LINK YEAR 2nd TO LAST WEEK

Hey Friends,

This week has been very exciting. We are almost finished here at Link Year. I’ve learned so much since being here, but I am ready for my next season of life. My dad is here with me now, because Barrett graduates from the institute today. On Tuesday, Joe White came and talked to us. He took us back to the times of Paul when he was writing Ephesians. He quoted the entire book to us. He gave us a few golden nuggets from the book as well. Then Brian’s brother-in-law, Tim Watson came to speak to us. I really enjoyed Tim on Wednesday, and Thursday, he spoke to us about Christian counseling, and explained that we are all Christian counselors. He told us that counseling is for 2 things, the glory of God, and for our own good. Tim was really engaged with us and had a lot of insight. As time is coming to an end for Lin Year we are all enjoying the last 2 weeks together. Last week I went to the Masters with my dad, Brennan, and Alex. We had an absolute blast. It gave me more motivation than ever to do what it takes to get on tour and win. I am so thankful for the time I’ve had this year to grow, and live in a Christian community. It will be sad leaving all my classmates, but I am ready for a new season of life. Wish us luck for this last week!

LINK YEAR WEEK IDK

Hey friends,

This week was a lot of fun. Mystery Monday was optional, however most everybody went. We drove to Springfield and went to Chick-fil-a. Then we drove to a rock climbing place. It was fun to get to see everyone encouraging each other as they made the climb to the top. Our speaker for this week was a teacher from Kansas City Christian School named Ben Williams. I think that he might have been our best speaker. He really connected with us and caught our attention with his topics. We talked about different worldview, Eastern religions, Western religions, and how we got the Bible. It was all so interesting. He was able to prove to us that the Bible is a very important book. We have many copies of the Bible. The question most people ask is why don’t we have the original manuscripts. Well it’s because they wouldn’t have lasted that long. It’s the same for all other ancient text. We have very credible copies from several different writers that all coincide with each other. There were very strict rules for how they could copy it. Ben shared about many other religions and encouraged us to learn more about them. We need to be able to understand in order to have a good conversation with someone fro another religion. It’s been snowing here in Branson, i kind of wish we had better weather i’m ready to play some golf. I’m going home for Easter so maybe i’ll play a few holes. Pray for safe travel for all the students this weekend and the next. 

LINK YEAR WEEK IDK

Hey friends,

What a blast!! Ireland was so much fun. We all grew so much and grew closer together. I now have the most incredible girlfriend. Spring break was so much fun as well. Baylor killed Kansas and I played lots of golf. Now we are back at Link Year. So good to finally see my brother and get to talk with him. He has really grown so much. for the past few days Bret Christopher Jenson spoke to us. He taught us about the Gospel. We talked about why it’s important and why Christians feel so scared to talk about it. We tried to look back into the times of the Bible and imagine what life was like in those times. I really liked Bret he was young, funny and kept me engaged. He always asked for our opinions. Family dinner was so much fun. I found out that Adam and Kaitlyn Martin are going to be teaching 2-step classes at Big Cedar Lodge. I’m hoping that Beth and I will get a chance to go take lessons. These next few weeks will be a lot of fun as we push each other to grow in our relationships with the Lord. I’m so excited to see what the Lord has in store for me for the rest of Link Year and for college next year. Please keep all of us in your prayers as many of us are facing challenges in our lives. After Link Year we will all be extremely tested, please be praying.

LINK YEAR WEEK 10

Hey friends,

This week was a little different from every other week. We separated the guys and the girls. The girls focused on Proverbs 31, and the guys had man week! On Monday we all went out to the shooting range and shot sporting clays for several hours. Matt shot the most and I came in second with Brenton in third. It’s always interesting to see how people that have never shot before will shoot. Brenton, Matt, and I played knock out to declare a winner. I won so that was fun. We then came back to campus and grilled steaks by hand. Mine was cooked perfectly at medium rare. The next day we all met at the bottom of Kauai. We had a fire and talked about manhood. We also shot potato guns and blew stuff up. We took an axe and destroyed a washing machine. We also blew up a TV and almost set camp on fire. We got to hear from peers and what each others thoughts are on mahood. The next day Brian Wang’s mentor came and spoke to us about being a man. We went over what it looks like to be a man and what it’s like to be a Godly man. Being a Godly man had a lot more to do with leadership and responsibility. Today Adam Donyes spoke on being a man. He talked about the difference in being a man and being a boy. He gave us a list for each. He taught us about the lies that our culture will give us about manhood. He also taught us the 7 pillars of being a man. This was a fun week to be a man!

