Ashley and I have been focused on the mailout for this next Outreach Update going out in a few days.  We’ve been printing calendars and laminating them.  It’s a huge (223) and time consuming project.  The laminating has to be really watched and when printing this many you have to make sure it doesn’t run out of ink.  They are really turning out great!

Ran 4 miles yesterday  Hope to work out on weights today.

Need to write my article for this issue.

My hands are cold, it’s 62 in my room.  45 outside.

Peace.

We just got back from a fun Thanksgiving dinner at my brother in law David Doverspike’s house. We had a delicious lunch and good family fellowship.

It’s been a really nice, relaxing day. This morning I enjoyed watching Armageddon–an old Bruce Willis movie where he blows up an Earth killing asteroid. Fun

Yesterday, I worked on our Christmas mailout. Ashley and I figured out what we’re going to do and how it’s going to look. We’re going to do a 12 month calendar with some big pictures at the top of the page and then the months at the bottom.

I ran 4 miles and worked out on weights. Fantastic weather, in the 70s!

Peace.

Had a great day today!

I met with Dr. Sherman Pelt the pastor of Liberty Baptist Church.  He’s a great guy and really interested in reaching his community for Christ. I also got to see my partner Doug Allison from Midway Macedonia.  He’s been helping Dr. Pelt get moving in the apartment complexes in the area.  We talked to leasing people in two different complexes.  Both meetings went great!  They are very interested in working with the church!  Excellent!

We also enjoyed fried catfish at 6 Feet Under–located just across the street from OakLawn Cemetery. It’s noted as the best fried fish in Atlanta.  Not sure if that’s true, but it was good!

After meeting with the Pastor and Doug I spent a few minutes walking around Oak Lawn.  I really like cemeteries, especially the really old ones.  My favorite is Bonaventure in Savannah.

Finished working through my email and made my phone calls.  Teams for next summer are already getting organized.  Sweet!

I’m headed over to Azalea to check on the kids at the mission.

Peace.

Catching up on Admin work. Answered my missed calls and just finished wading through about 70 emails. Several people interested in bringing teams or in working with us.

Went over to Walmart to pick up some supplies for the office.

I’m headed over to Azalea now to check on the kids at the mission.

Thursday through Sunday the 18th

Kathy and I were in Chattanooga at our little retreat place. We biked for miles and miles and enjoyed hiking in and around Chatta. It was a lot of fun. We also went to Calhoun on our way home to watch ultralights fly at their airport. Cool!

I stayed up late last night editing video for First Baptist Atlanta. I have that on line now under our mission videos.

Worked on admin emails this morning.

Had lunch with Bennett Ekandem and a new MSC partner–Kevin Riley this afternoon. I’m trying to help him get plugged into the team. I’m excited about what he brings to the field.

Finished up my financial report. I’ll take that over tomorrow morning to my treasurer. We had our Board Meeting last night, but this report is our regular bi-weekly expense and donation info.

I’m headed over to check on the kids at Azalea.

I’ll pick up the van this evening. It needed some new tires. I have my mechanic scheduled to do some repair work on one of the CV joints tomorrow morning. K and I are getting out of town for a few days. I need a break.

Peace.

Just got back from the meeting with my Board of Directors for Whirlwind Missions. Have you noticed how I like to capitalize things?

It is always a pleasure to see my brother Tito Ruiz, Jon Paul and Carl Barrington. These guys are all super smart and have wonderful ministries. It’s a blessing to see what’s been going on in their lives. Whirlwind Missions is doing great! It’s good for me to really crunch numbers every once in a while. I could hardly believe that we’d mobilized over 2,900 volunteers so far this year!

Went out to Marietta this afternoon. I’d received a letter from the manager telling us that we had 30 days to get out. Things like this happen when they change owners. I talked to the main leasing person. Her name is Judith. When I told her that we may be moving she was very upset and told me, “My little boy goes to school there. Those ladies have helped him a lot! Your teams have done a lot of good in the community. You need to come down here right now and talk to the manager. The owner is here, maybe you could talk to him.”

“You really think I should come?”

“Right now.”

So I did. I drove over to the apartment complex and went in and said hi to Judith. She shared with me how things had been going with the new owners. She said she thought things were getting better. I was really impressed with the new manager, William. He seemed genuinely interested in what we were doing. He asked me to send him a proposal. I told him that wasn’t a problem. Overall a pretty positive meeting.

Then check this out.  The Director for the After School Program is named Kathy.  I couldn’t find her number and wanted to tell her about what was going on at Preston Chase.  After I had the meeting with the manager, she called ME!  She said that she had read on my blog what was going on at Preston Chase.  So she went into the manager’s office this afternoon (about two hours after I had already been there!) I told him how much “I love working with your kids.  They are just the sweetest ever and they have been a big blessing to me.”  Kathy went on to describe how the program worked and how the children had benfitted.

She had no idea this was the new manager she was talking to.

