Catch Up

I'll fill the details in later, buts its been a season of life to forget. A couple weeks ago Nicole's uncle died, this past week my grandmother passed away and i got back in town in time to get on a bus for summer camp....you could pray for me.

Also, follow camp on our camp blog for parents...summerswitch.wordpress.com

Qdoba

Taking a volunteer out to lunch yesterday in another area of the metro that happens to have a Qdoba, in my head I'm thinking this will be the same as some good ol' Chipotle.  We arrive, and i order the same exact thing as if i were standing in the amazing Chipotle itself.  Steak burrito, fajita style...mmmm good.  They pile on the same cilantro inspired rice, the same looking beef, the same black beans but then they arrive at the fajita onions and peppers.  I notice how amazingly better they look.  They look fresh and bright full of color and not soaking in grease-OK I'm getting pretty excited about this meal.  We move on to exactly the same combination of salsa and loaded with cheese excellent in every way.  It is at this point i notice a hiccup in the system.  Their summer help consists of a high school girl who appears to be as well trained as a stray dog.  She looks at the burrito like its the challenge of her life and begins to roll my taste filled delight into the burrito meal it was intended to be.  I move on, letter her work without the pressure of me staring and pay for the meals.  As I sit down, i notice immediately how poorly executed the rolling of my burrito happened.  In the end, it sucked.  The ingredients were there, amazing in their own right but combined intended to created a flavor sensation exploding with joy as you took a bite, until the girl got ahold of it.  Needless to say it was one of the least enjoyable burritos i have had...this girl had ruined it.  As harsh as this may sound, I'm not pointing fingers at this ill-trained girl for she knew no better way she simply was not trained.  As I'm sitting talking with this volunteer i cant get the thought out of my head, i sure hope I've trained him better than that ha!  In our ministry all the pieces are in place, their good pieces that work great together but the true fact is they hinge upon the competency of our leaders.  The final piece in our ministry is leaders, they have the final touch with students really wrapping the whole thing together--they will make it or break it.  Am I training them to be effective?  If not, they are not to blame I am.  

At The Movies

Ok a quick update on our At The Movies series....The campus exploded this weekend with people.  As a staff we openly will share that we doubted what God would do on 4th of July weekend...good thing he doesn't work based on our projections!!!  The best part was the influx of new people-short story.  A lady that has been coming awhile invited a friend that had not been to church in a long time.  Typical story of getting burned by a church and having no desire to go back.  Friend decides to finally come to our campus this past weekend to try it out.  As they walk in the doors they happen to walk in the one that has been created as a bat cave, its pitch black bats noises are going on all around her and there is a batman symbol glowing in the distance.  At this point i would love to re-write the story and say the lady right then and there did something incredibly spiritual...no....she started crying in fear.  Really crying, real fear here.  Luckily our campus pastor was near and took care of the situation.  Bat cave 1, new lady 0.  

Brick Walls

One of the years largest series is coming up, At The Movies.  This is our definitive bring in series specifically designed for people who don't venture into church buildings often.  This is an exciting time creating a buzz around our campus specifically with volunteers.  We transform our entire building into a movie set...this year's design team has captured Gotham City.  In Gotham city we will feature "screenshots" from different super-hero movies.  We have a bat cave, Wayne manner, the bat symbol glowing in the rafters, the incredible hulk crushing buildings and superman saving the plane from the helpless sports fans at the baseball stadium.  Our main lobby is designed as a movie theater lobby, we have movie theater candy available...its quite the six flags endeavor.  Our volunteers have envisioned this and are in the process of creating it all with the advisement of staff.  The piece i really owned as a personal volunteer project was to transform a 45 foot long section of our hallway into a 20 foot tall brick building.  As i had volunteers flowing in and out this weekend to construct what will be the movie theater building in our town (the entrance to our auditorium) i was tired and worn out.  The brick wall really seemed to symbolize the most recent season of ministry for me.  I've often wrestled with being in ministry constantly having to look back to my calling that got me into it all in the first place, err God ha!  One of the questions i evaluate my impact with is whether or not i would have more impact as a small group leader than as the leader of the whole ministry.  I need to see progress, i need to see God working through me to validate investing my life...wrong or not.  This last season of ministry has been one that has swayed in and out of feeling like God is making a difference through me.  As i begin to sprint forward with momentum moving the students God has called me to connect with him i feel as though i hit brick walls.  Something happens, attitudes change and for no sought after reason i get paralyzed into a crawl.  This has happened two or three times recently, frankly its frustrating.  I desire to sprint with others towards God for longer seasons...i want the marathon really.  I can't really complain though, because God is teaching me a lot about who i am, what i need and most importantly...he's in control.  It's really odd to tell God that its up to him, to look outside of myself almost constantly simply so things keep rolling-I'm still waiting to be struck by lightning.  There is an ebb and flow in ministry that is unexplainable.  Sometimes it's when core students graduate and the ministry suffers, sometimes its when leaders lose their investment, when staff gets worn out and spiritually dry, but most of the time i feel its unexplainable.  This isn't because i cant think of a good reason, its just the only good reason i can think of is outside of anything other than God.  We join God in what he is doing around us and sometimes he stops.  God chooses to stop me with some brick walls.  As I'm processing (DG there ya go) through this its comforting to be learning that God is not shutting things down, but merely making sure all the bricks are straight before moving forward.  The mortar has to set the foundation has to settle.  This becomes an issue of God not moving at the speed of Tyler, but at the speed of God.  Our ministry is moving at the speed of God, my life is, my marriage everything seems to be moving right along at his pace.  Soon enough the pieces will be in place for a long season of running with God where he will no doubt wear me out, but i have confidence that he too is building another brick wall to run me right into.