That dreaded knock on the door

So me and Crystal stopped in Chattanooga TN and spent the night at the Hilton Garden Inn. We are on our way home from Memphis where we had a pre-project meeting about the mission trip we are bringing students to this summer. I think it's about a 9 hour drive from Memphis to home and I'm not a long distance driver, so we stopped about half way and so here we are. Well, we got in off the road, brought our stuff to the room and headed out to the riverfront area here in Chattanooga(it's beautiful by the way). We walked around a little bit, took pictures then decided to grab dinner. I think it was about 7:00 when we went to TGI Fridays. Stay with me, there is a point. After dinner we headed back to the room. Well, i got in there and i had to um...well, go to the potty if you will. I took care of business and much to my dismay, i flushed the toilet and what happened next is going to haunt me for a long time. The toilet was clogged!!! Now, this is a Hilton, which means they don't leave plungers sitting next to the toilet. I had to make the embrassing phone call to the front desk and ask for a plunger. So, while i was waiting on delivery, i devised a plan to go down to the hot tub and let Crystal deal with the plunger incident, which quickly got vetoed immediately by her. So, finally after about 10 minutes the dreaded knock on the door was heard. It was hotel maintainance. It was something i have never seen before, the plunger was wrapped in a plastic Hilton bag. I accepted the tool of shame and then the guy said "I can wait for you to finish if you want me to" This somewhat took me off guard, and i hesitated briefly to figure out what to say. Finally i agreed and shut the door and took care of the problem at hand. If it were up to me, he could have just dropped it outside the door and left, that way i would not have had to even show my face!! Well, about 5 minutes later(don't you judge me, it was a toughy!!) i opened the door and handed him the weapon. The maintainance man never looked me in the face, i felt like i had done the most shameful thing you could do at a Hilton, stop up the toilet!! All is well now and we are about to checkout and head on home. I would like to thank the Hilton family for making the whole "i need a plunger in room 405" the most shameful thing possible!! :) I think i may invent a collapseable, mini plunger to fit in your suitcase....well, maybe not, that's pretty nasty!!!

Keepin it real (too real in this post),

Bryan

Amazing Race Weekend

I had the privilege of speaking at a youth event at Fellowship Community Church in Liberty on Friday and Saturday Night. Sammy Clary (www.sammyclary.blogspot.com) was supposed to be the keynote speaker but he had to head up to Cincy and wasn't able to make it so he asked me to take his place and speak, which I am forever grateful!! The theme for the weekend was the Amazing Race and I've got to give props to Sam Totman and his team for putting together a sweet race for his students! It was refreshing to see adults getting involved and helping out the student ministry for this event. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go along with everyone on Saturday for the actual race, but Sam and some others were telling me about and it sounded awesome!! They went all over the Upstate, literally!! They went to Ceasar's Head, Furman University, The Greenville Drive Stadium, Downtown G'ville, plus tons of other places. It sounded like the kids had a blast!!
But that's not the coolest thing about the weekend. The winning team won 3 brand new PSP's, which is a pretty sweet prize, but here's the kicker. The winning team didn't go to Fellowship, they were at the event with their youth pastor, Phillip Jewell who was leading worship. They decided to give the PSP's to the second place team because of the Christian testimony that team had shown to them and everyone else during the race!! How AWESOME is that?!!!! Oh yeah, there's more!! The second place team decided that they would E-Bay the PSP's and give the money to a ministry there at Fellowship that helps little kids!! I gotta say that's what it's all about, GIVE, GIVE, GIVE!! not TAKE, TAKE, TAKE!!
It truly was a great event, and everyone at Fellowship Community Church should be very proud of the youth staff, students and volunteers that participated!! GREAT JOB GUYS!!!

That's all for now,
Bryan

The Walls Are Going Up!!!

