Last Thursday we left for Omaha, NE for our mission trip. We decided this year to go on the Urban Plunge again. Urban Plunge is a weekend experience of working with homeless ministries in Omaha. Overall it was a good trip and a good experience. Our students were able to be stretched beyond their comfort zones as they were serving Christ.
I think the highlights of the weekend were no doubt Angels on Wheels. Angels on Wheels is a food/ prayer ministry for the homeless people of Omaha. They meet every Friday night at the Francis House and serve food and pray with the homeless people of Omaha. It is a really cool opportunity to really be able to interact with people who are down and out. It is no doubt the favorite of our group.
We also went to the Hope Center and Hope Skate. This really struck me more than anything. It’s a youth center with a roller skating rink. On Friday nights they open up Hope Skate to the community as a safe haven for people to come in and find refuge even if for a couple of hours on a Friday night. Hope Skate is in the roughest area of Omaha.
Saturday night my allergies started kicking in full force and Sunday is pretty much a blur for me. We would probably go back again for the plunge. We would definitely go back to help out with Angels on Wheels though.
Filed under: Bethel Baptist, student ministry
You have probably noticed over the past month I haven’t been blogging much – if at all. The reason for this is pretty simple. I just haven’t felt like it. I have been doing some re-evaluating of different things in my life and decided I needed to take a break from blogging since I wasn’t feeling the urge to post anymore. As things come up I will post about them. I will definitely try to be more regular but I make no promises.
So here’s to new life being breathed into my blog.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Last week was VBS for us. We did the Amazon Expedition from Answers in Genesis. Last week drained me pretty good. I was up early every day so I could come over and get some things ready to go for the music portion of the days. All in all it was a good VBS. I think I heard there were around 80 kids here each day. The kids (well the adults) also raised $1k for one of our missionaries to buy books to ship back to Kosovo so that was pretty cool too.
All this last week our kids learned about creation and how everything came to be through God not evolution. It was a good week. our kids were able to learn about things that are not taught in schools and are most likely rejected by the schools. We had some good questions coming from the kids as well. They learned about how the earth is 6,000 years old and not millions of years old and how carbon dating doesn’t really work since the earth wasn’t in existence over 6k years ago.
Filed under: Uncategorized , Amazon Expedition, Answers in Genesis, Creation, VBS
At the beginning of this last week I decided it was time to start hitting the gym and eating right once again. So I stocked up on fruit, yogurt, whole grain breads and low fat meats. I only made it to the gym 1 day this week – yesterday. However this summer I have taken up golf once again and have decided to not rent a cart to ride in everytime I go. This summer i made the investment in a pull cart so I can walk each round. What a difference walking it makes. Not only do I shoot lower scores it is a pretty good workout.
This week hasn’t been a great week workout wise but I’m not too far off of where I was 2 months ago (my last weigh-in post). I was pretty excited about that this morning. My summer has already been busy with umpiring baseball 3 nights a week and golfing. So I’m trying to force myself to get up early and be in the gym by 6am so I can get my 2 hour workouts done and still be in the office by 9am.
Here is the result of my weigh-in today;
Last post: 339
This week: 343
So I’m only up 4 pounds over 2 months. That’s not bad at all.
Filed under: food, healthy eating, journey to 100, life, weght loss, working out , healthy, journey to 100
I have been getting quite a few emails, facebook messages and tweets about why there has been no update over the past month. My answer? It has been crazy around here over the past moneth and a half for me. I traveled to Poland the first week of April. I got back and battled jet lag and tried to catch up on work. The following week I went to IL for a pastors conference. The week after that I played catch up. The last week and a half I have been umpiring baseball games at night and haven’t felt too motivated to get up early and work out.
However summer is here and I need to get back to the gym. I’m not doing too bad though. Kind of hovering right where I was. I have my good weeks and bad weeks. I decided this is the week to get back to the gym though. I’m 40 pounds away from being where I was 12 years ago and I want to get there – then I will take a short break…maybe 2 weeks then go hard again and get down to where I was my sophomore year of college which was 245. That’s my end goal.
Thanks for checking in on me. I will have a post at the first part of next week to let you all know where I am actually at.
Filed under: healthy eating, weght loss, working out
It was 1 year ago tonight that I arrived in Newell. Alright so my first night was technically in Storm Lake. One year ago I left a great church in Ogallala, NE because God called me away from there and to another great church in Newell. I do miss some things about out west but I am very grateful that God has me where I am at. God never ceases to amaze me – and this has been one of those experiences for me.
Here are some of the great things about Bethel;
- atmosphere: everyone here has been really friendly to me since I have arrived. Believe me the ‘honey moon’ is over – still everyone has been really good to me. when you come in on a Sunday morning you can tell that our congregation cares. There’s a great atmosphere on Sunday mornings.
- worship: We have two worship teams that rotate on a monthly basis. One month on one month off and it works really well. I have been handed the reigns of our worship ministry over the past 6 months. Bethel is very blessed to have the level of talent we have on both teams. Not just the level of talent but the hearts behind the talent as well. It has been a pleasure to work with both teams and see us grow together and grow in the ministry we have.
- BSM: BSM (Bethel Student Ministries) is vastly different than where I came from. I really appreciate what we have here at Bethel with our student ministry. We are making some changes and progress with our students and it is exciting to see.
