This weekend I shared that our family will be stepping out in faith and planting a new church in the Warren East area of Bowling Green. I left off at us praying about the opportunity...
Our church pastor and Mr.Pate had talked for awhile about the need for a church in that area, as well as a neighboring county that's really close to us. Another local church planted a new church in that county and it is thriving today, there was definitely a need. We could see it, but our church just wasn't at a point where we could do it at the time.
We had some friends move out to the Warren East area and asked us where they could go to church. We of course suggested Smiths Grove, but they felt that was too much of a drive (although really it's a ten minute drive, but I think bc you are driving north people perceive it as far). They really didn't want to keep driving into Bowling Green either. We realized there were no Southern Baptist churches in that area that we felt comfortable sending them to. Wow. The Lord really opened our eyes that day to this area.
Not long after, Mr.Pate ran into the pastor from Living Hope in a sporting goods store. He mentioned to Mr.Pate that they were really wanting to plant a church in that area. Wow! We had been seeing the need, and now it seemed there might be a means!
Over the next year, Mr.Pate and I did lots of assessments for NAMB (the North American Mission Board) and the KBC (KY Baptist Convention. We also began looking for houses out in the warren east area. We passed all of the assessments, were approved by the LH Elders, and things just kept seeming to affirm this was Gods next step for us. We bought a house and sold our house within a week. Wow.
So we have begun meeting with a core group who will help plant this church, and it is a very exciting time. It is also a bittersweet time, as this Sunday is our last one at Smiths Grove. We love this church, and it is the only church Griffin has ever known. Leaving definitely makes me so sad, but often God does not call us to easy tasks. We hope that through SGBC being a planting partner and prayer supporter that we will still have lots of interaction and be able to keep up with everyone.
Please be praying for our new church, Redeemer Church Warren East. Pray for the core group (which is a mix of people from Smiths Grove, Oakland Baptist and Living Hope) to bond well and quickly. Pray for our supporting churches and for this to also bless their congregations. Pray for our leadership, especially Mr.Pate. And pray for The Lord to prepare peoples hearts in that area for the gospel.
What a Fall this will be! New church. New baby. Settling into a new house. Whew!!! Right now I am clinging to the song "Called me higher" to remind me that all I have to do is abide in Him and step where He leads, He will do the rest.
http://youtu.be/FgAzLKXqcDk
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Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Saturday, September 6, 2014
That post I have wanted to write for a long time...
I rarely blog period anymore, and when I do it is usually a recap of what we have been up to. Most of the time I just do not have the mental capacity at the end of the day to write anything of much weight, but I do miss blogging about things I am learning or thinking. Over the last year and a half, there has been a major development in the Pate family that I have wanted to share but could not. It's now finally time!
Mr.Pate and I are planting a new church in the Warren East area!
Pretty big news really. For those that don't know tons about us other than my family posts here, let me give you a brief history. We have been serving at our present church in Smiths Grove for 6 & 1/2 years. Mr.Pate started as the youth pastor and then became the Education and Discipleship Pastor (which covered children, youth, college, community groups and outreach events). It has been a true blessing and home for us.
He got the call to interview the night of my thyroid surgery, and went to interview the day I got out of the hospital! For the first 6 months we were there, I could barely speak (after my surgery I lost my voice for quite awhile) so the youth thought I was very shy an low key. Haha. Once I got my voice back, one of the girls commented I was way more outspoken than she thought. Haha.
We had just come out of a very very hurtful church experience, one of the ones where most people leave the church and don't come back. Smiths Grove ministered to our souls and loved us through it. They are great at loving :-)
We have watched children who were in our k-2 classes come into our youth group. We have graduated many of the youth on into "adulthood". And we have loved serving them.
About a year and a half ago, an opportunity presented itself to pursue planting a church in an area of town close to Smiths Grove where we had already seen a great need. We began praying then, not sure what The Lord would do with it....
