Live Life On A Mission Trip

March 20, 2012

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Last week we had around 60 volunteers from our church, Texas A&M, UT Dallas, and Lamar University come together and run the sports camp that our church puts on every Spring Break called Champs Camp. They did a great job, and the camp went so well! This is also spring break mission trip month. Youth and college groups from around the country go around the world for a week to serve others an spread the name of Jesus in thousands of different ways. I think this is a great thing, but it left me wondering why we spend this week going hard, worshiping through work, meeting others, and enjoying ourselves, only to go back and just live on the memories until the next trip. We have the opportunity to serve this way all the time. We have the opportunity to treat our life like a mission trip.

  1. We can work hard. During Mission Trip Week we generally get up way earlier than normal. And that’s ok. We’ve got a lot of stuff to do. When we’re done though? We go back to getting up when we have to, and trudging through. What if we were to treat a normal week like mission trip week and get up early and get ourselves ready to be productive for the whole day? Even when we know we have a long day and late night ahead of us. During the day? Go. Hard. Do what you’re doing to the fullest extent you know how. When you’re done with something? Find something else to do.
  2. We need to rest. All that working hard will take it out of you. Make sure you build two or three times to just rest throughout your day. Just sit and be. Maybe steal a 10 minute nap. Seriously. It will help you make it through the day. When you’re “work” is done? Grab 30-45 minutes to yourself (Yes, even those of you who have kids. You’ll find yourself better equipped ti handle them with some rest in you). And go to bed as early as you possibly can. Also? Take a Sabbath. You’re not better than God. You need rest. Build it into your life.
  3. Play. Usually on theses trips there’s “fun” stuff in the evenings, and maybe even a full day of fun or tourism. And that’s great. We should play. We should have fun with our family and friends. Make sure you’re taking time out to experience life with others. Go out to eat. Cook a meal with friends. Go bowling. Go to a park. Get out. Do something. Have fun. Play.
  4. Worship. Worship with others corporately. Sing, learn what God’s word has to say. But worship in your play, and your rest, and your work. DO those things in a way that glorifies God. He created us to bring glory to Him in all that we do. So find out what that looks like in your day to day in addition to your once a week or so.
  5. Lastly. Stories. Share stories. Listen to stories. I don’t know what it is about mission trip week that makes us so open to this, but we love it. We love to hear about what is going on with the people we meet, and hear their stories, and to grow deeper friendships with those we know already by sharing what’s been happening in our lives. This isn’t a practice that we keep during “normal weeks”. But I think there’s great value in this. Ask people about their big stories, and their little stories. Be willing to share yours.

We waste an awful lot of time (50-51 weeks out of the year) by thinking that these are just mission trip things. These are follower of Jesus things, and I think we’d all benefit from practicing them in our normal weeks.

 

Grace & Peace,

Stippick

 

Why I Love the Internet

March 5, 2012

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Last week I posted a link on my facebook and twitter about how our mobile devices are taking over our lives. I agree with the idea of the article for the most part. If we’re not careful we can let these devices, that can be helpful tools, consume us instead of us using them to consume information. I agree that we ought to be careful of that.

However, today I got a reminder of why I love the internet and its connectivity. My grandpa lives in Dallas, about four hours away from me, and has told me several times that he wishes he could hear/see me preach. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to ever work out. A few weeks ago though I had the opportunity to speak at the evening service at the church I work at, and we record our services to be broadcast on a local channel in addition to putting them on our website. After months of telling my grandpa I would e-mail him a link to a video of me preaching, I was able to do just that today. Here’s the response I got:

Thanks David. Great preaching. Unique style. Wish my hearing was better.
Love, Gramps

I got tears in my eyes as I read that six and seven more times. My grandpa means the world to me, and knowing that he got to hear a message I gave was really fun. He didn’t mention it to me once arbitrarily, he asked me again and again until I sent it to him. And his response was short, but INCREDIBLY encouraging!

And that’s why I love the internet. That may be the only sermon he ever hears me give. But he got to hear it. I got to preach a sermon and let my grandpa hear it. There are no words (besides the ones above) to describe how great an experience that was for me, and I hope it was for him too.

The internet is a hotbed of information, and time wasting applications. But it has the ability to continually connect us. This, I love.

Grace & Peace,
Stippick

Watch My Mouth

January 19, 2012

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If you’ve had the pleasure of being around me at all you’ve probably noticed that I will take almost any opportunity to make a snarky comment, give you my opinion on someone, or throw in a colorful word for effect. I know…these don’t say great things about me. But. I’ve recently begun to spend time talking with God about it.

