Christian Living May 2014

A BAR& A BarnChurch can be anywhere

HomeschoolingOne parent’s view

FCASport CampChrist-centered athletics

RUN 4Heaven’s GateHalf marathons help kids

FREEMAY/JUNE 2014

Pastor Keith Brown & Pastor Jim Atkins

Teaching and Talk that Inspires, Encourages, and Edifi es.

Serving the Treasure Valleyfor over 30 Years

941thevoice.com • 208.377.3790 • 790kspd.com

New Life Live - Steve ArterburnFamily Talk - James Dobson

Insight for Living - Chuck SwindollTurning Point - David Jeremiah

Family Life Today - Dennis RaineyMatt Slick Live - Matt Slick

Focus on the Family - Jim DalyTruth for Life - Alistair Begg

Destined for Victory - Paul Sheppard

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www.boisechristianliving.com Christian Living | May / June 2014 �

Contents May / June 2014

Volume 2, Number �

PublisherSandy Jones

EditorGaye Bunderson

[email protected]

Sales & MarketingMelva Bade

[email protected]

• Maria Jones

[email protected]

•Sandy Jones

[email protected]

Graphic DesignDenice King

ContributorsDan Bobinsky, Carl Boockholdt,

Dan Dougherty, Dani Grigg, Leo Hellyer, Hilarey Johnson, Joel Lund, Rosie Main,

Brian Raymond, Dan Woodworth and Ron Kern

Distribution SpecialistsDoris Evans and Shauna Howard

Cover PhotoSteve Jones

Website DesignSEO Idaho

Webmaster DesignKyle Struchen

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 [email protected]

Features

“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you.”

— Isaiah 26:3

Cover Story — Church Can be Anywhere

Community Clinic: A health care mission

6

Columns

In Each EditionPublisher’s Corner:Celebrating new beginnings

4

Quotes & Scripture:Scriptures of joy

5

The Brighter Side:Derrick Boles

26

Christian Businesspeople: Larry Knapp

12

Homeschooling: One parent’s view

22

Maximum Health: Two roads

10

R4HG:Half marathons help kids

8

FCA: Christ-centered sports

18

Departments

Breaking Free: ‘Christ-esteem’ – Part II

14

Teaching and Talk that Inspires, Encourages, and Edifi es.

Serving the Treasure Valleyfor over 30 Years

941thevoice.com • 208.377.3790 • 790kspd.com

New Life Live - Steve ArterburnFamily Talk - James Dobson

Insight for Living - Chuck SwindollTurning Point - David Jeremiah

Family Life Today - Dennis RaineyMatt Slick Live - Matt Slick

Focus on the Family - Jim DalyTruth for Life - Alistair Begg

Destined for Victory - Paul Sheppard

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14

R4HG: How you can get involved 7

Sanctuary in Star:Gospel with boots on

17

Common Ground: God, bikers and a bar

16

Outdoors with Dougherty: Gone fishing

1�

Notes from Home: Embracing nerdiness

20

Faith & Finances:Smoking ‘hopium’

24

Consider This:Live for love

28

Marriage Toolbox:Parenting’s impact

�0

The Missionary Life:Cru’s Jessica Christofi

25

Creativity in the Kitchen:Summertime Chicken Salad

19

4 May / June 2014| Christian Living www.boisechristianliving.com

PUBLISHER’S Corner In celebration of new beginningsBy Sandy Jones

A year ago I was part of a won-derful team that had a dream — a dream to start a Christian magazine in the Treasure Valley. Gaye Bunder-son 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 answer-ing question after question (when many of the answers must have seemed obvious to her).

Going to press with our sixth is-sue, we also celebrate a new chapter. In March, my husband Steve and I became the new owners of Chris-tian 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 con-tinuing 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 mak-ing us chuckle or giving us pointers on how we might improve our lives. After all, our goal is to uplift, enter-tain and enlighten you!

As we go into May and June, I pause to fondly remember the Moth-er’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’ tough-skinned 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 hik-ing, 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 …

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 throw-ing 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

Sandy Jones, Publisher Christian Living Magazine

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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

Many, Lord, are asking, “Who will bring us prosperity?” Let the light of your face shine on us. Fill my heart with joy when their grain and new wine abound. In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety. — Psalm 4:6-8

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

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 deny-ing 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:

Continued on page 29

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COMMUNITY ClinicClinic seeks to empower patients

By Gaye BundersonSteve 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 laugh-able 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 posi-tion 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 Medic-aid coverage for indigents).

