Category Archives: 2008

2008, Collecting Experiences, Discipleship, Faith in Action, Youth Ministry

Workin’ My Way Back to You Babe

Work Camp 2008 is in the books!

We had a great week painting and fixing houses. The weather cooperated with us this year. No running from storms like we did last year. The temperatures were mild and we didn’t No one got hurt and for the first time in a long time our teens got some press coverage for heir hard work.

I have been doing work camps since 1994 first as a camper then as an intern and now as a leader. The way that this WC was organized I led a group of teens none of which are in my youth group. It gives me a great opportunity to mentor and work with teens that I haven’t had contact with and it gives my teens the chance to connect with other adult leaders from around the city.

I am headed back over to our house today to pick up some supplies and to do a small amount of touch ups. I have been doing a lot of repairs around our house so I’m becoming quite the amateur handy man. We’ll see if I can replace the outdoor water faucet at our Work Camp house today. It is feeling like a big maybe.

Have a great day everyone!

2008, Awesomenessness, General, Popular Culture, Shameless Self Promotion, The Quest

Over the Weekend

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It was quite the weekend here at Casa de Felker. I hit up a concert VIP-style, I wogged a 5k, spent the evenings with my beautiful wife, and reached a milestone with my online relationships. For more on each of these events keep reading.

RUSH Concert
Rush 5 I have never considered myself a fan of RUSH before but I have enjoyed and appreciated their music in the past. This concert was incredible. It is hard to believe that three people could put out that level of sound. Their musicianship, stage presence, and visuals were outstanding. Perhaps my favorite part of the night was when the South Park kids (as “Lil’ Rush”) introduced the song “Tom Sawyer” on the video screen. Hilarious!!! I got the VIP hook up from a friend at church and was able to enjoy the second half of the concert from the VIP box. It was a great concert and and great night. Except…

Race for the Cure
Race TimeI shouldn’t have stood for three hours at the concert because I had the Race for the Cure bright and early on Saturday morning. This was my very first 5k and although the main goal was to just finish I was able to finish just under my target time. I lost a few minutes of time waiting on the portajohn and i wasted some time maneuvering around moms and their strollers but all in all I finished strong. I can’t wait for my next race!

501
Today I added my 501st friend on Facebook. This is kind of a big deal for me as I have personally met every one of the people listed as my friends (even Dave Ramsey). This is a pretty big milestone and I appreciate everyone of you who have added me as your friend. If you haven’t added me as your friend please drop me a message on Facebook. I was going to offer a prize for my 500th friend but the number snuck up on me and I wasn’t prepared. Maybe I’ll have something planned for the 550th. 🙂

Hope you have a great week!

2008, Discipleship, Ethos, Experience, Faith in Action, Giving Thanks, Leadership, Life, Ministry, My Life, My Wife Rules, Theology

Proverbs 6:1-5

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This is the year that we get out of debt.

Over 7 years of marriage we’ve managed to keep our heads above water but we have accumulated a little bit of debt. We used our credit cards to travel to see family, we moved, we bought a few pieces of furniture, and we bought a few stupid items.

After taking a step back and looking at our finances we concluded that something had to change or we would run the risk of getting into terrible financial trouble. It doesn’t matter that our level of debt was just under the national average. We were failing in our call to be good stewards of our money and so we decided to do something about it.

Today my wife told me that our credit cards have been completely paid off!!!

In just three months, we paid off a (ahem) crapload of money on those plastic traps. We went and did our taxes, found out that we didn’t owe anything, and then used the money we had set aside for taxes to completely pay those puppies off. We are done!!! No more plastic!

The next step is to pay down our car notes. That’s right, we have two of them and owe money on both. It’s ok though. We shouldn’t have bought my car when we did. I had a truck that was paid off but I was tired of driving that big boy around and I wanted a smaller car. Lesson learned. The plan is to have both of our cars paid off by the time 2009 rolls around.

Big PROPS to my wife because she does our finances.

Thanks babe for doing the hard work and for giving me a generous allowance each week. 🙂 I love you babe!

2008, Discipleship, Ethos, Leadership, RTM

2008: The Year of Trying

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In his book, If Only, psychologist Dr. Neil Roese makes a distinction between two different types of regret: regrets of action and regrets of inaction. A regret of action is doing something you wish you hadn’t done. A regret of inaction is NOT doing something that you wish you had done. In theological terms, action regrets are the result of sins of commission while inaction regrets are the result of sins of omission.

I think the church has fixated on sins of commission long enough. They may be easier to quantify, but the greatest regrets at the end of our lives won’t be the things we did wrong. Our greatest regrets will be not having done the right things- things we could have, should have, and would have done.

Action regrets taste bad, but inaction regrets leave a bitter after taste that lasts a lifetime. they haunt us because they leave us asking ‘what if?’. — Mark Batterson, Chase the Lion

I am so excited about the new year.

I understand that today is really no different than yesterday. There is nothing magical about January 1st. No pixie dust fell from the sky last night and I only saw one unicorn in the wee small hours of the new year so it isn’t really that special.

However, we all live by the calendar and the first day of the new year just lends itself to the feeling of a fresh start. I have been ruminating over the passage from Batterson for quite sometime. Back in October a few friends of mine and I caught a glimpse of a coming movement. A movement that desires to see God’s people throwing off all that hinders them and becoming a force that once again changes the world.

I feel like 2008 is the begining of something spectacular. The movement begins in the heart of individuals as the seek to glorify God in all that they do. Day by day I am trying to connect to this desire a little more than the day before. I invite you to join me.

The road ahead might be frought with dangers: apathy, criticism, and rejection. The key there is “might be”. I’m no longer interested in being afraid of what dangers there “might be.” Are you?

2008: The Year of Trying

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You Might Die Trying
Dave Matthews Band

To change the world
Start with one step
However small
The first step is hardest of all

Once you get your gait
You will walk in tall
You said you never did
‘Cause you might die trying

If you close your eyes
‘Cause the house is on fire.
And think you couldn’t move,
Until the fire dies
The things you never did
Oh, cause you might die trying
‘Cause you might die trying
You’d be as good as dead
Cause you might die trying
Cause you might die trying

If you give, you, you begin to live
If you give, you begin to live
You begin, you get the world
If you give, you begin to give
You get the world, you get the world
If you give, you begin to live