Forget

Did you think we forgot about you? I have not blogged in a while. I am getting ready for my weekend class at Lipscomb. We have a short paper due tomorrow night.

Chad

Early Morning Phone Call

Shelly and I were heading to the 8 am worship at Berry's Chapel yesterday when my cell phone rang at 7:35 am. I answered it and Dewight Lanham had forgot to get a class teacher for the Hispanic congregation because their preacher is out of town. I was preaching for them last night due to that. He asked if I could do the class and I said sure. I knew we would be "winging it"...in Spanish. They are actually studying a book with many Scriptures so we built the class together around that.

I returned last night to preach for them and enjoyed that very much. With my new job, I need to sharpen up my Spanish so this was a great start. I am preaching all day for them next Sunday. At least I know I am teaching class beforehand.

I was impressed with the 4 individuals in worship last night. Out of the 4 of them, one had been baptized 2 years and the rest under a year. They were so young in their faith but so knowledgeable of God. What a credit to them for studying and knowing what is most important in life. I look forward to class with them on Wednesday night and worship all day next Sunday.

Chad

New Job

Many of you have been praying about my job search for the last 8 months and I greatly appreciate it. After many interviews with non-profits, churches and the business world, I have accepted a job with Metro Nashville Public Schools at Cole Elementary off Nolensville Road. The position is a No Child Left Behind Program Specialist (Title I Coordinator/Family School Coordinator). I will be keeping up with Federal money for the school and putting together a program to reach out to parents and get them involved in the school. Since the school's population is 40% Hispanic, it will give me an opportunity to put my experience from Honduras to action.

I have also been given a Memorial Fund Scholarship at Lipscomb to have my Master of Divinity fully paid for over the next few years. I started my Masters before we left for Honduras. I have 27 hours done of an 81 hour degree. This is a HUGE blessing! It is about a $50,000 gift. I will start classes again in late August.

I am looking forward to this opportunity and ask for your continued prayers in the transition to something I have never done before. I believe this will be really good for me right now and God has had a hand in putting me at Cole Elementary.

I just wanted to keep you informed since many of you ask me on a weekly basis what is going on in this front. I appreciate that more than you realize. God bless you.

Chad

One More Class

I have been in a Graduate Education class for the last 3 weeks which meets on Mondays and Wednesdays. This is to get my teacher's license renewed. Tomorrow is my last class and hopefully my license will be up-to-date.

I have been working with a Metro Nashville Public School to get a position this year in a special area and a local church in Franklin, TN about preaching for them. It looks like both these positions are coming to age at the same time. I might be able to work one full time and the other part time for the first year or so. We will let time tell...and God do His work.

A few months ago I gave up searching for jobs. I put it in God's hands. After that, these two positions fell in my lap and seem to working out for the best. God knows where He wants me and will make it happen. I ask for your prayers in my continued job search.

Shelly has started to go back to her school for a few hours a day to get ready for the upcoming school year. She has to be back full time in a little over 2 weeks. She is ready to get in there and get busy again. Please pray for her new year and new Kindergarten children.

It looks like it is about to start raining outside so take cover and enjoy the rest of the day.

Chad

I almost forgot...

Shelly and I celebrated our 8th Anniversary on Tuesday. We spent the day together and had a great lunch at Maggiano's on West End. If you like Italian, you must eat there.

Chad

This is for Tiffany!

I was reminded last night at Woodson's VBS Homemade Ice Cream Grand Finale that I had not updated our blog in a while. Shelly and I told her that means either we have nothing going on or we are too busy. I can tell you that it is not the first one for sure!

Looking for a job is the pits! I have had some extremely frustrating times with churches and some HUGE disappointments. Next time we are together, feel free to ask me about those. They are too long to type. I have basically put it in God's hands. He will provide. I am a little tired of looking and being disappointed. I do have some leads but I am letting God take the controls. Maybe it will work that way.

Shelly and I have decided to enjoy the time we have together with no jobs to go to. Shelly is on summer vacation from school. We usually can sleep in and then ask each other what we want to do that day. Part of me likes that but I am READY for a job to show up to. I have been asked to speak at several local churches on Sundays and Wednesdays so that keeps my brain going. I enjoy sharing the Word of God with others.

This week I am helping my friend Larry Crockett build his little daughter a play set. We are actually building the border around it and leveling the ground. The rubber mulch to put in it arrived today so that is tomorrow's job. It is so HOT outside. It is amazing the difference in the heat between Honduras and TN. The same temperature number, but the humidity will kill you here. Larry and I usually take a break each hour or more and take on water and shower ourselves with the water hose.

