My Busy Summer

With the summer winding down, I thought I'd take a little time to reflect. This has been a very busy summer, especially for my mind. Since February I have been the primary teacher at Neighborhood Church, and though I love it more than I would have ever guessed, it's been tiring. Our leadership team decided earlier this year that I should not teach more than three times per month, so we've had several guest speakers. This has given me much needed breaks, but it's also been very good for our church to hear some additional voices. Last Sunday night I finished up a series on the book of Acts. My hope with this series was that it would lay a solid biblical foundation for what it means to be a local church in Memphis in 2009. This Sunday night I'm beginning an 8-week series on the vision of NC. I'll be writing some blog posts on this during the next few weeks.

We also began having community groups this summer. They've been great. They're messy at times, but also beautiful. My guess is that we've had more people in our community groups this summer than we've had on Sunday nights for our worship gatherings. Definitely something there to consider. Last Wednesday night we began a conversation on how to build bridges within the gay and lesbian community here in Midtown. Over the last couple of months I've probably spent at least 40 hours studying this topic. It's a very emotional topic, for me and for our church, but one that we want to be able to address. We're going to continue the dialog this Wednesday night. Blog posts and internet articles have been my primary resources, though the two books that have been most helpful have been Andrew Marin's Love is an Orientation, and Robert Gagnon and Dan Via's Homosexuality and the Bible: Two Views.

Though this summer has been tiring for me, it's also been the best one when it comes to family and community. My time with Mandy and the boys has been great. God has blessed me so much with an amazing wife and two wonderfully charming little boys. They make life better. Adam just started pre-k, and Mandy's at home with Micah this year. She's also working part-time for the church. As to community, our friends enrich our lives in so many ways. Last Friday night we had a CYPN (Cooper-Young Parent's Network) party at our house. We had 40 people in our backyard, which I did not think was even possible. That included 15 kids under the age of 5. I definitely didn't think that was possible. It was such a great time for everyone.

I'm glad that summer is drawing to a close simply because that means it's about to get cooler and the leaves are going to begin changing colors. I love Memphis in the fall. There's such a sense of anticipation within me. It might sound simple, but I can't tell you how much I've been looking forward to walking Adam to school. That time is here, and I'm thankful for it.

Though I feel that my mind is a little muddy right now, I know that God has been teaching me so much. He's been giving me what I need when I need it, and for that I'm very thankful.