Happy Birthday, Dad!!

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birthday-cake.gifI failed to mention my dad’s birthday on the phone last year while they were west for the winter and still haven’t heard the end of that deal!! So dad is going to get several calls wishing him and his favorite president, Ronald Reagan (ha!), a very happy birthday!!

Seriously, I am blessed to have such great parents who have really helped me become the person I have become–the good stuff of course. The bad stuff, that’s all my fault!! Have a great birthday in the sun! Hurry home!!

Love,

David

Crazy Weekend

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We had a crazy weekend this past weekend! Because of our “snow storm” on Thursday, we canceled our tech rehearsal for KidStuf. Boy, I don’t know if we will ever do that again! Needless to say, the “dress” rehearsal on Saturday was a bit crazy. As with Murphy’s Law, anything and everything seemed to go wrong–especially with the sound stuff. We just purchased some new microphones and they didn’t work exactly like we wanted. Isn’t technology wonderful??

Then, Taylor and I had to leave the tech rehearsal early for Upward Basketball team pictures. Then we had our 5th game of the season. I couldn’t be prouder of our little guys! They are really improving! Trust me, it has nothing to do with the coaching. Actually, I think they have a huge handicap in that area! It is going to be sad to have the season end in a few weeks because they are really beginning to play really well and play really well together as a team.

Right after the game, Grandma and Papa Jeffries took the boys so that Jenny and I could go to an area church planters meeting. It was a Groundhog Day party!! Any excuse to get together with church planters and eat. Jerry Fields, the state Church Planting Director for MO Baptist Convention spoke and had a good time of Q & A. I really respect Jerry for staying in there for us planters in the midst of some very trying days in MBC Church Planting. Needless to say, planting has really changed in the 6 years since we started the process. Honestly, I really feel like a wily veteran as many of the people we went through basic training with and started planting with aren’t doing it anymore. That has always been a passion of mine–that we need to create networks for planters so as to minimize burnout. Met some folks from Extend Global, a great missions organization based right here in Springfield.

Then, finally, I decided to take the boys to the MSU Bears basketball game to give Jenny a break and some peace and quiet.? They just couldn’t seem to get over the hump and close out the game.? They ended up loosing by one point after not being able to score on several attempts and putbacks in the final seconds.? They also missed several free throws down the stretch that would have put the game away.? We had a good time–Tucker loved to wave at Boomer and eating popcorn, Taylor of course loves basketball, and I just love hanging out with them.

Sunday was extremely busy as well with KidStuf and the Super Bowl.? KidStuf was awesome and the technical things went really smoothly.? The message was on kindness and our cast does such a great job–dancers, singers, actors, and hosts. . . all were awesome!!? How ’bout them G-men?? I always like to root for the underdog unless I have a dog in the fight, so it was great to see such an upset.

Just now getting around to posting such a crazy weekend!!? Maybe we need to slow down.? No, we definitely need to slow down.? Ever felt like you life is moving at the speed of light??? Why do we let it happen that way??? Crazy indeed!!

Ratatouille–St. Louis Style!!

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ratatouille.jpgJenny and I got the honor and opportunity to marry a couple in our church in St. Louis over the weekend (pictures to come . . . hopefully!) We decided to get some well needed R&R while the grandparents (thanks Tom & Gwen and Bill & Betty!!!) were watching our little angels, so we stayed an extra night and day in St. Louis.

We went to eat at a restaurant on Friday night that shall remain nameless (on the Landing.) We were pumped that we were able to get in well under the 30 minute wait. Unfortunately we were seated in between a table of 15 or so people and another table of almost 30 (no joke). We left our little “angels” at home and got the opportunity to hang out with some other peoples little angels! Bummer!

Everything was going well as we enjoyed our soup and bread when another table was pointing and talking about us! I’m pretty used to that, but usually it is followed by mocking and laughing! Not very often is Jenny publicly ridiculed like this. Finally, Jenny said, “what is the deal?” Read more

Merry Christmas–Boy Band Style!

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I have been so busy with life that the blog has taken a back seat for almost a month–yikes.? We started off December with KidStuf and haven’t slowed down since with everything from school parties to children’s choir concerts at Wee Hope and the Giloiz.? I hope to get into a little more regular “blog groove” after the first of the year, but until then, I will hope to have a year in review post soon and also an update on why the blog silence here in a week or so–but no promises.

In the meantime, we have two of the best kids on the planet.? Taylor is pretty much figuring out this whole Santa thing, but hasn’t said anything to ruin it for Tucker.

