Lance Marcum Named an NAIA All-American

I'm pretty excited that one of my collegiate ministry interns has been named an NAIA All-American Baseball Player. Here's a link to the article. Link. Great job Lance! Lance has been called into the ministry and is a fantastic witness to those he plays with. It couldn't have happened to a better young man. I'll be waiting to hear some good news on Major League Baseball draft day.

All Points Blog Quote Of The Week

It's nice to see that the founder of the company I work for made the "Quote of the Week" in the All Points Blog.

The Quote of the week is from Jack Dangermond, President and Founder of ESRI. The quote was made in his Crafton Hills College graduation address:

"It's embarrassing for a dumb guy like me to be so successful. But how I got there was so bloody simple."

"Be interested people. I don't care whether you're interesting or not. But be interested."

A Whirlwind Weekend

I had a weekend like Adam Feldman's week. Link.

On Friday my brother Steve and his wife Tracy came into town in their motorhome all the way from Las Vegas. I've only seen Stgeve and Tracy once in the last 5 years and they have never been to our house since we moved to St Louis 11 years ago. It was great to have them here, but unfortunately at the end of the kids school year it is incredibly busy. Here's what our schedule looked like:

Thursday 8:00pm
Collegiate Ministry Internship meeting

Friday 5:30pm
Steve and Tracy arrive from Nevada

Friday 6:00pm
Yearly Middle School Chorus Performance

Saturday 10:20am
Bethany competed in the Illinois State Vocal competition (She received a 1st!)

Saturday 2:00pm
Bethany performed at the FBC O'Fallon Children's Choir Performance of Promise U

Sunday 8:30/9:45/11:00am
Matthew played the French Horn in FBC O'Fallon's Church Orchestra for all 3 services

Sunday 1:00 Steve and Tracy pulled out of town to head back to Nevada

I tried my hardest to explain to Steve and Tracy that they just happened to hit us on a bad weekend, but then again most weekends are a little crazy here. It is hard to appreciate life when you are so busy.

I was very happy though because for the first time since my Mom past away 26 years ago my brother was in church. And he was there two times in less than 18 hours. Praise God! I'm sure they had a long quiet drive to Kansas yesterday. Lots of time to think. A great opportunity to plant seeds.

One of my favorite passages is Isaiah 55:9-11:

9 "For as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.

10 For just as rain and snow fall from heaven, and do not return there without saturating the earth, and making it germinate and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat,

11 so My word that comes from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and will prosper in what I send it [to do]."

God's Word will accomplish His purpose! Amen

The Ups and Downs of Collegiate Ministry

Last night I had my final meeting of the year with the ministry leadership interns of our collegiate ministry at McKendree College. It is always a sad time for me. Most of my interns are Seniors in college, and although I know we have helped to equip them to take the baton and run the good race, it is difficult to see them go. It gets me thinking about collegiate ministry in general and how difficult it is. Here's a few random thoughts on collegiate ministry:

1. It is like trying to put together a collegiate sports team. Every year the group has a different dynamic. The Seniors from the prior year are gone and replaced by Freshmen straight from High School. Stealing a line from Forest Gump, collegiate ministry is like a box of chocolates....

2. We go full speed from the end of August through the beginning of May. There is no let up during the school year, and with minimal staff it is always challenging to get everything done. Planning is difficult; when we have time to plan (during the summer months) all the students are gone. When we have our students (during the school year) it is too late and we are too busy to do strategic planning. It seems like we are always playing catch up. It does make for a very fluid ministry where we are able to do a lot of experimenting on-the-fly. I just have to trust that the Holy Spirit will lead us where He wants us to go.

3. There always seems to be a mad sprint to the end. The Seniors realize that they only have a limited time left in college and want to make as big of an impact on campus as possible before they move on. I commend them for this, but sometimes we settle for a short-term impact rather than aim for the long-term results. It is hard to get Seniors interested in strategic, long-term, thinking when their time on campus is coming to an end.

4. I am very impressed with today's college students. They are much bolder in their faith than I was in college, they want to make a significant impact on their campus and those around them, and they have so much energy. It also seems like they don't have to study nearly as hard as I did when I was ini college. I think that is my problem, not theirs. I have always been very dense when it came to having concepts sink in. A quick 2 x 4 to the head has worked much better on me than persuasive language.

