Reference Time

Every year, around this time, I end up having the cool opportunity to write some references for people who are wrestling with their faith.  Right now we have high school students that are trying to figure out the rest of their life right now (that is scary, read it again) and I have a cool chance to help be a spiritual guide in that process.  Generally I am not the person that likes to sit down and work on paper work but I feel like it is an honor to be able to write these references for students and share what God is doing in their life.  I get to be a cool help to someone on the other end that is trying to help this student figure out their life path.

It goes deeper than that because this las week I was able to write a third reference for one of my first small group guys as he is getting ready to graduate with his bachelors.  I love to look and see what God is doing in his life.  He is such a great young man that I couldn't imagine not being a part of all that is happening in his life.

Finally, I have another guy in my life who I just was able to write a reference for him to attend seminary!  I am so proud of all that God is doing in his life.  I was able to lead in Middle School ministry here with him at South Hills Church.  Then I was able to be a part of him and his wife falling in love.  After that I was able to preform his wedding ceremony (which was so cool).  Now I get to see, first hand, the plans that God has for his life coming to bloom.

Basically what I am saying is that there is something cool about being involved in people's lives for a long period!

Seven Years Later

Seven years ago, tonight, I was finishing my first night of Ignite Junior High Ministry at South Hills Church Community.  I am pretty sure that this was the night that I just was able to sit in and watch what was taking place in our Middle School Ministry.  I remember the next week I was off for Thanksgiving and the following week it was my turn to lead; we had eight students show up and twelve leaders.  I was ready to change the world with that group of people.  

See about two months earlier I had sent in this picture to South Hills, with my resume, when I applied for the job.  Most people encouraged me NOT to send in this picture but I was convinced that I wanted to be in a place that would allow me to be who I am; and this picture captured that.  The crazy thing is how quick it happened.  Charity and I were not even married at the time but after we visited I knew we were moving to Vegas (a bittersweet event for two So Cal kids).

In the last seven years practically everything has changed in my life.  I went from being our Middle School Pastor to the Discipleship Pastor and everything in between.  When I moved out here I was not even married!  While here I have begun, and completed, my ordination with The Alliance (our denomination).  While doing that I have almost completed seminary.  I also got a few more tattoos while out here, gained a few pounds, lost my plugs and started getting a real haircut (sometimes).

In the last seven years I have learned a whole bunch but here are some things I was thinking about today that have stuck out to me:

MY CHURCH WATCHED ME GROW UP
This may seem like something weird to start off with but its so true.  When I moved out here I was so green in ministry it's not even funny.  My church was there to support me when I was ordained (here are pics to show it).  When I was getting restless in Middle School Ministry they added my responsibilities and helped me learn some more.  They supported me when I was leading mission trips, encouraged me when I taught from stage and sat me down when I messed up.  They were there when my kids were born and now are watching them grow up!  I am thankful to have had such a supportive place to do ministry.


MINISTRY IS TOUGH
I know I'm not supposed to write this but I am going to: ministry is tough!  I have seen students walk away from Jesus, seen adults walk away from our church and had friends who loved Jesus stopped talking to me.  I have come home from camps and wanted to quit, been on the mission field and seen hungry kids who have never had a shower and met homeless guys who seem insane.  The best part of all of this is that I had a church support me through it all because when I was growing up they never gave up on me.

LONGEVITY MATTERS
When I came to South Hills I said I wanted to come somewhere and do ministry for ten years.  Now I knew the average youth pastor was only lasting for 9-18 months but I wanted to change that.  I have been fortunate to have some great pastors in my life who modeled longevity in ministry and they encouraged me to do the same.  I guess you could say that longevity has been breed into my ministry DNA.  That helped me commit when times got tough.  Now I can look back on students I met in the seventh grade who I am doing ministry alongside.  I have families that I am the only youth pastor their kids knew!  Longevity matters for influence, character and people know when I mess up I am not leaving because I have a church that has watched me grow up.

South Hills Church, I really want to thank you for everything and everyone over the last seven years.  I could not imagine where I would be without you.  It has been a privilege to serve here.  I came alone but have been so blessed out here in the desert! 

$23 in the mason jar

I have grown up having a dog in my home ever since I can really remember.  When Charity and I first got married we waited about a year and got our first dog Rosie.  Rosie was a good little dog but once Sophie became mobile we realized that is wasn't going to work out to keep Rosie around and made the tough choice to give her away.

For the last year I have really wanted to get another dog in our home but it just hasn't been the right timing.  I have looked at many different breeds of dogs and have narrowed my list down to certain breeds I like better than others.  Then once we started taking Financial Peace University (FPU) I realized this was a cool chance to get my daughters in the habit of saving for what we want.  See Sophie and Leah both love dogs and I'm sure they can't wait until we get one in our home but FPU taught me that I can't just use my credit card to buy a dog and think that everything will be ok.

Starting about ten weeks ago Sophie, Leah and I began to save my extra allowance money in a mason jar in our house.  It started out with a few bucks here and there and then I started having to swap out the ones in there for fives and tens.  Right now we have $24 saved up to buy our dog.  The goal is to have enough money  to be able to head to the pound (or Craigslist) and find a dog that really needs a good home.  We have decided that there are enough dogs in the world that need a good home and I think we can provide that home but not until we have enough saved up.  Some of the cool parts of this saving is it provides an opportunity for me to teach my girls the value of saving and allows them to see the growth as we pack dollars into the jar.  Something even better is the other night we saw our friend and shared with her what we are doing.  After Sophie told her our plan she reached into her pocket and pulled out a dollar for Sophie to stuff in the jar.  I'm very excited for the day we get to head to the pound and rescue a dog! 

Financial Peace University- Week Ten

Charity and I have been taking Financial Peace University, along with 250+ other people in our church, for the last ten weeks.  Over the last ten weeks my thinking about money has been radically changed.  I would consider myself to have always been pretty good with money but this course has helped me really understand more of what my responsibility is with the resources that God has put me in charge of.  

Now I have taken some time off from blogging about the course but this week made me think and really encouraged me to start sharing again.  I want to share about this course, not in intense detail, but just vague enough to make you want to take the course.  This week we talked about investing for retirement and what we talked about rocked my thinking!  

Charity and I currently invest about 13% of our income into a retirement fund.  Most people would say: "That is great Neal!"  The sad thing is that I have allowed someone else to dictate where my retirement fund goes and due to that I have made a -16% return on my money this year.  In other words I would have been better to put my money under our bed!  

With that said the question I leave you with: "Do you have a plan for retirement or are you just hoping you have enough?"

