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MAY/JUNE 2014
A BAR
& A Barn Church can be anywhere FCA
Sport Camp Christ-centered athletics
RUN 4
Heaven’s Gate
Half marathons help kids
Homeschooling One parent’s view
Pastor Keith Brown & Pastor Jim Atkins
Teaching and Talk that Inspires, Encourages, and Edifies. New Life Live - Steve Arterburn Family Talk - James Dobson Insight for Living - Chuck Swindoll Turning Point - David Jeremiah Family Life Today - Dennis Rainey Matt Slick Live - Matt Slick Focus on the Family - Jim Daly Truth for Life - Alistair Begg Destined for Victory - Paul Sheppard
5-2014
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Contents May / June 2014
Columns
“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you.” — Isaiah 26:3
Volume 2, Number 3
Health: 10 Maximum Two roads
13
Editor Gaye Bunderson gayeb@sterlingmedialtd.com 208-639-8301
Outdoors with Dougherty: Gone fishing
Free: Features 14 Breaking ‘Christ-esteem’ – Part II
A health care mission
6
R4HG: How you can get involved
7
& Finances: 24 Faith Smoking ‘hopium’
8
Brighter Side: 26 The Derrick Boles
Community Clinic:
R4HG:
Half marathons help kids
Cover Story — Church Can be Anywhere
from Home: 20 Notes Embracing nerdiness
This: 28 Consider Live for love Toolbox: 30 Marriage Parenting’s impact
Departments 12
Common Ground: God, bikers and a bar
Sanctuary in Star: Gospel with boots on
FCA:
Christ-centered sports
Homeschooling: One parent’s view
16 17 18 22
www.boisechristianliving.com
Christian Businesspeople: Larry Knapp
Contributors Dan Bobinsky, Carl Boockholdt, Dan Dougherty, Dani Grigg, Leo Hellyer, Hilarey Johnson, Joel Lund, Rosie Main, Brian Raymond, Dan Woodworth and Ron Kern
Website Design SEO Idaho Webmaster Design Kyle Struchen
The Missionary Life: Cru’s Jessica Christofi
In Each Edition 5
Graphic Design Denice King
Cover Photo Steve Jones
Summertime Chicken Salad
4
Sales & Marketing Melva Bade melvab@sterlingmedialtd.com 208-501-9024 • Maria Jones mjones.bcl@gmail.com 208-353-2090 • Sandy Jones boisechristianliving@gmail.com 208-703-7860
Distribution Specialists Doris Evans and Shauna Howard
19 Creativity in the Kitchen: 25
Publisher Sandy Jones
Publisher’s Corner: Celebrating new beginnings Quotes & Scripture: Scriptures of joy
Christian Living is committed to encouraging and instructing individuals in their daily lives by presenting stories of people in the Treasure Valley who are living on a foundation of faith in Jesus Christ and who serve as uplifting examples to others. Views expressed in Christian Living do not necessarily represent those of the publisher. Every effort has been made by Christian Living to insure accuracy of the publication contents. However, we do not guarantee the accuracy of all information nor the absence of errors and omissions; hence, no responsibility can be or is assumed. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2014 by Christian Living Magazine LLC. Christian Living is published every other month and is available in over 800 locations throughout the Treasure Valley, including most grocery stores, convenience stores, medical waiting areas, and churches. If your church would like additional copies please email us today at boisechristianliving@gmail.com
Christian Living | May / June 2014
PUBLISHER’S Corner
In celebration of new beginnings By Sandy Jones A year ago I was part of a wonderful team that had a dream — a dream to start a Christian magazine in the Treasure Valley. Gaye Bunderson as editor, Melva Bade as our go-getter sales executive, and I as the sales manager. We said a prayer, took a deep breath — held it — and plunged right in. This journey would have been much more difficult if we hadn’t had such a wonderful outpouring of support from our families, friends, pastors, and the community. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our mentor, Marilyn Tinnin, publisher of Metro Christian Living in Jackson, Miss., for her unending patience in helping us find our way and answering question after question (when many of the answers must have seemed obvious to her). Going to press with our sixth issue, we also celebrate a new chapter. In March, my husband Steve and I became the new owners of Christian Living, following God’s call on our lives for this new adventure: our own mission field, if you will. We are thrilled that Gaye and Melva are continuing on this journey with us, and welcome Maria Jones as our newest
sales executive. Although Maria and I are not related in any way, she is a great addition to our Christian Living family. I invite you to read through the contributions of our many wonderful writers, each allowing a glimpse into one segment of life, sometimes making us chuckle or giving us pointers on how we might improve our lives. After all, our goal is to uplift, entertain and enlighten you! As we go into May and June, I pause to fondly remember the Mother’s Day mushroom hunting trips of my childhood, with five kids piled into the old station wagon, bumping down the dusty mountain roads, laughing and carrying on. Stopping midday so Dad could barbeque those ol’ toughskinned hotdogs, and then stopping at Triangle on the way home in the afternoon for ice cream, tired and worn out after a fun-filled day of hiking, climbing and searching for those ever-elusive morels! Father’s Day was Dad’s turn, with trips to the Snake River for a night of catfishing. Finding our way by the light of the old gasoline lantern, camping on the shore, with the moon and stars for the roof over our heads. More hotdogs, of course …
May / June 2014 | Christian Living
Sandy Jones, Publisher Christian Living Magazine
and being amazed at how Dad could out-fish all of us every time! Oh, we have great tales to tell of those night and weekend trips. Tales of gale force winds, or nights so calm and hot you could barely breathe. I always laugh as I recall the night Dad was throwing a rock at “something” and when asked what he was doing he replied that he was trying to shoo away a skunk. Oops! Fortunately for all of us he missed! As much as I miss Mom and Dad, I also draw on the strength they showed the six of us kids and our families. Today I revel in my own children and four grandchildren, hoping that my husband and I are making the same kind of solid impact on their lives that Mom and Dad made on us kids. By no means do I walk on water, and I confess that I have the perfect prodigal testimony. I am merely a sinner, saved by grace and trying to shine His light in our community. Please be sure to frequent and thank our advertisers. They truly make printing and distributing Christian Living possible; for many of them, we are but one of the ministries they support, and we never lose sight that without them, we would not be able to do what we do. n www.boisechristianliving.com
QUOTES & Scripture
Let the Bible help you find joy Do you believe God created us to be miserable? Or do you believe he created us for joy? There’s no denying we live in an immensely complicated world, and our lives are subject to troubles of all kinds. But the Bible has to lot to say on the subject of joy. For instance:
For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock. Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the Lord. Hear my voice when I call, Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. — Psalm 27:5-7
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Be full of joy in the Lord always. I will say again, be full of joy. Let everyone see that you are gentle and kind. The Lord is coming soon. — Philippians 4:4-5
Continued on page 29
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Christian Living | May / June 2014
COMMUNITY Clinic
Clinic seeks to empower patients
Steve Reames is executive director of Genesis World Mission and the Garden City Community Clinic. (Photo by Gaye Bunderson)
By Gaye Bunderson Steve Reames, executive director of Genesis World Mission and the Garden City Community Clinic, said the notion that free clinics for low-income individuals are going to just go away with the advent of the Affordable Care Act is “a laughable proposition.” Garden City Community Clinic and the 1,500 similar clinics across the U.S. get no federal aid. That distinguishes them from community health centers, such as Terry Reilly Health Services in southwest Idaho, that do receive some federal funding. GCCC’s clientele includes people in the state’s lowest economic demographic. However, the difficult position these people find themselves in, according to Reames, is that because they fall well below the federal poverty they neither qualify for Obamacare — as the ACA has come to be known— or for Medicaid (Idaho opted not to expand Medicaid coverage for indigents). One of the things Garden City Community Clinic is trying to accomplish is to get its patients increasingly involved in their own health care by helping them overturn behaviors that lead to illness. However, change is not necessarily easy and rational motivators don’t always work. For instance, Reames said, if people acted logically, then simply having a physician tell them that cigarettes are bad for them would lead to the cessation of smoking. “People don’t respond to a doctor saying ‘do this or do that,’” he said.
May / June 2014 | Christian Living
Genesis World Mission also works in Kenya, helping meet the health care needs of the poor in that country. Some of what its medical missionaries have learned in the African nation is being transplanted to the clinic in Idaho. “In Kenya, we’re helping people have some self-determination,” said Reames. “We’re getting people to identify the problem and the solution themselves. They’re accepting some ownership of it.” Similarly, at the Garden City Community Clinic, medical and other volunteers are helping patients take an active role in their own wellness — not a unique concept necessarily but one that is undergoing a revamping of sorts at GCCC. “We’re asking, ‘What are the deficits and strengths in your life?’ Then we go alongside them instead of coming at them,” Reames said. “We say, ‘How can we look at this problem together?’ “People come alive when they see they are participating in solving their own problems. They come up with solutions we, the experts, don’t even see.” Relationships, food choices and accountability count as much toward good health as medication and a visit with the physician. Reames said that GCCC is seeking to create a community within the community clinic — even in the waiting room, where people tend to read their magazines in a solitary fashion. “It’s far more effective approaching these things together,” he said. One example of this was Cooking Matters classes offered through the Idaho Food Bank which some of the patients of the clinic participated in within the past year. At the end of the six-week healthful cooking course, the clinic members, hating to see it end, decided to meet together in one participant’s home and continue on their own, even adding walking together for exercise twice a week. “They were not isolated,” Reames said. “They were doing this together.” On Sundays, Reames serves as one of the pastors at Discovery Church in Boise. He feels that helping people transform adverse behaviors into better health outcomes is a definite form of discipleship. “Sermons alone are not effective in training people up,” he said. With the clinic and other patients alongside them, “(Patients) can practice what the physician says with encouragement, support and direction.” But discipleship is not a fast process and Reames acknowledged it may takes years for clinic patients to work through some of the things they confront, on both a health and personal level. The process is being used in both Boise, Idaho, USA and Kenya, Africa. “We’re walking with people through self-discovery, telling them, ‘Stand up tall … you’re no longer a victim, you’re in charge.’ It’s such a confidence booster just to have them identify their problems. When you feel you’re a victim, you just give up.” Asked if he and other staff discuss their faith at the clinic, he replied: “Our focus is on demonstrating love. We demonstrate what love looks like in the realm of health care.” n Genesis World Mission and the Garden City Community Clinic are always seeking volunteers. Contact Rheames at 854-3942 or steve@genesisworldmission.org for more information.
www.boisechristianliving.com
Run 4 Heaven’s Gate: How you can get involved By Hilarey Johnson If you live in the Treasure Valley and want to participate in the 2014 Run 4 Heaven’s Gate, there are a number of things you can do: • Pray for the kids in India, the runners and the sponsors. The races take place in October. Find out more about the India outreach at sendhopenow.org/where-we-work/india. • Sponsor a runner at run4heavensgate.org. • Become a business sponsor and get your logo on the back of the runners’ shirts. • Sign up to run or walk with them. • Become a team leader and organize a group to participate. • Inform your church about the ministry so it can bring a team.
