This Blog Is Moving!

For the two or three of you that read this blog:

I've decided to experiment with Wordpress, so I've moved this blog. You can find me now here.

Family Vacation

We took a few days of vacation this week and traveled to Lancaster, PA. The highlight of our short vacation was a trip to Dutch Wonderland, a theme park that bills itself as a 'Kingdom for Kids.' That is an apt description as our children had a great time! Here are a few short videos of the highlight of the day for me: Annie and Allison's first roller coaster!

IMPACT Virginia!

I'm at IMPACT Virginia! this week. IMPACT is a week-long (construction) missions camp experience. This year we are in Bluefield, Virginia. We're staying at Bluefield College - a definite upgrade over sleeping on a high school classroom floor. Things are going well. I hope to be able to post some more later. I also hope to get back to more regular posting after I return.

The Perfect Alibi Trailer

Here's a trailer for a short film by one of the students in my youth group. She's a senior and she wants to major in film/media. I've seen the film and it's pretty good. I think she's got a future in the film business. Many of the actors and extras are also members of our youth group and college group.

We're showing the film at our church later this month. Let me know if you want to come and I'll get you the details.

Are you a bigger loser than Marko? Final Results

It's been some time since I last posted to the blog. Going on two trips (to Kansas City and Atlanta) really threw off my schedule and I've been playing catch up for the past few weeks. A lot has happened in the last few weeks and I'll hopefully be catching up with the blog posting soon.

The Are you a bigger loser than Marko? contest ended during my trip to Kansas City. Since I wasn't taking my scale with me to KC, I did my final weigh in on Wednesday morning, April 23. The contest ended on Friday, with final weight and pictures due in to YS by 8 AM. I finished at 219 pounds - for a total loss of 32 pounds during the 12 weeks of competition. That put me in about 14th place among the men that completed the contest. I finished 4 pounds shy of my goal, but I am not disappointed. I am really happy that I lost 32 pounds! Unbelievable! Here are the pictures:

Click here to see the starting pictures. I can tell that I've lost a lot because my clothes do not fit anymore, Randa keeps telling me how skinny I look, and people at church and elsewhere have noticed and commented on the loss. It's been great! Marko won the contest. He lost just over 60 pounds! However, he was disqualified later - check out the video below to see why (and why youth ministry people are the best)!

I've not eaten as well or exercised as regularly since the end of the contest, but I had lost one more pound as of Monday bringing me to 218 pounds and the half way mark to my ultimate goal! I've eaten better and exercised more this week and I plan to stay on track until I reach my ultimate goal of 185 pounds. My new goals are as follows: I'd like to be at 205 pounds by the time we leave for IMPACT Virginia! on June 22nd. I'd like to be at 185 pounds by the time we leave for Summit Lake Senior High Retreat on September 26th. That would be awesome!

TRACKER: Starting Weight 251, Current Weight 218, Ultimate Goal 185

Are you a bigger loser than Marko? Week 11 Recap

This week was not so good for me - no weight loss. But, no weight gain either! I'm hoping to make my goal weight, but realistically, I know I won't - especially for the contest (which ends this Friday). This experience has been great and I love that I have lost weight.

A Friend's Ordination

Sunday morning I drove down to the Roanoke area to participate in the ordination of my friend, Terry Goodnight. Terry is the Minister to Students at Vinton Baptist Church. I had the privilege to share in his ordination by giving The Charge to the Candidate. It's a little long, but I want to include it here because I really want to remember this special day in my friend's life.

Terry and I have known each other for 12 years. We first met in the Spring of 1996 at a preview weekend at Truett Seminary. We both enrolled in the Fall of that year and by the end of our first year of seminary, we had become life-long friends. This time of ordination has been a long time in coming and I am privileged to be a part of this service.

