Take me down the the Paradise City

We packed our bags for Florida and my brother-in-law, James, told us to only pack shorts.  It was a little hard to believe, but we figured he knew what he was talking about.  We landed at the Fort Myers Airport at 11:30 and it was about 75 degrees. That's a bit of a shock considering there were snow flurries in Portland, and it was about 12 degrees when we stopped over in Denver.  It's been over 80 every day.  The picture above was from our table at the Naples Beach Club where we ate dinner a couple nights ago.  We enjoyed a great meal while watching the sun set over the Gulf of Mexico.

It's been a fabulous week, but I think we're all ready to head home.  Today is graduation day for my sister-in-law, Marty.  We'll be partying with family all day at James and Marty's place.  We started roasting a whole pig last night and it should be done in a couple of hours.  (I'll post pics of that when I get a chance...totally disgusting).  We head home tomorrow. I'll plan on wearing my jeans.

My First Week

It's been a little while since my last entry. I decided to take a couple of weeks off between Gateway and Compass in order to recharge, and rest a little. It was nice to get some extended time with my family. We're actually heading to Florida tomorrow for a week, so once I get back I'll be getting into full swing at Compass.

This was my official first week at Compass, though, and it was great to get going at a fairly reasonable pace. Especially considering the season. (I should be going crazy right now...instead I'm going to Florida.)

I got my office setup, and purchased a laptop (a MacBook Pro, totally awesome!), and worked on some graphic design stuff as well. I think most of my week has been spent in meetings.  I've gotten to know the staff and am getting a feel for how the church operates.  I think for a first week I was pretty productive. 

My favorite project right off the bat was working on promotions for our Christmas Eve Service.  We've got an amazing tattoo artist, named Mav, that created the front of our Christmas Eve Invite.  We're doing a mass mailer to our surrounding community, and made a 6'x6' banner that will hang in front of the church.  Check it out...
Another part of my first week at Compass was continuing to work on my fundraising.  We've had a couple of amazing one-time gifts, but most of the support has come in $35-$100 monthly commitments.  Right now we're at 81% of our support! Praise God, and thanks to those of you that have made a financial commitment to our ministry.  We're still in need of about $260 per month in order to reach our goal of $1500 per month.  If you're reading this blog, you're supporters.  Call, give, pray, think about us often, and if you know people that are curious about Jesus that live in West Vancouver, send them our way.