Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Catalyst Podcast with Rick Warren Worth Listen

I love listening to podcasts and the Catalyst Podcast is one of the very best.   Yesterday I listened to Episode 88 with guest Rick Warren.  I highly recommend listening; in fact, I think I may go back and listen again myself. 

For those of you who do not know, Catalyst's goal is about impacting the next generation of leaders. Through conferences, podcasts and other resources, they attempt to influence “change agents” throughout the church.  I attended the Catalyst Conference this past October for the first time.

Rick Warren has completed 30 years of ministry all at one church: Saddleback Community Church.  Stop and think what a remarkable accomplishment that is!  My prayer is that God may grant me the rest of my life as pastor of Church Requel.  But at age 52, I can only hope that I have another 29 years remaining.

Listening to Rick Warren talk to hosts Brad Lomenick and Ken Coleman was a productive and enjoyable experience for me.  Rick is perhaps the greatest teaching pastor, in my humble opinion, of our generation.  I know that during the conversation he is repeating many of the things that he has taught over the years - but he is so natural at it and is of such good humor with such great humility - that I cannot help but smile as I soak up all he has to say.

Three items may be of particular interest to my readers and congregants.  First is his commitment to the concept of mentoring: both of being a mentor and of being mentored.  Second I found his vision of his next ten years of ministry, what he calls the decade of destiny, to be inspiring.  Finally, his description of "radicalis" was insightful.  Interesting coincidence... Rick's concept of "radicalis" will be familiar to those who've heard me talk about "requel."

The entire podcast takes 58 minutes to play.  For those that want to skip right to the Rick Warren interview, start playing the podcast about 8 minutes into it.  The interview runs 46 minutes.

21st Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure Registration

I am so excited because this past weekend I received my registration form for GOBA 21, scheduled to begin on June 20th.  GOBA is an acronym for Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure.  Each year the Columbus Outdoor Pursuits along with Bob Evans Restaurants sponsor the family oriented, week long GOBA bike ride.  The location of the ride changes every year; this year the ride begins and ends in Norwalk and goes through Elmore, Bowling Green, Defiance, and Fostoria.  The minimum number of miles for riders will be 264 miles, assuming they take their two days off and rest.  The more ambitious riders could ride as many as 415 miles.

You may be wondering if anyone would really want to do something like this, imagining that a 400 mile bike ride is the furthest thing from fun you could imagine.  Wonder no more because GOBA attracts a large ridership every year, potentially as many as 3,000 riders this year!  While most come from the great state of Ohio, they also include riders from 40 different states and several foreign countries.  While the majority of riders are between 30 and 50 (leaves me out now), nearly 20% are under 18.  GOBA reports that last year 10 riders were in their 80s!

I plan to ride GOBA again this year.  It will be my seventh GOBA.  (From a Biblical perspective, therefore, this GOBA should be perfect!)  The reasons I come back year after year are as follows:

• It's an adventure.  Every day brings a new experience, a new town, and new friends.  Every evening brings tent city, where up to 3,000 riders sleep in tents and sleeping bags at a school or fairgrounds.
• It's not expensive.  The cost for an adult is only $190 - a remarkable value for the excellent organization that GOBA provides.  For example they provide transportation every day for all my gear so the only thing I have to transport on my bike is me.
• It's a chance to connect with friends and family.  My brother and his family often ride.  I've had several friends over the years who have gone on the ride with me.  I have one daughter (Jillian) who has gone on the ride with me a couple times in the past and another daughter (Jessica) talking about going with me this year.  And my dad (right now preparing for an across the country trike ride) is also sounding positive about GOBA this year.  The slower pace of riding a bike provides the opportunity to converse and connect in a more significant way than other vacations.
• The food is amazing.  There are many rest stops along the way.  The locals always come out in a big way providing an amazing quantity of food for a ridulously low cost.  And because we're burning incredible number of calories, we can eat just about anything we want and not gain weight.

So what about you?  Feel like going on a week long bike ride in June?  Let me know.  Maybe we can meet up on the trail and enjoy some conversation while we train.