Father/Son Campout 2008

I finally got a chance to upload these pictures from the Father/Son Campout 2008.

Through a few little trials (or potential trials) like the fires surrounding Big Sur, flooding in the Brennan home, and a very brief lightning/thunder storm; we had a GREAT time!

If you know nothing about this, every year for the last three years a few of us Dads take our sons up to Pfeiffer Big Sur campground during a summer weekend. It's a great time for some male bonding, as well as some teaching.

This year I got a few calls from some moms about the fire in King City. After a little bit of checking we realized the fires were far enough and heading in the opposite direction; so we headed out. I got to hang with Sean Brennan who drove us in luxury in his Toyota Sequoia...trailer full of gear in tow.

When we reached camp at 2pm on Friday it was 90 degrees...in Big Sur! So we left all of our gear and headed for the river gorge. The water must have been in the 60's it was wonderful.

The rest of the weekend was filled with: dips in the river, Eric Fitler jumping off the man cliff into the river, Sean and Steve jumping off the Superman cliff into the river, exploring the gorge, attempts at squirrel catching, smor's and deep fried pancakes, Steve teaching on being quick to listen and slow to speak/slow to anger, the Ring of Fire where we affirm our sons, I taught on how Joshua (from the Bible) was a hero by being a servant, humble, and responsible.

As we left Big Sur we found out we were under a voluntary evacuation due to a lightning strike forest fire a few miles south of us. Also due to that fire, Hwy 1 was closed going south. So we had to go around Monterey and to the 101. If you look at the slides I took some pictures of the billowing smoke behind us. The weird thing was we were maybe 2-3 minutes north of our campground. That smoke sure made the fire look a lot closer to the campsite!

Thanks to Rob Fitler for taking most of these pics, risking his sweet Canon for posterity. Thanks to all the Dads: Sean, Steve, Christian, Tom C., Tom H., and Rob. It was great to share the weekend with you men!

Singles Won

Preliminary data indicates the Singles won @ Miracle Miles on all counts:

• Fastest time: Wise and Christion came in at about 45 minutes each. Linda and I on the other hand 2 hours and change, so unless the Whitacres ran like the wind I think we lost that category
• Most Pledges raised: See that trophy? That's was awarded to CalvarySLO Singles for Most Money Raised by a Group! So I'm guessing they won that category as well.
• Tie breaker: even if needed, it looks like they had more sign ups unless a bunch of marrieds did walk up sign up...but like I said it looks irrelevant

I'll have the official verdict next Sunday, but it doesn't look good for the Marrieds! The only consolation is that we pretty much blew Calvary Shoreline out of the water.

It was a fun event. I'm glad we as a church could make such a big impact. Props to Nick Enns who raised over $1200 to get the Singles the trophy and some sweet gift certificates to Mo's Smokehouse.

Thanks everyone!

Nehemiah 8: Biblical R & R

And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them. (Neh 8:12)

It took us a couple of weeks, but we got through chapter 8. This is now my favorite chapter (have I said that before?).

In summary, after the people had built the wall (so now they felt safe) and God through Nehemiah had organized the people with giftings and callings (remember chapter 7?) they now wanted to hear the scriptures read and preached [screeching sound]. Yeah, they actually asked for a church service (and it went for about 6 hours!), pretty amazing huh?

Ezra reads the Pentateuch, first five books of the Bible from early morning until mid-day. The Levites walked around the congregation (50k people, think Dodger Stadium) to explain what was being read. The people respond with weeping and mourning, either out of respect for the written word of God or out of repentance for how far they had missed the mark God had laid out for them.

Imagine a packed baseball stadium full of people, listening to preaching and teaching, and they all fall face down on the ground and start weeping! God showed up in a big way to pierce the hearts of the people. This is an amazing miracle! I like to say it doesn't happen every day...is God speaking? Yes. Are we always open and listening? No.

Nehemiah and Ezra both tell the people to stop weeping and mourning, but instead to celebrate the fact that God had pierced their hearts. How may I ask does Nehemiah "encourage" them to celebrate? In the ESV it translates it, "Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready".