Bring Your Daughter to Work Day

For the last couple months (maybe weeks) Sophie has been asking if she could come to work with me.  Now I would love to bring my three year old to work with me but lets be honest: she would be bored!  Well this Sunday was the time change and that is a joke if you have kids but I decided this would be the day to bring Sophie with me.  We got all ready, we held hands on the way to the truck, Sophie sang about how excited she was to come help me out and we headed over to church.  Since it was the time change we showed up a bit early and got our FPU class ready.

When I needed to print some things Sophie decided that she would help me out and got on the computer.  Honestly I was a bit nervous bringing her t the office with me but she did great!  I brought her into our staff prayer time before service and I told her that we can't talk.  While we were talking through the service she looked at me and said: "How come they are talking?"  Sophie is very into being fair.  It was a great day with Sophie and I just knew that I needed to share this moment.  

Singing in the Truck

This week we had to drop Charity's car off at the mechanic so that meant we were using the truck for the day.  I pulled the truck in the garage; something that has never happened before and the girls loved it!  We took some time to play in the truck while I was putting in another car seat.  Sophie was having fun playing around in the truck (turning all the knobs to something different and eating my altoids).  Then I brought Leah into the truck and they were being so cute with each other.

I let them play together for a little while and then Sophie asked me to turn the truck on and roll up the windows.  I was not about to roll up the windows and leave them in there but I did want to film them and show the world how cute it is when my kids sings to Justin Beiber!

Halloween Fun

We did our traditional halloween and went over to our friends the Yurek's home for a little party.   Charity dressed up as a Chargers fan and in the pic to the left I don't have my costume on yet.  Sophie was dressed up as Tiana, from Princes and The Frog, which also doubled as Justin Beaver's (that what Sophie calls him) girlfriend.  Little Leah dressed up as Tinkerbell and was the cutest fairy ever!

Last night I had so much fun with my family!  We started off by watching the Chargers game and then took our party to the streets to get some candy! Sophie rode her tricycle around (that means I pushed it) and Leah was in her braught braught (her little car that Charity pushed).  We went house to house, got some candy and really just had a great night with our friends laughing, eating food and just hanging out.

I dressed up as Jesus; which brought quite the few comments.  I was very interested in the amount of people who took note of me being Jesus.  One guy said something to the effect of: "Hey Jesus, I got a lot to talk to you about." Being a pastor I kindly replied: "Let me know when you're ready, I have time for you."  It may have been a quick comment but hopefully I was able to remind him that Jesus always has time for us.  All in all I had a great halloween with my family.

"More is Caught Than Taught Ministry"

This line was shared with me early when I got into ministry: "More is Caught Than Taught".  For the last couple years I have thought about how true this statement is.  I have invested the last eight and a half years of my life into spreading the Gospel; mainly to students.  Over these years I have seen hundreds of students come and go through the doors of our church.  As I think back to my internship and the hundreds of students at Eastlake Church that we ministered to there is only one student I keep in contact with.

After Eastlake Church I helped out with a church plant just north is a cool city called Encinitas.  I have to say that I have loosely kept in contact with one family from that church.  Being at South Hills Church for the last, almost, seven years I have had a chance to share the truth of the Bible with lots of people.  I think about these last seven years and I have a hard time believing that any of them can remember more than ten messages that I have shared.  Ok, lets be honest, I think we would be hard pressed to find someone who remembers more than five of the messages I have preached here.  To be honest, I would be stoked if there were a handful of people that remember one of the messages I have preached at our church.

(Indoor Skydiving with Spencer, Travis and Nick)

If there are a few people that remember one of the messages that I have preached and have acted on that truth of God I would be very excited.  I would more excited to hear about students who have changed the direction of their life because we have spent time with them.  I really do think that preaching on Sunday is super important but I think that people are more prone to remember the things we do off the stage.  See I think that if you spoke with some of the students in our church they would share that they learned more from me on a road trip to snowboard or out on the lake.  They could probably tell you how I acted at Hume Lake when we played paintball or a conversation we had at the lunch table.

I guess what I am trying to say is our lives are an example for Christ and people are watching our every move.  I want to be known for how I lived my life off stage.  I want people to remember how I acted in tough situations because I chose the high road.

The "Almost Done" Letter

Earlier this month I spent a week in Redding, CA working on a week of seminary.  While I was up there I was handed this letter:

Now this letter isn't the easiest thing in the world to read but it says a key line in there:

"If you successfully complete the above courses as scheduled, you will finish the requirements for the Masters of Divinity program as listed above."

This is something that I have been working on for over five years now and to be handed this letter was crazy emotional.  There are a few things this letter means to me that some people may not understand:

1) Less Time Away From Home
I have spent a good deal of time away from my family over the last five years, six when I finish, and this letter means that I can have more time with my family after graduation.

2) Accomplishment
Many of you know that I dropped out of high school my junior year.  I ended up going back and finishing at a continuation school.  I didn't drop out because I was stupid I dropped out because I had a bunch going on in my family life and I was bored at school.  Studying the Bible is something that I love to do!

3) Education
I started this MDiv program because felt that God was calling me to but during the process He taught me that it is more about the education I have received than a piece of paper that will sit on my wall.

These are just a few things this letter means to my life.  It will always be a reminded to me of all the hard work I put in, studying the word of God, to help others know Christ.

My Yellow Watch

Even since I was a wee little kid I have always wanted a Shark watch.  I know... some people want a Rolex but I want a watch with a rubber wristband.  So for my 30th birthday my amazing wife found me a Shark watch in my favorite color (see picture).  This is me wearing my watch the first day I got it as we are heading to watch a movie for my birthday.

This summer we went to Hume Lake and I was so stoked to wear my watch and actually have the time on my wrist!  On Tuesday some of the Senior guys invited me to go kayaking with them.  Once we were on the lake I realized that none of them have ever been to Hume before and told them that we have to head down to the cove to play on the log roll.

We rowed to the other side of the lake, parked the boats and swam over to the log roll.  Now the log roll is an amazing experience that I could not let these guys miss out on.  After playing for a while I knew it was getting late so I looked at my wrist but my watch was gone.  I was so bummed.  I was beyond bummed.

That night, back at camp, I started thinking of how to get my watch back.  I had a pair of googles but I would need help.  Then it hit me; my alarm is going off at 6:23am to wake me up and my watch is waterproof.  That night I asked around and was able to get five guys to help me and four more pairs of googles.  The next morning we woke up before 6am, borrowed a car, drove to the cove and did this:

My watch spent the night at the bottom of Hume Lake but today it sits back on my left wrist as I type this.  The craziest thing about this is something that wasn't caught on video.  Before I jumped into the lake I stopped to pray that God would help me find my watch and sure enough I did!

