Stop Child Trafficking Now

I posted most of this blog last week, but it's something that needs to be posted again.  Yesterday, our county mayor proclaimed September as Stop Child Trafficking Now Month, and talked about the need to be aware of this initiative.  Please read, consider signing up in Clarksville to walk with us, or if you live somewhere else, see if there is a walk going on in your city and sign up to walk there.


At Xtreme we're passionate about a lot of things.  One of those things is Stop Child Trafficking Now.  SCTNow is an organization dedicated to eradicating the child sex trafficking industry.  SCTNow works to cut out the demand for child sex slaves.  "Special Ops" teams are deployed to track and help bring to justice the men and women who purchase the lives of children the world over to fulfill their sick and depraved fantasies.  In a supply and demand culture as long as the demand for child sex slaves is high, children will continue to be exploited.  September 24th I'll be joining with others from across the country for the STCNow Walk/Run.  My personal goal is to raise $250 to help fund the great work SCTNow does.  You can follow the link below to read a little more about SCTNow and what they do, and you can also give in my name.  If you feel compelled, search for your city and see if a walk is being sponsored.  Sign up (there's no registration fee), get some sponsors, and help make a change in the world.

http://events.sctnow.org/site/TR/Events/General?

SCTNow

At Xtreme we're passionate about a lot of things.  One of those things is Stop Child Trafficking Now.  SCTNow is an organization dedicated to eradicating the child sex trafficking industry.  SCTNow works to cut out the demand for child sex slaves.  "Special Ops" teams are deployed to track and help bring to justice the men and women who purchase the lives of children the world over to fulfill their sick and depraved fantasies.  In a supply and demand culture as long as the demand for child sex slaves is high, children will continue to be exploited.  September 24th I'll be joining with others from across the country for the STCNow Walk/Run.  My personal goal is to raise $250 to help fund the great work SCTNow does.  You can follow the link below to read a little more about SCTNow and what they do, and you can also give in my name.  If you feel compelled, search for your city and see if a walk is being sponsored.  Sign up (there's no registration fee), get some sponsors, and help make a change in the world.

http://events.sctnow.org/site/TR/Events/General?

Change

Last week was crazy for me.  I walked into work on Monday to be told that Wednesday would be last day.  Talk about having the floor drop out from under you.  My employers are friends and this wasn't a personal decision in the least.  Their hands were tied by the need for someone with education and training I didn't have and to be perfectly honest, I didn't really want.  While I was devastated by the announcement my boss went on to tell me that all weekend she'd prayed and cried and prayed and cried about this decision.  She cried because we are friends and she loved me and didn't want to let me go, and she prayed that I would find a job better than the one I had with her and her husband.


I'd text Carlo at the radio to let him know what was going on, and he told his co-host.  Well, on Tuesday morning as we were pulling into my office, Carlo got a call telling him about 3-4 positions that were available with the county and he was passed along a message about another position with the sheriff's dept (where a friend works and said to let him know if we needed any help with the application process).  


Thursday morning Carlo & I trooped down to the Career Center to get my name in the system so I could start looking for available jobs.  Unfortunately all the jobs that fit my skill-set required degrees in engineering and stuff.  There were three I was qualified for: customer service coordinator with a local retailer, teacher in a day care (not jumping on that ship again), and customer service at national oil change place (I'm not mechanically inclined and I can't drive a stick).  I dropped my application off with the retailer and decided to go over to the mall just to see what was up (too bad Border's is closing-they're right up my alley).  Carlo reminded me that we had a friend who is in management with Belk's Department Stores.  We went to see said friend and she says to me, "Fill out an application, we need 2 people in ladies."  I filled out the application, but the hiring manager was out of town until this week.  Monday I got a call to come in for an interview on Wednesday.  Wednesday morning it got rescheduled to today at 11.  And the results of said interview?  You are reading the blog of the new Ladies Dept. Sales Associate at Belk's Department Store!  The cool thing?  It's just what my former employer prayed - better salary and I get benefits, something they weren't able to provide.  Through it all God has proven Himself faithful to me and my family through some unexpected blessings and I know that this is just the beginning of something fun and new, a change.