Ordination is simply the setting apart by formal recognition to an office or special service. Of course, ordination is not essential to ministry. Charles H. Spurgeon and D.L. Moody were never ordained, but both had wonderful ministries. Ordination is however, important for both the church and the minister. I was ordained almost one year ago to the day (mine was on April 22). For the longest time, I resisted being ordained. But then things changed. Let me share with you a passage from my blog that I wrote back on November 29, 2005, that I feel illustrates the importance of ordination:
"My pastor has encouraged me to consider ordination not only as part of God's calling on my life, but also because it would be good for our church. Although he didn't use these words, ordination would be a part of God's calling on our church community. I think I feel comfortable with that view of ordination. After all, being a pastor is about living out a shared calling with my church community--it's our calling!"

In the words of Baptist historian Leon McBeth, "It's a good thing to recognize God's call on a person's life. It's a way to say, 'We recognize God has called and gifted you for ministry. Amen, and more power to you.'"

With that in mind, Terry, I’d like to share a verse that reminds me of you. It is Ezra 7:10:
"For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the LORD, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel."

Terry, I think of three things when I think of you as a minister: you are a life-long learner, you are a passionate teacher, and you love teenagers. With those things in mind, I want to leave you with these challenges:

FIRST, deepen your love relationship with the LORD. Make daily time for God and spend daily time with God. Live out James 4:8 – Come near to God and he will come near to you. This is the foundation that you must have in order to be successful as a minister. After God, comes your family, and then your ministry. Don’t fall into the temptation to reverse the order. Terry, I charge you to Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

SECOND, continue to be obedient to the word of God. As you study the word, make it a priority to be diligent in obeying its commands and truths. Live by the saying attributed to St. Francis of Assisi – Preach the word daily; if necessary, use words. Terry, I charge you to make the Word a lamp to your feet and a light for your path, to make God’s statutes the joy of your heart, and to set your heart on keeping God’s decrees to the very end.

THIRD, continue to love people and care for them. Terry, I have experienced your friendship, love, and care first hand. You have made a difference in my life. Continue to make a difference in people’s lives. Always let people know you love them. Terry, I charge you to keep loving and caring for people.

FOURTH, continue being a person of integrity. As Paul Powell says in his book, The New Ministers Manual, “Effective ministry is based on integrity.” Ministries crumble to pieces when integrity is lacking. Terry, you are a man of integrity and my charge here to you is to keep being the man of integrity that you are.

FIFTH, be sincere in your ministry. Be yourself; don’t put on a front or wear a mask. Now, I don’t think this is going to be a problem. I have never experienced you as anything other than the real deal. You are not false or superficial or full of pride. You are a man of your word and you are someone who can be counted on. The charge here is to keep doing that and to GIVE GOD THE GLORY!

Now, the church has a responsibility to you as well. Church, I charge you to take care of Terry—financially meet his needs, give him time for himself and his (future) family, support him in prayer, accept him as a leader, do your part in the work of the ministry, encourage him, and cooperate together in setting goals for the future of Vinton Baptist Church. Remember that in ordaining Terry, you are all in the ministry together.

FINALLY, with apologies to Paul, In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge Terry: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. Love God with your whole being. Obey the Word at all times. Love and care for people. Live with integrity each and every day. And give God the Glory in all you do.

That night, Terry's youth "ordained" him in their own special way. You gotta love youth ministry!

Are you a bigger loser than Marko? Week 10 Recap

Week 10 was great! I lost 4 pounds and now I'm down to 220 pounds. I am only 5 pounds away from my contest goal with two weeks remaining! I'm almost halfway to my ultimate goal of 185 pounds. I wasn't expecting to lose so much this week because even though my eating was good I didn't think my exercise was that great. I was pleasantly surprised when I stepped on the scale this morning! I'm feeling better physically and people, especially at church, are starting to notice and say nice things about my weight loss. Of course Randa has been the best. It's great to hear your wife gush over how good she thinks you're looking! With only two more weeks to go and beating Marko an unattainable goal at this point (he's lost close to 55 pounds), I have firmly set my sights on reaching my goal of getting down to 215 pounds - a 36 pound loss over 12 weeks. Here's to a great two remaining weeks!

