The Low Down

Monkey-ing Around with Frog Spit

Yesterday we took my daughter Kierstyn to the St. Louis Zoo. This weekend we are celebrating her 4th birthday with family here in St. Louis. It has been awesome to spend some time with our loved ones. My mom and dad drove down from Indiana and my in-laws have opened up there home for us. So not only are we celebrating a birthday, but we have also taken the opportunity to get-away and spend a week on vacation as well. During our visit to the zoo yesterday, we spent a little time re-uniting with long lost friends at the monkey house. As you can see in the picture to the right, the furry black monkey and I hit it off from the start. I'm not really sure why, but the picture we took together was awesome. Could this be Rafiki from The Lion King? The entire day started off shakey as we ran into some rain on the way to the zoo. It worried us a little, but as we pulled into the parking area the sun began to shine, and the Lord gave us an incredible day. We walked into the entrance to the zoo and were immediately met with good news. Frog spit, for a limited time only, was buy one get one free. Now you may not understand what frog spit is, but if you were with us you would have wanted some before the day was over. Pictured to the left are Kierstyn and I devouring our frog spit. Frog spit is a lemon lime sherbert push-up and man are they amazing on a hot and humid summer day. Kierstyn is having the time of her life here with family, and it is so awesome to have this time of fun and relaxation with my wife and daughter. God is showing me just how much I really love having these girls in my life. I know every day that I love Kate and KJ, but when all of us are able to get away from the fast pace life we live and actually slow down a bit, it really sinks in just how awesome of a family we really are. We're having a blast here in St. Louis, and I can't wait for what tomorrow may bring.

Pastor and Author Mark Batterson

Every so often I like to take a few minutes and highlight some of the different people and blogs that I subscribe to and who I often go to in order to catch some great insight and enjoy some good reads. Some of the people who I frequently visit by web are close friends of mine, while others I don't have a personal relationship with yet. Mark Batterson is the pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C. and is the author of a recently popular book, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. Mark is a graduate of Central Bible College, like myself, and though I do not have a personal relationship with Mark, I enjoy checking out is blog, Evotional.com and keeping up with him as much as possible on Twitter. Mark is a fun guy and is extremely down to earth. He's very real and genuine and in his writting always comes across to me as just another one of the guys. Mark currently has completed another writing project that is about to hit the shelves of stores all across the world. Mark's new project, Wild Goose Chase, is due out this August. Since the book is yet to release, I have not had the opportunity to read it but I can't wait to get my hands on a copy. If it is anything like his last book, this book will be dynamite. So let me encourage you to do yourself a favor and go to www.chasethegoose.com and pre-order your copy today. Don't wait, but order your copy today - you won't be sorry that you did. Over the next few days, drop by one of these sites and be sure to give Mark a shout.

Going Public

This evening was incredible. Not only was my good friend and recording artist, Blake Aaron here to lead worship, but God did some amazing things during our service. Tonight, eight students followed the Lord in water baptism. Eight students went public in their walk with God. I'm so proud of Brett, Ben, Katie, Shannen, Amanda, Erika, Morgan, and Melanie. It was awesome as many parents were there in order to support their student. Many for the very first time. I preached a message tonight called, Going Public and talked about the Ethiopian in Acts 8 who begged Phillip to be baptized. It was along the "dessert road" where scripture says they came upon a body of water. I can only envision a gigantic crowd of people that must have been present by a body of water that was deep enough to baptize someone. A body of water that could be found along the side of a road called the "dessert road". Imagine the surprise the people got when this dark European man was being dipped in their drinking water. Why was he doing it? Because he was wanting to follow Jesus and take his faith public. Many times we are content in having our "personal relationships" with Jesus, but have we ever thought about what it means to take our relationship public? Have we ever stopped to realize that our personal relationship is very special, but that in a different way, our public relationship is just as important? So what about you today? Will you join those tonight who stood up and took their walk with God to a whole new level?  If you have the opportunity, will you do whatever it takes to take your relationship with God public?

Water Baptism Wednesday

I am so excited about our water baptismal service that is coming up on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Central Assembly of God. I have already talked to several students who over the past few years have commited their lives to Christ and are excited about following God in water baptism this Wednesday. It's going to be an awesome evening as we pack out the house, celebrate with those who are taking an enormous step in their walk with God, and rock out with special guest musician, Blake Aaron. You won't want to miss out. So if you're looking to slide come slide with us this Wednesday. 

Evening Out

Got to present the gospel to over 850 people tonight at the 99. It was really awesome. 251 received Christ. Now I can go to bed and sleep good. Tomorrow presents a whole-nother day and I can't wait to continue in our series at the church. I will be sharing a message entitled, Battle for the Heart, and I will be talking about putting on the breasplate of righteousness from Ephesians 6.

