December 2009 Post

Hey all,

So much to talk about. There's a lot that's happened since our last blog. So, here we go:

ECC LAWRENCE'S CONNECT EVENT
This was the Sunday before thxgvg. We met at our pastors house for God's heavenly food: Bacon, biscuits and gravy, eggs, etc. We all had a good time. And, we met some people we hadn't seen before. We had about a little over 40 people that came, which was a few more than the last connect event in between monthly services. I was really glad to have this connect event b/c it was 5 weeks in between actual ECC services for this time.

THANKSGIVING
OH, there's so much to be thankful for!!! I have the best wife in the whole wide world. She is so perfect for me. I am thankful for having a job in this tough economy. I also really enjoy the branch I work at; the people are great(that's not to say that I didn't like my prior branch, :) still miss you seattle!). The church plant that we moved to help start is going GREAT!!! I wouldn't want to be on any other team doing this. God really has put the people that need to be here for a reason. I could go on forever, but I wont bore you with too much more...
So, we hung out at home on Turkey Day till about noon. We were able to sleep in, I went for a 5mi run while Becky rested. Then, we went to my Aunt's house near Liberty, MO. They made an AWESOME dinner. I, of course, gorded myself to so much good food.
Then, we were able to make it to our friends Matt and Emily's house for desserts. They had a blueberry/banana cheesecake, pumpkin, apple cobbler and ice cream, etc. As you can tell, we had a good thxgvg with fam and friends.

ECC LAWRENCE'S 3RD MONTHLY SERVICE
Another service went on w/out a hitch. OH YEAH!!! I can't stop saying that we are blessed to be apart of this launch team. We have the BEST volunteers. They are so ready to help with a smile on their face. They get there before the sun comes up, and they're there till noon-ish. And, they continually ask what they can help with next. I know that God is going to grow this church if people keep coming that have these kinds of servant hearts.
Well, we had about 104 poeple for this service. Which is GREAT, still. The church planting books still say that normal would be about 60-80 in attendence at this stage. So, on Jan 3rd, we start weekly service with our DNA series. This will be talk on why we do what we do, and what we are trying to create at EastLake. So, if your any where near Lawrence, I really implore you to come and check us out then!!!

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS
We, this means Becky did most of it, started decorating for xmas and Hannukah the weekend after thanksgiving. We don't have too much decor, but I think it looks great. Then, Sat we went to Home Depot for our tree. We got a 8ft Noble Fir. I normally like douglas', but this Noble was perfect.
Funny to say, but this is the first year that we actually are fully decorating the tree. We never really finished the 2 yrs before. But, I love the way Becky decorated it. I put the lights on, and Becky did the rest. So, here's a pic:










20 WEEKS

Becky here- Well, I am officially halfway through my pregnancy! I cannot believe just how fast time has flown. I definitely am looking more and more pregnant which is just an odd thing in itself. You spend years anticipating what it would be like and then, just like that, you are the pregnant one! I have not had any major issues except sinus congestion which I have found out is due to the increase in estrogen and blood flow. It could be much worse and so I choose not to complain.
We have begun to do some research on all the basic needs like car seats, strollers, etc... and will probably go register once the holidays are over. I am looking forward to that but I don't think Dave necessarily looks forward to going "shopping" and not coming away with something. :)
Our next ultrasound is coming up on December 23rd. Because of my history with elipespy and the meds I have to take, we have been scheduled to have more tests than the usual. This will be my third ultrasound and we will find out for sure what we are having. What a great Christmas gift, huh? Just so you are warned: although we will let everyone know what we are expecting, the name will remain a secret until this little one is born. There have to be some surprises in life.

Well, I think that is about it for now. We wish you all the very best during this holiday season and hope you are able to spend it with family and/or friends. Please know that we miss all our friends and family not in the Lawrence area. Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and Happy New Year to all!!

