our first car…

So we sold Bridget’s 1996 Honda Civic on Thursday, forcing us to buy another car. Bridge and I have been looking for a good deal on a Toyota Yaris or Corolla for a few months now, and finally we came across a great deal - in Lugoff.

We made the drive in my Jeep yesterday, but I drove back alone. Bridge got to drive the newest member of the Hall household - a 2007 Toyota Yaris!

We love our new car! But, there’s a drawback - insurance. Apparently, I have 4 traffic violations in the past 3 years, so I’m not the cheapest guy to insure. All of a sudden, my past crept up and bit me in the butt. It made me think though - don’t you love the fact that Jesus doesn’t operate like an insurance company? What you’ve done in the past is already paid for!

I promise you this though, I won’t be speeding anytime soon!

Chuck E Cheese’s

Monday night, Bridget and I met up with some Florence families at Chuck E Cheese’s. I haven’t been there since it was Show Biz Pizza, so I was a little skeptical at fist, but we ended up having a great time. I think I used up more tokens than any of the kids that were with us.

Close to the end of the night, we pooled all of our tickets that we accumulated from many games of skeeball and head to head basketball, and let the kids pick out some prizes. Instead of getting something for themselves though, they decided to get a prize and donate it to NewSpring Florence children’s ministry. So children’s ministry in Florence now has it’s first toy - a Chuck E Cheese’s mini basketball.

Thank you - McCall, Hage, Eli, Carson, Cambell and Mathan for your generosity! I can’t wait to get that ball into action in October!

the perfect theme park

I have now been married for one year and one day. If you can figure out that tough math, that means that yesterday was our 1 year anniversary. This year has absolutely flown by, so I guess the saying is true - time flies when you’re having fun.

To celebrate, Bridge and I went to Paramount’s Carowinds for the day. It was a ton of fun, but if you’re at all familiar with theme parks, you know that they take advantage of you. Vending machines with 20 oz. drinks cost $4.50! That’s insane! It cost $8 for a chicken sandwich without fries or a drink. And of course they didn’t let you bring in your own food or drinks. On top of the price of admission and food, it cost additional for: parking, carnival games, special rides, and lockers. All that makes for an expensive trip.

So I started thinking, if I owned an amusement park, what would my prices be. I started talking to Bridge about my ideas, which I’m sure bored her to death (I tend to think of things like this a lot and get really excited about it and talk about it for a long time), and here’s what my amusement park would be like:

• Admission - $40 per person
• Parking - Free
• Lockers - Free, you get assigned a locker number and are given the combination when you buy your tickets
• Food - Your ticket includes 2 free meals (drinks included)
• Extra Drinks - Yes, you have to pay for drinks, but they won’t be any more than you would pay at a gas station ($1or so)
• Carnival games - Free
• Special rides - Free

Who knows, I’m no business man so I’d probably go bankrupt. I just know that an amusement park like that would get my business - I might even buy season passes.

We had a great day though, and even got to eat our year-old wedding cake on the hood of my Jeep - it was sweet.

habakkuk 1:5

God’s answer to Habakkuk’s prayer:

“Look at the nations and watch - and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.”

I believe that this is still God’s answer today: “Look and watch - be utterly amazed. I am going to do something that you would not believe, even if I told you.”

I’m convinced that God is going to do things in Florence that I could never imagine. Things that I wouldn’t believe if someone told me. I’m blessed to see God at work!

updates via photos

Here’s what’s been going on in our lives via photos. Enjoy.

The first few boxes we packed in Anderson

My brother-in-law helping me move out.

The beginnings of packing.

Moving truck!

Me trying to be tough since I was driving a big truck.

On the road.

A plate of brownies waiting on us courtesy of the Cawthon's

Bridge and I happy to be in our new apartment!

The busload of people from Florence on the way to NewSpring Anderson.

broadcasting live from Florence, S.C.

Finally, we’re in Florence. We packed up a 26 foot box truck and headed down on Saturday morning. Bridge, Becca (her sister) and I sat three wide and drove that huge truck all the way here. Luckily, we had tons of help in the moving process, and we appreciate it! We couldn’t have done it without the help of our parents, family and friends.

The past two days have been spent relentlessly unpacking. I’m not really good at unpacking either. Bridget is the organizer, I’m the “Lets just get everything out of sight and out of mind.” But thanks to Bridge, we’ve made a ton of headway. Hopefully we can get finished up by tomorrow and get settled in.

i’m learning

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had the privilege of hanging out with Pudge at NewSpring Greenville. Other than the everyday in’s and out’s of children’s ministry, Pudge has been really showing me how a leader looks in the context of children’s ministry. It’s definately been a huge blessing to be hanging out with a guy with such a heart for kids!

