Tag: Jedi

Coliseum- Mumble Chatter- Not on my watch

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After seeing twitter post about possible mumble chatter at my Q from some legendary yackers YHC decided to bring one of his old school simple but effective workouts to these guys. a nice 46 degrees to start the day had a few arriving in there sweatshirts, a few were mumbling about not knowing where their cold weather gear was. Little did they know the ones that showed up with it on would be wishing they hadn’t in a few.

Quick disclaimer and were off.

Mosey to basketball court, dynamic stretching toy soldiers, knees to chest.

Circle up SSHs, mtn. climbers, flutter kicks, Windmills, peter parkers, chopsticks.

Mosey to light poles. at each light pole perform 15 Carolina dry docks, 10 alternating jumping lunges, 5 burpees. 10 light poles. Flutter kicks until 6 arrives.

Return down the line except 15Air Squats, 10 merkins, 5 burpees. LBCs until 6 arrives.

Mosey to parking lot and pair up for DORA. 50 merkins, 100 squats, 150 LBCs while partner runs to wall and does 1 muscle up.

Back to COT with 25 yard bear crawl on the way.

COT.

Announcements- Fast 5, Family Ruck, Community Café 5k, The Fort Christmas Party.

Prayers- Passing of Cake Boss sister. PAX looking for work.

Praises.

 

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Have you seen my Baseball?

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6 Veteran PAX joined YHC on a humid a.m. @ Laces In to take on the compound of FMHS as we know it!

Brief Disclaimer with no FNG’s so we Moseyed:

COP- A solid running loop around the large parking lot led us back to under the lights for some dynamic exercises to warm-up. Didn’t need too much as our bodies were already feeling the humidity. (Is this really October?)

IW’s, WM’s, HW’s, LSS’s, Honey Mooner stretch, MH’s, Plank Jacks. All followed by some leg stretches as the PAX were not aware we’d be getting a little running in!  #Trucker would’ve been pleased as we held off on the SSH’s! (For Now)

The Thang:

Mosey over to the Band practice parking lot to meet our friend DORA 1-2-3.

DORA:

Partner running from Light Pole to Light Pole across parking lot about 100+ yards-

100 Moroccan Night Clubs

200 Squats

300 SSH’s  which the PAX grumbled ‘there they are’.

Since the Award Winning FMHS Band wasn’t practicing this early we took advantage of the space and re-booted another DORA 1-2-3 into a round of Abs Lab.

50yards this time with-

50 Flutters

100 LBC

150 American Hammers

With time on the clock we Moseyed over to another parking lot that had a perfect resemblance to a baseball field. With MLB playoffs in full swing and the Yanks taking down the Tribe the night prior we played our own game of baseball. Stayed as a TEAM unit and ran the bases. @ each base was an exercise.

1st base- 10 Burpees

2nd base- 20 CDD’s

3rd base- 30 Dips

Home plate- steal and sprint to home with 40 calf raises.

Mosey towards COT and finished time with Abs circle.

COT:

Met up with Maximus & Mcguyver from Laces Out (who got a solid 6 miles in)

Announcements:

Joe Davis 5k

Prayers/Praises:

California Wild Fires

October Breast Cancer Awareness

F3 and what it has done for PAX (personal growth)

Staying safe on the roads during running/training for the upcoming races.

Wheezer Out-

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Q School at Abyss – 10-11-17

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Welcome to Q school from Senator Tressel and Ginsu! 19 PAX posted to sharpen their leadership skills.

Senator Tressel started off with guidelines on safety:

  • Always start with a disclaimer as a reminder, especially to new guys, that this is a voluntary workout led by non-professional fitness leaders. F3, nor the Q for the day assume any reliability if you get sick or hurt.   Be aware of your physical limitations and modify the workout if you need to.
  • Workouts are rain or shine, but should be cancelled if the conditions are unsafe. Usually this will be due to lightning or ice, but can be for other reasons.  The Q should use good judgement and make the call to cancel if he feels the conditions are not safe.  It’s OK to cancel a workout.  There will be another one tomorrow, the next day, and the day after that.  BE SMART.    Spring’s Maltz Challenge at NAFO was sighted as an example of what not to do.  The Q should also determine what exercises are safe to do (i.e. – no partner carries up a wet hill)
  • Always start with a warm up. ‘Surprising’ the Pax with 30 burpees to get things start might be fun, but is ill-advised.    Today, we did the Tressel  standard warm up which includes lunge walks, knee and ankle pulls, toy soldiers, arm circles and pulls.  Jogging and stretching are always good to start off a workout.

