This is an update that is far over-due…

Earlier this year, Amanda and I decided that it was time for us to begin living healthier lives. Amanda has a history of heart conditions in her family… and I was just plain F-A-T. We cut soft-drinks (oh how I miss you my sweet Dr. Pepper) from our routine and started exercising more regularly. It was then that we both realized how much we HATE running. We resolved to start praying for a better way to get our “exercise on” without so much hate in our lives.

In April, we hosted a college conference for the Baptist Convention of Maryland and Delaware at Studio 7o7 (our student ministry space that I designed and created at Allen). Amanda and I also led worship for the event. One of the afternoon free-time adventure options for the college students during the conference was kayaking and another was road biking. Amanda and I signed up for the kayaking so we could shred some river… but the paying customers (the college kids) filled the kayaks… so we decided to grab a bike and hit the road.

It turns out that we had so much stinkin’ fun on the bikes that we both knew the answer to our prayers for a new way to get exercise together had two wheels and a set of handlebars. We started saving money for a set of bikes… but that never works (especially when we decided to take a week for Study Leave and vacationing in Washington DC). Alas… we thought that the dream of “biking for healthier living” was too far out of reach.

But then we got word that the economy needed a little bit of Weaver-stimuli… and that Mr. President was going to help us fund this venture. So… we then resolved to buy a couple of bicycles when our mother-load arrived by direct-deposit.

The bike that my bride (and the generous George W. Bush) bought me (on Friday the 9th of May) is amazing. And even though the IRS semi-shorted us on the total amount (we only received part of the “economy stimulus money” that we were eligible for because of our friggin low taxable income in 2008)… I’m sure glad that I voted for that guy twice! Hahahaaaa!

My new bicycle is a Specialized Sirrus with a gloss black finish. I made a few minor adjustments to personalize the bike when the guy at the bike shop was building it (straight from the box) for me… adding a white water bottle holder and installing a white Specialized Cyclo-computer and swapping the black leather saddle (that’s some cyclo-jargon which means “bike seat”) for a white saddle. You can see a stock photo of my bike HERE.

In the last 54 days… I have pedaled 230.22 miles.

I am not a marathoner like my Pops (and as much as I have tried… I loathe and despise the fine art of running) but this finally feels like I have discovered my sports-niche. Amanda and I are both going to participate non-competitively (read: without the child-scarring-benefits of spandex) in the Sea Gull Century in October of this year.

We purchased Amanda a bike as well… but I’ll let her share about hers whenever she finds some time. We have taken several “family rides” with Ryland in a two-wheel-kid-carrier attached to the back of my bike. He loves the adventures… and the view! And we love our new exercise-hobby…

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It’s tough to top the Experiencing God: Day By Day Journal… but this online devo from Skopos.org (Youth Ministry site for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma) might come about as close as it gets.
 

Check this out… THE DEVOTIONAL TO END ALL DEVOTIONALS

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The Salisbury University Men’s Lacrosse team won their eighth D-III National Championship today. Congrats!

I can honestly say that I had never watched a minute of any lacrosse game… ever… until last year when we moved out to the Eastern Shore. And while I am still trying to pick up the rules (still very fuzzy on several things… including what constitutes a “foul” in lacrosse… because those fellas are straight knockin’ the crap out of each-other…) the game is truly much easier to follow than I would have imagined.

Here’s to learning new sports with strange names and netted-sticks… Happy Sunday!

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Today was another great day in this crazy adventure-of-study-leave.

I will share more later (and some pics) on the following topics:

.: Uno… What God is teaching me about Missional Student Ministry…
.: Dos… Fun at the Washington Nationals game tonite…
.: Tres… A classic story about Chico getting stuck in a maze of colored tubes…

.: Cuatro… Some music that has inspired me lately…
For now I need to get some rest so I can rise early (before my lovely wife and light-sleeping-son) to resume my daily routine for this week. We will share the stories soon. Until then…
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Three weeks ago, I decided that it was time to set aside some time to prioritize a “re-evaluation” of Allen Memorial Student Ministry. And I felt that I needed to place a strong emphasis on our three AM/SM programs and an even stronger emphasis on my own heart. It is my goal to blog daily about some of the things that the Lord is teaching me as I listen, seek, visioneer, and allow the Lord to re-center my heart for leading students at Allen.

