Opportunities During the Coronavirus

Okay, it is time to write out some thoughts I have been having over the last few days.

 I have sat in on my share of emergency meetings, discussions, and cancellations this week. I just had to inform a college soccer team that their spring season has been majorly altered. Many have expertise in these kinds of areas and I have learned a lot in a very short amount of time. I am not going to talk about hoarding toilet paper or sanitation practices. What I would like to write about is the opportunities right before your eyes. So here we go... 5 opportunities during the coronavirus.

1. This is an opportunity for your family to slow down. Living life at a breakneck speed should not be an issue any longer. Everything is being canceled and for a long time. Never in my life have we been able to push the reset button. No excuses now, it is an opportunity to get your marriage, family, faith, and free time back!! Amazing.

2. It is an incredible opportunity to spend family time. All the things you have been wanting to do can now happen. Game nights, eating together, learning something new, household projects, can all be family building exercises. Most people should be incredibly happy that they will be spending more time together. Is this true of you?

3. Your children can be children and learn to "just play".  Sending your child to go play in the back yard is a thing of the past. I am optimistic that people will go back to "old school" ing it and encourage and teach them how to play. This would be a great time to have a media fast. Who knows how this event could reset our culture!!

4. It is an opportunity to purge from the addiction to sports.  In my opinion, "sport" has replaced a lot of the top priorities in life. Marriage, family, friendship, church are often replaced for the priority of being entertained by a sporting event. People may start to see that watching someone live their life isn't as good as living their own.

5. It is an opportunity to reject fear and trust in God. No one gets out of this life alive. This is a fact. Living a life of fear is so exhausting. This is an opportunity for you to trust God for your life now and in for eternity.

There are many more opportunities that I am thinking about but here is five for now.

When a Plan Comes Together

November 6th 

Most dreams do not go as planned. Occasionally, everything goes as scripted. This is a short story about when a plan comes together. The story started last November when my friend Jason Althide and I began to talk about the 2019 hunting season. The conversation went as you may have guessed. We spoke of stand placement and additional stands. We also briefly discussed adding a food plot.

Winter came and went.  Spring came and went. Summer started and we had not gotten around to doing much. Jason works for an auction company and they were auctioning off hunting equipment. This proved to be the motivation we needed to dial up a plan.

Jason picked up a platform stand with a swivel chair at the auction. We went out and bought two two man stands and a couple of bags of seed. It was not long before we had our plot plowed up and ready to seed. The plot lay between a a corn field and a tight grouping of pine trees. Jason strategically placed our new two man stand in the center of the grove of trees.

Cozy Spot

On a warm July evening after dark, we spread a mix of clover, radish and rye grass in our 40 yard by 40 yard food plot. Immediately we became excited about the potential of this spot. It was only natural for us to put in a trail cam and begin to do some surveillance on our new found honey hole.

We consistently were capturing pictures of deer on the trail cam. Does regularly found their way to the plot for a mid-night snack. It was not until late September when we began to see mature bucks show up.  We captured three mature bucks in one photo and to say the least we were pumped about the prospects.

As it rolled into October, we began to strategize how we would hunt the food plot. Jason and I decided not to hunt the food plot stand til late October. Jason went in first and harvested a doe. I had not even thought of bow hunting the stand, believing it would be best to hunt it during gun season. My rational was that it would be a great source for a post harvest food source. 

On November 6th, I decided to make a quick evening hunt at our new hunting spot. I climbed up the stand later than I wanted to. It was three thirty and only a couple of hours to hunt. Once I got situated, I decided to pull out my grunt call. After a couple of blows, I sat quiet. It could not have been ten minutes before I heard something coming in behind me but because of the pines, I could not see a thing. 

Within forty minutes of sitting down, I could see an 8 point buck entering the food plot. He kept his head down all the way into shooting range. At twenty two yards broadside, my Crosspoint did its job.

