its funny, but since I've had a lot more time being in the summer of my teaching schedule, I can't make myself sit down and blog. (shame on me) Had lunch yesterday with Steve Sjogren, originator of servant evangelism, enjoyed a time of catching up. My teaching schedule will be intense next year as I will have 2 new classes to teach (7 classes in all). 2 sections of 8th grade Bible focused on Biblical character development, 3 sections of 10th grade Bible which is comprehensive New Testament Survey and 2 sections of 12th grade Bible which is modern Christian issues. I'm looking forward to this teaching load but know it will be a real challenge for me time management wise. I have also been named the Bible Department head which will give me some administrative responsibilities for overseeing all the 6th-12th grade Bible classes.
On July 30th I leave for the Ukraine. I will be part of a three-man teaching team that is putting on 2 church planting conferences for native Ukranian pastors/planters. I am still learning of the culture and history and hope to spread the virus of missional communities there (no building, no staff, just healthy christ following in real community). On August 11 I will spend the night in Vienna, Austria then head to Dublin for 4 days with my friend Craig Spinks. Can't wait but I'm getting real nervous about leaving my family this long. Real nervous.
If this isn't enough, I have applied to a graduate program at George Fox University in Portland, Oregon to work on my Doctorate. It is completely correspondence and I get to personalize the program under the supervision of Leon@rd Sweet. Haven't been officially accepted yet but am 90% sure its a go. It will take 3 years to complete and will spend one week on campus each year. The first being the last week of August, which is the 1st week of my teaching schedule = horrible timing but a short term cost. This decision feels right for a lot of reasons, but also makes me very nervous of the committment.
Ordinary community is having a worship and planning gathering tommorrow and am looking forward to getting specific about where we've been and where we're going as a missional community.
more to come.

please pray for the Palmers. My heart bleeds for them. check out his blog from my links.

peace.