• from the playpark of Fivemiletown

    Good morning from Fivemiletown, Northern Ireland.

    Sorry I couldn’t update yesterday as the internet cafe` here is closed on Sunday . OK, EVERYTHING is closed on Sunday’s in NI. The only thing I saw open yesterday was the gas [petrol] station and a chinese resteraunt.

    From this point forward my updates will only be about my team and what is going on here in 5mile. I will send an e-mail to all the others and ask them to send updates to me so I can post them here, but I don’t know who has access and I won’t see any of them for 8 days unless there is an emergency.

    First off, let me say that the events in Egypt and London are terrible. It is both a reminder of the very dangerous world we live in now as well as the urgent need for evangelism. Though I don’t know much since I don’t have great access to news, my heart breaks for the families who have lost loved ones as well as the general sense of terror folks must be feeling as they commute this morning.

    This morning I took Richie and Dave with me for my morning devotions. I got them up very early, practically the middle of the night for NI folks. At 6:15 we met in the church kitchen for a quick read of Scripture and then we were off for a walk. Actually, we all chose a word from what we were reading and wrote it on our bodies. Since I am currently stuck in the first part of Luke 3 I wrote “prepare” on my forearm. Why? Well, I wrote it on my arm as a reminder… I’ll see it all day and it will keep me thinking about John the Baptist. It really has hit me hard as I’ve studies Jesus’ story. John entire existence was for that one word… prepare. He was not conceived by a silent father and old mother for greatness… but to merely prepare people for Jesus. His ministry was always secondary to God’s story. In fact, he was once asked “are you the Messiah?” In that moment he had the chance to say… I am a very important person and you should lift me up. Instead he simply said “I am not him.” This hits me hard as I work here in 5Mile. Here’s what I mean.

    Why this ministry works here is not that complex. We crazy Americans are a novelty to the Irish. They think we are worth talking to because we come from where they want to go sometime and we talk like people they see on TV. So if we say “wanna come over tonight and talk to us at our coffee bar?” they’ll think to themselves… “Hey, why not? How often can I talk to someone from America?” In a small town, this is exciting… more exciting than hanging out at the park and smoking on the swings. This simple little thing is all the opportunity we need to start building relationships with the kids and talking to them about Jesus. That word “prepare” is a perfect reminder to me as I serve here…. my job isn’t to do anything else but prepare them to meet Jesus. Coming to know the Savior is a God-sized thing. I may play a role in it, but it is only because God wants to involve me. He doesn’t need me to reveal Himself to these lost kids… He just allows me the priveledge of doing so. I am here to prepare. [I can’t help thinking of seasoning meat when I think of this… maybe I should call myself the tenderizer?]

    So, on our read.walk.think.pray excursion today we ventured off to the edge of town. We hopped a couple of fences into a farmers field and explored the ruins of an old house. We spent about 30 minutes trying to imagine what the building was used for… then when we got back to the main road we laughed at ourselves for not reading the massive sign that read “Calvery Family House.” Yep, same old Adam!

    In other news. The church we are staying at is pretty cool. The Wesley Hall, where we stay, is only 7 years old. It has a large gym and a nice coffe bar o nthe 2nd floor. There are a few classrooms and a really nice kitchen. What is really sad is that the church really only has a small handful of Christian kids. It’s funny because even though the building is 7 years old you can tell that there is no youth ministry. I brand new and dusty pool table. A foosball table that’s never been used. The gym has no scuff marks on the wall from hockey or mysterious stains from youth events. There simply is no youth ministry. What difference does that make? Well, it is seen in the churches on Sunday mornings. The churches aren’t alive. There is fellowship there and I’m sure good things happen. But the parking lot clears instantly. There is little or no Sunday school hour. There are few Bible studies. The church is dying. What does that have to to do with youth ministry? Just ask the kids of 5mile.