Things are going well though. Tiffany, I hope this catches you up with what is happening with us. I will try to stay on top of this more. Have a great summer night!

Chad

Surprise Party

Does Shelly look another year older? Well, she turned 30 on Saturday and my Mom, Lynn and I planned a surprise birthday party for her that night. We had about 90 people show up at Woodson for the party which was a GREAT turnout. For all those who came, thank you very much. Shelly was excited to see everyone but really appreciated her teaching team at Kenrose being there. Thank you ladies for coming!

Instead of gifts, Shelly wanted to give money to Honduras for a project in Limoncillo which is the northeast part of the country. In her cards, Shelly will be able to send about $1,500 to them to continue the skill trade school. Thank you very much for making that happen!

I told Shelly a few days ago that she had a surprise on Saturday as part of her birthday because she was getting curious about what was going to happen on her birthday. I surprised her by telling her that we were going on a shopping spree to get her a new outfit for her present. She thought that was the end of the surprise since we had planned on having her family party that night at her parent's house.

At 4:30 pm, Lynn called Shelly and told her that we needed to run by Woodson to pick up her dad since they were running late from a trip they took with them. Shelly got suspicious at that point and started to pester me for the next hour. We showed up at Woodson to open the fellowship room doors to be welcomed by a room full of people and singing of Happy Birthday. Shelly was surprised. At that point, I was so glad the surprise was over. It is hard to keep that kind of surprise a secret.

I want to thank my Mom and Dad and Lynn and Hugh for helping put this together. The 4 of them showed up early on Saturday to set everything up and cook the delicious spaghetti. It was all perfect. Also, thank you to Wanda Lovell for the wonderful birthday cake. If you were there, you know what kind of treat that was.

All in all, it was a great day for Shelly and a great PARTY!

Chad

Birthday Time!

Shelly will turn 30 years old tomorrow (Saturday).

If you have time, give her a call at 615-943-8253 to wish her a happy birthday! I will fill you in on the details of the day next week.

Chad

Being Sick is No Fun!

It seems like I have been in a doctor's office more over the last 2 weeks than ever in my life. A few weeks ago, I got the stomach bug that was going around and was out for a few days. The doctors really did not give me anything but suggested the same old thing for stomach issues. It finally went away. I thought I was heading up when I came down with a scratchy throat a week ago and started on allergy medicine. I normally do not have problems with allergies but thought I would fight it with that anyway. It has not gotten better and keeps me up most of the night with a horrible cough. I visited the doctor again today and I have a sinus infection. She gave me some meds and I hope to be 100% in a few days...I hope.

I am excited to be able to preach on Sunday morning at Berry's Chapel. It will be like the good old days. I pray that I encourage the congregation that morning since my lesson pertains to that. Services are at either 8 or 10:15 am. Join us at Berry's Chapel on Sunday morning!

Baxter, our puppy, has a new best friend. He loves Brooklyn, our niece, and she loves him. She can not say many words but know how to say Baxter's name. They just play, play, play. It seems they were made for each other.

I am still waiting for a job. I have to admit that it is getting a little frustrating but I have to keep in mind that God is preparing something unbelievable for me. I am talking to 4 congregations in Tennessee. Please keep my search in your prayers.

Chad

Easter Sunday

We enjoyed our Easter Sunday with our families. Shelly and I went to Woodson Chapel to worship on Sunday to be with both our families. After the morning worship, we went to my parent's house to have the traditional Easter lunch with ham and then had our first family Easter egg hunt. Brooklyn started walking last Thursday so she is mobile now and was able to walk around the front yard searching for eggs. Baxter tried to beat her to most of them. He was able to collect 2 eggs. Brooklyn got the rest. Brooklyn and Baxter became friends on Sunday as you can see in the picture.

Sunday night after worship, we went to Shelly's parent's house to have hamburgers. We received a great Easter basket from Lynn and Hugh of household items. Nathan and I played until he was red in the face and he has officially renamed me "Homer." None of us know where that came from. We stayed at their house late and it was tough getting up this morning. Shelly returned to school after her Spring Break week. We plan on going to bed early tonight.

We hope you had a great Easter with your family.

Chad

Meet Shellycita!

