Home Archive by category "Friends" (Page 4)

Category: Friends

My Friend Dan Gets to Celebrate Easter With Jesus

Dan and I, March 4th, 2008  Today I got one of those calls none of us wants to get. When I saw “Dan Rase” on my phone it didn’t matter that I was about to go out the door with my little boy for a father-son evening, this was a good friend calling – even if it had to be short and offer to call back, I was so glad he was calling. Instead it was his wife, Joyce. As soon as I heard her voice I knew something was wrong, but I was not prepared for her to tell me that Dan had gone to meet the Lord early this morning due to a heart attack while he slept. I had just seen Dan at the Kidology Gathering at CPC in San Diego. Afterward, even though it was nearly 11pm, we stood outside enjoying the cool evening California weather and talked until after midnight. We talked about life, our marriages, our ministries, our failures, our disappointments, our hopes and dreams… and our adopted children. It was one of those conversations that marks you and changes you. I was sick that whole week and running pretty weak, but knew that…

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CPC: Where Friends Are Found and Abound

One of the greatest things about the Children’s Pastor’s Conference is the friends you make and the fun of getting to cross paths with them again. I’ve lost track, but this is somewhere near my 30th CPC in a row. (I can’t tell for sure because while I’ve been to every one since 1995, I don’t remember which years have had 2 or 3 of them) It truly is a blessing to be here! It is a lot of fun to meet people who share your passion for children’s ministry, and to reconnect with them over the years. Many of the friends I reconnect with at CPC, I first met at a CPC in the years past, and I look forward to continuing to connect and make new friends in the years ahead. People like: Byron Ragains who runs the Chicago Children’s Ministry Network, a Church Consultant for David C. Cook, and Larry Fowler, Awana’s Vice President and author of one of my favorite CM Books, Rock Solid Kids. Bryon played a large part in the very first Kid U and has been a great friend over the years since I was in my first ministry at Moody Church, waaaaaay…

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2007 – A Year in Review

One of the best things about blogging faithfully is the gift you give yourself at the end of each year. You get to relive your year and enjoy memories that otherwise may have faded or been lost! And so, just as I did last year, it is time to review the year 2007. And while there are fun times and dates and more serious reflective times, or meeting up with friends or family or ministry trips,  sometimes there is just humor, puzzles or simple complaining. My favorites are the purely sentimental. This is not to say the year was without hardship, heartbreak, or pain… (not everything is “blogable”) but through it all, God was an ever present help and showed Himself to be the best Friend, Redeemer and Savior anyone could ever want or need. So from God’s divine perspective, it was a great year for He accomplished His goals and continued to work on me to make me more the man and husband and father and servant of God He wants me to be. So here are my highlights of 2007; It was hard to choose just one post per month, but here they are: JANUARY:  Luke Turned One!…

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Two (more) Too Cool Kids Pastors!

This has been a fantastic trip for getting to see and meet some fellow children’s pastors. (I say fellow CP’s as they share my heart, even though I am not currently a CP). I blogged about Todd and Mark earlier, and but there were two more on this trip! The first was Tom Bump – thought I feel like a such a bum (not to be confused with Bump) because I spent several hours with Tom at the Kidology To Go and then at Chili’s enjoying dinner and fellowship and never once took a picture to blog! It would not be dishonest to say that the conversation was so engrossing that snappin’ a picture just never crossed my mind! I think Tom and I will become great friends. The next time I see him will be at Yosemite Summit since he is one of the first to sign up for the Unconference for Children’s Pastors! We have shared many similar ministry experiences and enjoys hours of sharing those stories and lessons God is teaching us both on this journey of life and ministry. The picture below is from his CP Team application, and includes his wife April who kept calling…

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Five Things Todd Does Great

As mentioned earlier, I was in town for a Kidology To Go last Saturday at Todd McKeever’s Church. (he blogged about it already) He asked me for some feedback on what I observed on Sunday, so I thought I’d just go ahead and blab it all here on my blog! (no worries, Todd, it’s all good!) In my travels I’ve been blessed to see more children’s ministries than I can count… here are just some of the things that impressed me about what Todd is doing at Jubilee Christian Center: 1) The room is kid friendly – with a creative set and even a slime machine! 2) Not one, not two, but THREE inflatables make kids know the room is for them! 3) This is the typical expression on the kids faces! (a good sign) 4) Even separate play things for the little tots so they don’t get clobbered by the Big Kids! 5) Nothing says “we love kids” like a video game wall. 6) Kids have to come early to enjoy the giant fun stuff, helped encourage being on time. 7) Todd is available and eager to help his volunteers all morning. (Just my artsy picture out the stairwell…

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Two Too Cool Kids Pastors!

Well, I headed up North today to enjoy some fellowship with two awesome children’s pastors. The drive was absolutely beautiful the entire way! The Fall Colors were simply amazing! Of course, it’s hard to capture the beauty while driving, but I tried! In fact, I even made a video, which you can watch below, but both the pictures and video hardly capture the brightness of the colors that I was driving past for nearly two hours… this is simply a gorgeous area of America. The most shocking was when I suddenly had a semi driving the wrong direction RIGHT AT ME!!! YIKES! “You’re Going the Wrong Way!” (name the movie) Fortunately, I was able to swerve around just in time to see that actually, it was being towed in reverse: That’s a serious tow truck! My destination: Jubilee Christian Center for a Kidology To Go on Saturday. This is not my first time here. In fact, I was here last April hangin’ with President Bush who posed with my buddy Todd: Todd and the President! When I arrived I remembered that Todd has a wonderfully decorted and themed children’s ministry and made my way to his office…   I made…

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