The Way

We got home from Romania on Sunday night after quite an adventure of digging our way out of our street in Braila, driving through the snow, shopping a little in Bucharest where it was snowing like crazy, short night at the hotel and early to the Bucharest airport to catch our flight to Munich. It all went off w/o a hitch. (I hope to post video of some of that adventure soon.) In Munich we had a few hours layover and most of us had not slept much the couple of days before but we were headed home. We boarded our flight to Dulles (Washington, DC) where they had received 2 ft. of snow on Saturday/ early Sunday. It was a long flight filled with many laughs, movie viewings, and restlessness mixed w/ a little sleep. Landing in Dulles and claiming luggage for customs and passport control was crazy. As before mentioned, DC had received 2 ft of snow and 75% of the airport ground crew did not show up for work. We finally got luggage, made it through customs, rechecked our luggage and have not see...

Ministry on Weds. was here in Braila at Home of Hope and we had a great time ministering to the children in the orphanage. Our team has done a great job of preparing and then having plans change and then have them change again. They have responded brilliantly. Here is a video from Weds. ministry. On Thursday we headed into town and ministered to an area that has a church but no pastor. We were able to minister to a bunch of kids in a very small room and it was great fun. Some of our team headed out for home visits and found the city life and little less open to the Gospel. They came back encouraged though that they were being used for what God had called us to do. We also spent time in the morning making Christmas crafts for the staff here at Home of Hope and make all kinds of decorations that are adorning their areas now. The video can be viewed here (with maybe a little looking around on my site). It is now Friday am and we are snowed and colded in. The temp is about 12 w/ feels li...

What a great day of ministry here in Romania today. We woke up to snow, it has snowed all day, and it is snowing now. Weatherman is calling for snow the next three days. We ventured out to our ministry sites and made home visits in the blowing snow, did children's ministry in a warm spot, and prayed alot as we ministered and our bus drivers navigated the snowy landscape. The team is doing great. The children, youth and adults we have the privilege of serving are wonderful. We have eaten well and had sausage and cabbage tonight for dinner so who knows what the night holds. Cabbage is an interesting vegetable that does unusual things to one's stomach. Let the games begin! Here is a quick video from our work tonight on the hats, scarves and gloves give away that we will do later in the week. We are not sure what the weather will allow us to do tomorrow but we are planning on ministry to children and youth somewhere here in Romania one way or the other.

It has been a full day of ministry here in Romania. Our two teams ministered in four different villages here doing programs for children involving music, Bible stories, games, crafts and many other activities. It was a great day of sharing in homes as well. The children are a delight to work with as are the adults. We did youth ministry programs which involved many who were in their 20s but they responded well. All the team members are doing a great job and everyone is healthy! The day was long and cold but very productive. Will post more tomorrow and try to upload some video as well. Thanks for praying for us. They are calling for quite a bit of snow for the rest of the week so that will make it more exciting. It may as well snow with it being this cold. Having a great time!

It is 730ish a.m., Sunday, here in Braila Romania and most of the team is stirring around upstairs. Safe to say that many of them are pretty tired as am I but we got a good night's sleep last night. We are staying at the Home of Hope Orphanage and it is very nice accommodations with good warmth, nice beds, and hot water. Yea! (and internet obviously) We have a total of 18 on the team and soon will be headed out to serve two different churches in the Braila area. Our team will be leading in worship through singing, testimonies, preaching and whatever else they would like for us to do. The afternoon is to consist of doing some children's ministry and encourage them to come back each day after school. We have many crafts, games, and lessons planned for them. Our trip went very well. 10 of us left from Nashville about 630p on Friday and met the other 8 in Dulles, (who had come from Dallas, Charleston, and other places I am not remembering right now). All of our luggage and supplies...

It would be nice if that meant it was "slow down time" but in most cases, it means, "turn it up because there is a lot to accomplish." I headed to Orlando last Thurs. for the annual student meeting with NAMB and enjoyed my short time with them Thurs and part of Fri. I love those guys and their heart for God and for students. I really cannot believe God lets me do the stuff I get to do. The weekend was extremely busy with ballgames on Friday night (I love announcing our home games and have a great court-side seat); haircut, neighborhood brunch, SEC championship game on TV with good friends Keith and Laurie D, and the late showing of The Blind Side. What a very good movie and to all the Alabama fans, good win against Florida. I am not a fan of either team but do like Tebow and his stand for Christ. Sunday was filled with Community Cares with Morgan and the student council from DCA. We worshipped at a local methodist church and the Rev. Pat did a great job with the Mi...

