-
Opposites Impact!
I cannot believe how blessed I am to have Matt Gierhart helping me with this whole website redo chaos! Â Matt is one of my former students from my Youth Minister days who is now older than I was when I was his Youth Minister – trust me its pretty freaky. Â Â He is an absolutely freaky talented, internet marketing, trend spotting GuRu who works with big shot corporations all over the stinkin’ world developing their internet something, something and a bunch of other stuff I don’t understand. Â One of his claims to fame is that he was making money off of twitter 2 years ago! Â I never even heard of Twitter until 3 weeks ago! Â And this is the guy helping me set up a “web presence”… whatever that means. Â I can’t believe how cool it is to see who he has become and how perfectly he has found a way to use his God given talent. Â Working on this web junk has been a total pain in the patooty but it has been awesome reconnecting with Matt during this process. Â If you need any help with this kind of stuff check Matt out here: thenewcelebrity.com.
Gierhart and I are about as opposite as two people can get. About the only thing we have common other than our relationship with Jesus is we both totally love to geek out on the video game series, Resident Evil. In fact, he’s the reason I started playing.  Anyway, we were sitting around working on my web stuff when we started talking about how incredibly different the two of us are when I said, “dude, I could never do what you do” and he responded with, “and I could never DO what you do.” He’s a totally focused, driven, internet junkie entrepreneur and I’m a spastic A.D.H.D goofball, funny preacher guy.  I totally love teenagers and they drive him completely insane.  He can’t get up on a stage and use humor to illustrate biblical truth to teenagers and I don’t know jack about a “web presence” and can’t market anything to save my life yet together we are combining our gifts to impact teenagers for Christ!  Gierhart will have a hand in any life that is touched as a result of this blog.  He’ll have a hand in any life changed at any event I speak at because of this website.  It is one of the coolest illustrations of the Body of Christ I may have ever seen.  Just another really cool thing God is teaching me during this wacky 2k9 plan B summer.
That’s it. I’m out. I’m about to sneak off and geek out on some Resident Evil 5 with my old/new buddy Matt!
God Bless ya! – Runks
-
"Runks Summer 2k9 plan B"
This has been one of the most jacked up years ever! Â My ministry schedule was basically empty for most of the Spring and I only had 2 camps booked for this summer – down from a normal 6 or 7. Â For a long time I tried to blame this on “today’s wintry economic climate” because it was easier than admitting that God was trying to get my attention. Â Somewhere around March I quit being so ding dang hard headed and accepted the fact that I couldn’t continue to blame the economy for my empty schedule because if God’s hand was still on my ministry then the economy wouldn’t matter. Â So I started practicing what I preach and started digging into the Word – searching- seeking- praying- trying to wrap my head around what it was God was trying to teach me. Â Over time I begin to realize that at least part of what God was trying to teach me was humility. Â Which is not a fun lesson to learn especially the 2nd, 3rd, or 29th time! Â Anyway I got it in my head that if I just humbled myself and let people know that my schedule was empty then God would open the heavens, the phone would start ringing, and everything would get back to normal. Â So I made a video titled “Runks Summer 2k9 plan B”, emailed it to a bunch of Student Ministers, and waited to see what happened. Â Here’s the video I sent out……
As you can probably imagine, it generated a lot of response, just not the response I was looking for. I got lots of positive feedback, encouragement, and funny emails but no bookings. What really surprised me was how many of my friends called to see if I was OK.  It caught me off guard because at the time I was honestly just trying to make a funny video, humble myself, and do what I thought God was leading me to do but when I look at it now I can see the reasons for their concern.  I can hear the desperation in my voice and see the fear in my eyes.  I have a tendency to be  glass half-empty guy.  I don’t like it.  I’d pay money not to be that way but because of the abuse in my past when things get bad I tend to freak out and think the world is coming to an end.  I know that’s crazy but sometimes that’s my reality and that’s exactly what was going on when I made that video.  I still think the video is funny and have no doubt that I was being obedient to God when I sent it out but at the time I was literally freaking out.  I was so worried that my days as an evangelist were over and that God was done with me.  I know that’s pretty extreme but I’m just being honest.
