Three Weeks That Feels Like Three Days!

In this post:
1.  How I survived 15 meetings without gaining 15 pounds.
2.  Our upcoming offsite retreat.
3.  My 100 Day plan.
4.  An incredible lunch meeting.
5.  Comments turned on and Facebook available.

I thought I'd give you a quick update on my first three weeks in the office and tell you about one of the most remarkable, amazing lunch meetings I've ever had.  My first day in the office was Monday, August 4.  Since most of my stuff was still in boxes at home (and I really didn't want to spend the first week setting up my office), I decided to go with a very sparse office setup.  I've got a few books on my bookshelf to give people snooping around an idea of what topics interest me and I hung a few photos of some recent vacations hiking on the Appalachian Trail.

My first meeting was lunch with Dr. Youssef (notice that unlike my email from earlier this week, I spelled his name correctly this time...thanks Brenda!).  Agenda item #1 for me was "Thanks for bringing me here!"  It has been a wonderful experience to pray with Dr. Youssef, talk with many of you and dream about the future of COTA.  Reviewing my calendar I have has 15 meal meetings with staff, Vestry members and other church members and 18 other meetings.  I had the privilege of speaking at our August staff chapel and got to share a homily based on Jesus words, "I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly" at Hour of Power.  Everyone has been very gracious and kind to me, and I am grateful.

I'm really excited about the upcoming off-site retreat on Friday, September 12.  We learned that the fields at the Youssef's farm have recently been plowed and that site might not be as conducive for our event as we thought, so the location has been moved to a site west of town.  Here's a link to the location.  

 This will be a convenient location for many people, and I'm going to put tents in my backyard for Connie, Mark and others who make the long commute from the other side of the state so they have a place to spend the night.  It will be a fun day together (pray for good weather!) and I'm taking the "team effort" approach to planning: Amy will get the food together, Boyd's folks will work out logistics, some of the youth team will put together some games, I'll get my new golfing buddies to gather putters and balls for putt-putt (see the "mini-golf" course in the picture, above right) and others of you will soon be asked to help plan the event.  If you have ideas of group games or things you've seen done at family reunions in the past (hey! we're a family!), please send me your thoughts.

My initial meetings with people have been very helpful to me understanding the history and culture of COTA.  God has done amazing things here in a very short time and I believe we are standing at the brink of a season of unparalleled blessing and favor.  We have a lot of work to do to get ready for what God wants to do in us and through us.  In my next round of meetings I'm asking the following questions:

1.  What are the character traits and practices of the church that we should be sure to maintain?
2.  What are the practices that are keeping us from being as effective as we should be?
3.  What do you hope I am able to do?
4.  What are the obstacles I will face?
5.  What would you do first if you were me?

I won't get to have one-on-one conversations with everyone on staff, but I'd be very happy to get anyone's responses to these questions...really!  Drop me an email or stop by my office anytime.  I gave Dr. Youssef my "100 Day Plan" on my first day in the office and the plan starts with lots of listening and learning on my part.  The listening phase will be followed by everyone joining in the process by praying, talking, planning and then executing our plan.  Measurable progress will come, but it will come as the result of a team-based process.

Okay, here's what happened at one of the most remarkable lunch meetings I've ever had.  You know that the church has just hired Aaron Keyes to be our worship leader.  As a former worship leader, I was very impressed with what Aaron had written about worship on his website and intrigued to learn that he had graduated from Furman University in Greenville, SC., my wife Charlene's hometown.

  Aaron and I finally had a chance to meet for lunch on Tuesday.  We were both introduced to the congregation on the same Sunday.  He knows I have a background in worship, so we were eager to meet.

I drove across town and met him at a burger place ("Farm Burger" in Decatur...mmmmm!).  We sat down and started chatting.  At one point, he mentioned the name of the pastor of his home church, Pastor Walter Handford.  When my jaw dropped, Aaron asked, "Do you know him?"

"Know him?" I replied, "He married Charlene and me!!"

Within a few minutes, both of us had pushed away from the table and kept saying, "No way! ... Really?  No way!!!"

Turns out Aaron Keyes was born in the campus hospital at Bob Jones University where Charlene and I met.  His father, Steve Keyes was Charlene's youth pastor at Southside Baptist Church in Greenville.  Charlene's mom, Pearl taught Aaron high school science at Southside Christian School.  As a youth, Aaron spent time at The Wilds, a Christian camp where Charlene and I first met.  Just too many coincidences to be coincidences!

There's about 15 years difference between us, but after hearing Aaron talk about his theology of worship at a meeting last week, I quipped, "Man, you and I are twins separated at birth!!"  Turns out that actually wasn't far from the truth.  I bet God does this kind of stuff all the time in his spare time and only lets us know about it occasionally.  Amazing!

FINALLY, I fixed the comments part of this blog so you can now post comments without going through a CIA background investigation, and I adjusted my Facebook settings so you can view or friend me at www.facebook.com/billp2000.

God bless!