Tevis Austin

What are we going to wear?

Image is everything, right?  I'm just not sure that this is an image you want to remember.  A group of us left last Saturday to go the a mall in Columbus.  The goal was to try to blend in at the mall while a group of students showed up later to find us.  We called the event "Where's Your Peeps?" 

I'm glad we chose a mall in Columbus because no one questioned us.  I figured they were probably used to seeing some strange things.  One of these attractive young ladies was actually me.  Bet you can't tell which one.

Brendon had his costume party today at preschool.  Of course he had to be an OSU football player.

At Megan's Thursday school, her class dressed up like bees.  She is in the yellow class, so they actually placed black electric tape around them for stripes, gave them antennas, and wonderful bug eyes.

After buzzing around, Megan really enjoyed being a cheerleader for Trick or Treat.

Ready...Set...

Hike...

Timeout.  Time to visit our neighbors and get some candy.

After visiting our neighbors, we headed over to The Firehouse for Trunk or Treat.  There were about 20 cars at The Firehouse.  Someone actually carved a pumpkin for us.

Here is some of the gang getting ready to hand out candy to people from the community near The Firehouse.  Many of us decorated our cars and wore costumes.

We didn't know how many kids to expect this year since it was our first time having Trunk or Treat at this location.  I would guess we ended up having about 100 kids and adults come from the community.

We gave out candy, hot chocolate, and hot cider.  Some of the people we met had seen The Firehouse, but didn't know what it was.  It was neat listening to the people around me having conversations with people from our community and answering questions about The Firehouse.

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As I drove home, I called a family that served at Trunk or Treat to express my thanks to them.  This family actually had a neighbor where they live come and help with Trunk or Treat.  The neighbor had heard what we were doing, and asked if he and his spouse could come too.  They came and served with all of us.  I continued to listen as this family shared with me how when returning home, they watched kids and adults on nearby streets returning to their homes with bags of candy, smiles, and a cup of hot chocolate or cider. 

 

OSU - An Experience to Remember

I couldn't believe it, but we actually made it to an Ohio State football game.  It was something I have wanted to do for years.

Growing up, my dad would take me to see Kentucky Wildcat basketball and Cincinnati Reds baseball.  It was always so much fun and an experience I still haven't forgot.  Brendon was less than a year old when the Buckeyes beat the Hurricanes to win the national championship.  I can still picture him in his bouncy seat as we celebrated with friends. 

Since then, Brendon has attended many high school football games with me, and we often watch football on TV.  He loves to watch Ohio State, and he sits through the entire game.  Of course, during commercial breaks we have our own game of football in the house.  This year he even started playing flag football. 

I was so excited when we had the opportunity to surprise Brendon this past Saturday by actually going to an OSU game. It took Brendon all the way from Newark to Columbus to finally guess where we were going.

We arrived early enough to go to the Skull session.  Brendon has always enjoyed the band.  Brendon wanted a close up view.

He even got to hear Coach Tressel speak. 

We still had some time before the game started, so Brendon took time to help some wide receivers warm up.

He then enjoyed the slide...

and a picture with Brutus.

Of course, he had to stop and see the cheerleaders practice.

And there was the excitement of "Script Ohio"...

and the team coming on the field.

Brendon brought out the binoculars again.

It was fun watching the game with a friend.

We even had time to get down where Brendon could see the players up close.

I hope it will be an experience he will always remember.

Apples, Barrel Rides and Hoedowns

In the midst of getting The Firehouse started, the past couple of weeks have also been filled with lots of family fun...

Each year we like to go to the Branstool Orchard in Utica to pick apples.  Our favorite apple is the Jonagold apple.

Megan went with her Thursday school class to the Granville Orchard.

Here Megan is looking for the perfect apple.

Megan is trying to pull the perfect apple off the tree.

We spent a Saturday morning at Devine Farms.  They had a pumpkin egg hunt.  Brendon and Megan are opening their eggs.

They were able to paint their own pumpkin. 

 

Megan's art work is a little more abstract.

The most exciting part of the Devine Farms trip would have to be the barrel ride. Just two years ago Brendon was riding with me.  Last year Megan rode with me.  This year I am by myself.    

Is this a cat or a cat girl?

Brendon chose to have pumpkins on his face.  I guess that is better than being a cat boy. 

We participated in our family worship gathering called Merge. 

The activities, teaching, and resources at this Merge were designed to help individuals and families focus on learning how to be more giving, and especially on how to help kids and teenagers be more generous.  

Finally, we spent this past Sunday night at a Barnyard Hoedown.  At least that is what we called it.  Our vision for this was originally to design an opportunity for families and others to come together for some live music, line dancing, games, a hayride, and a chili cook-off.  

We planned for 200.  We were shocked by the actual response which I believe would have been at least double what we planned.  The hayride itself went on during the entire evening, and had over 300 people ride it.

 

The chili cook-off took place in the barn. There were around 40 people who made chili.  Every person got to vote if they wanted.  We had some secret judges who got to taste every chili  I haven't heard how the judges felt the next day.  Every family also brought a dessert to share.

Some people chose to spend their time out by the fire where we had hot dogs and s'mores available.

People were sitting inside and outside the barn.

 

There was plenty to drink.  If you are wondering why a toilet is on the drink table, that is because we served lemonade out of the toilet.  Of course the toilet had never been used.  At least, that is what we were told.

Several kids enjoyed bopping for apples.

We even had some square dancing and line dancing. 

