First Business Trip Alone

Hey everyone, I'm in Montreal this week on a business trip. This is the first time I have been alone on business. Either I go with friends, coworkers, other pastors or even my wife. But not this time it's just me, my laptop, the TV and a Power Point presentation that I have to do tomorrow. I have been waiting for this for a very long time just to be on the road visiting different places. But now that I'm here I don't feel so important anymore. I feel very nervous, very insecure but most of all very lonely. I miss my kids, I miss my wife and I miss everyone at church.

The reason I miss everyone at church so much is because as of today Rob is officially on his sabbatical. Roxanne and I sat down and talked about this yesterday when I got back from my last official meeting with Rob yesterday. I felt the weight of responsibility fall on my shoulders, I felt like the shepherd watching over his flock I need to be alert on constantly vigilant because someone will try to take them or harm them. Now I know that I'm over-reacting but I just feel so responsible for everyone that comes to Bikers' Church. I think about all of them ALL the time I care for each and everyone that comes out and I'm always doing things for BC even when I'm at home relaxing. I am committed to serving God and this is His calling for me to love, take care, shepherd and protect His flock and that's what I'm going to do.

So as you sit and read this please pray for me, for the leadership team, for Bikers' Church over the next couple days, weeks and months.

Thank you

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Happy Labor Day

I hope you had an awesome long weekend. The last official long weekend of the summer. I hope you had the chance to spend some time with family and friends, spend some time outside or do some work around the house.

I went camping with my family for the last time this year. It was a lot of fun, the kids played outside ALL day and slept well ALL night. It was really great to see how much fun they were having and made me think back of when I was in school. It seems like I played so much harder, stayed out so much longer and squeezed every last drop out of the last weekend knowing I went back to school the next day. Why do we always wait until it's too late before living life to the fullest. Why do we always wait until it's too late before making a decision, try something new, make a commitment or just have fun.

That's my question for you today why do we always wait until the last minute?

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Hard to get back into it

Did you ever notice the longer you wait to get back into it the harder it is to actually get going. It is so much easier to just stop doing something and not think about it anymore. One of my biggest character flaws is that I like to start stuff do it for a bit and move on to something else. Just ask my wife I must have over 15 membership cards to gym, martial arts studios, health clubs, diet plans etc... I don't know why I do that but it just happens. I can go to the gym for 8 months loose tons of weight improve my cardio by 150% come back from holidays and never set foot in the gym again. This is what is happening with this blog I was doing well (sort of) decided to take the summer off and now it's killing me to keep it on track. It's not that I don't want to do it, it's just getting back into it is hard and slow. I am working hard at finishing what I start as stated in the 5 books I have on the go (none of them finished) but I have to take baby steps. My goal for September is to finish the books that I started, become consistent with posting on my blog, finish the work that I started at home and stay on track at the gym. It seems like such a huge list but really it's not that bad most of the books I only have a couple of chapters left, stuff at home is just touch ups and I now have an accountability partner (my wife who is also the finance planner) to make sure I go to the gym regularly. People call me a professional procrastinator and even though I take offense to that I will deal with them later!

If you deal with the same issues please feel free to let me know what you are doing to change these bad habits.

Later
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Back to School

Well after speaking to some of the youth last week about going back to school and every one of them telling me they didn't want to go back the day has finally come. As of today most if not all schools in the area have started. I'll be honest with you, once I got to high school I loved the first week back. Now before you get all excited and call me a geek or a nerd, let me point out that I said I loved going back to school not class! I really enjoyed my time at school, I loved the friendships, I loved the idea of starting fresh, new people, new possibilities but most of all just getting back together with some of the people you didn't see during the summer.

I was never what you would call a good student, I struggled in French, English, Math and Science. However I was excellent in Gym, Shop class, Drama, Spares and Lunch! In other words I worked hard at what I wanted to do and slacked off or coasted in what I didn't want to do. Every year my parents and I would get into it, they would threaten and I would promise, they would ask even beg and plead for me to apply myself and I would assure them that I would do my best and by week 3 my best became whatever was good enough. By the end of the year I would just squeak by with a passing grade and my parents would say someday this will bite you in the butt. That used to make me so mad because what did they know about anything they were just stupid adults who don't know anything. Boy was I wrong. 20ish years later and I'm still struggling to get ahead. Because of my poor grades and my lack of commitment I have had to take equivalency tests, specialized training at night and I had to go back to school to finish some missing credits and I still have a long time to go before I can ever move up.

