a little update....

i emailed the church in az and told them that this week is too crazy for the phone interview, which it is and i told my neighbor i would help him with something that day anyway. and the church in indiana moved things back to the week after, so that gives some more time also. God is working all of this out for me! YEE HAW!!!!

AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!!!!

probably wondering about the title of this blog. well, it is for a couple of reasons. the first one is that i hate waiting! God has really taught me a lot of patience during this whole time and though it has been very hard, it has been extremely rewarding. someone told me that they felt God was saying that He was taking me into a time of rest, but that it would be short and was gonna be something big He was going to give me. and i can honestly say that it confirms with what i was sensing all along. the church we went and visited both kimmy and i feel is the place that God wants us to go to. obviously the proof of that will be if they offer us the position, because we have felt this way before. but one of the differences we feel with this one is that we both really have a deep sense of peace about it. well, we will find out this friday what their decision is. so here i sit having to wait and with it being so close, it is so much harder to wait. so please continue to pray for us, but also pray that these anxious feelings as we wait does not kill us. the second reason why i said, "AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!!!!" is because someone told me that they felt that there was going to be three churches interested in us and we were going to be able to choose. to which i said that i hope not and that i have been praying for all the doors to close but one. well, guess what? the church in arizona wants to set up a conference call interview with me and then check into flying us out for a face to face interview soon. and the church in indiana emailed me and they want to actually come up here and visit with us for a face to face interview. so here we sit with three churches. and honestly the one in texas is the one that kimmy and i feel that God wants us to go to. so our question is what do we do? do we tell the az and in churches thanks, but no thanks and take the risk that we don't get the job in tx and then we sit here for a while longer and maybe miss it? or do we delay the other two until after friday just to see what the tx church says? i don't know. my head is swimming and my heart is heavy. so pray for divine direction and feel free to comment and offer advice.

lone star news

howdy ya'll!!!!! here i sit in my hotel room down here in the great state of texas with a myriad of emotions and thoughts. yesterday and today were some pretty big and busy days. yesterday we arrived safely and met the associate pastor (ap) by the baggage claim, got our luggage and then headed off for our first trip into the great state of texas. got to our hotel and found out we needed to wait a while before we could check in so he took us up to the church's building and showed us around. we also spent some time in his office chatting and then went out for lunch to joe's pizza and pasta with him and the director of worship. the food was good. then we headed to the hotel to check in and relax for a little bit before we had a meeting with the senior pastor (sp). the sp then took us around and showed us the building again, but this time he talked about why it was designed the way it was. it was really neat to see the building from that perspective. it is laid out with three general areas, the neighborhood, the courtyard and the theater; because those are the places where we can find Jesus. in the neighborhoods, the courtyards and the theater of life. we then went back into his office and chatted some more about the church, his vision and passion for the church and also the student ministry. as i sat there in his office i noticed two things; one was that he had a copy of "purpose driven youth ministry" on his shelf, and also that his office was pretty much the same size as the other two guys and that his furniture was the same as the other two guys. this matches up with the things that the other two guys told me, that the sp sees them all as equals and laborers together. after that we went to panera bread (hint, hint bryan!!!!) for dinner and then headed off to a high school football game.... texas style! only seats 12,000 people! there was probably about 6,000-8,000 people there last night, because the two schools that played were smaller schools! these texans are serious about their hs football! they even had a jumbotron and tv's in the concession stands, so you don't ahve to miss the game! totally nuts! today we met with the adult volunteers and gave them an opportunity to ask us questions and for us to ask them questions as well. the one thing i was nervous about, more than anything was going to a new church and there not being as good of a youth staff as i had at my previous church. and while they are not the smae people and i would miss my old youth staff terribly, i was really excited by this gorup of adults and their passion and heart for student ministry. soem really good people and a nice mixture of ages and status in life. i also had a first during that meeting..... i had chik-fil-a for the first time! not bad. after that the music guy took us for a tour of the city and even printed out some listings of homes that are for sale and we stopped by three of them and looked at the outside. he also showed us the middle and high schools in the area that the church primarily draws from. it was a good time getting to know him and his wife along with the community. we then headed back to the hotel to chill for a little bit and change into some more casual clothes to head off to a fundraiser for a little girl who has a disease called "spinal muscular atrophy" which is a form of musular dystrophy. so basically the church took us to a barbeque and casino night! LOL kind of funny to think about! after that we went back to the sp's house for a little dessert and a time to hang out with the church's staff and their spouses. which was really fun and cool. lots of laughs and more questions! of course! while we were out with the music guy, i asked him if there was anyone else that they were looking at and he said "no", and that there was one other guy but he declined the offer to come out, because he wasn't interested. so if they like us, then the job is pretty much ours if we want it. we are staying cautious, but i will admit that we are really excited about this church and are praying that it works out. tomorrow morning we get to check out the church's worship service and then during the secon service i will be doing the messgae for the hs ministry. after that a couple of the youth staff volunteers are taking us out to eat and then we are going to the church's "building on purpose banquet", where we will get to her the sp's vision for potential building projects. so please keep praying for us and i am heading off to bed!

