Montreat Youth Conference, part 2
The Montreat trip was absolutely wonderful. Amazing. Transformational. Fun. There are so many reasons.
We started out by driving 9 hours to Greensboro. Our youth director used to be the youth director at First Presbyterian Church of Greensboro, NC. We stayed overnight in their youth room (VERY NICE, and with lots of comfy couches and other things to sleep on). In the evening Saturday we were treated to dinner by our youth director’s in-laws at their beautiful home (not to mention entertained by the dog).
In the morning, we were treated to a tour of this VERY large church (new members have a class on how not to get lost) and breakfast. We then attended worship. I found lots of useful information on how they work with visitors that will be useful for my committee.
Then we went to lunch at Fincastle’s Diner and headed for Montreat.
In Montreat we stayed at First House, a private home owned by the Greensboro church that is rented out to groups staying in Montreat. It was a nice house and suited our needs very well.
Sunday evening, the program began with a welcome session at Anderson Auditorium and Recreation outside.
The program continued with keynote in the morning, small group once or twice, and worship in the evening. Friday night’s worship was capped by people with candles all the way around Lake Susan two deep – it was so pretty.
Then we drove home 12 hours. Ooof.
The youth from my church could not possibly have been a better group, or worked together better. They were ready to go on time every time (sometimes earlier). They voluntarily pitched in and helped with chores, often before being asked. They supported each other emotionally and clued in the adults later – leaving the adults free to handle the big stuff (or their own stuff). Everybody got along well aside from the minor frictions caused by 14 people spending a lot of time together. I could not ask for a better group. These 10 youth are now permanently on my list of favorite people.
I feel the same way about my small group. There were 26 participants (3 adults and 23 youth) plus our small group leader. I liked everybody in the group. Think about that. 26 other people, and not one of them was even the slightest bit bothersome or annoying. This is amazing. The conversations were deep and meaningful, the games were hysterical and fun (I “won” Big Booty), and I was truly impressed by what other people said. I hope that I have made one or two or a few friends for life from that group. I know that I truly love and care for all 26. Our small group leader was a newbie – having just turned 21 (we couldn’t believe that – he is mature beyond his years) – and he hit the ball out of the park.
Some vignettes:
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- It was HOT most of the week. The week redefined the concept of sweat for me. However, I didn’t really mind. It was cool enough in the evening to sleep and the small group room was air conditioned.
- The keynote team did a great job. We’ll probably use at least one part for our confirmation class. The concepts that they discussed were well reflected in small group and worship.
- The worship was especially meaningful for me (particularly Monday and Friday). Michelle Thomas-Bush did a good job.
- Music was fun, and included some songs that I really enjoyed. One in particular was very meaningful for me. Jorge Gonzales was the music leader, and was joined for a lot of the week by Wallness from Haiti (who knew our youth director from when Wallness was a youth in Haiti).
- Recreation was well done. I didn’t get involved in most of the “optional” recreational activities though I did enjoy watching them. The first night recreation was where I met one of those “friends for life” that I mentioned above.
- The site is gorgeous. Hilly to be sure (I seem to have lost 5 pounds, and moved some of my remaining weight away from my waist), but beautiful.
- Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream and Raspberry Sorbet make a great combination. The boundary layer is to die for.
- When we went to Asheville NC on our free afternoon, I bought the first pair of sandals that I’ve ever owned in my adult life. I am now fully qualified for youth ministry. (There is no need to tell me not to wear socks with them – others have done that already.)
- I went swimming. Unfortunately, I was rock-hopping at the time. I went into the water and completely soaked myself. I also completely soaked my backpack. The electronics all survived, but I need a new Bible and a replacement for the hardcover book that was in the backpack. I also had some nasty scrapes. My youth were perfect in that they refused to let me walk back to the house alone – they insisted on accompanying me and carrying my backpack.
- My co-workers actually said I seemed relaxed when I got back to work yesterday. No, really!
- You can’t imagine how fun it is to do energizers with a bunch of youth every day. Adult silliness should be mandatory.
- One of the adults in my church group has the uncanny ability to sing harmony with any piece, even if she hasn’t heard it before. It was beautiful.
- I had lots of deep one-on-one conversations with my youth. This started the first night and I think it’s continuing now. They impress me with how seriously they take their lives and how thoughtful they are of others. There is unexpected depth here.
- Every group needs at least one unabashedly sunny morning person.
