Family and Friends,

Peace, love, and joy to each of you.

As you can see, I have a new email address. As much as some of us liked it, the time came for "The Creekster" address to be replaced. Truly, this is the end of an era. Quite a run. But the good news is, it’s the start of another! Please update your address books and plan accordingly.
As the case has been, it has taken me far too long to distribute an update. There is much to share, and at this time, I will like to bring you up to date.

Wedding Bells
In case you didn’t hear me when I shouted this from the roof and mountain tops, I am engaged to be married!!

Two years ago, I met Amanda Smith in Lubbock, Texas, where she was beginning the AIM program (Adventures in Missions), and where I was beginning my training at Sunset.
Less than two weeks before our courtship began, I had finally been able to surrender all my worries into God’s hands and trust that whether or not He had a woman in mind for me, that I wasn’t going to seek a wife (1 Cor. 7:27), and that I would praise Him and serve Him in the ministry fields regardless.

Amanda is yet another example of God answering prayer with something so far and above what we could ever imagine. She has already been an incredible source of support and she is the absolutely perfect compliment to my life and ministry.

If the Lord is willing, Amanda and I will be married Friday, November 2 in Tampa Bay, Florida.
Please pray for her and I as we start our life together!

Summer Internship
In case you didn’t hear me when I shouted this from the roof and mountain tops, I belong to Jesus Christ, the one and only Savior (Acts 4:12), and the love of the world!

Since graduating from Sunset in May, I have been living out of a suitcase. In the past three months, God has made it possible for me to preach the Word in four different states. In the same day, I’ve woken up in Seattle, Washington and gone to sleep in Ocala, Florida. As I have driven, I have seen Seattle, Vancouver British Columbia, Tampa Bay, Orlando, Miami, and Phoenix on signs on the freeway, among many, many others.

As was announced in the last update, I was blessed with an internship with the youth from the Woodinville Church of Christ (in Washington state). It was an incredible summer, as I learned something valuable each day, whether about full-time ministry, people, as well as daily spiritual growth.

For 12 weeks, I preached the Word, taught classes, studied with others throughout the week, worked with the kids in service projects, and taught at an annual retreat.
The experiences and lessons learned there were invaluable and I am so grateful for such a wonderful blessing.

In the Mean Time...
At the moment, Amanda and I are in Arizona. It’s been so great being "home" and seeing the faces and settings I’ve known all my life.

Her and I will be here till September 11, so we hope to see those of you who are here.

At the moment of this message, we are currently in discussion with two congregations in Florida. We are still unsure where we will serve, but we refuse to trust in anyone else than God. He will provide the opportunity.

Please keep us in your prayers in this regard as well.

Conclusion
To all of you, we send our love to you and thank you for your prayers, support, and encouragement.

If time permits you to, please respond to this email and let us know what you have been up to lately, so we can pray for you as well.

With Love in Christ Jesus,
David

"The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost (1 Timothy 1:15)."

As for me and my House
One of the greatest blessings in being here these past two years is my dependence on television and entertainment has dramatically diminished.

Until I watched some playoff basketball games last week, it had been more than a month since I had watched something on television. At one point last year, it had been nearly six months.

It got to where watching television didn’t even cross my mind…and it felt the same exact way as it does when you don’t drink as much soda, but drink more water and orange juice and healthier things…and how nasty a Coke or Dr. Pepper looks not long after.

We would all think that such a long gap from television would be difficult and that we would go nuts, right? Not at all. I've never been so refreshed in all my life.

It truly saddens me to see so many Christians in the Church who claim that they would read the Bible each day, but they just don’t have enough time in their busy day. Yet for 2-5 hours a day, you’ll find the same people sitting in front of a television or doing something to entertain themselves.

In other words, the statement may as well be, “I would read the Bible each day, but I would rather watch tv and do other things,” right?

I am convinced that through entertainment and things of its ilk, we have grown to prefer what is temporary and what can often cause us to sin over that which is eternal and what can bless us.

But what saddens me most of all is some of the things that professing Christians watch or listen to. Some of the things that I have watched or listened to at one point in my life.

Tonight, I decided to sit down and watch a show.

In less than 30 seconds - as soon as I sat down, God’s name was taken in vain. And in less than 5 seconds after it was said, I was on my feet leaving the room.

Those who are in harmony with this reaction may be few in number, but it has gotten to the point where if I hear God or Jesus’ name abused or taken in vain, I’m not going to watch another second.

