New Book: Stoked

A good friend of mine, Daniel Day, has just released his first book entitled, Stoked.  It’s a dynamic book that challenges students attending Christian colleges to maintain their fire for God!  Here’s a short excerpt:

As I consider my own journey through Christian college, full-time ministry, and life, as well as the journey of those biblical examples discussed in this book, there are seven strategies that will help us achieve our ultimate objective of keeping our passion for God.

  1. Extraordinary Faith: How would you like to receive a full ride scholarship to college? I am sure you would have been just as excited as I was when I received mine. Find out what God taught me about faith when my scholarship was unexpectedly taken from me.
  2. A Powerful Prayer Life: You will expect to develop and discover many sets of skills on your way through school. Some of those skills you will have already known and others will be discovered along the way. In this chapter you will see how a seemingly unimportant talent became the catalyst for a strong prayer life.
  3. Godly Friendships: If you have not discovered this already, you will soon find that not everyone attending your school is living for Christ. In this chapter, see how a poor choice of friendships destroyed my friend’s passion for God and turned him from the call on his life.
  4. Personal Investment: The evidence overwhelmingly points to the fact that those who succeed in college, ministry, and life are those who attain these two parts of the mentorship process: having a mentor and being a mentor. The active participation in the work of the Lord serves to both kindle and keep our passion for God white hot.
  5. Resisting Temptation: This chapter will show you that one of the greatest temptations you will face in college will come disguised as “God’s will,” but if you succumb to this trap of the enemy, you will find yourself anywhere but in God’s will. You will read as I share with you one of the greatest failures of my entire college career and how God used that failure to teach me a very difficult lesson.
  6. Never Selling Out: We are nothing without integrity. If we compromise our name, our word, and our character, we have nothing. In chapter 6 you will discover how hard it is to fight the temptation to play the political game of ministry. There is a great peace that comes when you have risen on the promotion of God and not the politics of man.
  7. Reflecting All Glory To Jesus Christ: True character is revealed not only in how we handle failure, but also in how we handle success.  What do we do when people lift us up and give us the credit for something that only God can do? Those who keep their raw and unaltered love for God know that they must always point back to the ONE who enables their effectiveness in the ministry.

You can read more about the book or purchase it at TheStokedBook.com.

Back in Pittsburgh!

I just arrived back home from the ‘Great White North’ (as I mentioned yesterday). We had a great day with a few warrior pastors up in Detroit. I really enjoyed hanging out and hearing these guy’s passion for Detroit. Thanks Brad, Chilly and Norflette – I had a blast!

And just in case you were wondering, I did see snow (and Canada!), but no penguins or polar bears!!

Heading Up to the Great White North!

Following our Catalyst Gathering this morning with all our MCM Pastors, I am heading up to Detroit, MI with Pastor Jeff to meet up with a good friend of ours, Brad Leach. I did my internship just north of Detroit and we used to always joke that Michigan should just be given to Canada (mostly because of those confusing Michigan lefts!).  Keep me in prayer, because today I will enter the Great White North that is Michigan, and maybe I’ll see some polar bears or penguins! : )

Things I’m Thankful For

At the ripe old age of 26 (I know, I’m ancient!), I feel so blessed by God to have the life I do. It’s a life I definitely don’t deserve, but boy do I enjoy living it! As I’ve reflected on this day of thanksgiving, here’s a few things I’m thankful for:

>A Great Family
: It is so awesome to be a part of a family with such a rich godly heritage! I had a great time today enjoying that heritage…and their good cooking!!

>A Great Church: The question I have is what did I ever do right to be able to serve in such an incredible church? This really is one of the great churches in our nation!

>Great Friends: Through high school, college and in ministry, I feel so blessed by the people God has surrounded me with. They are people I truly love and admire. Even though I am a bit of a geek, thanks for at least acting like my friend!! 🙂

Jurassic Park Is Here!


This is my friend, Andy Estrella, doing his famous ‘Raptor’ impression when he was in town last week. It’s hilarious, but he hates doing it. Now I can show you all why it’s so funny without having to ask him to keep doing it!!

Great Friends!!

This weekend a number of friends from college are converging here at Allison Park. Bobby Hawk came in yesterday and is speaking here at APC at our weekend services. And my friend Andy Estrella is coming in today to speak at APC’s Youth Impact this next week. It’s going to be great to see these guys especially since this summer is the four year anniversary to the launching of Pontiac Family Worship Center – the church that Bobby pastors and Andy and I were apart of the launh team for. I am so blessed to have such incredible friends and the opportunity to see them on these, now rare, occasions!

Just Hanging Out!


Today I’m going to be hanging out with a good friend of mine. His name is Austin Jones, and he and his wife are currently raising support to go to Alaska as missionaries to the Native Americans. Austin and I met about 2 months ago and God has created a real spiritual bond between us. Austin graduated from Zion Bible College in 2005 and has been working in Arizona the last couple years with Native Americans at American Indian College. He has become a very good friend and it’s going to be good to hang out! Austin has an incredible heart for God and I am looking forward to what God has in store for him and his wife as they plant churches in Alaska!

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