Way back machine.....

In honor of our friends Kevin and Jackie, Kim and I have decided to join their walk down memory lane with a trip of our own. Set your "way back machine" for 1991. This is one of the first pics of Kim and I at her parents home in Roswell, NM. If you can stop laughing at me for a minute, notice the "charlie brown" christmas tree. You could always tell if Kim's dad picked the tree. He had a fondness for that type. We all hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and we hope you all have a very Blessed New Year.

Remember the Reason for the Season....

As we approach the holidays, I know that many of us will be getting busy, but I encourage each and every one of you to stop and take time to remember what this is all about and why we are doing what we are doing. God gave each of us the greatest gift he could, His Son. So while you are out fighting traffic, arguing with some person to get that perfect parking spot or tring to take the last item off the shelf before someone else does, remember the gift that all of us have been given.

This saturday (the 16th) we will again will be helping out at the Angel Tree distritbution center. We will leave the church at 2:00p and probably work until 5:30p or so. If you would like to go just show up at the church on saturday afternoon. If you would like to go on your own you can call me for directions or you can go to the salvation army website. It is a great time of hanging out and helping bless others. Hope to see you there.

Winter camp at B.A.S.I.C. is Jan 12-14. Please be in prayer for those youth that are going. We always have a great time down on the hill, and I am sure that this time won't be any different. Continue to keep Bob and Kim (and Ben) in your prayers for this wonderful ministry that we can be a part of.


Don't forget to keep the kids (and their friends) in your prayers as we get ready to go to Dare2Share this year. I pray and hope that God will move through them like he did last year. It was incredible to see how affected they were. This year we encouraged them to bring a friend, so be praying for that relationship. Also, be in prayer for the city of Columbus as over 6000 teens invade that city spreading the word of God. Finally, be in prayer for the adults going and for the resources to become available for vehicles and the church we are hoping to stay at. Thank you for all you support. If any adults in the body would like to go with us, don't hesitate to contact me. We would love to have you go.

New Mexico update

Coming back to New Mexico has always been great not just so we can get great food and see the blue (and I mean blue) skies, but also to see family and friends. This trip this year has not been any different. We started out the trip by catching up with Kim's aunt and grandma. She is recovering from hip surgery and looks and is moving great.

After that we went and had dinner with her other aunt and uncle, my brother and his wife and our long time friends. We had a great dinner at a new restaurant and then went back to my brothers place to hang out and catch up. Again, I was alerted to my (our) nerdiness by three of us using our laptops at the same time.

After that, we we headed back to my folks place after we stopped by a famous local burger joint for some green chile cheese burgers (I have a picture if you want to see what one looks like). Back in Ruidoso, we had thanksgiving twice. We had not had thanksgiving with our parents in about 12 or so years. It was good to see family and friends at both places.

This is a picture of the sunset I saw on my way back from my dad's birthday party. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Blast from the Past!

Okay, so most of you know that we are back in New Mexico for thanksgiving. We have not been to our respective parents homes for this holiday for probably ten years. We have really enjoyed our trip so far. One of the best things we have done so far is visit our old university. The New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMTech for those in the know) is located in Socorro, New Mexico which is about 75 miles south of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Some significant changes have happened on campus since our departure 15 years ago. Most obvious is a half dozen new buildings including a new 5 story student activities building (we only had a very small one story building).

Most of the dorm buildings have remained the same, although they have had facelifts. The most striking was how nerdy a school it was, and still is. In fact, in the bookstore you can get t-shirts that say "I 'heart' New Mexico Tech nerds". Really, the most obvious sign that the school is nerdy, in all the new construction and buildings on campus in the 15 years the gym is still the same size. It was fun to just walk around and remember that season in our lives.

Are you ready for Gameday?

Once again, the time has come for the dare2share conference. This years theme is Gameday. I know that we don't actually go to the conference until February, but I need you all to start praying for a few things. First, last year we set a goal of each one of the youth would invite a friend this year. That would be 24 kids going this year (and I believe that the number will be greater than that). I need you all to start praying not only for our youth, but for those that they will be asking. I hope that their hearts will be open and whatever obstacles that may come up will be washed away. Secondly, the logistics of taking that many kids to an event are enormous, so please be in prayer for other adults, transportation (I would like to increase the size of vehicles and decrease the number), housing (I am hoping we can again stay at Beechwold Christian Church) and food. We were so blessed last year that I know God has great things instore for us. Finally, be in prayer for Robin and her One Way group. We again will be taking eighth graders along with us. This may add another 10-15 people. It is so exciting to think that we will be taking 40-45 youth to a conference that will encourage them to not only grow in their faith, but hopefully start to own it. Thank you for you continued support. We love all of you.

Christian No More...

Yeah, the title got me too. I put this here for you. Let me know what you think.



They have three more if you are interested. You can find them at youtube.com searching for "christian no more".

So....What's been going on?

As you all can see, it has been a very long time since I have submitted a blog entry. Part of it is that I really have not had much to say. I mean, I have a couple of subjects that I still want to talk about (and hopefully I will do that soon). But as for just general entries, not much to say. Now I feel it has been too long and maybe I should say something. So I decided to blog about what has happend since the last time so that I can catch you guys up on the Tribe's goings on.


One of the big things that happened this summer was the completion of the new youth room. I would like to thank all those that helped in making it possible. It was so great to get that out of my head and to actually see it come together. We are not finished yet, but for the most part it is and it looks great. The kids seem to enjoy it and hopefully it will be a place that they want to bring their friends. God has been so good in supplying furnishings for the room. It seems that every week there is something new to add to the room (right now we are praying for a pinball machine).

With the completion of the room for VBS, we then turned our focus to the Fifth Quarter outreach. I think that they have been a big success. Again, I was at first basing that on numbers, but then God showed me that that is not the case. The kids have been bringing their friends to these events, they are asking other people to come all the time and they want to keep having them. All those tell me that it is a success. Thank God for showing me what real success is and not that of the world's. The big question now is are we going to keep them going now that football is ending.

Then in august we had our churchwide campout. We went back to Aldersgate again. This time we had a lot more people go than last year. We could not do ropes this year because of short staffing, but there was horseback riding, swimming and a little bit of playing ultimate. I got to spend time with my good buddy michael and learn a few more guitar chords (for those that don't know, I have been slowly learning to play the guitar). We also had a few of the youth go and I got to spend time with them (which is always good). It think a great time was had by all. We had a few more people show up on Sunday morning to have breakfast with us and to come to service which we had under the mega-zebo.

Finally, last month we had our fall youth campout. We had a smaller turnout than usual, but again God had those people there that he wanted there. I get tired of hearing that when there is not as good as a response as I (yes me) want, but when it is all said and overwith I have to agree with the fact that God is in control. The big thing this trip was that not only did we get to do low ropes, but we also got to do the high ropes course. I think most of the kids were challenged by the course and I know in the debreifing that there was a lot of positive encouraging that everyone noticed. We were trying to have that as our "theme" for the weekend. The lessons and quiet times were emphasizing encouragement and the power of words. I hope that they got some of it. As usual, it was nice to get outdoors with the youth. We had a lot of fun sitting by the fire, playing ultimate, dodging rain drops and just enjoying each others company.

Well that about brings you guys up to date on what is happening with youth at Tatesbrook. Remember as always to keep us in your prayers.

Life is a Journey