Update to my family at Hopeful

Greetings and Salutations to the members of Hopeful.  It is hot here as I write this and I long for the "cool" summers of Norther Kentucky.  I'm not sure how many of you are up to date on my path to follow the Lord so I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you a little about where this path has taken me.

As most of you know we packed our stuff up in a truck and moved to South Carolina (specifically Columbia) to attend Southern Seminary.  During my Summer Greek course and the first part of the first semester of classes I struggled with the direction of my call.  I felt that God was calling me into mission work so I began to think more in that direction and what my education meant for me in that realm.  At the same time I joined a group of pastor's and laypeople who met monthly as a support for those who were at odds with the recent path the ELCA had / was taking and to discuss what was happening in the southeast area of the United States.  Answers from my prayers and my discussions with many people I decided about mid way through my semester that I needed a different direction and began to really listen to what God wanted me to do.  At that time there were introductions made, phone calls and meetings and trips to visit a small group of about 20 people from Easley, SC (about 120 miles away) who had been worshiping at an ELCA church that was unwilling to even discuss the options available to them as a congregation in regards to the Churchwide action last August.  Judy and I met about 20 of them at their Christmas party in December and we enjoyed our time and looked forward to where this opportunity may be taking us.  I was asked to preach at their official 2nd meeting of Emmanuel Lutheran of Easley, in January, and I immediately felt a calling to this group of people and missed my time with them when I wasn't there.  After several months of leading worship for Emmanuel they offered me a three month contract call starting May 1st.  Our group of just over 20 is now worshiping about 40 every Sunday and we continue to see some new faces from time to time.  Last Sunday (June 27th) I was humbled and honored that the congregation voted to extend my call for another year (through July 2011) and I look forward to where this congregation is going.  Our agreement allows me to continue my studies while offering them part time pastoral care which is a win/win solution for both myself and the congregation.  It seems, when I was hearing mission I was thinking third world country but God was saying Mission congregation.  This congregation is a true start up with no permanent home and lots of donated items.  We currently worship at one of the members place of business called Partee Time.  Who wouldn't want to worship at a place that has a 9 hole mini golf, blow up rides, batting cages and many other fun things to do!

Judy and I currently still live in Columbia and we take the trip up every Sunday (about 2 hours each way) and sometimes mid week.  We are looking for work in the area so that we can make the move to the Easley area to be closer to this congregation I am called to.

I appreciate all of the prayers and good words that have come from Hopeful over the past year and Judy and I look forward to the time when we can visit with our Hopeful family.

In His name!

Pastor Greg