Here are just a few things that I’ve been able to pick up from Pudge.

• Be adaptable - Always be ready for what God might throw at you, and be willing to adapt in every situation. A leader takes the resources provided (even if it’s not ideal) and uses it to push towards the end goal.
• Be volunteer minded - Realize that without volunteers, children’s ministry couldn’t work. Volunteers are the real people who make Sundays happen, not staff.
• Be encouraging - Even when everything is going crazy, encourage! Everything is going to work out fine, make sure that the volunteer leaders that you have in place are encouraged.
• Be a listener - Listen to other people’s ideas about children’s ministry. Who knows, someone may have the next big thing that is just waiting to be discovered. Let volunteer leaders lead meetings and listen to their critiques.
• Be a vision caster - This goes along with being encouraging. When everything is crazy, and people start getting burned out, make sure that you are always reminding volunteers of the bigger vision. That someone volunteering in children’s ministry makes an eternal difference

I can’t wait to get to Florence and put all of what I’ve been learning to practice.

coming soon

Things in my life are changing fast. It’s an exciting place to be, but it’s also kind of scary at the same time. Here are some of the things that I’m most excited about, and at the same time most intimidated by:  

• Leading - I absolutely love what I do (even though I’m still really new at it). I love the opportunity to lead and I’m excited! But even though NewSpring Florence hasn’t even had it’s first meeting, I’ve already felt the weight of leading the children’s ministry. I can’t imagine what it’s going to feel like when NewSpring Florence is up and running.
• Moving - I’ve never lived anywhere outside of Anderson county. I love the upstate. My family is here, Bridget’s family is here. Our friends are here. But, I’m incredibly pumped about moving to Florence. I can’t wait to meet new people. To make new friends (not that I don’t love the old ones, they will always be friends). I can’t wait to live in a place that I’ve only been to twice in my life. That excites me!
• Failing - This one may seem weird, but hear me out. When I say failing here, I simply mean dropping the ball in some way - making a significant mistake. Forgetting something that’s important. I’m scared to death of failing. I’m scared that I’m going to somehow drop the ball and screw something up royally (after all, I know myself well enough to know how bad I can screw stuff up). But at the same time, I’m excited to fail. Usually we learn more from our failures than we do from our successes. And since it’s inevidable that I will fail in some way, why not look at it as a learning experience. Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not going to try to fail. I’m going to do my absolute best in every aspect of children’s ministry. But when I do fail in some way (like everyone does from time to time), I want to use that as a growing experience. One thing I’ve been privledged to learn from Brad Cooper is that in leadership, you have to be willing to take risks. And when taking those risks, take them at full speed. Which means that when you make mistakes, you will make mistakes at full speed. But it’s better for your leader (in my case Michael) to have to pull back on the reigns, rather than having to whip you into action.

All that said, the excited part outweighs the scared part. I can’t wait for NewSpring Florence! The meeting last night was just reassurance that I’m in the right place - without a doubt.

By the way, in light of all the changes going on in my life personally, I thought I should change some things around the old blog. So I’m going to be changing the way everything looks around here, hope you like it.

one more thing, I’ve heard awesome things about the middle school week of Gauntlet 2008. Things like 105 baptised (thats about 30 percent of the students that went) and a bunch of salvations. Praise Jesus! I can’t wait to hear about high school week.

I’m moving to Florence

Yes, you read that title right….I’m moving to Florence. I’m joining Michael Brown and the NewSpring team heading down to Florence to start the new Florence campus. On July 1, I came on as the Florence Children’s Ministry Director. For the two days that I worked last week, I was busy soaking up as much as possible from the children’s ministry staff and trying to learn all the stuff I need to know. Needless to say, I have a lot to learn, but I’m loving every second of it.

I’m absolutely pumped about the move Bridge and I are making. Alden (who is from Florence) and his wife Deanna took Bridge and me down to Florence this weekend to stay with his parents and to find a place to live. Alden and D have been a huge help considering this is the first time I’ve ever been to Florence. But it’s now official, we’re living in Cambridge apartments and we’re moving no later than July 26.

Please be in prayer for Bridge and me as we make this transition. We cannot wait to see what God is going to do in Florence!

BTW, if you’re interested in volunteering with children’s ministry in Florence, please shoot me an email! david.hall@newspring.cc

simple

I have a simple prayer. This prayer covers all areas of my life. This prayer is what my heart beats for…it’s found in John 12: 28. Jesus says:

“Father, glorify your name.”

That is my simple prayer. In all areas of my life “Father, glorify your name.” In every situation “Father, glorify your name.” In everything I do “Father, glorify your name.” I exist for the God’s glory…