The Firehouse - Opening Celebration

It is hard to believe how far things have come over the past few years from dreaming to reality.  We had a celebration and dedication for The Firehouse Sunday, September 21.  This celebration was focused more on making sure we had everything ready for the opening Celebration.  We still have some things to improve, but things came together well.

 

 

We only invited those who have committed to serve at The Firehouse and those who already committed to attend to the September 21 gathering.  76 people participated including kids and adults.  That allowed us to celebrate together, to reflect on how God led us to this point, to say thanks to everyone involved, and to challenge everyone to focus on our mission of caring for our community and leading more people into a growing relationship with Christ.  Our theme was "Get Out of the Bubble."  The idea was that we now need to get out of our bubbles and get involved in the lives of people in our community.  So much work had gone into preparing for the opening celebration, that we wanted to make sure we didn't lose focus on what our mission really was.  We even gave out bubbles to everyone at the end.  Of course the kids loved it and so did many of the adults.  All of this was followed by a special time of dedication in front of The Firehouse and an open house.

Our opening Celebration took place on Sunday, September 28.

The Firehouse will actually be a video venue which means everything will be live except the teaching. As campus pastor, there may be special occasions when I will teach in person, but usually the teaching will be done by video.  The sermon will be recorded at our Williams Street location and then shown at The Firehouse one week later.  That allows us to make sure the video functions well.  We will also be able to edit the video in the case that we would want to intentionally encourage participation during the sermon by taking time to talk about things.

We have a preschool and nursery ministry at The Firehouse, but we are designing each Celebration to involve people of all ages.   We had 106 attend our opening Celebration.  Our theme was "Now is the Time."  There were lots of clocks set up.  Our main points included the importance of structuring our time around what we believe is important, being intentional when it comes to who is building into our lives and the lives of those we care about, and restructuring our time so that we can influence our community. 

During each Celebration, we are planning to have a "Fire Drill."  No we aren't actually having a fire drill.  We may change the name, but we stuck with this title since it went with The Firehouse theme.  The idea is that we want to take a few moments to very simply make the main idea of what we are teaching clear for everyone. 

There have been so many people who have helped to pull things together.  I am so thankful for all of their hard work, and I am excited to see how God will continue to work in the weeks ahead. 

 

 

Gone Like the Wind

I have tried to make it my goal since I started using this blog to post one entry a week.  I actually have done pretty good at reaching my goal, but the past two weeks have gone like the wind. 

Brendon started playing football two weeks ago.  I probably should clarify and say it is flag football.  I watched him start trash talking with some of the other players at his first game.  I am still trying to figure out where he got that from.  I am starting to wonder what his mom does at home when I am gone.  This league is for K-2nd.  He must have talked too much to a second grader at the end of the first game, because the kid leveled him.  It might have been a lesson learned. 

 

Brendon actually spent more time cheering on his team.  We met someone a few days later who had been to the first game, and when she noticed Brendon, she referred to him as "the kid who was cheering."  At least she didn't refer to him as the cheerleader since the team didn't actually have cheerleaders. 

Brendon has now been playing the position of center.  I don't think it is because he is an incredibly strong lineman, but I could be wrong.  However, that position does allow a five year old who is still learning how to catch, throw, and play with the older kids to contribute.  Brendon has really enjoyed it. 

I think the most difficult part of coaching football for this age group would be looking at such a wide age range and then trying to determine where is the best place for each player to play.  I feel like the past few weeks have been a lot about trying to determine the best place for people to play when it comes to ministry.  Often the bigger challenge is just getting people to play.  We are now less than a week away from getting things started at The Firehouse.  Our teen ministry, Student Community, just made the move to start "Ignite" at The Firehouse on Wednesday nights last week.  We are still trying to get people involved with Ignite and with our teen small groups.  In fact, we are moving forward this week without adult leaders to work with our middle school girls.  

At the same time we have been working to get people involved in student community, a lot of time and energy has been spent on getting things in place to start our Sunday Celebrations at The Firehouse.  We start on Sunday, September 28 at 9:45 AM.  However, we will actually have a gathering for those who have already committed to serve and attend this coming Sunday, September 21.  That gathering will be followed by a special dedication and open house.  It will allow us to celebrate and have a special time for everyone to basically practice serving. 

Everything seems to be coming together for this Sunday, but there are so many things that still need to be done.  We have now met three times with our core group.  We potentially had 38 who expressed interest in serving in the beginning, but that number is now less than 30.  Some people will have to serve in more than one position on a regular basis and other positions may have to be left vacant until gaps are filled.  I continue to trust that God will fill the gaps.  I hope that as more people consider coming to The Firehouse over the next few weeks, we will be able to find new people who are willing to serve. 

Originally we talked about The Firehouse being simply an overflow area with video, and I have to admit there are times I think that would have been much easier.As we move forward, we are praying that more importantly, The Firehouse will be a place where new people from our community will come and ultimately get involved.

Both Megan and Brendon have started preschool over the past couple of weeks.  This is Megan's first year.  She only goes on Thursdays. 

 

 

Finally, I must say that things have literally gone with the wind over the past couple of weeks too.  We had what I considered a great flowering pear tree in our backyard that the recent remaining winds from Ike tore apart.  That really is nothing compared to the damage the wind has done all over our area.  I have been amazed by the damage that I have seen and heard about.  I just finished a conversation on the phone with a couple who had a tree fall into their house.

It's Back!

One of my favorite times of the year is back.  My son and I showed up at the first high school football game of the season at Newark High School.  Too bad the home team didn't win.  It was still fun watching the game and the band.  It was fun seeing several teens I know play in the band and cheer-lead.  It was good to connecting with some of the parents.

Now it is on to OSU, college football, and the NFL.