Why Anderson?

The reasons for this blog are several. 1) it is a way for family and friends to keep up with our daily activities while we are on trips or vacation. 2) it is a scrapbook of sorts for our girls to look back upon in months and years to come. 3) it is a place for me to rant (in years to come my girls will know just to ignore those parts).

It has come to my attention lately that there are a great many "pundits" writing about what makes a church good or bad. A couple of observations about them 1) most have never worked in a church a day in their lives, much less pastored one 2) no church can be successful to them - there is always a reason that they fall short in the eyes of these "pundits" as they yell their opinions from their comfortable position in the cheap seats.

I am tired of them. For me, anyone who is trying to reach people and tell them of the good news of Jesus is OK with me. They may not do it the way I would - or even the way I think they should. We may even differ on theology or philosophy of ministry. No matter - the gospel is bigger than all opinions - and those who tell the story are doing Kingdom work and I love them.

Last Christmas I bought my wife a book for Christmas.  It was called "Overwhelmed" by Perry Noble. It changed her life. I was part of the Newspring Leadership Network last year also led by Perry Noble and the Newspring Network and it changed my life.

Newspring church is here in Anderson, South Carolina. They are one of those churches that the above mentioned "pundits" love to pile on and criticize. They are a church committed to changing the world by reaching and by helping people take their step from death into life. I like them a lot and so does  Megan.

Given that this path brought us into this neighborhood it was natural that we would spend Sunday Morning at Newspring.  We can't wait to worship there!

We arrived:

We got the girls situated:

We watched people being baptized while we worshiped (double worship).

Perry delivered on of the best messages we have ever heard, and we have heard a lot.

We loved our experience at Newspring and we love this church and their mission.

We started the ride home.

We stopped for lunch. Can you guess where?

Strangely we were eating here:

We intended to shop but it didn't work out.

Next we stopped at Southpoint.

We watched a street performer

We ate

we had desert

After a good day on the road we finally made it home. Even though this boy always looks sad, he is happy indeed because he has his girls back.

We are happy to be home; but just until the next trip.