White Fields Foundation

3rd Annual White Fields Foundation Night of Inspiration – February 24th, 2012

White Fields Foundation — Tue, 01 May 2012 19:06:21 +0000

The Grand Hall at the Priory

We were packed to capacity at the Grand Hall at the Priory for our White Fields Foundation 3rd Annual ”Night of Inspiration.” This year we honored Aaron Smith, 13 year veteran of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Many of his teammates (Brett Kiesel, Doug Legursky, Jeff Hartings) were on hand to celebrate his great career, his faith, and his family commitment. Tunch Ilkin was our Master of Ceremonies, playing the role of interviewer with his Steeler guys to great applause. Aaron was an NFL All-Pro and 2-time Super Bowl champ earning great praise for his fierce play from his peers, coaching staff and fans. Sports Illustrated senior writer, Peter King, named Aaron a member of the 2000 All-Decade Team. His greatest struggle has not been on the gridiron; it has been his son’s battle with Leukemia which he shared with us. Fred Morelli shared a powerful personal testimony of how he overcame a long battle with clinical depression through the love of God’s people and the men of White Fields leading him to a personal relationship with Christ. We enjoyed our best event financially due to strong corporate sponsorship, table sponsors and a matching gift pledge from key donors.

Tunch interviews Legursky, Kiesel, and Hartings.

This year we began a new recognition, a Marriage Award, in honor of Sharon Ilkin. Sharon was a beautiful servant of the Lord who was taken home at the age of 55 this past February after a long battle with cancer. Jesus won that battle and she is with him now! She left a legacy of compassionate service to others, a strong faith in Christ her Savior, and a deep imprint of love in her husband Tunch, and their three children: Tanner, Natalie, and Clay. They were all on-hand with us.

Dean Ivory was our Joshua Courage Award recipient. Dean will be graduating in June from Seton LaSalle High School with honors in part due to the generosity of some key White Fields donors. Over the past 5 years we have been involved in his life he has overcome many difficult setbacks including his father’s homicide. We are proud to celebrate God’s work of grace in him and his growth as a young man of God.

Tunch with Aaron and Jaimie Smith

Thanks especially to our corporate sponsors who have been with us over the last three years: Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, Thorp Reed & Armstrong, Colussy Chevrolet, and ADT. Thanks also to our first year sponsors Dollar Bank and Hefren- Tillotson. Special thanks as well to our table sponsors who have generously supported us. Once again the Priory’s service and food was outstanding! Over the past three years, we’ve had 300- 400 people enjoy a great meal, music, and an inspirational evening with us. Past celebrities include Joe Erhman (“America’s Most Important Coach” per Parade Magazine), Matt Millen, and Todd Blackledge (ESPN).

White Fields Foundation 4th Annual Men’s Retreat

White Fields Foundation — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:42:48 +0000

White Field’s 4th annual men’s retreat at Jumonville Retreat Center was a powerful blessing, “locking arms” with brothers from ages 13 to 65. Rick Wiater and the men of Good Shepherd Church were again with us this year. The worship, fellowship, torchlight march to the cross and teaching were all a blessing. Brother Charles Simpson was our main speaker, bringing over 50 years of teaching and pastoral ministry as he challenged us with “The Journey” from Genesis 12 and Exodus 17-18. Hiking down at the Yough River, getting to go deeper with the brothers, and our evening Communion Service were a highlight for many men. Men loved the challenging word from the life of Abraham and then applied to us to get out of our tent and to look up at the stars in the heavens. The roof in our “tent” represents the smallness of our present reality that He wants to expand to a God-size vision. The stars represented to Abraham his promise of the great nation of Israel that would be established through his offspring. It represented God’s prophetic future for him if he would believe and follow him in faith. As Christ followers we are on a prophetic journey too and our participation in God’s kingdom plan requires action. It requires that we journey with him as Abraham did leaving all that was comfortable for him in Ur of the Chaldees. Just as the Israelites ate the Passover meal in haste, dressed for a journey we must live by faith as sojourners in a foreign land to be pleasing to God. Special thanks to Rick and John who led us in worship as well as Matt Helbling!

Great Article on Tim Tebow

White Fields Foundation — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:04:32 +0000

I Believe in Tim Tebow

By Rick Reilly

Tim Tebow with Jacob Rainey, one of the many people dealing with health problems Tebow hosted at Broncos games this season.

