I was able to read 25 books this year!

1. "AHA Awaken, Honesty, Action" Kyle Ideman 

2. "Holy Fire: A Balanced Biblical Look at the Holy Spirit's Work in our Lives" R. T. Kendal 

3. "Overwhelmed” Perry Noble

4. "Crash the Chatterbox” by Stephen Furtick

5. "Purpose Driven Church” by Rick Warren 

6. "Transformational Discipleship” by Eric Geiger

7. "Organic Church” by Neil Cole

8. "Worship Matters” by Bob Kauflin 

9. "Dangerous Calling” by Paul Tripp 

10. "Prayer: The Timeless Secret of High-impact Leaders” by Dave Earley

11. "Strengths Based Leadership" by Thomas Rath

12. "Discovering Church Planting" by J. D. Payne

13. "Praying for your Elephant" by Adam Stadtmiller 

14. Better Together" by Paul Fleischmann 

15. "From This Day Forward" by Craig Groeschel

16. "Preaching: The Art of Narrative Exposition” by Calvin Miller 

17. "All In" by Mike Guzzardo

18. "Multiply" by Francis Chan

19. "One Way Love" by Tullian Tchividjian 

20. "It" by Craig Groeschel 

21. "Alter Ego" by Craig Groeschel   

22. "How to be Rich: It's not what you have it what you do with what you have" by Andy Stanley

23. "Just do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will" by Kevin DeYoung

24. "Crazy Busy: A (merciful) short book about a (really) big problem" by Kevin DeYoung

25. "Reckless Faith: Embracing a Life without Limits" by Kevin G Harney

Top 25 Adventures and Life Stories of 2014

25. Visited Ballpark Village at the Cardinals stadium. I held bats used by Stan "the man", Lou Brock, and Ozzie Smith; and also put on a 2011 World Series ring

24. Participating in the ACS ice bucket challenge and getting my teens to do it

23. Helping out a church plant, I found myself able to drive over into Michigan! One more state off my list, only a few more left

22. I love the Cup O Joy and who they bring in! Sand artist Joe Castillo (famous for being on American's Got Talent) and Taylor Mason, who is amazing ventriloquist; were my favorite performers 

21. Amber and I did the Younglife 5k Glowrun, lots of glow sticks and fun

20.  I was able to invest in my life by reading 25 books this year

19. Bobbing for apples and bobbing for candy canes in egg nog

18. This year was the first time I participated in "no shave November" I had a good neck beard 

17. My favorite youth series was "Comparing Candy Land to Christian Life" and my favorite event was a church lockin that had the theme of Nerf Wars

16. I was able to be part of a church plant's first service and the continual process as the Graceway Hmong continue to grow their church

15. I went to an amazing coaching seminar and put the things I learned into practice as I help coach teens, friends and ministry leaders

14. Harvest Fest and VBS were huge for me; they both were great out reaches that came from our church. They have been developed into a sussessful programs that are done with excellence and with a great volunteer staff

13. Serving in the community in a variety of ways. Working with awesome people at the YMCA, prison ministry, block parties, being a youth ministry coordinator in Green Bay, investing on radio, talking with unchurched at Starbucks and the Y, and so many other community opportunities 

12. West Bend Mission Trip was an amazing week of helping a church plant and serving the community

11. Camp has so many life stories in itself! Being a rec leader, running into a black bear, and being turned into a human pancake and human sushi

10. Two weeks after I got a scar above my eye, I broke my nose playing basketball

9. I was able to work on my communication this year, I preached 5 Sunday mornings and I was on radio 10 times

8. We spent Christmas with family in St. Louis. Ate at Pappy's barbaque made famous by Man vs Food, shot a potato gun for the first time, played with my nephew and niece, went to Baseball Village, and Grandpa read a message from my blog for part of the Christmas message

7. Two year wedding anniversary was spent in Minneapolis. We visited Mall of America, IKEA, and Jacob's Well church

6. Buying a new car, the Blackberry (Honda Fit). One of the hardest decisions of my life and a major financial commitment

5. Attending my first NFL game at Lambeau Field! Not only my first game but it was also a playoff game and it was very cold

4. Baptizing my first individuals; Ali, Kayla, and Tyler! You guys are awesome and keep following Jesus

3. Hitting the age of 30! What a monumental point in my life and an opportunity to reflect on the past decade of my life

2. Reaching my second year anniversary with my beautiful wife. We are an awesome team and have had lots of fun this year. 2015 will most likely be better 

1. As always, number one goes to Jesus! What a year of growth and investing in my relationship with the most important individual in my life. Looking forward to continue growing in my love of God and love for others

The woman in the walls

I was getting for ready for Wednesday night youth group when one of the scariest things happened to me in a church...and I have had quite a few! Our heating at the church had gone out in half the building and Pastor Rick had a heater running for us when I got there. I'm guessing with the heater, the soda machine, and me turning on the coffee; I blew a breaker. No problem, I knew where it was and this breaker had blown before. 

I went to the breaker room and reset the switch. As I was about to leave, a woman said something to me! She told me that she was recording my progress. I felt the chill go down my spine and turned around, nothing. I thought to myself, there has to be someone upstairs and the voice carried. I went upstairs to find a dark church that and no one present. Weird! I was getting excited, there had to be a machine or something talking. I wasn't crazy, I heard something. 

I looked outside and saw Pastor Rick walking over. I explained everything to him and then went on to show him exactly what I did. Nothing happened...I expressed that I knew I wasn't hearing voices. Then it happened again and we both heard her. Rick thought it was coming from my office above, maybe the battery operated vacuum. He ran upstairs and we went through the process. Rick came back down and stated that there was nothing up there. Man, it seems like it is coming from the walls; a woman's voice inside the wall. 

One of the deacons showed up soon after and we got him attrigued. He thought maybe it was coming from outside, so he went out. Nope, he didn't hear a thing. Then, I got up on a ladder and looked through a hole in the wall. I saw a light bulb, there's a room! The other furnace room! I went back in the back of that room and there on the wall was a transmitter for an old daycare. It had a cassestte player and so I ejected the tape. Then, I got more chills as the woman voice told me directly please close my door. Wow, who knew that technology from back then was so smart and demanding! 

I figured out who the woman in the walls was! I will have to remember when the breaker goes off that she resets herself. I also will have to remember for the next youth ministry lockin because I am so having a teenager hide in there for Sardines, then throwing the switch, and introducing them to the woman in the walls!