Colby and Lynne Kinser News

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Update June 4, 2011

Back to Kenya

We have been very tardy updating this site. We'll summarize quickly...

Colby is returning to Kenya start 6/24 for 2 weeks. This will be his 4th trip. He will teach at the Ahero Evangelical School of Theology and at a pastors' conference. The other three on the team will be teaching at a couple of orphanages. We also have a few community development projects we're working on.

The folks at Grace Fellowship Church have been awesome - very welcoming and gracious. We are focusing on how to grow our relationships in order to engage others with Christ.

Lynne is working at Argus Health Systems in downtown KC doing software test. It's hard work, but we are thankful for the job.

This is woefully little information, but we are still breathing, and very busy. We are struggling to find a week where we can both get away and just relax for a bit. We're due.

If you're ever in KC, we'd love to see you!

Update July 9, 2010

Dust is Settling

Much has happened since our last update: One ministry handed off, another taken on. One house sold, another purchased. New address, phone number, license plates, utilities, and so on. We are still living out of some boxes, but slowly, it is all getting settled.

The folks in Dublin have been super supportive - they understood our move, and reluctantly but definitively were our advocates and help. We will miss these dear friends, well, dearly.

The folks in OP have also gone out of their way for our benefit. They helped us on the back end of the move, and have shown us grace and hospitality. We are getting to know our new family, and are grateful for yet another good family to get to know.

In the first two weeks, Colby helped with the youth lock-in, both helped with VBS, and Colby performed a funeral for one of the charter members who peacefully went home at the age of 92. After a few one-time sermons, we have now begun our first series - the book of Galatians. Lynne is checking out different ministries to see where she can help most, and has begun the job search.

It's good to be back "home" - although Colby is having a tough time swallowing all the Kansas jokes he made as a kid. If you are ever in KC, we'd love to see you!

Update May 3, 2010

Big Changes!

After much prayer and deliberation, we have made the difficult decision to leave our adopted home in Georgia and move to the Kansas City area. After 6 1/2 years of serving Dublin Bible Church (Colby) and working at Warner Robins AFB (Lynne), we have determined that our next chapter is in KC.

Colby will be pastoring Grace Fellowship Church in Overland Park, KS. Lynne will start looking for a new job after we arrive. We are scheduled to come into town on May 17.

Colby grew up in the KC area. Lynne grew up in St. Louis, but her brother and his family live in KC. So, this is a move "back home" for us. Futhermore, Lynne's parents will be only 4 1/2 hours away (perhaps closer one day soon), and Colby's folks are planning to move within 3 hours of KC. So, we are very excited about being near family.

We'll update you as the transition progresses.

Update December 29, 2009

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

In December, we had the opportunity to visit Lynne's family for Christmas. We flew to St. Louis, picked up Lynne's parents, and drove to Kansas City to visit Lynne's brother and his family. We had a great, but too brief, time. Our nieces, Elise (6) and Megan (4), are always a total delight. And we got the most snow on Christmas Day in Kansas City since 1962.

While in KC, Colby got to spend an evening with good friends from high school. While in St. Louis, Lynne got to spend a long afternoon with her close friend from school, too. So, family, friends, children, and snow – a great Christmas all around.

On Christmas day, Colby flew back to Atlanta, spent the night, and then drove to Dallas for a week-long class at Dallas Theological Seminary. He stayed with his brother and his family – and as a bonus, his parents were also there for Christmas. The class is a preaching class by one of the most-recognized preaching professors, Haddon Robinson. Watch out – his preaching is going to be all messed up for the next few months as he tries to figure out what to do with all this teaching.

Our sermon series has been on “Christmas Through the Eyes Of...”, which we heard from each of the major characters in the original Christmas story: Zechariah, Elizabeth, Joseph, Mary, Simeon, Anna, the temple(!), the shepherds, the magi, his opposition, and Gabriel. It was a fun way to look at the Christmas story. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

In December, we had the opportunity to visit Lynne's family for Christmas. We flew to St. Louis, picked up Lynne's parents, and drove to Kansas City to visit Lynne's brother and his family. We had a great, but too brief, time. Our nieces, Elise (6) and Megan (4), are always a total delight. And we got the most snow on Christmas Day in Kansas City since 1962.

