Ladies Retreat & Prayer Requests

What a blessing Laura & I experienced this weekend as we joined women from ComChurch BCS in Arlington for a Ladies Retreat. The retreat was hosted by women from Connect Church in Arlington. We stayed in their homes and they led the teaching time, blessed us, served us and encouraged us.

Saturday night’s worship was hard for Laura & I because we both realized how lonely we’ve been here in Irving. We have no doubts that the Lord wants us here and He continues to confirm that for us, but being with all these wonderful friends just reiterated for us what we have left behind. So we confessed that to the women and they gathered around us and prayed over us. Wow! The word “blessed” does not even seem adequate to describe how we felt. Thank you ComChurch for lifting us up and continuing to walk through this journey with us!

Here is how you can pray for us in the next few weeks:

-Brad & Laura have a contract on a house! They are scheduled to close May 8th. Pray that all goes smoothly and they can begin to get settled. Also pray for their neighbors, that those relationships will bloom quickly.

-Pray for Jilaine, Samuel & Jeremiah as they begin the to wind down the school year.

-Summer is quickly approaching. We do not know what that holds for us as a church. Jilaine will most likely be out for the majority of it, so we have the potential of having a real down turn in momentum. Although, there’s also the possibility of people coming and spending the summer with us. So, pray that the Lord will give us vision and excitement for what He’s doing here.

-If you are a college student at ComChurch BCS and will be in the metroplex working this summer, we would love for you to join us. We even have free housing to offer. Or if you are looking for something to do this summer, Irving is a great place to find a job, live with this family and do life with us. Let us know if this interests you.

All our love and thank you again for the prayers!

Picnic

Saturday morning started out pretty chilly. But by noon, as long as you were standing in the sun and the wind wasn’t blowing, it was really nice. Four people from ComChurch BCS joined us for the event. Two “old-timers” were there, the five of us and one neighbor. It wasn’t exactly the turn out we had hoped for, “new-friend-wise”, but we had a good time and were really blessed. It meant a lot to us for folks to come and basically say, “We support you. We’re behind you.” By the end of the day, we were all in very high spirits.

We had decided a couple weeks ago that we weren’t really ready for something that would bring hundreds of people (our original picnic included a live band, bounce houses and a flag football game — hey, we can dream, right?) What we wanted was to provide an opportunity for each of us to meet some of the people we had been talking about over the last month or so. And then we decided that if it was just us, that would be OK.

It was better than OK. We were blessed, prayed for, encouraged and uplifted. There was good food, good conversation, and good friends. And what more could we ask for right now. Please continue to pray for us as we dig deeper with each other and continue to make relationships with people around us.

And to those who came — thank you!!!

Gearing Up

This Saturday is our first ComChurch Irving Picnic. That sounds way more official than it actually is, but what can we say? We’ve invited some friends to join us for lunch at a local park. That’s pretty much it. We may see if a pick up game of sand volleyball happens. There’s a great playground for the kids. It’s gonna be pretty low key, but it’s a start.

If you would like to join us, we’ll be at Victoria Park — on Northgate just east of Belt Line Rd. from 11am – 2pm. We’d love to see you.

We had a wonderful time together Sunday night, talking about the people God has put in our lives and seeing how those people already are intersecting with other people in our group (for example, one of Jilaine’s friends lives in the same apartment complex as Brad & Laura). God’s working — we’re trying to step back and see where He’s working so we can join Him, rather than rushing out ahead of Him.

We continue to covet your prayers! And your presence, so come see us!

A Rough Week

We’ve had a rough week this week: Jilaine’s cousin passed away Monday very suddenly. He was a sophomore in college. So she has visitation and funeral this weekend. David had a stomach virus on Tuesday night which kept him in bed all day Wed. And then last night Brad & Laura had a fire in their apartment. Something in their oven caught on fire causing flames to almost reach the ceiling when Brad opened it. The fire department got there and put it out, but the sprinkler system went off — so now all of their things are very, very wet. Fortunately everyone is OK and it was contained early.

Pray for us! And if you are available to come on Sat. Mar. 8 for our picnic, we’d love to have you! More details soon!

We’re Still Here

Sorry we haven’t updated this in two months. That’s pretty pathetic! We are still here, all 5 of us. We are now meeting on Thursday nights for ComGroup (dinner included) and Sunday nights (after dinner) for praise & teaching time. We had an incredible time of prayer last Sunday and are looking forward to Scot visiting our ComGroup tonight.

We are planning a Community Picnic on Mar. 8. We’re looking for folks to come help that day. We need 2-3 people to man the grill and 2-4 people to play with the kids so that we can focus on getting to know the folks that come. If you are interested in helping, you can email us at irvingcomchurch@gmail.com.

We’re also working on a website. Hopefully that will be up by Mar. 8.

We’ve had some fun visits lately: Thanks to Britt, Jen, Joe, Kathryn, Andrew, Jared, Ben & Catherine for including us in their “northern” travels. Remember, if you’re coming this way and need a place to stay, the Park hotel is open for business.

Keep praying for us. Here are some specifics:

- Brad’s job (you can email him for specifics)

- Stay at home Moms for Shelley to interact with during the day

- Jilaine’s decision about what to do next school year

- friends for Samuel to play with (he has lots of friends at school, but none around here that he can play with after school and on weekends)

- Laura as she prepares to the 3-day Walk (if you want to join her, I know she’d love that)

It’s Official

Throughout the entire evening, through dinner, dessert, laughing, stories, introductions, all of it, there was a sense that something special was happening.

