New High!

I want to give a HUGE public praise to God for the attendance at our worship gathering this morning. 40 people joined us at the YMCA (our second Sunday there) for worship, teaching, and fellowship. A few special notes:

• 2 ladies came that received an invitation from some Driven Conference participants.
• 1 couple came due to an invitation they received from a woman that attended Driven. These ladies work together in Gahanna.
• Several friends we've been inviting came to visit for the first time.
• Several well-wishers from other churches came to see what we were up to at the YMCA.

All in all it was a great morning. Guest worship leader, John Ward, did a great job; kids loved the children's ministry; people enjoyed meeting new friends; and people seemed to connect to the teaching from John 8:1-11.

As you finish reading this post, would you just take time to praise God for the favor He showed us today? Please pray we'd be wise in follow-up and that God would assimilate some of those there today onto our Launch Team. Thanks for praying with us. God is moving...

Fantastic 4th!

It is hard for me to even summarize all my thoughts about God's work through our July4th ministries in New Albany. God was present in such a real way, so many prayers were answered, and hundreds (maybe thousands) of lives were impacted. It would probably be best for me to just walk through the events of the day as briefly as possible.

We started at 9a, with about 7 of our ClearView teammates helping the New Albany Events Board organize parade participants as they arrived. We helped entrants find their place in the parade formation, helped with traffic control, and got our own group in the right place and ready to walk in the parade. Cherylin and Beth helped people get oriented, David ended up being one of the marshals along the parade route, I got to play traffic cop for an hour (a great way to meet people! :), and Doug and Stephanie ended up carrying the lead banner through the parade (complete with ClearView t-shirts!). This all was an amazing opportunity to connect with the Event Board staff. They raved about our people and what a great help we were to the day.

After helping to set up the parade, our team and friends then enjoyed walking the parade route as part of the parade. We carried our new banner advertising our gathering time at the YMCA (see picture at top of page), handed out hundreds of communication pieces about ClearView, gave out over 1300 4th of July themed super-balls to kids, and 1,000 pieces of 4th of July candy. This was a great opportunity to connect with new people and people we have met in the past. There were several times throughout the weekend where people commented on our involvement in the parades and community activities. New Albany residents our beginning to know who we are and that we love the community and want to serve people in practical ways. How exciting.

God saved the best part of the day for last. Through our growing partnership with the New Albany Events Board, ClearView's booth was the main attraction for children at the pre-fireworks festival. God led us to plan big and it is a good thing we did. Here are some of the amazing stats. and ways God worked in the 3 hour festival:

• We gave out over 500 balloons and went through over a full tank of helium
• 4 ClearView team members/friends painted faces non-stop. The line outside of our tent for face-painting was a constant 50 people deep.
• 2 ClearView team members/friends went through over 40 cans of colored hair spray (see model, Seth).
• 2 ClearView friends put on 4th of July related tattoos on kids for almost 3 hours.
  
• Hundreds of kids enjoyed making simple crafts we provided (beaded bracelets, coloring flags, 4th of July sticker projects, etc.)

All in all, we loved on over 500 kids and their families, had countless positive interactions with families, and accomplished the first part of our mission (loving people!) in Jesus' name.

My heart was overfilled with praise to God for this amazing outpouring of His grace on us. A few musings:

• Last year our family attended the parade and pre-fireworks festival. I remember being amazed by the thousands of people that enjoyed these events and wondering "how do we get involved here and impact all of these people?" Fast forward one year... not only did God give us the favor to be involved in these events...He allowed us to be integral in their success.
• A major highlight and breakthrough for me came in the form of strong indication that we are penetrating New Albany. While the parade was setting up, Ron, the Events Board chair, pulled me aside and invited me to join the board. What a miracle. Since we moved here 15 months ago, I've been praying and looking for God's direction in how to break into a community like New Albany. Here it is. The Events Board is filled with influential people and the events they plan are the times during the year when the most people from the community are gathered. Being invited onto their team is a huge victory of God and an open door for influence with the influencers in our affluent community.
• Our relationships with people are deepening. One story involves one of the friendliest people I have ever met. We met at the pool last year and renewed conversations this year. We saw this woman on the evening of July 4th, and Trish was able to have a significant extended conversation with her. She shared deep struggles in her life and she and Trish were able to connect at a personal level.
• God supplied help to us for these events in supernatural ways. Our team is stepping up huge to help make these things happen. However, with several of our families out of town for the holiday weekend, and such large projects undertaken... we needed significant help from people outside of our team. In an amazing miracle, God brought 10 people to help on Friday evening...some of whom I had just met the weekend before at Driven...some of whom I had never met before! There is no way Friday night's ministries could have happened without these new friends!