    Last night about 9:30 we headed over to the local park. There were about 15 kids there hanging out as the sun went down. Bored… their eyes filled with something I experienced a lot in Germany… boredom leading to depression and loneliness. This is a loneliness only Christ can fill but they try to backfill with alcohol, cigarettes, and relationships. [What they call their fun!] As we talk to them, it is clear that they are looking for something more in their lives. They can’t articulate it, but they just look bound by something and they are looking for the chains to come off. They wan to be free but just don’t know how.

    Our plan is simply to take these bored kids and invite them to our two outreaches each day. At 2-4 PM we have a meeting for 11-15 year olds and play games with them, etc. From 8-10 we have a coffebar at the church. In both instances the gospel is there… not an altercall or anything like that… but as we build relationships we share our story, they tell us theirs, and we try to weave in God’s story.

    Team news I kind of like my team. There aren’t a lot of experienced people here but they have tons of enthusiasm. Right now, we are rocking this tiny village with our noise level. My personal goal is to invest what I can into Richie, Val, and Becca while I am here. They are a part of YFCs internship program called Y1. They are in way, way over their heads… exactly where God likes us to be! So far I’ve been very disappointed with their ability to lead the team. In fact, the team feels like they are leading the leaders right now. They are in a common stage of leadership development where they think being seen as cool will earn them respect. It isn’t working. They are going to learn soon that in order to lead you have to get out front and show us the way. Pushing from behind isn’t a very good way to lead.

    Like I said before, if I hear anything from the rest of our Romeo team, I’ll post it here. If nothing else, I will see them next Tuesday when I get to tour around.

    Thank you for praying for us. Please continue to pray for the many kids we will invite in tonight.

  • This morning I sat outside in the brisk cold air and read my morning devotions. As I was too tired to do my read.walk.think.pray devos… I sat beside a stone wall across the road from the Methodist College’s chapel and read, thought, and prayed.

    I was there about an hour or so since breakfast wasn’t until 9:00 AM. (Irish people sleep in and I get up around 5:30!) As I sat there I was a bit distracted by a large seagull at the steeple of this church building. He was cawing like crazy and getting on my nerves! It took me a little while to realize that he was protecting his turf on the steeple from another seagull who wanted his spot. Every minute or so the seagull to his left would get a foot closer or so… too close for the bird on it’s perch. So he would caw and scream and stamp his feet in anger. As the hour went on the two got closer and closer making racket all the while.

    As I think about this and the troubles [as they call them] here in Belfast I can honestly come to the conclusion that the groups here are so divided so deeply that even the birds fight just to fight about nothing. Of course, it’s nothing to me… Because I’m not involved… But it is important to them. Just like the birds this morning.

    In our training we’ve learned a fair amount about the troubles. We know what to look out for and we know some background information. But we don’t understand it. We know that in about 30 years of these troubles there have been about 3600 people murdered… Half of them innocent bystanders. [Contrast that with gang and crime in Detroit for the last 30 years and Belfast seems like Mayberry!] We know that 90% of the crimes go unpunished. We know that the factions now look more like gangs in some way since they have started to generate income by selling drugs.

    Peace. Is it possible in Northern Ireland? I think so. I am stupid enough to think that Christ’s love compels people like our team to action for change. This change begins with introducing kids, students, and parents to the Peacemaker. We’ve been trained and had drilled into us the simple thought that we can change this world with our service. It’s my prayer that what God does here is merely the beginning for these 8 folks from Romeo. Our goal has always been and continues to be bridging this experience here to home and igniting a passion for evangelism in Romeo that starts with these 8 and spreads to the rest of our church family. Please pray for that!

    Updates
    As I type this, all of the teams are packing for departure. We’ve had a great time here at Methody but it is time to go. We won’t be staying up late and learning new Irish terms or watching couple sneak off to go snoggin’ or hopping the fence to go snag fish & chips before curfew. [They lock the gates one hour before curfew… We’re like a bunch on Mexicans!] It’s time for us to head to our towns and get down to business.