I'll post more later, but for now those are the few unconnected thoughts running around in my hed.

2nd Annual Christ on the Quad Celebration

Brothers and Sisters,

It is so exciting to know that time is counting down on our semester. This week and one more is all we get. I know the Seniors are saying "Praise God!" Although we only have another 2 weeks left we have some great things planned:

Thursday April 27:

Our 2nd Annual Christ On The Quad is this Thursday. Can you believe it? All events will be held on the McKendree College Quad. The Weather looks awesome; it should be 70 degrees and partly cloudy. Here's what the CotQ schedule looks like:

7:00 a.m. PRAYER WALK
10:00 begin setting up & prayer
11:00 Open (Aaron Povolish/Amber Schafer)
11:10 - 12:15 Bastian (Katie Hub message in middle)
12:20-12:50 Lance
12:55-1:15ish field day events
1:20 - 1:50 Noah
1:55-2:15 buffer time/raffles/games (amber & aaron)
2:20-2:45 Sudarsun message
2:50-3:15 Keish & Sudarsun & Allison (rap)
3:20-3:35 Emma
3:40-4:00 Chapel Praise Band

After CotQ we will be meeting at 6:00 at The Gate for a time of praise and worship and relaxing and just hanging out. We will provide free pizza and drinks. Everyone is welcome.

If you haven't been to The Gate we are located at 225 N. Monroe St, Lebanon, Illinois. Here's a link to a Yahoo Map of The Gate's location. Link.

It will be a wonderful day, so please pass the word around to your friends to be there.

God bless each of you.

Agape Music Festival

There's a great lineup at the Agape Music Festival in Greenville near the Greenville College campus on April 28 and 29. Relient K, Kutless, Skillet, BarlowGirl, Thousand Foot Crutch, Falling Up, House of Heroes, Bastian, and my favorite The David Crowder Band will all be performing. Every year the festival seems to get better and better. This year Bastian will perform at the Festival the day after they help us out at the McKendree Christ on the Quad event. I will be posting about the CotQ tonight. More information on the Apage Music Festival, including ticket prices and line up can be found on the festival website. This is really a great concert event every year.

Here's a link to directions to the Bond County Fairgrounds. Link.

Please Pray For Us

I have to apologize. Although I am good at praying for others throughout the day I seldom ask others to pray for me, my family, or our ministries. We have a lot going on in our collegiate ministry at McKendree College and we could use your prayers that God will use us to be faithful in telling the lost about His love.

Our ministry continues to grow inspite of our weaknesses and we are beginning to have a significant impact of the McKendree College campus. We are undertaking some large events over the next couple of weeks that we can use as a vehicle to reach those who do not know the Lord.

In this light, there are several things you can be praying along with our ministry for:

1) Monday night April 17, in celebration of Resurrention Sunday, we will be having our yearly Stations of the Cross night. The students take a 10 foot tall wooden cross and carry it all over Lebanon, Illinois stoppinig to read scriptures about the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. We then come back to our building and celebrate with a symbolic "nailing your burdens to the cross" quiet time followed by Communion. Last year the students told me this was the most incredible thing we did all year. Please pray that unbelievers show up and begin to not just hear but also "feel" what Christ has done for us.

2) Thursday Night April 20 we will be hosting Phil Nelson, IBSA Collegiate Evangelist and one of the more dynamic Christian apologists I have met. Phil will give the students some training and insight into evangelizing their fellow students. Please pray that Phil can help the students learn to present the gospel with boldness and without fear.

3) All this plays into our 10 day blitz on the McKendree Campus that culminates on April 27 with our students are holding "Christ on the Quad", which is an all afternoon music, testimony, and preaching concert. The gospel will be presented several times. Last year our students held the first "Christ on the Quad" and we received lots of opposition from the McKendree College Chaplain. Although he is a Methodist minister he is very politically correct and doesn't believe that Christ is the only way to heaven. He knew we would be presenting the gospel in a no-nonsense way, so he did everything to stop us, but the Lord still made "Christ on the Quad" a success. We estimate we had 700 students walk by while we were worshipping. Each one of them heard Christian music, testimonies, and the gospel. Please pray that the gospel will be preached and that McKendree Campus Ministries won't try to interfere again this year.

