Kentucky

Donna and I joined Scott and Kara Holmes (Scott is the District Superintendent of the LA Assemblies of God) and Eric and Annabelle Treuil (Eric is the Assistant Superintendent of the LA Assemblies of God) in Louisville, KY last week for the 2016 General Presbytery meeting. Annually, representatives from each district convene to do business on behalf of the nation-wide fellowship. I have the privilege of serving along-side Scott and Eric as a General Presbyter for the Louisiana District.

We had a good meeting. Some important decisions were made including the choice to stand by our 100-year ethic of abstinence concerning the consumption of alcohol. Go to the PE News website to read the position paper  that was adopted by the Presbytery in order to get an understanding of our stance on this issue. 

While we were there we got to enjoy a little leisure time. It's always a blessing to get to mix a little pleasure with business. Donna's love language is traveling, you know! Who knew there is so much to do in Louisville, Kentucky? (It was our first time to visit Louisville.) The city of Louisville itself is known mostly for horse racing, baseball bats, bourbon and basketball. (Not necessarily in that order.) The state of Kentucky celebrates some of it's favorite sons: Mohammad Ali, Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Boone and Colonel Sanders. (Not necessarily in that order.) It is an impressive city that has done a great job preserving it's rich history while embracing the ever-changing culture of modern-America. 

Here's a picture of Scott and me in front of the Louisville Slugger baseball bat manufactory where they've been making baseball bats for over 100 years! 

We got to take in the newly opened Ark Encounter. It was incredible. The true-to-life-sized structure was mesmerizing and the three decks of exhibits and strong apologetic material arguing for the validity of the Ark and the great flood was impressive! Christian scientist and Historians make the case for a young earth and do a great job explaining a lot of questions skeptics have had concerning the story of Noah's Ark. They also have a nice exhibit on the preservation of the Inspired Scriptures and a petting zoo that includes camel rides! The Ark Encounter is a little over an hour-and-a-half drive from Louisville, but is well worth it! 

We also enjoyed the Mega Cavern and it's trail of underground zip lines. This was some of the most fun I've had in a while! I highly recommend it! 

The Making of Freedom

Our July Message series was called "Freedom." For our opening video we chose to use a different format than we have ever utilized before: Shadow Puppets. We have had a lot of complements and inquiries into the making of the video, so I am posting this behind-the-scenes mini-documentary along with the video itself. Hats off to Marshall Hunter, Aaron Thomas and Chris Deville who created and performed the puppetry, filmed and edited the piece. The song is an old spiritual I grew up singing as a boy. It features Glenn Lancon on vocals. The piece was arranged and recorded by Coy Watson and Aaron Thomas who really captured the feel we were after. I'm so blessed to get to work with these amazing artists every day! Enjoy.

Book Review - Love Does by Bob Goff

Love Does by Bob Goff reads like someone's journal. When I say someone, I mean someone who has lived one of the most exciting, inspiring, engaging lives ever! The book will have you laughing, crying, dreaming and, most importantly, DOING! I feel like I have accomplished a few things with my life, but this book makes you take serious inventory of what you've done, what you're doing and what you're going to do! Love Does is not only the name of Bob's book, but also the name of a ministry he's founded that addresses the needs of sex trafficking victims, the impoverished, human rights violations and educational concerns in India, Uganda, Somalia, Iraq and Nepal. It turns out, through Bob Goff's life - love does a lot! 

The book is an easy read and is really hard to put down. It's the kind of book you want to keep close so you can pull out every now and again and experience the inspiration it provides again and again. 

I used to be afraid of failing at something that really mattered to me, but now I'm more afraid of succeeding at things that don't matter.   - Bob Goff 

Marathon Men

You know you're too busy when you don't even have time to blog about accomplishing one of the hardest things you've ever taken on in your life! Something you've done that only 0.5% of Americans have done. On February 28th I ran a marathon! 26.2 miles! 

My amazing friend Paul Burke and I have been training for months. We ran in a half in November (my second half - I ran one in 2013). When we did we thought, "Why not go ahead and keep training? If not now, when?" So we did it! 

We ran in the Rock-n-Roll Marathon in New Orleans with 15,000 other runners competing in either the marathon, a half marathon or a 10k. My time was 5:26. I had hoped to do it in 5:00. My training had taken me to the 20 mile mark and the day I did 20 miles (about 3 weeks before the race) I felt like I could have kept going. 

On race day, I finished the first half in under a 10 minute/mile but at mile 20 I hit a HUGE wall mentally and physically. Someone had told me at mile 20 you're half way there. Boy were they right!  It was all I could do to keep going. Brutal! But I did it! 

My goal is to stay in half marathon shape and run in a half once a year or so. I don't know if I'll ever do a full marathon again. It takes so much training! But never say never right?