Belong – Believe – Behave

I was listening to the Catalyst podcast yesterday as I was driving between the house and praise team practice. As always I’m a few weeks behind on my podcast listening, but I enjoy the interviews Catalyst presents.

This particular podcast was from sometime in July and one of the interviews was with Jud Wilhite who is a pastor in Las Vegas. There were two things they talked about that I thought were especially valuable.

The first was about volunteers.  Due to the economic situation in Las Vegas, the church can’t afford to hire all the staff they would like to bring into a paid situation. So, they depend heavily on volunteers.  Jud Wilhite shared how they treat their volunteers and seek to honor them. Some of their volunteers are treated just as if they were paid staff.  He said they couldn’t do what they do without their volunteers. It was a good reminder of the importance and value of volunteers.  I am fortunate to have some great volunteers and need to make sure they are cared for and honored.

He also talked about their approach, highlighting the Belong – Believe – Behave model they seek to follow. Many times in churches, we communicate that the first thing that needs to change is how we behave.  Once we behave, then we can belong.  In Las Vegas they seek to keep the order of belong – believe – behave.  A person doesn’t have to it all together before they are welcome at church.  People are invited to have their questions answered and experience the love of God.  This leads to belief and then the change in how they behave comes as God works.  It was another reminder of how the church should operate and welcome those far from God.  It caused me to consider how we do as a church in this area and how I personally look at and treat those whose behavior is not like mine.  Sometimes I need help to keep things in order.

Syd Honorable Mention All-Ohio

Today’s Wilmington News-Journal carried this article on Syd being named Honorable Mention All-Ohio. Here’s the article:

Clinton-Massie sophomore Sydney Brackemyre was given honorable mention All-Ohio Division II Monday night by The Associated Press.

Brackemyre averaged 17.7 point and 9.1 rebounds per game for the Lady Falcons, who finished 19-4 on the year.

She also handed out 1.7 assists and grabbed 1.5 steals per game. She shot 49.3 percent from the field, including 38.2 percent on three-pointers. She made 72.4 percent of her free throws.

Brackemyre was a first team All-SCOL selection in addition to making the District 15 underclass all-star team for the second straight year. Brackemyre was a second team All-SCOL selection last season.

Among her top games this season, Brackemyre had 19 points and 19 rebounds against Blanchester and 18 points and 17 rebounds against McClain. She also had 24 points and 13 rebounds against North Adams and 21 points and 13 rebounds against Waynesville.

Shot of a Lifetime

I first heard this story when it appeared in the Dayton Daily News this weekend. The video is below along with the description. It comes out of Franklin High School which is a school in our area. Great story!

Franklin High School special needs senior,Mark White,got the shot of his lifetime Friday night 2/17/12. He has been the mgr. with the team for 3 years now,trying to support his team the best way he knew how. The Wildcats were 19-0- going in to the game,working on a perfect season,under the head coaching of Brian Bales. The last home game was senior night,and Mark was honored by being named the “6th man” starter for the team that night! So without starting the clock,the teams took the floor with a traditional game start,and what follows will explain itself.

2011-12 DABBS ALL-AREA TEAM

Jim Dabbelt operates The Dabbelt Report, a website that follows girls basketball in Ohio.  In 2003, Jim created and directed The Dabbelt Report, a website which quickly became a household name for all girls basketball players, coaches and fans in Southwest Ohio. The website was generally considered the premiere girls basketball site in Ohio. During it’s first three years, The Dabbelt Report generated over four million hits.

One of the features is Dabbs All-Area Team, where he picks a first and second team (10 players each) for each of the four divisions.  Clinton-Massie is in Division 2 and had two players make the team.

Sydney was selected to the First Team and Kasey Uetrecht was selected to the Second Team.  The Division 2 teams are listed below.  Great job ladies!  You can see all of the teams on his All-Area page.

DIVISION 2

First-Team

Kelley Austria, 5-11 Sr., Dayton Carroll

Allison Bockrath, 5-11 Sr., Alter

Sydney Brackemyre, 5-11 Soph., Clinton Massie

Leisha Crawford, 5-9 Sr., Bellbrook

Erin Dorn, 5-9 Jr., Bellbrook

Elizabeth Haley, 6-2 Jr., Dayton Oakwood

Mariah Harris, 5-10 Sr., Kenton Ridge

Trischa Lacy, 5-10 Jr., Urbana

Ray’tea Long, 6-1 Sr., Chaminade Julienne

Ellise Sharpe, 5-10 Sr., Tippecanoe

Second-Team

Emma Bockrath, 5-9 Fresh., Alter

Lindsey Fenwick, 5-11 Sr., Kenton Ridge

Megan Galloway, 6-2 Jr., Greenville

Emily Michael, 5-10 Sr., Chaminade Julienne

Ana Richter, 6-0 Soph., Oxford Talawanda

Whitney Robinson, 5-10 Sr., Greenon

Kasey Uetrecht, 6-0 Soph., Clinton Massie

Autumn Whirley, 5-8 Fresh., Eaton

Suzy Wollenhaupt, 5-11 Jr., Dayton Carroll

Player of the Year- Kelley Austria (Dayton Carroll)

co-Coaches of the Year- Mandy Myers (CJ), Rob Berry (Carroll)

Family Matters

This month in our Sunday morning classes for Junior High & High School students, we are talking about relationships.  This week in our high school group we are focusing on our relationship with our families. We hear phrases like “traditional family,” “non-traditional family” and “blended family” used quite a bit and it makes the difficult task of functioning together as a healthy family that much more difficult.

As we focus specifically this week on the child’s role in the family, I read some pretty good advice for students.  No family is perfect, so we need to figure out to honor God in our not-so-perfect families.  Thought these three suggestions were pretty good.

Learn from their wisdom

For the most parts, parents know best. And God commands us to honor them and listen to their wisdom. No matter how out of touch you feel your parents are, they still have a special wisdom that is looking out for your best. We can learn from their wisdom by obeying it.

Learn from their mistakes

There are a lot of broken families in our world. And learning from others requires us to be mature enough to see the areas where they made unwise decisions. We can learn from our mistakes and the mistakes of those around us.

Learn from a mentor

Finding a mentor who is a positive older man/woman and someone who you look up to, and allowing him/her to speak into your life is one of the best ways to learn about family. Allow him/her to help you see God’s design for our families.