I hit him pretty good. I felt like it was a lung shot. He jumped and turned into the pines where he ran fifty yards and crashed. I immediately called my hunting buddy Jason. He came and helped me pull him out of woods and bring him back to the food plot for a quick photo op. 

I couldn't believe it, everything went as planned. First time in the food plot and an 8 point buck was harvested. Sometimes plans do come together!!!

More Than a Team

Day # 1

Have you ever had the opportunity to start something from the ground up? I mean taking nothing and making it into something. I had the privilege to put together a first year college soccer program with a group of men this last fall. It is one thing to buy equipment, schedule games and fill rosters. Actually, that is the easy part. The challenge is creating an environment where people are knit together as a band of brothers, a family,  people who can be trusted and be trustworthy.

Here are three essentials in becoming a team;

1. Create opportunities to buy in. No one and I mean no one is going to create a team without buy in. Buy in means that an individual is committed to living by the core values established by the team framework. "So how do you create buy in?" you ask. One of the ways that I attempted to do this is by having our players help map out the vision. This requires a lot of time and attention to the details. Giving individuals on the team the opportunity to evaluate, create, and dream, provides a back drop for team vision.

Decision making is important for every team. Who makes the decisions on your team? When decisions are made by the team, it creates accountability. The players have to think in terms of others best interest versus their own. The more decisions you give people to make the better the chance you will have to pull off buy In.

One last thought on buy in. If everyone is not held accountable for their attitudes, actions, decisions, and motives, that the team agrees upon, there is no chance that a team will be able to sustain buy in.

2. Provide platforms to develop safety and trust. A group of individuals will never become a team until they experience safety. Many environments are incredibly unsafe. Manipulation, control and personal agendas rule most locker rooms.

Trust is a hard thing to gain and very easy to lose. You have only a few opportunities to gain trust and hundreds of ways to lose it.  I have found that keeping your word as the leader is essential in creating team. Many promise the world and deliver a village. When this happens, all credibility moving forward is destroyed.

Another way to develop safety is to eat with one another.  Simple, I know, but it is one of the best ways to grow close quickly with your teammates. We eat as often together as possible and it has proven to forge relationships at a high level.

We started our journey in becoming a team outside of the scheduled practices. Everyday after training sessions, the players would go over to our assistant coach Eric Stratmans house to stretch in the pool. The guys played games, ate, talked and chilled together in the intimacy of an indviduals home. This proved to be invaluable for growing trust and safety.

We are Official

3. Shape a unique culture. Everyone talks about DNA today. Most of the time people say, "we have no DNA of our own, we borrow from others to determine who we are and what we are becoming." I believe you must have a unique culture that you are striving to develop. Whether I am working in the context of church work or coaching my college team, I look for those who serve. People who serve first, most, and best, make great teammates and quickly shape culture. I have found that people who are looking to be served or wait for others to serve, rarely make it in the cultures that I am developing.

Encouragement to others can make all the difference. We determined that negative, critical, and unnecessary demeaning comments were all factors that slowed down our progress at becoming a team. The coaching staff did not model negativity and we challenged the players to stay positive in their communication with one another. Creating positive environments is a challenge because most people have never had that modeled for them.

Developing leaders and leadership qualities is emphasized beyond just winning or losing. My desire is to train, mentor, and coach young men into manhood. The longest conversations I have with my players are the ones that are not about soccer. Talking about goals, dreams and ambitions is critical in their development. It is vital to value our people beyond the soccer field,  helping them to reach financial, athletic, and career goals makes our relationships unique.

Together

You may not be a coach of a sports team, but most of us play on a team of some sort. Being on a healthy team makes all the difference in the world!

Your Gonna Miss This !

I am pretty sure you have heard the song by Trace Adkins, Your Gonna Miss This. I have provided the words of the chorus for you to read over once again, but this time ask the question.... what people will come across my path today and what opportunities do I need to make the most of ?