I’ve come to believe in Tim Tebow, but not for what he does on a football field, which is still three parts Dr. Jekyll and two parts Mr. Hyde.

No, I’ve come to believe in Tim Tebow for what he does off a football field, which is represent the best parts of us, the parts I want to be and so rarely am. Who among us is this selfless?

Every week, Tebow picks out someone who is suffering, or who is dying, or who is injured. He flies these people and their families to the Broncos game, rents them a car, puts them up in a nice hotel, buys them dinner (usually at a Dave & Buster’s), gets them and their families pregame passes, visits with them just before kickoff (!), gets them 30-yard-line tickets down low, visits with them after the game (sometimes for an hour), has them walk him to his car, and sends them off with a basket of gifts.

Home or road, win or lose, hero or goat.

Remember last week, when the world was pulling its hair out in the hour after Tebow had stunned the Pittsburgh Steelers with an 80-yard OT touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas in the playoffs? And Twitter was exploding with 9,420 tweets about Tebow per second? When an ESPN poll was naming him the most popular athlete in America?

Tebow was spending that hour talking to 16-year-old Bailey Knaub about her 73 surgeries so far and what TV shows she likes.

MORE FROM TIM TEBOW

For Tim Tebow’s take on being named America’s most popular athlete, click here.

”Here he’d just played the game of his life,” recalls Bailey’s mother, Kathy, of Loveland, Colo., “and the first thing he does after his press conference is come find Bailey and ask, ‘Did you get anything to eat?’ He acted like what he’d just done wasn’t anything, like it was all about Bailey.”

More than that, Tebow kept corralling people into the room for Bailey to meet. Hey, Demaryius, come in here a minute. Hey, Mr. Elway. Hey, Coach Fox. Even though sometimes-fatal Wegener’s granulomatosis has left Bailey with only one lung, the attention took her breath away.

”It was the best day of my life,” she emailed. “It was a bright star among very gloomy and difficult days. Tim Tebow gave me the greatest gift I could ever imagine. He gave me the strength for the future. I know now that I can face any obstacle placed in front of me. Tim taught me to never give up because at the end of the day, today might seem bleak but it can’t rain forever and tomorrow is a new day, with new promises.”

I read that email to Tebow, and he was honestly floored. ”Why me? Why should I inspire her?” he said. “I just don’t feel, I don’t know, adequate. Really, hearing her story inspires me.”

It’s not just NFL defenses that get Tebowed. It’s high school girls who don’t know whether they’ll ever go to a prom. It’s adults who can hardly stand. It’s kids who will die soon.

For the game at Buffalo, it was Charlottesville, Va., blue-chip high school QB Jacob Rainey, who lost his leg after a freak tackle in a scrimmage. Tebow threw three interceptions in that Buffalo game and the Broncos were crushed 40-14.

”He walked in and took a big sigh and said, ‘Well, that didn’t go as planned,’” Rainey remembers. “Where I’m from, people wonder how sincere and genuine he is. But I think he’s the most genuine person I’ve ever met.”

There’s not an ounce of artifice or phoniness or Hollywood in this kid Tebow, and I’ve looked everywhere for it.

Take 9-year-old Zac Taylor, a child who lives in constant pain. Immediately after Tebow shocked the Chicago Bears with a 13-10 comeback win, Tebow spent an hour with Zac and his family. At one point, Zac, who has 10 doctors, asked Tebow whether he has a secret prayer for hospital visits. Tebow whispered it in his ear. And because Tebow still needed to be checked out by the Broncos’ team doctor, he took Zac in with him, but only after they had whispered it together.

And it’s not always kids. Tom Driscoll, a 55-year-old who is dying of brain cancer at a hospice in Denver, was Tebow’s guest for the Cincinnati game. “The doctors took some of my brain,” Driscoll says, “so my short-term memory is kind of shot. But that day I’ll never forget. Tim is such a good man.”

This whole thing makes no football sense, of course. Most NFL players hardly talk to teammates before a game, much less visit with the sick and dying.

Isn’t that a huge distraction?

”Just the opposite,” Tebow says. “It’s by far the best thing I do to get myself ready. Here you are, about to play a game that the world says is the most important thing in the world. Win and they praise you. Lose and they crush you. And here I have a chance to talk to the coolest, most courageous people. It puts it all into perspective. The game doesn’t really matter. I mean, I’ll give 100 percent of my heart to win it, but in the end, the thing I most want to do is not win championships or make a lot of money, it’s to invest in people’s lives, to make a difference.”

