This week marks one year of blogging for me. A lot has happened since I started this blog to “track the spiritual and logistical journey of planting Calvary Spartanburg”. I thought a year in review was in order.
October 08:
-First blog post about God’s call in my life to plant a church in Spartanburg.
-Bought CalvarySpartanburg.com (and .org). This was the first time I officially declared Spartanburg as the planting site for the church.
-Confirmed there was not a Calvary Chapel work going on in Spartanburg.
-Invited my friends Cesar and Aliza to come plant with us. (Though God eventually showed them that they should stay where He has them, for now.)
November 08:
-Set June 22, 2009 as our date to move back to South Carolina, and bought tickets.
-I got the first staph infection in the family that made its rounds through the four of us until it was finally eradicated in June 09 over 8 months later.
December 08:
-Celebrated our last Christmas in Montreal, and our first one as just the four of us with no family.
-Began to pray for God’s provision for the church, and financially for us. I made a commitment to not to stress or strive when it came to God’s church or God’s provision. (It’s working out pretty good so far.)
January 09:
-Went live with www.calvaryspartanburg.com (with very little info).
-Started looking passively at who would take over my responsibilities at Calvary Montreal.
-Recorded 3 songs with my friend and fellow worship leader Andy Dibiaso. You can see them again here 1 2 3.
-Started to talk with a few pastors and supporters about our move and the about the church plant.
February 09:
-Updated www.CalvarySpartanburg.com with a new design and contact info.
-Announced on Sunday the 15th that we would be leaving Calvary Montreal. Everyone seemed to be sad to see us go, but many were excited for the adventure God was taking us on.
-Made the Blog live that night (it had been restricted access before that), and changed my contact info on Facebook. 83 people visited that first day.
-Started to actively look for people to take over my responsibilities.
March 09:
-Andrea had to go to the ER for a bad staph infection on her stomach. For the next six weeks we had to go back every two days to get the wound redressed (including Easter morning).
-I was invited to Regeneration in Oakland for a visit in August to teach.
-My mom came up for Jakes 3rd and Andrea’s [redacted] birthday.
April 09:
-Went to the Calvary Chapel Deep South Conference and wrote to recaps of all three days (I will not recap the recaps). I met several people that I now consider good friends there such as Scott Hunt and Jay Lathrop.
May 09:
-Kicked everything into high gear for our international move.
-Visited my good friend Andy Falleur (for the last time “sniff”) at Calvary Ottawa, and taught at their morning service.
June 09:
-Sophie got what would be the last of the staph infections that had plagued us for months. It came only 10 days before we where to move, and we had to make alternate traveling plans.
-5 days later, after a family visit to the head of Infectious Diseases at the Montreal Children’s Hospital, the doctors told us that Sophie was healing so well we would not need to postpone our move to the USA. We were also given rounds of tons of medication and treatments so we could eradicate these infections for good. God hears the prayers of His people.
-June 18th my brother Michael and his wife Donna arrived to help us pack and move. This was the first time they had been to Montreal, and Donna’s first time out of the USA.
-June 22 my two brothers and I crossed the US/Canada border in record time. After driving 24 hours straight, we made it to my mom’s place in SC.
July 09:
-After weeks of looking for a place to live in the Spartanburg area, God used a “chance” meeting on the 4th of July to provide us with a awesome house to rent in our price range. I still have a hard time believing we get to live in it, despite having been here several months.
-Left SC for a month-long trip to Albuquerque to visit Andrea’s family, and our supporters and friends.
-Calvary Spartanburg was incorporated as a church.
August 09:
-Taught at Regeneration in Oakland for both Sunday services.
-Moved into the new house.
-My friends Eric and Isaac sent a week with us as a part of their summer-long, international, vintage-VW-van-powered road trip.
-Finally felt led to pick Calvary Spartanburg’s starting date. November 8.
-Found a place to meet at the YMCA, which was about 1/3 the price of my next best option.
September 09:
-Made a Facebook group and added a link to the website.
-Held my first Board meeting. Resulted in a lot of god ideas like…
-Planning our first series of outreaches at Converse College in partnership with BCM.
It’s been a crazy year and the church hasn’t even started yet. I fully expect that this coming year will be much like the last– full of excitement, changes, and pain. But one thing will not change. Christ will continue to be the Anchor that I hold. He is with me and He has called me here.
