Preaching!!!

Hello, friends! 

A few weeks back, I had the pleasure of preaching for my church here in Omaha. I love preaching and was greatful for the opportunity to bring the word. Honestly, I had a lot of fun putting this sermon together.

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

Another Sprint Complete!

Hello, friends! 

I am back from vacation in California! It was a great time connecting with family, going to the beach (a lot) and eating tons and tons of tasty food. The kids loved hanging out with Ama and Gung Gung, as well as their aunts, uncles, and cousins, including their newest cousin, Jared! 

Honestly though, the timing for the trip wasn't ideal. Not because of the weather (which was gorgeous) or the travel (which actually wasn't terrible). It was becuase we got home last Wednesday, and after over a week of lounging and eating, I had to get myself ready to compete in my first ever open water triathlon! 

Triathlons are something that I've wanted to do for quite some time. I did my first one in 2012 and really enjoyed it. I don't think that my knees would be able to hold up for an entire marathon, and I really enjoy biking, so a triathlon made sense. The tri I did in 2012 was a pool triathlon, so this was going to be my first time swimming in open water competitively. 

My tri was a "Sprint," so it was a 750 meter swim, 20k bike, and a 5k run. If I'd opted for the Olympic tri, all those distances would be doubled. At first, I couldn't remember if I'd signed up for the Sprint or the Olympic so a few weeks ago, prior to our vacation, I considered dropping out. Since the pandemic, I haven't been able to swim much and the idea of drowning in a lake wasn't particularly appealling. Thankfully, I saw that I had signed up for the Sprint, so we were good to go! 

So, how did it go? Allow me to give you a rundown of the day: 

- 3:30am - Wake up and get ready for the race. This includes putting on my race suit and sunscreen, eating breakfast, and hanging out with Jesus.

- 4:15am - Driving to the race, with a stop by the QT along the way to pick up a Gatorade.

- 4:45am - Get to the park where the race is happening, and start walking to the race site.

- 5:00am - Get to the race site, start to set up my station, and realize that I'd left my timing chip at home. Thankfully, the race anticipated this and I got a new one. 

- 5:40am - National Anthem, final instructions, and the race begins! Due to social distancing, instead of a mass start, we were released 5-10 seconds apart, meaning everyone started at a different time. 

- 6:14am - I hop in the lake and start swimming!

- 6:15am - I realize that I'm going to be in a lot of trouble on this swim. My goggles aren't prescription goggles, so I can't see great without them. In a pool, it doesn't matter much becuase you have lane lines, and the water is clear. When it's your first time doing an open water swim, the sun hasn't fully risen yet, the lake water is not clear, you can't see the buoys to tell you where you're going, and you don't even have the splashes of other competitors to tell you where to go, you're in a lot of trouble. 

- 6:40am - I get out of the water, tired and a little dejected, but still determined. I definitely got lost a few times on the swim course (mostly by swimming off line and having to recorrect myself) and got passed by a LOT of people but I finished and was ready to go. 

- 6:42am - Start the bike. There are no headphones allowed on triathlons for safety reasons, so instead of having my podcasts like I normally do, I was a man alone with my thoughts... well, and the entire Kelly Clarkson Breakaway album, which I'd memorized. I saw right away that my front tire was a little flat, which made for a harder ride but I kept going and made it just fine. 

- 7:40am - Finish the bike, eat a banana really quickly, and get ready to run!

- 7:41am - Onward to the run! Thankfully, the run was pretty flat. On my last triathlon, went out on the run too hard and had to finish out the last half mile with a pulled hamstring. Knowing that I didn't want to repeat that experience, I took it nice an easy, focusing on just finishing. 

8:10am - Done! My goal was to finish in under 2 hours. Final official time: 1:55.56. Goal complete! 

Comparatively, I definitely wasn't breaking any records out there. I finished 4th out of 5 in my category (men between 35-39), 39 of 49 men, and was 58 of 72 overall. However, I was in the top half across the board in my transitions, so it's good to know that there's at least one area where I did OK. 

What did I learn? I learned that I need some prescription goggles and need to work on my swim form. I learned that I need to check my tire pressure before my next race. And I learned that I really liked competing. There's another triathlon happening in Iowa in a few weeks that I'm thinking of signing up for again. The new goal would be under 1:55. =0). 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam

 

Sprint Complete!!!

Hello, friends!

For the past month, I've had the pleasure of leading our staff team through a Regional MPD Sprint. For the entire month of June, each of our staff devoted at least 80% of the InterVarsity hours to working on their Ministry Partnership Development (MPD), inviting new people to partner with us in the work we are doing and inviting current partners to increase their partnership. 

Y'all, this past month was some hard work! On top of doing my own MPD, I was checking in on our coaches, leading weekly bible study and check-in times for our staff team, strategizing and making adjustments to the schedule, and coaching 8 staff in their own MPD. There were a lot of early mornings in order to get everything done. 

And friends, did things get done. As of today, here are the stats for our staff team of 40. 

- Over 2900 contacts made to potential ministry partners

- 862 invitations to partner or increase partnership, made either in person, via phone, video chat, or email

- 427 new partners either Giving, Praying, Advocating, Serving, or some combination of those 4

- Over $196,000 in new gifts (and still counting!)

It was a really tiring month but it was also an absolute blast. I'm so proud of our staff team and the way that we worked hard to do some good MPD. There were lots of breakthroughs for staff, both on a skill and a spiritual level. Overall, I'd say it was a smashing success. 

Up next for me is a nice, long vacation. After sprinting for a month straight, plus all the time it took to prepare for the Sprint, I'm ready to take some time off and be restored by Jesus. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam