Camp of Champions XIII

June 9, 2015June 9, 2015 / Andy R Taylor / 2 Comments

The Camp of Champions is an amazing project. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s the most unique church camp you could ever find. It’s a Christian Rodeo Camp for kids ages 6-16. This year marked the 13th year for the COC. In the previous 12 years there’s been no less than 1000 boys and girls who’ve given their lives to the Lord during the camp. It’s the largest camp of it’s kind on the planet It’s a camp hosted by our church, Trinity Fellowship in Sayre, Oklahoma.

There’s been many Junior rodeo champions, High School champs, Collegiate champs and even a PRCA World Champion Bull Rider who have been enrolled in The Camp of Champions. We’re proud of all the boys and girls who have attended and have gone on to success in the rodeo arena….but we’re more proud that we have been able to influence, in a small way, kids who learn to be successful in life due to their relationship with the Lord. We’re “Developing Champions in, and out, of the Arena”!

The Instructors at the COC are literally a “Who’s Who” of the rodeo world. But they’e not just great rodeo hands…..they’re great hands for the Lord! They’re men and women who understand what their career is/was actually about…..INFLUENCE! They don’t come here for the money. To be honest…it’s not all that much. They come here to help give these kids a ‘leg up’ in their rodeo events, and a ‘leg up’ in their relationship with the Father.

Unlike a lot of Christian youth camps we intentionally do not try to scare them with hell so they’ll make a decision for salvation. We don’t try to manipulate or coerce them in any way. We believe that the Holy Spirit is good enough at His job that we don’t have to resort to those funky, non-Jesus, tactics. If I were a parent of a kid in the COC….I’d really appreciate that.

It takes a lot of people working selflessly to pull it off each year. We’ve got the greatest bunch of volunteers around here that I’ve ever seen assembled anywhere! Many take their vacation to help with the COC.

Highlights of Camp of Champions XIII:

* 50 + decisions to receive Jesus as Savior

* Young adults who have came up through the camp and are now top notch instructors…and great speakers in the tent

* A lot of tired, but extremely rewarded helpers who were instrumental in kids experiencing relationship with God

Faith……..Use it or Lose It!

June 4, 2015June 4, 2015 / Andy R Taylor / 2 Comments

I had an interesting thought the other day. You know, as believers, we’re supposed to be people of faith. It doesn’t always work out that way in real life, though. I must admit that I don’t exactly have it perfected either. I’m working on it, and I’m better than I used to be but still have a long ways to go.

We’ve been ‘given’ (Rom 12:3) ‘the measure of faith‘. It’s actually a measure of the same quality of faith the the Father, Himself, has. That’s a pretty big deal if you think about it. It’s no flimsy faith; it’s faith that’s full of power. That’s very Biblical, by the way. We have a measure of the same kind of faith that the Father exercised when he ‘spoke’ the world into being!

This faith that we’ve been given is there for a myriad of reasons. For one, it’ll help us to navigate the events of life, good and bad, in such a way that we prevail in every circumstance. With this faith we’re encouraged in the Bible to “heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons and communicate the good news to the poor”. But there are many people who actually never exercise their faith at all. It’s there lying dormant, but it’s there, nonetheless. It’s like having a fortune in our bank account but never writing a check on it.

What if we approached our faith like we do our vacation days with our work? Many companies give a week or two paid vacation to their employees. Some of those companies require that you use those vacation days before the end of the fiscal year. It’s use them-or lose them. Nobody really wants that to happen. I doubt the Lord looks at our faith like that. I’m sure He’s always blessed anytime we exercise our faith. But it wouldn’t hurt us to look at our faith that way. It might just motivate us to walk in faith a lot more.

It could mean more people saved, more people healed from diseases, more addictions broken, more marriages put back together, etc. Maybe we should view our faith from a “Use It or Lose It” standpoint!

A Word or Two For the ‘Grads’ Out There

May 21, 2015May 16, 2017 / Andy R Taylor / Leave a comment

School’s out! I’ve had five grads myself down through the years finishing up with Cameron a few years ago at this time. I continually tell parents with young children, “You better wake up….’cause that part of your life is incredibly short!” Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to speak at quite a few graduation ceremonies. There are some things that I think will help the new grads to take on the world. It’s not a conclusive list but it’s a good start.

1) Live – Live is short! Learn to ‘live’ it with zeal and excitement.

2) Give – The world has two kinds of people, givers….and takers. Givers live a much more fulfilling life!

3) Forgive – You’ll have a lot of opportunities to forgive…..resolve to not miss a single one!

4) Laugh – Enjoy the trip as much as possible. You’ll have to work at this one but you can do it!

5) Learn – Resolve to be a learner. “When you think you know it all, you’re as smart as you’re ever gonna get.” Cliff Taylor

6) Love – Learn to relate to God as Father! As you’re exposed to His kind of love…..you’ll learn to love like He does!

7) Relationship, Relationship, Relationship – It’s really what life is all about. Value your relationships!

8) Get Back Up – You’re gonna get knocked down; to be successful you just have to get up one more time than you get knocked down.

9) Be Courageous – Swing for the fence! You have the faith for it so it’s up to you!

10) Destiny – God has a plan for your life and He’s willing to disclose it to you. Go after it!

11) Purpose – Find those things you’re good at and put your effort into those things.

12) No Regrets – Older folks say they don’t regret the things they did as much as the things they didn’t do. Do it!

After thinking about it, maybe this advice is not ‘just’ for the grads. Maybe it’s for all of us. Even if you’ve gotten a slow start…’saddle up’ and move on! It’s really never too late!

You Don’t Have to Have Had a Good Dad to be a Good Dad…..!

May 12, 2015May 12, 2015 / Andy R Taylor / 2 Comments

When it comes to dads I’ve had it better than about anyone I know! Cliff Taylor is about the best example of a dad you could possibly have. To this day he’s the hardest working man I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen him do business on his ‘word’ all my life. I’ve never once in my 61+ years seen him do one person wrong. He’s been a great example to me in every facet of his life. But more important than all of that is how he’s been as a dad. He gave my brother, Monty, and I a pattern of how a dad really ought to be. He helped us, nurtured us and loved us….both in word and in deed. So, as dads go, I’ve had the very best……I would have no excuse if I were a failure as a dad. I think I’m a decent dad myself. I doubt if I’m as good as he was but I’m still getting better, after 37 years.

These days I see lots of men that are good dads but one of the things that amazes me are these men that had a ‘no-good’ dad (by their own admission), but themselves are some of the best dads out there. I love that! I think much of it derives from wanting to do more for their children than was done for them. And the sense of pain and mental anguish that they might have experienced, they’re not willing to let their own little ones experience. I admire that a lot.

Of course, the best case scenario is that we had a good dad to begin with. I have learned something over the past 15 years or so and it proves to nearly always be true. As we come into our ‘sonship’ with the Father….we start to take on His characteristics. Those who are becoming aware of that sonship and who are engaging in relationship with the Father, I think, ….make the very best dads.

There’s so many benefits of connecting relationally with the Father and this is just one…..but it’s an important one! You don’t have to have had a good dad to be a good dad…..but if you’re in the process of learning to be a ‘son’ from the Father, you’ll be an exceptional dad!!

The Very Least We Can Do Is Have a “Day” For Them!!

May 10, 2015May 10, 2015 / Andy R Taylor / Leave a comment

Mother’s Day! Heck yeah! That’s a holiday we should all get behind. The value of a mother could never be over-communicated. Moms deserve to be recognized, honored and maybe even pampered a little. After all, they’ve spent a good deal of their life carrying, feeding, doctoring, nurturing, grooming, cuddling, cleaning up after, dressing, giving, shopping for, honoring, supporting, interceding for, building up, caring for, educating, fiercely protecting, taxiing to all kinds of activities, sacrificing for, encouraging, instructing, defending, gently correcting and most important of all……loving us and our children!

I’ve had the incredible blessing to have the greatest Mom in the world! She did all those things I listed above…and a whole lot more for my brother and me. As Mom’s go, she never missed a single thing in our growing up and has continued to be a voice of stability and encouragement in our adult years as well. She has always been extremely supportive in anything we’ve ever done and would fight a grizzly bear for us, even to this day! The older I get, the more I realize how important she has been to me in my life. I’m beyond grateful!

I would bet that nobody on earth could come close to being as good a Mom as mine, that is, until I married Julie and we had Clint after just being married a year! Then I saw her in action as a Mom and, I’ll be danged, she was just as good with our kids as Mom was with us. She put her own dreams on the back-burner and never wavered as an awesome Mom! Her whole life has been devoted to doing all those things listed above, and more, for our kids….for the past 37 years. There couldn’t have been a better one anywhere on the planet for our bunch. I don’t even have the words to adequately communicate how grateful I am for Julie, and the stability she’s brought to our home as a Mom! Don’t be surprised if you happen to look in the dictionary, under “mother”, and see a picture of Charlene Taylor and Julie Taylor. Because they embody, and exemplify, every single thing that an authentic Mother should be.