Many might be shocked that Nehemiah's response or way of celebrating is basically BBQ and Alcoholic Beverages, but I think the key is in verse 12 quoted above. It says that the people went to celebrate with food and wine, "because they had understood the words that were declared to them." In other words, they didn't go eat and drink to be gluttons or drunkards, to find pleasure in the food or wine in and of itself, they went to worship and praise God for showing up.

It's an amazing distinction. Colossions 3:17 says, "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." That means, with a few exceptions, that whatever we are doing can be an act of worship to God. I think the main thing is the motivation. Are we doing [fill in the blank] as an act of worship to God or to the thing he created? There was quite a bit of discussion that was awesome.

We finished the chapter discussing the amazing results of MEN responding in obedience to God and leading the people in spiritual things. Verse 13 tells us that on the second day the men wanted to dig deeper into God's written word. Uh-huh another miracle. What they found out is that they should be celebrating the Feast of Booths, Sukkot, right then. So guess what? They did!

The men, the leaders of each household, lead in the collection of branches and leaves and the building of booths and the daily rituals.

This is what KingdomBuilders is all about. We want men to be ignited to follow Jesus with all of their hearts, minds, strength, and will! This is the way to a strong family, church, community, nation, and world is the men. I won't bore you with all the statistics, because we know it in our hearts and the scriptures bear witness, men are meant to lead spiritually.

This might mean taking risks for Jesus, going on an adventure with him, and definitley forming bonds of brotherhood with the other men at CalvarySLO. That's what we at KingdomBuilders are all about!

CalvarySLO in the OT?: Nehemiah 7:5-73

The priests, Levites, security guards, singers, and Temple support staff, along with some others, and the rest of the People of Israel, all found a place to live in their own towns. (Neh 7:73 MSG)

Well we did it...we studied through Nehemiah 7, the equivalent of the Jerusalem phone book!

We actually learned quite a bit; that God chooses to use People, their gifts, talents, and generous giving. We also learned that the way God organized the people of Jerusalem is very similar to the way he has chosen to organize CalvarySLO.

Here's what I mean This information is my understanding of CalvarySLO organization as of right now, which often changes:

Verse 7 mentions men of the people which equates to the congregation, those who call CalvarySLO their church home. This is everyone who gets their nourishment on Sunday and all of the other ministries that are offered at CalvarySLO.

Verses 39 and 43 mention the priests and the Levites which equates to the paid staff of CalvarySLO. These are:

Bryan - Senior Pastor
James - Associate Pastor
Nick - College Pastor
Ben - Youth Pastor (High School & Jr. High)
Leah - Children's Ministry Coordinator
Melissa - Office Manager
Cole - Accounting

Verse 44 mentions the singers which equates to our worship team at CalvarySLO. This is lead by Kris Stipech, but there are many more who lead us to the throne on Sunday morning and in our other ministries and events. Isn't it cool that thousands of years ago there was Worship through Song?

Verse 45 mentions the gatekeepers which equates to our elders at CalvarySLO. These are:

Steve - Evangelism and Outreach
Marc - Children's Ministry
Sean - Just came back from Sabbatical...Youth Ministries before
Dave - Missions
Joey - Deacons
Albert - Sunday Morning Services
Patrick - Men's Ministry
Larry - Finances

Verse 60 mentions Temple servants and Solomon's servants which equates to the deacons at CalvarySLO. These are:

Jeff - Community Groups
Gabe - Sunday Morning Services
Tim - Sound Ministry
Eric - Floating Deacon
Jonathan - Children & Youth Worship

Hope that is helpful. The men leading and coordinating KingdomBuilders with me thought so.

It's super amazing that God chooses to use us, normal and sinful people, to move and build his Kingdom here on earth. He has called us to use the gifts and talents he has given us to serve and love the bride...even giving our lives for her. It's sobering and exciting at the same time.

As the verse above states everyone listed in this long list of names found a place to live, and might I add serve, in their towns. We all should find our place to live and serve at the church we call home!

Thoughts on Spring Training 2008

I wish I had some pictures to show you! Hopefully Stupar will upload some soon that I can steal.