I wanted to share some recent pictures of Shelly who was named after my wife, Shelly. She is the proud little girl of our great friends in Honduras, Mary and Elvin Espinal. Elvin preaches at a church outside Choluteca and Mary is the director of one of the Mission Lazarus schools. Shellycita (means little Shelly) is 4 months old now. You can tell she follows in her father's footsteps with her Honduras soccer uniform. I just wanted to share her with you as it is a great honor for my Shelly to have her in her life.

Shelly and I had a great weekend in Atlanta and Peachtree City. We met some wonderful brothers and sisters there and enjoyed our time with Pat and Ron Brown. We learned more about the position China Missions needs to fill and taking that into consideration. We enjoyed our Monday in downtown Atlanta going to the aquarium and the Coca Cola Museum. If you ever go to the museum, make sure to try the Italian Beverly. How delicious...!?!?!

Many of you are keeping up with my job prospects. They have been narrowed down to the following.

Preacher at Maryville church outside of Knoxville.

Education Minister at Mt. Juliet church.

Office Manager at Hendersonville church.

Preacher at Hartsville Pike church.

Preacher at Franklin (KY) church.

Fundraiser with China Missions.

Please keep us in your prayers as we work through this process. It is much longer than I anticipated but God is in control and will lead us in the right direction. Have a great day...outside. It is to be a good one!

Chad

Weekend in Atlanta

Shelly and I are heading to Atlanta tomorrow for the weekend. We have supper with the elders and preacher of Peachtree City church of Christ and Pat and Ron Brown of Chinese Agape Foundation on Saturday night and then I am preaching on Sunday morning at the church. I am talking with the Chinese Agape Foundation about fundraising for them. I would be able to work out of Franklin, Tennessee and work the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama and Mississippi.

Please keep our weekend in your prayers. I am excited about learning more about them and seeing if my talents can help them out.

Shelly and I will enjoy downtown Atlanta on Monday as we plan on going to the Coca Cola Museum and Aquarium. Shelly will be on Spring Break as of 3:30 pm today and she is VERY HAPPY about that.

Have a great weekend!

Chad

Meet Baxter!

Meet Baxter Hedgepath. He is Shelly and my new puppy. He is 11 weeks old and weighs about 3 1/2 lbs. A few months ago, Shelly started getting the itch to start looking for a new dog. Many of you know that Tristan died a year ago in February and it took a while for Shelly to get ready for a new dog. If you knew Shelly and Tristan, you knew that they were best friends.

I called Shelly one night while I was in Honduras a few weeks ago and she said that she thought she found a new puppy for us. She said that a woman from Mt. Juliet was going to meet us near the airport the day I arrived from Honduras. We met the lady 30 minutes after I landed, I looked the puppy over and she had all the papers. The next thing I knew, we had a puppy in our car and were heading home.

He is nice to have around...when he is sleeping! Just kidding. Going through the whole training process again is tough but he will get it one day. He starts obedience school tonight at 7 pm at PetSmart in Cool Springs. We have class with him for the next 2 months every Friday night. We will see how intelligent he really is.

I forgot to say that he is a Maltese and very healthy. Tristan had his favorite duck and Baxter has his favorite stuffed giraffe which you can see in the picture above. Many people have heard about Baxter and I wanted to take this chance to introduce him to the world. Enjoy.

Chad

Good Breakfast

I met Will Baxter for breakfast this morning at the Cool Springs Cracker Barrel. We had a great meeting and caught up on the things going on in our lives over the last few months. Will is looking for a job also so we are in the same boat. Unfortunately, his wife, Lacey, just lost her job also so they are a little on edge.

I then ran errands around Nashville and Cool Springs. I came home to finalize my lesson for class tonight and am ready to be encouraged. I really look forward to class every Wednesday night because I think we have a great group of people at BC studying together and encouraging one another.

I have a meeting with Randy Steger tomorrow at Healing Hands International. I am interested in hearing what they need and how I might be able to help them out.

I did not tell you that last Thursday, my niece, Brooklyn (Angie and JJ's baby) celebrated her 1st birthday! We had a great party on Saturday for the special event. She did pretty well making a mess out of her cake.

I am getting better at blogging but I need to add some pictures. I will start that next.

Enjoy your Wednesday night class...or come to BC at 7 pm for my Encouragement class in the basement. You are more than welcome!

Chad

Judas vs. Peter

I am teaching a Wednesday night class at Berry's Chapel this quarter from the book "The Barnabas Factor" by Aubrey Johnson. The book is about encouragement and I am really enjoying the class and participation. We have about 20 in the class.

We just finished the chapter that talks about discouragement. There are 2 common causes of discouragement: misfortunes and mistakes. Misfortunes are things that happen to you and mistakes are things that you cause. Aubrey talked about a great comparison which really made me think.

