This woman amazes me.  She has the power to make me laugh and to make me furious.  She knows when to smile and when to simply give me a nod.  She knows when to pray and she knows when to say “it’ll be alright”.  She gets me.  She is my best friend and every special moment of my life has her in it.  I thank God that he conned her into saying yes.  I thank God for teaching us to wait and to take our time until we found the right one…each other.  She is a Proverbs 31 woman in the best way.  She is the example of a pastors wife.  She is a gifted worship pastor and an incredible mother and an outstanding teacher.  Yes, you CAN be a good mother and work too.  When she smiles she scrunches her nose and her freckles get close together and my life just pauses.  I love her more than I did when I met her in High School.  I love her more now than I did when we dated in college.  I love her more than I did 11 years ago when she walked down that isle.  I love her so much.

She is the best.

So I have not been blogging lately and my tweets have even gotten spastic.  It is not due to anything weird just that all of my creative energy is going towards Breakaway.  However, to be honest I am not feeling that creative lately.  A lot is going on though so to fill you in…

• We hired a new Middle School pastor.  Sean Gajda is a grad from CSU and has done some great work from my former church Remount Baptist Church in North Charleston.  He will focus on Middle School ministries but will assist in all areas.  He is a passionate communicator and loves the teenage culture.
• My son Sean Thomas will be born a week from this Friday.  That has brought with it some extreme excitement as well as some humbling prospects.  I can’t wait to meet him, hold him, teach him and pray with him but Rheaumes have never been that good at raising sons so there is some concern there.
• As I mentioned we are planning Breakaway and I am very excited about that this year.  However, with a new location, new staff and new energy it is a bit of a life-sucker.

So…I wouldn’t say that I was overwhelmed but I am definitely at the verge of whelmed.  However, I like this time…it is a time right on the edge of burnout where I can take a right turn and flame out or take a left turn and get recharged and inspired seeking God for new ways of accomplishing old ideas.  Figuring out how I can become more efficient and Worship centered rather than task centered.  So, I will take 2 weeks off and enjoy my new son, read and pray and thank God for the wisdom to turn left.

So what are you up to?

You see Rheaumes are not that great at raising sons.  My father was abusive.  His father was abusive towards him and on down the line it went.  I still carry a lot of STUFF because of the sins of my father.  I know that I am a new creation in Christ however, the fear remains.

HOWEVER, Audra reminded me of a story I told her once about a conversation I had with my mother.  I was about 11 years old and my mother was telling me about how I was going to do great things with my life…I teared up and told her that I had a feeling deep within me that it was not me who would do great things but my son.  So, Audra always knew one day we would have a son because she feels (as do I ) that was a word from God spoken into my spirit.  So I go into this with great humility and awe.  Knowing that God has blessed me with a son to give him glory that one day he will do great things for the glory of God.

Anyway, with all of that…at the core I am simply a happy daddy.  I have a wonderful wife who is a wonderful mother.  I have 2 amazing daughters and I have a son on the way…Sean-Thomas…son I can’t wait to meet you.

As Pointe North ventures into becoming more focused on Family Ministries I wanted to take a moment to introduce you to our team.  I have the pleasure of guiding these talented people into the next phase of ministry for Pointe North.

I oversee the overall Family ministry and its direction/resource and vision.  I also run Alive Youth Ministries which is comprised of the Alive Worship Experience, Huddle Groups and the discipleship venues, Pulse and Triage.

Hope Murphy is our Children’s pastor and oversees the spiritual development of our K4-5th graders.  She produces Planet Changers, Kids Corner and our Royal Rangers/MPact Girls ministries.

Tiffany Hill is our Nursery director and she oversees Tots Landing our Nursery program at Pointe North.  She directs her team and is growing into a full fledged resource for parents.

Bobby Webster is our Campus pastor for Student Ministries.  He visits area High School and Middle School campuses spending time connecting with students where they are.  Bobby is also vital in our parent connections ministry.

Nancy Webster is the Ministry Assistant for Family Ministries.  She holds the whole thing together.  She is the administrative arm to all of our ministries and makes us look quite honestly much better than we really are.

Coming soon:  Intern for Middle School Ministries.

I am blessed to work with this team and cannot wait to see what God has in store in 2010 for the families in Berkeley County.

