Top Ten WV Campsites (Continued)

#8 - Seneca Shadows Campground - Seneca Rocks, WV


Seneca Shadows is the newest campground in the Mon National Forest, overlooking one of the crown jewels of West Virginia, the famed Seneca Rocks. It has a walk-in tent camping section that provides beautful views of the rocks. This is a great place to come when you want some of the comforts of home (i.e. hot showers). The campground host staff consists of retirees who provide a welcome atmosphere and are engaging in conversation. This campground makes a great base camp for exploring the rocks, canoeing the South Branch, and hiking Spruce Knob, Dolly Sods, and North Fork mountain. The only drawbacks with this campground are the occasional road noises coming from US33 which echo out of the valley and up the mountain, and the lack of solitude in the campground.

First Day of Kindergarten

Someone send me a box of tissues...

Mobile Pastors

I struggle understanding the logic behind church planters spending hundreds of dollars on office space. I have enjoyed the freedom of calling the Blue Moose Cafe and Panera home, studying and administrating in the midst of the marketplace. Being in the middle of the marketplace gives me a chance to feel the pulse fo the culture and listen to the hot coffee conversations of the day. It gives me a chance to build and develop relationships that would not be possible inside the four walls of an office. Besides that, the Blue Moose is one of the great locales in all of Morgantown, an eclectic mix of people groups that come together to form a unique community in the heart of downtown.

Jason's mobile office made the headline news of the Daily Athenaeum, WVU's daily newspaper. You can check out the article here.

Top Ten WV Campsites Continued

#9 - Bear Heaven Campground

Bear Heaven Campground is another National Forest campground that sits on a high spur ridge (El. 3,600 ft) 11 miles outside of Elkins, WV. Bear Heaven has it all...huge boulders, cool mountain breezes, nearby access to the Otter Creek Wilderness, and a beautiful overlook to the west via a huge rock outcropping. Another reason I like this campground is because of its name -- they don't call it Bear Heaven for nothing. There are ample opportunities to see wildlife in the area. When our college small group camped there at the end of March, there were still traces of snow along portions of Forest Road 91. The forest is beautiful with several species of conifers abundant in the area.

Like Spruce Knob Lake, this is a primitive campground -- vault toilets only (no showers). The price is hard to beat at $5 on the honor system.

StoneBridge Inventory

Just finished a whirlwind day with fellow StoneBridgers. Our Back to School Celebration day was solid, but not spectacular. We fell short of our attendance goal by 20 people, but it was good to see many new faces in the crowd. Our small groups signup for university students is going well. We are on track to launch three groups out of our one group from last semester, all led by students with apprentices in place. This is a major development. Jason and I are looking for apprentice leaders to emerge for our Tuesday and Wednesday small groups, so we can eventually hand over the reins in these groups. This will free us to pioneer new groups. I am examining the possibility of launching two new groups soon...one for nearly/newly marrieds and one for junior high/high school students. As of the first week of September, we will have 5 or 6 small groups, which seems to be a sign of good health for our church.

I think everyone enjoyed the picnic this afternoon, once people began to eat. We are going to develop a Ministry Team which handles the planning for our picnics and other events. This will take the load off our our staff. We are doing a much better job of empowering people for ministry than in the past, but events like today remind me that we still need to make strides in that department.

Since Jason gave out props in one of his blogs, I'm going to give out a couple of MVP awards for the day. One goes to Loren, who made a huge difference in the life of a StoneBridger today, and the other goes to my wife Belinda, for once again going the extra mile to put together some awesome activities for the kids at Coopers Rock.

All in all, it was a good day. God has developed and added to our fellowship this summer, our best summer ever. I'm praying that we will be able to ride a really big wave this fall, and see a growth explosion, not the incremental baby steps we have taken to this point. For that to happen, we've all got to raise the bar of commitment and excellence.

WV Camping Top Ten

Thought it would be fun to compile a personal top ten list of campsites (vehicle accessible) in West Virginia. WV is an outdoor lover's wonderland, and many of the best places to go are within 2 hours of Morgantown.

#10 - Spruce Knob Lake Campground

Spruce Knob Lake is a National Forest Campground within the famed Spruce Knob - Seneca Rocks National Recreation area. This campground offers cool weather during the dogs days of summer (el. 4,000 feet), a beautiful high mountain lake, nearby access to hiking the Seneca Creek backcountry and the summit of Spruce Knob. Spruce Knob Lake was our first family camping destination two summers ago and we were awed by the beauty of the high country and the need to wear sweatshirts in July. At the summit of Spruce Knob, the red spruce branches grow to one side because of the high winds and fierce weather on the Allegheny Front.

