Home Archive by category "Spiritual Growth" (Page 31)

Category: Spiritual Growth

Ennie, Meanie, Minie, Moe, Catch a Lizard by his Toe (or tail, if you have to)

Back to Washington – after we left Spokane, we decided we would get out of the city and then stop for food and gasoline on the outskirts of town. Um, there are no outskirts of town…. there is Spokane, and then there is wilderness… boring… plain… never ending…. for a good two hours, and then all of sudden there is a ‘Scenic Overlook’ and we are thinking, “overlook of what?!” But needing to stretch our legs anyway we pull off the road and WOW! What a scene awaits us!! Mere photos can not capture the expanse of this view of the Columbia River. Of course, I had to go exploring… I love cliffs, every since I read the book “Cliffs” by Elene Over, I’ve enjoyed them immensely. We could see for miles in every direction. You gotta love that built in timer! I soon headed down the hill promising Sara that I would stay at least two feet from any lose crumbly cliff edges. I soon discovered there was a TON of wild life running around these cliffs! Can you spot the wildlife here BEFORE scrolling down? Need a hint: Here is a larger zoomedin.jpg image. I was DETERMINED to…

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Children’s Pastors "Havefunner"

Who is the Man Behind the Mask? Allow me to travel back in time, a few blogs anyway, to Portland Oregon where we visited Shiloh Hills Fellowship. (see post and photo gallery) Spokane held a few surprises for us. Besides the amazing hospitality shown to us, I was glad to get to meet a great children’s pastor. Our original purpose in visiting Spokane was to meet Danile Bigler, a gifted young man who has impressed me (and many others) with his contributions to Kidology.org A Young Man with a Heart for Preschoolers. Daniel proved to be a fascinating young man with many talents and passions that could lead him in many directions… though I’m encouraging him to be a children’s pastor, one of his many possibilities. But whatever he does, he will have a great impact on the Kingdom, I’m sure. I was very glad, however, to find out that he is working as an intern for a fantastic children’s pastor at Shiloh Hills Fellowship. Daniel is at home with kids… Rick “Havefunner” Pastor Rick Haffner, (often called by his kids Rick “Havefunner”) has over thirty years of children’s ministry service, having served both in the church and public school…

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On the Road Again, er, TRACKS

Or should it be ‘trackin’ with the Bastians? Well, we are off on the next phase of our sabbatical… I stopped by the office to grab a few things and was SHOCKED to see a new sign on my office door! Soon we were at the station… Sara booked us a huge comfortable room… With views out BOTH sides of the train! Soon we were leaving Chicago behind… We went from tall building to farmland within 40 minutes… I’m not sure how fast this train is, but it seems FAST – my guess at least 80mph if not overa 100 just trying to imagine a car going this fast… the train looks very old and worn, but is comfortable, and the ride isn’t too bumpy… we’ll see how it goes. Yes, I am bloggin’ from the train via my trusty cell phone which gets my laptop online. I was curious if I would get this post posted and not lose my connection, so far so good. Keep in touch! Post a comment below and say hi! Good Bye Chicago, be back in a few weeks!

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1000 MILES AND COUNTING!!

1000 MILES passed! Yes, on the road today we passed the ‘1000 mile mark’ on this sabbatical. Since there was no out-doing getting to see George Lucas, we decided to hit the road early and get home – much to do to prepare for this next phase of the Sabbatical Adventures – we leave on the train tomorrow. Laundry is going now and we are trying to figure out how to best pack for a 20+ day trip that includes train, plane and automobile!The highlight of the day was finding ourselves in the home stretch just around church-getting-out-time so we decided to drop by Culvers and see if any church folks would be there… Fun to get to see some of my kids before hitting the road again… Please pray for us as we travel – for safety, for schedule timing, for times to relax and refresh, to get all the reading done I want to do, and that we will find opportunities to minister to others as we travel. Next stop…. Spokane Washington via Amtrak! (or pray for no brake problems on our Amtrak train!!!)If you haven’t seen the online release of my novel, I’d love to have you…

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The "Marks" of Leadership

The ‘Marks’ of Leadership My Visit with Pastor Kim Bobb Grove City Church of the Nazarene Grove City, OH Spotlight on KidsMatter! Kimborah Bobb grew up in the church where she now leads the children’s ministry full time. She earned a degree in marketing from Olivet Nazarene University and then returned to Grove City in search of a marketing/promotions job. But God had other plans. She ended up turning down a marketing job opportunity because she just felt God telling her that He had something different. The next thing she knew she was answering the phone and Mark Hale, the children’s pastor at her church, was on the other end and he was saying that God had brought her to mind as a possible candidate for an opening for Assistant Children’s Pastor. She took the job and two years later ended up being his replacement when he moved on to become a senior pastor elsewhere. She is now one of two full time children’s pastors (preschool and grade school) in addition to one part time children’s pastor (20 hours) and twenty part time staffers (10 hours) between preschool and grade school for Sunday morning/evening and Wednesday evening programs. It is…

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