SCTNow

At Xtreme we're passionate about a lot of things.  One of those things is Stop Child Trafficking Now.  SCTNow is an organization dedicated to eradicating the child sex trafficking industry.  SCTNow works to cut out the demand for child sex slaves.  "Special Ops" teams are deployed to track and help bring to justice the men and women who purchase the lives of children the world over to fulfill their sick and depraved fantasies.  In a supply and demand culture as long as the demand for child sex slaves is high, children will continue to be exploited.  This September I'll be joining with others from across the country for the STCNow Walk.  My personal goal is to raise $250 to help fund the great work SCTNow does.  You can follow the link below to read a little more about SCTNow and what they do, and you can also give in my name.  If you feel compelled, search for your city and see if a walk is being sponsored.  Sign up (there's no registration fee), get some sponsors, and help make a change in the world.

http://events.sctnow.org/site/TR/Events/General?

You Know You're Part of the Xtreme Family If...

I've been talking about this blog post for a while, and thanks to Kevin, Heather, & Jayce, I've got all the material I need.  Let me make this disclaimer now:  I am in no way, shape, form, or fashion being malicious or talking about any specific person!  These are things I have noticed that make up the fabric & culture of Xtreme.  Our awesome family wouldn't be what it is if these things weren't part of our make-up, so please unwad your unmentionables and laugh, I think I was pretty clever with this.

1. You think a punch to the face could be a reasonable response to someone's stupidity.
2. You think that punch to the face is actually showing grace to the person, they need so much more.
3. You think playing Corn Hole is a must if there are more than 2 men present at "Chick Fest."
4. You know what "Chick Fest" refers to and you know that you risk a punch to the face if you persist in using that name.
5. If you get the reference, "It smells like a sweaty **** sack." - (Sorry for the crudeness.)
6. When every time you write a word that starts with "ex," you want to leave of the "e" and just start the word with "x."
7. Your pastor finds a way to work the phrase, "punch in the face," into every message, even those talking about love.

That's all I've got.  If you have something more, let me hear them!

Why *I* Love Xtreme

Yes, I know Carlo did 4 posts about why our family loves Xtreme, but I have to piggy-back and add something he missed.


I love Xtreme because of the worship.  Kevin, our worship leader, does (in my opinion) a great job of balancing newer worship songs with hymns and older stuff.  I think it creates this wonderful atmosphere of worshiping the Lord and then being drawn in and reminded of when you first fell in love with Him.  I love that Kevin doesn't look down on hymns or older songs, but instead looks the message and intent of the song.  He leads our church before the Father and sets such a sweet atmosphere to hear the Word.


Don't get me wrong, I loved worship at our old church, but it was different.  Not bad, just different from Kevin's style.


The thing is, since our first service at Xtreme, I've felt this wonderful presence of God during worship.  I know any lack of feeling is on me, and not who's leading, but I do think that the fact that I'm not responsible for anything but spending time with Jesus helps.  I always get a little jolt when I hear songs I sang at 15 and 16 when I first got saved.  Those songs obviously hold a special place in my heart, and when I'm singing around the house just worshiping God, they are the ones I usually sing.  I think there is still power in those songs, because of who they are about.  When we don't forget that, and look past the fact that they are 15+ years old, they can still move.  I know this to be true because I see people who claim they aren't very "churchy or religious" like everyone else clapping their hands and spending some serious time with God, not realizing what's happening in their hearts.


That's why I love Xtreme.

The Chapter Has Come to a Close

Tonight was our last service at Clarksville First Assembly of God.  We have put an end to 6 1/2 years of ministry there.  For Carlo and I, tonight was very bittersweet.  We were sad to say goodbye to friends and people who are like family to us, but we're also excited about the next chapter of our lives.

We don't have a definite answer to the, "Where are you going next?" question.  We can and will say that Carlo will be speaking at Xtreme Ministries the first 3 Sundays of August.  We are pretty positive that we will be the lead pastors at Xtreme, but we haven't been told we have the position and we aren't going to presume.

The church gave us a going-away reception tonight after service.  Pastor Montoya had a money tree set up for people to bless us and show us their appreciation for our time of ministry at the church.  This totally took us by surprise.  Even more humbling was the attendance at the reception, and the gifts we were given.  We never expected or asked for it, but God is good and we were blessed beyond compare tonight.

Stay tuned to find out what's going on around here!