is it making you or are you making it?

what the heck is he talking about? is probably what you are thinking when you look at the title of this post. i get it from the following song by the late rich mullins, which is one of my favorites by this great christian artist. Creed (Rich Mullins) I believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Maker of Earth And in Jesus Christ His only begotten Son, our Lord He was conceived by the Holy Spirit Born of the virgin Mary Suffered under Pontius Pilate He was crucified and dead and buried CHORUS: And I believe what I believe Is what makes me what I am I did not make it, no it is making me It is the very truth of God and not The invention of any man I believe that He who suffered Was crucified, buried, and dead He descended into hell and On the third day, rose again He ascended into Heaven where He sits at God's mighty right hand I believe that He's returning to Judge the quick and the dead Of the sons of men CHORUS I believe it, I believe it I believe it I believe it, I believe it I believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Maker of Earth And in Jesus Christ His only begotten Son, Our Lord I believe in the Holy Spirit One Holy Church, the communion of Saints The forgiveness of sin I believe in the resurrection I believe in a life that never ends CHORUS I believe it, I believe I believe it, I believe I believe it, I believe it to often when we go to read our Bibles we have an agenda. like we are looking to prove our point in an argument with someone, or our own political agenda or to agree with a pet doctrine that we may have, etc. but when we go to the Bible we should be going to find out how it can change us or make us a better christian, not to make it fit into who we are already. the Bible is God's love letter to us and when we sit down to read it, we need to come into with that kind of a mindset. if you have never heard this song i encourage you to pick up this great album and listen to it and when you go to read your Bible let the chorus ring in your head.

another questionnaire and other thoughts....

i filled out another questionnaire for a church, this one is for a church in buckeye (argh! i hate saying that name!), arizona! the sp emailed me and said that of all the resume's they have recieved i was "the entire personnel teams' first choice". so things are looking good there. next week at this time my wife and i will be in texas for a job interview with a church in the dallas/fort worth area. i am really excited to go and visit this church and meet the pastors there. i really enjoyed my phone interview that i had with them and it will be interesting to see if i get the same feeling after meeting them face to face. plus, i am interested to see what my wife thinks since she has not had the opportunities that i have had to have conversations with them. yesterday, kimmy and i were talking about the three church's that are left at this time (just in case you don't know.... 1 in tx, in in indiana & 1 in az) and she was saying that of all of them she thinks that the texas one will be the best place for us. she just thinks that it may be the place for us to be, but she said she would prefer the on in indiana just because we would not be too far from our parents. i was actually pretty shocked to hear her say that, because i would have never thought that she would want to live that far away from "home". i know that she does have some relatives in oklahoma and we won't be too far from them, but being that she has never really gotten to know them because she grew up so far from them, i was shocked to hear her say that. i must say that i also like the idea of texas, which shocks me because i have always leaned towards wanting to move to arizona. but i reall ylike where this church is at and where they want to go. plus, the more i have researched the area i find that i really like the community and feel of the area. plus, i was talking with someone who has lived in texas for over 20 years and she said she has never liked country music and they haven't kicked her out yet! in fact, she said she HATES it! LOL so i guess they could handle me down there. i have to also say that when i researched the price of homes and i see that in texas and indiana we could move there and buy a home bigger than the one we live in and for almost half the price, i think that would be cool! if we went to arizona i have no idea how we could get into a home. the home values there have gone nuts! in the past year a home in the phoenix area has gone up 47%! holy cow! that is insane. especially since here in michigan it has only gone up 0.4%! but even with all of that, you know what? if i don't go to the place that God wants us to be, we will be miserable! i don't care what the climate is or what kind of home we get or what the church is like, if God does not want us to be there, we won't be happy. and thus you will understand the bold headline across this blog..... FOLLOWING HIM!!! i want to follow Him where He wants us because that is the best place to live and be. if that means i am not in student ministry for a while longer, then i will be happy to just follow Him whereever He leads. God is the reason i get up in the morning and breath in and out, otherwise life would just be hopeless! thanks for taking the time to read this!

