Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse. . .  it did.

Last night late I was working through my email and I cam across an email from the GMAIL TEAM.  It told me they were eliminating all the accounts that were unused.  They asked me to tell them my name and password to verify I still wanted the account.  Like a complete idiot I filled in the form and sent it off.

This morning as I tried to log on to my gmail account, my blood ran cold.  My log in didn’t work.  Time after time I tried.  Nothing.  What have I done!?

I’ve been using email for nearly 12 years.  I cannot believe I fell for their ruse.  It just looked so official!

Bottom line–my email has changed to:  whirlwindtim@gmail.com.

I know you folks that read this blog are some of my best friends.  PLEASE change my email in your address book.

This evening I’ve imported my old address book from Outlook.  I’ll work on sending a message to everyone asap. What a huge hassle.

This afternoon Kathy, Ashley and I went to Eagle’s Landing Baptist Church to see one of my MSC couples get appointed along with the new North American Mission Board President Geoff Hammond.  It was a great service.  The mapquest that I downloaded from the church website took me WAY out of the way into the middle of nowhere.  I couldn’t believe it!  I finally found my way there, but it wasn’t easy.

Also had a mother at Kensington Station call me and just royally cuss me out in the worst language imaginable because we told her son to go home.  She wasn’t there and it was the kid’s first time to the center.  Between all the cussing I explained to her that this was NOT day care and that we are an all volunteer operation.  There are times when we can’t be there.  Did no good.  Just kept cussing me out and threatening lawsuits.  Her husband signed a form stating that we were NOT responsible for their children and that we were NOT to be used as a baby sitting outfit.  When I asked her if she was home when we sent the child there, she admitted she was not.  I felt sorry for the lady worring about her child.  I felt badly.  But who’s watching these children when we are not there?

It has really been a tough week.

It’s Sunday morning. Ashley and I are getting ready to go over to Perimeter Church where I will do a briefing with the whole group and Ashley will do a training station on how to do face painting. We’ll also teach the teams some games, how to tie balloon animals and how to use the Evangecube.

Perimeter will be serving in 20 different locations around Metro Atlanta. It’s always my favorite weekend of the year!

Then Ash and I will go over to FBC Duluth where I’ll give them a briefing at 4pm then we’ll go over to Gwinnett Crossings to host a block party over there from about 5-7pm. Should be a terrific day!

Peace.

Kathy and Ashley and I just got back from the Outreach Events this afternoon.  We had a great time working in the community.  I’m looking forward to hearing how many people accepted Christ today!

Saturday, October 6, 2007

I started out my morning at Crossroads church in Lawrenceville. I did a briefing with them on how to round up the people at Alexander Mill, Greens at Hillcrest and Olde Salem. I also showed them how to tie animal balloons. The teams did a fantastic job and the reception was great from the residents.

Then over to Chamblee to meet with my team from the University of Kentucky. They served at Azalea Place and at Highland Gardens. They cleaned up the mission and painted Azalea. They also cleaned up the soccer field in Chamblee. They collected over 50 big bags of trash—mostly beer bottles. Ay caramba. The team hosted a Backyard Bible Club at the two apartments. I was glad I had Kathy and Ashley to go over there and help them get set up. Thank God for the team!

Ended up at Briarlake Village where the In His Name puppet team from Pisgah, NC was serving. They also were at Don Juan/Pearl Lane that afternoor. Ashley and Kathy helped them get started while I was in Lawrenceville with the Crossroads and Simonton BC teams.

What a day!

Peace.

Today was nearly the worst day of my life.

I somehow mislaid my keys yesterday to the Chrysler.  I’m really careful with stuff and like NEVER lose things like that.  It really shook me up. I had NO other key that started the car.  The copies I had made only open the door.  The engine won’t start because it has a chip in it.  So my car was basically imobilized.

Ironically, this was the 2 year anniversary that I’ve had that car.  It was a very generous gift to our ministry from Dr. Pat Barrington.  She’s my doctor and fellow missionary to Niger this February.

