Week 7

The final Saturday of Upward Football is at hand. This Saturday is sure to be a cold one, so I decided that instead of asking for volunteers from the audience to get up and help me during halftime, I will allow them to remain bundled up and do the halftime on my own. I am going to break script from the Upward provided material and I am going to provide a handout out for parents that may need help field questions about Christianity that their children may have. Our coaches were supposed to deliver the Gospel Presentation at their last practices, so with parents coming from all walks of life this might raise some anxiety for parents. The hope with the handout is to not only answer questions the kids may have but also some that the parents may have. The Gospel is simple but also the most important thing, sometimes with it being so important people confuse that with the Gospel being complicated.

It has been a good football season, and we hope ultimately that the Body of Christ grows from God's efforts through us. Football may be the reason why many sign up, but the league is centered around the teachings of Christ.

Week 6

Upward Football is drawing to a close, only two more weeks remain. I have had an interesting season as the Halftime Commissioner, from struggling with getting volunteers for help with devotion games, constantly dealing with smokers on the field, and last week I even split up a domestic dispute before it became physical. The relief of a season finished won't truly get to be enjoyed because Upward Basketball evaluations started this week. Evaluations will continue for a few weeks and then a few makeup times will be offered later on. Basketball practice will start shortly after Thanksgiving.

With Registration and Evaluations starting up I changed and hung up new in house signage. Along with all the Upward changes our church is into our annual Stewardship push. So with that came new posters. The new poster look fresh compared to last years. A church member took pictures of several peoples hands forming hearts. 6 different versions were printed, giving more visual variety as you walk the grounds of the Church.

Week 5

Last Night I attended a presentation for the College Group of FBC. The speaker was Officer Brent Womble, he has been a police officer for Amarillo Police Department for over 37 years. Officer Womble has been a detective and even in-charge of the Amarillo Sex Crimes Unit. The presentation was about how to deal with the homeless (or people in need), from a Christian stand point while also avoiding putting yourself in danger. Womble has been running Church Security here at FBC since 1976, thats from Dr. Winfred Moore to our current Pastor Dr. Howard Batson.

Womble told us that he was a 19 year old police officer when Dr. Moore approached him asking, "You're that officer that joined 6 months ago, correct?" Womble said "Yes, Sir", and Moore asked him how he thought he was helping him by sitting up in the balcony, Womble has been doing security ever since. Womble graduated from the FBI academy and even received dignitary protection training from the Secret Service.

Officer Womble gave a history of the Evolution of Security at First Baptist Church, things that changed in the security because of what happened on our physical church property, and things that have happened in other churches that have changed ways we run things here. Some scary incidents have transpired in the past but all were handled with excellent care and a real mindfulness of God's good grace for all his children. Are doors are open to all, and we hope that people find our worship welcoming and comforting.

I am thankful for the responsibility that Officer Womble has taken on, God has put this work in his hands for good reason. He is a strong Christian man, who lives by the New Testament with all people.

Week 4

It was a slow week last week at work, which was good because my school week was busy with Mid-terms. It is nice to have a job that is extremely open to letting me do whatever school work I need to get done at work.

One of the points of the week that sticks out to me, all started when I had some DVD's on my desk. Our Pastor has been doing an evening service series entitled Interpreting the Bible. It has been a very good series so I get a copy of either a DVD version or CD version every following week. A church member noticed it on my desk and asked to borrow the copies I had. I of course let him borrow the discs, but all inquired why he didn't attend evening worship, he had no real reason. So he has made a commitment to attend evening service regularly. It was good to see an opportunity to help someone further their church involvement, and for them to bite on it. PR is easy to do here at First Baptist because I am completely behind what we do here at church.

Praying for Vision for opportunity in all aspects of my Christian Walk.

Week 3

This past week I had the opportunity to attend the annual budget committee. My boss had an engagement that evening that prevented him from attending the meeting so I was sent as a representative for the Recreation Ministry if any questions arose on our proposal for the 2012 budget. Luckily I did not have any questions come up. It was good to be able to just sit and listen and learn a little more about church procedure and what all has to take place.

On sunday, the sermon was entitled "How to run a Marathon", Dr. Batson mentioned the annual race called the Mike Roberts Memorial Run, he participated last year in the race. One of the Primary Functions of my job is too organize and execute this race. It was good to have it mentioned in the sermon, even though the race is the first weekend in May, I like the idea of running with the Pastor to resonate with the congregation, so that we might increase our numbers for the 2012 MR MR.