Update

Ok so it has been almost a month since I have updated the Blog. I apologize for my slacking off in this area for anyone who is keeping up with me through this. The past month has been a bit crazy, busy, stressful, but I am still learning and growing so things are good. God is good! I have been looking for a job for a while now, which attributes to the stress. It is difficult for me to find anything in the current market when I have very little experience for almost anything I could do. However, I trust that God will provide something, I just need to keep praying for that. I am also still about 2000 dollars short on fundraising for the internship. If you (anyone who reads) could be in prayer about that, and consider giving, I would be very greatful. I do not have any more trips to Charlotte for seminary, however I still have a great deal of work to be done for my seminary coarse. I am doing my research paper on Seperation of Church and State in America. If anyone is interested in reading my final product let me know and I can provide that. I still have a lot of work to do though so it will be a couple of weeks. Despite some stress and busyness I still feel greatly blessed by God and greatful for all the ways He is teaching me.

Easter

I had a wonderful Easter this year. I was able to spend it with Sarah and her family, so of course it was great. I got up really really REALLY early and went to a sunrise service at a baptist church here in Raleigh. It was very different then what I am accustomed to, but it was awesome to experience worship in a new and different way. Then we went to the church Sarah attends, which was a wonderful service. Fortunately we had a chance to rest a little bit after that. Then we went to spend time with Sarah's family and family friends for an Easter dinner. It was a great day to celebrate the Resurrection! And I am very thankful for Sarah and her family!

Visit to Montreat

I had the opportunity to visit Montreat with Tyler this past weekend. This was the first time I have been back since I have been in Raleigh, other then a quick on day trip about a month ago. It was great to see some old friends and spend time with Ben and Tyler. It was also great to get an opportunity to worship at iSight on Sunday. I have greatly missed the community at iSight

Job Hunt

So I am in the process of looking for a full time job. I have sent my resume to a couple Youth Ministry positions, one in Durham and the other in the Charlotte area. I am not only pursuing youth ministry, but am open to any kind of full time job that will be able to help me get though seminary. If any of you hear anything in this general area please let me know, I am very interested! My hope is to be able to work full time and take seminary courses from Gordon-Conwell part time. It will take me about six years to get through seminary this way, but I figure that it will be six years of learning and growing that will help me in my future ministry. I am just praying that God will open up a door and lead me in the right direction, please join me in this!

Internship Happenings

Seminary Grade In

I found out today that I got a B+ in my first seminary coarse at Gordan Conwell, Church History: Early Church to the Reformation. I am very happy with this because I knew that I did not do well on the exam, so I feared that would effect my overall grade. I must have done really well on everything else :). I am now enrolled in Church History: Reformation to the Present, hopefully I can get an even better grade this semester!

Fundraising

The chart to the right is an updated status of the fund raising that I have been asked to do as a part of the fellows program. As you can see I still have a long ways to go in order to achieve the goal of $5,ooo, and now not a lot of time. It has been difficult for me to ask for money especially when I know money is tight for most everyone right now. However, this program has been a tremendous blessing to me. There are many at the Church of Apostles who have put in a great deal of hard work into providing this opportunity for me and the other fellows. That is why I continue to ask all those who are willing or able to contribute to my fund raising effort to please do so. Any amount whether it is big or small is a tremendous blessing to me. Therefore, please if you are reading this blog and you have not already contibuted, please consider helping me achieve my goal, even if you are only able to give a small amount. For those of you who may be hearing of this need to raise money for the first time, it is simply because I have struggled with the idea of asking for money, and not out of a lack of need. I also hope to send out another letter asking for support soon. If any of you know anyone whom, I may have neglected to ask please let me know, and I will be sure to send them a letter. I am not sure how many people actually read this blog, but I do hope that by posting my progress on here someone who may not know about this may read it.

Snowboarding

Seminary Class

This past weekend the fellows and I traveled to Charlotte for a first class of our seminary course. We are taking Church History 502 which is a study of the Church from the Reformation to the present. Our professor is Dr. Garth Rosell, who I already like a lot after our first class. It seems that Dr. Rosell is really going to challenge us to think critically about how what we are going to learn can be beneficial to our ministry, and what it means for the church today. I always strive to be able to apply which I learn in classes, but I feel as if this class will be extremely applicable to my future ministry. My hope is that I will be able to retain it and use it for the benefit of others.

Ski Trip

Apostles Youth Ski Trip

The Ski Trip was a BLAST! You can see some of the pictures above. We traveled to Snowshoe WV, which ended up being about an 8 hour drive. Arrived at about 3 in the morning on Saturday. Got up at 7:30 and hit the slopes till about 4:30. All that to say I was a little tired afterwords but it was very much worth it. I had to privileged of riding in the MAN van, which was awesome! We spent most of the trip comparing some of our favorite movie or tv characters, discussing who would win if they happened to get in a fight. For example: Chuck Norris or Jack Bauer(I think good ole Chuck won) OR Gandolf from Lord of the Rings or Yoda(Yoda proved to be superior in the minds of high schoolers) The conditions on the slopes were pretty good, a little icy in some spots, and somewhat slushy at the end of the day. I was able to prevent any injuries, although I must admit I did wipe of a few times, the worst being the one right infront of a lodge at the bottom of a black dimond(that just hurts your ego even if it doesnt hurt your body.) All in all the trip was a great success everyone had a great time, and the Apostles youth group maitained its long standing tradition of having someone throw up durring the van right.

Comments

I figured out how to change the setting on my blog. Now anyone can leave a comment even if you do not have an account. I hope that this will encourage more people to leave comments. I would love any and all feedback on what people would like to see or hear about.

Tubing at Winterplace

Chicago+

Living with a Host Family

This year I have had the opportunity to live with the Whyte family here in Raleigh. The Whyte's are members of the Church of Apostles. They have a daughter, Chelsey, who is a junior at App State University, and a son, Coleman, who is a sophomore at Broughton high school, and Marsha and Harry are the mommy and daddy. It has been a blessing for me to live with and get to know them. I have really enjoyed hanging out with Coleman, and beating him at Ping Pong from time to time. This aspect of the internship has really been one of the best. The Whyte's have made me feel very much at home here, and has it been a great learning experience. There has been much to learn about the differences between living in a dorm full of guys and living with a family. Since I want to have a family of my own soon, it has been great to get a taste of what that would be like.

Christmas Break

For Christmas break I had the opportunity to take a train to Chicago to visit with my girlfriend Sarah and her family. It was the first time I have ridden a train. It was an adventure; a little long, but not too bad. I really enjoyed getting to meet and spend time with Sarah's extended family. I also loved being able to see all the sights in Chicago, especially Wrigley Field. While in Chicago I had a chance to go to the Science and Industry Museum, see Chicago from the top of the John Hancock Building, and see a play called Grey Gardens. I am looking forward to the next time I will be able to go to Chicago; hopefully in the summer so I can see the Cubs play. It was good to be able to get a little rest and relaxation, which has not been very prevalent during this internship.

Sorry for the lack of updates

I know that I have not posted anything in quite a while. My power cord to my computer no longer works so I have been without a computer other then what I use at work for a while. I do hope on getting the power cord replaced soon, and I will post some updates soon as well!