Aloha Wall Street Journal!!

I was excited to be back at Restoration yesterday.  I said this to several people and they said,

“Really?  You’ve been in Hawaii.  Really?”

After thinking about it…

REALLY.

Hawaii was a much needed ‘reset’.  Laurel and I were grateful for the chance to be away, to talk for uninterrupted portions of time(!), to open-water swim in some of the most beautiful open-water there is, and to snorkel!  Highlight was swimming with sea turtles.  This is what it looked like (though not us…)

A good portion of our time was spent at a conference put on by Hawaiian Islands Ministries.  Remarkably, in spite of the beauty and because of the distance and travel expense, there are not many conference resources that are focused on building the local Hawaiian church.  This conference was started about 25 years ago with a vision to bring in great leaders and teachers to edify and encourage local Hawaiian pastors, lay leaders, and youth.  They do a phenomenal job.  Restoration’s own Mary Vinson is the executive director of this ministry and she invited Laurel and I to attend.  It was a great privilege to sit among 3000 Hawaiians as we listened to speakers like Tony Campolo, TFC and IJM’s Gary Haugen, and Pastor John Jenkins (a local DC guy who is off the chain).  Laurel and I attended seminars on marriage and parenting and met folks who are in ministry for the long haul–  very encouraging.

When the Pastor Says It’s ‘A Time to Sow’ – WSJ.com.

This past Friday, Fred Barnes wrote a great article for the Wall Street Journal about the church planting efforts of The Falls Church.  Fred captures the excitement, newness, passion, and entrepreneurial spirit of what we are experiencing each week at Restoration.  I am thankful for this positive story of how God is using our church family in the Metro DC area.  Check it out…

State of the Restoration:  If you are calling Restoration Arlington your home, we will be having a family meeting this Sunday (March 29) after our worship service.  We want to take about 20 minutes to reflect on how the first 2 months have gone.

• This is the transition point between ‘practicing’ and ‘launching’.  I would like to give some clarity on what that means for our community.
• Bishop Bena will come on April 5 (Palm Sunday) and we will begin Holy Week.  I’d like to explain Restoration’s vision for worship during Holy Week.
• Registration for semester 2 of small groups starts on March 29.  Lets talk about how God is using these to connect people to each other.

So plan on joining us for the family meeting.  Kids are welcome!

Glad to be back.

Really.