I have not done one of these in a long time, but I feel that I should update everyone a little on my life.

Kid #2

Highlights:

1. Amanda is pregnant, and we just found out last Thursday that this one will be a boy! His name will be “Evan” named after my grandfather, father, and me (in that order, too). I am very excited. As a dad, you have fantasies of playing catch with your son, going to games together, camping, fishing, etc. I hope to do all these things and more. Giselle tries her best to pronounce “Evan.” It started like “Ibann,” and now sounds more like “Ebbin.” Close enough.
2. Yesterday, our church plant Redemption Church voted Gary Alloway as our pastor. Gary had been with us from the beginning, and we on the leadership team believed God had called him to be our pastor. However, we wanted confirmation from the congregation, as well. This was confirmed! Pastor Gary Alloway.
3. I am in my second semester at my job, and I am beginning to feel like I know what I am doing. Overall, I love my staff and the people I work with. This sounds bad, but I like my job more than I thought I would. I guess that’s a good thing.

My Reading List:

• I recently read Selling Out the Church The Dangers of Church Marketing by Philip Kenneson and James Street. I wrote two blog posts on this, and I have received some disagreement, but it’s all good.

• 

  Manifold Witness

  I am currently reading Manifold Witness: The Plurality of Truth by John Franke. I’ve read most of it, and I really think Franke is on-point. Pick it up if you can.

• Our class has been discussing race in the American church so we have been reading Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America to complement our discussion. I have to say that I am pretty disgusted by my fellow evangelicals (mainly, white but also black) for allowing race to come between us. I will most likely blog about this later.

Looking forward to:

• Amanda and I have a birthdays/anniversary weekend planned, and I look forward to some alone time with her. I love my daughter, but it’s hard to be alone sometimes.
• Amanda’s birthday is February 5th.
• Super Bowl 44 between the Saints and the Colts. I am a huge Peyton Manning fan so I’d love to see him win it again!
• Giselle to be “potty-trained.” I believe we are on-route to this; hopefully, soon.