Recently a Denver newspaper called the Rocky Mountain News had to close down.  The newspaper had a web site that was a favorite of mine.  I started out getting updates on the Broncos but also read the rest of the news going on in Colorado.  

On the final days of the web site they posted the most memorable moments from “the Rocky”.  I started reading a story about the Columbine shootings and was immediately taken back to all that had happened.  It was incredibly sad but powerful to read the messages parents left to their kids who were killed.

This is what I thought as I was reading the stories: If you are a parent, small group leader, teacher, minister or anyone that is doing something good in the world, keep on doing it because you are very much needed.

Columbine: Letters from Parents

Discovery: diet and exercise are the keys to losing weight.

Amazing right?  Yeah I guess that’s not news but why are people looking for new methods to get in shape?

I’ve been shopping for some golf clubs lately and I discovered that there are tons of used clubs in good condition.  Why?  Because golfers think they will do better with new clubs when the ones they had were probably just fine.

I’m the same way with golf discs (or “frisbees”).  I’m always looking for new discs when my old ones worked fine.

For many christians, the Word of God has become like a set of old golf clubs.  We sometimes look for answers everywhere but neglect this gold mine of truth that has worked so faithfully for us.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.  -2nd Timothy 3:16,17

I love promise books.  In fact, I have so many different promise books on my desks my “friend” AJ Rankin keeps making fun of me.  These are books that are like topical indexes for the Bible.  If you need wisdom about finances you can find a collection of scriptures about finances in a promise book.  Or relationships or temptation or prayer, etc.  You should get a promise book, especially if you are a small group leader or minister.

I just started leading a group called “Conquerors” at the Northwood Academy high school.  The Bible study takes place from 12:20-1pm on Mondays during the students lunch time.  Today was my first one and there was about 12 guys that showed up ready to press in to God.  These guys really impressed me.  They have started their own tribe!  They wanted to use their own lunch time to grow in their relationship with God so they put this group together themselves.  When a leader can’t be there one of the students steps up and leads the group!

This is one of the best parts of my job.  I love community, accountability and discipleship.

Wednesday’s are busy days and my most recent Wednesday was crazy.  In the middle of the night Ella got sick and it was the kind of sick where you have to wash your kid off and rip sheets off the bed and immediately wash them.  After that there was just too little time to go back to sleep before I needed to take my in-laws to the airport.  After that it was 6am prayer and then I stayed home with my family to help take care of Ella all day.  

I had wanted to go to the Northwood Academy middle school lunch to remind the guys about my small group relaunch at 5:30 but I couldn’t so I was preparing for a small group that could very possibly consist of zero people.

And then things got better.  9 guys showed up for my first small group since November.  It was a great start!

After group I met a young man named Darius.  He was just up at the church to play basketball on our court.  He lives in the neighborhood.  I talked with him a while and played some basketball and invited him to stay for the Element.  When I went in the game room to check things out, Zach Clements, a high school student and SHIFT small group co-leader, came and talked with Darius and encouraged him to come to the Element as well.  And he did.

Phillip McCart gave a great talk and I was so happy Darius was there.  It was a great night.

There was also a little matter of me dominating in ping pong afterward but that wasn’t as special as Darius.

I just finished A Tale of Three Kings about 5 minutes ago.  It is a truly incredible book about submission, true leadership and spear throwing.  It’s about Saul, David and Absalom and how we can all at different times have the same heart these men had.  Some were a heart after God and some were after evil.  This book applies to everyone in ministry.  We have all difficult people issues, leader issues.  We have all felt like David, Saul and Absalom at some time or another.  I don’t want to seem like people involved in ministry are so special and that they are the only ones that deal with these issues but as the book reads, “There is no kingdom like the kingdom of God”.  In the secular business world you can hate your boss, betray, back stab, market yourself and climb the corporate ladder and most of the time get away with it (in this lifetime).  In the ministry world, if you are in rebellion toward your leader then you are in rebellion toward God (yes it is that way in the business world too, but it is accepted).  And your are betraying your own beliefs, which really makes you miserable.

The book challenges me to never point fingers (especially the middle one) and look in my own heart and ask God how can I change?  Not: how can you change all these other people?  

Really, no matter where your “job” is you should read this book.

I was inspired by AJ Rankin’s “NSMisms” because he was inspired by Tony Morgan’s “Perryisms” and thus “Gilbertisms” was born.  Out of all my friends, Matt Gilbert is by far the most unique.  Here’s a collection of his most famous phrases:

“I’ll tear in to that like a hobo into a bologna sandwich.”

“That’s the mystic portal of death and destiny”

“That was a social and economic disaster”

“Look at those two guys: Captain Creepy Weirdo and Mervin Ervin Grundfeld”

“Mountain Dew: Sweet nectar of the gods!”

