MY GOALS FOR 2025!!

     Last year I wrote a blog stating that I had one specific goal for 2024. It was to flex my creative muscle. I wanted to use my creative gifts through my writing and my videos. Last year I was able to begin the process of writing a book as well as a screenplay. Both these projects will take years to complete but I do love the challenge of working on them! I was also able to create a few new puppet characters. One I was able to use throughout the year, Red Heartly, obviously a heart puppet who comes out of a black bag. The other was Pete the Talking Pizza who I was hoping to debut last fall but that had to be put on hold. For 2025, I would like to share with you five personal goals I have set which I hope to accomplish for this coming year.

1. ADJUST TO LIFE IN SOUTH CAROLINA

     As I am writing this, I have only lived in South Carolina for 22 days. I realize it is going to take some time to adjust. The mentality and the culture is very different "down here" than up north. I used to have issues with door dashers at my job in NY. Here in South Carolina, they have actually said "Thank you" to me when I hand them their delivery! Also, living in the "Bible Belt" I have seen a difference in the Christian lifestyle. It seems the majority here do go to church. I am really not sure how much they are committed in their faith. I will have to find out for myself. I have also noticed how many young teens here are very respectful to us older folks. Men are called "Sir" and ladies are called "Ma'am." Very polite! My attitude is to take it one day at a time and for all of you wondering, I refuse to say "Y'all" or "I'm fixin' to go!" I'll have my "New Yawk" accent until I die!

2. GROW IN THE LORD

     This is my goal every year! Every single day I strive to do my best and grow in the Lord. I have grown to realize that whenever I face a trial or discouragement, it is not happening for me to be harassed or to become angry, it is happening so that I will trust in the Lord as well as to grow in my faith. In trying to move, I did face some obstacles both with moving my items as well as personally. Through it all I continued to put my trust in God! I would much rather be striving to grow in God than to sit at a bar all alone drinking myself to death!

3. DEVELOP NEW FRIENDSHIPS

     I always joke with Laure and tell her "I don't have any friends" which is obviously not true. Here in South Carolina, I only know a few people including Laure's daughter and son in law, the people I work with and a few at a church I have attended. That's it! I do appreciate the friendships I continue to have with those in New York and around the country. I do miss them! I would love to develop new friendships here, of course with people close to my age. I certainly hope they would accept a 60-year-old guy who loves God, loves kids and "talks to his hand!"

4. TO SEE BROKEN RELATIONSHIPS HEALED

       This has been yet another goal I have had for many years. I do not want to get into specifics of the who, what, where, why and how. All I will say is that it has been my prayer that several damaged relationships would get healed. I realize these things take time but after many years of striving for this, I would love to see this happen! I pray that on December 31, 2025, I would love to write a blog entitled "IT HAS HAPPENED!" Stay tuned!

5. GET BACK INTO FULL TIME MINISTRY 

     I loved being a children's pastor for 22 years! I loved my time being an assistant pastor at Lift Jesus Higher Fellowship for a little over 2 years. I love thinking of new ideas and coming up with new sermons. Ministry has been in my blood for many years. It is truly who I am. Working at Chick Fil-A is a job to me. Being in full time ministry is what I desire to do full time. Right now, I have an application in at a church here in Columbia, SC as a Children's Ministry Director position. The position is part time, but I figured I need to start somewhere. I have been praying about what God's will is in all this. Is it for me to start in this church? Another church? Is it for me to start my own ministry? I realize although there are many churches here, they do not know me or what my gifts are. Certainly not like the Christian schools in NY who had me visit their chapels several times. I know God is in control and He knows what is best for me. All I can do is pray and follow His will for my life!  

HAPPY NEW YEAR FRIENDS! I PRAY 2025 IS AN AMAZING YEAR FOR EVERYONE!!

 

THAT CHRISTMAS MAGIC

 

     "That Christmas Magic" may very well sound like a Hallmark Channel movie. A girl returns home for the holidays. She is very successful and somewhat happy. She runs into an "Old Flame" but wants nothing to do with him. Due to circumstances, they keep "running into each other", they have a misunderstanding, they work things out, fall in love again and at the end of the movie they walk arm in arm with the snow falling and Christmas lights all around and they both say, "Isn't Christmas so magical?" He, maybe I should write a Hallmark movie? No way, I'm not interested!  

     So, what has Christmas become to our world? Santa Claus? Fun cartoons of a reindeer with a shiny nose or a snowman who, when you put a magic hat on his head he says, "Happy Birthday?" Or how about shopping, shopping and more shopping. We spend money some of us don't have hoping the gifts we give will be a blessing to family and friends. As a kid growing up in New Jersey, Christmas had two meanings to me. the first was going to church. We were Catholic and my mom made sure we would all go to Mass on Christmas Eve. The was before our traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner with many fish entree's, spaghetti and more food you could feed an army with. As a kid, that Mass seemed like it was 4 hours long, but it was really maybe one or so. During that Mass I would daydream about what Santa was bringing me and also my creative mind would go wild wondering how cool it would be to swing from light to light like Tarzan in the church. I was 7 years old so whatever the Priest was saying I had little interest. Maybe if he brought out a puppet i would probably remember what he was saying! I knew as a kid that Christmas was really celebrating the birth of Jesus but what always confused me was the second meaning. So, which meaning was I supposed to celebrate. Jesus Birth? That Christmas Magic? All that fun stuff?

