Chachachachanges

Last Sunday, we announced our new youth pastors at Union City First Assembly of God! Brian and Corey Moffitt are a great addition to the team. They will continue their full time teaching jobs and will lead our youth in all those youth-y type things they do. Seriously, the Moffitts are sold out to Jesus, with hearts full of passion for missions and they will take our kids to the next level in their walk with the Lord. I know first hand how challenging it can be to be bi vocational but they are up to the challenge!

It was hard to see Pastor Justin, Hope and Gavin move to Mississippi. I miss them very much. Changes are a very real and big part of ministry. You deal with them and move on. Not forgetting people but living with the promise that God is in control and an understanding that change is a good thing. It's an opportunity for all of us to grow in Jesus.

Another change in our lives...Randy is employed! He started this week at a car dealership here in Union City as a car salesman. It's something new for him and some long hours but we are so thankful he has a job and the Lord will take care of the rest. As with any new job, there is a lot to learn, especially if you've never worked in sales. But my husband is great with people and everybody falls in love with him so I'm sure he'll do awesome.

What a Great Week!

Maybe I should say, "What a great summer!", but let's just focus on the past week. I had the opportunity to go to Iowa for a couple of days. When I arrived at my friends, the Mains, we had a very happy reunion with many friends and some of my Iowa kids. Wow, they grow a lot in 10 months! Good food, lots of laughs, pictures, hugs, stories, new babies, new babies on the way...you can't get much better than that. I'm so thankful for Amy! She has been a faithful, supportive friend from the moment we met. I spent Tuesday and Thursday nights there.

Wednesday, I drove to the Iowa Assemblies of God campground, Sunstream Retreat Center. The weather was picture perfect! It was an awesome day of reunions with old friends, kids I've met at other camps and JBQ, and the best part...spending the day with Keaton. Can I just say how proud I am of our son? He has been working like a mad man for months preparing for all of the camps for youth and kids. If I had one person I had a hundred tell me what a great job Keaton has done for the Iowa Ministry Network. It was so fun to see him in action. Check out his "crazy hair day" pics! That's dedication! I got to hear him preach a chapel and it was annointed! The boy can flat out preach!

Keaton gave me a tour of all the updates and additions to the camp. WOW! It is amazing. They've added three zip lines, zorb balls (the official ground zorb hill is in development and will be ready next summer), go carts, remodeled the sanctuary, game rooms, snack shop, gym, many of the sleeping rooms, the cafeteria and gave the whole grounds a deep cleaning. It took months of clearing trees and heavy construction but it was sure worth the end product. One very nice addition in my opinion was the Starbucks coffee! Now that's doing things with excellence! :)

I was honored to be able to do a chapel service for the kids. It was a personal blessing...somewhat of a gift from God. Last year, when I was at camp, someone had said some very hurtful things to me and I left on the last day on a bad note and a hurting heart. I knew in my heart that I would be leaving Iowa and I was so sad that my last Iowa camp had ended on a sour note. Yes, the person apologized later but it was still sad to have 15 years of Iowa camp end that way. This week, was a full circle event. I am so thankful to the Lord. The chapel service went awesome as God spoke a message to the kids about their uniqueness and purpose in Christ. We spent some time listening for the voice of God. The kids responded so well and I hope they all remember our Big Idea, "I am a flake!" You had to be there. :)

As awesome as it was, I'm glad to be home in Tennessee! Thanks to all who made it a wonderful few days. Got the Character Connex kit and I'm excited to get going on scheduling school assemblies!

This Week....

I have a busy, exciting week ahead. It's Monday meeting day...you know how I enjoy that. It's just great to have the team together and share victories the Lord has given us. This meeting will be a little sad for me. Pastor Justin and Hope won't be there. Yesterday was their last day as they are moving to Mississippi. Pastor Justin and I have a unique bond and it was a tearful goodbye last night.

Tomorrow, I'm heading to Iowa! It's gonna be a very quick trip but I'm really looking forward to it. I'll arrive Tuesday late afternoon at the Main house where Amy has arranged a little get together of old friends and a pot luck dinner! Amy is ALWAYS doing something special for me even though I live 10 hours from her. Her birthday is Friday. Maybe I should bake a chocolate cake before I leave town.