My day started at 4:30am...couldn't sleep, usually can't right before a big event. So I practiced my message on my dog, Sophie. Pretty sure she's going to be Playing for Keeps real soon.

Then I headed over to the local donut shop, for a dozen, and then picked up James and Steve at James' house. We headed over to Pacheco for the sound equipment and picked up Austin as well.

We arrived at 8:45am and there were already men there! We quickly setup and were on our way at about 9:45am. Nick led us in a couple of songs and I spoke about "How Invested Nehemiah was in God's Kingdom." We sent everyone out for some reflection time asking:

• Am I Playing for Keeps?
• What does God want to do in my heart today?
• What does God want me to invest my energy, passions, time, and life in?

At about 11:10 we got back together. Aaron Wise ran us through the rules of the Softball tourney and broke the news that even though some of the men didn't want to play softball we were going to have to ask them to, because there just weren't enough men to spare. Thank men!

The first games were Team Nesper vs. Team McFarland on Field 1; Team Wise vs. Team Gardner on Field 2. I was on Team Gardner so I don't know what happened on Field 1, but we had a very competitive game that saw us come back from a 9 run deficit. I do know that Team Nesper won on Field 1 (I heard that Steve had to learn how to catch the ball on first base though.)

Also on Field 2 Patrick Malloy took one for Team Wise. As he was touching 3rd base he twisted his knee. We prayed for him and he started to ice it, but ended up going to the emergency room: Thanks Aaron Enstad! I didn't get the official report, but I heard that his knee was hurt, but as we continued to pray for him the pain was decreasing.

We had some lunch at about 12:45pm; three 6 ft Subway sandwiches, chips, soda, and cookies. We had way too much food so we invited the SLO Heavies who were practicing in a field next to ours. The SLO Heavies are a team of really big mostly Scottish men in kilts that throw huge logs, boulders, and hammers in what's called the Scottish games. They were fun men.

At about 1:25pm or so the KB Leaders/Coordinators told me if we didn't get something going everyone was going to fall asleep! So we started with some worship from Westberg and then a message on Grace by Steve. I could see there were a good amount of men that were moved as men were split up into small groups and prayed for each other.

Sometime around 3:15pm or so we got started on the second game: winners vs. losers. Team Nesper vs. Team Wise on Field 2; Team McFarland vs. Team Gardner on Field 1. It was a very heated game on Field 1 as a couple of our players had to leave or just decided to stop playing. McFarland's team played catcher for us and missed a couple of plays...and I have to confess I started losing it. I ended up apologizing for my sinful competitiveness.

At around 4:45pm we started our last worship/teaching session. Nick lead us in worship and Bryan taught on the Curse on Men due to the Fall. We were all ready for some dinner when that was over and the food showed up at about 6:15pm. Also about that time some of our families, wives, and girlfriends showed up to share in the copious amounts of food and to watch the Championship game.

As we unwrapped the pig I heard a lot of comments, mostly about how people didn't really realize that we were actually going to see a whole roasted pig. I thought I was pretty clear about that so I thought that was funny. We all enjoyed whole roasted pig (Lechon), Filipino Eggrolls (Lumpia), Filipino Chow Mein (Pancit), and white rice. Along with the Lechon was a secret sauce, which many were game to try. I'm honestly not sure what it is, but my guess is it's cooked innards and drippings somehow turned into a sauce. But man was it good!

Championship game was Team Nesper vs. Team McFarland. I heard these men really wanted to win the Championship and the knives. The consolation game was kind of a farce as both teams were short players so we did our best. The Championship game saw a blowout 18 to 12 with a huge rally at the end from 18 to 6 or something like that. Team Nesper won, with an undefeated record. They played their hearts out.

We had a bit of a ceremony after that where I handed out the knives and congratulated the winners. We gave knives to the MVPs of the 2nd thru 4th place teams: Dan from Team McFarland, Gavin from Team Gardner, Will from Team Wise. They were pleasantly surprised. Last, we were going to raffle off the rest of the knives but there were enough for everyone that stuck it out until the end so everyone got one.