First of all, as I said, those things don’t say great things about me as a person. Those characteristics used to describe anyone don’t say great things about whoever they’re used to describe. But to put on top of that that I claim to have a strong belief in the Bible and what it teaches…I’m not doing a lot for the image of others who claim that same thing. So I began to wrestle with this, and try to work it out.

I’ve been reading through the book Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Prophet, Martyr, Spy, and came across a line that challenged me quite a bit:

Another aspect of this “life together” that proved quite difficult was Bonhoeffer’s rule never to speak about a brother in his absence.

I love to get in on discussion on what’s the latest with who, or who did what stupid, and so on and so forth. And I don’t think it’s something I can allow myself to continue to do. In addition to that line from this captivating book, there’s a host of biblical reasons not to do so. I’ve drawn for myself a line between what’s harmless, and what’s gossip…but I don’t know that I can rightly say there is one.

Another great motivator for me came from a conversation with my sister where I quoted Ephesians 4:29 in my accusation of myself. It says:

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

(NASB)

For someone who loves a good shock value curse word, or getting a laugh at the expense of someone else…this verse cuts out a lot of what I’m able to say. Which, for most of you, could be a great thing. But what it has done for me in the last few days as I’ve been trying to internalize this, is make me think more about my words, and choose what I say more carefully.

James (of the Bible) has a ton to say about what we say. One of the best is from chapter 3 verse 5:

So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!

So…as I make an effort over the next several weeks and months, do me a favor, and watch my mouth. Tell me when I’m not doing these things. And…maybe join me if it’s something you feel like you need to do.

Grace & Peace,
Stippick

Reasons I Like Going To A Small School: Part 2

December 20, 2011

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Guys. I’m going to be honest with you: I’m kind of lazy about a lot of things. One of those things is being physical…in any way shape or form. I don’t like to walk back and forth to the car after a grocery trip, so I’ll bring in as much at a time as I can; I don’t like to have to get up from my spot once I’ve started watching tv, so I get all the stuff I think I’ll need before I sit down. This also means that I don’t want to walk 20 minutes to have to get to a class, or be somewhere so big that I have to take a bus (Howard Payne does have a bus…it goes one place and then back. Not a lot of schedules to memorize.)

I like going to a small school, because it has a small campus. My youth minister graduated from HPU and the other day a lady told him she drove through Brownwood and saw part of the campus, he informed her that she’d actually seen all of campus. I can stand on one end of the campus and see the other end it’s great. Outside of a class at the Academy building, or Newman (The only two off campus buildings, where I no longer have classes), it doesn’t take me more than three and a half minutes to get to class. It’s great. Everything is right close to where I am. There’s honestly no way I would have survived at a bigger school. I would never have gone to class because ti would have been too far away.

I work literally across the street from campus, and I’m looking for a place to live off campus that I can still see campus from. I don’t want to have to work to get to where I’m going. It’s as simple as that. I’m lazy. A small school provides me the environment I need to feel like I’m doing great to be somewhere on campus on time.

Grace & Peace,
Stippick

What are your thoughts?

December 19, 2011

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Today, my boss posted this paraphrase of a thought from the book “You Lost Me”:

One of the biggest reasons why Millenials/Mosaics (people aged 18-29) are leaving the church (not faith, just the institution) is that they beleive the church is no longer relevant and does not effectively interact with modern/post-modern culture.

This was my response:

I agree to an extent. I also believe that people in our age bracket tend to be very entitled, so when things don’t happen how we want, we leave to do our own thing. If we’re not careful, in 40 years, our children will be just as disillusioned with our version of church as we tend to be with what is around today. We ought to commit to staying with a local body of people who believe the same things and work on reconciling our stylistic desires to further the kingdom of God.

What are your thoughts? On the quote, or my response?

Grace & Peace,
Stippick

Confession 1

October 18, 2011

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Hi my name is David, and I’m an addict.

I feel as though I have to have it to function.
I use multiple times an hour. If I don’t, things just don’t seem normal. I don’t know what’s going on.
When I first started, I never thought I would be someone who would let it get this bad.
I thought I could use as much as I wanted, and just stop.
I really only started because it made some things earlier. But eventually I found excuses to bring it into other areas of my life.
It has upset family members and friends.
Especially when I use in situations when I really shouldn’t.
Sometimes I get better about it. I can hide it if I want also. But it always shows itself. It gets pretty obvious.
Part of me wishes I could stop. The other part of me just wants to keep going and going. Just to see how much damage it can do.
I mean. The reasons it can be bad as some other things I could be doing. So that’s good, right?
Tho those who have been disturbed, annoyed, or even hurt by my addiction. I’m sorry. I really am making an effort to wean myself down. I’ll probably never be completely off though.
Thanks for listening.