- See this post for the most strange and wonderful part of the week for me.
- The Jesus in Me loves the Jesus in You. ‘Nuff said.
I’ve already written in another post about my personal transformation. I’d like to add to that some confidence in doing youth ministry. I’m now wondering how to make my job better aligned with my faith and personal ideas about life. Or find one that is. I don’t feel a call to ministry (though several others talked about this after this week). I just feel like I’m not where I should be.
If you are a youth, or you work with youth, you should really consider going to a Montreat Youth Conference. Groups can be as small as 2 or 3, or very large (I’ve heard of the neighborhood of 50). Yes, it’s a little scary going to a new place and doing “Jesus stuff” for a week, but it’s really worth it. My nervousness was wholly unnecessary.
I’d like to thank Rich, Mary Alice, Sara, Gingles, Michelle, Jorge, Wallness, Bill, Aimee, David, and so many others who made my week probably one of the top 10 experiences in my life.
Montreat Youth Conference, part 1
Last week I went to the Montreat Youth Conference as an adult advisor for my church’s youth group. During the trip, I had an experience that was … well … let me just describe it.
First, a little background. I’ve written before about my experiences with the church and my departure from the church almost 20 years ago. If you don’t want to read that, here’s a summary: very involved as a youth (deacon, Synod YAD, church camp), in college a few things happened and I left the church completely. I began searching for a congregation related to my return to church just about 3 years ago this month, and joined my current congregation later that fall. I’m currently serving as a youth advisor for the Sr. High youth group, co-chairing a committee, and I’m about to start serving as a deacon again.
During Monday night’s worship at Montreat, the song “Here I Am, Lord” was sung. This song was very popular at Camp Johnsonburg when I was working there, and I was happy to sing it again.
Around about the 2nd verse, I started getting very emotional and tearing up. Around about the 3rd verse, I started to get a picture in my head – one that I can’t claim came from me.
The picture showed something of a timeline. Over on the left side, there was a dark black line that represented my religious involvement of the past – from about age 13 to age 19. On the right side, there was another shorter dark black line that represented my religious involvement of the past few years. There was a big blank space in between. As we sang, I saw the picture of a jumper wire (almost like a car’s jumper cable, but more like something used in electronics work) connecting the two lines. I have been considering my religious life of the past to be different from the present. I believe that the message here is that they are part of a single whole and remain connected.
So I was standing there, singing, tears in my eyes, and a picture in my head that I didn’t put there.
In my mind, this was a full-on Religious Experience. Maybe even a Vision. I mean … if there had been a shaft of sunlight and Baptist dancers flying through the air I’d be a Blues Brother now. It was a really weird experience.
I’ve been skeptical of those who claim to have visions or have other divinely-inspired events in their lives. Not anymore. I think I get it now. A later discussion with a family member produced that person’s story of a similar experience.
At the time that this happened, I had no idea what it meant. I’m still not sure that I do.
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The first thing that I did was ask my youth director to join me at The Huck for some ice cream so that I could talk about this (and another youth joined us for “Introvert Time”). On the way we met Jorge Gonzales who was doing music for the week and I got a chance to thank him.
Later in the week I might have gotten some idea of the meaning behind this.
All youth and adults participating in small groups were assigned to a Small Group of about 30 people. Those groups were broken down into smaller “Threshold” groups of about 6. I got an opportunity to talk about this experience with my Threshold Group, but due to time constraints I barely got through the story before we had to move onto something else.
The theme for the week was “Throw Open the Doors”. There were door metaphors tossed around during all activities. On Friday (the last day of the conference), our Small Group leader asked “what doors have opened for you this week?” I had a few ideas in my head, and the one that I chose was: Don’t let the experiences of the past (meaning negative ones) color your view of your experiences of the present. When I said that the Small Group said things like, “Dude. That’s not just a door – that’s like a big gate or something.”
Later that evening we had the closing worship. The preacher was Michelle Thomas-Bush (who I met through this blog). She told a story about her 20th high school reunion. At the reunion she met a man who had been in school with her. He explained that he couldn’t remember anything about his high school experience at all. He was being abused by his parents at the time, and all of his memories of that period are one big black mess. He came to the reunion in order to rediscover his high school memories. He was the life of the party, talked to everybody, and learned a few things. At the end of the evening he talked to Michelle again. She asked him if he’d learned anything. He reported a few memories of good times and stupid high school tricks, but his main message was that this night was his New High School Memory.