So the Chrysler dealership said I had to bring the car in in order to get a key made.  The car had to be “reprogrammed.”  That meant I had to have the car towed.

I have three old cars.  I have Triple A, so towing’s not an issue, but it sure is a hassle.

So I figured those keys had to be in my office at FBC Doraville.  No keys.

Then Azzlea Mission? No keys.

How about Perimeter mall parking lot. No Keys.  I really thought I’d find them there. Now I was REALLY bummed out.  It wasn’t just the losing the keys. Again, something that NEVER happens, only it did. It was also the repair of the Chrysler transmission that was over $2,000, and making sure all the teams this weekend were set up correctly.

I was feeling so sorry for myself that I actually started crying.  What a wuss.

The Father kept telling me, “Hey son, when did I ever let you down? Don’t worry!

But the last logical place for those keys to be was in that parking lot.

I thought of what happened yesterday to retrace my steps.  I  made one last stop yesterday at Lowes.  But I figured it was impossible for them to have fallen out there because I was driving and the bag with the key in it was on the passenger’s side floor board.

I went in and asked the Customer Service people:  “Did you have a set of keys turned in yesterday?”

Sure did.  And he pulled out my keys.  Praise the Lord!

It’s so dad gum weird that I really can’t figure it out.  How did those keys got from a zippered compartment in a bag to on the ground in the parking lot?

I chalk on this up to spiritual warfare.  Whenever we have a huge outreach event like this weekend, we always incur really weird stuff like your computer and your car will both mess up.

One day at a time.

This afternoon I hosted a team from North Carolina that does clowns and puppets.  I was still kind of in a funk although I was a LOT better now that I had my keys.

We went to do a show at Shallowford Gardens in Doraville.  I went around and rounded up the kids and set up chairs.

There were a couple of kid had just incredibly bad behaviour.  One little 9 year old actually told one of the older ladies on the team that he was going to “Cut her throat and kill her.”  I had to have a long talk with that kid.

Doubt I did much good.

Peace.

Thursday is always special for me.  It’s ASHLEY day!  We really enjoy riding around together and talking about ministry.

Even more exciting was Jesse came too.  Wow!  He needs to get more driving hours under his belt.  If you can drive where I drive,  you’re a big boy driver.  285, Buford Highway, Jimmy Carter, 78 and its dreaded reversable lanes. . . scary stuff.

I just had him focus on his one lane, one mile at a time.  If you break it down almost anything is possible.

We gathered up all the painting supplies and took them Azalea.  Also spent about $150 on paint for the Azalea Mission.  I have a team from Kentucky that will work with us this weekend.  They’ll clean and completely repaint the mission.  Since my wife has been working there with the Bengali women I’ve tried to keep the place cleaner.

Speaking of clean–I encountered the filthiest mission I’d ever seen today at Huntington Creek.  Apparently, one of the kids hid in a closet and waited for the team to lock up and leave.  They he got out, let all his little naughty friends and and completely went bezerk.  I took pictures.  It was unbelievable.  Even down to painting on the walls.  Ash, J and I cleaned for about an hour.  That was something else.  The kids are out of control.  So are the parents.  Go figure.

We spent a little time at Perimeter Mall.  Ash and I like the salads over there. Then we got Ashley some new boots and J some new house shoes.  He calls them “slippers.”  I don’t think I could be manly and wear slippers.

Tomorrow I have a puppet team in town.  Saturday, Crossroads church will be in Lawrenceville.  Sunday Perimeter will be all over Metro Atlanta–20 locations.  It’s a beautiful thing.

Peace.

Ashley and I just got back home from the Elizabeth Baptist Church Missions Conference.  It’s nearly 11pm when I’m writing this.  We had a good time with the enthusiastic crowd.  I pray we can help them get involved in reaching their community!

