Hannaford Transition News

About two weeks ago, our pastor and I discussed more about Hannaford's ability to support our calling to launch Encounter – and on Sunday, January 18, announced the time line for my transition from the Hannaford Worship Ministry. Our last day leading worship at Hannaford will be Sunday, March 1 and will be preceded by a service "sending us out" to this new ministry.

We are very excited and also just a little saddened. As I said last Sunday, Andrea and I have been greatly blessed by the friendships we formed here at Hannaford. And while we are excited about this great vision He has called us to, we will cherish these next weeks of worship we will share together.

As another church planter friend expressed it, "Moses has to leave his homeland to get to where the Lord had him to go"

We ask that you pray for a blessed sending out and commissioning service that will allow our family at Hannaford to support us and the mission of Encounter in prayer.

HANNAFORD WORSHIP MINISTRY
The night before the announcement, we gathered about 25 of Hannaford's Worship Ministry together to facilitate an informal time for fellowship, prayer, and Q&A. Our goals were to discuss any concerns and questions to help ensure a smooth transition while confirming Hannaford's commitment to excellence and heartfelt worship. Please pray for our ability to facilitate a smooth transition for Hannaford with such a short time line.

THE COMING MONTHS
I was explaining to a friend recently that there is a lot of work to do before we launch. We've been working hard on financial backing and network support - and that work will continue. We have been quiet about this calling for months out of respect for Hannaford's leadership, but now we have the freedom to share the vision of Encounter with others.

During the next few months, we will be praying to meet others that share our passion to see the unchurched in Helena begin a growing relationship with Jesus. We'll be praying for God to bring people our way to join Encounter's Planting Team.

BE A PART OF WHAT GOD IS DOING
We thank God for challenging Andrea and I with this vision, but now we also pray for others to come along side us and become a part of what God is doing for this generation in Helena. There is much to be done, there are many workers needed, much prayer required, and there will be funds required. Please pray whether God is calling you to this vision as well...and if so, let us know.

What's The Link? Looking at Hannaford Sponsorship and ARC

We still have a few more considerations before we can move forward with ARC. First, ARC requires us to secure a "sponsor" church to come alongside us. We've asked Hannaford to be our "sponsor" church through ARC. In this case, a sponsor church is expected to believe in our vision enough to vouch for us both spiritually AND financially.

The sponsor church must really be sensitive to where God is moving and trust that He will complete what He begins. Although ARC will match all the funds we raise dollar-for-dollar (up to $30,000), if the church plant fails,the "sponsor" church will commit to repay the funds that have been provided through ARC. Even if the church plant is successful, these fund must be reimbursed from the new ministry.

With that said, we submitted a proposal to Hannaford in September - and then I had an opportunity in early November to meet once with the elders to explain our passion and how Hannaford can be a part of reaching this un-reached group. Their response was cautious, but we are still waiting to hear more.

Hananford is a great church home for many, but like many churches in Helena it has been largely ineffective at reaching the unchurched and dechurched of this generation. For Hannaford itself to be effective in reaching this generation, there is a good chance it would need to abandon it's core. A specific, targeted approach is required to reach this generation and it would be difficult and possibly unwise for Hannaford to make the required changes.

This is why I have asked Hananford's leadership to partner with us so that we can work together to expand God's kingdom in this way. We are currently preparing a list of specific ways Hannaford can help launch this new ministry of Encounter and are praying they will see the benefit of sponsoring us through ARC.

Proposal Meeting Update

On Monday, November 10, I was privileged to answer questions from the Hannaford Elder Board regarding our church plant proposal. We believe that this church plant is an opportunity to reach people they're not reaching, and to be a part of leading unsaved young people into growing relationships with Jesus. In addition to general congregational encouragement and prayer support, we're praying that Hannaford will partner with us as an ARC Sponsor Church.

Statistics show that new faith communities are six times more effective at bringing unchurched people into growing relationships with Jesus than established churches. We know that if God does want this partnership, He will help Hannaford step out of it's comfort zone and partner with us as a way of removing some of the barriers to reaching those who are turned off by traditional approaches to church.