We enjoyed having Sondra's family with us for Thanksgiving and hit the ground running this week. The weekend was filled with Morgan playing basketball; Sondra, her sister, Bronwyn and mother traveling to Atlanta for the wedding of Nola who turns 80 this week. She married a great guy who is 86. I love it when people do not quit living even though they might be getting older. We have enjoyed having my mother-in-law these past two weeks. She flies back to MO tomorrow and I head to Orlando for the NAMB Youth Evangelism Mtg. I am pretty sure I will stay away from Isleworth and all things Tiger Woods. He has enough going on and quite honestly I am praying that God would get a hold in his life and save their marriage. It is another case of having everything except Christ and He alone is the one who can fill your life complete. This next week many state directors will be at our office in Nashville and the week will be filled with meetings. I am also trying to pull together the rest of the ...

It has been a great week off from work. Got home late Sunday night from 4 days in Atlanta at the YS Youth Worker's Conference. It was great to see many old friends there and to meet some new ones. I love being around youth ministers and leaders and the FUGE team I got to work with is just too cool. On Monday it was nice to be at home, hang out with my mother-in-law who is with us for a couple of weeks, watch Morgan play ball and just be home. On Tuesday I headed to Memphis to catch up with a good college buddy and watch Memphis and UCA play. Got to spend time with another good friend, Mike Priest who is a buddy of mine from LifeWay who is now pastoring in Bartlett. So fun to see those guys, watch some basketball and just hang out. Drove home on Weds. and immediately started cleaning gutters, raking leaves and changing out some burned out floodlights on the corner of the house. It was a beautiful day in Nashville and nice to be outside. Sondra's sister and brother-in-law and the...

Sometimes I enjoy these kinds of awareness exercises. Makes me wonder if I really pay attention to what people say and do. See if you can count the # of passes the white team makes.

The company that I work for has developed something new for the XBox. Glad I work with folks who want to get the Word to people in multiple formats and experiences.

Flew out of Nashville early on Fri. via Atlanta to Richmond. It was a dreary, rainy day in Richmond on Friday and a little cool. Met up with Kelly Davis and his wife, Sarah their son, Samuel at the Expo at 11a. Picked up all the race stuff, a couple of PowerGels and then headed to a nice little Italian restaurant for pasta. It was a nice meal at a good price and then we headed to theDavis' home. Kelly is a ministry buddy of mine who works for the IMB and had graciously invited me to stay with them on Fri. night. Pretty much laid around most of the afternoon and then we headed out to PizzaFusion for a little more carbo loading. I dined on the organic 4 cheese, sun-dried tomato pizza w/ wheat crust. It was very good for sure. We headed back to the house in the rain and watched some football and then headed to bed. Morning came early and I ate a bagel and drank plenty of water and gatorade. Kelly was running the half-marathon and his race started at 730a so we headed out about 615a. ...

Finished up the Biblical Worldview class at NOBTS on Sat. and had a great time with the students. On Sat. afternoon I traveled to Picayune, MS and spoke at FBC, Picayune Sunday morning, KNOWN training in the afternoon and then spoke in the p.m. service. It was a great time with them. FBC has a great staff and beautiful facilities. The parents and members were very receptive and it was a very good day with them. I flew back to Nashville on Monday and was glad to get out of there before Hurricane Ida/Tropical Storm Ida decided to make landfall. All in all the storm moved east, deluged the Florida Panhandle and is still churning over the mid-Atlantic. I am to run Richmond Marathon on Sat. and praying the rain moves on out of there. I have run marathons in the rain before and it is not just a whole lot of fun. I fly over early tomorrow, meet up with some ministry friends from IMB and work a little on the Romania Mission trip I lead Dec. 11-20. Pray for that trip and the planning leading up...

We enjoyed the Vandy/GA Tech game on Saturday night with our friends Keith and Laurie. We do not get with them enough, but every time we do, it sure is good. Sunday ended up being a fairly busy day with teaching sunday school, worship and then some good yard work. With the rain and wind that we had on Sat. our leaves decided to part ways with the trees and become a new carpet on the ground. I raked for awhile and then mowed the lawn. Sure looked nice for about 30 min. before more leaves decided to fall. This week has been busy with many meetings at work, but the evenings have been at home. Very nice for sure. I head out tomorrow for New Orleans and am teaching a Worldview class at the seminary. It will be alot of work and alot of fun. Always thankful when I get the opportunity to teach and I get to spend time with my former boss, Dr. Clyde Hall. Clyde sure invested in me a lot and I am always thankful for any time I get with him. Sondra, Morgan and Shelbi are all doing well. Sondra is ...