After the warm up, we moseyed to the back of the school for COP. ST led off with 25 side straddle hops and 10 merkins and then invited some of the newer Pax to lead exercises and practice counting. Things we stressed today:

  • The proper way, official, F3 way to start exercises in cadence is:  THE NEXT EXERCISE IS……, STARTING POSITION…MOVE….IN CADENCE… . EXERCISE!  (this is commonly done incorrectly)
  • COUNT MORE SLOWLY. ST is of the opinion that guys, in general, count too fast.  Slower counting is more effective for conditioning and leads to better form.  Your count should match your body movement when counting.
  • PROJECT YOUR VOICE so everyone can hear.
  • If your AO has pull up bars use them as much as possible.  The Abyss does have pull up bars so we split into three groups and did pull ups, step ups, and one lap around the track (3 reps were planned, but we only had time for one).

After each group got through a round of pull ups, we all assumed the plank position in a a tight circle for today’s message. Working the monthly theme or other message into the workout is not required, but can be an effective addition to the workout.    This is something unique to the Fort region.

Senator Tressel normally does not do a message, but felt compelled after reading an article about the reasons that people commit acts like the recent mass shooting in Las Vegas.  The writer opined that loneliness, frustration, unhappiness, and lack of purpose can lead people to commit heinous crimes.  The mission of F3 addresses these issues.  ST shared that the greatest thing that F3 has done for him is make him a much happier,  ‘at peace’ man.

ST handed off to Ginsu for the 2nd half.

Mosey to the front parking lot.

For the second half of the workout, we focused on the following:

  • Simplicity – Keep the workouts simple! Creativity is encouraged, but not at the expense of a solid, well organized workout. Keeping your workout simple makes organization easy and is less confusing for the PAX. Repetition (e.g. DORA, Jacob’s Ladder, etc.) is a good way to keep workouts simple.
  • Simple does not mean EASY! Burpees, pull-ups, merkins, bear crawls, etc. are all SIMPLE exercise options. But they are not EASY. Challenge the PAX with good workouts, keep it simple, but not EASY.
  • If you can’t do it, don’t Q it! – Challenge your PAX, but don’t turn a 45 minute workout into a CSAUP event. Use good judgment and don’t ask your PAX to do something that you can’t do yourself.
  • Pick up the SIX! – F3 is not like other workout groups. Here, it is you vs you and we pick each other up. We also EH new PAX weekly that are often as out of shape as the rest of us were when we began. Pick them up, encourage them. Appoint one of the PAX to hang back with them, if necessary.
  • Write your BackBlasts! This is part of the responsibility of being a Q. The simpler your workout, the easier the BBs are to write. It takes 5-10 minutes to do this. Just get it done.

With all this talk, you would think we didn’t actually do any work…we did. We kept it simple.

  • 4 cones in the shape of a square 50 yds apart. Do the following exercises at each cone, run to the next:
    • 5 burpees
    • 10 merkins
    • 10 big boy sit ups
    • Vinnie’s choice – 10 Freddie Mercury’s (4 count)

COT 

  • Announcements
    • Fast 5 – November 4th
    • CAH – Saturday, October 14th
    • BBQ Competition in Waxhaw
    • October 21st – run in Tega Cay to benefit Community Cafe
  • Prayer Requests
    • Marriages
    • Vegas
    • ST’s sister
    • CakeBoss’s sister

Thanks for the invitation Lake Dub!

 

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Made it Matter – Quagmire 10/9/2017

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What a day a Quagmire this morning. Drizzling and humid.  Perfect for what I had in store. I told the Pax before we started that I was going to step out of my comfort zone and try to work a message into my workout. Normally I stick to sweat and pain but felt a calling for something more.