Do I regret my time in school, NOT AT ALL. Would I do anything differently if I could go back, FOR SURE. To go back knowing what I know now there are certain things I would change, study a little more, be a little more serious, be a little more assertive, appreciate the times with friends but most of all I would be nicer to certain people. But in general I would do it all over again almost the exact same way because if I changed anything who knows where I would be today, maybe better but I could be A LOT WORST!

Until next time

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Bad Weather But Great Summer

Hey everyone I'm back to posting. I know it's been awhile since my last post (sometime in April I think) but I needed to take a blogging break. I also needed to get away from Twitter and Facebook. It was getting to a point where my social networking was getting to be busier than my actual physical networking. I was neglecting family and friends to update status, create new blog posts and just check in on what everybody else was doing. I seemed to know more about Paris and Perez Hilton than I did with my church family and that is sad. So I cut the ties, I stopped blogging (except for Bikers Church blog), stopped tweeting and checked Facebook only to see what my "real friends" were doing. This summer I rediscovered an interesting concept called popping over or, for some you, dropping by. For those of you who don't know how this works let me explain it to you: basically what you do is log off ALL SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES, shut your computer down, get out of the house, either get in a car or my bike and go to some one's place for no reason but just to say Hi. You will be amazed at what kind of conversations you can have with someone when you there without an agenda or for a specific reason.

Let's face it the weather in Eastern Canada was crap this year so I decided to make the best of it and reconnected with some family and friends. I made the effort, took the time and spent an awesome summer just hanging out. It was like getting to know people again. Life is too short to spend all your time wondering and worrying what everybody else thinks of you. Don't get me wrong I have nothing against social networking, I love blogging, Twitter and Facebook, I just don't want these to run my life. If I died today I wouldn't want to be known as the guy who had a million followers or 3000 friends but had only 12 people show up at the wake. I want to make an impact in people's lives, I want to be remembered as a guy who was always there for his family and friends and a guy who made the effort and cared.

So I encourage to log off and get to know people again. Be that person that makes a difference by being there and rediscover your friends. It may be hard to log off at first but it is totally worth it when you get to your buddy's place and you start remembering and reminiscing about old times.

Until next time

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Been a while

I know it's been a while since my last post. And to all of you who sent me a message, everything is fine and thanks for reminding to post.

Great things have been happening, and even though I am extremely busy right now I feel blessed. I'm blessed to still be working, I'm blessed that my family is healthy, I'm blessed to have an AWESOME Youth Group but most of all I'm blessed to be able to work for God.

As I said some amazing things are coming in the next couple of months and I look forward to it all. I've been asked to speak at a couple of different churches and conferences, I'm heading to Atlanta for a conference at the end of the month, I only have 6 weeks of school and then I graduate from Bible School in June, riding season is finally here and amazing things are happening at The Journey. How can I not feel like I'm blessed!

If you're not feeling God's Blessings in your life right now let me pray for you. I pray that you will truly be and feel blessed, that whatever you are going through right now will just be lifted and that you see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Talk at you later
Marty

Lessons Learned part 6

Well as I said yesterday today will be the last part in this series. I kept the last commitment as a single and final commitment, not because it was less important, not because I can't count but because it is both extremely important and it finishes the series so well. Again in case you didn't read the first posts or in case you forgot please remember that I didn't write these 10 commitments, I wish I had, but I didn't. These come out of a book written by Doug Fields called Your First Two Years in Ministry.

