Gearin' Up

This week is going to be like none other! There is a lot going on that I am pumped about to say the least. Tomorrow night we are continuing our "Undressed" series and we will be talking about SEX for the next 2 weeks. To say it is going to be interesting would be an understatement. Our students have responded well to the series so far, and so have parents. I have started recording my messages on CD at AMP'd for a couple of reasons: 1. To protect myself from someone misquoting me and 2. For parents and students that want a copy of the message to take home. It has worked out really well so far, and I feel far more comfortable talking about all this Love, Dating and Sex stuff knowing it's being recorded. Thursday should be a good planning day with the interns for our upcoming series and Disciple Now weekend, and also just a chance for us to catch our breath after AMP'd. And then there's Friday!!! oh Friday, the day off. For my day off this week I am going with Sammy and Melissa (www.sammyclary.com)along with a handful of other people to the Richard Petty Driving Experience in Charlotte. Last year for my birthday Sammy bought me a ride along ticket, and we are just now getting to use them, so it should be a blast!! We are heading out at 6 am to get there early and get in line. It's first come, first serve. I am just praying I don't mess myself, because I'm not a big risk taker, and I think going around the speedway at 180 mph is a pretty big risk!!! I'm not driving, simply riding in the passenger's seat, but still it should be a rush!! I'm sure there will be pictures and plenty of stories to follow!!
In other news, we are closing on the loan TODAY for the "Garage", our student facility!! We should be seeing construction start back up within the next couple of weeks. I'm so excited about being able to provide our students with a place they can call their own. It's going to be great. I will try to keep the blog with pictures of the progress. Well, it's back to studying for tomorrow night!!

RUNning the Race,
Bholda

AMP'd Rewind and Stuff

Well, it's a little late, but better than nothing. AMP'd went well Wednesday night, we had record attendance which is always cool. I shouldn't be surprised by this because anytime you talk about Love, Dating and SEX, students tend to show up to see what's goin down. Wednesday night we looked at both good reasons to date and wrong reasons to date. We went something like this:

Good reasons:
To grow spiritually-Heb. 3:13, 10:24
To develop socially-Prov. 27:17
To have fun- 1 Tim. 6:17 (this verse may seem strange, but when God is the focus and things are done in the context of HIS plan, it's all good)

Wrong reasons:
For physical involvement-Eph. 5:3
For emotional security-Philip. 4:7
Because everybody does it-This is just simply not true!

Obviously, if you are dating someone just for the above reasons, that can be a very dangerous road to travel. God has a plan and has set up boundaries within the context of dating and if students will stick to that, there would be a lot less heartache and pain!!!

The band did great with the exception of one song, where apparently they all had a brain fart and forgot how to play!!! I think it was a great learning experience and hey, things happen.

Here is the setlist:

First date-Blink 182
We shine-Fee
O for a thousand tongues-Passion/Crowder
Revolution-United

We played a version of the dating game which was pretty cool, the winning couple, Brittany and Cade won a $25.00 gift card to Applebees, so that should be a nice little date one night. The next 2 weeks of the Undressed series is going to be all about sex and God's plan. It should be pretty interesting to say the least.

Well, that's about it for now, I'm off to the gym (I've lost about 14 lbs so far, so I'm pumped!!) Tonight we have a ball game so hopefully we can keep the 1 game win streak alive! I'll be studying tomorrow, since I'm speaking all 3 services at Marathon (www.marathonchurch.org) this Sunday, so I'm looking forward to that. Have a great weekend and keep it real!!!

RUNning the Race,
Bholda

R.U.N.?

This is a post I have been looking forward to doing for a while, and I finally have the time to sit down and pound it out on the keyboard. A couple of months ago, myself, Eddie, Bryan and Kip went on an overnight planning meeting to seek God and a renewed vision for Marathon. Marathon has been around for almost 11 years and has effectively reached a lot of people, and we really sensed God leading us to make some vital changes. So, we locked ourselves in a conference room for about 7 hours and just prayed, brainstormed, threw ideas on a white board, prayed some more, and just diligently sought God's vision for Marathon. After many hours, God basically dropped RUN in our laps!! Let me explain: the "R" stands for REFLECT, which represents worship, the "U" stands for UNITE, which represents service, and the "N" stands for NAVIGATE, and represents small groups. So basically God showed us that in order to grow and become more like Him, these are the things we need to move toward, Worship, Service, and Connection. As a Church, we believe this should be our focus, to help folks move through this process and become DISCIPLES, not just Christians. There is a huge difference! Salvation is instantaneous, but discipleship is an on going process and Marathon is committed to help people move through the process. Notice I said "help", that's because we have to make a decision to grow outside the walls on Sunday mornings or Wednesday nights or whatever times the church building is open. If you are a Christian and all you count on for growth is your Church services, then something is wrong. Obviously, that time is important, but it shouldn't be all you put into your walk. I am pumped about this renewed vision and direction and I have already seen how our people are taking notice. You can watch the first 2 weeks of the RUN services here: www.marathonchurch.org
This weeks message should be up by Wednesday, so be on the lookout for that as well. We have a new logo, website and all that to go along with the change, but by no means is this just marketing, it is the foundation and vision of Marathon. Just remember, we are all in a race, and we are called to RUN!!!! This was a very quick explanation, but I'm sure I'll revisit it from time to time. Until next time, Keep Running!!!!

