WHO are we following, again?

In this morning's Bible study we ended up discussing church size and following our leaders. Later in the day I heard someone on the radio say that you can tell a leader by looking behind him. Does he have any followers? By this definition, Christ was and is quite a leader. In a smaller way, so is our Senior Pastor, Bil Cornelius.

I like the group of guys at the bible study this morning. If they have a question, they ask it. It sounded a couple of times like they were questioning our leadership, but I thought about it at the time and thought, "no, they are just digging, getting some questions answered." And it made everyone think. One of the things we discussed was, does this new initiative for BCTV, Bil Cornelius TV, mean that Bil is breaking out of Bay Area Fellowship, or if he's becoming self-centered. Not to give away the ending, but the conclusion was: No.

Because Pastor Bil is quite often under attack, and most often those attacks are by other Christians (remember the song "Jesus was a Capricorn" by Kris Kristofferson?), I'm going to defend him here, though Bil is definitely one of the men in the world who needs not my feeble defense. Also, I have spoken to Bil only politely and quickly; I don't know him personally. But, I've seen him enough both while he is in front of the congregation and around smaller groups of the congregation. I think he's the real thing.

Bil has one of the toughest jobs I've ever heard of. Imagine being at the grocery store and having people examine your cart for "sins." Or, if your car breaks down near a liquor store; or if you are in line for a movie. What movie? In line at Barnes & Noble. What book? I could do without the scrutiny, personally, though I'm sure Bil doesn't worry too much about it. He's likely as squeaky clean as he seems.

Bil is calling it BCTV because research has shown that people latch onto a personality, not a company. That's why it's "Kobe Bryant and the Lakers take on Lebron James and the Cavs!" and not "Lakers vs. Cavs!" That's why authors put their name on it, not "written by ABC Company, Ltd." It's not the "Tonight Show" it's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" -- and water cooler talk drops everything but the last name. "Did you hear what Leno said last night?" People, not churches, talk. Bil talks, not Bay Area's building. So, if he wants to call it BCTV, fine with me. If he's teaching from the Bible and leading people to Christ and wanted to call it Pancakes and Pickles TV I couldn't care less.

My heart knows this most because Bil does the right thing, not the easy thing. It would be easier, and he would take less criticism, if he would have just called it Bay Area Fellowship TV. But, if the research is right, people wouldn't latch on as hard, wouldn't listen as close; and people wouldn't be saved in the numbers Bil -- and we whom he is leading -- believe they will. Bil isn't taking the easy way out. I would have. You bet I would have. But that's why when you look behind me, my group of followers is much smaller than Bil's. I'm okay with this. Bil was called to take on this criticism, to stand with courage in this way. I have my calling, and it is different.

I am a follower of Bil, but only because I believe Bil is led by God. If I didn't believe that, I would be the first one outta here. Well, not the first one. Bay Area's members are convinced and convicted. There would be a lot of people out of here if we didn't believe and trust Bil. I'm not worried about that scenario. And, uh, in Kristofferson's words, if you need someone to frown on, help yourself to me. It'd be a lot easier for you.

I am a member of Bay Area Fellowship, but these are my own thoughts, written on my own computer. They don't represent any official viewpoint.

DG.12.16

It was an absolutely beautiful day under God's perfectly blue sky. Just a hint of wind, but the perfect temp (while the sun remained up) and good companionship. We hit a round with another newbie, Will this time. On his 7th hole, Will outscored me, holing a 4 to my 5. Twas my humble contribution to Will's self-esteem and confidence. Probably he'll be a champion one day due to my sacrifice.

Steve and I arrived early. Steve goes to 1st Methodist and spotted a group of kids from the youth ministry there. It was good to see them out, playing football and having fun. They aren't perfect angels, and they'll probably make a lot of mistakes in their lives. But, I know that I spent too many pretty Sunday afternoons during my 17th year driving around and doing stupid stuff. It was good to see that these kids have a better foundation than that. Here's to hoping that foundation props up good families led by these soon-to-be men.