The 10th and final commitment in our list and one that I find the most difficult is:

#10 I will pursue contentment.
Easier said than done. The first time I read this principle I said no problem I already to that. I'm content with my life, all is good, I have everything I need and I am happy! However if I had another laptop I could improve my productivity, Oh and even better if I had an iPhone that would be totally awesome I could really multi task. Maybe I could get one when I buy my new bike, or if I had a new car and bigger car I would attract more youth and have a program as good as... Well there goes the contentment principle. We live in an age where new and improved has become the norm. You don't fix stuff you buy new stuff and when we get the new stuff we want to upgrade it right away. I was at a Harley dealership last week looking, OK drooling at some bikes and the customer beside me had just agreed to purchase a 2009 Harley Davidson Fat Boy (my dream bike) valued at over $20,000.00 and the first question out of his mouth was what can I do to customize this bike? How much for new pipes, pegs, seat and chrome bling? He hadn't put 1km on the bike and already he was upgrading the basic look of the bike. I guess he wasn't content with just a Fat Boy.
The problem with contentment is that it becomes a fine line with laziness. It's easy to say that I'm not going to do this or that I'm content with everything I have. Are you really or are you just not doing anything and finding excuses. You see what I mean it's a fine line.

It's up to you to find the balance between contentment and laziness but once you do what an awesome feeling. The apostle Paul put really well in (Philippians 4:11-12) "I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want."

I hope this mini blog post series was helpful and I encourage you to review the 10 commitments regularly as a refresher.

Talk at you later

Marty

Lessons Learned part 5

Two more posts to wrap up this series on commitments. Today I will touch on 2 important commitments and tomorrow I will finish with the final commitment. I know it's been a while and things went a squirely lately so let's quickly recap what we have seen so far.

1. I will move slowly
2. I will regularly check my motives and evaluate my heart
3. I will steer clear from the numbers game
4. I will not criticize the past
5. I will avoid the comparison trap
6. I will focus on priorities and
7. I will pace myself

Now I know that some actually probably most of you do this already but it needs to be added to remind us why and who we are doing this for.

8. I will serve.
If you look at Mat 20:26-28 tells us that if you want to lead you must learn to serve. If you want to be first you must learn to be last, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. Serving is noble, serving keeps you humble. How do you fight selfishness, serve. The most important part in those verses of scripture comes in verse 28.
"For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Read this verse over again, now re-read it. Let it sink in, remember it and live by it. If Jesus came to serve and not be served than who am I to think that I'm better than He is!

9. I will be a learner.
Never stop learning, always keep the heart of a student. It is extremely important to be open to different concepts and teachings. I have learned so much from the youth in the last month. They can be so open and honest, actually sometimes they can be brutally honest and I respect that from them. You learn from your mistakes and I have made some impressive ones at different times in my life. I'm glad I have people in my life that can speak into my life to guide and teach me. Sometimes the pill was hard to swallow, the lessons were painful but they are also essential in growing.

So I pray today that you can find somebody like that for your life. I pray that you will always be ready and willing to learn and that you will continue to grow. I pray that you will always be a student of life.

Talk at you later

Marty

Technology overload

Before I get to my new post on Lessons Learned part 5 I just want to comment on the use or should I say over use of technology. Don't get me wrong I'm not against technology, I'm just starting to have issues with the amount of technology we need to keep up. It seems like every time we get into something, or sign up to another site something new and better comes up. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm ALWAYS behind technology wise and I'm OK with that because I still believe in building relationships with people, I love the human face to face contact. Anyone who sends me something on Facebook or My Space asking to be friends I always try to invite them to lunch or for a coffee I just love and need the face to face contact. The problem is when networking becomes a full-time job I have to learn to cut back. Sometimes I feel like I'm speed dating going from one meeting to another. There is a great line or concept in the movie Jerry Maguire when he says that instead of having hundreds of clients we should cut back and build relationships with the existing ones. Unfortunately this isn't a popular concept when it comes to business and he ends up getting fired for writting his manifesto.
As of today I'm adopting that concept and streamlining my focus. I am cutting back on most of my social networks. I'm cutting out My Space and Yahoo, I will be checking Facebook only occasionally and will be Twittering on a limited basis. My main focus will be this blog, person to person tweets, the creation of a website for The Journey and The Journey Page on Facebook.

I thank everyone who follows this blog and I promise to make a better effort to be more consistent with my posts.

Talk at you later

Marty

Lessons Learned part 4

Today I will be touching on 2 points that are all very relevant and important. I will be describing separately but they can be used as one.

