Earlier this week I wrote a brief update on the Ithaca Vineyard’s search for a new lead pastor, and another on how things were progressing with our move to Ireland. I thought I’d end the week with an update of the various other things we’ve got going on…or at least as much as I can remember.

The Haunt:
One of the new things we’ve started up recently is a Sunday night worship service @ the Haunt. Our plan was to start it in October, work out the bugs and then begin inviting people to come, advertise, starting in November. Then last week happened. If you follow football, you might know that the Buffalo Bills are having a very good season. And while the vast majority of their games are on at 1 pm on Sundays, they occasionally, such as last week play at 4 pm. On the one hand, It is great to have a crowd there…on the other hand…well, let’s just say it wasn’t ideal.

So we are going to give ourselves a few more weeks to work out some of the bugs, but in the meantime we’d love to have you join us (Sundays @ 6:30 pm).

Reading…
When we first moved to Trumansburg, one of the things I disliked most was having to ride the bus occasionally to work. After doing it for a while, I actually prefer it.  I don’t have to deal with people cutting me off…or how am I going to get past that line of cars doing 15 miles below the speed limit on Rt. 96. It has been a great way unwind on the way home. An added benefit is that since it takes about an hour each way on the bus (about 25 minutes if you drive), I’m getting a lot of reading done!

This past month I finished 2 books: On the Verge, by Alan Hirsch & Dave Ferguson and The Enneagram:A Christian Perspective, by Richard Rohr.)  I’ve also been working through Third Culture Kids, by David Pollock & Ruth Van Reken, and Mystically Wired, by Ken Wilson (which I’m rereading for the current message series). [all links for books are affiliate links]

The Enneagram book I read for the school of Spiritual Direction that I’m enrolled in.  I haven’t had any previous experience with the topic, and while I found the ideas interesting, the book did bog down a bit for me in the end.  Still not sure which type I am…although I’ve narrowed it down to a couple. Feel free to let me know what you think I might be if you’ve worked with the Enneagram.

On the Verge…I loved…especially the material written by  Hirsch.  It is definitely going to be a book we’ll be using a lot as we as we move to Ireland and begin laying groundwork for the church we’ll be planting in Dublin.

Third Culture Kids, is one recommended to Liz & me by the person who is coaching me to help us make the transition to a new culture/new country as smooth as possible. (I never realized the Vineyard had coaches who did stuff like this, but …Wow! it has been such a great help to make sure we are thinking about the things we should be thinking about & dealing with the stuff we should be dealing with. The book, at least for me has been pretty emotional…both in learning about the impact this will have on our kids…and on us. And even thinking about the transition, and how relationships change.

Spiritual Direction…
On Sunday, once the service is over, I’ll get dropped off in Rochester, and then I’ll drive to Cincinnati, with my friend Jeff for our second Spiritual Direction Module. Part of this process has been going through spiritual direction, providing it for a couple people who are willing to let you “learn on them:-)” a bunch of reading and these training modules.

If you told me 5 years ago I would be learning, or even going through spiritual direction, you would have seen a very blank look on my face. But I’ve found it to be a real positive.

Other Stuff…
We are having a baptism during the second service on December 4, with a celebration afterwards.

We will be introducing 5 new members of the Ithaca Vineyard this month!

If you have some interest in working on websites, we’d love to have you help out with ithacavineyard.org  Send us an email & let us know.

We no longer have leaks in the roof of our church building! And it only took 3 years!

I think that’s about it from here. Don’t forget to turn your clocks back an hour on Sunday.