Wedding Bells in Savannah

Last weekend Dan, Halle, and I went home to Savannah for my Mom's wedding. My mom and her fiance John got married on Valentines Day at the Mighty Eighth Museum. The old chapel/church was a beautiful, quaint,  little place. After the ceremony we had lunch in the museum cafe and then were able to walk through the actual Mighty Eighth museum. 
It was very beautiful. My mom looked very happy.
Here's Halle with Grandma Debbie! (my mom)
I love my meme and papa!
The fam- (left to right) Me, Halle, Ashley(John's daughter), Meme, Mom, John, Josh, Jon Jon, Papa
Uncle Josh and Halle
Four Generations
Dan and I always love the chance to visit Savannah.  Many dates were spent here in our early courting days. 
That evening we met up with some of Dan's old youth group friends. This was my first time meeting Ashley and Kevin and their two babies, Emma and Ava. They were super nice and we were so glad to get the opportunity to hang out with them. We were also really ecstatic to visit one of my Savannah favorite's...Spanky's. Oh how I missed those chicken fingers and spuds! It was a delightful evening with the Goss'.
It was a beautiful weekend. I loved getting to spend time with my family. We love you guys!!

Acts 29 Church Planting Conference

Almost a couple of weeks ago Dan, Halle and I were privileged to be able to attend an Acts 29 Church Planting Conference in Raliegh, NC. Acts 29 is a church planting network that helps equip pastors from all over the nation to plant or replant dying churches. "Acts 29 is a network of like-minded, yet diverse churches that have banded together to plant gospel-centered churches that are missionally minded, culturally engaged and theologically orthodox. Acts 29 is first Christians, second Evangelicals, third Missional, and fourth Reformed." The network has almost 200 churches. On this trip Dan and I went through the assessment process to possibly be accepted and represented by the Acts 29 network. The trip was amazing! The resources, material, and speakers they had there were so helpful and enlightening. Tuesday and Wednesday we got to hear from Pastor Mark Driscoll, Wayne Grudem, Scott Thomas, Dr. Daniel Aiken and many  more. They also had a wives track that Sarah and I were able to attend that was taught by other church planters wives. Friday Dan and I went through a 2 hour interview in a room full of Acts 29 members. It was intense but also really helpful.  We look forward to hearing back from them!  

Here are the sites: www.acts29network.org , www.marshillchurch.org , www.theresurgence.com

Dan and I are HUGE fans of Pastor Mark Driscoll's teachings. Through his sermons Jesus has really spoke to us and changed us in many areas of our lives. We are so thankful for his service and dedication to Jesus and preaching the Bible. Pastor Mark Driscoll is the founding pastor and teaching pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. He also is the co founder and president of the Acts 29 Network. Dan and I were ecstatic to get to meet Pastor Mark, gain some insight on church planting and tell him how thankful we are for him. In this picture is the Q and A panel they had with Tyler Jones, Wayne Grudem, Pastor Mark, Scott Thomas.
We could not have taken this trip if it were not for Brent and Sarah and Four Points Church. We are so extremely thankful for the opportunity. Thank you guys! We love you very much! We are blessed to call you DEAR friends and serve underneath you at Four Points!

Here We Go Again

I (Dan) normally do not take the time to post blogs on this account, but there are certain moments that demand that the attention of my pen.  Some who have followed some of the previous posting on this site might have remembered a certain story about Jessica in some what an awake/sleep state talking about going to church with aliens. Well, last night we had a similar episode. This one however was not as funny to me as it was to Jessica.

Yesterday we spent the day in Savannah. We had actually made our way down south for a family wedding. After the wedding I took our little family to down town Savannah to walk along river street and carouse in and out of the familiar squares. It was a great day recalling many memories. Jessica and I actually spent much of our time before we were married walking the same streets years ago. After our short date we went to see some old friends of mine that I had grown up with in the church (emmavaphotography.blogspot.com). We ended up leaving Savannah pretty late, which meant that we arrived home in Atlanta really late. Because Halle decided that she did not want to go to sleep till 2:00 A.M. the previous night Jessica was already super tired. Combine the lack of sleep with a long day leaves Jessica susceptible to...interesting behavior. 

Upon arriving home we wasted no time going straight to bed. Sometime around 3A.M. Jessica starts mumbling and churching in her sleep.  I really don't think a whole lot about it and try to go back to sleep. Right as I am getting ready to doze off again Jessica goes from moaning in her sleep to wailing. In all honesty it was somewhat erie. As I am rolling over to try to nudge her and wake her up from a bad dream, Jessica goes from light wailing, to wailing the name of Jesus. "Jesuuuus....Jesuuus.....JESUUUUS.

At this point I am sincerely creeped out. I quickly shake her to wake her up not only to free her from some terrible nightmare, but to get her to stop screaming and then go change the sheets since I likely messed myself.  

On the other side of Jessica lays Halle as all of this is going on. Halle amazingly stayed asleep. When Jessica started screaming, Halle's arms shot up in the air. I am not sure if raising her hands in worship was the intent of our little girls heart but raise her hands she did.

"Jessica, Jessica, Jessica are you Ok?" 

"I'm fine"

Obviously she was not fine or she would not have been screaming for Jesus in her sleep.

"Do you wanna talk about it, what happened?" 

Her response was even more frightening than her wails.

"Blood....Evil.....Everywhere"

With that Jessica went to sleep, leaving me wide eyed curled up in the fetal position.  Today on the way home from church Jessica just laughed about. I am glad she found that funny. I personally could go a decade without that ever happening again. Nonetheless, I love my beautiful sweet wife and look forward to other stories that might come as a result of her lack of sleep.

Check me "The Wretched Saint" out at www.fourpointschurch.tv/dan

The Office...LOL

A Weekend with Grandma and Grandpa

My Dad and Amanda came up to see us this past Friday and stayed until Sunday morning. We really love having them come and visit. And I know they just love coming to see little Halle. Our weekend was very relaxing. On Saturday, the boys had a fun game of golf while the girls rode along behind in the golf cart. The course was on Lake Acworth. It was beautiful! Saturday night we watched UFC Fight Night while chowing on some Buffalo Chicken Dip. The rest of the weekend was spent in relaxation at home. 

Yep...My Dan is a good looking man, super talented and great at many many things. Just not that great at a game of golf...to his own admission.
The course was really really hard the guys said.
Halle liked riding in the golf cart.
Here's a couple of the many GREAT shots Amanda took this past weekend.
Dan, Halle and I are so glad you guys got to come. We love Grandma and Grandpa Mock!