Good evening and hello all, I just wanted to let everyone know that as of yesterday afternoon about 3:30 p.m. I have officially become legally approved to marry and bury folks.  That’s right I Charles B. Van Hook III am now an Ordained Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  And let me just tell you, our ordination service was pretty much the coolest ordination ever.  I have never really been to an ordination service before, so I don’t really know how they work, however, whenever I think about them I always picture fancy suits, lighting of candles, nice fruit and cheese snacks and the occasional paperweight gift. 

This one though, was nothing like that, it was definitely my flavor of Kool-Aide, (not like cult-like Kool-Aide drinks, more along the line of the big punch bowl guy busting through the wall Kool-Aide drinks) any-who, basically “my flavor of Kool-Aide” means simply “my style” or “I liked it a lot”.  Ok, now back to the subject at hand, why our ordination was awesome. First of all, no suits were involved, just some blue jeans, a grey thermal shirt, t-shirt sleeve to hold the hair back and my highlighter Nike’s.  Secondly, no candle flames were present (unlike here), although there was a high potency of the Holy Spirit in the room which was really cool!  Snacks would have been cool, but I did have a nice bowl of Picante’ Chicken Ramen noodles just before the service and that kept the tummy rumblin’ to a minimum.  No paperweights were given out, but I do have a new certificate to hang up in my office next to my “Magic 8 Ball” award, all in all, some pretty sweet reasons this ordination was bangarang! (from the movie HOOK with Robin Williams) good stuff.

This service was definitely one for the ages, we have such an incredible ordination class, 7 newbies to be exact, plus the fact that the ordination took place in the old cinderblock gym where so many lives have been changed really made it special.  It is already an honor to say that am a part of what God is doing with The Gathering in the old cinder block gym, but to be ordained in the building where God has worked so strongly in my life and my family’s life is simply a privilege.  I am so blessed and honored to do work in God’s Kingdom, it is humbling to know that God would want to use me and all my flaws to do ministry and care for His people. 

I am truly honored to be ordained into the Ministry here at The Gathering.  It is such a blessing to do ministry with great people.  Thank you for this opportunity

In Him

This past week was a stupendous week.  Our students were finally in school all week with no snow days, cold days or rain days, though they will most likely be out again until Friday on account of we got an inch of snow this morning.  Crazyness.  Some other notables from this past week include:

-The Bachelor finally voted off that crazy dentist chick who basically picked every booger out of her nose from the past 3 years right in front of him last week.

-Rachel began watching a little 5 month old girl named Leilani, the first day was terrible!  I received numerous text messages with the phrase “Dear God please save me.” from my wife throughout the day.

-Tuesday night Kennedy and I got to hang out at the house while momma got away for a while after long days with two babies all day at home.

-Johnson Bible College Men’s basketball team won their first game of the year defeating Crown College on Tuesday night.  yay

-Wednesday night we had an awesome service with our Jr. High students.  We were in week three of our What If? series with our focus being on iLive.  Living a life that reflects the life of Christ in every aspect of our own lives.  God brought 53 Jr. High students on Wednesday night and we had a great service.

-Thursday Rachel and Kennedy left me and went to Jackson to visit with family.  So I packed up my things and moved back in with my old roommate Ben over at Johnson Bible College.  When we roomed together Ben got this awesome green couch straight from That 70’s Show that we nicknamed “The Green Monster”, and let me just tell you, even though that thing is held together by cender blocks and twine it is by far the most awesome couch on this planet, and when it engulfs you, you cannot escape its powerful grasp causing you to sleep like a baby kangaroo in a snugly pouch.

-All weekend I crashed with Ben and a bunch of the other guys at Johnson, good times.

-Saturday Night at Word Up! our Jr. High Bible Study we had 22 students and we discussed Respect, fun topic with Jr. Highers

-Sunday we had awesome weekend services at The Gathering and we kicked off our Men’s Bible Study with a Super Bowl Party.  We had 166 men show up, fellowship and get real with God.  God is about to do something great in our church and I believe it is going to begin with our men.  Look out Sevier County God is on the move, and He is moving quick.

-The week ended with a security night shift out at the new building, good times, this building is awesome and it is so cool to know all the incredible things God will be doing in this building for years to come.

-SNOW DAY!!  A pic of my snow girls.

I’m Out