Good Family Stuff

We appreciate your continued prayers for our family as we adjust to three children and being up at night with Sara. All in all, things are going very well. We are definitely tired, Trish has her hands REAL full during the day, and nights are long. But, God is giving strength on a "just in time basis", we have been able to continue moving ministry forward, and God has seemed to even sweeten our love for our children with Sara's addition. It is amazing how you can be more tired...but God strengthens an already deep love and appreciation in your heart for your children. We have much to be thankful for!

Good Growth on Sundays

We're praising God for positive movement in the growth of our team and group in our Sunday a.m. gatherings. Two weeks ago, we had our highest "attendance" at 20. Other positive developments include:

• An old friend from Martinsburg, PA, Beth Yoder, drove all the way to Columbus (10 hours -round trip!) just to lead our children on April 13. This was a great help and blessing to our team and our family. Praise God for this gift!
  
• Doug and Stephanie have been joining us regularly and Stephanie volunteered to lead our children this past Sunday. They first heard about ClearView via door hangers we hung in their neighborhood in March.
• My sister, Katie, has moved to Columbus from Georgia. She is a positive addition not only to our team, but a huge help in our home as well. She's living with us while she gets on her feet here and finds a job. Please pray she'll find the right opportunity.
• God has led us to at least 3 different people that are willing to help on short-term stints in the area of leading worship. Aaron and Holly Jones helped us this past weekend, and David Emch will be with us this week. What a blessing to have this area covered on these weeks. Pray that God would lead us to the right worship leader that would commit to ClearView on a long-term basis.
• Cherylin, a young lady that moved to Columbus from the Cleveland area a year ago, has been joining us faithfully and seems excited about ClearView. We knew her family from our previous church in Macedonia. I ran into Cherylin "by chance" at Panera Bread and invited her to join us.
• Gary and Mesarat, our faithful teammates of over 1 year, remain active and committed. We're so thankful for their steady and positive influence in our ministry.
• Anne and Patrick, long-term friends that live in central Columbus, have volunteered to come at least twice a month to boost our momentum and be an encouragement. That's a great blessing as friendly faces are a huge boost and provide energy to our group.
• This Sunday, we'll finish a 3-part message series called "Simple". We've been looking at what Jesus really asks of genuine Christ-followers... He asks us to follow, believe, and obey. I've enjoyed getting back into an (abbreviated) routine of study and communication on Sunday mornings.

Thanks for praying for our gatherings. I know many of you are praying each week that God would bring new families to our worship experience. Teammates continue to be our most pressing need. Please keep praying for new faces and that people would respond to our outreach efforts. There are several families praying about joining our team (that we know of) and we are inviting many people each week. We're simply asking God to bring us the right people to move us towards a healthy "launch" this Fall. We're asking for a miracle only God can do...and thankful that you're joining us in praying for God's movement.

Happy Birthday, Trish!

We enjoyed celebrating Trish's birthday (4/29) this week! I praise God for my good wife, ministry partner, and great mom of our kids!

Important Interactions This Weekend

Please pray for the following this weekend (April 18...):

• Tonight we're hosting a family for dinner that we want to connect with relationally and do "the big ask"-- ask them about joining our launch team. Pray that our hearts would be connected around friendship and there would be a sense of desiring mission together.
• Tomorrow is Seth's second soccer game this spring. Pray for good connections with families on the soccer field.
• Sunday is our weekly worship gathering. Pray that someone unexpected would come and/or that someone would respond to the door hangers I have been hanging this week.
• Sunday night we are meeting (for the first time) a family I've been talking to about joining our team. The husband of this couple is interested in pursuing full-time ministry with an emphasis in leading worship. This could be enormous for ClearView if God is leading in this way. Pray for relational connection, a sense of shared mission, and wisdom from God on how to proceed.

I live every day with the realization that God could significantly boost our movement with a few "small" miracles. I know that your prayers are a part of these miracles becoming reality.

ClearView Serves at the Y's Healthy Kids Day

We enjoyed serving free water and balloons to families, vendors, and YMCA staff at the Gahanna YMCA's Healthy Kids Day on April 12. This was a great chance to connect with numerous families. We were able to have several good conversations with people about ClearView, strength our relationship with the YMCA and its staff, and meet many new people.

In addition to these positives, my favorite aspect about the day was the opportunity to connect with people that served WITH us. Stephanie and her daughter Delaney came and helped blow up balloons. We're praying Stephanie and her husband Doug will consider joining our team. They are coming over for dinner this Friday (4/18)...so pray with us that we might be able to make a positive connection with them!

I was also encouraged by my interactions and conversations with two ladies that came to help us from the Pataskala GBC, Cheri and Melinda. Cheri saw a bulletin insert that their pastor, Fenton McDonald, was gracious enough to run about ClearView and Cheri e-mailed me several weeks ago asking how she and her 6-8 grade group of girls could help us out. What a joy to have Cheri and one of the girls she has mentored help us with balloons and greeting people. Cheri and I had a particularly stimulating conversation about what it means for a church to be missional- going where people are and finding ways to share the love and hope of Jesus in practical ways.

Finally, I got to spend some time with Mark. Mark is a great guy that has helped at events before. I always enjoy talking with him and getting to know him better. Pray we could encourage him and that there might be someway that God would work it out for Mark to join our team.

