StoryTeller: Darrin Seamster – The Story

Let me start at the beginning.  I was born in the home of a an evangelist.  I was the youngest child of my parents.  I traveled all over the country with my family as my dad did his evangelism.  When I was seven my dad was arrested as a pedophile and set to prison.  I haven’t had contact with him since that time.  This was my first brush with hypocracy in the church.

We moved to Maryland where my mom’s family was.  While we were there I turned into a bully.  My older brother was little for his age and got picked on at school so he would take that aggression out on me.  I was big for my age and I would take that aggression out on my class mates.  I was mad at everyone and everything, I beat up a lot of people.  Around this time I also found pornography.  Since I was big for my age I was able to purchase things that I wasn’t supposed to be able to get my hands on.  I was hooked on porn.

Eventually I found football!  I was rewarded for being aggressive!  It was great!

When I was 15 I gave my life to Christ and everything changed.  I went from being a bully to leading bible studies in the school.  People couldn’t believe the change they saw in me.  At 17 my family (including my step-dad who my mom had married while we were in Maryland) moved to Florida, I had a strong calling to go there and the family packed up and headed down there.

In Florida I was a leader in my high school and in my church.   The church I went to was great!  Prayer permeated everything we did.  There were all night prayer meetings often and everyone was focused on prayer.

When it was time to go off to college I went to Liberty University and was a starting center on their Division 1 football team as a walk on freshman.  My time at Liberty was cut short because my dad started drinking again.  I needed to go back home to be there for my mom.

I went back to Florida and did odd jobs.  I tried to get back into the church but things weren’t going well there.  There were moral failings of some key leaders and the focus of the church had completely changed.  So rather than finding a new church I just stepped away completely.

In 2002 I joined the Army.  I was still struggling with this battle of, “Will I go back to Christ?”  But while I was struggling with that I was still frequenting bars, hanging out with unbelieving friends, my best friend was a Buddhist – obviously he wasn’t encouraging me to turn back to Christ.  During this time (right before I deployed to Iraq) I met a gal in a bar and proposed.  I turns out she was just trying to get money from me because she already had a boyfriend.

In Iraq I saw some pretty terrible things.  I was a medic and our unit treated over 70% of the wounded in 2005.  I was seeing all of this horrible stuff and thinking about what was going on back home with my step dad and mom.  When I came back for a mid-tour leave I went to a pastor I respected and asked to get together for some prayer and counsel.  I tried numerous times to connect with him but he never got back to me.  Completely blew me off.  That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I went off the deep end.  I was completely opposed to God, the Church and believers.  I ran from God as far and as fast as I could.  I decided that I am going to do whatever I want to do.  I completely stopped caring about God.

On August 18, 2005 – one of the trucks in our unit was hit with an IED, everyone in the truck was killed. My best friend was killed.  I was mad at God for allowing best friend (Buddhist) to be killed.  This pushed me further away from God.  If I believed in Him I would have to believe that my friend didn’t make it to heaven.  I couldn’t go there.

After my tour in Iraq I went back home.  I thought it would get better when I got home. NOPE!

Ever had one of those years where nothing seemed to go right?

First, I tried to re-enlist in the Army.  I had a dream job set up for the re-enlistment, I was going to San Antonio and I was going to party it up!  But the Army wouldn’t allow me to re-enlist because I exceeded the Body Fat test by 1%!  This made me really angry!  I started disrespecting my superiors, I was mad and depressed.

After I got out of the Army I started working in a strip club.  I had all of these plans to start hanging out with women, get a ton of money, I thought I was living the life!  Even though I was running from God, I still wanted to help people. In the strip club I was watching people’s lives fall apart and there was nothing I could do to help.  Along with this, the VA they diagnosed me with post-traumatic stress. When I was working in the club, if there were a lot of people around me, I would have a panic attack. I couldn’t have my back to anybody. I could never rest. Didn’t sleep more than 2-4 hours every night. The feelings of emptiness continued.  Eventually I ended up quitting the club.

I wanted to do something better with my life. Went to community college to be a teacher.

I thought that would fix everything.  Nope.  My depression was getting worse and worse.

Then I got a job working security and discipline in my old High School.  I thought I would get to help kids.  This should make things better! Nope!

While I was at the school I was able to help coach football.  As I did that I remembered how much I enjoyed the sport and that I still wanted to go play.  Since I only played one season at Liberty I still had eligibility to play college ball and I also had the GI grant for school so I decided to go back to college.

One of the guys I coached with was friends with a coach at Simpson College. Turns out that they were excited to have a 6′4 350 nose guard whose school was paid for by the government.  I got here and I was 28, not in the same shape I was in in college. I went from starting at a division 1 school, but now I’m not starting at a division 3 school.  I did not feel better.   Not only was football not going the way I wanted it to but I didn’t find the comradery I was looking for.  I was too old for the college parties (I realized that that didn’t make me happy) and yet I didn’t connect to the coaches because even though they were closer to my age they had families.

NOTHING WAS FIXING MY DEPRESSION.

The depression kept growing. I started to feel like I wanted to take my life. What is my purpose? It really came to a head on fall break.  It was a bye week so there was no football and NO ONE was around! I was really lonely, very depressed.  I decided that this would be the weekend that I would take my own life.  I was sitting in a Burger King (why Burger King? I don’t know) getting ready to drive my car to my death.  All of a sudden my brother called me.  Then my mom called me (I’m a mommas boy).  That broke me.  I let them know I was having a hard time.  Those calls brought me back.

The depression would get better and then worse and then better then worse.  I went home for the summer, things with my step dad got way worse.  I got back from the summer to college, and found out my dad had hit my dad.  Here I am away in Iowa, playing JV at a division 3 college.  Nothing was going well.  Nothing would make me happy.
I keep looking for happiness.  Found a gal on line.  She was a satanist, she was telling me this crazy stuff.  She said that satan wanted me.  If satan is real and wanted me, then God must be real. That woke me up!

I went to a talk with a friend’s mom about what I was going through, she encouraged me and prayed with me.  Later, I talked with my sister and told her that I don’t know if God is real.  The next morning I woke up felt the Holy Spirit, I realized that God is real! All of sudden I realized that as I was running from Jesus but He was right behind me running with open arms! All I had to do was to turn around.  Bam!  Everything changed!

I had a peace!  The depression was gone.  I had a hope and an identity!

I let God clean out my heart and my life.  I asked what do I need to do now, what do I need to get rid of?  God slowly broke me of the old stuff.

God began the process of restoring me.  He has been giving me back the things that I lost.

Even as I began that process I would still get lonely.  I wasn’t like before with the depression but it was still tough.

God knew about that need and met it.

Around Easter, I came up to Valley for the Saturday night service and all I saw were families and I was sad again.

I told my mom and aunt about being lonely and they started praying.

The next morning at church a guy came up to me (Dolan Pedersen) and said I feel like God is asking me to invite you to my house for lunch.  I started to make connections with others and began to be a part of the community.

Even after I gave my life back to God I still had struggles with sin.  But I realized that the way that Jesus dealt with temptation was through quoting scripture so I’ve been  memorizing scripture.

Through my journey I tried a lot of things to find peace but only one thing actually worked.  Jesus gave me peace.

CrossTrainers

Date: May 26th 2010

Speaker: Jerry Foster

Title: God Built – “Powerful Punks”

We’ve been learning that God is in control over devastating loss, assignments, broken hopes, prolonged waiting,

Today we learn that God is in control over people

Proverbs 21:1 God is turning the hearts of the leaders. This includes presidents, school board members, military dictators, everyone who rules anywhere.

God guides and directs each of them.

With Proverbs 21 in mind, that God can change the hearts and minds of leaders, think about what is going on in our world, about frustration in leaders across the world

Turn to your neighbor – How does that effect the way you look at the world?

Bottom line – They (leaders around the world) serve Him even in their rebellion because they breath because He allows them to breath, they think because He allows them to think

Does God make them sin? No. But He uses their sin for His purposes.

Joseph – Pharaoh was the most powerful man on the earth. He has a dream and Joseph interprets the dream. Joseph became the co leader of Egypt. It all began with a dream, that God made him dream. He couldn’t refuse the dream. That was it, the Pharoah was smack dab in the middle of God’s plan and he didn’t even know it.

