Another post, I know you're amazed!

So, for those of you who have been following you're probably sitting in front of your computer with your mouth hanging open.  Get used to it.  Well, Nannette and I are currently thankful that the Heffners are getting settled in their own house.  Its spring, so the Russells have been working on getting some landscaping done on the house.  Many of our inside projects have been postponed in order to get the outside work done.

Work has been really busy lately.  I've been working on all of the summer reading projects ( adults, teens and kids) and the new teen website that should be going live at the end of may.  I'm looking forward to the summer coming and things hopefully slowing down a little.  I got to close out a few projects this week, so that helped things.

Nannette's Dad seems to be recovering well from bypass surgery.  We got to seem him a couple times in the past couple weeks, and each time he looks progressively more like himself.  Its definitely been hard on him to not be able to do all the work he's been used to doing.

I got to check out a local coffee house recently and hoping to start contributing to their open mic night, and get to know some local musicians.  It was a nice place and had a pretty good vibe.  I'm hoping to go back soon and check out the open mic night.  There are a couple open mic nights in a relatively close area to us, and I'm hoping that through those we'll be able to get involved in the local music community.

WOW another update!

Hey all,

Well, as you may already know, Becky and I are into our new house! It is wonderful, except for the surprise plumbing problems... Most of the boxes are unpacked, and we are settling in nicely. I have also finally finished my graduate work at the University of Pittsburgh, and have now graduated with a 4.0 and a certification to teach High School Physics. Now, it's time to find a job. That would be nice before we run out of money!

Speaking of money, WOW, April was expensive...
Dentist Office for tooth pain $220
Plumber to clean sewer pipes $175
"Extra Charge" on Insurance $210
Moving Trucks $220
Getting Groceries for new house $350
Oxygen Sensor on car $230
Home Depot to fix leaky and broken stuff $340

In the midst of all of this, I especially want to thank those who have financially supported us in the last few months. It went a long way in paying for some of these items. When you only have $2000/mo to live on in a high cost of living area, every little bit counts... THANK YOU!

BTW, I have a new site to share with all of you who still occasionally check on this very sparsely updated blog. partners.doxapgh.com is a site where we will regularly update about church stuff. This site is going to mainly become for personal updates, and you can expect both to be updated once a week from now on by either Steve or me. There, that's out there, now we have to do it.

Andrew

Finally...an Update!

OK, I have heard from several people who are wondering why there have been no updates. Well, long story short. life has been busy and stressful beyond imagination for the last 6 months. But alas, you really want to know, so I will take a few minutes and tell you where life has taken us right now.

(1) Our careers...
Becky has taken a job as an administrative assistant for an eye doctor right downtown among the Pittsburgh skyline. She is doing well, and enjoying the work. She is also forging some relationships with people there. IN addition, we finally have a small amount of income, which is quite helpful. As for me, I am about halfway through my student teaching experience. It is going fantastically! I am loving it, and the students are loving me. So are my supervisors. It turns out I have a knack for teaching (imagine that). It is, however, incredibly stressful, because I am also required to take my final 9 credits of grad level classes simultaneously. Between teaching all day, planning for teaching all night and all weekend, AND taking classes several nights a week which all have huge assignments (last project was 15 pages of really deep stuff), I am pretty much stretched as thin as I can go. I am tired most of the time, but I know I can make it to the end. Pray that I finish strong, and that I don't wear out.

(2) Our home...
Hopefully (and I am hesitantly hopeful) we will be closing on a house this coming weekend! We put our offer in a week and a half before Christmas, and we are still waiting to close, due to a plethora of circumstances beyond our control. Yes, we have been living in the attic of the Russells for almost 7 months now, and have not had a place of our own for 9 months. Yet no one has killed anyone else, and God has been helping us with patience. Not an over-abundance...just enough to make it one more week I think! It is a beautiful home, and we can't wait to move in. Hopefully we can rustle up enough help to make the move quick and easy.

(3) The church plant...
Well as we said when we started, this will be a slow process. But we have made some progress. WE have made several important contacts and relationships with local government and businesses. We have been officially sponsored as a church plant by West Hills Baptist Church (a wonderful group of people about 20 miles west of us). We have also been preparing to launch or first community group a week or two after Easter. We have a few people who have expressed interest, and we are continuing to gain enough momentum to launch that group. We are hoping to have 3 or 4 couples/families there when we begin discussing the great "Stories of God". Pray for us as we love people, and invite them to learn about God.

That just about does it for now. I know there is a lot more, but I have to get back to work. If you read this, drop me an e-mail. We feel kinda lonely out here without a church body to fellowship with regularly, and it would be great just to hear from you. I'll even try to write back!

The Hef

What If...

From a favorite blog of mine, "Don't call me Veronica":

What if a simple love for our neighbor
is as revolutionary as Jesus says it is?

What would that mean for the way we do just about everything if we actually believed it?

New House!

We are finally in our new house! Hip hip hooray!  It has been a frantic pace of trying to get work done before the Heffners move in.  Yea! 8 people. 1 shower. Could get a litle interesting.  We are so thankful to God for providing us a house that meets all of our needs and wants!  We are so very thankful to be living in the same city!  And I am thankful to get to see my wife and kids everyday again.  Right now our house is an looks like a construction site.  The Heffners move in officially tomorrow, so at that point construction will slow down some.  I'm really looking forward to settling in and starting to invite people over, so that we can get to know our community.  Pray for us as we finally get down to the real work God has called us to.

The Fifth Act

Doxa Church recognizes and cherishes the gospel as story. We se the story as circling around four words.

Creation.
Fall.
Redemption.
Restoration.

These words sum up the great movement of God throughout all of history to bring people to Himself for His own glory. However, I have been reading N.T. Wright's excellent ponderings on the story, and he identifies us as being in the fifth act of history. His acts are the Creation, the Fall, Israel, Jesus, and The Church.

His first two mirror ours exactly, and his last two have overt connections to redemption and restoration. However, he includes Israel as an obviously integral part of the story. I think he may have a point, and I wonder if Doxa Church should consider rephrasing our story words in order to appropriately place us in the fifth act.

If such a reconsideration was in order, what would we call act three, or Israel? What is the gospel purpose of the history of Israel in context of movement from fall to redemption?

A few words come to mind. Calling...Hearing...Reaching...Promise...

I think of the "God of the Oppressed" theology that comes from Exodus 2:23-25. It says,

"The people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew."

There is an important piece of history here, that perhaps we ought include in our basic outline of the meta-narrative of the gospel. How do you think this part of the story fits in, and how could it best be represented in our progression? Creation...Fall..._______...Redemption...Restoration.

Congratulations!!!

To Steve, for finally becoming an American Citizen! This must mean that you have seen all six Star Wars movies, because I know that is a prerequisite to citizenship.

Congratulations!