So to just have a ‘day’ to honor our Moms seems kind of like a ‘rip-off’ to me! We ought to have a Mother’s Month…..but if you can’t see your way to do that, be sure and make Today a great day for Mom! She deserves it!

We Oughta Get Our Ducks in a Row!! Part 3 – Parenting Our Children

May 5, 2015May 5, 2015 / Andy R Taylor / 2 Comments

Getting our ducks in a row involves setting our priorities in proper order. #1 on that list is to give our spiritual life the attention that it needs. #2 is making your relationship with our spouse as important as it’s really supposed to be. It just makes sense that #3 would be to work on our responsibility as parents.

Being a parent is one of the greatest blessings that we can experience in our lifetime. Children are a ‘gift’ of the Lord. I’ve often said, and I totally believe it’s true that the love we have for our children is exactly like the love the Father has for us. We don’t love our children because we’re supposed to; we don’t love them because it’s the ‘noble’ thing to do; we don’t love them because it’s right; No, while all those things may be somewhat true…..we love our children just exactly like the Father loves us…..because He can’t help it!!

This is not a conclusive treatise and I’m far from an expert on parenting but I have learned a few things in my 38 years of being a dad. Some of those things I’ve learned the hard way….by doing them wrong first. Maybe I can pass along a few tips so you won’t have to learn them that way.

Everything we’ve done down through the years, we’ve done as a family…..I mean the ‘whole crew’! That’s one of the things that I think we really got right! We hardly ever missed any activities that our kids were involved in. That’s quite a challenge when you have as many kids as we had! There were a lot of days I’d come home from work to find a note from Julie that she had gone to one of the kid’s soccer games. I’d head out and make a baseball game of one of the the others. Those things, I think, are really important!

We all have to work for a living but our jobs are never more important than our children. It’s a challenge but we need to learn to adjust our lives so we’re able to spend quality time with our kids. We’ve done a good job in showing and telling our kids that they’re loved. We’ve disciplined them. We’ve tried to release them so they could each be the person the Lord wants them to be. All those things say loud and clear, “I love you”!

We Oughta Get Our Ducks in a Row!! Part 2 – Marriage

May 1, 2015May 1, 2015 / Andy R Taylor / 3 Comments

Obviously, (or at least it should be obvious) getting our spiritual life in order should be first on the list of getting our priorities in proper order. After that, our family should be the very next priority in order of importance. Problems arise within families when friends, jobs, hobbies or other activities get in the way. None of those things are unimportant….but they’re not as important as our family.

When setting family priorities in order it’s important, again, to get first things first. Many parents would argue that their children are the most important in the family relationship scheme but I totally disagree. Children are extremely important….but the best thing you can do for your kids is to work on, and shore up your relationship with your spouse. A happy husband-wife relationship is a good guarantee of a healthy home. There’ll be plenty of challenges but when that relationship is in tact, you’ll feel like you can conquer any obstacle.

My experience and observation through the years is that if we’re not doing something to strengthen our marriage, the general conditions of life are slowly eroding the quality of our relationship away. It’s not hard to do but I believe we need to be intentional when it comes to our marriage. We have raised 5 incredible kids and life was extremely busy when they were all in the home. You can have every good intention to spend quality time with your spouse but if you don’t plan for it, it probably isn’t just going to happen. If you’re not careful you might go years without giving your spouse the quality time they need. Your husband/wife does not need the leftovers!! And that’s what happens more often than not.

Fix it! Schedule some quality time together. Have a ‘date night’. Arrange for someone to watch the kids. Block out the distractions and focus your attention on one another. Have some meaningful dialogue; make eye contact and express your love toward one another. Be affectionate toward, and intimate with one another. It’s an investment that you’ll never regret!

We Oughta Get Our Ducks in a Row!!

April 30, 2015April 30, 2015 / Andy R Taylor / 2 Comments

We really should! And we oughta do it now! I mean the quicker we get ‘our ducks in a row’ the better off we’ll all be in the long run! Getting our priorities in order has to be one of the most important things we do in life. If we rightly align our priorities everything just runs smoother. It’s really not that hard to get them in proper order but millions of people never do. It’s a challenge to keep them in order….but it’s do-able.

