Family means A LOT

Well this week was interesting week and a relaxing one as well.  The only thing I did, was hang out with family for the whole week.  I know it may come as a shocker to many, but I’m a family kind of guy.  I love people and I just love being around family.  Over this past week I was able to see a lot of family that I haven’t had the chance to see in a long time.  That’s a positive and I win in my column.  Quality time with them, without having to worry about whether or not this or that got done, no school work and pretty much just a chill week.  Didn’t get a chance to complete any of my practicum due to being out of town, but though it was a negative, the family was a positive.  It was a sacrifice that I would make any day anytime.  I encourage you that if you don’t spend time with your family to start.  It something that can go a long way and something that everybody should partake in.  Bless somebody this upcoming week with words and with your actions.  God Bless.  

Interesting week this week, it was a chance where we all had departed from school and we all made it home safely for the holidays.  Checked in with most of the mission buddies and they all got home safely.  Well as everybody knows I have a little bit of a handicap but I'm  not using that as an excuse but it is limiting me so far as to what I can do.  Monday I had to go in a get another stitch but nothing to major.  I was ate the church 3 days this week and helped out with a few different things.  Our youth group had a Christmas party and Eleesha, Clarence and I were a major part of that.  Ran to the store picked up things, set up things and basically did alot of behind the scenes work.  Serving pretty much. Then Wednesday was awesome had a opportunity to serve with somebody at the church at the local food bank.  It something that I have never dine before and it was pretty cool.  I was able to see the Law of the Lid not at work, but I did get to see some of the laws of Teamwork at work,  When I was getting ready to come home for break, people told me that this would be an important break, to exercise what we have learned and I can honestly say that I be able to see when they aren't at work.  This week I was able to get 15 hours completed which is pretty descent.  But I do like being home for the holidays.  So as Christmas comes around the corner, I  encourage you to remember the reason for the season.  Jesus Christ, Have a blessed day!

Icebergs

Now, finally we have reached three months in as leadership students here at Mission Baltimore School of Ministry.  At this point and time I did a lot of reflecting.  Which consisted of how I impact others, how I influence others, and am I becoming a leader worth following.  Overall I am not satisfied with myself simply because I don’t have it all together but at the same time I’m trying to lead others as well.  Honestly it is difficult at times, but during this reflection time I have learned that as being a leader we are like icebergs.  “The iceberg represents your leadership.  The 10% above the water is our skill.  The 90% below the water is our character.  IT’s what is below the surface that sinks the ship.”  So with that being said, our leadership affects everybody.  Influence is leadership, but our influence comes from our character, which comes from inside.  So there are two kind of leaders good ones, or bad ones.  But when you wake up, you determine which leader you will become, because of your character.  As we go throughout our days I challenge you with this statement. “Influence is gauged by CHARACTER” what kind of character are you going to have?

We are the Example

Leadership,  is a subject that is touchy to some, but also something that needs to be addressed as well.  It’s a key part of living and making it through life.  Finding ways to lead and motivate people are difficult at times, yes that is true.  But honestly  its needed and in times like those are where you truly define yourself and somewhat make your mark on society.  The easiest way to display leadership?  That has been a question that has been in my mind all school year.  But it is crazy how many times you could try, and  it is simple, it just gets over looked.  Being a leadership student here at Mission Baltimore, has it ups and downs, and ultimately when it’s all said and done, everything falls on leadership.  But the easiest way to display and portray leadership is by example.  As some know a few weeks ago we lost our leadership dog tags.  It really hit me why, were we really being “Ductus Exemplo” Leadership by example.  We failed at times at being a team which meant we are failing in leading them as well.  Sometimes our failures are our biggest teachers.  So as we go throughout our day, who are you being an example for?  Be an example in the positive way, God Bless.

Thanksgiving

Cough, cough, cough yea sums up my week.  This week I honestly have been sick for the most part, and it sucks.  Spending my thanksgiving sick and spent a lot of time with my family sick.  Didn’t really get much done due to sickness. 

But for what I have gotten done, I completed 8 hours of work, which consisted of painting table watching kids, and yard work at the church.  Also helping with the young men on your youth group nights.

But on Tuesday night I started not to feel good, and woke up Wednesday with a fever of 102.  Which meant that I wasn’t able to do much, later that day we traveled to Charolletsville to have thanksgiving with my grandmother.  But through sickness I have came to the realization, that the devil attacks those who are doing work for the kingdom, have known that I am mentally stronger than what I thought I was.  For the short time I was able to spend with the church and the youth group I found myself being useful to the young men in the church.  My favorite part of this week was obviously Thanksgiving and my least favorite would probably be being sick.  God has been telling me, hold on and push through great things are in store.

Thanksgiving Practicum

 Practicum!  Honestly I had no idea how this was going to turn out.  First I thought it was going to be miserable, but I was wrong.  This week was different, I arrived home from school on Monday and did absolutely nothing but sleep.  Some say its lazy but it was much needed. 

  So technically my Practicum didn't start until Tuesday, over our break we were required to have 35-45 hours completely.  But for this week I would like to say that I have recorded 36 hours so far.  I love my home church, and the people that are surrounded with it.  I have done it all this week and literally when I say done it all I mean it all.  I have raked the leaves at the church, cleaned the vans and buses, volunteered at the food distribution center, changed diapers, worked at the after school program, I ran the kids ministry for youth group night.  But I did it not really thinking about the hours, honestly I don’t even consider these things work, because its something I love.

