Oops!

We celebrated Communion in our Sunday evening service, and we ran out of communion cups! We had to quickly fill a few more cups before we were able to proceed. We had a slightly bigger group in attendance than usual, so I didn't anticipate this problem. O me of little faith!

Mega Sports Camp

We had our annual VBS this past week, but this isn't an ordinary VBS. In fact, it really isn't VBS at all. For the past three years, we have conducted a Mega Sports Camp, which combines sports training with intentional Bible training. Children choose between three activities: basketball, football, and cheerleading. (We've offered soccer and volleyball in the past, as well.)

The Mega Sports Camp materials are excellent. In fact, Outreach Magazine has named the Mega Sports Camp the Best Children's Outreach Resource for the past two years.

I love seeing the children receive good sports training, but I especially enjoy seeing them receive the Bible teaching that is so important for them in their early years. Another aspect I truly enjoy is watching how hard our volunteers work to make the Mega Sports Camp a success every year.

Thank you, Bernice, for doing such a great job as director, and thank you coaches, huddle coaches, and all the rest of the volunteers. Your work is not in vain!

Promise Keepers

I went to the San Antonio Promise Keepers this past weekend, and once again, had a great time. I've been going to these conferences for over ten years now, and they never get old.

Actually, I was a little slow getting on board the Promise Keepers movement. My initial thought was, "What's the big deal about a bunch of men yelling in a stadium?" I rejected my wife's requests to look into it. (I wonder how many wives plead with their husbands like my wife did.) Truthfully, the only reason I went to my first PK conference was because the national Promise Keepers organization paid my way to attend a PK clergy conference in Atlanta. And I do mean they paid my way: airfare, hotel, per diem, car rental. I remember how I wept at the beginning of the conference when the praise and worship began. I wept because of the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit, and probably a little bit out of shame that I had been too proud to consider PK a worthwhile movement.

Back to this weekend...the music was great and the preaching was awesome, but I always especially enjoy the camaraderie with the guys from our church. We had a smaller group than usual, but we still had a great time together.

Getting ready to go in the AT&T Center.

We were too far away from the stage to

see faces, so we mostly watched the jumbotron.


No, Ryan didn't really break into the Spurs locker room.

What a weekend!

This past Friday, I drove some of the youth from our church to the Lakeview camp ground near Maypearl, Texas. About 10 miles from the camp, one of the rear tires of the church van blew out. Thank God I was traveling slowly and that it was a rear tire! I was able to navigate it to the side of the road with no problem. The real problem was that there was no shoulder and we were on a hilly road with lots of curves. However, three young men from Pathway Assembly of God church in Lubbock pulled up after us and quickly changed the tire. The situation was complicated because when the blowout occurred, the flap from the tire severed a couple of AC coolant lines located behind the tire. We lost all our coolant and water and the van overheated immediately. I managed to get the kids to camp and the van to the Ford dealership in Waxahachie by stopping frequently to fill up the reservoir with water.

Once again, God pulled through for us in the form of my brother-in-law who lives in Coppell. He lent me his truck to return home and pick up another van to go back to camp to bring our kids home when the camp ended Monday. Now, all I have to do is to drive back to return my brother-in-law's truck and bring the repaired van back home.

All this has happened while I was fighting off a fever and other ailments. I told my wife, "When all this is over, I want to sleep for a day with no interruptions!"

The best news is that our kids had a great time at camp. From what I heard, they all had powerful encounters with God. I asked one of my sons, "What was the best part of the camp?" He answered, "The services."

Good answer.

Heroes (part 2)

I wrote in an earlier post that missionaries are my heroes. We had another one of my heroes in our church last week. Henry and Vangie Chavez have been missionaries since 1969. They went to Peru on a short-term trip to serve as translators for another missionary, and ended up staying for four years before they returned home for a furlough. They have planted more than 30 churches in Peru and in Ecuador, where they now serve. It is obvious that they love the precious souls of Ecuador and are committed to reaching them until the Lord allows them to return home to the states. May God bless them and continue to grant them the desire of their hearts--to see many churches established to reach Ecuador for Christ.