• As a youth pastor rather than mentor I/we need to do a better job of teaching parents to mentor
• The best way to get kids involved in their faith is to get their parents involved in their faith
• We need to establish an intentional plan of discipleship for families
• We need to pray for our families…HARD
• When this thing is fleshed out we will 1) Resource = we will provide whatever you need to assist you in being the primary discipler of your kid 2) Train = we will train you in multiple venues, in multiple ways 3) Involve = we want you involved primarily in discipling your kids then, we want you involved in the ministries that are supporting the spiritual development…staffing Alive, KidsPointe and TotsLanding.

I am excited about what God is doing in this ministry and I beg you to pray for me that God grants me wisdom and knowledge and patience.  This is a process that will take years to flesh out and I am not usually a man of patience.

It occurs to me that I haven’t blogged about the biggest news to hit the Rheaume family in 4 years and that is the coming addition of a new child.  This is a surprise blessing from God.  I am both excited and anxious about a new baby in our lives…I never saw myself as a father with more than 2 children.  I am praying for wisdom and strength.  My wife is a working mom by calling and choice.  I am a pastor of a growing ministry and making time is hard enough.  I am in the process of simplifying every other thing in my life in order to increase my margins.  That being said the prayer of the season is BOY.  I would love to have a son.  I would love another daughter…but hey, I’ve done that twice already.  So, let’s all join together each and every night and pray, “Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord will give Sean a boy. – Amen”

On a side note another positive is that my wife is amazing when pregnant.  She glows and is more beautiful than ever.  So, this summer a blockbuster of a different kind is coming Baby Rheaume III.

I’d like to have a word with you.  It is time that you the prince of darkness listens for once.  I am tired.  I am tired of you attacking my children.  I am tired of you thinking that you own music, culture and the arts.  I am sick of your lies that tell our kids that they are not pretty enough, strong enough or cool enough to go on.  I am tired of your poisons that are going into the bloodstream of our young people.  I am tired to beautiful girls crying looking in the mirror because your minion vanity crushes her spirit.  I am tired of the purity of young men being stolen by pornography thanks to your puppet lust.  I am sick and tired of students thinking that the only way to have fun is through rebellion.  I have had enough.

I have had enough of you tearing families apart…I am done with fathers standing by emotionless while their children cry out for someone to hold.  I am done with parents feeling like they cannot control their child anymore…I am claiming the families back!

I will not allow you to lie to me and tell me that we are not making a difference.  I will not allow you to discourage me with the thoughts that the fight is just too big.  I will not let you whisper distractions into my spirit any more.

We choose love.  We choose to love these teenagers that are thrown away.  We choose to invest in their lives believing that they too will be attacking you soon.  We choose to love families and not judge them, equip them and not abandon them!

Be on alert Satan, your time is at hand we are about to PRAY!

Today is my wife’s birthday.  She was gone for a week with my girls for spring break to visit her mother and it was torturous.  I have learned that my life doesn’t work nearly as well without her.  She is my best friend, my favorite person to make laugh and I love being her husband.  I am good at it.  I thank God that he blessed me with her.  She is my worship pastor for our youth ministry, one of the reasons being that her voice still melts me.  She is an incredible mommy.  She is the teacher every student at Macedonia wants to have.  She is gorgeous and her eyes still pierce my heart.

I have known her for over 15 years, we have been married for 10 of those.  She has always had a part of my heart.  She is so darn lovable.

I love you baby, Happy Birthday.

Avery turned 3 today. If Emily is my princess, Avery is my joy.  3 years ago, I was scared to death of a second child.  We were broke, you were a bit of a surprise and I was scared.  When I held her, I was overcome with questions and fear.  Then, you did something that amazed me…you melted my heart.  You made me laugh harder than anyone has ever done.  You are as sweet as you are tough.  You will hug me and kiss my cheek then jump on me and want to wrestle.  I don’t know if the world is ready for 2 personalities like ours but I can’t wait to find out…I love you to death baby…happy birthday!

My life was changed forever.  Emily was born and I was immediately wooped!  She had spikey red hair and the biggest eyes I had ever seen (actually looked like a troll).  She was the nurses favorite, one nurse actually came and got her at 3:00 AM to show her off!  She has alwaysbeen my princess.  Her hugs melt me and her sweetness is contagious.  When she was a baby no one could quiet her cries like her daddy.  I have never wept quite as much as when I held her in my arms the first night.  I thank God for the priveledge of raising her.

Happy Birthday sweetheart.