Jonah 2:8

Those who cling to worthless idols
forfeit the grace that could be theirs.

I can think of too many worthless idols in my life.. I pray that I will toss them, not forfeiting the grace that could be mine.

Thoughts?

Much love
Wayne
James 1:22

Some thoughts I'm thinking

1) Tebow should've won the Heisman, but I'm grateful for some extra motivation to win the real prize

2) Here's a really great place to buy Christmas presents

3) There is a lot of stuff I want for Christmas and am glad that I won't get any of it. I need some weening off stuff.

4) Revelation tells the Christmas story with dragons and swords and war. I think that's how I'm going to teach my middle school boys on Wednesday night.

5) I suck at leading people to Christ. I wonder if I'm to timid or maybe I'm not fully enjoying God enough that it shows. OR..maybe I don't know anyone who isn't a Christian. Yikes.

6) I love you

Much love
Wayne
James 1:22

And Ode to my mom and dad

So today is my mom and dad's 29th wedding anniversary. Incredible. My parents, the young pups that they are (dad is 48 and mom is 47), have already been married for nearly 3 decades. I thought it'd be fun to see what was big on December 8th, 1979 as a way to look at how far we've come in the time they've been married:

- "Babe" by Styx was the number 1 song; this is perfect as my parents call each other babe every time they address each other. It would be weird and a bit annoying if they didn't actually love each other so darned much
- "Kramer vs. Kramer" won the Oscar for movie of the year; no, it was not on December 8th, but..
- Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peach Prize. Again not on this exact date, but my mom is basically as nice as Mother Teresa so..
- Wayne Gretzky made his NHL debut - maybe that's why I'm named Wayne..
- Hulk Hogan made his WWF debut! Awesome
- The cell phone, the PC, the Internet, and MC Hammer have all had HUGE impacts on our lives since 1979
- Dad's three favorite things (after Jesus and my mom) have come to be: his iPod, my sister and myself

I seriously can't think of enough kind words to say about my mom and dad, but I will try. I apologize in advance to my mom, who will cry.

Momma, thank you for relentlessly praying for me, even back when I didn't want you too. Thank you for being an example of who I want my wife to be, who I want the mother of my children to be like. Thank you for making be sensitive and a crier. Thank you for letting me and dad watch lots of sports.. Thank you for putting up with me while I was stupid, when I was whiny, when I was terrible at school. Thanks for..having me..I'll forever read Psalm 139 or Jeremiah 1 with a special tug in my heart for my mom who knew I was fearfully and wonderfully made, even if not everyone else did.

Daddy, thank you for relentlessly praying for me, even back when I didn't want you too. Thank you for the mightiest man of God I have ever met, or ever hope to meet. Thank you for living a life that challenges me to be more humble, more obedient, less worried about the THINGS of this world and more worried about the people who are dying in it. Thank you for showing me how great baseball is, and raising me on the Beatles and Stones and The Boss and CCR and Queen. Thanks for sticking it out with mom and Erin and me when it wasn't easy - I know you were never going to bail, but you gave up a lot so we would be more than cared for and happy in all the moving and lean years. Thanks for sacrificing more than I'll ever know to bless us with the life we have. Thanks for being the man I want to be someday. Thanks for going to Georgia Tech and moving to Gainesville so I would cheer for the right teams. God has blessed you for that. Richly.

I love you both

Wayne/Bubba/Cutest Boy in the Whole Wide World (you're welcome mom)

Best EVER

This is a sports post. If you are a Georgia Bulldog fan, you will not like this post. If you do not like sports, you will not like this post. If you are a hater of Atlanta sports, then you will probably not like this post#.

