plant and run
the Chase Oaks Church [street ministry]
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So sometime today a couple of the guys from Chase Oaks Church in Plano, TX [I think it's Mike Martin, Mike Brookshire and Dennis Elenburg] should be rolling into NOLA. It is very cool to see what God is doing in them and through them. Figured I would take a moment and tell you their story.
Alf and I both interned at Chase Oaks will in seminary. The long and short of it is that we heard amazing things about this church [then called "Fellowship Bible Church North] and their pastor. We heard that it was a really healthy church. It was successful (at the time the congregation was prob about 3000) and had done it the right way. We were both very impacted by our time there.
Flash forward to Katrina. Chase Oaks becomes one of the hundreds of churches that wants to help in NOLA and desires to do so through Berean because of our personal connection. They have been down here…I think…5 times. Each time, they dive deeper and deeper into ministry here in NOLA. [Coincidentally, God has called Chase Oaks to dive deeper and deeper into their community back home in Plano. See the connection?]
During their last trip in the Spring, God allowed them the privilege to watch Him work in a humoungous way in the lives of some that we minister to from the streets.
[I will avoid using names due to the nature of the information.]
They met T who had recently come off of the streets and was beginning to integrate into our body. This man’s discipleship is marked by men and women from Chase Oaks Church. He is now living with a family from Berean and winning the battle with his past.
They met J who detoxed off of heroin right before their eyes in a ratty motel room. She did amazing for a couple of months and recently has lapsed. We have no clue where she is right now.
They met S who perhaps had the most amazing transformation of all right before their eyes. He has turned his life around and desires to be in ministry. When they met him, he was a drunk ex-con who came to the streets to die. He has also had his own struggles and now finds himself back in jail and prepared to serve an extended sentence for old charges from before he turned his life around. His prayer is that prison will provide a place for him to grow in his faith.
All three of the above individuals, by the way, have been in Plano over the past couple of months. Trips that were impactful in their lives as the people of Chase Oaks loved them and sought to bring further growth in their lives. Chase Oaks isn’t willing to leave this ministry totally in our hands thankfully. They have had these guys in their homes, they have surrounded them with prayer in their small groups, they have sacificed their time and money to see that this work continues.
So pray for my brothers from Plano this weekend as they are here in NOLA to encourage T, visit S in prison and perhaps find J on the streets. May God continue to use them in the ways that He has over the past couple of months in countless ways.
This is what it should look like to partner with us in our ministry here in NOLA. I understand that not all can do this. We covet your prayers. We can only survive with your financial support. But what we want more than anything is to lock arms with you and see God use you firsthand to minister to the people of New Orleans.
Spillway Classic Recap (updated w/pics)
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So I woke up bright and early this morning. My alarm went off at 6am…I was already lying awake in bed. Made myself a cup of coffee and scarfed down a clif bar and a banana. Crystal and I left the house about 6:30am. She decided to tag along to check it out the racing scene and take some pictures. Aly came over to watch the boys [all five of them since her Athan and Aiden spent the night].
We arrived at the site around 7:15am. I had 45mins to prep. Good stuff. I wasn’t about to let the Crescent City Classic debacle happen to me again [I started the race 20mins after the starting gun went off]. We walked a litte bit of the course and took in the sights. I stretched and warmed up a bit and used the potty twice.
It was a nice cool morning. Wait? Isn’t this Louisiana in July? The sun did finally peek out from the clouds about 15 mins before the start of the race. I promptly took off my shirt and looked around realizing that I was the only one that missed the memo about shaving your chest for race day.
Lined up at the starting line with about 10 mins to spare. I decided I didn’t need to be in the front and picked a spot about 10 feet ahead of the costumed college students already drinking beer. [Surely, I should start out faster than those guys!?]
My goal was 23 mins. Right now I can probably run a 5K in about 22 mins. I figure with the trails and all, one extra minute should be a good adjustment. We’ll see…
The gun goes off and I realize immediately that I should be closer to the front. I must have passed a couple hundred people in the first mile. It was all levee before dipping down into the woods for the final two miles. It felt like my pace was a litte slow, but it is hard to pick it up much more when I you are passing people left and right. I was expecting a timer to be placed by the water station at the end of the levee. Nope. [Dang. I knew I should have worn a watch]. I promptly ignored the people holding out cups of water on my right as the course cut left. I passed another 5-6 people as we sprinted down the levee and into the woods.