TRACKER: Starting Weight 251, Current Weight 220, Contest Goal 215, Ultimate Goal 185

Contest Rank: I'm currently in 11th place among the men - not too bad!

Are you a bigger loser than Marko? Week 9 Recap

I lost two pounds this past week - encouraging, but I was hoping for three! That puts me at 27 pounds lost after 9 weeks. I am still on schedule for making my contest goal weight of 215, but it will not be easy. I need to lose three pounds a week these next three weeks - hard, but doable!

TRACKER: Starting Weight 251, Current Weight 224, Contest Goal 215, Ultimate Goal 185

Family Spring Break!

Since Annie goes to a school that is on a modified calendar, we've had an extended Spring Break this year - three weeks! The first week, of course, was Holy Week. But, these last two weeks have given us opportunities as a family to get away and do some fun things together. This year, we visited Maymont in Richmond, the Children's Museum of Richmond, the Cherry Blossoms at the Tidal Basin, and just had some fun times locally at parks and at the Planet Play in the mall. Here is a slide show with some of the highlights:

Are you a bigger loser than Marko? Week 8 Recap

As you can see, Week 8 did not go as well as I hoped! Once again, I only lost one pound. I really was hoping to lose three. Technically, I'm still on pace to reach my contest goal of losing 36 pounds - at the two-thirds point I've lost 25 pounds. Realistically, I'm thinking for the first time that I might not make my goal. I'm still hopeful and I'm still happy that I am losing weight. Here's to a strong finish in the final third of the contest! Marko is kicking serious butt (he's lost just shy of 47 pounds) - there may not be any bigger losers than Marko!

TRACKER: Starting Weight 251, Current Weight 226, Contest Goal 215, Ultimate Goal 185

Are you a bigger loser than Marko? Week 7 Recap

Week 7 was my worst week so far in the contest. In retrospect, I knew this kind of week was coming. I only lost one pound this week. I knew things would get tougher as we progressed, but the reality of small losses (or no losses) hadn't hit me until this morning. I have to keep reminding myself that I am doing this not so much to win or even beat Marko (although that would be nice), but to make long-term lifestyle changes with the way I eat and exercise. Small losses and no gains are still making progress toward that life-changing goal and that's what is important.

I ate fairly well last week. What let me down (again) was not drinking enough water and not exercising consistently. I blame part of that on it being Spring Break week, but part has to be blamed on just plain laziness. I'll have to buckle down if I want to reach my weight loss goal for the contest. I'm 12 pounds away from my contest goal, with 5 weeks remaining. I can reach my goal! With that in mind, here are my goals for the remainder of the contest. I hope to lose three pounds in each of the next two weeks and two pounds in each of the last three weeks. That would put me squarely on my goal of losing 36 pounds! Here we go!

TRACKER: Starting Weight 251, Current Weight 227, Contest Goal 215, Ultimate Goal 185

Lent Update - Final

Lent is over! This year's season of Lent was special for me. I was able to keep my Lenten promise of not watching sports on television. It was difficult at times, but it was a good promise to make and to keep. Randa especially enjoyed not having the TV on sports during the weekends of Lent. I was able to do more with my family during this time, so that was nice. I also was able to reflect more inwardly spiritually during this time. Missing sports on TV (especially the first three days of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament) wasn't too bad. I was satisfied with filling that time by focusing on my relationship with God. I even learned a few things about myself and how I had been spending my time. I need to spend more time with my family and with God. While I'm not giving up sports watching for good, I'll definitely watch less from here on out. (Football season will be the big test - I'll check back on this promise then.)

Once again, I enjoyed hearing from the children about how they did with their promises. The youth made promises this year as well. Sharing together in community this discipline was good - for us as individuals and as a group. I always left church on Wednesday and Sunday nights encouraged by the stories from the children and youth.

The final observation that I have on Lent is the power of the promise kept. Focusing on the promise during the season of Lent brought a new appreciation and joy for Easter. Celebrating Easter took on a new sense of joy as I was able to watch some NCAA basketball on television for the first time! I don't think it was a coincidence that the first NCAA tourney game I was able to watch was the Davidson upset of Georgetown. Pure joy!