My teams:
Florida Gators*: 11-1
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets*: 9-3
Atlanta Falcons: 8-4
Atlanta Hawks: 11-6

That's 39-14. I submit that I will never have a year like this again. Usually I have two teams all year that give some hope: Florida and the Braves - and even they have tanked the last 3 years. Not to say I haven't had glimmers of hope through the years: Michael Vick(^) carried my Falcons to 2 surprising playoff runs, and that insane Super Bowl run in '98 (Dan Reeves deserves to be in the hall of fame for taking the ATLANTA FALCONS to the SB..); GT had Calvin Johnson which was incredible to watch; the Hawks...nope, never mind. You can see why usually this time of year all I'm really looking at is the Gators. But not this year.

Not only are my Gators poised to win the SEC and BCS titles ($), but GT is looking great to win 10 games, BEAT the dirty 'Dawgs in Athens (I cried a little), and bring back 19 starters next year. The Falcons are on the playoff bubble (>)and have a real solid chance at making serious noise in year one of the new 4-headed monster that should be around for awhile - Matt Ryan, Michael Turner, Mike Smith, and Thomas Dimitroff (<). And the Hawks! Are you kidding me? I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see this crazy hodge-podge team winning at it's current clip. And with Josh Smith healthy, Joe Johnson playing like an MVP, and Al Horford establishing himself as a legit All-Star, who knows what lies ahead.

It is a season of rich blessings for this sports nut. It will never be duplicated, there's no chance of that. So I apologize if I'm gloating more than usual, it will pass. Maybe..

Much love,
Wayne

PS - I tried something new with the different symbols and side notes; whatcha think?

#for the record, Atlanta is not inherently 'Dawg country, and I will NOT recognize them as an Atlanta team; when it comes right down to it, I'm a fan of Atlanta way more than I am a fan of the state of Georgia
*Both Florida and GT's basketball seasons have started, but it's too early to count their records
^Vick WILL be back in the NFL as the most dangerous slot receiver/wildcat formation QB in the league in 2010
%I can and will say 'my' for all of these teams: I went to UF, I lived on GT's campus for the first 2 years of my life where my dad is an alum, and Atlanta was my home for 11 years. When I say MY team, I mean it
$if we beat Bama, no one will beat us in the national championship. Yes, I'm an arrogant SEC fan who would LOVE to see Ohio State, USC or Oklahoma go through the SEC, even in a 'down' year. But beyond that, let's assume it's UF-OU: OU will score points, but no where near the 60 something they've been scoring. And if you're giving up 41 to Texas Tech in your own back yard, wait'll you see what Urban cooks up with 37 days of prep. I shudder with joy.
>I'm sick of the NFC East getting all the hype - the NFC South is the best division in football; in every major power ranking (CNNSI, ESPN, CBS), the Falcons, Bucs and Panthers are in the top 10, and the Saints could beat any team if their defense makes more than 2 stops all game
< This is not taking away from all Roddy White has done this year, and I'm excited that our receiving corp is young and going to be around for awhile. I just think that the GM, the coach, the rookie stud QB and the all-pro RB are the ones we'll lean on most heavily. And let's not forget John Abraham, who seriously should be defensive player of the year.

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Been working on this one for awhile, sorry it's so long.

I love Christmas more than most. I love being with my immediate family, I love seeing family I only see once a year, and I love pinching my great-gradmother’s butt while she giggles and tells me to stop. I love Christmas songs (AFTER Thanksgiving…), I love Christmas trees and stockings and reminiscing on Christmas’ gone by while pulling out ornaments. I love drinking ginger bread lattes and ragging my dad about how gross ANYTHING with eggnog in it is inherently disgusting… I love that feeling on Christmas afternoon of total contentment that comes only through knowing the One true God – and the assurance that He knows me. I love candle light services and wearing red and green anything together – I really, really, really love Christmas. But, as is happening more and more regularly in my life, God is pushing me to say and do things that frankly make me uncomfortable, and He makes me ill until I share them. So, here goes.