Almost the entire rest of the race was through the woods. Nothing more than a narrow hiking trail with it’s share of puddles, tree roots, bumps and hanging limbs. It became quickly apparent that (1) passing in the forest would be difficult and (2) it will be next to impossible to gauge the remaining distance on the course. The pace felt kinda slow and you would often find yourself in a clump of 5-6 runners clogged behind some poor tired soul. Either the person would step to the side and start walking or finally the person behind them would pass and the whole clump would follow.
This is the part of racing that running by yourself on the levee just doesn’t prepare you for. This is only my second race since I started running again in January. I am confident that the best way I’ll improve my racing strategies is by running races. I realize now that I could have been more aggressive in passing people through the woods.
Somewhere near the half way point we reached a clearing in the woods and encountered a wooden bridge about 3-4 feet wide and about 10-12 feet long. It took you over a “mud creek” and was a pretty steep climb in a short distance. I guess I got a little tripped up at the top and lost my balance. [doh!] Next thing I know, I am going down to the right…off of the bridge. My right foot went into the mud and my left landed on solid ground. I was able to jump right back on the course and I cut right back in front of the guy who was behind me to begin with. I heard him say something like, “man, this one’s got a little bit of energy!” [Which meant, "dang, I can't believe that I couldn't even pass the guy who fell off of the bridge."] I yelled, “I AIN’T GONNA LET THAT SLOW ME DOWN! WAHOO!” Seriously, I did. I know, I’m weird.
After what seemed like forever in the woods, we finally hit the clearing. I heard someone say, “C’mon boys! Only 200 meters to go!” I thought, “Ah! I waited too long to kick!” I immediately started sprinting and passed another 5-6 people to the finish line…including some dude that was really concerned about telling the stranger next to him to run harder and not give up. I thought it was comical that I was able to pass him. I think it’s more important to concentrating on finishing well rather then trying to tell those around you to finish well.
I finished, they handed me a muddy mug [for the first 500 finishers] and I could hear the announcer annoucing times in about the 25:20 range. So it looks like my time was around 25:15. [Boo!] I was disappointed.
On the other hand, I did pass lots and lots of people and I was only passed by a few. I did get to know the course so that next time I know much better what to expect [like start out strong on the levee so that you are in a good spot entering the woods]. I did have a ton of fun.
So, I better stop typing. I have to get to church for my last youth group. I’ll try to edit this post later tonight and add some of the pictures that Crystal took…
UPDATE: here are the pics:
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- the starting line before the race
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- My Race Number
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- Crystal & I right before the race started
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- the start1
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- the start2
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- My finish…I’m on the right passing some dudes
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- the best kind of trophy…a muddy mug
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- My muddy right foot from falling off the bridge
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- washing off after the race
Spillway Run
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official(?) course map
So I am one week away from the 3 mile Spillway Classic. Last night I got the course map emailed to me by the race director. I got on Google Maps and looked at the Satellite shot and compared the two to try to get some type of idea of what I’ll encounter. Looks like a lot of fun. Anybody wanna run it with me? Here is a NOLA.com slideshow of last year’s race.
Training has gone well. Although I’m realizing my age, that is for sure. In the past six month or so, I’ve run a 10k faster then I ever did in high school (I broke 48 mins), but I don’t expect that I’ll come close to high school times on these shorter runs. I don’t exactly remember my PR for the typical Cross Country 3 mile race, but I do remember that it was under 20 mins. Now, if I could break 22 mins, I would be ecstatic. We will see. Of course, my time for this race will a little longer since we’ll be dodging puddles and slipping through muddy bogs.
I know I haven’t posted in a while. A lot has happened over the past couple of weeks that I need to share here. Alf and Aly Nelson, the co-planting couple moved down to New Orleans this week. Yay! We have begun working on their Gentilly home (it’s gutted…needs to be renovated). We have raised close to 50% of the support we need for this first 10-month stage of planting (for Alf and Aly to start things while Crystal and I go through the FA residency program). Some exciting things have happened on the street ministry front as we have pulled a couple more people off of the streets and gotten them help. Say a prayer for Thomas and Tamara, a young couple who are giving their lives over to Christ, leaving the streets and heroin behind and starting over.
And that is just a small taste of all that has happened over the last couple of weeks.
I’ll write more about all of that later. Right now I’m at PJs and I need to head over to church…
