What a Year for weather

We started out the Summer with a tornado, now we start the Winter out with an ice storm. It has been very cold, yet our kids seem to find ways to have fun in the midst of the weather. Lot's of sledding in the backyard going on.


One of the benefits of living in a small town in the Midwest is getting to do lots of community events. Everything from parades to concerts. Every Winter in Muscatine, we have what is called the "holiday stroll." This is where many of the businesses downtown open their doors and let local community acts (school choirs, school bands, etc.). Additionally, the local dance studios perform. Here is a picture of Sadie performing in the storefront of downtown Muscatine during the Holiday Stroll.



Here is Emma with her friends at a field trip. Her class got to go to the muscial of "A Christmas Carol." Emma is on the far left; she and her friends had a great time together.


Lastly, here are some the ice pictures from this last week.

Pictures from Disneyworld

Thought I would show some pics from our latest Disney visit. It was a lot of fun and the food was amazing....

Life with Hair

For so long I have shaved my head. I have always figured that if my hair is thinning, then God must want me bald. I have always enjoyed my shaved head because it affords me the luxuries those with hair can't relate to. Things such as: smaller shampoo bill, no combing, no bed-head (yet there still are sheet streaks), stocking hats fit like velcro, I don't pay to have my hair cut, and the list could go on.
However, I recently asked my beautiful wife if I could be in the latest play she is directing. It is Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." Both Sadie and Emma are in it and the entire cast is made up of many of my high school students (the entire play in being done by our church and the cast and crew are all between the ages of 10 and 18). Rene' said I could be in the show and she wanted me to play Jacob, the dad to all of these kids. I was pretty excited, however she told me that I needed to grow my hair and beard. Uggggghhhh. I haven't grown my hair in years let alone grow my hair and my beard. So I have.
I had forgotten what it is to wake up and have half of my hair flat and the other half looking like I had a bad hair gel experience. Forgotten was what it feels like to have your hair blow in the wind (as well as my beard). It is all coming back... and I can't wait to shave my head again! I have not cut my hair or shaved in over 2 months and I still have about 2 more to go. My idol at the present time is John the Baptist.
I am now being called "mountain man" and "Grizzly Adams." Some have even told me that they would like to send me a housewarming present for my new cave (thanks Pete!). I am hearing it all.
Don't get me wrong, there are people who look great with long hair and beards. I used to.... But even though I still think I look great, I prefer to shave my head.
Enjoy the picture.

Wes Disney

We recently went to Walt Disney World and I bought Wes a present. I made him wear the present and let me take his picture. He protested, then let me. Honestly he had no choice... I bought breakfast.
Here is the picture.

Hidden Agenda

I continue to be amazed by people. I know that might sound strange since I have been working with them for so long, but like I said, I continue to be amazed by them. Here is what I am talking about.
They say that "information is power" meaning the one holding the information is holding the power. What gets me is that there is still a lot of perceived power even when there is no information present. People will ask me questions about something that is going on in my life or at church and the honest answer is "there is nothing to report, because I know nothing." Almost instantly I will get a look of "oh sure, you just aren't going to tell me... you are going to hold it over me."
Now as much as I would like to be in the loop on all things, that just isn't the case. Most of the time I am truly clueless.
I think that perhaps sometimes we need to hold on to the integrity of individuals allowing ourselves the assumption that if they are not telling me something when I ask, that they truly don't know. instead we hold them and ourselves hostage by the thoughts that someone is withholding information from me. Or perhaps, they honestly can't say anything, not because they are trying to withold the information, but because there are more people at stake than just the two in the conversation.
I don't know, just some random thoughts I have had lately as I prepare to transition jobs. People ask me what is going on and I tell them it's progressing slowly. I ususally get the look of "you are holding something from me." I hope I am perceiving people wrong, but I don't think I am. Look, I like to hav the inside scoop too, but sometimes that scoop is empty; there is no hidden agenda.

the last camp...

I just finished up, a week ago, our annual summer Xcursion. I went in knowing that this was going to be my last camp and I told myself that I wouldn't get emotional, yet I did one time. Whenever I speak of the trials of leading Raft Rally 1993 (the shot put to the head year), coupled with the knowledge that my student ministry days are nearing a close caused me to start to tear up one morning.
This year I did something I have never done. I spoke in the morning, telling some of the best camp moments I have witnessed and tying biblical truth into each talk. It was fun, but I have to say that after this camp, I am not so sure that it will be the last. I am getting a lot of (good) pressure to do another one. The high from this year, mainly because of the quality of students that went, has been incredible and I have found some good self worth in preparing and leading events such as this. So... although I am not sure that I will ever lead a camp for high school students ever again, I am not completely ruling it out in the future.