Wednesday morning I'm up early and off to the Iowa Assemblies of God campground ~ Sunstream Retreat Center where week two of kid's camp is happening! I am beyond excited to see my boy! Keaton has been there all summer ministering and working super hard. The campground has undergone a major renovation so I'm looking forward to checking it out. To top it all off, I get to preach the morning chapel on Wednesday! It will be so cool to see all of my old camp buddies, too. Pastor Laurie Rich, who is one of my best friends, will be there along with other great friends, Pastor Kevin and Trudy Umphress, Pastor Brian Bopp aka BBopp, Pastor Heath and Ali Adamson and many more.

Thursday it's back to Des Moines to pick up our Character Connex kit! This investment will help me to get into our schools and do character building assemblies and build even deeper relationships with our community. I'm so thankful our church was supportive of the purchase and for the favor I have gained in the schools. I'll get to see another one of my bestest friends on Thursday! Judy is a pal from my days at Parkview Middle School. We are sisters of the heart. She is one of those people I can say anything to and know she doesn't judge and can keep a confidence. Those people are rare in the life of a person let alone a pastor.

I am the most blessed person to have so many incredible friends. I'm really hoping to see some other folks like the Albers tribe and the Lively clan. It's such a quick trip I will have to be a good steward of my time to fit it all in.

Friday morning it's back on the road. I'll be traveling alone as Randy is holding down the fort and making preparations to start his new job next Monday. We have a big all church work day next Saturday so I want to be back to lend a hand in that. We will be starting the process of painting the school bus! Woot woot. Can't wait to see the finished product and start picking up even more kids for church.

I MIss My Intern

Jeremiah went back to Iowa on Monday morning. His time here went way too fast. We had lots more we wanted to work on. I know he came here to learn a few things from me but he was probably more of a blessing to me than I to him.

First of all, it brought me to tears Sunday morning as he led worship with his fiance, Monica. Not because they were off key....far from it....they sounded wonderful. The tears were thankful ones. I have known those two since they were about 7 yrs. old and to see them grown up, and serving Jesus plus using their talents for the Kingdom just was more than I could contain. It made me so proud. To think I may have had just a tiny part in their journey as Christ followers humbles me right back down to my knees.

Jeremiah was a great physical help the whole time he was here. He willingly did anything asked of him. Of course, that blessed me but to see the long hours, and mental fatigue through his eyes helped me remember that the call of ministry is not for the lazy or cave-in type. Lazy ministers tick me off. Mediocrity makes me want to vomit. Be sold out or get out! People entering ministry need to know right up front that it is more than a 40 hour a week job. It's a fire in your bones that cannot be contained. There is no shut-off valve to stop the thoughts and ideas. There is no putting aside the care and concern for your church family. It is a part of your DNA...pastors are just wired different. I don't see it as a bad thing at all, but it's hard to make people understand.

Jeremiah stirred my creative juices when we would discuss service orders, characters we could develop, new music, and object lessons. We talked ministry night and day...day and night. Poor Randy was probably sick of hearing about it but I felt an urgency to tell Jeremiah as much as I could. He asked good questions and seemed to really listen and file it away in his mind. Even everyday church business and happenings were teaching moments. I just know when I started out 20 some years ago there weren't too many people around I could go to for advise, resources and help. I want to encourage and help equip the next generation of children's pastors in whatever way I can.

Thank you Jeremiah for coming and helping us. Thank you for bringing some new thoughts and ideas. Thank you for allowing me to pour something out and being a good listener. Thanks for fishing with Randy and laughing at his wonky sense of humor. I miss you already! You are gonna be an incredible children's pastor....you are already impacting the Kingdom in a BIG way.

Tennessee Kid's Camp

I am soooo behind in blogging! I got back last Friday from my first TN kid's camp at Camp Jackson. I feel like I have been gone from home for half the summer. Between Turkey, Sports Camp and Kid's Camp, poor Randy has nearly forgotten what I look like. Anyway, we took 8 kids for a fun filled week.