Thought I would share one of the early and great videos of the whole Michael Jackson era (post The Jackson 5, of course). Enjoy.

Ran across this story and video and thought that this is the kind of stuff that needs to happen more. I have to admit that I have to set aside and even rid myself of the bias I have many times. This video runs a little over 5 min. but it is worth it.

The new Cowboys Stadium is amazing. It also cost a boat load of money and all of the hype surrounding this stadium has me thinking. Those of you who know me well know that thinking is not my strongest asset, but here are some of my thoughts. I guess it works in my mind that people like Jerry Jones would want to build monuments to themselves under the guise of building stadiums. But... that is a lot of money. I mean a lot. I could do the figures and figure out just how much that is, but I am thinking you could feed and clothe alot of people for that amount of money. I have traveled some around the world and seen just a small portion of the poverty that is out there and I tell you, $1.15 billion would buy alot of food and clothes and medicine. And, we play games in these buildings. Sounds sort of Roman Empirish to me. And then it hits me. Many of our churches are monuments that we build and in many of those churches, we play games. We preach pablum and teach our students to be entertaine...

Iowa State is not a football powerhouse and Nebraska sure is not the team that they used to be in the Tom Osborne days but this is one exciting locker room. Thought I would post it for your enjoyment.

Actually it was a nice weekend in Middle Tennessee. Once we got past Fri. am where the rain came in torrents at times. It also happened to be the day of my 20-miler getting ready for the Richmond Marathon that runs on Nov. 14. Some of you will know that I decided not to run Detroit and if you are interested in that story see this post . The run on Fri. was a good mental toughness run and it did not pour the whole time, just about 1/3 of the time with continual rain the other 2/3. Other than a few bad spots rubbed, it was a good training run. Friday night DCA played FRA on CSS and we got a call from our friends in Florida saying they saw us playing FRA which raised the cool factor quite a bit. Morgan mugged for the tv cameras and it is rumored that she was on quite a bit. DCA won which sets up a big contest in Knoxville this Fri. with us vs. Know-Webb. Sondra and I enjoyed the weekend together with sleeping in on Sat./Panera for breakfast and then some DCA Lady Cats volleyball mid-after...

The last 9 days have been up and down for me. Morgan's team qualified for the state soccer playoffs and hosted Knox Webb on Sat. You know that I chose not to run Detroit on Sunday since it would mean I would have to miss the game on Saturday. The DCA Lady Wildcats soccer team played one of the best games I have seen them play and fell to the visiting team 1-0. It was a very good game and Morgan played especially well. It was sad for her and us for the team to lose but it was good that she went out leaving all of her best game on the field. Tears were shed but a late lunch/early dinner at Big Bad Wolf helped ease some of the sting. Having done marathon training the past 16 weeks, it was really weird not to run this Sun. and I began to try and find a race I could run that was not to far away or too far away from the race date I had been training for. A search revealed that Richmond and San Antonio ran on a weekend that I did not have an obligation so then it became trying to figure ...

My dad, Charles Turner, turned in his resignation /retirement letter to East Lynne Baptist Church this past Weds. I believe he has been pastoring/preaching for 48 years. This is an open letter to the greatest man I know. I have known you for 46 years and in those 46 years you have taught me so many things. Nothing you have taught me is more important than what it is to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. You told me about Christ, you have modeled Christ-living all the days that I have known you, and you continue to show and tell others of the wonderful changing grace of God. You have taught me that honesty is always the right choice. You have modeled that in so many ways. You have taught me the power of honoring your spouse. You have always cherished your wife, my mother, and that was never more evident than in the last few months of mom's life as you cared for her in such a loving way. But, the years leading up to that were filled with that same kind of honor for mom. ...

