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Faith in Real Life

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In Faith in Real Life

Ego’s and Logo’s

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“It is amazing what gets accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit.  We have to lay down the ego’s and the logo’s and go get it done for Jesus.”  ~Dino Rizzo

This killed me!  I’ll tell you why.  I’m a big fan of church marketing.  As in, I want our ministry to have a cool, relevant, sweet looking logo.  I want to have a sweet website and an awesome student center, and a hooked up snack shop.  I’m a big fan.  I want our student ministry to drip with excellence.  I want more than anything for our ministry to be known as a place where you can come and be known by students, and be loved on, a place where you can meet God, hear from God, and have a great time doing it.  I want our ministry at FBC to wreak havoc in the sin life of students.  I want this for US.  I want this for OUR church.  I want this for OUR students.  

Here’s what killed me.  Do I care more about who gets the credit in all the good stuff that happens than I care that students are meeting and growing closer to God?  I PRAY NOT!  Sometimes we allow the “stuff” to get in the way of what God wants to do in and through us!  The logo’s, the buildings, the instruments, the furniture, and the lights can distract us from our mission.  Do I want all of those great things for my friend who is the Youth Pastor at the nearby church?  Do I rejoice when his ministry grows?  Do we work together to accomplish more than we could dream possible by ourselves?  What keeps us from doing that?  What keeps us from reaching out to our friends, helping where help is needed?  

So, I realize that you do not all have the joy/privilege of being youth pastors.  I realize that maybe not all of you are even people who would consider themselves inside the Christian faith.  But here is what I am thinking: What is getting in the way of you accomplishing something significant for God?  What is getting in the way of you coming to know who God is in a new, fresh, life changing way?

God is stretching me.  I know that…  I’m just thinking…  You?

~Peter

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In Faith in Real Life

What keeps you up at night?

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Lately, I have been thinking about stuff…  You know?  I find myself thinking about ministry, life and my family.  Sometimes I wonder if this is normal?  I mean there are times when I just can’t stop thinking about it.  I’ve found myself saying, “Okay, it’s time to go to bed now.  Stop thinking about stuff!”  I suppose that you could call this craziness, or maybe just disturbed.  

I wonder about how can we do things better?  How can we more effectively minister to students.  What would be my dreams and goals… I sit and think about the church in a perfect world.  I dream about the day when we can be a church that stands culturally relevant, and is culturally attractive to those in our community!  I dream about how we can get to that point.  I am pained by phrases, and ideology that causes more harm to the name of Jesus, than it does good.  

Sometimes I wonder… Sometimes I dream…  

What keeps you up at night?  What are your passions?

~Peter

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In Faith in Real Life

Totally Normal Night…

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So, tonight, was a totally normal night in the Gowesky household.  We rearranged our bedroom and then we organized some of the goodies that find themselves hiding in random places of your bedroom.  Then Tiffany decided that it was time to do some facial thing.  I was in complete support of it for HER!  However, then all of a sudden, it appeared on my face.  

Yeah, it feels a little weird.  Enough about that…  On to the real stuff.

I read this question today, it was initially asked by Robert Schuller.  I thought a lot about this question (since I had plenty of time to do this, thanks to Mr. Jesse Sherk… that’s another story for another time…)  Anyhow, here’s the question:  “What would you attempt if you knew it couldn’t fail?”  Some of you right now are saying, I’d get a girlfriend!  Here’s my question for us.  If God would bless anything that you do, what would you attempt?  If you knew it couldn’t fail, what would you do?  

Failure… It is feared by most, and embraced by few.  I’m not convinced that failure means you are unsuccessful.  I’m not convinced that failure means you have blown it.  Sometimes I think that our fear of failure cripples us so that we don’t do ANYTHING!  We are to scared to get it wrong to ever get it right!  I am just thinking…  What do you think?

Facial update:  since, I have more hair on my face than on my head, I decided that this might be a more appropriate use of the mask…


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In Faith in Real Life

Extreme camping

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So we are off and running. For those of you who were wondering, yes, we did have a great garage dale yesterday. Great as in we sold off all our stuff that has accumulated over the course of the last four years of marriage.
Today however we have taken off and we are going camping at a place called lake in wood. We just got done going to Dutch wonderland with Noah and grace. We had a blast. We played in the water the whole time and rode the train once before leaving. Now we are headed to go set up camp. We have borrowed a pop up and I am looking forward to the experience of camping with an 18 month old and a 2 1/2 year old. Sounds like there will be some interesting stories. Anyhow. Off we go equipped with a pack and play and a borrowed pop up. I’m pumped.
I am really looking forward to spending some time with the family and my wife. I’ll post pictures later of our campsite.