Think about it – here is the most powerful man in the world, but he has no power over this dream that troubles him so much. Steve Farrar puts it really well -”God said to the powerful king, ‘dream this you little Egyptian wuss’”

Isaiah 40:12-17 – This passage is so great when we stop to think about God’s control over the nations.

Look at Isaiah 40:17 – Look at all of the powerful nations, they are nothing, they fall under the control of a sovereign God.

Turn to your neighbor – When you look at this verse what does that do to your confidence?

When we look around the world at some of the bad things that happen it can be easy for us to fear.

But we have to remember that God is in control

This makes me want to know the God that is in control. Because if I know the God that is in control, then I am secure.

When we look at the evil and harm that is going on, we have to ask the question – can they do harm? Yes. Can they do harm to a believer without the consent of God? No.

He appoints them and then He can take them out when He wants to.

Isaiah 40:21-26

Probably what we need to do is to read these verses every morning. First the verses, then the newspaper or the news.

Back to Joseph – Why was pharoah a mighty ruler at this time? Because God put him there.

Makes you wonder, what is God up to? What ruler, dictator, evil tyrant is God already working in or about to work through

So God takes this dream, plants in his subconscious and gives it to him in the middle of the night.

He has these two dreams that just haunt him. He calls together all of his helpers and other folks who can’t do anything for him.

Then along comes Joseph. Pharaoh is about to hand over his power to Joseph. Think about it, Potipher did it, the jailer did it, everyone gave their power to Joseph.

So who was in control of this? He didn’t ask for that dream.

“God is in control of powerful people” Steve Farrar

“It’s the most comforting thing in all the world to know that there is a God who is in charge of my life” Steve Farrar

I don’t know about you guys but my human nature is alway trying do to the work to get things to work out right.

I get tired of always pushing and pushing and pushing for things to work out the way I think they should work out.

The reality is that God is in control of my life. I may think that my success is my own but it really was God.

Turn to your neighbor – How do we as believers cooperate with Him and His plan in order to enjoy the maximum benefit?

I need to work harder to stay inside the boundaries of what He is doing.

Sometimes it doesn’t make sense, when we see pain or suffering

Its not mine to question why, it is mine to be obedient and to trust Him

Let’s pray. . .

Click HERE for the Full Audio for this message.

(notes typed by PJ)

CrossTrainers

Date: May 19th 2010

Speaker: Bob Stouffer

Title: God Built –  “Wait for the Lord”

Opening

You have probably heard me speak about the fertility issues early our marriage.  We tried and tried, but Cheryl could not get pregnant.

Over the course of several years, we suffered through frustration.   We tracked body temperatures and optimum periods of ovulation.

I was poked and probed by two doctors and an intern, and they discovered that I had testicular varicosity of the veins, thus constricting the production of sperm.  A little embarrassing it was.

Month-in and month-out, we tried new strategies, but no pregnancy. The doctors said our next option was in vitro fertilization, which would have cost $10,000 an attempt – with no guarantee of success.  I was a teacher making around $15,000 a year!   We said, “No, thanks.  We need to step back and be give this some more time.”

One month later, Cheryl was pregnant with Molly! Praise the Lord!  I will never forget that winter day when Cheryl poked her head into my classroom during a school day, her eyes brimming with tears, a grin spreading across her face!

Fast forward a few years.

The infertility issues continued. Cheryl had to deal with thyroid cancer, and the radioactive iodine treatment was unsafe for conception.  She got a clean bill-of-health.  We kept trying.  No success.

Cheryl’s cycle would last weeks on-end.  We decided she better have the equivalent of a hysterectomy.   So, natural childbirth was out of the question.  But we still wanted more children. We looked into adoption.  We were set to adopt through an international agency in the Dominican Republic, but adoptions were discontinued when insidious people in that country were blinding infants for black market corneal transplants.

We started figuring that God was trying to “tell” us something.  Perhaps we should be grateful to have Molly alone.

Then, my sister-in-law, Amy, found out about children who were available for adoption in Brazil.  I called Ed Nahas, who had done our home study.  I asked if we could get another copy of our home study in Spanish.  He asked if we would be willing to adopt a bi-racial child in the Des Moines area.  Adoption agencies have greater difficulty finding placements for bi-racial children, since these children eventually live in two worlds of race.

