Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Clarification on Spring Training 2008


Hey men of CalvarySLO,
I've been getting a lot of questions about this event, mostly surrounding:

1. Are we just putsying around playing softball?
2. Why would it cost me $40 just to play softball?
3. Are we playing against other Churches? No.

So here's some more background on the event.

The KingdomBuilders leaders felt lead to do 2 not 1 but 2 Men's Advances this year. The first one would be a 1 day Mini-Advance in the Spring to accomodate those that just can't take a whole weekend away and the full Advance would be in the Fall. We also wanted to keep the cost the same ($100-120) in case some men wanted to go to both. I think we accomplished that since Spring Training is $40 and we think the Men's Advance will be $70.

So we came up with Spring Training as a cool name that kinda ties in with the baseball Spring Training. But our Spring Training is so much more than just softball. Here's what we got going:

1 Fully Rented Park (Paloma Creek) w/ 2 Softball Diamonds and 2 Soccer Fields
1 Set of Headband/Wristbands with event logo
2 Meals Lunch (Subway) and Dinner (Filipino BBQ or Luau)
3 Sessions of Worship/Teaching
3 Sessions of Sports including Softball Tourney, Soccer, Ultimate Frisbee and/or Football etc

Atascadero parks and rec will chalk the baseball fields for us and rent us real bases. I'm working on getting real Umpires to spend the day with us, but not sure. Nick will be leading worship and Bryan, Steve, and I will be sharing from our hearts what it means to Play for Keeps.

The $40 goes to pay for the park (a bigger expense than you'd think), 2 meals (food, drinks, plates, forks, napkins etc), headband/wristbands, maybe some umpires, etc etc.

I hope you come out!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Josh K. Departs

Well we are losing one of the KingdomBuilder team, Josh K. He's been helping me with events for a bit now and we'll miss him. He's applied to a few Veterinarian schools across the country and he hopes to get into one. I guess there are only 28 in the USA!

He hopes to be able to take the skills that he will learn into the mission field either full-time or short-term missions. Join me in hoping him the best.

Last night was his last study night with us so we held hands and sang the following song while we cried and passed each other the tissues:




I'm crying just thinking about it ;)

Just kidding...we sent him off in manly fashion with all you can eat pizza at Klondikes and the smallest amounts of frozen yogurt we could force down our throats at Yogurt Creations.

Take care Josh! Godspeed...

Saturday, March 08, 2008

WtS Breakfast II


How can I describe this morning? We had great food, fellowship, worship, and teaching. What else can you ask for?

Antonio, owner of Buona Tavola where we ate, cooked up a wonderful feast with his crew. We had fresh squeezed orange juice; fresh strawberries, apples, and tangelos; prosciutto, salami, and cheeses; wonderful potatoes and peppers; amazing chicken sausage; both vegetarian and ham frittatas (I had both! they were fantastic!); last but not least some spectacular biscuits with lemon zest. Oh the coffee was so good...I couldn't put cream and sugar in it with a good conscience. We couldn't thank Antonio enough...in fact he told me to stop! Praise God for his ability to worship through cooking!

We had a couple of men step up to do worship, Austin and Ryan. They were lead to start us out with "More than Enough." Marc, one of our Elders, came up to speak and said the Spirit must have lead them to start with that song because it was perfect for the message the Lord had given him...and it was. Marc spoke to us out of Number 10-14, about how God's men are fighting men. They fight to be lovers of God, holy devoted to him. We were all blessed.

I have to say there is nothing like 25 or so men singing praises to God at the top of their lungs! Especially in such a public area as the outside patio of Buona Tavola...

We ended with a few more songs then went off to our assignments. Some went to a single lady's house from CalvarySLO to dig some fence posts and set them in concrete...mmmm concrete! Others went to a single mom's house to break down a desk and take some stuff to the dump. Still others went to a Little Buddy's house to help get his mom's house ready for a new baby to come; cleaning carpets and helping with some landscaping. The rest of us, including myself, went to worship thru service at home. Linda and I did some serious subduing of the earth at Casa Zalamea.

I can't thank Christion and Nesper enough for committing to these WtS Breakfasts. I'm only sorry our next one isn't until June! Joey, from the Elder Board, will be speaking. I hope you'll join us!

Pictures on the right --------------->