Are you a camping type of person or a hotel type of person?

~peter

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In Faith in Real Life

Garage Sale

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Hey ya’ll, so here’s the opportunity of a lifetime.  If you are anywhere near Doylestown, you are going to want to shoot over to 534 Sandy Ridge, Doylestown PA 18901, and check out our stuff.  We are purging.  Anyone interested in a lawn mower?  Or how about 4 million baby items.  Or possibly, a set of book shelves?  There is tons of stuff.  Seriously, come by and say Hi at least.  We are there from 8-1.  EVERYTHING MUST GO!

So, the question is do you like Garage Sales?

~Peter

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In Faith in Real Life

I am ANCIENT

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I came home from work today, and Tiffany suggested that I take Noah outside to play.  So, I did.  We had a great time.  He really wanted to throw the frisbee.  It is unbelievable how far that dude can throw a frisbee. 

He is a champion!  It made me think of the times when my dad and I would throw frisbee or play catch or wiffle ball, or whatever it was.  But, I loved it.  Both then, and now.  

My little son is old enough to throw a frisbee back at me!  HOW CRAZY IS THAT?  I AM ANCIENT.  You should put me in a museum.  I am feeling old right now.  

To top it off, we were looking at book bags online for him as he is going to be headed off to the big scary world of preschool this year!  I could be buying my son a book bag, like to actually use!  What planet am I on, and what happened to me being young?  

Do you feel old?  When do you think you will feel old?  What is old?

~Mr. Gowesky  (Cause you only call old people Mr.)

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In Faith in Real Life

Quiet times…

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So, it has been kind of quiet around the salt lick lately.  I admire guys like this, and this who can everyday wake up and have the time to get a blog entry out there.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t do this because I have to, I do it because I want to.  But I am surprised at how quiet I have been over these past few days.  I hope to shed some light on it all.  

I have been feeling kind of blah lately.  Physically I’m fine.  However, if I am honest with you, and I want to be honest, I have been feeling kind of blah.  I am tired.  I am hungry.    

I am tired of waking up tired.  I am tired of wanting more.  I am tired in a good sort of way.  I don’t want to sit still and just watch as things go by.  I want to be apart of them.  I want to be included in the “things”.  

I am hungry for all sorts of things, the least of which is food.  In the last three weeks, I have been trying to read as much as I can, and learn as much as I can.  I am hungry to know more.  I want to be the best leader, and pastor that I can be.  I am hungry to see God do big things.  I couldn’t tell you what they are, or what they should be, all I know is that I am hungry to be apart of it!  

I guess I have a lot going through my head in these last few days.  I have been thinking about a lot, wondering a lot, and praying a lot.  Pray with me that God would do great things here in Doylestown.  It is a privilege to serve as the Youth Pastor here at FBC.  

~Peter

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In Faith in Real Life

Yearbook Pictures

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So, I know that I said that I was going to go to bed, but then we started really laughing.  We felt like this was too funny not to share with the world.  Enjoy!  This is who i could have been, if I was born a little earlier…  I guess I should thank my mom and dad for sparing me from some of these years…

Which is your favorite?

~Peter

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In Faith in Real Life

What a whirlwind…

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I am exhausted.  I have hit the wall.  Right now, I feel like I have been all over the place.  I just got back from Camp Conrad with our Junior High.  It was a good week.  It was awesome to get to know some of the kids better.  

However, I have missed spending time with my family.  If feel like grace is now a young woman!  She is saying some of the funniest stuff.  Noah is playing so well by himself.  Check this out… This is what I’m talking about.  So, tomorrow we are taking off, headed to the beach.  I love the beach.  The beach is one of my favorite places!  We are going to just spend some time as a family.  It is going to be tons of fun.  I can’t wait.  So, I’m going to go to bed now because like I said, I’m exhausted.

~Peter

P.S. Where do you go when you need to refresh yourself?  

Oh and yeah, check this out, this is hysterical!  

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