My name is David, and I’m addicted to my phone.

HPU Homecoming 2011

October 17, 2011

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Last weekend I got to experience my first HPU Homecoming. Last year, Hillary and I went to visit her brother in Oklahoma, and I missed it. I was glad I was here for it this year.

On Thursday night Hillary and I used our date night to go see the HPU Theatre Department put on the musical South Pacific. Several of the FBC Brownwood college students were involved, so it was fun getting to see them do something they love and are clearly gifted at. I didn’t go to the parade on Saturday morning, but I was at the football game, and got to see the Lonestar conference champions from 1971 take the field. It was a neat experience to see them enjoy the recognition from the event, and I can just imagine those men sitting around and reliving that season.

The coolest part of the weekend for me though was Sunday morning. When I walked into our sanctuary, the stage and stage right area were set up for a full band to play. I had no idea the treat I was in for. Alumni from all over the country were once again under their former director playing an instrument they may not have played in decades. One man just got his saxophone that morning, and another woman had to rent a clarinet after not being able to find hers after a two week search. They wanted to be able to play together again, they were excited about it. You could tell in the way they played. You could tell in the way the director directed and the multiple times he choked up while speaking to the congregation about his experiences with that band.

It was a moment where I realized how blessed I am. I’m blessed to be ministering at the church I’m at. I’m blessed to be receiving a Biblically based education where I am. I got to listen to people talk about how they hadn’t seen some of the people they played with Sunday morning in 37 years. Multiple people told us about how they were married on that alter. The band director shared that all four of his children had been baptized at that church. There is a deep, rich history with the First Baptist Church of Brownwood and Howard Payne University that I think is often overlooked. I am glad, I am blessed to be a part of that history now, and I can’t wait until I come back for my own homecoming somewhere down the road. I have made many relationships here that I know will be lifelong, and I’m sure to make many more before my time here is over. I’m already looking forward to next year and taking the time to sit with alum and hear their stories about their days at HPU.

Grace & Peace,
Stippick

Reading Buddies

October 11, 2011

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This year in our college ministry we wanted to find a social justice issue that was important to us that we could begin to combat as a group. We settled on education. We’re working on finding a project that allows us to combat that globally, but this week we started our first local project for it. We’re partnering with an elementary school to pair our students with theirs who need help reading. It took a few weeks to get background checks, paperwork, and scheduling done, but today we finally.

While I’d been looking forward to the opportunity, I had no idea how much fun I’d have. In my first classroom, I sat and read “Sideways Stories from the Wayside School” to a class full of third graders. I read this book when I was their age and forgot how much fun it was! I got to do different voices and intonations, and watching the kids reactions to that was incredibly fun. In addition to helping with reading skills, I hope to be able to use time with these kids to instill in them the love for reading that was instilled in me at such a young age.

For my second class, I was with a group of kindergartners. Today, I spent time with them at their recess to get to know them so that it’s not really awkward when I spend one on one time with them working on reading skills. The energy in these kids astounded me. I can’t imagine that I have as much energy in my pinky finger as these kids seemed to have. I loved being reminded of the innocence of young children too. They want to know your name, where you’re from, who your mommy and daddy are, and they want to show you their tricks and how fast they run. They ALL want to show you how fast they can run. It was a great experience though, and I’m looking forward to working with them over the coming months.

Like I said before, I had been excited about the reading program, but nothing could have prepared me for the fun I had today. I left incredibly excited about, and looking forward to next week. Actually interacting with the kids showed me how great an opportunity just sitting and reading for an hour a week can be to minister. I am thankful that God put this opportunity in our laps.

Grace & Peace,
Stippick

Reasons I Like Going To A Small School: Part 1

October 10, 2011

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I recently said I’d be sharing reasons that I like going to a small school. The first installment: Relationships with faculty/staff.

Going to a small school means one big thing; I’m not a number. This give me an incredible opportunity to have personal relationships with many of my professors and other staff members. I love this about going to Howard Payne. Here’s a couple examples:

1) I took a second job this semester filming for the football team. This requires that I film practices, and one of my professors was kind enough to let me leave class early on Tuesday and Thursday as long as I come in for an hour another day of the week. More than being willing to do that, I look forward to it. It’s one of my favorite parts of the week. We spend part of the time discussing what I missed in class, but then we move on to whatever may be going on in the news, or in the book world, or one of our (mostly my) lives. It’s great.