Eastlake Lawrence's Second Monthly Service

So, this past Sunday was our second monthly service. IT WENT GREAT! We have the BEST volunteers!!! We arrived late Sat night to find out that we could not get into the school to setup until 6am Sunday morning. And, everyone didn't skip a beat, nor grumble about coming to help just to turn around and go home. This also meant that we had a great deal less time to make sure everything would be ready in time.
So, we went home to turn around in the morning to set everything upat 6am. I felt like it went so much better this time because we had at least some knowledge of where to start or what to tell people to help us setup. Setup went great, and we got everything up and ready in plenty of time.
Lots of people showed up and it looked like everyone had a good time. We had 110 people show up for this service[which is baller, as Jason would say)]. The books on church planting say that expecting about half of your first service to come back for a second service is normal and good. This is also b/c you have some well wishers come out to "fill a seat". This means that we would have been happy to have about 65-70 people. Further, our pastor Matt posted his blog about this on Oct 28: "I think it’s entirely possible to have 110 attend our second monthly service. In fact, we’re preparing for more!". I don't really believe there are too many coicidences with God, however, that's neat!
Anyway, our next event is the "Connect Event" on November 22nd. We are pretty excited about it. We hope to see more people show up.

Have a great day!

15 Weeks

We are so excited to be able to tell you that we have hit 15 weeks in pregnancy. Becky is starting to look pregnant. She's definately past most of the morning sickness, which was really light for the first 10-12 weeks. Most of the sickness was from our 45min car rides to and from work.
This past Wednesday, we had our first ultrasound of Baby Johnson. IT WAS SO EXCITING! We could totally see it moving around. It was twisting and turning a bit. We could also see it's arms and fingers moving(so cool!!!). The doctor gave us an a-ok status on the development of the baby, and we get to go back on Dec 23rd for a more in-depth ultrasound.

Church for the Rest of Us

This past 6 months has been a whirlwind of activity. There have been lots of ups and downs; but, God has taken care of us, so generously. Ever since we decided to join the launch team headed to Lawrence, KS, God has totally provided everything that we need to do his work. Here’s a little history about our launch.

We started with nine. Matt and Emily Cox - the pastor and his wife, Ryan and Tiffany – Operations and Follow-Up, Beth – Kids, Heather – Teams and Production, Jason – Video, Becky – Kids, and Me – Sound. This team is AWESOME. I am just so proud to being a part of it. We get along together so well. Everyone has their part, and we are all great at it. I feel like we all have the same vision and we are all on the same page. My favorite part is that everyone has their role, and no one steps over each other’s role or agenda.

Since we’ve moved to Lawrence in the last couple months, the team has been preparing for our first service. We were making sure how and what everything needs to look like to make sure that our vision came to be what we want it to be. We’ve been meeting and hanging out at least once to twice a week to plot and plan this journey, and to just bond together. It’s been a great time!

So, this past Sunday was Eastlake Community Church’s FIRST service in Lawrence, KS!!! We had about 130 people come check it out. It was so awesome. Everything went off without a hitch! Everything was setup in time, volunteers made everything happen, and everyone had a good time. Here’s what some people said:

“It was one of the best church experiences that I have ever had."

"First church my husband and I have attended together that we both felt "at home" and excited about attending another service. Also loved that we felt our young children will be safe."

"There are a lot of very friendly people."

"Everyone was welcoming and seemed accepting of everyone."

"It felt good to feel like I wouldn't be judged upon appearance."


My favorite part was the volunteers that made this happen!!! I can’t say it enough. They totally did not know what to expect or what it was going to be like. And, they made it look like they’ve been doing this for years. Everyone was ready to give a helping hand anywhere, and they all did it with a smile and a cheering heart. Volunteers, YOU’RE AWESOME!!!

Our next service is on November 8, so feel free to come and check us out.

Exciting News!!!

We have some very exciting news to share with you all... On or around May 2, 2010, we will be expanding our family by one new member. WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!! We told family right away, but decided to hold off telling friends until closer to the end of the first trimester. Since I (Becky) was already planning on being in town for a doctor's appointment during that time, we figured we could tell many of you in person. Unfortunately, I had an unexpected death in the family (sooo glad I was home) and I needed to be with family.

Anyways, just wanted to let you in on the big secret and we will keep things updated as things progress.

September is almost over... Where did the time go?

Here is the latest update for what is going on in Kansas with the Johnsons. We had our first Volunteer BBQ mid-August and got to meet many of the AWESOME volunteers who are so excited to have a church like EastLake in Lawrence. The launch team has been meeting weekly to get details taken care of as well as doing a book study on Spirituality for the Rest of Us by Larry Osborn. If you have a chance to read this book, we highly recommend it. It has been very eye-opening to see how many things the “church” does as a matter of tradition that makes itself inaccessible by those who truly just want to know more about God. Check it out!