You're gonna miss this

You're gonna want this back

You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast

These are some good times

You may not know it now

But you're gonna miss this

I know too many people that emotionally connect with songs but have a difficult time transferring warm and fuzzy feelings into action. It requires intentionality, sacrifice and discipline. I was reminded of this once again when my nineteen year old daughter asked me to take her fishing.

It wasn't so much that she wanted to go fishing but rather when she wanted to go fishing and where she wanted to go fishing. She called me from Ohio, where she had been working for the summer to ask if I would bring my fishing gear so that we could go fishing on Saturday before her cousin's wedding. We were due into Ohio on Thursday evening, go to the wedding on Friday night and head back to Illinois on Saturday morning. Needless to say it was going to be a fly by night trip.

My first thought was to say no. I was thinking about the trouble it would be to bring the gear. Being able to fish for just a couple hours just did not make sense. My second thought proved to be the better one. I thought to myself.... this could be her first fish.... and with me being her guide. It would be a special memory either way. So in a split second, I said of course. This was a moment that I did not miss.... her first fish. 

It was not ten minutes into our fishing trip that Michaela caught her first fish. It was a two pound bass that she caught with a crank bait. As you can see in the pictures... she was super excited and nervous at the same time. Next time you think to say no.... you better have a real good reason or your gonna miss this!

Go with What is Working!

I do not get the opportunity to fish much but when I do I have no problem chasing after what works.
Mike Roux and I had the rare opportunity to get out to a local farm lake on the first weekend of June.
He was in town to guide for a veteran's fishing weekend. His favorite fishing buddies (his grandchildren) were not able to fish so he went with plan D - Bob. I am grateful that I was plan D because it turned out to be the largest catch in number and size of my career.

We arrived at the lake around 5:30 on a beautiful Saturday evening, with the plans to fish til dark. It was the first time we had fished this lake in about two years. It had produced some monster bass in the past but some of the characteristics of the lake had changed over time. We were excited to see how the evening was going to turn out.

Mike began by using a staple for us the Strike King  Shim-e-stick. The color the bass prefer is Sweet Tater Pie. He immediately began to catch two and three pound bass with his prefered lure. I started out with a deep running white shad crankbait. I began catching fish but not bass. I was catching Blue Gill and Crappie.

He consistently caught fish for the first forty five minutes with his Sweet Tater Pie. Mike had caught eighteen bass while I had only caught eight. As we moved into a shaded cove to the southside of the pond, I decided to join Mike with what was working. I left the crank bait and put on my Sweet Tater Pie. The first case proved to be effective as I caught a nice two pound bass.

Over the next hour we caught twenty five nice bass. It was a ton of fun. We set a goal of catching fifty fish total. The picture below is number fifty. We were blessed to have great success and a great time. I have learned that if what I am doing is not working the best, change it up and go with what is working for someone else. This can be applied to so many areas of our lives. Changing up what you know to the unknown can be healthy, productive and effective. Who knows... you may be only one cast away from a big five pounder!!!

Six Lies We Tell Ourselves About Our Church

I recently preached a sermon entitled "Truth Be Told" at Columbus Road Church. I unpacked six lies that people tell themselves about their church. This message addressed common falsehoods that are exposed through behaviors and attitudes. No matter what style, philosophy or tradition you might come from, manufacturing distorted view of church is common. Our hearts are excuse centers that keep us from the truth by manufacturing lies.

Lie # 1 - Church is filled with people who have their lives together

Truth be told, church is a hospital. We are all sick and crazy. Sick in that we try so hard to get it right but fail because it is in our nature to sin. Crazy in that we go to great lengths to mask and cover up our sickness so that others will think we are healthy. The scriptures speak to this topic in great detail. The apostle Paul talks about his own "sick and crazy" in Romans 7:15, 22-23.  James 3:2 and I John 1:8 helps us all see that we are all sin sick. We should stop pretending that we have our lives together and confess our faults one to another.

Lie # 2 Church is a place where I should get my needs met.