i have a problem....

today, i found a website of people who are fans of the greatest sesame street character ever! as you can see there are fans of his from 10 different country's! the web is such a wonderful thing! here is a link to the website.... imaginary friend gotta love it!

it's official!

not that i am insane, cause we already knew that! LOL i am officially going to visit that church in texas from august 26th- 29th (monday- friday). they are putting us up in a very nice hotel..... and i am really impressed! i would have been happy to have someone open up their home for us to stay in, but wow!!!!! :D i am really excited to go and i love flying! but i am also a little nervous to think that i could do a talk that would totally bomb and then cost me the job! but that is just my over active imagination! i asked them if we could go to a high school football game while i am down there and they are gonna see if the season will have started by then. i love high school football and to see a game in the state where it is practically a religion would be really cool. and i also know that the senior pastor likes it as well, so i figured it couldn't hurt to brown-nose a little bit! LOL pray for God's will to be done with us as we go down there and for direction as well, so we will know if it is the place for us also! the other thing that is official is two of my dear friends who are in student ministry got engaged on sunday! i am soooo happy for you Derek and KT!!!!! i pray that you guys will have a long lasting relationship and that the years of happiness you will have, will go on forever! deciding to get married to kimmy was the second best decision that i have ever made! (the first being my decision to follow Christ!) marriage is such a great thing and i am excited for you guys! CONGRATS!!!!!!!

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

You Are an Espresso At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping Your caffeine addiction level: high What Kind of Coffee Are You?

the yellow rose of.....

got a phone call from that church in texas and they invited me and my wife out for a face to face interview. we will probably go the last weekend in august, but we need to confirm it with our schedule first. i am happy to be finally gettin a face to face interview, but will feel much better with a job offer! someone also called today to come look at our house, so hopefully they will like it and give us a great offer! i have been feeling all along that we would sell the house and get a position in the ministry about the same time. could this be the time? who knows, we are just continually praying!

texas follow-up......

today i had a phone interview with that church in texas and it seemed to go very well. they said that i answered the questions good and seemed like they were impressed with me. i asked them a few questions and i think i stumped them a bit, because they were not expecting questions like i had asked. the senior pastor, associate pastor and the director of worship where the guys who did the interview and they seem to be a really good team and have a good working relationship. they not only like to work together, but seem to even like hanging out with one another which is very important to me. they said they had some other people they were gonna interview and then they would decide on who to bring out for face to face interviews and then make a decision from there. all in all they said they plan on having the decision mage in about 30-45 days. it will be interesting to see how it goes! keep praying with us. i also got a call from one of the church's in az yesterday and they said they were going to be starting up the process of formally looking for a new yp and that he would be sending me a questionnaire! oh joy! another one! LOL this weekend i will be going away for the yearly summer youth camp that i help organize, and since it is only about an hour away from the church in indiana that i had a phone interview with about a week ago.... i decided i would go and visit one of their weekend worship services. anyway, keep us in your prayers please!

Which Star Wars Jedi/Sith are you?

Which Star Wars Jedi/Sith are you? Mace Windu You were in some memorable moments, but did you really deserve to not die like “some punk”. Maybe, not, but you still did, having been ambushed by the snooty Skywalker kid. And what’s the deal with that ligthsabre of yours? You are cool and wise, but maybe a little hasty, after all your arrest party of four did get owned pretty quickly.

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oh how i miss it! (part 2)

some of the positive things that i can think about..... the students that i had the privelege of baptizing! and everytime we did a baptism service, i had a couple of students to baptize. always made me feel good to know that the student ministry was growing and reproducing christians! also hanging out with weirdo's like these three! that was from a trip where i took them to a college hockey game at the joe (joe louis arena for you non-hockey people), we saw the university of michigan pound on the lakers of lake superior state university. it was a lot of fun and a time i will never forget. i can not imagine doing anything other than hanging out with students until i retire. being a pastor to students is the occupation i want to have until then. i just hope they will still think i am cool enough to lead them when i am that old. and i know onr day God will give me the opportunity to step into that role full-time. in the mean time i am just following Him and letting Him lead me where He wants me to go. as hard as that is, i know that i am much happier knowing that He is in control. though i miss student ministry like you will never know, i know that being where He wants me is a much better place. so i will keep plodding on and following Him. does that mean i won't complain? heck, no, but i will do my best to keep my focus in the right place. thanks for taking the time to read this!