Praise for my wife

My beautiful wife's, Michelle, birthday is September 28th and no I will not reveal her age, as my Dad would say, "I maybe dumb but I am not stupid." In February we will celebrate our 7th year of marriage. We have been through so much in our seven years together. She has moved three times, me twice. We have lived in four different houses and she has given birth to our two children. There have been many other things that have happened to us over that time.

Michelle has always been gracious and loving wife who I love with all my heart. She has faced every challenge that has come her way with a strength that she daily finds in the Lord. She has been a wonderful help in every aspect of my life as a pastor. I am proud to be her husband and can't wait to see what God does in our lives from here on out.

I LOVE YOU MICHELLE!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Treadmill improved

As if the treadmill is not the best one...here is a great challenger

Lego Treadmill

I love silly stuff

I was reading a friends blog today and he had this video up and it is absolutely hysterical! How in the world someone thinks up this stuff I have no clue. But here is the link! I hope you laugh, I know I did

Treadmill Video

Making a difference

This picture is a delivery that was made this week to a school just a block from our church. It is the school my daughter will be attending kindergarten at this year. I am the dude in the middle back. The guy next to me is Bob Stevenson, the principal at the school and to my right is our WMU director. The kids are some students at the school. Our church collected nearly $1000 worth of school supplies for kids who can't afford them.

Today was awesome as well. We had lunch at our church for the 60+ teachers and staff at the school. Bob introduced me first as a parent and second as the pastor of the church. When he told the teachers that our church was the one who collected all the school supplies, smiles came across all their faces. I was asked by several of the teachers if we could do the luncheon monthly for them. We went all out for this luncheon. We did grilled chicken sandwiches and grilled chicken salads. Our church family really came through on this one. The teachers were very appreciative of what we had done to help them.

These two acts of Christian love I can tell already are going to go a long way in reaching out to that school and those teachers and kids. Please prayer for our church and for Beall Elementary as we seek to make an impact on that place for God.

Football and Life

I was browsing some blogs today and one I came to was from someone that spoke at the Pennsylvania/South Jersey Convention several years ago when I was pastoring there. Alvin Reid is one of the most genuine guys I have met. He wrote this week "Everything I Need to Know About Ministry I Learned Playing High School Football." It is a great help. I have linked it for you but I wanted to relate a story about High School Football and what it taught me.

I had a coach in McKinney, Texas that taught me an important lesson for life through a football analogy. Coach Sam Serio was the coach's name. He always told us that, "If you do your job the scoreboard would take care of itself." He would say something like, men if you linemen will block who your suppose to block, qb you hand or pass the ball to whom you are suppose to, RB you hit the hole you are suppose to and recievers you run the route the way it is suppose to, I promise you the scoreboard will take care of itself and we will win.

Though this was not always correct. We weren't perfect it never seemed to work out the way it was suppose to. You know things happened. A guy on defense would blow up a block and mess up the whole play. The center(me) quaterback exchange would get fumbled or something like that would happen. If we were playing Gainsville in Gainsville their field would be a mud pit and nothing would go right. The thing is that we couldn't focus on one play we had to do it every play even when the last one went bad. We had to play the game for the whole game, not just one or two plays.

The life of a Christ follower is much like that. You do the things that you are suppose to do and the scoreboard of life will take care of yourself. You read, study and absorb God's word, you spend quality time with God daily in prayer, you use your talents and gifts for God the way they are supposed to be used and let yourself be a witness then God will take care of the rest.

Just like football things are never perfect. People lie, cheat, steal and hurt each other. Then for some reason we stop doing what we are supposed to do and start worrying what everyone else is supposed to do. We live in a messed up world where people don't do exactly what they are supposed to do. Just like that football team we need each other. We can't do it alone. We need to encourage, work with and strenghten each other. Then we need to get back on track doing what God wants us to do. Just like football we have to play for the whole game and we are not done till life is over.

Passion

I heard a question the other day that made me really think. The question was, “Why do you do what you do?” I mean my father was a Fireman, so there was no family history of being a pastor. As I dwelled on that question more several thoughts ran through my head about why I am a pastor. I thought about God’s call on my life at 15 years old. I thought about my training in college and seminary to prepare me for the ministry. But none of those were the right answer to the question. Then a word came to me that has driven me more than anything else, the word was “passion.”

