After moving to Acworth we met with people to find out how we could join hands with this city and become involved in community life by whatever means necessary. 

We nailed down Bikes or Bust and a few school partnerships, but decided to cancel our plans for a crazy Easter event because the city of Acworth was already moving full steam ahead on that project.  Well, last week all that changed!  Because of a scheduling conflict with another great project - James Albright (Parks and Rec Dept.) called us to see if we could handle the Easter Egg Hunt.  After 2 seconds of thought - we agreed

If you’re in the area and would like to help - go here and let us know! It’s going to be a blast!

 

Thursday we had the opportunity to attend Mayor Tommy Allegood’s, “State of the City” address in Acworth. 

He talked about 2007 and the things that are planned for 2008.  One thing is clear - Tommy is a visionary leader and his generosity has spread to this community!  Mike gave me the opportunity to pray at this meeting which was actually hosted at NorthStar!  I love that!

In the middle of the Mayor’s speech - he began talking about Freedom and the “zany” ideas for impact.  Look into the background of the picture from the MDJ.  Funny!

We spent this morning at an elementary school for their 100th day celebration.  Kindergarten teachers should immediately get a pay raise!  It was a lot of fun and we were able to supply several volunteers for the event.   Thank you to the Freedom crew that were able to make the trip!

Later that afternoon, I had the privilege of sitting in a room of area pastors.  Many of those guys have been doing this thing for a long time, and it was good to just sit, take notes, and learn from them!  I was honored to be invited to the table…

A bunch of us just got back from handing out 3,000 cookies to the houses closest to where we will meet every Sunday morning.  We weren’t trying to talk people into coming - just wanted to be nice to the neighbors :) 

Here is a cool email I received before I even got home…

JR,

You came by earlier today and brought me some chocolate chip cookies.  While I need to be on a diet, I thought the sentiment was nice.  I do believe in God, and have liked going to church in the past.  Plus, I do need to get out and meet new people.  But, it was also great that you didn’t try to give a speech when you were by.  Instead you just handed me the cookies and let me quickly know about the church.  I appreciated that. 

I had seen your signs down the road, and hope to check out a service.  I’m one of those people that most churches don’t really want in their church, which is one of the reasons I haven’t been going.  But, I like that you welcome all. 

Anyways, thanks for your effort and offer….

Sincerely,

Jimmy

We get to deliver the remaining bicycles from Bikes Or Bust to McCall Primary School and Acworth Elementary in the morning.   These are great schools and it is our privilege to partner with them!

Later that afternoon we will meet with some community leaders to discuss how FC can help with some of the things taking place in this great community.  I am grateful for the fact that we have been invited to the table before we officially exist as a church.  That is a privilege that we do not take lightly. 

I am praying every day that our influence in this city will increase!

This hit the paper today…Front and Center!

We have somewhere between 111 - 120 bikes! Either way - we exceeded the goal!

We had a ton of fun, met a lot of people, did several interviews, took a ton of pictures, rode bicycles through elementary schools with the principal, and helped a TON of kids and their families!

After we celebrate this one a little - the preparation for next year will begin…A special thank you blog will happen tomorrow. With 4 hours sleep in the last 48 hours, I will forget just about everything!

1. The Webcam was out for a while today. No power at the top for a long time, but its all good now.
2. Did and interview with CBS 46 News. More to come on that later!
3. The principals of both McCall Primary and Acworth Elementary made it up on the lift! Both were awesome and weren’t phased at all!
4. Acworth Mayor, Tommy Allegood, did a great job on the interview! Can’t wait to see it later!
5. We have been awake 41 of the past 42 hours. Ridiculous!
6. I will write much more about this later but we have had a TON of volunteers put in a TON of hours making this thing happen. More to come on that but THANK YOU!
7. Still 10 short on the bikes so far…No worries- that will be taken care of soon enough I am sure!

It has rained - much!

It’s all good though. Wallace (our air mattress) did a great job keeping everything dry.

Still alive and things are going well. Now go buy some bikes!