Had a great trip to NC for an assessment center for church planters. My wife and I went through one before we launched The Bridge. This trip was to take our first potential church planters down to see if they were right for church planting. The whole experience was great - the first time we were at one we were the assessed and learned a lot about ourselves. This time I was their to help with assessing and again learned a lot about myself. It is a very thorough process! I am excited about the future of church planting as I see the people coming through looking at getting into planting. Our candidates got a recommend for planting with some conditions to be met. They are now in training. Very excited about the next church we are starting!

Doing a Relationship series now - looked at what relationships are and why we need them to start with. It was interesting researching this and taking it all the way back to the beginning. Realized in this process that we were designed as relational creatures, in the image of God, because God is a relational being. The Trinity is a revelation of God as a relational being, complete in all ways. The relationship that is described as a Father, Son and Spirit reveals a 3 person God that is eternally in relationship with Himself and is not in need of any other being for relationship. Some have said that God created man because He needed someone else to love, but this thought process is describing a deficient God. The Trinity is just one more revelation of a God that is complete unto Himself with no other needs yet still created man out of love, not need.

Anyway...I gained a better understanding of why relationships are so important and compelling for all of us. The need for relationships is designed into us and to meet that need we will often accept unhealthy relationships rather than no relationships. Any relationship in the human realm has to be between two people - a two part relationship. Looking at our model for healthy relationships we see a 3 part relationship, the Trinity. To bring health to our human relationships we need the 3rd part and that is inviting our Creator into the relationship. With God in our relationships we will start to find health and joy.

I could go on, but those are my thoughts on this for today.