A TIME TO CELEBRATE

WEDDING BELLS

Meet Christian and Melanie.  Christian has been working with the UCLA women's basketball program since last July.  Back in January, he and Melanie got engaged and later asked if Jenny and I would provide them with some premarital counseling, which we were happy to do.  Over the past several months, we have enjoyed getting to know this young couple.  In many ways, they remind us of ourselves some 20 years ago.  Their desire to honor and seek the Lord regarding their marriage has been really awesome to witness and in just a few weeks, I will have the honor and privilege of officiating their wedding ceremony.

BEYOND THE BENCH

  At one of our final meetings of the school year, our BVL ministry team hosted a panel involving a few individuals working within the UCLA athletic department.  Our guests included coaches Jenny Huth & Duane Broussard, (Women & Men's Basketball),  Dawn Harper, (UCLA Alum & 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist), and Beth Miller, (Sports Nutritionist). 

We wanted to expose our student-athletes to some coaches and staff who were authentically pursing Jesus Christ while desiring to bring Him glory through their professions.  The night was an absolute hit. Each panelist did an incredible job of articulating their faith journey and sharing some of their life lessons.  Each one could have carried the entire time by themselves because they had such rich things to share.  The best part of the evening was seeing students approaching the speakers afterwards wanting to hear even more from them.  There were even tears shed by a student who really connected with one of the panelist testimony.  Overall, we know the students who came on this night were blessed to hear from the panel and we are looking forward to hosting another event such as this in the near future.

BVL Staff/Coaches panel on 5/24.

(From L to R): Jenny H., Dawn, Beth, and Duane

SEED PLANTER

On a recent trip back to my home town of Maryland, I reconnected with a high school classmate.  I hadn't seen or spoken with Daniel Gyermeh in well over 15 years, yet over the past 25 years, whenever I shared my Christian testimony, Daniel's name inevitably came up.  For you see, Daniel, the son of a preacher, faithfully tried to share Jesus with me during my high school years.  While he was never overbearing, I always politely declined his invitations.  Well, I wanted Daniel to know how much I appreciated him planting the seed of God's Word into my life so many years ago.  EVERY life I have ministered to throughout my nearly 20 years of vocational ministry, a part of him has been with me.  Thanks Daniel for being a faithful servant of God.  Those seeds you planted were never in vain.  To God be the glory!

Daniel & I on June 6th.

 END OF SCHOOL YEAR

UCLA Beach Volleyball Team Banquet on May 26th.

 

 

Freshmen All-American twins, Nicole & Megan McNamara

With the conclusion of another school year also came a couple of milestone moments for our family.  Kory graduated from elementary school while Jaylen officially said goodbye to her middle school years.  We couldn't be more proud of them for their efforts in the classroom.

Kory and pals following their 5th grade culmination ceremony on May 25th.

 "Pinning Ceremony" on June 3rd, officially marking the start of a new chapter.