Preaching at My Alma-Mater Hannibal LaGrange College

I had the great opportunity to preach at my alma-mater Hannibal LaGrange College yesterday, October 14, 2009. It was truly a great honor and I enjoyed every minute of my time there. Dr. Tom Hufty gave me this opportunity and I am truly thankful him doing so. I got to see many old faces and bring back some great memories. Alyssa Askew, a current HLG student and a member of Bethel Baptist Church (my home church) led worship before I spoke. I spoke for about 30 minutes on Mark 10:17-22, the story of "The Rich Young Ruler". You can check out my sermon at http://www.hlg.edu/life/chapel.php

The NEW FUEL Starts Tomorrow!

Tomorrow, September 23rd, begins a new format for our Wednesday evening youth event called FUEL. We have been mostly Bible study oriented but now taking it to more of a worship service type event. I had acquired a guy to lead worship for us beginning tomorrow but he just agreed to go to Germany for a couple weeks with his son's band. So, I have been pumping up this NEW FUEL and now my worship leader has gone AWOL. So I tried to recruit a teenage guy from the homeschool group that meets here at the church. He offered up a whole band for us to have play tomorrow night! But then he went on to say let me check and make sure we can do it. he is supposed to let me know today if they will be here or not. I am hoping and praying that God will provide this need for our ministry. If all goes well we may try and continue this partnership with these guys so that we may have an even more effective service. I am not too worried because I know God is in control of the situation... as always!

God as our "Ultimate Creator"

Before "time" God was there. I often forget that before creation God was there and I now wonder what He did before He created earth. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..." The beginning spoken of here is our beginning as a created species on a created planet with created heavens and earth. God was and is the supreme being and authority in our lives, in humanity, on earth, and in the heavens and space around our planet. As the "ultimate creator" God creatively made all that we know including us. Each of us is different in some way... physically, mentally, spiritually, etc. We, like God, are also creative but in our own way. We cannot create something out of nothing (ex nihilo) like God did. What we can do is show God's love to others in creative ways. We have the ability to create ways to reach others and share the gospel with them. I pray that we can actively seek out creative ways to reach people and minister to them in a variety of ways.

Clean Hands and a Pure Heart

I am 1 hour away from FUEL where I will be speaking out of Psalm 24:1-6. The topic is Give Us Clean Hands and a Pure Heart. We must strive to present ourselves sanctified, pure, and clean before God each day. We let too many things in our life run how we live our life. Possessions are what push us, not the passion for a relationship with our Father in heaven. I pray that my students will learn something tonight that will speak to them in a way that will push them to flee from the things of this world and pursue God. I hope they will set aside the idols, emotions, and physical "needs" they think mean everything to life. We will be writing things that come between us and God onto a large canvas that already has a clean hand identical to the on in this picture. The words of... anger, sadness, friends, pain, status, beauty, etc. will fill up the space that surrounds the hand to leave only a "clean hand" which is purified by setting aside all the things in our life that lead us astray. When you meet God and He stretches out His hand to you... will you be able to grab His hand or will you end up handing Him your cell phone, your computer, list of people you hate, a list of people who are "more beautiful than you", etc. You need to have clean hands to be able to grab thhe hand of your creator when it comes to that day and each day when you spend your time with Him - you should pursue purity as if He is right next to you... because HE IS!

Baptizing My First Youth

Last Sunday August 9th I got to baptize a rising-sophomore named Brittany. She got saved while we were at camp and I got to baptize her as my second ever baptism but my first youth! It was truly a great day where our church was able to celebrate with her in the salvation that we all have in Jesus Christ. I look forward to baptizing so many more students in my ministry. God was revealed that day and as He is everyday. I only hope to catch a glimpse of His greatness each and every day. I know this can happen if I wake up each day looking for what God has planned for me and not what desires I have planned for myself. Thank you God for your greatness and mercy!

The Month of July!!!!!!!!

WOW! July was a great month for me. It began with taking 11 youth to Cedarville, Ohio for Student Life Missions Camp (6-10). We had one girls get saved and another who rededicated her life to Christ. We did work at Adcare Hearth and Home for alzheimers patients. the kids really enjoyed it and now we will begin doing it hear in Lexington in September. Jeremy Kingsley was a great speaker and Rush of Fools did a great job leading worship. The lead singer, Wes, came and spoke to our group one night along with Dustin, the lead guitarist. It was great to meet and greet with those guys in a small personal setting. The day after we got back from camp I left for Peru for a week (11-18). Where do I begin... I got to preach on the 12th twice. Once in the morning to 53 youth where 27 were saved and once in the evening where over 25 were saved. We handed out hundreds of Bibles throughout the week in Lima, Gomorrah, and Pachacutec. We got to share the Gospel and hand out blankets to prostitutes in downtown Lima where several were saved. It was a great week where hundreds were saved and hundreds more had seeds planted. I came back to Lexington for a week before heading to Las Vegas/San Diego for Cory Wells' wedding (29-3). In Las Vegas we saw 2 Cirque du Soleil shows - LOVE and O. They were awesome! I got to play TPC Las Vegas where I shot 73. We drove to Riverside, CA for Cory's wedding on the 1st and then on the 2nd drive to LaJolla where I played Torrey Pines South with Marc Mangiafico. I shot 76 there with an eagle on 13. It was a great day... I loved it! Ahhhhhh the month of July is now over.

Vacation Bible School

Vacation Bible School was this week. We had a great turnout of close to 100 kids each day. The theme was Boomerang Express. I dressed up a little Australian on Sunday monring and did the announcements with an "aussie" accent and wrestled a blow up alligator, ummm gecko actually. I couldn't find an alligator. Anyways it was a great week and we had many families attend that are not affiliated with our church in any way which means we have a list of visits to make starting next week. Also, mine and Lori's anniversary was last night and we went to Malone's and ate some wonderful filet mignon. 3 years and counting!