We began with dinner around the dinner table. Brad, Laura, David, Jilaine, Samuel and I (Jeremiah was already in bed). Pizza, chips & salad. It was good, light hearted discussion. Before long we were joined by Jason Jumonville. Jason was in our Comgroup in College Station and will join us here in Irving whenever he’s in town visiting his parents. It was very special to have him here.

Dessert followed and then we went into the living room as the conversation continued. At the first lull in the discussion, I pulled out a piece of paper that had all the blog comments and emails we had received today from our family in College Station. What a blessing to know that so many were praying for us at that moment. We challenged each other to listen to the Spirit when he quickens us to engage with people, even if it feels awkward. We talked about the importance of being vulnerable even if there are people here we don’t know very well. We talked about some of the people God has already put in our lives. And we dreamed about what this may all look like in a year or 20.

We followed this discussion up with communion. What a sweet time to remember why we are here. To remember that without Jesus, we’d just be another club or social group. And to remember those times we sat around our living room doing the same thing with another part of the Lord’s body in College Station.

We prayed for each other and then had to end the evening with the monumental picture (we even discussed it’s use in the slide show at the 20 year celebration of Comchurch Irving).

It was good! It felt legitimate. It was comfortable yet challenging. It was exciting and confirming. Who knows what will happen next or where this road will lead, but we look forward to it with anticipation.

Thank you for your prayers! They were definitely felt. If ever you’re in Irving on a Thursday night, please stop by (actually you can stop by any time– but you know what I mean).

top left: Jason Jumonville, David Park, Brad Tilton

bottom left: Jilaine Sandlin, Shelley Park, Laura Tilton

And Then There Were 5

Last Friday night, Brad & Laura came up to Irving to sign the contract on their apartment (they move in this Saturday). We took them to dinner at a local joint (Po Melvin’s) that we had learned about from our neighbor. Jilaine (a former ComChurcher who now teaches at Irving HS) joined us for dinner. I guess that was the first unofficial meeting of ComChurch of Irving.

The first official meeting (or ComGroup) is scheduled for next Thursday the 13th. We’re planning for 7: 5 adults and 2 kids. Please continue praying for us during this important time.

A Quick Update

Here’s the Big news is: Brad & Laura both have jobs!!! Not only that, they both start on Dec. 10. We are so excited about having them here — the sooner the better. Thank you Lord for this confirmation!

We (the Parks) are in our home in Irving. Thanks to family & friends from ComChurch, just about everything is unpacked. We are enjoying a week of very little activity — it has been a very welcome respite. We head to Houston tomorrow for Thanksgiving.

This morning, I met with two women from this area. One is the director of the preschool where we will put Jeremiah and her daughter is Samuel’s age and in the dual language program at Farine. We met via phone several weeks ago and she has been such a blessing in this transition time. It was fun to finally get to hug her neck. Anyway, she and one of her friends met me and the boys at Tom Thumb where we sat down for Starbucks coffee and got to know each other before doing our Thanksgiving shopping. They were both such a blessing to me and I look forward to their friendship.

As we enter this season of Thanksgiving, we are very grateful for those of you who check this blog and the prayers you are offering on our behalf. We are thankful for jobs, for family and for the community that the Lord is going to bring us.

Blessings!!!

Getting Closer

The Parks closed on their Irving house yesterday (map link on the right). They’ve also had several looks at their house in College Station. The movers come Monday to pack their house. They will load it all on the truck Tuesday and unload it in Irving on Wednesday. Samuel & Jeremiah will stay in College Station with grandparents to finish the week of school. David & Shelley will go to Irving on Tuesday, unpack and then return on Friday to pick the boys up.

Looks like the Tiltons are on pace to sell their house to another young couple from ComChurch. The other couple is actually in the same ComGroup so our group will just continue to meet at the same house. Amazing!

Also, the Parks found out that there are 3 1/2 year old twins that live right across the street from their new house. Jeremiah is very excited about having friends! God continues to confirm everything.

Prayer Requests:

- the Parks as we tie up loose ends here in College Station

- Samuel & Jeremiah as they stay here next week with grandparents

- praise for good friends who are going to Irving next week to help unpack

- jobs for Brad & Laura (Laura has an interview next Thurs.)

An Amazing Night

Words don’t seem adequate tonight as I think about what we just experienced. ComChurch commissioned us (David & Shelley) to go to Irving to start a new church there. To say it was a blessing to us is an understatement. It was such a confirmation of all that the Lord is doing in us, with us and all around us. We were blessed as leaders, as servants, as parents, as friends, as mentors, as disciplers. The level of emotion was unexpected, the kind words were humbling and the memories were special and revealing.

We were reminded that God is for us, that He is orchestrating things to make us succeed. We were blessed with 100 times the things that we are leaving behind. We were affirmed in the ministries that God has given us, be that helping others with their finances or taking them under our wings (thanks Laura for the bird analogy). We were blessed with neighbors with lots of kids and encouraged to expect great things from God. The blessings were strong, appropriate, and well received.

We certainly feel more prepared to go, at least more confirmed in the going. We are confident that there are people in Irving who are looking for relationships, with other people and with the Lord. And we are confident that the Holy Spirit goes before us to lead us to those folks.

Thank you Comchurch! For being our friends, our family, our support and the body of Christ to us during this time. Know that you always have a home in Irving. So please come visit — or come stay!