I can’t count how many times I’ve heard “Christmas is MORE than presents and Santa!” Or “remember WHO this season is really about!” Or, even more in recent years “keep Christ in Christmas!” How true each of these statements! We know these are true, we know that there is more to Christmas than getting presents (say it with me – it’s more blessed to give than receive), we even know that we have more stuff than we actually NEED. But don’t you think that greed and selfishness are two big elements (detriments?) of the Christmas season…

Let me take a quick moment (quick? Wayne? C’mon…) to explain that recently God has been ruining me. He is pressing me with Scripture to say things I don’t really like saying – challenging me to believe AND live tough Truth, and to tell others when He gives the platform (check out Jeremiah 1 to see why I haven’t been sleeping much lately). I am not the Holy Spirit, nor do I fancy myself some spiritual guru. If my challenges don’t resonate with you, that’s awesome!

So back to the issue at hand: what is a Christ Follower’s response to Christmas when so much of what makes up the holiday are anything but Christ like? Drum roll please:

1) Don’t be a jerk. Check out Colossians 3:23 – if this is true (it is true) then you should shop as unto the Lord.
2) You have too much crap…Seriously, I’m sorry for saying it this way, but it’s true. Your children have too much crap too. Check out Philippians 4:11-13 and ask if your trying to get more stuff to be more content. I’m NOT saying you can’t and shouldn’t give and get presents this Christmas, just check the motivation
3) Be aware of what you’re buying. Two rules: don’t buy so much this year and there ARE some stores are better to buy from than others. Matthew 25 continues to perplex me, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to be held responsible for serving the least of these. When you buy stuff this Christmas, check out some of these sites (all use free-trade or better, slave-free labor, etc.): oxfamamerica.org, worldvision.org, uncommongoods.com, wishingfish.com, or relevantstore.com. They aren’t perfect, but they’re better than most.
4) On Black Friday, take cookies. Seriously, this has to be the meanest day of the year (well, every four years, election day is pretty nasty), so please IF you’re going to participate in this savings free-for-all, BE THE KINDEST, MOST HUMBLE PERSON WHEREVER YOU GO. Read all of Philippians 2 as a way to focus before heading out
5) Find one family in your community that is struggling financially and give them Christmas. Buy them presents, make them dinner, serve it to them live and in person – and then stay in contact with them afterward.
6) Be thankful.
7) Read lots of Scripture to your friends and family.

OK, that’s pretty much all I got. I don’t apologize for the Scriptures I’ve referenced above, but I do apologize if I wrongly taught from them. If you have any thoughts in addition to this I’d love to hear them! If you think I’m missing something, I’d love to see hear about that too – thanks so much, take care.

Much love
Wayne
Philippians 4:8

Every now and again

Every now and again I get to do something that is just too amazing for words.. God blesses me way beyond what I could even think to pray for, and this happens in a lot of ways that only I will see - you know, things like discernment in decisions, wisdom in the little things, prayer requests for strength, etc. But, other times, like this weekend, God blessed me in a unique way that most folks wouldn't even really be too thrilled about: I got to hang out with the Florida basketball team behind the scenes, the coaches and team managers, INCLUDING Billy Donovan. Incredible. Basically, I was an 8 year old boy with a billion dollar credit at Toys 'R Us.

Check out this from Piper's blog today. Very encouraging if you ask me.

How do you wrestle with John 6 and Luke 14? It's tough..

Much love
Wayne
Ephesians 4:29

The Resurrection, recruiting trips, and fidelity

After my last, lengthy post, I feel like I may have set myself up for two things with this blog: 1) they will all be 9,000 word dissertations, and 2) they will all be serious and heavy. These two things MAY be true on occasion, but they are not rules. You've been warned.