Financial Peace University Week Six

This Sunday we had our sixth week of Financial Peace University.  This class has been pretty cool, for me personally, and seems to be very helpful for our church also.  My last post on FPU was a brief overview of what we are learning and was just a scratch of the surface.

Yesterday I was extremely tired during the class but I was also excited to hear what Dave Ramsey was saying.  See I finally felt like yesterday was something that Charity and I were already doing; the previous five weeks were things that we needed to adjust in our finances and that can be tough to hear and more difficult to actually make happen!

Here is a quick overview of what I am taking away from yesterdays FPU course:

1. Wait overnight before making a purchase
2. Carefully consider your buying motives.  No amount of stuff equals contenment of fulfillment
3. Never buying anything you do not understand.
4. Consider the "opprotuinty cost" of your money
5. Seeking the counsel of your spouse. 

I feel like Charity and I have done good with our money since being married but we want to do better as we move forward.  We are examining every aspect of what we have to make sure that we are using what God has given us to the best of our ability.  

Financial Peace University Debt Load

Our church just finished week five of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University and we are getting ready to start week six.  This course has been super cool, for me, to see how many people have jumped in to get involved.  We have almost 40% of our church involved in this course which tells me two things:

1) The Las Vegas Economy has hit harder than I thought
2) People want to find financial freedom

One of the steps in the class is for the people involved to anonymously write down their debt load.  To be honest I had no what to expect to see with this number when it came in.  Now we have three different sessions of the class that we are offering to our church and from those different sessions we came up with one debt load number.  I am not going to share that exact number but I want to let you know that it is over four million dollars.

I have been hesitant to put up that number because I think it can bring up emotions in peoples lives and to be honest I have a part of that number.  In yesterdays blog I shared my personal learnings and personal debt load that Charity and I are carrying.  The reason I chose to end up sharing that number is because I am excited to share with you in December the new number.  See FPU is designed to help people get back on their feet financially and take control of their finances.

If you are in our church and you are reading this I want you to know that I am praying for everyone in our church to find financial freedom.  I am praying for people to be able to take control of their finances and not let their finances take control of them.  I am praying for people to find new connections with people in our church that they may have never met because of this course.  I love my church and I am so proud of everyone taking the course and making the steps to get financial freedom!

Financial Peace University: Week Five

This week we hit week five in our Financial Peace University (FPU) Course that our church has been doing.  I am one of 260 people in our church that is taking the course in one of the three different times we are offering it.  Last night I started thinking about FPU and what this has done for our family already.

Charity and I moved about two months ago and well... to be honest, moving cost us more than we had bargained for.  We didn't have to rent a moving truck (thanks to a friend) and we didn't have to pay movers (thanks to many friends).  When we were planning the move we knew we would need some more furniture to help fill the new house; we went from 1050 square feet to over 1700 square feet.

Secondly we have used our credit card like a debt card for the last five years.  We would put all our family expenses on the card and then pay it off monthly.  Well with the addition of two children in the last three years expenses have increased and we found out that we owed our credit card $1500.  That may not be too huge a number for the average American family but we don't want to be the average American family.

Finally FPU has been great to share with the young adults at our church.  Charity really took this as her personal goal this summer to get as many college students in this course to help them make wise choices financially right away in life.  I love getting to spend time with the people at our table, on a weekly basis, and see how they are getting this lesson before they make the unwise choices.

These are some random thoughts from FPU at our church but I really think this course has changed the way I am thinking about money.  I want to make sure that I make the best choices with the resources that God has put in my possession.

A Major Accomplishment

The other day I was looking at my wall and noticed something super cool.  See when I arrived at South Hills almost seven years ago I made an agreement to work on my ordination as a pastor.  Within four months I had accomplished my licensing with the Christian and Missionary Alliance.  From there it was supposed to be a two year process to get my Ordination completed.  After two (and a half) years of working on my Ordination I finally took the flight to Sacramento to have my final Ordination interview.

The interview could cover over 280 questions and it was all oral.  I sat in a room with five men who most had been pastoring longer than I had been alive.  I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous sitting in that room with those men but I also had a confidence sitting there with them.  I knew that these men wanted me to succeed; they had been rooting for me the last couple years and now it was time to culminate all my work.

After a two hour interview I was asked to leave the room and allow the men deliberate from our time.  I was called back in about 15 minutes later.  The leader of the interview said some great things about our time together, complimented me on my understanding of Theology and there was a cool sense in the room that day.  There is one line that sticks out to me from that time when Doug (our district supervisior) said this: "Neal it is the recommendation of this board to approve your ordination with no reservation and nothing further to work on."

I'm not sure if you have ever had anyone say that to you but I was told later that basically I nailed it.  My life was in line, I was correct on scripture and that interview affirmed my calling into life-long pastoral ministry.  Now I don't share all of this to brag but to just share my excitement of call on my life from where I started my life to where God has brought me.

(This is Roy Price officiating my Ordination Service)

(A group of our pastors and elders praying for Charity and me)

Made for Ministry

A few weeks ago I took an online Small Groups Conference through Saddleback Church called "Twelve".  During the conference I was reminded of a few things that sparked my excitement for ministry, again, in a new way.  One of those things was that we were made for ministry.  God created me to serve the church and use the gifts and talents that I have to help the church be a better place for others.  I hope that is something that you believe in your life and actively live out!

Part of my new role I am helping to slot childcare for our Tuesday night Financial Peace University.  Now if you were honest with yourself most people would not find it a joy to find people to watch other people's kids; when you say it like that.  But if you say it a different way and get to see what I have seen and hear the stories that I have heard it becomes a totally different story.  I get to see students using their gift of love and compassion to watch kids on a weekly basis so that families in our church can grow in their financial understanding.

See I have a cool seat where I get to see students serving with younger kids, loving on them, playing with them, hanging out with them, holding little babies and modeling the love of Christ to these children.  Now there are times that it can be tough but I have taken a new approach on the whole deal.  See I truly believe that when I ask a student to watch children that they are ministering to those younger kids as an older believe in Christ.  I am not just "slotting childcare" but I am helping students find their calling in the body of Christ and use their time to love on kids.

Even as I write this is makes me smile because most of the students have actually thanked me for inviting them into ministry on Tuesday nights!  I had a conversation with one girl that got me so excited because I was able to explain to her that we need to allow others this opprotunitty to minister.  Here is a text message that I got from a young man who helped out one night and it just makes me smile!  When you read the message you can see that this young man had a great time ministering to these younger kids.  He let me know that he met some kids who were pretty cool and that he would not just do it again if I asked him but he would be happy to do it again.