Why it's worth it.

Sometimes I wonder if doing the work of ministry in a local church is worth it??? Here is waht I mean, and, allow me to whine a little.
It is long hours and if you are student ministry (as opposed to "big" church ministry), weird hours that take you away from your family and friends. In the fall, my friends get together to watch championship football on certain Sunday afternoons, I get to be there for an hour and then go to the church.
I spend the majority of my Sunday's at church, which makes sense since I am a pastor. The difficulty is knowing that while I am at church, my family is at home. In the summer's this isn't bad because my day off is Friday and my kids won't be in school, but during school, we get one day together. I also end up working a lot of evenings. But my adult life has always been this way.
A also enjoy (tongue in cheek) having my life evaluated by my peers based on the attitudes, feelings, and/or opinions of a 16 year old. I think constantly of how to connect with those I don't connect very often with, but sometimes it just isn't enough. Parents can be demanding (and trust me, I am a demanding one as well) and often hold the student ministries pastor to "Superhuman" status because they desperately want their kids to connect with the church, ministry and Jesus. I can only do so much, at some point it becomes a personal choice of each individual that I as a student ministries pastor have no control of.
As I have gotten older, I have had to stop parents who are vocalizing their disapproval of me, and remind them that I am not in high school, I love their kids, and I am older than they are. This takes them aback for them to realize that you don't have to be young to relate.
In all of this, though, it is not a thankless job. Not at all. I can't count how many parents, friends, and students have thanked me for all that I do. It truly is a lot. In my desk I have a file of all of the "not-so-nice" communications I have received in my 22 years of ministry but as thick as that file is (and it is thick), it is only a fraction of the responses I get that continue to encourage me.
When I was hitting my mid-thirties, I started wondering if ministry was worth it. I mean some deep level thinking for me. I had a huge ministry and we were having lots of fun, but were we building the kingdom? My answer has come a various points through the years. I can't tell you how many times I have received e-mails about former students who are making a difference in their world. They hold on to the truth found in the Gospel and spread it around. Blogs, myspace, facebook; these have all helped me see the impact that one ministry can have. People involved in their churches, reaching out to the people around them. Stuff that touches the heart of a man who has poured his life into his ministry.
Then, you get it. A phone call, an e-mail, a letter (remember, I started ministry before there was e-mail) that let's you know what someone is doing and the role I had in getting them there. It is worth it, and will continue to be. When yesterday, a former student who is now in college, emails me and asks if she can come in and "catch up." She wants to know what is going on and wants me to know what is going on with her. It is worth it! When two former students (from my first years in ministry) take me out to breakfast before I move to Iowa, to show me pictures of their families and tell me of their involvement in the community and church. It is worth it.
It is worth it. (I just need to remind myself of "why" once in a while)

Irresistable Revolution

I was given the book Irresistable Revolution by a friend of mine last week and have been reading it ever since. It is very thought provoking and annoying all at once. One thing it has done is make me think through my various views of what it is to be christian? Have we as a group of people bought into a conducive lifestyle for what we have grown up with or desire or are we deeking the life-changing presence of Jesus messing up our lives? Like I said, I find myself gravitating to some of the points of the book desiring the more simple way of life, but there are other parts of the book that flat out piss me off. I know the author does this by design because he wants people to think. Kudos to him; I have been thinking....

Auntie Em, Auntie Em...

We ended up making our trip to the Twin Cities this last weekend. We went up early on Saturday and came home on Sunday. Our neighbor Dan completely took the tree out. We counted over 200 rings, bringing the tree to living in the 1700's. What a legacy.

Rene' and Emma (Emma is trying to make sense of all of it)






















This is the back of our house which sustained the most damage















Assessing the damage
















Dan Steele preparing the "branch" to be pulled off the house.
























We are very lucky, we know of others that weren't as fortunate as we were with our house. Our prayers continue to stay with our communities as we now start the task of rebuilding. Please pray for us as we are a little gun shy when we hear storms are approaching.

Yes, we were hit...

