Believe!

So this is one of the posts, I should have posted a really long time ago, but because I couldn't download pictures I never did. On March 28th and 29th I went with Christ's Church to Believe. It was kinda weird because I had already started my new job and on my first weekend, I was going with my old church to a conference as a sponsor. But it was great! It was good to have closur on a great experince and say goodbye to some people I really love.

Here's a picture of me and some of the sponsors. TO the right of me is Nicole Benscoter. I love and miss her so much! We were 10th grade small group leaders together and she is seriously the best person I have ever met! She is so real and she loves God so much.


And here's a picture of my group and another group sitting on the bulls outside of our convention center.


Also we had Civil War Reenactors at our hotel! So of course we had to take pictures with them! This is a once in a lifetime expereince!


It was really a great time! It was a great time to say goodbye and to start my new adventure. It also reminded me of the importance of pouring into someone else and doing life together. We're not meant to be on our own little islands. We're made to live in community and to CONNECT (theme of Believe) not only to each other but to God.

God is so good! Thank you GOd for Friends, Family, Community, and Civil War Reenactments!

Postcard, Friends, and Noah's Ark

Ok, I have a ton of blogs to post. However, I keep leaving my camera cable at home and so I can't put up any pictures. So much stuff has happened. I'm still working at FCCO and I'm still living with Becca. But everything else just feels like a whirlwind (more explanation later).

So I made my very first postcard! It's for a parent meeting I'm hosting next weekend. It took me forever to make because I don't have Illustrator on my computer and I had to make it in Publisher...which I now hate. Anyway, I got most of the graphics off of istock.com, which my lovely friend Crystal introduced me to. Here's the front:



And here's the back:



I'm going to Jacksonville today to watch the Office with Terry and Tammy, and then I'm going to get a bunch of stuff done on my car tomorrow. I really miss all my friends in Jacksonville. And I really miss The Well. I miss just acting like myself and being surrounded by people I knew. The people in Orlando are great but I don't really feel like I can act like myself yet, and I don't know anyone's name! It's just different right now.

So I've already made someone mad :o/ I was cleaning out the church resource room and apparently I throw away an Ark that someone had made. And the measurements were to scale. It didn't look like an ark. It looked like a paper organizer or mail sorter. Someone else thought it was a paper organizer also...because there were paper's in it. Anyway it made the lady really mad and Shan had to clam her down. And he's having someone make another one for her. So fun times....

I'll post more later!

My Second Day On the Job

So I've offically been on staff at FCCO for a whole two days now! I'm totally loving it and I'm so excited to see what God is going to do! I'm having so fun but I really haven't done anything yet. On Monday, I pretty much unloaded my car and set up my office and had my first offical "staff meeting." On Tuesday I finished setting up my office and had a couple of meetings and walked through the building and classrooms.

Here are some pictures of my adventure!



This is our staff in the conference room/ Dorothy's office. We're kinda in the middle of renovating the backside of the offices. So my office, the conference room, and Dorothy's office are in one big room -- it's work in progess. But anyway, every Tuesday is Firehouse Tuesday and we eat Firehouse subs together. So this is us eatting our lunch. On the left is Trisha, she's the church secetary. I love her to death! She's loud, Itailian, and has a ton of energy -- we're going to be best friends. Nest to her is Dorothy. Dorothy is our Senior Adults Minister. She lived In Guahna for 38 years. She is full of energy and totally has a heart for God! It's funny because she's the sweetest person you'll ever meet but she's not afraid to tell you when you're being stupid or selfish. Next to her is Shan. He's the preacher and he knows how to kill a person in 25 different ways. Next to him is Sean. he's the Youth Minister, a huge Miami Hurricanes fan, Star Wars Fan, and Lord of the Rings Fan. And then there's me.



This is Shan going to "talk" to one of our neighbors. They guy was trimming his bushes and then throwing the scrap pieces over the fence on to our property. Trisha and I watched and laughed from my office window.





This is my temporary office space.




And these are all my boxes and trash from the move.



And this is what I get to wear to work everyday! Jeans and Flip Flops!!! This is the best job ever! Man I need to get a pedicure!

Amazing Video!

This is Stranton's Story:

I heart Target

I love shopping at Target. As a matter of fact, if I have some time to kill, I'll stop at Target and walk around admiring all the pretty things that I should not buy. The stores are always so clean and the quality is really nice and trendy. One more fun fact, they keep their coolers colder then most stores. So when I buy a mountain dew to go, I can feel the icy goodness running down my throat (I'm getting thirty just thinking about it)!

Although, many times I'm in a hurry and I'll run to target to buy an item and try to get out as soon as possible. One trick I have is to park in the garden section. I always get a parking spot in the front, I can run in without talking or looking at anyone, and then there is never a line at the check out. I've been doing this for a while and the old man who works in the garden section has come to recognize me. He is always very polite, friendly, and making jokes. Many times, I smile and nod at him to be polite but I'm really thinking "Hello! I parked in the garden section and I'm not even buying any plants. Can't you tell I'm one of those people who like to get in and get out. I don't want to have a conversation. I know you're paid to be nice to people, but I'll let you off the hook, can't you please just ring me up and print off that nice red and white receipt-- in all Christian love."