I teach a group of middle school fellas on Wednesday nights. This is probably my favorite thing I get to do, outside of one on one discipleship. These middle school (so 11-14 years old) fellas and I have been going through Colossians verse by verse for 5 months (thank you Matt), which is amazing that they've hung in there with me for so long. Well two weeks ago we started talking about baptism and therefore the Resurrection. They had a ton of INCREDIBLE questions! They were gracious enough to let me have a couple weeks to prepare (and we finished up Colossians last week), but tonight we are talking about the reason we have hope, we have the opportunity to know God personally, the death of Death. Pray for me.. But as an encouragement, have you meditated on the Resurrection lately? We talk about the cross often (and with good reason!), but withouth the resurrection..Jesus would be another hollow prophet..but He DID rise! That empty grave meant we have access to a God who we had been so distant from; it meant that we - small and broken, insignificant, unable to clean up our own act - had RELATIONSHIP with a Holy God. Incredible. (Take a few and catch up, Matthew 28:1-20)

I'm going home this weekend! Me and two kids from my youth group are going to go spend some time checking out UF; one of my two students is a bit of a basketball stud and so he is in the season of taking unofficial trips to schools (unofficial means he's paying for the whole thing - plane ticket, food, housing, and not the school) and Florida is one of those. Being a bit of a Gator fan I volunteered to help my buddy out by showing him around. What a sacrifice, right? It's going to be amazing.

This Sunday our church is diving into the concept of fidelity - the idea of being pure and holy in our relationships with spouses, and the idea of being pure and holy in the preparation for marriage. Any thoughts on how this should be conveyed to middle and high school students? Hutch and Meg are leading the discussion, and will do a tremendous job, but I thought it'd be neat if you had any thoughts.

Much love
Wayne
Matthew 12:33-37

Politics

I will not talk about politics very much on my blog, nor do I talk about them very much in general. Here's the line I live by when asked about politics: I serve a King in Jesus who was not up election on November 4th, and whoever is in the White House has far less affect on me than the One who leads my life every day.

I think politics CAN be fun to chat about with: 1) folks who are really passionate and are easy to get riled up, or 2) with folks who have a healthy perspective of where politics fit into every day life (which, let's be honest, no one really knows where they fit in every day life..). Anyway, with that little preface out of the way..

It seems like folks who have a candidate that wins get arrogant to the point where they, well, check out on personal responsibility because that's what they elected their candidate and party for. And folks who have a candidate who loses turn bitter and take a pity party approach to where they say they can't do anything about it, can't do much good because their candidate or political party is not in control (A quick side note: I am speaking generally; I KNOW not everyone fits into these two incredibly broad categories..) I don't like either of these ways of thinking. Can't you do the good you know you ought (for the Christ followers, that's James 4:17) whether your candidate won or lost?

This could look very different for everyone: I have a good buddy John who is part of the office of a republican Lt. Governor and while he's bummed that Obama won, he 's not checking out of life, realizing he still has work to do, good that he's still called to take part in (Ephesians 2:10). If you're fearful that pro choice legislation will increase, voluteer with Crisis Pregnancy Center AND get intouch with your state government officials, your congressperson, and your senator. Whatever you do, do something (James 1:22), and please don't be limited because a political candidate won or lost.

If you're candidate won, congrats, but don't check out! Just because you anticipate change, don't let someone in Washington do all the work - serve, serve, serve, not because it's legislated, but because you're supposed to (John 13:15). I guess my main encouragement is to make sure you know who (or, hopefully, Who) is motivating you to action.. And don't let yourself check out because you're guy lost OR won.

Anyway.. Florida had a nice, big 'ol win over Vandy! Vandy always plays us tough, so putting them away early is a bonus. Tebow has got to be back in the top 3 or 4 for the Heisman - he's putting up stupid numbers again, he's leading the team and making everyone else better, and he's put us back in the SEC title game.

As for the BSC title game: Florida is in if we win out, including over Alabama in the SEC title (doesn't that sound amazing? That's an old school matchup that I love, by the way). No way you can keep Florida (who will be number 3 in the BSC on Monday) out if we win the last three and then beach 'Bama (who should be #1 going into the SEC). Still though.. we should NOT have lost to Ole Miss. I'm still mad about that.

Church time tomorrow - I LOVE my church, have I mentioned that lately?

