Soup & Soul for the Center

Dine on delicious soups. Listen to great music. Support an organization that helps at-risk children, the homeless, and the community as a whole.

It’s all happening Tuesday, November 11th from 5:00-8:00 p.m. at Dream Center Peoria!

Soup & Soul for the Center is a benefit event to support the Dream Center’s numerous ministries that are positively impacting Peoria, Illinois. For $20 ($25 at the door) you can enjoy soups from more than 20 local restaurants and live music throughout the evening, all while helping a worthwhile cause.

Order tickets in advance by clicking on the flyer image. Call (309) 676-3000 for more information, or watch this ‘soup-er’ preview video. 🙂

http://goo.gl/fwU2zm

Thank you so much for supporting this event!

Backpack Peoria – How You Can Help

It’s about that time again…time for one of the biggest charitable efforts in central Illinois. Backpack Peoria is this Saturday and this year, the folks who put on the event need your help to make it happen.

They need to raise $40,000 by this weekend, so thousands of kids can go back to school with supplies and uniforms.

The event is a big hit with the community every year. People line up hours in advance of the event – no really, hours. Like, before dawn. It’s kind of a big deal.

So if you are able to, please visit backpackpeoria.com to read a short note from the event’s organizer. You’ll find the link to donate at the bottom of the page, or you can go directly to the donation site by clicking here.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for donating. And hey, you’re social media savvy so please share this with your friends if you don’t mind. Backpack Peoria is a great program and it blesses a lot of families in this area.

Have a great day!

UPDATE: The event was a success! Thank you to everyone who donated or shared the donation information.

Here’s a recap from a local news station: http://goo.gl/jscBH9

 

Peaceful Park Time

From a walk I took at Bradley Park in Peoria during the lunch hour today. So nice out there. Really enjoying the warm weather and the sunshine we’ve been having lately!

Have a great day everyone.

Fun with Fatherhood – First Concert

I remember it as a rite of passage of sorts when I was a kid…my first concert.

It’s been a long time but I can still recall how fun it was, and part of that fun was that I got to go with my Dad. Granted, I was a belligerent/trying to be independent teenager at the time and it was MC Hammer performing so I’m sure he wasn’t exactly thrilled about seeing the show – but it was a memorable experience regardless 🙂

Fast forward a few decades and that brought me to Winter Jam last night. This is  a collection of 10 artists and is billed as a high quality, ministry-focused concert experience that is the world’s most attended winter tour. Judging by the crowd last night, I believe it. It was packed!

I wasn’t actually expecting the boys to be joining me but another day of school being cancelled due to Antarctica-esque weather meant they were going to be staying with me during the day today and so they met me at the arena about halfway through the show before spending the night.

They were so excited. Both of the boys were mainly interested in seeing Lecrae. He’s awesome…they’d heard him before on my iPod and were fired up to see him in person.

Needless to say, he did not disappoint. What a great show and on top of that, a great message.

Lecrae spoke several times about how he’s made some mistakes in his life, how he used to live a life he wasn’t too proud of, and how he didn’t deserve to be standing on the stage performing…but how God’s love and mercy has made all the difference in his life and has gotten him to where he is now.

My oldest son noticed that. He was asking me about it today and I could tell during our conversation the message got through to him. Happy Dad here. I am really hoping my boys don’t take some of the wrong turns I’ve taken in life in the past, and positive experiences like last night are real blessings to me as a father.

Seeing people like Lecrae on stage in front of a packed house, taking no credit for his success and having absolutely no ego was very cool. He was genuinely humble, which is something you almost never see from ‘celebrities’ these days.

If you have a chance, check out Winter Jam. There are still plenty of concert dates left on the schedule and it is a diverse lineup of artists and music types. It’s a lot of fun and you might even get something extra out of the experience in addition to the great music.

Fall at Detweiller Park

One of my favorite places to visit this time of year.