The crazy thing is, that stupid video turned out to be the catalyst God used to turn things around. My plan B turned out to be a stepping stone to get me to God’s plan A.  Out of nowhere, God dropped the opportunity of a lifetime in my lap.  A friend of mine, that saw the video, called and asked me to pray about going on a two week mission trip to India in July! I told him I’d pray about it but I knew from the second he called that this was part of God’s plan for me.  The day after that a former student of mine from my Youth Minister days who is an internet marketing Guru offered to help me come up with a new marketing strategy, redesign my website, and start this blog.  I thought for a while that I was supposed to write a book this summer but I think this is taking the place of that for now.  I can already tell that this blog is going to be good for me and hopefully offer some hope and help to others.  Then through a series of crazy events, God made it clear that I needed to leave the agency that had done my booking for 5 years and go back to doing my own booking.  Nothing against the agency, I just wanted to get back to a ministry based approached where we discuss, dream, and plan for ministry before money, contracts, and all that junk ever come up.  This is where lesson number 2 came in:  Re-learning to trust God for everything.  Once again, God has reminded me that I cannot depend on my talent, my gifts, or a big shot booking agency to make this ministry a success.  I’ve simply got to put my trust in Him and not in myself.  I’ve learned this before but somewhere along the way I got wrapped  up in ME and forgot about it.
And then I went to Super Summer Arkansas. Â An event that could have easily been an ego trip deluxe but I went there broken and humbled with a renewed trust in God as my provider and it proved to be one of the most humbling experiences of my life. Â Every compliment I received, every student that was saved, every life that was changed – rather than stroking my ego brought me to my knees. Â The entire time I was there I kept pinching myself because I just could not and cannot believe that God was letting me speak at such an awesome event. Â A young youth minister friend of mine that knows my situation bought every one of my meals at the time-honored tradition of late night dining after worship at youth camp. Â It was so humbling for him to do that for me but also an absolutely incredible blessing! Â And then on Wednesday afternoon of that week, I booked the first event I’ve booked myself in 5 years. Â We shared ideas, dreamed dreams and made a plan for what is going to be an awesome event. Â Afterwards, I went outside, called my wife, and wept like a baby. Â I kept saying over and over, “Its not over. Its not over. Its not over! God is not done with us. Â He’s got more for us to do.” Â That may seem silly to some but I can’t tell you how awesome it is to know and believe again that God is not finished with me – that He has more for me to do.
Its been a crazy year and an even crazier summer but there is light at the end of the tunnel.  I wouldn’t want to go through it again but I wouldn’t trade for what God has done in my life.  My schedule is still a little thin but God is meeting our needs and I’m not worried about it anymore.  I’m just going to stay focused on being broken, humble, and faithful and do whatever I can to meet the needs of every hurting teenager God places in front of me.
I’ll leave with you with the words of a rap from Will Smith which oddly enough seems to fit here:
“I got my X-ray vision through all in my way. No Plan B, it distracts from Plan A.”
No more plan B for me. Â I’ll stick to God’s Plan A. Â Its safer there and a lot more fun.
God Bless ya – Runks
-
I was blogging before blogging was cool….
And then I just quit blogging….  I didn’t call it  a blog back then because  I’d never even heard of a blog.  I don’t know if anybody had.  I just called it my “Online Journal” and had no idea how far ahead of the curve I was.  I don’t know why I quit.  I just did.  It was way before WordPress or blogspot.  Nobody could subscribe or leave comments so I had no idea, at the time, if anybody was even reading it so I just gave it up.  I found out years later that a few people were actually reading and enjoying my old school blog.  I wish I would have known that then, maybe I would have kept it going but oh well,  Whatcha gonna do??
It has been really fun to reread these old Journal posts and walk through the days when I was just getting started in this phase of my ministry. Â The posts about my Dad’s cancer and death were especially interesting and I plan to revisit them and look at how things have changed in the 10 years since he passed. Â The goofy post about planting all those trees is also funny to me now because those trees are 15 feet tall now and Elli & Nick are nearly grown! Â There is a lot of perspective on that one I couldn’t have begun to see at the time. Â I’ll revisit these topics, the I Have a Reason stuff, and more in upcoming blogs.
If you want a good laugh check out the Old School Runks.com where these Journal posts were actually posted. Â I was doing the website myself and had no idea what I was doing. Â It’s so bad it looks like a website straight out of the 8O’s! hahahhahha
I don’t really know how to end this thing so I guess I’ll just “kick it old school” and go out like I did back in the day!
God Bless ya – Runks
-
Journal Entry – March 8, 2001
It has been way too long since my last entry. Things have been going well. God continues to bless, as always, in incredible ways! Once again, I am in the middle of writing new messages. Which is always a struggle for a mentally challenged nut like me. I am really excited about where God is leading me. Last year was all about having a reason to believe what you believe and this year God is leading to me to go deeper with what we as Christians really believe. I am working on a series on Grace, identity in Christ, or freedom in Christ. I really don’t know at this point where it will wind up but I am pumped about where God will take me. Keep checking for more info!!