What a day. My dad, as I was relaying the events of the day to him, summed our 4th of July well. He said, "Sounds like God is really answering prayer." Yep! Praise God!

ClearView Moves Into The YMCA!

It has been a LONG time in coming, but this past Sunday we enjoyed our first worship gathering at the Gahanna YMCA! What a joy it was to utilize this new space and fantastic facility. It was great to see our team arrive early, work together, and be done setting up in under 15 minutes! This is such an ideal facility for us to meet in... it's affordable (about $125/week!), visible in our target communities, has dedicated children's areas already set up for what we need, there is plenty of space, and chairs and tables are already present. All we have to do is arrange some things, bring in signage, and eventually we'll need to find/buy an audio/visual system. Would you join me in praising God for this great facility!

The challenge now becomes filling up the space! Would you pray with us that God would fill our empty chairs? Pray that

• God would bless our outreach efforts,
  
• That we would see people come to know Jesus,
  
• That people that have said they would come see us at the YMCA would,
  
• That we would effectively serve and love the staff and board of the YMCA (picture at right is me with YMCA Ex. Dir. Chris Angellatta),
  
• and that God would lead us to teammates.

Thanks!

Some Godworks For July 4th!

I'm stoked (not a word I usually use...and probably too outdated to be "cool"...but its how I feel so seemed appropriate!) about Friday (July 4th). In short, ClearView is walking in New Albany's parade that a.m. and serving at the pre-fireworks festival that evening. This is New Albany's largest annual event and event planners are estimating 20,000-30,000 people in the town center area that evening.

Some praise notes:

• God is bringing together plenty of help for our efforts. I was concerned about this because several of our families are out of town. But, our team is stepping up to the plate big-time and God is bringing new friends to us that are willing to help...some that I just met at Driven this past weekend. Amazing.
• We have the opportunity to serve our city while communicating about ClearView. We will be loaning out 5 people to events planners to help organize the parade participants that morning AND I just found out that two of our people will have the opportunity to carry the LEAD New Albany banner along the parade route! It has been so fun to serve those in charge of these events. They are not accustomed to people offering to serve unsolicited...I love that we can do that and meet a need in Jesus' name.
• We'll be one of the main attractions for kids and families at the festival that runs before the fireworks. We have some free giveaways and will be doing face-painting, tattoos, colored hair spray, crafts, etc. Should be fun and a GREAT opportunity to interact with many families.

God has truly given us favor in the lead up to this big day. I praise Him for this. My heart is full of thanksgiving. Would you pray God would use us to touch many lives for Jesus and lead us to teammates?

Movement In Teammate Area?

You're tired of hearing me ask for prayer for teammates. I understand! But, I just talked to our team about praying persistently this weekend (see Luke 11:5-11)... so I better keep at it.

I've learned to be slow to think I can put my finger on what God is doing in building our team. It is an intricate process fraught with ups and downs. God is working on His time table and perfect blending of people. I have learned that its not up to me what happens or WHEN it happens.

However, I sense, over the last 6 weeks or so, God is up to something. There is more interest in and awareness of ClearView than ever. This is true among churched and unchurched people in our area. More Grace Brethren people in our community now (finally) know we're here. Our friendships are growing with other believers that we can network through to find teammates. And, we've made more contacts with people that Jesus loves that don't yet know Him than in any period of our (short) history. There are people out there thinking and praying about teaming with us... I can sense it.

Please pray that God would draw people to us that He's appointed to our work. To paraphrase Matthew 9:37-38...The "harvest" truly is great...and the workers truly are few. Pray to the Lord who is in charge of drawing people in northeastern Franklin County to Himself and ask Him to to send out more workers for His fields. By God's grace, those He brings to us will work in His fields. We just need to see God move to gather His team.

"Big Give" Turns Out HUGE For ClearView!

I was elated on Saturday (6/28) as 56 participants from the Driven Conference assisted ClearView with contact making in the New Albany and Gahanna areas. In a nut shell, the concept was this: each person was given $10, formed into groups of 5, and then each group was challenged to creatively invest their collective $50 to make as many contacts for ClearView as possible.