(More soon...)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Mr.Pate and I are planting a new church in the Warren East area!
Pretty big news really. For those that don't know tons about us other than my family posts here, let me give you a brief history. We have been serving at our present church in Smiths Grove for 6 & 1/2 years. Mr.Pate started as the youth pastor and then became the Education and Discipleship Pastor (which covered children, youth, college, community groups and outreach events). It has been a true blessing and home for us.
He got the call to interview the night of my thyroid surgery, and went to interview the day I got out of the hospital! For the first 6 months we were there, I could barely speak (after my surgery I lost my voice for quite awhile) so the youth thought I was very shy an low key. Haha. Once I got my voice back, one of the girls commented I was way more outspoken than she thought. Haha.
We had just come out of a very very hurtful church experience, one of the ones where most people leave the church and don't come back. Smiths Grove ministered to our souls and loved us through it. They are great at loving :-)
We have watched children who were in our k-2 classes come into our youth group. We have graduated many of the youth on into "adulthood". And we have loved serving them.
About a year and a half ago, an opportunity presented itself to pursue planting a church in an area of town close to Smiths Grove where we had already seen a great need. We began praying then, not sure what The Lord would do with it....
(More soon...)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
The Date Jar
I pinned this idea on Pinterest at least a year ago. And then this past February Mr.Pate and I came up with a list of date ideas to put in a date jar, because we were going to focus on really getting back to a biweekly date night.... Then we got pregnant... Which meant I got super tired. So we were a no go on reinstating a regular date night. And life just happened this summer and we never got back to it.
Last weekend though, we were planning a birthday surprise for Jeanice and I decided I would make her and her new fiancé one, and of course us one while I was at it!
So I wrote all the dates out on Popsicle sticks. Pinterest has you color code them, so I kinda did that but had to use more than one color for each category. So orange and yellow are outdoor dates, blue and red are dates at home, and green are ones that take more prep time/planning etc.
Then I just glued a cute title page to the front of a mason jar and tied some ribbon to it. Easy peasy.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Monday, September 1, 2014
Labor Day Fun
Though we have fit a bunch into this summer, we also have several things we have been wanting to do and just haven't been able to get to with all the moving craziness. Getting up to Louisville has been one of them. So after church on Sunday, we headed up in the rain.
We had dinner with Grandma, Papaw, and Uncle Ed, then Mr.Pate and Griffin swam for a while. Griffin surprised us all with his braveness in the pool this weekend. He was all about jumping off the side, even floated some by himself and "swam" back to the steps by himself (with his puddle jumper on of course). Usually he is a little more clingy and cautious around the water. They had a ball.
This morning we got up and headed to the Zoo finally! It's our first time to visit Louisville Zoo this year, which is sad. But it was a great day for it! We had a nice breeze, and it didn't get really hot until after we left.
We finally saw a polar bear!!! We tried three times last year and never got to see one. We always ended up getting there when only brown bears were out. The polar bear was very friendly and looked like he wanted through the glass so people could pet him so bad. Ha! He looks like he is licking griffin here...
I don't know what was up, but they only had around 4 of the gorillas out, even though they have 14! Weird. This one was chillin eating a cucumber. Ha. There was one outside that came up to the glass and basically posed with a teenager, it was funny.
Griffin wanted to ride the train this time, so we did that Roche before we left. He was super tired... But contrary to this picture he did enjoy it.
We headed back to Grandmas and ended up swimming again. He was very brave again and had a blast. We grab some dinner and then headed home with a super tired 3 year old. Whew! Good to see family and finally get up there, and hope we get to do it again soon.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
We had dinner with Grandma, Papaw, and Uncle Ed, then Mr.Pate and Griffin swam for a while. Griffin surprised us all with his braveness in the pool this weekend. He was all about jumping off the side, even floated some by himself and "swam" back to the steps by himself (with his puddle jumper on of course). Usually he is a little more clingy and cautious around the water. They had a ball.