“Oh sweet desert oasis, how I have longed for thee”

“Tragic inevitability my friend.  Tragic inevitability”

“I’m gonna get sucked into the vortex of doom!”

“That’s aggregious!”

“That could gag a maggot”

“That’s a big tater”

“He’s a grown man” (referring to a good athlete)

“They’re terrible! ” (the 2nd word comes with a very high pitch)

“Bootleg!”

“Wingler is everywhere”

“That guy has the mustache of authority”

“He was given him the biz” (referring to someone doing anything bad to someone else)

“Back down the boom-boom” (referring to his own basketball style)

“PPPBBBBTTTTTHHH!”

And, of course, there are several that are too inappropriate for this blog.

There is so much good stuff in John 4, no one could put it all in one blog.  Unless…..they use bullets!

• Jesus wasn’t going to visit the woman at the well.  He was just trying to get to Galilee.  Some of life’s best moments happen when (and where) we least expect it.  Be ready.
• Jesus was tired and hungry and probably in no mood for ministry.  See the first bullet
• The Samaritan woman was surprised by Jesus’ lack of discrimination when He asked for some water.  How often do we cross lines of culture for ministry?  How often do we surprise people by this?
• He was creative in His communication by using the water as an illustration.  God has made us all creative to some degree, but it will really come out when it’s used for His glory.
• He operated in the spiritual gift of word of knowledge and discovered the truth about this woman.  Like creativity, the Holy Spirit helps us reach people when we are in tune with God.  But the greatest gift is still love.
• When the disciples returned with food He told them that He had food to eat that they didn’t know about.  He lived for this stuff.  Loving people fulfilled Him.  Is it the same for us?  Sometimes we aren’t hungry for ministry because we have forgotten how delicious it is.  Sometimes we get full of junk food because it is bright and flashy but there is nothing like real true ministry.
• “Don’t wait 4 months for the harvest.  Open your eyes.  It’s happening right now”
• The woman brought back several people who came to believe in Him.  Your story is powerful.  Share it.
• And finally, if this story were made into a song it might go like this: “Samaritan Woman, stay away from me-eeee.  Samaritan Woman, mamma let me be-eeee.  Don’t come lookin around this well, I don’t wanna see your face in hell…”

I saw this story from sports writer Rick Reilly and thought it was incredible.  I love it when the church reaches out in unconventional ways.  Enjoy!    -Kevin

There are some games where cheering for the other side feels better than winning.

by Rick Reilly 

   

Melinda Wright

Gainesville State players douse head coach Mark Williams in celebration.

They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.

It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through.

Did you hear that? The other team’s fans?

They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, “Go Tornadoes!” Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions.

It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on—by name.

“I never in my life thought I’d hear people cheering for us to hit their kids,” recalls Gainesville’s QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. “I wouldn’t expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!”

And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he’d just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach.

But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five—handcuffs ready in their back pockets—and marched them to the team bus. That’s because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.

This all started when Faith’s head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith had never played Gainesville, but he already knew the score. After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game, Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment and involved parents. Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions for drugs, assault and robbery—many of whose families had disowned them—wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets.

So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. “Here’s the message I want you to send:” Hogan wrote. “You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth.”

Some people were naturally confused. One Faith player walked into Hogan’s office and asked, “Coach, why are we doing this?”

And Hogan said, “Imagine if you didn’t have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you.”

Next thing you know, the Gainesville Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before. Hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders!

“I thought maybe they were confused,” said Alex, a Gainesville lineman (only first names are released by the prison). “They started yelling ‘DEE-fense!’ when their team had the ball. I said, ‘What? Why they cheerin’ for us?’”

It was a strange experience for boys who most people cross the street to avoid. “We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games,” says Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years. “You can see it in their eyes. They’re lookin’ at us like we’re criminals. But these people, they were yellin’ for us! By our names!”

Maybe it figures that Gainesville played better than it had all season, scoring the game’s last two touchdowns. Of course, this might be because Hogan put his third-string nose guard at safety and his third-string cornerback at defensive end. Still.

After the game, both teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray and that’s when Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead. “We had no idea what the kid was going to say,” remembers Coach Hogan. But Isaiah said this: “Lord, I don’t know how this happened, so I don’t know how to say thank You, but I never would’ve known there was so many people in the world that cared about us.”

And it was a good thing everybody’s heads were bowed because they might’ve seen Hogan wiping away tears.

As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under guard, they each were handed a bag for the ride home—a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Faith player.

The Gainesville coach saw Hogan, grabbed him hard by the shoulders and said, “You’ll never know what your people did for these kids tonight. You’ll never, ever know.”

And as the bus pulled away, all the Gainesville players crammed to one side and pressed their hands to the window, staring at these people they’d never met before, watching their waves and smiles disappearing into the night.

Anyway, with the economy six feet under and Christmas running on about three and a half reindeer, it’s nice to know that one of the best presents you can give is still absolutely free.

Hope.