Sound familiar? Yeah, I thought so too.
I’m still working on how to apply these revelations to my life, though the implications for my church life are pretty obvious. Back in December, I wrote this about how those once hurt by the church may keep looking over their shoulder for trouble to come again. I think that part of the message is clear – stop looking over your shoulder. We’ll see. Being a Christian is hard.
As for the rest, that is not quite apparent yet. More in the next post on the conference.
Blogging will resume shortly
The Montreat Youth Conference was simply amazing. I have LOTS to blog about.
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On the road
I’ll be on the road with the church youth group trip to Montreat from Saturday the Safed Musli is one of the important causes of male infertility. order levitra online The Acai Capsules should levitra prices look at more info actually be regarded as natural food. cialis tadalafil canada Make sure to follow all the guidelines provided by the capsules. With today’s hectic lifestyle and mental pressure, there are several factors that decrease the chances of conception. sildenafil 100mg canada 26th through Saturday the 2nd. Blogging will likely be non-existent during this time.
See you next month!
OH. Hmmm.
This weekend, I’m off with 3 other adults, 2 college students, and something like 8 or so high school youth to the Montreat Youth Conference (week VI) at the Montreat Conference Center in (you guessed it) Montreat, NC.
I’ve been a little nervous about this trip. So much so that I think I’m annoying our youth director with questions, which he is patiently answering. I don’t have any good reason to be nervous. I trust the youth director and the other adults going on the trip. The college students and youth going on the trip are great and I expect fewer than average problems with them or their behavior (as compared to what I read on Youth Ministry websites). I’ve heard nothing but good things about the place and the conference from a large number of people.
I’ve been telling myself that the reason that I’m nervous is that the last time I went to a church youth conference was the Youth Triennium in 1986 – when I WAS a youth. That I was just worried about whether the 40-year-old air-conditioning-loving, out-of-shape, used-to-sleeping-in-his-own-room me could keep up.
While shaving this morning it hit me.
Triennium wasn’t the last time I went to a church youth conference.
Several months after Triennium, I went to a weekend retreat sponsored by some of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s NJ chapters. Here’s what I wrote about that previously:
Back in 1986, I was a freshman at Rutgers University. On the first day, I was wandering around campus looking at the booths that various student organizations had set up. One of them near the Busch Student Center was for the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. They were giving away ice cream. I figured that as a rather religious person (at this point I was already a deacon and serving on two Synod committees) I should take a look and find a campus christian fellowship. The local Campus Crusade for Christ seemed too fundamentalist for me, so I tried out InterVarsity.
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In October I took a retreat with them for a weekend in the woods. It turned out to be a very cult-like situation for me. The 48-hour retreat turned out to be (as experienced by me) 24 hours of telling me
how terrible my beliefs are, and then once I stopped fighting them, 24 hours of pouring in their own beliefs. As expected, those beliefs were strongly conservative.Fortunately, my personality turned out to be strong enough to resist such tactics. I made the right noises and they stopped treating me as the “resisting” attendee and moved on to other people. Once I returned to campus, I never went back to their group again. And as I wrote before, this was the first step in my turn away from the church
This hit me like a ton of bricks today. My last experience traveling away with youth to a place foreign to me was a negative one. While I’ve done some overnights with the youth in the past year, those were either at the church or at Camp Johnsonburg where I felt very comfortable and always knew that I had the ability to leave (since it was at home or I was driving my vehicle). I wasn’t miles away from home without control over my movements.
Having realized what has been going on in my head, I feel much more comfortable now. I’m shifting rapidly from nervous to excited. This is going to be fun!
It’s amazing how things from your past can influence the way you perceive the present. Not a new lesson for me (by a long shot), but a newly reinforced lesson.
If you or anybody you know will be at Montreat for 7/27-8/1, leave a comment or send an e-mail. I’d love to say Hi.
Identity Concern, part 2
About a month ago, I posted that the Bank of New York had lost my Disney shareholder information, and was offering credit monitoring.
Last night, I got a call from Chase questioning a charge on my credit card for over $7,000 on the Internet. Somebody had my card number. They didn’t have the correct expiration date so the charge didn’t go through. Chase closed that account and is issuing me a new card. I’m stuck until I get the card – even expedited (which they did because I’m traveling this weekend) I still have to wait until Wednesday.