Off to bed, stay awesome

Much love
Wayne
Colossians 4:2

Reasonable expectations

So I'm back at the blogging thing. Not sure the inspiration, but I put it on my phone alarm to remind me to update regularly, so I'm going to. I'm going to blog about a whole bunch of things, but the main three: 1) Jesus, 2) sports, 3) music. If you're interested in any or all of those, then I would love for you to give me feedback from time to time. There is always a danger that I will spend too much time on sports, but I will do my best to balance it well.

But let's start with something I had the privilege of preaching about with Hutch a few weeks back (you can hear our sermon here): the importance having a relationship - a real, dynamic, messy, connected, growing, PERSONAL relationship - with God through His son Jesus Christ, and how that relationship will (or should..) lead to what John records as fruit in chapter 15, and what James calls works, deeds, actions in, well, his whole book.

I wonder if maybe I too often get hung up on getting ready for something? Getting ready for taking the time to mentor or challenge one of my amazing middle or high school students but never actually doing it.. praying for the chance to share the message of hope, salvation, freedom to someone who desperately needs it, but not acting on the every day opportunities He so readily offers.. I'm not the Holy Spirit, so my words cannot and should not convict you. John 15:1-17, John 17:3, Matthew 28:16-20, Ephesians 2:10, James 1:22, James 2:15-17, James 4:17 - that's what should be convicting. Let's be doers of the Word. I will not tell you what that looks like for you - but I know Scripture is clear with those verses I just jotted down, so if you need some suggestions, I'd start there.

And sports: MY Atlanta Hawks are 3-0! I can't even believe it.. Who has body snatched Josh Smith and put someone who can shoot an 18- 20- 24- footer in his place? Flip Murray making legitimate contributions? Beating the Hornets on the road? Nobody pinch them please.

And yes, the BCS is screwed up, but I'm the loudest, most obnoxious Gator fan in the world, and here's the deal: WE SHOULD HAVE BEATEN OLE MISS. We beat Ole Miss, none of this playoff biz is even on Gainesville's radar (or LA's or Norman's or Austin's or Happy Valley's). So yea, I think an 8-team playoff would be great, but don't blame the BCS if we (the Gators) don't make it.

OK, great job reading this far, I'd love to hear your thoughts

Much love
Wayne
Colossians 4:2

Why blog?

I have to admit that it is difficult to motivate myself to blog when: 1) I don't think anyone is reading this bad boy and 2) I really am not that interesting.  I guess it does give me a way to do some out loud thinking, which can be helpful.  

I am trying to learn to find total sufficiency in Christ.  I am also learning that you can't learn to let find your sufficiency in Christ.  Sure it's a process (sanctification) but can I really learn something like that?  Maybe the learning is giving up to Christ the things that I hold onto to feel some sense of self-worth, one by one.  If Christ is sufficient (and He most certainly is) then I need to not try and find fulfillment elsewhere, at least not in place of the fulfillment that needs to be found in Christ.  Man, I don't even understand what I'm talking about any more.

I really hope the Lakers beat the Spurs.  I think Duncan is a good player, and while I can't stand his whining, I mostly am OK with him.  Same with Tony Parker.  But I can't stomach this boring, cheap, chippy, team, with Bruce Bowen who can't do anything but annoy the crap out the opponents best player, Manu Ginoboli, who is better than he should be but is the biggest flop artist going right now and... Robert Horry.  Seriously?  THIS guy has won 7 rings?  To be such a low-bit utility player AND to be so dirty (Steve Nash anyone?) and to win all these championships when guys like Dominique Wilkins never really came close to a ring is a little too much to handle.  

The Hawks, Busch Gardens, the Coates, and an 11

So these past 10 days or so have been incredible.  I can't even begin to say how excited I was with the Atlanta Hawks playoff run.  I mean, we (yes, we) were 30 games WORSE than the Celtics in the regular season.. we would have been 4 games out of 11th place in the West.. I felt like it was a victory to be TIED at half time of game 3 - but the Atlanta Hawks won THREE games against the mighty Celtics.  Unbelievable.  