So that’s it. I’ve given up giving up on him. I’m a 100 percent believer. Not in his arm. Not in his skills. I believe in his heart, his there-will-definitely-be-a-pony-under-the-tree optimism, the way his love pours into people, right up to their eyeballs, until they believe they can master the hopeless comeback, too.

Remember the QB who lost his leg, Jacob Rainey? He got his prosthetic leg a few weeks ago, and he wants to play high school football next season. Yes, tackle football. He’d be the first to do that on an above-the-knee amputation.

Hmmm. Wonder where he got that crazy idea? ”Tim told me to keep fighting, no matter what,” Rainey says. “I am.”

White Fields Christmas Breakfast

White Fields Foundation — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:32:35 +0000

Mr. Kim Costanza got our Christmas week pumping with his powerful saxophone and Matt Helbling with some great Christmas carols! Nearly 75 men gathered for our 3rd annual Christmas breakfast on December 20th. This year we enjoyed the beautiful atmosphere in the Grand Hall at The Priory Hotel, fully decorated for Christmas. Kim played his saxophone and brought a convicting and joyful word on the gospel. His threefold emphasis was taken from Isaiah 9:2-7; the prophecy of the gospel, the tenderness of the gospel, and the power of the gospel. Men responded enthusiastically to Kim’s unique style of blending his music with the proclamation of God’s Word. Matt and Ben Lind played 2 selections with Kim and led us in singing some Christmas carols, to help us focus our hearts on Christ. The breakfast buffet was fantastic in addition to the service from the Priory staff. It was great to meet many newcomers and to catch up with men who enjoy our events on an occasional basis throughout the year. We appreciate greatly all of your support of this ministry whether in prayer, attendance at events or huddle groups, and financially. If we can serve you in any way don’t hesitate to email Leo Wisniewski, Director of the Men’s Ministry or Brennan Gaertner, President of White Fields Foundation.

Muslim: Friend or Foe?

White Fields Foundation — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:04:37 +0000

On Monday November 14, a brother and friend of the Ministry, Jack Rusenko, gave a two hour presentation on Islam and Muslims. He gave an explanation of Muslim beliefs and practices, but focused on how we should have a positive image of our Muslim friends as opposed to the negative images we so often see in the media. He drew upon his many years of experience living in Morocco and encouraged us to not see Muslims as the enemy, but as fellow truth seekers.

Penn State Family Prayer Service and Vigil Led by Football Letterman

White Fields Foundation — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 14:59:48 +0000

Like many of you, we have been deeply disturbed, angered, and broken by the recent course of events at our alma mater Penn State University.

If you’re connected in some way to the greater PSU family and if you want to do something meaningful to help in the healing and restoration process that would reflect our collective heart, we invite you to gather with us to mourn and to pray for all who have been hurt in connection with the recent incidents. We are also meeting to offer encouragement from God’s word, to worship, and to gain a clearer sense of how we should respond to these events as Christians or people of good will.

The prayer service will be held tonight, Friday, November 18 at Ascension Lutheran Church 8225 Peebles Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15237-5713 (412) 364-4463 ‎ (North Hills) from 7pm to 8:15pm with a discussion time to follow in the Fellowship Hall. A facilitator will lead this time. Refreshments will be provided.

PSU Lettermen: Leo Wisniewski (’82), Brennan Gaertner (’86), Jeff Hartings (’94)

For more information email Leo Wisniewski at leo@whitefieldsfoundation.org

White Fields Annual Christmas Breakfast – Dec. 20

White Fields Foundation — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:43:28 +0000

Get your Christmas week started early with Kim’s powerful saxophone and some great Christmas carols! We will be gathering again for our 3rd annual Christmas breakfast on December 20th. This year we will be enjoying the beautiful atmosphere in the Grand Hall at the Priory Hotel. Mr. Kim Costanza will be playing his saxophone, sharing some Christmas selections with us. As always, he will share some of his deep devotional insights regarding the Christmas story. Matt Helbling will leads us in singing some Christmas carols, to help us focus our hearts on Christ as the true Center of the Advent season. Our feature speaker will be announced in coming weeks, closer to the event date. Registration begins at 6:30 a.m., coffee and pastries will be provided at that point. Breakfast and the program will be from 7:00 to 8:45. This is a great outreach opportunity to bring a friend! The cost per person is $25, which includes full hot buffet breakfast. Free parking will be available. Please RSVP to rachel@whitefieldsfoundation.org.

