I'm super excited to announce that I have a new gig. That's right, I am the newest staff member to join the Sugar Grove team.
The Position:
I am coming on as the children and families' pastor. I'm excited to build a team, build relationships and build an innovative children's ministry that will help kids Reach Up, Reach In and Reach Out.
The Team:
I will be working along side some of the best in the business. Rick Gering is the lead guy, a very intelligent, strategic leader. The guys he has chosen to be on his team are Kent Bjurstrom - student guy, Adam Sharky - worship guy, Kari Stembel - administrative assistant and last but not least, Dale Brock - care pastor guy. I'm blessed big time to work on a creative, talented team that is ready to take things to the next level. Love it!!
The State:
I will be living in Goshen, Indiana. It's quite a place. I already know I will need a GPS just to get around. In fact, it's on my Christmas list.
As I look back to when this all started, I can no doubt see God's hand on this process the whole time. I really want to thank Rick Gearing (Lead guy) for believing in me and giving me a shot. I believe with all my heart that what God is about to do in the children's ministry at Sugar Grove is going to blow our minds. I'm really excited that God has chosen me to lead this ministry. For those of you that prayed, sent encouraging notes, tweeted, left Facebook messages and laughed and cried with us along the way - THANK YOU!!
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I'm excited for Sugar Grove!! I can't wait to come visit...plus I love staring at Amish people...they're cool...in an Amish sort of way.
ReplyDeleteHey Josh,
ReplyDeleteWe are excited… absolutely… to have you on the team. Can’t wait to get you here and settled. Before you start you need to know what a Hoosier is… because you will become one and raise little ones. So here it is… I’ve tried to give these explanations to NON-Hoosiers and get the glazed look... The look of I’m crazy…. So I found this on the Internet (everything is true on the internet… right). I favor the number 4 option… believe it or not this is what I was taught in school. So for all of you non-believers here is the proof. So, Josh the Hoosier here you go.
Tim Hartman
What is a "Hoosier"
Source of the name for the Hoosier National Forest
HOOSIER - pronounced hoo'zher - is an inhabitant or native of Indiana, and the name of our National Forest. No one is quite sure where the term originated for sure, but there are five primary theories. · Sam Hoosier's Riverboat Men · Robert Hoosier's National Road crew · Indiana was a land of rowdies · Word as an Indiana Frontier Greeting · Civil War Roots to Indiana Units
I. One story goes that a contractor named Sam Hoosier, on the Ohio Falls Canal in Louisville, preferred Indiana workers over any others because he believed them to be the most reliable and hardworking. The workers from Indiana became known as Hoosier's men and proudly carried the label home.
II. A similar story involves the National Road, which got it's start in Cumberland , Maryland, and slowly extended westward as the United States expanded (today, we know it only as U.S. 40). It truly was a "national" road, in that it was "mcadamized" (we'd call it an "asphalt" road today), quite an innovation for the nineteenth century. It was far ahead of it's time, easily providing the best transportation route of it's era. The road had reached Columbus, Ohio, just about the time that Indiana was in it's final stage as a territory. As plans were made to extend the highway to Richmond, Indiana, the call went out for laborers. Knowing that the Federal Government would pay "top dollar", workers for a contractor in the Indiana Territory reportedly named Robert Hoosier asked their boss if they could go work for this higher wage in the neighboring state of Ohio (Ohio attained statehood 13 years before Indiana did). Mr. Hoosier gave his consent, asking them to return to work for him when this section of the road was done. Just as in the Sam Hoosier story, the crew of Indiana workers proved to be industrious, conscientious, and efficient. The Federal foreman referred to the group as "Hoosiers" meaning they were workers that Robert Hoosier had allowed to join the National work crew. It wasn't long before people along the National Road used the term to describe the folks living in the territory to the west.
III. Some say the word was derived from "hussar" which was a term used on the Kentucky frontier for people who were public nuisances. Hussars were hard drinking carousers. This theory carries the implication that a large share of such folks came from Indiana.
IV. The most common belief is that the term was a greeting. When approaching a man's home in those early frontier days, you shouted from afar, "Hello the cabin" to avoid being shot. The inhabitants would then shout back "Who's yer?" (who's there). As it got slurred together over time, the country folk came to be called Hoosiers.
V. Another plausible explanation for �Hoosier� is that it sprang from Kosciusko County in the northern part of the state. Indeed Thaddeus Kosciuszko, a Polish noble who fought with George Washington in the Revolutionary War, may have been the first �Hoosier.�
We are so excited that you and your family are coming to SGC! I know you will do a great job! Woohoo!!! Praise the Lord for his goodness!
ReplyDeleteYou signed a contract that said you will be a Shocker. Be careful, be very careful!
ReplyDeleteTo get in on the Hoosier trivia comments, I, too was taught version 4. So it must be the true one!
ReplyDeleteWe are truly excited to have you and your family at SGC. The Lord is moving here, and are glad to have you part of the team.