When 5:15 arrived there were 11 Pax ready to get started. Got the legal stuff out of the way and we were off.

We started with a slow mosey along with:

  • Toy Soldiers
  • Butt Kickers
  • Knee Pulls
  • High Knees

We circled up in front of Pet Smart for some stretching.  A whole lot of moans and groans from the Ragnar folks, so we spent some extra time getting loose. COP was:

  • Wind Mills x10
  • Weed Pullers x10
  • SSH x25
  • MCs x 30
  • Imperial Walkers x15
  • Merkins x10
  • Down Dog/Honeymooner
  • Mountain Climbers x15
  • Down Dog/Honeymooner

Recover and time for The Thang:

I told the Pax we were only doing 4 exercises today: Merkins, V-Up Twists, Jump Squats and Burpees. Simple and Easy (wink, wink). We would be moving between four corners (Front of Pet Smart, Front of Zoes, Front of Mattress Store and Front of Best Buy) performing the aforementioned exercises a set amount of reps.   (Unannounced to the Pax it was the total amount of reps performed in each cycle which would be significant.)

The plan was to perform all the exercises at each corner for the below reps:

  • 1st Cycle – Total of 28 reps for each exercise. 7 at each corner. Example:
    • 1st Corner – 7 Merkins, 7 V-up Twist, 7 Jump Squats, 7 Burpees
    • 2nd Corner – 7 Merkins, 7 V-up Twist, 7 Jump Squats, 7 Burpees
    • 3rd Corner – 7 Merkins, 7 V-up Twist, 7 Jump Squats, 7 Burpees
    • 4th Corner – 7 Merkins, 7 V-up Twist, 7 Jump Squats, 7 Burpees
  • 2nd Cycle – Total of 33 reps for each exercise. 8 at the first 3 stations then 9 at the last.
  • 3rd Cycle – Total of 49 reps for each exercise.  12 at the first 3 stations then 13 at the last.
  • 4th Cycle – Total of 58 reps for each exercise. 14 at the first 2 stations then 15 at the final 2 stations.

Unfortunately we ran low of time and were only able to finish cycle 1,2 and half of cycle 4. We skipped cycle 3 completely.  Then we all moseyed back to COT for an explanation of the reps:

  • On December 14, 2012, a young man walked into an elementary school in Newtown, CT and 28 lives were taken. Young Boys. Young Girls. Teachers. Mothers. Sons. Daughters.
  • On December 16, 2007, a young man walked around the campus of Virginia Tech and 33 lives we taken that day. Innocent students. Daughters. Sons. Brothers. Sisters.
  • On June 12, 2016, another young man walked into a nightclub in Orlando and 49 lives were taken. Friends. Co-Workers.
  • On October 1st, 2017, a man knocked out the window of his Las Vegas Hotel, opened fire and 58 lives were taken that day. Dads. Husbands. Mothers. Wives. Friends.

168 people lost their lives in these horrible events.

I designed a simple workout around the 4 deadliest shooting in modern American history and 45 minutes wasn’t enough time to complete the workout. 

These victims deserve your attention and emotion. There is no right way to react to such evil and madness. However SILENCE IS ACCEPTANCE. If we begin to accept these actions as normal then the madness starts to win.  We are better and these victims deserve better.

This is a call to make a positive impact on our world and F3 is a perfect vehicle to start this change. Use it and share it. Start headlocking in your community and build strong relationships with the current Pax. Change can happen one person at a time.

If not F3, then something. Anything. Dont wait for the madness to hit your doorstep. Be a positive light to the world now.

Dont wait for the next bad thing to happen to make these victims lives matter. THEY DESERVE TO MATTER.

Today we honored those that lost there lives. Today and forever, you matter.

Newtown, CT

Virgina Tech

Orlando

Las Vegas

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Week 1 of Q School at the Abyss

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This Wednesday started a month long opportunity for the PAX of Lake Wylie the hear more about the important responsibilities of a Q from veteran leaders around the Fort Region.  We’ll have Wednesdays in the month of October dedicated to teaching these valuable lessons.