This weekend, I had to buy some last minute Easter Candy on Saturday. Which is a horrible idea, you have to give up your first born just to get a look at some pink marshmellow peeps. But, I parked in the garden section and I was on a mission. As I was checking out I noticed my nice old man. He was wearing bunny ears and welcoming everyone. There was also a mom in the garden section who has also figured out my trick. She had a cart full of supplies and stoped to look at some plants. I guess she was a regular too because this guy knew the names of all her kids. And my cash register guy explained that "nice old man" always occupied the kids while mom shoped around in this section. They loved "cleaning" off all the lawn furniture and chairs to help nice old man with his job. I say "cleaning" because that was the opposite of what they were doing, instead they were getting their figure prints all over everything and smudging dirt everywhere. But they loved it. And nice old man loved it.

I left target that day in a great mood and with a smile on my face. Suddenly my mission wasn't as important as I thought it was. I realized that nice old man was going appove and beyond and it was affecting others in a positive way.

What if we all decided to go above and beyond and totally make a strangers day. I think the world would be a better place. Thanks nice old man. Thanks Target.

A New Season

I've finally made a decision. The process of finding a new job has taken forever! About 8 months ago I really felt like God was calling me to change jobs. I didn't know what that would look like. I've gone from every extreme imaginable! Some of my options were 1.) move to Cincinnati, work in a restaurant, help with a homeless ministry, and just have fun with friends for a while. 2.) Be an elementary school teacher in Jacksonville or Atlanta. 3.) Work in corporate America, make lots of money, pay off debt, and then work at a church or help with a church plant. 4.) Live at home, and be more involved in actually doing Family Ministry.

This was the hardest decision I've ever made. I've had so many sleepless nights and I feel like my stomach has been hurting sense October. I love the people at Christ's Church and I have made friendships here that will last a life time. I am closer to people in Jacksonville then I am to my own family and people here that I would die for. But I really felt like God was calling me to go.

At first I wanted to just run away and have fun! I'm young, single, and have nothing holding me down. And then I wanted to find a job and make lots of money. But all of those were ideas I was just juggling in my head. However, as circumstances arose and decisions had to be made, reality began to sink in. This is really going to happen. And as I began to act on my ideas, my true passions and true goals came into light. I realized that I can't just work a normal job. The thought of working 8-5 with no purpose and no meaning became my biggest fear. There is so much more to life then just existing and paying bills. I also realized my desire to be deeply involved in a church. I realized that these were things that defined me and drove me everyday -- to remove them would throw me into a whirlwind. As I was praying about what God wanted me to do, some of my friends began to call me about ministry opportunities at their churches. I talked to so many churches! Some were huge and some were small. Some had women elders and some were 20 hours away. As job offers were coming and flight plans were being made, I realized I needed to put some things into perspective.

I was comparing alot of jobs by the pay check, church size, and proximity of my parents. Um, shouldn't it be about where does God want me to go? I could have gone to a church that had thousands of people, was about to build a huge children's building, and give me a nice paycheck. But that's not what it's about. It's about God and how I can impact others for Him. I didn't want to go to a church that was in the Bible Bell and had good Christian churches on every other street corner. Where was I needed and where could I make the biggest impact.

First Christian Church of Orlando contacted me about a year ago with a job opportunity. I turned it down and never thought twice about it. It was a small church and I wasn't keen on the idea of living in Orlando again. However, it kept coming up. And the Youth Minister called me several times through the year. I know the Youth Minister and the Senior Minister pretty well. They are both amazing men that strive to serve God in everything they do. I finally decided to send them a resume, just to say I gave them a chance. However, as I talked to them and the elders on the phone, everything was seeming to click. I visited the church a couple times and I really felt like I was home and could see myself doing ministry there. It was weird, because when you put all the pros and the cons on a sheet of paper, FCCO was not the place for me. But my God is way bigger then pros and cons. Eventually it all came down to impact. The opportunity for ministry and growth in downtown Orlando is huge! There are so many hurting people there that are looking for answers. There are so many venues to meet nonchristians and invite them to church. And at FCCO there was a need. Many of the churches I interviewed at could hire anyone. If I said no, they'd be on to the next candidate. And they were all easy. They'd be easy jobs, where I'd have to do is sit in an office, plan the curriculum, recruit volunteers, and fill out paperwork for approval. I need a challenge. I need a drive and I need a goal to strive for. I want to get people excited about serving Christ and telling others about Him.

So lets go! Here I am Lord, Send me. Send me wherever you want me to go. I'll go to a shack in Haiti or I'll go to a church of 20,000. I'm yours Lord, everything I've got, everything I am, everything I'm not. I'm completely yours.

So, I'm packing up my office and I'm going to First Christian Church Orlando. This is definitely not a good "career" move, but this is a great ministry move!

In trying to figure out God's will for your life Andy Stanley says, "The problem is not God's unwillingness to communicate, the problem is our unwillingness to follow through. Because there is a tendancey on our part to say 'God I want you to show me what to do, so I can consider it and put it in my basket of options....' God does not give us direction for consideration....God waits until we're at a point in our lives where we say 'God, I don't care what you say or what the answer is. The answer from my perspective is YES, YES, YES! Now what do you want me to do.' When you get to that point personally, you're going to hear from God loud and clear. Because God loves to give direction to his children, but he does not give out information for contemplation and consideration, He gives it out for participation!"

Break it Down Now

So it's my last week at Christ's Church :o( However, we decided to lighten the mood a little bit and have one last jam session before I'm gone.

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