Make sure you pack in exactly what you need because there is no running to the corner stone once you get there. The trip to the Spruce Knob area involves 25 miles of country road driving (mostly gravel) once you leave US 33.

Shane the Barbarian

Barbarians make good friends. They stretch you and make you think. They pull you out of your comfort zone. My friend Shane is a barbarian. After pastoring a local church in Morgantown for two years, he realized that he could not accomplish the vision and mission that God has placed on his life. In June, he resigned, left a good salary behind with no prospective income lined up, and launched out into the deep to pursue God's plan for him and his family. When he did this, I told him I thought he was crazy. I couldn't understand why he would take such a financial risk and wondered if he was making a rash decision. In spite of the doubts that I had and many others had, Shane stayed true to the vision. He was willing to take risks for the vision and to suffer for the vision.

Shane and a core group of 25 people will be launching Crossroads Church this fall. God has given them a vision of reaching the lost and unchurched of Westover and Granville with the good news of Jesus Christ. They have a vision to reach the underprivileged, to start a food pantry, and eventually to house the homeless through the ministries of our church. Their church will fill a huge void and will help advance God's kingdom work in the greater Morgantown area. I'm thankful for Shane and I know God placed him in my life to challenge me and to stretch me. Rock on Shane.

Did You Know?

Found this on Perry Noble's blog:

"The average American gives $649 to the church every year–while spending over $900 per year on dog food and $1,000 on specialty coffee drinks…apparently more people in our country are passionate about worshipping Fido and caffeine than worshipping God -- money DOES NOT lie."

They're back...

Today it took me 40 minutes to drive 7 miles through Morgantown. Yes, class is now in session. Thousands of frazzled freshmen parents brought their kids to Morgantown this weekend, fought the traffic and the crowds to get their kids moved in to various accomodations, and I'm sure worried about the prospects of leaving their kids in the jungleland we know as Morgantown.

I was pleased to see many new faces at StoneBridge on Sunday, many of them college students. The return of the students means frustrated driving and crowded living, but also represents new and exciting opportunties on the missional front of our church.

Seneca Creek Backcountry

This past Monday and Tuesday, Ryan and I went on our first backpacking trip together. Just the two of us. This was a new experiment which involved me carrying all of my gear AND all of Ryan's gear. We went to the Seneca Creek Backcountry which is just down the mountain from Spruce Knob, the highest point in WV. We hiked a total of 9.6 miles, and Ryan passed the test with flying colors. We camped at a beautiful spot about 5 miles down the trail next to a 30 foot waterfall on Seneca Creek. I am so thankful for the chance to spend some quality one on one time with Ryan. He is quite the outdoorsman and has a special gift with animals, catching 19 salamanders on the trip.

Retro CCM

Don't know what prompted this, but I'm sitting here riding a retro trip through the contemporary Christian songs of my past. Twenty years ago, I spent many a Sunday night after church listening to cool Christian bands of the '70's and '80's in my good friend Trey's 1984 Nissan. Trey was a great friend, a sound tech kind of guy, and had just put in a new Pioneer cassette deck with "Dolby B". Cutting edge stuff at the time. We listened to various bands and singers including: Harvest, Dallas Holm, Keith Green, Don Francisco, Petra, Isaac Air Freight and others.

Since I've been doing a message series on spiritual warfare, I thought of a hilarious song we used to listen to performed by Keith Green which was called "Dear John Letter (to the devil)". Here are the lyrics to the third verse which you might enjoy...

Well I believe in Jesus and what He said He's gonna do
He'll put an apple in your lyin mouth and cook you in a sulfer stew...one that'll never be through (Is it soup yet? No) Ah, but if he hadn't rescued me then I'd be down there cookin' too
Oh if Jesus hadn't rescued me then I'd be cookin' right next to you

I used to lie awake at night and see your face on the ceilin' what a great feelin' I have
When I think of how you're gonna get yours at the end of the world at the end of the world
Oh at the end of the world

By the way, "Dear John Letter" is available on ITunes. I'd be curious to find out if any of you listened to any of the above mentioned artists back in the day, and I would like to know about your favorite CCM artists and songs from the '70's and '80's. About Trey...he was a great friend, Sunday School teacher, and a positive influence in my life. He passed away several years ago from lymphoma. I'm thankful that God placed him in my life for that time and season.

