Willow Creek this week...good start

well, Brandon and I made it to Chicago this morning. We are spending the rest of the week at Willow Creek Community Church and the Shift Student Ministry Conference. I have not been to Willow Creek in about 4 years and this is Brandon's first time here. This morning we heard Daren Whitehead speak and he really hit a home run. I am about to hear Donal Miller talk about evangelism in our culture today. I am stoked. I hope to update some thoughts about the conference later in the week.

ON another note everyone reading this little blog thing needs to buy Breaking the Missional Code by Ed Stetzer, GREAT BOOK. Thanks to my incredible pastor for getting our staff the book, it says so much of where my heart for ministry is right now.

GO God - MB

new life...simple faith and Baptism

Well - it is Sunday and I am between services and about to go and baptize three people in the 11 Am service. I got here to church at 7:30 to baptize to people, turns out I had the thrill of baptizing a 8 year old and 7 year old bother and sister. The parents where there and the entire family was so excited. We went and got everyone ready and then went through all the training stuff we do so people know what is going to happen. When i was in the water with those kids I could not help but smile to see their joy and simple love of God as they took this step. I became a Christ follower when I was 7 so I remember what they were going through. The entire moment was a reminder of why we do children's and student ministry today. We plant seeds of faith when we teach and model Jesus Christ for kids. We reveal to them a loving God who gave His Son for them. When teens and kids follow Christ at an early age they have an entire lif ahead of them to serve the Savior. They have a future that is different from all of their classmates. They become missionaries of God's grace to their school campus. I pray my daughters see Jesus for who He is at an early age spend their lives living for the Glory of God. I pray their lives count for God's Kingdom in a mighty way.

Well - I have to go and get ready for the next service. Our God Reigns!

Wild week...

Well - it has been a week since I have been able to get on and get some thoughts out on this blog thing. God has been so faithful this week. I was able to connect with Bethany Baptist and speak at a retreat they had Monday- Wednesday in Atlanta then fly back and speak last night at our worship service. Lots of speaking but God pured out His spirit and all was good. I was able to connect with Daniel Doss and Joe Donahue, 2 great friends and serve teens so it was all good. It is always tough to be away from my girls at home but when you sense God is with you in the time away it is all worth it. I missed 24 so I am gonna watch it right now...Chelsea just got home so I have to run. She has been at a women's gathering tonight, it gave me some sweet time with Koz and Kelyn. Got to go...

everything costs something...

8 Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is much more important, for it promises a reward in both this life and the next.
9 This is true, and everyone should accept it.
10 We work hard and suffer much in order that people will believe the truth, for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and particularly of those who believe.
1 Tim 4:8-10 (NLT)

I have been thinking about these verses a ton lately. I learned a long time ago that anything worth having is going to take hard work. When I was in high school we had to work hard during summer to prepare for the season in the fall. Lifting the weights and running was worth winning games during football season. I spent time in college working at Food Lion. It was not much fun but I learned that if worked hard I would get a raise and I could buy more Mountain Dew or whatever. So God leads me into the ministry and guess what, once again the same principles apply. Work hard, plan hard, pray hard always help to bring God more Fame. God is into this work thing since he did create it!

For me I have been focusing on spiritual exercise with my daily time with God in prayer for many years. it has proved to be the constant refuge in the midst of hard times and change. God always has time for me, always cares to hear from me, and always has something to show me about life and living for and in Jesus Christ. The funny thing about spending time with God is that is takes work, it can be hard. There are days I do not want to spend time praying, looking at scripture, reading, meditating on God's word and His ways. I choose to spend time with God even when I do not feel like it. it is what is best for my life, it is what my heavenly father desires. I have made it a priority.

