Vacation Update

A few interesting things we've done so far...

1. We went snorkeling at Red Reef Park in Boca Raton, FL.
We saw lots of fish near these rocks.
I saw a two-foot long barracuda.
Dakota loved looking underwater with his mask.

2. I hired a plumber to put in a new water heater in our condo.

3. I hired a glass cutter to fix our broken door.

4. We've swam EVERYDAY in the pool!

5. We have hung out with the walker family and had great times.

6. We went to a great church last Sunday.

Four days left and we will swim, swim, swim....
VERY limited wifi, cell phones not a priority, and afternoon naps!!!!
Great time with the family.

Broken wedding ring

Broken wedding ring
Originally uploaded by travis spencer

My wedding ring broke in the pool. i guess i'll be getting a new ring on vacation. good thing i don't believe in superstitions. My marriage is GREAT.

Sunday drive

Sunday drive
Originally uploaded by travis spencer

Stopped by the beach after church.

Day one

Day one
Originally uploaded by travis spencer

Next stop . . . Florida.

Next stop . . . Florida.
Originally uploaded by travis spencer

Me, wife, three boys, one van, 22 Hours = vacation in florida.

QUESTIONS for Our Discipleship Camp Panel

It was time to ask anything.
Approximately 70 high school students from all across Illinois were invited to ask anything during a session of Discipleship Camp. The panel was made up of a pastor, Youth Alive Campus missionary, a missionary wife, a family counselor, and a traveling youth communicator.

Here’s a sample of the questions:

Can the devil disguise himself as a human?

What is your opinion on the teaching of evolution in public schools?

My friend doesn’t want to live for eternity...what should I tell him?

What do you think about secular music, and books, etc... because Rob Bell talks about Christians being tour guides pointing out the truth wherever we find it...and there is some truth in secular songs...

Does a person need the Holy Spirit to have full Salvation?

When someone speaks in tongues, is it under conscious control or does the Holy Spirit completely take control?

How do you keep the “fire burning” after camp?

I was raised in church...but I still wonder if people didn’t just show up and make God up to feel good.

What is the church background of this panel?

How do you become a campus missionary at a full-time Bible College? Is it needed?

Why does the average teenager fall away from God once they get a boyfriend/girlfriend?

How can I stop sexual immoral behavior and masturbation?

How do I deal with the atheist in me?

How do I effectively use my testimony when my story is being a Christian who still struggles?

Do you think Jesus would go to church?

Where is all the stuff about Jesus being a young child?

Jesus says to sell everything we own and give it away to the poor and needy; what’s up with that?

Is it ok to be gay?

(We did not have enough time to answer all the questions, so I'll be posting and continue to provide answers for TOUGH QUESTION TUESDAY starting in a few weeks after my vacation.)

D camp tuesday

D camp tuesday
Originally uploaded by travis spencer

Outdoor journey service at d camp. It may be a hard road, but is with you always.

It's a Bagel Weekend

I live in Mattoon, Illinois.
Mattoon is the home of the main manufacturing plant for Lender’s Bagels and, amazingly, Mattoon makes more bagels than anywhere else in the entire United States. (I hope these stats are still current!)

In 1998 Mattoon and its famed Bagelfest got etched into the Guinness Book of World Records by making the world's largest bagel. Founder Murray Lender made "The World's Berry Biggest Bagel," which weighed in at an unbelievable 765 pounds.



Wonder what they do at Bagelfest? We have a bagel 5k run, bagel bow wow dog thing, bagel baby pageant, bagel parade, and a huge free bagel breakfast.

Watch a documentary on Baglefest HERE.

Favorite memory: I met Murry Lender in 1994 at Bagelfest, got my picture with him (before digital cameras) and he signed my early 90s white Bagelfest painter's cap. Then I went on an all-day date with my girlfriend (now wife) across Illinois and Indiana for a road trip adventure.

Happy Bagelfest, Mattoon.

Follow my bagel updates on TWITTER

UPDATE FROM TODAY

Current Prayers (that I can make public)

That God would set people free from addictive behavior and sinful desires Sunday morning at First Assembly. I'll be bringing part 3 of I Am Free. Free from sin. It won't be light a fluffy. Pray that people take it all in and ask God for total liberation.

That families would grow closer together through (the rescheduled) Water Wars Sunday afternoon. Pray that these families will learn to play together, pray together, and grow in faith together.

God would help me in my role as Discipleship Camp director next week for IYCM in Illinois. The sessions that our speaker is bringing will include true identity, dealing with struggles, and allowing God's Spirit to be a powerful aspect of everyone's life. The evening general sessions will be powerful, too. May God do amazing things in students lives' this week.