Worked on admin stuff all this morning.  Had a ton of email to write–over 50 messages to respond to.  Got to keep up with it every day or it can REALLY get overwhelming.

Worked out on weights this morning early.

Peace.

I’ve been really tired lately. I’m stressed out about all the teams this weekend. I know it’s all going to be fine, but I keep feeling like maybe there’s something else I should do to help it run more smoothly.

I can tell when I’ve been pushing it too hard. First off I get a twitch in my left eye. Or else I get a cold sore break out on my lip. My eye’s ok but my lip hurts. I’ve been trying to sleep a little more, but my mind gets running on so many things happening it’s hard to relax.

Yesterday, I had a meeting with my partners from Victory Church. They’ll be helping host an Outreach Event at Gwinnett Crossings. It was good to see their team. I was also in contact with my partners from FBC Duluth and Perimeter who will also be helping there this weekend. It’s not easy to keep all the teams organized, especially if they don’t let me know their plans.

Had a meeting with Bill Hickey yesterday. He’s been helping me with some construction projects around the missions. He’s a great guy who reminds me of my grandfather. He’s working at Huntington Terraces as an on site Director.

I finished my financial report and took it over to my Treasurer Monday morning.

This morning I’ve worked through all my email and made an addition to the financial report that includes the newest donations that came in yesterday.

I hope to go for a run soon, then over to Chamblee to help the kids at Azalea.

This weekend we’ve been involved with the Global Missions celebration at Elizabeth Baptist Church.  Ashley’s done a great job representing us!

Kathy and I went to the Ben Franklin exhibit at the Atlanta History Museum.  Most of the orginal paintings that we know Ben by were there! Incredible.

Ran 4 miles this afternoon.

Peace.

The transmission guys called me this afternoon. If it’s just the torque converter we’re looking at $800. If the whole thing is shot it’s going to be at least $2,000. Ay caramba! Pray for metal healing!

Super early morning for me today. Ashley and I started out at 8 am at the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce for the planning meeting for the Franklin Graham crusade in 2009. I slept maybe 4 hours last night. I’m a late night guy and normally am at my computer till around midnight working on some project.  Even when I know I’ve got an early morning gig, my brain just doesn’t want to slow down.

The meeting went on for about 2 hours and was just about to end. I’d been completely quiet the whole time. Finally I said, “I’m a missionary here in Atlanta working with apartment complexes. Almost everyone I work with is unchurched. What percentage of the people that come to these events are unchurched? My partners are convinced that the great majority will be church people.” No clear answer was given. Then I said, “Is it possible to do a simultaneous event on site with TVS and a DVD? I just don’t see all these unchurched people coming to this event.” They did say that that was a possibility. So that’s a ray of hope. The estimated the cost of the event to be between 1.5 and 1.8 MILLION dollars. The Gwinnett Civic Center can hold about 13,000 people and there will be four services. If everyone of those seats is taken up with a non-Christian that would be 52,000 people. If you divide $1,800,000 by 52,000 you get $34.65.

I have to ask myself, does it really cost $35 to tell someone about Jesus?

I’ll still support the event, but I do believe that our strategy of going directly TO THE COMMUNITY and building relationships with them is the answer. I think the days of these large events really reaching our communities is over.

However, I also believe in a “buffet approach” to evangelism. There will be people that can only be reached by these big events.

I still felt kind of bad to be the guy that stood up and actually asked for a bottom line–will unchurched people come to this event? The answer was, “Only if they are brought there.”

Ashley asked me, “Daddy, do you see yourself going to pick someone up, take them over there, wait in line to get a seat just so they can hear someone preach?” Had to say, “Not really.” I’d rather sponsor a group to do a cookout for $100/location, play some games and share the Gospel right where they live. It’s the on going work that’s the most important and THAT is what Whirlwind is committed to doing.

I’m not sure if everyone who reads this blog supports our ministry–but you should.

