Friday, August 27, 2010
A little More Information
This past month, I officially accepted an offer to be the Camp Manager at Youthfront Camp West. As Camp Manager, I have some big responsibilities. The main ones are maintenance of camp facilities year round, shepherding and supervising the on-site community and volunteers, building relationships with neighbors and guests, and hosting retreats.
There are several reasons why we believe this to be God’s provision for us. First, due to the housing and job situation in Louisville it became apparent that in addition to full-time seminary courses, Amanda and I would both have to work in order to survive financially. This situation would also create a huge strain on us as a family. I would not be the father and husband I hope to be due to the amount of stress and lack of time.
Second, something many people do not know is my love for working with my hands. This position provides the unique opportunity to work with my hands in a way that creates ministry-enabling space, plus getting some of the direct person-to-person discipleship ministry I love so much.
Third, this position will give our family some stability for the next several years living at Youthfront Camp West. (We’ve never lived in the same place more than 9 months since being married)
Lastly, this position sets us up for more effective ministry in the future by allowing me to finish seminary in a holistically healthy way. Over the next four years, I will be completing my Masters of Divinity at the pace of 3-4 classes per year through online and modular courses, all the while able to work in ministry full-time, and spend a reasonable amount of time with my family.
In reality, our goals have stayed the same, but the road and timeline have changed. Please pray for us as I get started over the next couple weeks.
Also, I want to say a heartfelt thank you for your prayer and support as we follow God’s leading. We are so grateful for your faithfulness. Feel free to call or email us if you have questions.
There are several reasons why we believe this to be God’s provision for us. First, due to the housing and job situation in Louisville it became apparent that in addition to full-time seminary courses, Amanda and I would both have to work in order to survive financially. This situation would also create a huge strain on us as a family. I would not be the father and husband I hope to be due to the amount of stress and lack of time.
Second, something many people do not know is my love for working with my hands. This position provides the unique opportunity to work with my hands in a way that creates ministry-enabling space, plus getting some of the direct person-to-person discipleship ministry I love so much.
Third, this position will give our family some stability for the next several years living at Youthfront Camp West. (We’ve never lived in the same place more than 9 months since being married)
Lastly, this position sets us up for more effective ministry in the future by allowing me to finish seminary in a holistically healthy way. Over the next four years, I will be completing my Masters of Divinity at the pace of 3-4 classes per year through online and modular courses, all the while able to work in ministry full-time, and spend a reasonable amount of time with my family.
In reality, our goals have stayed the same, but the road and timeline have changed. Please pray for us as I get started over the next couple weeks.
Also, I want to say a heartfelt thank you for your prayer and support as we follow God’s leading. We are so grateful for your faithfulness. Feel free to call or email us if you have questions.
The End of a Summer
Every weekday this summer, I spent time in the morning after breakfast with the cabin leaders on summer staff. My role this summer was to lead and shepherd this group in a way that allowed them to pour their lives out on campers.
In some of the final meetings, we spent some time sharing stories from the summer. I will post some video of these stories soon, but I wanted to give you a taste (camper names are modified).
Noah. Noah, one of our cabin leaders, sat and told the story of a boy name Eric. On Wednesday in the cabins, they talked about the good samaritan.
Noah asked the group, “Do any of you have someone who is just really hard to love?” Several of the students listed off different people they thought of. Eric mentioned that his little sister (who happened to be a camper that week) is one of the hardest people he has to love.
On Friday toward the end of camp at the pool party, Noah looked over and saw
Eric holding his little sister who was crying. Walking up to Noah, Eric said, “do you care if I walk her back to her cabin, she’s a little homesick?”
At that moment, Noah’s heart melted as he saw Eric genuinely loving the sister he found so difficult to love.
Britany. Britany shared the story of a couple of girls named Mary and Anne, who were going to be freshmen in high school this year. When she met with them individually, they talked about doubts and the cost of following Jesus.
A couple nights later at the evening gathering, Mary came up to Britany and said, “I’m glad God can help me and stuff. I just don’t know if I want lose all my friends. I don’t want to commit to God if it means losing them”
Britany kindly turned toward her and said, “there will come a time in our lives when our friends aren’t enough. You have to come to the point where you can say, “I need you Jesus.”
In a surprising non-chalant way she said, “Okay, I’ll do it” and walked off.
A little shocked, Britany wondered what just happened. Later on that night at the very beginning of their evening cabin time, Mary excitedly raised her hand and said, “okay, I’ve got something to tell everyone. I’ve decided to give my life to Jesus, and I really want to tell all my friends. I’m so excited, and I just love Him, I really just love Jesus.”
One of Brittany’s favorite parts about this story is that Mary and Anne live in Liberty, Mo where Brittany goes to school, and they’ve agreed to continue to meet over the school year.
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