Obviously, if we were willing to adopt from the Dominican or Brazil, we would be willing to adopt a bi-racial child.

At that time, the attorney who did 60% of the private closed adoptions in Polk County was also, not coincidentally, the father of two sons who had been students at Urbandale High School while I was Principal of UHS.

In fewer than 10 days, Cheryl and I picked Hannah up from this attorney’s office!  She was 21 days old!

Praise the Lord!  We were parents again, and we had no less joy in an attorney’s office than we experienced in the birthing room!

There was a lot of waiting in those stories, wasn’t there?  Perhaps you were even frustrated for Cheryl and me at certain points of these testimonies.

But wasn’t God so good in blessing us with Molly, and wasn’t God so good in blessing us with Hannah – in his perfect timing?!!

Waiting on the Lord.

Steve Farrar has it right in his book, God Built — “Waiting is easy to write about.  But it’s hard to live out.”  (p. 147)

Discuss these questions with one other guy –

#1  Who in the Bible was willing to wait on the Lord?

• Noah, even if everyone else thought him foolish

• Moses, for 40 years as a shepherd

• Joshua, marching around Jericho and, as for his household, he served the Lord

• Job, in spite of his tragic circumstances

• Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and the other prophets of God

• Hannah, who gave her son Samuel over the Lord for ministry

• David, who could have killed Saul on more than one occasion, and who had been anointed by Samuel

Steve wrote in his book, “Interesting, isn’t it, that when God looks for a man after His own heart [David], the test of that man’s heart is his willingness to wait.”  (p. 140)

• Ruth

• Daniel, Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego

• John the Baptist

• Jesus

• John

• Paul

• Peter

• Stephen

#2  Who in the Bible was not willing to wait on the Lord?

• Adam and Eve

• Sarai, not waiting for the son promised by the Lord, and Ishmael was the result

• Jacob, who stole his brother Esau’s birthright

• Moses, when he took matters into his own hand and murdered an Egyptian

• King Saul, who built an altar when told not to and who didn’t kill all of his enemies’ livestock, when he was told to

In God Built, Steve Farrar wrote, “Saul was unwilling to wait.  And he lost the kingdom that could have been his for generations.  Resisting God’s training, he just didn’t have the heart to obey.”  (p. 140)

• The Prodigal Son

• All of the disciples who walked away from Jesus and His hard teaching

Text of Analysis

Joseph was falsely thrown into jail, and he was forced to wait.  But Joseph was good at waiting.  And God is good at being faithful.  Joseph waited from his 17^th birthday until his 30^th birthday until the Lord placed him in a position of honor, power, and prestige.

God “is in control over prolonged waiting.”  (p. 129)

“. . .none of us likes to wait – for anything.”  (p. 130)

We often ask, “Why doesn’t God do something miraculous and instantly change our situations when we are waiting?”  (p. 130)

“We’re sometimes compelled to wait in uncomfortable, uneasy circumstances, where the outcome is far from certain.  But even then – perhaps especially then – God is at work.”  (p. 130, emphasis in original)

Isaiah 64:4 – “No eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.”  (English Standard Version)

“. . .God is always working.  While we are waiting, God is working.”  (p. 131, emphasis in original)

South African Pastor Andrew Murray –

In difficult and unwanted circumstances –  waited and journaled –

“Let me say I am here,

1. By God’s appointment
2. In His keeping
3. Under His training
4. For His time.”

That’s good, isn’t it?!

“Joseph was being trained in prison while he waited.  He had to learn to wait on God for His timing.”  (p. 138, emphasis in original)

“You never read one word about [Joseph] complaining to the Lord or becoming bitter.”  (p. 139)

And “Going into his two-year stint of prolonged waiting, Joseph had no idea how long he would be in that mode.  The Lord had determined two years, and two years it was.”  (p. 141)

Lamentations 3:1-25   “. . .the LORD is good to those who wait for Him.”

Psalm 130:5 – “I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope.”

