August was designated as our ‘Sabbath Month’. That sounds like we actually took the whole month off and just rested huh? Not exactlyL We did suspend our normal scheduled meetings, trainings, and events but we didn’t hang out in hammocks sipping ice tea with little umbrellas either (why does ice tea need an umbrella anyway?).

What we did do was take time to do a lot of stuff that we had been putting off, couldn’t done, or needed to catch up on.

  For example, the cars received a lot of attention: Yep, We grease monkeyed our old cars in an attempt to get a few more miles out of them. Hope that grey tape holds for another year.

Books got read, you know, those books that grab your attention but gather more dust due to busyness. Some of those books actually got read. That was restful, challenging and encouraging.

  Three trips were made to John Wayne Airport in Orange County where they are doing some big time remodeling. We were able to rip out a bunch of coffee shop equipment for free that will help us start our community coffee shop in this up coming season. I mean we filled a 12 by 20 foot trailer full of stuff they were going to throw away. Some stuff we’ll sell because we can’t use it while other stuff we’ll use.  We have another run to make this month too.

  We did take a long weekend to Phoenix to see my mom and another weekend in Bakersfield for a memorial service. Both hot places…what were we thinking?

AND NOW: We are gearing up for this next season that started Labor Day Weekend by moving two of our teammates to a new home.

  Two big things that will come up quick: In mid-September we are scheduled to attend a week long marriage workshop designed to give us tools to help others strengthen their marriages. We think this will have some great applications in our community and those we minister too. But, this will be a great time for Maria and I to ‘tune-up’ our own relationship as well. The workshop is intense. Five days from 9am to 9pm with sessions over lunch and dinner. Wow! Intense. This comes a week before we celebrate our 22^nd anniversary. Would you pray for us during this workshop? Pray: Endurance,  learning mind/heart, openness and vulnerability to allow the Holy Spirit to work deeply in our marriage and equipping us for others.

  Some of you gave some extra $ so we could afford this opportunity…that means a lot to us. We intend to make that a good Kingdom investment. Thank you so much.

  The Second big thing coming: Whether you're in a big church or a small community, you have probably felt the tensions inherent in community and mission. Should you spend your time with the neighbors, developing significant and meaningful relationship? Or with "your people" worshiping God and shaping people to live missional lives. We often struggle to honor the church gathered while simultaneously rallying and releasing missional communities for our cities. Well, we (NieuCommunities) are hosting a weekend conference that will talk through these tensions. It will be a lot of work. I think it will be really worth it.

Of course our crazy, wild and wonderful regular rhythm of mentoring, training, refugees, Mexican’s, homeless, college students and more starts up too. Looking forward to it all…

Pray for us…and let us pray for you. Let us know how we can do that.

Thanks so much for partnering so well with us.

Shaun and Maria