For Labor Day weekend, we decided to make a spur-of-the-moment trip to Tennessee to visit Dave’s Grandma and extended family. We saw the St. Louis Arch, the Tennessee Titans football stadium, and the Mighty Mississippi. It was a great trip as we got to catch up with family that we last saw at our wedding almost two years ago. We have now seen 11 states since leaving Washington in August and over 35 (and counting!) state license plates.

The Tuesday after we got back, Becky was offered a job at All Around Child as a co-Kindergarten teacher. She started work the very next day. Because it isn’t an elementary school, things are done a bit differently and she has to make some adjustments, but the staff and families are very friendly and welcoming. The wonderful thing about this position is that it is only 1 mile from where Dave works so we are able to drive to and from work together.

Last Saturday, we had another volunteer hang out time. We went through more of what each team is going to look like and what to expect. It just seems that this volunteer team is anxious and ready to start this church. The launch team is also in the same boat. We are just so excited and ready to hit the ground running.

Our biggest news right now is that we are starting to gear up for our very first monthly service. It is less than 3 weeks away and everyone is getting very excited. All of our programs came in and they are so cool! We will be meeting on Oct. 10th to unload everything from Portable Church and doing a run through of our set-up and tear-down. I am just praying that it runs as smooth as possible. I believe that we will have enough people to get the job done; but I know that it always takes longer you hope.



So… Until our next blog post, we miss you all and many blessing to you!

Paychex Transfer Went Through

We are so excited to tell you that the Paychex Branch in Kansas City called to say that had a position available for me. It will be doing what I was doing before and at the same rate of pay.

Paychex is a great company to work for. I recommend it to all!

God is really providing for us here in Kansas. And, we can't wait to see what else is going to happen here.

Moving to Kansas

Hey all,
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip; that started from this rainy city aboard this huge moving truck… j/k

Becky and I would love to tell you the story on how we got started on this adventure to Lawrence, KS. We have always known that we would love to have me work and her stay home when we start a family. Seattle isn’t the most cost effective place, so we started looking to see where we BOTH would like move. In this process and out of left field, our friend Matt Cox had asked us to join him in starting a church in Lawrence. He told us of his process on deciding to start a church in Lawrence and the multiple financial supporters (if you would like more info on Matt’s journey, here’s a link to an article about him: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2009/jul/25/new-interface-game-designer-returning-home-lawrenc/). We saw God’s provision, and we both felt a tug to go. But we said that we still wanted to think and pray about it. After a couple weeks, and some wise council from friends and family, we decided to move out to Kansas.

When support from both of our families; we were really excited for this move. We started looking for jobs and possible transfers; but, nothing seemed to be available. Meanwhile, the rest of the launch team was getting ready for their move. Then a few weeks later, this amazing house came up for rent. It’s a 1900 sq ft newer house with 3 bedrooms and 3 ½ baths. It’s more than what we could’ve dreamed of for the price. So, when we applied for it and got accepted right away, we were excited but still a bit anxious since neither of us confirmed jobs in Kansas. So, we said that we would sleep on it and make a decision in the morning.

Then, in the morning, we didn’t have peace one way or the other. So, we prayed for guidance; and Becky totally felt like God told her that He is the one that is providing for us and that He has done well so far. Further that He would do so in Kansas. So, with peace in our hearts, we sent in our lease agreement.

After telling my Paychex branch, I found out that I could contact the Kansas branch to see if there would be a position available when we arrived in Kansas. Paychex is totally working something out for me. I know that God is providing for us and working for us. Even if Paychex does not work out, I know that He has something for us here.

We left on August 4th and traveled across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and finally into Kansas. We truly live in a gorgeous country! The big move went pretty swimmingly. I drove the truck while Becky drove the Saturn with both the cats. They did such a great job and didn’t cry much at all. We got the bigger truck than we thought we needed for a smaller price than the next smallest truck. Then, in filling the truck we barely got all the stuff in it. Whew!! It was just enough space.

When we arrived in KS, the rest of the launch team was already there (about 9 other people) to help us unload the truck. So, it took about 20 minutes to unload the moving truck. Also, Becky color-coded the boxes, so it was easy to know where they needed to go. Here are a few pics of our wonderful new home:

























































God has really shown His provision and plan for us in the last month. We are trying not to worry about the many unknowns in our future; but we do know that God will lead us where He wants us to go.