By RTF Staff Writer Jamin Goecker

A lot of instances come to mind when I try to think about something funny that’s happened to me.

There’s the time I misheard someone on the phone when I took a message, so I told a lady that the Secret Service wanted to talk to her.

There’s the first time I drove a manual transmission on the streets. Got rear-ended.

There’s the time I became a “fisher of men” when I hooked a complete stranger in the hand while I was casting.

My personal favorite, however, would be the time I locked myself out of my car and used a slim jim to get inside. (more…)

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By RTF Staff Writer Jamin Goeker

Is it possible for a girl to be “just friends” with a guy, or will he read into it too much and think she likes him? It depends on a lot of things, but generally we guys read into things too much and see a green light where none exists.

It’s a sad fact, but guys have a hard time keeping their relationships from shifting to the romantic side and eventually he might talk to you about it. If you’re not interested in him, be 100% honest. (more…)

 Jamin Goecker has shared devos and interviews (see his interview w/Joshua Guthrie about Dollar for a Drink). He graduated from high school recently and is preparing for college. He plans to be a missionary someday and he enjoys fishing, writing, running, skydiving, and weight lifting.

Jamin Goecker, RTF Staff 

Joshua Guthrie, 16, and his family has given things such as goats to people in poorer countries through an organization known as World Vision. At the age of 15, he set a goal to raise $8000 to put the project into affect. World Vision served as the inspiration for the project, but Joshua worked through an organization known as Baptist Global Response.

Jamin Goecker: Did you ever envision yourself doing something like this [raising funds for wells in Africa]?

Joshua Guthrie: In order to answer this, I need to give a bit of a background. My parents have always taught my sister and I to have a desire to give to the needy, and we have been supporters of World Vision for as long as I can remember. In case you are not familiar with them, they are an organization which focuses on taking funds from their supporters and getting it put to good use around the world for various needs. We have supported several children thought their organization, and my sister and I have made purchases at Christmases for needy children. I remember when we bought a goat once.

Anyway, if you are a supporter of the organization then you receive a catalogue from them once a month (I think). This catalogue contains items which you purchase not for yourself but for others around the world. It contains things such as farm animals, clothing, medicine, and irrigation supplies/tools, among many other things. Well, there happened to be a section dedicated to wells in the catalogue, and I had always thought it would be really cool to purchase one of the biggest items in the catalogue: the $10,000 well.

Just to clarify at this point: DfaD is not working through World Vision; we are working through Baptist Global Response (BGR). World Vision was simply my inspiration to want to get started on something
I really started to think a little more seriously about wanting to get one of those wells at the beginning of 2008; I was 15 at the time. Well, being 15 I knew that I wouldn’t be able to save up for it all myself; I would have to raise it.
All of this to come to the answer to your question: yes and no.

I believe that I had always known that the possibility existed (all things are possible with God, after all!), but if you had asked me at the beginning of 2008 if I thought I would be doing a fundraiser for wells in Africa over the fall of that year then I would have probably answered no. I knew that I had the desire to do something, I just didn’t know how to get started.

Jamin Goecker: Did you see yourself as a leader when you started? (more…)

by Jamin Goecker, RTF Staff Writer

Summer ushers in a ton of free time. It can be hard to decide what to do with all of it. Some people spend their summers partying. Others work till they resemble squirrels that have been placed inside a box and shaken around.

Ecclesiastes 3:1, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”

Sure, summer provides a great time to relax a bit or have fun with great friends. However, some people decide to use their spare time to change the world.

Arielle, age 20, plans on spending her summer in an internship program at a ministry called House of Faith. She will be on a team, working at camps and ministering to their community in outreach.

Arielle says what draws her to this ministry is working with kids. Most of the kids she works with don’t come from good homes. Many of them are surrounded by drugs, alcohol, and other adult situations. “We work with a lot of children,” she says, “whether it be elementary age or high school age, and I just love working with kids and always have. And that’s what really draws me to this because we really get to show love to them when they really don’t get any anywhere else.”

Because the events the interns work on are so close together, they have to keep busy. Arielle expects to work up to sixty hours a week. It’s also a struggle to transport all the equipment and supplies needed for camps and such to locations.

Does she believe she will make a difference for Jesus this summer?

“I definitely do. I could just be spending my summer doing nothing or hanging around with friends. But doing this I get to impact a child, even if it’s just one child, that gets impacted it will be worth it because that child will go and impact someone else.”

WHAT CAN ONE TEEN DO?

• Get involved in your own neighborhood with VBS, Salvation Army Boys and Girls clubs, or Big Brother/Big Sister.
• Check out House of Faith ministries.
• Pray for Arielle and the kids she will reach. 

by Jamin Goecker, RTF Staff Writer

Summer ushers in a ton of free time. It can be hard to decide what to do with all of it. Some people spend their summers partying. Others work till they resemble squirrels that have been placed inside a box and shaken around.

Ecclesiastes 3:1, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”

Sure, summer provides a great time to relax a bit or have fun with great friends. However, some people decide to use their spare time to change the world.

Arielle, age 20, plans on spending her summer in an internship program at a ministry called House of Faith. She will be on a team, working at camps and ministering to their community in outreach.

Arielle says what draws her to this ministry is working with kids. Most of the kids she works with don’t come from good homes. Many of them are surrounded by drugs, alcohol, and other adult situations. “We work with a lot of children,” she says, “whether it be elementary age or high school age, and I just love working with kids and always have. And that’s what really draws me to this because we really get to show love to them when they really don’t get any anywhere else.”

Because the events the interns work on are so close together, they have to keep busy. Arielle expects to work up to sixty hours a week. It’s also a struggle to transport all the equipment and supplies needed for camps and such to locations.

Does she believe she will make a difference for Jesus this summer?

“I definitely do. I could just be spending my summer doing nothing or hanging around with friends. But doing this I get to impact a child, even if it’s just one child, that gets impacted it will be worth it because that child will go and impact someone else.”

WHAT CAN ONE TEEN DO?

• Get involved in your own neighborhood with VBS, Salvation Army Boys and Girls clubs, or Big Brother/Big Sister.
  Check out House of Faith ministries.
  Pray for Arielle and the kids she will reach.

by Jamin Goecker, RTF Staff Writer 

I’m sure my eyes dilated when I saw it – a mustang for sale in a parking lot for about $4,000. The sleek exterior, down into the black interior and all the way to the dashboard looked fantastic. But my enthusiasm took a slap in the face when my dad and I read the odometer. 140K miles. The insurance would cost a lot and the mileage was about the same as a truck without being half as useful.

I didn’t buy that mustang.

At first I felt like an idiot, but I knew I could find something better. Even though it was tempting to snatch that car, I was willing to give it up with the faith that something better lay in the future.

I’m sure God wants my faith to rise to that level when I make all my choices, especially with what to do with my life. (more…)