About a month ago God impressed on me that it was time to treat my physical life the same way. Five weeks later I have been working our three days a week and eating different. My diet has been nothing drastic, just eating less and eating better things, not eating dessert, not eating french fries, not getting the SUPER SIZE. It has just been common sense stuff and it has worked. I have dropped 10 pounds, feel good but I have about 10 more to go for sure. It will be another 5 weeks of staying on track and then a lifetime of choosing not to run to food when i am tired just to get a sugar fix (I will blog when down! Ha) It has been a good ride but the best thing is that I am doing it for the right reason. My goal is to honor God with how I look, with how I exercise, with how I eat. My goal is not to impress others but to see health in my physical life like I seek it in my spiritual life. They do go hand in hand. God is not in to laziness, god is not into overeating, God is not into food worship, and I now know God is for sure not into McDonald's (that stuff will kill you)

Just trying to honor God in all of life...serving others, living in community, seeking spiritual health, living in physical health. Balance I think is the word but balance comes with a price. Balance means we say no to things that will knock us out of balance and connection with the father. I have kept this thing about my eating quiet because it is not a diet I sense this is a way of life. Here is to eating lots of veggies, drinking diet Mountain Dew, and lots of chicken!

To end this and speaking of balance, I am taking Chelsea out on a date tonight. I know it will be great. It was fun spoiling my girls with Valentines gifts this week, they loved it. It is great having little girls. I did buy myself a Valentines gift, yes I did...Pearl Jam Greatest Hits 1991-2003, I highly reccomend it!

it is too late...

It has been a great week here in VA. God is doing so many wild things in my families life that it is hard to keep up with it all. We launched into our first Leadership Rocks experience tonight and man God was with us and did some wild things. Matt Papa Band really led the way and Dave Edwards was on target speaking and God did the work. Hope to write more about this thing but for now it is late and I have to get up early.

Tonight Koz picked her valentines cards out...she picked Madagascar cards! WOW - that movie is funny, she has good taste!

Later - MB

Well if you read this BLOG thing you will see I picked the colts to WIN and that my score was 31-17...well I missed it by 2 points...man! We has a great party, over 160 folks watching Peyton do his thing. Got to share the gospel at halftime, that was co great. It was a good night. Oh yea a kid pulled the fire alarm at the end of the game - not good but that is my life!

GO VOLS - Peyton finally did it!

life, stairs, superbowl thoughts...

Well, it has been a great but eventful week after a meeting filled start. Have I said how much meeting life slows my glow down. After a slow start things picked up on Wed. and God blessed me with a great week and a ton of surprises. At TSM we are closing in on a conference we are hosting called Leadership Rocks ( www.leadershiprocks.com ) go check it out. We are finishing final week details and it is all looking good. Our students will all sign up this week, they live last minute lives here. Everything is last minute. We launched out month long look at God's view of Purity for Middle Schoolers and a series called BEST SEX EVER for our High School students. God really blessed the opening message Wed. night and I think God is going to use both series to bring students to Himself. Our hope is for teens to see that His way really is the best way to live. We will see how it goes, I am sure i will have a story about some parent getting mad at us for talking about sex which God created. Our team is sick of MTV and VH1 getting the last word on what sex looks like. God has something to say...

Well on Friday we took Kozbi and Kelyn to Chuck E Cheese and it was wild. I have not been since my niece was 1 and it was so fun to see Koz and Kelyn have a blast. Koz was all about the games and the slides and all that jank. Kelyn only wanted to watch people. Give her something to shew on and let her watch all the people swirling around, she is in heaven. Let me say that it was the best 22 dollars we have spent in a long time. The girls had a blast and we got some funny pics out of it. I am sure we will be back. Koz began asking me to take her early in the week thanks to grandparents who plant these ideas in their heads. it was a good time. I always wonder why our churches do not have inviting environments like that in their buildings for parents to use in connecting with each other during the week. I have definite thoughts that will offend many church people and leaders so I will not say much BUT when I have the chance I want to help some church somewhere create an environment for preschoolers that makes every kid WISH they could live at church. Who said church had to smell like mold and be boring...

This morning was wild...Kelyn fell down the stairs...AHHHHHH she is ok but it freaked us out. She was following Chelsea around upstairs and we forgot to close the gate and down she went. She has a bump on her head and she was laughing at Koz about 5 minutes after the fall. Praise God for protection! it will make a funny story after we are over the shock...man it was wild.