If we’re going to actually get the most important things first we really have to start with our spiritual life. The Bible encourages us to, “Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you”. I was already about 30 before I began to understand that principle. In the past 30 + years since then it has been proven to be true over and over again. In fact, I often encourage folks, “Ultimately your whole life is only going to be as good as your spiritual life”.

So, how do you bring order to your spiritual life??

1) Trust Jesus as your Savior; If you ‘believe the story’ of Jesus you already have the faith for it. “You didn’t choose Him, He chose you”. That’s what the Bible says…but you do have to agree with that and respond by faith.

2) Join a group of believers; I really think this needs to be prayerfully considered. If the Lord has your entire life already planned out, then the church you’re supposed to be in seems to be a pretty important factor.

3) Let the relationship develop; God is your Father. Keep it simple. Engage, interact, communicate.

4) Find your gifting; the Lord has ‘gifted’ you in certain ways.

5) Find places to serve; Get involved so your gifts can benefit the ‘whole’ Body.

6) Stay faithful; It’s a marathon, decide to be in it for the long-haul.

There’s other things to consider, but if you do these things to get your spiritual life in order you’re well on your way to getting all your ‘ducks in a row’.

Tee-Ball…..The #1, Undisputed, Very Best Team Sport of ‘Em All!!

April 22, 2015April 22, 2015 / Andy R Taylor / 3 Comments

It might not be your favorite sport, but there’s on doubt about it…it’s mine! There’s nothing I don’t like about Tee-Ball It became my favorite sport when my kids started playing, years ago. In fact, one of the very first practices our boys attended, Clay….now 27, took a major league swing at the ball. He missed the ball, did a full 360 spin, let go of the bat and it flew like a guided missile and hit the coach square on the ankle bone! He hopped around for a few seconds, limped for a few more and through the tears said, “Clay…..try to hang onto the bat!” I still laugh when I think about it….but I’ll bet the coach still thinks it wasn’t all that funny.

I missed Crockett’s (my next to the youngest Grandson, age 4) very first Tee-Ball game today. Hated to, but I had a meeting that I couldn’t miss. I did find out, however, that after his very first hit, he headed straight to third base! I’m thinking, “Heck, yeah! If you can get a triple that way…get it on!” And THAT, is exactly why I love Tee-Ball!

You gotta be on your toes if you’re the coach; (I did get there for game #2 today!) The catcher is checking the stands behind him and making sure his people are watching. Outfielders are chasing butterflies and the second baseman and shortstop are on the ground wrestling with one another. There are a lot of spectators….probably more than at a lot of high school games. Why? Easy question; parents, grandparents love to watch their kids excel. Our Father is like that, too! A few dads are giving ‘expert’ instructions from the stands……as if there’s actually something at stake. Serious business to some!

I was asked later who won the game. I have no idea but I think, no I’m sure, they both won! Not a sad face, one, on any of the players, coaches or spectators. I don’t care if you have kids or grandkids playing Tee-Ball or not, you need to go to a game. You can have the worst day you’ve ever had, go to a Tee-Ball game….and get home just right!!

It Feels Good To Be “Believed In”!!

April 17, 2015April 17, 2015 / Andy R Taylor / 8 Comments

Looking back over my life it becomes clear that people who have ‘believed’ in me, and told me so, have made a huge difference in my life. I think that it probably raised my level of productivity and performance quite a bit, to tell the truth. Beginning with school and sports when I was a kid, there were those along the way who just seemed to have a knack at bringing me up a notch with their encouragement. There’s no way I could forget my Mom and Dad in talking about this subject. They, somehow, imparted the mindset that my brother, Monty and I, could do ‘anything’ that we set out to do! That has served to be invaluable in my life and I think he’d say the same thing too.

I often tell people who are in places of influence, whether they’re a school teacher, soccer coach for 4 year olds or they pastor a church, that they have an extremely important responsibility and opportunity. I’m afraid there’s millions of little kids out there who are not getting much encouragement at all. That really bothers me! We all are born with unlimited potential but many go through their life without ever hearing it. We can make a difference.

It surely starts with children but our need to be validated and believed in doesn’t stop there. We may not ‘need’ it as much as when we’re adults….but it still feels good and I think, still, raises us up to another level. You know, the Father’s very good at this thing we’re talking about! That’s just another reason we should be engaged relationally, and interacting with Him!

When you believe in someone, tell them! …….and even if you’re not overly convinced of the success of their future…..tell them anyway! It might just make all the difference in their life!!