The Low Down

Loving What I Do

Today, myself and nine others landed safely in Charlotte, North Carolina for this weekends National Fine Arts Conference. Every year, we have the opportunity for students to participate in different areas of ministry with other students in the Assemblies of God all over the U.S. We arrived in Charlotte around 3 p.m. - hoped a shuttle to the hotel and then immediately made our way to the metro rail. We purchased tickets for the train, traveled down town and got registered for the event. After dinner, we made our way to the arena where the Charlotte Bobcats play, which will be the building that hosts our evening rallies every night this week. It's always amazing to see 12,000+ students and young adults worshipping God and packing out a facility that typically houses rowdie beer drinkers and chest painters. As we bombard the place, we believe that we truly have something to celebrate. Tonight we rocked out with Planet Shakers during worship (which will be the case every night) and we can't wait to hear KJ52 tomorrow. It's going to be an awesome day. It comes soon - so I had better run. Pics will be posted soon. Thanks again for checking out the blog.

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!

Sunday Splash

Went to Splash Zone tonight with the church for family day. Each fifth Sunday we take the opportunity to do something special as a church family. Tonight, we rented out the local water park. We had some burgers and dogs and rode the water slides. It was a blast to see all of my Ignition people out soaking up the rays and having a great time. Kierstyn had a blast at the kiddie slides and shouted, "Look out Below" each time she went down head first. It was awesome. I can't wait for what this week has in store for us. I hope that yours is a great one. Talk to ya soon! 

Coming Out of Retirement

This evening I returned to one of my past loves - softball. I pulled the mitt out of storage, found a good ball cap and dusted off the cleets. Tonight, it was time to come out of retirement because my church needed me. As a youth pastor in Kansas and Indiana I was actively involved on softball teams. In Kansas it was a co-ed team and in Indiana a men's league. Playing softball and baseball have been an important part of my life for years, but since I became a pastor it has also been a thorn in my flesh as well. From time to time, I tend to get a little overly competitive. Tonight, though, I decided to practice restraint and just go have some fun - and I did. The Central Team played great. Our ladies are real players and can hit the ball great. I hid in the outfield so that I could shut my mouth and not be heard. My first at bat, I hit a line drive past the short stop for a double. My second time up, I hit the ball a little harder in the gap and it rolled to the fence giving me a triple and my first RBI. My last at bat, I went deep to left center for a two run homer. Man was it great to be back! We have two games coming up Tuesday, and I'm already looking forward to them. I think I could get used to keeping my mouth shut the rest of the season. Tonight was definitely worth it.

Burstin' Bubbles

Last night was a blast at Ignition Student Ministries. We had an awesome time continuing our Summer Road Trip series. We looked at a message entitled, "Who's in Your Car". We talked a bit at length about who students allow in the car with them on the road trips of life. There are typically three different types of people who ride with us. (1) People who Pull us down (2) People who Putt around with us (ie. our friends) and (3) People who Push us towards Greatness. Of course, we all need to get rid of the naysayers in our lives - that's a given! So we talked at great length about our friends (those who putt around with us and use up our fuel) and those who push us towards greatness. It's people who push us toward greatness that we need to reserve a seat for in our car as we travel the road trip that we called Life. We simply had a blast, and the Holy Spirit moved - the altar time was awesome and students connected with God.

Following the service we held Ignition's Largest Ever Water Fight. Balloons were flying. Buckets of water were being dumped. Guns were fired, and hoses were sprayed. It was awesome. (Posted are some pics of the event). It was just a total night of fun. 

Following the clean-up, a few of the youth staff went back to the house to cook some pizzas and watch the Germany vs. Turkey soccer game that we had recored from earlier in the day. As previously stated in an earlier blog, the Euro2008 is on and I am completely addicted to soccer when it is on tv. Now, Matt and Staci are hooked too! It's pretty awesome. I hope you enjoy a great day today. It's 97 degrees in the shade here in the heartland. Stay cool and hydrated. Tomorrow is the Chi Alpha scramble at the Jimmy Austin golf course on the campus of Oklahoma University. I'll be sure to post some pics of that as well. So until next time. Be good and keep it real.    

