exciting faith steps

I want to thank you for your prayer last week to increase my faith.  God has really been answering those.  Last week, Sara and I decided to not hold onto the job at the hospital, so I gave my notice.  My last day at St. Francis will be October 7 and I will resume full time work for Freedom Valley then.  I also met with my board of directors last Wednesday and we worked up and approved a new budget that includes a stipend for me.  It's still not enough to make our budget work on paper, but like I said, our faith is growing and I am looking forward to seeing how God is going to bless our family and our church as I step out a little further.  

Here are the things I'm praying about this week:

• Finish Strong - I have two weeks left at the hospital.  The last two people to fill my position have been me and Jon Trout (Jon is on our lead team, if you don't know him).  When I resigned, my supervisor asked me right away if there is anyone from Freedom Valley who might be interested.  I love that our church has a good name with her because of the good work that's been done by people from there.  I want to make sure I finish strong and don't tarnish that reputation a bit - much more for the reputation of Christ to be held high than our church.  
• Big Stuff @ Church - In the next week, two big initiatives at church come to an end.  We close sign ups for this semester of connection groups and finish our "Home Improvement" fund-raising effort for some building improvements - both of these on Sunday.  I'm believing that we will see 80 people in Connection Groups and over $5000 raised for our building projects.   Those are both big goals for us, but we serve a bigger God and I really have faith we will reach those.
• Priorities - My personal priorities are as follows . . . Follower of Christ, Husband, Father, Church Leader.  Funny how the top ones don't scream for my attention as much as the bottom one.  I am asking for prayers especially on the husband and father side.  My personal schedule has been insane the last six months, and now that Sara is working full-time, we are trying to find our rhythm.  Honestly, I feel like we're still doing well keeping our priorities, but I just want to do better.  I just want to be a little less tired and distracted when I'm with my family.  I also need to be more patient with my boys. 

Thanks so much for your prayers.  Remember to reply back if I can pray for you about anything this week.