Monumental Day

My blog just rolled over the 2000 views mark!! I know what you might be thinking, "2000 views in one day!!, WOW" but let me clarify. That is 2000 views TOTAL since I started this blog!!! HAHAHAHA!!! I have to say that's both sad and funny, seeing as how I started this blog several months ago. But you know what, I'm ok with that because you might as well laugh at yourself, because if you don't someone else probably will!!!! So, with that being said, if you have been reading my blog I want to extend a thank you for making this day possible for me!!! Who knows, in another year or so maybe we can share the excitement of reaching 5000 views!!!! :)

Keepin' it Real (one view at a time),

Bryan

AMP'd Rewind

Last night was another great night at AMP'd!! We have a lot of momentum and it is just an exciting place to be. We are in our second week of our series called "Under the Influence" and we looked at how our friends influenced us. Here are the points from the message:

1. We were not created to be alone. -Ecc. 4:9-10

2. Our friends can shape us or deform us. 1 Cor. 15:33, Prov. 18:24

The most important question: What kind of friend are you?

The band once again blew me away!! It is awesome to have a truly student-led band. The guys that play range from 15-18 years old. I gotta give props to Chase (www.chasencallahan.blogspot.com) for pouring into these guys and developing them, not only as musicians, but believers! Here is the set list from last night:

One Way-United
All Because of Jesus-Fee
What the World-United
From the inside out-United
Best of you-Foo-fighters

The students were pumped and engaged throughout the entire night. We had tons of volunteers there to love and pour into the students. I feel like I have done my job when a student bypasses me and goes to one of our volunteers for a high-five, hug or just to hang out. God is doing something HUGE in a group of college students from North Greenville. One of my interns Taylor, goes to NGU and he has been recruiting other students to come and volunteer. Last night, there were at least 13 students here to help out from NGU. I am pumped to see so many college students fired up about Christ and ministry!!! They are getting plugged in left and right. Well, I'm still on the Wednesday night hangover, so I'm gonna go chill for awhile and take it easy, and it's gonna feel great!!

Keepin' it real,
Bryan

Sno-Kones, Go-karts, and Bee stings

Well, it's been awhile, as usual! I wanted to take a minute and update what has gone on the last few days in the life and times of Bryan Holder. On Friday night, we took Project 109 to the Wren/Palmetto game at Wren and gave out free Sno-Kones and promotional footballs. It was a huge success and we got to talk to a lot of students and tell them about Marathon and what we have going on in the student ministry. On Saturday afternoon it was go-kart racin' time over at the backyard track at Sammy's house. There were about 5 of us competing for a spot in the winners circle. I brought Seth Lucas with me who was our site missionary in Memphis this summer and got him in on the action. I have to say he probably got into the action a little more than he wanted. He had a terrifying crash coming out of turn 3, like seriously, I thought he was dead. His front wheel came off and he did a violent roll, so violent that he ripped, yes ripped the steering wheel off the kart!!! Needless to say, that kart is now used for parts and that is about it. Seth came away with a few bruises and a puncture wound in his leg. And in more exciting news, I finally won a race!!! After a dry spell of about 30 races I finally got a taste of victory lane, and I must say it was SWEET!!!
Yesterday I had to go to the allergy doctor and find out what types of bees I am allergic to. Much to my chagrin(i like that word) I found out I am pretty much allergic to every kind there is. Honey bees, wasps, yellow jackets, white-face hornets, yellow-face hornets, and the list goes on. As a result of that, I have a 60% chance the next time I am stung by any of the above species of having a serious reaction, including DEATH!! Yeah, I would say that is a pretty bad reaction!! So I have to carry this EPIPEN around with me and if I get stung I have to jab it violently into my leg and get to the hospital. Sounds fun huh? Well, that's about it for now, I'll try to update again soon.

Keepin' it Real,
Bryan

AMP'd Rewind

Last night was AWESOME!!! We did our back to school kick-off at AMP'd (our Wednesday night worship service for students) and it was a blast!!! I'm glad we can finally get back into a routine and meet on a regular basis. Our student band did an awesome job with the worship, the just keep getting better and better. It is so neat to see students leading students!! We started a new series called "Under the Influence" and the basic idea behind it is that we are all influenced by someone or something, so we need to step back and look at who or what it is. Last night I talked about how culture is a huge influencer and we need to be careful how we handle that. I challenged the students to actually be the ones influencing instead of being the ones getting influenced. I spoke from Daniel 6. Here are my points:

1. Daniel wasn't influenced by the culture. Dan. 6:10

2. Daniel influenced the culture. Dan. 6:26

3. Daniel prospered because of his stand! Dan. 6:28

The set list went like this:

Godspeed-Anberlin
What the World-Hillsong United
All Because of Jesus-Steve Fee
Solution-Hillsong United

I am pumped about this fall and I know God has some incredible things in store for our students and Marathon Student Ministries! Oh, I now have 2 interns in place, Steve-0 and Taylor and they are doing a great job!!! Still looking for at least 1 or 2 more, so let me know if you know someone. You can e-mail me at bryanholder@marathonlive.org if you know someone that would be interested in helping out.