“If you are waiting on God, the only way that you keep hope alive is to stay in your Bible.  Read it, chew on it, and embrace the promises. . . .Keep your Bible open and live off the promises.”  (p. 148)

Questions for Consideration and Applications

• How do you draw closer to God while you are waiting on Him?
• Steve Farrar wrote, “We’re sometimes compelled to wait in uncomfortable, uneasy circumstances, where the outcome is far from certain.”  What sorts of spiritual disciplines or daily activities might help us hold onto our faith when we’re in situations like this?
• Read Psalm 25:3, 27:14, 28:9, 37:7, 37:34; 48:14, 62:5, and 147:11.  Read Isaiah 40:31 and 46:3-4.  What does the Word of God promise for those who wait patiently on the Lord?
• Andrew Murray wrote, “Let me say I am here by God’s appointment, in His keeping, under His training, and for His time.”  Which of those aspects of waiting bring/s you the most comfort and encouragement right now, and why?
• What answer to a prayer are you waiting on right now?  How patient have you been during your wait?
• What are the dangers of refusing to wait for the Lord’s timing and bulling ahead on our own schedule and in our own wisdom?

Closing

God blessed us with Hannah and Molly, but Cheryl and I could have been childless.  Children, income, possessions, prestige, and power do not, ultimately, satisfy.

God sustained the Israelites with daily manna and water.  But such bread and water pale in comparison to Jesus.  Jesus is the “living water” and the bread which brings eternal life.

Wait on the Lord.

Wait on the Lord.

Wait on the Lord.

God is enough.

God is enough.

God is enough.

Let’s pray. . .

Click HERE for the Full Audio for this message.

(notes provided by Bob Stouffer)

Men it is time to let a young eagle fly at Storytellers.  Darrin’s story has only been going for 30 years but God has done remarkable things in his life.  Spanning across continents, rebellion and redemption, Darrin’s story has a lesson for every man.  You will be glad you came to hear and see a man whose life has been changed more than once by the power of the truth of the Gospel!

Manly refreshments will be provided.  We will be meeting at Northpoint

CrossTrainers

Date: May 12th 2010

Speaker: Gary Rosberg

Title: Focus on South Africa

Gary started with Trunk money videos

(I’m not sure what these had to do with the talk but they are hilarious – you can see them here Video 1, Video 2, Video 3 (the best one)

Our Time in South Africa

When they were in their early teens Peaceful and Promise became double orphans. In South Africa, when both parents die you become a double orphan.

Where we were in South Africa it wasn’t uncommon to have nine year old parenting a house hold. There were little kids and grandmothers, almost everyone in between was dying.

Even as we were teaching on purity many of these young women were on their way home to be raped by their uncles or grandfathers.

Promise and Peaceful were a couple of gals that I meant last time but didn’t get to really talk with them. This time I spent 2 hours talking through the six secrets with these two gals to see how these principles work in their cultural context. They were absolutely captivated by this time.

Promise and Peaceful have been a part of iThemba which means “place of hope.” 29 kids living in this program, all of them double orphans. They have been rescued from the streets and orphanages. This isn’t a foster home or orphanage. They are a family. When they turn 18 they aren’t booted out, they still come home to iThemba for Christmas and holidays even after they leave to be on their own.

Acts 1:8
When we were in SA recently I spent time with the CEO of iThemba and told him that he inspired me with this verse. This guy was the CEO of Focus on the Family Africa for 30 years. He decided to come home to his Jerusalem to start iThemba to focus on AIDS orphans.

Pastors -
Gary showed pictures from his time in Africa. Specifically talking about the Pastor’s conference that America’s Family Coaches presented.
Turn to your neighbor – Turn to a guy next to you and pray for the pastors and leaders of South Africa, this change isn’t going to come through public policy it is the turning of hearts.

Families –
We hosted the Great Marriage Experience at a church in Capetown that only held 700 people. When we got there there were people standing in the street with signs that said, “Sold out, no more room.” The guy we were with had them take the signs down and we packed the place out! Pray for us as we work to resource the pastors of this conference.
We then went to host the conference in Durban and packed out the church with 2400 people.
Turn to your neighbor – Turn to the guy next to you and pray for these families that attended these conference. That they would be a light to their communities and that they would remain strong in Christ.

