The Miami Pursuit

Yours & His

Blogger: Matt

For the past decade, I have ended my correspondences with the words, "Yours & His" and then my name. Every time I write those words they remind me of a personal hero of mine.

He passed away on Saturday.

In the summer of 1997, I attended the North American Christian Convention in Dallas, TX. It was there I witnessed Russ Blowers, the Senior Minister of East 91st St. in Indianapolis, IN, receive a life-time of service award. I don't remember what he said that day as he accepted the award. I do remember what went through my mind. Here was a man who made a difference. He wasn't flashy or trendy. He led a church out of his love for Christ and that was enough for him. Every thing else (a loving wife, the respect of many, leadership in a large and influential church) was just gravy.

The question I asked myself was, "When all is said and done in my own life, will Jesus be enough for me?"

Afterwards, I felt prompted to write Mr. Blowers a letter. I thanked him for setting such a great example as a man who loved Christ, his wife, and the Church (in that order). A few weeks later, I received a response. I've never shared it before. It's been my private encouragement from a personal hero for over a decade now.

Here's to a life well-lived, a legacy left behind and a party like no other in Heaven going on right now.

Yours & His,

Matt

We're Back & Blogging!

After about a week of settling into our new house (unpacking boxes & painting) we have resurfaced ready to begin the next stage of planting churches in South Florida.

It's been a week from last Wednesday we arrived and there are many obvious differences from Indy. Here are some of my highlights and thoughts from last week.

1. The heat is on another level. However, I'll take this any day over a winter up north.
2. Diversity is the norm. It's actually refreshing. Our neighbors are Asian, Hispanic, Anglo, Hatian and all very welcoming and friendly. One of the best pieces of advice I received early on was from Bob Franquiz, Lead Pastor of Calvary Fellowship. His advice was not to be tentative when relocating because no one is from here. Every one is from some where else. Truer words have never been spoken.
3. We had our plam trees trimmed last week. Huh?
4. A couple storms knocked out our power twice in the past week.
5. My wife and my mom are two of the hardest workers I know. Before she flew back to Indy we took her to one of our favorite places to eat Casablanca Cafe' on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale.
6. Paul Smoot and I were having coffee last Thursday morning and as we were leaving we were stopped by a couple of guys. They saw us praying and wanted to introduce themselves to us. One of the guys was Robey Barnes, Lead Pastor of West Pines Community Church and Taylor University alumnus. The other gentleman, Ken, was a founding member of their church. I look forward to hanging with Robey and learning from the guys at West Pines. They welcomed us and invited to come by any time.
7. We met up with the Smoot's again on Sunday morning to check out Flamingo Road Church. These guys do a lot of things well. I was bummed when Troy Gramling wasn't preaching but their Media Pastor, Brian Vasil, brought it and did a great job teaching on "The Secret of Patience" out of James.

Family Ties

Janie and I both grew up in homes who both modeled Christ for us and have especially shown us what it means to serve like him as we've made the transition down south:

1. Peggy, Janie's sister, spent DAYS packing up our house in Indy. We couldn't get her to slow down enough for a photo, but the boxes and boxes we'll be unloading when the movers arrive on Sunday are strong evidence of her work. Just when her body was exhausted, she put her mind to work setting up all the church accounts on Quick Books. She's one of those people who can do anything and do it all really well.

2. The entire Mehaffey family drove to Centerville to hear me preach on Sunday.

3. Janie's other sister, Libby, and her husband, Jim (pictured), drove 2 hours from Augusta to meet us on the south side of Atlanta for a half-way point visit. They treated us to a great seafood dinner and spoiled Jeter with some left-over biscuits. They epitomize southern hospitality.

4. Janie's parent's sent us off with a steak dinner (there just "happened" to be an extra piece for Jeter) and the highlight of Janie's summer - dad's first home grown tomato. Here's Jeter admiring the garden.

5. This afternoon we pick up my mom, who is staying the whole week to help us paint and turn our house into our home. My mom works harder than anybody I know. I hope we can keep up with her.

Our entire family pray and support us as we've made the decision and now the move toward church planting. We look forward to building a family of Christ-follows here in South Florida so others can experience life in community.