We played 9 and Steve had to leave, but the rest stuck around for 9 more and we took on a couple more players, a college-aged guy and what might have been his girlfriend, or soon-to-be, perhaps. Nice pair. It's great to see women out playing, too. I think that's a healthy sign for disc golf. Sports completely dominated by men end up fizzling or becoming so testerone-laden and competitive they lose all sense of "sport." Behind our group were two older women, too, playing together. They appeared to be new to the sport, but from the neighborhood. That's awesome to see. If the locals are using the park for d.g., it will be there for a long time.

I'm not sure who this week's champ is, as we stopped keeping score as to not intimidate any new players. But Aaron played pretty well so I'll call him this week's champion. We couldn't fit the huge, solid-gold imaginary trophy into the back of his F150, though, so we left it at the park.

DG.12.09

Big weekend at BAF, with The MoB reaching a bunch of new men. We had signup sheets in the church bulletin and ended up with around 75 people completing them. Check the MoB web site for more details, and to sign up on the newsletter if you haven't already.

DG.12.09.07 was great -- a bit windy, but fun. Last time for Paul, who is hitting the road and part of his military tour of America. Godspeed, Paul. He and I commiserated about the difficulties in trying to adopt from the foster-care system in America. You'd think it'd be a lot easier. It's not. If you have a heart like Paul's, or Paul's friend Brandon, then it breaks when you are sitting, waiting, wishing.

In addition to Paul and I, we had Aaron and Mike, our newbie de jour and who took his first par on his 11th hole. I probably disc golfed 11 times (for a full 18 each time) before I had a par. I guess that just means our group teaches well? I don't know, but we aren't inviting Mike back until he vows to play worse.

Good times. Largely because Bruce wasn't around, I took the solid gold, room-sized imaginary trophy home. Woohoo!

Videos from today (from my phone):

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Get Involved

This weekend is the Men of Bay Area Fellowship (MOB) push for more men to join up and take up the fight for more husbands, fathers, boyfriends, sons ... men like just us, B.C.; Before Christ. If you have been to a MOB group (Disc Golf, one of the morning Bible studies, the Tuesday fellowship meetings, paint ball, or other), please join us by getting a MOB t-shirt at the bookstore at church and be ready to answer questions from guys. There will be some information in the bulletin as well as during the service.

Also, if you haven't already, go to http://godmademen.com join the Newsletter (under "Mailing List"). Just give your email and you'll be updated with MOB happenings.

The Blogging Wall

My wife and I both hit the Blogging Wall about the same time. We both got busy and with Thanksgiving, plus a family trip right after... it was hard to keep up.

Since Nov 5th we've only had one official meeting, with Bruce the only one to show through the snippy weather. He won again, easily. We're meeting again this Sunday, 3:30p at Lamar park.

Champion

Bruce only played nine, so he could get back to get ready to host a party for the Cowboys game, but given that he had 5 birdies and a bogey IN THE FRONT NINE gives him the award at -4. Bruce is fun to play with because he can really light it up. But, he can depress, too, if you are throwing one feeble drive after another or missing short with yet another 25 foot putt. But you learn from those better than you, and I learn when I'm hanging out with these guys. It's a lot of fun, and a great group. We'll be there again next Sunday at 3:30p.

What we'll do for a stuck disc!

Forgotten Champion

I didn't post last week, the champ was Tom, who joined us for the first time. He's a good disc golfer who frequents the course in Victoria.

Teaching the Skills

One thing that I always think about is what am I teaching? What am I teaching other people about me when I do something? Now, I'm not compulsive about it but I do try to notice how I act. I try not to act in a certain way just so people will like me -- being antiwar with one crowd and prowar with another, etc -- but you know what? I sometimes don't speak out when I should. But when I act and when I talk, what am I saying about me? Do I need to tell people I'm a Jesus-freak, or will they notice in a short time?

- When I'm driving with my children in the car, do I swear and shake my fist at people that cut me off?

- When a waitress or the kitchen gets my order wrong, do I handle it with class?

- When I'm watching sports and my team loses, do I get upset? Am I so nervous about the outcome of a close game that I ignore everything else in the house?

- Do I buy things I can't afford?

None of those things are crimes, but how I handle them tells my children how to handle them. And, when I mess one of them up (I've done each of the items in the list wrong at least once), how I apologize and stand up to my mistakes tells them a lot, too.