I'll be honest... I didn't expect that many of these fantastic young adults to participate. This event was held during their afternoon free time, and they could have just as easily headed to the gym, took a nap, or enjoyed some time with new friends. Yet, in the end, most of the conference participants served in the Big Give in some way. Groups decided on their own what to do- some bought water, others Popsicles, one group even included some treats for dogs. Then they found places where people were gathered (ball parks, shopping centers, YMCA, etc.), smiled, and gave out the free stuff with ClearView information attached.

I had the privilege of hearing their stories when they returned. I praised God as I heard stories of groups that worked as a team, people that persevered when they were persecuted, and young people that stepped out of their comfort zone. Some groups were able to pray with people they encountered and many, many people were blessed. I'm sure at least 500 ClearView info. pieces were given out!

I was blessed to interact with these young people and so excited about their work for Jesus and ClearView in our community. Two neat stories:

1. I got a note from one of my friends and contacts at the YMCA sharing about how blessed they were to have one of the Big Give groups there washing windows and taking out trash, etc. I've been sharing Jesus with this friend and it was so neat to hear his excitement over these young people.
2. Another group was buying ice cream for people in downtown New Albany. They ended up buying a cone for the neighbors that live behind us. I've shared Jesus with the husband of this family and the daughter was impacted by our Bible Club last year. We've been inviting them repeatedly to our gatherings. It was so great to have them blessed by someone else as well!
   

Praise God for the Big Give. Please pray that this effort would translate into guests at our first few gatherings at the YMCA (beginning this Sunday, July 6) and that God would continue to form ClearView's launch team.

The "Big Give" Comes To The New Albany Area

Be praying this Saturday... A group of young adults from the Driven Conference are going to be coming over to the New Albany area for the "Big Give". In a nut shell, each participant will be given $10, grouped into teams of five, and each team will be challenged to invest their collective $50 to impact as many people and make as many contacts for ClearView as they can.

Pray for great experiences for each participant and that God would lead them to bless people in Jesus' name in our community. Pray for positive contacts for ClearView.

For more information, click here.

ClearView At Creekside!

Gahanna's Creekside Blues and Jazz Festival is Gahanna's largest annual event with an estimated 50,000 people enjoying great music, food, and vendors throughout the third weekend in June. I'd been praying about how to be involved and communicate about ClearView with this huge audience. God answered this prayer when I found out about the Gahanna Area Chamber of Commerce's Business To Consumer Expo. held this past Saturday afternoon from 12-6p.

ClearView set up a booth and had a great time interacting with hundreds of people. I was able to meet and communicate about ClearView with many people and connect with some previous contacts. There was great excitement among several people about a new church in the area and God allowed me to talk with several families that are looking for a church. It was thrilling to be able to invite people to the YMCA for our first gathering there on July 6th. I'm hoping this will enhance our ability to attract people and be able to connect with people for the first time.

Of special note: God gave me the opportunity to further our relationship with the Chamber's leadership team by sharing our helium tanks with them.

Please pray that God leads these contacts to check out one of our gatherings and join our team. Thanks!

New High!

Praise God for 25 people at ClearView's worship gathering (in our home) on 6/1!

Please pray for our group as we have our first official Launch Team planning meeting next Sunday 6/8. We're excited to communicate vision, share our strategy/process, invite involvement, and get input from our group on strategic decisions we must make in coming months as we move toward a "Grand Opening" this October. Pray for each family to be able to attend and other guests to come and just check out what we're doing.

We Need Miracle-Grow

I've been dreaming about a goofy, but hopefully effective, summer prayer campaign.

I just (finally!) finished the spring landscaping at our house. I made the mistake of planting way too many small, weak, begonias. I should have bought fewer flowers and invested in bigger, healthier plants. I'm left with some tiny sprouts that are going to struggle without just the right light, water, and hefty doses of MIRACLE GRO throughout the summer.

It didn't take long for my bright mind (?) to make the connection between these beautiful little flowers and ClearView Church. These small plants have much potential to be spectacular with the right care and some MIRACLE GRO. Without the right care and fertilizer, they'll wilt under hot sun and the little feet of two young boys tramping all over them. Like these begonias, ClearView has a start, is growing, is seeing God move, and has much potential. But, we also need a healthy dose of MIRACLE-GROW this summer.

