Softball & Baseball seasons continue

Church league softball will go on for at least one more week for Gardenside Christian Church.
This past Monday night (June 23rd), the GCC men's team won their opener in the 2008 city-wide Church league tournament.
The G-men rallied from an early deficit to defeat Eastland Church of God "B," 18-14.
The offensive explosion was punctuated by a 3-run homer by Billy Reynolds.
Billy had previously received much grief from teammates because his previous homers have been of the solo variety.
The game also marked the softball debut of Teen Mission/WKYT intern Cameron Andry.
The Paoli, IN, native and Ball State student went 2-2 with 2 walks and 3 RBI.
You can read much more about Cameron's exploits at his blog: http://cameronandry.blogspot.com/2008/06/andry-reaches-base-in-every-plate.html.

With the win, GCC moves their season record to 6-4, assuring them of a winning season for the 1st time since 1999. Gardenside will play their next tournament game on Monday, June 30th at 6:30 pm at field B in Athens.

In addition, Autumn's baseball season will continue on for a few more weeks.
Following the regular season and tournament, Autumn was selected to be on an All-Star team of 7 & 8-year-olds from Western Little League.
The Western All-Stars will play in a tournament over the 4th of July weekend at Shilito Park here in Lexington, KY. They'll get to see how they stack up against some of the best teams in the city and Bluegrass region.

Mr Edinger

Last Saturday (June 14th), I learned that my good friend, Larry Edinger, Sr, (age 69) had passed away in Erie, PA.
It wasn't a total surprise because an aneurysm had left Mr Edinger in a comma for about a week.
It was, however, sad, parting (for a time) with a dear friend.

Mr Edinger was not just a great friend, but an even-greater man.
He was a dedicated Christian, a devoted husband, father and family man.

He and his wife (Angela) and son (Larry Jr) had moved to Lexington, KY, from Erie in the 1970s.
Larry worked as Executive Sales Manager for the Blood-Horse Publications here in town.

I got to know them as they were faithful members at Gardenside Christian Church (Lexington, KY).
Larry Jr and I were good friends, too, in the church youth group.

And while I would come over to Larry Jr's house to hang out with him, I usually found myself talking with Larry Sr most of the time.
We shared a lot in common: a love of the Lord and a passion for sports (especially baseball).

I loved stopping by the Edinger's house. We would sit on the front porch and talk for hours about everything.

Even as I got older, I still stopped in to talk. Over a period of 15 years (1986-2001), we shared a lot of life experience together. These times saw me graduate high school, decide on a college, graduate college, choose a career, leave that career, answer a call to full-time ministry, get married and become a father.

A lot of the preparation for life came from the time spent on the Edinger's front porch.

I THANK God he always had the time to listen and visit. It blessed me beyond measure.

Mr Edinger retired from the Blood-Horse in 1991.
He continued to stay active at Gardenside Christian Church, teaching bible school classes as well as helping with missions and evangelism and outreach.

I know specifically of people who got back into the church and renewed their walk with the Lord simply because Larry and Angela made a call on their home and invited them to church.

In 1995, Angela was diagnosed with dementia in 1995. As Angela declined, Larry Sr and Angela decided to move back to Erie, PA, in 2001, to be closer to family.

Over the next few years, we would call each other on the phone once every 2-3 months. We'd catch up on the University of KY athletics. He would have his time to talk about his team (the Cleveland Indians) and then I'd talk about mine (the Cincinnati Reds).
If he wanted to kid me, he would refer to them as the "Little Red Wagon" and not the "Big Red Machine."

My family were on vacation last August (2007) and stopped into see he and Angela at their home Erie.
I had not seen them since they moved away from Lexington in 2001.
I was not shocked to see that Angela's health had gotten worse. She had outlived most all of the doctor's predictions. I was, however, surprised by Mr Edinger's health.
It was obvious his health had slipped a little from being the caregiver.
Angela lived for 12 years with the disease. Larry Sr was a devoted caregiver and stayed right there with his lovely wife until her death this past October (2007).
There was never a hint of remorse or frustration with Mr Edinger. He loved taking care of Angela and wanted nothing more than to do that very thing as long as he could.
I think it is what it means when the scriptures say, "husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church."

