I Just love our open floor plan with 2 living rooms. Tino loved running around all the open spaces.
Drag the screen below to view the 3D image of our photos of the front of the house using Microsoft’s Photosynth:
The local neighborhood park is connected to our backyard, west of our lot, safe walking distance for the little tykes to play around. Our cul de sac helps keep the traffic to minimum.
Drag the image around below so you can look at the neighborhood and around the streets with Google Maps Street View:
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Monday, June 22, 2009
Here’s some beautiful pictures to treasure our Millbridge Ct, our castle in the forest.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Mt. Olive Lutheran Church, Sebastopol, CA has called Vincent Shaw to be their Pastor
I am thrilled to have received a call to be the Pastor of Mt. Olive Lutheran Church, in Sebastopol, California, of the CNH District of the LCMS. 
The Lutherans Online website has some additional information, that I am trying to absorb while I somehow keep focused on finishing my remaining 4 weeks at the seminary.
On that day, May 22nd, I'll be eligible to formally accept the call as Pastor of Mt. Olive Lutheran Church. Onto then your prayers are appreciated as we get closer to that time.
Yours in Christ,
Vincent
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
What's up with Vince lately?
My mother tells me that when she doesn't hear from me, she's learned to assume things are alright. That is a pious thing to say, but not always fair for her behalf. For all the people who visit here and care for my well-being, thank you for your prayers and concerns.
The time since my last post has been the good kind of busy. I'm still working at the Library on the Laptop Lab. There's always more work at the seminary to do than can be done. The final Kingsmen basketball team was a blast and we even made it on the evening news! For my graduate paper I am researching how leadership helps increase congregational involvement. I'm teaching my boy more martial arts.
Church planting may happen, but for now I look forward to simply being faithful in the call I hope to hear in less than 3 weeks. I've joined the local Toast Masters and hope to continue growing faithfully. Y'know even the class assignments are enjoyable and include writing a 2 sermon hymn for two different classes. That's something very unique for me. There's so many interesting things to learn more about in theology, an exhaustible well of treasures, but I have to postpone some good things for important and urgent tasks today, such as papers and selling my house. During such times, I am indeed looking forward to completing the seminary program and working full time ministry.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Am I a mission planter? Intense opportunity at CPAC, Church Planter Assessment Center.
Serving God’s people is not something you figure out
on a mountain-top experience, stirring the cosmic flow, while reading a fortune cookie of your own making. God pulls the verbs, does the action, and often through those around you in ways much more reliable and clearer than any feeling.
I don’t know if I’m a future church planter, a missionary, seeking the unchurched, to provide them true rest everlasting from our toils and fake comforts. I don’t know… until such an outside call taps me on the shoulder and says, “Green light, Vince. Go you are ready, go now!” Perhaps tomorrow, instead, I’ll hear “Yellow light, Vince. You have many talents that make a successful planter, but you could use more experience / time / etc.” I might even be told, “Red light, Vince. You have many talents as a pastor of a traditional church, but based on our assessment and board of experienced highly successful church planters… planting a church would prove to be very difficult for you.” No sour grapes.
God can work through the most difficult and untalented. Yet, no matter how talented any of us can be, we’d still be way over our head. Ultimately it’s God who does the growing. Some planters may water wiser than others; maybe even cast seed in some “better” way. But God does the pushing up, else we do the pulling out of His precious garden.
These past few days have been intense. We started easy with a fun orientation that helped get us comfortable with our new table friends. But now it was time to show your stuff, preacher man. We each presented a five-minute message to seekers, and another five-minute message to share our vision to a church regarding seeking out the lost. Let’s put that in perspective: 19 candidates for the church assessment, which is a record twice more they’ve ever had at this assessment. That’s 19 candidates times 5 minutes, times 2 different messages… equals a lot of preaching! It’s a blessing to hear so many different styles to my ears, different ways and different perspectives in a short time, to a seminarian that is. Our poor wives, God bless their patience. They were hanging on our words, cheering us on, even if they just got off a nurse’s night shift!
Additionally we had two team projects. We gathered in 4 designated groups, with 4 candidates a set, and rapidly put together our heads to present a proposition to the assessor board. We examined what to do with a “Church Plant gone stale.” Next, we proposed for a real “Metro Church Plant.” There was plenty of room for self-assessment, but the board gave us a ton to think about on how we did, because they’ve been there before. On that, the highlight for me was the Questions and Answers session with the assessors, the successful church planters themselves, in “Highs and Lows of Church Planting.”
For a change of pace, it was interesting to break out and do some more intimate one-on-one evangelism assessment, via role-play, to see how we handled ourselves in a variety of circumstances. After all, that’ll be our primary job, evangelism. Theodore “Ted” Torreson channeled “Kevin”, a highly successful international business man, very smart, intellectual, and engaged. Skeptical, open to spiritual things, but tired of Christianity and jaded against all the know-it-alls. Even after throwing down the gauntlet, Ted’s “Kevin” was lonely and was open to hearing about a love that’d stick around, here and here after. 
It did help me think on things. Christians ought to be aware of talking "Christianese” that build walls and recall negative feelings; penetrate through the intellectual layers to hear issues, to show the genuine concern we have for others. A sensitive, caring observation can work, as questions do, to transition to spiritual things, which is far more effective than statements. We don’t need a sermon from some spiritual gun-slinger trying to claim us. We don’t need mere institution nor humanly attempts. We need LOVE with SKIN on.
While it’s only the 3rd time they’ve had this opportunity, I can see how this will help us handle our resources in a very effective way. So to the church at large, know that your gift returned to the Lord’s hand is indeed handled with respect. As a Fort Wayne seminarian, I was excited to end early so I can spoil Erica with a St. Louis tour to the Arch, visited the St. Louis Concordia Theological Seminary, laughed it up with some of the seminarians, ate out with our presentation team, and am ready to crash. Tomorrow I’ll know what the assessors will recommend. I will trust it. Soon I’ll post some notes from the CPAC that I had been blessed to hear. Thank you Christ Memorial Lutheran Church being a great place to meet. To learn more about the Church Planter Assessment Center, visit the Center for United States Missions.
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