Kids, and making people smile, those two things seem to be key for my Practicum.  I have learned that no matter what you do everything has to prioritize things especially when it comes the ministry part of life.  With ministry I have learned to preserve.  God has been telling me that over this time I have spent here at home that I need to continue to allow him to work through me and that my calling is defiantly with kids. 

So as we go throughout the day, I encourage you to persevere though difficultly times.

Most Like Christ

Mark 10:45 quotes, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  Here at Mission and at Freedom Church we believe that we are called to become fully devoted followers of Christ Jesus.  That we are made in his image, and we are called to be set apart, “We are most like Christ when we are serving others”.  Serving is a way to show Christ in our lives and help others while being selfless at the same time.  Mission challenged us with going out of our way to serve in our local community.  So for the month of October me and my brothers that I came to school with, decided to serve at our church and local community at the same time.  At our church we have some young students who just so happen to play football for their local high school.  What better way to served two in one.  So on Friday’s a group of us go and we run:  film, scoreboard, clock etc. whatever needs to be done to make the game a success we find it and do it.  The games usually run usually anywhere from 2 hours to 2.5 hours.  While serving it’s a great opportunity to minister to others, the good thing about serving is that you don’t have to speak to serve.  Your actions speak louder than words.  We were just fortunate  to be able to have the chance to witness to some people in the process.  We represented Freedom Church, Mission Baltimore School of Ministry, and most importantly Jesus Christ.  Remember, we are most like Christ when your serving others.  So as you go throughout your day I just challenge you to let your light shine be like Christ and let your light shine.  

Thank you mission

Life!  Don’t you just love life, haha I do, and I love the community and unity that comes along with it.  Here at mission, we believe in a New Testament community living, everyone is tight knit, and you really can’t hide anything from anybody.  You see the same people for the majority of the day.  Now I’m what you would call a people’s person.  But sometimes you just need to get away, not saying that it’s a bad thing, but over time I have realized that no matter how much you try to get away you’re always going to be around people.  Sometimes just listening to a story or sharing a story can make people smile.  Brighten days are something that I found out that we all have in common.  Its 9 unique individual’s right?  But overtime the chemistry can grow to become something amazing, that’s something that I have found out over time with this new group; that the community has grown.  This past week we went out to Helping up Mission and that’s when it all came together.  That’s where I saw our chemistry come together, that’s were I saw the even the simplest smile from our community/team/family can brighten someone’s day.  How we came through and made it possible to positively affect others.  As one of my favorite movies say, “Attitude reflects Leadership”.  So with that I just want to say thank you to everybody who works with Mission, you are doing a great job.  Love you guys.    

               

Possible

This week was a little interesting and short, the few days that we had were busy, then a few days were cut short due to Hurricane Sandy.  But in the meanwhile I observed something about some of the people in the community.  Some people use the phrase “I Can’t”, and honestly I really can’t stand that phrase.  It is an excuse for not allowing you to be pushed.  Being satisfied with were you’re at in life, and not wanting to change and grow.  Barriers!  I believe that every barrier that you face in life is a mental barrier.  Something that only you can break through if you truly want to, it’s not something that others can overcome for you, it’s an obstacle that is personal and only you can break through.  Being a leader you have to have the mental toughness to be able to break through difficult things, and even if you’re not the one that has a barrier up, be the motivator.  Be the one that pushes the issue.  I know from my own experience that when you push others that at that particular moment they aren’t going to like you, and you definitely aren’t going to get thanked for it.  Because they are forced to be pushed into something they aren’t comfortable with change.  But in the long run it’s for the better; I have been thanked for pushing others and allowing them to grow.   So as I leave today, who are you going to push? Who’s quitter are you going to test. 

Encounter Leadership

Busy! Busy! Busy!  That’s probably the only word that I know that could describe the week that I just had.  This week we had the opportunity to minister to the town of South Hill, Virginia which is my hometown.  From Sunday-Wednesday we were out spreading the Gospel and being all that God wants us to become.  But what stood out to me the most would have to be that I left two months ago, and people are still affected by the way I lead and the way I was able to impact their lives.  Now no, not to sound super prideful or anything but I just find it pretty cool the way that people are able tom impact others lives, to the degree of where they have changed.  The them for the youth revival was
“I Won’t GO Back”.  Truly I feel that if a leader impacts someone in the right way that they will change, not just a regular change but a change that will truly revolutionize their lives to the point where they say “I Won’t Go Back”.  Because when its all said in done Leadership is influence; nothing more, nothing less.  So in closing  I ask you this, who are you influencing?  

Where's your Leadership

This week I learned something that impacted my life more way than one.  As second year students which we are we lead by example.  Leadership students have the power and ability to influence those around them.  Because that’s all that leadership really is, “influence”.  Speaking on my own behalf, we are called to be the example in relationships, faith, and culture; we are called to lead with integrity, excellence, and honor.  There are only two types of leaders:  Bad leaders and Good leaders, the type of leaders you are is determined on you.  You can either uplift your community and those around you or you can bring destruction.  Like I have stated that being a leader automatically elevates you higher and brings you to a higher standard of living.  For the past few days, I have been down.  Don’t really know what it is, but it has ultiantmily affective us a community and family.  Sometimes it takes ones mistakes and failures to recognize a hole in a community.  That way they can be fixed, first hand I can say that it’s a humbling experience to say the least.  But its good, even as a leader sometimes you need correction and guidance, that’s the only way you can be successful and become a good leader. 