2014 schedule
Summer training begins July 19: 11-week group training for walkers and runners of all experience levels Race Series – 2014 Run 4 Heaven’s Gate • Saturday, October 4 – Run for the Hills Half Marathon • Sunday, October 12 – City of Trees Half Marathon • Saturday, October 25 – Rush Creek Stampede Half Marathon • Saturday, November 1 – Run 4 Heaven’s Gate Half Marathon Registration and information For more information or to register online, go to http://boiserunwalk.com/run-for-heavens-gate.html. Calvary Chapel Boise — Dottie Bledsoe at dottie@run4heavensgate. org or 850-8624 or Boise RunWalk — Coach Steve, steve@boiserunwalk.com or 639-1434
Money raised
Calvary Church Boise has opened four homes specifically for HIV/AIDS-infected children with R4HG money and is reaching out to over 700 impoverished HIV/AIDS families in 10 states in India with monthly nutritional and medicinal support. They also care for the sick and dying. Monies raised by year: 2008 = $12,261.80 2009 = $21,442.24 2010 = $29,682.39 2011 = $107,291.03 2012 = $105,346.76 2013 = $93,284.72 Grand total raised = $369,308.94
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Christian Living | May / June 2014
DOTTIE BLEDSOE & R4HG
Running for a higher purpose By Hilarey Johnson When Dottie Bledsoe turned 21, she quit smoking and took up running. Shortly after, she became a Christian and what started as an attempt at better health came to embody her relationship with the Lord. “It’s taught me so much about being a Christian. Trials, persevering, enduring and all that stuff that comes along with running has transferred into my walk as a believer,” Bledsoe said. Not naturally athletic, she never played sports growing up — except for an awkward and mandatory season of basketball in Catholic school. “I was just … the worst on the team by far. I was just not coordinated; I was always tall and skinny. And I just couldn’t figure my body out,” she said. But since she discovered competing against herself, running became her sport. Eventually, she began running half marathons three or four times per year. In 2003 she tried her first full marathon, but it was a nightmare. “I was pregnant and didn’t know it,” Bledsoe said. Then she began to have babies and didn’t try a full marathon again for 10 years. Bledsoe and her husband Steve began to support a child in India through the outreach of their church, Calvary Chapel Boise. In 2007, Steve took a trip to serve and see the outreach operation for himself. Already tenderhearted toward children, “they stole a piece of his heart,” his wife recalls. Once the couple understood the scope of the ministry — 10 Homes of Hope and more than 450 children — they wanted Dottie Bledsoe, founder of the Run 4 Heaven’s Gate fundraiser, poses pre-race in to be a bigger part of it. 2013 with her daughter Millie. (Courtesy photo) The Bledsoes attended a fundraiser for a family in the Something began to ignite in Bledsoe’s heart as well, and she process of adopting a child from Haiti. The family sought to too wanted to help children with AIDS. She shared her plans raise $3,000 to send a shipment of high protein meals to the with Phillips, who came up with the name “Run 4 Heaven’s orphanage where their future daughter waited for the completion of the paperwork process. Bledsoe recalls the “grass roots” Gate.” A quick announcement was placed in the following Sunday’s church bulletin. fundraiser in the backyard, complete with Haitian food and That weekend the Bledsoes were out of town camping. a silent auction of Haitian items. With about 40 people in atWhen they returned to cell phone range, several voice mails tendance, the $3,000 goal was met. from eager participants awaited them. A group was formed to The fact that the adoptive family acted — instead of meet for prayer. A total of eight people sent out letters seeking complaining or feeling powerless — inspired Bledsoe. She donations and ran “four in four” that year. They raised more felt empowered to do the same, and she and her husband than $12,000. brainstormed for ideas that would help the children in India. The Run 4 Heaven’s Gate team has swelled, and to date Ultimately, they decided it would have something to do with they’ve raised more than $369,000. running. Bledsoe credits her husband for coming up with “four “It is so amazing to see where God has taken it,” said Bledin four,” or four half marathons in four weeks. soe. Calvary Chapel Boise’s vision is that the property “HeavThe first year, her goals were simple: send out some letters, en’s Gate,” out of all its orphanages in India, will be the place race 58.4 miles and hope for about $500. A handful of her where children with AIDS come and spend their last days. regular running partners committed to join her. If there is enough funding, Heaven’s Gate will take any child. She spoke with Lauren Phillips, administrator at Calvary “It doesn’t matter if they are very sick with AIDS or if they Chapel Boise International Outreaches. The timing was divine. Unable to ignore the need, Calvary Chapel Boise was just are just in the HIV stage,” she said, admitting they do have to turn kids away when they don’t have the funds. starting to take kids with AIDS. It was a step of faith for the Fortunately, not all the children they take in at Heaven’s Gate church because of the intense requirements and the sheer scale come there to die. The first AIDS baby they took in seven of the epidemic. Pastor Bob Caldwell said the church already felt stretched be- years ago is thriving. “(The goal is to) make this much more than your typical oryond measure and taking on children with HIV/AIDS seemed phanage and to provide a real sense of family for each of these impossible. He recalls: “I knew if we opened that door, hunchildren who have seen so much death in their lives,” Caldwell dreds of kids would end up being brought to us as the AIDS said. epidemic had spread through India.” In order to do that, Heaven’s Gate invests heavily in the God had something planned though because, Caldwell said, children’s lives, nourishing their spirit, soul and body and cre“my own fear of being limited was overcome by the limitless ating an environment where they feel loved. love of God’s grace.”
May / June 2014 | Christian Living
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Organization, administration, printing the fundraising letters — every aspect is donated. Even Shu’s Idaho Running Company supplies the matching race shirts printed with business-sponsor logos. And since runners buy their own equipment and pay their own race fees, every dollar that comes in is sent directly to India for food, medicine, housing, and schooling. “It funds everything really … for their lives,” said Bledsoe. Other churches in the valley have caught the vision and already come alongside the Run 4 Heaven’s Gate annual fundraiser. Last year five additional Treasure Valley churches had representatives running. Bledsoe’s vision for the future: “I see it in different geographical locations.” “Anybody could do this,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be a church. It has to be one person who says, ‘I want to do it, I want to make a difference.’ … Looking back and seeing God’s hand in all this is just so crazy. He has literally orchestrated the whole thing,” Bledsoe said. Furthermore, she encourages us to be diligent with what He puts in front of us, whatever our gifts or talents may be. This made her laugh. “I’m not even a talented runner,” she said. But she does believe this is an extraordinary life and we are created with specific passions He wants to use. “He opens doors and a lot of times we don’t walk through them. I think a lot of times we are just content...” Concerning the time commitment of Bledsoe’s volunteering, she said, “My life would be a lot less complicated. But it would be a lot less rich. This is joy to me.” Recently, Bledsoe was able to travel to India herself and see the impact running has had on the ministry. She was a little nervous about seeing Third World conditions because of others who have returned in turmoil after similar experiences. She wondered if she would be changed to the point that she felt guilty buying an Americano or new pair of jeans.
“When I came home I really did not feel that,” she said, speaking of the peace she felt coming to terms with buying a cup of coffee. She believes God convicts everyone differently, but He impressed upon her that “I have you here (in America) for a purpose.” She feels living in the United States gives her the opportunity to use those blessings, “to help other people who can’t help themselves.” She also believes that each one of us should have the same mindset that we are blessed beyond belief, living in a culture of extravagance, but that God has placed us here for a purpose. Participating in Run 4 Heaven’s Gate takes more sacrifice than many fundraisers. Participants sacrifice their time to train (Boise Run/Walk offers a discounted training option), purchases everything they need as far as running equipment and race fees, commits to all four races, and mails their own fundraising letters. Bledsoe believes that sacrifice is what makes the experience so rich. “It’s a hard thing as Americans, because that’s not how we live our lives normally,” she said. She also believes it is the hard stuff that is the good stuff. She has seen it proven over and over. “We all have so much more in us than we think we do,” she said. n Hilarey Johnson is a freelance writer living in Meridian. She tends to an urban garden complete with chickens and teaches martial arts with her husband and children. She blogs infrequently at Hilarey.com and her first novel will be released soon. An unidentified runner in a 2013 Run 4 Heaven’s Gate half marathon raises his arms at the finish line. (Courtesy photo)
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Christian Living | May / June 2014
MAXIMUM Health
Which road leads to wellness? By Rosie Main “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world” — 1 John 4:4 You can miss destiny because you dismiss your potential. God’s greatness in you already — you have to just take action. “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these.” — John 14:12 Faith is fact and faith is an act. Get moving and we’ll see your faith. Sit back with objections or excuses or believing in your limitations and faith doesn’t go to work. Neither will you do greater things. God is greater than any fault, any disease, procrastination, any laziness, and any problem. Every knee and problem has to bow to Him. Your exception may be like an obstacle to you or a limitation, but it’s an opportunity to God. Your greatest setbacks are God’s greatest setups. Which Road Will You Take? Road 1: The Road Most Travelled or The Traditional Medical Model The Facts • Americans take 80 percent of the world’s supply of painkillers. • The citizens of Canada average 74 prescriptions per person aged 80 or older, 14 prescriptions per Canadian overall. • Nearly half of all Americans die of heart disease and cancer. • More than 5 million people in the U.S. have Alzheimer’s — a number that has doubled in the last two decades. • Antidepressants are the most commonly prescribed drugs in the U.S. at 118 million prescriptions each year. • 25,000 people are killed by hospital error in Canada each year, nearly 200,000 in America. • 1.4 billion people worldwide are overweight. The United States Congress calls this problem “as serious a threat as global warming.” • About 43 million children worldwide are diagnosed as being overweight or obese. • Autism, a severe neurodevelopment disorder, impacts as many as 1 in 88 children. • Over 60 percent of all bankruptcies are due to medical expenses; 78 percent of those people had insurance.