And... wisdom. May I always seek God's wisdom in my life as a dad, husband, and pastor.

the color of ga$

What color is your county?

Find out gas prices in your area.
http://www.gasbuddy.com/

Looking for a good vacation book.

I leave for vacation at the end of the month.
I'm looking for a good book to read.

However: I'm feeling like putting some restrictions on this book:

• Must be uplifting and inpiring.
• Cannot be a church strategy book. (I'm on vacation!)
• Light and relaxing.
• I prefer non-fiction.
• I want to read a good story that doesn't make me think of work.
• C'mon Don Miller...publish another book!!!

Please give me some suggestions.

the "reposted" to-do list (due to tech difficulties)

clean bathroom
clean interior of van for vacation
update Tom Tom for vacation
check online banking stuff
vacuum bedrooms
gather water toys for vacation
get dirt to fill in holes in yard
get sand for boys' sandbox
get haircuts for all males
clean kitchen
smash aluminum cans for recycling
try to fix van seat
gather life jackets for vacation
order part for water heater

14 items on the list.
We'll see how far we get.

What's on your "to-do" list?

Weekend highlights

Debt Free. We celebrated this weekend at First Assembly that our building is debt free. We're excited to use that mortgage money to invest in ministry that will help transform our community. God has exciting plans for our church and community!

Junk Free. I shared with Junior High and High School students this Sunday night at The Pipeline the importance of allowing God to clean the junk out of our lives. I shared my own personal story, I showed the Nooma video, Lump, and challenged students to examine their lives and write down all the junk that could be cleaned out.

Muted. Joy and I taught in Kids Factory Sunday morning on self-control and learning to control the words that come out of our mouths. At the end of the service, we put MUTE buttons on each kid and muted them. They couldn't talk until their parents unmuted them, and then they had to explain the main teaching topic of the day. (Parents loved their kids being muted!)

Outfished. I took the boys fishing on Saturday. I caught a nasty five-inch bullhead catfish. Riley (age 3) caught a big shad all by himself on a worm. Dakota (age 5) caught TWO fish, a bluegill and a shad. Fun day.

holy witnessing water

Good ol' Jesus H2O




Here's the company.

Your thoughts?

How can I pray for you?

I'm going to spend some time on Thursday praying for people in my community.

And I'd love to include you!

How can I pray for you?

Lunch = Inspiration

I meet with about eight ministry leaders from a few local churches every Wednesday for a book discussion. We just finished up Pop Goes The Church, by Tim Stevens.

I'm excited that tomorrow we all meet in Granger, IN to meet Tim Stevens for lunch. He was gracious enough to give us his lunch time to talk with us about his book, church strategy, and Granger Community Church.

I am jazzed about this opportunity. It is well worth our 4-hour drive to meet with Tim. He's loaded with information and inspiration.

Tim is very busy. Tim has tons of responsibilities at GCC. Tim has a thousand other things he could be doing other than meeting us for lunch.

I appreciate his willingness to invest in other churches. I'm grateful he'll set a side a few hours so I can soak up some wisdom. I believe those who serve and invest into others will be greatly rewarded in God's supernatural system of blessing his people.

Who would you like to have lunch with?

I am Free: Offense

I kicked off our July "I Am Free" series at First Assembly with a message on being free from offense.

Darts, crazy dreams, kissy kissy & smoochy smoochy, a pit, a prison, a palace, being offended, being jealous, being angry, being prideful, and incredible FORGIVENESS.

Listen here.

Quick-n-cheesy

Promo Video for our Water Wars



RSS readers {video embeded}

A stupid little promo video that took me 5 mins to do.
Enjoy!

July = Freedom

God is about to do something big.


This July we believe people attending First Assembly will be liberated on the INSIDE from several issues that have dealt with for possibly years.

I Am Free

We are gong to ask God to set us free from offense, debt, addiction and and ourselves.
We are going to ask God to break spiritual chains that have caused people to be slaves to life-controlling issues.
We are asking God to set us free. Total Liberation. Release. Freedom.

This will be a powerful four weeks at First Assembly.
Join us in person if you live in the area.
Join us in prayer if you want to partner with something Big.

Creative Chaos = Creative Church Ideas. Check it out.

loving my morning...

I love the morning kisses and hugs.

Gun Please....

Start reading from the bottom entry....
TIME: 1:12 a.m. Tuesday morning.


www.twitter.com/tspencer