Mr Edinger leaves behind a great family who will miss him tremendously.
I know you guys know it, but you had a great father, grandfather, uncle, etc.
I was proud to call him friend and was blessed because of his life.

I do not know exactly what Heaven will be like.
The more I think about it, though, I think some of the times spent with Mr Edinger were like a little slice of it.
If there is a front porch somewhere in Heaven with chairs, a nice breeze and a baseball game in the background, Mr Edinger will be there.
And I can't wait to sit right down, join him and catch up on things.

Let me say THANKS & God bless you one more time, Mr Edinger.
I hope to encourage and mentor a younger man some day like you encouraged and mentored me.

-- Greg H

West VA Mission Project

Over the past few days, I’ve been in St Albans, WV, helping with our first-ever mission trip there.
Teen Mission is partnering with the Gateway Church of Christ (http://www.gatewaychurch.net/) in St Albans, WV, to reach out to nearby communities. Many of them have several families in great spiritual and physical need.

West Virginia has one of the highest poverty rates (15.6%) in America.
In the St Albans/Charleston area, several major chemical companies used to employ thousands of people.
However, after years of out-sourcing jobs, those now number in the hundreds.
This is one of the reasons that West Virginia's unemployment rate continues to grow at nearly twice that of the national average.

Gateway is one of the largest churches in the state and with an average attendance of 600 it is the largest independent Christian Church/Church of Christ in the state of West Virginia.

The mission trip is going really well and Gateway is doing a great job as host.

We have a team of 27 from the Mt Olivet Christian Church in Williamstown, KY, there serving this week (June 15-21).

The folks from Gateway are leading this team in learning songs, skits, stories and games for an outreach VBS. There are several service projects in the area going on as well. Gateway has identified several projects in the community that need volunteer help.

On Monday, we had groups working in four different areas: (1) a public park near the river, (2) the Hansford Seniors Center, (3) a local Braille Mission and (4) a home of a family in need.

Our team helped clean the riverside park, getting ready for an upcoming "Riverfest." The local parks & rec crew hate this job and were thrilled that volunteers from KY would undertake this task.
We later learned that the crew's foremen is a Christian who has been witnessing for several years to his mostly non-Christian crew.
Our prayer is this will give him some open doors in further sharing Christ with his co-workers.

We painted and visited with some of the elderly folks at the Hansford Center. The director of the center is a member of Gateway Church of Christ.

Several of the guys helped rebuild some things at the a couple's house who run a braille ministry in South Charleston as well as repairing a bathroom for another family in need in St Albans.

Starting today (June 17th), a team will begin an afternoon VBS/Kids Camp from 3-5 pm in the afternoon at a local park.
There will be games, crafts, music, Bibles stories and lots of fun.

The most interesting story is that of a fellow named Charles.

I'm told that Charles attended church for the first time this past Sunday, June 15th.
At the invitation time, Charles came forward was baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of sins and gift of the Holy Spirit.

He then wanted to know what was happening next.
A staff member at Gateway said, "Well, we have a mission team coming here starting tomorrow (Monday). They'll be doing work/service projects around the city. Why don't you come and join them?"

Charles showed up at church at 7 am on Monday morning ready to go.

He went with the team helping at the Hansford Center. He painted and worked there all day.

The team dropped him off at the end of the day and he said he would see them today.

When I left the church this morning, sure enough, Charles was back and ready to work again today with the mission team.

All that Charles knows about being a Christian is that a Christian goes out everyday and serves the community with the love of Jesus Christ.

Isn't this a beautiful picture?

