{"id":17465,"date":"2013-12-17T05:50:13","date_gmt":"2013-12-17T10:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=17465"},"modified":"2013-12-16T19:09:18","modified_gmt":"2013-12-17T00:09:18","slug":"armwrestling-and-vocation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/12\/armwrestling-and-vocation\/","title":{"rendered":"Armwrestling and vocation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A Lutheran pastor, Guntars Baikovs, originally from Latvia but a St. Louis seminary Ph.D., has become the Super Heavyweight champion armwrestler\u2013in both arms\u2013in Australia.\u00a0 After the jump, read a news story about him.\u00a0 Notice how he works in a plug for vocation:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our society we celebrate achievements. That\u2019s good, we need to nourish our gift and be proud of them. But for so many of us, it makes our lives difficult. Our value and dignity doesn\u2019t depend on our achievements,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn reality, what is much more important than our extraordinary achievements in our hobbies, are the ordinary things we all do on a daily basis \u2013 how we serve people around us.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n


\nvia The Barossa Valley Lutheran church pastor Guntars Baikovs is also Australia\u2019s arm wrestling champion | The Advertiser<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Guntars Baikovs might teach the bible\u2019s workings in the South Australian Lutheran church but he is also the unlikely reigning national super-heavyweight champion in \u2013 arm wrestling.<\/p>\n

The Latvian-born pastor, 41, was crowned the Australian champion \u201con both arms\u201d in the Super Heavyweight division at the national championships in Sydney last month.<\/p>\n

The father-of-three, measuring 195cm tall and who weighs in at 120kg, emigrated to Tanunda, in the Barossa Valley, earlier this year to work at the St Paul\u2019s and Zion Gnadenberg parish.<\/p>\n

The softly spoken and modest pastor, together with his young family, have quickly become an integral part of the local community but it is his exploits outside of church that have earned him a cult-like following.<\/p>\n

[Keep reading. . . ]<\/a><\/p>\n

\"POWERFUL<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
HT:\u00a0 Joanna Hensley<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Lutheran pastor, Guntars Baikovs, originally from Latvia but a St. Louis seminary Ph.D., has become the Super Heavyweight champion armwrestler\u2013in both arms\u2013in Australia.\u00a0 After the jump, read a news story about him.\u00a0 Notice how he works in a plug for vocation: \u201cIn our society we celebrate achievements. That\u2019s good, we need to nourish our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,48],"tags":[2919,237],"class_list":["post-17465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","category-vocation","tag-armwrestling","tag-australia"],"yoast_head":"\nArmwrestling and vocation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Lutheran pastor, Guntars Baikovs, originally from Latvia but a St. Louis seminary Ph.D., has become the Super Heavyweight champion armwrestler--in both\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/12\/armwrestling-and-vocation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Armwrestling and vocation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Lutheran pastor, Guntars Baikovs, originally from Latvia but a St. Louis seminary Ph.D., has become the Super Heavyweight champion armwrestler--in both\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/12\/armwrestling-and-vocation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-17T10:50:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-12-17T00:09:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/api.news.com.au\/content\/1.0\/adelaidenow\/images\/1226783209434?format=jpg&group=iphone&size=medium\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/12\/armwrestling-and-vocation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/12\/armwrestling-and-vocation\/\",\"name\":\"Armwrestling and vocation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-17T10:50:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-12-17T00:09:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"A Lutheran pastor, Guntars Baikovs, originally from Latvia but a St. Louis seminary Ph.D., has become the Super Heavyweight champion armwrestler--in both\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/12\/armwrestling-and-vocation\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/12\/armwrestling-and-vocation\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/12\/armwrestling-and-vocation\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Armwrestling and vocation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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