The Results: Hot Dog Palooza

In conjunction with our youth series, "Summer Road Trip" the creativity team and I were tossing around some ideas of some sweet events that we could hold this summer to excite our teens about being at youth on Wednesday nights. We began by talking about the different things that we would see on a road trip. We eventually gravitated towards some conversation about things familiarly found in a gas station. Last week students entered the building and were given an Ignition Gas Card. The card will be utilized every month during the service for specific give-a-ways. For instance, we served a fountain style coke and a bag of chips to every student at youth. A road map was on each seat in the youth room as we attempted to drive home the theme even that much more. So what about the hot dogs? Where do they fit in? Well, I'm sure that everyone has been by the gas station that has hot dogs that have been rotating on a cooker for 24 hours, so in an attempt to stick with our summer theme we thought that somehow we needed to incorporated hot dogs. Thus came the Hot Dog Palooza!

As promised I wanted to post a few pics here and give you an update on who won this storied event. But first - the details. We had two guys and two gals compete to see who could shove in the most dawgs in three minutes. Each contestant was given a large cup of water and 15 hotdogs. The contestants were Amanda Martin, Ben Streck, Jennifer Gumaer, and Jaden Lemmon. The worship center was ecstatic as the contestants took their places on the platform behind their plate of dawgs. Minutes later, Ben was declared the winner by knocking out 11 1/2 hotdogs. Jaden downed 9, Jennifer impressively ate ocho hotdogs, while Amanda ate a few and goofed around the rest of the time. So congratulations to everyone who participated. It was a great first-time event for us and I am already thinking of ways to make it more exciting for next year.

Hot Dog Palooza

I can tell that summer is almost here because I have had the ache to do one of my favorite summer hobbies - grilling out. With the new move from our apartment to the rental house, Kate decided to surprise me on Father's Day with a new charcoal grill. The past few nights, we have been grilling out big juicy burgers and gargantuan chicken breasts. It's been awesome!

This evening, we held our first ever Ignition Student Ministry Hot Dog Palooza. What is that you ask? We thought that in order to bring in the summer, what better way to do it than to have a hot dog eating contest. We selected four students to participate. Each received 15 hotdogs and a cup of water and were given 3 minutes to eat as many dogs as they could. I will post the winner and some pictures tomorrow on this blog. It was fun, as we rooted Amanda, Ben, Jennifer and Jaden and cheered them on as they gorged on Oscar Meyer's. Following the service, every student joined in by eating a hot dog and downing a soda. It was a great night, and it just goes to show that summer is around the corner. So have a great time, and remember to eat those dogs responsibly.

The Youth Camp Experience

I have been unable to blog over the past week due to my absence from civilization. This past week (June 2nd-6th) we spent down at Turner Falls in the Arbuckle Mountains at youth camp. It was an awesome time as students lives were rocked for Jesus. We were led into worship by The Bridge Worship Team from Mustang, Oklahoma, and our camp speaker was Dan Hunter from Seven Student Ministries in Dallas, Texas. It was incredible to watch as God moved in students hearts and completely rocked their lives for Him. During the first night of camp, Dan preached about removing the chains from our lives. It was during the first service that many students decided to get the "junk" out of their lives. Night two was awesome as well, as Dan mentioned that not only do we need to get the sin out of our lives, but scripture also talks about removing the weights and those things that seem to weigh us down. It was awesome to see students around the altars seeking God, and it was amazing to watch the Lord cut away things in their lives that wasn't even "sin", but were things that simply were holding these teens back from going deeper in their walk with God.

