This may be a long one!
But, I believe I need to update our friends and those who are becoming our friends to the blessings God has been providing. 1. GFtH was established several years ago to do exactly what it is doing today without any real understanding of why, how or when. 2. GFtH reached out to serve a few ministries in golf to fulfill the service attitude of the ministry without much response from those served. 3. The Lord honored that service and the following happened;
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“PGA Professionals in the Word”
Then Jesus replied, “I assure you: The Son is not able to do anything on His own, but only what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son also does these things in the same way”. John 5:19 If I could do one thing over in my career as a club professional, it would be this: I would have made sure my family felt WELCOME at the clubs I served at. As one of my employment benefits, they provided my family with member privileges. But the sad thing, because of my selfishness. I didn’t want them to be at the club because I didn’t want them to get in the way of me serving the members and “me” making the members feel welcome. I took it to the extreme, and to this day, my wife and kids don’t really recall many happy memories of being with me at the golf course, because of the way “I” treated them when they would come to visit. This is by far my BIGGEST professional regret. In the above verse, Jesus is talking with the Jewish leaders who were trying to accuse Him of working on the Sabbath. He goes on to tell them that He is only doing what HIS Father is doing, that what He sees Him doing, He does the same thing. The same is true of us who have watched our Dads throughout the years and how now we’re doing the same things (good and bad) that we saw our earthly fathers doing. The above verse hit me like a “lightning bolt”, when HE gave me insight to the importance of asking God to teach me how to be the Dad, He wants me to be (LOVING, gracious, forgiving, merciful). In my opinion, this is one of the greatest encouragements in Scripture to look to our heavenly Father to teach us how to love and act in one of the most important earthly roles we will ever have, called “Dad”. Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for today. Bless our PGA Professionals and their families beyond measure. Please shower them with Your love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and peace. Draw them to Yourself, have them seek Your guidance as they love and serve their wife and children. Show them the opportunity they have to be used by You to demonstrate to their children and members what You want a father to look like. I ask these things in the precious and powerful name of Jesus Christ. Amen. If you are blessed to have family privileges at the club where you serve, I hope you will learn from one of my biggest mistakes and make sure your family comes first ALWAYS. Listen to Harry Chapin’s song “Cats and the Cradle” (link below) it sounds to me that he wrote a song about John 5:19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUwjNBjqR-c Your teammate in Christ, Bill Dando, PGA FCA Golf-Georgia (706) 296-4873 “He is not impressed by the strength of a horse; He does not value the power of a man. The LORD values those who fear Him, those who put their hope in His faithful love.” Psalm 147:10-11 I hope you won't mind if we speak with you about raising your child to greatness. Not just great golfers, but, great people. I, personally, have a bit of experience in this area as my wife and I have five adult children and 11, yup, 11 grandchildren from 2 years to 19. I hope you recognize that as a bit of experience. I was raised in a very good home. My dad was strict and now, at the age of 69, I recognize his style was 'of the day' and, probably, most of what I needed to keep me from becoming a total degenerate. However, I strayed from the disciplined path starting at the age of 16. The majority of adults I know have experienced a similar rejection of parental authority in their teenage years or heading off to college. Seems kinda natural to me. We all have the freedom to live our lives the way we want toBut, was it necessary and healthy? We all have the freedom to live our lives the way we want to and so do our children; once they've left the nest, normally. There is much conjecture about child rearing these days and it seems that most philosophies may not be doing the job. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is found in Psalms 119 verse 9; "How can a young man keep his way pure?" The answer follows right after; "By guarding it (his way) according to your word." I became a Believer in Jesus Christ when I was 28 years old. It was an inspiration of some sort that led me to begin reading the Bible on December 26th, 1980 and after reading for a couple of months, the first two and a half books of the New Testament; Matthew, Mark & Luke I said to myself; "You know, if three guys in three different styles at three different times wrote similar stories about this guy, Jesus, I think I could believe this Jesus may be who he said he is." I noticed a difference in my life shortly after as, I understand now, God made Himself more evident to me in my daily life. Why you ask? Faith in Him!! How did this happen? Firstly, I was reading the Bible each day (his word) and learning how to pray even though the first many prayers were very infantile, but, I was learning. His word was transforming me from inside, Romans 12 verse 2 says; "Do not be conformed to this world, but, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Over time, I became aware and convicted about alot of things I had done and who I had been throughout my early life. As I learned more and more about being a follower of Jesus Christ, the flawed character I had and exhibited all those years began to peal away and my life became transformed into the man He meant me to be from the beginning when He created me. My view of life has completely changed from that of a 28 year old selfish knuckle head (as my Dad would say). Do I believe all of us need to have an encounter with God through Jesus Christ and the knowledge of Who He is? Yes!!!! A thousand times yes. I'm not talking about going to church or being a Christian. I'm presenting the Kingdom of God on this earth, as Jesus said, right now, by a belief and subjection of our lives to growing in the knowledge of Who Jesus Christ is. Try it, you'll, hopefully, see that He is the only way. When I say, "Try it" what do I mean? Personally go to www.biblegateway.com and go to the book of John (click on John). Read this as an adult and if still intrigued, go back and read the book of Mark (click on Mark). If you don't catch a glimpse of Who Jesus Christ is, continue to read Luke and Matthew, then into Acts and Romans. I use the New International version of the Bible, but, there are many more, one of which may be easier for you to understand. You can find the various translations on the BibleGateway site, just hit the drop-down and select a different translation. (see the graphic below) If you already are a Christ Follower, I pray you are teaching your kids by engaging with them as they read the word of God, the Bible; helping them to 'get it' as well. This will build your kids to become Great people. Golf instruction, practice and competition will build your child into a great golfer which is terrific, but, becoming a Godly kid and adult is much more important. Check it out and send me an email on your experiences and thoughts. Bill Poirier (Click to send an email) Just so you'll know, we have a mentoring program for adults and kids who want to know Jesus Christ in a more intimate way. Let us know in the email. Next blog post... Bless you. Bill
This was the content for introduction of Golf Program in Schools to the Montgomery, AL County Golf Club; Lagoon Park.