Leadership in a new way

This was also another busy week here at Mission Baltimore.  Usually I have been talking about the things that we have been learning in our leadership classes.  But something unique seemed to happen this week.  Not that what we have been learning in our leadership classes haven’t been great, but its how effective what we learn can be.  As I have already stated, our first year students are all girls.  And as we know girls think and take things in a totally different way.  But everybody has a way to be motivated, even when you don’t feel like it is possible.   One of our laws state “leadership is influence nothing more, nothing less”, your influence never goes unnoticed.  The slightest things you do or say can impact a persons life.  Sometimes showing you care in the easiest way to impact somebodies life.  That was proven this week, not even noticing or trying, but being yourself, and being that “Light” that God has called us to be could be the very thing that people need in their life to give them that perservance they need to keep stiving to be all that God wants them to become.  Remember in Philippians 4:13 says “I can do all things through Christ that strengths me.”  Not matter the situation! ALL THINGS!!!!

Serving not Served

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give himself and his life as a ransom for many” found in Mark10:45.  That passage of scripture speaks directly to the disciples and the Christ followers that we are called to be.  Servants are nothing but a person or persons working for one another, especially to perform domestic duties.  So with that being said, we are to pattern and model our life’s after Christ.  We should all have a heart of a servant, because as our pastor says “we look the most like Christ when we serve others”.  Not just serving in the church but serving in the local community as well. So on our free days or as we like to call them Sabbath’s.  Me and a couple of my roommates take time out of the day to go out and serve at a local church at an event called “Feed my Sheep”.  “Feed my Sheep” is an organization where people come together twice a week and work a thing that is kind of like a soup kitchen.  It’s a great feeling to serve others.   Also known as me third living.  It is a great feeling to serve others and see the smile on others knowing that you did it but serving and showing Christ to others.  When the people came in and we served them it was a blessing.  Not just serving but letting our light shine to them with just everyday normal conversations.  Serving are key to winning souls to Christ. 

Inner Circle

Well first and for most I would have to say that this have been one of the busiest weeks of my life.  While it was busy I have also had the time to just sit back and observe everything that has happened in this week’s span.  Being here at mission everything has it pros and cons especially when it comes to anything involving leadership. Leadership yes is influence but the influence can be a negative or positive thing.  Yes we all know that leaders are not the perfect type of person but at the same time they are the type of person you should want to model yourself after in one way or another.  While being a leader, there is this thing called an inner circle, which states that a leaders potential is determined by those closest to them.   I learned that in order to become a great leader, surround yourself around those who have leadership qualities and those that will keep you accountable.  

Lel

So far I would have to say that my leadership has been anything short of amazing. This school-year is challenging but for many reason, not the kind of challenging that I don't that will be able to finish with. But the type of challenging that would just make the year somewhat difficult. All of the leadership students are guys and all the discipleship students are girls. I found throughout our study of the 21 laws of leaderships that the easiest way to lead them from a distance would be "law of leadership" which states leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. You can influence people in more than one way. Your actions as a leader speak louder than words. Leadership is influence not just a title, because you have the title "leader" doesn't really make you a true leader. The law of E.f. Hutton states "when the real leader speaks people listen". Trust is the foundation of leadership. Leaders must have integrity and trust of their followers which ultimately goes back to influence. That's key to everything when you influence them well enough they will soon trust you, then when you speak they will truly listen. How well you lead is shown in the followers you have

This Time it's Personal

This month was the busiest month that I have had here this year. We worked with Reggie Dabbs, Abaco, Cleansing Stream, and End of the Year test. Busy, Busy, Busy But I did find time to help out the community and the local church. It has been a pretty good year, and I love interning as a youth pastor at harvest.  So realizing that the time was winding down, I decided that on my Sabbath that I would hang out with my youth group and be with them outside of the church walls.  Talk to them on a personal level and they loved it, but I think that I loved it more than they did.  I also  helped my adopted father at the school I helped him move. He does a lot for me here and takes his time to work with me, so I felt that the least I could do was to take out some time to help him. He came and pick me up from the training center on a Sabbath, then took me out to Denny’s for a father son lunch.  I would have to say that that was a wonderful experience. Afterwards we went to the house, changed my clothes and we went to work. At first I was a little  uneasy about it, because he has a huge house.  But we went through a lot of thing sort through clothes, movies, furniture, and what not.  Will sorting through things I noticed that he had a few pictures and posters that he didn’t want.  He remember that I was a sports freak and they were football and basketball posters and said that his biological son didn’t want they so he decided to pass it down to another generation, (a little joke, I’m his adopted son at school), so you know I didn’t turn that down.  Who would a thought that as you are helping others, others can help you as well. Then we  packed a bunch of boxes, and loaded them onto the truck, and such. We did that for about 4 to 5 hours. Then that next Friday afternoon we did the same thing loaded the truck, and unloaded the truck. Then next week was a little different I helped another person from the church, but it still involed brother Dale. I went to His new house that I help unload at, then I helped Mr. Scott pick up some stuff from Mr. Dales house. It was pretty cool how they decided to reward me. Going into I didn’t do It for a reward to for anything to gain. I simply did it to help and serve but they rewarded me with dinner at olive garden and they bought the house a few things. God take’s care of his children.

What i have learned

This week I learned a lot of things. But the most important thing that I learned was that there is a fine line between friends and leaders. But this lesson wasn’t from a person that is a first or a second year student. It was from a person who has already been through the program. There are some things that can be shared abroad, and some things that can’t cross that line or should not even be brought up. This came about during a conversation, no matter how mad or how frustrated you may become, throwing people under the bus just is not called for, you can’t do it. It’s not Christ like, and we; people who are striving to become fully devoted followers of Christ can’t let that happen. Also we found out this weekend that we can be a great family, we just all have to have the right attitudes.   Another thing that I learned is pay attention to details, no matter what you do, details, details, details.  It will be key!  This week I had a task to complete and didn’t really pay close attention to the details and you will pay the price if directions aren’t completely followed.  But I can say that in the end after certain conquences are made, that you learn from the mistakes that you make.  Whether or not you realize it, sometimes certain discipline is good.  It just depends on how you look at a situation and the mindset/attitude that you have!

BOdy SHop

This week was a pretty amazing week, just busy.  We did a lot of things.  Came back from Abaco, and then went on a Cleansing Stream Retreat.  We have not had a lot of time to work on our Physical Fitness or Body Shop. I did do pushup’s in the water, which made it harder because of the restince.  We also did some exercises in the water, but it wasn’t for a long period of time.  While we in Abaco, we played a few games of basketball that worked on our legs, and endurance.  Sunday I had a little time, I decided to walk and just have a conversation with God.  Today, we did a Test that shows our Growth over the School year.  My Growth was made and I have grown 20% for the whole year due to all the body shops.

Serving

This month was the busiest month that I have had here this year.  We worked with Reggie Dabbs, Abaco, Cleansing Stream, and End of the Year test.  Busy, Busy, Busy But I did find time to help out the community and the local church.  I helped my adopted father at the school I helped him move.  He does a lot for me here and takes his time to work with me, so I felt that the least I could do was to take out some time to help him.  He came and pick me up from the training center on a Sabbath, then took me out to Denny’s for a father son lunch.  Afterwards we went to the house, changed my clothes and we went to work.  Packed a bunch of boxes, and loaded them onto the truck, and such.  We did that for about 4 to 5 hours.  Then that next Friday afternoon we did the same thing loaded the truck, and unloaded the truck.  Then next week was a little different I helped another person from the church, but it still involed brother Dale.  I went to His new house that I help unload at, then I helped Mr. Scott pick up some stuff from Mr. Dales house.  It was pretty cool how they decided to reward me.  Going into I didn’t do It for a reward to for anything to gain.  I simply did it to help and serve but they rewarded me with dinner at olive garden and they bought the house a few things.  God take’s care of his children.

What I have learned

This week I learned a lot of things.  But the most important thing that I learned was that there is a fine line between friends and leaders.  But this lesson wasn’t from a person that is a first or a second year student.  It was from a person who has already been through the program.  There are some things that can be shared abroad, and some things that can’t cross that line or should not even be brought up.  This came about during a conversation, no matter how mad or how frustrated you may become, throwing people under the bus just is not called for, you can’t do it.  It’s not Christ like, and we; people who are striving to become fully devoted followers of Christ can’t let that happen.  Also we found out this weekend that we can be a great family, we just all have to have the right attitudes. 

What you Have

This week will be a week I will never forget.  I say all this because this week we were able to go over seas and take a missionary trip to Abaco, Bahamas.  We did a numerous amount of things there that we and them will both never forget.  While on this trip we took a visit to a little town called Peas and Mud.  Now before I explain peas and mud, let me say, people over here in America think they have it bad?  They haven’t seen bad until they go over there.  We Amercains complain, and say that we don’t have this and/or we don’t have that.  But we you go to Abaco, they have nothing, and at they same time you don’t see them complain like we do.  These kid’s wore the same clothes all week, some of them had to wear the other gender’s clothing because that is all they had.  Some of them never wore shoes and they smelt bad.  But you never heard them complain.  We did a little vacation bible school in the middle of their village and at the end of service we passed out candy and stickers.  And it was quite amazing how they respond.  Yes Sir! Yes Mam! And they were so loving and caring even though they didn’t’ have much.  They were respectful and looked after each other.  That’s the mindset that we as Americans need to take on and just learn to be appreciate of what you have, not what you don’t have.

Body Shop, oh boy have I been working out and killing my body.  This week, we have been working on our endurance, stamina, and our strength mostly in preparation for the trail.  We worked on our endurance nonstop, this week was pretty much a leg week.  So Tuesday we ran in the morning with pastor Tim. Then after the running we did little circuit that worked on our strength, and muscle gain, shift of terrain during the trail.  Later that Tuesday, we figured that we might as well work out and get the most out of our day.  So all of the guys except one, and a former mission student decided to play some basketball, just to continue to work on our legs but to have a little fun at the same time.  Then Thursday, we ran about a total of 2 miles and did 200 ball push-ups as a team while we were split into

God is Always Working

Hello everybody, I’m back again this week to come and talk to you about what I have learned this week.  This week was really busy, and really tiring at the same time.  We had this, we had that, this, and that.  Pretty much this week, the whole time we were having something to do, well besides sleep that is.  Well Monday after one of my classes I had a conversation with one of the ladies from our church.  Having a good ole, time talking about how the Holy Spirit communicates and connects to others and I simply asked her did she need any help working outside or any yard work done at her house.  She looked kind of shocked, and then she went into detail, about how she needed someone to work on it this week, so she could be able to go to an important meeting. That she had been praying and I told her that I just felt led to.  Later that week, I had told her that our school had decided to go on a tour with Reggie Dabbs, and that I more than likely wouldn’t be able to help.  She said it was ok because earlier that day they had postponed that meeting so she could work and I could help go minister.  God is always working.