In the past year I have gotten rid of whole stacks of movies and have decided once and for all, that for me, it is absolutely impossible to serve the Lord in my house with things that curse His name and make a mockery of Him.

We have come up with every excuse in the world to justify watching certain movies and shows. How it’s just a portrayal of true life and that it gets us ready to face the world when we hear people blasting Christ or using uninhibited profanity or whatever else it may be.

Many Christians personally have no problem with watching movies with language (even heavy language) and nudity and everything else and claim it doesn’t cause them to sin.

But in my personal case, it does tempt me. It does violate my conscience. The only times I ever swore in my life were times when several years ago, I was watching movies with filthy language and I heard it so much, the next thing I knew, I was saying it myself.

Whether this is right or wrong, it seems to me that when we laugh at movies or shows that have profanity or that take God’s name in vain, we are in essence, showing our approval to those things and we are also in essence, conforming to the world.

Please do not misunderstand me.

Just like anything else, this is a balance. I'm not saying that we should sell every single thing we own and move out to the wilderness and completely remove ourselves from the world and from society.
I’m not against television or movies. I don’t believe that every movie or show is bad - there are good things to watch that don’t have those things.

I’m against placing those things above our time in God’s Word and in prayer daily. I’m against trying to justify there’s nothing wrong with willingly inflicting ourselves with the venom of the world we see and hear round about us every single day.

Why would we voluntarily want to hear and see even more of that? As if we didn’t hear enough foul language today. As if we didn’t see enough sensuality everywhere we turned.

“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

We quote it as if we actually lived it in our lives. It’s words hang on our walls and it feels so good rolling off our tongue.

But can we really serve the Lord when we watch things that curse the holy and awesome name of God to our faces and we just sit there letting it go in one ear and out the other, with a smile on our face?

Can we really serve the Lord when every other word we hear is an obscenity?

Can we really serve the Lord in our homes when we are filling our minds and entertaining ourselves with the very sin that Jesus died for?

You don’t have to agree with my solution, but I am ready to turn off the tv and open the Word of God more.

I'm ready to spend less time with others watching a show and spending more time sitting with others with Bibles opened and with hands together in prayer.

I’m ready to sell even more movies and sell even more cd’s and replace all the noise with silence and quiet time before the Lord.

I’m ready to smash the bronze serpent that has become the idol and god of too many homes and too many lives.

As for me and my house…we will serve the Lord.

Brothers and Sisters; Friends and Family,

It is with love and joy that I greet you this evening, and I pray that this message is coming to you in a time of great love and joy on your end as well.

As always, i wish to thank all of you for your prayers, financial support, love, and encouragement. The Lord has so richly used you and your generous hearts to make it possible for me to have been here all this time, preparing for the greatest work on the face of the earth, and while i may express it often, i will never be able to express it enough. Thank you, one and all.

As you can imagine, studies, outreach work, and everything else that entails life have been very busy, yet at the same time very rewarding.

It has been yet another very rewarding term, with life-changing studies in Romans, John, Galatians, Ezekiel, Daniel, and a missions track class studying the Gospel and the different cultures.

With finals for this semester next week and one last semester to go, graduation is right around the corner! Lord-willing, we will graduate from SIBI on Saturday, May 19.

As I speak of this, it makes me want to sum these past two years up, but perhaps it is best to save that until the actual time comes and I really feel the urge to write to you about it! I rejoice to know there’s still more time here!

With graduating so close at hand, it brings me great joy to share the following news with you.

A Summer Opportunity
The Lord has blessed me with a wonderful opportunity of a summer internship! I am very privileged to spend the coming summer working with the youth at the Woodinville Church of Christ in Woodinville, Washington, and assisting brother Anthony Favors.

It is my desire and goal to grow to become effective to all age groups - to both the young, middle-aged, and aged (some of you will appreciate that I don’t use the ‘o’ word!) and to have an opportunity to help encourage, minister to, and serve the younger ages (the very future of the Church Lord-willing).

To say the very least, I am excited and grateful for such a wonderful opportunity and am looking more and more forward to this time.

Closing Thoughts
Well, I have exceeded a page in length and knowing most of your busy schedules, I suppose that’s good for tonight!

Please save this page and look for more to come!

Thank you so very much for your prayers, love, and support.

I labor for you by name in my prayers as well and ask that you keep me updated on you as well!