4) Lastly, please pray for our graduating seniors. We have about 4 of them who are desiring to go to seminary or serve on the mission field next year. Pray that God will open the doors to show them what His will is as they move past this major life event.

We are also in desperate need of adults who want to be involved in the BCM at McKendree. My wife and I are the only two adults who have been there and the students need to have more adults around who will commit to mentoring them, spending time with them, and loving them. If anyone is interested please contact me. Our primary time of worship is Thursday evenings from 7:30 to 9:30.

A Lesson From Shirley

I about fell over in amazement the other day.

We are in the process of moving to O'Fallon, Illinois, about 7 miles from where we currently live. Our house is on the real estate market and we purchased a new and wonderful home in O'Fallon. My Mother-In-Law, Shirley, who is a wonderful person that I get along with very well, came out from California to help with the move. And, she has helped out tremendously. But you have to understand my Mother-In-Law, she is very old school. Her family lost everything during the Dust Bowl and moved from Colorado to Los Angeles in the 1930s. She has lived through losing everything and as a result has become very wise in saving and investing her money. Anytime we make a significant financial decision we go to Shirley for advice. She is also a little suspicious of technology. She has a computer and is getting more and more capable on it, but still primarily uses it just to send E-Mail.

Flash back to April 4 when Shirley got off the airplane from California. We get home and she starts playing with one of these. Link. A Garmin Street Pilot Global Positioning System (GPS). I couldn't believe it. She was familiar with the town we have lived in for 11 years now, but didn't want to get lost trying to navigate around O'Fallon. So, God bless her, she bought a GPS to use in the car. We have been in the process of working with Shirley to teach her how to use it, and it turns out to be a great tool.

The Garmin Street Pilot will display a moving map keeping you in the center and will give you verbal directions to get you to your destination. So Shirley can see where she is and hear how to get where she wants to go. Pretty cool tool. I have had several GPSs over the years, but this one is the easiest to use and presents information in a very usable format.

Anyhow, to say the least, I was impressed with Shirley's decision. Working in the Geospatial Information business I would have picked a toy like this, but I didn't know she had it in her.

Way to go Shirley!

The Future of Paper Maps

Thanks go to the All Points Blog for directing us to an interesting article on the future of paper maps. The article is locate here. Link.

To sum it up, the paper maps industry is booming. I thought that with everything going digital that the paper map industry would be struggling, but the opposite is true. As happened to me in college, once I got a taste of maps in my geography courses, I wanted more.

In a short excerpt from the article, Chris Fisk, vice president of JIMAPCO states,

"We are concluding that the products you get on the Internet, such as MapQuest, are helping to educate people about maps," she said. "So people who have never used a map before are inclined to check out something on MapQuest and it appears they are becoming acclimated to maps and going out and buying them."

David Fisk, Chris' husband and president of JIMAPCO states,

"Even dashboard GPS navigation systems wound up making people want maps more, instead of supplanting them."

Pretty amazing that the digital mapping industry has started a boom in the paper map industry.

Australia to Purchase Up To 4 C-17 Globemaster III Aircraft

Thanks to the ASD-Network for publishing this article. The article can be fround here. Link.

The C-17 is replacing the aging fleet of airlift aircraft in the US inventory. It is a very capable aircraft and is very technologically advanced. This is a reward for Australia "hanging in there" with us during the Gulf War, but it also helps us. Now the Aussies won't be dependent on US heavy airlift to get them to the fight. This is a win/win situation, not to mention the $2 Billion revenue in foreign military sales.

I disagree with one of the comments in the article. The comment, "Australia is one of our most important allies in the Western Pacific" is only partly ture. I personally believe that Australia is our most important ally period. They are strategically located where they can impact a part of the world that desperately needs stability, they have a history similar in many ways to the US, and Australia and New Zealand have been our good friends since the ANZUS Treaty during WWII.

This is a good deal for both countries.