Our newest member...

Emily, me, and Charles

It has been my dream and prayer since starting here at Shepherd to build and grow leaders who desire to use their gifts in sports to minister to others. Over the years, we have found a lot of men and women who fit this category and bless me every day with their service to the ministry. Our newest staff member has been serving as our Softball Coordinator since we started a year and half ago. Matt Ireton has come a long way in his faith and commitment to the Lord, and we are all excited about him becoming a full-time staff member of Shepherd Sports.

Matt will be overseeing all of our adult sports programs and focusing on the ministry of our captains and leaders within these leagues. As Matt and his family prepare for God's new calling on their lives, will you pray with me for the following:

• That the transition would be smooth and easy...
• God would continue to protect the Ireton family...
• God would lead and guide Matt in this new position of leadership...
• That Matt would bless all those he comes in contact with him...

Christmas Time...

Joel, Liz & Laurence braving the cold
Ed & Ernie the Reindeer

Chris Ray with his pre-season conditioning
Emily & the kids playing reindeer games

Last week the staff and I had an opprotunity to bless all of our leaders with a Christmas Party at my house. As I watched the weather forecast for a week prior to the party, I noticed each day it getting colder and colder and it was suppose to rain the day of our party. God definitely answered our prays as we ended up with a wonderful night outside under the stars...with a few heat lamps to help the cause. An hour after everyone left, it started pouring down ran. God is good.

With the expanding ministry at Shepherd, it is nice to bring everyone together to fellowship and enjoy the season. Ernie, my Golden-Doodle, entertained the kids throughout the night along with a game of "Pin the tail on the reindeer." I want to thank everyone for coming, but more importantly for serving God through the Sports Ministry. You are all a blessing to us.

The Importance of Our Youth!!!

The kids having fun at this year's Soccer Clinics

Anyone who has been involved with Shepherd Sports over the last year probably knows who Charles is by now. Nearly a year ago, we brought Charles on to head up our Youth Sports Programs and what an amazing job he has done. Charles has a great gift with kids and parents alike. The kids love him and I love him even more for taking over this much-needed area of our ministry.

In society today there are a lot of opportunities for our youth to get involved in sports. However, after looking around at the quality of coaches, fields, and programs, I find many of them are lacking something. I would argue that the missing ingredient is Jesus Christ. In all we do with our youth, we desire to have coaches with godly character who teach our kids biblical principles. It's important that any young person active in sports sees and is surrounded by good Christian role models both on and off the field. I'm proud to have Charles as a leader who always exemplifies these attributes, and I believe any parent who has had their child in any one of our programs would find this to be true.

As we grow, we need more godly men and women to step up and be leaders. If this is something you have ever wondered about, we would love to have you join us. We offer training for coaches and currently have needs in both our Youth Soccer and Youth Basketball programs.

Bump, Set, Spike...

Team: "Stay Classy" 2008 Volleyball Champs

Our first season of Coed Volleyball is in the books and what a season it was! Initially, I thought volleyball would be a sport that might take a little time to grow and build. However, 150 people signing up for the first league made our newest sport automatically one of our biggest. With such a demand for volleyball, we have plans this December to add another volleyball court in the gym. This will allow us to run two courts on the same night and should open up for some fun-filled nights of open gym in 2009. Be sure to invite some friends who do not know Christ to come out and play, because at Shepherd Sports it's more than a game! Our next Coed League will start in March 2009, .

Congratulations to Ian Houser (back left) and his team "Stay Classy" for winning the championship this past fall.

Ride & Thrive...

This past Saturday I finally had a chance to join our Mountain Biking Ministry for one of their rides. Let me just say, what an experience. The views, the exercise, the fellowship...it was all awesome and worth every sore muscle I woke up with the next day. In the end we did close to 18 miles around the hills of Encino, about 17 more than I prepared for.

Our mountain biking leader Dave Schneider is incredible. He helped me get off my training wheels (wish that was a joke) and out with the big boys in no time. Dave's experience and knowledge in the sport of Biking is amazing. I was fascinated as Dave explained the intricacies and details of the sport. Who knew there was so much to know about riding your bike? Not only does Dave have vast knowledge and experience on the trails but he also has raced professionally, and it shows, as he often doubled back throughout our ride to herd those of us hanging in the rear.

If you have ever ridden a bike or have thought about getting out on a trail, I couldn't recommend a better guy to have by your side then Dave. He truly has a passion for the sport and loves to teach. You can check out the ministry's next ride at the Shepherd Sports website. http://www.shepherdsports.org/

Donovan

These are some of my favorite pics so far

It's official: I'm a daddy and a blogger now. With two proud Grandmothers around the house we now have close to 500 photos already. That's equals out to a picture for every minute he's been alive. It's like having the paparazzi around the house 24/7. But who can blame them when Donovan looks as cute as his mother? Let's just hope he can throw like daddy.