More News! Elder Proposal

It has been an interesting and inspiring week in the Powell world of ministry and church planting. Having recently met for prayer and encouragement with other church planters and leaders here in Helena, I am sure that God is moving His people to help our community to encounter the love and grace of Jesus like never before.

GOD IS MOVING
This week I was privileged to begin working with Hannaford to move them forward in their new efforts to better connect with young adults attending there. It is exciting to see that God's people all over Helena are recognizing the need to engage all age groups.

ELDER PROPOSAL
With everything else, I am also preparing to finally answer questions from the Hannaford elders about our Encounter church plant proposal I submitted nearly two months ago. I am very excited and nervous to be able to share my full passion with the elders and I am praying that the Spirit gives me the words to effectively communicate God's vision for Encounter. My heart breaks for those young people in Helena that do not know Jesus and who have been turned off by traditional approaches of church.

PRAY THIS WEEKEND
Please be praying this weekend that God's Spirit is already working in the hearts of the elders to see beyond what man can do, and to have faith in what God can and is already starting to do through us and Encounter.

Long Time, No Blog Post

Hey everyone! It has been difficult to post, but I thought I'd check in and give you some updates with what has been going on personally and on the church-planting front.

DIFFICULT TIMES: IN OTHER WORDS, LIFE :-)
First, we could use your prayers for Andrea's grandmother, Mabel. Having recently found out she has cancer, she was being prepped for surgery and there were complications with the anesthesia causing vessels to burst in her lung. Since that time, she has developed not one, but two serious infections: one airborne and one in her blood. All things considered, it is not looking good.

Andrea left early this week to drive down to Escondido (San Diego, California area) to help where she can. That also means things have been pretty busy for me as Mr. Mom here around the house. So we ask you to be in prayer for all of us. Thanks.

2008 HANNAFORD FALL CONFERENCE AND WORKSHOP
Of course, we had the 2008 Hannaford Fall Conference at the end of September. A lot of time an effort goes into that each year - this year was no exception. I can tell you that the worship was off the hook! Especially the second night.

If you want to find out more, check out the conference webpage here and the resources webpage here. You'll also find notes and an audio file for my workshop, Worship That Makes An Impact.

CHURCH PLANTING NEWS
If you want to get regular updates regarding our new church planting efforts, I suggest you visit our Encounter Helena blog and subscribe there. For now, I just posted a couple updates on our progress: Potential Sponsorship and Next Steps.

I'm also struggling with how often to post here and there and where to post when. In other words, I think I may be pontificating over at the other blog more and give basic updates here. That's just another good reason to subscribe over there, too.

Potential Sponsorship For Encounter

I previously mentioned our desire to build some church-planting partnerships. One of the initial partnerships we've pursued is with my current church – Hannaford – where I've been serving as the Pastor of Worship Arts. God's call to plant a new church community here in Helena is a direct outgrowth of my ministry there. And as such, I believe planting a new church is an excellent opportunity to be able to change the lives of some people groups that this church has not been as effective at reaching, mainly non-Christians and the younger generation.

This is why after discussing this passion with our Senior Pastor at Hannaford, we have prepared a proposal for church-sponsorship. The elders (church board) have been looking over the proposal and we will soon get an opportunity to answer any questions they have. Andrea and I ask for your prayers regarding this issue - that the elders would approach this opportunity with wisdom. It is God’s desire to see His people working together to enlarge His Kingdom in Helena.

Regardless of how the proposal is received, moving forward is key. Knowing how, and to what extent our current church plans to partner with us will help us plan the next crucial steps in making Encounter a reality.

Are You An Inside-Out Worshiper?

I may have blogged about Matt Redman's book Inside Out Worship before, but I wanted to let you know that our Worship Team at Hannaford is going through the book a second time together.

This time, I'm blogging along the way on a new Inside-Out Worship Discussion Blog with notes on our discussions and some insightful questions.

Also, don't miss my article here that ties vision with inside-out worship.

Where Did May Go?

It seems like I keep getting lost in time and I can't keep up with the blogging. May was insanely busy and I think June is going to be even more packed. Here's what's been going on and is coming up for the Powell's...

FIELD TRIPS TO JOURNEY CHURCH
One fun and insightful thing we got to do is take the Hannaford Praise Team (musicians and techs) on a field trip to Journey Church, a couple year old church plant in Bozeman, Montana. Journey has been very effective at reaching people in Bozeman so we wanted to find out what the buzz was all about.

We took two trips and attended their Saturday evening services. Their worship guy, Brandon Edwards was gracious to set up meetings after the services to let our people ask questions and interact with theirs. It was pretty cool. Journey does a great job creating environments that make people actually "want" to go to church.

NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER
On May 1, the National Day of Prayer, we were invited to provide music for the city-wide prayer event on the Montana Capitol Building steps. We assembled a small team of musicians and singers and did about four songs including my favorite, Chris Tomlin's America. It was a very moving event.

BATTLE CRY CONFERENCE
In the beginning of May, I was part of the Battle Cry conference held at the Helena Civic Center. I was the worship team leader of a group comprised of guys from five different churches. Battle Cry was put on by the local Promise Keepers group, LCMI, with help from the Promise Keepers organization.

It was awesome worship. Hearing hundreds of men sing worship songs is quite a different experience than your usual Sunday morning church worship. Andrik came, too, and did an excellent job running the video. In addition, the entire conference was video taped and was aired on the local PBS station. DVDs can be ordered here.

MONTANA FAMILY FOUNDATION WEBSITES
I've also been very busy using some new web skills for the Montana Family Foundation (MFF), a para-church org that is like Focus on the Family, but for Montana. One of the things they do is create those voter guides that report how candidates stand on different issues. What's new for me is that I've had to learn ASP, a web programming language that can dynamically generate pages from databases. Whew! I never thought I'd be doing something like this. MFF has three websites that I've been working on, you can check them out here:

•  Montana Family Foundation •  Montana Voter Guide •  Montana Family Action

MOTHER'S DAY
For Mother's Day, we mixed things up a bit and moved things around on the stage. We put the singers up front and the ladies led the worship with Andrea as the main singer. We did a pretty funky version of Israel Houghton's "You Are Good." Okay, compared to Israel Houghton and New Breed, our version was rather vanilla, but it was pretty funky for us. I actually enjoyed this movie honoring moms - it make me laugh.

ANDRIK WINS MEDIA AWARD
Andrik created a poster for a club he co-founded at his middle school. The poster was entered in the M.Gen Fest here in Helena. The M.Gen Fest was "designed as part of the media literacy curriculum recently implemented into middle- and high-school classrooms throughout Helena. This interactive event will highlight how students have learned to critically analyze and understand media messages and techniques that impact all of us." Andrik's poster won 3rd place. Whoo-hoo!

UPDATE: "Given" on K-LOVE

Here's a quick update on the K-LOVE Radio News coverage I mentioned here. First, you can listen to the online version of the interview with the mp3 player below. You can access the web stream in the News & Weather section of their website. I didn't catch it the shorter version played on air. Did anyone else?

Update: "Given" on CBS

Here's a quick update on the CBS News "Given" coverage. You can access the story and their video stream on the CBS News website as long as it's available.. I also posted the video here.

"Given" Goes National

It's happening again with the Given project! I did a radio interview with K-LOVE radio (90.1FM in Helena) on Wednesday. It was just a short interview of how we hope to impact our community by giving back to our community.

K-LOVE radio is a national network of stations also affiliated with AIR1 radio (90.1FM in SoCal). The interview will be posted in the News & Weather section of their website and played on all K-LOVE and AIR1 stations across the nation next Wednesday, April 9. Be sure to tune in if you can.

"Given" on CBS

Apparently, we've struck a chord with our community.

We were contacted by KXLH Channel 25, our local CBS affiliate, about the Given project. KXLH is an extention of CBS Channel 3 in Great Falls. Either way, the news program will be filming parts of our service on Sunday as well as conducting an interview with a few individuals later.

I'm pretty jazzed up because I think one our biggest desires as believers and as a church is to make an impact for Jesus within the community where we live.

Not to us, O LORD, not to us
but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness.
-Psalm 115:1

Given

I haven't really had the opportunity to share with you about Easter and one of the cool things God is doing at Hannaford.