2) I had a professor my first semester who I really connected with over our appreciation for technology. I haven’t had a class with her since, but anytime we happen to pass each other, we stop and spend at least ten minutes talking. She likes to keep up with what I do via Facebook and twitter, and is always asking for updates on things she may have seen weeks ago. She’s genuinely interested in what goes on in my life.

3) I’m fortunate enough to have my advisor as one of my professors. More than anywhere else, this is where not being a number is really nice. At least once a week I’ve got a question for him that keeps us talking for at least 20 minutes, and he’s more than happy to accommodate. As my advisor, he knows what classes I’m in, and asks how they’re going. He knows what I need to take next and what I need to plan on taking in the future. It’s an incredibly reassuring feeling.

4) The other day I was sitting outside Fambrough’s (“Sports Grill” on campus) with my fiancé and some friends, and the president of the university happened to walk by. It would have been incredibly easy for him to say hello and move on, but he sat down. He just sat down and talked with, and even joked around a bit, with us. It was tons of fun. Does he know who I (we) are? Maybe, maybe not. The fact is, he took 5 minutes out of his time to sit with us and just chat it up a bit. It was fun, and increased my respect for him.

5) My RD is the coolest. I mean that. He’s always got a minute to listen and give some advice. Plus he’s tons of fun to hang out with. One of my favorite things to do is just go sit in his office and hang out during some down time, because I know i’m going to have a few laughs while talking to him. I’ve met few people who genuinely care for college age folks as this guy, and that shows in all he does.

So. Those are just a few ways that the faculty/staff experience here is really neat. I know I don’t have the perspective of having experienced a big school, but people I know who have have said multiple times that sometimes at a bigger university you sacrifice those things, and get lost in a sea of people. I didn’t want that in my college experience, so I never even considered a big school. I’m thankful for my experience here with faculty and staff members. I’m glad about my decision.

Grace & Peace,
Stippick

Steve Jobs

October 5, 2011

superstippy Life 1 Comment

I’m deviating from what was going to be my blog today to join with the rest of the blogoshpere as we remember the life of Steve Jobs. I don’t have much to say, so this should be fairly short.

I have a good friend who will mock me for writing this, for the pure joy of mocking Jobs to me. Love him or hate him though, Steve Jobs changed the world we live in. Whether he was a brilliant innovator, or a skilled delegator, doesn’t matter. Actions taken by Jobs have given us much of the technology we have and use every day (I’m writing this from my iPad with my apple wireless keyboard).

I don’t think apple is the end all be all, but I do love some of their products, as does much of the technology consuming world. It will be interesting to see if there is any fallout for the company, but I think if there is it will be minimal. My belief is that in the last 2-4 months, Jobs was given a terminal prognosis which led to his stepping down as CEO to prepare the company for what he knew was to come. Instead of leaving his company reeling by kicking the bucket in the middle of the work day, or suffering in the eye of the public, he set them up to take off in his absence.

To those who believe that the company will plummet without his direction, I think it’s important to keep in mind that it is likely that the next generation of every product currently out will have Jobs’ fingerprints on it somewhere. The real test will be to see what they develop in his absence.

Few people are remembered past the generation of their grandchildren, but I am confident that the grandchildren of grandchildren will read about Steve Jobs in texts books. Things like this however make me think about the temporariness of now…or of three generations from now. Most things I’ve ever read identify Jobs as a Buddhist and if this is the case, then what I know to be true based on God’s revelation to man through the Bible, Jobs will spend eternity separated from God in hell. I could be wrong, it’s possible that at some point in his life, possibly on his death bed, Jobs made a decision to accept the gift of grace (through the death of Jesus on the cross), and could be dancing for joy in a cancer free body.

In light of this though, we have to ask ourselves what we’re striving for. Are we working to have a biography written about us? Do we want to be in the history books in 2 centuries? Or are we working to advance the will of God? Are we allowing ourselves to be used for a purpose greater than our own? Our striving to make ourselves great is useless, most of us will be lucky if our great-grandchildren remember who we are. We ought to examine what we’re doing and why.

I’m thankful for the ideas that he had, and the things that he brought to us. His wry smile as he nonchalantly introduces the newest product, his sweaters that would look tacky on any other individual, his easy way of carrying himself as he changed the face of what we knew technology to be, will all be missed.

Grace & Peace,
Stippick

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