Truth be told, church is a place where I meet the needs of others. When we read the description of the first church in Jesusalem in Acts 2:41-47, it is littered with togetherness, selflessness and service. Living in a culture where we are inundated with consumerism, it is almost impossible for that dynamic to not take over the direction of churches. Traditonal, contemporary, missional, or seeker; personal preference has no boundaries. "I want my church to look and do things that I am most comfortable with," says most church attenders. Passages like Galatians 6:1-4 teach us that we are to bear one anothers burdens. Romans 12 tells us to give preference to others and to serve the body.

Lie # 3 Student ministry will raise my child into a Godly adult, all I have to do is drop them off.

Truth be told, church supports intentional and involved parents. Dropping your child or teen off at church and driving home to get a break from it all is a very bad idea. It sends all the wrong messages to your children as well as placing responsibility on those who are not responsible to raise your children. Ephesians 6:1-4 places the responsibility on the father. They are to bring up their children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Churches can be a great encouragement and support to families who are creating environments for growth in the Lord.

Lie # 4 Church is an item on a list of things to do and places to go.

Truth be told, church is a vital part of a believer's existence while on the planet. The average church attender in the United States attends church 25 times a year. When you figure the hours committed to church per year, it would equal 50 hours per year, which is a liberal estimate of two hours per visit. Scripture teaches us to be hospitable to one another in I Peter 4:9 and in I Corinthians 16:1-2 a weekly collection is received. Romans 12:10 speaks of devotion and commitment to the local assembly. God intended for the church to be the "third place" in the believers life (first place-family,  second place-work). We (church goers) have replaced church for sports, family time, work, hobbies, and travel, just to name a few "third places".

Lie # 5 I do not need to attend church to be a growing christian.

Truth be told, you cannot obediently follow Jesus without committed relationships with other brothers and sisters. Hebrews 10:23-25 clearly states that we are to encourage each other by committed, regular interaction with one another. Missing church for a vacation or family outing occasionally is appropriate. Habitually, forsaking church is a critical error with many consequences.

Lie # 6 The measure of a good church service is based on how much I enjoyed it.

Truth be told, the measure if a good church service is based on how God is glorified. Philippians 2:3 tells us that we are not to seek the glory but rather to humble ourselves before the Lord and others. Ephesians 5:19-20 places the focus on God in our worship, where He is to receive thanks and that our singing is directed toward Him. We tend to get caught up in the style, genre, and era the song was written and forget who the song is about.

It is important to speak the truth, think the truth and live the truth. We all must be careful not to tell ourselves lies about our own church and sabotage the plan and purpose God has in His church.

How to Evaluate a partner

I am asked to give advice regularly about decisions that need to be made concerning partnerships. This covers a broad range of relationships from marriage partners to business partners. It is a tricky subject because often time the person who comes to me has already made up their mind emotionally. So how does a person make the correct decision?

Over my years of working with people, I have found great truth and wisdom by seeking and exploring three areas of life that expose a person's character and integrity. These are not fool proof nor are they an exhaustive list. I have found by watching people that most of the time these tools can prove to be rather telling and help make that critical decision.

Here are three ways you can evaluate the character and integrity of a potential partner.

Their past decisions

Decisions tell a lot about an individual. How they make them and why they make them often is repetitive. There are many factors to look at when evaluating someone's past decisions.  One of the first places I look is motive. Why did that individual walk away from a past relationship? Are they most concerned about self preservation and agenda or do they look out for the good of others. 

More than one time, I have observed someone leave a situation because things got tough for them. So how does a person discern another person's motives? It is quite simple..... listen. They will tell you what motivates them. Often, we do not listen to what we do not want to hear. When a person uses the word "I", "financially" or "fit" these can be subtle cues. It isn't a wrong thing to simply ask, "what are your motives?"

Another thing to consider when looking at past decisions is do they have a track record of effective decisions that were productive and fruitful. The best partners make good decisions consistently. This does not mean that people do not make mistakes. Usually, those who make poor decisions and are good partners rebound by making the next good decision.