It's the principle of Caught vs. Taught. You can teach, you can preach, but when they catch you doing good or doing bad, that's what they are going to learn. Am I perfect? Far from it. But when I mess up and someone shows me grace, that's a lesson, too.

Remember, too, that you can't influence your children in this way if you are never around them. In another recent post I discussed Combining -- finding interests and involving others and involving God, therefore making them a ministry. It's a good way to keep you fresh and focused. It's a good way to have time to cram it all in a life. Combinations also work with kids. Find something they like to do, do it with them and learn from them. Find something you like to do, and have them do it with you. Teach them. You'll be teaching more than one lesson.

I go in spurts, to be honest. I have a 14-year old boy who is in that grey zone between wanting to spend time with me and wanting to break free and to be increasingly independent. It's hard to tell which he wants, but based on some trouble he's been in lately, I know that right now I need to be around him more. We've shared a lot of things, disc golf, paintball, snowboarding, TaeKwonDo; it's all been fun, but it's all passed, too. I'm looking for the next thing we can do together. I really believe the time is of a higher quality when guys are active with their children.

With my 8-year-old, who is a big fan of the Yugioh trading card game, I've been learning from him. I've read opinions that Yugioh and games like it scare kids and are a gift from the Devil himself. I disagree with that assessment, but I can only stand by that opinion because I've spent a lot of time with my son and I know the game and I know the cards and I know my son. In the game, he sometimes wins and I sometimes win. He wins and loses as well as I do, because he's learning how to handle it from me. In this way, we spend time together, we learn strategy together (there is a baffling amount of strategy in this complex game) and we discuss a wide range of topics. On Saturdays he goes to a tournament for under 16 kids and he plays and often wins.

One of our Christian brothers is a competitive fisherman. His partner is his 11 year old son. Why? He wanted to fish competitively, but it took too much time away from being a father. Now he can do both. That's combining! You can't pass up chances to be around your children.

I say all this not to brag -- it looks like I am, I know, and I can't get around that if I want to make my point. The point is: combine your interests and your children's interests so you do one of each. I'm failing my 14-year-old right now, but I'm going to find a way to change it. Maybe it will be RC cars or competition swimming, but we will combine something, we'll include God and I'll do my best to show him how God wants a man to act.

Why a disc golf group?

I wanted to start a men's group, but I have many commitments and priorities. With those, I don't get much time for fellowship and recreation. This goes with the territory and isn't unusual. I chose to be a husband and father and with the choice comes different commitments. But, I think it's pretty easy to fit additional things into a hectic schedule; if only one combines.

I combined two interests: disc golf and church. I do this same thing with my kids. I find an interest of their and I do it with them; we get time together, they get an enjoyable activity.

If you have a hobby, any hobby, or recreational pursuit, there is room for God in it. Just make it a men's group and get a couple of guys and go fishing, bowling, golfing, swimming, running, whatever. It matters not except that you are giving guys a chance to be around other Christians and prop them up. The more time we spend around Christians, the more likely we are to become stronger in our faith. Some will be stronger than you. Others might not. You will influence and be influenced. You will give them something to do other than the things they've always done and that have gotten them nowhere. It doesn't need to be a bible study. Just ask a few guys to join you when you are doing something and keep God part of it and you'll be great. I laid out only a few rules: be respectful, keep the smoking and swearing to a minimum (for some it's not easy to eliminate altogether, even if they are trying), leave the beer for other occasions, keep what's said private and be transparent. Those simple rules make for church anywhere you and one other Christian are.

No group this weekend

I will be out of town this weekend (Oct 20th & Oct 21st), so I won't be able to host a group. Feel free to come out and play a round solo or make your own group. Remember, where there are two or more Christians, there is a church.

Throwing Solo

Sunday was the big Dallas Cowboys vs. New England Patriots battle of unbeatens so I was out soloing. I committed to being there, but I understand: Texas is football crazy and even the "I'd rather do than watch" crowd wanted to watch the biggest game so far in the year. At the end, probably most of them wished they'd gone disc golfing instead.

Anyway, I won!! It was very windy and I took a +7. Still can't break that par barrier, but it's been so quiet here lately that it took some adjustments to play in the wind again.

Already a two-time champion!