This Wednesday started with the 1st Nantan of the Fort region, Double D!  It was a real pleasure having him share the history and some knowledge about F3 and important aspects of the Q.

Here’s what we did.

Mosey around the parking lot with some High knees, butt kickers, side shuffles and toy soldiers until we circled up.

I started the warmup  with the reason we count in cadence.  Cadence helps validate your authority to lead.  If you do an exercise that would normally be done in cadence WITHOUT counting  you are giving that authority to lead the group.  We broke down the three parts of counting in cadence.

ANNOUNCE the next exercise

MOVE the men into position

START the movement in cadence

After this instruction we went around the circle and had the men pick and exercise and count it out for the PAX

I handed it over to Double D and he shared more great tidbits about counting in cadence.  He asked the men who has not yet been a Q or only one time.  We had just a few guys that have not done so.  Double D had them come out and lead for an exercise.

Next we moseyed to the hill.

We discussed preparing for your Q.  Idea #1: Keep it simple.  If it takes you too long to explain, you can lose the men. If it’s too complicated to remember, the PAX will do their own thing.

With that in mind, we did 11s

Top of Hill 10 Merkins

Run down do 1 Big Boy Sit-up

Up the hill, reduce merkins by 1

Down the Hill add 1 to sit-ups

Easy to write, hard to do.  After this we moseyed to the circle by the front of the school.

Last words of wisdom for the group.  If you are not going to be with the PAX (you split the group up) make sure you pick exercises everyone knows.  I shared my experience leading just the weekend before at the Convergence.  Of the 20 exercieses I had that day, I picked a few exercises that the men didn’t know. Some of my favorites, the V-Up Twist and Squat Burpees (Thanks Witch Hunt).  Be careful not to make my same mistake.

We then bear crawled around the large circle…painful!

ran back to COT

Announcements

Praises and Prayers

Double D led us out in prayer.  Great to be with all the men and to have him there!

An Honor to Lead,

Royale

 

 

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Poopdeck got TireD

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Great attendance for my VQ, 14 PAX decided to show up and play with some toys.

Quick disclaimer and welcomed one FNG. Discussed about control and the power to influence or direct certain behaviors, especially our kids behaviors while they are growing up.

We started the warm up with a run around the parking lot, circled up and started with the following in cadence:

20 Moroccan Night Clubs

20 Low Slow squats

10 Windmills

10 Merkins

Then we moseyed down to the boat parking lot for a 4 station/corner setup with two big tires in the middle forming an X in between stations. Quick explanation of “benefits” and we split into four groups and one group went to each corner:

  • First  Corner:

10 Sledgehammer swings (choose between 8, 10 or 12 lbs sledgehammer)

15 big boy sit ups

20 American hammers

  • Second Corner:

10 lunges

15 squat jumps

20 monkey humpers

  • Third Corner:

10 Sand Bag Toss (choose between 40 or 60 lbs sandbag)

15 shoulder press

20 side straddle hops

  • Fourth Corner:

10 diamond merkins

15 regular merkins

20 count battle rope wave

After finishing exercises on each corner we bear crawled to the big tires, flip them 3-4 times (choose between 280 or 350 lbs tires) and then duck walked to the next corner; every time we finished a corner we repeated the bear crawl, tire flip and duck walk to move on to the following one.

Rinsed and repeated 3 times each corner for a speedy workout.

With 40 minutes into the workout we moseyed back to COT and finished strong with slow merkins: 5 diamond merkins, 10 regular merkins and 15 wide arm merkins.

Namearama and welcomed FNG “buckshot”

Announcements:

Ragnar Race

Community Cafe Race in Tega Cay

Fast 5 Race

Joe Davis Memorial Run

Prayers and Requests:

Family, kids, ragnar racers

We wrapped it up with a prayer we do with my kids were we thank God for our family, life, health, love, happiness, work and the necessary resources and provisions we receive every day to keep going on with our lives; we also ask that every kid in the world has access to a decent meal every day.

