#sundetosteed

One of the absolute joys of my life - officiating the wedding of these two yesterday - Jeremiah and Emilie. Emilie was my first student missions intern in 2005 and eventually contributed at the highest level as a leader, helping lead a ton of stuff and make investments that continue to affect the world today. She was the first person that truly modeled the 'emerging global student leader' - a student that was interested in global cultures, loved airports, parents who didn't mind putting them on a plane and a passion for the world that erupted in action.

In that season, her family modeled adventure, risk, and being pioneers. Her parents have also always had the healthy perspective that your kids are only yours for a little bit because the Lord has a greater purpose for them after you have helped them grow.

Godspeed Jeremiah and Emilie - we can't wait to see how you change the course of human history.

Reentry with Tom Cruise

So many things in the past few days have reminded me of Cameroon for some strange reason. The Ghost is trying to blow some embers and I'm getting excited for the next season of SPACE come January. You should be too.

The biggest reminder, oddly enough, was the release of Mission:Impossible:III on DVD last week. I've been a huge fan of the movies [global destinations, cool gadgetry and the epic battle for good and evil] and will eventually buy it used. I watched this movie on the plane ride home between Paris and the US and watched it with ESunde, my amazing intern that continued to be an amazing leader - who incidentally is going to China for a few weeks in January. We sat together for three out of the four flights - alphabetized tickets.

In many ways, I had just finished an incredible mission - Africa, blessing one of our own, students that invested so much in others, a rich time of debriefing and reentry in Paris. In a weird way, watching that movie was part of my personal reentry. Hey, people have certainly done more unconventional debriefings...

From the "I'd Rather Be In Africa" facebook group.
- it doesn't seem right to pay the asking price on anything in a store. If you can't barter for it, it's not worth having.
- four cars are driving parallel to each other on a one-lane road.
- cramming 7 passangers in a 4 passenger taxi is really not a big deal.
- carry purell like it's your life supply.

Super Kule Intern

Emilie, the SPACEintern, is officially done with her internship. The last major work effort was the Senior Mission weekend, which was her dream followed by her execution. It was a great weekend and all of her hard work was worth it. We talked about how we could measure success before the weekend started - the measurement she ultimately decided on was that it was a success even before it started because of how much she had personally learned. I think besides other measurements, that is a good one because leaders are life-long learners.

Our first ever SPACE launch was in September of 2003 and included having lunch with some homeless people as well as working in a food distribution center. Emilie was one of the first ones we invited and she has been at literally every SPACE gathering since then. Since then, she has seen us do some pretty fun things, all in an effort to mobilize students to live lives larger than just themselves, including:
- feeding moms of newborns
- nursing home Vday party
- raking a whole mess of yards around our community every November
- decorating pastors offices for Pastor appreciation
- multiple homeless experiences in DC, Baltimore and helping with GCC's Cold Weather Shelter
- helping with mission teams for extended periods of time in NYC, Washington DC, Bridgeport CT and Trinidad
- helping host missionary friends
- prayer walk around our local mall
- critiquing the effectiveness of large festival evangelism events
- attending workshops about urban youth ministry
- meetings with the whole cast of characters that make up our 2006 summer team leaders
- this coming summer, she will be one of the Cam team leaders
As you can tell, she was an obvious choice to be a SPACE intern.

Of course, in full disclosure to the sometimes funny, chaotic and unpredictability nature of SPACE, Emilie has also experienced:
- someone locking the keys in the church van [with the engine running] while on a homeless experience
- having all 60 or so students kicked out of a nursing home because we were too loud
- watching a teammate have to catch and kill a live chicken in Trinidad [Edit: As Matt commented, this was at Emilie's request...]
- and most recently, only having 20 seconds to prepare before speaking about how much God means to her in front of a church for homeless people

Emilie, you:
- are kind hearted towards people - you always find the best about people. Your optimism about people will serve you well as you lead - you will see their potential and gifts more than their shortcomings.
- are directionally gifted - you are like a GPS unit. You can find your way around the corner and through the subway. You will sense God's direction as you go from nation to nation, city to city, person to person.
- have a heart for those outside AND inside. You long for those outside the Kingdom, for them to experience true life to the full. For those inside the Kingdom, you aspire for them to be amazed at how God can and will use them to impact with a crash.