Please pray that God would bring "much fruit that will last" from seeds sown at the YMCA on April 12. Our hope is that people will remember smile, a water, a balloon, a logo, or a website...and check out partnership opportunities with us. Pray that God would build our team and use us to impact people's lives for Jesus in northeastern Franklin County.

Seth Scores His First Goal...

It was a moment I'll never forget. I'm standing on the field coaching our team of 5-year olds. It is a cold, spring day. Seth is playing in his second season and enjoying himself and doing much better on the field than last fall. He's playing more aggressive. I'm trying to coach everyone, but am much more interested in Seth getting his first goal. He came close several times, and I knew that he really wanted to experience scoring. I'm praying, "God just let that ball get through that cluster of little legs and let Seth have a chance to put it in." It happened! The ball came right to him and Seth gave a little kick, and there was his first goal! It wasn't a glamor goal...but it counted and he was so excited. I was so thankful to God for giving him the opportunity!

We had a good time connecting with other families as well. A fun morning!
One final thought that encouraged me as I thought back over the weekend. After our gathering Sunday, Trish and I were quite discouraged. Besides our family of 5, our most faithful teammates (Gary and Mesarat) were the only people there. It is easy to get frustrated with God and people and feel that our aggressive outreach efforts seem to be fruitless. We were genuinely disappointed at Sunday's turn out. If I'm not careful, I start to question whether God is for us and why He (seemingly) doesn't answer our prayers for growth.

But, God gave me another picture. God isn't against us. He may not be answering our prayers in the time or way we want or expect...but He is for us. He might even be looking down on His children in our church planting efforts like I was watching Seth on the soccer field. I wanted so badly for Seth to experience something good...what I thought was best for him. I don't know why God isn't working in certain ways, but I do know that He watches us and roots for us as a loving parent. He wants and knows what is best for us. I have to trust His plan is perfect.

Breakthrough!

I'm praising God for a phone call from a woman that attended one of our gatherings a few weeks ago. Today I have been calling/e-mailing around to try and secure people to help me tomorrow as we serve at the YMCA's Healthy Kids Day (ClearView is giving out free balloons and water to estimated 2-300 families). I e-mailed Stephanie inquiring if she and her family would be willing to help. She called to say that they would be glad to!

Praise God! Pray that this time serving people together would bond their family to ClearView's vision and purpose and they might pray about joining our team. God is working!

Please pray this weekend...

Sorry for the delays in posting. Our internet has been down most of this week. Will make for a good sermon illustration this Sunday when we look at John 15 and the advantages of connection to Christ! :)

Please pray with us this weekend...

• Seth's first soccer game is this Saturday. Pray for a fun time for Seth and great connections for our family with 7 other families.
• Saturday afternoon, ClearView is serving at Gahanna YMCA's Healthy Kids Day. We're handing out free water and balloons to the estimated 2-300 families that will participate. Pray for great contacts with searching people...and that God would continue to lead us to teammates.
• Sunday... please pray that God would add teammates to our team to get us to the next level (out of our house!). We really need 3 more families to meet this goal. We are asking God to breakthrough and lead families to respond to the thousands of invites we have given out in the last 3-4 months.
• Pray for our family (and especially Trish as she is working with active kids) as busy weekends like this are challenges. We're excited about the opportunities...but also want to try and maintain cohesion in our family.
• Pray for Trish and I as we are tired. We are enjoying Sara and feel like transitions are going better than expected. Yet, busyness has a way of making you feel even more tired...and sleep is not at a premium right now! God is with us, I sense it, and we appreciate your continued prayers.

All right... enough drivel... I know you are really on the blog looking for more pictures. I aim to please! :)

We're Home!

Trish and Sara came home yesterday (4/2) and are doing well. Trish feels hour-by-hour improvement and is feeling stronger and less pain. Sara is sleeping a lot, eating well, and all plumbing seems to be working. She saw the pediatrician today and everything checked out. We're praising God and enjoying having our little girl home.

Seth and Silas are with Grandma and Grandpa in Mansfield until tomorrow and then life will really change as they come home and we all settle in! Thanks for your prayers and notes of encouragement. We have so much to praise and thank God for.

She's Here!

We're excited to praise God and share with you the good news: Sara Grace Wirt arrived last evening (Monday, 3/31) at 10:25p. Our beautiful, healthy baby girl weighed in at 7.6lbs and was 20.5 inches long. Trish did great through the challenges of labor and delivery and is recovering well. Please continue to pray for her as she deals with the pain of recovery.

We have enjoyed some of those post-birth moments when Sara is awake, alert, and locked in on Mom and Dad's eyes. What a precious time of getting to know this new little life and blessing God has given us.

Grandma and Grandpa Botdorf, who are watching the boys for us most of this week (THANKS Mom and Dad!), came by today with Sara's big brothers. Seth and Silas were fascinated and very gentle. Trish and I are excited (and a bit anxious- if we're honest) about how we're going to put it all together at home with this new blessing. But, we're committed to enjoying the moments, celebrating God's blessings, taking one day at a time, and looking for strength in the Lord.

Praise God! Thank you so much for praying for Trish and Sara during this process. Please keep praying...

• For Trish's recovery
• For God's wisdom to us as new parents and as we lead our family through adjustments
• For God to be glorified in our interactions with hospital staff and as we celebrate Sara's arrival with the network of contacts we've developed in our community over the last year.