See we are made for ministry.  We are made to use our gifts and talents to serve the church to help others find their full potential in Christ.  Are you taking part in that?  I hope you are because then you will be happy to come and serve again. 

The Power of an Invite {Part.Three}

Now that I had been invited to church and God had done some amazing changes in my life, I began to live my life differently.  I stopped drinking (personal choice) because I know where it had taken me in the last few years.  I also stopped doing drugs because I just didn't think that lined up, Biblically, with my new decision to follow Christ.  I started to serve at my local church and helped out in our children's ministry (this was a great place for me to grow spiritually).

Then one night I had the chance to invite someone on the journey I was taking.  I was at a friends house from Big Bear who had recently moved to San Diego.  He was living in a large house a couple minutes from my place with a few other guys who were all from Big Bear also.  The house was a full on party house so much so that they called it the Playboy Mansion.  It was a Saturday night and I was hanging out at the house when someone asked me about why I wasn't drinking.  I began to share my faith and what God was doing in my life.

At that moment my friend Brian walked out of the room and headed, quickly, to his room.  I wasn't to sure what he was getting in his room and to be honest I thought he was grabbing a gun.  He came out of his room shaking a Bible and saying (loudly): "I want to understand this book and what it means."  I knew he was drunk so I told him what I knew I safely could and then invited him to come to small group with me on Tuesday when he was sober.  He accepted the invite and the conversation changed.

On Tuesday I pulled up to Brian's house and went inside to get him.  He totally forgot that he had said he could come to small group but he ended up coming with me.  That night, in small group, Brian broke down in tears and confessed his sin.  God was working heavily in his heart and he accepted Christ that night!  Brian was in desperate need of a savior and God used me as a man to invite him to church.  Our friendship has grown so much that I was able to preform his wedding ceremony!  Brian is one of my best friends and I am so proud of what God has done in his life in the last 10 years.  I often wonder what would have happened in Brian's life if God never used me to invite him to church...

The Power on an Invite {Part.Two}

When I was twenty years old I walked into my DUI school because of the choices that I had made and where they landed me.  That morning I had a meeting with the teacher of my class so I had to show up early.  During the meeting the teacher asked me about my drug use, my alcohol consumption and how I ended up where I was.  I was very open with the teacher and at the end of the session he looked me in the eyes and said this: "I'm not supposed to give you my personal opinion but I want you to know if you continue to do what you have done you will be dead in five years."  Those words have rattled in my brain for the last eleven years.  See I never imagined that when I was invited to smoke pot when I was thirteen that I would end up here.

After our meeting I went to my regular class and in that class there was a man named Brett Wheeler who spoke openly about his walk with Christ and his involvement in church.  He admitted that he had messed up and there was something different about this man.  I knew that I needed to talk to him.  See I had just been released from jail five days prior for another alcohol related incident and I was hurting more than I had ever hurt before.  My life was shaken to the core and I had no clue what I believed anymore.

As we were leaving class I wanted so badly to ask Brett to take me to church with him but I was scared to ask him.  That morning, when we walked out of the classroom doors, Brett turned around and invited me to church with him.  I was about to decline when he looked me in the eyes and said these words: "Neal if you don't stop what you have been doing you will be dead in five years."That was too much for me to hear that in such a short period of time.

That day I gave Brett my number and he not only invited me to church but he drove about forty minutes to pick me up and then forty minutes back to church.  Then he also gave me a ride home!  Brett modeled what it means to invite someone to church and then follow through with that.  I have to say that I am not sure where I would be today if he had not invited me to church that day...

The Power of an Invite {Part.One}

As I've transitioned into my new role I have been thinking more and more about what I want to dub The Power of an Invite.  Our church just started Financial Peace University and its great to see how many people have been invited into this journey into financial freedom.  As my role grows, and we get Life Groups up and running healthily, I am excited to see how many people are invited into life changing relationships.  Thinking about life changing relationships reminded me of four things that I want to write about this week.

When I was about thirteen years-old I was invited to a friends house and that invite would change the way I lived.  I was at a pee-wee football game at the local middle school that I had ridden my bike to.  After the game I rode my bike, with some other guys, over a new friends house.  I can't exactly remember when I was invited over to this house; it may have been figured out before hand or taken place that day but that invite changed my life.

That early fall day was the first day I was introduced to smoking pot.  I went over to my friends house and ended up smoking pot with about four other guys.  I remember that day very clearly.  I remember sitting upstairs in my friends room on his little couch he had in there.  I remember what we used to smoke the weed.  I can even remember some of the things we talked about that day.  I am not sure what, in my memory, has held onto those thoughts but for some reason I have.

See that day I was invited to someone's house and then invited to smoke pot.  No one forced me to ride my bike over there.  I was not bullied into making the choice to smoke pot; all the choices that day were choices I made.  Now this will be the one post I write on this week that is directly related to a decision that  has had a negative influence on my life.  I want to start this way because it fits in a time line of what I will present and how my life has changed.  I want us all to be keenly aware of how important the invite is in our lives can be impacted for the positive or the negative!

18 Months Later

I can't believe that eighteen months ago we were blessed with this beautiful little girl (ok, honestly Leah was 9 pounds 1 ounce when she was born so she has never been "little")!  Leah Joy is our second daughter and it has been so cool to see her grow and mature over the last eighteen months in our home.  Leah has gotten the coolest personality and it has really been a blessing to see her grow up, see her interact with Sophie and see how much she loves her mom.

When Leah was born I gave her the nickname "Little Leah".  Not sure where it came from but it just seemed to fit.  There were a bunch of pictures that I could have put up here to show who this little girl is now but I chose this one.  Leah loves to eat blueberries on her waffle and this morning was no exception!  Leah wanted more waffle and is using her sign language saying: "please" to get more (you gotta love a girl who uses her manners).  Leah has her tough nights and doesn't always sleep through the night.  She has some great days and loves to swim, make us laugh, tickle and climb the stairs.  I hope that these next eighteen months of our family will be ten times more of a joy than the first eighteen months were!

First Chargers Game

Yep... I am 31 years old.  I lived in San Diego for almost five years and it took me driving just over 300 miles from Las Vegas to go to my first San Diego Chargers game!  This trip was actually super cool for me because I was able to take it with some young men who recently graduated from our high school ministry; Nevin Zwifel, Nick Markovich and Anthony Rossa.

We left Vegas around 8pm on Wednesday night and headed to Corona to stay at Nick's cousins house.  We left Corona early Thursday morning and headed to the beach.  It was great spending the day at the beach with these guys and my friend Jon Miano actually came and hung out with us (Jon was a student when I was an intern in San Diego almost nine years ago).