Their present routine

Look at how a person operates. What do they do on a regular basis. What does the day to day look like. Are they a plodder or do they live in crisis mode? I have found that the best partners have a method and pattern to their work and relationships. Some people live in theory. They have great ideas and plans but somehow it never comes into reality. I would say it this way, "they look good on paper." What you are looking for is someone who follows through and finishes what they start. Again, this is not to say that circumstances and situations that life delivers can derail us all at some point but the key is consistency.

Look at what they do in their spare time. Do they live a balanced life or is their focus all in one direction? If you have a potential partner who is always running ahead to the next big thing, you can bet this will be how they operate with you. If they drag their feet and are always lagging behind, you will feel those effects as well.

Their closes allies - inputs

Who does that person align with? It is important to know the people in your potential partners life. You are who you hang with. Some people like to hang with people who they want to be like. This gives others the allusion that they have arrived. Others hang out with people they believe they are better than. This gives them the edge they are looking for. The people that you want to align with are those who humbly relate to everyone well. They believe in their core that "we" are always better than "me". A person who is seen in many circles usually is a better choice to partner with.

These three important keys can help thwart a disaster. Let me advise you to take some time to evaluate. Any partnership worth joining deserves a thorough evaluation. Asking questions to others about a person can prove to be very helpful.

Can you think of a partnership that should have never happened? More than likely, if they would have looked into these simple aspects, it would have saved them a mountain of grief.

Choose your partnerships well!!!

Move the Stand

You will learn from your mistakes or you will repeat them. This sums up how I harvested a nice Illinois nine pointer this year. The 2016 bow season was filled with errors and mistakes for this hunter. I had not put in the proper preparation and I paid for it dearly.  Close does not apply in our sport. It is all or nothing to celebrate success.

I was determined not to repeat last year so I made a physical list and began step by step to improve my program. The first thing I did when April rolled around was move a stand. I had seen many deer fifty yards to the south from the stand I was hunting. Few came into range. With some good conversation and scouting, my friend Doug Althide and I found a mature tree near the local watering hole. We made short work putting up the stand and cutting out the shooting lanes.

The second thing was to re-work my bow. I had it re-strung. I purchased new arrows, and switched over to a mechanical broad head. Lastly, I decided to purchase Luminox nocks. Having the ability to more effectively track deer, was critical moving forward. I dialed in my bow in the off season with more practice than usual. I was ready to hunt.

 On the first Thursday in November, I set up shop in my new spot. With some rattling and buck grunts, I called in a button buck and a six pointer. After fifteen minutes of watching them under my stand, I decided to take the button buck. This provided deer for the freezer and I was excited about what was next.

I decided to go out again on the next Monday evening. It was a great hunt where I had 6 doe under the stand  at  four o' clock for about twenty minutes with no hint that I was sitting on top of them. No shots were taken.  I was looking for a mature buck and seeing all the doe, I was ready to come back, knowing a big buck would be in the neighborhood.

The very next night I got in about three o' clock. The wind had shifted to the north. It was quiet and no movement at all. As four p.m. approached I noticed a buck approaching me from the fence line to the north. He was a big bodied deer with an adequately sized nine point rack. He was not trolling but rather just meandering toward me. As he came right in front of me and stopped, I drew back and delivered the perfect heart shot. He jumped and ran down into the woods to the east of the stand and dropped.

It was as easy as it gets. I wrote the story last year as I began to plan for this year. It happened just like I planned. I had learned a ton from a very unsuccessful year last year. If you will learn from your mistakes, you will not repeat them. 

Sweet Tater Pie

One of  Forty Two

I learned one of the lessons of success a long time ago. Showing up when it is cold, hot, rainy, early or late often produces the best results. A key to success in hunting and fishing is simply showing up. I can't even begin to count the times when I almost talked myself out of going. Yet, the vast amount of times that I decided to go, has produced tremendous payoffs. This was once again that same ole scenario.

