Breaking News - Rome Church Plant

(brian writing) This morning, I had a twenty minute conversation with a guy named Bryan Pierce. Who is Bryan Pierce? He is currently on staff at Perimeter Church , where Jenny and I have been members since we got married back in 2001. Perimeter is known for many things, most of them good, but the two things for which it is most widely known are its pastor Randy Pope (who is on my personal Mount Rushmore), and church planting. Perimeter has planted over a dozen churches in the Atlanta metro area, which are all PCA churches (our denomination). Their technique, tried and true, is to recruit a young buck not far out of seminary, put him on staff and through boot camp for around two years, and shove him out the door to a strategic location, predetermined by the North Georgia Presbytery, to plant a church. That brings me back to Bryan Pierce - he and his family are moving to Rome in two weeks to do that very thing here in our community. The Rome Church Plant from Perimeter is their most far reaching plant to date.

Jenny and I are pumped. Some of you know that we were inches away from moving to Berkeley, CA last year to assist a PCA church plant out there. Circumstances (i.e., MK on the way) changed that, and we came to the small town to raise her and focus on being a family. We wanted to be involved in a church plant, but just couldn't get any peace about going to CA. So, we made the decision to come to Rome.

Imagine my shock when soon thereafter I'm minding my own business at a nonprofit board meeting in Duluth GA and Randy Schlichting (on Perimeter's pastoral staff) casually mentions to me that Perimeter is sending a plant to Rome within the next few years. That was a moment like you see in the cartoons, when an exclamation point pops up over somebody's head...okay back to this morning.

The Pierce's will be in Rome in mid-July, and will hit the ground running, laying the groundwork for the plant. Projected start date for Sunday morning services is September 2007, with the development of a core group (via discipleship groups, home fellowships, etc) in the meantime. Jenny and I visited First Presbyterian Church in Rome last Sunday, and enjoyed it very much. We will likely continue to attend there until the plant gets off of the ground.

The only issue we have is when to get MK baptized...Bob Carter at Perimeter told us to wait until we get established in a church in Rome, but with the plant not starting services until '07...we might do the private ceremony thing at our house, invite family and close friends...we'll prayerfully consider our options and decide later.

We will keep everyone updated on the status of the plant, since it will be a big part of our lives, and, well, that's the purpose of the blog.........

New Toy!

Mary Kate turned nine months old today. In honor of her nine-month birthday, we bought her a riding toy at walmart. She loves it!

Visitors

We have had several people come and visit our new house. If you are not one who has visited, you have an open invitation to come. Here are some pictures of our visitors. Our friends Leslie and Richard didn't make it into any pictures, so they will have to come back again so we can take a picture of their whole family.



My parents and my sister. If they look a little tired it is because they had helped us move twice in one month. They were troopers!



The Mitchell boys, Josiah and Caleb, and Mary Kate. They all had a good time playing together.



Rebeckah, Aunt Chris, and a boy named Connor came to see us. Mary Kate would not stop pulling Rebekah's pig tails. She was a good sport about it!

I will post pictures of our new house later this week for those of you who can't come visit us!

Thank God!

Well, we moved into our new house. It was hard work. We have accumulated alot of stuff in our almost five years of marriage. It took two truck loads and some extra car loads to get it all here, but it is here!

Here is a picture of Brian at home at 5:30 on his first day back at work. Two hours earlier than usual. :)




Mary Kate is everywhere and getting into everything. She tries to eat Aggie's food and anything else that she can. Here she is just crawling around. I tried to capture her looking out the window with the sun shining through, but she was too fast for me.

Homeowners Again

We officially closed on our new house in Rome on Friday. We are very excited and we move on Saturday. If you have any free hands on Saturday, we would love your help. :)

Mary Kate is crawling! She is also loving the pool and Aggie. She says "Aggie." At first we weren't sure if she was saying "Aggie" for real, but whenever Aggie enters the room, she says her name. I guess the dog is more important than Mommy or Daddy.

Quick Hits

I realize it's been a week since we posted on our blog, and I (brian) see the need to make it a little more masculine after that last post...here are some quick pieces of news:

1. We closed on our house in Rome last Friday, after much blood, sweat & tears. We're now official Rome homeowners (any ideas for another name for our blog?)

2. Click here for my sister's big news.

3. Mary Kate is crawling now...I swear tomorrow she'll be in college.

More soon, with pictures of our stay at the lovely Chateau La Hosch in Dacula, Georgia.

Beauty Tip for You Girls!

I found this great stuff that makes your hair shiny and feel great. It is called Shine Happy by Clairol. It is a clear glaze that conditions and makes your hair look shiny and great in just ten minutes. I used to go to the salon and pay 90 bucks for the same thing. (Yes, that was before I was married.) It is around 8 bucks and it does the same thing that I paid for in the salon. I just wanted to share!