daddy4ms

Are you stressed about finances or work? Are relationships with family or friends strained? Do you need a job? Are you sick? Are you worried about your kids' and their choices or decisions? Do you have a house in Iola that needs to be sold? Oh-that's just me. If you are facing any of these questions or assorted others, let this hymn be an encouragement today. I know these words were a good reminder for me this morning. Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father; There is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions , they fail not; As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be. Refrain Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath provided; Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me! Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon and stars in their courses above Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Refrain Pardon for ...

Backstage: Matt Chandler from SBC Greater Things 2010 on Vimeo .

Here are my highs of the week: Child Dedication last Sunday Father's Day Nap & Time at the pool with the family Megan's friend birthday party Visit with my mom and nieces and nephew on Monday night Dropping Mitchell off at Jr. Camp at Tabor Evening in Wichita with my beautiful wife and 3 beautiful girls (Carlos O'Kelleys , shopping, and Cold Stone) Studying and preparing for upcoming classes at church Visit with Steve (Bethany's Dad) on Wednesday night Time spent with 3 girls on Thursday afternoon The girls both getting 3 hits each at game at Buhler on Thursday Friday evening fun with 3 girls--Wellness Center Pool and walk to edge of Hesston and playing in sprinkler. Picking up Mitchell from camp and hearing about his week Swimming with the family D6 Dads Cookout on Saturday night Sunday School Teacher Recognition Potluck tomorrow--Thanks to our great teachers at Hesston MB! Small Group Gathering at Stutzman tomorrow night. I have missed meeting with these grea...

As I ponder the last week, I realize it has gone very fast. Mitchell is away at Jr. Camp at Tabor. I am sure he is having a great time. We have had 3 ball games this week-one game we had my family at and the second we had Bethany's dad. Tonight, Megan and Mackenzie had three great hits in Buhler . I wish the rest of the family had seen those as they have been struggling to hit the ball the last few games. This week, I have been busy at work getting ready for a baptism class and praying about curriculum for Hide N Seek and Sunday School. I am starting to sense a direction, but we will see what decision is finally made. As I read this morning, I was amazed at several great articles that spoke to where I am at in ministry. The first talked about recruiting, the second focused on ministry to parents, and the other on depth in Children's Ministry. They all gave several things to think about. This weekend will be a busy one. I have three different "potlucks" to at...

Well, VBS is now officially over! Wow-what a week. We had an energetic group of about 5o 3rd/4 th graders for the week. They really got into our offering challenge and raised approximately $450 for Haiti Lifeline Ministries. They were very excited to come and visit Paul & Brutus tonight. All four groups cheered when Brutus announced he had accepted Christ. Way to go Jennifer Kroeker as director of VBS ! I am proud to be part of a community that works together to do VBS . Thanks for working together, Hesston . It is also great to see no home baseball games during VBS week. Thank you recreation department! Now, it's time to recover until January when the VBS process begins again!

Tonight was an exciting night at VBS . It is the night when Brutus starts to ask questions about Jesus. Our point was God's Love Saves Us. No matter what we have done-Jesus will forgive us. But we have to admit that we are sinners-every single one of us. None of us are perfect and therefore we are guilty and need to be saved. That is where Jesus comes in. He saves us from our sins. I wonder how Paul and Brutus' conversation will go. We will see tomorrow night. It is hard to believe that VBS is over tomorrow. I am praying for those who do not know Jesus personally. I hope they will make the choice to follow Him. Thank you Jesus that you paid the price and have done it all. We just have to accept that free gift.

My part of Day 3 of VBS has ended. I am sitting in my office eating ice cream (snack for the night) as I write. Tonight, Brutus fell asleep and allowed Paul to talk more freely with the 3rd/4 th graders. Our point was God's Love is Always With Us. The visual was the chain around our ankles that keeps Paul connected to Brutus. Brutus is starting to soften a little. I wonder if he considering becoming a Christian. We are over halfway through the week. I was really impressed with all of the kids tonight. They really listened very well. I hope they are learning a lot and I am praying that those who are Christians would choose to follow Christ.

Tonight at VBS , the 3rd and 4 th graders are starting to realize that being a Christian in Rome can get you into trouble. Paul shared his story of how God changed him on the road to Damascus. He tried to help Brutus understand that when we become Christians we have to change. Therefore, our point for tonight was God's Love Changes Us. Tonight, several brought money for our offering competition for Haiti Lifeline Ministry. We hope to show a video about this ministry either Wed. or Thurs. night.

This is a repost of thoughts I wrote after watching the movie, Valentine's Day. I am reposting because it is coming out on DVD. Please don't waste your money or your time. No, this is not a post about the holiday, but instead about the movie. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go on a date with my beautiful wife. We went to Wichita and ate at our favorite restaurant, Carlos O'Kelly's . We had not been to a movie on a date in a long time so I really wanted to go. I chose the movie that everyone has been talking about, Valentine's Day, which included many top names in Hollywood. I will make it clear what I thought. I HATED THE MOVIE!! Spoiler Alert: I will tell what happens in the movie to prove my point because I hope you will choose not to waste your money or time. This movie, which came out on Friday, and which Hollywood hoped would bring in many romantics because of the holiday, is not good. First of all, it is not funny. Second, it is depre...

