Last night I visited the closest church to where I'm parked in Arlington, TX - the Arlington church. It turned out one of the members was moving to Florida and they were having a farewell party for her and they invited the total stranger visiting their church to come along. Ok... so I wasn't a total stranger. The organist, Mary, and my mom were roommates at Principia together. Mary had just had me over for dinner the night before. I also gave a testimony about seeing the message past a metaphor (the non-fruit bearing tree Jesus withered away from a few weeks ago) and about the "Science" of Christian Science.
Once the group figured out what I was up to with DiscoveryBound, they invited me to address the group at the party and talk about what was going on here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The response I got afterwards makes me believe we'll have some good participation in the newly forming Fort Worth chapter from Arlington!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Sister Chapters
Sunday was a double bonus feature day with the creation of two new chapters for DiscoveryBound: West Texas and Minneapolis.
Liz from Mankato, MN contacted HQ in Denver curious about what a DB Chapter was after her daughter attended the DiscoveryBound Boston Youth Meeting in conjunction with Annual Meeting at the Mother Church. I contacted Liz and we had a great chat and she's keen to get a chapter going. Talk about dedication though, she hauls her family 80+ miles to get to church in Minneapolis!
As a result of the very successful Sunday School Workshop hosted by The First Church of Christ, Scientist Abilene, TX, their first reader, Emily stepped forward and said she wanted to see this happen for the West Texas youth. We talked some at the workshop and Sunday after church she was ready to take the point on getting the chapter together. This is a very ambitious and unique chapter. Just for kicks, I calculated the area it covers... wager to guess? Try 96,000 sq miles!
Seeing as these chapters were started on the same day, and as they are about as far apart as they can be from one another in the Central Region, I'm declaring them 'Sister Chapters' and maybe some day we can get an event organized with the two of them together... "Meet me in St. Louis?"
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Sunday School Workshop - Abilene, TX
Abilene Church put on a great workshop for Sunday School teachers today. They had 40 people in attendance, the largest group came from Amarillo, a four hour drive!
It was great for me to hear that one of the objectives for the group was to network. They wanted to connect with each other and share ideas and get the kids together. The term "regional events" even cropped up.
The event organizer, Shellie, allowed me to speak to the group for about five minutes and the idea of a West Texas Chapter was thrown out. We'll see if I get some traction on that. I also spoke to the seven youth that came along and had their own workshop, similar to the one at the Mother Church during Annual Meeting last summer. They liked the idea of getting the CS youth from West Texas together more often.
This was a group that has made youth a priority and it showed. It was a wonderful fulfillment to reach out and meet people from West Texas as I was not going to be driving out that way.
A huge thanks to the Abilene crew!
It was great for me to hear that one of the objectives for the group was to network. They wanted to connect with each other and share ideas and get the kids together. The term "regional events" even cropped up.
The event organizer, Shellie, allowed me to speak to the group for about five minutes and the idea of a West Texas Chapter was thrown out. We'll see if I get some traction on that. I also spoke to the seven youth that came along and had their own workshop, similar to the one at the Mother Church during Annual Meeting last summer. They liked the idea of getting the CS youth from West Texas together more often.
This was a group that has made youth a priority and it showed. It was a wonderful fulfillment to reach out and meet people from West Texas as I was not going to be driving out that way.
A huge thanks to the Abilene crew!
Monday, February 18, 2008
New Chapter - Austin, TX
The joint DiscoveryBound and Adventure Unlimited show in Austin, Texas was a great success! A handful of volunteers came forward and were willing to invest the time and get a DB chapter up and started. We even got an event on the calendar, an OTM to sync with the rest of the region - the first Wednesday of the month. The new board will be meeting a week from today to round up more volunteers and plan out the next three months of activities.
Aaron, from the A/U Ranches, and I presented our programs to a room of about 20 people from the Austin area. Most of them were from the near by Third Church, but a key few from First were also in attendance and the new DB Board is an even mix from the two.
It turns out there are also some CS Societies near by and they might get included in future OTM events.
Aaron, from the A/U Ranches, and I presented our programs to a room of about 20 people from the Austin area. Most of them were from the near by Third Church, but a key few from First were also in attendance and the new DB Board is an even mix from the two.