As we finished up our last night (Thursday), we were all in a huge circle and I can vividly remember my wife telling our students how much of a challenge it is going to be to take all of these experiences back home and live them out in our every day lives for Christ. "Satan is waiting to steal from you the work that God has done in your life this week." I have to admit that God has truly done some incredible things in me at camp this year as well. He has spoke some things into my heart about Fathering a Fatherless Generation and I am so hungry to be used by God in students lives. It was an amazing week for me, but I definately wasn't ready to face what happened to my family once we arrived home. As many of you know, we made the move in faith to Oklahoma last March. Leaving a house on the market in Indiana, we knew that God was calling us to Enid and Central Assembly of God. To this day, I have no doubts that this is where we are supposed to be. God has confirmed it numerous times while we have been here. Our youth ministry is thriving and growing and we are happy here. When we moved, we found a wonderful two-bedroom apartment here that allows animals. We have been in this apartment for over a year, and things have been great - until this week. We arrived home from camp only to find a letter on our door that stated that since we are leasing month-to-month we are being asked to move out by the end of June and that our lease is not being renewed. Welcome home!

We have struggled with what to do. Tired beyond all imagination we worked until late in the hours on Friday night trying to make something happen. Rental properties in Enid are like gold. The housing market is booming here. We found a rental house just down the street from the church, but have been told that we can not take Deuce, our family dog of 6 years, with us. So we are discombobulated over here a little, but we still know that God is in control. We trust Him and are ready to do whatever it is He wants us to do. It's a tough time, but we are holding on to the hand of God. We have some decisions to make here in the next few days. Please pray with us. I'll be sure to let you know what all happens!

*Sorry to my blog family about not writing as consistently as I normally do because of camp, but please know that there are many more blogs and thoughts on the way. Thanks for reading. 

NCAA Party

We had a great night last night.  Some of the men of the church got together at Brian and Misty Kensinger's house in Pheasant Run.  We had some barbecue and played the Wii a bit before the game started.  We hung out and watched the first half together.  It was awesome to just get together with a wide range of ages of men and enjoy laughter and a connect.  To top it off, the Jayhawks pulled it out in OT.  Friends, you have never been to a great venue to see a college basketball game until you have been to Fog Allen Fieldhouse.  Many congrats to all my friends out in Jayhawk country.  I was pulling for a big win with you all.  "Rock Chalk Jay Hawk - KU".   

Meeting Alex

As promised, allow me to share some stories with you from my trip that have literally changed my life forever. I'll start with just one tonight.

I met Alex on Thursday, as we showed up at the orphanage where he lived. The moment we entered the door of the home, the children all turned their attention toward us. They had been watching a video in their classroom and instantly they popped up and came to the waiting area to greet us. Clothed in a little green sweatshirt came a small guy with a few front teeth missing. It was Alex. With his big smile he gave me a five and then scooted in closer for a hug.

We began our program for the kids and they had a blast. After one of our skits, they began to say, "otro vez" over and over again which in spanish which means, "another time". So we gave them what they wanted. They laughed with us and had a good time. After the presentations of our dramas and skits, we gave them toys, candy and the Book of Hope in their language. It was like Christmas. Little kids were leafing through the Bible's that we had given them - their own personal copy - and then we showed them the Godman video. Many of the children were glued to the tube as they watched the gospel presented to them (pictured above is Alex watching the Godman). The entire morning was incredible.

As we were leaving the home, I really felt led to pray a prayer over Alex. I called our interpreter Jesse Frank over to help me and I began to pray. I really believe that the Spirit of God was speaking to me, telling me that I needed to pray over this young man because God has some incredible plans for his life. I really believe that he could be the one who God uses to revolutionize Mexico for Jesus! So I prayed (see picture to the right). I don't think I will ever forget this experience. I don't think I will ever forget the morning that we spent with so many children who wanted nothing from us except love. It was awesome to be God's hands extended to those children who so desperately need the love of Christ. It was an experience that God has forged on my heart and I promise that I will never ever forget it.