I met up with the Kansas City Chapter at Cedars Camps in Lebanon, MO for the work party they arranged with the camps.
Most of the work was done in the front corral of the camp where low branches were cut off of trees and the scrub cleared out to open things up for the horses. We piled it all up and made a big bonfire that burned all night.
The kitchen also got a good scrubbing. All the dishes that had been sitting on the shelves, collecting dust over the winter got washed as did all of the coolers that are an essential part of keeping cool drinks available for the campers in the sometimes 100˙F temperatures.
Sunday morning we built some shelving for one of the new bunkhouses before dialing into the Creve Coeur church near St. Louis to listening to their service. After church, we raked up some leaves and I got a nice tour of the camp to see most of the property and hear about the programs.
Next we helped organize the CS Books and other study materials that will go into each cabin for the campers over the summer.
We finished with a great lunch and packed things up to head out. It was a great event and the camp gained much from the process. There's already talk of doing it next year and hopefully we can get folks from other surrounding cities to join.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Fayetteville, AR
Arkansas. Though many Americans may have a hard time pointing it out on a map, it's clearly on my map and I'm so glad I decided to swing through.
Two days ago, I got to meet Jeff the COP for Arkansas and tonight I got to meet his family at church. After the service, we headed over to the Village Inn for some pie and ice cream and I told them more about DiscoveryBound and what the possibilities are. As it turns out, they had already been introduced to the concept, but it just hadn't quite clicked. Well, I think we got a resounding CLICK and there might soon be a chapter in Arkansas.
If nothing else, they are now in the know of what's going on around them and it sounds like we'll be seeing them at future DB events!
Two days ago, I got to meet Jeff the COP for Arkansas and tonight I got to meet his family at church. After the service, we headed over to the Village Inn for some pie and ice cream and I told them more about DiscoveryBound and what the possibilities are. As it turns out, they had already been introduced to the concept, but it just hadn't quite clicked. Well, I think we got a resounding CLICK and there might soon be a chapter in Arkansas.
If nothing else, they are now in the know of what's going on around them and it sounds like we'll be seeing them at future DB events!
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Little Rock, AR
Through the Principia network, I connected with Tara and Daniel, who it turns out are the first and second readers at the North Little Rock church. We met for dinner on Saturday night and I got a good feel for CS in Arkansas.
They were so grateful for me to stop by and to now be 'in the loop' with DiscoveryBound activities. There's actually quite a lot going on around them and they're keen to help some of their Sunday School students get to as many of these events as they can:
April 26 and 27 Kansas City Chapter is sponsoring a Cedars Camp clean up weekend. There might be some folks to come down from St. Louis as well.
May 3 - St. Louis Chapter - Road Rally
June 5 - "Drowsy Chaperone" the musical with CS actors Talkback session in Dallas, TX.
September 2008 - Labor Day Weekend - St. Louis - DiscoveryBound Leadership Conference (DBLC).
They also recommended I head up to Fayetteville in the NW corner of the state where there are four churches. I want to promote these events to them as well.
They were so grateful for me to stop by and to now be 'in the loop' with DiscoveryBound activities. There's actually quite a lot going on around them and they're keen to help some of their Sunday School students get to as many of these events as they can:
April 26 and 27 Kansas City Chapter is sponsoring a Cedars Camp clean up weekend. There might be some folks to come down from St. Louis as well.
May 3 - St. Louis Chapter - Road Rally
June 5 - "Drowsy Chaperone" the musical with CS actors Talkback session in Dallas, TX.
September 2008 - Labor Day Weekend - St. Louis - DiscoveryBound Leadership Conference (DBLC).
They also recommended I head up to Fayetteville in the NW corner of the state where there are four churches. I want to promote these events to them as well.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Mississippi-Arkansas
It was starting to get a little warm in New Orleans! Not to mention in Jackson, Mississippi where I attended the Wednesday Evening Testimony service. There were only three of us in attendance, so we just sat around a nice table in the adjacent Reading Room instead of the church hall itself.
While the reader has been a Christian Scientist for many years, the other lady has only been coming since November. It turns out there's another person who has just recently started coming to the Jackson church in search of a better spiritual understanding.
From Jackson I headed northwest and have arrived in Little Rock to spread the word of DiscoveryBound and to develop some Church Contacts in Arkansas.
It was such a relief to have the temperatures drop from the mid 80's down to the mid 60's and we even got some rain and a bolt of lightning or two!
Texas is really taking off. There's talk of stepping the Austin May camping trip up to a regional event and the Houston chapter is getting geared up after a big boost of excitement from the Summit.
There's also stuff brewing up in Milwaukee... more on that as things develop.
While the reader has been a Christian Scientist for many years, the other lady has only been coming since November. It turns out there's another person who has just recently started coming to the Jackson church in search of a better spiritual understanding.
From Jackson I headed northwest and have arrived in Little Rock to spread the word of DiscoveryBound and to develop some Church Contacts in Arkansas.
It was such a relief to have the temperatures drop from the mid 80's down to the mid 60's and we even got some rain and a bolt of lightning or two!