God bless ya, 
Runks
-
Journal Entry – June 2, 2000
Aaron (my summer intern) and I just finished up our first camp for the Parker County Association at the Heart of Texas Baptist Encampment in Brownwood, Texas. It was an awesome camp! We had students saved every night!!! I’m still gagging from that nasty toothbrush skit!! (check out the pics on the wha’ sup page) It is so cool to have Aaron with me on the road. I honestly believe that the ministry was doubled at this camp because Aaron built some relationships with and ministered to a ton of students that I didn’t have the chance to meet. I was able focus more of my time on preparing to preach because of all the logistical junk that Aaron took care of for me. I am so thankfull to God for providing the means for him to travel with me this summer. It has been a crazy week and God has been good and in about 65 hours we start all over again!! Talk to you next week!.
God bless ya, 
Runks
-
Journal Entry – May 4, 2000
Well, I have finally finished writing my sermons on knowing why you believe what you believe. It has taken me almost 4 months to get it done and believe me, I am extremely pumped to be finished. Now I will be able to get back to being my usual loser self. I haven’t seen a movie or played dream cast in forever! And starting tomorrow I am going to the Superbowl on NFL 2K!!!!! The sermon that I talked about in my last journal entry has turned into 2 seperate sermons. I am really pumped about preaching them this summer. The first one challenges Christians to have a reason for believing what they believe. The second is an apologetic based message that defends the Truth of Christianity using non-biblical evidences to prove that Christianity is the one and only universal, absolute truth that rules all of existence. 
My faith has been stretched to incredible lengths during my study of these amazing truths. As I was doing my research, I found myself buying, whole heartedly into the truths that support the fact that Christianity is the Truth. So I tried, as best as I could to look at these evidences without allowing my bias as a Christian to allow me to be easily swayed into believing them just because I am already a Christian. It was difficult to do but as I worked my way through this stuff, I found over and over that Christianity is not only a credible belief system but I found that it is a provable truth. I know alot of people say that you can’t prove that Christianity is the Truth but I am convinced that that is not true. Because if you really seek out the Truth you will find that the overwhelming testimony of history proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Christianity is the Truth. It is absolutely amazing how much historical evidence there is that supports the fact that Jesus was and is the one and only Son of God and that He really did resurrect from the dead! The hardest thing about writing the non-biblical evidences based sermon was deciding what to leave out because there is so much evidence supporting the Truth of Christianity.

Check out this list of books that I used in my research: Reccomended Reading list The book “The Case For Christ” by Lee Strobel, is the best one on the list as far as detailed information that is easy to read. If you are a Christian, these books will enhance your faith in Jesus beyond what you could ever imagine. So engage your mind in your faith and start reading so you can be an intelligent Christian rather an ignorant Christian. And if you are not a Christian, I dare you to read these books. They will challenge everything you have ever believed about Christianity.
God bless ya, 
Runks
-
Journal Entry – April 3, 2000
It has been a long time since my last entry. A lot has happened since then. I have finally finished the first sermon of a series on knowing what you believe and why. It is titled, “Don’t be an Ignorant Christian” It is based out of Hebrews 5:11-6:1 and it deals with going deeper in your knowledge of the deeper truths of Christianity. It basically deals with knowing what you believe and moving beyond a faith based in emotion and moving on to a faith based in knowledge. Right now I am working on a follow up sermon that will deal with knowing why you believe what you believe. It has been awesome studying this stuff. It is stuff that I have known about but I have never really studied it as deeply as I have been lately. I have been reading a ton books on “apologetics” – books about defending our faith to an unbelieving world using non-biblical sources. It is pretty amazing stuff. In this next sermon, I am hoping to present reasons to believe that Christianity is the truth by looking at the historical and philosophical arguments we can use to prove that the Bible is accurate, Jesus was who He said He was, and how we can know that He really did raise from the dead. I have finished most of my research and now, I am trying to figure out how to communicate these truths in a way that Christians as well as non-Christians can understand them. I hope to finish writing it this week. I am so ready to preach this sermon. I am so ready to not only challenge Christians to know why they believe what they believe, but to also challenge non-Christians to look at the evidence that supports the fact that Jesus is the only way to heaven and the only way to true hope in this life. I will let you know how things are going!.