Rosie Main is a chiropractor, USA team doctor and a Maximized Living doctor. She owns Main Health Solutions at 2300 W. Everest Lane, Suite 175, in Meridian. She may be reached at (208) 859-6170 or rjmaindc@yahoo.com. For more information, visit MaximizedLivingDrMain.com.
Clearly, conventional wisdom when it comes to health hasn’t worked. The challenge is that people are looking for better ways to pay for or different ways to travel down the exact same road. So even if we made this road cheaper or added wellness exams, preventative “medicine,” or early detection scans, you’re still traveling down the same road. As a result, no matter what has changed, you always end up at the same destination: crisis, disease, and early death. Road 2: The Road Less Travelled or The 5 Essentials of Maximized Living ESSENTIAL 1: Maximized Mind The first essential is Maximized Mind. This essential is about understanding the true principle of health and healing to create a mindset of success. After all, it is function and lifestyle, not genetics, that determine well-being. Half of heart disease deaths can be avoided with lifestyle changes. Almost 200,000 lives can be saved if certain heart risk factors are cut, even modestly. ESSENTIAL 2: Maximized Nerve Supply Maximized Nerve Supply involves restoring and maintaining the proper function of the nervous system through spinal correction. George Bakris, MD, director of the University of Chicago
10 May / June 2014 | Christian Living
hypertension center, found that chiropractic adjustments reduce blood pressure better than two blood-pressure medications combined. Vertebral misalignment is common in patients with atopic dermatitis and bronchial asthma. Adjustments caused a 70 percent improvement in allergic disease. ESSENTIAL 3: Maximized Quality Nutrition Maximized Quality Nutrition is nutritional science that sustains well-being, disease prevention and ideal weight management. Overweight women are up to 60 percent more likely to develop any cancer. Diets loaded with healthy fats significantly reduce your risk of prostate cancer. If we eat more naturally and avoid the processed foods of modern society, we will live healthier lives. ESSENTIAL 4: Maximized Oxygen & Lean Muscle Maximizing oxygen intake and lean muscle mass can help reduce the damaging effects of aging. A study showed that if you learn how to exercise the right way through short bursts of maximum energy output, one can induce a “good” hormone response. Cutting edge exercise programs that work to facilitate optimum fitness in minimal time are your best bet. Just by walking 30 minutes a day, symptoms of depression can improve faster than with pharmaceutical therapy. ESSENTIAL 5: Minimized Toxins Minimizing toxins in your body increases its ability to permanently remove toxins from cells. The EPA reports that there are over 70,000 chemicals used commercially. These chemicals — found in household cleaners, plastics, pesticides, personal care products, foods, drugs, water, paints, fabrics, and floor and wall covering — are leading causes of cancers, gland issues, and many of today’s common diseases. Forge A New Path The road most travelled has made people sicker, unhappier, more overweight and more out of shape than ever. The modern medical model is not health care, it’s disease care. Don’t make the mistake of waiting for a crisis to think about your health. n
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CHRISTIAN Businesspeople
Larry Knapp: from hater to believer By Gaye Bunderson Larry Knapp admits he used to be a Christian-hating atheist. That’s pretty harsh coming from the man who now serves as the Northwest Director of the International Fellowship of Christian Businessmen. “I thought business and money was the answer to life,” Knapp said. His demeanor back then was self-serving and arrogant to the point that he contends “even my mother was ashamed of me.” The turnaround in attitude and lifestyle came in 1972, when he “met the Lord.” It all transpired through a business connection he made with a Canadian entrepreneur named Norman S. Jones, who ultimately became a close friend and mentor. “He was the most intelligent man and one of the most loving men I had ever met. He lived his faith. His home was peaceful. … He had no bumper stickers on his car,” Knapp said. In fact, at first Knapp was unable to discern the source of Jones’ contentment, never imagining he was the detestable Cword. Until he asked him. “He didn’t give me any Christian terminology. He said he lived ‘in a different dimension.’ I thought he meant drugs,” Knapp said. Then, Jones challenged Knapp about his views, asking, “What do you hate about Christians?” “They’re all hypocrites,” Knapp replied. “They go to church on Sunday and don’t act any different on Monday.” Then, Jones asked Knapp a pivotal question: “Have you ever invited Jesus into your heart?” If the question had come from anyone but this man Knapp regarded so highly, it likely would have gone forever unanswered. Nevertheless, Jones kept “loving and sharing” until eventually Knapp got to the point of being willing to give his lifestyle a try. “We prayed, but nothing happened at the table where we were sitting,” said Knapp. Knapp’s roots are in farming, and he still sports a cowboy hat. He worked in corporate America for many years, including then-Boise Cascade, and was a real estate mogul who bought and sold highend properties in downtown Boise. He has name recognition in the valley through his appraisal firm, L.D. Knapp & Associates.
Larry Knapp, a highly successful Treasure Valley businessman, serves as director of the International Fellowship of Christian Businessmen for the Northwest region. (Photo by Gaye Bunderson)
Back in the ‘70s, after Jones’ question to him, he said he was pulling on his cowboy boots one day and while sitting on the edge of the bed he looked up at the ceiling and said, “God, if you’re real, I’ll serve you. I’ll even go back to digging ditches.” It was a kind of challenge, a way of saying, “If you’re real, prove it.” Knapp doesn’t mention if his boots were off or on at this point, but he does say, “God’s presence knocked my socks off.” Ditch digging remained a part of his past, but God became very much a part of his life from then on. Even though he had been making a haul of money through his business dealings, he wasn’t a happy man. “If you’re climbing the ladder of success, you have to see which wall your ladder is leaning against. Mine was leaning on the world’s wall. Nothing fulfilled me,” he said. With God, he said, you need to go through something of an ego abasement and realize you’re not as hot as you think you are. Now, Knapp is a member and leader of the Boise-area Christian Businessmen’s group. Members meet at 7:30 a.m. each Tuesday at Wild West Coffee
12 May / June 2014 | Christian Living
in Eagle and at noon on Thursdays at Moon’s Kitchen Cafe on Idaho Street in downtown Boise. “Men can share what’s on their hearts,” Knapp said of the fellowship, which has several hundred members in the valley. Eagle mayor Jim Reynolds attends the Eagle meetings. “It’s kind of an eclectic group, a little bit of everything,” he said. “We have from 6 to 12 members (at the meetings in Eagle). It’s a great way to connect and find out what’s going on in each other’s lives and pray for each other.” Knapp’s current enterprises include the 3K Ranch (www.3kranch. com) and the 3K Event Center (www.3keventcenter.com), based in Star, and Real Cowboy College, a business he and D.R. Bledsoe launched at Seven Devils Lodge in Council. He clearly hasn’t lost his touch for turning a profit and said the Bible rejects the love of money, not the making of it. “God is generous, and He lives inside me,” he said, explaining that what God gives each person needs to keep flowing outward. “Don’t be a reservoir; be a river. Don’t dam it up so it’s all about you. With God, it’s not about money or power. It’s about loving people.” n
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OUTDOORS With Dougherty
Skipping school, going fishing My two older brothers and I had been fishing with Dad many times. My younger brother was only 2 years old, so his opportunity would come later. I was the one who was already on his way to a lifetime fishing addiction. (Just reinforcing the concept that the tendency for some addictions is genetic.) I already considered myself an 8-yearold fishing prodigy. Early the next morning we loaded up the old, green “50” Nash and headed out to Butter Creek, our fishing destination. On the way we picked up one of my dad’s friends named Howard. His last name was Balkan-sounding and he talked with an accent. He hadn’t fished much in his life and was excited. He talked non-stop and I was fascinated by his pronunciation and use Dan Dougherty taught school in the Treasure Valley for 40 years and retired last May. He now has plenty of of words. Continued on page 15 time to enjoy the outdoors whenever he wants.
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By Dan Dougherty With less than four weeks to go, I was just about to finish the second grade. I had been home from school for over a week after an appendectomy. I was still a little sore but ready to return. My dad asked me how I felt and if I was ready for activity again. I answered I was fine and staying home was boring (favorite word of the young). I couldn’t believe my ears when he said, “Trout season opens tomorrow. Want to go fishing?” Skipping school for fishing. It sounded like an episode of “Our Gang”! I could see by his knowing smile he already knew my answer. My mother was a little less enthusiastic, saying something about priorities, responsibilities, education, and being an example. My father assured her that I needed one more day of convalescence. After the promise that I would be back in school Thursday, a grin flashed across her face but was quickly suppressed. She knew I was the one son who shared my father’s love of the outdoors.
