What It's All About

We had a great day yesterday, culminating with our baptism service yesterday at 4 PM. It is rewarding to see tangible evidence of disciple making. Abby, Andrea, and Anthony and Corey (husband and wife) were baptized yesterday. Here are some pictures.

Interesting Chart on Denominations in America

Thanks to Noah Lee for posting this chart on leading denominations in every county in America. I am not surprised by the results. Check it out.

What are your thoughts based on the results? How does this chart coincide with church planting efforts in America? Any thoughts or conclusions? Let me hear from you.

An Update on Ryan's Basketball Team

Ryan is playing in a 1st/2nd grade co-ed basketball league this year. This is his third year playing basketball, and he is really doing well. His team is 5-0 this season, and last week beat a team (all boys) who haven't lost a game in 3 years. They won the game 20-12. Ryan had 6 points, several rebounds, and 3 assists. Our coaches developed a great game plan to beat this team's devastating half court trap, which usually produces a ton of fast break points for them. We busted their trap and were able to run our offense. We also put in a triangle and two defense for the game which shut their boys down and forced a lot of desperation shots from the outside.

Baptisms and 17 Degree Weather

We've got our next Baptism Service planned for Sunday afternoon....indoors. The forecast is for Sunday is snow and a high of 17 degrees. Instead of doing a polar plunge, we're going to utilize the facilities at Morgantown Bible Church thanks to their continued generosity and kingdom mindset. I can't think of a better way to kickstart 2008 than to baptize new believers. Pray for Anthony, Corey, Jeff, Andrea, and Abby as they take this public step of following Jesus this Sunday.

Live From Burger King

Real posts coming soon...

Texas Highlights

Our family enjoyed a wonderful time in Texas with our families for Christmas and New Year's Day. Here are some highlights:

- running (literally) down the terminal in Pittsburgh to catch our flight to DFW. We were schedule to fly a connection to Chicago later in the evening, but caught this non stop....barely.
- eating my Mom's home cooking with organic food. good stuff. I think my Mom needs to be a spokeswoman for Whole Foods.
- our family received a Wii for Christmas from Mom and Dad. I can't beat my kids at bowling yet, which is a bummer.
- Christmas Eve with Belinda's family playing a new card game, GOLF. Lots of fun and I won.
- watching Belinda shoot a .17 rifle and her Dad's Colt 45...priceless
- riding the Titan at Six Flags over Texas with Belinda, a 255 ft tall steel coaster cruising at 85 mph
- watching Texas beat Arizona State 52-34 in the Holiday Bowl
- coming back to WV with 15 inches of snow on the ground at the Knight house...IT'S GOOD TO BE HOME

I'm Back

The Bloggers Association of America filed a missing person report on me, so I figured its time to post again. I've been in a emotional and spiritual funk lately, but after prayer and encouragement from several friends I am feeling refreshed and generally enthused about ministry again. Those of you who have been praying for me, THANKS!

Tejas Update

Wednesday evening we caught an earlier flight by flying standby and literally had to run thru the terminal to catch our flight as our names were being paged. Catching this flight got us into Dallas at 8 PM instead of 11:30 PM. Thank you Lord. We are enjoying our time here. Getting used to fighting Dallas traffic on the freeways and in the mall parking lots.

My Mom wanted our family and my brother's family to open our gift last night. We didn't argue with that and now the Knights are the proud owners of a Nintendo Wii System! I think I am just as excited as the kids about that.

Got started reading E.M Bounds on prayer on the plane. It's good deep stuff and its exactly what I need right now.

Texas

My family and I are headed to the homeland tonight for Christmas. I am looking forward to some down time with family and friends. I'm also going to dedicate some time with God for some much needed spiritual renewal. My spiritual batteries desperately need a recharge, so I'm going to read thru the gospels and read "The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds on Prayer". Throw in a trip to Railhead Smokehouse and Joe T. Garcias in Fort Worth and this is going to be a great trip.

Governor Manchin on Coach Rod's Departure

Sunday, Governor Manchin issues this statement:

"The last seven years that Rich Rodriguez has been football coach at West Virginia University brought great excitement to our fans and tremendous and positive notoriety to our state, and I am truly sad that he has made the decision to move on.

I have known Rich for most of his life, from a boy whose only wish was to play football at WVU to a young man whose only wish was to coach at WVU. His dreams came true, and he brought back with him to West Virginia a love and a loyalty for our state that I thought would never change.

But, unfortunately, over the last two years, I have seen Rich become a victim of a college coaching system driven by high-priced agents that has turned those dreams into just another back-room business deal. Something is wrong with the profession of college coaching today when a leader’s word is no longer his bond, and it does not bode well for the student-athletes who entrust these coaches with their futures.

I wish Rich and his family nothing but the best, but I challenge everyone in our state and across this country to start looking more closely at the system that we’ve allowed these agents to create, because in the end, it serves no one well but them.


I can’t say enough about the WVU fans and financial boosters who have made such tremendous commitments to this football team, and I commend President Garrison and Athletic Director Ed Pastilong for having a program that is truly worthy of the national spotlight. I also trust them and the WVU Board of Governors completely with the coaching search that now lies ahead.

In the meantime, I encourage the people and fans of West Virginia to continue to show their support and respect for our tremendous student-athletes as they prepare to compete in front of a national audience in the Fiesta Bowl."