It turns out there are also some CS Societies near by and they might get included in future OTM events.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
City Life/Ranch Life - Austin, TX
Things have been going very well in Austin. First the lecture on Saturday with Ryder was great. Sunday I went to First Church, the sponsors of the lecture and met the Sunday School Superintendent who already had copies of the upcoming A/U & DB event all printed out and ready to pass out to all of the students.
Unfortunately, the flyer didn't really describe what it was I (the mentioned DiscoveryBound) rep was going to be doing there... so, as I explained the objective of DB and the idea that the objective of this meeting was to get a chapter going, more people took an interest and a flyer with them. Mostly adults whose children have grown and gone, or those who don't have children. It will be great to get everyone involved as children really need to be seen as a community asset and responsibility, not just that of the parents.
Over the week to come, I had follow-up meetings with a few of the folks I met at church and the lecture, went to two Wednesday Testimony meetings: noon at First and the evening service at Third.
Today, Aaron from A/U gets in and we'll have our info meeting and camp show and potluck luncheon under cloudy and cool skies. I feel kinda bad after touting what warm weather we've been having on the staff conference calls, and now that Aaron gets here, it's cooled off. Maybe that's better for him... to ease into it after being in the snow blizzard at the Colorado Ranches.
Oh, yes... the photo above... I was staying at a RV park in the city for the first week, which was great for meeting with folks and for getting to First Church. Just yesterday, I moved out to Rusty's Ranch (see Flickr Photos) and one the ranch cats came into the trailer for a visit and tried to help me with my e-mails and such last night. He was really more into cuddling.
Unfortunately, the flyer didn't really describe what it was I (the mentioned DiscoveryBound) rep was going to be doing there... so, as I explained the objective of DB and the idea that the objective of this meeting was to get a chapter going, more people took an interest and a flyer with them. Mostly adults whose children have grown and gone, or those who don't have children. It will be great to get everyone involved as children really need to be seen as a community asset and responsibility, not just that of the parents.
Over the week to come, I had follow-up meetings with a few of the folks I met at church and the lecture, went to two Wednesday Testimony meetings: noon at First and the evening service at Third.
Today, Aaron from A/U gets in and we'll have our info meeting and camp show and potluck luncheon under cloudy and cool skies. I feel kinda bad after touting what warm weather we've been having on the staff conference calls, and now that Aaron gets here, it's cooled off. Maybe that's better for him... to ease into it after being in the snow blizzard at the Colorado Ranches.
Oh, yes... the photo above... I was staying at a RV park in the city for the first week, which was great for meeting with folks and for getting to First Church. Just yesterday, I moved out to Rusty's Ranch (see Flickr Photos) and one the ranch cats came into the trailer for a visit and tried to help me with my e-mails and such last night. He was really more into cuddling.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Post Lecture Chats
After Ryder's lecture I had a chance to meet some of the folks from the area and each time I introduced myself as working with DiscoveryBound, a look of appreciation was reciprocated to me.
I promoted the meeting coming up in a week where Aaron from A/U will be talking about the camps and I'll have a moment to see if there is interest in getting a DB Chapter going.
After the lecture I went out with Daniel, Whitney and Holly. Daniel is a Junior at the University of Texas and Whitney and Holly came up from Texas A&M. They're all involved with their respective CSO's and they seem eager to support DB.
I chatted with them about how middle school and high school might pay them more attention than folks their parents age and how DB is a natural feeder to get students interested in getting involved with the CSO of their college when they go off to study.
Marissa in San Antonio is about to have her last Sunday School class and she's kinda bummed about it. She's just getting the CSO started at Trinity College, but I told her that was a perfect environment to help buffer the transition from talking about God for an hour to sitting still and listening about God for an hour. The CSO has a great opportunity to even invite local HS seniors to come and participate and to understand what a supportive community is available.
We all had a great time talking about this stuff... not to mention some good snacks like my root beer float, Whitney's chocolate chip cookie a la mode and very liberal and decorative whipped cream while Holly and Daniel split some cake. Good times.
I promoted the meeting coming up in a week where Aaron from A/U will be talking about the camps and I'll have a moment to see if there is interest in getting a DB Chapter going.