Bruce won it again. The guy is a bunch ahead of the rest of us. He shot a -3 and didn't even play that well, for him (he commonly takes it down to the double digits below par. Another guy we had in the group today, Justin, recently shot -9 at Lamar in the blind doubles and lost. Three groups shot -11 that day! Come on, that's just not fair!

Does God watch sports?

The latest issue of ESPN The Magazine has a story about Detroit Lions quarterback Jon Kitna's open Christian faith. Jon has been mocked because he attributed his ability to come back from a concussion to lead his team to an overtime win. He said it was a miracle at the hand of God.

When I'd see a guy point to the sky after a touchdown, I once said, too, before I accepted Christ back into my life: "Oh, yeah, God is watching this game." What I didn't realize was that a Christian believes God is omnipresent. He's everywhere, so He is watching the game, but only because people are participating in it. Do I personally believe that He is manipulating the outcome? It is my belief that God gives us gifts and skills and dreams so that we can use them to serve Him, or to help others. So a running back crossing the goal line then pointing skyward to give the glory to God isn't necessarily being ridiculous. I don't think he's saying, "God did this, God moved the tacklers out of my way!" I think he's saying, "God is great, he's given me gifts of athleticism and work ethic and I used those gifts to score a touchdown. So, thank you, God!"

I believe God is constantly moving us around, asking things of us, changing those requests (demands?) and manipulating us for our growth. But He's also the God of free will, who let's us make choices. If He gave us the gift of work ethic and athleticism but chose to not use it, that's on us.

I pray before I tee off each time I play a round of disc golf. It's no amazing prayer, and there are usually no requests, just thanks. To be outside, sandwiched between God's earth and sky, to be relaxing, remembering God, hanging out with friends, playing and competing, those are all worthwhile reasons to be thanking God.

Game Over

Steve and I had a good game yesterday. We met up with Justin, who was a much better player than Steve and I, who were more evenly matched. Though Justin was tiring after playing several rounds before Steve and I arrived, he still played well enough and took the weekly crown, though I'm not sure I even told him.

Hope we get a better BAF men's turn-out next weekend; and I hope the weather starts to cool down and isn't so steamy.

Game On

I'm heading to Lamar at 3:30 rain or shine (most likely: rain). I'll call it from there, but at the least I'll be there if you want to show up to hang out for a little while. If the ground is wet but not too sloppy we'll play a careful round as long as it's not an active downpour. If there is lightning, we won't play at all.

Guest Post on BAF Men's Blog

Brandon asked me to guest-post on The Mob's blog on Friday, check it out:

http://bafmen.blogspot.com/2007/09/write-it-down.html

Hans

First Game/Meeting

We had 7 players at the first meeting. That many players made play slow, but that left a lot of time for fellowship and getting to know one-another. I wasn't able to be in on every conversation, but there was a lot going on. We had a good time.

The 1st F.o.L.F. Champion is Bruce, who wrapped up the front nine at -2. David placed second with his handicap adjusted -1. That's a good start! No one else was far behind.

We'll meet again on Sunday the 30th at 3:30 at Lamar. Several people asked about taking some day-trips to the excellent courses in Victoria and Beeville. Being in new places and trying new things is one of my favorite things to do, so we'll do this eventually, especially when it cools down as we get into autumn. Next week, it's Lamar again, at 3:30p. Call me if you need anything, 774-0545 (Hans).

Recreation

Pastor Bil (BAF) is in the middle of his "House of Blues" series. One of his main points for the first two sermons in the series is "get outside and do something!" He challenged everyone in the church to walk at least a mile outside each day of the week between the first and second sermon.

On the afternoon following the second sermon, I went out and played 18 holes at Lamar. I met up with Morris and his son Daniel. Then two days after the sermon, on Tuesday, I ran into and shot a round with Mark. Morris, Daniel and Mark agreed with me that disc golf is one of the great things to do outside. Daniel and Morris hadn't played in two months, since Morris had broken his leg, and Daniel mentioned that he often grew depressed because they didn't have that time together, and that time outside. Being outside is important! As Bil mentioned in the second sermon, we all need to make the "Mind/Body Connection" (1 Kings 19:4-7). Eat right, drink water, get out and recreate and exercise. It's easy to call disc golf frivolous; you couldn't be more right unless you are discussing your need for fellowship, light exercise, recreation and being outside, between God's earth and God's sky. In my opinion, disc golf is a good walk, enhanced.