When we moved to Muscatine we were told countless times that the curve of the Mississippi River, where we live, somehow keeps tornadoes from hitting in our little city. Well, that myth has been busted.
Some of you heard about the tornadoes that hit Eastern Iowa on June 1st. Well, our house was one of the houses to get hit.
We actually were on our way up to Minneapolis for the weekend. I was going to go to Bethel Seminary's graduation and watch some of my classmates graduate (because of the workload, they fell a year behind our cohort). It was also going to be a little R&R for the fam. Things changed with one phone call.
We were driving to the Twin Cities, through a horrible thunderstorm. We could barely see the road yet we kept moving forward. About 10 miles north of Cedar Rapids we came out of the storm and thought we had a clear shot forward. About 20 miles later our cell phone rang, it was our neighbor and good friend Dan Steele. He was speaking fairly quickly and all I heard was Rene' say "yes," "no," "oh my gosh," and "is there anyone hurt?" Dan went on to tell Rene' that a tornado at our houses and blew the tree in between our houses down. The wind snapped the tree into 3 major pieces. Dan was in his basement and thought it was hailing. When he walked outside he was in disbelief. The corner of my deck was trashed and the gutters were hanging off the back side of our house. We were actually lucky, another foot or so and our new remodel would have been toast.
We instantly turned around and made it home in about an hour and fifteen minutes. Emma, hating storms like she does, was very upset. When we saw the house she started to flip out a little until I made my way in and got her teddy bear. Big teddy was okay, but our cat (who was in the basement) freaked out and threw up everywhere.
We spent the next 6 hours cleaning and cutting up trees. Our small group was there before we got home and many in our church came over almost instantly to help in the cleanup of our neighborhood. It was a unbelievable testimony of community. I get choked up even thinking about the great people of our community. I made 2 phone calls (Kyle Eller and Dan Schoepf) and we had the mess under control in no time. The help was not isolated to us, there were many in our community helped by friends and strangers willing to help in the midst of destructive chaos. Community always comes through!!
Here are some pictures...

Wes Graduated

Yes, Wes graduated. I am very proud of him!!! He is truly not the same young man that entered my office 8 months ago.
I went to his graduation, which is a good half hour away. I was late and ended up getting locked out of the auditorium. I hung around for about a half hour and then thought "he will just have to forgive me." I think he did.
It is a little weird not having him around all the time, but we are trying to arrange a meeting time every week in which we can discuss and solve all the problems of the world.. at least from our perspective.
Good job Wes!

A time for everything...

I haven't been blogging as much lately. Mainly because most of my thoughts are going into my private journal and the stuff going on in my head wasn't for public consumption.
Here is what I want to say...
It is time for me now to move on.
Yes, after spending the last 23 years of my life working with high school students, it in now time for the sun to set on that part of my career (I started working at Son City playing in the band in October of 1985, first song I played was "Never" by Heart). I am a little saddened to be leaving the student ministry at Calvary but very excited about what I am going to do next. I am not leaving Muscatine or Calvary, just slowly transitioning to another position in the church.
Here is the email I sent out to many on my team yesterday:

This email is also to inform you of some impending transitions in our ministry coming in the near future. The church (Calvary) and I have been talking for a while about the next phase of my ministry life and what exactly that means. I guess what I am getting at is that we are going to start the process of phasing me out as the high school pastor at Calvary. This is a decision that has been made by both the church and myself which brings sadness and excitement for my life and hopefully the life of Nexus. Calvary has asked me to take the lead at our “3rd base” position in the church, helping people get involved in ministry. I think all of you know how much I love helping people get involved in ministry, so this seems like a perfect fit. This transition will not happen overnight, so for the time being you probably won’t notice anything different, however, subtle differences will probably be noticed in the amount of time I spend with Nexus. I am anticipating being involved with Nexus for at least the 2007-8 school year, but beyond that, I think it is unlikely that I will be directly involved. Understand that I will probably always be aware in some way of what goes on in Student Ministry, just not at the level I am now.

I know this may be creating some questions for you like: who will the next high school pastor be? Is Ernie going to step in? Will Scott now grow his hair out? Unfortunately, these are questions that have been asked but not answered. I am not keeping you in the dark, we (church management team) just haven’t discussed these issues at any length. I will keep you informed as everything transpires.

If you have any questions, please ask ME. No speculations need to happen as this is a natural part of ministry life. Like I said, I doubt you will notice any difference initially. We will have a great time together at Xcursion (hint, hint) and spending our summer together, planning on getting back into the swing of our fall schedules. After that.. who knows.