We were experiencing an intense heat wave in Illinois in the middle of July. The heat index had been over one hundred for a solid week. I had just gotten off the road from traveling for the past ten days. My good friend Mike Roux invited me to go fishing at one of our favorite fishing holes. He told me that we would be off the water by eight a.m. because of the extreme heat. I took him up on his offer and we met at five a.m. the next morning.

When we arrived it was about 80 degrees air temperature. The lake that we fish is about 30 acres and next to a major highway. There is practically no shade around the edge but it does have many small willow trees surrounding the banks which provides shade for the fish. The edges have good cover and plays right into the hands of a bass fisherman.

It did not take long before I caught my first bass. I started the morning using a deep running chartreuse crankbait . My friend used his usual top water moto-lure. The fish were biting and we had not reached daylight yet. This particular lake had nearly shut out my buddy Mike just six hours earlier. He comes to town on business so usually he fishes this lake later in the evening and early mornings.

We both caught a handful of fish before day light. As soon as the sun began to peak, Mike switched his program to a Strike King Shim-e-stick. The color the bass like the most is Sweet Tater Pie. He switched simply to try something  different. As Mike began to cast, the fish were blowing his line up. Fish after fish I netted for him. It got me thinking real quick so I made the move to join his party.

It was at that time when I switched over to the Strike King lure. We caught forty two fish in that short three hours. I had never been fishing where every spot was a good spot. We fished the entire perimeter of the thirty acre lake and never stopped catching fish. The length and weight varied. Mike caught a 3 pound 11 ounce bass. The one pictured about was 3 pounds 6 ounces.

As we started to load up, Mike repeated something he has said to me a thousand times. "Ninety percent is showing up." If you desire to catch the big one or hook the big haul, remember that it will never talk place while you are sleeping.

Sweet Tater Pie

The Silver Bullet

I have been fortunate to harvest several gobblers over the past ten years. Being at the right farm with the right people has helped tremendously. Skills have been developed and experience has paid off in a big way to become a successful turkey hunter. This year the story writes differently.

I selected the third season to hunt in Hancock county Illinois this year. There was a variety of reasons but probably the most significant was the availability of my favorite hunting spot. The farm that I hunt is owned by a dear friend who is very gracious in our selection of places we can hunt.

"Kill hill" as I call it, has harvested countless mature Tom's over the years. I was quite certain that this year would be no different. In week one, I filmed for outdoor writer, Mike Roux. He killed a Jake at the same place we always have success. There was no reason for me to believe that I was not going to have the same fortune.

My first morning was on a Friday. I was pumped to begin the weekend on a turkey hunt. Everything went as planned that morning. I identified birds on the roost early and they were everywhere more than any place else. The gobbling stopped as the Tom pitched off the roost but that was not surprising. It has happened many times and did not effect the final outcome. The short story is that I did not see a turkey in the field all morning. It was not time to be discouraged, for I had five more days to enjoy one of my favorite pastimes.

Day two began and ended much like day one. Early gobbling... once off the roost.... silence. I was committed to staying put in my honey hole. Taking so many birds in one spot at the very highest point of the farm is a formula a guy does not want to mess with. Day three and four were similar to the first two days. The birds would just not come to the field like the last several years. It was time to change it up on day five. I spoke with Mike Roux on the phone. I shared my dilemma and he gave me a few tips. The advice was no silver bullet but at least it gave me a plan.

The harvested bird is on the right.

Steve Wollbrink, a fellow hunter and leader in the church where I pastor, texted me around nine on Monday evening. He asked if anyone was filming my hunt. I responded with a "no" and he said I will be at your house at five a.m. The next morning Steve and I were talking on the way to the farm about the plan for the morning. He thought it would be best to go right to the creek at the bottom of the property from the very beginning. I could not argue the point, being that his father owns the adjacent farm and he had hunted the bottoms for years himself.