On Easter, we celebrated that Christ gave His life for us. Not only was He crucified on a cross for our sins, but He spent His life encouraging people to love God and to love others by giving of ourselves as He demonstrated through His life, death, and resurrection.

Furthermore, I believe that when we give ourselves away, we are fulfilling our role as followers of Christ. God wants people to love, share, be considerate of others, and provide a blessing to the world they live in.

So on March 23, 2008, Hannaford gave away nearly $600 to those who attended our Easter Sunday worship services – a one-dollar bill for each person. The challenge? Pass on the blessings that Christ has given us, by using the dollar to bless another.

The instructions were simple: "This one-dollar bill is given as a symbol of all that Christ has given to you. This dollar is not to be spent on yourself, but to bless someone else in a real and tangible way. The possibilities and creativity are endless."

Finally, we encouraged people to share their stories. I think it is important that we celebrate when Christ works through us. It encourages other believers and demonstrates to others that we truly are followers of Jesus.

We've set up a website around the "Given" project. You are invited to explore the stories of how God used dollar-bills (and ultimately people) to bless the lives of others. Also, if you want to participate, and/or have a story of your own, we invite you to submit it onlline.

This has been an awesome experience and we are looking forward to what God will do through us. People have only just begun to share their stories.

Click here for the Given website.
Click here for the Press page with photos.
Click here for other posts on the Given project.

Christmas Worship 2008

We finished up two Christmas Eve services this evening. It was beautiful – a reflective, candlelight atmosphere singing Christmas carols accompanied by violin, cello, and piano.

As we usually do, we ended the evening singing Silent Night in the dark as we slowly lit candle after candle to slowly fill the room - representing the light Jesus brings to our lives. Both the 4:30pm and 5:30pm services were packed.

I also wanted to share a little from our morning services last Sunday. We aimed to refresh the way we look at Christmas and the carols we sing. A fun part of the service was when we had a congregation led sing-a-long of The 12 Days of Christmas.

Many people don't know that there is much Christian symbolism hidden in the song. It is a good deal more than just a repetitive melody with a list of strange gifts. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was written in England to help young Catholic Christians learn the tenets of their faith when it was illegal to be found with any literature of their faith.

The "true love" mentioned in the song doesn't refer to an earthly suitor, but to God Himself. The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The rest of the gifts are outlined at the end of this post.

This last Sunday, we divided up the people in twelve groups - then each group was responsible for singing the part of the song that mentioned their group number. Second service was out-of-control! It was crazy and very fun. The group really took their sections to heart with dancing, bird motions, and an impromptu solo! See the photos...


9 Ladies Dancing


2 Turtle Doves

5 Golden Rings

Other symbolism of The Twelve Days of Christmas:

• 2 Turtle Doves - The Old and New Testaments (Heb. 8:6-13)
• 3 French Hens - Faith, Hope and Love (1 Cor. 13:13; 1 Thess. 5:8)
• 4 Calling Birds - The Four Gospels
• 5 Golden Rings - The Torah (first five books of the Old Testament)
• 6 Geese A-laying - The six days of creation (Gen. 1)
• 7 Swans A-swimming - The seven-fold gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:8-10)
• 8 Maids A-milking - The eight beatitudes (Matt. 5:3:-11)
• 9 Ladies Dancing - The nine fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22, 23)
• 10 Lords A-leaping - The ten commandments (Ex. 20; Deut. 5:6-21)
• 11 Pipers Piping - The eleven faithful apostles
• 12 Drummers Drumming - The twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed

Well, that's it for this late Christmas Eve. On another note, we leave early tomorrow morning for California. That's right - vacation. That means no blogging for a couple weeks. Our wish to you? Have a blessed Christmas and New Year!

12 Days of Christmas Video

As I've been preparing Christmas carols for our worship services at Hannaford this December, I've focused in on the 12 Days of Christmas. While I'll share some more info on the origins of the songs in a later post, I do want to share with you a well-done and humorous version from YouTube:

Cultivating A Heart Of Thankfulness

From our Thanksgiving Evening Worship Service

Why is it important to cultivate a heart of thankfulness toward God? It's simple really. Psalm 100:4 says, "Enter His gates with thanksgiving..." In other words, gratitude is the gateway to worship. Worship begins by saying two simple words, "Thank You."

