Scott Freeman

Today is my first day in the office marking the true beginning of my work as minister for the Agape Church of Christ.

As I sit here surrounded by boxes on my wife’s laptop I can’t help but feel a little bit overwhelmed. That, to me, is a great feeling.

Meeting with the shepherds has been a blessing. They want to proceed just like we would with a church plant and utilize some of the training we received this summer toward that end.

The question is: where do we start? What are the initial things that have to be done? How do we best impact this community? How do we be relevant and in tune with the culture without sacrificing theological depth?

In a nod to Mr. Barth I have just subscribed to the local paper.

I have a ton of ideas when it comes to setting a vision for this place. But let me ask you, my faithful readers, if you were beginning a new and fresh ministry what would you do? Joe and other church planters, let me hear you.

What should a young church focus on in the early days? I’d be anxious to hear you ideas and see how they mesh with what I am thinking. And, hopefully, those members of Agape that are reading this will feel led to respond as well.

I plan on using this space on Monday’s to talk specifically about the work of the church using this as my template to discuss what we are called to be.

Look for the return of top 10 Tuesdays tomorrow with the 10 greatest Springsteen songs of all time.

In the meantime, give me your feedback.

We finally got our phones turned on here at the new crib so we have internet access. Tomorrow I begin work in my new office setting it up. That will lead up to my first official Sunday a week from today.

I finally feel like I can catch my breath. Here’s a re-cap of what the last week has been like for us.

Sunday–We finished up the important packing. I took the big two back to the Disciples of Christ congregation because that is where they wanted to go. I was extremely disappointed with the sermon. It was on prayer and the points were patience, persistence and passion. I guess I expected more than alliteration.
We spent a large part of the day bidding farewell to friends in the Waco area. On Sunday night we went back to our old congregation. It was a fine farewell where I thanked the church for the past three years and bid them God’s blessings. We were
extremely hesitant to go but knew it was the right thing to do. We had found out on the Friday before that the Sunday evening service would be a short devotional followed by a congregational meeting about the future of the congregation. THAT was awkward.
The main reason that we were hesitant is because our closest friends while we were in Waco did not talk to us over the last few months beyond pleasantries. They went to being vocal supporters of ours to not even saying goodbye to our children before we left. Our kids loved them and they were hurt that they didn’t get to see them before we left. But it was obvious that there was no desire on their part to continue the relationship. That hurt the most.

Monday–But moving day was about new beginnings. We woke up to a perfect day for moving: upper 40s, windy and pouring down rain. I got a great deal on a moving truck. But as it slowly filled it became obvious that it was not big enough. So, after filling up the truck I went to U-Haul to see if they could hook up a trailer to a Budget truck. Luckily we were able to get the largest trailer hooked up. By the time I got back home with the trailer, however, the movers were gone and it was just me and Tracy doing the last bit. But guess what? The trailer wasn’t enough either. We finally got away from Waco about 4:00. We had a hotel in OKC that we stayed in. It was a long drive for me because the truck would typically hit 65 only on long downhill shots.

Tuesday–After a short night of sleep I got up and drove the truck the rest of the way to Ponca Village. At noon there were a large number of our new congregants there to unload. It was all done in about an hour. Then we had a few stick around to get beds put together and other bits of arranging finished. At 4:30 I got in the mini-van with both of the back seats removed and headed back to Waco to get the last bit of our stuff. At 5:30 the front left tire blew out on me on I-35. I could have waited two hours for a wrecker or change it myself on the side of the road. I opted to do it myself. That is typically no problem but it was just on the other side of a hill so it was a little disconcerting to see all of those vehicles pop out of nowhere at 75 plus miles an hour inches away from me. I was finally able to get back on the road about 8 and I drove all the way to Waco getting to my hotel about 1:30.

Wednesday–I spend the morning getting everything loaded up, the house cleaned and ready for the landlord, and some banking work done before heading back. I arrived in Fort Ponca around 8:00 Wednesday night. I decided to buy a Sirius radio for the drive home (seriously, we are not going to have Ponca Junction radio as our only choice) so I was blessed with NFL talk and the Bruce channel. They actually played the Staples concert I saw The Boss give back in 1999. See ya, XM.

Thursday–Another full day as our two oldest children both started school. We were nervous how they would do but, after scrambling to get them to their two respective campuses, they both fell in love with their teachers. After that I went to urgent care. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I woke up Sunday night with a pain in my side. I have Shingles. Isn’t that a fitting end to the most stressful six months of my life?

Friday and Saturday–Lots of unpacking. My dad came to help and we got most everything done.

Sunday–I got to sit and hear a great sermon and class from one of our members. It’s been a blessing to be here already. We finally got online and I can turn my attention to a new work.

We have been so tremendously blessed this week, even in the midst of all the things that went wrong. We have never been more embraced by a church family so quickly. The pace, attitude and spirit of the congregation is such a great fit for us. They genuinely seem to be glad that we are here. Our hope and prayer is that this is our last move. That we have finally found our home and our place and from everything we have experienced so far that seems to be the case.

I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff but I’ll fill in the gaps as we go along. Any questions about our move?

We are here in Ponca City. It was an extremely eventful process. Some good. Some bad. Some ugly.

I will give a full rundown of the last few days as soon as AT&T decides to fix our phones at the house.

But we are here and glad to be home.

It’s all packed. The movers arrive early tomorrow morning to load us up for our move to Fort Ponca.

Tonight we went back to our old congregation and said goodbye. It was hard, especially since I leave with such a profound feeling of failure. But that’s behind now and we look forward.

The next time you hear from us we will be Oklahomans and living in Ponca Gulch.

I’m so tired. Why am I still awake?