Final thought before the big game - GO COLTS!

Not so Live Update from Miami...

We are just a few days away from the greatest Superbowl since 1999- the year God's favorite team, the Titans made it to the Superbowl. Yes Peyton Manning and the Colts are in Miami. Since I wish I worked for ESPN and could have been at media day bringing you insight from Peyton himself I am reporting from Norfolk, yes...45 degrees today, sunny, but not quite Miami. I just want to give my first Superbowl update of the week and bless you with an inside quote from the Colt coaching staff...
"we feel Peyton is going to have the game of his life and throw for 301 yards and 3 touchdowns" - an un-named Colts Coach.
Yes you heard it right here on Michael Bayne's Blog first. I am glad we could bring you this info and I hope it helps you make the correct Superbowl pick. Please join me in pulling for a Tennessee Vol. Go Colts.

I am back to work this week. I have had a total of 5 meetings and one hospital day so far this week. Let me say it has not been very productive this week for MB. Meetings and hospital visits are guaranteed to suck the life out of Michael's soul. My favorite meeting was the lets talk about a new personnel manual meeting. INSPIRING for sure. Praying for no more meetings for the rest of the week. I know I am not the only person in the world who desires to keep meetings to a minimum. Much work can be done apart from meetings, this is why and up at night getting sermon prep done for this week since at work all I can do is meet. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Oh I feel better. I am speaking 2 times on Wed. (once and Norfolk Christian chapel and once at our weekly student gathering) Praying God will give strength tomorrow, I so need it...

There is something sweet about training others. I know some people do not care about leading training things but man it fires me up. I got to partner with the John Leland Theological Center to train some youth leaders in Smithfield, VA on dealing with some parent issues in student ministry. The cool thing was just being able to spend time with volunteer youth leaders looking to make their ministry more effective. There is something energizing about being with that kind of group to remind you what we are about in youth ministry. We pastor and lead these ministries so that teens might encounter Jesus Christ. No other reason...Jesus is why we do what we do. One of the leaders mailed me a huge can of Va Peanuts today and told me thanks for the time. The peanuts are great but the time we got to talk about doing hands n ministry last Saturday was better.

Later...

new life is amazing...

Thursday night here and all is well..kids in bed and winter x games on. Tonight we got to live life with a family we love. The Henderson family added a baby boy to their all GIRL family. There is no name for the little guy bit still it is all exciting. Chelsea and I ate dinner with their other 3 girls after we saw the baby and it so reminded me how sweet it is to have friends at church when you serve on staff at that church. So many time friendship remains so formal and pastoral with the people you are surrounded by. hanging out with the Henderson family has always been about connecting and letting our guard down. It is great to have friends like that, it is great to have people in your life that you just like living life with. 2 of the 4 kids they have now are in our student ministry and it has been so incredible to see them grow spiritually. Chelsea Henderson was one of the first babysitters we used here. I have watched Marrissa strike people out playing softball. Alaina is all about playing dress up with Kozbi. Now they get a little boy to join the family. I blog just to say how sweet it is to live life with people that expect nothing but friendship and everyone needs that in life...well I am done being sentimental...later

Well - I have not been this excited about a Superbowl since the Titans went to the big game. I can not say how stoked I am about seeing Peyton Manning make it, to see the Colts make it, to see Tony Dungy make it as a coach and to see 2 African American coaches go head to head. The best D verses the best Offense is going to be wild. Peyton is a Tennessee Vol, so of course you know I am pulling for the guy to win it for the Big Orange Nation. I am calling the score right now. Colts win Superbowl - 31 - 17!

I missed 1/2 of the game tonight because we had a city wide event called Rock the City. We saw 3000 teens come together and 250 kids make decisions. It was cool for me to get to counsel with one of our students who got the gospel for the first time and prayed to accept Christ as Savior! Our God is amazing!