The word passion means, “A powerful emotion, such as love, joy, hatred, or anger.” I started thinking more and more about that word and how it related to my relationship with God and why I am a pastor. I realized that the reason that I want to do what I do is because I have a great passion.

The great passion that I have is for God and God is passionate about people! He loves people for many reasons including because He created people. God passionately seeks out people to bring into fellowship with Him. I set in my heart several years ago that I wanted to be passionate about and for God and I realized that if I was going to be passionate about and for God then I had to be passionate about the things that God is passionate about. As I studied God’s word I realized that one of God’s greatest passion is people. So, as I have pastored over the years I have done things to develop a great passion for people

The problem is that sometimes I lose my passion for God and the things of God. There are different reasons for the loss of passion, but the thing I have to keep coming back to is being passionate. Trust me there are times that I know I could do things that are easier than being a pastor, but the passion God has put inside of me is greater than anything else I could do.

My question for you is why do you do the things for God that you do? Do you do it because of your great passion for God and to see His kingdom come on earth? Or do you do them because of selfishness or a desire for the recognition from people? I challenge you to step up and do the things for God out of a passion for Him and nothing else. Let God be your reason for everything and let everything else take care of itself.

Bigger rip off

I wrote last week about the incredibly high price I paid for airfare to Texas. Well, I did a search last weekend and for the same flights and times I could have flown for about half of what it cost me over the 4th of July weekend. What a greedy and crazy world we live in!

Riley

Sunday is my daughter's fifth birthday. WOW! How time flies. I wanted to go ahead and write today because I don't think I will be able to before Sunday. Riley is a special joy in my life because I always wanted a little girl and God granted me my prayer. I pray daily that God would help me be a great dad to raise her. She brings joy to my life!

These pictures of Riley were taken at the North Carolina Zoo back in June. She had such a good time she wanted a Zoo birthday party. Well, we couldn't do that so we are do a Carnival theme party on Saturday.

Its a racket!!

Last week on June 29 my Aunt past away from complications of colon cancer. I had know this was coming for some time and had been preparing myself to preach at the service. This meant flying from Pittsburgh or Washington/Baltimore to Dallas. I knew it would be pricey because of the short notice but it became highway robbery...or is it airway robbery? Anyway, for one roundtrip ticket because of July 4th it cost $1290. My cousin, whose mother past away, was paying for my ticket. My parents told me to bring my daugther along with me as well and they would pay for her.

I tried some alternatives. I could have found a cheaper one for about $900 but I would have flown from Pittsburgh to New York, changed planes and then to Dallas. I would have also flown to NY on the way back. By the way the $1290 flight was a direct flight. Something is wrong with that picture.

The time in Texas was good though. I got to spend some time with my brother and his family. Scott is about to start his second year of three years as a Neonatal-Prenatal Fellow at Texas Children's Hospital. I got to hold my one month old nephew Ben. The fun part was that Riley was with me and my other two nephews, Matthew and Andrew, stayed with my parents until we left on Wednesday. The cousins don't get to spend much time with each other so that was a good thing. I know my mom and dad really enjoyed it.

I think the funneist thing that happened during the week was listening to the three kids tell "knock knock" jokes. At the ages of 3, 4, and 5 they don't get the concept of what an good knock knock joke contains. Well, they didn't care they told them anyway and laughed at each one, even though to a grown-up they didn't make sense and were not funny at all.

I am so thankful for my wonderful loving family. God has truly blessed me beyond measure with them.

Woke up in a bad mood this morning

Of course that is because I went to bed in bad mood last night at around midnight est. Yes, I stayed up to watch the heartless Mavs loose four straight games and loose the NBA Finals. I had gotten my hopes up way too high. They beat the Spurs and the Suns and all they had to do was defeat so team from the Eastern Conference. That should be easy right. They beat two of the best teams in the NBA already, they also won the first two games handily. But in the third game I saw it with my own eyes. In that hotel in NC I saw the heart get ripped right out of the Mavs and then two more times, including that 20 something beat down in game 4.

The Mavs had the better team. Evident by the fact that after game three they stayed close in 5 and 6. But D-wade is the best player in the NBA hands down and the pour Mavs had no answer for the guy. Maybe next year...maybe never! I keep thinking maybe the Rangers will when the World Series also!