This morning we got up and headed to the Zoo finally! It's our first time to visit Louisville Zoo this year, which is sad. But it was a great day for it! We had a nice breeze, and it didn't get really hot until after we left.
We finally saw a polar bear!!! We tried three times last year and never got to see one. We always ended up getting there when only brown bears were out. The polar bear was very friendly and looked like he wanted through the glass so people could pet him so bad. Ha! He looks like he is licking griffin here...
I don't know what was up, but they only had around 4 of the gorillas out, even though they have 14! Weird. This one was chillin eating a cucumber. Ha. There was one outside that came up to the glass and basically posed with a teenager, it was funny.
Griffin wanted to ride the train this time, so we did that Roche before we left. He was super tired... But contrary to this picture he did enjoy it.
We headed back to Grandmas and ended up swimming again. He was very brave again and had a blast. We grab some dinner and then headed home with a super tired 3 year old. Whew! Good to see family and finally get up there, and hope we get to do it again soon.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Labor Day Fun
Though we have fit a bunch into this summer, we also have several things we have been wanting to do and just haven't been able to get to with all the moving craziness. Getting up to Louisville has been one of them. So after church on Sunday, we headed up in the rain.
We had dinner with Grandma, Papaw, and Uncle Ed, then Mr.Pate and Griffin swam for a while. Griffin surprised us all with his braveness in the pool this weekend. He was all about jumping off the side, even floated some by himself and "swam" back to the steps by himself (with his puddle jumper on of course). Usually he is a little more clingy and cautious around the water. They had a ball.
This morning we got up and headed to the Zoo finally! It's our first time to visit Louisville Zoo this year, which is sad. But it was a great day for it! We had a nice breeze, and it didn't get really hot until after we left.
We finally saw a polar bear!!! We tried three times last year and never got to see one. We always ended up getting there when only brown bears were out. The polar bear was very friendly and looked like he wanted through the glass so people could pet him so bad. Ha! He looks like he is licking griffin here...
I don't know what was up, but they only had around 4 of the gorillas out, even though they have 14! Weird. This one was chillin eating a cucumber. Ha. There was one outside that came up to the glass and basically posed with a teenager, it was funny.
Griffin wanted to ride the train this time, so we did that Roche before we left. He was super tired... But contrary to this picture he did enjoy it.
We headed back to Grandmas and ended up swimming again. He was very brave again and had a blast. We grab some dinner and then headed home with a super tired 3 year old. Whew! Good to see family and finally get up there, and hope we get to do it again soon.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
We had dinner with Grandma, Papaw, and Uncle Ed, then Mr.Pate and Griffin swam for a while. Griffin surprised us all with his braveness in the pool this weekend. He was all about jumping off the side, even floated some by himself and "swam" back to the steps by himself (with his puddle jumper on of course). Usually he is a little more clingy and cautious around the water. They had a ball.
This morning we got up and headed to the Zoo finally! It's our first time to visit Louisville Zoo this year, which is sad. But it was a great day for it! We had a nice breeze, and it didn't get really hot until after we left.
We finally saw a polar bear!!! We tried three times last year and never got to see one. We always ended up getting there when only brown bears were out. The polar bear was very friendly and looked like he wanted through the glass so people could pet him so bad. Ha! He looks like he is licking griffin here...
I don't know what was up, but they only had around 4 of the gorillas out, even though they have 14! Weird. This one was chillin eating a cucumber. Ha. There was one outside that came up to the glass and basically posed with a teenager, it was funny.
Griffin wanted to ride the train this time, so we did that Roche before we left. He was super tired... But contrary to this picture he did enjoy it.
We headed back to Grandmas and ended up swimming again. He was very brave again and had a blast. We grab some dinner and then headed home with a super tired 3 year old. Whew! Good to see family and finally get up there, and hope we get to do it again soon.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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