God bless ya, 
Runks
-
Journal Entry – January 21, 2000
I am seeing something over and over that has become of great concern to me. We are living in a time of incredible spirituality without any grounding in anything other than tolerance, relevance, and humanistic ideas. As a result, our faith is being challenged more than ever and my concern is that most of us are not prepared for the onslaught of non-Biblical ideas that we continually face. I am afraid that when our faith is challenged we will not have the tools to defend what we have always been taught and have always believed. I am afraid that we have a generation that doesn’t know what they believe or why they believe it. Students, I challenge you to seek a deeper understanding of the truth in the face of a world that doesn’t believe in it, so that when your faith is challenged you will be able to stand firm in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. You need to get beyond the “Sunday School” answers! Trust me, at sometime in your life John 3:16 will not be enough to answer the questions you will face. You need to know what you believe and why you believe it so you can take a stand for what is true and not look like a complete idiot. Check out – Josh Mcdowell’s web site or Christian Answers.net. They have some awesome stuff to help you know what you believe and understand how to defend it. Hang in there and know that I am praying for you as you pursue a deeper relationship with Jesus.
God bless ya, 
Runks
-
Journal Entry – October 26, 1999
I have been working my tail off around the house here lately! Since I am gone so much in the summer I have a ton of yard stuff to catch up on!! The last few days I have been planting trees…. I have planted 71 trees in the last three days! We are planting a wind break almost all the way around our 2 acres. If you are not from west Texas, a wind break is a row of trees that blocks the wind because there is absolutely nothing between us and Alaska but a barbed wire fence up around Amarillo! It has been really cool for me to do something like this because rarely in what I do are there tangible results. It is difficult to look back and see something I can put my finger on that is the result of my efforts. I think this is especially true for ministers because we don’t build anything or sell anything – we work with people’s lives. When I was a youth minister, at least I got to see someone follow through on a decision and grow deeper in their relationship with Jesus. But now, I blow in , speak and leave. I get to see what God does initially but none of the long term results. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love what I do. I am blown away every day that God allows me to do this ministry but sometimes I would like to see something tangible that is a result of my work. And I guess that is why I am so pumped about at stupid row of 71 trees!! I go out there at least twice a day and look at them. I feel like an idiot because I know there is not going to be any difference in the trees from the last time I looked at them 20 minutes ago. But I keep going out there hoping that they will be, maybe, a little bit bigger.
Here is a pic of Elli & Nick and the trees

I know it sounds silly but God had taught me several things from this stupid row of trees. He has been reminding me that growth is a process and it takes time, alot of time! I can’t expect those trees to be 20 feet tall over night and neither can I expect myself to be a spiritual giant overnight. Just as it takes a tree a long time to grow to maturity, it also takes us as Christians a long time to grow to maturity. It takes years for us become what God intended for us to be when He saved us. We must not become frustrated or over anxious to be a “super” Christian overnight. We must be patient and seek God every step of the way and depend on Him to take us through the process of growing towards spiritual maturity. Just like I have a responsibity to water, fertilize, and prune my trees, we have a responibility to spend time in God’s Word in study, meditation, and prayer BUT it is God who causes the growth. I can’t make my trees grow but I can do my part to give them the best chance to grow fast and reach maturity. And the same thing is true in our relationship with Jesus – we can’t make growth happen but we can do our part to put ourselves in the best postion for God to make a continuing difference in our lives. Which is what he does best! So I am gonna try and do the same thing with my life that I have to do with my trees. I am gonna hang out with Jesus, spend time in the word and sit back and see what God Does!!!
God bless ya, 
Runks
How was that for a pastoral newsletter article! I just read it and I feel like Pastor Runks from Po dunk Country Church! LOL!!!
-
Journal Entry – September 5, 1999
Well. Let’s see. It has been a long time since my last entry because I have been on the road almost all summer and the last thing I want to do, when I am only home for 2 days a week, is to spend anytime at all updating my website. It was an awesome summer and God did some amazing things. I did 7 camps and students were saved every week except one. The most encouraging thing for me about the summer was that none of my camps turned into the usual mushy, gushy, emotional mess that they usually turn into especially on the last night. I have been very concerned lately that so much of what happens at camp is an emotional experience and not a genuine encounter with Christ so this summer I did everything I could to make sure that things did not get out of hand and become a big pile of emotion. At some of my camps that meant having the students deal with God right where they were sitting rather than coming to the front. I challenged them to learn to deal with God on their own and not depend on whoever was next to them for their experience with Christ. My fear is that students and adults as well don’t know how to deal with God on their own. When ever we have a problem or a question, rather than going to God about it we go to every one else. As followers of Christ we must learn to depend on Jesus above all else. There is nothing wrong with seeking the advice of others but it must never come before seeking the counsel of Almighty God!! He knows our situation, our needs, our problems, our hurts, our doubts, our questions and He has all the answers. We must learn not only to trust God with our lives but to also include Him in it as well. He must be the center of every aspect of our lives. So next time you have a problem, hit your knees before you pick up the phone. Learn to deal with God on your own. Learn to really trust Him with your life whether you can “feel” anything or not.
God bless ya, 
Runks