April Newsletter '07

Greetings,

April has been such a busy full month (so full that I’m a day late in sending this out!). I think we’ve packed more into this month than any month this year. We found a few days to go camping with our friends, and also took almost an entire week to spend at a conference in Las Vegas. You’ll see this prayerletter full of April’s adventures, the demands of school, and some important prayer requests.

NAB in Las Vegas

Ok, so we’ve never been to Vegas before. The church sent Emily and I to the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) for their track session on Technologies for Worship. But we discovered that we’re just plain ol’ country folk who ain’t used to the Big City! At least I am! Emily loved Vegas! We got to walk down the strip, gaze through a casino, tour a “time-share,” and even see a show - The Blue Man Group (see picture).

The actual conference wasn’t quite up to my expectations, yet I did take away some valuable points to recenter ministry within church production rather than production. The trip was too intense to consider it a vacation, but having the freedom to get away with Emily and “see the sights” of Vegas was well worth it. Not sure I’ll be going back anytime soon, but I’m thankful for the experience.

You can read more about the trip HERE and check some pictures from the NAB conference HERE.

One Extreme to the Other

Well if Vegas was city extreme, then our trip camping, earlier in April, was as close as you can get to living off the land. Actually, it was a fully groomed campground with pluming and running water, so the closest we actually got to living off the land was burning the firewood that we had to buy for 10 bucks!

The best part about camping, other than getting away from Dallas, was spending the time with our friends. Matt and Sukie, and Brandon and Amanda faced the brutal outdoors with us (ok, I’ll quit with the exaggerations) . We had a wonderful time telling stories and roasting stuff on the expensive campfire. We also got to trek around the lake and get some pretty fun pictures. You can check out our camping trip pictures HERE.

Update
We are firing on all cylinders here at the end of April and the beginning of May. Emily has her Kindergarten graduation approaching and she’ll also stand up in her best friend’s wedding this coming weekend, in Ohio. I’m completely bogged down with finishing the semester and keeping all my “normal” responsibilities going as well: one more week to write and hand in papers, and then finals! We really have had a wonderful month, Easter was great - although we missed our own families, we got to spend the Lord’s day with our friends the Newtons. We haven’t heard too much from mission front, except the newest addition of Don and Molly Parvin to the CMA staff team, as they joined the ministry last month. We are so blessed and we’re thankful for friends like you to take time and interest in our lives and ministry.

Prayers and Praises
Praise that this month I received a scholarship for the fall, every little bit helps especially this coming semester as I’ll will be taking 17 credits
Praise for safe travels as we were driving through tornado winds in Texas, trucking it up for camping, and flying out into the desert to Vegas
Praise that the Lord continues to meet all of our needs and faithfully provide
Praise that I’m almost through with this semester
Praise that we were able to pay off another hefty load of credit card debt!

Please pray for Emily, I’m actually quite concerned about this. When we went camping she ended up getting hammered with poison ivy and she is still battling it. However, now I think it might have gotten into her blood stream and health issues always make me nervous so please pray for her healing - although it also might just be an simple allergy.
Also, pray for more safe travel, as Emily will be headed to Ohio for Erica’s wedding, and I’ll be headed to California for Mike’s wedding.
Here’s another request that I’m struggling to give over to the Lord: and it might sound silly, but please pray for a new computer for us. There’s a lot I do with graphic design, photography and video editing, and before we checkout to Eleuthera we really need to upgrade our current computer. But it’s expensive and we need to trust the Lord to provide, please join us in praying.
Pray for the families devastated by the horror at Virginia Tech.
Finally, please pray for us as we wrap up our respective school years: Emily with Kindergarten, and my DTS work and finals week.
Check out our answered prayer requests here: CLICK HERE.

Thank you for keeping up with us and our progress in ministry. We so value your prayers and support, and we would ask you to take a moment and pray for our journey and how you can play a part. To find out more CLICK HERE.