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? 

The Irrevocable Call of God

We are so proud of Jeremy Phelps, who graduated from Teen Challenge today. Jeremy is a long-time friend who we first became acquainted with while living in Georgia. His sister, Kristen was attending our youth ministry there and asked me to visit her brother who had been arrested. When I showed up the next morning, Jeremy had just prayed and asked God to send him a sign that He loved him and would answer his prayer. We prayed together, he rededicated his life to the Lord and began attending our youth group. 

From there, Jeremy went through our Master's Commission program in Atlanta, accompanied us to Romania on one of our mission trips there and really felt a calling to that country. Over time, he backslid and allowed drugs to get a stronghold on his life. Last year he called me about the Teen Challenge program here and God opened a door for him to go through the program. I am so proud of him. It's been awesome to watch God move in his life. This summer he will do a three month internship at our Master's Commission School in Romania! God's calling is truly irrevocable!