SPACE is watching you expectantly as you create and shape a future where God's glory is magnified by those who don't know Him yet.

Photos: Emilie and I in Battery Park, May 2006; serving at the Capital Area Food Bank, Sept 2003; guiding a team through the NYC subway, May 2005

SPACE 2006 Senior Weekend

We had a fabulous weekend in NYC with some of our graduation Seniors. Big thanks to Jeremy Del Rio for hosting and connecting us with a few local, indigenous ministries in the East Village for us to serve and bless others.

The overall goal was to take our graduating Seniors away for the weekend and give them a chance to serve and impact as well as see the world from a different perspective. For the past two years, NYC has proven to be a great place to do both. This year also had the special privilege of our SPACEintern Emilie putting together most of this trip as a capstone internship final project. Great job Emilie!

Here is our rough timeline along with some of the activities we were involved in:
Th 3.30pm - depart GCC
Th 10.00pm - arrive East Village, staying in the Abounding Grace church building, which is a fabulous old building that used to be a bank in the 1860s.
Th 10.30pm - cultural exercise in the neighborhood

We sent the teams out in small groups of 3 or 4 into the neighborhood to observe the mix of cultures in this area of the city. Their task was to jot down as many world cultures and/or subcultures that they could identify. They could talk to people if they wanted, but the bigger emphasis was just listening and observing. Each team had a list of about 20-30 cultures when they came back. The goal here was exposure to the mix of different people here in the city - something they never see in the suburbs. And here in East Village, a few blocks from the Bowery, not even ONE hint of the area being unsafe.

F 09.30am - up and ready to go to work
F 10am-1pm - helping at a center in GenXcel's Avenue D center, spicing up kids art projects and painting a mural in one of the classrooms.
We also ate bag lunches in one of the parks across the street.
F 2pm-5pm - cleaning up GenXcel while the SPACEintern and I drove around looking for a good place to park a 15 passenger van in East Village. Although it took a while, it was a great way to get familiar with the 10 block radius.
F 7pm-11pm - helping host and serve at GenXcel's end of year 'Celebration of Excellence'
F 11.30pm - recap and debriefing, focusing on new things they experienced today, and the ideas of deciding what you MUST do having seen the realities of the world.

S 11am-5pm - sightseeing most of the day including Veniero's Pastry Shop, a classic East Village thrift store, Ground Zero, Battery Park and lunch
S 6.45pm-9pm - arrived late to Apple Core coffeehouse. The Apple Core coffeehouse is a faith community of homeless people that gather every week for fellowship, praise and worship and a meal - consider it a church of homeless people. Although we got there kind of late, we helped sing for worship, serve some food and hang out with the congregates. In addition, it was a great opportunity for two of our graduation Seniors to get up front, with only a few seconds notice, and tell a quick story of how God is real in their lives.
S 9.30pm - depart for MD
S 2.30am - arrival back at GCC

Here are some observations from the weekend:
- One of our goals was to expose these graduating seniors to what the world really looks like. It is urban, it is multicultural, it is quite different from the suburban existence. I don't think you can go to NYC without acheiving this goal.
- Abounding Grace and GenXcel is a great example of a local church ministering indigenously and contextually in their own community. The past few times I have brought teams to NYC, we have worked with mission agencies rather than local churches. All have been great experiences, but this one was unique in that concept.
- Everytime we end up in NYC, I meet more and more people that are interested in hosting our teams.

- I appreciated Apple Core Coffeehouse because 'church' there was not complicated, it was simple. This different expression of 'church' is something that our students need to see - something is wrong if they graduate and think that GCC is the only way to do church.
- Jeremy told me that East Village has historically been an area that has attracted people on the 'fringes.' Reminds me of what Neil Cole says about the fringes - that church planting happens on the fringes and not in the suburbs [can't find the quote but I'm sure its in Organic Church.]
- This weekend works best when the kids' Dteam leaders come along, like they have in the past two years. MpM, JG, and CCortes [the former two are going to be involved in Mission Advance, while CCortes is one of our LA team leaders] came with us and are just great leaders. It was great to provide an experience for them to serve alongside with their kids. As a component of the student ministry, SPACE works well when we explicitly partner with small group leaders for these kinds of experiences, building on the context of a church student ministry with it's own leaders.
- I'm not sure arriving back at church at 2am and then having students drive home in cars they left all weekend is such a good idea.
- Adolsecents need a lot of sleep. It's an important fact as we plan schedules.