Here is another post by Tchividjian. In the opening verses of Isaiah 6, what the prophet encounters first in the house of God is the glory of God: “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple” (v.1). It doesn’t first say he encountered well-dressed people or hot coffee or influential power brokers or a booming sound system or a great organ. What he caught site of first was God’s glory. There’s a growing trend in some churches to offer door prizes to any returning visitor. One church visited recently by a friend of mine promised him a ten-dollar Starbucks gift card if he came back the following week. Isaiah shows us the door prize that awaited him when he walked into the house of God—the uncomfortable, wrecking presence of God’s glory: “Woe is me!” (v.5). In the Bible, the glory of God refers to God’s “heaviness,” his powerful presence. It’s God’s prevailing excellence on display. The glory of God is the “aug...

Day 1 of Hesston's Community VBS has come to an end. Hesston MB is in charge of 3rd and 4 th graders this year. I have the privilege of being Paul under house arrest as part of our VBS Theme: Paul and the Underground Church. After sharing about Jesus with the family groups, they travel to an underground church as well as visit Extollo (music) and the marketplace (drama and crafts). Today's point was: God's Love is a Gift. Check back for tomorrow's point! It is amazing how many volunteers it takes to pull off VBS each year. Thanks to all of the volunteers that are making this year possible!

Today, I celebrate my 12 th anniversary. Since it is a Sunday, I am busy for most of the day, but I have a night away planned for Bethany and I to celebrate. I really cannot believe how fast the 12 years have gone. We have gone through several highs and lows together and I cannot imagine going through them without her. I still can remember clearly seeing Bethany for the first time 12 years ago today. We did not see each other on our wedding day until the back doors of the church opened. It was then that I first saw her smiling face and the beautiful dress. It was a great celebration of our faith and our lives together. It was a beautiful wedding-Bethany and Shirley did a great job. We have great pictures too. I enjoy looking back at them and our video to remember some of the details. I love her more and more each day. She is such a blessing to me. God has grown us together through the years. She has supported me in ministry changes. She has been there during the 6 moves o...

Today, Megan turns 7. I cannot believe that she is that old. She has been getting ready for her birthday for months. She gets to pick where we eat for supper tonight. Then, Grammie and Grandaddy will be here for cake & ice cream. Next Monday, I am taking about 5 girls to the pool for her friend party. As were reminiscing about the day of her birth, I am reminded about the "dad of the year" award I should have received. (Note sarcasm). Bethany was 37 weeks pregnant and as a youth pastor I went to camp. Now to my credit, I was in the same town so if she went into labor I could make it. And sure enough-she did. So, she drove herself to pick me up and we headed to the hospital. Megan was born mid-afternoon. As I shared before, Megan was our answer to prayer. She was supposed to be born premature. Bethany was supposed to go on bedrest . But our beautiful, redhead was born as our biggest baby to date and the longest pregnancy for Bethany. God truly answers praye...

Did I get your attention? Yesterday, I experienced a funny situation with Molly and her buddy, Jacob. I had sent Molly over to Jacob's house (for those not from Hesston , they are our neighbors) to play while I finished a few things at the house. After finishing, I headed over to check on her. This is when I hear, "Jacob!" from his mom. I had met Corey (Jacob's Dad) in the garage and were headed to their back patio. When I heard Rachel (Jacob's mom) say, "Put your clothes on!" Corey and I laughed as we rounded the corner and saw Molly and Jacob naked from the waist down. They had both decided to go swimming and didn't have swimming suits so they decided to take matters into their own hands. Both Molly and Jacob looked at us as if to say, "What's wrong? We knew we shouldn't get our clothes wet so we just took them off." Anyway, Corey, Rachel, and I joked that this was funny now, but we hoped we would not encounter this 14 year...

Here is a post from Tullian Tchividjian . He has written a couple of books. One that really challenged my thinking was "Unfashionable". This is from his newest book called, "Surprised by Grace". I hope you are blessed by this post . All of us are worshipers—of something. It’s that simple. We’re created, designed, and wired for worship. Being human is to be a worshiper. It’s one of the biggest distinctives that mark us as human beings in this universe filled with living creatures. The English word worship derives from the idea of “ worthship ,” meaning that we all serve those things to which we attribute ultimate worth. Worship is a posture of the heart. It’s an attitude of loyalty and trust toward something—someone—in your life that you believe makes life worth living. Thus, we all worship something or someone. This is true whether you consider yourself to be religious or not, spiritual or not, Christian or not. Typically, whatever we ...

As many of you know, we still have not sold our house in Iola . We have had a renter in it most of the past 2o months, but no contract to buy. God has provided in so many ways. We only have a had a few months of double house payments. Bethany and I have been at peace (sometimes going back and forth between the two of us) over these 20 months which is again an answer to prayer. First, we had a renter who paid rent on time. Unfortunately, that did not end well. Sometime ask Bethany about her time as a cleaning lady. : ) Lately, we have had a great family the past few months. They will be moving out at the end of June to go into ministry in Alaska. We are trusting God for a buyer by the end of the month. Nothing is impossible for Him! I know His Will is best and He will sell the home in his timing. It is His Home and we just have not found the right family yet. As we were beginning to consider listing with a realtor, we again had two serious inquiries about the house. One wi...