Cigars, NFL Action and Brothers – Nov. 20

White Fields Foundation — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 16:43:15 +0000

Join us at Executive Cigars (630 Suismon Street, Pittsburgh North Side 15212) and energize your football Sunday on a Steelers bye-week! We will be gathering for an afternoon of good fellowship, food, cigars and Direct TV access to all of the NFL action. For $20 per person, we will provide a lunch buffet, a good cigar, and beer or wine. Our event will be held in Lee’s private lounge upstairs, which has several flat-screen TVs, comfortable seating, and a ventilation system to handle a lot of cigar smoke! The Raiders will square off against the Minnesota Vikings in a 1:00 pm game that afternoon, if you care to join Leo with the Silver and Black. If you’re a cigar smoker, don’t miss this great chance to bring a friend and introduce them to our band of merry men at White Fields! We passed out Hoyo De Montereys at the golf outing and we guarantee we will have another good cigar for you.

Bring an extra one or two if possible, to trade with the boys. There will a maximum of 50 spots available for this event, so please RSVP as soon as possible to rachel@whitefieldsfoundation.org, or to Leo Wisniewski at 412-445-8842.

3rd Annual White Fields Golf Outing A Success!

White Fields Foundation — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 17:08:13 +0000

We enjoyed a great autumn day of golf and fellowship at the beautiful Quicksilver Golf Club for our 3rd Annual White Fields Golf Outing. In our third year, we hit the century mark for golfers and enjoyed tremendous corporate sponsorship!

Fred Morelli chaired our golf event this year, leading us to a significant boost in foursomes and sponsors. Once again, Quicksilver was in excellent condition for our event, and players enjoyed the outstanding dinner buffet as well. Kim Costanza gave a quick update on the ministry in the Dominican Republic, and John Cullen shared about his involvement in our Homewood Little League baseball program. Men were invited to participate in our upcoming Homewood basketball program on Tuesday nights, beginning October 25th.

1st place winners were Doug McNelis, John Mineo, Rich Farrell, and John Farrell, and 2nd place winners were Kevin Bode, Sam Coury, John Mandak, and Spanky Veltri. Special thanks to all of our Team sponsors: Fred Morelli, Eric McMahon, Kevin Bode, Jon Perry, Tim Colussy, Jay Simon, Mark Battaglia, Doug McNelis, Bill Krahe, Matt Badger, Doug Shaffer, and Super Tee sponsors, Dave Jacobs, and the Franjione family. Special thanks as well to Colussy Chevrolet, our Hole-in-One sponsor. We upgraded our cigar choice to Hoyos this year, and the boys appreciated it.

Mark your calendars for next year’s event, at Quicksilver on Friday, September 14th, 2012. It will be another 8am shotgun start. Check out pictures from the event below:

2012 White Fields Dominican Republic Mission Trip

White Fields Foundation — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 17:52:24 +0000

At the end of January (21 – 28), we are taking a group of White Fields men and their families to the Dominican Republic for a week of service, worship and fellowship. We will be working in partnership with Meeting God in Missions. The founder of MGM, Jim McDonald, will be leading devotions all week. He is a man that has been greatly used by God, and his devotionals are filled with the inspiration of the Spirit. Throughout the week, we will be involved in many areas of service: painting a village, prayer walking, door-to-door evangelism, vacation Bible school (VBS), and sports outreach which may include baseball, soccer, and basketball. There will be a basketball team of coaches going to 5 different cities each afternoon and holding clinics with 50-100 young men. You may choose a different activity each day, or even stay at the mission compound for quiet reflection and prayer. Local pastors, Ney and Jacobo, will be directing us in our service projects/mission efforts throughout the week. You can read their testimonies on our new Dominican division website.

Total cost of the trip is $1,100 per person, which includes airfare, transportation in the Dominican, food and lodging at the MGM compound in Hato Mayor. We will need your down payment of $500 by November 1st. Make checks payable to Meeting God in Missions, with White Fields week noted in the memo section. Please mail to: White Fields Foundation, 8225 Peebles Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15237. Print off a trip application form from the MGM website to mail along with your deposit check. If you do not have a current US passport, you need to start the application process immediately to ensure it’s timely completion. Vaccinations are not necessary for entering the country, but we recommend having Hepatitis B and a Tetanus booster (within the past 5 years).

If you have any questions regarding the trip, please write to rachel@whitefieldsfoundation.org.