After the beach we headed to Wahoo's Fish Tacos and I got one of the best burritos I have ever eaten.  After filling up we took the trolley over to Qualcomm Stadium to see our first game!  Here is a cool pic that I will never forget.  It was great to spend the day with these guys at the beach and then head over to the game.  We got these nice and early to watch the team warm up and we made sure to boo for the 49'ers as they came out.

I have to admit that our seats were literally perfect!  The seating may have gotten a little better but for me this was perfect.  We were close enough to see the action but not too close that it was tough to see the field.  We weren't too far either; I never found myself watching the game on the big screen.  It was crazy for me how quick the game seemed to go.  It was like one minute it was sunny and the next it was dark.  The game seemed to fly by being there in the action.

I have to admit that I was a little bummer that Rivers, Gates, and Jackson didn't start but I can get over that.  I am so thankful to Nick for taking me to this game.  Now the coolest part is that I have been able to invest into the lives of these guys for over 12 years (Nevin 7 years, Nick 4 years and Anthony 1).  It was great to spend some time with them as they are starting college, getting for the Marines and becoming men.  I can't tell you how thankful I am that I got to attend this game but more importantly to spend time with these men.

HELP! I'm a HS Graduate

These last few weeks have been great but heartbreaking in ministry.  We have seen students pack their bags, have a party and then head off to college.  Its great fun to see them grow up and head off to college but its tough to wonder how they will handle the world.  I hope that we have trained up students to love God and like others.  I hope that we have helped them learn how to connect with God on their own.  I know that we have done our best that we can but there is still that thought that creeps in and wonders how they will do.

Here are five things that I have been thinking for students entering college, moving cities, having their routine changed or just really wanting to take their walk with Christ to the next level:

Get Connected in a Local Church
If you have moved to go to college you need to get connected in a local church.  Find somewhere that is fairly close to your school to attend.  I think this is the first priority in your new endeavor in life.  College is going to take up a good deal of your time and you need to get this piece in place ASAP.

Serve in a Ministry
Once you find a church that you love make a commitment to that church.  I have pushed many of you to serve here at South Hills so I want you to make that same commitment to the local church you are now attending.  If you are staying here in Vegas "re-up" your commitment to South Hills and your area of ministry.

Read Your Bible
I know this may sound like a resounding gong to read your Bible but you need to find a way to connect with God on a daily basis and this has been one of the best methods.  Just this morning I was reading the Psalms and found some verses that identify the character of God.  These verses help strengthen my faith!

Identify Yourself as A Christian
When you step onto a new campus there are going to be so many different things that you can get involved in.  You need to start this journey off right and identify yourself as a Christian on your new college campus.  This doesn't mean being weird or anything but it means standing up for what you believe in.

Join a Life Group
The place that I have seen the most change in my life is when I am doing life with others.  This could be called a: Small Group, Life Group, Growth Group or something else.  Find out who leads them and get involved with one.  Figure out a way to get connected with others in Christian Accountability.

This list not an "all-inclusive" list but a starting point to keep your walk with Christ strong!

Baptism: Summer 2011

Yesterday we baptized some very special students!

I have been a part of many baptism services since I started in ministry.  For those of us in ministry you know that every time we baptize someone it is very special to us.  Yesterday when we baptized these students it was extra special and I want to share four things that made it extra special:


1) This is a group of students we invested in
Most of the students we baptized yesterday we have invested in for over two years.  Some of these students gave their lives to Christ when they were freshman in our high school ministry.  We have seen these students grow through out high school and seen them make some great choices as they have followed Christ.

2) These students are committed to Christ
I do not want this statement to be misleading or degrading to anyone.  I also want to be honest.  I have fallen into baptizing students, and adults, that I wish I would have challenged to grow more in their faith before making this choice.  This group of students were committed.  Many of these students have passed up other baptism services because they were not sure if they were ready yet.  They made sure that they were ready to live this life out and follow the choice they have made.

3) We baptized them in our church
For the life our our church we have typically baptized people outside the walls of the church building and I love that!  Yesterday we did something different and I think it went so good!  We took this group of students and baptized them inside our church, during our 11am service.  We had our entire church focused on seeing this group make this commitment to God and I loved seeing that.

4) I had front row seats to life change
As a pastoral leader I get a cool seat.  Sometimes that seat is tough because I see the painful things from the front row and shield others from seeing that.  Yesterday morning I got the best seat in the house.  I was able to watch the water roll over these students faces and see their expression coming out of the water.  I was able to give them their first hug as they exited the water.  If you rewind four years I have also had the opportunity to see many of these students raise their hand and see their need for a savior.

I am so thankful that I have had a front row seat to the life change in all of your lives.  I love you guys.  You can see more pictures of the baptism by clicking here. 

Encouragement from Hume Lake 2011

This summer was a great year being at Hume Lake.  I think it was my best summer there that I have ever experienced.  Something that added to that joy this summer was two things I received while up at Hume.  This summer I had two parents send me two different things.  One parent sent me a big box of a candy with a cool note in there and the other parent sent a heart felt thank you card.

The first note of encouragement came from a family with this box of candy!  Now the candy was really cool and we figured out that a parent caught my joke (most jokes are half serious) that I shared in our parent meeting prior to camp to send me up some candy while I was gone.  I was not expecting to get what I received but I was so happy.  And when I got that box of candy I let our adult leaders have first pick (after I ate a few goodies).  This box was stacked full of candy!  There was so much candy that I was able to share it with the lead counselors at Hume and even hook up the guys in my cabin.

Now the card I got was very encouraging.  Its interesting how a simple card can encourage someone when they are loving on their child.

Here are some thoughts that any parent can do next time someone takes their child on a trip:

• Send an encouraging card thanking that person for investing in their child's life
• Send a box of candy
• Ask another person on the trip to give the person a card, or gift, while they are away (this option can save money or be useful if mail will not be available)
• Write a hand written note and slip it the person's backpack so they find it later in the week
• Give the person a Starbucks card as they head out of town (most weekends away with students are long and can become tiring)

Here is a copy of the letter that came with my box of candy.  Very creative!

My New Role: Pastor of Discipleship

Last night was a very difficult night for me.  Last night was the night that we shared with our students about some of the things that we have been working hard on, behind the scenes, to make South Hills a more effective church.  Part of this will include a role transition for me.  Starting September I will be transitioning out of student ministries and into a new role: Pastor of Discipleship.

About two months ago I had a conversation with the leadership of our church and during that conversation I was asked to transition into this new role to help us grow the church.  This new role is going to stretch me in some pretty big ways and as I have prayed through it I think it's going to stretch my faith also.

