And...We're off...

Sunday night was my first "official" welcoming reception by the parents and youth of the church. (Thursday, the staff threw me a lovely shindig/BBQ.) It went well. We ate fried chicken and lovely side dishes. We played some "Do You Love Your Neighbor?" during which I learned that the church's gym has horrendous acoustics. Then I had a time of Q and A with parents where we talked about some of the things coming up...

• The Big Fall Event will be a Lock-out in and around greater Nashville following the football games.
• Sunday night youth group kicks off on August 20
• We are moving towards a junior high and senior high split of youth groups in January
• High schoolers will be attending the "Warmth in Winter" event put on by the Tennessee Conference
• Middle schoolers will be attending some other event to be determined later. Most likely? The Edge Middle School Retreat is back! (Forest Hills and Bethlehem could be a fantastic combination...)
  

Because of the track record here of quick and short term youth workers, I knew that it was going to take time to convince kids that I want and I am called to do something long term; after last night, it is apparent that it will take some time to convince some adults as well. Not that I am nervous or anything. As I recently re-discovered, I hate moving. In fact, I hate it so much that I have decided that if forced to move again, I am going to donate everything I own to Goodwill and start over with some clothes, a computer and a guitar. So if for no other reason than I hate moving, I am here for awhile. (And there are LOTS of other reasons why I would be here...)