Christmas Eve started at the Jeffries’ for breakfast, opening presents, and Christmas lunch.? The kids (big and small alike) had a good time testing out the toys and hiking in the back pasture!? We had an awesome time at our church’s Christmas Eve service.? Kris, Eric, Daniel, and Jenny did a great job with a very meaningful worship experience.? I am really blessed to be a part of such an unbelievable team that lifts me up when I am down (and hopefully vice versa!) ? Then Santa had a hard time getting to put out the presents because of an overzealous 6 year old–but finally was able to come and drop off some goodies.
garageband.jpgTaylor got an electric guitar and an amp (if you want to call it that–more like a transistor radio, remember those?).? Tucker got a tackle box full of Play-Dough stuff as one of his “big” presents.? Then later on at Grandma and Grandpa Stone’s, Tucker got a “matching” guitar while Taylor got a microphone and mic stand!? They did a great job “performing” for us in the living room.? Watch out Jonas Brothers!? (That’s for all those parents who have to watch the Disney Channel.)

Just seems like it was yesterday when we were having our first Christmas in Pryor, OK, first Christmas with Taylor, first Christmas (heart monitor-less) with Tucker. . . and wasn’t last Christmas about a month ago??? We are so thankful for all of our friends and family surrounding us to make life so enjoyable!? I hope you all have a wonderful new year in 2008!

Happy Birthday Tucker Liam!!

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elmo.jpegWe have had a CRAZY weekend with our two year old Elmo Birthday party!!? We had a great time celebrating all things Elmo.? Elmo plates, Elmo cups, Elmo cake (pictures soon of the masterpiece that dad spent WAY too much time decorating!), and an Elmo penata.? Tucker was all fine with us hitting Elmo with the sticks and he himself actually really enjoyed that part of the party.? He was quite upset when Elmo’s body got knocked off and his head was still hanging on the hanger!? Needless to say, we tried to divert his attention to the candy strewn all over the back deck and threw away the Elmo penata as soon as possible.

It seems that transportation was the theme of the presents this year.? Pretty much had most mass transportation covered.? Elmo garage with cars, rocket ship complete with martians, train book, airplane, and of course an RV from Papa Bill and Grandma Betty.? It was a really good time.? Plus Tad and Katie’s kids are at very similar ages and play together well.

I can’t believe that it has been two years since we spent some time in the NICU and brought him home with that crazy monitor until just before Christmas.? (That was the best Christmas present we could ever have–a healthy baby with no need for the apnea monitor!)? We are so grateful to God for our family!

A Great Pastor, A Great Man of God

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Dr. T.T. Crabtree, my pastor growing up, passed away Tuesday night. He was one of my mentors and heroes of the faith. Much like the Hall of Fame of Faith in Hebrews, he has been one of those “great cloud of witnesses” for me as a young pastor. He always used to call me or introduce me to other pastors as “his son in the ministry.” I’m sure that he said that with most all young pastors, but for me, it really made me feel good that he invested so much in my ministry.

Every time I would go and see him, I would leave his home office with at least 2 boxes of books that he had picked out for me. He would take a really long time and great care to tell me who each author was–most of which were his “dear friends.” He was a brilliant man and scholar. He could have very easily taught at a seminary full time, but loved to pastor in the local church. He is the author of the Zondervan’s Pastor’s Annual. It is sermons from years past compiled to help other pastors, especially bi-vocational guys, preach good biblical sermons. They are basically sermon outlines with “a little meat still left on the bones,” as my preaching prof. Grant Lovejoy said Joel Gregory used to say.

He was my pastor. . . baptized me when I was 12, was at my wedding, was at my licensing, and was on my ordaining council. He was always very supportive and saw that I could be a pastor someday. He always said that I was going to be a great pastor . . . and I always used to say, “a great youth pastor.” He saw the future probably more than I did and was always giving me pastoral care and theology books while I was a student pastor because “it doesn’t matter what capacity you are serving, you still need to ‘rightly divide the Word of Truth.'”

I will charge everyone what he would always say to me (and probably every other pastor.) David, when Jesus told Peter to “Feed my sheep,” he didn’t mean to feed them warmed-over mutten three times a day!! Really feed them with the whole council of the the Word of God. Preach the Word. Preach the Word. (He always used to repeat important things twice for emphasis, like “Tennessee, Tennessee” when he would talk about his beloved Volunteers who won the big game on Saturday. Always with a flip of his wrist into a semi pointing gesture. If you knew him, you know what I’m talking about.)

I interviewed him when I was a senior at SMSU and did a paper in a gerontology class on how to “age well.” Those 4 or 5 hours changed my life. I got to really see the real Dr. Crabtree. How he loved his family and wife. How he loved serving God with his whole heart. How not to get so wrapped up in the church that you don’t minister to the most important people–your family. Many wonderful words of advice came from that interview and paper.

