Christmas in Tempe

Here is our pretty little tree, all dressed up for Christmas!  (We actually put the tree and house decorations up the saturday after Thanksgiving, but I obviously haven't gotten around to blogging since then.)  We have been busy finishing up the first 6 months of our church, planning and hosting Christmas parties, Christmas shopping, and getting ready to go home for Christmas...  I love this season, but it sure is full!  We leave tomorrow night for 10 days at home in Boston and New Jersey.  We can't wait to spend time with family and friends.

Speaking of friends, my good friend Amy was in town for the past few days this past week.  It was SO good to spend time with her.  She is one of my closest friends, and I miss her out here!

me and Amy at church this past Sunday

with Joy and Emmy

 Speaking of church... last Sunday was our Christmas service.  As the lights dimmed and the last candle was lit, I was overwhelmed with awe and thankfulness that God has raised up a church here in Tempe.  He called us here and then has shown himself faithful to bring water to the thirsty in the desert.  The people coming to our church are more and more committed to God and community and are excited to be a part of Antioch.  We are caught up in a move of God out here!  Want to hear a fun story?  I went to Yogurtland sometime in mid-November, and I noticed that they were going to have something called "12 Days of Christmas" Dec. 1-12... each day there would be a new flavor.  I noticed that on Dec. 8 was my favorite flavor--Cinnamon Graham Crackers!  SO I told myself that whatever was going on that day, I would go to Yogurtland and get my favorite yogurt!  The day I went I ended up praying for the girl at the counter--a freshman at ASU.  She was sobbing at the end of my prayer (praying for her history exam and for a good Christmas break) because she has been wanting to go to church but hasn't found one or made it a priority.  I told her about how much God loves her and she was so touched.  She is planning on coming next semester to church.  God loves her so much that He set up this meeting way in advance--and I got Cinnamon Graham Cracker yogurt to top it off!  :)

We are about to head to the airport now.  I just wanted to post an update before the holidays were over.  Here are a few more pictures from our last church service.
Love to all who read and Merry Christmas!!

We have a full worship band--harmonica and all!

Our children's ministry is called AntiochKids!

Future worship leader, Ellie Phillips.

Love these girls.

Graice Loo Who

Our sweet friends, Jessica and Ian from Korea

potluck remnants

Church happening.

Community and life!

Our sweet Antioch Kids!

Team Retreat : Sedona

Last weekend, our Tempe team took a 4 day retreat to the beautiful red rock country of Sedona, Arizona to celebrate our first 100 days as Antioch Community Church: Tempe!  What a blast we had!  We had a team retreat planned ever since we started, knowing from other church planters that the first 100 days as a church plant is hard--in the sense that we will be working our booties off and just persevering in all things.  Having a retreat as a time to praise God and look back on our beginnings was a fun thing to look ahead to at times.  (Disclaimer... although we have been working hard and persevering through this season, that doesn't mean it hasn't been FUN, EXCITING, and REWARDING!  Also, this does not mean life will be cake now.  We are all in this for the longhaul and ready for the next season of church planting.)

On this retreat, we...

gazed upon the beauty of the Lord, 

hiked a beautiful mountain trail, 

relaxed inside reading and 

eating and

eating some more, 

played Spades, 

made meals together, 

sat in the hot tub, 

looked at the stars, 

worshiped together, 

encouraged one another, 

thanked God for all the He has done...

It was SUCH  fun time!  I took 2 days off of work to  be on this retreat, and it was so worth it.  We loved getting extended time together as friends--and family.  We really feel  like we're a family and that more and more people are joining us. 

Here are some pictures from the weekend...

Gorgeous  view from the house we stayed in!

Greetings from Sedona!

Gracie's crazy hair

Me and Ellie taking a dip

More beauty

Joy sadly forgot Emmy's bumbo... so she rigged a contraption using pillows and Adam's belt!  Emily didn't seem to mind...

Where's my food?

Hiking West Fork trail

Tempe women

Bringing a little Jersey to the west... Andy knocking down dead trees... a ritual started in the Jersey woods with his best friend Matt.

Antioch Tempe team!

Travis and his two older girls.  Love this fam!

Love this fam, too! :)

Kristen and me.  Love this friend!!

The Phillips Family

Picture Update

Here are some pictures of our team touring ASU's campus a few weeks ago.  We wanted to get familiar with the layout since we'll be doing a lot of ministry here.  At this point, we have been on campus everyday for the past 3 weeks.  We have a table outside the main dining hall with a big banner saying, "Looking for a church?"  Each day we have about 20 new students sign up to get information about our church and ministries.  It's super exciting.  This past sunday we had 60 people at church!  We're already looking into renting a space to hold church at in a few weeks.

Travis and Andy carrying Ellie and Gracie

Such a cutie!

Baby Emmy

everyone was sweaty

Me and Lauren.  So sad to see her go in a few days!  :(

A walk thru the fountain felt nice in the heat!

Ellie being silly in the student union--they have a Chick Fil A!

Gracie and Lauren.  Gracie always does whatever Ellie does!

Next up are some more pictures of us just hanging out.  This night we were at a family's home who has been committed to our church when it was just a dream of ours.  This couple's kids were actually in our old Boston pastor's youth group in Waco way back in the day!  They have been living in Phoenix for most of their lives now, so they've been hoping an Antioch church plant would make it's way out west.  We finally did!  The Runnels family is really a treasure to us all.  I absolutely love Stan and Cheryl.  They feel like grandparents or an uncle and aunt to Andy and me.  Two of their adult children, Rebekah and Michael, are committed to our church as well.  Rebekah is a chef (amaaaaazing) and makes dinner for our church service every sunday!  We get weekly gourmet meals!  She has a sweet daughter named Eliana Grace.  Also known as Ellie.

Ellie and me

Ellie, Emmy, Lauren, and me after dinner.

Here's a picture of the new Pottery Barn duvet cover my mom got us for our 2nd anniversary!  (Oh, yeah!  That was on August 8.  I meant to post about it...  Maybe soon.)  I love our bed!

Lastly, here are some pictures from Passport, which was ASU's freshman night.  Hundreds of clubs, organizations, and groups set up tables for the freshman to visit and get info from.  This event is always held the night before the first day of school.  Miraculously, Antioch Community Church was approved to host a table at Passport!  We were busy getting materials ready for this event, and it went great.  Over 125 students signed up to get more info about our church and about 15 students actually came to church.  We are just getting our name on campus as much as we can.  It was a fun night!  We met tons of people and had a blast talking with students, handing out flyers, and giving away frisbees.

Andy and me at the table.  Adam did a great job designing our banners.

Shelly and Gracie.

Even Gracie wants to sign up for church!  :)

Ellie loved her lollipop!

This is not posed--actual conversations happening.  Our table was hoppin!

Holding up the frisbees we made!