Back in June I made a decision to start training for the Detroit FreePress Marathon . I had planned to run it last year too but some Sondra's dad passed away and I needed to be in MO rather than MI so I ran KC Marathon instead of Detroit. I ran a Boston qualifier there so I was pleased. This was going to be the year to run Detroit. I wanted to run in a different state and it also crosses over in to Canada and back so an international marathon would be in the books too. I began training and it all went fairly well. Not the best training but good enough to finish respectfully. Tapering started three weeks ago and then on Sunday I found out that Morgan's soccer team, DCA Lady Wildcats, had made the playoffs and that their season would be extended at least through this Sat. I am choosing not to miss Morgan's games. With her being a sr. and no "next year" for her, I will not be going to Detroit this weekend to run. I cannot work out travel and packet pick-up on Sat. T...

Do you ever get to that point where it just seems completely overwhelming? I know many times it is because I am over extended in commitments or maybe just poor time management on my part. I find myself wondering just how much I really need to be involved in. At times I get consumed by others expectations of all that I "should" be doing and striking a healthy balance in lifestyle seems elusive. I really do not feel that kind of tension right now however. I am thankful for my job (completing 17 years at LifeWay at the end of this month)and am very blessed with an incredible wife and two amazing daughters. I am fairly healthy (cholesterol is not the best but manageable)and can still run and get out and do most things I want to do. My mind is pretty alert most of the time (late night is not the best thinking time for me) and for the most part, I have not made to many enemies. The overwhelming part for me is just how much God loves me. I know that I do not deserve anything I have ...

Found this on YouTube and thought it was worth sharing. I have a two floor rule at work or anywhere I find myself. If there are stairs and I am going up two floors, I skip the elevator and take the stairs. I think you will like this video. It will make you smile.

Here is a series of pics from Morgan's facebook account that you should be able to look at. Needless to say we had a great night! If you are interested in the entire senior group and the queen announcement, you can watch this video. This pic includes my mother-in-law too. What an added blessing to have her with us for Homecoming and Sr. Night for this coming Monday too.

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind. We had our LifeWay National Youth Worker's Conference which went great and here is an article to recap it if you are interested. It was a great event. Last week I headed to CA for the Youth Specialties Convention and we enjoyed our time in LA but the attendance and traffic through the exhibits was much less than desired. It was good to reconnect with some ministry friends and some of the leadership of YS. I have to tell you that I am a huge fan of Mark Matlock and his role in changing the tone and culture of their events. He is a great guy and I am thankful for his leadership at YS. While in LA I caught that 48-hour bug that seems to be going around and missed the trip to the Santa Monica Pier (which is celebrating 100 years) but I have been there before. Missed hanging out with the team though. We did manage to catch a taping of Leno and a some of the team went to the taping of Conan the day he crashed on the set and got a concussion. Th...

I got this today and thought you might enjoy seeing how our money is being spent on Shelbi at Union University. That's our girl right there. Busy day today with me starting the day with a 20-mile run and finishing with a meeting for DCA this evening. Needless to say I am pretty spent. Headed to L.A. tomorrow for YS - National Youth Worker's Conference. L.A. is not my favorite place and the Dodgers are in Pittsburgh so there goes that idea.

This week was a whirlwind in many ways. We hosted the LifeWay National Youth Worker's Conference this week here in Nashville and had a great time. We heard from Steven Curtis Chapman , David Platt, Aaron Ivey Band , Blue Tree , The Skit Guys , Brad Stine and had over 25 breakout conferences as well. This was our second year to host this event and it grew by about 100 attendees. DCA Lady Wildcats played three soccer games this week and won 2 and lost 1. We have had so much rain that one day was completely rained out. It was good to get the games in and to have a little bit of a break. We are pretty short on subs and have had quite a few injuries so hopefully the break will give us time to heal. Dad and my aunt came through on Thurs-Sat to watch soccer and it was great to have them here. They are pretty much two peas in a pod and enjoy one another and are pretty good for one another too. It will be a busy week this week as well as I head to LA on Weds and will be out through Mon. fo...

You may have seen this video already, but I will tell you it is powerful. Take 5 minutes and then decide what you are going to do differently to make a difference in the world.

The last week has been incredibly busy with soccer games, holiday weekend, 10k race, office time, more meetings than I care to even remember and final preparation for the LifeWay National Youth Worker's Conference . All in all it has been very good, just very busy. I currently am in Orlando, FL for Rock the Universe which is a christian gathering at the parks that involves us in doing training, artist interviews, hanging out with youth leaders and hopefully getting to ride a couple of the rides. If you dig through their website you might even find a picture of me on there in case you have forgotten what I look like. We will also lead in three worship experiences tomorrow morning w/ my boss, Jeff Pratt speaking and the Michael Spooner Band leading in worship through music. I fly home tomorrow and we begin setting up for the LNYWC that runs through Weds. Busy week for sure but looking forward to spending time with the youth leaders coming our way to Nashville. Family is doing well ...

