Until The Nets Are Full: Happy Halloween!

Since we're first time parents, we knew nothing about babies or kids when we had Lily. Lily has survived so many mistakes that we made caring for her this year, we affectionately call her our little "crash-test-dummy". And so the idea for her costume was born. Meredith hand painted it!

Dear Friends and Prayer Warriors,

Thank you so much for praying for my meeting with Ben Proffitt on Monday. The Lord heard your prayers, and that meeting could not have gone better. He received me warmly, and we're on the same page in our agreement that we need to do a better job training our pastors and church leaders. He sees a lot of potential for BTCP, and told me I needed to go meet with William Lunsford, who is presently in charge of the seminary extension here. Before I could call William on Tuesday morning, Ben had already gone to see him to share our ministry with him! I talked to William on the phone Tuesday and he seems genuinely excited. I'll be meeting with him next Wednesday to talk about how Mountain Vision and BTCP can come alongside the Holston Baptist Association in offering training to their untrained pastors. Please pray the Lord would bless that meeting as we look for synergies in our ministries and begin to discuss how we recruit students!

Several of our partner churches including Central Baptist in Wendell, NC are collecting items to support the Christmas Store outreach here at First Baptist Greeneville. We're collecting diapers, toilet paper, and peanut butter specifically. We're also collecting new or gently used coats, hooded sweatshirts, blankets, sheets, and towels. Though we collect these things locally, the demand we're seeing is so high our local donations can't keep up. If you'd like to help out in some way with this outreach at Christmas, simply reply to this email and let us know, and we'll help you get connected!

Tomorrow, Thursday, Pastor Ed Rose from our home church in Wendell, NC will be coming in for a visit. We'll be meeting to talk about partnership opportunities for the spring and summer, and Meredith and I are very much looking forward to having him stay with us for a night! Please pray for safety during his travel, as this will be a quick trip up and back for him.

In our personal life, we thoroughly enjoyed our Lily's second Halloween. Lily got many, many compliments on her "crash test dummy" costume! She also rode a horse for the first time and loved it. We had a good time with the folks at First Baptist, as well as trick-or-treating on Main Street in downtown Greeneville.

Things you can pray for this week:

1. Thursday is our food distribution day at the Storehouse. Please pray we'll be able to bless many, many families.

2. Pastor Ed is traveling here on Thursday and departing Friday. Please pray for safety in his journey, and that our time together will be mutually encouraging.

3. Please pray for the Christmas Store outreach as we gear up and collect items for that event on December 10.

4. Please pray for my meeting next Wednesday with William Lunsford of the HBA as we discuss launching a BTCP here in East Tennessee.