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Christian Living | May / June 2014 13
BREAKING Free
The lens you see yourself through By Brian Raymond (This is Part II of a two-part series regarding self-esteem versus Christ-esteem.) If you did not have a chance to read the first part of this article in the March/April 2014 edition of Christian Living, the following is a portion of that article that will serve both as an introduction but also a bridge to the current material: “As people in general we want to know who we are. As Christians we must find the answer to that question through who we are in Christ. We also must show those who do not know Christ as their Lord and Savior the answer to that same question. To accurately and thoroughly discover who we are, we need the Lord Himself to tell us. God fully addresses these issues in His Word. The encouraging, instructive, and faith-building message of who we are in Christ should lead not to self-esteem but rather to Christ-esteem.” In order to understand who Christ wants us to be, we must first understand how we were created: Psalm 139: 13-16 (ESV) For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. The words fearfully, wonderfully and intricately are sure to stand out as we read the passage in the Psalms. These adjectives describe us being made with time, attention, and great detail. God did not just haphazardly make us. Rather, like a master painter, He left His indelible mark on each and every one of us.
The GOOD NEWS is that at the end of ourselves, God has given us hope and joy through His son Jesus Christ: 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. This new creation requires a dying to self and an indwelling of the Holy Spirit: Galations 2:20 (ESV) I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. We have NO life in self, but with rebirth through Jesus Christ, we can finally discover life and we can have life more abundantly. God does not promise that our lives will be easy after we have surrendered our lives to Him and have decided to make Him our Lord and Savior; however, God does promise us that we will have a new identity in Him. Through Jesus we know that we do not have to fear, we do not have to be anxious, we do not have to be burdened down with insurmountable depression, we do not have to feel out of control and we do not have to look to ourselves and our abilities in order to find value and worth: Mark 8:34 (ESV) And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” n Brian Raymond is a licensed clinical social worker specializing in Nouthetic/Biblical counseling. In January 2010 he was the co-founder of Christian Clinical Concepts, LLC in Nampa. He is currently in private practice at Christian Clinical Concepts. He may be contacted at (208) 475-1875 Monday through Friday.
In spite of our perfect design, because of the fall and original sin we are ultimately NOT what God desires for us to be at birth: Romans 3:23 (ESV) For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Because of this sin we try to find our value, identity, and self-worth through various idols and emotions: 2 Timothy 3:2 (ESV) For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, and unholy. We have been conditioned through our own sin and the sin of others to accept a mark far short of what God desires for us. Rather than seeking first the kingdom of God, we seek first the kingdom of self. We find misery at the end of that journey. 14 May / June 2014 | Christian Living
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Outdoors Continued from page 13 hole of its residents. Breaking a small forked branch off of a nearby tree, I made a fish stringer to carry my fish. I proceeded on a quest to find another fish-able hole. Just as I started upstream, both Dad and Howard appeared from opposite directions. Howard had caught two fish and seemed quite impressed with my catch. I could see the look of pride on my dad’s face as he saw my fish. He had six in his wicker creel. It had been a good day! My father and I would spend many decades fishing together. For most of them my creel was the fullest. It did not matter. The look on his face never changed. n
05-2014
double loop method of attaching my hook to the leader. My tackle consisted of a pack of five more size 6 hooks and a container of small, BB shot sinkers. My tackle box was called a “pocket.” Extending my pole to its full potential, I carefully removed a mediumsized worm from my bait container (a large wax-covered paper drinking cup from the Triangle Drive-In filled with a little moist dirt and grass). I threaded it on the hook leaving plenty of wiggling room for proper fish enticement. From the upstream side with a gentle underhand flick of the rod tip I placed my squirming bait into the current. Just as it rounded the rock into the edge of the hole it was devoured by a waiting trout. I had my first fish of the season — a glistening 9-incher. In short order I caught three more of similar size. I placed the fish in a little pool of landlocked water. A visual reminder that the stream had been much deeper during spring run-off. I continued to fish for several more minutes without a single nibble. I concluded that I had either scared the rest away or had completely depleted the
5-2014
Off a gravel road we stopped alongside a barbed wire fence. Cattle were feeding in a pasture and the creek was about 100 yards past them. My dad knew the landowner. We got out our poles and tackle and proceeded through the fence toward the creek. Seeing a couple of bulls and wearing a red jacket I was somewhat apprehensive about crossing the pasture. I probably had watched too many “charging bull” cartoons. Noticing my concern, with a grin Dad encouraged me to continue on. At the creek we came to a calm, deep hole behind a large boulder. Dad informed me I would fish there. He would go upstream and Howard would go down. As they left I prepared my equipment to begin fishing. My pole was a black metal, threesection, telescoping variety with cork handle. The reel was a simple level wind with yellow cloth line. (Don’t think there was Dacron in those days.) I had about a four-pound, 18-inch leader section of “cat gut,” and a size 6 hook. Being the expert that I was, I had mastered my dad’s instructions of the
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Christian Living | May / June 2014 15
COVER STORY
A Bar & A Barn:
Editor’s note: A church is more than a structure, more than the traditional four walls with a pulpit, pews and a cross. A church is a place of faith, a gathering of believers, a site to worship God, minister to others and learn the Word. It can have as few as three members or thousands of people at once. Two churches in the Treasure Valley represent the non-traditional kinds of places where believers may meet. Dress doesn’t necessarily include a shirt and tie for men or a skirt and blouse for women. At Sanctuary Cowboy Church in Star, Sunday finery is likely to include cowboy hats and boots, while at Common Ground Biker Church in Meridian, parishioners dress like the fastest way to Heaven is on a motorcycle. These churches serve as prime examples of God’s open door and expansive welcome.
Church for bikers meets in bar
Common Ground Biker Church pastor Jim Atkins is shown standing in the water ready to perform baptisms. The church prefers doing river baptisms but has resorted to hot tubs and swimming pools in inclement weather. An outdoor baptism is usually preceded by a bike procession to a section of the Boise River just outside of Star. (Photo by Carl Boockholdt)
By Carl Boockholdt At a recent Sunday church service, Bret, the worship leader, opened with a quote from Isaiah 40:31 “…but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles.” Bret went on to comment that he figured the “wings” in that passage must have referred to Goldwings. And while this quip may have been lost on congregations from conventional churches, it brought an outpouring of laughter from those who attend Common Ground Biker Church. Most of that group understands Goldwings are touring motorcycles made by Honda. They also understand that there is a friendly competition between Goldwing riders and Harley-Davidson riders. Bret, a Goldwing rider, purposely offered this biblical interpretation as an amicable jab at the multitude of Harley-Davidson riders in attendance at Sunday church services at the Busted Shovel Bar and Grill, 704 N. Main St. in Meridian. Not your everyday church, Common Ground Biker Church was founded almost six years ago by pastors Jim and Beleta Atkins as a means of ministering to Treasure Valley bikers. On their website they state, “Common Ground Biker Church seeks to establish an environment of friendship and brotherhood in a familiar setting where bikers can worship God and study the Bible in a non-judgmental atmosphere of acceptance, love, honor and respect.”