Competition

Men like to recreate and compete. Those are a couple of the reasons why I started this type of Men's Group. I think disc golf will be a great, healthy way to compete; between shots there is ample time for fellowship and it hopefully will keep us from competing in the wrong places. Humans were designed to compete for survival but now, at least in America, the basics to survival are all but a given. We're still competitive but the competition can be missplaced. We shouldn't be competing through the activities of our children or to outspend our neighbors.

The Bible is largely silent on the topic of competition as we consider it in modern-day America. Perhaps competition was simply known as "life" back then. But, consider Jesus: The basic tenant he taught was to love others as yourself. Kind of hard to want to beat someone down if you love and live like that, huh? (Mark 12:31, "The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." ; Leviticus 19:18 "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am Lord.")

Do we love others as we love ourselves? Some of us may try, but I think most of us fall short. That's part of what Jesus died for, though, so I don't think it will stop us from getting into Heaven. We can try to do better, and I think part of that is placing the competition in our lives in the right places. Since we've largely removed the day-to-day struggle to survive, I think God has put us, right now, right here, in a great position to use our competitive desires to help others. Why not see how well you can help others? But compete against doing nothing, not against others who are also helping.

But that brings us to pride. Taking away the competition to survive, nearly all competition now involves pride. Winning stokes our self-view, we hold up our chins and puff out our chests. If I'm competing for a promotion do I try to help or harm my rival's chances? Do I do the best I can and leave it at that, or do I also do the best I can to make the competition look bad? My pride makes me want to win. Win now, win later, win always.

The American economy and our system of democracy are competitions (if not competitions, what are presidential campaigns?). But what if instead of competing for the presidency, everyone worked together to honestly find the best person for the job? You are right, it will never happen that way, but what kind of president would we get? If we made the competition not against each other but with each other and against mediocrity, would that be more like loving each other?

Competition is important to America and Americans. If we tried to live without it, I think we'd all be lost, not sure how to move on. I'm certianly culpable. I like to compete. But I'm going to try to compete in a healthy way. I think disc golf is so irrelevant to life that it is a good place to set free our competitive spirits, as long as we can truly keep pride out of the mix. While we're at it, let's help that rival at work get the promotion. That's truly loving your neighbor.

First Meeting

We'll hold the first F.o.L.F. meeting on Sunday Sept 23rd at 3:30pm at Lamar Park. I hope to see you there. If you have discs, bring them. If you've never played before, I'll have some spares to loan out. Godspeed. You can call to talk: 774-0545, ask for Hans.

Wadda Shot

I did this today on hole 9 at Lamar. I was about 100 feet out. If I hadn't gone out of bounds on my drive and taken a stroke, it would have been my first birdie on the 420 foot 9th. I'm calling this a made shot, though I'm not sure if the real rules would call it so.

F.ellowship o.f L.ord F.ollowers

F.ellowship o.f L.ord F.ollowers: Okay, what is this, besides a poor stretch at building an acronym? This is me, Hans, trying to find a way to get God involved in my whole life, excluding nothing, but also not excluding me having a life. What I mean is, I'm a changed person, but I still like to recreate and compete.

So, when Pastor Bil said, "men: lead!" I said, okay, okay. What can I lead? What would a Men's Group Hans is leading look like? Well, I am not much for hanging around the living room. I play guitar, but don't know all the words to Kumbaya. But, I do like sports; more the do-sports than the watch-sports, though. I thought, well, there are guys who are Christians who like to compete, but do they have places they can compete with other Christians? Somewhere they can go to compete and recreate at the same time as they hang with other Christian guys? We'll talk God, we'll talk BAF. We'll pray when we start and when we finish. We'll compete for an imaginary weekly championship. Each meeting we won't be embarrassed about competing and after the round we'll be closer friends or ever more bitter rivals.

The beauty of it, in my opinion, is that we can worship God with our recreation and include him in another part of our life. Hopefully committing to God in this form will encourage us to remember Him at all times, and worship Him and glorify Him at all times. I don't think God wants the remainder of our day, I believe He wants us all day. This should supplement daily time with Him in prayer or reading His Bible, but not replace it.

