The Ecclesia Collective

In our last post, we were headed to Albuquerque, NM. The scenery across Arizona and New Mexico was stunning! We stayed the night and left fairly early the next morning. Our next stop was Lubbock, TX–hometown of Buddy Holly. Of course, being a music fan, this stop was fun for me. After taking a dip in the hotel pool, we dried off and headed out to find a place to eat. After picking up a conversation with a couple young women at a coffee shop, Brooke was recommended to La Diosa. We had a great glass of wine and some nice tapas. It was a relaxing and tasty! The next morning we went to the Buddy Holly museum and a ranching museum–at which Matt found the lasso he wanted. We dropped into Ralph’s Records–a great little record store near Texas Tech–before leaving town to pick up a bargain bin CD of Buddy Holly so our kids could hear the music of the music legend.

That afternoon, we headed to Dallas, TX. We stayed with our friends, Dick and Marla Davis. Dick was an Southern Baptist chaplain for the Army. He took a class with Stanley Hauerwas and eventually became a pacifist. He is now a Mennonite pastor and one of the leaders for the Urban Leaders Network. They have an amazing story! We stayed up late listening to their years of wisdom.

The next morning we headed to Jackson, MS. We spent the night with our friends, Kevin and Carrie Partridge. They invited some of their friends over from the Journey church. It was a great night of conversation and friendship. We didn’t want to ever go to sleep but we had to get up early.

The next morning we headed to Montgomery, AL. Against the recommendations of several people, we took the rural routes through Mississippi and Alabama. The route was beautiful! We pulled into Montgomery to check out the Rosa Parks Library and Museum. It was amazing! Brooke and I were literally moved to tears. For lunch, we stopped at Chris’ Hot Dogs, which was opened in 1917! After that we headed to Birmingham. What a cool town! We walked through Kelly Ingram Park and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, across the street from the historical 16th Street Baptist Church. Our kids have been radically impacted by the stories of Rosa Parks, MLK Jr., the bus boycott and the children’s march. So, these stops were quite monumental for us all. We really liked Birmingham and decided to wander around ending up at Greencup Books, the Naked Art Gallery and the Silvertron Cafe.

That evening, we headed out of town towards Nashville, TN. Today marks a whole week of us being on the road! We arrived in Nashville, TN late last night. We’re staying with one of my best friends, Jimmy Cook. Jimmy and I have known each other since kindergarten at least. He and his wife, Ilde–whose a great photographer–are expecting their third child! It was awesome for my kids to finally meet his. His oldest, Torrey and our Paige are already having a blast! They’re just a few months a part. We’re about to head out to do some site seeing. Our Justice Kitchen event was canceled so, we are just going to hang out with friends and head towards North Carolina sometime tomorrow.

More later!