Would you pray with us for Ephesians 3:20 type miracles? Specifically, pray:

• that God would provide us with the right worship leader.
• that God would help us build a great children's ministry.
• that God would lead us to the right location for worship gatherings.
  
• that God would bring us a family from New Albany in June.
• that God would bring us a family from Gahanna June.
• that God would add 50 people to our team by end of September.
• that God would bless our extensive outreach efforts with the fruit of teammates and changed lives.

Answers to these prayers will all be miracles. We need God to dump His magic formula all over us. Certainly He is able. We'll, with you, give Him the glory. Please pray for miracle growth and that God would put the right pieces in place to move us toward a healthy launch this October.

This Made My Day

I was encouraged Wednesday by the opening line of an e-mail I received from the vice president of New Albany's Events Board. I've been corresponding with her about the July 4th parade and ClearView's involvement. She opened her note with:

Hi Andy,
The relationship between the New Albany Community Events and ClearView Church is one that we wish to happily continue.

Praise God for the favor He has given us with key leaders and community organizations! Pray with me that this translates into people loved to Jesus.

Great News!

Yesterday's lunch meeting was a good one! I met with a family that has prayed with us and is now communicating that they are excited to join ClearView's team. Wow... God is good. This is a huge victory for us and a miracle-level answer to prayer!

Those of you who know me might find this amusing. If you know me, you know I'm pretty reserved (to put in mildly). So, as Trish and were talking about this meeting before it took place, she asked, "How are you going to react if they say 'Yes'.?" She was encouraging me to be sure and show my excitement (which is genuine).

So, when our new friends said "Yes," I made a point to get out of my seat and jump up and down right there in the restaurant. :) Praise God!

Pray for more...

Great, Great Weekend!

God came through for us big-time this past weekend. Thanks for praying! ClearView participated in the New Albany Founder's Day celebration by marching in the parade and running a booth at the festival. Highlights included:

• Many good conversations. We were able to share about who we are and what we are doing with several curious/seeking families. We were able to make good connections with other believers that could be sources for referrals.
• We put smiles on many faces. Our objective was simple- put smiles on faces and associate the smiles with ClearView Church. I believe Jesus was pleased today as we ministered to hundreds, maybe more than a thousand, people.
• We gave away all 750 of our ClearView logo Frisbees before the parade was two-thirds over. We should have brought about 1200! It was fun to see kids scrambling all over the parade route to grab one! We had something everyone wanted! There was only one casualty (woman getting hit...buy one of our ADULTS tossing one after telling the kids not to!).
• We had GREAT ownership from our team and friends in helping during the parade and at our both. Friends drove all the way from PA and Cleveland to help paint faces. These two ladies sat in a chair for 5 hours and painted hundreds of faces. The line for face painting was almost always about 15 kids deep. Friends also came from Northwest Chapel and Polaris GBC to help during the parade. And, our teammates showed up big-time and pitched in to help with smiles. My sister and mom helped with our kids so Trish and I could serve during the day. I was pleased.
• We painted hundreds of faces and gave away hundreds of balloons.
• We were able to make many repeat contacts (seeing people we've initiated relationships with from other venues (festivals, pre-school, etc.) and further conversations.

All in all Saturday was a great day. Praise God. Please pray that these contacts would translate into 1) people we can minister to and/0r 2) teammates. Thanks for praying.

To top it off, Sunday we had our highest ever attendance at our home for our worship gathering (24). We're excited to see new faces and praying we can gain another family or two for our next milestone moving towards public launch this fall- getting out of our house and into a rented facility. Praise God for movement!

And, the best for last, Sunday night, Trish and I were able to go out to dinner to celebrate our 11-year wedding anniversary. It was fun to talk and dream together about what year 12 of our marriage could hold. Thanks, my best friend, for your steadfastness in our journey. Our dreams for our family or our ministry would never be reality without your hard work and perseverance!

Founder's Day

Pray for us this Saturday, May 17. We'll be walking in the Founder's Day parade and handing out 750 cool frisbees to children and a new communication card to adults (see above). Then we'll man a vendor's booth during the Founder's Day Festival and offer free balloons and face painting. Pray for positive interactions and team building opportunities.

Update To NCO Ministerium

Today I shared a 10-minuted update on ClearView with my fellow GBC pastors in our district. I thought some of you might be interested as it provides a bit of a window into my heart about where we are at today. Here's the manuscript I used in preparation (minus a few names taken out for privacy). Thanks for your interest!