Panera War

I'm sitting in Panera watching two guys go toe to toe hashing out organizational disagreements and different visions for their company. At times it has been heated and has bordered on a major public display. Sadly, many of God's churches have acted out this very same scene. These arguments stem from different visions, pride, and power struggles, and they always hurt the cause of Christ in their communities.

I'm thankful to be a part of a unified church with a simple structure, who knows why we exist, what we need to do, and where we want to be. It's all about the kingdom.

I hope these guys don't start throwing food...

Big Fish

Ryan and I went fishing Tuesday evening with our neighbor John. Ryan was quite the fisherman catching 19 bass and crappie to my measly 6. We had a great time. Here's a picture of the big catch, a fish Ryan caught weighing around 4 lbs.

The Return of the Fajita

After 3 years of living with a certain void in my life, the fajita made a glorious return today at lunch. Yes, the fajita. You Morgantown restaurant connouisseurs are probably scratching your head and saying, "We have fajitas in Morgantown" but I must wholeheartly disagree. I'm sorry, Rio Grande and Los Mariachis, but what you have been serving to the general public are poor excuses for true fajitas. Sliced chicken and beef stuck in a tortilla does not constitute a fajita. It's just sliced chicken and beef in a tortilla.

Today, Belinda and I celebrated the opening of Chili's Restaurant at University Town Center. For months I have longed for the Chili's franchise to come to town and now they are here. Chili's holds a special place in our hearts dating back to numerous Sunday nights of the past spent hanging out with our Marshall Drive BC friends after Sunday evening services, raising cain and listening to Paul complain about automatic gratuities for groups of 8 and more. As we entered the building today, we were comforted by the familiar surroundings: the tiled tabletops, the chalk art, familiar menus, and the aromas from the grill. The fajitas came out sizzling, creating a firestorm that caught the attention of the neighboring booths. And they came with all the necessary fixings...sour cream, good guacamole, pico de gallo, shredded cheese, black beans and rice. Real, genuine, fajitas. They were delicious, and today it was just like old times.

Thoughts from Yesterday

I kicked off the Armor All series (Eph. 6) yesterday. On what seemed like a down day in attendance we still had 52 which is good. Can't wait for the students to return in 2 weeks. David and the band introduced a new song with a spiritual warfare theme that was really awesome.

Several people mentioned that the message impacted them and that Satan needs to be exposed more often. That was affirming for me, because I haven't preached since February and its hard to communicate effectively when you're out of the groove. I have to admit that I struggle with my confidence in the area of preaching, desiring only excellence. I am glad to have this first message under my belt and am looking forward to the next two weeks as we pursue putting on the full armor of God.

Small Groups Produce Life Change

Tonight our new small group, born out of our original Tuesday group met for the first time. Our new group consists of four families and two single men, representing four counties: Fayette County, PA, Monongalia County, WV, Preston County, WV, and Marion County, WV. Don't ask me how this happened, especially since we tried to keep people together on a geographical basis and on the basis of affinity. Other than our geographical challenges, I think we do and will gel together quite nicely. Andy Stanley and Northpoint Church gives their people childcare stipends to attend small groups -- I think we are going to need gas stipends.

I couldn't have asked for a better first meeting for our group. The experts say to put in at the beginning what you want at the end. Well tonight, one of our single moms who is getting married next month accepted Christ as her Savior. I got to close the deal by sharing Scripture with her and showing her how to pray, but her good friend Amanda got her to that point by loving her, being there for her, and sharing what Christ has done in her own life. They didn't need me. It fires me up to see God working through Amanda to lead her friend to Christ. I'm praying for more successes like this one to take place in our small group ministry: StoneBridgers building relationships with people and helping them cross the threshold to a point placing their faith in Christ. I can't wait until next Wednesday night.

only in wv

Monday Sabbatical

Yesterday, I put my Bible and notes in my backpack, along with water and some snacks and headed to the Potomac Highlands region of West Virginia. Temperatures reached 90 in Morgantown, but the thermometer on my Jeep never climbed over 82. The reason for my solo journey was to clear my head and gather thoughts for a 3-week series I'm going to be starting this Sunday dealing with our spiritual battle against Satan, and putting on the full armor of God. The big idea for the series to make people realize that we are in a spiritual battle, and that we need to move to the frontline of the battlefield if we are going to make a kingdom impact. When we move to the frontlines, we should expect resistance and assaults from Satan and his forces. To be ready for the frontline, we've got to "armor all", putting on the full armor described in Ephesians 6. If you have suggestions or have preached this before, please send any relevant material my way.