Its been a good week so far.  Not as productive as I would have hoped, but that is pretty normal most of the time.  I have a meeting in the morning with one of our local officials to share the Iron City dream with him.  I’m praying that this will be the start of a good relationship there.

After that – just after lunch Amber, TJ and I are heading to my sister’s house in New Jersey for the night.  I love getting to hang out with them (even if it is only for a few waking hours).  Cutting the distance in half to their house is definitely an added bonus of living in the ‘Burgh.

Thursday, we’ll be at The Journey church offices for a couple of seminars (one on evangelism, one on small groups).  This was a last minute addition to our schedule, but I’ve yet to attend anything led by Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas that wasn’t well worth my time.  They are painfully practical.  I like that.  These guys are doing it and want to share what they’re learning — that is definitely a BIG part of my vision for Iron City.  They’re in Manhattan with over 1,000 attending on Sundays (maybe more now – they recently launched their 3rd location), but the stat that trips me out is that they have about 1,200 in small groups.  I have a lot to learn.

As soon as the seminars are done, we’re heading southward.  We’ll stay with some friends in Atlanta on Friday night and I’ve got class at West Ridge Church on Saturday.  I’m finishing up at their church planting school (May will be our last session).  That’s been a great experience.  When I started going last September I had ABSOLUTELY no idea that we’d be doing this so soon!

After class, we’re on the way to the Savannah area.  This will be our first trip to the area since we moved.  It’s amazing how much Pittsburgh has become home in a few short months, but we lived a lot of life in Savannah — I’m sure they’re will be some wierd emotions going on.  Should be interesting.  We’re staying with friends and we’ll be worshipping with my friend George Pabst and Crossroads Church on Sunday.  They are looking to partner with ICC for a few years — sharing the dream gets me pumped.

Hopefully we can hang out with some friends Sunday afternoon and part of the day Monday, then we’ll hit the road heading back north.  We’ll get home some time Tuesday and be full tilt ramping up to our first monthly service on May 20!

Please pray that we’ll be safe as we travel the eastern seaboard all in a few days.

PS – There is one other reason I’m excited to be making this trip (I’m picking up my baby):