Never Too soon

Hey guys, It’s me David, back again this week, here to talk to you about what I have learned.  Ok, so last week,  I talked to you about how we learned to work together as a team, through the 5,000 pushups.  Well this week, I going to talk to you guys about the negative of not having good teamwork and how valuable teamwork is in the community that we live in.  Saturday we had body shop with Robert (guy house leader), and we played soccer first.  The soccer teams were highly uneven but when you work as a team, you can make progress, which is exactly what we did, and we kept the game close and had fun, yet we lost, we used teamwork.  Now for the negative, after our game of soccer we kept the same teams and played ultimate Frisbee.  Now, I would have to say that I am one of the athletic people here, but Frisbee is just a no go.  I terrible at it, and everybody had attitudes and didn’t work as a team.  It was like everything that we were taught just got thrown down the drain.  So no matter the situation you have to always remain as a team.     

Body Shop 2.0

This week, was more of a challenge in body shop.  For the simple reason is that I was tired and was super sore.  Sore from the week before that is, but this week was pretty cool, because as we running with Pastor Tim, and all of a sudden some of the former mission students decided to come and run with us.  That made it more fun, but at the same time gave us a little more motivation.  So, the first hour that we ran, we ran in intervals that totaled up to be about 1.5-2 miles.  That didn’t seem as hard as the first week with Tim.  We had this body shop on Tuesday and the wind and the cold air just didn’t mix, then you add in the running against the wind, made our run a little intense.  We had to run a lap, do ten pushups and run the bleachers with a partner.  My partner needed support, so I was there for him.  Thursday, we did a lot of mixtures.  Really worked on our endurance, and our short distance running intensely, we hopped the bleachers, and then ran them, and it worked our leg muscles.  Later that day, a few of the guys also decided to later right after, go play a game of basketball with Sam Bradshaw.  It was Ricky, Nathan, Josh, Sam, Justin, and I, we all went to Piney Run.  We played about 6 games, and that somewhat worked our cardio.  Kind of a second wind type of thing, because we had already ran for an hour earlier that morning.  Friday, we also had it pretty easy, we warmed up with a few laps.  Then we did a total of a hundred ball push-ups as a team.  Then ran a mile with a great team effort and that completed our body shop.

Weakness leaving the Body

Body shop, this week we did all of our body shops with Pastor Tim.  I have had some intense body shops here, but never back, to back, to back , to back.  Now I will admit that was something that I problaly would have never done on my own.  I liked his body shop because they were chanllenging and it did our body good even though we don’t see the benefits now, we will see them in the long run.  We ran miles, which worked our cardio, and we did a lot of push-ups that worked our upper bodies to the max.  Our arms and abs were also worked.  Then he combined them for us to run with medicine balls that were 10 pounds each.  That was ok until later that day were everything was sore.  We also did lunges, curls, dippers, hops, jump-ups.  I think this week we worked every muscle possible.  We worked out Tuesday through Friday from 6:00 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.

Teamwork with Tim

What a week, so this week as I talk to you guys about what I learned don’t be surprised about how much it is.  This week I learned a lot about teamwork and leadership.  Here  at Mission we leave in a tight net community and teamwork is almost a necessity to survive in such a small place.  We had a challenge given to us by our director to complete 5,000 push-ups but we were split up into three different teams.  My team was kind of difficult to work with, and this is where the 17 laws of teamwork really started to show and kick in.  Throughout the year some laws seemed to stick out more than others, but this week during this challenge all of them became apparent.  The law of the bad apple and the law of the price tag hit our team heavy; we had some players who just had a bad attitude throughout the whole challenge and it ultimately affect our whole team.  Because one selfishness and bad attitude it kind of rubbed of onto others, and then some of the team had to push out way more pushups so our team didn’t fell to reach our goal.  Law of Mount Everest didn’t happen which states “as the challenge elevates teamwork escalates.”  If that would have happened our team would have completed the challenge much easier.  Nevertheless, I team pulled it out and completed the challenge set before us. 

Personal

Ok guys.  Here I am once again back to share with you some of my personal ministry experience for this month.  For the end of this month we were on Spring Break and I stayed busy helping a lot of people.  Whether it was helping my youth pastor, after school program, or elders in the church, I spent the whole time volunteering over break.  Tuesday when I got home, I helped the churches preschool and helped serve with the little children.  Then Wedsenday Clarence and I helped with the church, we cleaned it and dugged up the weeds around the building and starting laying down molch.  We also we to our best friends house and worked on her yard.  Dug up old stuff and layed down new soil.  Thursday, we helped out with the Churches program with the kid’s all day, and for Friday I to the youth group and the drama team to another church and we did ministry work speaking, doing drama and etc.  It feels so good to come back to the start and you see it progressing like the way our group has done.  They seem to be doing good, and our youth pastor has seen a seed planted in us and they see the change that has begun to take place through God working through us, and it feels good to do work for the Lord.

Learning this week

This week, I learned that know matter what sleep is esstiental to keep going on your everyday life.  This week was loaded from day and night.  We stayed busy throughout the whole day and by the end of the week we were all exhausted, having the Exposure students down definitely didn’t help the situation at all.  But I’m not complain, but I just found it harder to completely engage with them throughout the whole weekend.  IT was three boys that came, and I found I pretty cool because they were in the same situation I was in a year ago.  I understood what they were saying and the point of views they had when we went down to the inner-harbor.  They also shared testimonies throughout the week and talked about how they wanted to become a part of something big and be bold for Christ.  But at the same time we let them know, that mission isn’t for  everyone.  Not shying them away just letting them know and they seemed comfortable with it.  It was good to see younger people ready to do things big for God and have a true heart for God.