One of the things Garden City Community Clinic is try-ing 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.

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 get-ting 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 to-gether?’

“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 physi-cian. 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 ad-verse 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, sup-port and direction.”

But discipleship is not a fast process and Reames acknowl-edged 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 Com-munity Clinic are always seeking volunteers. Contact Rheames at 854-3942 or [email protected] for more information.

Steve Reames is executive director of Genesis World Mission and the Garden City Community Clinic. (Photo by Gaye Bunderson)


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Ordinary People. Extraordinary Results.

05-2014

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 scheduleSummer training begins July 19: 11-week group training for walkers and

runners of all experience levelsRace 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 informationFor more information or to register online, go to http://boiserun-

walk.com/run-for-heavens-gate.html. Calvary Chapel Boise — Dottie Bledsoe at dottie@run4heavensgate.

org or 850-8624 or Boise RunWalk — Coach Steve, [email protected] or 639-1434

Run 4 Heaven’s Gate: How you can get involved

Money raisedCalvary Church Boise has opened four homes spe-

cifically 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 = $12,261.802009 = $21,442.242010 = $29,682.392011 = $107,291.032012 = $105,346.762013 = $93,284.72Grand total raised = $369,308.94


DOTTIE BLEDSOE & R4HGRunning for a higher purposeBy 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, per-severing, enduring and all that stuff that comes along with run-ning 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 mara-thons 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 to be a bigger part of it.

The Bledsoes attended a fundraiser for a family in the process of adopting a child from Haiti. The family sought to raise $3,000 to send a shipment of high protein meals to the orphanage where their future daughter waited for the comple-tion of the paperwork process. Bledsoe recalls the “grass roots” fundraiser in the backyard, complete with Haitian food and a silent auction of Haitian items. With about 40 people in at-tendance, the $3,000 goal was met.

The fact that the adoptive family acted — instead of complaining or feeling powerless — inspired Bledsoe. She felt empowered to do the same, and she and her husband brainstormed for ideas that would help the children in India. Ultimately, they decided it would have something to do with running. Bledsoe credits her husband for coming up with “four in four,” or four half marathons in four weeks.

The first year, her goals were simple: send out some letters, race 58.4 miles and hope for about $500. A handful of her regular running partners committed to join her.

She spoke with Lauren Phillips, administrator at Calvary Chapel Boise International Outreaches. The timing was di-vine. Unable to ignore the need, Calvary Chapel Boise was just starting to take kids with AIDS. It was a step of faith for the church because of the intense requirements and the sheer scale of the epidemic.

Pastor Bob Caldwell said the church already felt stretched be-yond measure and taking on children with HIV/AIDS seemed impossible. He recalls: “I knew if we opened that door, hun-dreds of kids would end up being brought to us as the AIDS epidemic had spread through India.”

God had something planned though because, Caldwell said, “my own fear of being limited was overcome by the limitless love of God’s grace.”

Something began to ignite in Bledsoe’s heart as well, and she too wanted to help children with AIDS. She shared her plans with Phillips, who came up with the name “Run 4 Heaven’s Gate.” A quick announcement was placed in the following Sunday’s church bulletin.

That weekend the Bledsoes were out of town camping. When they returned to cell phone range, several voice mails from eager participants awaited them. A group was formed to meet for prayer. A total of eight people sent out letters seeking donations and ran “four in four” that year. They raised more than $12,000.

The Run 4 Heaven’s Gate team has swelled, and to date they’ve raised more than $369,000.

“It is so amazing to see where God has taken it,” said Bled-soe. Calvary Chapel Boise’s vision is that the property “Heav-en’s Gate,” out of all its orphanages in India, will be the place where children with AIDS come and spend their last days.

If there is enough funding, Heaven’s Gate will take any child. “It doesn’t matter if they are very sick with AIDS or if they

are just in the HIV stage,” she said, admitting they do have to turn kids away when they don’t have the funds.