16 May / June 2014 | Christian Living
The congregation at the Common Ground Biker Church rides Goldwings, HarleyDavidsons and other motorcycles to Sunday services. (Photo by Carl Boockholdt)
According to Pastor Jim, “The name Common Ground Biker Church was chosen for a specific reason. Anybody coming here should feel (they are) on common ground…everybody equal.” This philosophy seems to have broader appeal than originally anticipated. Although there are a number of the “One Percenters,” as the more fringe clubs are sometimes called, who are regulars at Sunday services, Common Ground Biker Church has attracted all manner of motorcycle enthusiasts as well as several individuals who have never thrown a leg over a bike. Pastor Beleta commented that the makeup of the church body ranges “from people who have never been in a church to lifetime churchgoers.” The pastors estimate there are usually at least 55 to 60 people in attendance, with numbers growing to as many as 85 to 90 on special occasions. Continued on page 21
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Church can be anywhere Keith Brown preaches country gospel By Gaye Bunderson Though he was a Southern Californian for many, many years, Keith Brown nonetheless fits the profile of what people in other states likely think of as a typical Idahoan. He lives in the country, owns horses, and sports a cowboy hat like he’s been wearing it since birth. But in his case, the road from California to Idaho was a long trip. Now 65, he’s a country and western singer, songwriter and musician, as well as a pastor at The Sanctuary Cowboy Church in Star. He flies frequently, taking his message to cowboys wherever they’re ranching, riding and roping. Brown formerly worked as a contractor in the Burbank area. At the height of his career, he performed $750,000 kitchen remodels in Beverly Hills houses. He built spec homes on beachfront property; he was through and through a city dweller. Then one day, he built a spec home in a rural area. “I fell in love with the country life,” he said. Like many people after they pass a number of milestones in life, Brown’s personal history could fill a book. … At age 10, he gave his life to the Lord. But later, when he went to college and played in a band, by his own recollection he got “a little wild.” As an adult, his contracting career thrived and then nosedived; at one point, he owed the IRS $607,000. By then he had returned to the God of his childhood, and he and his wife Debbie prayed their way through financial and career crises. Out of work following the economic downturn, he studied the Word for long periods. At an earlier stage of his life, he came to realize he was being called to bring the gospel message to cowboys. “The ministry thing started going just as the contracting work fell off,” Brown said. “After six months, when I couldn’t get a job, I realized I was called to full-time ministry.” In about 1995, he and Debbie had tried to set up a church in the non-traditional venue of the cutting horse arena. He ultimately teamed with a pastor named Dave Simmons, preacher to the cowboys. Brown provided the music. Simmons licensed and eventually ordained Brown, and when Simmons moved to Texas, Brown struck out on his own as both preacher and worship leader at cutting horse events. “Nobody would show up, or one person would show up. I would preach and sing anyway,” Brown said. One time, the cutting horse arena was set up near the cattle pens. Brown launched into preaching and singing. “No one came,” he said, “but the cows started bawling. About 20 people were drawn by the sound of the cows.” After 9/11 and the fear and worry that catastrophic event generated, people started seeking the comfort of God and His Word. “Everybody showed up. Our ministry grew. I flew all over the place: rodeos, concerts,” he said. After being drawn to Idaho in 2005 — a move he calls “supernatural,” or Spirit-led — Brown and his wife boarded a plane every other week to attend a Bible study they had formed in Burbank. Their 12-year participation in the group includes the two years they commuted from their ranch in Homedale. Continued on page 21
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Keith Brown preaches on Sundays at The Sanctuary Cowboy Church in Star. A recording artist, he plays the guitar and sings country and western songs he wrote himself. (Photo by Marilyn Vestal)
Keith and Debbie Brown
Christian Living | May / June 2014 17
FCA Sport Camp
A Christ-centered athletic experience
Last year’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes sport camp participants, including athletes, coaches and their families, gathered on a field at Northwest Nazarene University to spell out the organization’s acronym by wearing specially colored t-shirts. (Courtesy photo)
By Gaye Bunderson Fellowship of Christian Athletes Idaho Director Ken Lewis offers an interesting perspective on how God sees athletics. “He gave us sports,” Lewis said. The 2014 Northwest FCA Sport Camp is set for June 23-27 on the campus of Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa. The first FCA camp took place in Estes Park, Colo. in 1954; 60 years later, FCA camps continue to attract hundreds of young athletes annually. The theme of this year’s regional sport camp is “ALL IN – Colossians 3:17,” which reads: “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Using the term “sold-out athlete” (in a positive sense), the camp brochure further explains what the camp focus is all about: ”A soldout relationship with Jesus Christ requires you to be ‘All In’ — body, mind and spirit. Every thought, word and action is to glorify the Savior. No looking back, it’s time to take a leap of faith and commit 100 percent to your Coach, Jesus Christ.” Sports offered at the camp include football, baseball, lacrosse, soccer, wrestling, track, basketball, pole vault, volleyball, golf, athletic training, swimming, cross country, cheer, tennis and softball. The camp is for boys and girls beginning at the age of incoming seventh graders up through seniors in high school. Camp attendees largely include Christian youth, but some nonChristian kids attend as well. “The camp spreads a big net. We encourage kids who already know Christ to spur them along in their relationship, and there is an evangelism component,” Lewis said. FCA member coaches help teach sports, as well as participate in the fellowship and ministry that is the primary purpose of the camp. “The coaches love the Lord,” Lewis said. “They’re not just coaches who go to church; they’re trying to have Christ work through them and speak through them.” John Spatz, head cross country and track and field coach at NNU, is racking up his ninth year at FCA camp. “I get to see so many of the other coaches, staff, leaders, speakers and worship team pouring their lives and the love that the Lord has put inside of them into the campers for a whole week,” Spatz said. “I enjoy working with the track and field athletes during our practice sessions as teaching and coaching the different events like pole vault or hammer throw are fun to teach.
18 May / June 2014 | Christian Living
“What the camp does for me is help me keep perspective and to remain encouraged that my coaching is really the ministry that the Lord has called me to do and that in serving others I am really working for Him.” College athletes serve and assist the campers, leading the small group daily Huddles, or “Bible study for athletes,” according to Lewis. An FCA sport camp Bible is given to each participant, and campers are exhorted to learn from college athletes who have walked in their shoes. Because the sport camp is a regional camp, youth who attend also have the opportunity to become friends with other athletes from around the Northwest. In 2013, 445 campers came from states throughout the region. Guest speakers address different topics related to the “All In” theme each evening. This year’s speakers include Pablo Moreno, high school and Engage Truth college ministry pastor at Calvary Chapel Boise, and Ben Courson, young adult pastor at Applegate Christian Fellowship in Oregon. The Christian worship band Esterlyn will perform, and Ben Malcomson of the Seattle Seahawks will serve as camp dean. A cross will be constructed on campus, and campers will use it to nail things they haven’t yet given over to the Lord, Lewis said. “A lot of these kids are quietly walking with the Lord,” he said. “At the camp, they get a vision of what God might want to do at their school. They get fired up. God gives them a vision to make a difference.” Lewis said the dominant priorities of the young campers are school, family and sports. “They worship sports,” he said. FCA uses that enthusiasm to infuse them with a heart for Jesus. “It’s a week of inspiration and perspiration,” he said. One former camper — a basketball player from Nampa named Kelsey — summed up the value of camp for her by crediting it for “leading me to God and giving me great friends and improving my ball handling.” n Cost of the camp is $375 (golf is $450), and registration may be done online at www.fcacamps.org. For more information, and for camp-related downloads, go to www.fcaidaho.org; or contact Ken Lewis at klewis@fca.org or 697-1051.
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CHURCH DIRECTORY BOISE
CloverdaleChurch.org
With live webcast
10220 W. State in Boise, Idaho 860-6386
5-2014
01-2014
Sunday Morning Services & Sunday School 9:30 AM & 11:00 AM 3755 S. Cloverdale Boise • 362-1700
Riverwind Fellowship Join us Sundays for breakfast at 9:30 am Celebration of His Presence and His Word at 10:30 am
Riverwindfellowship.com
MERIDIAN Young athletes who attend the FCA Sport Camp get training in a variety of athletic endeavors. (Courtesy photos)
CREATIVITY In The Kitchen
Summertime Chicken Salad
Sunday Morning Service 9:45 Meeting at Busted Shovel Bar & Grill 704 N. Main • Meridian
208-286-9438
Commongroundbikerchurch.com (*Must be 21 or older)
5-2014
NAMPA
therock
CHRISTIAN & MISSIONARY ALLIANCE
OF THE
5-2014
Sundays
at 10:30am
Directions:
Rinse and well drain the canned chicken. Put in a bowl and pull apart, or shred, with a fork. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Use less or more of the ranch dip according to desired moisture content. Toss a green salad using your favorite salad fixings, or, use premade salad mix. Line plate of desired size with tossed salad; top with chicken salad. Garnish with: nuts, sunflower seeds, grated cheese, strawberries, tomatoes, olives. Served as the sole entrée this recipe serves 2-3.
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5-2014
12.5 oz can chicken breast ½ Fuji apple, peeled, cored and chopped ¼ C chopped celery ½ C red seedless grapes, halved 1/3 C dried cranberries ¾ to 1 C Uncle Dan’s Classic Ranch Dip (made according to package directions)
Sunday Morning Service @ 10 AM Meeting at Generations Steakhouse 506 Fletcher Dr • Nampa 112 3rd St South • Nampa 208-779-0497 703-2141 secondchancechurch.org therockcma.com STAR
We meet at Sunny Ridge Elementary School
The Sanctuary
Cowboy Church
Sunday Service 10 AM Wednesday Service 7 PM 6847 Willis Lane • Star 546-9845 Scowboychurch.com
5-2014
Ingredients:
For information on adding your church to this directory, please call 208-957-6430 or email: boisechristianliving@ gmail.com
Christian Living | May / June 2014 19
NOTES From Home
Nerdiness can be a beautiful thing By Dani Grigg When my little brother was in fourth grade, he wore the same shirt to school every single day. That’s bad, but I haven’t even told you the worst part yet: IT HAD A WOLF ON IT. It was a shirt just like the ones on Amazon.com that are famous for the ecstatic reviews given by people making fun of the nerds who wear wolf shirts. The reviews say things like, “I can’t keep the babes away from me when I wear this super manly shirt to Dungeons and Dragons tournaments” or “I can’t explain it, but my son was born without bones and when he put on this shirt he grew bones.” Weird but hilarious stuff. Just search Amazon for “wolf shirt” and you’ll see what I mean. Anyway, somehow my wolf-wearing brother managed to attract the affection of one of his friends’ sisters. One day this little sister said to me, “I know it looks like David wears the same shirt every day, but it’s really just that he has a lot of the same shirt, right?”
NOPE. Same shirt. Every day. I guess the magic of the wolf shirt was that he was pulling it off, at least in some people’s eyes. It was a somewhat embarrassing era for me as a sister. There was no getting around the fact that my brother was a nerd — a wolf-obsessed nerd. There was another nerd at school who was really into frogs. She brought one to school once to show everyone how good it was at jumping. She had frog accessories. Her yearbook quote in eighth grade was, “Jeremiah was a bullfrog!” There were band nerds, choir nerds, computer nerds, math nerds, Star Trek nerds, book nerds… There were countless ways to be a nerd. I have to confess. I was a nerd, too — in so many ways. The worst is that in middle school, my friend and I decided that the existence of Spam was the funniest thing in the history of civilization. We celebrated its superlative weirdness by becoming its fan club. (Don’t get me wrong — there was no actual EATING of Spam involved. We weren’t insane.) I can still recite its ingredients from memory: pork with ham, salt, water, sugar, and sodium nitrate. That part of my biography is not something I normally talk about, but I bring it up today to show my solidarity with nerds everywhere. Nerds are fantastic. I think a lot of adults have come around to this opinion, but one man who has embraced nerdiness with admirable tenderness is novelist John Green. He and his brother, Hank, have a popular YouTube video blog whose tagline is “Raising nerdy to the power of awesome.” In a video addressed to Hank, John expresses why it’s so great to be a nerd. “Nerds like us are allowed to be unironically enthusiastic about stuff,” he says. “Nerds are allowed to love stuff, like jump-up-and-down-in-thechair-can’t-control-yourself love it. Hank, when people call people nerds, mostly what they’re saying is ‘you like stuff.’ Which is just not a good insult at all. Like, ‘you are too enthusiastic about the miracle of human consciousness.’”
20 May / June 2014 | Christian Living
Former Spam-weirdness fan club member Dani Grigg is a Boise freelance writer, wife and mother of two young sons.