"For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." - Matthew 18:20 (that "I" is Jesus)

Rules

Here's where I'll set out some guidelines for our groups:


1. If you are one of those long-haired, tattooed, beer-swilling, f-bomb dropping guys... welcome to the group. That's been me, in various stages, sometimes all at the same time. I'll always have the ink but baldness is taking care of the hair. The beer is a bigger challenge and I sometimes still get angry and act like a jerk. So, if you aren't perfect, whew!, neither am I . God loves you, and I want to play disc golf with you.
   
2. BUT... This is a Bay Area Fellowship Men's Group. We should act like it. Be helpful and nice. Ice the f-bombs, leave the beer and smokes and bring a smile. Some in the group (read: me) like(d) beer a little too much, if you knowwhatImean; and some are trying to quit smoking or maybe they once smoked and could easily be led off the ledge again (okay... me again). Let's set an example during these meetings. Bring ice water, though, the more the better on the hot days.


3. If you don't have problems, this group is not for you. Don't worry, I'm sure someone will one day start a disc golf group for perfect souls.


4. Be on time because we're going to start on time (if you are late, you can join in progress, which is fine, so don't be shy, just catch up on the 2nd or 3rd tee, or whereever). When we're done, go home!, especially if you are married and the better half is expecting you to keep your word that you are coming home. And be really nice to her. Oh, hold on, that's its own rule.
   
5. Be really nice and polite to all women, especially your wife, or if you are single, your girlfriend. This has nothing to do with golf.


6. Just you. As much as it is important to spend time with your significant other and your family, I think time with guys who will help you stay accountable is important, too. Spend oodles of time with family, but please bring only yourself and other men to this group. That way we an openly talk about issues that we might have to restrict around more tender ears. If someone is struggling with dishonesty, unfaithfulness or substance abuse, they aren't likely to talk about it with your wife or kids around. That's all this rule is. We need to be transparent, but we aren't going to be if we have to watch what we say because of who is there.


7. Just us. What is said in F.o.L.F. stays in F.o.L.F. We're not going to be grilling each other on problems, but if I tell you I just spent 90 days in jail and not in the Peace Corps like I told everyone else and you go and tell all those other people we both know but I haven't told, then I'm never telling you anything again. This is all about helping, and guys who step up and confess problems deserve respect and help, not gossip.


8. Speak loudly. Your gracious host (ahem, me) is hard of hearing and wears hearing aids that go on the fritz when it's hot and he's sweating. I'm NOT stuck-up. I just didn't catch the punch line, that's all.

What IS disc golf?

Disc golf is golf ("ball golf"), but with frisbees. I grew up calling it Folf. George Costanza calls it "Frolf" in an episode of Seinfeld ("The Summer of George"). Fellowship of Lord Followers (FoLF) is an attempt at linking this Bay Area Fellowship Men's Group to the sport.

For a good outline, here's a video that shows it off a little:




The rules are similar to ball golf, but there are no clubs, balls, expensive greens-fees and jerks yelling at you to hurry up as you slice or hook your fourth fairway shot. Disc golf is nearly free (discs range from $7 to $20 each and you'll eventually end up with a bag full). It's done in under-utilized city and county parks, often in the areas most picnickers avoid. There are no tee times, and little waiting; but abundant are good people and fun. While some guys are amazing, most of us duffers are about equals and after a few tries you'll look good enough that you won't be embarrassed. Some people play ball golf for years and still look horrible. Do a search for "Charles Barkeley's Golf Swing" at youtube (I'd link some, but they go up and come down too often). By comparison, disc golf is quickly learned. Oh, but you'll never master it. Not in two lifetimes.



The object of ball golf is to use clubs to hit the ball into a hole. The object of disc golf is to throw your disc, frisbee style, into a "basket".

We still track shots (most holes are considered par-3, even on some long, difficult holes). You can get aces (no holes-in-one), eagles (if playing a really long course with par-4's), birdies, pars and (gasp!) bogeys. It doesn't end there (at least not for me), there are double bogeys, triple...



You get the picture. It's just as fun as ball golf.