Recently, I’ve done a lot of thinking and soul-searching about why we’re doing what we’re doing. In this process, God keeps directing my mind to faces of people...faces of people I’ve come to love and care for as I follow God down the bumpy road of church-planting. My wife and I took this faith step with the desire to reach people for Christ. That passion is what keeps us moving forward.

ClearView Church exists to reach.... ....is in a management position at the local organization and is one of the most gifted networkers I have ever met. As our friendship has grown, I’ve learned that he has studied many religions and knows quite a bit about Jesus and the Bible. He just doesn’t believe...

I’m excited about ClearView Church because it is being planted to reach Carolyn. She’s a good mom and key influencer of ladies in our neighborhood. While our kids were playing together one day, I learned that to her, organized religion is a farce and the Bible is unreliable.

ClearView exists because of the Maurice’s of the New Albany area. Maurice is an extremely friendly, intelligent Ohio State professor. He’s also a Sufi... an adherent to an offshoot of Islam. As we’ve eaten breakfast together several times, he’s shared how the Bible is a great source of inspiration but of little value when it comes to Absolute Truth.

I’m excited about ClearView Church because it’s being planted to reach Joan. I met Joan while watching my 5-year-old, Seth, taking swimming lessons. She’s a friendly, sweet lady. She believes that Jesus lived but that it’s impossible He could have been anything more than a admirable man.

ClearView Church is needed in northeastern Franklin County because of the 40 homes on my street, of which I’ve met and talked with every family except 1, there are only 3 families that regularly attend church.

I’m excited about ClearView Church because, even though some of Columbus’ largest churches are in our target area, no church plays a significant, discernible role in the cultural or religious fabric of the communities we are trying to reach. Despite the handful of mega-churches within a few miles of us, most people that I meet (like the 6 I mentioned above) don’t have a commitment to a local church or, more importantly, a relationship to Jesus.

I see a need for ClearView Church because as we’ve served coffee on voting days, or participated in community events and festivals, or as I’ve participated in Chamber of Commerce networking functions- ClearView is the only church present where thousands of unchurched people are.

Two years ago, God began building a passion in my heart. It was to be able to echo Paul’s words in Acts 20:22-24:

22 “And now I am bound by the Spirit[a] to go to Jerusalem. I don’t know what awaits me, 23 except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead. 24 But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.

I want to finish the work that I believe God has assigned to me-- the work of loving...Carolyn, Maurice, Bobby, Jamie, Joan and thousands of others to a clear view of Jesus and His love and grace. In 5 or 10 years, I dream of looking out on an audience where ...’s and Carolyn’s are now Jesus-followers. They're in community with other believers. Their lives have been transformed. They’re now missionaries to their own spheres of influence. They are making a tangible difference in the community by being the church where people are already gathered. They are planting churches or resourcing church plants in some way.

I believe God is laying the foundation for something special in northeastern Franklin County. He may be laying it slowly, but it is solid. We have a clear calling and a good strategic plan. We have almost 400 people around the world praying with us. We’ve integrated ourselves into the fabric of the community through coaching soccer, Chamber of Commerce activities in Gahanna and New Albany, bi-vocational work, our children’s activities, neighborhood ministries, etc. We’re consistently meeting and serving many people at community activities. We have 5 family units committed to our work. In March, we started weekly Sunday gatherings in our home. These have been going well and are a time of visionizing, worship, teaching, and team-building.

Our hope is to gather one or two more families and then find a public place to rent for weekly gatherings. We’re asking God to provide 40-50 people for our team in order for us to be ready for “Grand Opening” services in October.

Today, I humbly but boldly ask for your help. As my sons (5 and 2) were in the car last night, 2 fire engines sped past with lights and sirens blaring. This is big stuff to my boys. A word picture hit me as I was thinking about this morning and trying to explain to them why two Plain Township (New Albany) trucks were rumbling through a Columbus jurisdiction. I explained that there must be a big fire somewhere- something big enough that Columbus fire had to call for help from another squad.

Think of me as a brother, better yet- a co-laborer, calling you in as another squad today. To me, the vision is compelling. The need is clearly discernible. A good plan is in place. Foundational work has been done. This being said, we’re a start-from-scratch work. The next few months are critical for us. We need people to team with us to bring this vision to reality. We’re working hard to find them, communicate the vision and need, and invite involvement. However, we’ve discovered the people that we are looking for are the proverbial “needle in the haystack” type people. Not everyone wants to plant a church.

