Nicole and I just returned from a last-minute trip to Knoxville, TN. We learned on Saturday that one of Nicole’s best friends was in a fatal car accident the day before. Alexis had been driving out with her two young sons (ages 4 and 2) to Nashville to sing at her brother’s wedding when she lost control of her vehicle. The boys didn’t get any serious injuries, but Alexis died instantly.

Alexis and her husband Tim were there with us when I first met Nicole. I proposed to Nicole when I came down to Knoxville for their wedding. They were our closest friends during the first two years of our marriage (spent in Knoxville). Nicole and Lex even experienced their first pregnancies together; their eldest son was born only weeks after Katie. Needless to say, we’re grieving now and will be for a while yet. It’s not a grief without hope, but it’s rough to lose a friend so young. My heart goes out to Tim, their two boys, Alexis’ parents and the rest of their family.

In the midst of this tragedy Tim and Lex’s church has really stepped up to help. Tim has so many things to deal with right now, and it’s enough to break a man… but God’s grace is stronger, and he’s showing his grace in part through the men and women coming alongside Tim right now.

Still, this is a difficult journey to be on. So if I could ask one thing of you, my friends… would you please pray that God would draw close to the Cantrells and Shraders this Christmas?

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Just wanted to make a quick post for any “Cornerstoners” reading my blog: Nicole and I are planning to bring the kids down over Labor Day weekend!

Details to come, but needless to say (assuming God drops the desired pieces into place) we’ll be worshipping at Cornerstone’s new building for the first time ever on September 3rd. (They were still meeting at West High School when we moved away.)

So… any chance we could get a Labor Day picnic on the grounds of “the seminary” (as I’ve taken to calling CCK’s estate)?

Knoxville, Tennessee, here we come! …oh yeah, and “Go Big Orange!”

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Yes, I’m a geek!

If I hadn’t proved it yet, hopefully this will be the clincher: I’ve mapped each and every Sovereign Grace Ministries member church in Wayfaring! That’s right, each one — including the in-progress church plant in Frederick, MD! (That was was pretty hard to peg exactly, seeing as how they haven’t found a place to meet yet!)

(That’s supposed to be a live view of the map; if it doesn’t seem to be working, you can load the full version.)

My biggest trouble—hands down—was with the churches in Mexico. They’ve got some strange addressing methods down there, and I couldn’t make las cabezas o las colas of them!

My goal was to map the meeting locations, rather than the mailing addresses. Wayfaring doesn’t have the same data that Google Maps does, though, because apparently Google doesn’t make all that data available in their API. It didn’t cause me much trouble, but some of the markers may be off a few hundred yards as a result of having to eyeball it.

It’s interesting… looking over this map, I can’t help but notice a certain tendency to hug the Appalachian mountain range. I wonder if that’s intentional.

I also see a distinct lack of SGM church planting in the Northwest U.S. I think they ought to plant one in Las Vegas. Who’s with me?

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Just found out that the Trump Care Group at Cornerstone has a blog! (Must be because Jonathan Oldacre’s in there.)

That’s one more to add to the list, Nicole!

Oh, and Justin Taylor mentioned eating with Cornerstone’s senior pastor, Bill Kittrell. Justin’s a blessed man!

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Cool! It seems that Grounds for Improvement (on the DIY Network) featured a couple from Cornerstone Church of Knoxville in their April 28th episode (DGFI-312).

“Thern and Trillia Newbell have a deck that, over the years, has turned into a safety hazard. Many boards are loose and warped, and the rail is big enough for someone to fall through! There is also no way to access their backyard from the deck. The Newbells would love to make their deck safe and ideal for entertaining. The Grounds for Improvement team helps the Newbells build a new, and much safer, cedar deck with see-through glass balusters and a staircase down to their yard.”

I tip my hat to Suzanne McNeil at A Day in the Life of the McTwins for telling us about it! Now we just need to find someone who recorded the thing…

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