Grateful for my Dad

My Dad passed away two years ago today.

I miss him terribly. At the same time, right now, I'm feeling very strongly how much he's really, truly not gone. It's cliche. It's not a thing that would have comforted me when grief was newer. But right now, it feels true: there's a very real sense in which Dad lives on in me, in Sean, in Mom, and in all of us whom he loved so well. Like I said in my eulogy for him, so much of what's good and lovable in me comes from Tom Croghan.

I'm grateful for you today, Dad. Thank you.

All my love,

Mike

TransFORM Network East Coast Gathering

Following the requisite apology for not blogging much lately (sorry - I'm sure your RSS reader has felt empty and unloved) ;-) I would like to make a preliminary "teaser" plug for this really awesomely cool conference coming up (April 30th through May 2nd), right in my own back yard (Wesley Theological Seminary in DC). It's:

The TransFORM East Coast Gathering

From the web site:

We are gathering missional practitioners on the East Coast to learn from each other and to mobilize others for forming new missional communities.

Whether you’re a pastor, prospective "church planter," or simply interested in finding out more about transformational missional communities of practice, this gathering is designed to inspire and equip you to go and do likewise!

Click through and check it out. An awful lot of my good friends, both local and remote, are going to be there, and many of us will be speaking or leading workshops. My friend Deanna and I will be doing a workshop entitled, "The Practices Must Support Each Other: Engineering Communities That Work", which will pick up some themes from this blog post, among other sources.

It's free! And it will gather a ridonkulous collection of cool people in one place. So y'all come!