Obese Man Crosses U.S. to Shed Pounds

Yahoo News has a link to this story of an obese man who began walking across the US in order to lose weight. The link is here. Link.

This is a very interesting story. Mr Vaught walked through our town a few months back without much fanfare. I think the only TV news that carried his story is the local Fox affiliate. I admired him then and I am happy to see he is continuing on to New York.

How many of us are fed up with sipritual obesiety? How many of us would benefit from stepping out in faith and as Nike says, Just Do It!? I know I am spiritually obese and need to shed a few pounds of spiritual fat. I just pray that we have the courage to step out and start conforming our lives to God's Will. As Mr Vaught says,

It is amazing how hard it is to find good, healthy food while on the road,

As Christians we should be feeding from God's table and using the energy to spread His good news to the lost, not feasting on the fast food provided by the world and then sitting back and watching the world pass us by because we are lazy.

Lord give us the nourishment and courage to choose to follow Your will.

A Powerful Eye In The Sky

There's a good post on the All Points Blog about uncovering insurance fraud after Hurricane Katrina. They link out to a Times-Picayune article located here. Link. But I particularly like the All Points Blog's analysis. The Blog's post is located here. Link.

The Quest for the Right Map

Thanks to the All Points Blog for pointing us in the direction of a great article on how TeleAtlas keeps their street and highway database information rapidly updated on web-based maps. The article is located here. Link. Sounds like a pretty sweet job driving a high-tech van like Comi's all over the country. TeleAtlas is hiring interns for the summer! If I was in college I'd apply.

The Spirit of "Emerging Baptists"

There is a great article posted by Joel Rainey on The Spirit of "Emerging Baptists" and how the Southern Baptist denomination is a natural fit for the emerging generations. It is located here. Link.

This Week at The Gate: March 20

Brothers and Sisters,

Welcome back from Spring Break! Congratulations, there are only 7 more weeks of school left before the end of the year. Paul talks about "running the good race" and I want to encourage you to keep working hard until the very end.

Here's what we have planned this week:

Monday March 20:
Women's Bible Study at 8:30 at The Gate
Men's Bible Study at 9:00 at The Gate
Prayer Meeting at 11:00 at The Gate

Thursday March 23:
Thursday Night Alive! Worship Service with Mike Cariker from FBC O'Fallon. Mike is the Minister to Students for FBC O'Fallon's Jr High, High School, and Collegiate Ministries. He has his hands full with student ministry. He is a great guy and a true servant of the Lord. I know the Lord has put something on his heart to share with us that we can all apply in our daily lives. And, if you feel you aren't being used to your fullest potential Mike has many places at FBC O'Fallon where you can mentor and minister to youth.


Down the road a while:

April 6: Pastor Doug Munton from FBC O'Fallon

April 7/8: IBSA's Spring Leadership Training Conference. The state-wide BCM Leadership Training Conference (LTC) will be held in Charleston, IL on the campus of Eastern Illinois University, April 7-8. Cost for the conference is $25. The worship sessions will be led by Jonathan Peters (Bible Study) and Mark Warnock (music), both from Columbia Baptist Church. Breakout session will deal with issues such as Worship, Fellowship, Prayer and Fasting, Evangelism, and Stewardship. For more information contact Serena Butller at serenabutler@ibsa.org. Registrations should be in by March 31.

As always you can check us out at our blogsite located at:

http://opengate.blogspot.com

Take care and God bless you all.

No Thursday Night Alive! Movie Night Tonight

Brothers and Sisters,

I know most of you have already heard that due to McKendree's Spring Break starting tomorrow we decided to cancel the Thursday Night Alive! Movie Night planned for tonight. I just wanted to make sure everyone knows.

We will not have any services next week also due to Spring Break. Our next events will be Men's and Women's Bible study on March 20 and Thursday Night Alive! with Mike Cariker from FBC O'Fallon on March 23.

Have a great break and I look forward to seeing you when we all get back together on March 20th.

Your brother in the Lord,

Rick Marshall

Something New...

I started my new job today with the Environmental Systems Research Institute, also known as ESRI. I am a Defense and Intelligence Account Representative for the St Louis region (Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa). So far it seems like a great place to work. I would be worried if I didn't feel this way after my first day! I work within the St Louis Office, but work for a Supervisor in Washington DC. There will be lots of strange chain of command relationships to navigate through, but it feels like it will be an interesting ride.

The office is in St Charles, Missouri, and although it is an hour drive from my home in Illinois, it is located in a beautiful old historic town and is right across the street from the Katy Trail. I can walk out the back door of the office and ride my bike on the trail all the way across Missouri to Kansas City. Hopefully I will have enough time to take advantage of the good bike riding and running possibilities.