About a year ago it became evident to me that our High School Ministry was functioning like a one-legged pirate.  I shared this with leaders and students.  Now one-legged pirates are cool and people want to see them and take their picture with them but they are not balanced.  Our High School Ministry was not balanced in the Biblical Purposes and it was hurting our growth in students lives.  This same analogy works for our church.  Our church has a great week worship experience but we are lacking in discipling believers.

As I move into this new role, initially, my main responsibility will be to build on what we currently have going in our Life Groups area.  As we develop those, recruit more leaders and get more people in church involved them my role will expand.  Some areas we have talked about would include: Missions (local and global), Spiritual Formation, and Accountability.  I would really appreciate your prayers as we move into this new role and transition out of student ministries.  

Now let me share some things about this change:

• Chase Feindel, our Middle School Pastor, will provide leadership for all Student Ministries
• I am not in trouble
• This new role is going to stretch me
• Charity and I have prayed about this role and feel God leading us in this direction
• We love our church
• I have spoken with our Elders at our church and the affirmation I have received from them is: "Neal, we think you are the only person on our staff who can do this."
• My pastor, Kevin Wehr, have given me his vote of confidence to lead this area of ministry

Hume Lake 2011: Meditating on Scripture

This summer at Hume the staff did something different.  Honestly, at first, I was a little annoyed.  I love going to Hume because they have an amazing program and I can trust what they are doing so my team and I can hang out with students.  This summer as we went over the schedule the staff shared an addition to the schedule this year that would give each pastor 90 minutes to spend with just their church.  Some ideas that were thrown out were to play volleyball together, to go to the cove or just do something with your church.

At first I wasn't sure what to do so I needed to seek Jesus.  After taking the night to think/pray about it I came up with the fact that our students needed to learn some spiritual exercises.  I was pretty nervous because our ministry is very evangelistic focused and I felt that we needed to teach our students how to meditate on scripture using a practice that has been used throughout the church for centuries: Lectio Divina.

Wednesday afternoon we piled our students in the chapel and worked through this exercise:

1) Find a word in scripture (Lectio)
I started out reading Psalm 46:10 and asked students to find a word in that verse.  When you meditate on scripture it is helpful to use the Psalms but you can meditate on pretty much any scripture in the Bible.  I have used this practice while reading the Gospels, Epistles and Psalms.  You can take a few minutes on this part to read through scripture and while reading you find a word that grabs your attention and sticks out to you.

2) Listen to the word (Meditatio)
Now that you have a word in your mind comes the fun part (it can also be the most difficult part).  See we live in a culture that rejects down town and relaxation.  Meditating on scripture is not something that we tend to encourage in the church.  This can be difficult but very rewarding.  After you have found the word take some time to meditate on that word.  When your mind wonders just bring that word right back to the front of your mind and focus on that word and allow it to just speak to you.

3) Pray on that scripture (Oratio)
After you have meditated on that word for a couple minutes take some time to pray about that word.  Ask God what that word has to do in your life right now, how that word can grow you in your walk with Christ and what could happen in your life if you would trust God more.  This is a cool part that just causes you to pray specifically on that certain word.

4) Abide in God (Contemplatio)
Now this is where it really gets cool.  After you have found your word, you have taken some time to meditate on that word, you have prayed through that word for a few minutes now is when you get to do something that can be amazing: spend time with God.  You just chill with God in this portion of the spiritual exercise.  This is where you allow God to speak to you through your word and encourage you in what He would ask of you.

Now its your turn to spend time with God and allow Him to speak to your heart through His word!

Hume Lake Paintball

This week I wanna take some time to dedicate this blog to some of the amazing things that God did while we were at Hume Lake!

Every year we take some of our students to play paintball while at Hume Lake and this year was no different.  The only change was that twenty minutes prior to paintball we had students mediating on God's word and getting super connected to Jesus right before they shot each other!  So its the middle of the week and playing paintball on Wednesday afternoon this year was amazing!

My first year of Hume Lake (summer 2005) some of the students said that the only way they would play paintball would be in shorts and wife beaters (tank tops).  That has been the standard for our paintball attire ever since that summer.  Now you are probably thinking something like this: "That is stupid to play paintball in shorts and a tank top".  You are right.  Its not the smartest thing that we can do but it is so fun!

This year was even better because one of my friends Kurt Johnson is working up at Hume and he brought his Go Pro on the paintball field and made this video.  Make sure to watch it all the way through so you can see how my armpit it bleeding at the end!

Hume Lake 2011: Decision Night

Tonight was an amazing night at Hume Lake... amazing may not be the best word to describe what happened tonight so let me share the story with you.

I love that Hume Lake is all about students growing in their relationship with Christ.  Part of growing means starting a relationship with Christ and that is exactly what tonight was all about.  Chapel started around 7pm and the worship set was really good.

After worship I just felt the need to head outside so I can pray for some students.  I listened in the pastors message while I prayed for some of the students in our group.  That lead to praying for some of the leaders in our group who would be talking with these students later.  See when I was praying I was expecting God to work in these students lives.

After the message I headed back into Chapel and the pastor had already asked students who made a choice for Christ to stand up.  I looked over to my right and saw a handful of students who were standing up.  In that group was a young, 16 year-old, who is in my cabin.  I have been praying for him for the last couple weeks and I was so excited to see that he had stood up!

For the next thirty minutes I was able to talk with this young man, cry with him and just listen.  I am so proud of him and the choice that he made tonight.  It was great to listen to his story and just hear how he was reluctant to come to Hume.  It was great to hear him say how he was fighting with his mom for sending him up here this week and then to hear him say how thankful he is for his mom sending him.

Now that part is the best part of the story but it gets better.  When this young man left chapel there was a group of about forty students waiting for him when he left chapel.  When he opened the doors they cheered for him, hugged him and encouraged him.  They didn't do this for just this one young man but for the other six students who stayed back tonight to make a decision for Christ.

I love seeing High School students being the church!

No Pushing

I can't tell you how many times I heard that when I was growing up.  I was a rowdy kid when I was growing up and being the fact that I am a boy that can add to the ruckus.  Little boys like to push other kids. We get upset and we don't know how to control our emotions so we do the only natural thing: we push.  Then when we push an adult typically approaches us and reprimands us for our actions.  We get upset because we are emotional and now we have been caught acting naughty and that can embarrass us.

With all that said we are raised in a society that tells us that pushing is bad.  I want to say that we need to push people more often.  I think we live in a culture that has a tendency to become spiritually lazy.  When we become spiritually lazy we fail to take the time that we need to so we can grow in our relationship with God.