Let me be the first to say that I rarely live in denial, but it dawned on me this week that even though I have been closer to 50 than 40 for the last 364 days, I really am closer to 50 than 40 for real now. Tomorrow I turn 46. It will be the second birthday to celebrate w/o my mom being around, which although sort of sad, is not what it was last year. I do admit also that when my parents turned 46, I thought they were old. Heck, I thought they were old when they turned 30 but I was a kid and didn't know any better. Now I wonder what Shelbi and Morgan think of me turning 46? I have a lot of friends who are much older than me and I really do not think of them as being old. I don't think of myself being old. But, . . . I also have to admit that when I go to do some form of physical exercise, I feel older. Not ancient, just older. I do consider myself pretty studly after running 20 last Sat. but I have to admit, recovery takes a little longer than it used to. I am just not near as ...

It will always be true that the wisest course for the disciple is always to abide solely by the Word of God in all simplicity. D. Boenhoffer I just rediscovered this quote this week and am reminded that too many times I try to make it to hard. I am pretty troubled over some things happening at church and am really trying to pray, seek God, and not respond like I want to. I know that I could be wrong on a couple things related to this so I am really trying to seek out wisdom and understanding before doing anything. I want to be honoring in all that I think, say and do and right now that is just praying and asking God to guide my thoughts. I need wisdom and to be filled with grace. Morgan seems to be getting some better and made another visit to our chiropractor, and in my opinion the best witch doctor, uh, I mean chiropractor in the world. Don is truly one of those guys who loves the Lord and is very good at chiropractic care. Morgan said that today she felt some things move back into p...

I realize that I have not been the most up-to-date blog poster the last couple of months. All kinds of excuses but none of them are very good. Everyone is busy, etc., etc. I have enjoyed some time at home the last couple of weeks. I love my wife and daughters and even sort of like our Westie, Sadie, now more than I used to. Work has been pretty busy and I have been researching some new things to begin working on some new presentations. I have been doing quite a bit of reading and trying to figure out what youth leader's are asking and what some of the current issues that leaders are dealing with. I will post more on those findings on a new blog that we are going to be starting very soon for LifeWay Student Ministry . The LifeWay National Youth Worker's Conference is quickly approaching again and I have been trying to make sure all my ducks are in a row for that. We have a great team of folks that I get to work with on that event. You can find out info on the conference here . S...

Last week was somewhat of a whirlwind even though I was in town. Morgan and I got home late last Sunday night from Orlando and it was good to be home. Monday was a day of catch up and shopping for Sondra and the girls. Morgan had soccer practice and then started school on Tuesday. Her sr. year. Crazy! Wednesday found us headed to Jackson with a friend's Yukon packed with Shelbi's stuff. She is an RA this year so she needed to move in early. They have been in a retreat and then freshman show up later this week. Sondra had an endoscopy on Fri. and everything came out good. She has been suffering from anemia so they have checked her out pretty thoroughly in the last month. They have discovered a couple of things that could be the cause and are following up. Thankfully those two things are not major issues. The weekend was nice. Good to be home. I did an 18-miler on Sat. am in prep for the Detroit Marathon and was blessed to have a good friend, Dan run 14 of them with me. Always he...

Morgan and I got the opportunity to come to Orlando for the FL Youth Evangelism Conference and represent LifeWay Student Ministry . It has been a good weekend. We flew over on Fri. and leave out later tonight. We have not done a whole lot but I have really enjoyed just spending time with her. She starts her sr. year on Tues. at DCA and it is pretty hard to believe that time has flown by so quickly. Building 429 and Tony Nolan were the platform personalities and they did a very good job. There were close to 1oo decisions for Christ on Friday night and then yesterday afternoon students distributed groceries to over 100 families in the Orlando area. I love seeing students in action. I also had many great conversations with youth leaders about how we can more effectively minister to students. I love my job. Last night we met our friends the Keators for dinner at Pizza Fusion (all organic) and had a great time with them. We have known Patti for close to 25 years. We love the Keators and ...

