What a weekend!

Saturday night we attended the joint birthday party our friends Amy and Jessica. They served pizza from a pizza place in Quincy that Allen and I had never tried before. It was delicious! It was also nice to get to see friends that we don't get to see very often any more.

Sunday was an amazing day filled with church activities and baby registry scanning. First was church in the morning, which as always was wonderful. God is really moving at Madison Park. Our numbers each Sunday continue to grow, two Sundays ago the number of attendees was over 1000 between the two services, but unlike some other "mega" churches, Madison Park truly has the mission of Christ in mind. Sure we could spend the church's money on building a new and bigger building, instead, the elders of our church have made the decision to bring in an outside church consulting group to help us maximize the space we already have and to meet the needs of a growing church congregation without spending massive amounts of money on a new buidling. The wise mission minded elders of our church know that the church funds are better spent being put back into the community, investing in people like we are supposed to.

After church Allen and I started our baby registry at Wal-Mart. The Wal-Mart in Quincy didn't have everything we want to register for so we will have to finish the registry here in Hannibal.

Then we headed back to church for Summerfest 2011, a community event our church throws in order to reach out to our community to offer a great family fun atmosphere, to expose others to the idea that Christian aren't all stuffy judgemental bores. We really do know how to have fun! :)

This is something I wish more people could understand. I don't think of all athiests as animal sacrficing, blood drinking, demon lovers, so why must I automatically be thrown into the category of crazy, judgemental, bible thumper? Everytime I turn the tv on and see another church spewing hate and judgement towards their fellow man, instead of loving them like we have been commanded to do, I feel nauseous. How is the world to ever really know the good news if they only have examples of the exact opposite be shoved down their throats? Identifying oneself as a Christian doesn't mean the right to judge others, and choose who you love and who doesn't deserve your love. Identifying oneself as Christian means to be a follow of Christ, who is the only perfect example of love we have. Unconditional love. Not I love you because you think like me, act like me, and agree with what I say. Not I love you because your skin in the same color as mine and you speak the same language that I do. Unconditional love. I love you no matter what.