General Assembly is coming up at the end of July. Yunkyong, Emily, and I are going. We are looking forward to being back in Indianapolis. We are especially looking forward to seeing old friends again.

The big question of General Assembly revolves around the entire “Sense-of-the-Assembly” resolutions. How as a church do we speak with authority on moral issues important to us? How do we respond to war? How do we respond to inequality, hunger, and poverty? Do we not address them? Do we just talk about them? Or do we act?

I’ll be clear that I am not decided.

I do think in the time that we live in, a church speaking with authority on anything is kind of a funny idea. Maybe among some in my generation, we see too many churches already attempt to speak with authority, often resulting in plain ol’ hypocrisy. I think action would be a more appropriate response to moral issues, but I suppose some of us don’t know about our challenges until we talk about them or raise them up. And we do need space to figure out our best course of action, how we are called to respond. So does the current process allow that? Would getting rid of it allow something else to take its place? Or what?

We’ll find out.

It is good to be a part of a church that embraces a child’s imagination, even in a simple way.

Great day at church.

Awesome music.

We had three people join.

Our sanctuary was setup in a different way because of the big Lauridsen festival we had going on in the afternoon. This meant elders and deacons had to be on their toes. But it was good.

I’m just thankful to be having so much fun.

Tomorrow morning, we are swinging through the Lakewood neighborhood near the church in Dallas to put out door hangers containing postcards and our concert series info. Should be another fun chance to get a feel for our neighborhood on a weekend morning, see who is around and what is going on. Lakewood probably is my favorite neighborhood of Dallas thus far. It reminds me a little of some suburbs in the DC area.

Another bonus: I need the exercise.

Yeah, it’s been a bit since I’ve updated the ol’ blog.

You can find me more often on Facebook these days.

Also, you might try the new church blog, http://www.edcc.org/pages/blog. Don’t worry though - I’m working on getting all the old links back up and going. There has been a lot of changes behind the scenes.

Well, I have officially moved to Texas.

My calling has led my family to trek all the way from Washington DC and setup home in the heart of Dallas, Texas. I ended up accepting the position of Minister of Church Life at East Dallas Christian Church. It was a difficult decision to make through all of the waiting and struggle to be in the right opportunity. But Dallas is good so far - it’s a big city, so it does have a lot to offer. The church is terrific, though there is a lot of good work ahead.

East Dallas Christian Church is like a lot of churches - a strong, interesting history but a future that can at times seem a little uncertain. It’s got growing to do - it needs some younger leadership woven into the life of the church. There is a tremendous core of older leadership that did cutting edge ministry in their day, but as the years go on, they get older. The good news is that the church still has a lot of resources to undertake its mission.

I will be doing some evangelism, some new young adult ministry, and worship development. I’m also excited to have an opportunity to learn some pastoral care in the process. It’s been an exciting past couple of weeks, but the next few months will be even more exciting as I do some visioning for how East Dallas can reach out to its neighbors in new ways.

Emily is finally here - she was born on June 11, 2008 at 2:17 AM. It’s been a good past three weeks. She is growing well and continues to explore her world bit by bit.

Check out some photos of her here:
http://www.nathanjhill.com/meetemily/index.html

Needless to say, the life transition to parenthood has been challenging. We are pretty exhausted, doing our best to get as much sleep as possible. Eunice’s mother-in-law is helping out wonderfully too. We are trying to keep this little girl entertained, fed, and asleep. I’ve found myself worrying over new and different things, stuff I never thought I would worry about. I’ve even found myself feeling more protective than ever. It’s interesting - but natural too.

She is super precious, super beautiful, and super awesome.

My blog is undergoing some reconstruction, so be patient as I clear the cobwebs and get some new content up.

The big news is that Yunkyong and I have graduated. We walked across the stage of the National Cathedral here in Washington, DC on Monday. It felt good to complete that part of the journey. It’s been an interesting one, that’s for sure. I will be working on the rest of my ordination requirements over the summer and plan on being ordained in DC at National City Christian Church.

I am also looking toward my first full-time call as a minister. I don’t know where we will be heading yet, but I am excited about the possibilities. I want to do ministry in a place that is going to be challenging and intriguing. Yunkyong and I are both sort of staring at the void right now, waiting for our first child, Emily, and the next move with some anticipation.

I’ve got mp3s, some video files, new links, and new articles coming up soon - check back this weekend for that stuff.