This past week seemed to fly by to me. I was on retreat with the LifeWay Student Ministry Team on Weds./Thurs. and we met at Deer Run Retreat where Shelbi has been working all summer. (She finished today by the way.) I discovered a major issue in my left armpit that ended up being an abscess that the dr. lanced and packed. Looks like I will live. It did knock me out of an 18-miler on Sat. though. Lots has been happening with the Cash for Clunkers stuff in the media. Glad new cars are being sold, old gas hogs are being taken off the road, but not sure how much more I can afford for others to drive new cars and I am more than a little concerned about people making 7 years worth of payments on a new car that many might default on the loans. Didn't we sort of do this already with houses a few years ago which is sort of why we are where we are? Enjoying being off the road some. Morgan and I do head to Orlando this weekend to participate in the FL Youth Evangelism Conference on Fri/Sat...

As a matter of fact I do. I grew up minding my parents and now I pretty much mind my wife. No dig intended on my sweet Sondra. Those of you who know me, know that my motto is, "Do I want to be right, or do I want to be happy? I choose happy every time." Of course, that is said somewhat jokingly, well . . . at least a little. It was nice to be home this weekend. First one is awhile. Spent Friday afternoon at the pool with Sondra and Sat. am I got up and drove up to Hendersonville to play golf with Sid, Rick and Pat. Three great friends. My golf game was pretty lacking in all categories although I did manage to putt fairly well. After golf we headed to a mex place for lunch and then I met my family at the pool again. It was a long day outdoors, but there was no work involved. Shelbi was home for part of the weekend and brought Andrea, one of her friends from camp staff, and we grilled out and enjoyed the evening together. Sunday was fairly typical. I spoke in our parents of sma...

I usually choose not to bl0g about my political thoughts but feel compelled to make a point of clarification and wanted to post that clarification on my blog as well as other means of communication. When President Obama was elected in Nov. I shared in my blog that I did not vote for him but would support him through prayer. I disagree with many of his ideas and directions, but that does not mean I will not support him in prayer. You can see what I wrote on Nov. 5th here . Recently I have been accused of hating President Obama and nothing could be farther from the truth. I disagree with his ideas and the direction he is leading America in especially in the whole bailout issue, and health care reform. I think a better direction would be in less gov't. control and more focus on changing the insurance structure but do not profess to be an expert in either of those areas. I have many friends that I run with, associate with, etc. that I do not always agree with, but we continue to be fri...

I finished up my week at FUGE camps in Glorieta on Saturday after getting up very early, driving to Albuquerque in time to catch a 6a flight. It was good to be home around noon though. The week at Glorieta was very good. God showed up in a really, BIG way and many students' lives were changed. I also got a horseback ride in on Thurs. through Ruis Canyon. It had been awhile since I had ridden, but it was big fun and we saw a 4 ft. rattlesnake to boot. I was a real cowboy for sure. Also hiked on Fri. and it was good to be with a group of students for that. The weekend was sort of fast and furious but good. Always good to be home. We got to Shelbi for a few minutes on Sun. and she has about two weeks of camp left before she is done. Morgan has sort of an off week this week with no soccer yet, but still having to get her workouts in. Yesterday would have been my mom's 67th birthday. I do miss her but the pain does not seem as strong. God is good for sure and my dad seemed to go thr...

I get asked this alot since I travel quite a bit for work. It is always good to be at home which is where I was all last week. Yes, you heard that right. I was home for a whole week. It was awesome! I was even in the office for 4 days which is a record as of late. I did take last Fri. off to be with Sondra before I headed out again. Since my last blog post, I have participated in a memorial service, spent many hours in the office, hung out at the pool with my wife, ate at Big Bad Wolf BBQ (you have to get there, all i'm saying), and celebrated Shelbi's 19th birthday. Morgan spent last week at FUGE in Panama City Beach and had a great week. It was a different experience for her since she was sort of the lone, older high school student with our group this year, but she loved the camp. I headed out on Sunday afternoon for Glorieta, NM and to participate in FUGE out here as the adult trainer. It has been a very good week so far. Dave Edwards is speaking and DecembeRadio is leadin...