After the lecture I went out with Daniel, Whitney and Holly. Daniel is a Junior at the University of Texas and Whitney and Holly came up from Texas A&M. They're all involved with their respective CSO's and they seem eager to support DB.
I chatted with them about how middle school and high school might pay them more attention than folks their parents age and how DB is a natural feeder to get students interested in getting involved with the CSO of their college when they go off to study.
Marissa in San Antonio is about to have her last Sunday School class and she's kinda bummed about it. She's just getting the CSO started at Trinity College, but I told her that was a perfect environment to help buffer the transition from talking about God for an hour to sitting still and listening about God for an hour. The CSO has a great opportunity to even invite local HS seniors to come and participate and to understand what a supportive community is available.
We all had a great time talking about this stuff... not to mention some good snacks like my root beer float, Whitney's chocolate chip cookie a la mode and very liberal and decorative whipped cream while Holly and Daniel split some cake. Good times.
Ryder Stephens Lecture - Austin, TX
Ryder gave one of his newest lectures, Manhood and Womanhood: Your Sacred Identity in Austin today. He provided an in depth comparison of Genesis 1 and 2 exposing the limited thought represented in the story of Adam & Eve. Adam was formed of dust... nothingness and therefore can only express that - nothingness.
An interesting point he made was the story of Adam and Eve was actually stolen from the Egyptians. Ryder says it was an old folk story that the enslaved children of Israel picked up while building the pyramids.
We are not Adam, or Eve. We are the word of God, we are the infinite expression of light and love - Soul. Our identity is the reflection of Spirit. There is no dust, no breath in nostrils, no need to recognize any limitations... and we need to see that for ourselves. That's the hard part, to see ourselves in that perfect image. It seems like it would be so much easier to just succumb to the oppressing notion of death and decay.
Ryder charged us at the end to go as the children of God. To express that unconditional Christ love. It will help us see ourselves with the unlimited resource of God and it will help others see themselves that way.
An interesting point he made was the story of Adam and Eve was actually stolen from the Egyptians. Ryder says it was an old folk story that the enslaved children of Israel picked up while building the pyramids.
We are not Adam, or Eve. We are the word of God, we are the infinite expression of light and love - Soul. Our identity is the reflection of Spirit. There is no dust, no breath in nostrils, no need to recognize any limitations... and we need to see that for ourselves. That's the hard part, to see ourselves in that perfect image. It seems like it would be so much easier to just succumb to the oppressing notion of death and decay.
Ryder charged us at the end to go as the children of God. To express that unconditional Christ love. It will help us see ourselves with the unlimited resource of God and it will help others see themselves that way.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
San Antonio Chapter
Six brave souls attended the San Antonio Chapter start-up meeting. Interestingly, they were all people who either had grown up children or no children at all (although Ron is practically starting over with his adopted kids)! We need to get some parents involved!
While this group may not be the chapter board in the long run, they have agreed to work towards getting an OTM (Operation Testimony Meeting) going at Third Church on Wednesday 5 March (The first Wednesday of the month) and a big kick-off event down on the river including rafting or floating down the river on tubes or some such. It seems it was an event they did years ago and it went over really well.
One of the concerns presented was the distance of things. It seems many of the church members are scattered all around the outskirts of town so larger more substantial events might work better than little gatherings like OTM's. We'll see.
A huge thanks to this crowd: Ron, Marisa, Carol, Fielding, Susie and Tina for being a part of the seed group. Though, to the credit of a few other folks, there were some other meetings going on at the same time. Hopefully this seed group will be able to reign them in and get things going.
While this group may not be the chapter board in the long run, they have agreed to work towards getting an OTM (Operation Testimony Meeting) going at Third Church on Wednesday 5 March (The first Wednesday of the month) and a big kick-off event down on the river including rafting or floating down the river on tubes or some such. It seems it was an event they did years ago and it went over really well.
One of the concerns presented was the distance of things. It seems many of the church members are scattered all around the outskirts of town so larger more substantial events might work better than little gatherings like OTM's. We'll see.
A huge thanks to this crowd: Ron, Marisa, Carol, Fielding, Susie and Tina for being a part of the seed group. Though, to the credit of a few other folks, there were some other meetings going on at the same time. Hopefully this seed group will be able to reign them in and get things going.