     The second meaning of Christmas in our family was simple. We got ready for Santa to come to our home and deliver presents to Paula, Dave and Mike. I always wondered how this heavy-set man would fit in our chimney. Paula and Mike would have to wake me up. I was not a morning person until I had kids! Up until adulthood I was not easy to wake up. When I got married and started having babies, I had to change quickly! We would wait on the steps until Dad said it was okay to come down. We opened our stockings then opened our gifts. When we lived in New Jersey the first nine years of my life, we always had a real tree that was decorated with ornaments and lights! As a kid, I always felt that December 25 was a magical day. Yet, I never understood why we had to have 2 meanings to this special day. 

     Please understand I am not saying we should not have fun and be totally serious and "spiritual and be a "wet blanket" or "stick in the mud." It is a fun time, and it should be! I actually miss hanging icicle lights on my house and putting up decorations as well as a Christmas tree with ornaments, lights, decorations and garland. Since I have been blogging, it seems as though every December I always blog about this topic mainly because it really bothers me. It saddens me that for so many years, man has decided to make Christmas a financial opportunity instead of what it really is...The birth of Jesus Christ! I know many theologians will debate with us and tell us Jesus real birthday was in the spring and not on December 25th. In Roman history, they wanted Jesus' birthday to coincide with the beginning of the winter solstice thus creating the day of December 25. Man has pushed aside the true meaning of Christmas by adding other "things." Now all you hear about is how great it is to have the "Christmas Magic" or how magical the Christmas holiday really is. How "all your dreams come true" if you believe in Santa or whatever they think is "magical." I'm sorry, but the only thing that is truly "magical" (if you even want to use that word) is knowing Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior and following Him every single day! In my humble opinion, that is the ONLY thing that is truly "That Christmas Magic." Sorry Hallmark Channel, nice try but keep showing all your Christmas movies that are all similar and all end the same way! JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON! I do hope you all do have fun! If you have children or Grandchildren, I truly hope you enjoy time with your family. Just don't forget what Christmas is REALLY all about!!  Happy Birthday, Jesus!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!        

REMEMBERING ANN DISANZA

     Romans 13:7 tell us to give honor where honor is due. Last Friday I learned that someone who I truly honor and respect went home to be with our Lord....Ann DiSanza! I have a lot of respect for Ann for one simple reason. Ann was one of many people who were instrumental in getting my start in children's ministry. It makes me sad to realize the 4 people who were all instrumental for my start are all in heaven. Pastor Greco, Judy, Art and now Ann. 

     I first met Ann in December 1986. Pastor Sal Greco approached me because he heard through the grapevine that I had been involved with puppet ministry at my college. He introduced me to Ann who had just finished teaching a children's ministry class and had just started a puppet ministry in our church, Smithtown Gospel Tabernacle. We agreed to meet after the new year and Ann encouraged me to get involved with this new puppet ministry in our church. I went to the very first practice and 4 of us rehearsed a play for a program to be done at Children's Church on the last Sunday in January. The theme of the play was the Super Bowl and ironically it was the same Sunday the New York Giants, my favorite team would play in their very first Super Bowl. The other members of this puppet team were Mike (Ann's husband), Art and Frank. Mike had a very high voice and played the announcer who was interviewing "Broadway Bob." I played the part of "Broadway Bob." That's all I can remember from this play. The goal for our puppet team was to do a program once a month in our Children's Church, usually the final Sunday of the month. Ann invited me over to her home to discuss our strategy and think of new ideas to reach the kids in Children's Church and beyond. I was soon discovering because of her that this was my newfound calling in my life. One of the ideas Ann implemented was to do a skit every month called "Faithman." It was a comic strip found in a magazine put out by Gospel Bill, also known as Wille George ministries called "Honeycomb.". Ann had her husband Mike play the part of Faithman and her son Michael played the part of Billy, the little boy who always fell into temptation. A lady in our church Bernadette played "Negatron" who was actually the devil. When Billy resisted temptation, he would turn into Faithman! Mike was perfect for this part because he had A LOT of energy, and he didn't have a shy bone in his body. He went home to be with the Lord about 11 years ago. Ann and I tried to come up with scripts along with puppet scripts and we tried to stick with the lesson the children's church teachers were teaching that Sunday. Ann told me about a puppet that was hidden away in a closet up on the "Third Floor" of the church. I fixed him up, changed his appearance and called him "Barney Bagel" well before anyone knew of that purple dinosaur! I will say he was a God-awful looking puppet, but it was my start in ventriloquism. Well actually not really. My lips moved! I would eventually do ventriloquism years later.