Just Me

Still in NC

As a family we are staying till Friday, so we decided to go the NC Zoo in Ashboro today! What a wonderful time. God has created som truly amazing things. God is a creative God. Here are some pics in honor of Steve McCoy whose grandmother had a stroke on Tuesday of the convention. He always has a Phriday is for Photos, so here are some of the ones that I have taken today here in NC!

The End is Near

Actually it is the end. My family and I are back at the hotel after another day at the SBC. For the most part things went well. Had the privilege of hearing Condolezza Rice speak and she is a very engaging and thoughtful speaker.

Frustration had hit me! We have taken and added to what John in Revelation told us NOT to add to! The SBC adopted a resolution that was amended and that basically now goes beyond the biblical mandate of not being drunk to abstinence from Alcohol being a biblical. Wade Burleson does a wonderful job explaining the problems as well as sharing an opportunity of when drinking a glass of wine opened the door for him to share the gospel message and that person responding, well worth the length of the story.

Let me first state I have had three sips of alcohol in my life. When I was a teenager I took a sip of beer and spewed it out all over the place. I drank some Champange on my honeymoon and nearly had the same reaction. In college I tried some kind of lemonade and I really didn't like it. In fact I was telling my dislike of the taste to my mom one day and she said to me, "That's because all your life I have prayed you would hate the taste." When my mom prayers as usual it works. I just wished she had prayed that I dislike Dr. Pepper that much. Which she could not do that because she likes it almost as much as I do! My like for DP is a whole other story about how many times I have been to the Sonic down the street from my hotel, since we don't have any in Maryland. I love a good Sonic Cherry/Vanilla Dr. Pepper!

My question for this convention is where is the resolution on gluttony? Or the one for refraining from Caffeine? Or as others have brought up that sexual addiction is a problem so we should tell everyone to stop having sex. I don't drink coffee but I am sure if we took all the coffee pots out of the churches in America because caffeine is addictive and can be harmful that the Sunday School attendance in the SBC would drop dramatically. I also walked around the convention hall this week looking at the waste lines of the SBC knowing that we would not hear a sermon or a resolution on gluttony. I guess I need to start working out more and I will write the resolution for next year!

When are we going to start majoring on the majors and minoring on the minors. As the old Texas Proverb says, "Life is to short especially when you are stupid!" Or as another saying I like goes, "The enemy is before us and they are looking in a mirror!" For those of you who don't get that think to the Revolutionary War and the phrase, "Don't shoot till you see the whites of their eyes."

I am all about tearing every human barrier that I can that keeps people away from understanding the good news of the gospel. I pray we have not as a convention erected another barrier that people will just look at and say, "Well that is just too high a standard" and walk away!

When are we going to learn to engage the culture with the truth of the inerrant word of God instead of turning off the culture with our bad interpretations of that word?

With that said I want to say that I am glad the Resolutions Committee was wise about one that concerned me. I am glad for Resolution 10 on the Public School System. It is sensible and speaks in a positive manner to help encourage those who teach and send their kids to public schools. I will be one of those people who sends their children to public schools. My daughter starts kindergarten in the fall at the school a block from our house. In fact I got an email from the principal tonight with a list of school supplies for each grade and the number of under privilged students in each grade to see if we can help out with some of their supplies.

My hope and prayer is that God would do great things through the SBC in spite of oursleves and most of all inspite of me!

We Made It!

It was a long day and it just about did us in, but we did it! It's monday morning and we are in our hotel in High Point, NC. Yeah, it is not Greesnboro, but that is a whole long story in itself I will not go into at this time. We got in about 10 PM last night after leaving the metro Frostburg area at 1:30. I am learning better what it means to travel with kids. I am one of those, get on the road and go until you absolutely have to stop. With an almost 1 year old and almost 5 year old that means about every two hours. For me a meal would be drive thru and back on the road, with kids it is sit down for an hour. I guess my dad spoiled me on getting there quick.

A few highlights of the trip: God's beautiful creation! We took our trek through West Virginia first and then a little of Virginia and the NC. God never ceases to amaze me at how creative a God He is. The valleys that we passed over and the rivers were just awesome.

I love trips also for the interesting things you see, like signs. We are in West Virginia near Beckley I think and there is a sign of a BBQ place, "Dirty Ernie's Ribs-Gifts." I told my wife, "Only in WV."