Fortunately, not all the children they take in at Heaven’s Gate come there to die. The first AIDS baby they took in seven years ago is thriving.

“(The goal is to) make this much more than your typical or-phanage and to provide a real sense of family for each of these children who have seen so much death in their lives,” Caldwell said.

In order to do that, Heaven’s Gate invests heavily in the children’s lives, nourishing their spirit, soul and body and cre-ating an environment where they feel loved.

Dottie Bledsoe, founder of the Run 4 Heaven’s Gate fundraiser, poses pre-race in 2013 with her daughter Millie. (Courtesy photo)


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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. Bled-soe’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 buy-ing 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 them-selves.” 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 mara-thon raises his arms at the finish line. (Courtesy photo)


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Your Quality Time

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MAXIMUM HealthWhich 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 dis-ease, 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 limita-tion, 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 com-monly prescribed drugs in the U.S. at 118 million prescriptions each year.

• 25,000 people are killed by hospi-tal 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 per-cent of those people had insurance.

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 MindThe 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 SupplyMaximized 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

hypertension center, found that chi-ropractic 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-be-ing, 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 mod-ern society, we will live healthier lives.

ESSENTIAL 4: Maximized Oxygen & Lean Muscle

Maximizing oxygen intake and lean muscle mass can help reduce the dam-aging effects of aging. A study showed that if you learn how to exercise the right way through short bursts of maxi-mum 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 min-utes a day, symptoms of depression can improve faster than with pharmaceutical therapy.

ESSENTIAL 5: Minimized ToxinsMinimizing toxins in your body in-

creases 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 cover-ing — are leading causes of cancers, gland issues, and many of today’s com-mon diseases.

Forge A New PathThe road most travelled has made

people sicker, unhappier, more over-weight 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

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 [email protected]. For more information, visit MaximizedLivingDrMain.com.

05-2014

Your Quality Time

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CHRISTIAN BusinesspeopleLarry Knapp: from hater to believerBy 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 life-style 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 C-word. Until he asked him.

“He didn’t give me any Christian ter-minology. 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 unan-swered. 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, includ-ing then-Boise Cascade, and was a real estate mogul who bought and sold high-end properties in downtown Boise. He has name recognition in the valley through his appraisal firm, L.D. Knapp & Associates.

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 suc-cess, you have to see which wall your ladder is leaning against. Mine was lean-ing 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 Business-men’s group. Members meet at 7:30 a.m. each Tuesday at Wild West Coffee

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 in-clude 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 flow-ing 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

Larry Knapp, a highly successful Treasure Valley businessman, serves as director of the International Fellow-ship of Christian Businessmen for the Northwest region. (Photo by Gaye Bunderson)

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OUTDOORS With DoughertySkipping school, going fishingBy 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 enthusias-tic, 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.

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 ten-dency for some addictions is genetic.) I already considered myself an 8-year-old fishing prodigy.

Early the next morning we loaded up the old, green “50” Nash and headed out to Butter Creek, our fishing desti-nation. On the way we picked up one of my dad’s friends named Howard. His last name was Balkan-sound-ing 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 of words.


Dan Dougherty taught school in the Treasure Valley for 40 years and retired last May. He now has plenty of time to enjoy the outdoors whenever he wants.


BREAKING FreeThe lens you see yourself throughBy 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 Chris-tian 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 thor-oughly 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 mes-sage of who we are in Christ should lead not to self-es-teem 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, at-tention, and great detail. God did not just haphazardly make us. Rather, like a master painter, He left His indel-ible mark on each and every one of us.

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, arro-gant, 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.

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 in-dwelling 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 our-selves 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.


5-20

14

Off a gravel road we stopped along-side 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 apprehen-sive about crossing the pasture. I prob-ably 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, three-section, 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

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 poten-tial, I carefully removed a medium-sized 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 re-minder that the stream had been much deeper during spring run-off.

I continued to fish for several more minutes without a single nibble. I con-cluded that I had either scared the rest away or had completely depleted the

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

Outdoors Continued from page 13

05-2014


COVER STORY

Church for bikers meets in bar

By Carl BoockholdtAt 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 competi-tion between Goldwing riders and Harley-Davidson riders.

Bret, a Goldwing rider, purposely offered this biblical inter-pretation as an amicable jab at the multitude of Harley-Da-vidson 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.”