Reunite Body Shop

Hey guys here I am back again. Wednesday I decided to take a walk and have a conversation with God as I walked throughout the neighborhood. That was the first time I have ever honestly done that, also this week for work-out, we decided to do a little Mission-alumni basketball game.  Me, Clarence, and Ben decided to play with two former Mission students (Sam Bradshaw and Katy Sweep).  Around eight o’clock we were picked up and went to Piney Run Basketball Courts.  Playing full court basketball with just five people was pretty intense.  We worked on our endurance and our cardio.  Then during Exposure we all played a very large game of basketball in the rain.  It was a pretty awesome experience to engage in a sports game with them.  Worked a lot of our muscles in our lower body. 

Mission Boys

Hey guys it’s me again here talking about my body shop for this week.  This week was more of a guy type of week for body shop.  We had a lot of free time this week so we decided to take advantage and redeem the time, not mess around and use it to our advantage.  Tuesday we had a block of time that was free and we used it to have male bonding, and played basketball, 3 on3 and it was a pretty intense game.  It actually had blood sweat, and tears involved for the first time.  It really worked our legs, and it worked our cardio, because playing 3-on-3 full court can get you really tired really quick.  But at the same time on Friday when we played again on our sabatth we figured out were our strengths and weaknesses are as a team and it made us work harder to achive the seventeen laws of teamwork. So we decided to act professional and wear jersey’s as we worked out and learned the laws of teamwork. 

Lessons for Life

Hey guys once again I am back, this week I would have to say was pretty instering.  This week I learned that we can not depend on the internet and modern technology for everything.  This semester I had a psychology class and I had to due my final exam. So I was in the middle of taking my New Testament Exam and my computer just erases everything and completely shuts down and whips out everything.  Of course if you know me, you know that I have some of the worst luck ever.  The week before my finals are due, my computer crashes with a numerous amounts of virus.  I was terrible and miserable, then the day it was due my laptop got fixed.  I finally was able to submit one of the exams for my New Testament class.  But for my Psychology class I had an eight page paper to write and a 10 page power point, I finally go to submit my PowerPoint and it just disappears and it was heartbreaking.  Then I had to start it over 2 hours before it was due.  Then I to type my paper, I tried to submit it and it wouldn’t allow me to.. I emailed my teacher and of course no response.  I week later my final grade comes out a 58.. I miss being in class hands on, instead of online class.

This has also been another busy week here at Mission.  This week we had the gathering and we had Knoxville’s Smokey Mountain Winterfest.  With both of the things that we had throughout the week it was kind of difficult to come up with 3 hours of body shop.  Luckily we had kind of a free day Friday at the hotel, after I knocked out an hour Thursday afternoon swimming in the hotel with a couple of the other mission students.  So Friday I decided to exercise in the gym with Josh (current student) and we ran the treadmills and the alternated between that and the bike, stair steps for an hour.  That exercise worked out our lower body and our legs.  While working out we have to balance the work between our upper body and our lower body.  So Saturday between our outreach project and our Night service we decided to do just that and work our upper bodies.  Alternating between pushups, curls, sit up, and dippers; then after the normal version we did this work-out weighted. 

Knoxville learning and gathering

Hey guys this is me again, this week I learned that beginning in Mission Baltimore is more than just a program.  It’s not just about yourself but it’s about representing God and the people around you.  This week we had the opportunity to meet with the rest of the Mission’s around America (Mission Florida, Texas, and Georgia. Seeing different programs based on the same system it gives you a view that others see you daily.  It gives you a chance to see how the programs in different locations help develop young followers of Christ just like us.  But the thing that I would have to say that I learned about this week is eagerness.  Being able and being willing to set your pride and your ego for YOUR personal mission to work together is simply amazing.  At first they had all the missions working at one both, and honestly I thought that that was crazy and that there was no way that it could work.  But we remembered what “THE GOAL” was not “OUR GOAL” which was to recruit and spread “THE MISSION”.  It relevant that we knew each other’s true hearts and how genuine we are, you really see these guys’ true hearts.  The gatherings was a time where we got to relax from everything and just really get to know each other for who we really are.  Shared life stories, experiences and testimonies was amazing, you never really think about it but there are so many people out there who truly have a heart and desire to follow after Christ. 

Serve to others.

So for this month I did a lot of helping out for this month.  My adopted parents were the first set of people I decided to help this week.  He asked could I help him take a car to the junk yard.  I am so skeptic about driving other people’s cars.  SO when he asked I was very hesitate.  But then I thought to myself he does so much for me, well him and his wife do, so the least I could do was help.  God blesses those who bless others.  I went with him and little did I know that just take a car to the junkyard would end up with a good time with my dad and he ended up taking me out for breakfast.  After breakfast we had a great time together and it led to me telling my testimony and it blessed him.  He said it’s good to see young people out serving and being in the Lord.  So after breakfast he told me that they had a plan to move and they were packing and cleaning to get ready to move in into there new house.  So I volunteered, I helped and it seemed like the day went by faster, helping people is easy and it brings joy to my heart.  I love helping others.  Later that week I also went to Feed My Sheep.  I love helping the homeless and serving them brings joy to my heart and I notice it brings joy to others as well.  God Created us to serve and make despoils of others.  So that what I am here for and that is what I will do. 