While in KC, Colby got to spend an evening with good friends from high school. While in St. Louis, Lynne got to spend a long afternoon with her close friend from school, too. So, family, friends, children, and snow – a great Christmas all around.

On Christmas day, Colby flew back to Atlanta, spent the night, and then drove to Dallas for a week-long class at Dallas Theological Seminary. He stayed with his brother and his family – and as a bonus, his parents were also there for Christmas. The class is a preaching class by one of the most-recognized preaching professors, Haddon Robinson. Watch out – his preaching is going to be all messed up for the next few months as he tries to figure out what to do with all this teaching.

Our sermon series has been on “Christmas Through the Eyes Of...”, which we heard from each of the major characters in the original Christmas story: Zechariah, Elizabeth, Joseph, Mary, Simeon, Anna, the temple(!), the shepherds, the magi, his opposition, and Gabriel. It was a fun way to look at the Christmas story.

Update November 30, 2009

Colby attended the annual men's retreat in early November. We tried a new site (Camp Christian, Gordon, GA), and a new golf course. Odd - the new golf course has the same problems as the previous golf course. Our theme was "Prayer in Paul's Letters" - a great study on how a great pray-er prayed.

We had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving this year. We had to turn down a few (generous, kind) offers to share Thanksgiving with others because we haven't had a quiet holiday with just the two of us in a while. We have 20 years now of all kinds of things to be thankful for - including good friends.

We finished a sermon series on what it really means to be blessed, and began a new series called "Christmas Through the Eyes Of...".

Colby had the privilege of dedicating another child - Jesse Nathaniel (last name withheld). We modeled this dedication after the way Simeon blessed Joseph and Mary - rather than asking for commitments all around, we focused on blessing.

For Christmas, we will be in Kansas City all week, seeing Lynne's family and some old friends. Colby will fly back on Christmas day, then from the Atlanta airport drive straight to Dallas for a class the following week. His scheduled class got canceled, so he had to take another, causing the schedule change.

Update October 30, 2009

Lynne attended a "Women of Faith" conference in Atlanta, and had a fantastic time. She came back refreshed and encouraged. She continues to make progress on her project at work. Fortunately, things move and glacial speeds, so she's not super-stressed on schedules.

We had the annual church bonfire in mid-October, although it was cold and drizzly, so the fire didn't reach it's normal raging heights. We did get to hear from a young man in our church who recently put his faith in Christ, coming out of a life of substance abuse, violence, and crime. Our church came together and helped him get into a facility that can reach his spiritual, physical, and emotional needs. On Oct 31, our church is sponsoring a Dallas Holm concert with guest speaker Wil Graham (grandson of Billy Graham).

Colby got a doe on the first day of the season. He is continuing a series at church called "Blessed R U", and is looking forward to preaching to Billy Graham's grandson to set him straight! ;-)

Update September 28, 2009

OK, so we're slow in updating the news.

Since the last update, Colby has finished his summer course for DTS - a very good experience. Dr. Hendricks is still awesome. He has one more class with "Prof," and then the rest of his schooling is research and project development.

Lynne got to see her dad for his birthday in August, and then Colby got to do the same for his dad's 80th birthday in September. All four of the Kinser boys descended onto Mountain View, AR, and surprised "Dadd," who didn't know we were all coming.

On Sept 27, our church baptized 5 people. Colby baptized two of them, and for the other three, we were able to have the father's baptize their own children. That's a great treat to watch. One of the dad's got to baptize both of his kids, and it was his birthday! No way can you top that for a birthday present.

Colby has started "tweeting," but not the mundane details of his life ("I'm now taking a shower"), but thoughts that he has while preparing the coming Sunday's message. Follow on, if you like, at http://twitter.com/ColbyKinser.

Update June 18, 2009

This is a baseline for what's new, so we're not going to bring you up to speed with all that's happened over the years.

Our church's VBS is next week (see the DBC website link for info and registration). Colby will the be storyteller, and Lynne will do the sound. Colby is studying for his class at DTS the week of July 13 - a class on mentoring taught by Dr. Howard Hendricks (he's looking forward to his first course with Dr. Hendricks!). We're looking forward to a visit from the Misers, who will be passing through town on their way to Florida.

dts : talbot : colby's sermons : M&ST : NET Bible