Giving thanks is a way for us to declare the glory of God, but it is not always easy. It reminds is that our lives are in someone else's hands - it keeps us in a heart posture of surrender and humility.

Cultivating a heart of thankfulness is really cultivating a heart of worship. It's about looking past the external and recognizing the ways in which God has revealed Himself to you in your life. How has He changed you? How has He given you strength? How has He given you hope? How many times has He forgiven you even though He looks deep into our hearts.

Pride and resentment cannot co-exist with gratitude. A resentful heart cannot say thank you for what it has been given, because it can only look at what it does not have. And therefore, a resentful heart cannot be a place of worship. So in order to be a worshiper of God, I MUST learn to say "thank you" and cultivate a heart that is fully alive with thankfulness. A heart that is focused on worship.

I encourage you to "insert your thanks here." Feel free to share your praises and thanks in the comments.

Consecration Writings Videos

As part of our Worship Dedication Service, we showed three videos. First, we showed our "Let The Walls Fall Down" video again. In the early stages of our Worship Center building expansion, we at Hannaford wrote our prayers, hopes, and scripture on the floors and walls - consecrating the building to God's purpose. We put together a collection of those writings and presented it in two videos; one before the service and one after. Here they are...

VIDEO 1 OF 2

VIDEO 2 OF 2

Our Dedication Service

It's been a few weeks since we had our dedication service for our newly expanded Worship Center at Hannaford, but I thought I'd share some of our service...

THE SACRIFICES
In 2 Chronicles starting in Chapter 5, we are told that King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel had gathered, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted.

And after placing the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies, the priests withdrew from the Holy Place. Then, all the Levites who were musicians stood to the side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. And they were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets.

The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: "He is good; his love endures forever."

Songs: I Will Boast & Not To Us
All that we accomplish, all that we build, all that we do is to His glory. The glory is not to us, but boast only in our Lord God.

THE GLORY OF THE LORD
When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple like a cloud. The priests were overwhelmed and could not enter the temple of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled it.

When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD (taken from 2 Chronicles 7).

Song: Your Glory
Your glory is in this place

DEDICATION PRAYER
Inspired by King Solomon’s prayer in 2 Chronicles 6.

O LORD, our Father, There is no God like You in heaven or on earth – You who keep your covenant of love with us. You have kept your promise; with your mouth You have promised and with Your hand you have fulfilled it – as it is today.

And how can God really dwell on earth with men? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You. How much less this building we have built! Because You sent Your Son Jesus, You hear from heaven; and when You hear, You forgive.

Now our God, may Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayers offered today. Arise, O LORD God, and come make Your presence known in our lives, and in this place. May we be clothed with salvation, and may we rejoice in your goodness. Let us not only dedicate this building today, but let us dedicate ourselves to Your purpose alone.

We pray this through the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

LEARNING FROM THE TEMPLE DEDICATION
Insights into King Solomon’s dedication of the temple from 2 Chronicles 4-7

1) We learn something about God's timing and faithfulness.
David had it in his heart to build the temple, but God said that he would not do it. But God did promise that David’s son Solomon would build the temple. We, too, wait on the timing of the Lord. It has taken a long time for all the phases of this building project to come to a close. But God is faithful. Likewise, we have written on the walls, the prayers and hopes that the Lord has laid on our hearts. Prayers for this church, our friends, and our families. God WILL be faithful in His time.

2) We learn something about a sacrifice of worship
Solomon and Israel sacrificed so many offerings at the dedication that it could not be counted. We, too, must make a sacrifice of worship. We sacrifice our time, efforts, and money in our worship - because worship is about giving, not receiving. We also sacrifice our personal preferences when we gather with other believers to worship - whether it be the songs we sing, the way we stand or sit, or whether we like the decorations or not. David said, I will not make a sacrifice to the Lord, that costs me nothing.

3) We learn something about God's presence
The priests withdrew from the Holy Place and could not perform their service, because the cloud - the glory of the LORD - the presence of the Lord - filled His temple. We, too, are blessed with the Lord's presence - His glory in this place. But too often we are like little children, fixated and delighted as we envision a place filled with presents (or gifts) from God. Too often, we are more excited about presents FROM God than we are about being in the presence OF God. Let us see this morning, how being in the presence of God - and touching His heart - is better than any gift we can receive from God.