Photos: our team in Battery Park; MM and one of the Xcel students during the Celebration of Excellence; working on art projects at Avenue D; painting the mural at Avenue D; helping with worship at Apple Core; two of our Seniors speaking at Apple Core [click on photos for larger size]

More of my photos and Emilie's photos

Technorati tags:: student+missions, Seniors

SPACE Senior Weekend 2006 Audio

Technorati tags:: student+missions, Seniors

UYWI - Reload - Philly

JBourq is one of our SPACE leaders. She has been around from the inception of SPACE, when a few of us met and talked about what a service/missions team would look like for students. She has been a first hand witness for most of my crazy ideas. The ones she hasn't witnessed have been luckily nixed by my wife. She's also seen how some of our plans have needed to be changed during the actual execution. Keys locked in vans, getting kicked out of nursing homes, way too many bags of leaves.

What she has also seen firsthand is how important it is that we are preparing these kids to do ministry on their own. How we must not quit when it comes to exposing them to the realities of the world and what the church is or is not doing to meet those needs. And how absolutely exhilarating it is to nurture an environment where students are unleashed to live on mission and when their friends come along.

JBourq heard about the Urban Youth Worker Institute and their one day training day called Reload, and decided that she wanted to go. Since the event was in her hometown of Philly, it made perfect sense. She took the SPACEintern, TMurray [another one of our summer team leaders] and they had a great time. [Remember that the future is urban - it is a reality of the world we live in.]

"The best leaders are not those who win the most followers, but those who create other leaders." - Neil Cole

Update: Here are the SPACEintern's notes and a picture of her with Bart Campolo.

Scoping Out Whiskey Bottom

EmGberg, the SPACEintern, my kids and I drove around an area near us this afternoon called Whiskey Bottom. Two major reasons for us to drive through there. First, since the GCC move, we are in a lot closer proximity to this area. I think our senior high pastor would love to see some kind of community outreach/focus thing happen here. Secondly, we were trying to get an idea for maybe a shared project here if some of the Brasil kids come up this summer. Nothing came to mind for either of those right quick, but you never know. It was helpful just to drive around and see the activity of some young people outside, the number of pools [3 I think] and the local public elementary school.

Although it didn't last too long, it was fun just to hang out with those two, especially with my kids. Like I've said a lot, my kids bring an extra dimension to relationships.

Even more fun - at one point in our conversation, I asked them one of those TonySheng questions. [If you know me, you know what I mean. If you don't, its kind of hard to explain.] They both responded in ways that I would respond - it was terrifying... What does it mean when you clearly recognize yourself in the people you are trying to lead? [They are as psycho as you are??] Of course, it took a little while, since this is their Senior year...

Photo: EmGberg and the SPACEintern, and I swear my kids are on the playground behind them.

SPACE winter expedition

Our first annual SPACE winter expedition was this weekend. The goal was two-fold. First, to take some of our core SPACE kids away and invest in them. This included the ideas of just spending time with them and getting them to bond. The second goal was to work with a homeless ministry and for these kids to hear from a family friend of ours about what it takes to be successful in this kind of ministry for the long haul. Of course, if you know me, my inherent goal along with those two was something along the lines of empowering some missionaries, church planters, artists and revolutionaries. You know, a goal that is more shallow and whimsy.

Logistically, we took them to Bridgeport, CT. Our family friend works with Pivot Ministries in Bridgeport, and we had a free place to stay at the Madre's, in nearby Fairfield. It was cool to bring these students up to my mother-in-laws with a good complement of me still seeing the fam a little bit while helping provide an experience for these students.

Here is what the overall weekend looked like schedule-wise:
F 5.00-11.00 - drive from MD to CT
F 11.30-midnight - tour of Bridgeport and Fairfield from D, touching the water in the Long Island Sound - key idea here was to get used to the context of a new place
S 7.30-4.30 breakfast, painting and late lunch at Pivot. They also did a little praise and worship at the end, where the residents sang some praise songs and gave a few quick testimonies.
S 4.30-6.30 - rest, cleanup, snack at the Madres
S 7.00-10.00 - End of the Spear movie. Incredible. A must see. The rating of PG-13 is on, just a tad bit of violence in there. The yellow plane under the backdrop of the Amazon forest is both visually stunning, if not a bit symbolic.
S 10.00-11.00 - debrief at a local New England diner. Two key ideas included:
- context and culture are important, in all manner of settings, whether it is in a different city, with your friends at school or when you live in another country.
- you meet very few people that live life with intention like Nate Saint and his mission of reaching the Waodani people.
Sun - 10.00 - church at Black Rock Congregational Church, a huge mission sending church. However, we missed the high school service, which was the original intention. It worked out fine though.
Sun - 11.30 - drive home, via Philly where JBourq has the best place for cheesesteaks.