So here we go:

Commitment # 6. I will focus on priorities.
Pretty self-explanatory isn't it, or is it? Not as easy as you think, you can get distracted with the smallest things. There's a series of books called "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" that really reflect this commitment. When everything has to be done yesterday than how are you supposed to know what has to be done first. Sit down and have a planning session, either alone or with the Senior Pastor to set a list of priorities and use those as a guideline. You will be surprised how much time you will save by having a clear list of what needs to be done and when. Everything else becomes secondary.

# 7. I will pace myself
Hebrew 10:36 really sums it up: " Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive His promise." Remember when I talked about running the marathon if you don't yourself you will burn out quickly. Be patient, take time to listen to God. He will direct you in the correct direction if you let him. It's God's time not yours and sometimes that's really hard to accept because after all we know more than God right? I have just started an exercise program and all I can think about is how much I was doing a couple of years ago and how much I'm out of shape now. I can't keep up to what I was doing in the past I need to start with the walk program, then do the walk and run, eventually the run and walk and finally to run again. When I try too hard or move too fast I crash and burn with sore feet, bad arches and shin splints and I quit again but instead of quitting sometimes you just have to slow down or walk you don't have to run all the time.

That's all for today please feel free to send me some comments on this or any of the other messages.

Talk at you later
Marty

Lessons Learned Part 3

Sorry about that. I have neglected my blogging duties for a couple of days and left you hanging a little (that's OK sometimes the anticipation is worth it).

So here it goes. You will have excuse the mistakes that may occur during this post as I am trying to do 2 things at once, post this message and answer my 5 year old daughter's questions. If you have a 5 year old girl you know exactly what I'm talking about!!!!

Principle # 5 I will avoid the comparison trap.
This is a very big one especially for me. Being very new to this I found it easier to just go to other groups to "see and take notes" on how they do things. It was a very sobering moment to walk into a room with 115 kids worshiping and praying all together. How can you not compare what they have with what you have. It's an easy to trap to fall into if you're not careful. You know what I realized in that moment, they are not MY youth and even if they have 115 none of them come from my group. I love the youth I'm working with and wouldn't trade them for anything, they keep me grounded and on my toes at the same time. WE are a group whether we are 12 or 120 this is OUR group I don't need to compare myself against other groups or other leaders God called ME to be here not a clone of them.

I just realized that I didn't post this message I saved it instead you see I told you it is hard to do 2 things at once when you have a 5 year old.

Talk at you later

Marty

Lessons Learned part 2

So today we will be touching another one of those that even though I just started I have found myself already guilty of doing and it is:

3. I will steer clear from the numbers' game.
In a society that demands a clear evaluation system the easiest one that can be used when it comes to youth ministry or small groups is how many people do you have? Success is often ranked by net income, total worth, how many toys you own or how many friends you have on Facebook. It is clear, there are numbers to back our claims and it can be used as a bench mark for the next person. I went to a comedy club once and the comedian said something like "the more friends you have on Facebook the less you have in real life!" There may be some truth to that if you spend all of your time increasing your numbers when are you building relationships?
Stay away from the numbers game instead focus on the positive relationships that you have acquired with your small group. It's a lot easier to find out what is really going on in somebody's life when there are few people as opposed to a large group.

4. I will not criticize the past.
Easier said than done. It is easy to put all the issues that you are facing right now on the person that just left. Focus on the positive from the past and build on it. Work with what works and take it from there. There is a great line in Kung Fu Panda (one of my favorite movies) "Quit, don't quit? Noodles, don't noodles? You are too concerned about what was and what will be. There is a saying: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the "present." The turtle is wise my friend the turtle is wise! Stop focusing on the past start a new chapter and move on. Use what worked as a guideline and build from there.

Until tomorrow remember that it's not about how many or blaming the last guy, it's about building relationships with that one kid that needs your attention now today not the last guy or the next guy YOU TODAY. A wise man once taught me that when he sits back and thinks about his youth group days he doesn't remember what was taught, everyone that was there or how many people went but he will always remember the one on one times, the before and after the service talks or the events that he went to with his Youth Pastor.

Talk at you later

Marty

Lessons Learned part 1

Yesterday I told you about this awesome book I was reading called Your First Two Years in Youth Ministry by Doug Fields (www.dougfields.com) and as I said yesterday I highly and completely recommend it to anyone and everyone in Youth Ministry in a paid position or as a volunteer leader, as someone who is just starting or been doing this for awhile it will help all of you. The more I was thinking about it the more I realized that I need to talk more about the valuable information in the book in the hopes that you will pick it up.

