Thursday, October 29, 2009

More about us


Hey! I've had this blog for less than and hour and I am already posting a second thing-a-bob. Here is more about us.

Darlene is my fabulous wife. Together, we began ministering to children in the spring of 1975. We began as bus ministry helpers. This led to our working in children's church and eventually becoming children's pastors. Darlene has been a wonderful minister along side of me all of these years. She is a great preacher and knows how to relate to kids of all ages. Her passion for children and ability to pull a lesson out of a mixed up dialogue with puppet or costumed character is an inspiration to me. We have served kids in Missouri, Minnesota, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. As camp and conference speakers, we have been across America and around the world. God is good. Darlene is an incredible wife and mother.

We have four children, Sarah, Aaron, Rachel, and Timothy. We are blessed by them and proud of what God has done in and through their lives. As of today, we have five beautiful grandchildren and two more on the way. We consider ourselves blessed by God to have been honored to serve as parents and now grandparents. These roles far outshine any other ministry function we have filled. Have we made mistakes? Certainly. Have we said wrong things? Of course. What parent has not? But through it all, God has given us wisdom and strength. His hand has and continues to rest on the lives of our kids. We pray every day for them and theirs.

The sons and daughters-in-law that God has teamed up with our kids are amazing. Sarah's Tim is a mighty man of God. He is steady, smart, and loves the outdoors. Aaron's Jenny is a very practical, super creative minister that has served to challenge and increase Aaron's ability to impact this world through children. She shops smart, actually finishes scrap booking pages, and is great with kids.

Rachel's Felix is a stable powerhouse for Jesus Christ. His spiritual and practical insights have blessed, challenged, and slapped me upside the head from time to time. He exhorts Rachel to deeper living with Christ and is a phenomenal father to his children. Together, they are powerful ministers to the youth of their area north of Detroit. Tim just married Brittany last January. She pushes him to greater commitment in Christ, perseverance in the workplace, and a deeper understanding of living out his faith. Brittany is smart, funny, and deeply passionate in her relationship with Christ. She is also a fabulous cook.

So that's more about us. Have a great day and remember, you can impact the world through impacting the children.

Hallo-What?


It is Thursday in Pennsylvania. The leaves are quickly soaking off of our trees (lots o rain), and the Philly's just won the first game in the World Series. I sit in my office at VFCC and thank God for the opportunity to train young children's leaders.

I am new to the blogging world so I welcome myself to my new blog. My hope for this blog is that family members, children's workers, and other friends, would be able to keep up with what is happening in the Gruber world.

Halloween is just a couple of days away and we will be setting up a carnival in my front yard again. For ideas on how to do this in your yard go to dickgruber.com and download the free booklet entitled, "Hallo-what?" We will have puppets, grilled hot dogs, and carnival games for the neighborhood kids. Lat year, we served and entertained over 100 boys and girls through this outreach. My college students will be coming out to assist with this and we will have a great time. I want my yard to be the highlight of every kid's night.

That's all for now. Remember that God loves you and you can make a difference in this world by touching the heart of a child.