We arrived and made quick work of getting set up. It was no time before we heard a Tom gobbling on the roost about fifty yards away. I thought to myself "this is gonna happen and happen as soon as he pitches off the roost." I hit my Mountain Screamer box call. It wasn't but a couple reps before he cut me off. I decided then to just sit still and wait for that moment. He gobbled for the better part of a half an hour before we heard both him and two hens pitch off the roost.

The story repeats itself again. Once the birds got to the ground they became silent. I attempted a few purrs and clucks but to no avail. Steve whispered, "I would move but I don't know where to go." I had heard another gobbler up the hill early just after we set up but it was on Steve's dads farm. I asked Steve if we could cross the property boundary and hunt on his dads farm. He said yes!

We quickly snuck our way up the hill and to the edge of a unplowed corn field. As soon as we arrived I heard a gobble. It sounded like the bird was at the top of the hill and in the middle of the field. I set up my three decoys. I use two hens and a jake. Steve and I made our way to a super large tree with great cover and got ready. I hit my box call, followed with a quick round on my slate call. A minute or so later a big ole Tom began to strut in the middle of the field.

It was an amazing display for the next five minutes to watch this guy come down the hill, pirouetting, strutting, spitting and drumming! I let him come towards me at ten yards before taking him.

Some times you need something extra - favor, blessing, or a silver bullet....the filming guys dad's farm!!!

The Silver Bullet

Thanks to a Great Church that Knew How to Love a Pastor's Children

It is time to write this article. In just a couple of days our twins will turn eighteen years old. My girls will have spent their entire schooling in the same church as pastor's kids. Their experience is rare. I do know of a few families who have had this kind of experience but I could count them on my fingers. Our four adult children love their church and continue to grow in their relationship with God. I am so grateful to God for our church. The people have come along Lisa and I to support us in the raising of children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Me taking a picture of Lisa taking a picture

I am so very proud of the church I have had the joy of pastoring for the last 13 years. I have watched these people love and support our family in some amazing ways. This blog is intended to be read by lay leaders and parishioners who have an interest in creating a healthy environment for pastors and their families. A faith community can be a wonderful place to gain support and encouragement in raising your children.

I have identified four ways that our church has really come through for our kids.


1. Love them like your own kids or grand kids. This requires the same kind of time and attention that it does in your own family. The people of Columbus Road adopted my children as grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins. My children address Glenn and Joyce Koch as Grandpa Glenn and Grandma Joyce. They are not our my children's natural grandparents but they sure have been treated as such. The point is this... when you treat pastors kids as family, they will be shown a lot of love and grace. When my son comes back to visit, he always includes a trip over to Bob and Jeanette Speckhart's house for a game of Scrabble. They are family.

2. Have the same expectations that you have for yourself and your children. This is a biggy. I have never heard expectations given to my children that were not a standard for all to follow. My children have been to church more than any other person or family over the last thirteen years. Most people would do themselves a great service by holding themselves to the standard that they hold everyone else to.

3. Give them room to be regular kids. Our church family has not added pressure by adding expectations. The exact opposite has been true. They have allowed our kids to be kids. My children have participated in travel sports. This has meant time away on weekends over the years. It has also provided opportunity for my children through collegiate athletics. The folks have graciously embraced my kids interruptions in meetings, falling asleep during a prayer meeting, balls and bikes in the backyard, animals, loud music,and crazy hair styles just to name a few things.

4. Support their gifts and abilities. It has been a common occurrence to have people support our children's athletic, academic, ministry and career paths. Regularly, our church family has supported our kids interests and activities. They have supported by attending events, financial support, complements, and conversations. All of their efforts toward our children showed that they cared. Recently, Liz Yochum ( she is 82) asked me all about Madison's travels. She wanted to support her in an upcoming mission trip and wanted to know the details. This is one example of hundreds, where our children felt the love from our church family.

Columbus Road will always be home to our children. I love the relationships that have been developed over the years. My children will always foster those friendship because you fostered them first! God is going to use these children to reach their world for Him. Columbus Road, You played a big part in that!

Blessed
P. Bob