New Church Initiative

 Yesterday I attended a lunch hosted at Mason Christian Village with a bunch of Cincinnati-area ministers and other church leaders. The agenda was to share information about a new church-planting start-up group for the Greater Cincinnati area.

They're calling it New Church Initiative. It's goal is to partner with other church-planting efforts and organizations to start new churches between Northern Kentucky and Dayton. 

"Church planting is the most effective means of evangelism on the planet," Jeff Metzger told the crowd. "I heard Donald MacGavran say that in the 80s, and now I've experienced it myself." To highlight the need in our area, which we think of as "churched," he shared some research he did. "On a typical Sunday, 8.4% of the population in Clermont County attends church. In communist China, the figure is 8.3%!"

"We want to create a high-output, no-overhead organization," he said. He will serve as a trustee of the new effort, along with Don Sams, Stephen Sams, and Larry Travis, who will also serve as the director. (Larry is also serving as associate minister with the Riverhills church where he will have his office for both jobs.)

"I believe every church, every Christian should be involved in new church planting," he said. And every speaker encouraged us to remember that the gifts of many Christians throughout the area can combine to make new church planting happen here. 

This is a worthy goal, pursued by men with pure motives, it seems to me. I'm glad I was there to witness something close to the birth of New Church Initiative.

Right Here, Under the Rainbow(s)

Evelyn called me while I was getting my hair cut to say she was in the basement. "They say the tornado is heading east from Indiana, and people close to the outlet mall should take cover." We're one exit south of the outlet mall, so she took cover.
It had been pouring rain, torrents of rain for 30 minutes or more. But but the time I was finished at the hair cutter and heading home, the rain was diminishing and the sun was trying to peek through the clouds.
The weather warning blared on the radio, and the voice said a tornado was headed across I-75 and toward Lebanon and Warren County. Or at least that's what I thought I heard it say. I looked to the northeast, and the clouds seemed angry and blue-gray above the horizon, but as I headed home, the sky ahead seemed to be clearing.
Evelyn was getting supper ready when I arrived, and we ate without incident.
Later I stepped out on the front porch to look at the sky and smell the clean air. At first I heard the raindrops hitting the leaves of the giant river birch just outside our front door. And then I felt them; by then I was standing on the walk outside our small porch's shelter.
I came inside, and the rain began pelting the roof and our deck harder and harder.
I was reading the chapters in King's Cross for my men's Thursday-morning study. Soon I looked up to see Evelyn heading for the patio sliding glass door. It was still raining, but the sun was shining from the west toward the black clouds in the east. And there was a rainbow, a full rainbow that stretched from one side of the sky to the other. And above it, faintly, a second rainbow!

I must have snapped a dozen pictures. None of them does justice to the brilliant color of this rainbow, maybe the prettiest we've ever seen.
Jennifer kids Evelyn for her recurrent ecstasy whenever a rainbow appears. Her ooo's and ah's and squeals of delight at this one (these two!) were typical. I'll have to admit, the display this evening merited them, immediately brushing aside any other notion of what I should remember about today to record in this diary/blog.

The . . . SMELL . . . of Love

What does love smell like?
Well, in the case of my daughter's love for me on my birthday this year, there are two decidedly different answers.
The first is the sweet smell of Paul Sebastian after shave, cologne, and deodorant.
The other is manure tea. Yep, that's right, you can actually buy concentrated manure (she chose horse, but cow is available) in little brown bags that you soak in water for 3-5-days. This isn't any old crappy fertilizer, mind you. This comes from livestock raised "on native grass pastures, . . . free of hormone added grains, antibiotics, and pesticides." This is ORGANIC horse poop. Just wait till you see the pictures of my flowers later this summer!

As I planned, I took donuts to work today (3 dozen; one lonely sugar twist was left when I checked before coming home at 5:30), and the magazines staffs took me to lunch for my birthday. I chose Abuelo's, and it was a wonderful meal and an enjoyable time together.
Jennifer arrived at our house a little after 6:30. She flies to Jacksonville tomorrow for a meeting on Wednesday, and then back here for wedding errands and fun Thursday through Saturday. Then on to Indianapolis Sunday to attend the Christian Missionary Fellowship board meeting.

Evelyn made pasta bean soup for supper, and for dessert we had chocolate pound cake with strawberries and whipped cream leftover from my birthday.
Now, with the wrapping off the presents Jennifer brought me, my birthday is officially over!
Today at work was typical of many: some unanticipated tasks completed, some of today's goals unfinished. I have high hopes for tomorrow, though!

All Weekend Long

Maribeth Pippenger, a longtime friend who lives in Kansas now (she and her husband, Milt, were in a small group that was important to us in Longmont, Colorado, 37 or so years ago), wrote one of my favorite Facebook birthday greetings:


A very happy birthday to you, Mark. All day. All weekend. Spread the celebration over several days and let us enjoy them with you on your blog!


In a way I've followed her advice. Evelyn and I ate brunch at First Watch Cafe this morning after church. I signed up for their e-mail promotions some time ago, and one of the perks is a coupon for a free meal on your birthday. Today was the day to redeem the coupon!


The rest of the day was typical Sunday. Sang with the worship team at the Blended Service at 9:30. After lunch, came home to do some desk work (read two proofs and wrote a draft for one editorial) before going to the grocery store and then getting the lawn mowed before Sixty Minutes and supper.


But I decided to use today to repeat and reflect a bit on some of my favorite Facebook birthday greetings. 

The cake pictured here was one of them, included in a greeting from the other side of the world.


Two of my favorite greetings:

I love working with you, I love laughing with you, and I love being your daughter!

Happy Birthday to the best father-in-law a girl could ask for. You make us smile, you encourage us with your kind words, you delight in your family and we feel your love.