Where to Buy Discs

There are three places to buy discs locally, and you get free discs once-in-awhile because of membership of the club, or for being in tournaments. The first place I bought discs was Academy, because that's the only place I found them. The next place I heard of was a lumber yard in Ingleside, then a smoke shop in Corpus Christi.

Now, nothing against Academy, it's one of my favorite stores in town. But, they aren't out there putting up new courses, maintaining existing courses, etc. I try to support those guys if I can. "Those guys" are Lone Star Lumber, in Ingleside, and S&G's Glassworks on the SPID feeder (get on the feeder from Ayers, heading toward Weber/Kostoryz).

Before you go in S&G, though, let me tell you that it is a smoke shop. If you have a history of, um, non-tobacco-smoking, but are trying to stay away now, it might not be the best place for you. The guys are nice, they aren't pushing anything, but, wink, wink, those aren't really for tobacco. I don't want to make them sound like bums, though. The guys in there are really cool and I hope they won't disown me for saying this about S&G. Just trying to keep you safe, eh? I've shopped in S&G, but my difficulties and God-given challenges are not in that area (I got problems, believe me). Just know what you are doing. Once you pop up on his radar, the Enemy can be wily. It always happens just at the time you are trying to clean up your act a little, too.

Lone Star Lumber has it's own hazards, but mostly if you are a toolaholic. But they have as good of a selection of discs as you will find around the area. If you need some discs, and are in the area, maybe for a round at Live Oak, then drop in and pick up a few. When you take a right onto Main at the light, take another right and look for the big Lone Star sign on the front of their building.

Let me also say that, while there are some great web sites with great information about the sport, I encourage you to buy locally, if possible. These are the guys you'll play rounds with, say "hi" to and these are the guys that are making the courses and keeping this great sport around for all of us.

Corpus Christi Disc Golf Course: Live Oak Park (Ingleside)

This is really an Ingleside course, but a lot of disc golfers from Corpus Christi head over there frequently. It's my favorite course, though it can be frustrating because it's the most difficult area course. Like West Guth, it's a full 18 (and they are planning to add more), but it's shorter than WG. There are so many disc-snaggin trees about yay high that you can easily spend more time retrieving discs than playing. I've taken to carrying a boat hook when playing, as it saves a lot of climbing for this old man.

Download the course map. (from 3rd Coast Disc Golf)

There is so much variety at Live Oak; lots of shade and places to relax from those disc hunts in the brambles.

To get there, head to Ingleside, take a right at the light (if coming from Portland, over the Bay Bridge). Then stay on Main until you see the sign for Live Oak park (it's a left turn, I think the street is really named Sherry Lane). Go straight a couple of blocks, through a stop sign or two and pull into the parking lot. The first tee is next to the cement outhouse. If you can't find the tenth tee, it's between the tennis courts and out of bounds.


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Corpus Christi Disc Golf Course: Waldron Park

This is the newest course in Corpus Christi. It's a good nine hole course that plays fairly short, but with accuracy at a premium. Distances are similar to the wide-open and safe Lamar Park Nine, but Waldron has two holes right over a pond (which is generally full of discs nowadays), and several near a swampy stream with a lot of brambles on both sides of a 50-foot-wide fairway. It's fun, though.

To get there, get into Flour Bluff on either Flour Bluff Drive or Waldron Road. Then get on Glenoak (from either end) and look for St Peters or St Joseph's. Either will lead you into the park. First hole is all the way toward the back. Park near the backstop, walk down the sidewalk and play the first tee over the water.

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Corpus Christi Disc Golf Course: West Guth Park

To get to West Guth, get on 37 and take exit #9, Up River Road. If you are coming from Corpus Christi, you'll need to go under the underpass, then right onto the access road. It's only about 1/4 mile, so be alert, the entrance is a little hard to pick out the first time.

Once in the park, head to the duck pond, park your car and look at the small parking lot for the first tee; the blue is easier to find, near the entrance to the parking lot. The basket is near the pond, about 150 feet from the edge.

Click here to view a course map.


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Corpus Christi Disc Golf Course: Lamar Park

This is a popular course, mostly because it's right in the middle of town and is easy to get to. There is a Tuesday night blind draw doubles tournament and most days there will be a few groups, weekends are busier. This will be the main meeting place of Fellowship of Lord Followers.


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