Easter

We had a great Easter Sunday! The National Chamber Brass played in our service this morning. They have become an Easter Sunday tradition and really add a special quality to our worship service. Our pastor gave three meditations from John 20; they tied together nicely and after each of the first two, you were left waiting for the next one. In between the meditations was music - either a hymn or special music. Today's service had more music than usual and that was a good thing! The following hymn is one that we sung today and also one of my favorites.

Christ the Lord Is Risen Today

Charles Wesley, 1707-1788

Christ the Lord is risen today. Alleluia!

Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia!

Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!

Sing, you heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!

Love’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia!

Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!

Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia!

Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia!

Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!

Where, O death, is now your sting? Alleluia!

Once he died our souls to save, Alleluia!

Where’s your victory, boasting grave? Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia!

Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!

Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia!

Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

Hail the Lord of earth and heaven, Alleluia!

Praise to you by both be given, Alleluia!

You we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!

Hail the Resurrection, thou, Alleluia!

King of glory, soul of bliss, Alleluia!

Everlasting life is this, Alleluia!

You to know, your power to prove, Alleluia!

Thus to sing, and thus to love, Alleluia!

After church, we went to Boston Market for lunch. After nap time/quiet time (and Tourney time for me), we had our egg hunt, took some family pictures, and dyed eggs. It was definitely a full day!

Spring Break / Holy Week

This past week was Spring Break for our students. Spring Break always coincides with Holy Week here in Fairfax County. We usually plan a few opportunities for fellowship and an opportunity for service during the week, in addition to the special worship opportunities provided by the church. This year's worship opportunities included a Maundy Thursday service and a prayer labyrinth.

Monday was spent at a Wizards game. The Wizards played Atlanta. We went down early and had dinner at Potbelly's before the game. Since it was St. Patrick's Day, the Wizards were having a promotional giveaway - nice, green rally towels that light up.

The game was exciting for the most part, but the Wizards lost, as they have not heard about something called 'playing defense'. It was a nice consolation to see Acie Law play for the Hawks. (Acie is probably the best men's basketball player ever from Texas A&M). All in all, it was a good time!

Wednesday was laser tag day. Laser tag was a compromise between bowling and paintball. We played over at Shadowland in Alexandria. Everyone seemed to have an enjoyable time, but the best memory I'll take from the event was when one of our senior girls got excited about finishing in second place and declared that she found her calling!

Friday, the family and I spent the day together. We went to Krispy Kreme for a mid-morning snack. I'm proud to say that I only had one chocolate-glazed donut! After that, we went to a nearby park - Martin Luther King, Jr. Park. We almost had the whole place to ourselves! We played on the park playground, walked around the park, and played on the playgrounds at the school next to the park. We ended our time at the park by having a mid-afternoon picnic and a final round of play on the playground. It was a fun day!

Today was our service project. We joined with Cornerstone Baptist in Warrenton for a follow-up time to our JUBILEE Retreat. This was another opportunity for us to put Jubilee into action.

We worked at a ministry called Community Touch. This ministry is doing wonderful things in the rural community outside of Warrenton. They have a food bank, a clothing and furniture store, and they provide transitional housing. It was great to be able to serve at a ministry that is doing meaningful things in their community. It was also fun to hang out with Josh.

Are you a bigger loser than Marko? Week 6 Recap

We're at the halfway mark of the contest! I lost 2 pounds this past week, bringing me to 228 pounds. Not bad, but it was only half of what I wanted to lose. I slacked off too much this past week - not enough walking, too much eating out (and too many sweets), and not drinking enough water. I plan to get back on track this week, so I'm setting my goal for this week to lose 4 pounds. I'm happy that I'm losing weight each week. I feel better than I have felt in a long time. I even managed to win a game of basketball knockout against the youth last night! Randa bested me this week by losing three pounds - way to go, Babe!

