Blog Time-Out

I know it's not good for ratings and all that, but due to the craziness of my schedule the blog is going to have to a backseat for a little bit. My apologies. I will try to get something going again within the next week hopefully.

Bholda

Crazy Day!!

Today started crazy right off the bat. I usually meet with students on Tuesday mornings at 6:30 am for a weekly prayer breakfast (no, I'm not that spiritual, the students want to meet, so I'm all for it) Well, this morning didn't quite work out, not because we didn't have it but because my alarm never went off!! I was awakened at 7:15 by sunlight coming through my bedroom window. The students still met without me which was very encouraging. I got to the office and continued working on my message for AMP'd tomorrow night until lunch time. I went to a lunch meeting with about 8 other youth guys in this area for a time of encouragement and just to talk ministry for a little bit. After that, a couple of the guys wanted to come by and check out "The Garage", so I gave them a tour. Then it was off to Pickens High School to meet with the athletic director about bringing Project 109 (our tailgating bus) to the game on Friday night. Everything's a go, and while I was there I spoke with the head football coach and set up a time for us to do the pre-game meal for the team this season. It was a very productive meeting and I think it is vital that as a student ministry we work to connect and help schools out when we can. They have the best pulse on what is going on in the lives of students. I finally made it back to the office around 3:30 and have just now made it back to my desk after meeting with builders for the past 2 1/2 hours about "The Garage", so my mind (what little is there) is completely mush!! I can't believe I was even able to formulate a few complete sentences. Now it's back to message prep and some dinner.

Later!!
Bholda

AMP'd Rewind and Stuff

WOW!! Last night at AMP'd was awesome. We started our new series "Dirty Little Secret" and we had the largest crowd since right before summer. The energy and excitement was incredible. We kicked the series off talking about hypocrisy, and how so many people wear their "Christian mask" when they need to and throw it off when they wanna do their own thing. A lot of students were freed up last night and my leaders and myself had the chance to pray with students who accepted Christ, God is so amazing!!! The topics for this series are going to be tough ones, but ones that really need to be dealt with in the light of God's Word. The upcoming topics are: Self-injury (cutting, eating disorders, etc..) Sexual sin (porn, impurity, etc..) Abuse, and finally Hatred. It is sad to say, but I'm sure there are students they deal with these things and feel hopeless. It is my goal to show them they have hope in Jesus Christ. Please be praying for changed lives!!
In other news, "The Garage" is looking unbelievable!! They are painting the rest of the building and laying carpet, putting the finishing touches on the electrical and will start staining the concrete floors tomorrow!!! Hopefully we will have an occupancy permit by next Friday!! What that means is we could actually start doing stuff in there and not get in trouble. However, we still have to put the finishing touches on tv's, gaming systems, audio stuff, furnishings and other loose ends. I can't believe we are this close to being ready. I can't wait to use this building to reach students and families in the upstate, it's gonna be a blast!!!

RUNning the Race,
Bholda

It's Official

I am now a Mac user!!! And of course the first thing I do is use the built in camera to take a goofy picture!! I was lucky to figure out how to do that, for real!! I have wanted a lap top for awhile and after many days of serious thought and advice getting, I decided to go with the MacBook Pro. I will use this as my everyday computer and give my desktop to my administrative assistant. It is gonna take some time to learn how to navigate around, but all Mac users that I have talked to, (about 7) have told me it will be much better than a PC. I can't wait to get everything set up and all my files moved over and settled. The really cool thing is that I have the parallel desktop which allows me to switch back and forth from Mac OS to Windows if I start having withdraws. Should be fun.
I'm excited about this weekend, Crystal and I are leaving to go to Knoxville for a couple of days to enjoy the Boomsday festival. I have no idea what it is, but she has been before and wants to go back. I will give a full report when we return. Things are still moving at a great pace on "The Garage", they are only a few days away from being all done with the painting, which means the carpet, sound, light and video, floor stain, TV's and gaming stations can start going in!! Speaking of TV's, we were notified that other day that the company we are using is out of 37" inch flat panels so we are going to have to upgrade to 42" FOR NO EXTRA COST!!!! Thank you Jesus!!! what an awesome blessing!!!!
Well, that's about enough for a Saturday, I'm off to the gym and then to my nieces' birthday party.


Bholda

Good stuff

Today was good stuff. Me, Eddie, Reggie, Bryan and Kip went up to camp Marietta to do some long range planning stuff, and it was great. It really does us a lot of good to go up there because we can't get cell phone reception so the distractions are at a minimum. I love getting away and spending time with those guys. I can't wait to see what God is going to do over the next year here at Marathon. I'm excited about our new series coming up at AMP'd, "Dirty Little Secrets" We will be talking about *Hypocrisy, *Self-injury (cutting, eating disorders), *Sexual sins, *Abuse, and *Hatred. It is really shaping up to be a powerful series so please be in prayer about that. I will post on how things are going with the series. The youth building is still rocking along and we are zooming in on a grand opening date to be shared later :) I guess that's it for right now, I am putting off the inevitable...a trip to the gym!!

RUNning the Race,
Bholda

The goings on

Well, it's been awhile since my last post, of course. I'm still not very consistent and i apologize, hopefully i'll get better soon. I will start off with a quick update on The Garage. We are looking at being in by the end of September, and are getting one step closer tomorrow by laying sod around the building and on the parking islands. They started painting today i believe, which is really going to make it look like the end is near!! I'm so pumped i can't stand it!!!! AMP'd was great this past Wednesday. Steve-O and Taylor (student ministry interns) have really stepped it up the last couple of weeks in the video, graphics and worship areas and I can't wait to see what the future holds. We have 1 more week of our series called "The life of an American teenager" and then in September we are starting our series "Dirty Little Secrets" which is going to be a powerful 5 weeks i believe. We will be dealing with hypocrisy, self-injury, pornograpy, abuse and hatred. I am praying that God is going to move in a tremendous way in our students lives during this series, so PRAY with me if you will please!!
On a more personal note, Crystal and I purchased a "new" vehicle today. We bought a 2004 Honda CRV and we are very excited about it. With the adoption waiting in the wings, we really wanted to have a more reliable, gas friendly vehicle to drive around in. Even better than all that, we got rid of that stinky Volvo!! Praise the Lord!! That thing has been a thorn in our side for sure. The folks over at Norris Ford are great to work with and I would recommend them highly if you are looking to buy a vehicle. Thanks Ryan and TJ!!


Gettin' better gas mileage,
Bholda

Quick Update

It has been a really good week I must say. I am pumped to finally be back in the swing of things with AMP'd, and I'm looking forward to getting Project 109 up and running. As a matter of fact, we will be taking it to North Greenville University tomorrow evening for the football teams first scrimmage. Our aim is to introduce Marathon to the students of NGU and hopefully recruit a few (ok...a bunch) to get involved and serve in our student ministry. I will be getting up in the morning to prepare "109" for her first journey of the '08 school year. We are working on getting the high school football schedules together and mapping out the route for "109" to travel this season. It should be a blast, like always!!

The Garage is still progressing full steam ahead, and we are shooting for a late September grand opening. The next couple of weeks are going to be awesome because they will be painting, carpeting, finishing electrical and hopefully wiring up all the tvs and sound/lighting stuff. I will try to get some pictures posted soon. I had an incredible creativity meeting with my interns and Wil yesterday, and I am thrilled to be ahead for quiet a while now. Our September series is lining up to be the most powerful series yet...more on that later.

Well, I guess that's it for now, stay tuned for more stuff soon!!!


On the real,
Bholda