Thank you Dr. Crabtree for loving me and encouraging me to be the best pastor I can be! I hope to make you proud someday! Thank you for a life spent serving your Lord as an example for all around you to hope to come close to imitating. We will see you again soon!

About 15 seconds of the Tour of Missouri

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Taylor and I got to see just a brief bit of the finish of the Tour of Missouri yesterday. Ibilde-1.jpg taylortourofmo.jpgpicked up Taylor after school and we rushed downtown to the Shrine Mosque to see the finish. I took us way too long to find a parking spot, so we missed the first “pack” and saw the second “pack” from about 100 yards away as a blur of color and motion. It was there and then it was gone in a moment!!? We saw a few stragglers up close and went around and saw all of the teams as they were back at the vehicles. Quite a sight indeed. They made it from Clinton, MO, about 120 miles in about 4 1/2 hours!! It takes taylorlookingon.jpgabout 2 hours to make that trip at highway speeds!! They were traveling about 40 MPH when they “blurred” past us at the finish. Here is a friend of Natalie Nance’s dad’s blog, who has some great pictures of the finish.? Take some time to read the entire post–especially the last paragraph.? Taylor and I saw some guys coming out of the medical tent all banged up–don’t know if it was the armadillo or not that caused their bandages!!

I’m glad we did it and can add it to the list of things we’ve done as a father and son. I think the Tour is coming again for the next 3 years or so, but will probably not be down here next year for sure as they are going to focus on the northern part of the state (north of I-70).? They are having the time trials in Branson today–the race will probably be won or lost today in that 18 miles experts say.

Monday Evening Catch-up

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I intended to get around to this a whole lot earlier, like last Monday, but here’s what’s been going on lately.

  • Taylor headed to 1st grade on Thursday! Wow, I am feeling quite old now! He had a great time. (He didn’t want to go this morning, but didn’t want to leave this afternoon–go figure.)sunday-best.jpg
  • The ol’ alma mater, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is back in the embarrassing news–again. There was a segment on the Today Show on Friday telling about the new “homemaker” degree Paige and Dorothy Patterson instituted. Fellas–need not apply. Unbelievable. And we wonder why people don’t want to come to our churches anymore. Just google “Southwestern homemaker” and look at all of the blog discussions. A really funny post on the degree program here (ladies need not apply for this one). Someone needs to get the idea that it isn’t 1955 like this picture. . .
  • The cable internet is in at the church!! It is WAY faster than the poor DSL. The manager/installer of the contracting company was an awesome guy that really displayed some great customer service after the mother company dropped the ball big-time! Thanks Jason!
  • We gave out journals to everyone this Sunday! I am really excited to see what can happen in our entire church family decides to get on board with God and meet with Him daily to have devotions!!
  • The band was really awesome on Sunday! Great time of worship!
  • KidStuf is really looking great! I’m in on anything with a “dance team”(Kris Schawo included) and a “comedic host.” September 16th is going to be AWESOME!!
  • It was really great to see everyone having a great time hanging out before and after church . . . reminds me of the “old days.”
  • I think I have some guests coming on Sunday!! I am really excited to see them at CFC! They are perfect people for our church–unchurched and overchurched!

Friday Night Family Film Fest

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Just got finished with our Friday Night Family Film Festival. We watched high-school-musical-2.jpgHigh School Musical 2 on Disney. I think there was a whole lot of people who were watching it too. You know who you are . . . Heather! Jenny and I were talking about it on the way to get junk food at the grocery store that most parents of kids our age were watching it along with their kids. They advertised the crap out of the thing and it will run all weekend long.? Taylor really loved it. He loves sports and also the dancing and music as well. It is really fun to watch things through his filter.

We had a hodgepodge dinner complete with lots of movie junk food. We had some fettuccine alfredo (Taylor’s favorite), Rotel dip, guacamole, popcorn and Chips Ahoy cookies (again Taylor’s pick). Pretty much not healthy at all, but we all had a lot of fun together. . . cause “we’re all in this together”–couldn’t resist!

Out the Door

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Jenny and I and the boys are headed down to Big Cedar Lodge tonight for a couple of days.? We had a sweet couple give us a couple of nights of their time share as a ministry to us.? It should be a lot of fun and hopefully some quality time with the boys before we head off to Kids Camp this next weekend without them.

Had a great staff meeting this morning.? Gearing up for the fall.? I am really excited about the potential lives that are going to be changed with KidStuf as well as some great ministry opportunities in the works.