Month: August 2005

I just got an email from a student in Fivemiletown. He wrote this after their very first “post-Summerserve” coffeehouse.

Hey Guys

I have just got home from the first NO2 drop in since you left! My sis and I were not knowing what to expect but when the youth kept on going we were happy! Becca and Stephen came too and they were great with everyone……all of the young people were asking for you! we got them a football and the hot chocolate and other drinks were gulped down. there were about 18 to 20 at the peak so it was encouraging. it wasn’t as good as yours but they all loved that it was back on and they gave us their ideas on how to make it better. i have new found respect for you guys…………..you must have worked soooooooooooo hard to do what you did. they even put on a drama for us at the end……but then quit five minutes in (think it was romeo and juliet but not sure!!!!!).

Any ho, just thought I would let you know how it went. we had three people how had never been before and everyone wants it to happen again……..and they all miss you and want to see you again! chat to you soon

This is very good news! Woohoo!

I just got done talking to “the guys” on the trustee board. It’s always good when they start off a conversation with “we’re feeling pretty good tonight, let’s spend some money.” This is especially good when they are talking about computers!

So, they’ve placed an order for my new laptop. It’s going to have one of those nice Centrino processors and it should be a lot of fun to work with. I can’t wait to get this bad boy up and running. This just might tip me back into the idea of going back to grad school this semester. At least if class is boring I will have some stuff to do! Excpected delivery date: 9/1/2005

With the golf season underway and my own leagues winding down… Golf seems to be my life right now.

Even though I have played very little, I played pretty well last night. I drove the ball fairly well and even managed to snake in 2 long putts for birdie. The first one, on the par 3 3rd hole was very makeable. Uphill, 20 feet with a predictable break. The second one, on the par 5 9th hole, was a double-breaker that I would have missed 9 out of 10 times. I felt good about that.

More impressive with the flat stick was a par save on the par 4 4th hole. We struggled to get on the green and left ourselves with a nasty 15 footer for par. In Tiger Woods fashion I used the very last revolution to knock it down. It even did the dramatic “stop on the lip to show the logo” trick.

We finished at even par 36. If it weren’t for 2 ugly bogies on 7 & 8 we would have been -2. Oh well. I am still in the top 10 and “in the money” for the league. Of course, I don’t put my money in so “my sponsors” are in the money.

Shot Gun!
Yesterday was Jon’s last Light Force road trip. I have to say that I was a bit nostolgic about the trip to Michigan’s Adventure yesterday. It was a trip that is not only a lot of fun… it’s also represented a major “changing of the guard” for our group. As this is our last major summer event, it was the last opportunity for the class of 2005 to travel with us before they leave us for the college & career group. At the same time it was a major “tour de force” of our emerging middle school classes! They rocked.

This is my 3rd summer of ministry here and one thing has always been a constant. Every time we do anything, Jon yells “Shotgun.” Now with me, I have a rule about shotgun. [Who sits next to the driver in the car/van.] In order to call shotgun I have to have left the building on my way to the car. So when multiple people want it… they rush out in front of me and wait for my foot to cross the threshold. Jon almost always got it. So much so that there were times when other students were sour about it and I had to ask him to take the 2nd row.

Jon’s been a faithful travel companion for 3 years. He’s gone to almost anything and for any reason. He’s gone on countless errand runs to get things for Light Force. We’ve been to Home Depot dozens of times. He went on all of the college visit trips. He did all the mission trips, including the Northern Ireland trip. And he almost always sat next to me. We guessed that we’ve put in about 30,000 miles next to each other… and it is always fun!

Over the 3 years, Jon’s not just travelled with me a lot, he’s grown a lot. I beamed with pride when David Schultz from Project Serve bragged about how well Jon was doing in Ballymena a few weeks ago. He went on and on about how impressed he was with Jon in the work there. It also excites me to hear about the way he’s jumped into Romeo’s college & career ministry with both feet. All I can say when I hear these stories about Jon is “wow… that’s too cool.”
But, don’t read this as a story of pomp and circumstances… Sugar and spice and all things nice. Jon, while he has grown a lot, didn’t start out a success story. When I met him he was a headache. Undisciplined, unfocused, ulcer causing to mom and dad… Actually, the day I met him he managed to roll over the families Camry while driving… while he was grounded from the car. Mom wanted to kill him. His sister wanted to kill him. His dad probably wanted to kill him but never said anything… let’s just say he was one of the first students I prayed for at Romeo. You just never knew what Jon would do. If something broke… he did it. If something was missing, he knew something about it. If someone was mad, Jon was at the middle. There were times I too wanted to ring his neck. I always liked him, but sometimes to a fault.

But as Jon started to surrender his life to Christ… his life turned around quickly. He never went back to summer school. He got into a lot less trouble. He has gradually taken on more responsibility. He’s made better choices for himself. He’s gotten into better relationships. He’s really become a joy to be around. This past spring, when he asked me to write some references for colleges, I wrote the same thing in every reference. “Please don’t make the mistake of reading Jon by the averages. Look at him as a tale of two students. One before and one after.”