Yesterday was the first day of this 7 days of study leave, and it was very productive. I have ONE (and only one) major goal each day this week… to allow the Lord to rehab the elements of my soul and to renew my heart for pastoring through the discipline of silence. When I was contemplating the amount (obviously quantified in the numerator of time) of “silence” that I should spend each day… the peace in my heart rested on 3 hours.

And so it was that I, Ryan Von Weaver, spent a three consecutive hours with no talking, no speaking, and much listening (for many of you… this may seem unbelievable… to even consider that I could spend that much time without verbal communication… but I assure you that from 10:43 am until 1:56 pm I was silent before the Lord as I carefully prayed and patiently worked). In preparation for this week of remembering the discipline of silence, I picked up a book by Maggie and Duffy Robbins at Ollie’s called “Enjoy the Silence“… and I forced myself to begin journaling again.

There are several questions that I am asking the Lord to answer this week… and I will share them with you throughout the week. Please pray that I will be faithful to this commitment… and pray that the Lord will continue the speaking and answering and moving and renewing and rehabbing in me…

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We have been utilizing table groups to encourage discussion and application in our Sunday morning AM/SM Gathering with our students. We position our leaders among the five tables that I have set up in Studio 7o7 and then we allow the students to gravitate toward a table organically. The discussion typically flows from a common theme that I (or one of of leaders) generates through a video or a skit. Yesterday I decided to utilize a series of videos from Vintage 21 that have been around for a few years.

Vintage 21 is a church in Raleigh, North Carolina where they not only encourage “doubters” with a kind nod… but they actually advertise them as their target market within the context of their mission statement and their objective. Here’s what they say about these amazingly classic vidz that they created on their website…

“In the Spring of 2003, Vintage21 had a four week series on Jesus Christ, taking a deep look at what He said and did. It was difficult at times to get past our preconceived notions that had been developed by staunch, starched Sunday School classes of old. This is a satirical look at what some people think Jesus is like. Thank goodness He’s not.”

If you have not seen these videos… take a moment to watch them… and prepare to laugh your face off. I have also uploaded the DQ that I created for our leaders to utilize at their tables yesterday. Feel free to download it (from this link: Vintage21 - Jesus Videos DQ) and steal these discussion questions with a reckless abandon!

You can view the videos from their website HERE…

Or you can utilize this little nifty link with all four of the videos smashed together HERE…

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I receive many forwards that are mostly filled with a bunch of random notfunnyness and notworthmytimeness and crappynothingness (as I am sure that most of you receive as well). But yesterday I received a forward that turned out pretty stinkin solid.

Solid enough that I wanted to share it with you…

This youtube video contains a story from December of 2007 about a 92-year-old woman from Dyersburg, Tennessee who was being robbed in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart. She ended up telling the man three times that she would not give him any money… and then she launched into sharing her faith with the man.

CHECK IT OUT HERE

The interview is worth a watch… and it’s worthy of being shared (even through the much-maligned avenue of “forwarding”). Anywho… much thanks to Windy Thompson for the forward. Holla!

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The next great viral video from the Skit Guys has now dropped…

NEED HARMONY

When we were chillin with Tommy in Ocean City (during IMPACT) last weekend, he whipped out his mac and gave my students a preview of this video. Much love to ysunderground for getting this rolling on the web.
Watch it. Blog it. Watch it again. Greatness.
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I am excited to be taking a few of my High Skool students to Impact 2008 in Ocean City, Maryland this evening.

It is my prayer that the Lord would work powerfully in the lives of everyone at the conference, and that He would also speak vividly to each of my students throughout the weekend. This will be the first time that we have attended this conference, but we are expecting big things…

 
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