According to Pastor Jim, “The name Common Ground Biker Church was chosen for a specific reason. Anybody com-ing here should feel (they are) on common ground…everybody equal.”

This philosophy seems to have broader appeal than origi-nally 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.


A Bar & A Barn: Church can be anywhereEditor’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.

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 usu-ally preceded by a bike procession to a section of the Boise River just outside of Star. (Photo by Carl Boockholdt)

The congregation at the Common Ground Biker Church rides Goldwings, Harley-Davidsons and other motorcycles to Sunday services. (Photo by Carl Boockholdt)


A Bar & A Barn: Church can be anywhere

By Gaye BundersonThough 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 nose-dived; 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. Sim-mons 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 board-ed 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.


Keith Brown preaches country gospel

Keith Brown preaches on Sundays at The Sanctuary Cowboy Church in Star. A record-ing artist, he plays the guitar and sings country and western songs he wrote himself. (Photo by Marilyn Vestal)

Keith and Debbie Brown


FCA Sport CampA Christ-centered athletic experience

By Gaye BundersonFellowship 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 – Colos-sians 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 sold-out 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, soc-cer, 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 non-Christian 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 camp-ers 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.

“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 Es-terlyn 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 [email protected] or 697-1051.

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)


CloverdaleChurch.org

Sunday Morning Services & Sunday School

9:30 AM & 11:00 AM3755 S. CloverdaleBoise • 362-1700 01

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Join us Sundays for breakfast at 9:30 am

Celebration of His Presence and

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860-6386Riverwindfellowship.com

Riverwind Fellowship

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Sunday Morning Service 9:45

(*Must be 21 or older)Commongroundbikerchurch.com208-286-9438

Meeting at Busted Shovel Bar & Grill704 N. Main • Meridian

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Meeting atGenerations Steakhouse

112 3rd St South • Nampa 703-2141

secondchancechurch.org

Sunday Morning Service @ 10 AM

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therockOF

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Sundays at 10:30am

We meet at Sunny Ridge Elementary School

506 Fletcher Dr • Nampa208-779-0497therockcma.com 5-

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The SanctuaryCowboy Church

Sunday Service 10 AMWednesday Service 7 PM6847 Willis Lane • Star

546-9845Scowboychurch.com 5-

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For information

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CREATIVITY In The Kitchen Summertime Chicken Salad

Ingredients:12.5 oz can chicken breast½ Fuji apple, peeled, cored and chopped¼ C chopped celery½ C red seedless grapes, halved1/3 C dried cranberries¾ to 1 C Uncle Dan’s Classic Ranch Dip (made according to package directions)

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 mois-ture content.

Toss a green salad using your favorite salad fixings, or, use pre-made 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.

Young athletes who attend the FCA Sport Camp get training in a variety of athletic endeavors. (Courtesy photos)


NOTES From HomeNerdiness can be a beautiful thingBy 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 affec-tion 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 get-ting 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 de-cided that the existence of Spam was the funniest thing in the history of civilization. We celebrated its super-lative weirdness by becoming its fan club. (Don’t get me wrong — there was no actual EATING of Spam in-volved. 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 every-where. Nerds are fantastic. I think a lot of adults have come around to this opinion, but one man who has embraced nerdi-ness 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-the-chair-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.’”

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-lov-ing 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 knowl-edge 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

Former Spam-weirdness fan club member Dani Grigg is a Boise freelance writer, wife and mother of two young sons.


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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 block-long 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 after-noon 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 wel-come. 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.

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 pa-rishioners and now has around 70. Les Downer, who leads the

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 min-istry to turn to the Lord. “God took an imperfect person to fulfill His perfect will,” he said. n

The Sanctuary Cowboy Church is located at 6847 Willis Lane in Star. Sunday morning services start at 10 a.m., and everyone is welcome. For more information, call 546-9845 or visit www.scowboychurch.com. For more information about Keith Brown Ministries, go to www.keithbrownministries.com.

Keith Brown Continued from page 17

Bikers Continued from page 16


ONE ViewWhy homeschooling is a good optionBy 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 home-schooled 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 homeschool-ing 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 curricu-lum 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 clash-es 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 associat-ing 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-year-old to hang around a 10-year-old sibling.