Texas is really taking off. There's talk of stepping the Austin May camping trip up to a regional event and the Houston chapter is getting geared up after a big boost of excitement from the Summit.
There's also stuff brewing up in Milwaukee... more on that as things develop.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Houston Summit Recap
Sunday after church, the membership of the many Houston churches were invited to come hear about how the summit went. John Cheney, the event photographer put together a great slide show of the event and Bill Warrick of TMC Youth gave a similar recap to my previous posting. There was also a chance for folks to ask questions about the event.
Naturally, one of the questions was about how to continue this momentum and keep youth, not just interested in CS, but pro-active in it. Bill Warrick admitted TMC Youth did not have that planned out beyond the realm of Sunday School. But Blake, who with others, is keen to get a DiscoveryBound chapter popped up and announced to this group that the DB Chapter board for Houston was already being formed and moving forward.
A number of parents and interested parties came down to meet with Blake, Lindsay (the Houston Summit Chair) and I about launching into a DB Chapter for Houston.
The support is phenomenal.
Naturally, one of the questions was about how to continue this momentum and keep youth, not just interested in CS, but pro-active in it. Bill Warrick admitted TMC Youth did not have that planned out beyond the realm of Sunday School. But Blake, who with others, is keen to get a DiscoveryBound chapter popped up and announced to this group that the DB Chapter board for Houston was already being formed and moving forward.
A number of parents and interested parties came down to meet with Blake, Lindsay (the Houston Summit Chair) and I about launching into a DB Chapter for Houston.
The support is phenomenal.
Houston Summit
The Houston Summit was a great success! Bill Warrick of TMC Youth started things off and set the tone of the meeting. He introduced the TMC Youth staff and explained how the sessions would work.
There were four lecturers:
Christine Driessen - Sharing Christian Science: Building Bridges
Ginny Luedeman - Plain Talk About Love and Relationships
Don Wallingford - A Spiritual GPS: The Presence of God's Goodness
Ron Ballard - Why Healing Spiritually is Crucial
The youth had the opportunity to hear any two of those.
Then there were workshop sessions: Talking about CS, CS Nursing and the Practice, CS Publications, Sunday School, The Christian Science Monitor, Class Instruction, Committee on Publication, Christian Science Organizations for college campuses and the new CS Chaplaincy program.
Again, there were only two sessions to attend any of these workshops but a neat addition to the schedule was the free talkback time given where the attendees could freely wander amongst the presenters and ask specific questions.
There was a full group session on Answering Tough Questions and how to address those. Some of the questions included: Does CS work? Do you ever go to the doctor? Why don't you believe, like most Christians, that Jesus is God?
To wrap things up, the Christian Science Board of Directors took the stage and fielded questions about the future of the movement and what they were thinking about things. They also made it clear that they cared about what the membership thought of it all and were receptive to ideas being thrown out. Explanations about going beyond the KJV of the bible, formality in church, music styles and Sunday School were openly discussed as well as how the attendants of the summit can help in the movement.
Afterwards, we were all bussed to the Cheney's house where a delcious fajitas cookout was served complete with a three guitar mariachi band and ice cream!
There were four lecturers:
Christine Driessen - Sharing Christian Science: Building Bridges
Ginny Luedeman - Plain Talk About Love and Relationships
Don Wallingford - A Spiritual GPS: The Presence of God's Goodness
Ron Ballard - Why Healing Spiritually is Crucial
The youth had the opportunity to hear any two of those.
Then there were workshop sessions: Talking about CS, CS Nursing and the Practice, CS Publications, Sunday School, The Christian Science Monitor, Class Instruction, Committee on Publication, Christian Science Organizations for college campuses and the new CS Chaplaincy program.
Again, there were only two sessions to attend any of these workshops but a neat addition to the schedule was the free talkback time given where the attendees could freely wander amongst the presenters and ask specific questions.
There was a full group session on Answering Tough Questions and how to address those. Some of the questions included: Does CS work? Do you ever go to the doctor? Why don't you believe, like most Christians, that Jesus is God?
To wrap things up, the Christian Science Board of Directors took the stage and fielded questions about the future of the movement and what they were thinking about things. They also made it clear that they cared about what the membership thought of it all and were receptive to ideas being thrown out. Explanations about going beyond the KJV of the bible, formality in church, music styles and Sunday School were openly discussed as well as how the attendants of the summit can help in the movement.
Afterwards, we were all bussed to the Cheney's house where a delcious fajitas cookout was served complete with a three guitar mariachi band and ice cream!
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Summit Beginnings
It is ON in Houston. After a full day of volunteering with the Summit Committee at 7th Church to get it all set up: hanging posters, setting up chairs, prepping drinks and snacks, fixing signs... we headed over to the hotel to start getting folks checked in.
It has been so great to see many of the folks I met while making my rounds in Texas, it's like a big family reunion.
Ye-haw.
It has been so great to see many of the folks I met while making my rounds in Texas, it's like a big family reunion.
Ye-haw.
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