One of the most important lessons I have learned so far came from chapter 1, and I will go into it deeper over the next couple of days. I just think this information is so beneficial that I really want to share this with all of you whether you are in youth ministry, ministry in general or starting a small group these principles will help you. Doug Fields calls these the Top 10 Youth Ministry Commitments.

1. I will move slowly.
This is one of my major issues, I want it all and I want it NOW! The reference used in the book and in the Bible is that of a marathon runner vs. a sprinter. Are you in it for the long haul or just a 100m dash? What kind of impact will you have if you quit after 3 months, how will the youth/or the members of your small group react if you shut everything down just when the group starts to feel comfortable with each other. Can we say trust issues.

2. I will regularly check my motives and evaluate my heart.
Working with small groups I find a lot of issues come up when this principle is forgotten. Pride can set in or the sense that "I" did this by myself. This is mine and therefore it will be done my way! Dude unless your Frank Sinatra "My Way" may not be the best way! ALWAYS remember as Max Lucado wrote in his book: "It's NOT About Me". So before making decisions that can and will impact the whole group check your motives and evaluate your heart.

I think this is enough for now, so I will go into another 2 or 3 principles tomorrow. Please remember that these have been taken from the book (YFTYYM) and I want to make sure that you do not think that I stole the idea these are not my principles/commitments. They were written by Doug Fields and he deserves all the credit so that is why I encourage you to pick up the book to get the complete definitions of each point. Hopefully I will give you enough information to peak your interest and maybe you didn't know where to look so I wanted to guide you in the right direction.

Talk at you later

Marty

Lessons Learned in Youth Ministry

So the first lesson that I have learned so far, YOU CAN'T DO ALL BY YOURSELF! Wow how deep is that, I should get a book deal and start a tour. But seriously you can't. I have read 3 books in the last week and they all basically say the same thing. You need help, you should ask for help or get help. Same message said three different ways. And I agree with them. So I decided to get some help and use the free resources that are out there and available to everyone. It's amazing what kind of help you can get when you put the call out there. I'm a brand new youth pastor where do I start and I need help!!!! Within a matter of minutes the resources, the advice, the offers to help were really coming in because everyone out there wants you to succeed. It's not a competition it's a brotherhood. One of the best pieces of advice that I have received in the last couple of weeks has been the suggestion that I pick up a great book called Your First Two Years in Youth Ministry written by Doug Fields. What an awesome book and extremely helpful. I read this book and I feel like I'm sitting with Doug and he is answering my questions. The scary thing about this book is the fact that the answers seem the be coming in the order that I would actually be asking them if he were sitting in front of me.

If you are just starting out in Youth Ministry and you are wondering what am I doing here I strongly recommend you pick up this book it is worth it's weight in gold. I hope that someday I have the opportunity to meet Doug in person because I really want to thank him for the great advice.

Talk at you later

Marty

Happy Anniversary!

I just read an interesting article. It was on hockey and the teams in the NHL, it was a club by club review and most of the facts quoted didn't surprise me but this one point really stuck out and I just wanted to share this with you. If the Toronto Maple Leafs don't win the Stanley Cup this year, AND THEY WON'T, and will continue a 40 YEAR LOOSING STREAK!!!! 40 Years leafs fans that's something to be proud of!

After sharing this with a Leafs fan at work his comment was and this comes as no surprise, "well it looks like the Sens aren't going to make the playoffs this year!" Ouch that hurt, no not really!

So here is my question to you what's worst having a team that folded 60 years ago after winning 10 Stanley Cups and then coming back in the 90s and not winning one since or having a team for 75 years and not winning a cup since 1969?

Think about it and let me know and HAPPY 40TH ANNIVERSARY LEAFS FANS.

