This weekend those of us from Vine & Branches who were able trekked up to Cincinnati, OH, to attend/help facilitate their quarterly AllGroup, which ended up being a regional event with us and churches from all over Ohio (I think we were the only Kentucky church). I drove up with Matt McDonald, another member of our group whose "motivational gift" seems to be taking up Brian's slack in messing with my head and keeping me humble, if necessary. :^) Actually, we had a good time talking on the way up. We got to Cincy about 6PM on Friday, ate a great potluck dinner, then went to the church to set up the worship stations and get everything ready for Saturday. I had time to do a little relationship-building with several of the Vineyard Central gang, get my picture taken scrubbing floors (that would never happen at home--the scrubbing floors, I mean), and generally get things spic and span, as they say (who says that?!). Then, at about 10PM, I was guided to the house where I was to stay, the home of Mike and Heidi Helm (see more about Mike here). They were very gracious hosts and I thank them very much for opening their home to me at the last minute. I slept great, except that I was so keyed up about being there and all the stuff on tap for Saturday, that I kept waking up like a kid, thinking it was Christmas morning and isn't it time to get up yet?! (OK, so I need to get out more.)Anyway, finally it was Saturday! I hung out at the Helms' house for a while in the morning, watching Mike tune his guitars and Heidi paint, all the while having good conversation about art, God, and house renovation. Then I went on over to the church to see if there were any last-minute things that needed to be done to prepare for the day. There really wasn't much left to be done, so I went around taking photos of the church and the grounds. If you haven't visited Vineyard Central either in person or online, the church building is this beautiful old, formerly-Catholic "cathedral" with the most interesting archtectural elements that make great fodder for one practicing photography (I say practicing because I'm still trying to figure a lot of it out). I took 3 rolls of film with me, and by the end of the day they were all used. I hope to get them all developed this week, and maybe I'll figure out how to get them up in here. Anyway, there was a very interesting seminar by Jim Henderson from Off The Map, and then we broke into several round-table discussions. Then there was time for everyone to visit all the worship stations, hang out with everyone, and later on, eat some hot dogs at the Neighborhood Cookout. After that, we all gathered in the sanctuary for the worship service, and I and 2 of the "Creechers" got ourselves baptised.

I think I've told the baptism thing before, about why someone who has been trying to follow Christ for 11 or 12 years would get baptised. Basically, I've been baptised before, when I was in high school, but subsequently went off to live like a heathen for the next 10 or so years afterward. Once I came back to Christ, I was told that I really didn't need to be rebaptised, but for the last couple of years I have wanted to, sort of as a "vow renewal" thing. So here were these 2 "little people" and me. When I heard there was to be a time of baptism at this worship service, I thought, "Who better to share this moment with than these folks who are beginning to mean so much to me?" It was wonderful, funny, exciting--everything a celebration of "marriage" ought to be. Thanks again to everyone at VC for giving me the opportunity to accomplish a dream.

After it was all over and we were all packed and had the goodbyes said, we headed on back to Lexington. I made Matt drive back, because I was just toasted. Even coffee and breakfast at Perkins didn't help much. But it was, as they say, a good kind of tired.

I see that I have rambled on for far too long--I think I'll sign off for now and get some of that housework I've been putting off done.

posted by #Debi at 4:36 PM | permalink | 0 comments

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