Angus Buchan -
This guy is a farmer who has been anointed by God. He had a men’s conference on his farm and had 150,000 guys last time. This time 350,000 guys were on his farm field this time and we got to go! It is like a Christian woodstock, they go there for three days, camp out, grill. Tens of thousands of guys came to Christ during this event.

Turn to your neighbor – Turn to the guy next to you and pray for the men of South Africa. They are seeing what we saw with Promise Keepers and we know that this country and this continent will only be changed with the hearts of the men are changed.

iThemba -

www.focusonithemba.org

Click HERE for the Full Audio for this message.

(notes typed by PJ)

• Pancakes and Paintbrushes – THIS SATURDAY (5-8-10) 7:00am – 11:00am
  • Fathers and sons, single guys and married guys, come on out!!

This will be a great time of eating some awesome pancakes and serving shoulder to shoulder with other guys taking good care of what God has given us here at the church.  Wear your painting cloths and come hungry and ready to work!!  SEE YOU AT CHURCH THIS SATURDAY MORNING!!

• StoryTellers –
  • Sunday May 23 @ 6:30 pm. Northpoint

Storyteller – To Be Announced! Keep your eyes open for the next Storytellers.  Watch the website and look in the men’s restrooms for all the latest info!

• Did you miss it? Check online! If you missed the March 28^th StoryTellers with Jim Mars check out the website for notes on Jim’s talk.  We will be posting future summaries of StoryTellers on the website.  You can read, comment and interact with other guys even if you had to miss a StoryTellers.

• Garage No-Sale – June 18^th & 19^th
  • Start thinking about the annual Garage No Sale. Donations will be received on Fri, June 18 from 10 am-7 pm.
  • Men, we need your help to receive donations, set up, and going out to pick things up on June 18.  We also need your help on Saturday morning at the event.
  • Please contact Deb at debm@valley-church.com.
• CrossTrainers – Wednesdays @ 6:30am in the Chapel
  • Current Series – God Built by Steve Farrar – God Built explores the defining spiritual process that makes men of God. You’ll uncover the Biblical pattern for growth, gain insights into common frustrations and difficulties, and get equipped for the journey ahead.  Surrender yourself to Him. And become a man that’s built to last.
  • Did you miss it?  Check online! If you miss a morning of CrossTrainers or if 6:30am is just to early for you then head over to www.theuprisingonline.com each week for copy of PJ’s notes from that day’s talk.  You will also find a link there for an audio version of the talk
• Rides for Guys –
  • Can you give a guy a ride to church on Sundays?  If so drop an email to PJ at pjh@valley-church.com!

• Resources for Bible Reading – Check out these awesome customizable reading plans at YouVersion.com.

-theUprising Leadership Team

Classifieds:

• Looking for Flooring? Contact Rocky Vest owner of Capital Flooring at theCaptialFlooring@gmail.com or at 515-991-6777

• Looking for work – There are a lot of guys currently looking for work.  If you are aware of any full time or part-time positions OR you need a job drop a line to PJ Holmertz.  Depending on how many emails this generates we may look to open a blog or website for such positions or needs.

• Work Opportunity -
  • I install granite and quartz countertops and we are in the process of growing.  Need someone that has a positive attitude and takes pride in their work.
    Requires heavy lifting and some construction background would be helpful.
    Contact: Sheldon Stocker at MasterWork, Inc.
    253 51st Street
    Des Moines, IA 50312
    Cell: 515-669-4587

Our very first Pancakes and Paintbrushes work day at Valley was a great success!

We had pancakes and we painted stuff!

Don Wilson, Steve and Barb Beal, and Caroline Pryor treated the crew to a hearty breakfast of made from scratch pancakes and delicious sausage (along with some coffee and orange juice to help everyone wake up a bit).

We were able to put a fresh coat of paint along the long downstairs back hallway of the church. It was really great to get to see father’s and sons working along side one another with other guys that they might not usually cross paths with. There were laughs and jokes and lots of work. We even managed to get more paint on the wall than on the carpet.

If you missed it this year, keep an eye on the calender for Pancakes and Paintbrushes again next year (or maybe even in the fall!).

Here are some pictures from our very first Pancakes and Paintbrushes event.