The Way

Photo by Harrison's Lens It has been a bit of a whirlwind since the Big Day of the Wil and Morgan wedding. They honeymooned in Mexico and came back relaxed and tanned and ready to start real life together and 6 weeks in to their marriage they are doing great. Their apartment is set up and they are back into a routine of work and living life. I do want to share this picture with you of Morgan and me walking down the aisle. The first time I saw it, well, I might have teared up a little. So honored to be dad to both Morgan and Shelbi and now dad-in-law to Wil and Mark. Who knew it could be this good? Mark and Shelbi are doing great and extremely busy. Mark's season of work is much like mine in the summer. We work about 10 months behind the scenes and then summer hits and we run like crazy as campers hit our respective sites. Mark is training for IRONMAN Arizona which takes place in November so he is swimming, biking and riding whenever he can between a busy work schedule. ...

This young lady and her beau have written such a nice classic Christmas song. McKenzie Lockhart works with us in the World Changers/P2 Missions office. She is an incredible artist and a beautiful soul. You can search her other stuff on YouTube as well.

When I was a small boy growing up in rural Missouri, my parents asked me, "Where have you been?" quite often. Sometimes the inquiry was because I had been away from home without specific permission; sometimes because I was away longer than I had permission; and, sometimes they wanted to hear about my adventures. Here is an update on some of my adventures the past couple of months -  Since mid-April most of my adventures have been around Nashville. There were a couple of trips but they were mostly uneventful We made a quick trip to Panama City Beach, FL mid-May to support Mark in his 70.3 triathlon. The water was rough so they cancelled the swim. He got a good finish and we had a ball with him and Shelbi. Sondra and I celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary that same weekend. Morgan graduated with her Master of Social Work from the University of Tennessee and my dad and cousins came down to attend the graduation and hang out for a few days. It was great to have ...

One thing that has not been happening is me posting to the blog. It seems that about the time I get more disciplined in one area of my life (more about that later) I seem to drop some other things. Writing down my thoughts and meanderings seems to have taken a back seat the last month. I will attempt to do better. We'll see. Our Christmas and New Year's were wonderful. I had the last couple of weeks of 2012 off from work and we decided that we would not travel during the holiday season. Shelbi and Mark spent about 5 days with us right around Christmas and we thoroughly enjoyed having them here. Of course, they brought Bear, their new dog with them and he is a great addition to their family. We watched alot of football, enjoyed the company of family and friends and the weather broke a couple of days so I was able to get a couple of outdoor bike rides in and even jumped in the lake with my new wet suit in Dec. Sondra enjoyed her time off from school and we enjoyed lots o...

So the last two weeks have included a lot of in the car trips. Since I was driving I got to throw my bike in the back so even though I did alot of driving, I did some a couple of fun rides as well. Morgan and I headed out to Chattanooga for a World Changers project and enjoyed some time together along with visiting some great ministry sites. I host Ben Trueblood and Eric Geiger for some of the sites and really enjoyed spending time with them. Both of those guys are great guys who got to see students in action helping others. It was alot of fun. Over the weekend, our family met up in Rome, Ga for Shelbi's 23rd birthday and we had a great weekend. I got a nice bike ride in over to Berry College and Winshape, we ate cake, Mark and I played a little golf and we attended church together on Sunday. It was such a blessing for all of us to be together! On Sunday, I headed towards the mountains of North Georgia to meet with a great church and help their staff work through some cla...

I am thankful I get to do what I get to do. These past two weeks have been pretty fast and furious. On Father's Day afternoon, after church and lunch, I headed towards Chicago to speak at our World Changers project up there for the week. It was a great week of ministry. The crews that came did all kinds of work in the Chicago suburbs. I enjoyed speaking and getting to know so many. God moved in a pretty big way and there were 7 salvations of those in the area. God is that good. You can see some of the week's highlights here if you are interested. I headed home on Saturday and enjoyed some time with Sondra before she headed out on Monday to go be with her mom in Tulsa. Sondra's mom had back surgery almost 4 weeks ago and she seems to be doing fair, but not great. We are hoping for her to have another MRI to see what is causing the most recent pain. I am enjoying having Morgan home and Jordan is with us this summer. He is a recent Union grad and doing an internship he...

So why does someone with so much going on not stop and blog about it? Laziness and excuses come to mind. Since I last informed you of the Turner happenings - Morgan graduated from Union University w/ honors. She gets her looks and personality from me but thankfully her brains from Sondra.Wilson, her beau, graduated as well and I think we may see alot of him this summer. That's not a bad thing (for the most part). ;-) We moved Morgan home and moved one of her classmates in for a couple of months for an internship here in Nashville. The housing that had been arranged fell through and we have a spare room. Jordan is fun to have around and doesn't eat much. I have made a few trips but can't remember where I went so I guess it has been too much lag time since. Work is busy! World Changer and P2 Missions projects are up and running after 2 weeks of training. It was my first go around with the training part of getting summer staff ready. It is a very involved and focus pro...

The last few weeks have been somewhat of a whirlwind for the Turners. I somehow thought it was a good idea to cram my schedule so full of "good" stuff and forgot that at some point I was going to need to rest a little. If you have kept up at all with some of my travels you know that I overextended. I love what I get to do but even too much of a good thing is still too much. All of my weekends were involved in training youth leaders or encouraging people coupled with a week of teaching at Midwestern Seminary, a quick trip to Alaska (which was awesome and encouraging), to attending one of our World Changers Spring Break projects in Birmingham and then a weekend of training in Kentucky. It was crazy. Sondra went on a mission trip to Guatemala with our church, Hermitage Hills, and did construction (I know, right?), worked with kids, taught a women's Bible study based off of our friend's (Hayley DiMarco) book, The Fruitful Wife, and even did some sewing. To say the lea...

As crazy as it sounds, I began year 21 at LifeWay this week. I would have never imagined that God would allow me to serve Him through one place this long. What an incredible ride and storied past. I began as an editor for some discipleship resources; transitioned to managing the youth discipleship section; became a consultant in discipleship; ran back to the student area as an editor and most recently as a specialist helping student leaders minister to students and their families. What an amazing run and what a great ministry like LifeWay that has allowed me to grow and stretch and learn and help others. I am excited about a new opportunity that LifeWay is allowing me to influence and guide. In September, Eric Geiger announced a new strategic emphasis for our World Changers and P2 Missions (PowerPlant) ministries called “Change the City, Change the World”. (You can read that announcement here .) The impact of the cities upon the culture of the world is powerful. So . . . God is ...

So recently there has been a lot of talk about me building some margin into my life and I would like to tell you that I have made great strides in that area but that might be a stretch. Except, this week, Sondra and I have been on vacation. After spending a little time with my friends at World Changers and their worship leaders this summer, Sondra and I climbed in the car and headed east. Our first stop was in Maryville, TN to see our friends the Kooch's. Wonderful friends who used to live in Nashville and moved to the Knoxville area and we have kept in touch with them over the years. On Sunday, we headed to Florence, SC and stayed a couple of days with Tom and Georgina Carringer. Other friends of ours who used to live in Nashville but Tom is a big shot at ACS now and they are based in Florence. We enjoyed seeing them and Jacob and Denise and their three, Malachi, Zeke and Fiona. All three of the kids were great to be around and so were their parents. It was great to catch up ...