The opposite is true in homeschool-ing, where often siblings are each

other’s best friends. Also, when a child is gone for

six or seven hours a day, par-ents really don’t understand the unique situations each child faces. Over time, kids begin to lose trust that their parents un-derstand them. Again, the opposite is true in homeschooling. Parents intimately understand

their children’s situations, and

relationships stay strong.

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-to-teacher 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 orga-nizations: The Idaho Coalition of Home Educators (ICHE-idaho.org) and the Christian Homeschoolers of Idaho State (CHOIS.org). Both are excellent resourc-es. 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 cur-riculum 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 homeschool-ing dad, I strongly believe it is the best choice for families on many levels. n

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.

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FAITH & FinancesEveryone’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 com-mon. 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 pe-riods 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 declara-tion like, “It will be different this time!” The smoking jag is usually accompanied by considerable avoid-ance behaviors and a heartfelt, urgent commitment to pretend that the laws of the universe won’t apply through-out the jag. But that’s not where the risks of smoking hopium end.

Hopium’s Side-EffectsWhile there are plenty of undesir-

able outcomes from smoking hopium, some are far more serious:

1. Impulsive decisions2. Wishful thinking3. Delayed engagement4. Unfulfilled resolutions5. Lack of discipline6. Blaming7. Shaming8. Denial9. Reactiveness10. UnhappinessOuch. Clearly, a hopium habit is

counterproductive to living a fulfilled, happy and engaged life. Expecting different outcomes from the same inputs is, well, central to smoking ho-pium. And nuts. Remember the defi-

nition of insanity? OK, all together now! Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, while expecting a dif-ferent result.

Words to Live ByTaking 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 and making forward-steps, even little ones. A life built on smoking hopium is based on timidity, and demon-strated in paralysis, reaction and lack of movement. Too often, we really, deeply fear change. The unknowns in life can get us off-center, if we let them. But we know that change is inevitable, whether we embrace it or try to flee from it.

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” — John F. Kennedy

In Psalm 25, the psalmist speaks of the great need for hope, especially when life is extremely challenging. His encouraging words remind us

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 un-imaginably 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 dif-ferent (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 experi-ences and needs, that our vision gets clearer. More realistic. More compas-sionate. 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 al-ways means that we’re looking forward. n

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 [email protected]; or on Twitter, @PrepareForRain.


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THE MISSIONARY LifeGenerous believers support Cru leaderBy Gaye Bunderson

As a staff member of Cru (for-merly 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 giv-ing 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 University in Bozeman, with degrees in elementary education and music, she became a Christian through Cru while at MSU.

She laughs at the fact she is not presently pursuing a career in either of her two fields of study. Instead, she started her Cru job in 2006, fol-lowing a lengthy application process of filling out forms and gathering personal references.

She attended a six-week training that included Bible study and other programs. Learning how to raise her own funds for living expenses was part of the training as well; it is a key element in how Cru functions.

“We are a nonprofit organization and have no central funds. Staff members, including the president of Campus Crusade, raise support to cover salaries, benefits and expenses. Then each staff member has a team of partners who prays for him or her,” according to the group’s website at www.cru.org. “Central fundrais-ing would limit the number of staff members. As a result of our many staff members, hundreds of thou-sands of people hear the good news of God’s love.”

In 2007, when she came to Boise, Christofi made contacts with area churches, where she speaks to con-gregants about her mission work on

campus. Then, people who want to make a contribution to her, and the work of Cru in general, write their checks out to the 62-year-old interna-tional organization and send them di-rectly to its headquarters at Orlando, Fla., flagged for her account. Twelve percent of the money is divided between administrative expenses and Cru overseas ministries, where it is difficult for staff to raise support.

Out of the remaining money comes Christofi’s salary minus medical in-surance and other benefits.

“(My financial supporters) want to be investing in what God is doing on campus,” Christofi said. “Our main purpose is to prepare students to be-come Christ-centered laborers.”

Some of her funding comes from Crossroads Community Church in Nampa.

“I would say right off the cuff we believe wholeheartedly that work on campus can literally touch the whole world without having to leave home because of so many students who come to the university from all over,” Jeremy Graves, pastor of leadership development and director of the church’s Impact Ministry Training Center, said.