LINK YEAR WEEK 9

Hey friends,

This week has been so much fun leading up to Christmas break. On Monday we all went to see The Hobbit. It was great and Adam had the entire theater rented out for us. Everyone liked the movie. On Tuesday one of our favorite speakers came to talk to us about heart transformation. DA expanded on the teachings of the Gospel, and how to teach it to others. He told us that as Christians we are called to share the Gospel with others. But it is not our duty to bring others to Christ. That is between them and God. God has to transform their heart. On Wednesday DA taught on maximizing moments. This is something that I feel very strong about. Live to the fullest is the moments that you are in, because there is no guarantee for tomorrow. That doesn’t mean don’t plan for the future. We are called to be good stewards of our time. Today Darrell Schemwell spoke to us about God’s sovereignty, and we got to hear about what that means to other people in our class. I learned that it is probably the most important doctrine in the Bible to understand. Many other doctrines in the Bible are tied into God’s sovereignty. The most important thing to me about it is that God predestined us and he is all-knowing, and he knew everything at once. There was know beginning and end. I will not be blogging over Christmas break because I’m going to be spending a lot of time with loved ones. Please pray for the Link Year students as we all go into the real world for break and get hit with all kinds of temptations. Love you guys.  

LINK YEAR WEEK 8

Hello friends,

This week was a great week. Mystery Monday was very interesting. We had to ask the girls on a group date. I took Beth and my group went to Chateau on The Lake to see the ginger bread houses. After that we went to Bill and Gail’s. Its a little country style restaurant in Branson. We all ate breakfast and talked for about an hour. I had a lot of fun and enjoyed hanging out with her. Tuesday my mentor Brian spoke to us about Luke 9:23. It reads, And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” He brought to our attention the things that we put as a priority before following Christ. He told us about his story and how he always put football before a relationship with God. God literally took football away from him through injuries. He taught us how to put God first in our life. I talked to Adam Donyes about golf and he had me read Matthew 6:33 where it says to seek the Kingdom of God before all things. Wednesday the lady in charge of human resources at Kanakuk spoke to us about jobs. She taught us how to dress for an interview. We learned how to respond to interview questions, and how to act. We also learned what the employers look for in an employee. On Thursday Brian spoke to us again about Luke 9:23. He helped us change our focus from those priorities that we talked about on Tuesday, and focus more on Christ. We talked about denying ourselves and getting in the word daily. We need to live in the world and not of the world. Don’t fall prey to the temptations of this world. We get victory over satan every time we say NO or walk away from temptation. Gain victory over satan and get into the word daily.

LINK YEAR WEEK 7

Hey friends,

This week has been extremely tiring, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I’ve been struggling a lot with my fathers health so i continue to ask for prayers. On Wednesday Antoine Mack came and spoke to us on time perspective, and how people view their lives. People view life in different time frames, such as past, present and future. I am a very present person I love to live in the now. Sometimes it gets me in trouble though and I often find myself not planning for the future, or dwelling on the past. However I hardly dwell on the past I like to live and learn. He talked about his desire which is to develop believers who are future minded and eternity focused. Tuesday Kyle Unruh talked to us! He came to us kind of as a father figure and told us things that our parents would want us to know but couldn’t really tell us. We went over a plan for greatness. He told us that he believed this program is good for us and that if we submit to the authority then we will get a lot from it. He told us a lot about how he thought our nation was getting away from our Christian views. Thursday the Mayor of Branson came and just encouraged us to plug in to our home town communities. She gave us a lot of history on Branson. She told us about the Christian view points of Branson and how it is a faith based city.