Work with What you Got

Body shop, Body shop, got love it man.  It’s just discipline for the body and it pays off in the long run.  This week I had the chance to play basketball with a guy named Josh who was part of the Mission Swap.  With new competition here I had to be on my A game.  Haha I couldn’t let him show me up and we played that Thursday for about an hour.  Playing Basketball works your leg muscles and your endurance.  So Friday, on our Sabbath I had the opportunity to have a body shop with the other person we received in the Mission Swap, me 3 others from our mission and Melanie also played basketball for about an hour.  Once again it works our endurance and our leg muscles.  Monday morning I had to find a way to accomplish another hour of Body Shop to complete our time for the week.  SO I had to wake up earlier, and went in the weight room.  TO my surprise there was nothing there, all things were gone, so  I had to work on push-ups sit-ups, and curls for an hour.  It was painful but had to get it done.  SO I worked for an hour and had to do each workout in sets of 15.  Sometimes we have to work with what we have and make the best of it.

Impacting without Knowing

Ok so this week was a very interesting and quite busy for me.  For the earlier part of the week I went with my mentor and we went to a minister’s conference in Cambridge.  Honestly my first thought was that I wasn’t ready to do anything of that sort and that I was way to afraid to be in that position.  It was pretty cool though, after I got past the first set of butterflies and I did away with the negativity the week went a lot smoother.  I tend to get ruffled and torn out of shape when I have a lot of things on my plate, but in the back of my mind I know I can overcome things, I just have to keep that mind state at all times.  Then later on this week, we went on an outreach in the underprivileged neighborhoods.  They really look up to people who are genuine and they can really see the hearts in people.  I met this little three year old boy and he called himself “Fatman”, I was helping him go up and down the hills on his little tricycle and he asked could I be his big brother and that when I smile he likes it.  Deep down I wanted to just pick him up and keep him forever, but in reality all I could do was jus love on him.  He asked could I come back tomorrow because he wanted to see me again, he said he liked my necklace, so I gave it to him and he smiled and said thank you “Big Brother”.  Who would have known just being real and showing someone a smile would have made there day and encouraged them to smile

Winterfest Workout

Hey guys it’s me and I’m back again with another workout session.  This week for body shop, we had a little extra time so I and few of my buddies played a few games of basketball, as a form of working out.  We played for like an hour and a half.  At first I thought playing ball simple and fun “But after the third or fourth game your stamina starts to show itself”.  It was a completely good work out for my calf, and legs.  I had to push through and we had to play together and it was a good way for us to use our teamwork laws that we had learned at the beginning of the year.  Then while we were at Winterfest me and other student named Josh, went to the weight room,  We worked our upper body and the we switched to our legs, (treadmill, stair step and the bike machine).  Then on Saturday I went for a little 30 minute swim to complete my 30 minutes.  Swimming works your whole body and increases your stamina. 

Winterfest=Learning

This week went by so fast, and we were really busy.  But we had another Winterfest that we attended this weekend.  Go to Winterfest is a great experience and a great chance to see others have an encounter with God.  Once again I was set to work cameras.  Cameras are pretty cool and I enjoy them for the most part.  Being on that platform you see things you normally wouldn’t see if you were out on the floor or working on the normal ground.  I honestly can say that I have never really seen a various amount and different group’s actually come together for one common goal (Jesus).  As I was working the camera’s  I was pulling for a wide shot of the crowd and I saw something completely amazing. There were Whites, Blacks, Jamaicans, the Islanders, Canadians, and Dominicans together worshiping; laying hands on each other and praying for each other on one accord.  It was touching actually, and it shows you the power of God.  When God is there moving great things can happen, you just have to have that mind state anything can happen.

God Bless,

David Marriner

Workout Plan

Once again I’m back here informing you about my fitness.  This week I had to add a little extra since I didn’t complete the total hours required.  So this for 3 mornings straight:  Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I ran for an hour each.  Once again I have to keep my cardio and endurance up.  Sunday I had to find time to work in two hours somehow.  That happened because the lack of order from the week before.  So I had to do a hour of upper body work outs and later that day I had to run for an hour.  Believe me after this week I am hurting but it is good for the flesh in the long run.

  Hey guys I’m back again, this week I’m going to talk to you about people watching what you do.  Ok so here at school I have the opportunity to become an intern youth pastor.  With that in mind, working around kids all the time, they tend to pick up on what you do.  They make you become real 24/7 and you can’t really hind anything around them because they are so genuine and the can tell a truth from a lie.  But honestly they even pick-up on the slightest little things.  To the way you walk to the way you tie your shoes, it’s amazing.  So it was today after Sunday Service I took a couple of kids to eat together since it was our first Sunday back from Winterfest.  Around the table a few kids were sharing testimonies.  And as they were talking one of the students said “David I know you didn’t get to spend a lot of time with us at Winterfest, but we enjoyed the little time we did get to spend with you.  But the most touching part about the whole weekend was how you served even though you didn’t want to.”  I began to wonder what they were talking about.  “I saw when that man kept asking you to sweep the same spot of the room over and over again.” Some people that speak and teach about serving don’t always show it.  For some reason it’s different with you, I could tell that you didn’t want to do it but you did and you did it with a smile.  It makes us as youth respect and appreciate you much more.”  That statement meant more to me than you could ever imagine.  So the lesson is doing what is right all the time because you never know who could be watching at any given moment. 