- Gov. Joe Manchin III

I am now a Buckeye Fan.

Apple Trouble

Even though my battery is charged, every time I pull the AC power on my MacBook. the laptop is powering down. Not cool. Any suggestions?

Lessons from Hoosiers

Hoosiers is one of my all time favorite movies. When it came on in HD last night, our family had to watch it again. Early on in the movie, I noticed a great leadership principle that has been shared in church planting circles: Run to Confrontation. When Gene Hackman takes over as the Hickory coach, there's a local yocal that still thinks he's the coach and actually tries to hijack the first practice.

Hackman pulls him aside and basically says, "Your coaching days are over." They have a heated exchange, but in the end, Hackman stands firm and entrenches himself as the leader in charge. This was a good reminder for me not to let friction in the church fester, but to confront the issues with people, lay our cards on the table, and hold firm as a spiritual leader. Too often it seems easier to ignore conflict for a time, (short term gain) at the expense of long term health in the church.

New Small Group Coming...Honk for Service

For the better part of today, I have been spending time with fellow StoneBridgers David, Manny, and Dan as they helped Aaron Johnson put a new alternator on his car. I am so proud of these guys. They understand what the church is called to do and be, and they are living out these principles. For about a year, they have held an occasional "auto care" day, where they do routine maintenance, brake jobs, minor mechanical repairs, etc, for people in need. They have ministered to many people outside our church, and have experienced and built a bond of brotherhood with each other while doing it.

Now Dan is ready to launch this into a regular small group which has a mission of serving others. They will have a short time of Bible reading and prayer, and then get busy doing what they do. I am so excited on many levels: living out the mission of our church by serving others, and these guys starting such a great ministry on their own initiative.

Snow Day

We are enjoying our first snowfall of the season. The kids were out of school today and are off tomorrow due to the weather. After I finished a CityReach Board conference call, I headed to Barbour County to hunt in the snow with Belinda's boss and his son.

We saw a bunch of deer and I'm happy to report that all three of us got a deer. I killed mine around 4 PM when about 5 deer darted through the woods downhill about 120 yards from where I was standing. When I got home I measured our snowfall -- we've got 8 inches!

I'm posting a picture of me with my deer and also my doe from two Saturdays ago. Notice my new goofy hat fad.

A Saturday of Missed Opportunities

It's taken me a while to get over what happened on Saturday. And I'm not only referring to THE GAME. Around 2:30 PM, after Ryan's basketball game (his team won 34-0), I headed out to the woods for one last crack at getting a buck this season). Didn't see anything until 4:30 pm, when I glanced to my left, and saw a MONSTER buck staring at me. As I lifted my rifle to take a shot, he calmly trotted off into some cover and I never got off a shot.

I figured I'd go home and heal my wounds by watching WVU wrap up its National Championship bid, and well, you know what happened. Morgantown on Sunday was like a funeral procession, and it was hard to overcome the mood during our worship service.

I'm excited about the Fiesta Bowl, because I believe we're playing a National Championship caliber team in Oklahoma. In fact, I think this will be a tougher assignment then playing Ohio State in the "National Championship". Playoffs anyone?

First Snowfall

Winter is here! We're getting our first snowfall of the season. We got two inches Monday night, and the forecast predicts 4-6 inches will fall between today and Thursday morning. I put new tires on the Jeep last week just in time for winter. Time to get the skis waxed.

KJV-Only Question Makes the Republican Presidential Debate

I'm watching the debate, and CNN is showing YouTube videos of people fielding questions for the candidates. A guy comes on the video and asks, "Do you believe that every word of the Bible is true?", which is a great question. He then does a close up of his Bible and shows the binding which reads, King James Version. He then makes a statement inferring that the KJV is the only Bible, but the panel doesn't pick up on it.

Rudy Guiliani made a statement that some "stories" such as Jonah are allegorical and not literal. Mike Huckabee knocked the question out of the park and stated firmly that the Bible is God's inspired Word to us, without any error.

Update

Our family enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with our friends last week. Aaron and Renee Johnson, and their kids, Andrew and Allison Johnson, and Scott and Esther Bates and their girls joined us for a day filled with eating, football, and crazy games last Thursday. It's great to have "family" when we are all thousands of miles away from our families.

I spent the first part of last week deer hunting in Barbour County once again this year. I had a great time hanging out with the fellas again, but didn't get a deer. I got to hunt with a fellow StoneBridger Joe Mayle at his place south of Morgantown on Friday morning and Saturday morning. I was by myself Saturday morning when a nice sized doe came down the mountain. I got off a clean shot, and now we've got meat in the freezer!

After a couple of weeks of uncertainty regarding our meeting place at the Warner, it looks like the heating system has been fixed and we are good to to go. That's good news because it doesn't look like God is opening any doors concerning an alternate meeting place for StoneBridge.

The Heat is (Not) On

We have gone without heat at the Warner for our last two Sunday gatherings. Just found out today that it will take six weeks or more to get the parts necessary for the theater to fix the heat. Soooo, it looks like we've got to find a new home...and fast. I am trying to book the hotel ballroom and side rooms for Sunday's worship gathering.

I need everyone who happens to read this post to commit to pray that we will discover exactly where God wants us to go. I continue to find it amazing that just when great things began happening, Satan tries his best to throw us curveballs and slow us down. It must mean that great things are just around the corner for StoneBridge. Keep praying!