    Last night was one of the most powerful worship services I have ever been to. I’m not sure I can explain it. Awesome music. Jon described it as the best worship he’s ever experienced. He was greatly moved.

    Beth is doing great. She’s headed to a town that is pronounced “Maura.” She thinks her team is great… They are all a lot like her. Quiet, studious, considerate, and highly influential. She’s been a great help to me this week in helping all of us adjust to team life.

    Dawn is very ready to go. She will have the most internet access of all of us so expect to hear from her. I am very excited to see what God has in store for her in Ballyclaire. [I think that’s her town!]

    Katie and Autumn are ready for Kilelea. They’ve been told their work will be hard but rewarding. Please pray that their team would get really tight. Also pray for Autumn… No major homesickness yet… But one asthma attack last night might bring that on. [SHE IS FINE, relax Barb… We’ve got Beth!]

    Jon has it all together as his team is headed to the 2nd largest town in NI. Partadown. They will be working with an existing youth group that needs a serious kick in the pants. Portadown is about the size of the Romeo area…. Yeah, that’s right. 40,000 qualifies as the 2nd largest town.

    Andrea had a very happy birthday. Lots and lots of singing and embarrassing moments. She’s been told her town is pretty rough… If you know Andrea you know that makes her excited.

    Lisa is headed up to Monkstown. I know we were told before that this was a high crime area. It is. But never fear, Lisa has a massive Highland Games guy that is a former bouncer. He’s more protective of his teammates that I could be.

    Adam I guess that leaves me. We have a very loud team. We’re going to be taking little 5 miletown by storm. I don’t think the pastor was lying when she said emphatically “all of Fivemiletown” is waiting for you. The 4 churches, about 900 families, have a combined active student population of 5. That’s not a type-O. 5 in Fivemiletown!

    Prayer requests: Safety on the roads is a major thing. Europe has very, very narrow road. And yes there are road hazards like cows and sheep to contend with. There was a YFC staffer killed in a motorcycle accident just 2 nights ago. His name was Matthew. Team health. We’ve been told that many team members have reported mysterious extreme pain in their hands and feet in previous years. Pray that Satan would be bond from here while our work is going on. Team group dynamics. Putting this many cultures together in a stressful environment will be crazy. All of our teams have several nations represented. Pray for our leaders as the travel around fixing problems on teams. They are judged and jury and will be stressed out. I’ve been told I will get to go around and visit all of the Romeo team next week… Pray for wisdom since I am not sure I want to do that. Pray for me as I will be preaching on 7/31. I hope they can understand my accent and that I don’t say anything that has a meaning I don’t understand! Pray for Dawn’s team. There is a team member they have already decided to “vote off the island” as he is very very rude!

    Last thing. I’ve added more pictures. Check them out in the gallery.

  • Tonight is our last night before we head to our seperate towns. We just finished a birthday dinner for Andrea who turned 17 today. Everyone is still in high spirits and homesickness has been between nothing and almost nothing. (YEah!)

    Training has finally ended. It was way too much information and really, really long. Everyone was sick of sitting in the auditorium and listening. That said, it was good and needed.
    We all met our hosts last night and will be going with them in the morning. (Saturday) Where I am going is quite exciting. It’s a town that is smaller than Armada but has no youth ministry to speak of. 4 local churches have gotten together to host us… which has never happened in the history of the town. The minister I am workign with, Daphne, is very kind for an older lady. 🙂 She has a heart to reach the teens of her city but doesn’t have a clue where to begin. We’re hoping to give them a shot in the arm. She’s asked me to fill in for her next Saturday the 31st… so I’ll make my NI debue in the pulpit!

    At this point, we’ve all melded into our groups and almost lost our Romeo identity. That is actually pretty cool. We’ve all made the hurdles past jet lag and there really isn’t much left to do except go.

    I’m not sure how consistent my e-mail access will be. (OK, so I negotiated with her to give me internet access if I would preach for her! I like to negotiate.) I think I’ll be giving Dawn my blog password so she can make updates.