He’s right! It’s not a good insult! There are so many incredible creations around us, it’s the people who aren’t wowed by them that are getting things wrong! Yep, my brother liked wolves. He was excited to be alive in a world where wolves howl at the moon and... do whatever other wolfy things he thought were cool. Same goes for my frog-loving friend and everyone else whose appreciation for something goes past the level deemed appropriate by their peers. I am happy to report that my two toddlers, like most kids their age, are getting things right. They are complete nerds! They’re not ashamed of their train obsession or their in-depth knowledge about tractors and fire trucks. They are indisputably enthusiastic every day about the miracle of human consciousness. I love that about them. Their enthusiasm usually extends beyond just vehicles. They’re nerdily appreciative of the moon and the stars and the trees and the birds and the cats and the dogs and snow and sticks and rocks and puddles and ice. And soda, of course. Nerdiness is a beautiful thing. It means we’re experiencing at least some aspect of the world God gave us with the same hungry wonder we were all born with. So, friends, let’s embrace our inner nerds. Let’s be excited to live in a world of wolves and frogs and Spam and computers and books and music and movies and yoga and stars. And let’s remember to translate some of that excitement into gratitude. n
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Bikers Continued from page 16 For the non-biker, the first visit to services at Common Ground Biker Church must be a bit unusual, if not downright intimidating. Once your eyes have adjusted to the dark you are immediately aware that you are in a bar. Part of the deal for using this facility is that members of the church show up early and give the place a good scrubbing. But, clean as it may be, it is still a bar complete with a back bar full of liquor bottles, a couple of pool tables, and all the décor one would expect in a drinking establishment catering to the motorcycle crowd. Then you notice that the entire place is populated with folks clad in black leather, long beards, tattoos and a patina of smashed bugs on their patch-adorned vests. This is only a surprise if you somehow missed noticing the sometimes blocklong phalanx of motorcycles parked along the curb in front of the bar. When weather permits, group rides take place after services. However, don’t be misled into thinking Common Ground Biker Church is just a place for a quick sermon before an afternoon ride. This church works hard at saving souls and caring for the disenfranchised. Pastor Beleta stated, “Giving back to the community is our major goal.”
As a testimony to that, Common Ground Biker Church gives financial support to as many as eight different charities on a regular basis, as well as providing community services to many needs-based organizations. In addition, the church has baptized 77 souls and led many more to Christ. Plus, the church has spawned other out of the box ministries such as the Roamin’ Roads ministry which broadcasts Pastor Jim’s sermons to over the road truckers who can’t attend their home church. Even though the primary theme at Common Ground Biker Church is “What would Jesus do?”sometimes the question devolves to “What would Jesus ride?” Common Ground Biker Church holds Bible-based services Sundays from 9:45 a.m. until 11 a.m., and everyone is welcome. Church ends promptly at 11 because the bar opens back up to its regular patrons after that. n To learn more about this unique church visit www.commongroundbikerchurch.com. Sermons and worship can be viewed on Youtube by searching Common Ground Biker Church.
Keith Brown Continued from page 17 He frequently preaches at a Saturday cutting horse show somewhere in the U.S. and flies home to preach on Sunday at The Sanctuary Cowboy Church, a church he started four years ago in a barn-workshop. (Sunday dress almost always includes a pair of cowboy boots.) Asked how he gears the gospel message toward his cowboy congregation, he replied: “Jesus was born in a barn. … He told His disciples to find him an untrained colt, which he rode through the streets of Jerusalem.” “The church is geared toward the western world,” Brown explained. Borrowing from Jesus’ use of parables to teach, Brown said he teaches with stories “related to a horse, or to country life.” He may sometimes sing songs from one of his albums, such as Arms of Grace and Hang on for the Ride. Sanctuary Cowboy Church started out with about 25-30 parishioners and now has around 70. Les Downer, who leads the
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congregation in Brown’s absence and helps with the ministry in other ways, said, “I’m a wanna-be cowboy, but I love going to the church.” Brown admits he sometimes tires of traveling but at present has no intention of cutting back. “I love what I do. I’ve seen so many lives changed,” he said. He has received calls from people moved by his music ministry to turn to the Lord. “God took an imperfect person to fulfill His perfect will,” he said. n
Christian Living | May / June 2014 21
ONE View
Why homeschooling is a good option By Dan Bobinski Editor’s note: Christian Homeschoolers of Idaho State will host “A Bountiful Harvest Convention” June 5-7 at College Church of the Nazarene, 504 E. Dewey Street in Nampa. For more information, or to register, go to chois.org. Below is one man’s take on the value of homeschooling children. Twenty-five years ago, while serving as a youth pastor at age 28, I attended a two-week Christian worldview camp in Colorado. The average age of the 120 kids in attendance was 16. A week into the camp I noticed some distinct differences among the kids. Some were engaging while others gave monosyllabic responses to questions, and others were somewhere in between. At first I wrote it off to differences in personality styles. As I interacted with them, I learned that some kids went to public school, some to private school, and some were homeschooled. I was surprised, because I had never heard of homeschooling. From my statistical sample of one (me), I thought public schools or private schools were the only way to go. Then, in the second week of camp, I noticed a correlation start to emerge. Most of the kids who gave monosyllabic answers to my questions were going to public schools, while most of the homeschooled kids were quite engaging. It wasn’t a cut and dried difference, but by the end of the camp I could watch a child with whom I had not yet interacted as he or she engaged with peers and predict with 80 percent or better accuracy what kind of school he or she attended.
That eye-opening experience made me a believer in homeschooling. So, when my wife told me she wanted to homeschool our daughter, I was all over it. The benefits are amazing and the resources are plentiful, but first let me address some of the reasons people homeschool. One common reason for homeschooling is a concern about public and private school environments. Even in private schools kids get bullied, pressured for sex, and offered drugs. The freedom to provide religious or moral instruction is another reason, and excellent curriculum exists that teaches subjects from a Christian worldview. Still another reason is a general dissatisfaction with academic instruction at institutional schools. A teacher must select a curriculum for an entire class, and if the curriculum clashes with a child’s learning style, there’s a good chance the child won’t do well in that subject. Homeschooling allows you to select curriculum that matches your child’s learning style. As for the benefits, I could write a book, but let me touch on a few. First is family cohesiveness. Kids in public and private schools often start associating mainly with children their own age, so when older siblings reach their teen years they tend to distance themselves from their younger brothers and sisters. It easily becomes “uncool” for a 14-yearold to hang around a 10-year-old sibling. The opposite is true in homeschooling, where often siblings are each other’s best friends. Also, when a child is gone for six or seven hours a day, parents really don’t understand the unique situations each child faces. Over time, kids begin to lose trust that their parents understand them. Again, the opposite is true in homeschooling. Parents intimately understand their children’s situations, and relationships stay strong.
22 May / June 2014 | Christian Living
In addition to being a homeschooling dad, Dan Bobinski is the owner of Workplace-Excellence.com, an international training and consulting firm based in the Treasure Valley.
Regarding academics, as I already mentioned, homeschooling parents get to choose curriculum that fits best with each child’s learning style. This not only keeps kids engaged, they learn faster, and they more easily develop a love for learning. Besides, even if you choose a mismatched curriculum, the student-toteacher ratio is awesome, so your student will still do better academically. Resources available for homeschooling families are abundant. In Idaho, we are lucky to have two great Christian organizations: The Idaho Coalition of Home Educators (ICHE-idaho.org) and the Christian Homeschoolers of Idaho State (CHOIS.org). Both are excellent resources. CHOIS hosts an annual convention in Nampa the first weekend in June that is inexpensive to attend, and parents of preschoolers whose oldest child is 5 or under can attend for free. The first day of each conference is a used curriculum sale at which you buy inexpensive curriculum that homeschooling families no longer need. This year the sale is June 5 and, as always, free for everyone to attend. With so many benefits and resources, I strongly recommend families consider the homeschooling option (and attending the annual CHOIS convention is a good way to scope it out). As a homeschooling dad, I strongly believe it is the best choice for families on many levels. n
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5-2014
FAITH & Finances
Everyone’s done it: smoked ‘hopium’ By Joel Lund
Did you know that everyone, at some point in their lives, smokes? Everyone! No, really, it’s true. Even non-smokers smoke! While it may not be a tobacco product, it is every bit as bad for one’s health. Worse, even. What is this evil smoke? It’s called hopium. You see, hopium isn’t a form of tobacco. But it is even more common. In fact, loads of people smoke loads of hopium from time to time. This is important, because hopium is smoked from one time to the next time, and those “times” are often periods of disappointment or challenge in our lives. And who doesn’t have challenge and disappointment? So, it would seem that hopium can become every bit as addictive as its rhyming cousin: opium. Not convinced yet? Let’s dig a little deeper. The most intense jags of hopium smoking often begin with a declaration like, “It will be different this time!” The smoking jag is usually accompanied by considerable avoidance behaviors and a heartfelt, urgent commitment to pretend that the laws of the universe won’t apply throughout the jag. But that’s not where the risks of smoking hopium end.
Joel Lund is an experienced financial advisor, author, and former youth minister. He is also CEO of his own company, Prepare For Rain, LLC. He may be reached on Facebook/Prepare For Rain; by email at Joel@PrepareForRain.com; or on Twitter, @ PrepareForRain.
nition of insanity? OK, all together now! Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, while expecting a different result.
