Cristi Berning has agreed to be the Director of the Reach & Teach Children's Program. We had talked with her about being the director through the VISTA program and she said "no. I want to trust God for provision and not the government." Cristi will work into the kids programs and take a lot of that responsibility off of Meredith and I. WELCOME ABOARD CRISTI
Last week was a good…no…a great week. We had over 80 kids during the tutoring sessions and 8 girls showed up for Purity Plus on Tuesday afternoon. The kids are starting to get anxious for the end of school and they all seemed to have a little extra energy, man, if I had energy like that…no telling what all I could get done. The Wednesday night 180 group is gowing together in amazing ways. The moms are opening and sharing more each week. Last week we spent quite a bit of time talking about personal responsibility and not blaming others for bad decisions. The conversations got a little heated now and then, but noone ever said growth would be easy. This weekend Meredith and I attended a Worship Renewal Conference held here in Franklin called Stream Franklin. It was good for both of us to just take some time and get re-energized. On Saturday afternoon they showed the AtG video and interviewed us about what moved us to start AtG. It is so cool being able to encourage others to follow Christ with reckless abandon. We left the conference a little early Saturday and took a group of 20 kids and volunteers to the Nashville Kats Arena Football game. We ate a lot of pizza at Cee Cee's and had a great time. Overall it was a great week and we both realize how blessed we are to be able to do what we do.
Last night Meredith and I were part of one of the coolest things I have seen. The "ONE" unity event was a coming together of three churches that have historically been seperated. The Church of Christ and the Independant Christian Church divided about 100 years ago. Last night, Franklin Christian Church, Harpeth Community Church and Fourth Avenue Church of Christ came together to worship. This was a kickoff event for a service project that the three churches are going to do together, serviing in the community. They asked us to be a part of the service project and to help introduce them into the community. I got chills at the end of the service when the worship teams from all three churches sang "How Great is Our God" together. It was awesome to see.
Well we had a pretty good week. Monday, Wednesday and Thursdays tutoring sessions had nearly 80 kids and we had to cancel Tuesday's Purity Plus group because Meredith was in court with one of our moms. Speaking of that, Congratulations to Michelle for making the hard choices and taking the steps necessary to get custody of Dillon. She is doing a great job and we are all very proud of her. The 180 program on Wednesday night was one of the best meetings we have had. The ladies are beginning to really feel comfortable in the group and they are starting to trust each other. Feeling safe and trusting those around you allows them to open up and share some incredibly painful and personal memories. There were quite a few tears that were shed, but it is awesome to see them releasing stuff that they have kept hidden for years. This week is going to be busy. a unity service that we are part of tonight, 4 tutoring sessions with the kids, the 180 program, a Board Meeting, a Spiritual Renewal Seminar this weekend and taking kids to the Nashville Kats game on Saturday night. We also have a lot of prep work to do this week for the Golf Scramble and a Newsletter to finish printing and get in the mail. Have a great week nad keep us in your prayers.