This is our last weekend in Waco. We load up the truck first thing Monday morning and head for Ponca Springs.
And it looks like our marriage will survive another move. It’s a good thing I’ve been so pleasant during these last few stressful months

We have made great progress on packing. We should finish up most everything tomorrow except last minute type things. Then one more Sunday. I’m thinking Episcopal. Then a trip back Sunday night to our old congregation to bid farewell.

We met one of our new elders yesterday in Fort Worth and gave him my car to drive back to Ponca Junction. Great time had by all at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Burleson. But, note to self: don’t get the blazing wings when you have an hour and a half drive afterwards.

Did I mention I’m tired?

Well, we are in the home stretch. One week from today we will load up the moving truck and head to Poncaville.
We will be moving ourselves this time around as we got a sweet deal on a truck that we just couldn’t pass up. I’ve never driven a 24 foot truck but how hard can it be, right? I just hope we can get everything on it.

We got a great deal on boxes as well. And environmentally friendly, too.

We have set up our utilities except for electric and satellite. We have to do electric when we get there and once we contact Dish to move us we will lose our local channels. It seems that once we give them the address we are moving to we will be listed in a different area. So I have to wait until next Monday to call them or no local shows for a week.

We had a good garage sale this weekend. Actually, Tracy did. She was the mastermind and did a fantastic job.

Now comes the part I hate the most about moving: packing. I hate the way cardboard feels. I’m scared of the tape gun. I never know where to start and it always seems like things are multiplying.

I’m just ready to get there and get to work.

Today is garage sale day.

People picking through the accumulation of my life’s possessions and assigning nickel and dime values to them.

Fun times.

I’m not by nature a nostalgic person. I don’t spend a whole lot of time looking backwards. In addition, I don’t always deal that well with transition. I spend so much time looking ahead that I often fail to pay attention to where I am at the moment.

So, I don’t have a lot of qualms or misgivings about moving despite the fact that the move is not without a great deal of pain and disappointment.

However, there is one aspect of moving that really has bothered me and I never saw it coming or expected to feel something so undefinable to me.

Last week, Tracy and I went to a parent/teacher conference with Chloe’s first grade teacher. Chloe loves school and it’s already apparent to us that she will excel in the classroom. So, it was a joy to go and hear about how well she is doing.

As we sat in the little chairs and talked to the teacher about Chloe’s progress I was able to look over and see her desk and how she has everything arranged according to her specifications and preferences. And that is when I began to really feel a tremendous sadness that we have to move her.

I’m not necessarily sad that she has to begin at a new school. She makes friends quickly and everyone seems to genuinely like her. That’s not the problem.

It’s not the fact that she has to begin anew studying different things and get up to speed with another classroom. That’s not it, either.

What bothers me, and what I have a hard time putting into words, is the fact that life will go on without her. That, to others, she will be replaceable.
There will be sadness that she is gone. Her classmates will be able to look over and see her empty desk where once she smiled and laughed and learned.
They will miss her.
But eventually someone else will take her seat. Or the desk will be removed.
However it happens life will go on without her.

And that bothers me. Greatly. She is invaluable. Irreplaceable.
But not to everyone.

Does this make sense to anyone else but me. Or am I just overly morbid?

I plan to make this a semi-regular feature of my blog: things about my new town and church family that I love. And what better way to start with the fact that I don’t have to wear a tie when I preach.

I hate ties. I hate them in all their permutations. The greatest evidence of the dupe-ability of the human race is the PR guy who was able to convince people that this is a good idea despite the fact that it is akin to auto-asphyxiation.

Seriously, the most wide-spread form of torture today is a neck-tie. You should only wear a tie if you are going to a funeral, if you are getting married or you have been invited to the Hilary Clinton Inaugural Ball.

When I interviewed at Agape the elders told me not to mess with wearing a tie on Sunday morning. I was already in town, it was late on Saturday night and I didn’t have anything but a shirt and tie. I was only too happy to make a late night stop at Wal-Mart and buy a shirt.

I hate ties. Just hate them. I believe they are perpetuated because it is the closest thing that men can experience that relates to the female pain of childbirth.

When I was in Michigan I didn’t wear them preaching. In Waco, I had to despite the great risk of a tie being wrapped around the mike stand while preaching.

No more. Death to ties. I love that about my new church families.

We are neck deep. Here is what is going on around these parts:

–This weekend is the big garage sale. Hopefully we can get rid of a bunch of the excess that we have accumulated since the last one we had almost 6 years ago.

–We plan on loading up on the 22nd and being Oklahomans on the 23rd. That’s just two weeks away. And still so much to do. We need to lock in a truck yesterday.

–Houston Nutt is apparently going to be allowed to finish the season. Why?

–Scrabble is way too addictive on facebook. We are selling version 1.0 in our garage sale. If you haven’t added me on Facebook, by all means, look me up.

–World Communion Sunday was such a blessing. One especially moving moment was when the communion passage was read in Greek, Spanish, German, Afrikaans and English.

–For years I’ve been unable to part with my “salad” tapes. I would spend hours perfecting the perfect mix tapes to enjoy in the car. Now, I have learned how to put them on my iPod. I love technology.

–My car is in the shop. Stupid Alternator.

–So, we have this refrigerator. It’s a big side-by-side. We bought it when we bought our first house 9 years ago. It’s been moved 6 times and taken a beating each time. It works fine but the doors have taken a licking and the ice maker no longer works. I say we sell it and do a same as cash on a new one and not mess with moving it yet again. But fridges are expensive.

–I’m looking forward to beginning preaching in Ponca City. I’m brainstorming an initial preaching series. I’ll have 4-5 Sundays before the start of Advent. Any thoughts?

–Tony Romo will you throw a few touchdown passes to Marion Barber tonight? Please?