• This past week flew by!
• Had a good weekend: watched Cassidy play at a local arts show in downtown Dothan, AL on Thursday – she did great – Friday spent the day off and enjoyed myself
• The 1st annual “Turkey Bowl” was a huge success with over 175 folks coming out to spend time as families together. The dad’s beat the students in the flag football game 38-16! ouch! Next year the students will be playing for the win! It was a win for the church and for families to grow and have fun together.
• Pulled my back out pretty good last week – heading to get it adjusted today – I loathe lower back pain!
• Finishing up a two week series called “The Thin Green Line” – This Wednesday it will be on “grace receivers are to be grace givers” – Living a life of grace!
• We are heading to Nashville after Momentum on Wednesday night – I’m driving through the night (with the help of energy drinks) so that Cassidy can spend Thursday laying down scratch tracks for her new CD!
• Friday – heading to the National Youth Workers Convention in Atlanta, GA – looking forward to being challenged and learn something new to implement in the student ministry.
• Next week we are headed to visit family in Greenville, SC for Thanksgiving

• Spent my day off working on my Jeep. Finished painting and doing some touch-up work with my friend, Tim Flowers.
• Found out that my wife Cassidy will hopefully get to record a CD this December in Nashville at one of my friend’s studio. Please pray that it will happen!
• I’m only 5 classes away from finishing my master’s through Liberty Theological Seminary.
• Sunday: Good day of worship at FBC Ashford and message from Pastor Todd on Matthew 5:6. The focus was upon finding satisfaction in Christ alone.
• Enjoyed the High school guys small group last night. We talked about setting boundaries in relationships with girls – good stuff!
• Thankful for another day to serve the Lord

Life has been like riding a roller coaster lately. I went to the Florida keys this past weekend for the yearly “man” trip that I take with some great friends. We had a blast! I’m going to be updating with pictures soon on my blog. We had a great trip, caught fish and lobster and had good fellowship. When I returned from the trip I came down with the nasty flu! I haven’t felt that bad in a long time. I was out for the entire week. I’m thankful to be healed and be done with it.

We had an awesome 5th quarter last night. We had over 175 students come and hear the gospel! It was packed out and it reminded me of the mass amount of students that do not know Christ. I’m thankful for Tim Flowers, he spoke for me while I was sick and did a great job with the students. I’m thankful to be serving on a staff with people who love Jesus and are flexible and willing to help in anyway. God has truly blessed me and I pray that He continues to work at FBC Ashford!

Sunday, August 23rd will be our kickoff event!

Parents are the biggest influence in the lives of their children. The longer I am in student ministry, the more I see the need for parents to lead their children spiritually. The church needs to partner with parents for a greater impact on eternity.

Our ministry is beginning an emphasis to partner and equip parents to raise godly children. I’m excited about having my Dad and Mom as guest speakers. My Dad has been in the ministry for over 30 years. If anyone can give some good insights into parenting and investing in their children, it would be my folks. Seriously, they had to put up with me!? They made sacrifices for me and my three brothers that have paved the way for me today. I am grateful and undeserving of godly parents that cared more about me knowing Christ than anything else. I grew up playing basketball and baseball competitively. Through my Dad’s influence on my life, I learned to put Christ first and use my gifts for His glory. I missed some practices (which I usually made up by running laps) and games, but I rarely missed church or ministry opportunities. Was I always happy about this? Well…no. But I realize they were more concerned with my passion for God than my passion for sports.

To sum it up, I believe the purpose of parenting is to lead their children to Jesus. When Jesus is the center of a person’s life, everything else will fall in place.

What are your thoughts? More student/children ministry or family ministry?