One thing that I have been committed to in life is to push people to grow spiritually.  I want to see adults and students grow into their full potential.  Two weeks ago I pushed one of our students leaders out of her comfort zone.  We were hosting our mid-week service together and I was the one who was supposed to pray for our Compassion offering.  When it came time to pray I passed it off to Chandler to let her pray.  My throat was kind of hurting but more than that I knew that Chandler was ready to be pushed for more.

I knew that I would get one of two responses from Chandler.  See one thing I try to assess when I'm going to push someone is how will they handle this push?  Will this push be something that helps them to grow in their walk with Christ or will this push be something that upsets them?  To be honest I get it wrong every now and then and I hurt people's feelings but that night I was right.  I knew it was a good call to ask Chandler to pray on stage because I knew off stage she would say no.  I know it can be a risky call and I was totally putting her on the spot but I just knew in my heart that it was the right call.  After that night I sent Chandler a text thanking her for praying and this is the text I got back from Chandler.

I have two questions to ask in life:

1. Are you pushing people in your circle of influence to grow in their walk with Christ?
2. Have you placed people in your life that will push you to grow to be a better Christian?

Swimming and My Spiritual Growth

This may be a new thing to you but I took a swimming class in junior college.  I could already swim but I needed two P. E. credits and swimming fit my schedule.  I got in the pool that first day and almost died.  I'm not sure I even owned a pair of swim goggles.  Over time I listened to the teacher.  I improved on my stroke.  I learned a few more strokes and at the end of the semester I swam a mile.  Yep, the final exam was to swim a mile and I'm pretty sure I ended up doing it in just under forty-five minutes.

Well as I have grown older and I used to swim quite frequently for my cardio workout but that had diminished over the years.  Just recently (like last week) Charity had bought some goggles at Costco so I figured I would take a swim at the gym.  I did my normal workout and then headed to the pool.  When I got done with my first two laps I realized that I am out of shape.  After swimming six laps I was standing in the water, straining to get my breath and it hit me: "This is what is like when we fail to grow spiritually."

Many of us have had great times in our live that we have grown spiritually and we have seen growth in our lives.  God has found favor in our lives and has used us to do some amazing things for His glory.  Then, for whatever reason it may be, we stop growing spiritually.  We get married, have children, or just decide that is not something we are going to focus on in our lives anymore.

Something happens in our lives and we want to be back at that place we were in live.  We realize how desperate we are for the relationship with The Lord that we once had and we jump back in and try to pick up where we left off.  The sad thing is we are out of shape; spiritually.  We are spiritually out of shape and cannot maintain what we once we able to do... and that becomes hard for many of us.

This is a reminder for me that I have been out of shape for swimming and that will take time to get back to where I was but I was also convicted that I have gotten spiritually out of shape and need to spend more time listening to the voice of God in my life.

Remember what it says: 

“Today when you hear his voice, 

don’t harden your hearts 

as Israel did when they rebelled.” Hebrews 3:15 (NLT)

The Benson's are Moving

The rumor is out so I figured its time to let you all know that we are moving!
We are actually moving out of Las Vegas... and heading over to Henderson!

Now that I got your attention, and maybe scared you a little bit, I can let you know the facts about the move.  Charity and I have been praying for about two years that we could move into a bigger place than we currently live.  I tend to fall into the American trap and say things like: "Our condo is so small." or "I need more room."

When I actually take the time to step back, and slow down, I realize that I have a beautiful little condo.  I realize that I don't need more room but that I would like more room.  I would love it for the girls to have their own bedrooms but in reality they like to sleep in the same room.  I want an office to do my seminary work at while at home (its tough on the kitchen table).  I would love to have a garage to store our seasonal items but we just don't have that where we currently live.

So through all our prayers, and my whining, God has answered our prayer to bless us with a bigger place to move in to.  We are pretty stoked to have a guest room (slash office) for our friends to be able to stay in when they come to town.  I'm excited for the girls to have the loft to use as a play room.  I am really excited to have a little backyard where we can BBQ and play with the girls outside.  I am more excited to have a place where we can have people over and it wont interfere with the girls taking naps or sleeping.  We can hang out with people at night, do ministry, and our girls will hopefully not be bothered.

These are just a few things that make me excited about our new place.  Now we aren't buying the place.  We are actually short selling our condo (and I would like to blog on that in the future) so this has been a long prayed out process in our lives.  Will you please join us in prayer as our move gets closer?  Please pray that our new home will be a place of ministry and life change for all that enter and that God will guide our thoughts and action in that home to honor Him!

Princess Bed

Last weekend I set up my first toddler bed...

It was a big day for Sophie and for Charity and I.  I listed Sophie's crib on craigslist and didn't expect it to sell for a couple weeks.  Its a pretty nice crib and I wasn't about to just take a low ball offer.  Within 45 minutes of listing it we had a call and the lady wanted to come over and get it.  Needless to say I was thrown off and once it sold we had to go get Sophie a bed to sleep in. 

We had been prepping Sophie for this so she had already chosen the bed that she wanted.  We zipped over to Toys R Us and were able to get the exact bed that she wanted.  So after an hour and a half of me putting the bed together Sophie was ready to get some sleep and see what I was doing.  There were a few times that she peeked her head in and confessed that she was peeking and so excited!

Here is her reaction to her new bed.  The first picture is my favorite because she just stood there for about 10 seconds staring at her bed!

She loved snuggling in her bed for the first time

Of course she had to show me how she could jump out of it!

I just can' believe that our little girl is growing up so much that she is in a toddler bed.  I am so stoked to see how much Sophie loves her new bed... the crazy part is seeing how much Leah loves it too!  I have a feeling that I will be setting up another princess bed in the near future.

Sophie's First Flowers

I want my daughter to know that she is a princess in my eyes!

I like to grab Charity flowers every now and then so that she has something to look at on the table.  Its also nice for your wife to know that she is loved.  Well the last couple times that I've brought Charity flowers home Sophie has asked me: "Are those for me daddy?"

Every time I had to rely with a "no" these are for mommy.  So the other day I decided that I would be the first man to bring my little girl flowers.  I walked in the house and Sophie asked her typical question.  I finally was able to tell her that "Yes, these flowers are for you!"  Sophie was so happy to get flowers.  She got on the table every morning to smell them.  She watched them as they opened and then finally she let me take a quick pic of her with her flowers.

A lesson that I learned from this is that my little girl wants to be treated like a princess.  There is something that is ingrained in Sophie that she wants my approval. Sophie wants me to love her and that is exactly what I plan on doing in life.  I want Sophie, and Leah, to know that I love them both so dearly.  I want them to know that I care for them.  I want them to know they are my little princesses.  I want to give them my approval in life for the choices they make.  I want them to trust me in my actions and know that daddy loves them.  I am thankful to have such a precious little daughter how loves me so much.