    Today we learned all kinds of fun things NOT TO SAY or words that don’t translate very well. I learned that a slip is a dumpster, candy floss is coton candy, a fanny pack is…. um a sanitary napkin…. slagging is cuddling or making out… slogging is giving someone a hard time…. the fun just goes on and on. LisaB reminds us that when they say “shoot” [like a gun] it sounds a lot like a 4 letter word!

    MInistry wise… we’ll all be doing different types of ministry. Lisa is doing drop-in centers in Monkstown and most of us will be doing that plus children’s ministry. [Except me… I’m just teenagers]

    I realize this isn’t making a lot of sense. Look for a bit of a video update Sunday morning. We all took little videos while siteseeing that I’ll be sending for broadcast Sunday AM.

  • here in Belfast!

    here in Belfast!

    OK… so the weirdest part of flying to Belfast was meeting up with Jonathon Herron at DTW. Too weird! He was like, “Hey… are you guys from Romeo?” Another small world encounter!

    Here’s my update from Day one of our mission trip.

    I am typing this update from a cool internet cafe` in the heart of Belfast. Belfast is a beautiful city and Jon and I just spent the last few hours walking around, snapping oodles of pictures and soaking up super cool Northern Ireland.

    It has been an incredibly busy day so far. It is now 3:30 PM in Belfast and we have dinner at 5:30 and meetings after that. The goal all day has been to keep us busy enough to not fall asleep until 7ish. This should help fight jet lag.

    Our flight here and the bus ride went very smooth. It was cool since everyone was spread out on the plane… it gave us all a chance to work the “LIFE” system. That is, making small tlak with people by finding out their LIKES, INTERESTS, FAMILY, and EDUCATION. I met a really nice couple from Dublin on the plane.

    How is everyone doing?

    Let’s see… the funny thing is that since we’re the “big group” here… we’re and easy target for ribbing. We’ve been labeled “the old group” since most of our team is past high school.

    Jon…. He’s doing good so far. He’s not really come out and shown a lot of interest in anything outside of our group yet. But we havent needed him to do that either. He and I ran around shopping today and that was a blast.
    Andrea… As to be expected, she is the social butterfly. Actually, on the bus ride up from Dublin she didn’t even ride in our bus. It was the 7 of us together and her all alone… happily making friends. I think she’s learned all 67 names already!
    Beth… Doing great, making a lot of friends. She seems to be taking the challenge to “leave life on hold” while we are here. I know she is eager to see what God will do with this trip.
    Dawn… Dawn is tired so far. While she is doing a great job I can see that she is tired. With a little sleep I am certain she will be ready to roll. As always… Dawn is awesome. One cool thing that happened was that her brother Dan called me while we were at JFK in New York. She got to hear his really nice voice mail… and he isn’t in trouble!
    LisaB… What can I say? This girl is the best. She has handled everything flawlessly so far. She and I could look at each other on the plane but were too far apart to talk… we made a lot of hand signals and that was fun.
    Autumn… Yeah, so Autumn doesn’t travel so well as she get’s car/bus/air sick. She’s chummed a couple of tiems so far. Please pray for her! She is healthy and in good spirits… but vomitting in front of new people doesn’t make for quick friends!
    Katie… Another social butterfly. Katie is going to have an awesome trip.
    As for me… I too am tired but doing well. I had my first cup of “proper tea” today at a place across from the Methodist College we are staying at…. very good. (But the coffee I am sipping right now is much better!) Some initial observations about NI. I love the weather and the vibe of Belfast. While Dublin looked a lot like Michigan geographically, up in NI… it is gorgeous! The weather patterns are incredible as the weather literally changes every 5-10 minutes. Rain, overcast, sunny, on and on. I had fun exchanging money for about 12 people. All told, we exchanged $1680 for £938. Man, the UK is stinking expensive!