Words to Live By
Taking on each day with hope and confidence is exactly what living in a hopium-induced fog is not. Living life from a hope-filled core is based on faith, and demonstrated in action Hopium’s Side-Effects and making forward-steps, even little While there are plenty of undesirable outcomes from smoking hopium, ones. A life built on smoking hopium is based on timidity, and demonsome are far more serious: strated in paralysis, reaction and lack 1. Impulsive decisions of movement. Too often, we really, 2. Wishful thinking deeply fear change. The unknowns 3. Delayed engagement in life can get us off-center, if we let 4. Unfulfilled resolutions them. But we know that change is 5. Lack of discipline inevitable, whether we embrace it or 6. Blaming try to flee from it. 7. Shaming 8. Denial “Change is the law of life. And those who 9. Reactiveness look only to the past or present are certain to 10. Unhappiness miss the future.” — John F. Kennedy Ouch. Clearly, a hopium habit is counterproductive to living a fulfilled, In Psalm 25, the psalmist speaks of happy and engaged life. Expecting the great need for hope, especially different outcomes from the same when life is extremely challenging. inputs is, well, central to smoking hoHis encouraging words remind us pium. And nuts. Remember the defi24 May / June 2014 | Christian Living
to lift our eyes up and see beyond our immediate circumstances: “No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame….” (Ps. 25:3a) As much as we’d all admit that the world we live in today would be unimaginably complex and advanced to the psalmist, not much has changed about us. How we deal with the complexities of life hasn’t advanced much. Just like then, we still get snarled up in wishing things were different (hopium!) — but not too much (fear of change!), forgetting that if we keep doing things the same way as before it’s nuts to expect a different outcome (insanity!). It is when our eyes are focused outward, beyond only our experiences and needs, that our vision gets clearer. More realistic. More compassionate. Less fixated on our past, or our present. We can be more open to what’s coming our way. We can look forward and be certain not to miss our future. Because smoking hopium always requires that we look backward. But living a hope-filled life always means that we’re looking forward. n
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Looking Out For Your Next Move
THE MISSIONARY Life
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By Gaye Bunderson As a staff member of Cru (formerly known as Campus Crusade for Christ) at Boise State, Jessica Christofi’s living expenses are paid for through the faithful generosity of believers, giving as they feel led to by the Lord. While it’s different from the workplace salary arrangements other people live by, Christofi has grown accustomed to it. “It’s just trusting God for provision, and trusting people who are giving to God and partnering with us,” Christofi said. Christofi, 31, is one of three Cru Missional Team Leaders on the BSU campus. She leads other women and is the only full-time female staffer. A 2005 graduate of Montana State Jessica Christofi is one of three Cru Missional Team University in Bozeman, with degrees Leaders on the campus of Boise State. (Courtesy photo) in elementary education and music, she became a Christian through Cru campus. Then, people who want to make a contribution to her, and the while at MSU. work of Cru in general, write their She laughs at the fact she is not checks out to the 62-year-old internapresently pursuing a career in either tional organization and send them diof her two fields of study. Instead, rectly to its headquarters at Orlando, she started her Cru job in 2006, folFla., flagged for her account. Twelve lowing a lengthy application process percent of the money is divided of filling out forms and gathering between administrative expenses and personal references. Cru overseas ministries, where it is She attended a six-week training difficult for staff to raise support. that included Bible study and other Out of the remaining money comes programs. Learning how to raise her Christofi’s salary minus medical inown funds for living expenses was surance and other benefits. part of the training as well; it is a key “(My financial supporters) want to element in how Cru functions. be investing in what God is doing on “We are a nonprofit organization campus,” Christofi said. “Our main and have no central funds. Staff purpose is to prepare students to bemembers, including the president of come Christ-centered laborers.” Campus Crusade, raise support to Some of her funding comes from cover salaries, benefits and expenses. Crossroads Community Church in Then each staff member has a team Nampa. of partners who prays for him or “I would say right off the cuff we her,” according to the group’s website believe wholeheartedly that work on at www.cru.org. “Central fundraiscampus can literally touch the whole ing would limit the number of staff world without having to leave home members. As a result of our many because of so many students who staff members, hundreds of thoucome to the university from all over,” sands of people hear the good news Jeremy Graves, pastor of leadership of God’s love.” development and director of the In 2007, when she came to Boise, church’s Impact Ministry Training Christofi made contacts with area Center, said. churches, where she speaks to conContinued on page 29 gregants about her mission work on
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Christian Living | May / June 2014 25
THE BRIGHTER Side
Derrick Boles’ faith in action By Ronald Kern How many of you would turn down a Division I college basketball coaching position or many lucrative job offers in the corporate world to take a stand-up bike (an ElliptiGo) and ride from San Diego to New Orleans, a 1,892-mile journey? First, some background information: It was a normal day, playing basketball, when gunshots rang out. As if trained, the kids dropped flat to the ground and waited a few minutes, then resumed the game as if nothing had happened. To the average American this would be a rare experience, but for Derrick Boles and others growing up in Detroit, it was nothing unusual. Exposure to this type of danger, not to mention the drugs, gangs, crime and violence, was all part of a typical day for them. I recently enjoyed a conversation with Derrick, the founder of Stand Up America, a nonprofit organization that focuses on community empowerment. My goal was to learn more about where his drive, passion, strength and fortitude came from. Is it because he was a college basketball star and an All American football player? Or is he just one of those “lucky” people that seem to have everything go their way and is born with it? I believe his story will surprise you. Derrick credits his mother as his primary influence to God. He told me, “I’ve always been exposed to God in my childhood, and was always in conversation with God, always at least sharing with Him my thoughts, and there was
always a Presence listening and hearing what I had to say.” In order to play sports, he had to read the Bible, theological studies, and regularly attend church on Sundays. This was his mother’s decision, after she consulted with the church. Derrick’s passion to play sports was intense; he would walk through his risky neighborhood with his tie on and Bible in hand, which he feels cloaked him from the dangers of the trip. He initially followed through with this condition in order to play sports, as he was becoming a standout player. Along the way he was exposed to God’s Word, gained a great deal of knowledge, expanded his faith and learned to turn difficult situations over to God. Set to graduate from high school in a couple of months, Derrick was kicked out of his house after a disagreement with his mother, which lead him to live with his high school coach. He had already signed a letter of intent to play college basketball but it was his faith, he feels, that got him through this part of his journey. His faith continued to gain momentum and strength and he was praying and talking to God more often. During his sophomore year in college, Derrick came three credits short of what was necessary to be deemed academically eligible to play. The absence of three credits risked his dream, scholarship and future for that matter. Repeatedly he went to his coach and academic counselor, both of whom said there was nothing that they could do to help him. His
26 May / June 2014 | Christian Living
Now a resident of Idaho and formerly of Detroit, Derrick Boles is the founder of Stand Up America, a nonprofit organization focusing on community empowerment.
education and basketball career would end, he would move back to Detroit and his life would be “over,” or at least much more difficult than what he had planned. After many prayers, he said, “it was like someone turned on a light,” with the message of going directly to his professor. He followed this prompting, and the professor told him he could obtain three credits by taking his highly condensed class over the weekend. His prayers were answered; he did just that, saved his scholarship and likely his life. Due to a “random” act of kindness and taking time to help Derrick, this professor, that instant, reshaped a young man’s entire future for the better. God had intervened and made it happen. “I give all of the glory for that situation to God,” Derrick firmly told me. He also realized at this time that, “God was with me, He was listening and watching me, and He has a plan for me.” His ultimate goal was to play professional basketball, the odds of which is less than 1.2 percent; but with God on his side and his faith becoming stronger over the years he hadn’t given up. It was around 10:30 p.m. one evening, while running outside at a track, when Derrick said to God, “If You will grant me this opportunity to play basketball professionally, You can use me for what You will, regardless of what it is.”
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God what He now wanted me to do and the bike ride and Stand Up America came to be. It was something that I was supposed to do. The feeling was very emotional and powerful when I received God’s confirmation. Nothing but this ride mattered; I was ready and willing to die. “With God directing something, and I knew for certain He was, nothing was going to stop me, nothing.” Through adversity, issues, and people canceling their commitments to help, Derrick alone completed the nearly 2,000mile ride, fulfilling his promise to God. This ride on a stand-up bike was then transformed into Stand Up America, and is now his full-time focus. “The ride exemplifies faith, obedience, and commitment. I feel the ride was the sacrifice to work for God, to prove I could work for Him.” Derrick is an incredible man who has survived and overcome a dangerous city, broken family, social ills, discrimination, and life-threatening medical issues. God clearly worked with, and in him, during both good and bad situations throughout his life. He is physically a very large man and commands attention when he enters a room. He is man full of passion, character, integrity and God. Even knowing many celebrities and countless connections, he remains humble, giving, caring and always puts others first. His devotion to his wife and children are second to none, regardless of how busy his schedule becomes. Derrick wants you to know that God is with you, hears your prayers and faith is an action word. Your faith must be exercised constantly, for faith without action doesn’t hold much value.
Ron Kern
At your core and deepest level, how strong is your faith and what are you willing to do for God? Is your ‘Faith in Action?’ (More information about Stand Up America is available at stand-upamerica.com.) n A former business owner in Meridian for more than 20 years, Ronald Kern and his wife Lisa are now retired. They are founders of Kern Ministry Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit Christian organization that provides life’s essentials, medical supplies and educational resources for children, families and communities worldwide. Kern is an entrepreneur, business and life consultant, author, motivational speaker and philanthropist. Contact him anytime at www.RonaldAKern. com or TheBrighterSide@icloud.com.