Quit smoking and lead a healthy life! Tobacco and nicotine dependence are putting one’s health on order cialis no prescription great risk. She was even more order cialis online lovely in person. In clinical trials, buy levitra http://www.midwayfire.com/bayou-dr-fire/ considered as effective treatment of various diseases. This ingredient is also present in the branded levitra generika midwayfire.coms. It’s a good thing I have another card with a different bank.
I’m wondering whether there are other questionable charges on the account. I can’t see the account online because they closed it. I’m also wondering how they got my card number. I do this for a living – at my employer I’m the most likely IT person to handle a credit card fraud investigation. But it’s still a pain when it happens to you.
What’s going on
My blog has been quiet, and light on what’s going on in my life. Most of that is due to the Sword of Damocles question about what I should write here. (By the way, more input is desired in the Bible Study on blogging.)
Here’s a short roundup of what’s been happening and what is going to be happening.
- Car Accident – This happened back on June 20. As I said before – minor damage and no injuries. My car has been repaired. I’m apparently at the beginning of the subrogation process – my insurance company has decided that I’m not at fault and has submitted a claim to the other driver’s company. The other driver got a ticket for Careless Driving, so it should be an easy decision in my favor.
- DirecTV – I have two DirecTV DVRs. One of them developed hard drive problems and was randomly rebooting. That has since been replaced for what amounts to Free. It was just a pain, but much less of a pain than expected.
- Deacon – I perform my first deacon duty this weekend. I’ll be putting juice and iced tea on the table in Fellowship Hall after the service. As one other blogger said, “They also serve who stir and pour.” I’ll be greeting in August, and Officer Training and Installation will be in September.
- Camp Johnsonburg – I’ve assisted twice with Sunday check-in. Once I was a medical check person for the “no medication” line, and the other time I managed the medical form paperwork process (an all-paper process that is a bit labor-intensive for 200+ campers). I was pleasantly surprised to run into one of my youth group members checking into the camp’s Leadership Training Program (a 3-week program that is essentially Counselor training). I’ll be back again in August for one more Sunday.
- Youth Group – I drove the youth mission trip to and from Philadelphia where they stayed at and worked with Broad Street Ministries. By all reports a good time was had by all and several report transformational experiences. I’ll be going with the youth group trip to Montreat for the Youth Conference (week VI) starting next weekend. I’m a smidge nervous about that – the last time I did a week road trip with a bunch of youth was my trip to the Presbyterian Youth Triennium in 1986, when I was a youth. I’m hoping that a mostly out of shape 40-year-old can keep up.
- Birthday – it was quiet, which is the desired result. I didn’t ask for much, and the presents that I received were thoughtful. I got a lot of cards with old people on them for some reason …
- Ham Radio – I participated in the national Field Day at the end of June. I was only able to help set up in the morning and operate for a few hours in the afternoon. This event is when amateur radio clubs and individuals all over the country set up their equipment in the field (we were at Mercer County Park) and demonstrate their ability to operate in an emergency.
- Home, Wife, Cats – all about as good as usual.
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Blogging will be non-existent between July 25 and August 3 or so due to the youth trip. It may be light until then, unless I think of something compelling to say.
I am 39 and 366/366ths
Yep, it’s that day.
This year my birthday is a day for reflection.
This is the first year that my body is starting to get creaky. In the last 2 years I’ve gotten reading glasses and I’ve learned how NOT to move my muscles suddenly when I’m just waking up. I’m aging, but generally healthy. It could be worse.
This is also the year that I realize that some doors have closed. There are just some things that I could have done, but which I can no longer do because I didn’t take that side of the fork in the road. There are things that I never could have done (I was never going to be an NBA star). There are things that I have done. This is the year that I realize that there are things that I didn’t do, and the opportunity is gone. I don’t regret the decisions but it’s sad to see the closed doors.
This past year has also been a rough but fruitful year. I spent a LOT of time outside of my comfort zone. In some ways that has paid off. In other ways I’ve bounced off some metaphorical walls at high speed. Some of this has produced personal growth and a lot hasn’t. Ironically, most of the “new” things in my life are actually a return to a part of my past.
I have made a number of new friends in the past year both locally and nationally. I cherish those friendships. I have been able to help a few of these new friends with their lives and goals and that is gratifying.
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Probably the most rewarding part of my life in the last year has been my work with the youth group at church. I love our kids, and watching them grow has been wonderful. Sunday evenings have been a very bright spot in my life.