RUNning the Race,
Bholda

We Won!!

It finally happened, our over 30 basketball team at Marathon won our first game last night!! I guess technically it was our second win, because the first win was a forfeit by the other team a few weeks ago. But this time we actually scored more points than the other team!! We ended up winning by 5 points down the stretch, and it felt good, because we avenged our first loss of the season by this team. I have realized that I can't move and react like I could 10 years ago, and quite honestly it's been a tough pill to swallow, but I'm working on it. We have 1 more regular season game and then the first round of the playoffs (yeah in this league, every team plays in the first round).
Well, enough about my mission to return to my glory days of high school basketball. Tonight I have a student ministry volunteer dinner/training and I am excited about it for sure. I can see God bringing us the right people to put into the right places and it is awesome. I just want to spend some time with my volunteers tonight and hear what God is doing in their lives, hear stories about how God has used them to reach students, and how students have touched their lives. It should be a great night, and I am looking forward to it for sure. I guess that's it for now, so enjoy your weekend!!

Keepin'it Real,
Bholda

Happy V-Day!!

Just wanted to give a quick shout out to everyone and wish ya a happy valentines day. I don't know what you have planned, but i hope it has something to do with the love of your life :) I myself, have plans to go out with my wonderful wife of almost 7 years and grab a bite to eat and hang out with her!! I will hopefully be updating tomorrow, because there are certain people in the blogging world that have threatened to kick me off of their blog roll if I don't update every 3 days, so I am trying to get into a routine of posting!! Well, have a good night!!

Keepin' it real,
Bholda

Undressed

Tomorrow night we start our new series called "Undressed", the truth about Love, Dating, and Sex. I am really looking forward to this series because our students need to know the TRUTH about all these things because they are getting inundated with lies from the enemy. I shot a video last week asking students how they know when they are in love, and man did I got some scary, crazy, clueless, answers along with a couple of really solid answers. It just shows me that this is a much needed series for our students.
On a lighter note, the workout routine is going great! Not to brag or anything, but to date I've lost 12 lbs, so I've got 6 more lbs to go to reach my first goal. It's been really tough at times, but it is well worth it. It's actually kind of addicting watching the "lbs" drop, and obviously very encouraging. I credit my victory over Justin Kay in the youth pastor grudge race on Sunday to my lighter frame, and no I'm not talking about the frame of the go-kart!!! Sorry Justin. Well, that's it for now, I'll be updating again in a day or so.

Keepin' it Real,
Bholda

AMP'd rewind, Surge '08, and the backyard 500

Well, it's a little late, but here is the AMP'd rewind. It was a great night of praise and worship as we wrapped up our series called "Beyond the Music". The band along with Steve-O and Jamie did a set list consisting of 10 songs, too numerous for me to remember, but it was an awesome sight to see the students loose themselves in worship. I challenged the students with a story out of Mark 5:24-34, which is about a woman who had a bleeding issue and how she knew if she could just touch Jesus' clothes she would be healed!! I encouraged the students that during worship their goal should be simply to touch Jesus' clothes. If we can just experience that, it will completely change our lives!! It was a wonderful night. Next week we are starting our new series called "Undressed", the truth about Love, Dating and Sex. I'm pumped about this series because I want the students to take a real look at the relations they are in and the dangers of saying "I love you" too soon, dating the wrong person and not setting boundaries, among a ton of others stuff too!! It should be interesting for sure.
On a different note, the dates for Surge '08 have been announced!! The first week will be June 8-13 for current 7-8 graders and the second week is June 15-20 for current 9-12 graders. We will be going to beautful St. George Island Christian Retreat Center in Florida. Check out the pics at www.sgichristianretreat.org, it's incredible!! Keep a look out for more details!!!
Well, I guess that's about it for now, it's time to get ready to head out to the gym and get my workout on!! I have to get ready for the go kart backyard 500 over at Sammy's house!! I think it's going to be a break through day for me and my career in go kart racing!!

Keepin' it Real,
Bholda

Moving Forward

Yesterday was a historic day at Marathon. We had a unanimous vote to move forward and borrow the rest of the money to finish our student facility, The Garage!! It was awesome to see all those hands go up and vote YES. Just to update you, the building is basically in the dry now, and is paid for, about $600,000 worth. We voted yesterday to borrow up to $1.2 million to finish the project, because rates are great right now and we have already been approved by the bank for the $1.2 million. I know what you might be thinking, "that's a lot of money to borrow", and I would agree, but we have prayed HARD about this and we have a strategy to attack the debt aggressively and pay it off quickly. I love the fact that Marathon has never been about buildings, but about reaching people. There has always been a great understanding that The Garage is not the end, but a means to the end, which is to reach children, students, and families for the Kingdom. I' m sure I will be posting pictures of the progress soon, as we hope to see construction start back up by the first of March. It's gonna be AWESOME!!!

Keepin' it Real,
Bholda