I wish everyone knew the Coates family.  They make me extremely happy.  Jimmy is basically my bigger brother (who, despite his age and cunning, cannot beat me in a wrestling match), Dee is pretty much my favorite person in the whole world, and they have four amazing children who are crazy awesome and also treat me like family.  I realize how much God has blessed me with this family, and am extremely grateful.  I probably need to tell Him more often.  

Went to Busch Gardens on Sunday and it was super awesome.  You go once and you get an unlimited pass for the rest of the season (middle of September).  We only rode a few rides, but it was easily my favorite day at a theme park in my life: Ruthie Coates wanted to hang out with me all day AND made sure we sat next to each other on the Big Bad Wolf.  Made my day times ten.

Also, in the span of 4 days I received not one, but TWO 11's in the game Jim Bag, Ace and I play.  Boom.  That's domination.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, you need to.

Matthew 6:33

Wayne

Big fan of people

So I know there are a lot of mean folks out there, I really do.  I've seen people be mean to each other and it makes me pretty pissed off.  It probably brings about a similar emotion in you.  But, you know, I've run into a lot of nice people as well.  Today, while walking around Town Center and I just ran into a lot of nice people, and that made me very happy.  I hope those people know Jesus, but if they don't, I sure am convicted that they were nicer than I usually am...

Maybe the next time you have a chance to thank someone for doing something nice, you should. Maybe you should thank someone when you see them doing something nice for someone else. Just sayin'.

Totally unrelated: I saw Expelled on Saturday.  I really, really liked it.  A couple of thoughts:

- It is a movie about opening the conversation about Intelligent Design.  If you didn't like it, that's completely fair, but remember: it's about opening the conversation - just giving a fair shake to another theory

- Intelligent Design and creationism are not one in the same.  Creationism may be the scientific explanation you ascribe to, but don't go into this movie looking for bullets for your gun.  At the end of the day, you're still supposed to be salt and light to the world with love and truth and grace - you don't need any bullets for that

- You should really see this movie because it's fun and reasonably fair and is a fantastic talking point with friends.  Just be sure to honor Jesus and be nice..

Love

Wayne

Trinity is amazing

I love my church.  I really, really love my church.  I don't know how you feel about your church, but I pray that you love your church as I love mine.  But, more importantly, I hope you love Jesus a whole lot, and that you would be a part of the community He calls you too - completely, without back biting, griping, gossiping, complaining.  If Scripture is being violated, then yes, by all means, cause a ruckus.  But if you just aren't getting your way, shut it up.  

Some reasons I love my church (Trinity Church):

- Our leaders are crazy humble.  None of the elders are pushing their own agenda or jockeying for power or trying to get everyone to rally around their own little pet project.  Not sure if you've read Philippians 2:1-11 recently, but I see that lived out here at Trinity

- Prayer is in and over all we do.  I love that the folks at Trinity are prayer warriors.  Not cheesy prayer warriors, but folks who know that: 1) we are dependent on God to do His work and/but 2) He has called us to get things done

- We are pretty snotty about sticking to Scripture.  If it's neat or fun or gimmicky but not biblical, booooo

- It's simple.  This is not a high production church - and I freaking love it.  Our band practices for a couple of hours on Wednesday or Thursday night and are very talented and work very hard, but we don't put a premium on production.. Preach the Word, seek the Lord, worship authentically.. boom.

Love

Wayne

Finally..

Jimmy let me have his sandwich today.. It was incredible.  The sandwich was delicious because Primetime probably made it, but it was double good because Jimmy NEVER shares his food. Even if he only took like half a bite. So yeah, it was pretty special.

much love

Wayne

An undivided heart

Teach me your, O Lord,

and I will walk in your truth;

GIVE ME AN UNDIVIDED HEART,

that I may fear your name.

- Psalm 86:11

Dear God, that's my prayer.  Give me an undivided heart for You.