    The whole Summerserve team is going to be great. It’s one of those things you can just tell. Praise God for smooth travel and awesome teams. I am eager to report more as we get into ministry training Thu-Fri. Wednesday we are going on a bus tour of the north. I plan on takng hundreds of picture. I’ll post some as soon as I can. Another thing… why on earth is the keyboard different here than at home? What’s up with that?

    Another funny thing. Our team has been labeled the “old team” since we have a few people in their 20 somethings and me… a geezer at 29. At JFK people anxiously looked for their team members and one girl when she found out I was the only guy in her group… looked at her friend with a frown and said “the only guy in my group is old and married… that stinks!” Too funny!

    If you’ve got questions for me or the team… shoot… I’ll be happy to answer specific Q’s!

  • dads and daughters

    Since I will be gone until August 8th, I thought it would be good to leave a post worth commenting on.

    This is from one of my student’s blogs…

    A free verse poem dedicated to my dad
    -There are some things a dad will never understand about his teenage daughter. *For one, the way she stuggles once a month to not eat everything in sight while trying to stay in sight of bathrooms and have fun all at the same time.
    -Or how when her crush walks into the room and flashes his heart melting smile at her and she feels like a chocolate bar in someones pocket. *How her crush embraces her and she feels safe from everything.
    -Her dad will never understand what it’s like to try to find clothes that fit, look flattering and are stylish on a budget. *There is something about teenage girls that baffles a dad’s mind.
    -He can never understand what it’s like to be her in her own generation. *The more he tries to say he understands, the more stupid and naive he sounds.
    -She can even TRY to explain to him what she wants, what she’s feeling, but everyone else just watches it blow over his balding head. *There are some things a dad will never understand about his teenage daughter.

    So, got any thoughts? Observations? True? Untrue?

  • PACKING go braugh


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    All the emotions running high
    We just got from our latest Target trek for stuff I probably don’t really need but can’t leave without. In less than 48 hours my mission team will be on our way to Belfast, Northern Ireland.

    I don’t know if I’m nervous. I am anxious about leaving my family for 21 days! Kristen and I have been apart for a couple of weeks before and it wasn’t a big deal… But that was before Megan and Paul were around. The guilt of not being here is weighing heavy on me.

    I know all the stuff about faith and God’s plan, but the reality of leaving my family here is hard. I will miss them big time.

    Packing, packing, packing
    As I’ve assembled my things bit by bit I am starting to see it all come together. One monster bag with my clothes and all my gear. My backpack with essential trip snacks, paperwork, and “just in case” stuff if my big bag gets lost. And a good pillow.

    To me, I just can’t sleep without a nice pillow. I can sleep on the floor or on a lumpy mattress, but not without 2 pillows. One for my head and one for my armpit. (Stomach and side sleeper)

    tomorrow we have our commissioning during the service and then later we’re asking families to come back and hear about our trip details and pray with us. I expect this to be a very emotional time… At least for me. Then we will all try to sleep and meet back at the church to leave at 7:00 AM.

    From that point on, I will need to be strong for everyone else. But between now and then, I’m full of mixed emotions!

  • rock boobs: they think I’m an idiot sometimes

    Flashback to this afternoon
    Today I had the “hard ministry task” of taking 10 of my favorite people to the beach in Port Huron, Michigan to enjoy a day of playing in the waves and enjoying their friendship. All in all, it was a great day. This is what I refer to as “suffering for Jesus.”

    A great story
    I don’t know what it is, but being in the wave filled waters of a Great Lake made my high school girls become very aware of their boobs. (At least if they are infatuated at other times I’m clueless about it!) The beach we went to had a lot of sand, but there were also lots of rocks like those in the picture above. Off and on as we fought the strong current and tossed the football one of my students would say to a friend… Something about their boobs. I don’t know what the fascination was… As I guy I don’t get it! They never talked to me or the other guys about it, but I could pick up that this was a constant conversation piece. (More so than previous years when all they could talk about is that I didn’t freak out about their “risque tankinis” that previous youth workers wouldn’t let them wear.) They freaked out that their tops didn’t fit right, that the waves pulled their tops lose… I don’t know… But I could tell they were all talking about boobs all morning.