It was a great way to start a super busy day!!

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Boo Boo Bears and Other Things

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The downpour 30 minutes before start time didn’t deter 9 PAX from posting for a soggy morning at Golden Corral. At 0515, four split off to do what ruckers do (see that backblast below), while five stuck with YHC for a disclaimer that they all knew the disclaimer. Once that was cleared up, we went for a mosey around to the back of Red Bowl for a quick warm-a-rama.

15X windmills, in cadence

12X hillbilly walkers, in cadence

12X merkins, in cadence

Moved over and lined up with the end of the building for side shuffles and jump squats. Three side shuffles facing the building (going left), then jump squat, half turn, jump squat, half turn, squat, then three more side shuffles, the length of the building.

At the other end, we dropped to plank for some clockwork merkins – one merkin for each hour on the clock, turning in the plank like the hour hand. On odd hours (1, 3, 5,…), we did normal merkins. On even hours (2, 4, 6,…), we did pseudo-planche merkins, because why not? Once that was done (with a fair bit of “my wrist doesn’t do that” mumble chatter), we returned from whence we came…more side shuffles and jump squat turns, this time to the right. Gather together and mosey on around Harris Teeter to the front parking lot (near an awning, in case the skies opened up).

Gave the (ever encouraging) announcement that we would do “three or four rounds, we’ll see” of what was to follow. What followed?

The Thang

At the first island, 10 burpees

Bear crawl to the next island

At the next island, 10 jump squats

Bunny hop to the next island

At the next island, 10 breakdancer merkins

Bear crawl to the last island

At the last island, 10 step back lunges

Wrap up with 25 calf raises on the curb

Mosey back to the starting point to rinse and repeat

For round 2, take out the right leg. So…

10 one-legged burpees

Boo Boo Bear Crawl (it’s a thing, check the Exicon)

10 one-legged jump squats

One-legged bunny hop (Boo Boo Bunny Hop? Unlucky Bunny? No clue here)

10 one-legged merkins, flip to one-legged crab

More Boo Boo Bear Crawl

10 Step back lunge with knee lift (lunges are already one-legged, so no change there really)

25 one-legged calf raises

Mosey back (rejoice in using both legs for the mosey) to the start to flapjack, rinse and repeat, this time with left leg up.

After round three, we had six minutes left – not enough time for another round, but enough time for some weird squat lunge walk things. We discussed name options but didn’t settle on anything. Basically, hands stay in contact with the ground, and you duck walk. Really, you fully extend a leg to the side, slide across from a deep lunge, through a squat, to a deep lunge, then swing the now straight leg around to the front and slide back across. Continue in this manner to the end point (in this case, Papa Murphy’s). It’s fun. Especially after spending 20 minutes working legs.

With 90 seconds left, we did a quick mosey around the parking lot before reconnecting with the ruckers for COT.

 

Announcements

Nun Run. Sign up. Do it.

Invergence September 29. Convergence September 30. Be there (unless you’re on an airplane, like YHC).

 

Prayers

Continued prayers for those affected by the recent hurricanes. Pray too for the Colombia team that is now focusing on bringing supplies and assistance to communities around Tampa.

I will be traveling to Egypt and Kenya for meetings – not a mission trip, but a trip for the mission. Prayers for my M and 2.0s while I’m around the world for two weeks.

 

And that’s that for my third Q in ten days. Unilateral work is fun, but I’m glad I didn’t do it the day before traveling around the world. Thanks to Decibel for the opportunity, and to Senator Tressel for voluntelling me (and then backing out of coming altogether).

Jedi

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Brickhouse VQ @Poopdeck

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Less rainy than what they called for.

Disclaimer

Off for a mosey

warmups

4 corners:

Corner 1: Brick webbs

Corner 2: Crab humpers

Corner 3: Cinder block burpee

Corner 4: Monkey humpers

Mosey to the wall

Balls to the wall w/2 burpees each

COT: Marriage maint, prayer etc

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Staying Upside-Down at Pantheon

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I’m heading off-grid for two to six weeks, so when the call went out from Fish Sticks on Tuesday asking for a sub Q for Pantheon, I hesitated then accepted the challenge. Seven showed up and a disclaimer heavy on “modify as needed” (we’ll be upside-down a lot) was disclaimed.