Jessica Christofi is one of three Cru Missional Team Leaders on the campus of Boise State. (Courtesy photo)


THE BRIGHTER SideDerrick Boles’ faith in actionBy 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 foot-ball player? Or is he just one of those “lucky” people that seem to have every-thing 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 conversa-tion 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 regu-larly 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 academical-ly 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 coun-selor, both of whom said there was noth-ing that they could do to help him. His

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 profes-sor. 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 profes-sional 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.”

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.


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 pinch-ing 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 expe-rienced 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

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 go-ing to stop me, nothing.”

Through adversity, issues, and people canceling their commitments to help, Derrick alone completed the nearly 2,000-mile 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 exem-plifies 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, regard-less 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 exer-cised constantly, for faith without action doesn’t hold much value.

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 Chris-tian organization that provides life’s essentials, medical supplies and edu-cational resources for children, fami-lies and communities worldwide. Kern is an entrepreneur, business and life consultant, author, motivational speaker and philanthropist. Contact him anytime at www.RonaldAKern.com or [email protected].

Ron Kern

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CONSIDER ThisDo you live from love or for love?By Dan Woodworth

Have you ever considered the differ-ence between suffering because of fool-ishness 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 experi-ence will depend upon on how long the practice continued.

Let’s take another example. If your motivation in your heart is for self-serv-ing 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 charac-ter 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 forgive-ness 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, be-loved 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 mo-ment. 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 expe-rience trouble, tribulation and persecu-tion 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

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 suf-fered. “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

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 [email protected]. For more infor-mation visit www.danwoodworth.org.


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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 col-lege campuses were primary places for fostering the growth of future leaders.

The name change from Campus Crusade to Cru was an-nounced 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 pro-fessionals, families, athletes, high school students and many others.

“There is also a negative connotation with the word ‘cru-sade.’ 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

Missionary Continued from page 25

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

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

Quotes from Scripture Continued from page 5


�0 May / June 2014| Christian Living www.boisechristianliving.com

MARRIAGE ToolboxParenting changes much for couplesBy 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 rela-tionship as a married couple. There are many areas of parenting that we need to have agreement in. How will we admin-ister 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 founda-tional 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 organiza-tions 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 par-enting 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 suc-cesses of others.

Married couples, or couples consider-ing 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 mo-ment of conception of our first child we will forever more be parents. We will have many different seasons of parent-ing 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

we experience the blessings and chal-lenges 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 par-ents, we need to get to the point where we can fully yield everything to God, including our children and our parent-ing.

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 Mar-riage 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

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 [email protected]. If you have questions about Marriage Toolbox, or need other assistance, Leo may be reached at 344-1357, ext. 4.

www.boisechristianliving.com Christian Living | May / June 2014 �1

A CHRISTIAN’S GUIDE TOBUSINESS MANAGEMENT

Part 1 – Business EssentialsBusiness consultant, educator and magazine columnist Steve Jones will present an interactive, 1- day workshop designed to help Business Owners / General Managers build a more structured, stable and profi table business.

5-2014

Topics: I. Understanding the Entrepreneur • Characteristics • Management styles • The transition to ownerII. Tracking & Measuring 101 • Profi t center accounting • Revenue, COS & gross profi tIII. Personnel Management 101 • Communications • Accountability documents • Handling angry customers • Recruiting, hiring, corrective actions • Goal-setting, incentives & motivational factors

Workshop date/time: Saturday, May 17, 2014 / 9:00 AM – 4:00 PMLocation: Cloverdale Church of God, 3755 S. Cloverdale Rd., Boise, ID (208) 362-1700Cost: $49 per person (includes workbooks and lunch) – seating is limited so register soon

Registration forms and additional information are available at witnessyourfaith.com or contact Steve Jones at [email protected].

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How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the pres-ence of our God because of you?

— 1 Thessalonians 3:9

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

My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you — I whom you have deliv-ered.

— Psalm 71:23

But the fruit of the spirit is … joy. — Galatians 5:22

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

The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from your precepts. Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart. My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end.

— Psalm 119:110-112

Even though powerful princes conspire 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

Quotes from Scripture Continued from page 29

Christian Living May 2014

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Transcript of Christian Living May 2014