We also passed over the largest Arch Bridge in the western Hemisphere over New River.

This morning we are going to get ready and head over to the Pastor's Conference and attend some of the interesting sessions.

My five year old is laying next to me as I blog this morning!

Oh yeah! One more awesome thing....HOW BOUT THOSE MAVS!!!!!!

SBC in Greensboro

I guess I am a glutton for punishment. I am taking my family to the Southern Baptist Convention this week. This will be my second venture in the national conventions main stage. The last time I went to Dallas in 1997 and spent the day there mainly visiting with friends. Had lunch with Calvin Miller who gave me some great pastoral advice, I will not dispense with it here but it had to do staying away from over aggressive women.

I am almost more excited for my 4 almost 5 year old daughter and the fun she is going to have in "Rescue 911." My wife grew up Methodist so this is her first venture into SBC, besides what I update her on in the 6 years we have been married.

I am biblically conservative, which means the direction that the SBC has gone in regards to the bible I strongly support. I have no personal friendships or acquaintances with any of the leadership. I did serve as Second Vice President and First Vice President of the Baptist Convention of Pennsylvania/South Jersey. I am now in the Maryland/Delaware state convention and serve in no capacity at this time. I am concerned with some of the things that are going on in the SBC. I have tried to keep updated with events over the years. Which means that I have been reading some blogs. I have read Wade Burelson, Marty Duren, Steve McCoy, and many others. I constantly read BP.

I am concerned that the SBC has lost its direction and focus to seek personal agendas clouded in what is best. This is not a new revelation. I have always felt that way.I was there when Russell Dilday was fired at SWBTS. I understand the reason and agreed he needed to leave, I did think it was handled improperly. I enjoyed Ken Hemphill, took his 1 Corinthians class and enjoyed it immensely.

The problem is, I believe, is that the convention has become a cult of personality. Though the majority of the churches in the SBC are under 75 in attendance we keep promoting these mega church pastor's for the presidency. Page, Sutton, and Floyd I am sure are Godly men and are doing great things for the kingdom of God for their ministry, but do they understand the struggles, hardships, and headaches of a small church pastor. I don't know if any of them have ever served in a small church atmosphere. I remember in seminary that almost every pastor who spoke in chapel was from a large church. I don't remember a small church pastor coming. Could be my bad memory.

Who will I vote for as President. I will not vote for Floyd. I have had two friends that have served on his staff and they rave about the man. I went to college in Arkansas and have an acquaintance with his ministry. I have seen some of his sermons and appreciate him as a pastor, but the CP giving bothers me and I believe that should matter. If the people of our churches are urged to give 10% then the church should move in that same direction. My church gives 8% of undesignated to CP causes.

As for Page and Sutton I don't really know. Page seems to be a nice guy and his church gives a strong percentage to CP, as does Sutton. I met Sutton at SWBTS when I was a student. He seems like a genuinely nice guy as well.

My hope for this convention is that we would move back to be a convention of the common Southern Baptist. I want to see us continue to stand strong for God's word and the salvation that comes through Jesus Christ without alienating ourselves from people and hurting the cause of Christ more.

By the way, why isn't someone standing up and making a resolution that the people of the SBC to stand up and pray for the school's and teachers of nation instead of alienating ourselves from teachers and parents that we are trying to reach. Our church is adopting the school down the street. We are providing school supplies for underprivileged children as well lunch for the teachers during their first day back to school in August.

I am looking forward to meeting some old friends, making some new ones and listening to McManus and Searcy again at the Pastor's Conference. I am also looking forward to hearing Casting Crowns again as well on Wednesday.

Why I Like Mark Driscoll

I have written about why I like 24 before and here is Mark talking about some of the reasons I love the show.

Late, but needed to update

Well, its midnight eastern and my wife and kids are in bed and I can't go to sleep. I am watching "Dog the Bounty Hunter." I love this show for many reasons, mainly just because of the compassion that he shows many times at the end. But I am not here tonight to talk about Dog.

Two great things happened in my life yesterday. One was my nephew was born to my brother and his wife. Benjamin is joined by older brothers Matthew and Andrew. I don't to see these guys that much because they live in Houston and I in Maryland, but you guys are loved and prayed for often.