Talk at you later

Marty

A True Servant's Heart

Good morning everyone, I just wanted to start by letting everyone know how proud I am of being a member of Bikers Church. Last week I was told of 2 things that happened to make me realize how blessed I am. I won't go into details because I haven't been given permission to share the details but let's just say that 2 of our members have been really and truly blessed by some of our other members. These 2 guys are awesome servants and have been for years, always putting everyone else needs before their own. They volunteer and give of themselves over and over again until they can't give anymore but then somehow manage to find a little bit more and give that as well. These guys tend to always be the first ones there and in most cases are the last to leave. The church would have a lot of difficulties functioning without them. After years of serving without asking for anything or requesting any compensation they have both received gifts from anonymous donors. And what makes this truly amazing was that it came at the PERFECT time.

It's nice to see when the givers become receivers. That something good happens to great people.

Talk at you later.

Marty

Technology

AAARRGGGHHH! Technology can be wonderful, sometimes! But it can also be frustrating. I have been trying to edit and update this blog to make it fresh, to make it inviting and to make it appealing to all age groups. Funny how editing one thing can snowball out of control. All I wanted to do was change the title get some new colors. Well those 2 changes caused the loss of passwords which in turn lost the ability to leave comments which in turn prevented the opportunity to have an open discussion. I'm pleased to tell you that I think all issues have been resolved!!!! I hope!

If you have any comments, complaints or suggestions please feel free to let me know.

Thanks, talk at you later

Marty

Changes!

So this is the week where we say goodbye to Clive at Bikers Church! I'm a little sad to see him go because he has been such an inspiration to our youth over the years. Clive has volunteered as our youth pastor for over 6 years always with a smile, without requesting to be compensated for his time and mostly without ever complaining about the youth and the direction of the church. He has helped me and others deal with some issues and he has always been there since the first day he decided to help. I can count on 1 hand how many times he has missed since the first day. So I would like to take the time to honour him, to wish him good luck in whatever he decides to do and to ask God to bless him like he has blessed us at Bikers' Church.

Clive my friend you will be missed and we look forward to having you come and visit us if and when you have a chance. The youth and the leadership will miss you.

So as of next week I will be responsible for the youth at Bikers Church. We have a new name "The Journey", a new look and feel and very shortly a new website called thejourneyyouthgroup.com. We will focus on mentoring, teaching the next generation to teach the next generation..., growing spiritually and creating an environment where the youth of the city can come and feel safe and share ideas goals and dreams. Our philosophy will be based on the principle found in 1 Timothy 4:12 "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity."

As soon as the website is up and running I will post it here.

Talk at you later

Marty

To post or not to post that is the question

So if that is the question what is the answer? I was looking at a couple of blogs that I follow and found a link to a blog that I had never seen before. As I started reading it I realized the content and comments were really not something that I have any interest in. They claim that people are trying to censore them, or that "the purists" are getting together to block anything that doesn't conform with their beliefs. Some of the comments are quite heated and almost to the point of being offensive and the name calling is totally uncalled for (on both sides of the argument) but isn't that what a blog is about. As much as I don't agree with the content of that particular blog in the end it's up to me to choose not to read it. If you get that offended with the comments that are made don't read it, don't advertise it on your blog saying how bad it is, don't refer to this blog when quoting how bad the world has become but mostly don't fall into the trap of using the same colorful language and comments used on the blog.

I have spoken about this blog to make a point, I will not refer to it, bookmark it and don't bother sending me a message asking me about the blog because I won't tell you. The best way to stop this person is to let him or her post their comments and not have any readers. If you go to their level you are just adding fuel to the fire. Don't get me wrong I'm not telling you to bury your head in the sand I'm just saying don't fall in their trap by acting and speaking the same way. Be the bigger person share your opinion or post a comment in a loving way.

The choice is yours reply in a loving manner or fall to their level whether you read the blog or never go on it again advertise how bad it is and rally together to try to have it stopped or just refuse to publish it or make mention of it, in the end the choice is yours.

Talk at you later

Marty

A very long weekend

Hey everybody glad to be back at work. This had to be one of the longest weekends of my life. There were so many highs and so many lows it was hard to keep track of, I should be smiling or crying! I have to admit that this has been one of the hardest weeks that I have had as a Pastor in 3 years. It took a lot out of me and by Sunday night I was physically, emotionally and spiritually drained. I just wanted to emotional roller coaster to end.