The weather was beautiful; sunny and warm. It was interesting to experience all the differences from Iowa to Tennessee camp. It was hard not to compare after spending 14 or 15 years at Sunstream Retreat Center. Camp Jackson is set back in a woodsy area and is pretty hilly. It has dorm buildings and cabins with the main difference being the cabins don't have their own bathrooms; you have to go to a bathhouse. From the area of the main buildings, you have to cross a ravine area with a bridge to get to the boys area and another bridge to get to the girls area. The main buildings include the cafeteria, a "shirt shack" that sells all kinds of stuff, and a gym/santuary that also houses a concession stand. There is also an open pavillion area and an open area with carpet ball. The pool is located between the boys and girls dorm areas. They have a rock climbing wall that was pretty cool. You hike down into the ravine next to the boys bridge and the wall is built up against the bridge. Of course there are several different fields for sports and a basketball court.

There were 325 kids attending our week which was #2 out of 3. The food was very good for camp food. The evangelist was AWESOME! Vance Martin and his family did a wonderful job and the kids loved them. We had some great altar times and four of our kids were filled with the Holy Spirit. I love that camp has no distractions of TV, computers, etc, and the kids can just focus on the Lord.

I was able to meet some other children's pastors that I hadn't met before. It's always great to connect with others who do what I do and understand why. Tennessee, like Iowa, has some great children's pastors and leaders. It was a good experience for Jeremiah to see another camp, too. He did a great job with our boys...and they were a challenge. :)

I'm excited to visit Iowa camp next week. They have made a bunch of changes under new leadership. I'm going to Iowa for some church business and have to honor to preach a morning chapel for their Kid's Camp. It will be awesome to see our son, Keaton, and many of my cp friends. It's a quick trip but I'm thankful I get to go.

Random Stuff of Our Week

My intern, Jeremiah, and I had the opportunity to go to the Boys and Girls Club this week and read books to the kids. They are having a read-a-thon. It was fun to see several of "my kids" who attend there and they were very excited to see us. Jeremiah works in a kindergarten classroom back in Iowa so he is an excellent story reader. I'm supposed to be volunteering once a week there but the director has failed to get me the info and schedule. You would think they would be jumping at the chance for a volunteer but it seems they really aren't in as big a need as I thought.

We are preparing for CAMP next week. Anyone who knows me knows camp is my thing! There is just something about 5 concentrated days of worship, crazy games, challenging services, point totals, contests, new friends, altar time, no sleep, mediocre food and no outside distractions that just gets me going! Kids can leave behind the crud of the world and the things of life and just be kids who seek after Jesus. Camp is one of THE best spiritual investments you'll ever do for your kids. Churches that don't want to mess with sending their kids to camp are MISSING it! We have eight kids going plus me, Jeremiah and Hailey. Please pray for us next week. I know some powerful things are going to happen....my spirit is so stirred. And bonus...I get to meet some more of my Tennessee tribe-mates!

Jeremiah and I rearranged my office this week. I love it! Garrett added a little "muscle" to the mix....as much muscle as Garrett has. Hee hee. I'll have to take a picture. If nothing else it was great to clean and get rid of all the sports camp stuff that was piled up.

We made some home visits this week. The kids are always so excited to see us when we come even if it's only for a few minutes. Jeremiah is getting a taste of what some of our kids live in and with. We have several from Sports Camp we need to go see. We got the follow up postcards out thanks to my friend Darla! She typed up all our contacts for me. I'm still praising God for such an awesome week.

Jeremiah did a great job preaching last Sunday and is speaking again this Sunday. He has been a huge blessing to me and I'll be very sorry to see him go back to Iowa. I know he is getting a workout but I hope it has been a worthwhile journey for him as he prepares to be a children's pastor. It has been fun to brainstorm and bounce ideas around. It's been nice having him around the house, too. I miss our kids and love to have extra people stay with us. He's been a wonderful housemate....neat and tidy! :) It's also been a blessing to have some live worship while he is here. I love it for our altar time...makes a big difference in the flow of things. I've tried to convince him to just move here but I guess he better stick to God's plan and not mine!