Change Is In The Air...

Last Sunday, as many of you might have already heard, we announced to our congregation at First A/G that the Jones family will be following the call of God to plant a church in Pittsburgh. For many obvious reasons, we are saddened to leave so many dear friends in Hermitage. We have shared many great experiences, and we have been blessed to have had the opportunity to live our lives together. On September 28th, we will worship in our last service in Hermitage, but until then I refuse to act as if anything is different at First Assembly. I am committed to making this the best month of student ministry our students have ever experienced, and we look forward to creating many more great memories with the time we have left here!

As far as what is to come in the future for our family, in October we will be joining the staff at Allison Park Church. While serving there during the next year, we will be joining with an outreach ministry called, "Millvale Matters." Millvale Matters has been meeting together and has been active in hosting outreach events in the Millvale section of Pittsburgh. (CLICK HERE to see some of their more recent outreach events!) In September of 2009, we will join with them in pastoring and launching a brand new church in Millvale.

It is incredibly exciting to be entering this new phase of ministry, but overwhelming at the same time. Jodi and I and our girls feel that God has been preparing us for this moment for all of our lives. We will certainly miss seeing our friends at First Assembly on a regular basis, but we are looking forward to embracing the adventure that God has placed before us.

I will write in more detail regarding our move in the weeks to come, so stay tuned!

Meet the Intern!

This summer has been wild ride already, as we welcome our new intern at First Assembly, Nathan Rancatore.

Nate is no stranger to our youth ministry, Re:volution, because as a freshman in a local college, Nate served as a volunteer for our student ministry. Faithfully for about 1 1/2 years, he and Jesse Kauric would come up from Monroeville and do whatever they could to help.

Today, Nate is a Junior at Valley Forge Christian College, and he is serving as our college intern for the next 10 weeks. I love this guy because he has such a servant's heart, and he is always willing to work hard. I'm looking forward to great things in his ministry both now, and in the years to come.

It's great to serve along side you, bro, and here's to an awesome summer! Welcome to the team, Nate!

Check out Ben Woods!

Check out this article in our local paper, The Herald, about Ben Woods. Ben is a young man from our church who is a great guy. He loves God, and it looks like he may get the opportunity to play in the NFL! Way to go, Ben! We're proud of you, bro!

Now...I've seen it all!

I spent the better part of the morning today with Pastor Ken doing hospital ministry. To tell you the truth, you never know what to expect when you're hanging with the guy. He says funny things, does funny things, and over all, he just cracks me up.

Anyway, everywhere we went, it seemed like he knows everyone. That's because he does. Just recently, he and Marlene celebrated 10 years at First Assembly. Everywhere he goes, people talk to him, and he's always waving at somebody or talking to someone who comes to, or used to come, or is related to someone who thought about coming...you get the picture. Everyone knows him!

Then, Pastor invites me to join he and Marlene for lunch. However, on the way to lunch at the Hermitage Hot Dog Shop, we stopped in the K-Mart parking lot. As we pulled into the lot, all of the seagulls start flocking over to the car! Why???? THEY KNOW HIM, TOO!!!

Seriously, he gets out of the car, and starts throwing bread crumbs to them...one of the funniest things, I've ever seen! You can't even begin to predict what he'll do next! Even the birds in this town know and love the guy!

Tomorrow (Tuesday, Nov. 20) is his birthday, so Happy Birthday, Pastor Ken!