Nashville: Day One

Wow. What a day!! We drove up to the assessment center, which is held at the Franklin campus of the church here. The scenery alone is beautiful and inspiring, set in the middle of rolling hills with some big ol' houses. Someone pointed to one and said that was Dave Ramsey's house. Kevin York called it "the house that cash built"- lol. And the church itself owns an old, historic home on their property that we spent part of the day in. Sitting in a room that the floors and fireplace and everything else is from the 1700's is awesome.

Right off the bat the first two couples we met were from Latvia and Ireland. All of a sudden it felt like we didn't travel so far anymore.... we were surprised at the international couples there! All in all the couples are from England (2 couples), Latvia, Ireland, North Carolina, Florida (two couples and they are actually Phillipino), DC area, and there in Tennessee. It was an amazing feeling sitting in a room with such a global feel. Definitely makes you feel like you're a part of something so much bigger. We had in introduction session of meeting everyone and the assessor staff as well. There is a team of 15 people assessing everyone, and they're all extremely successful, talented, and sharp people. After the intro we had lunch there, and then there was a presentation to everyone about one of the personality profiles we had already taken before we got there. It was a lot of detailed explanation about the four types (this was the DISC profile if you're wondering) and knowing about them better. Those are always kind of funny for us because we get the same results. Most couples (and I think every other one here besides us) have different results, and they usually compliment each other. They've got to look at our stuff and go what's up with these people! Then after that we split up into three groups for the mini presentations. Chris had to prepare four miniature presentations, each ten minutes, with Q&A afterwards for both of us from the assessors. We also had to both describe each other using 5 adjectives. The presentations were about the call to ministry, recruiting a launch team for your church plant, your philosophy of ministry, and a mini "launch" message (what you would say to a congregation on the first Sunday of your new church). Chris of course was amazing. Not that anybody would be surprised. He sure was glad to get this day over with, though! Nerves were definitely settling in this morning! There will still be interviews and other things, but all of his presentations were today. Now we can relax a little bit!! Today was 11-7. Tomorrow is 9-7. Long day.

We are feeling great after this first day. Exhausted. Excited. Hopeful. Reflective. Encouraged. And I wish I had a cool accent. More to come. Tomorrow I will take some pics :)