Now what?
I heard a little talk about who would take Jon’s spot. I know a couple of the upperclassmen are making their claim. The truth is. There won’t be a replacement. Jon was unique, he was an individual. There maybe someone new in the front seat… but it won’t be Jon. We’ll have fun together and we’ll bond and it will be cool… but there won’t be a replacement. I’ll miss my road trip buddy… but I will move on.

Of course, just because he’s in college doesn’t mean I can’t take pointless road trips with him!

When I came back from Northern Ireland on Sunday, I was floored by the amount of work that had been done on the office renovation project at church.

If I had to gauge my “pre-construction” expectations on a scale of 1-10 I would have put it at about a 4. I just wasn’t sure that the people of the church really were excited about the building project and they weren’t ready to jump in and do the labor.

As has happened many, many times before… I was dead wrong! All this week there has been a constant stream of people coming to do one project or another. All of the old walls are down and hauled away. The old carpet… Gone. Old furniture… Well, it’s still there!

Can I help?
I felt guilty all week because every time I asked to help I just got starred at. It’s a common misconception that all pastors are white collar and don’t know how to do anything. OK, so I don’t know anything about cars… But I can do a thing or two when it comes to home improvement! I’ve swung my fair share of hammers, sledges, and more. I would call myself “acceptable” at electrical and dry wall. I am pretty good with a paint brush. I can do a lot of things… But often I just get handed a blank stare…

So today Bob and I just showed up ready to work. The “white collar guys” got handed the task of keeping the jobsite clean. I’ll admit, it’s an important job. But I’ve been on enough job sites to know that this is what they do to keep people busy who they don’t think can do anything.

I’m hoping that this week I can move up in the world from broom pusher and shelf mover to cement mixer. Perhaps, if I do really, really good… They’ll even let me carry dry wall.

Change in status
Life is funny when you make a big change. Prior to being a pastor most folks would look at me as blue collar. I’d get asked to help with folks cars, help people move, help with building projects, get called when something broke, etc. But as soon as I started being a pastor everyone looks at you differently. It’s assumed that you don’t know anything about building stuff or cars or anything other than theology. At most, I am given tons of credit for being good with computers…

The same thing was weird in Northern Ireland. I was the old guy when I am used to being the young gun. People used words like “wise” there while back home I get “nice opinion.” So… In 5mile 29 was old, but here in Romeo 29 is young.

If you get to thinking about it… This goes on forever. People assume that because I am in youth ministry that I am inexperienced and too green to do “real ministry.” On and on and on. They say you can’t judge a book by it’s cover… But no one in the real world seems to go by that.

A couple of things that have been on my mind in the last few days.

When I was in Northern Ireland things were much slower. OK, they were really, really slow. But at the same time I was able to really sit around and think through things. The freedom of time [boredom] allowed me the freedom to rest in my thoughts. It allowed me to hear God in the silence of my day. Long morning walks were like fresh air to my “near burnout.” [Kind of like being “kind of pregnant.”]

Then it all crashed down in the corridor of Detroit’s airport. Reality hit me in the face like a slab of meat. Busyness came back. Hectic schedules and overworked job responsibilities came swirling back. Ministry became a job again instead of a joy. family became something 24/7 and not something I miss. Contacts needed to be made. Houses had to be looked at. Bills to be paid. Appointments to be rescheduled. Lessons to prepare.

As my first “post 5mile” week comes to a close I am left spinning. OK, I am realing from the load of stuff piled on me. And I want out. I am sick of ministry being a job. I want it to be like it used to be for me… something I looked forward to. It’s not that I hate what I do… but at the same time it is depressing that ministry is what I do. It sounds kind of weird, but it comes from the reality that being a professional minister is hard and sometimes… especially when you are tired… you want out.

Those who have read this rant before know that I always resolve it with a simple statement: Satan has a special “ministry” just for those in ministry.

Here is what I am resting on during this period of stupidity in my life:
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

I just heard from our agent. The other party sent in all the paperwork to release the contract. We have ourselves a house!

Of course, there is still loads to do. But I am very excited.

I did something at Light Force that I never ever do. I checked my voice mail. Something just told me that between water games last night that I needed to check it… so I did.

On my phone was a message from our realtor letting us know that everything was now clear for us on the house on Bailey. [YES!] The other people who had a contract on it backed out since their house hadn’t yet sold. So we know that our good news is their bad news. Since we’ve had our house dreams crushed before we know how hard that is to swallow… ugh. I feel for them.

We are supposed to sign the final paperwork today and get an inspection done over the weekend. If that goes well, we are 100% done. We’ll just need the bank to do their thing and start the long waiting period. [Since the seller sold the house so quickly, 13 days, they haven’t even found a new house yet. We may not move until mid-November!]

Here are some pics…

Some good news from the realtor. The seller has agreed to our offer and we are just waiting for the final documents now. The only bad news is that the house is still under contract with another party. If they don’t come up with the money in 24 hours… the deal is sealed!

So… please pray for us that we might get our slice of the dream. I am so excited and so scared at the same time. YIKES!

So, I remember something during the breif debreifing time about not making any quick decisions after our trip to Northern Ireland.

I threw that out the window! We made an offer on the most coolest house in the world today. We are so excited!

We should find out Wednesday afternoon if we get it or not. In the meantime… we’re biting our fingernails.