Bassmaster Classic Champion

Congratulations to Alton Jones on winning the 2008 Bassmaster Classic on Sunday!

Alton is a tremendous Christian witness in his circle of life. A true example of God using us where we are to make a difference for Him. I had the privilege of meeting Alton & spending some time with him a while back when he asked me to come speak to a group of Christian anglers who meet regularly at each tournament. Jimmy Mize, who is part of our church & a good friend, fishes with Alton on the Bassmaster Elite Series. Jimmy put us in touch & I have been so impressed with Alton's heart & witness.

He is constantly giving praise to God & his Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. He is highly respected on the tour & I am praising God for giving Alton this amazing platform for Jesus during his reign as current Champion. He will have an opportunity to spread his witness further than ever before. We had already scheduled Alton to speak at our Wild Game Dinner next year & this will make it even better.

Pray for Alton as he shares Christ in his profession. Don't ever forget how awesome our God really is & how He can use anything for His glory. Check out the Bassmaster website & read his blog entry on the right side: http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/tournaments/elite/index

The Miracle of Life

Erin had her 1st appointment today w/ the doctor who will deliver our baby. Mom & baby are both healthy & great. Some of the best news is there's only 1 baby in there! We would have been overwhelmed if there was more than 1. We got to see an amazing live sonogram seeing our child move around, waving little arms & all. It's truly an eye-opening experience & somewhat makes us feel overwhelmed.

Lil' Peanut is about 1 1/2 inches long from head to toe. Erin says I need a better name for the child, but "he" or "she" is not yet appropriate & referring to the baby as "the it" doesn't quite seem right either. I guess we'll just have to say "the baby."

We have two pictures from the sonogram & we'll have to try & see if we can get them on the computer in a clear enough way for all to see. The projected due date is September 15-17. Thanks for your prayers & encouragement. We will be treasuring all parenting advice as time progresses.

My Valentine

I have to publically say to my biggest supporter, best friend, & wife Erin that "I Love You." Valentine's Day is special because I get to share it with one of the greatest birthday gifts I could ever ask for each year (Yes I'm a little cupid baby).

Being able to cook her dinner last night at home because she was sick & serve her on my birthday is honestly the best gift I could ever ask for. When life gets tough she's there with a level head & tender heart. When opportunities to celebrate come along there's no one more fun to celebrate with than her.

I found one of the simplest & best valentine's cards for her this year. The outside simply said "My Wife." The inside said this: "If I had to choose all over again, I'd choose you." It summed up how I feel. She's not perfect, nobody is, but she's just what I need & God knew that when He gave her to me.

Thanks wife for being so great & I hope I express this to her all the time, not only on the 1 day a year us guys are forced to.

500 Bibles

They arrived yesterday. Our church is attempting to reach out to every family in Mineral Springs. After going to Brazil in October & seeing the continued impact of simply giving out free Bibles, I've wondered why we can't do it here at home. Well, we are. Our people were so touched to hear the stories of what God is doing in Brazil I wanted to get them excited about what God can do right here in our town.

We got information from the city as to how many homes were present in Mineral Springs & we ordered enough Bibles to distribute one to every home. We will also give them information about our church as well as gospel tracts. Our goal is to let our community know we care about everyone & want to help meet the most basic need of life: a living relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Hopefully some of our people will have a chance to share the gospel through this event.

The benefits will be multiple. For one, our people will receive the true joy of giving & seeing it directly impact another person's life & family. It will also get our people outside the church & into the community around us so we can see what life is really like outside our church. Another great benefit is each househould will have access to the word of God. I believe the word of God is so powerful it can change lives on its own. Many of these people may never read it or maybe not soon. But hopefully someone will have access to it. They may put it in a drawer & forget about it, but when a crisis comes or a spiritual need arises they hopefully will have a source of truth to turn to.

We want our community to know we love them & care about them, even if we are different in some ways. We want them to know our church is always open to reach out to & accept anyone who is willing to come. I am praying diligently God will use this in a mighty way not only in the lives of those in our community but in the lives of our church members.

Everyday I realize the power that lies in the word of God as I read it & study it. If you don't already, make reading & studying your Bible a daily priority & I promise you won't regret it.

Morning Sickness & Macaroni n' Cheese

Erin is doing well considering there is a living organism growing inside of her. She is fatigued much more easily than before & getting up at 5:15 to go chase Pre-schoolers around all day doesn't help. She eventually gets better once the day gets going & then deals with uneasiness in the evenings. I have been on cooking duty more these days because it doesn't take much to make her feel uneasy. We are thankful everything is moving along well & her 1st Dr.'s appt. is on Feb. 19th so hopefully we can have a better idea of the due date (probably mid-September).

Her eating habits have changed (eating many more times each day for one) & she has recently wanted cheese more than once per day. Her favorite form of cheese is the traditional Kraft Mac n' Cheese from the box. I love it too so that works out well.

Hopefully as this pregnancy progresses there will be more exciting updates to come!

Wild Game Dinner

Last night we had a great time as over 80 people gathered at our church for our 2nd annual Wild Game Dinner. Jimmy & Lucy Mize (professional bassmaster anglers from our church) provided & cooked all the food. A very special "thank you" to them for all their hard work. They provided a variety of wild game for us to enjoy. We had duck, deer, fish, BEAVER, frog legs, & wild game gumbo. One of the best things I've ever eaten were their "deer rolls." Take tenderized deer steak that has been marinated in italian dressing overnight. Then put half a piece of bacon, a piece of deer meet & a jalapeno slice on top, roll it up, stick a toothpick through it & grill to perfection!

Our guest speaker was Mark Davis from Mt. Ida, AR. He is a well-accomplished professional angler. He was won a Bassmaster Classic, 3 BASS Angler of the Year, & something like 48 Top Ten Finishes. He is a great Christian man who was greatly entertaining. He gave us a powerful message. The gospel was presented. We pray some received Christ & hope to follow up with some prospects.

The icy weather kept some away but a great turnout none the less. This is one of the biggest events our church has hosted in a long time. I can't say thank you enough to all who had a hand in helping with this event from cooking, setting up, cleaning up, & helping collect 70 or more door prizes. As a church we try to reach out & connect with those in our local community. I hope we can do more successful events reaching people with the gospel in the future.

Jimmy & Lucy enjoying the meal they worked hard to prepare.

Mark Davis speaking to the crowd.

Ellison Rose Wallis

They will call her Elli or Elle (however you spell it). She was born early Friday morning on January 11th. She weighed in at 8 lbs. 9 oz. & 20.5 in. Ben & Linzi (Longnecker) Wallis are the proud parents. Congrats to both of them on becoming parents. Ben & Linzi are good friends of ours. Linzi & Erin taught together our 1st year here in Mineral Springs & Linzi & I went to High School together. Linzi was one of Erin's 1st friends here in Arkansas & we have enjoyed their friendship the last couple of years.

Babies are being conceived & born around here all the time lately...maybe it's something in the water! Sorry we don't have a picture of the new baby, but all the excitement adds to our anticipation of becoming parents ourselves.