My new daughter

Picture of my little Kaylee. :-)



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Catching up

It has been forever since I have posted on this blog. I will begin updating it over the next couple of days.

Jason


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BBQ was a blast!

Andra and I both had a great time at the BBQ this last Saturday. Thank you so much everyone for coming and spending time with us. I hope to have more of these type of activities in the future!

Once again, thank you!

Latest Update

Sorry it has been so long since my last posting! I wanted to give everyone a general update on what is going on here at Crossroads.

We are pushing ahead like crazy with relationships here in the staff! We have been meeting in large, all-day staff meetings every 6 weeks or so, and then more recently meeting in small groups. It has been great! I have prayed for something like this to happen at Crossroads for a long time now...

The new phone system was fully switched to on April 3rd, 2008. We have been using it for over a month now, and so far, so good. :) Of course, there have been the usual snags and issues along the way, but nothing major, thankfully!

We are getting started in the process of designing and implementing check-in kiosks around the church for children's check-in and our central kiosk in the Family room. We are needing 15+ computers to make this happen, but they need to be newer P4 machines or better to make the experience a good one. If any of you have a lead on getting a bunch of P4 computers for cheap or free, please let me know ASAP.

Finally, I would like to have a get-together BBQ at my house some time in June. Please let me know via email what weekends you are and are not available so that we can find a time that works best for everyone.

Most of the phones are deployed!

We had a good turnout this Saturday, with 8 people showing up to help.  The cool part was that a couple of them were staff, so they had keys to let the other people into rooms!  The only downside was all but one (my wife) had to leave after a few hours.  However, we still managed to get about 80% of the phones on people's desks.   :)

The next project is a bunch of data entry to build all of the config files for the phones (they pull them off of a central boot server), and also program the phone system with all of the extensions.  Lots of work to do still!

We are also still waiting on wiring to be finished to certain locations, as well as some back-ordered phones and ultimately, the T1 PRI is not yet here (and I still don't have an estimated install date at this point).

Awesome Camp...Now back to work!

The Middle School camp went really well.  I believe 7 kids came forward and accepted Jesus for the first time, and many more re-dedicated their lives to Him!  PTL!  Ben found a really solid speaker who was dead on and very good in motivating the kids.  On top of that, the Paul Write concert was fun and one of the first bands I have run sound for that I actually enjoyed.  :-)

The new phones are on order, and soon I will have a giant pile of new phones that will need programming and then deploying.  Also, I could use help getting the Ministry Center wired up with Ethernet (the project is partially done).  Tom has volunteered so far to help.  Anyone else who could help this Saturday would be greatly appreciated.

On a quick side note... Bill is doing something he has never done since I worked here (which is over 10 years!).  We are doing a staff retreat this coming Tuesday (they are calling it Crossroads 2.1).  I am really excited to see what he has up his sleeves for this.

Big projects for Feb/Mar

I hope that many of you have free time this month, because I have lots and lots of projects I could use help with.  :)  Sorry this is a long message...

I need to try to get the new phone system fully deployed before the end of this month if possible, along with finishing up running ethernet to certain locations, and installing an intercom system that uses the old phone system wire (I am hoping to get more "handy man" volunteers for this portion of the project - this is likely to extend into March).  I know...crazy!  Problem is end of Feb is the time I have been spouting for months for completion of the phone system, so I have expectations that are weighing heavily upon me now.

I would like to get an idea of when everyone is available, and what days/times work best for each of you.  For instance, some of you may be able to help a couple nights a week, but weekends are out of the question, and vice-versa, so please just email me back when you are usually available to help.  As you know, even if you can only help for an hour or two, the Lord can accomplish great things!

In the interest of getting a schedule together quickly, please let me know ASAP what works best for each of you. 

Just for your reference, I am out of town this weekend doing the Middle School Camp sound.  I am planning on working here on Feb 16th and Feb 23rd (both Saturdays) if I can, but one of those might not work for me.  Evenings I could probably be here if arrangements are made are Mon, Tue, and Thu.

You guys are awesome!  Thank you so much for all of your help.