In print

The new National Chi Alpha Newsletter hit my mailbox today and an article I wrote on Pentecostal campus ministry is the cover story.  If you’d like to take a look click here.  You’ll need the latest edition of Adobe Reader to view it.  Let me know what you think.

 

Faith and Football?

We’ve done a Super Bowl (can I write that?) party probably every one of the 10 years we’ve been ministering on campus @ AU.  This year was no different.  It’s a pretty easy event to put on.  Find a place to watch, get some snacks, hang out and meet some great people.  While I’ve never seen anyone give their lives to Jesus at halftime, I have seen the door to faith opened.

One of those students just sent me a note yesterday.  She was celebrating 3 years of a transformed life.  It all started when she connected with Chi Alpha @ our Super Bowl party!  I think this is an event we’ll keep on the calendar.  Here are a few shots from this year’s festivities:

Patrick from the University Center showed up with a football cupcake-cake!

Can I have the first piece?

It was a good game too!

Are there any more cupcakes?

4th quarter tension

It’s like Bruce Springsteen is coming right at me!

 

Witness to history

View of the National Mall early this morning

The forecasters all said there would be millions who would want to be there. Living in Washington, DC for the past 10 years and being on the Mall for the last 2 inaugurations, I thought they were exaggerating. Now that the day is here, I think they might have been underestimating. The distance from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial is 2 miles. From my viewpoint, sitting comfortably in my living room watching NBC’s broadcast, that entire 2 mile space is full. The crowds extend onto the side streets and up the parade route on Pennsylvania Ave. During a break, the local NBC station cut to the New Carrolton Metro stop on the end of the Orange Line. The lines of people hoping to get on a train to the Mall were far out of the entrance! I’m sure thousands are still trying to get there. Amazing!

It’s a little odd to be so comfortable for this inauguration. I’ve gotten used to battling the crowds and shivering in the cold for hours to see the president sworn into office. Today, I’m enjoying my warm DC apartment, explaining the significance of this event to Sam while feeding Nate and potty-training Levi. I don’t miss the cold. I don’t miss the long lines. I don’t miss the sore legs from standing for hours, but part of me regrets not being able to be a part of the crowd. It’s an amazing event and an incredible day. I’ve never seen anything like it.

 

Watch this…

Curt Harlow, XA West Coast area director, and his friends out in California put together this video just in time for the World Missions Summit.  It’s a great reminder why I do, what I do, where I do it.  Enjoy!

 

Listen to this…

Those of you who have spent any time with me over the past year or so know that I listen to This American Life a weekly NPR program.  I usually listen when I’m out on a run.  This fall semester has been pretty crazy so I’m catching up on old broadcasts as I get back into my fitness routine.  Today on my 4 miler, I listened to the episode entitled “Ground Game”.  It was broadcast the week before the election and it followed campaign workers from both parties as they canvased the political battle-ground (and my home state) of Pennsylvania.  

As I listened, I was amazed by the passion of the volunteers from both sides.  It wasn’t too long until I made the obvious connection to what I’m called by God to do.  Am I that passionate about the kingdom that Jesus revealed?  God speaks to us through so many different ways.  I encourage you to take a few minutes to listen.  I’ve been convicted, challenged, and inspired to get the word out about Jesus.  Thanks Ira (host of This American Life) for being the voice of God in my life today.

 

I hope you had a Merry Christmas

Here are a few pics from our Christmas morning.  I hope you had a great day!  May the grace and peace of Immanuel, God with us, be evident in your life in this season and throughout the New year!

 

Answer to Prayer?

 

Yum!

Every year, the guys from DC Metro Chi Alpha end the fall semester with a retreat.  It’s a pretty simple affair.  We get a place to stay from a Sunday to Tuesday morning.  Sunday is eating and hanging out, Monday is private time with God in the morning, do some exercise in the afternoon and then share what God’s been doing in our lives over dinner.  On Tuesday we pray for each other and wrap things up.   For a number of reasons, this men’s retreat was not only simple, it was small–just Randy, the director of Georgetown Chi Alpha and me.  Because it was just the two of us, we decided to do our dinners @ local restaurants.  After bad food choices on Sunday and Monday, I was sitting down to dinner on Tuesday @ Five Guys.  For those of you who are familiar with Five Guys, you know I wasn’t trending toward health.  

 

Biting into my Bacon Cheeseburger I said, “Randy, I need your help.”  I confessed to my bad eating habits and asked for his accountability.  As I threw my burger wrapper in the trash, I felt like I was turning the page on my junk food fixation (but was this a multiple pager?).

Randy dropped me back off @ our retreat spot, a time-share east of Harrisonburg (thanks for the bonus week Mark and Sue) and headed home.  I was staying by myself until Jen and the kids joined me on Thursday.  I turned on CNN, opened up my laptop, and got into a chat with my brother on Skype.  We caught up a little bith and then he announced he had lost 10 lbs using Spark People.  He had mentioned it before, but it kind of went in one ear and out the other, but in light of my recent pledge I was interested.  While we were talking I registered.  I think I found an answer to prayer.

I’m totally a goal oriented person.  Over and over again, I tell myself, I’ll exercise for fun; I’ll run simply to stay healthy.  Under that philosophy, my running shoes remain snug in their little closet cubby.  When I register for a race, no matter how busy my schedule, I find time to train.  For me Spark People is like being in a race every day (yeah, that’s a good thing).  It runs on points.  Drink 8 glasses of water, you get five points.  Got out for a run, you get 1 point for every 5 minutes.  Track your food, you get 1 point for every item you enter.  When you enter enough points and you get a trophy (I really like trophies–even if it’s only a virtual one).  I’ve been on Spark People for 5 days and I’ve already won 2 trophies!  But even more importantly, it’s helping me stay accountable to my healthy eating commitment.  I find that when I’m tracking what I eat, I don’t want to grab a bag of chips to end the night.  Jen and I took the kids to Chili’s (the home of the Big Mouth Burger) on Thursday night and I ordered THE FISH!  I don’t think I’ve ever done that before!  I’ve been pretty faithful in the exercise department too.

Yeah, I know, 5 days–it’s still pretty early, but I think Spark People is going to help this pledge stick.  Considering this is the time of year when most Americans put on a few pounds, this tool might be something worth looking into.  And now that you’ve read my story, you can hold me accountable.

 

Fun with Levi

I know you’ve been eagerly waiting for a new post.  To reward your faithful refreshing, here’s a few pics of Levi from our visit to the Erb family Christmas.

I’m the winner!

How big is Levi?

Got 3 three more hill repeats…

You can sponsor this child…

Backyards make me happy!

How strong is Levi?

Half-smile

Why is Daddy holding his phone in front of my face?

Cheese!

 

Another reason to be thankful

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I’ve got another dinner video for you. This is one that AUXA alum Andrea and her husband Derek put together. Thanks for sharing your story, Andrea!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

On this Thanksgiving, I’ve got a lot to be grateful for. There’s my wonderful family, incredible friends, my faithful and generous support team, awesome ministry colleagues, and the group of passionate and talented students I get to work with every day. I’m overwhelmed!

We put this video together for our 10th Anniversary DC Metro Chi Alpha Dinner.  I thought it would be a great way to share with all of you a little of what you’ve helped us accomplish. Thanks! I also want to pass along props to Heath, Patty, and Yaw who agreed to be filmed along with Randy and the folks @ National Community Church who did the editing.  Great stuff guys!