New Braunfels, TX
Yesterday I headed up to New Braunfels, about 30 miles out of San Antonio (see map at right... markers are CS Churches in the area) to visit with Judy & Chris Schwab. Judy has been through a number of careers including as an opera singer in Europe and at the New York Metropolitan Opera, she's worked as a teacher and is now in the Christian Science Healing Practice. Judy is very active with the youth in the area. They have about 15 students in their Sunday School now, and with a generous grant from the Sunnyside Foundation they will be hosting a weekly Bible Study workshop with local disadvantaged youth, many of whom will attend the CS Sunday School as well.
Judy put me in touch with Jeanne, the church clerk who, with the board, approved letting me speak to the membership about DiscoveryBound. There were about 10-15 folks in attendance and along with giving a quick overview of what DB is, I invited them to attend the meeting tonight as we work to get a San Antonio Chapter Board constructed.
As it turns out, after telling of our bi-annual Australia trip, one of the New Braunfels members used to work at the Australian Easter Camp many years ago!
There was also some interest in the Adult Expedition trip to Turkey!
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Elden Stalnaker - San Antonio, TX
I had a great lunch meeting with San Antonio mover and shaker, Elden Stalnaker. He is working with some students at Trinity College to get their CSO up and running and is very keen on seeing a DiscoveryBound chapter to bless the community as well.
We spoke on a number of topics including some ideas I introduced to him when we first met after the lecture on Saturday and when we were out to lunch with a large group from 1st Church on Sunday.
He was keen to hear about the Monitor Prayer Watch project underway in New York City and I suggested a conference call with the very active CSO at Texas A&M college who meet on Tuesdays at the same time as Trinity plans to meet.
Elden runs a ministry on Lackland Air Force Base. He wakes up at 4am on Sundays to drive to the base to run a bible discussion workshop with an eager class, then comes to church to run a Sunday School class and has a CS healing practice the rest of the time. He also works with Rob and Lauren Nofsinger in Boston who are working towards becoming CS Chaplains in the US Army.
It was great to spend some time with him to brainstorm and share resources. As mentioned in the video, we came up with a theme word, or words rather, for our work in San Antonio: Omni-Action: Action in all directions and in all ways... and I suggested Meta-Action: Beyond Action. He liked that.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Lecture - San Antonio, TX
I went to a great lecture today by Elise Moore. She spoke on the topic "God is Speaking to You." She made a great point about how God is always speaking to all of us, it's just a matter of listening. Are we being receptive to God's thoughts? I really appreciated her asking everyone to pray that children are listening to God. She told a few stories of how God speaks to everyone - and while children have the ability to hear God speaking to them the don't always listen (no surprise, eh?). But God is also speaking to those around the children to be watchful to keep them safe. Elise stressed the point that we need to be active in not limiting children and to pray for their ability to hear God (and for adults to recognize they can).
This spoke directly to what DiscoveryBound is doing. We take time every day to pray for children, our programs for children and those who work with children. We pray for the volunteers who take time to take action for and with children and to help them grow and learn to listen to God.
Elise spoke of our Spiritual Sense - our capacity to recognize good from bad. She likened it to a radio. All we had to do was to 1) Turn it on. 2) Tune into God. We are all born with Spiritual Sense, meaning children have this as well.
It was a great talk, and she mentioned some Bible and Science and Health citations I have yet to delve into.
Elise has a great website - www.elisemoore.com
Friday, February 1, 2008
Rodeo - San Antonio, TX
I was just sitting in my trailer... plucking away when suddenly I realized I was surrounded by horses and horse trailers and lots of flags and a bit of ye-haw!
Wednesday I visited 3rd Church and met some great folks who are keen to help with getting some DB activity in San Antonio. I've also connected with folks from 1st and 4th churches.
There's a lecture on Saturday by Elise Moore titled "God Is Speaking To You". I'm not sure which church I'll visit on Sunday... probably 1st, but we'll see.
I hope to get to see more of the rodeo. I just met some folks who were on the ride and they set me up with a day pass to visit the grounds and to see what all is going on.
Giddy-up, partner!
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