Another good one

Good news: your favorite 7th/8th grade baseball team won it's first game on Friday!  That's right, folks, your Norfolk Academy Bulldogs (feel free to make jokes about me coaching a team called the Bulldogs..) JO baseball team won 12-1 - they called the game in the 5th cause we were killing them so bad.

Also, God is good.  Just in case you forgot or didn't know.  

If anyone is in town this weekend, come play ultimate on Saturday at the Hutchinsons.  

I love Virginia Beach

It was 73 outside today, not a cloud to be seen, a light breeze.  I went and jogged from my apartment, 4 blocks to the beach and down the boardwalk for a mile or so and back.  It's amazing. It's crazy to compare where I am today and where I was this time last year... I don't like all the things that have happened, and disagree with what some folks have done that affected me and others I care about, but I see how God allowed those things to take place so that He would have me right where he wanted me - in Virginia Beach.

One of my students who I have had some good times with but who has never really seemed to care whether I'm really around or not called me from his mission trip.  That made me super happy.  I got time in with a high school junior on Monday that I haven't ever had time with before.  Today, me and my boy J Clay had some good talks at the Purple Cow, and last night me and Michael set up what looks like a pretty serious and amazing discipleship time (we're going to read through one of Paul's epistles and read Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller).  Praise be to God for all He has done and is doing - but, most importantly, thanks be to God for being God.

Some verses of late: 2 Samuel 24:24, Romans 12:9, Acts 20:28

Wayne

Best week ever?

Evidence:

- Got to sleep in on a Monday morning

- Had our first JO baseball team on Tuesday (we lost, which would normally would be points deducted, but it was so much dadgum fun and the guys did a great job by and large)

- Gators played on Wednesday night.. it was the Not Invited Tournament which isn't great.. but I still love watching them play

- Rob arrived in Va Beach at 9:30 FOR THE SPECIFIC PURPOSE OF WATCHING COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF BASKETBALL

- 12:20 in the PM: the glorious Madness begins

- 8:30 Buffalo Beach with the boys for 3 hours of basketball and PILES of chicken wings

- Friday: so much more basketball to come

- And, seriously.. This week is passion week, and today is Good Friday, the day my God, my Savior is going through His disgraceful trial, public scourging, and ultimately death on the bloody cross.  ALL for the payment of my sin.  And Sunday is coming - the day Sin, Death, and captivity were defeated once and for all with the Resurrection.  If you haven't read them recently, read Mark 14 - 16, Matthew 28, John 13..

Because he lives, my friends

Wayne

Acts 20:28

God is good!

Great day at Trinity today:

- Palm Sunday service was very awesome; there were some really neat elements that the team brought together to make the service reflective and somber and reverent and worshipful

- KidsTown was amazing; I seriously had a 3rd grader tell me "so I don't get how God was here before anything else".  I also had "if God loves everyone, then why is there a hell?" by a 4th grader, "why would God let Satan even be around" by a 5th grader?" and "what would the world be like if God didn't sent His son to die for our sins?" by another 3rd grader.  It was an amazing time watching these 8, 9, 10, 11 year olds ask really deep, challenging question.  I had to cancel the game time to allow them more time to ask questions - I just saw an email in my inbox from two of my 4th graders who didn't get to ask their question!  

- Surge (middle school) and 180º (high school) were both amazing.  I love watching these students starting to WANT to be here.  God is very active in Virginia Beach's student population and it's fun to be a part of.

Also - first baseball game of the year for Norfolk Academy's JO (7th/8th graders) is Tuesday! Say a prayer, not that we would win, but that I wouldn't be an overly competitive jerk.  

Much love

Wayne

Acts 20:28

Two things I highly recommend

1. Acts 20:28:Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.  That gets me fired up and makes me want to stay closer to Jesus than ever.  If you are in ministry (if you are Christ Follower, you are in ministry, one way or another) this verse should hopefully give you encouragement and challenge  you take seriously the call that's been placed on your life

2. Go to iTunes and subscribe to the podcast by Broad River Community Church.  It's Matt Orth's church and he is doing an amazing study on the book of Colossians.  It's brilliant.  Go on, do it.