Later, William came over to the mission to see what was going on.  They were goggle eyed at the level of organization.  The kids were doing their homework.  The manager asked the kids, “Would you like a snack?”  and the kids said, “We have to do our homework first.”  It was a beautiful thing!

Again, she didn’t know that William was the new manager.  He was really impressed.

So hopefully, they’ll rescind the  decision.

I went over to Azalea to check on the kids. Jouvens and Bubba were helping the kids with their homework. My little kids all grown up and helping the other little kids. Does make you feel good. I guess a lot can change over 11 years in one apartment complex. 8 to 19 is a pretty big change.

I had a great time at the Board meeting. Kathy and Ashley both attended. I really appreciated them doing that. Today is Ashley’s birthday!! Probably wasn’t the best planning on Dad’s part to put the board meeting on her birthday. That’s putting it mildly.

I guess I’m so old these days that birthdays are kind of a non event.

Did I mention I turn 50 next July?

I look at that number and think, “That’s not possible.” And at the same moment think, “My shoulder feels a little stiff.” I guess it’s possible.

I haven’t run in 4 days. That’s rare for me. Felt like I needed to rest. That Impact Atlanta had an impact on me.

Read Ashley’s blog!  She rocks!  My little girl is all grown up.

Stayed up late last night working on my Board Report.  Still putting the final touches on it this morning.

Ashley and I went through it to see if there were high points we forgot.

Miles, Jesse, Kathy and I took Ashley out for lunch.  We went to Pizza Cafe off of 78 near Stone Mountain.

We’ll be going to Thai of Norcross tonight for Ashley’s party with Miles’ parents. Should be fun.

I was supposed to go to Gainesville today, but the partner I was meeting with had his mother law going in for surgery today.  Worked out well for my schedule so I could get the report together.  Most of it will be an electronic version this year rather than printing out reams of paper like I have the last five years.

I’ll get some exercise later today.

I spoke at two Sunday School classes at First Baptist Atlanta this morning. They’re class was called, “Gap 57.” They were 6th graders! The classes were fun. I like that age group.

I only had to speak for the first part of the Sunday School hour so I was able to hear George Werwer speak during the service. He’s the founder of Operation Mobilization and a really incredible guy. He wears the same map jacket that has become a second skin to me. He’s one of the best mission speakers around. His sermons sometimes border on being racey! Imagine!

After church I loaded up all the grills and took them over to Perimeter. I thought I had a meeting in Gainesville tomorrow morning so I thought I really needed to do it today. Turns out now didn’t really matter but I’m glad I got it done!

Now I can spend time working on my Board report. I have all the info together, I just need to put it in one form. This year we’re going to a near paperless Annual Report. I realized “why am I spending all this money printing up all this stuff? We can have it on our computer instead.” I just need to do some number crunching.

I spent an hour working on a press release about Impact Atlanta for FBA and the Christian Index. It’s supposed to go out the 22nd.

Need to work on editing the video I shot for Impact Atlanta.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

First Baptist Atlanta hosted Impact Atlanta 2007. We had over 500 people help us “Take the Church, To the People!” We fed hot dogs, made balloon animals, painted faces and shared the Gospel! Over 100 people accepted Christ including a mother, her daughter and the grand daughter! Sweet!

The debriefing was really special with story after story of incredible experiences, God providing translators exactly when and where we needed them.

Really a high point of the year.

Ashley and I went to Kroger to get the massive amounts of supplies for Impact Atlanta today. We’ll have enough food to serve 5,000! Something Biblical about that!

Derrick Poston is my partner from First Baptist Atlanta. He’s done a super good job organizing the church to get involved with the community.

We took the truck load of food from Kroger back to FBA. Fortunately, we had a good team of volunteers to help distribute the food into 36 different areas. Awesome!

Came home. Ran 4 miles.

Looked through my email.

Had a good call from my partners at Campus Crusade. I’m looking forward to setting up the logistics for their large outreach on January 1, 2008.

Peace.

Ashley and I had a “UT–University of Tim” day.

She rode with me up to Alpharetta where the HQ of the North American Mission Board is located.  I gave a lecture to the Missionary Candidates who were being approved by the Trustees today.  I spoke to them about mobilizing volunteers.  It was a lively group.

Then we went over to North Point Mall.  Ashley had no idea I was going to take her there.  We did some shopping for her birthday.  It was fun.  Never too much Ashley!

Perimeter Church was our next stop.  We picked up 22 grills from the Community Outreach team.  We’ll be using them this weekend at Impact Atlanta with FBC Atlanta.  In all we’ll be covering 36 locations with over 500 volunteers from First Baptist Church of Atlanta. After putting them in the van we hauled them over to FBCA to be stored until Monday when I’ll take them back.

Some fantastic clouds this afternoon.

Went over to Azalea to check on the kids at the mission.  Ashley helped Rezwana with her paper on suicide.  Not a happy subject.

Just knocked out my email.

Peace.