Charles has never heard of a church split or music wars or doctrinal disputes.
He has never gotten mad over the color of the new carpet in the sanctuary.

He simply doesn't know any better.

While Charles may be child-like in a lot of ways in his faith, that's not all bad.

Remember that Christ asks all of us to be like little ones if we are to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven one day.

We'd love to have you join us in West Virginia on a mission trip sometime in the near future.

God bless,
Greg H

The Miracle Mariners

After nearly 3 months of practices and games, a very successful baseball season came to an end to today.

I was honored to help coach the Rookie League (7 & 8 year olds) Mariners of the Western Little League (formerly know as Gardenside Little League).

My daughter (Autumn) and nine other incredible young people make up this very special team.

The team played well together all year and finished the regular season with an impressive 15-3 record. This was good enough for a 1st-place finish in the 8-team Rookie League.

After looking at our team for the first few times back in March, I must admit I thought a .500 record and middle-of-the-pack finish might be the ceiling for this unit.

They overachieved, however, all year long and never quit.

Their efforts paid off in a big way today.

The post-season tournament has been going on nearly all week long this past week, wrapping up with today's finals at Cardinal Run Park.

After winning their first tournament game over the Orioles, the Mariners lost to the 3-seed Athletics on Monday night (June 9th), 13-8.

It would be a long road back for the Mariners, having to win their way out of the loser's bracket.

Wednesday night (June 11th) saw a rematch against the Orioles. This would be the third time facing the O's in a five-day span.

It did not look good early for the Mariners.

The Orioles led 11-3 and the M's looked like they were out of miracles.

Just like they've done nearly all year, the Mariners rallied. They scored 10 unanswered runs, winning 13-11 and living to see another day.

On Thursday night (June 12th), the Mariners took control early and defeated the Marlins, 12-1.

Storm clouds moved in, raining out Friday night's (June 13th) contest versus the number 2 seeded Nationals.

After the rain moved out of central KY and the fields had the morning to dry out, the tournament schedule got back on track on Saturday (June 14th).

The league's picnic and award ceremony was held at 1 pm with the Mariners receiving trophies for their 1st-place regular season finish.

But to win another trophy, the Mariners would have to win three straight against the league's best teams in the warm June sun.

It seemed to be a near impossible task.

The Mariners traveled over to Wolf Run Park (the old home to Gardenside Little League) at 3 pm and knocked off the pesky Nationals, 8-2.

Then it was back over the new park at Cardinal Run for a 5 pm showdown against the A's.

The Mariners would have to beat the A's twice to win the championship.

In Game 1, the Mariners broke open a close game with some big hits late in the game and won, 20-13.

Game 2 was a close contest the entire way.

The Mariners led, 13-8, going into the bottom of the 6th and final inning.

The A's needed five to tie and six to win.

After a quick out, the A's rallied and put 4 runs on the board, setting up a dramatic finish.

A big hit sent the tying run racing towards home.

Despite a throw home, the runner did not slide and was called a out.

While it was a really tough call to make in the championship game, it was a correct one.

The next batter was out at first and the Mariners hung on for a 13-12 win and the tournament championship.

Let me take a moment to say how impressed I was with the A's on how they handled being dealt a really tough hand. It was a terrible way for a season to end.
We know several of the coaches, parents and players from Autumn's t-ball days.
They are all super people and winners, too.

Looking back at the just-finished season, I am really amazed with our group of young men and women on the Mariners.

They never gave up and always played their best to the very end all year long.



If they continue to do this throughout their lives, it will serve them very well.



More important than the trophies that were won today is the life lessons learned: do you very best at all times and you will be a winner (in life).



I must admit I can become somewhat pessimistic about the younger generations. You know: they don't work as hard, they don't try as hard and they aren't as grateful as they should be.



However, I left the ball park tonight feeling a little bit better our future as a country.



With the sun setting in the background, I looked out at both teams on a beautiful grass infield and outfield and saw our future.