Lord, let Your glory fall, as on that ancient day
Songs of enduring love, and then Your glory came
And as a sign to You, that we would love the same
Our hearts will sing that song, God let Your glory come

Voices in unison, giving You thanks and praise
Joined by the instruments, and then Your glory came
Your presence like a cloud, upon that ancient day
The priests were overwhelmed, because Your glory came

A sacrifice was made, and then Your fire came
They knelt upon the ground, and with one voice they praised
A sacrifice was made, and then Your fire came
They knelt upon the ground, and with one voice they praised

SONG: Lord Let Your Glory Fall
Bless this place and our lives as we live in Your presence. May we bow our hearts and praise You with ONE VOICE.

"The Truth" Video

I've had a number of people comment on the the video we played in the service on Sunday, October 21. It is called "The Truth" and was produced by Community Christian Church in Naperville, Illinois. The video can be viewed and purchased at Sermonspice.com here.

Defeating Discouragement 2007 Wrap-Up

The 2007 Hannaford Fall Conference wrapped up tonight. Wow! Each year, I am amazed at how God brings together complete strangers (except in Christ) and allows a cohesive theme to be communicated in a unified way.

DEFEATING DISCOURAGEMENT
This year was truly about "Defeating Discouragement." Dennis Lee is a gifted ventriloquist who is quite encouraging with his stories. Crawford Loritts spoke on Philippians 1 about having a Godly perspective and then having Godly pursuit. Matt Heard spoke in his three session from 2 Timothy 2:3-6; Defeating Discouragement ... as a Soldier ... as an Athlete ... and as a Farmer.

The conference ended tonight with Matt Heard's final encouragement to pastors (and others). It was related in a story about a missionary and his wife who had served translating in Africa.

Upon returning home to the U.S. after many years in the mission field they were on the same plane as President Roosevelt. There was a great greeting when the plane landed with people applauding and the band playing to celebrate the return of the President from Africa - but no one was there to greet the returning missionaries. After the President left, all the welcome party and the band left as well - and the missionaries were left alone. Quite discouraged that they had not received any recognition for returning home, God spoke to them a simple realization: "You are are not home, yet."

Matt then asked all the pastors and their wives to stand and he walked around the room telling each couple to their face, "You are not home, yet."

As we closed with Paul Baloche's Hosanna, I briefly explained the meaning behind this Hebrew term meaning "Save Us!" Hosanna is a call for help and it is what the people cried and sang as Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey in the fashion of a king. The people wanted deliverance from the Roman oppression. Little did they know that he would die a criminal's death upon a cross by the end of the week. Their hope was crushed. They were discouraged. But the message was the same ... "You are not home, yet." God had a larger plan to not so much free us from physical oppression, but from spiritual oppression. So when we are discouraged, we can still cry "Hosanna! Christ Save Us!"

Hannaford Fall Conference 2007 & Worship Center

PHOTOS
While I didn't find the opportunity to find someone to take photo this year, I snapped a few with my phone during our last speaker. Click on the photo to the left to go to the gallery. If we run across any others, I'll add them to the gallery.

WORSHIP CENTER UPDATE
The new sound and video systems worked pretty much glitch free - that is quite amazing since we really didn't get it up and running until the day before the conference. There are just a few more things to install and others to adjust before all will be considered done on the technical side. The new Worship Center also has several other important things to be finished. We still have not installed the furnace or air conditioning, for example.

We recorded all the sessions held in the main Worship Center. As soon as (and if) we get permission from the speakers, we'll post MP3s on the Hannaford site or make them available for order. I haven't checked yet, but we might have a sample of the worship as well.

FAMILY UPDATE
I am very tired and sore (especially from my falling incident on the stairs - see EEK!). We've gotten very little sleep in the last four days, and the Powell's have had very little family time in the last three weeks. With all that said, we are all looking forward to a little normalcy right now.

Thank you, God, for a great conference experience this year ... and for everything else going on at Hannaford. I pray we stay focused on You in the expected lull after this great high.