05-2014
Shortly after, he felt as though God had been waiting for him to say those words. As you may have guessed, he did receive a professional contract and spent several years playing professional basketball in Australia. “I knew there were guys better than me that didn’t get this opportunity and know God was the reason why I was being blessed.” This confirmation only encouraged Derrick’s desire to be used by God in any capacity. In 2011, Derrick was working with some very influential businessmen and had a trip scheduled to Phoenix, Ariz. to close a deal that would yield large benefits, both financial and professionally. He went to bed the night before the trip, and woke up in the middle of night with a runny nose and it just wouldn’t stop. After a few minutes he went to the bathroom and, only then, noticed his entire face covered in blood. Concerned at first, he calmed himself down; it was just a bloody nose, nothing to fret about. However, his nose would not stop and the stream of blood kept coming, now from his mouth. Plugging it up and pinching his nose, he started to have blackouts and his wife (he was married by this time) panicked and took him to the emergency room. The doctors told him he had experienced a brain aneurism. It’s important to note that brain aneurysms are fatal in 40 percent of cases, and of those that survive, 67 percent suffer permanent neurological deficit. He survived, beating the odds and even more, because he has no permanent damage. “God gave me a wake-up call and spared my life,” Derrick said. “I asked
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Christian Living | May / June 2014 27
CONSIDER This
Do you live from love or for love? By Dan Woodworth Have you ever considered the difference between suffering because of foolishness and suffering with Christ? Have you thought of the difference of living for love and living from love? Most people suffer because of foolish choices they make. For example, if you falsify the number of exemptions on your tax form by adding more than you actually have and you get caught, you will be required to pay back the taxes you owe. The degree of suffering you experience will depend upon on how long the practice continued. Let’s take another example. If your motivation in your heart is for self-serving interests and you take advantage of someone and your actions are revealed, you will suffer because your character will be revealed. What will the revelation be? It will expose your selfish interests at the expense of another person. Guilt and shame will be yours unless you repent and ask for forgiveness. Maintaining a “good” image (to gain favor from people) that doesn’t match your heart motive or your actual character is extremely dangerous for you and everyone around you. Living for love will hurt you and others you influence. People are wounded when this happens. Wounded people wound others and hurt is perpetuated. This experience is particularly prevalent in almost all of our American church circles. I could go on and on giving examples of foolish decisions that cause heartache, pain and suffering. Asking for forgiveness from our living, loving Lord and the offended person will restore you, but the experience is very costly and unnecessary.
Why not keep your heart pure by falling in love with Jesus in a deeper spiritual, emotional and romantic experience all day long every day? My number one priority every day is to fall in love with Jesus and my beautiful, beloved wife Irene, all day long every day. Do I do it perfectly all the time? Better yet, am I perfecting the process every day? Yes! Why? My deep desire comes from Abba. (Abba means “Precious Daddy” in Aramaic. Jesus spoke with our Heavenly Father in this warm, close and emotional way and we can too!) My desire to fall in love with Jesus and my bride Irene pleases Him because He created me to live from love and not for love. This experience makes Him happy. He will always work for me, in me and through me as I intentionally yield myself to Him moment by moment. Translation: When we let Him live though us, He makes us happy, healthy and whole! Jesus chose to be “Abba”-centered. Everything He thought, spoke and did was to please Abba. If we choose to please Abba and Him alone, guess what? We won’t get trapped trying to be people pleasers. And that “spider web” is messy and sticky. When we fall in love with Jesus all day long every day we experience His love for other people without any human ability, striving or effort. Our Abba reveals how He created us to live in love in 1 John 4:20-21: If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both. When we live from love and not for love we suffer with Him. We will experience trouble, tribulation and persecution from evil religious spirits. Just like Jesus did in the Gospels. Just like Paul, the apostle, did in the Book of Acts. Every time Jesus reached out from love and healed someone, the religious leaders (influenced by evil religious spirits) became angry and they attacked him spiritually and Jesus suffered with Abba. Paul suffered with Christ by following Him. Paul set people free from religion, oppression, sickness, disease and death
28 May / June 2014 | Christian Living
Dr. Dan Woodworth is an adviser, author and inspirational speaker. He is well known for his uplifting messages, and in his own life has overcome illness to become what he calls “a healthy and happy man.” He has worked as a fisheries research biologist, consultant, teacher, counselor, real estate property manager, ordained pastor and chaplain. He may be reached at dan@danwoodworth.org. For more information visit www.danwoodworth.org.
because he lived from love. Not for love. He was an evil religious person before he encountered the living Christ. Then he became a follower of Jesus, living from love and not for love. And he suffered. “Religious” leaders harassed him, beat him, and stoned him (see Acts 14:19-20). Evil religious spirits hate the love of Christ. “Religious” people say the right things and do the right things. They appear to be “Christians.” But there is one thing they can’t counterfeit. It is impossible for them to live from love. The love of Christ is the dramatic difference. So if you decide to fall in love with Jesus and allow Him to work for you, in you and through you to love others with His pure, perfect love, you won’t need to worry about suffering because of foolishness. You will experience suffering with Him. All who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). Lift up your head and rejoice! Great is your reward in heaven! n
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Quotes from Scripture Continued from page 5
You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. — Psalm 16:11
BUY AMERICAN & SAVE
Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” — Matthew 13:44 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy — to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. — Jude 1:2-5
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Occasionally, one of her supporters will just give her a $20 bill to spend as she wishes or needs, and some contributors give directly to BSU Cru to help fund local events. “There is no limit to how much can be given,” said Christofi, who is married to a test engineer for Lionbridge Technologies in Boise. Cru began as Campus Crusade for Christ in 1951 at the University of California, Los Angeles and was founded by Bill Bright, an American evangelist who believed that college campuses were primary places for fostering the growth of future leaders. The name change from Campus Crusade to Cru was announced in 2011 after extensive study by the organization. “It was a decision made at the national level. ‘Campus’ doesn’t fully describe what we do,” Christofi said. There are 60 ministries in all under the Cru umbrella, including a military outreach and programs for adult professionals, families, athletes, high school students and many others. “There is also a negative connotation with the word ‘crusade.’ They did all kinds of research and testing, and there was a good response with ‘Cru,’” she said. “But the core of who we are hasn’t changed.” Cru is still primarily noted for its campus evangelism. “We’re very upfront about it. The way we approach people affects their reaction,” she said. “My life drastically changed when I was in college. I love being able to be a resource and being able to influence the world’s future leaders.” n www.boisechristianliving.com
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MARRIAGE Toolbox
Parenting changes much for couples By Leo Hellyer Husband, wife, father, mother, exciting, challenging, fulfilling — all part of being men and women in love, and seeking God’s will in our lives. There is one area of our marriage that many of us do not fully grasp the depth of as we enter into marriage, and that is parenting. Not only is the area of parenting much more exhausting than we realized, but it is has a greater impact on our relationship as couples than we anticipated. How we parent, and how unified and in agreement we are in our parenting, directly affects all other aspects of our relationship as husbands and wives. Parenting is an area of our relationship that we should really discuss either as a pre-married couple or early in our relationship as a married couple. There are many areas of parenting that we need to have agreement in. How will we administer corrective action (discipline), who will administer it, will our children go to public or private school or be home schooled, when and what type of person will our children be allowed to date? These are just a few areas that need to be considered. There are many things that we can do to become better parents. The foundational tool for us to have in the area of parenting is the Bible. This is absolutely God’s “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth” in all areas of our lives, including parenting.
There are many family organizations that have some great resources on parenting that you can add to your Marriage Toolbox. Focus on the Family, FamilyLife, Cru Military, MOPS, Moms in Prayer International, and Family Matters are excellent organizations to go to for scripturally based parenting guidance. Individual authors who have provided exceptional resources on parenting are Tim Kimmel, James Dobson, Dennis and Barbara Rainey, Stephen Kendrick, Dr. Keven Lehman, Gary Chapman, Robert Lewis, Stu Webber, and Stormie Omartian, to name a few. Another great resource to add to your Marriage Toolbox in the area of parenting is a support group of friends, pastors, mentors, and patriarchs and matriarchs who are doing this thing called parenting in a way that truly honors God. It is a wise man or woman who learns from the mistakes and successes of others. Married couples, or couples considering marriage, need to realize that in most cases they will be parents much longer than they will be a husband and wife without children. From the moment of conception of our first child we will forever more be parents. We will have many different seasons of parenting our children. In some cases, our children may come back home after leaving for a while, or we may be called upon to parent our grandchildren. As
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Leo Hellyer is a non-staff pastor with a local church and has been married to his wife Norma for 41 years. The couple are FamilyLife Ministry Catalysts for Southern Idaho and have volunteered with FamilyLife for 19 years. They are both employed by Boise Rescue Mission Ministries, Norma at City Light Home for Women & Children and Leo at River of Life Rescue Mission. They may be reached at silverplate426@ msn.com. If you have questions about Marriage Toolbox, or need other assistance, Leo may be reached at 344-1357, ext. 4.
we experience the blessings and challenges of parenting as it unfolds in our lives, we have many choices to make. Allison Bottke says in her book “Setting Boundaries with Your Adult Children” that if we are to maintain our sanity as parents, we need to get to the point where we can fully yield everything to God, including our children and our parenting. Parenting, as with all other areas of our lives, needs to follow the compass of God’s will and direction. It is through God that we were blessed to be parents, and it is through Him that we will be able to fulfill the responsibilities and conquer the challenges of parenting. We are truly blessed to live at a time when there are many tools that we can put into our Marriage Toolbox. For these tools to be effective they must be used. My prayer is that we will search out the right tools to put into our Marriage Toolboxes, that we will use them on a daily basis, and that we will be so excited that we can’t wait to share our latest tool with our friends and families so they can experience the blessings of parenting as well. n
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Quotes from Scripture Continued from page 29
How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? — 1 Thessalonians 3:9
As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” — Luke 19:36-39
Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. For the Lord Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth. He subdued nations under us, peoples under our feet. — Psalm 47:1-3 The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from your precepts. Your My lips will shout for joy when I sing statutes are my heritage forever; they are praise to you — I whom you have delivthe joy of my heart. My heart is set on ered. keeping your decrees to the very end. — Psalm 71:23 — Psalm 119:110-112 But the fruit of the spirit is … joy. Even though powerful princes conspire — Galatians 5:22 against me, I fix my mind on what you require. Yes, your testimonies are my joy; they are like the friends I seek for counsel. — Psalm 119:23-24
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Christian Living | May / June 2014 31