I didn't just see ball players, but I saw teachers, doctors, police men/women, ministers, etc.



People who, if they will work hard, work together as a a team and do their best, can and will reach a common goal.



In October, 1924, the famous sportswriter Grantland Rice penned the most famous passage in sports journalism history in describing the the Army-Notre Dame football game. It went like this, "Outlined against a blue, gray October sky the Four Horsemen rode again.
"In dramatic lore they are known as famine, pestilence, destruction and death. These are only aliases. Their real names are: Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds this afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down upon the bewildering panorama spread out upon the green plain below."



While I've been a minister for over 10 years now, I began my working life as a sports writer.

Pardon me, but just for old-time sake, I can't pass this opportunity up.



My version of Grantland Rice's masterpiece would go like this:

"Outlined against a hazy June sky the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they are known as famine, pestilence, destruction and death. These are only aliases. Their real names are: Carlton, Beard, Herriford and Hayek."

THANKS for a great season: Sophia, Skylar, Autumn, JJ, John, Brian, TJ, Philip, Drew and Ryan.

THANKS, too, Coach Brian, Coach Richard and Coach Bruce.

It has been a true joy. May God bless you all and hope to see you next season!

Summer is here (ready or not)

Although the calendar may not yet say so, summer time has officially begun for me.

Friday is here, but it seems like it took forever.
It's been a crazy week!
With the arrival of summer, the pace of my schedule at Teen Mission picks up considerably.
Our first "summer" Mission Journey will leave tomorrow for Pascagoula, MS. It will be one of 20+ during the summer months (June-August).

Teen Mission, USA, had its quarterly board meeting on Monday (June 2nd).

This week has also included trips to two Vacation Bible School kickoffs. One was a Corinth Christian Church in Lawrenceburg, KY. The other was at Glencoe (KY) Church of Christ.
We had a beautiful evening on Sunday (June 1st) for the kickoff at Corinth. It is the home church for Teen Mission friends, E Paul, Lucille and Chuck Perry.
Matt Sawyer (Associate Minister) is a great guy. I enjoyed talking with him for an hour or so after the meeting.

On Wednesday evening (June 4th), I drove up I-75 to kickoff a VBS at Glencoe, KY.
I missed my exit off I-75 (at Dry Ridge) due to some daydreaming.
That forced me to travel about 6 more miles north to the next exit.
Not only did I loose some time, but I also ran into a terrible thunderstorm causing me to pull over for a few minutes (visibility was tough).
Once there, I had a great time. The folks were very excited about Teen Mission and getting involved in a mission trip sometime in the near future. Their VBS runs during the day next week.
This was my first-ever visit to Gallatin County. It turns out that the small community of Glencoe is a just a few minutes away from the KY Speedway in Sparta, KY.

Last night (Thursday, June 5th), I spoke at the Willing Workers class meal here at Gardenside. They are a great group of "senior" saints. I spoke on the subject of Heaven. I'm currently teaching on the subject with my adult Sunday School class here at GCC.
Tonight, I'm heading to Louisville to help setup some things for a mission trip there in a few weeks (June 22-28). Our team will be working with the College of Scriptures and a Spanish-speaking church (Nueva Vida).
We'll help College of the Scriptures (a preacher-training school for African-Americans) in their move to a new campus.

We've had an interesting week with the family.
My sister-in-law had surgery on Tuesday. She's doing fine and should come home from the hospital today.
Kelly and I helped with watch their 4 kids some this week.
It was a little extra burden, but their are really sweet kids and always a joy to be with.

On a sad note, Kelly's uncle (Wayne Sparks) passed away early on Wednesday morning (June 4th). His visitation will be tonight and funeral on Saturday at 2 pm.
Mr Sparks was a Methodist minister for many years and great man of God.
I'll miss visiting with him at family get-togethers.
We had a lot in common and I loved talking with him about the ministry, basketball and many other subjects.

God bless,
Greg Herriford