What was the difference between Judas and Peter. Both denied Jesus in their own way but ended up reacting differently to the guilt and sin of doing it. Judas turned Jesus in to the authorities; Peter denied Jesus repeatedly. Judas hanged himself; Peter went on to be a great preacher for Jesus. What happened that caused the two to take two totally different routes in life after their sin?

Let me encourage you to look back in the Gospels and read the stories of Judas and Peter. Look at their response after their sin. Judas lost hope. He thought that he could not overcome the sin which he committed. Peter dealt with his pain and sin and made the most out of it. He learned from his mistake and changed his life to be different.

How do you deal with sin in your life? Do you believe that you have no hope to get by it and do great things? Do you feel like you need to just lie down and die because you can't handle it anymore? Are there too many things being thrown at you which you feel you cannot handle? It is easy in life to get overwhelmed with the negatives in our lives and think that we cannot make it. It is easy to give up, to throw our hands in the air and forget about it. It is easy to roll over and die.

That is not an encouraging person though. We have a Savior who died for us and gave us life. We have hope because we have a God who is on our side. We can be encouraged by learning from our mistakes and building upon them. How do you deal with your sin? Let's be encouraged. Let's share with one another. Let's put aside our masks and encourage one another in our struggles. There are people in your church who are struggling with the same sin you are. Judas did not utilize his brothers and sisters. Peter pulled them together and built upon them.

Encourage someone today. Share in their struggles.

Chad

Updating

I am going to get back into blogging.

Just want to update you on my job search. I am still talking to several churches and non-profit organizations. The list follows:

Chinese Agape Foundation
Maryville church of Christ
Franklin (KY) church of Christ
Hendersonville church of Christ
Youth Encouragement Services
Healing Hands International
Mt. Juliet church of Christ
Baxter Institute

It seems things are moving better but still very slow. I hope that with the warm weather coming in, things will pick up. It seems everyone has been in hibernation for a few months. I ask for your prayers for my search. Shelly is doing a great job at Kenrose and is the bread winner right now. I am very thankful for her.

We have moved to an apartment in Cool Springs (as of last week). We moved out of Lynn and Hugh's (Shelly's parents) house to get on our own. It has been a good move for us. We greatly appreciated the time with Lynn and Hugh and the generosity they showed us.

I promise to do a better job with our blog. I plan on starting a daily devotional thought tomorrow on this blog. Let me know what you want to study.

Chad

Good interview

I felt that the interview on Saturday went well. I enjoyed my time with some of the Board Members and we will see what happens. It is in God's Hands.

I enjoyed preaching again last night for the Hispanic congregation at Berry's Chapel. We had about 15 there and they did a great job participating. They have hired an interim named Beto and I will be praying for him. I heard that Alejandro, the preacher for the congregation, has an appointment at the Embassy today. He is having to get his American Visa renewed before returning to the States. His wife and young son will be meeting him in Venezuela on Thursday.

I am running around and getting things done on my checklist. I am babysitting Brooklyn (my sister's baby) on Thursday. I am looking forward to 2 hours of playing.

Have a great day!

Chad

Please pray

I ask that you pray for me tomorrow (Saturday) as I have an interview with Youth Encouragement Services which is a non-profit organization in Nashville, Tennessee who works with youth in the inner city. I am really interested in this job and ask that you pray for a successful day.

God is in control and He knows what He wants me to do. Thanks.

Chad

It seems like a new day

I am enjoying watching the Inauguration today. There is a great excitement in the US today which is good. Even though I do not agree with everything the government does, I do respect its authority under God. It is attractive to me to see all the excitement surrounding this special day for the US.

I want to update you on what is going on with us. Shelly is working at Kenrose Elementary in Williamson County with Kindergarten and gotten into a routine and enjoys her job. She is doing a good job. I am still looking. This is not a great time in our country right now with very limited jobs and tons of people looking. I am hoping to hear from one organization this week. Please pray for that and all those looking for jobs at this time. It is tough!

I did have the opportunity to preach for the Berry's Chapel Hispanic congregation on Sunday night. I will be helping them off and on with PM lessons until their Hispanic minister gets his VISA worked out in Venezuela.

Enjoy the day. Take time to pray for our government and the incoming and outgoing Presidents. It is a special day for the US no matter how you feel about our government. We are blessed to be here...but with that comes responsibilities as Christians. Let's take on that responsibility head on! God bless you.

Chad