Thanks to everyone who stuck around to help clean up. We were like zombies walking around not talking to each other, just cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. It was crazy! On our way home we found out that a bunch of men were going to soak in Jeff Little's hot tub...every muscle in our bodies was saying, "Please go!" So we did...I don't know what kind of condition I would be in now if we hadn't.

All in all in was a really great day. I'm starting to realize that I need to (and can) rely on the KB Leaders/Coordinators. See I've been doing KB alone for so long I forget I have men that really want to serve as well. All day they just owned it and kept telling me to let them do something.

Thanks Nesper, Wise, AMac, and Austin for your help...it means more than you'll ever know. Same to James and Steve...you guys stuck it out with us to the very end! A huge thanks to Jerry and Lorie Apilado, who cooked everything but the pig for dinner...from scratch! BTW these aren't professional Caterers they are my neighbors sister and brother-in-law that willingly spent hours making and frying each Eggroll for a very good price. Thanks also to Manong Eddie who cooked the pig, probably starting at the crack of dawn!

Praise the Lord! I just love hanging out with the men and learning to Play for Keeps, both through the worship/teaching and realizing that the competitiveness we felt during the tourney is how God made us. We just have to redeem that and use it for the Kingdom of God!

If you were there I'd love to see your comments...so leave one!

Venue for ST08

Men...I was in A-town for work today so I stopped by the Venue for ST08, aka Paloma Creek Park Atascadero. Let me tell you, this picture cannot convey how sweet the park is. See I'm used to Santa Rosa Park where the diamonds are so close you can hit a dude on the back of the head in the outfield of the next diamond over...while bunting. Or Soto Sports Complex in AG where the grass looks like mowed over weeds and well dare I say ghetto?

So that's what I expected when I got to Paloma Creek Park...oh I thought no parking too, boy was I wrong on all accounts! Seemed like plenty of parking available, not that we shouldn't carpool because Al Gore told me the globe is warming. Well I got out of my car and what was I greeted with but green; green grass everywhere. Two huge sunken soccer fields to the left and a little league diamond (we didn't rent that...apparently you can't).

And a path down the middle to two (2) sweet softball diamonds. They are totally separate entities. They were chalked and had bases like they will on Saturday and they looked great like the pic above shows, but in person even better. Get this they even have real dugouts! I am pumped...I hope you are too.

I can't wait.

It is Finished? Neh 6:1-7:4

So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. Neh 6:15

We (KingdomBuilders leaders) have met twice since I updated you last on our journey through Nehemiah, so I am combining both studies here.

The main deal I got out of Chapter 6 and part of 7 is that Nehemiah doesn't rest on his laurels, you know what I mean? Here he is, he's completed what many before him have tried and failed to complete; restoring the wall around Jerusalem. Some would say it is THE work he was put on this earth to do. It's a huge structure requiring hundreds of people to clear rubble and burnt doors and THEN build the wall. On top of that he was hounded by constant opposition from within and without.

With all that he uses 16 words (at least in the ESV) to describe this massive work that only took 52 days. I think I'd have used at least 52 words, you know what I'm saying? What we came up with is that Nehemiah was able to deadpan the whole thing because:

1. Nehemiah knew the work wasn't done yet. This part of it was done, which I'm sure he was glad about and rejoiced, but there was more work to be done to organize the people and to point their hearts towards Jesus. Alas, the leader's work is never done.
   
   
   
2. Nehemiah found complete satisfaction in God rather than his job. Sure it was neat that they accomplished so much in so little time, but it sure pales in comparison to our great and awesome God!
   
   
3. Nehemiah wanted ALL the glory to go to God. Waxing eloquent about his accomplishments would have taken the focus off of God and put it on him and his team.

This is a hard word from the Lord who gives us Nehemiah as an example of working hard for the Lord, finding satisfaction in only him, and not being a glory thief. We'll find there is quite a bit more work for Nehemiah to do and he continues to be faithful. It's so hard in this day and age with Yahoo banner ads telling us our dream job is a mouse click away, to be content in the job God has given us and to only find satisfaction in him...not a job. Most of all as selfish sinful broken people that want attention and accolades, it is very difficult to not be a glory thief.

AMEN?

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!

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...

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!

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