With Christian Love and Zeal,
Your brother, david

First off, my apologies once again to you, my loving encouragers and friends. Right when I set myself to doing more posting in order to keep you updated, it takes me nearly a month to post my first entry of the new year!

As you can imagine, I’ve been busily at work, but expect to see more posts and exciting updates coming your way very soon!

Tonight, the annual Sunset workshop kicked off, and from this morning to this moment in the close of the day, I am absolutely on fire. It was a wonderful night of heartfelt praise to the King, a stirring message from God’s Word, as well as fellowship with many dear friends I haven’t seen in a while.

I couldn’t help but wonder…why does it usually take a workshop for us to be on the mountain top? Why do we have to wait until most everyone else shares in our zeal and fervor to truly build one another up in our love and devotion to Christ and to the lost?

In any case, tonight was such an encouragement and I pray that everyone here will grow along with me and take this joy and enthusiasm back with them from that which they came from.

My family and i were blessed with a wonderful time in New York City. We spent Christmas Day there and after a few more days, returned Wednesday night. Here below, are just a few pictures from the trip. You can view many more right here.

What a day this has been.

Once again, I find myself standing on the mountain top. My soul has been revived, reenergized, and rejuvenated. Although my eyes are heavy with weariness and fatigue, my soul stands tall and strong, more convicted and in love with Jesus, the Christ, than when I awoke this morning…and last night…and the day before.

Am I at a retreat, you may ask? No…in the past year and a half, one of the many things I’ve learned: all you need for true spiritual revival is an open Bible and an open heart and mind.

I cannot even begin to describe what a blessing it is to be here at this time and in this place. Having the privilege and opportunity to get together with many fellow preachers of the Gospel and to spend our days together studying the Word of God with some absolute giants of faith through the many years.

Today, many different sentiments could be found within me.

The fire within me for the Lord has grown and grown. The desire to go out into this world to make disciples everywhere, far and wide, is increasing more and more each day as I grow in the love and understanding of my Lord.

But there is also somewhat of a sad emotion as well.

As we wrapped up two more wonderful life-changing classes today, part of me was longing for this to keep going, on and on. These two years here are so precious…so overwhelmingly invigorating.

When the time comes to move on from this place, I pray I will always be a man of the Word and devote myself to the feasting of His Word. But it’s been said that never again will we be able to spend as much time studying as we are right now.

No, ministry school isn’t a prerequisite for evangelism. No, everyone doesn’t have to go.

But I am eternally grateful that I made the decision to come here. That I leaned on Christ when the forces of hostility voiced their criticisms toward me and that I came here to grow and to more adequately prepare myself for the full-time evangelism I wish to devote the rest of my life to.

As much as I’m going to miss studying and growing with these dear brothers in Christ, I can’t wait to get out there, with more time and more understanding and a deeper love for Christ as well as the lost.

This world is lost and empty from head to toe. She’s blinded by the disease of the mindset that there are many ways, when in actuality, there is one.

Even more alarmingly so, the Church is drifting further and further away from the authority of God’s Word and are embracing the doctrines of men.

Time is of the essence.

Well, I suppose time got away from me. It’s been nearly two months since I’ve posted.

Unbelievable.

If there’s anyone still out there, I apologize for the lack of updates and will make it a practice to actually write on here more often, seeing this is a blog and that I love to write.

As you can imagine, life has been busy with school and the various outreach opportunities we’re taking part in.

As for the classroom, we are currently wrapping up what has been yet another excellent term, with studies in Isaiah, the Church, Church Growth, Hebrews, as well as Christian Counseling.

It’s so hard to believe, but after this term concludes next week, there remains only two more terms to go before we graduate this coming May. I can say with all certainty that the past year and a half has been a time of unanticipated growth and I eagerly await what is still to come.

On Monday nights, my friend Justin and I are still attending the A.A. meetings. Ever since the last update, two more colleagues have joined us, both of whom come from pasts that included drug and alcoholic addictions.

We have yet to win a single individual in this group for Christ and the easy thing to do would be to throw in the towel and give up since it seems as if we’re doing no good. Yet week after week, it’s the individuals who embrace us and tell us how much they appreciate us taking the time who remind us of the exciting rapport that is developing between us that makes us want to continue coming.

Wherever we go, it is our aim and our goal to be lights for Christ in this world of darkness.

Please remember us in your prayers as we strive to take the Gospel to all of creation. You too are in my prayers, for as Christians, we share in the responsibility and blessing of seed sowing.