It's finally happening!! The exterior walls to our student building, "The Garage" are finally going up. We had some trouble with the last crew, so it set us back awhile, but now we are back on track!! I can't wait to get into our building! It's gonna be such an awesome tool we will have to reach students in our community. It's not about buildings, but it is about using what resources we can to reach more students and that is my vision!! REACH STUDENTS WHO NEED CHRIST!! Please pray for the progress of "The Garage"!!

K.I.R.
Bryan

Oh what a night!!!

Last night rocked at Marathon (www.marathonchurch.org)!! We celebrated our 10 year anniversary with an awesome praise night, followed by some sweet fireworks. There was a hilarious video showing old pictures of when we started and I must say Eddie has changed a lot, thank goodness. He had a really cheesy mustache(kinda like that dude on the box of Just For Men hair dye) It was bad, real bad!!!
But on a brighter note, in the 10 years of our existence, we have had over 2000 salvations, and that's just the ones we know of!! God is so awesome, and all the honor and glory goes to Him! It is really a dream come true for me to be working here at Marathon, i couldn't ask for a better place to serve God and reach people (well, except maybe Hawaii! just kiddin') I can't wait to see what the next 10 years hold for us here at Marathon, i know that it is gonna be even more exciting than the first 10!!
I couldn't finish this post without giving a big thank you to Eddie, Lynn, Bryan, and Brenda for being obedient to the calling God placed on their lives 10 years ago to step out and start a church that sought after lost people, not church people!! God has honored their obedience and Marathon will CONTINUE to reach lost and hurting people in our community!! It's hard to believe that all this is happening in a cow pasture in Powdersville, SC!!!

K.I.R.

Bryan

A Wonderful Easter

This past weekend at Marathon was great! We saw over 4000 people attend our 4 Easter services! I can't wait to hear the number of salvations from this weekend. It is amazing what God is doing in a cow pasture(no joke) in the middle of Powdersville, SC!! I know souls were saved, marriages restored, relationships strengthened, and lives changed. It's really hard to believe that 10 years ago this weekend Marathon started!! I praise God that Eddie and Lynn and Bryan and Brenda were obedient to God's calling on their lives and they stepped out in faith, despite the critics(and there were tons, and still are!!) and started Marathon with just a small singles group. We will be having our 10 year anniversary celebration this Sunday night and I believe there is talk of a DVD being made of it, so that should be off the chain!!! Well, that's about it for now, I'll try to post a little somin'-somin later this week.

K.I.R.,
Bryan

1st Wednesday Night

We have our 1st Wednesday night service here at Marathon tonight. I am really excited about it because we are observing the Lord's Supper, which is always a powerful service for our church. This week has been really busy trying to get things wrapped up for our 4 Easter services (5:00 pm on Sat., 9:00 am,10:15am,11:30 am on Sunday). It is going to be an incredible weekend, and I know God is going to save a lot of lives!!! We have a few surprises as well, so it should be a really awesome time!! I encourage you to take some time and really think about what Easter really means to you!! Hint: It's more than peeps and cadbury eggs!!

K.I.R.,
Bryan

To feeling like a kid again and not playing it safe..

Man, Sunday nights are so cool. That is when me and Crystal and 3 other couples get together for our small group Bible study/hang-out time. Last night was a blast!! We raced go karts for a couple of hours and then ate a little grub (not the bug!, it's slang for food) and had a great challenge from Sammy (www.sammyclary.blogspot.com) to live our lives out on a limb for Christ. If you look at all the people in the Bible God used, every one of them was off the chart on the faith meter! They went way out on a limb and trusted God. This is truly how I want to live my life, with reckless abandon for my Savior!! I don't want to be a "play it safe" Christian anymore. God has called me (and you) to so much more than that. Jesus came to give us life yes, but not just any life, but an abundant life!! John 10:10 **Holder's translation :) **
Sunday nights are an awesome time for all of to recharge and refocus and also feel like a kid again. As far as the go kart races, i finished dead last and have now been coined Bryan "driving miss daisy" Holder. Hopefully in the weeks to come i can restore my reputation to at least "Herbie the love bug" status.

K.I.R.,
Bryan