Quick mosey around the parking lot, pulling in the usual high knees, butt kickers, and toy soldiers. Circle up for some good hip and shoulder prep:

  • Windmills
  • Hillbilly walkers
  • Pseudo-planche merkins
  • Side plank
  • Reverse plank
  • Inverted mountain climbers
  • Side plank on the other side
  • Normal merkins
  • Downward dog
  • Runners lunge
  • Low lunge

Mosey around the school to the basketball court for

The Thang

Pair up (or two twos and a three). One partner does wall walks (plank, walk up to BTW, and then back down to plank) at one end of the court while other partner does break dancer merkins (demo requested) at the other. Bear crawl to center court for partner pistol squats, then duck walk to other end of the court to do the exercise you hadn’t done yet. Bear crawl to center court to meet with partner for another round of partner pistols. That’s one round.

The plan: downward ladder from 10 to 1 rep of each

Audible called after the round of 9, so it turned into 10-9-6-4-2, totaling 31 wall walks, 62 break dancer merkins (31 per side), and 62-100ish pistol squats, depending on who was counting.

All PAX duck walked to the base line (we still had one of those left to keep it even), two quick ten counts were counted, then we moseyed back around to COT for a few minutes of Mary (and some shoulder relief via the shoulder lounge).

  • 8-count V-ups
  • Heels to heaven
  • Side crunches

Announcements:

  • Senator Tressel’s underwear drive
  • Invergence (Sep 29) and Convergence (Sep 30) celebrating 5 years of F3 in The Fort
  • Mini convergence Sep 7 to send off Colombia team
  • I think we mentioned some other stuff too

Praises and prayers

  • Nobody fell on their heads this morning, but Bolt slammed his knee into the wall, which reminded us to pray for all the injured PAX…and those dealing with life and family things
  • Prayers for those affected by Harvey and in the path of Irma (and those affected by flooding in Sierra Leone, Niger, India, Bangladesh…..)

Really proud of these guys for putting up with my twisted idea of “fun,” though I’ve never seen people leave an AO so quickly following COT.

I look forward to the next inverted exercise we can come up with and the brave men who get to try it. Thanks to Fish Sticks for the opportunity.

Jedi

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Colombia Mission Trip Sendoff @ The Ranch 9-7-17

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On a cool morning in early September, the men of The Fort gathered together to support the group of 12 men that answered the call to serve those in need in Colombia.

Mosey to the soccer field

The Warm-up (VQ led by Skinny Jeans)

  • 20 4-count side straddle hops 
  • 15 4-count windmills
  • 10 4-count Merkens
  • 15 4-count mountain climbers
  • 20 low slow squats
  • 8 burpees OYO

Mosey to the football field

The Thang

Markers set up every 25 yards on the football field from endzone to endzone. PAX will start from one endzone and run from marker to marker and do the following exercises (below) at each. They will then run on the track back to the starting point.

  • 10 merkins, 2 burpees
  • back to start – LBCs for six
  • 10 Carolina DD, 2 burpees
  • back to start – flutter for six
  • 10 squats, 2 burpees
  • back to start – American Hammer for six
  • 10 bomb jacks, 2 burpees
  • back to start – freddy mercury for six
  • 10 dips, 2 burpees
  • back to start – heels to heaven for six
  • 10 lunges (5 per leg), 2 burpees
  • back to start -diamond LBCs for six
  • 2 burpees per marker

Mosey to COT

Today we focused on the 12 men that are leaving tomorrow to serve in Colombia. We had the privilege of hearing the reasons why each of them have been called to serve during todays workout and then pray over them at the close. We are all lucky to have these men as our brothers and will continue to pray for them as they make their way abroad.

As mentioned in COT, each of us were blessed with passion for certain causes and influence to impact them. Find your passion and your calling and answer that call, whatever it may be.

Ginsu

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