The Vitals Are In

Most of you know that after 8 years of infertility issues, Jennifer and I are finally having our first baby...a baby girl! So, life is changing around the Becker household as is our budget, as we prepare for our princess to join us in February. One thing that we realized was the need for Life Insurance, so today Portamedic came to take our vitals and fill out some forms.

My Blood Pressure: 112/64 (pretty darn good)
My Resting Heart Rate: 48 beats per minute (really darn good)

It sure beats the old me that weighed 295 pounds, and couldn't run a mile! Now that I've lost 110 pounds and just ran my fourth marathon (26.2 miles), I'm seeing the "fruit of my labor".

When it comes to ministry, what are the vital signs of health...

• Attendance?
• Posture of people during corporate worship?
• Number of Water Baptisms this month?

I'd love to hear some thoughts on how you know that you've got some great vital signs as a ministry.

P.S. For those who haven't seen the "old Brian"...enjoy the pic below!

Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself

"Only a fool despises a parent's discipline; whoever learns from correction is wise."
"Whoever abandons the right path will be severely punished; whoever hates correction will die."
"If you listen to constructive criticism you will be at home among the wise."
"If you reject criticism, you only harm yourself; but if you listen to correction, you grow in understanding."

- Proverbs 15:5,10,31,32

A couple things here...first of all we need to be hungry for correction and teaching. I certainly hate the idea of spending time doing the wrong things and wasting my life.

Correction is not always going to come from your best friend - it's going to come from people that make you squirm - like family, bosses, and spouses - because they actually know you.

Don't just be an encourager to someone that is under you - tell them the truth - what they're missing. I've had way too many people pat me on the back and say "great job bro, keep it up!" when I really needed their wisdom to fix some long standing issues that were keeping me from some victory.

And finally, let God bring his grace and mercy into your life by getting serious with him about your life. The last thing you need is a token Bible reading and wussy prayer time...make it count...let God form you with his hands and transform you by changing the way you think. Correction could never be so good!

What correction has saved you?
What do you wish people would tell you?
What are some wrong ways to correct?

My Daily Disciplines

What did I do today to build the Kingdom:

1. Prayed a bit
2. Met with Pastor Steve about Youth Ministry Models for the future (3 small groups, and 1 large meeting a month)
3. Contacted by phone: Jeff, Jmac
4. Contacted by myspace to set up meetings: Chelsea, Aly, (to get the inside scoop on their lives and plug them into Switch ideas) Leah, (to encourage and talk about worship team) Sarah M., (to finally set a meeting to meet) Jessica, (to encourage and set up a meeting with her and Jenn with a couple of her friends to talk about Switch stuff) John (to rescue)
5. Contacted by myspace to encourage: Austin, Melissa, Amy, Dennis, and a bunch more about Tatango
6. Complied list of attendance to send to youth staff with action steps of

• Pursue those who need to be pursued...
  
• let be those who need to be...
• Pray for influencers...
• Pray Ephesians 4:13-21 over your students with the same passion that Paul prayed with.
  
• I'd like to meet with each of you before next Tuesday...give me a call and let's set it up!
  
• I'm going to talk to Leah and Sam A about being on the worship team...how crazy is that!?!!

7. Looked at some info on a website app that will connect the students together as seen on absolutepunk.net

God will say "well done" not "well thought"

Well, today was a relaxing day. After spending all week at our Summer Camp (btw...waiting to update that when I get more pics), I drove straight to Madison High School from Camp and did a three hour Leadership Training Session for our Ignite Program.

Today I got up early and ran 20 miles at Forest Park as a Pace Leader for the Portland Marathon Clinic and then came home and relaxed all afternoon and just got done watching the Olympic Marathon Race featuring the US runners Ryan Hall, Dathan Ritzenhein, and Brian Sell. I was really hoping that Hall would get a medal but he ended up finishing 10th overall.

Despite missing the medals, as he finished he had a huge smile on his face and put his finger in the air pointing to the sky. Hall is a big-time Christ follower and is very public about his faith. His reaction to his 10th place finish is a great lesson for the rest of us - that as long as we give our very best, and live to please God - we should be very happy about our lives and the results we get. Life isn't fair, and things rarely go the way we want them to, but the key is to give everything we have, so that one day we'll hear "well done" from God.

...so that leaves the questions

1. are you giving your very best to God?
2. are you content with the results or over-stressing about things out of your control?
3. are you full of great ideas or great action?

God's looking for movement!

Camp 08: CHANGE (Monday Night)

Hey everyone,

We just wrapped up the first night of camp which was amazing. Banning Liebscher spoke about receiving the love of God. Too often we know in our heads that God loves us, but it's not until we regularly experience God's love in a overwhelmingly clear way that we can truly be passionate for Him. Here are a few notes I wrote down:

There is a passion being released that overrides personality

Steve Erwin (Crocodile Hunter)...we could care less about the crocs and snakes - it's his passion that made us want to watch.

To have a sustained & increasing passion for God requires us to stay in a place of fresh revelation of the love of God

We must make a decision to not be distracted from the millions of options we have in this culture and stop and say "God come love on me" otherwise our passion will dwindle.

There is something powerful about choosing God in the midst of many options.

Our life should be lived by saying a HUGE "YES" for Jesus...not CONSTANT "NO's" to the devil.
When I have a Huge "Yes" in my heart for my wife, I don't have to go around screaming "NO" to every woman that passes by because my YES has settled the controversy.

----

Can't wait for tomorrow...I'm speaking to the college age students, and then we're going to have a blast in the afternoon and more Banning tomorrow night!

SUMMER CAMP IS HERE

Hey everyone, I'll be posting updates and pics each day, so check back later tonight or tomorrow for updates!

08-08-08 Things are clickin'

Ok, so I didn't just get back from a month long vacation/sabbatical, despite the fact that I haven't blogged during that time frame. But I figured since it was 08-08-08, it was a cool time to start again...even cooler had I posted this 20 minutes earlier at 8:08am!

I'm taking a few first steps in the next three weeks beginning today as I speak at The Country Church's youth camp in Sisters Oregon. I'm excited to see what God is going to do this weekend in the lives of some hungry students.

That's only the beginning! I'll be speaking 10 times in the the next 9 days! After this camp, I'll drive home just in time for our Sunday service, preach Tuesday night at Switch, and then head to my next camp for New Life Church in Walla Walla WA. I'll drive home Sunday morning at 5am, go to our church, and then load up the car to go to our camp in Auburn WA, where we are anticipating a miraculous week with Banning Liebscher from Bethel Church in Redding California.

My mouth won't be the only thing running in the next 10 days...my legs are going to join the party as well! I have three 20 mile runs to do on back-to-back-to-back Saturdays, and in the next 10 days I'll log about 100 or so miles as I continue to prepare for the Portland Marathon!

Whew! But you know what? I wouldn't want it any other way - I love being active and being involved in The Kingdom! Pray for me when you think of me!

Moving towards the light,
Brian