     Ann dropped a bombshell on me. It seemed as though this was my life's pattern when it came to ministry. She was asked by the church to be the new Sunday School Superintendent, and she asked me to take over the puppet ministry! Not again! This happened to me at Bible College, remember? I accepted and I was excited about the new challenge. Mike would no longer be involved, and Frank was busy with his job and family, so it was only Art and me. I called this ministry "The Good New Gospel Theater" and through the years we gained Jan, Jason, Dolores and Debbie. This ministry grew and within a year we were traveling to other churches doing programs. 

     It was now March 1987, and God was continuing to show me what His will was for my life. The church paid for Ann and I to attend a Willie George Ministries Christian education seminar in Port Jefferson, NY. I had never heard of Willie George or his ministry as "Gospel Bill." He had a Christian kids TV program he wrote and produced. As he taught various workshops, I hung on every single word he said I was getting very excited about the many potential things we could do at SGT and so was Ann. We both sat in a pew at the church that hosted the seminar at the conclusion and dreamed about what amazing things for the Lord we could do to reach kids. I have shared this before, but on my way home from that seminar, that is where God spoke to me about becoming a children's pastor. I remember where I was driving heading west on 347! Amazing!

     As time marched on I continued to implement new ideas in our programs. Some worked and some were downright horrible, but I was learning. Ann asked me to play a character for the Children's Sunday School department called "Freddie the Farmer" and the theme was all about "Gowing in the Lord!" I came running into the sanctuary each week wearing a straw hat, a flannel shirt yelling "Hee Haww!" I shared with the kids all about the importance of how taking care of my crops by watering them was just like taking good care of my Christian life by reading the Bible and praying. It was my first time ever playing a costume character. Not bad for a shy kid who would blush all the time!

     Ann & I always talked about doing something for the church for Halloween. That year it was on a Saturday, and we got a late start on planning this. We did decide we needed to form a committee so in the summer of 1988 we assembled a committee of people to help plan it. At our first meeting at Ann's house, I discovered I was the only male there! As we discussed possibilities for this Halloween event, it seemed as though my vision for this was much different than what the ladies wanted. These ladies believed we should make this a "Christian event" that targeted "Church Kids." My idea was to try to reach the community by way of fun activities, then at the very end present the gospel to them. Of course, I had nothing against reaching "Church kids" but I was outnumbered, and we settled on calling our event "Praise Fest '88." and we did this same event in 1989. Some of these ladies were even opposed to doing anything on Halloween at all. They didn't want that name mentioned at all. My idea would later become something we would call "Fall Fun Fest" which our church hosted for over 20 years when i was the Children's Pastor.

     Ann's husband Mike was a New York City Police Officer, and I always enjoyed whenever he shared one of his testimonies in church on a Wednesday night. After Mike retired, he went into Full time ministry with Cops for Christ, and he wrote a book called "A Cop for Christ." As his ministry was taking off, he moved his family to Florida. The only time I really got to see Mike and Ann after they moved was whenever they attended our church Missions Convention in the spring. I always made it a point to sit with them during one of our luncheons. We always reminisced about the crazy ideas we had in the past but also thanked God for using us in spite of us. I would always tease Mike and ask him if he would squeeze back into his old Faithman costume one more time! One of my favorite quotes from Mike was always when he would talk about Christians who had no life to them. He would say "It's like they were baptized in lemon juice!" That was so Mike!

     Mike and Ann fostered many children and also adopted some children. They ran a bible study in their home for many years and saw many come to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior. In fact, I taught a bible study and discovered that one of the couples in our study group got saved because of Mike and Ann's ministry. I had not seen Ann since I left SGT, but we would message each other on occasion. She was always very encouraging to me and during some of my difficult times she told me I could call her anytime. That always meant a lot to me. Ann will be missed, and I know she touched a lot of lives for Jesus! We know she is now worshipping her savior in heaven!

HAVE A BLESSED WEEK EVERYONE!!                   

 

LIFE BEGINS IN SOUTH CAROLINA

 

 

     Well, it has officially been 6 days since I left New York at 3:50 am in a snowstorm to travel down to Columbia, South Carolina. It is a very strange feeling knowing you are no longer going "home" to New York. My heart will always be there, but my life is now in South Carolina. Wow, it sounds weird even typing that and reading that also. I spent 51 of my 60 years as a New Yorker. My first 9 years were as a New Jersey kid or as my grandfather used to call it a "New Joisey" kid. I'm trying to get used to people "fixing" to go places or saying "Y'all." I'm going to work very hard to get people to say "Hey, how ya doin'?" like a true New Yorker would. I'm trying to get used to the slower pace, but I do welcome it. 

     Today was my first workday as a Team Member at Chick Fil-A Harbison. It went extremely well. Getting used to the South Carolina culture and this "new life" is going to take some time. What has fascinated me in my few days here is how friendly people are. I had a man strike up a conversation with me at a gas pump. Even today a few people noticed I was the new guy at Chick Fil-A and asked where I was from. That doesn't happen much in New York. My own boss and I had a nice conversation right after I finished work. So, my life is beginning in South Carolina, and I can't wait to begin blogging about my adventures here. Stay tuned!!

HAVE A BLESSED WEEK EVERYONE!!