- peers: we have a good sized ‘young adult’ group within our church body and that has been a blessing for me. To have people close to my age has been really nice. I can’t say I’m good friends with everyone but I have gotten to know a few – I think fairly well. I really appreciate the friendships I have made with them. The willingness to pray for each and just hang out and talk has been really incredible and encouraging to me.
It has been 1 year and I am greatful to be here.
Filed under: Bethel Baptist , 1 year anniversary, Bethel, ministry
I saw this post on Twitter this morning form Nick Carnes. Honestly this shouldn’t be much of a shocker to us. Still as I read it I’m blown away. IF this goes through and they charge this couple this has MAJOR implications on us as believers. I have always thought a good dose of persecution would do America some good – and right now we’re seeing signs of it. Here’s a clip from the article;
Broyles said, “The county asked, ‘Do you have a regular meeting in your home?’ She said, ‘Yes.’ ‘Do you say amen?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Do you pray?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Do you say praise the Lord?’ ‘Yes.’”
The county employee notified the couple that the small bible study, with an average of 15 people attending, was in violation of county regulations, according to Broyles.Broyles said a few days later the couple received a written warning that listed “unlawful use of land” and told them to “stop religious assembly or apply for a major use permit” — a process that could cost tens of thousands of dollars.
This could have a really big impact on how American’s do ‘house churches’ or how we hold home Bible studies. It could radically affect the way we do church. Anytime the government steps in to tell us how to do church it’s not good. Just look at China. What are your thoughts?
Filed under: Jesus, faith , persecuted church
The topic of summer programming is a hot one right now. Last week Tim Schoyer had a great post about the ‘Seven benefits of shutting down youth ministry programs for the summer‘ and it generated quite the buzz on his blog. There are some that are for it. Some that completely oppose it. Some who don’t understand what Tim is talking about. If you are a youth pastor there is no doubt that summer programming is right at the forefront of your mind as the school year is ending up. I had a recent conversation with our SP (senior pastor) the other day about this very thing. Yesterday we continued it a little and will talk even more next week about it. I think there is some confusion on the whole topic.
Tim does a great job of explaining what he means in his recent update to the post on his blog. Here’s Tim’s thought behind programming in youth ministry,
First of all, I didn’t mention this in my previous post, but notice that the title was not, Seven Benefits of Shutting Down Youth Ministry for the Summer, with the absence of the word “programs.” In no way am I advocating that we stop ministry, just that was slow down our programming. Remember, programs do not equal ministry. Programs are tools of ministry. They’re here to help us do ministry, but programs are not the ministry.
I couldn’t agree with Tim more. Programs are great but just because you’re busy doing them doesn’t mean you have an effective ministry. I came from a church where I was busy doing programs for the ministry 5-6 nights a week. We had 12 small groups meeting through the week and I was involved in the worship ministry and the audio visual ministry of the church. I often felt like I wasn’t very effective and as I look back there are things I would do different. One of those is not be so busy so often. Ministry happens within the context of relationships not necessarily gatherings. While gatherings/ programs are good can facilitate ministry they aren’t necessarily ministry in and of themselves.
I am in favor of what Tim says – slow things down a little bit. People are gone. Attendance is eratic. So do things a little more spontaneous. Have a few planned things but focus on hanging out with students. Do things with intentionality but yet have the freedom for spontanaeity as well. Take time this sumer to get to know your students. Maybe take a road trip somewhere with a few guys. Have your female leaders do a shopping trip or a day spa with the girls.
Be relational.
Filed under: Bethel Baptist, church life, friend's blogs, student ministry , summer programming
I recently wrote a post about a new song I have been working on. I finally have a second ver for it. Here’s the interesting thing. I got it recorded in a really, really rough form. So on Twitter I asked my Tweeps (those following me) if they would be willing to listen to it. A few of them took me up on it. One guy, Justin, got a hold of me and said his band would be willing to get together and lay some instruments behind what I did. So I gave him the go ahead and then he sent it back to me.
It’s still extremely rough but it gives me a good idea of what it could sound like with a band behind it. If you want to take a listen click here to hear it. I have never liked my voice and this is no exception. I do however like the concept behind the song. Nothing will probably ever come of anything I write and I realize that. Still it’s fun to write once in a while. Leave your feedback in the comments section. I would love to hear your constructive criticism of it.
Filed under: music, worsihp , new songs, worship
Memorial Day, in my opinion, is one of the best holidays we have. Not only do we get to celebrate our vets – but it’s also just a great lazy day. Yesterday I spent a good portion of my time over at Jay’s house (our SP) with a couple of families from church. It was a great time of burger, brats, cheesy potatoes and fellowship. Did I mention I got burnt while I was there? I’m feeling the effects of it this morning. Honestly though getting burned one was of my goals. It was so beautiful yesterday. A good sunburn (for me) marks the beginning of the spring/ summer season. I love being outside in the sun.
After the BBQ I went golfing with one of my students. We played 9 holes and I did horrible. After playing 9 I drove down to Schaller to watch one of my 8th grade guys play baseball. They won 12-2 in the 4th inning. He had two great hits and afew really good plays from 3rd base.
All in all Memorial Day was exactly what I thought it would be. Lots of sun. Lots of fellowship. Some golf. Some baseball…and a great sunburn.
Filed under: Bethel Baptist, student ministry , Memorial Day 2009
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