We have a unique opportunity to impact the lives of the children and the families of this community. The game of golf & the engagement in golf as a sport & business offers up incredible opportunity for young people. Those of us who have been around the game are familiar with how golf is so impactful in our lives, … so much so that it has been said that golf, even, imitates life, right!? How many of us have said, "Man, I wish I had begun playing golf when I was younger?" Huh? Golf Program in Schools offers every Middle-Schooler in this County to be introduced to this game for free in their Middle-School gymnasium during their PE class for 4 days in one week. The students then are offered a Field trip to Lagoon Park & Gateway GC's for an on-course experience on the fifth day. Students are encouraged to fill out our online survey following that 5th day. If they fill it out & are interested in more golf experiences, they become Junior Members of Lagoon Park & Gateway GC's for free until they graduate from High School. They play free at the course as long as they bring a paying family member or adult friend. This program continues every week inside every Middle-School in the county and into the next year & the next year, and so on. We will have Camps & Clinics & individual training for those who want to get better & this for a modest price. There will be an online community for the Junior Member as well with instruction, golf swing analysis, golf games & trivia in order to encourage the parents & kids to get more involved in our Lagoon Park Junior Program & golf. There will be a similar online community for our Junior Golfer parents as well.. We are building the Lagoon Park & Gateway GC's Golf Academy as we progress. Can you imagine how many Junior students & competitive players we will grow through this program? Can you see how many golf instructors will be necessary in the future to teach all of these students? Can you see how this program can become self-sustaining with the number of moderately priced group & individual lessons conducted at the Academy & the increase of rounds played at Lagoon Park & Gateway GC's? Our goal is 20,000 kids introduced to golf each year through this program in this community. Our model calls for paid Academy staff as group & individual lessons grow. This is incredible, right? Present the GPS Power Point Presentation!
Pretty amazing, right..
But, it gets better; What if we introduced these young golfers to the most important role model & life-impacting person in all of Creation? Who might that be? "Who is the most important person a child or any of us can learn about?? Jesus!! right. Discussion? Proverbs 30:19-20 says; So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, 20 by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding close to Him; for ***this is your life*** Loving the Lord your God Obeying His voice Holding close to Him … for THIS IS YOUR LIFE.. and the length of your days, Deuteronomy 30:19-20 Colossians 3:4 says; "When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. - Colossians 3:4 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians3:4&version=NIV 2 Peter 3:18 says; "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen." https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Life-Is-In-Christ#:~:text=For%20the%20law%20of%20the%20Spirit%20of%20life,live%20is%20Christ%20and%20to%20die%20is%20gain. Through the Child Evangelism Fellowship organization we will introduce every student to Him... ...at the golf course during their Field Day. Each student has the choice to opt-out of this station at the golf course, but, THIS is LIFE'S answer, not golf. Jesus Christ said, when he was telling Thomas & His other disciples; "I am THE Way, THE Truth & THE Life. No one comes to the Father, but by me. He is our LIFE! Paul, the great Apostle said, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." Galatians 2:20 https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Life-Is-In-Christ THIS is Golf Program in Schools! THIS is the GPS unique sales proposition. We introduce the game of golf & the TRUE LIFE in Christ to our young people here in our community. Is this important? What other solutions are there to the social plagues here in our community? Discussion?
These are the roles we will be discussing to fill.....
What we need, now....
Blessings In Him2 Bill Poirier East Coast Director of Golf Program in Schools Bill@golfps.org 774-212-2265 We have a passion for this game, golf, don't we? We don't need to dig deeply into the game, what it has accomplished across the world for good. From the smallest child engaging with a Wally Armstrong "Air Golf Flyer" to a 90 year old man shooting his age for the umpteenth time this game strikes us to our souls. It so imitates life, doesn't it? |
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AuthorTrying to follow the Lord's will regarding ministry and the platform of golf. Archives
January 2023
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