Much love

Wayne

James 1:22

Student Ministry

I think I am constantly need of reminding that I am not the Holy Spirit.  My small group is going through the John Ortberg book God is Closer Than You Think and we were discussing John 16 where Jesus says that it will be for our good that He go to the Father so that we would have the Holy Spirit.  Verse 8 says the Holy Spirit will convict the world of their sins which is incredibly freeing - God is drawing people to Himself!  I was talking with Josh from the group about how frustrating student ministry can be when we (he is on Young Life staff) try and convict students instead of the letting the Holy Spirit do his work.

By the way, the book is pretty good too.  I bought the new Shane Claiborne book Jesus for President.  I'm ready to read it but I need to finish two other books first. 

I'm glad we have the Holy Spirit.

 

Seminary. Books. New services.

What are your thoughts on seminary?  I think I am going to go ahead and start Divinity School at Regent University this fall.  I'm excited because it's a school that is close so I can go be a part of a campus and a classroom where I can see the people - I will definitely still do some on-line courses, but I really like the thought of going to a class with actual people and a for real professor.

I've given a lot of thought and prayer to this whole process, and have thought about going to a school where I more closely agree with the doctrine or theology (Bethel, RTS, DTS, Gordon-Conwell), but Regent is a great University and I will be sure to learn a ton and meet some great people.  

I'm reading a church planting book by Ed Stetzer.  I really like it.  And I like church planting. Our church is talking about how we are going to manage the growth God is blessing us with, and one way is they are letting me explore the prospect of starting a second site for Trinity. That's a lot of fun to just dream and plan and think about, even if it doesn't go anywhere.  

We meet in a baptist church and on the marquee this week, they put the sermon title for the week "Why I Remain Baptist".  For real, a part of my heart died.  God is good and very much in control, but I'm not good at responding to that sort of thing with grace.  Fortunately I have good, godly people around me to keep me from tearing stuff like that down.  

Randy Singer has a book coming out in May called By Reason Of Insanity.  Make sure to get a copy, it is amazing.

Colossians 1:28-29 is awesome.

Wayne

First post in months

Wow, a lot has happened since last I posted... I'm not going to review them right here, but know that your prayers have been heard by God and answered in big ways.

On to the good stuff:

- Ministry life is amazing.  God is doing things at Trinity that are far beyond what we have prayed for.  I am blessed to be a part of a fellowship where there is a communal sense of awe - weekly you hear "what is God going to do next??".  We just had our first baptism/child dedication service yesterday and it was a testimony to God's activity in our little fellowship - dads who would never darken the doors of a church there dedicating their children to the Lord, young kids committing their lives to following Jesus, a friend of mine making a public profession of coming back to the God he walked away from back in middle school... It's overwhelming really.

- I have amazing friends up here.  I am part of a small group that I do not have to lead or teach or prepare for.  This sounds like something I should have been part of for years, or should have started, or like that not big of a deal, but my goodness, I couldn't imagine life without it now.  I realized it is the first such small group/Bible study like this for me since I was 20 or 21.  If you don't have something like this, as lovingly as I can say this: get your butt in one.  I know there are some near you, you just have to look.  Even if it's not through your church, find one - and if you get into one and don't like it or aren't really connecting or don't find any benefit, I will personally refund you.  Whatever that means.

- I started coaching baseball and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!  I am so grateful to Scott Fowler for allowing me the opportunity to assistant coach at Norfolk Academy for the JO (that's 7th and 8th graders) team.  If you're in the area, let me know and you can come watch us dominate.  I hope.  I'm super competitive so this will test me to make sure I am having fun, win or lose, so the guys will too.

I'd love to hear from any of you if you have a minute - the cell number is still the same (not for much longer though) and email is trinitywayne@gmail.com.  Hope all is well

Much love

Wayne

James 1:22