It started Friday, I was asked to assist at the funeral of a good friend's wife, who was also a good friend. Although I was honored to be asked to take part in the funeral it was one of the hardest things I have had to do. To stand there in front of their family and our friends and publically say goodbye tore me up inside. Then Saturday morning I got up early to spend time with my kids and take them to Jiu Jitsu and chear them on with joy and pride, only to drop them off to attend another funeral. I didn't know the person but her daughter was one of our youth's Big Sister so I went to support her. Later that evening I was invited to a High School reunion of sorts and met some really old friends, people I had not seen in over 15 years. I had a blast, it was awesome seeing them again and look forward to another evening SOON. It wasn't until I got half way home that I realized how much I missed hanging out with them. It got me thinking of how different my life could have been if I would still be hanging out with these old friends. I also found out some really sad things about how some of them had really crappy lives growing up. I remember hating some of the people I went to school with in grades 5, 6, 7 and 8 because they seemed to have everything and I had nothing compared to them. Sad that the stuff they had came at such a high price. Sunday started off great I attended the service at City Church to see, meet and speak with their new Pastor. What a great guy, I wish him and his family all the best as the new Pastors of City. And finally to top it all off the victory of the best football team of all time in the NFL the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Fortunately not all my weekends are like this and I'm extremely grateful for the valuable lessons learned, the most valuable was rest. Monday night I fell asleep it was about 8pm and I still feel tired. So there is a very good chance that it will be an early night again tonight.

To those of you who offered kind words and support I thank you it really meant a lot.

Talk at you later

Marty

Somedays...

I don't care how spiritual you are, or claim to be. I don't care how long you have been a Christian. I don't care how many years you have gone to church, you have to admit that some days you just don't want to... (you can finish this sentence). In my case today is one of those days. The problem is my don't want to list is quite long, maybe even too long to write in this entry. Let's just start with the easy ones, today I don't want to...

1. get up and get going
2. be courteous, polite and friendly
3. be patient, nice and caring
4. deal with people
5. sit in traffic
6. listen to people tell me about their problems...

These are just a few of the "I don't want to" items on my list today. The difference between my past life and now is; I don't let my "don't want to" list take over my life. I look for something positive that will get me from where I am when I wake up, to where I want to be when my wife and kids wake up 1 hour later. If that doesn't work I spend time talking with God asking Him for help, praying for a different mindset or outlook and I then I pray for other people. When you pray for others it is easy to see that, in most cases, it could be worse. Don't get me wrong I have to work at it regularly (OK everyday) but as I said I refuse to let my "I don't want to" list take over my day, my week my life. And wouldn't you know it, it's always those days when people stop you and ask for your advice or it is the slowest traffic day of the week. I'm really happy that I took the time to refocus this morning because it seems like it's been one of those days where I won't be able to get anything done. So far I have had 4 phone calls, 3 people stop in my office for over 30 minutes just to chat and tell me about their personal issues and a half a dozen emails asking me for my advice and council. With everything happening it has taken me over 3 hours to write this so I hope you can get a little something out of it. Well I got to go somebody just walked in.

Talk at you later

Marty

Passing of a dear friend

It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of a near and dear friend. Carrie was a true friend in every sense of the word, she never judged me, never spoke behind my back (she always told you to your face), always supported me with my decision to become a pastor but most of all she was always there to listen. She kept me in line and honest, she prevented me from exaggerating the facts and was always honest when my sermons sucked (sometimes maybe too honest).

I will miss her very much. She was my friend, my councilor my hero and nobody will ever be able to take her place.

Marty

Try something different

I was reading Jason Boucher's blog post called I have a Crush on you found here: http://www.slicesoflife.ca/ and in it he sums up everything that I have felt when making the decision to go into ministry. It isn't the lack of experience that stopped me, the lack of support or the opposition from family and friends it was fear. The fear of failure, the fear of looking like an idiot, the fear of disappointing my teacher and mentor, the fear of embarrassing my family, I was afraid! So it took me almost 1 year before making the decision and accepting the call that God had for my life. I made the commitment and have stuck with it for almost 3 years of studying and over 4 years of serving my church, serving The Church.

