Archive for the ‘United States’ Category

Hanging at Hephzibah

Sunday, December 11th, 2011

No longer will they call you Deserted,

or name your land Desolate.

But you will be called Hephzibah,

and your land Beulah;

for the LORD will take delight in you,

and your land will be married.

Isaiah 62:4

One of the goals of our trip was to find some ministry outside of being a pastor’s family. Jesus certainly did not limit the ministry he did to inside a church (Ok a synagogue)! We really prayed that God would open some doors for us in this regard.

Brendan Collects some trash

The door opened for us to stay at Hephzibah Children’s Home for most of the month of December. There is a small RV Park with full hook-ups here at Hephzibah for people who come here and volunteer at the home.

Patsy helping clean

Hephzibah has been serving the needs of children since 1900. For more than a century, the Home has been a stable influence on hundreds of children and young people in need of out-of-home care. Hephzibah is located on a beautiful piece of property, around 200 acres in Macon, Georgia. The mission of Hephzibah Children’s Home is to provide a Christ-centered, safe and wholesome environment for children and young people in crisis.

Free moment

So far we have been at the Home for almost a week and we have picked up trash, helped a new mother move to a new room, cleaned an apartment, set up a room for a banquet, changed light bulbs on very tall chandeliers. and other assorted tasks. We also met some new friends who have been very kind in making us feel welcomed here at Hephzibah! We have had some free time to play football and let the kids ride their bikes and all the kids love getting to ride around on the golf carts!!

Football Time

This works our really well for us in Howard as well, so we can set up a tree and all our Christmas lights and we do not have to move the rig and take it all down each time we move to another place.

Kidology to Go looks back on the first year

Sunday, December 4th, 2011

From October 2010 through October 2011, our first year with Kidology to Go was an amazing experience. I hope you enjoy the highlights in the video!

Another success in Mattoon

Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

Tanner in front of the beautiful Mattoon church

We had another wonderful time at the most recent Kidology to Go in Mattoon, Illinois. Our host church was First United Methodist of Mattoon. This church has quite a history in the area and the building is over 100 years old. The church building is made of stone and looks amazing! Blake was excited to see the old building that looks like a castle because of its unique architecture.

Youth and Children’s Ministry Director Brad Waggoner was a gracious host and several members of his team were on hand to take part in the day’s training. Two other churches sent volunteers as well and we had a good atmosphere in the place. My wife taught her seminar on Engaging a generation in worship for the first time and it went quite well. We also split groups for the first time and offered an elective, so Patsy and I both taught workshops at the same time.

We stayed at one of the volunteers homes where we plugged in Howard our RV and had a couple of fantastic meals and the boys played board games and the Knex and played on their swing set. We thank all those who helped make this Kidology to Go a big success!

Eager learners gathered 30 minutes before start time!

Lessons from Glacier

Sunday, June 26th, 2011

Glacier Mountains

We often make the mistake of erring on one of two sides in our approach to nature. On one hand we venerate nature to a place of such importance that it replaces the human race as God’s crowning achievement in His creation, or worse yet it takes the place of God Himself by becoming mother earth or some other form of idolatry.
On the other hand we fail to see the very hand print of God on His creation. We are amazed by the beauty of the mountains, the intricate details of life and the incredible systems that support an array of creatures that all rely on each other for their continued existence, but we insist that these astounding natural wonders are the result of chance happenings with no Designer who brought them all together.

As for me the creation serves to bring me closer to my God and my Savior, to point me closer to His grand plan, His concern for the smallest of details, His love for beauty and me for creating such beauty for me to enjoy, and His power that sustains a things.

I could find no better place than to praise my God than Glacier National Park, other than in the company of other Believers. Glacier is an amazing place of deep blue lakes, cascading falls, wispy clouds, startling peaks, strong pines and colorful wildflowers. All around me I could see and even sense the beauty of Christ. It was as if He was saying to me that as incredible as Glacier National Park is, it is just a precursor for what awaits me in heaven! This rang true to me at one of my favorite vistas in all of America – the view of St. Mary’s Lake with the mountains in the back an Wild Goose Island sitting lonely in the forefront is stunning. Blake took this photo of the vista below.

Our family had a nice time here, especially the hike we took to St. Mary’s Falls. We also tried a little fishing , without any success. Our first night at the park we attended a ranger program on the osprey, a fascinating member of God’s creation. Later we all tried our hand with some art lessons provided for free by a very nice volunteer at the park. Good memories will forever be shared at our time here.



Faith Comes by Hearing

Thursday, May 5th, 2011

And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:14


While we were in Albuquerque we were advised to visit and take the tour of a para-church ministry called Faith Comes by Hearing which is headquartered there. Faith Comes by Hearing started off as a cassette tape ministry that produced audio Bibles and other Christian tapes in the 1970s by Jerry and Annette Jackson, who also traveled around the country in an RV!
Today Faith Comes By Hearing is committed to reaching the nations with the Word of God inaudio, offering the Bible in a format that will connect with the world’s 50% illiterate population. To accomplish this enormous task, the Lord has assembled a group of committed leaders and dedicated servants of His Word to develop into a reality the vision of bringing His church together and making disciples.
Currently, Faith Comes By Hearing offers 546 languages reaching over 5 billion people in 185 countries. Faith Comes By Hearing is rising to meet the biblical needs of a complex world through modern technology. MP3 BibleBibleSticks for all ages, and third-world culturally adapted playback units,Proclaimer, are just a taste of the technology that God is using to spread His Word throughout the world with Faith Comes By Hearing programs. And, the plans include offering this technology in every language or tongue…

We purchased the Kid’s Bible Stick, which contains the New Testament for kids and songs on the memory stick. Our kids have already listened to quite a bit of it. Chase was listening the other day and said “Hey Mom, I heard Jesus!”

The Military BibleStick is a digital audio player that is pre-loaded with a dramatized recording of the entire New Testament. Chaplains from every branch of the military are flooding Faith Comes By Hearing with requests. Over 107,000 of these Audio Bibles are now in the field. Over 700 chaplains use Military BibleSticks in pre-deployment briefings, counseling sessions, Bible studies, weekly chapels and other spiritual services.

About 3.5 inches long and less than an inch thick, these pocket-sized Audio Bibles are field-friendly with a low-key design which reduces visibility for use in low-light situations.

They also offer free audio Bible downloads in many languages and have a free app for iphone and other phones called Bible.is They have any incredible way to track how many audio Bibles have been downloaded or streamed live using this app and the website. We got to see the huge live map of audio Bibles being listened to across the world, even in the middle of the ocean (aboard Navy ships). Our brother-in-law Joe’s brother Jeremiah works for this top notch organization. Be sure to check them out and consider how you or your church could partner with them.