The other things is we have a closing date for our house. We are going to be gone that day, but it will all work out. I am so thankful God has allowed that burdened to be lifted off our shoulders. I will never be rich but to know that we can live without going further into to debt and pay off some things is a wonderful feeling.

Have a wonderful day!

Renewal, Revival, heck just get up and do something for GOD!!!

I am tired of the life that most people live for God. It seems to be such a mundane existence. There are times that I wish I could grab people and tell them to "WAKE UP!" Wake up to all the great things that God has for you. Wake up to the opportunities you have to be blessed by the one that has created you. Wake up because so many times we forget that the one who created us has such a better life for us to live if we would just drop all the excess baggage that we hang onto or if we would just get up off our comfortable pew and actually serve Him the way He wants us to.

God desires so much more and He has so much more to offer us if we could stop our petty bickering, jealousy, and overall selfishness and start worrying about things that really matter. I feel like I am standing in the muck of the Christian world and it is time to back up the truck and pull me out.

I was reading a friends blog the other day and he was calling for a revolution. That's what I want! A revolution of peoples souls. A revolution of the church! It's time the church starting standing up and act like the God given entity that we are suppose to be. It's not about a building! It's not about carpet or color or anything else. It's about making a difference for God's Kingdom!

I don't want to exist is this world anymore! I want to make an impact on people! I want to help take them from where they are and help them go to where God wants to be! I am willing to put away my selfish pride and ask the question, "Is this going to make a difference for God's Kingdom?" If it is not then why in the world are we still doing it, using it or talking about it.

I want a revolution! A revolution in the hearts and minds of those who call themselves Christ Followers! Stop being wimps and start acting like a special recreation of GOD!

What a Day!!!!

I am sitting in my NEW recliner watching the Suns/Lakers game. This day started early and was fully of good surprises for our family. Michelle and I had decided earlier in the week to get a baby sitter for today and go up to our house where we used to live in Tyrone, PA and knock a few things out to hopefully see it sell a little quicker. So we get up early this morning and get some things ready and our sitter comes around 8:15 and we get out the door around 8:30. We have an hour and a half drive in front of us.

We get about 45 minutes away from Frostburg in a dead area for the cell phone. Then it beeps at me and I have a voice message. It is our realtor, we have an offer!!!!!! It was a little lower than we wanted to go. Michelle and I drove a little further and discussed everything and decided to counter to a better point for us.

So, all this work that we had decided to do now seemed ridiculous. I had one thing that I wanted to finish. We called our realtor right before we were going to leave the house and she said she would go pick up the contract and bring it so we could sign it with our counter and hope they would accept it so we would not have to head back to Tyrone again.

We had just finished signing all the paper work and the realtor and I are talking on the front porch and her phone rings. WE HAVE A DEAL...small counter back but Michelle and I can handle it.

We head to Altoona to do some shopping and eat at one of our favorite restuarants. It was like a date with my wife. The restaurant has changed its menu. The two things I really liked before are now off the menu. But it is all good....the house is sold

What a wonderfully exhausting day! God surely blessed us through all this and helped us to sell that house. No we can pay off debt and start saving for another house.

On the spiritual side of this sell is a prayer. We have been praying for over a year this house would sell. Our new church had been praying, our old church had been praying, family and friends. Well, Friday night I am praying, knowing someone had looked at the house at 4:00 that afternoon and I say to God, "You know what would be really cool if we were driving up tomorrow and we get a call from our realtor with an offer."

I believe in the power of prayer!!!! Its not like a new revelation to me, because I have always believed in prayer's power. This was just one more conformation from God to me about its power.

She Got Me

Last Wednesday was my birthday. I turned 35. I figure I have lived at least half my life thus far. Wow, I have a lot more living to do. My wife took me out to eat to my favorite restaurant in town. We came home and then my worship leader needed something moved from upstairs to the fellowship hall. So I went over and went in and all these people are sitting there in the dark. They got me! The first time I have ever been gotten like that. The first church I pastored tried once but I found out about it.

My wife is good. She is a wonderful woman that I am blessed to share time on this earth with. God has truly blessed me. Many of you will agree that I married well over my head. All good men do. She is a wonderful wife and mother to our two kids.

The funny part of the day was my 4 year old daughter kept telling Michelle that I had to have a cake. I could not have a birthday without a cake. Well, I got my cake!

THANKS MICHELLE I LOVE YOU!