A couple that are encouraging as I think about my work:

I'm so indebted to you for helping me do some writing. Thank you for all you do to advance the kingdom of God.

Thanks for committing your life to the church.

Keep up the great job at Christian Standard.

Some of the greetings caused me to stop and take stock of my life:

I know this is a great period of time in your life and I hope you enjoy each moment!

May this be the best year of your life!

May this be the most productive year of your life!

And one poster, a friend who was in the youth group at Central Christian Church in Waukegan, Illinois same time as me in the late sixties, wrote this:

Many happy returns on the day of your birth. May sunshine and gladness be given. May God, in His mercy, prepare you on earth for your beautiful birthday in Heaven. Remember saying this in the pre-Sunday School service at Central?

Yes, indeed I do remember the whole church reciting the verse as those with birthdays that week went forward and deposited their offering in a little plastic bank during each week's Sunday school opening assembly. Wow, I wonder if anyone reading this goes to a church where they still do that!

My birthday celebration will extend one more day. The people in the magazines group at Standard are taking me to lunch tomorrow. I'll bring donuts to share with the whole office. And Jennifer's coming to town on work business and wedding business, and she wrote to say she's bringing me a present! We're saving some birthday cake to eat with her. And THAT will be the last day of my four-day birthday. 

Good Friends, Good Day

It's late, and I'm tired after a long day with good friends.

This morning we were at Terry and Shirley Wuske's place  by 9:00 to help them with their move. They decided not to move furniture today, since rain was predicted. (A good decision. It POURED, off and on, all morning and afternoon.) But the kitchen had not yet been packed. So we packed dishes and gadgets and silverware and the pantry into boxes that we drove a few doors down the street and then unloaded and unpacked and put away into drawers and cabinets at their new home. A friend brought pizza for them and their helpers at 1:00, and we were there till about 3:00.

Then we hurried home to get ready to go to dinner at Sev and Paul Friskney's place; Bill and Verna Weber were there too. 

Wonderful food. Lots and lots of laughter. A relaxing and memorable evening with good people. Evelyn had baked a chocolate pound cake, and she served it with strawberries and whipped cream after everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to me. It's nice when a birthday doesn't end in one day!

I snapped this picture of the Friskneys, Evelyn, and the Webers before we ate dinner.
 The smiles continued all evening.

Happy Birthday to Me . . .

I decided to take off work on my birthday . . . to work in the yard!
That's not all I did. I woke up at the regular time, read through the newspaper with a cup of coffee (a luxury sometimes enjoyed on Saturday), checked Facebook, ate a cup of yogurt and watched a little of the  Today show, checked Facebook some more (those birthday greetings on Facebook are great, aren't they?).
Finally got outside a little before 9:00. It was cold! I was bundled up like Nanook of the North. Tried out  my new handy-dandy Stihl edger, tried it out for more than an hour, that is. The grass growing over the edge of the sidewalk was a thicket, all up and down our driveway and along our front sidewalk. But the new edger slashed through it all, leaving piles of grass to sweep up. The clean-up took as long as the edging. My handy-dandy blower isn't nearly as handy. After 2 or 3 stints of yanking the start-up cord maybe a dozen times, it finally started, and I was able to blow away the dust and small pieces of grass after having filled half a garbage can with the big stuff. I was ready for a break--and getting hungry at 11:00, so I came in and fixed myself some scrambled eggs and toast and coffee and checked Facebook some more while I ate it. Then I settled into that easy chair in the living room . . . and fell asleep for a few minutes.
About 1:00 I was back outside, digging weeds around trees and bushes in the back yard. It doesn't sound like much, but there were a LOT of weeds in those beds, and I found a couple of perennials that needed to be moved. So I was still at it about 4:30 when Evelyn got home from work.
Hopped in the shower so we could leave for our special birthday dinner at Ember's, a wonderful restaurant in Kenwood. I had a Groupon I was saving for a special occasion, and we decided this was it.
Ember's specializes in steaks, and I had the pan-seared 6-ounce filet mignon--tasty with mushrooms and onions and gnocchi. Evelyn had the sea bass, over pasta with artichokes and tomatoes. I had a taste, and it was yummy; my steak melted in my mouth, really. We split the Asian egg rolls and the chopped salad, and the restaurant comped us dessert since it was my birthday. Every bite of the whole meal was great.

The waitress snapped our picture when the creme brulee came. That's an "Embers" cookie resting on top of it.

After that we stopped by Old Navy to use a 20%-off coupon we had found on Facebook, then to Macy's where I picked out an immersion blender that Evelyn said she'd give me for my birthday. Then, the major accomplishment of the evening--a swing through Dillard's resulting in TWO mother-of-the-bride dress possibilities in our proud possession. Either of them of are much cuter than the first choice.
Evelyn's going to try them on for Jennifer when she's in town next week.
Not a typical birthday, but all in all, a very pleasant one!

My Birthday Is Tomorrow . . .

My birthday is tomorrow, but the Facebook greetings have already started coming. Isn't it fun? I said last year one of the best things about Facebook is getting all those birthday wishes from people I wouldn't hear from any other way.
I guessing, however, that no greeting--or card, or gift--will make me smile as much as the post on my timeline from our "adopted" daughter, Wendy Wagoner. She's serving with CMF in Tanzania, and she just finished language school in another part of the country. A friend met here there, and they went to see the gorillas in Rwanda before making the trek across the Serengeti back to her home in Arusha. She has some remarkable pictures on her Facebook page, and she chose one of them just for me . . .

The greeting? "Happy birthday from me, Milo (her dog), and Murphy!" Wendy asked me if I wanted a gorilla for my birthday. I told her it would probably cost too much to ship. The picture is the next best thing, though, and one genuine smile in the day.