I never knew how happy it would make her to get flowers!

I Never Expected This: Part Four

This blog series was supposed to be finished last week but I got a surprise that has extended it a week.

Seminary has been a roller coaster for me...
I love learning but there is a word in my life that can change everything: "FUN".  Anytime there is something presented to me as being fun I tend to leave what I need to focus on and seek out the fun in my life.  Now seminary hasn't always been fun.  There have been courses that have rocked my heart, shown me how selfish I am and literally made me want to quit being a pastor.  There are also courses that I have had prof's that love Jesus, are living out the call on their life and want to invest into the younger generation of leaders.  This post is dedicated to two men who have helped me in these last two years of ministry.

Dr. Bill Randall
I met Dr. Bill Randall a few years prior to taking "Spiritual Formations" with him in the summer of 2009.  It was a crazy summer for me!  My lead pastor had just resigned a month prior to me taking the course and knowing about Bill I decided to switch classes to be with him.  I knew that I needed some serious spiritual help on my heart to handle the next season of ministry that I was facing.  Bill, and his wife Jill, took some time with Charity and I while we were in Redding that week and were amazing to us!  Jill hung out with Charity while I was writing papers and going to class.  For the last two years Bill has spoken into my life, prayed for me, and hung out with me as a spiritual leader.

Dr. Rod Casey
I met Rod last summer while taking a preaching class from him.  One of the first things Rod said to me was "I'm sorry to hear about your speeding ticket."  I was freaked out!  Rod had taken the time to search my name and found out that I had got a speeding ticket on my way up to school that week.  During the week I just fell in love with Rod's teaching style, what he was saying and how he was saying it.  Rod challenged me in my speaking and in my church leadership.  I asked Rod to go to lunch with me so we could talk ministry one on one and ever since then he has been a key voice in my leadership growth.

See the funny thing about seminary is that I never expected that the men who were leading the courses would take this much interest in my life and care for me the way these guys do!

I Never Expected This: Part Three

This week I have been sharing some thoughts about thing that I never expected from seminary.  Today I'm going to add one to my list because of something that happened this week.

This week I received and email that the dean of my seminary has resigned (at least that is how I read it).  Now I am not completely sure of everything that went down and for me to say anything more than that line would be speculation on my behalf.

But here is what I do know; Tozer is my third seminary that I have attended.  I started out my degree is San Diego attending Azusa Pacific University and I LOVED it!  I was in one very cool course and then I accepted a call to Las Vegas to be a Middle School Pastor at a growing church called South Hills.  I took a break from seminary to focus on building the ministry and then found a local seminary that I could attend.  Fuller Seminary really isn't a local seminary but they had a program that I could start attending locally to work on my education.

Well about half way through my degree it became evident to me that I was not going to be able to finish my degree here in town because of how Fuller is set up (I wish I could have).  I started talking with guys and ran into a man named Rob Redmann who told me about Tozer Seminary up in Redding, CA.  I loved the idea and finally had the guts to transfer (again).  After I transferred I found out that Rob was leaving the seminary.  There was an intern dean by the name of Leron Heath and he is a STUD in ministry.  The guys loves Jesus, has a pastoral heart and is an amazing man (he also helped me with ordination).

Well Leron was the intern dean while Tozer found the right person for the job.  About eighteen months ago they brought in Dr. Sarah Sumner to lead the seminary and I thought she was doing pretty good (I can be judgmental at times).   About a month ago I had a conversation with Sarah that fired me up on higher education and the direction of Tozer.  The email I got on Wednesday was saddening to my heart but I trust that God has a plan for Tozer and He is still the leader of the seminary.

On a personal side I just never expected that I would transfer so much, have so many deans and attend so many schools to complete my degree.

I Never Expected This: Part Two

This week I'm taking some time to blog about what I never expected to learn while in seminary.

I knew that going to seminary I would begin to get a better understanding of scripture but I never imagined that I would get this good of an understanding.  Now please hear me that I am not saying I totally understand everything in the Bible; that is not what I am saying.  I am saying that I am beginning to see how scripture fits together better.

For example I am currently taking a course on Old Testament Kings and Prophets.  I am loving this course because for so long I had NO clue how the Kings and Prophets fit together.  I am finally getting an understanding of what is happening in the Old Testament history.  Now to give you a glimpse into my past I was the guy who dropped out of high school my junior year.  This is a huge step for me when I am seeing the unity in scripture and how the word of God is complete.

I never expected that I would learn so much in seminary and just not learn it but enjoy it this much!

I Never Expected This: Part One

This week I'm going to take some time to share some thoughts that have been stirring in my mind from seminary.  Now I know that over a month ago I was ready to quit seminary but this month has been very good for me in my studies and thinking about what I am gaining from seminary that I never thought would happen!

This last Sunday I had the opportunity to preach at my favorite church in the country; South Hills Church in Henderson, NV.  I have been on staff at SHCC for over six years now but this was a cool Sunday.  I was able to kick off a three-week series on the book of Jonah.  Now something that was a huge blessing to me was having my best friend there, Mark Salazar, to see me preach.

Mark has been key in my growth in my walk with Christ.  Mark is like a "Barnabas" to me.  He has been there through so much and we have both grown in ministry greatly over the last almost eleven years I have known him.  I think that Mark is the kind of Christian man that every pastor needs in their life.

After church Mark brought his family over to my house for dinner and some hang time with the family.  While he and I were sitting at the table he was very encouraging about how my speaking style has grown (Mark has known me for a long time).  He was stoked to see how well I handled the text, how I enunciated my words and how I made sure to engage the crowd.  I was so encouraged to hear that from Mark and get that affirmation from him.

I thought about it and I never thought that seminary would help me in my preaching at much as it has.  I really give a bunch of that credit to Dr. Rod Casey and the course he taught last summer.  I think that course has helped m with my communication style in a huge way.  Rod helped me to get my thoughts together, to keep the message to one main point and to not be scared to leave great wisdom on my desk that just didn't fit into the message.  I guess I just never expected that seminary would help me grow in my preaching as much as it has.

Here is the message if you want to judge for yourself

Little Hands: Part Three

Yep another picture of me with my shirt off

So if you have been watching the progress of my tattoo I went down to the shop a week ago and sat down for another session with Johnny Five.  Johnny filled in the frames with some cool blues behind the hands to make them pop out.  Then we added some purple to the frame in the corners.  Johnny did the jewels in the frame with the girls birthstone colors and the coolest part was to put a drop shadow around the entire frame to make it stand out more.
I am loving this tattoo more and more every day!  One more session (after summer) to get the girls names down on the bottom.