We've Bought A House & It's Changing Some Things

I mentioned at the end of 2016, we were in the process of preparing to buy our first home, but we hit unexpected roadblocks. Since then, we've resolved those roadblocks and have now purchased our first home! We close March 27th and will be moving in the week to follow.

As part of the process of buying a house, we went through a lot of soul searching to discover what we wanted our life to look like. Where did we want to live? Where did we want do go to church? Where did we want to build a long-term community? How did we want to raise our children? And, what was the type of home we wanted?

The process of buying a house helped my wife and me get on the same page with the next season of our life while also requiring us both to compromise on what we wanted, how we approached the process, and when we moved forward. It's been a fruitful and positive experience for me.

Changing Cities

While we'll still be staying in Gwinnett County, which feels like home to me, we'll be moving from the Lawrenceville area to Sugar Hill. As part of my desire to have a less fragmented life, it also means two other changes to my life.

Leaving My Men's Bible Study

I've been participating and leading a Men's Bible study, unaffiliated with any church, for the past several years. As part of this transition, I'll be ending my role and participation in this group. It's been a positive and grounding support group as I've transitioned from Noodlehead Marketing to freelancing full-time. I'll continue to stay in touch with the guys, but will do so in a sporadic way.

Changing Our Church Family

For the past five years we've also participated in Gospel-centered community at Generations Norcross. We have quite a serendipitous story of how we ended up there, and it has been a wonderful and critical season for me, my marriage, and for our family. In fact, we very well could be living out a tragic story instead of a wonderful one if it weren't for our Generations Norcross family. God expressed his love, truth, and grace through the pastor and congregation of this church in our lives, and as part of the transition away from Noodlehead Marketing. In many ways, the church has been our Ark (like Noah), but now the flood waters have receded and it's time to walk out and move forward.

As I thought through this possibility of changing our church family, Northpoint Ministries kept coming to mind. If I had ever been inclined to launch a church, their model (Affiliate Link) would have been very similar to how I would have gone about it. Also, since attending Catalyst for the first time in 2010, I've been positively and heavily influenced by Andy Stanley. If I were to pick a church, it'd be the one I would select. While I wanted to make this my new church home, I didn't want to force my wife and family to go on my behalf. I wanted them to choose it with me. As part of the discovery process, we visited their newest campus in Sugar Hill, Gwinnett Church, and eventually made the decision that we would participate in this Christ-centered community.

The Final Stretch

We'll be finishing up our commitments and transitioning fully through the month of July. August will be the fresh start to our new journey in Sugar Hill and with Gwinnett Church. It's quite a visible and monumental stamp in the timeline of our lives, and I'm excited to see how it unfolds.