Pictures of Moving Day

I am blogging from our hotel just southeast of Atlanta. Yesterday was a l-o-n-g day! The movers arrived at 9 a.m. and for the next 8 hours worked incredibly hard packing all our belongings on the semi. Funny thing, when the owner of the company came a few months ago and wrote up our estimate he said that our stuff would fit about 1/3 of the semi trailer. As you can tell by picture 4 & 5 he was wrong. There was nothing on the truck when it arrived and our stuff took up every last square inch.

Some of our stuff was being stored at Jeff and Kim Hastings house so they needed to swing by there to get the last load. The Hastings neigbor just so happens to be Jermaine O'Neal of the Indianapolis Pacers. This really fascinated our movers who sat outside his house for about 10 minutes gawking. You can see all of our earthly possessions sitting in from of J.O.'s house in the last picture. His house is on the right.

Last Night in Indy

I have been experiencing a whirlwind of emotions today. I couldn't sleep last night because my mind was running on overdrive. Finally, drifted off to sleep a little after 3:00 a.m. Only to wake up to the alarm at 5:00 a.m. Not fun.

We made the hour and a half drive to Centerville Christian Church and preached all three services and presented for their missions team. Janie and I absolutely loved our time with the people there. My family also showed up which made it even more of a special day. Seeing the whole crew really made my day but I am going to miss everyone very much.

Tonight we invited our friends Neil and Amy Troyer and their dog Indy (Jeter's girlfriend) for pizza and a chance to say good-bye. A lot of history in this friendship. Can't say enough about the Troyer's. We absolutely loved working on a church staff with them. Seeing them go tonight was really difficult for me.

I am exhausted and good-byed out. I am insanely excited about getting to our new home and starting our new life in South Florida. We'll try to post on the blog as we travel down. Stay tuned!

Bye, Bye Coats

All of our belongings are in boxes and the moving truck will be here tomorrow. We've managed to clear a little room by unloading our winter coats on my parents. We certainly aren't going to need them in Miami and if we do then global warming is really messing things up.

I love how Janie plans far in advance. I overheard her and my mom talking today and mom was volunteering to pick us up from the airport whenever we come back to Indy. Janie said, "If it's in the winter please bring my coat with you."

I love that God has called us to Miami. There's no way my wife would survive in Anchorage, Alaska.

Centerville Christian Church

This Sunday, I've been asked to preach at Centerville Christian Church in Centerville, IN. This is a great opportunity to tell a lot of people about the need for Christian Churches in Miami, FL. If you have an opportunity pray God will speak through me.

It's a very special opportunity for me because this is my old stomping grounds. I grew up from 5-18 years old in Cambridge City which is practically next door to Centerville. This also scares me to death because of Jesus' words in Matthew 13:57, "Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor." Who knows you better than people who watched you grow up and the people you are related to??? Gulp.

Not only am I next door to my hometown but my brother, Chip, is a member of Centerville Christian Church. PLEASE PRAY! =)

iPhone Update (2:00 p.m.)

I won an Apple pen in a drawing. Hopefully that's not all I am walking away with today.

The Apple Store is now closing to prepare for the onslaught that is coming at 6:00 p.m. There is now 70+ in line by my best guess. Three nuns just walked by smiling at us. We tried to convince them to get in line. They just laughed at us. That would have been incredible!

My battery is running low so I'm done blogging until tonight when Janie and I will either have our iPhones or we won't.

iPhone Update (12:37 p.m.)

We just completed a fast and furious game of 80's Trivial Pursuit led by the Apple Store employees. Janie would have raged at that!

Now they are calling out members of the crowd to play their version of "The Grand Prize Game" from the Bozo show.

iPhone Update

I knew I chose wisely by coming to the Apple Store rather than AT&T.

The entire staff just came walked out (10:10 a.m.) and gave everyone waiting in line a standing ovation. The manager then gave us a pep talk, told they are providing bottles of water and snacks, games, prizes, and personally buying us smoothies from a place in the mall.

The 50 of us waiting in line went crazy! Say all you want about Apple but they do things the right way. There's a reason their customers are devoted to their products.