thankful for my mom…

Today Erin, our kids, and I took my mom out for lunch for her birthday which was on the 2nd.   And other than Maeven getting pretty loud and us having to shush her a little bit we had a great time.   I am very thankful for another birthday that God has given my Mom, and even more thankful that God gave me such a Godly mother.

When Erin and I visit with supporting churches or potential supporters one thing I always share with them is about how thankful I was to have parents that encouraged me to spend time in prayer and the Bible daily.  Parents that taught me the importance of having a growing relationship with Christ.   My Mom was the one who would check in with me about whether or not I was taking my devotional time and most times the one who would be able to figure out when I was struggling with something and encourage me to honor God no matter what.  That influence has played a huge part in my desire to disciple and work with the teens here, because I know so many of them don’t have the Godly parents that I was blessed with.

So to sum things up, I am so very glad and thankful for the mother God gave me and I hope she has many more Birthdays that we can enjoy with her!

gifts…

This afternoon I went with my family to Manchester, KY to visit with my extended family.  We had a great time just catching up with them and as usual watching my daughter Maeven be a nut and keep everyone entertained.

On the way over, Erin and I engaged in a conversation about our spiritual gifts and developing them to be used for God’s Kingdom.   One of the things we talked about is being put into situations where our gifts and talents can be developed.  Through the conversation I began to wonder about this whole process.   I know God can use us and develop us anywhere but, are there certain places where we can develop them more.   For instance, can a rough situation where you are not exactly in your “sweet spot” develop your gifts and talents more because you have to be more deliberate in seeking this?   Or can our gifts be developed more when we find that “sweet spot” where we can thrive and get encouragement from others around us?

Just some food for thought I guess.   What do you think…

last night’s FCA Leadership Camp Presentation Update…

Last night, our FCA students presented their desire to attend FCA Leadership Camp to Idamay Bible Church.  We entered the night about $500 short of being able to pay for all six students to attend camp.  Our students did a great job of presenting and I was very proud of them a I know how nerve wracking it has been over the past two weeks to stand up in churches and speak in front of so many people.   God truly blessed us and we received the $500 we need to take all six students to camp.  When you add that in with all the donations we have been given so far as well as a promised sponsorship our kids are ready to go to FCA Leadership Camp at Campbellsville University!

That being said, now comes the hard part.  Please pray for Erin and I as we are now trying to raise the needed $250 for our family to attend camp.  Just like the students we will be receiving training to lead our FCA huddles during the upcoming school year.  It is also just a great time of spiritual refreshment for us and we are taught and poured into spiritually through great messages and fellowship with others in full time sports ministry!   Please pray that God will provide this money and take that burden from us!

To all of you have already been praying for our students and also have given to our students, thank you!  I am confident that God is going to do great things in their life at camp this summer!

teen lock-in chaperones needed…

This Friday night we will be holding our annual end of the school year teen lock-in at the Rec Center.   We are expecting between 100 to 130 kids to attend.   Currently we are running lower than normal on the number of chaperones that we have for the evening.   If you are college age or older and would like to volunteer to be a chaperone we would lov to have you join us.   This is a great time for you to get to know various teens in our community and build relationships with them that can lead to chances to share the Gospel!  Please let me know asap if you are able to join us!

Also, be praying for me as I will be giving the devotional to the students half way through the night.   This is a great opportunity for us to have a captive audience that includes many teens who don’t attend church.  Pray that I will clearly explain the Gospel for our unsaved students and that at the same time I might be able to challenge our Christian students to be bold in their faith.

Hope to see you at the Lock-IN!!!

whew what a week so far…

This week has been a fast paced game of catch up for me here at the Rec Center.   On Friday I finished up the school year with my home school student and so this week I have been busy catching up on some office work, website stuff, and various other things that I had fallen behind on.   A high point was that on Monday night my student and his family came out and we had a mini-eighth grade graduation for him.  It was a really good night where all of us who helped with teaching this year were able to offer words of encouragement and challenge him to succeed in high school next year and most importantly to rely on God.

Yesterday, we also held a weekly meeting with our FCA students that are going to Leadership Camp this summer.  We are preparing to share about camp at both Bear Track Bible Church and Idamay Bible Church over the next couple of week to hopefully raise the needed funds for taking our students.   We also had a Bible study where we are going to be going through various character traits of a Christian Leader over the next few weeks.  Yesterday’s topic was Trust, and how we need to put our total trust in God and at the same time be the type of person others trust.   If you are interested in possibly sponsoring a student come out to one of our sharing services and here about camp and ask the students any questions you might have!

Today has been pretty much a snack bar day at the Rec Center making lots of food orders from morning throughout the afternoon.   We also had a small group of 2nd grade students come in from Owsley County to bowl.  I always like working with the younger kids and just seeing their excitement over hitting any number of pins, whether one or a strike!

Tomorrow promises to be another busy day, but ending with some major excitement.  Tomorrow night my bowling team will be bowling for the Men’s Bowling league championship.   Personally, I am just hoping I bowl well enough not to hurt my team!

Lot’s going on this week, but God has blessed with lots of opportunities to build relationships and share Christ.   Very thankful for the opportunity to sow seeds for God!