrow I have a full day at the office, and then only a half day till we take off for visits in three Tennessee spots that will keep us out till next Wednesday. Of course, getting normal weekly CS production done in the midst of all this adds further pressure.

But I'm not complaining. By and large, it is a good week.

A few have commented, on Facebook and here at the blog, on yesterday's post: "What's the Future of the Restoration Movement?" More comments are welcome.

What's the Future of the Restoration Movement?

How would you answer the question I'm supposed to address at a minister's meeting tomorrow in Worthington? "What is the future of the Restoration Movement?"
If I'd thought about it, I would have posted this a week ago and let some Facebook and Twitter friends weigh-in on the question.
Actually, I plan to offer more questions than prophecies. Among the elements of my presentation will be quotes from three different writers who spoke to the question in the pages (and on the website) of Christian Standard:

• Paul Williams wrote in his column: "Young leaders suggest our movement will be held together through relationships I hope they're right. The question then becomes, 'How do we leverage relationships to continue the plea for unity that brought this movement into being?'"

• A couple of years ago, Roy Lawson wrote, "We have outlived our enemies--and as a result have a dimmed sense of identity. Some of 'us' have trouble figuring out who 'we' are.  We once were energized and scrappy and sure of ourselves when we were fighting--Baptists, denominations in general, erring fellow Restorationists, and more. But without a fight, who are we?"

• In that same issue, Dick Alexander reminded us, "Movements last a generation or two at most. The Campbell-Stone Movement played itself out on the American frontier in the middle of the 19th century. And then in the first quarter of the 20th century this once great unity moment fractured into three distinct groups.
"In looking at our present and future, we would benefit from laying aside Restoration Movement terminology except as an historical reference, and developing a new vocabulary that is descriptive, and also capable of motivating future generations."

All three of these writers believe we need the tribe that has provided our heritage, our understanding of the Scripture, our ideals about the church, and our fellowship with each other. I'll be interested to see what the Ohio ministers think about this when I visit with a few of them tomorrow.