Marko is tearing it up! He was in 2nd place among the men last week. He lost a little over three pounds this past week, so he's ahead of me by about 12-13 pounds. Since we started at about the same weight, it's not looking good for me as far as beating him. But, you never know! I'm just glad I am losing weight. I'm also encouraged by my progress and I am pretty sure that I will make my goal of getting to 215 by the end of the contest! That would be awesome and victory for me!

TRACKER: Starting Weight 251, Current Weight 228, Contest Goal 215, Ultimate Goal 185

Lent Update - Week 5

Carrot Top Studios

We're to Holy Week now. So far, I have done pretty well in keeping my Lenten Promise of not watching sports on television. I noticed I had been lingering a little too long when I was flipping through the channels Saturday. I feel that this week will be the most difficult for me because of the NCAA basketball tournament beginning on Thursday. But, I also feel it will be the most rewarding as well. As I've been discussing with the children and youth, the keeping of a promise is not supposed to be for us to brag about, but something that draws us closer to God. I am hoping that this week will be a good time of reflection for me - reflecting on my relationship with God, my role as a husband and father, and my role as a vocational minister. As we talked about last night at FaithStation (our youth group meeting), I want to think on a deeper level this week and gain insight into who I really am in God's eyes. Easter is coming - Hallelujah!

the CORE: Generation Change

Today, six of us (three adults, three students) attended the CORE: Generation Change at National Presbyterian Church in D.C. This year's theme was about transformation and helping students reach their dreams of changing their world. As always, the CORE material was excellent and our presenter, Brock Morgan, was very good. He shared personal examples from his ministry and from his family that really connected the theme material with the audience. We had to leave early so that some of our students could be at the final choir rehearsal for Sunday's performance of the Vivaldi Gloria. I trust my friend Chris will fill me in on what we missed! I love the ministry of Youth Specialties, especially their two big events: the CORE and the National Youth Workers Convention (NYWC). The CORE is an excellent opportunity for all youth workers (and for the first time this year, student leaders) to get some training and encouragement. The time commitment and price can't be beat and the content is always timely and helpful!

That's a Scary Thought!

Dr. Gray!
Picture this setting as you say those words: I'm in a hospital room visiting with a patient. Here's the story:

I made a hospital visit today to see a church member who is recovering from surgery on a herniated disc. While there, I was mistaken for being a doctor not once, but twice! Two different nurses came into the room and asked me if I was the patient's primary care physician. After the second time that I said "No, I'm a pastor," I mentioned something about not being able to wait to tell others that I was mistaken for being a doctor. The nurse replied that she would rather be mistaken for being a pastor. In my mind I'm thinking, "I'd rather be a pastor, but get paid like a doctor!"

Are you a bigger loser than Marko? Week 5 Recap

Week 5 is in the books and I lost another 3 pounds! That puts me at 230 pounds - a total loss so far of 21 pounds! Randa lost another pound and she has lost a total of 9 pounds so far! We are both one pound shy of having lost a third of the weight we need to lose in order to reach our ultimate goal weight.

I wasn't sure how I was going to do this week. I had to eat out more than normal, so that was hard. I was at another weekend youth event, so that was hard. And to top it all off, I didn't get to walk as much as I have been. The thing that saved me was that I managed, through all the difficulties, to eat well.

Meanwhile, Marko had a great week 4, so I'm 7 pounds behind him pending Week 5's results. Marko has been doing awesome. I guess there's nothing like the pressure of having to possibly give away lots of free stuff to get you extra motivated! (Of course, having a personal trainer helps as well!) I've really enjoyed this contest and I feel so much better physically having lost some weight. It will be interesting to see what YS does once the contest ends. I think they should (and will in some way) keep the emphasis on healthy living going. After all, YS works so hard to nurture the souls of youth workers - why not nurture the physical bodies of youth workers as well? Here's to a great Week 6! I'm shooting for a 4 pound loss this week!

TRACKER: Starting Weight 251, Current Weight 230, Contest Goal 215, Ultimate Goal 185