Again, if you have questions, please ask. This is not confidential information.

This has been brewing for some time and people would like to have some solid reasons why. Here are a few:

1. I am going to be 42 years old in September. (nuff said)
2. I have spent considerable time developing strategies for ministry in my head. The strategy we use at Calvary is something I heavily developed (and as a staff we refined), I want to expand my capabilities to the whole church and not keep them just in student ministries. In other words, I don't want to be defined as just a Youth Pastor (and I know I am not, but it is time to move on...)
3. My kids. As they get older, their extracurricular schedule begins to conflict with the schedule of my high schooler's. Given the choice between my daughters band concert and a high school baseball game, I will choose the concert. In some ways I don't think that is fair to my high school students.
4. My kids, part II. I never wanted to be my kids youth pastor. Sadie loves me being the youth pastor because of the special privilege she gets. However when I broke the news to her, I reminded her that her friends at times complain about how ministry is. I told her that I didn't want to put her in a position where it is her dad they are complaining about. I don't know if her and Emma's heart could take it.
5. Its time.

Now this isn't a conclusive list, but simply things I have been mulling over for a few years (yes years) now. I look forward to this coming year and the ways in which God will use me to help more people get involved in ministry. I love seeing people find their potential by building into the kingdom and connecting others with God.

Now is the time....

Wes had a date...

Wes was in my office recently and told me he was interested in asking a girl out. My reply to him was "why??? I thought you didn't like people." He sort of chuckled and continued to tell me the person and the plans. He wanted to go bowling and out for food. The girl he intended to ask out works with him, so he does know her, which is a good thing.
I gave him a date to shoot for to ask her out and said that I would call the following day and ask him if he did it. Well instead of calling, I went in to where he worked and asked him if he asked her out. He told me that it didn't work out. My reply to Wes at this point was that if he didn't ask her out in the next hour, I would find her and ask her out for him. He looked at me and said "I know you aren't kidding!"
So... He asked her out she said yes and the plans were made. The problem is that 4 days before the date, Wes totalled his car. Fortunately it was a group date so there were others that would drive.
The date went well according to Wes (it was a couple of weeks ago). I asked him what was the best part of the date and he replied with "feeling like I was a normal high school kid."

How far he has come... 6 months ago he would not have wanted to even be thought of as a normal high school kid. Now he like the feeling it has.

Mom's complaining...

My mom is complaining that I haven't written much in a while, so I better.

My two kids both had birthdays this month. Emma turned nine and Sadie turned twelve.
For Emma, birthdays are a huge deal... HUGE. She can barely stand it and we have to let her open at least one present before school if we are to have any peace during the day. Soooo she opened a present and got a pair of heely's for her birthday. She was so excited to have shoes you can roller skate in. But the best part of her birthday was at night singing to her. You see, we had small group and at our small group we celebrated Emma's birthday for our desert time. Everyone in our group gathered around Emma, singing happy birthday while yours truly held the "Dairy Queen Ice Cream cake" in front of her. She blew out the candle and within a blink of an eye.... you guessed it.... I lost balance of the cake, it slid of the plate and fell on the floor. Emma's glee turned south instantly. Everyone was trying not to laugh because Emma has an idiot for a dad, but they all held it together. It took a lot of talking on my part to get Emma to forgive me.
The only saving grace in all of this is that the cake was still frozen enough that it didn't fall apart at all. It just got a little smashed on one side. Yes... it was delicious and everything worked out.

Sadie. Well for her Birthday we took her to see the "Phantom of the Opera" in Des Moines in early February. I think it was one of the best showings I have seen. The only problem is that about 15 minutes before the play ended I heard a ruckus in the row behind me. I looked back just in time to see some guy stand up and vomit about five seats away. He scurried down the row and did it again. Rene' leaned over to me and said "that is a first," which means a lot coming from a woman that has been in a lot of theater. Fortunately, Sadie's eyes never left the stage and she barely know what was going on. Yes, she LOVES phantom. She has seen every youtube clip and everything. If you want to see something funny, watch the Will Ferrell clip on youtube of him sining "music of the night" it is really funny.

Long Time

I can't believe that it has been this long since I last wrote in my blog... Basically, I don't think I have that exciting of a life, but I know that my mom likes to read about it. Mom's will always be moms....
I will write more in the next few days and speak:
My recent house remodel
My recent trip to Guatemala
Wes' happenings
and whatever else may come to my head (which shouldn't be much)