Are you ready?

So I know that I was a jerk in my last post without telling you the news that we got about our future.  I thought it deserved a special post since it's such a big deal for us.  Thanks for not sending me all hate comments! (Although you almost didn't get a chance because I forgot have the comments turned on.  Thanks for letting me know Kevin!)  So here's the scoop!

I got an email from one of the three ministerial directors for the Georgia-Cumberland Conference that said that we would be interviewing in Buford, Ga.  Where is that, you ask?  Let me show you...

Click the map to see it enlarged!

Basically, it's a really cool suburb of Atlanta that has all the benefits of being in a city, but it doesn't have a lot of the negatives like incredible traffic!  It still has quite a bit, but it's not horrible.  It is the growing community that includes the Mall of Georgia which is a very large and very nice mall.  It's a very "White" community which is quite rare in Atlanta.  Buford is right next to Lake Lanier that can't touch lake Michigan, but it is a nice place for enjoying the water/beach.  It even has a triathlon that I'm planning on doing called the Summer Sizzler.  We are really excited to be placed in Buford, and I think it's going to be a terrific place to live!  By the way, my parents live in Calhoun, Ga which is up I-75 to the top left of the map.  It's about and hour and 45 minutes away.  Now, before I tell you all about the church, I have to tell you something that is unbelievable for any blogger.

Many of you follow Colleen over at Irondiva.  If you don't follow her, you really should!  She writes a super cool blog and is a super strong triathlete.  Anyway, if you do follow her, then you know that she is in the process of moving to Atlanta.  I've known that for awhile, but Atlanta is really big, so I didn't know where in ATL she would end up.  She and Tom, her husband, went through the ringer with house offers and home inspections.  The last I had heard, she was looking for a house in Marietta which is a suburb in northwest Atlanta. (see map)  When I knew where Jennifer and I were going to be moving, I shot her an email to tell her, and this is what she wrote back.

As you can see from the map, Suwanee is the next city down from Buford!  Isn't that crazy?  7 miles away?  Who would have thought?  Now I know that most people that aren't into the blogging thing won't understand, but those that do blog totally get the fact that you can make and have some of the best friends ever from people that you've never met or talked to before.  It's hard to explain that you can meet someone for the first time and know them and naturally click!  It's happened several times to me with people I've met through my blog.  So, when Colleen called me the next day, we just talked like we knew each other.  It wasn't awkward at all, and it felt like I was just talking with a friend.  Needless to say, Jenn and I are so excited to meet the Kingerys.  How cool is it that we all can do some training together?

But there is more, because we still had an interview with our new church.  On Monday, Jenn and I met with the church board of the Buford Family Seventh-day Adventist Church.  It's a long name, right?  Check out their website to get an idea of how chill they are.  The church was a plant from the Auburn, Ga SDA church about three years ago.  Three families started it with their passion to reach people and focus on Jesus and His grace.  The church began with just those families and now has about 90 members attending weekly.  In three years, it has really grown!  They have a desire to keep it simple and not get weighed down with the differences and issues that are so prevalent in Christianity.  So after an hour and a half of intense questions about who I am what I believe about pastoring, we were UNANIMOUSLY accepted as their pastor!  Yay!  I wasn't really worried, but it always makes you feel wanted to hear that good news!  Our first Sabbath is May 19.  Anyone want to take a weekend vacation to come and visit?  I'm pretty sure the services will be recorded, so I might include a link to them now and again.  The church doesn't have an office, so that means I'll be working a lot from home which is really sweet!  If you can't tell, I'm FREAKING stoked about our future and where we will be.  There is no doubt in my mind that God is leading us to Buford and to this church, and it really feels good to be walking in His will.

So now you know!  Sorry for the wait, and I hope you thought it was worth it.  I know that this post was a lot of reading and less picture viewing.  Let me just give you another teaser and say that the next post will most likely include a bunch of pictures of the next step in our moving process!! ;)  Thanks for reading!