Update on the Hamilton Family

Wow...what a couple of weeks we've had since I last posted on March 10!  In the midst of the work we are doing to prepare for planting Elevation Church, we have wedged several other activities into our lives.  We travelled last week to Washington DC to visit my brother-in-law and his family before they move to Europe in June for 3 years with the Army.  The girls got to play with their cousins and see many of the historic sights.  I can't believe how well they did with all the walking but they were troopers! 

While in DC Trena and I did some strategic church planting work.  First, we visited DC Metro Church http://www.dcmetrochurch.org/ pastored by David and Taryn Stine in Alexandria, VA.  I met David at a ARC function in Colorado last September and we made a connection.  What an awesome church!  They've been in Alexandria just over 2 years and are about to move into their first permanent facility.  They were gracious enough to spend some time 1 on 1 with Trena and I to share wisdom, encouragement and even a few "don't do this" things they've learned.  I also was able to briefly meet author, church planter and pastor, Mark Batterson of National Community Church http://www.theaterchurch.com/ for a few minutes in the church's coffee house, Ebenezer's.  His book, In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day is a must read!  So the week in DC was fun, informative and overall a very productive time on all fronts. 

In addition to travelling for Spring Break I am wrapping up my first college level course in 15 years.  I enrolled at Universtiy of Phoenix to take some business courses that I believe will serve me well in leading the church.  After all, it's not all preaching, teaching, counseling and praying.  There is a business side to church that requires some skills I want to sharpen like acocunting, marketing, and computer technology.  I have to admit that it's been tougher than I anticipated to do school work along with everything else, but maybe that's because I had 3 major assingments due the week were also travelling in DC.  Nothing like 2 papers and a group project crammed into 7 days to make life interesting!  But I think we will get school integrated into our lives and be fine after a couple of classes.

And finally, yesterday, I was privileged to preach at The Story Church in Wylie, TX.  The Story Church http://www.thestorychurch.org/ was planted just over a year ago by my good friend Ray Miranda.  Ray invited me to preach this weekend as part of a very wise plan he has to periodically take a weekend off from preaching, himself.  I think this is a brilliant move on his part as it gives him rest from the stresses of research, preparation and delivery of the message.  Plus it allows him to observe the workings of his young church from a different perspective than he sees it on weekends when he preaches.  Thanks for the great example, Ray, and for the opportunity to share God's word.  I am looking forward to more opportunities to "guest preach" soon and will post details here as those opportunities firm up. 

Well, that covers the high points from our past two weeks.  I'll try to get back in the habit of posting more frequently now that we're home. 

Prayer Requests:
1) Please continue to pray for our baby girl that is due in July.  She and Trena are both doing fine and we are so excited to meet her!
2) There is a possibile opportunity for us to move to CO as soon as the end of May.  It is a developing situation and there are lots of details still to be worked out and questions to be answered.  Please pray for the details to be made clear and for wisdom in our decision making.
3) We are also considering partnering with one or more of the different church planting organizations such as the Association of Related Churches, churchplanters.com, C3 Global, or others.  There are several considerations to be made as we evaluate these opportunities.  Again, please pray for wisdom and discernment.