Water-logged

Tonight was night 3 of 5 for H2Overflow. It was awesome after a day of mowing the lawn and washing the cars. It was a hot day and so the water felt incredible. Tomorrow night is going to be the biggest night of all at the Kremlin swimming pool. We've rented out the joint and you need to come from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and hang with us. There will be food, drinks and all sorts of diving contests. Don't miss out! I had to post this picture to show you just how much my little girl is growing up. I can't believe that she is swimming in the deep end now with floaties! It's so awesome, but I wish time would slow down a bit. Well, I'm water-logged and so I'm going to go chillax with the fam. Until tomorrow - don't forget to eat your Twinkies.

Twitter

Today was just another great day. I took some time to put some thoughts down on paper for this Sunday morning. I'm excited to be sharing again with the peeps here at Central Assembly. I rode my bicycle to work today and I'm sure that I was quite a site to see riding across a four lane highway with a Sonic cup in my hand. You might have noticed that a new feature on my blog are the Twitter Updates on the left hand side. Now you can check out what is going on with me during the most random times in my life. I'll do my best to keep this Twitter updated and the cool thing is that I can control it from my phone. So keep posted, and if you have Twitter, then "follow me".

"The 99"

Yesterday was an awesome day. I had the opportunity to share the Word of God in the morning service here at Central Assembly of God about the "Belt of Truth" as we are currently sharing a series entitled, Dress for Success. After a rather lengthy nap, we congregated once again here at the church for a look at Mark Batterson's "One Prayer" sermon on video about becoming "Dreamers". It was pretty amazing. However, the real highlight of the day for me was being a part of the counseling team at The 99. A group from Tulsa has put together a "Reality Theater" and are here in Enid, Oklahoma for the month of July. The theater is an attempt to explain to young people that the effects their choices make will not only impact their lives, but that their choices even influence the lives of others around them.The name, The 99, derives from a CDC statistic that says in the course of one day that 99 students between the ages of 10-25 will lose their lives due to alcohol, drugs, suicide, drunk driving accidents and poor choices. I had the opportunity to sit and meet with some awesome people here from Enid as we discussed the different rooms that they were able to experience last night. I had the opportunity to pray with a young 7th grader who asked Christ into his life, and I had the opportunity to invite many who were un-churched to come check out Central. It was amazing. As I mentioned yesterday morning, sometimes we waver a bit and are afraid of how people are going to respond to what we have to say. Even I was a bit timid and intimidated last night for the first few people. However, the confidence and boldness of the Holy Spirit took over and it was exciting to be a part of what was taking place. I can't wait until this next weekend. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are the last nights for the event. If possible, come through the tent to see the production or get involved on the counseling end and impact lives. Last night was my first night, but I am already stoked about this coming weekend. Saturday, I will have the opportunity to be in the last room of the event sharing for four minutes with people as they come through. I'm ready. See ya out there.

Dress for Success

Tomorrow I have the awesome opportunity to share in the Sunday morning service at Central Assembly of God. Pastor is away doing ministry in Boston and he has left me to pick up the sermon series that he began two weeks ago. We are dealing with the Full Armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-14, and it is my responsibility to begin tomorrow by looking at the first item of clothing: The Belt of Truth. This world has a skewed view of what truth really is and I can't wait to be able to share about God's truth and what a life of truth can and should look like for a man or woman of God. Hope to see you tomorrow at 10:30 a.m.

Return From Camp

We just got back this afternoon from an incredible week of kids camp in Wichita, Kansas. It's always fun to hangout with kids, play games and encourage them in their relationships with Christ and that is what we did for the past week. As Matt, Miss Tammie, and I arrived with our kids to Wheat State Camp they gave us our room assignments and the fun began. Matt and I were given one of the largest cabins on the grounds. We teamed up with two other men and took on a cabin of 32 boys. It was crazy! Let me just tell you that the HDD was running extremely high this week! The first night, however, was simply amazing. During the service they gave the initial altar call inviting the guys and gals to begin a relationship with Jesus. That night, following the service, two boys from our cabin who were a bit shy and didn't go forward during the service, decided right there in our cabin that they wanted to ask Christ into their lives. So I had the awesome opportunity of leading them in a prayer. It was a great start to an awesome week. One of my highlights of the week was blobbing kids on the lake. The best way to describe the blob is that it is like a gigantic whoopie cushion that is blown up and anchored on the lake. The kids sit on one end while the counselors jump off of a 15 foot high platform onto the blob shooting the kids straight up into the air. Eventually, as their little arms and legs flail and swing they crash into the lake and it is tons of fun for everyone. (See pic to left) The week ended on a great note this morning as our team, "The Aliens" were awarded the Camp Champ metals! It was an awesome week, but the most amazing parts were the lives that were changed. I'll never forget a little guy I met from Manhatten, Kansas. His name is Josiah and he's only 8 years old. All throughout the week this little guy and I just had a great connection. He loves Jesus and knows that one day he is going to be a pastor. I took some pictures with him and will be posting them soon. I don't think I'll ever forget him. It was a great week. I know that many children's lives were affected for the kingdom of God, but I still believe that this camp experience this week, might have impacted me more than anyone else!