This week was very interesting, it was the first winterfest and it was amazing. Some people say you would really experience the full effect if you went there as a student and not a worker.  But in my eyes I didn’t see anything wrong with working it.  Here at Mission they taught us to be servants so that what I did.  I was on the cameras, that was a pretty big job and to be honest I didn’t want to do it just because the amount of pressure I had on my sholders.  But ultimality I learned that I impact kids lifes so much.  I went to Winterfest with my school, I saw my youth group there.  I didn’t spend much time with them because of the job I was assigned. They understood that but every chance they got they were right there and they were just so grateful to be around me.  But when altar call came I saw them on there own start to pray for each other and they became a family.   That touched my heart and was the most important thing this weekend. 

Workout Plan

Hey guys back again with our workout plan.  So this week in body shop once again we had to have a total of three hours completed.  This week was pretty cold so I decided to do most of my workouts inside.  I have been pretty busy this week so I got behind so I started Thursday, I woke up early and ran around the neighborhood for an hour then went back to sleep, This worked on my cardio.  Later on that night before I went to sleep I did a little ab work-out mixed with dippers for an hour, pretty much went back and forth.  Then Monday I had to work on my upper body strength which involved working on push-ups, curls, and dippers. 

Great Encounter

So this week we learned many things that will affect us for the rest of our lives.  We are working a book called Disciples Victory and we talked about Truth and Faith.  But the most amazing expernices this week was when our school went to a thing called the Concert of Prayer.  That was amazing to see over a thousand of people on the same accord working together to hear God speaking! But the thing that stuck out to me the most was that as Christians so many of us are still stuck on tomorrow which doesn’t allow us to focus on today and that affects tomorrow.  That whole day was powerful, and we have to learn to mix prayer with sacrifice.  I’m guilty a lot of the times that when we pray when don’t wait and listen to see what God is actually saying.  I hear it all the time that we need to listen but when you actually stay patient God speaks and the outcome is wonderful and amazing.  Throughout the day I learned a lot but now the hardest thing is keeping it constant and applying it to our everyday lives not just for us but for the improvement of our relationships with Christ

God Bless

Serving others

This new semester Mission has brought new dynamics to the table.  They challenged us to do more ministry work.  As the call for the ministry work increased, they also challenged us to do some on our ministry work on our own.  This experience was kind of challenging, first of we stay busy for most of our time.  Secondly we don’t have a vehicle and I don’t personally know many people in this area.  Those two predicaments affect it drastically.  With all that a group of us first year students decided to work together and each person take a part and pull some strings and we were able to work out a thing to were we went to a place called Feed My Sheep.  Now Feed My Sheep is a program where people come together every Thursday and Friday and work a thing that is kind of like a soup kitchen.  It’s a great feeling to serve others and see the smile on others knowing that you did it serving Christ and that’s all that matters to me.  When the people came in and we served them was truly a blessing to me, serving with some of my classmates and the people that work there is truly a great experience.  Just being there and interacting with them is awesome way to touch them.  Later on that week me and two of my buddies from school, went to a lady from churches house.  There we just talked and ate then had a great devotion.  Conversing with older people is a benefit for the youth and the older people.  Many people say that older people have much wisdom,  which is very true.  Just for the 3 hours we spent there you learn so much and you see how people that have been through certain problems and situations in live view things.  They really enjoyed the fellowship and we did to.  You never know who you may affect throughout the day,  sometimes the simplest things can brighten peoples day.   I love serving and I’m ready to do it again very soon.  Here is a picture of our group at Feed My Sheep.

Physical Growth

Hey guys it’s me again, this time we are going to talk about health and fitness.  Many of y’all probably don’t know this but I’m a diabetic.  So being healthy is a strong part of my life.  In order to stay fit, in shape, and healthily you have to eat some of the right foods and exercise.  Exercise is a good way to stay physically fit.  Throughout every week I take an hour out of my day and workout with a buddy in a thing I like to call body shop.  Body shop is just where you work out at you own pace, but enough to push you out your comfort zone.  Last Monday I did sit-ups, pushups, curls and squats in set of 20 for thirty minutes, then right after that I ran for 30 minutes.  That work out worked on my upper body and my cardio which also helps me keep my sugars down.  Thursday I and a body shop buddy ran for an hour so I can build on cardio.  Then Friday afternoon I   did crunches, pushups and worked on the bench press also in sets of 20.  Worked on my abs and my upper body again, body shops are fun with partners and I usually listen to music to get me pumping.  Here’s a picture of me lifting, Stay tuned next week and I will show you a video with highlights of the body shop. 

God Bless,

David Marriner

Learning through experiences

Hello everybody my name is David Marriner.  Here I am a student at Mission Baltimore School of Ministry.  I’m new to blogging so hopefully this will be a great experience for me, I will be posting two blogs a week; stay tuned,  check out and hope you guess enjoy.

  This past week I learned how it felt to become Homeless.  Taking a step into their shoes, experiencing and going through some of the tough things they endure is pretty rough.  After that experience you really appreciate life and how good some people have it versus out living on the street.  Grant it, I was just for one night but that was something I honestly never want to do again.  Being up north stuck in the cold with no food or shelter is not fun.  But as we were homeless, the true homeless people had a positive mindset.  It’s amazing that even though the way they live that they aren’t having negative mindsets.  They found a positive when their situation really wasn’t positive.  So with all this being said I just want to say to everybody out there, be grateful for what you have and who you have.  Because things could be worse, keep your head up, stay positive, and never get discouraged with any situation the world throws at you. 

God Bless you,

David Marriner