After the Graham meeting, Ashley and I did a recon of the four locations in Lawrenceville that our partners at Crossroads church and Union Baptist Church will be working with. We met with the team leaders, introduced them to the managers of the complexes, got to meet the kids after they got off the bus and just had a terrific time. I’m looking foward to great things that first weekend in October!

My partners at Perimeter will be working at 20 locations simultaneously in 6 cities around Metro Atlanta on October 7th. This year we’re not cooking, instead we’re putting our finances towards buying Evangecubes–a great new way to share the Gospel with a little device that’s shaped like Rubik’s cube, but folds out to show different pictures of the story of salvation. My guess is that one church in one afternoon will share the Gospel with at LEAST 200 people. That number could easily be 500. We’ll interact with over 1,000-1,500 non-Christians. The cost of event per location is less than $100.

After the meeting I had several people come up to me and tell me how glad they were that I’d said what I’d said. I guess I’m the field missionary reality check.

Ashley and I also wrote our 200 newletters and got them in the mail this afternoon! PTL!

Peace.

I dropped my Chrysler off at the mechanics today. They ended up telling me that the transmission needs looking at.  Bahd luck.  Kathy and I just took it over to American Transmissions a little while ago.

This morning Ashley and I went over to make our copies for the newsletter.  The UPS store was CLOSED permanently!  That was a bummer since I’ve worked with the boss of that store for over a decade now.  I’ll miss you, Jeff!  I hope he’s ok.

We went next to buy stamps at the PO and I checked with the copy place next door.  Those guys are Christians and were delighted to work with us.  The machines are a little faster, but I don’t like the copies quite as much.  It will be cheaper.  I also found out that Mike–the guy that used to do my sign work for me–was at that store too.  I thought it was pretty cool.  He does great work.  I need to get a new Whirlwind Missions sign made for in from of the FBC Doraville building.  The old one turned up missing a few weeks ago.  I reckon it broke up from the big storms during the summer.

I got an email this morning that Perimeter was throwing some computer tables away.  I went and got them and took them to Oak Forest.  Ms. Vickie needs them for her program.  Seems like a lot of what I do is haul stuff from one partner to another.  Guess that’s what they call networking.

I had Bill Hickey, the elderly gentleman who’s been doing painting projects for me, meet me at the church.  My partners at Me and My House gave him a love offering for the work that he had done around the mission.  I know he was happy about that.  Later, he came over to the Azalea Mission where we did the envelopes for this month’s newsletter and helped the kids with their homework.

When I finally got home this afternoon I went out for a 4 mile run.  My old legs felt pretty tired today.

Then K and I took the car to the transmission place.

Finished up my email with teams coming in the next couple of weeks.

Peace.

Super great day today!

I got to hang out with my mentor, Sam Bandela for lunch.  He was with his nephew, Stephen Bandela who I’m trying to get plugged into the Clarkston community.  It was great spending time with him.  I always learn something from Sam.  He’s the main article for the CBF news magazine this month.

Met with Matt Biggs a fellow Kenyan that studied in London for years.  He’s interested in plugging in at the mission at Azalea.  His church picks up several of the mission kids.  I owe them a debt of gratitude for that and want to support them any way I can. Matt’s a cool guy.  Us Africans need to stick together!

Also did a drive around with Zeny and Nate Martin, two new missionaries working with Tony Compolo’s Mission Year organization.  I had fun showing them the many options for service in and around the Clarkston and Chamblee areas.  We have a huge infrastructure.  They more I try to explain it to newbies the more I’m amazed by really how much we have going on.  We really do have a terrific team.

Wrote my newsletter article tonight.  Got all the labels ready for the kids to help me with the envelopes tomorrow.

I confirmed about half of the locations for my Perimeter partners for the October 7th outreach events.  I’ll knock out the rest of that tomorrow.  I set up all the locations around Lawrenceville that my partners at Crossroads will be working at on the 6th.  I’ll do a pre-site visit with them on Thursday.

Worked out on weights early this morning.

Peace