    So a few hours pass. We have lunch and then we all jump back into the waves. I start playing a rough game of football with a couple of the guys and the girls peal off to go do girl stuff. Pretty typical. Just like any other age group… At the end of the day boys play with boys and girls play with girls.

    Here’s my disclaimer for the next story: I’m a leader, and I feel responsible for other people’s kids when I go places with them. So I’ve always got my eye on them and try to keep up with what they are doing… So while I play catch/dunk a student… I’m keeping an eye on the girls.

    Rocky boobs
    Pretty soon I look over [maybe 20 yards] and see that two of my leadership team girls have stuffed large rocks into their swimsuits to.. I guess… er, simulate “what they want.” To me, the whole incident was pretty funny in a non-sexual kind of way. It was cute in the same way that it’s cute when you find out your 7th graders still play with Barbie’s even though they are completely “too mature” to admit to it. The innocent nature of this little thing they were doing is what made it so funny. I was just lost in the simplicity of knowing that my most mature leadership ladies… Are just kids.

    So for the next 20 minutes or so, as I did my glancing over there to make sure they were OK, I could see these girls scouring the floor of Lake Huron for perfect rock boobs. I don’t think (Oh man I hope!) that they had a clue that I knew what they were up to… And I don’t ever plan on telling them.

    But at least I had something funny to tell Kristen when I got home. Those girls would just die if they knew that I knew what they were up to! There are so many times of “precious moments” that I stuff into my memory bank… it all goes to prove once and for all that teenage girls are nuts.

  • building project nearing start

    Last night, well after midnight, the Washington Township planning commission gave us the nod to move forward with our building program. The meeting started at 7:30 PM and went until about 2:00 AM. Maybe that is the news!

    It’s been about 31 years since the church put a spade in the ground for major construction. This project will be a massive facade change and a reworking of current office space. To label this “much needed” is an understatement. We need this bad!

    PC News

    I submitted a proposal that should land me a new laptop. My desktop got approved by the right committee… We speced it out and I told them I’d pay the difference to get what I really needed instead. Fortunately, Dell’s got nice specials on laptops and no deals on desktops. :0

  • the big 3Story rolled

    Flippin’ sweet So, at my last grad school class I “got certified” in YFC’s wicked awesome evangelism strategy called 3Story. I got excited about it since I had already had a little dose of it before and when I got back home I floated it as a way to equip our people with an evangelism technique that is more than just a 3 step process.

    Here we go! Well, when I get back from Northern Ireland, it will be full speed ahead as we roll this out to the HS groups and a select group of future adult 3Story trainers.

    For the newbies to 3Story I think this thing is by far the best evangelism training I’ve been through. I’ve done Evangelism Explosion, Sonlife’s SEMP and EQUIP, Willow’s Contagious Christian, and Dare 2 Share… All of which are weak by comparison. The weakness of all of those is that it is merely trying to train you to steer a conversation with your friend to the point where you can say something like “So, if you were to die today… Where do you think you’d go?” See, my contention is that formulas work in chemistry but my friends aren’t a chemistry set. More than “witnessing” to someone I just want to do life with someone. That’s what 3Story is all about.

    So, I’m pretty geeked about rolling this badboy out. I’m hoping it will really take root.

  • it’s over

    Earlier this evening we ended negotiations with the owner of the house on West Road. It all came down to her unwillingness to have the house fully inspected prior to ratifying the purchase agreement.

    It seems as though she may need a new listing agency as her demands were so odd that the agent and her broker called her several times today to ask her to reconsider. We’re taking this as a legitimate “closed door.”

    Sometimes God closes doors in my life and I just don’t get it. Man, I really wanted that house.