Keepin' It Real,
Bryan

Gettin' Ready!!

Tonight is the Easley/Pickens football game, which is a huge rivalry around these parts. I personally don't really care who wins because I didn't attend either school (yes, I went to a Christian high school) However, I do have a vested interest in the game because we have students in our ministry from both schools. Last year, a group of volunteers embarked on a journey to create a "tailgating monster" to take to the football games on Friday nights as an outreach tool. The name of said monster is Project 109. We took an old school bus that the church had and totally transformed it into a "pimped out" tailgating monster. I wish I could say that this was an original idea, but there was a pioneer in the tailgating game before Project 109, it's name was Gus the Bus and it was the brain child of my good friend Sammy Clary (www.sammyclary.com). So we took the concept of Gus and added our own personal touches to it. Project 109 has a second story with a spiral staircase, 4 X-Box 360's that are played on 20" flat panel tv's, 4 15" sub woofers outside, plus 8 mid range speakers, and 3 more speakers in the cab, and 2 grills built into the bumper on the back. The whole vision of even trying something like this is to reach people, especially teenagers. We will be taking this to at least 6 high school football games and a couple college games this year. I am pumped about this fall and being able to use Project 109 as an "out of the box" tool for outreach. I have posted a few pictures of Project 109 in it's early stages and plan on updating with lots of cool stories of how teenagers were reached through Project 109!!

Keepin' It Real,
Bryan

Anniversary Weekend

This weekend Crystal and I celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary! I know what you are thinking, Crystal must be crazy to have been able to hang in there 6 years with me!! We got up on Saturday morning and went to the Anderson Jockey Lot, that's right, the Jockey Lot. On a quick side note, if you are ever feeling bad about your life, take a trip out to the Jockey Lot because there are folks there that make Jerry Springer guests look like royalty!! I would dare say the average number of teeth per person is about 12, SERIOUSLY!!! Sorry for the digression. We went to the Jockey Lot to look for some furniture for a couple of rooms in our house. After that, we just went back home and hung out for a while and chilled, it was nice to be able to do that I must add. That evening we went to our special place, California Dreaming (ahhhh how sweet, we have a special place). That place would make a really sweet house by the way!! Sorry, that is the ADD kickin' in I think. It was a really awesome day, and I am blessed to have such a Godly wife. She really does fill those areas that are weak in my life. I can't wait to see what else God has planned for our lives.

Keepin' it Real,

Bryan

Update of sorts

Hey gang! Just figured Ibetter do a little update to keep all 15 of you on the edge of your seat about what is going on in the life and times of the Bholda. This past weekend Crystal and I participated in a yard sale with Sammy(www.sammyclary.com) and I have to say it must have been the hottest day of the entire year!!! seriously, it was a SCORCHER!!! We made a little money but got rid of a good bit of junk, so all in all it was a good day. Sunday was good at Marathon, Eddie(www.eddiecox.org) is back and has started a new series called God Questions. After church we went to Chuck E. Cheese with Crystal's twin cousins for their 10th birthday. I must admit I stepped back in time a little bit and played a few of the games. I was a little rusty on the skee ball, but owned the air hockey table!!! Yesterday me, Kip, and Sammy played at Cross Winds par 3 and much to my chagrin (i like that word, it sounds funny) I was defeated by both Sammy and Kip, however, I did spot Sammy 5 strokes, so in reality I beat him by 2 shots. He is scared to play me straight up!! (just for the record) He will take that as a direct challenge, and want to play me again, so I will be blogging about that outing in the near future I'm sure.
I hope this update of sorts has quenched everyone's desire to peek into my world, if only for a brief moment-yeah right! I'm not that important!! :)

Keepin' it real,
Bryan

Interns Anyone?

This week has been pretty rough on me because a co-worker and more importantly a really close friend of mine is stepping out to pursue God's plan for his life. Chasen Callahan (chasenmusic.com) who has been the Associate Worship Pastor and my Youth Worship & Media Pastor is going on tour with his band in a couple of weeks. Don't get me wrong, I am pumped that God has opened this door for him and the other guys, but I am going to miss him big time. He edited videos, created graphics and designed t-shirts among a thousand other things, so his talents in those areas are gonna be missed! I know Chasen is going to reach tons of people through his music and ministry. So, here is a shout-out to Chasen, you guys change the world for Christ!!!
Well, with all that being said, I am in need of some help. This fall, I will be looking for college-aged interns to do media stuff, graphics, and event planning. I hope to have about 3 or 4 college students to fill these positions, so if you are reading this and you(or someone you know) may be interested you can shoot me an e-mail at bryanholder@marathonlive.org and I can give you more details. I am excited about the direction our student ministry is going with this because it allows me to pour into people that have a calling into ministry, which is what i love to do.

Keepin' it Real,

Bryan