Retreats

This weekend, Olathe Bible Church youth group is here. Paintball, costume parties, disc golf, root beer floats, a concert, bonfire, reflection, prayer times, a good speaker, and 30 volunteers. Sounds like the makings of a good youth retreat. Retreats can be so good when there are a lot of volunteers. I believe a spiritual mentoring relationship between the older and younger generations is the real secret of a successful youth ministry.

JP


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Location:The dining hall

A Year-round community at camp

Most of you know that there is a small group of people who live, work, study, pray, and play together in a regular routine here at camp. Each of them have promised to work 8 hours per week in exchange for someplace to live and be in community.

During our weekly Bible Study last semester we spent some time talking about how God had been working in each of us, and what have been the high and low points of our lives.

Each person shared. When Jeff shared, he spoke about how living in community these past two semesters has been one of the best experiences of his entire life.

Several of the guys seemed to agree. I began to ask why.

I couldn’t help but smile at their responses. They said many things, including solitude, exploring, getting food from the land (wild berries, winter cress, frogs, and fish), and learning new handyman skills.

What they have loved most however has been getting to spend time together in a way that really fosters their spiritual growth. Being a free, honest, committed group of believers has allowed them to explore and embrace their faith in a way that is difficult for someone who is living a more isolated life.

Living in a committed Christian community allows one to ask real questions, pray with like-minded people, and learn by watching. Last year I saw a ton of growth in the guys who lived here, and I’m looking forward to another year of life in community.

A brief summary of a busy year (in snapshots)

Its been a while since our last update, so I thought a brief summary of the last year would be helpful.

Summer 2010. If you will remember last summer, I had planned on leaving Youthfront and moving to Louisville for seminary. Through a strange set of events, God called us to stay here, where I would work as Youthfront Camp West operations Manager and take seminary courses from a distance.

Fall 2010. After finishing an intense summer of camp, and starting in on retreat season in my new role, I began to realize that the “off” season for a manager does not come till after Thanksgiving. In addition to opportunities for ministry at retreats, I really enjoyed pouring into the community of five guys who lived on site here.  During the Fall of 2010 I took New Testament 1.

Winter 2010-2011. Finally a break! Sort of.. During the winter, is really the best time to do projects around camp. I and the “camp community” refinished the kitchen floor, put a kitchen in the chapel basement, and replaced a circle stairway. One cold night, going up to check on the guys at camp I fell emptying some trash and suffered a mild concussion. It really could have been much worse than it was. A few days later I flew to Louisville to take a one week Systematic Theology course. Everyone loved my scar =). This winter was also FULL of snow, which the girls loved!

Spring 2011. Retreats started back up (though not quite as intense as the fall). Our time was consumed mostly with getting camp ready for summer camp, leading two Bible studies, and being a family. Anna turned 1 and Abi turned 3. It was crazy, but our lives were starting to find a rhythm in this role.  In the spring I took New Testament 2.

Summer 2011. Wow! Camp. This summer was a great first summer for me in this role. I was the busiest I’ve ever been, but I learned so much. My favorite part of the summer was pouring into the summer staff and seeing spiritual friendships develop that would exist far beyond the camp season. Abi and Anna loved the pool and playing with their best friends Mason and Brody, and their uncle who came and worked for me this summer.

Fall 2011. Here we are. One year in, I'm now taking old Testament 1 and finally getting a good rhythm for being in the role of camp manager. Daily responsibilities aren’t quite as overwhelming, Hopefully this new rhythm will prove helpful for both us and you, our loving faithful supporters. More news to come!

A New Newsletter Rhythm

I realize you have not heard from the Philgreens in a long time.  I sincerely apologize for the lack of communication. Starting today I will be taking on a new newsletter rhythm.

First, rather than blogging once a month, I will transition to a shorter weekly blog update. There will be some sort of brief update on our activities, ministry, prayer requests, pictures, or perhaps some devotional thoughts.

Second, rather than sending a monthly newsletter, I will transition to a quarterly newsletter. This newsletter will be the one for the third quarter. The next newsletter will likely come in December. Then march, June, and so on.

There are several reasons for this new rhythm.

1. More current updates. We strongly desire to have a team that prays for us on a regular basis. Sometimes a monthly newsletter just isn’t frequent enough to accomplish that. Personally, when I read a monthly newsletter, I pray for the person as I read it, but then often forget about them the rest of the month. Our hope is that a weekly update will create more regular opportunity for you to pray for us.

2. Better fits my rigorous schedule. It has been very interesting learning the details and duties of my new role at Youthfront. The schedule, waxes and wanes seasonally, yet is quite rigorous and structured. It used to be the case that I could pause my other ministry duties temporarily and dedicate a chunk of time to newsletter writing. Now, because of my structured schedule, opportunities to write come in smaller doses.

3. More fiscally responsible. While this is not a primary reason, it is an added benefit. By increasing electronic communication and decreasing paper, we’ll have less waste and less cost, which means there is more left to do the ministry we love.