Would you pray for us? Would you consider finding a way to communicate with your people about our work. I believe there is people that you know...or people that you know that know people... that God has appointed to help us. Would you tell them about ClearView?

Relay For Life!

ClearView had a strong team and showing at Gahanna's Relay For Life last Friday (5/9). Despite cold rain, we were able to personally give out a few hundred bottles of water and leave a few hundred more for people to grab throughout the event (it was an all-night event). Positive points were:

• Getting involved in a key event in Gahanna (one of our first in this community).
• Seeing some new teammates assist us in serving others.
• Positive interactions with several people.

Thanks for praying. Please pray that God would use this positive impression and translate it into spiritual movement in people's lives.

What Seems Like A Bad Day Could Just Be Bad Perspective

Yesterday stunk. I'd like to use stronger language than that...but this is a prayer blog! :) Here's a taste:

• In the early a.m., I found out I would not be paid (as I had been told earlier that I would) for the 40 hours or so I had put into being trained as a bus driver. Trish and I were counting on this money for bills and some extra things we want... but we'll leave that up to God.
• Later, I received some feedback from an influential person in my life that was less than positive about my giftedness for church planting and potential to gather people and communicate a compelling vision for people to buy into. In this person's opinion, we would have seen more growth at this point in our work if I were a more gifted leader. Wow... hard to hear. True? Maybe. All I can do is keep moving forward in the calling God has given me and trust God to overcome my shortcomings with His power and grace. Thank God for Romans 8:26 and 2 Corinthians 12:9. I'm stinging from the hurt of this conversation, but trying to find the learning points and asking God for miracles. Pray for discernment.
• Post this conversation, the bill for Sara's stay in the hospital (at birth) arrived. Enough said!
• Finally, to top it all off, Seth's soccer team lost their first (and last) game last night. This is 4-5 yr. old level, not the world cup. So, nothing earth shattering, but still disappointing.

Here's the point: as I processed yesterday, and was feeling a little sorry for myself, God put me in front of FoxNews.com and pictures of the devastation in China (following the earthquake). I saw pictures of people who had lost their lives. Pictures of people who's loved ones were missing. Pictures of mothers clinging to dead children.

My day was nothing compared to this level of suffering. Our work seems hard...but not like that. I have a wonderful family. God is working around us. I have hope for eternity. I'm blessed to live in America. I have much to be thankful for. God is good. One way that He is good is shifting my attention off myself and to others- praying for victims... for comfort, for provision, for life, for Jesus to draw them to Himself.

I Passed!

Sorry for the long delay in communication! Life has been so busy and I'm finding little time to keep up with details like keeping the blog up to date. But, if you've been looking and wondering how things are progressing... thanks for keeping up with our life and work!

Last Thursday, by God's grace, I did pass my bus driving test! So, I'm a certified bus driver in the state of OH. As I'm learning, though, that doesn't necessarily mean you get work. I still have to wait until August to see if New Albany school system will have a position open. We'll see what God has.

Thanks for praying. After 40 hours of training, I'm finally ready to haul students in a yellow bus!

Today... you can pray for...

Some big things for us this week:

• Pray for Sara. She has had some digestive issues. Pray for healing and that we would know the best way to help her.
• Pray for me tomorrow a.m. We've been looking at sources for some bi-vocational income (to help with shortfalls now but also planning well for the future). Our criteria has been a job that allows me to be home on evenings and weekends, allows sufficient time for ministry, pays decent, and allows me to make contacts for ministry. After searching and praying a bit...we decided that I would look into driving a school bus. So, after almost 40 hours of classes and training (even though I already have a CDL from driving Operation Barnabas busses!), I'm testing tomorrow to be certified as a school bus driver. You would never imagine how much book work and skills are involved in this sort of a test- I didn't. So, I'd appreciate your prayers tomorrow a.m. that God would give me recall and skill as I'm examined.
• Pray for upcoming outreach/contact making initiatives. This Friday evening, we're giving out free water at the Gahanna/New Albany Relay For Life. Next week we'll be involved in a parade and festival in New Albany. We'll be trying out some new marketing pieces to find teammates and advertise ClearView. Please pray that we'll impact many people's lives for Jesus AND find teammates!

Thanks!

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.