Last week I preached a sermon on the Future and the fact that if we want to serve we need to leave. We don't have to necessarily have to leave geographically sometimes you have to leave a situation, get out of our rut get rid of the " same-ol' " lifestyle, just leave. Sometimes it can be easy but a lot of times it is really hard. Staying is comfortable, it's reassuring, you know what's coming and can prepare for it. On the other hand leaving can be scary it's unpredictable, it can surprise you and startle you, it can leave you feeling uneasy and unsure of yourself you become afraid. Please don't think I have all the answers because I still get scared, I still worry sometimes and I still fight fear. It took me a long time to accept the Youth Pastor position, I thought long and hard, debated looked at all the pros and cons, analyzed and rationalized and couldn't make a decision. Not because I didn't want to do it, it certainly wasn't because of the Youth, because they are the reason why I wanted to do it they were the pros, it was because I was afraid. It wasn't until I stopped doing it on my own and actually prayed about it that the answer became very clear that I had to do this. One thing is sure when I stop doing things on my own and trust God with Everything in my life those fears stop instantly and worrying turns into excitement of the great things to come.

So for the next couple of days or weeks I encourage you to do something different, try something that you have always wanted to try but mostly have faith that God will lead you through it.

Talk at you later

Marty

Restart 09

I spent the evening last night at the Life Centre to celebrate the end of a 21 day fast. Don't get excited I didn't stop eating for 21 days, well I guess I did sort of. I gave up snacking after dinner so from 6pm to 6am only water. For a guy who could become a professional snacker trust me it was hard. I learned some very valuable lessons over the last 21 days like:
1: I can't do it all by myself
2: When I trust God with EVERYTHING in my life, things run a lot smoother
3: People disapoint, God doesn't
and
4: A life of faith is a life of leaving.

Over the next weeks and months I will try really hard to teach these life lessons to the youth at The Journey. I will also keep you posted on how things are going as we "RESTART" the program. The 21 day fast was very eye opening and it was also a time to get excited about things that will be happening in the very near future. It was like a kick in the pants to GO, get started, leave the old behind and get restart with the new!

Talk at you later

Marty

I'm Baaack!

Hi everybody glad to be back I hope you didn't miss me too much. I'm glad to be back in the saddle as they say. As promised as soon as it was possible I wanted to give you information about me and what's going on in my life and now the time has come.

As you can see by the new blog title some changes have occurred in the last couple of weeks that I wasn't able to share with anyone until now. I just wanted to make sure that all parties involved were told and understood what was going on before I made the official announcement. Well here it is as of 7:30 last night it has been officially announced to the youth and to the members at Bikers Church that I am now the new Youth Pastor for Bikers Church. This is very exciting for me because I have felt called to do this for a while. Clive the previous Youth Pastor has been there for 6 years and has done an awesome job taking care of the youth group and I wish to thank him for EVERYTHING he has done. He was there when most people would have bailed and will still be around on occasion to help me when I need it. He has really helped me fit into this role and for that I will always be grateful. So Clive brother as you move on to new challenges and new beginnings I wish you all the best. I pray for success and prosperity in everything you do, any organization will be lucky to have you. We will miss you and I want you to know that you are always welcome to come and visit. Thanks again brother!

As for me this is a whole new chapter that is starting in my life. I really look forward to restarting, revamping and refocusing the new youth group at Bikers Church. The first thing that we needed was a new name. After much discussion, voting and praying the youth decided on a new name so from now on we will not be called Bikers Church Youth anymore, from now on we are:
The Journey! What an awesome name and I love the fact that they chose it. We are also working on a new website and it will be called: www.thejourneyyouthgroup.com. We will also be creating a blog and will be working on a forum where the youth of the city can come and participate to different Q&A sessions, surveys and discussion groups . I would like to have guest "speakers" and have all kinds of questions and topics. Anything from religion and spirituality all the way to cars, today's events, fashion, WHATEVER. So keep your eyes on this blog for more details as they come up.

Tomorrow I will talk about where do I/we go from here. Where will The Journey take me and where am I going with The Journey.

Talk at you later

Marty

Don't give up on me

Wow I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post but there is a reason and I will share it with you shortly! But for now all I ask is for you to be patient with me as I work out all the details, dot all the i and cross out all the t's. Some new and exciting challenges for me up ahead which will mean some funny stories for everyone to read.

So keep your eyes on this blog as I will be posting some stuff very shortly.

Thanks for your patience and talk at you later

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