So sorry to go almost two weeks without a blog update. After returning from Denver and the Cherry Hills Church (which was great by the way and good times with old college buddy, Tim Coan and his family), I spent a day in the office and then we headed to SC to spend 9 days away from all things work related. What a great vacation we had. We loaded up, drove to Florence, SC and stayed with our friends, Tom and Georgina Carringer. He is a big muckety muck at data company and we have known them for 20 years. Great folks who were very kind to let us hang at their place Fri-Sun before we headed down to Murrell's Inlet for vacation. Their place is like a resort (pool, wonderful food, and a great worship service on Sunday) and we were treated like royalty. We stayed with them a night on the way back to Nashville at the end of the trip too. Sunday afternoon we headed to the beach and stayed through Friday. We played at the beach, read, rode bikes, ran, ate, saw movies, and just all around ha...

I flew to Denver this morning to meet with some friends from Bear Valley Church where Frank Tillapaugh pastored many years ago. My friend, Jim Walters, is pastoring there now. Tillapaugh wrote Unleashing the Church while he was pastor here at Bear Valley. Later in the day I meet up with my college buddy, Tim Coan and his family and maybe even get to see my old college roommate, Brad Clark who happens to be in Denver right now too. Hope it works out. Tomorrow I am meeting with some of the staff of Cherry Creek Community Church. A great church who is interested in doing a comprehensive strategy of development for people from birth to heaven. Looking forward to my time with them. Enjoying seeing the Rocky Mountains too and love seeing the snow on top. Pretty warm down here below but love seeing those mountains. Should be home again tomorrow night. Yea!

(This was meant to be posted on Sat. but no internet access while in MO) I guess I find myself feeling pretty sentimental today. There are many things sort of colliding today and this weekend especially. Traveling and being gone from home and family for almost two weeks may have a lot to do with it. I love my job. I love being able to listen to, encourage, teach and train adults who work with students in their churches. It is a great joy. I am still overwhelmed that God allows me to do what I get to do in the Kingdom. I can hear my mom saying, “I just can’t get over the fact that a boy that grew up in a small town in Missouri gets to travel the world and encourage believers. I am with her on that one for sure. Today is mom and dad’s 50th wedding anniversary, only mom is not here to celebrate it. She departed this “old, evil world” (her words not long before she died) in December 2007. Forty-eight and a half years of marriage to the greatest dad who ever lived (my father). I know that t...

This is going to be a different Father's Day in many ways for us. I head to KC late tomorrow afternoon to be with my dad for Father's Day this year. That is pretty odd in latter years for me. Another reason I am headed to see him tomorrow is because tomorrow (Sat., June 20) would have been my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. With mom passing in Dec. 07, they were married roughly 48.5 years. That is a long time for sure but I know that Dad sure wishes they could have made it to 50. Sondra's dad passed last Sept. so this is the first year she will observe a Father's Day without her Dad. I cannot imagine what she must be feeling. I know that I love her and know that she will have a tough day without her dad. I am also Dad to two incredible girls. I am not sure how God thought I deserved to be Dad of these two, but I sure am thankful. It will be a quick visit with them tomorrow before heading to KC. I am blessed to be in a lineage of many great dads.

Here it is already Thursday and I am wondering where the week has gone. I have to admit that I am ready to see Sondra. It is amazing to me how I miss her more now than when I was away from her early on in our marriage. She completes me. The week of ministry here this week has been pretty tough. We have dealt with many issues including talk of suicide and the death of a father of a camper. I will say that God has shown up big time and walked us through some difficult trails. He is so good. One more day of training and I have to say that these adults have been incredible. I have been challenged, heard some heart-wrenching stories, and have been diligent to encourage and spur on these folks. What a great opportunity that God has given me. I pray that I have been completely obedient. I fly home early Sat. and then head to MO to be with dad for a little while. He and mom's 50th wedding anniversary would have been Sat. Just think it is a good thing to spend some time with him. I come bac...

It has been a great week at FUGE here in Glorieta. I am reminded once again that God has allowed us to be involved in Kingdom work and am always amazed He allows me to be a part of it. I am out here training adults who work with students and getting to hang out with youth ministers. I love my job. I am also reminded that there are many folks in ministry who love the Lord and love kids and doing a great job of helping them become like Christ. Many of these youth leaders are dealing with their own life issues and ministry issues. I got the privilege to listen to, encourage and pray for so many leaders. Just like Col. 1:29, Paul says ministry is a struggle and today it is no different. I also met a pastor and his wife who brought students from Arizona and they were just a real blessing. I love smaller church pastors. I know I am biased because I grew up in one of those smaller church pastor's home. Sondra and the girls are doing well. Morgan is in another basketball camp with DCA girl...