Blogging Along With Mark

2011-10-02T20:29:00.001-07:00

I don't follow Jesus because I was socialized as a child to do so. I don't follow Jesus because He is in vogue. I don't follow Jesus as some sort of last resort. I follow Jesus because in the final analysis, no other world view makes sense. I had doubts, but they were simply another sort of belief system. I follow Jesus because He has rescued me and restored me back into the relationship with God I was actually created for. It's not easy, but it is always good since I no longer rely on my finite self for hope, reason and purpose.

Back Again...

2010-09-25T17:04:00.000-07:00

Wow...let me sweep away the cobwebs! It seems that I haven't made an entry since the Dead Sea was merely sick! Oh, well.

Yolie and I have been in Midlothian, VA for over two years now . Christ Church Anglican has grown from around 20 folk to nearly 60 as of last count. The community is growing in commitment to one another, to neighbors and to folks God has bump into them. We want to follow Jesus...not the safest thing I know, but the best...we want to live intentionally...meaning we want to learn to life without reference to a box (you know..."outside the box" is still referenced to some box)...we want to impact culture with the goodness of God...that means being real friends, intentional relationships, honest lives, God's power and grace, not human cleverness or oily shtick.

I still work part time at Swift Creek Starbucks. I love the kids I work with. I'm old enough to be their Dad, but they don't believe me when I say I'll be 60 next March 29th! I like that! My great uncle, Kirby, told me when I was 8 years old to never grow old through and through. That's one thing that has remained consistent. There simply is not enough classic silliness afoot in the world today.

We have had the folks known as Christ Church over to our home loads of time. These guys know how to cook! We've looked at Scripture, watched movies, talked, listened, laughed, cried and shared life a lot. I am so grateful to be here working and living life with them.

Yolie is writing great stuff. She does life-on-life discipleship with the kids in the congregation. I went to Russia again this past summer for 2 weeks with a dentist and his wife and three Russians in Camp Druzhnih. It's the camp I've had teams in for 14 years. The dentists...Noel & Elizabeth Roebuck...fixed the teeth on about 250 kids and some adults in 13 days! Amazing stuff. We shared the Gospel with the kids in one orphanage and 2 shelters that were staying in the camp in the . There was loads of other sharing as well.

Well...that's all for now. More later. If you are even in the Richmond, VA area, come see us Sunday mornings at 10:15 AM. We meet in The Learning Playhouse, 208 North Providence Road, Richmond, VA 23235.

Great Rwanda coffee, great worship, pretty good sermons (talks, sharing, etc. by me) and a loving group of folk. Oh, we have communion every Sunday. Jesus meets us at His table every time. wonderful grace to us gathered there.

That's it for now! Bye...

2009-02-12T16:39:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I've taken time to write anything on this blog. Thought I'd let you all know that as time has been flying the Christian community I pastor, Christ Church Midlothian, has been growing in love, faith and hope. We are seeing God add to our numbers and seeing life happening all around us. I am still doing my "tent making" at a local Starbucks and having almost daily opportunities to share the love and power of Jesus with the kids I work with and with customers. We've seen the Lord do healing right across the register counter!

Do you like the picture? It was taken about 10 years ago before I went gray. Thought you'd enjoy it!

2008-05-09T18:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I have accepted a call to serve as the Senior Pastor of a relatively new church plant in Midlothian, VA. Loads of details still need to waded through, like finding a house, giving deposits, transferring my "tent-making" work at Starbucks to a store up there, packing up and moving lots of things from Alpharetta, GA to Virginia. Yolie and I are excited and yet I'm going through grief in leaving all the deep friendships God has given me since moving here from New Canaan, CT in March of 2000. God is faithful and the adventure before us is definitely doomed to failure unless He be in it. That means that when it all connects and begins to rock & roll, everyone will know God did it and we got to cooperate. WOO WOO. Oh, the picture is the center of a spiral galaxy. The heavens actually DO proclaim His love.

2008-04-29T13:10:00.000-07:00

Please use this link to see what I have been doing since 1994.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=mpQbjJyqE7k

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2008-04-29T12:52:00.000-07:00

Facebook Amy Harwood's Videos

Looking Across the River

2008-04-29T11:09:00.000-07:00

Well, this is my very first Blog and very first posting. What you will see to the right is a photo of my son, John-Mark looking across a river somewhere deep in the forest outside Seattle, WA. Rather a grand vista, no?