Life with Carolyn continues to be wonderful. I think we’ve reached the beginning of the “growing old together” stage of life. It’s good. Every day I learn something new about her (or gain a new story – there are LOTS of those) and yet we know each other so well that we’ve reached the point one or two words speak volumes. (“Do you know where …” – “Here you go” – and it’s exactly what she was looking for.)
And our cats are still as snuggly as ever.
It could have been better, and it could have been worse. One more year in the books.
p.s. – Happy Birthday, Harry!
Young Adult – not anymore
Next week, I have a birthday. This birthday ends in a zero, and puts me at the upper limit of what the PC(USA) denomination considers a “young adult”.
(Note – this is not a call for well wishes or gifts. However, my e-mail address is in the column on the left if you are so inclined. 🙂 )
Carolyn and I are in a strange spot. We are childless by choice, and at that age where most of our friends are having children (or in some cases have children as old as teenagers). We don’t quite fit in the world of folks “our age”, because we aren’t sharing the same experiences.
At the same time, we’re not finding that we have a ton in common with the folks who are behind us in years but also childless. These are the true young adults – the not-yet-married, the under-40-not-gonna-get-married, and the married-without-children. Don’t get me wrong – I love my friends in this group. It’s just that I feel a little different from them. Carolyn and I have been married for over 13 years at this point – most of the young adult friends that I have aren’t married at all and those that are haven’t been married quite so long.
It is also enriched with saffron and safed musli to solve all tadalafil cialis from india of your sexual disorders. Hence, the kamagra is launched in many soft versions. viagra on line http://icks.org/n/bbs/content.php?co_id=FALL_WINTER_2000 It takes compounds that are unpatented in a particular case study, approximately a dozen of healthy women were asked to answer questionnaires about recalling their intake of caffeine in the last few years owing to their use of natural ingredients viagra generic sildenafil to help stimulate growth of penile muscles. Although the problem is widespread with millions of patients worldwide, but its impact has made people worried about their safety and security. online levitra tablet I’m also feeling my age. My hairline is headed north at a rate faster than average (thanks to my family tree, it seems). I’m starting to feel creaky in places. I need reading glasses sometimes. My mother was apparently more dismayed than me last December when she noticed the amount of gray in my hair (well, what’s left of my hair) – and the implications for her in having a son with gray hair.
I think I’ve crossed the line. I don’t feel like a young adult anymore. If we’d had children I’d probably have crossed the line at least 5 years ago. I now find myself saying and doing things that my parents used to do – I catch myself saying “Shoot. I sound like my parents”.
Each person crosses this line in their own time. I know folks over 40 who are still young adults at heart. I know folks under 30 who are no longer young adults. I just get this feeling that some time in the last 5 years, I crossed the line without noticing. I’m noticing now because there will shortly be a zero in my age.
And it’s just as it should be.
Bible Study on Blogs
This post and its comments are the online home for this Bible Study on blogging. I hope that each of you will contribute. If you wish to contribute anonymously, just e-mail your words to me and I’ll post them under whatever identification you want (or none).
The basic question that we’re covering is “what does the Bible say about blogging?” This was prompted by a bit of a dustup that I’ve had with some members and staff of my congregation over things written by me on this blog. So a sub-question is “Can you or should you ever post negative thoughts or facts about your local church on a blog?”
So far we’ve got two sides to the question (hey, most of us are Presbyterian!):
Post only what builds up the body of Christ – Coming from 1 Corinthians 13, but also from most of Paul’s letters and strong support from the Gospels is the concept that we should blog in love for our fellow humans. That we should blog only what builds up the body, and avoid that which would cause disruption.
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Overlaying all of this is the injunction in Matthew 18:15-17 – if you have a disagreement, take it to the other party. If that doesn’t work, take a few friends to the other party. If that doesn’t work, tell it to the church. If that doesn’t work, write the other person off. One question here – in terms of blogs, what is the definition of “the church”? The local congregation? The denomination? The entirety of the Christian blogosphere? Or all believers in Christ?
Another question is whether or not the rules are different when speaking of people that you see weekly in church vs. the greater church (the denomination). Can you speak more harshly about those who you disagree with simply because they don’t sit in the same sanctuary with you on Sunday?
I welcome your continued thoughts. I plan for this post to be the home of this discussion. Please put your thoughts in comments, or e-mail them to me to be added. This is a Bible study, so let’s focus on Scripture.
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