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...