A few other impressions:
- There were about 5 or 6 residents of Pivot that helped us paint all day long. It was really cool to actually make a connection with some of them, hearing their stories, working alongside with them. Context and connection made an impact on our students.
- As you might have read before, it was just me and another guy, TyRass. Even for a guy that lives with all girls, at times it was a little touch and go. No, seriously, it was a great group of kids. They loved each other and served on a team together that totally blessed others.
- I should try and do a better job of preparing the leaders. I need to try and give them some tangible details with the goal of empowering them to actively lead. Not quite sure what that looks like specifically.
- SPACE winter expeditions - a great experience. Well worth repeating in our toolkit of mobilizing students.

More pictures here.

the Interns Waking the Dead notes

You long time readers know that I like the book Waking the Dead a lot. So much that it's on the reading list for the SPACEintern. Fun surprise when her notes popped up in my rss reader. Here are some of the highlights.

You are never a great man when you have more mind than heart. -Beauchene
The Heart is central. The Bible addresses the heart more than any other topic-more than works or service, more than belief or obedience more than money, and even more than worship.
The heart is our source of faith, hope, and love.

Memory, Creativity and Courage are functions of the heart.

Enemy's plan: Make them so busy, they ignore the heart. Wound them so deeply, they don't want a heart. Twist their theology, so they despise the heart. Take away their courage. Destroy their creativity. Make intimacy with God impossible for them.
Three Eternal Truths:
1.Things are not what they seem
2.This is a world at war
3.We have a crucial role to play

This is our most desperate hour.

What sort of tale have I fallen into?

"We and the world, my children, will always be at war.
Retreat is impossible.
Arm yourselves." -Leif Enger

You can read more from her notes at post 1 and 2.

Once again, a kind of cool feedback loop from being able to read notes real-time.

Interns to Leaders

"The best leaders are not those who win the most followers, but those who create other leaders." - Neil Cole

I've written a lot about our SPACEintern. She is doing a fabulous job. This morning we had a quick conversation about some of the work she needs to do and maybe how she could fit it into something literal and tangible. We also talked about the birthing of new events and experiences. Those new things shouldn't be based on what is cool or fun, or missional tourism - oh that sounds like a cool place to go, just for the sake of going. Instead, our experiences (and ministry in general) should be based on where our students are and what they need. Once we have a gauge on those two elements, only then can we put together an experience that is valid. She also has to do some kind of research paper, but instead, she wants to do something that will have a tangible effect on students. And that was totally her perspective. Cool huh?

Our youth ministry actually has two other students doing internships. One of them is EmGberg, who was on my Brazil team this summer. She is doing her internship with the head of GCC's Mission Task Force, the group of people responsible for everything dealing with missions in our community. A lot of her internship has her reading and writing about the Perspectives readings. (I also wrote about ability to relate to total strangers, even in another country, here.)

The other intern is JF, who is working with our youth ministry administrator, dealing with back office administrative tasks. JF has been helping out in the office, especially of late with retreat paperwork. She is also putting together a scrapbook about her time in the ministry.

My thinking about the internships is this - the internships aren't just to have interns. The internships are about building leaders that can create and shape the future. Same deal goes with SPACE. We can rake a bunch of leaves and send teams all over the world to help missionaries, and those in and of themselves are good things. But if we are doing those things as ends to themselves, if we have interns just to help us do some legwork, we have missed the point. We should be about building leaders, about erupting the Gospel in students who live missionally, preparing students to make an impact in their community and to the nations.

SPACE prep ingredients

1 SPACEintern with lots of energy and creativity
1 vehicle with gas
2 flashlights
7 potential yards that we can rake on Saturday
7 good sets of directions to potential yards (so we were missing one set of *good* directions... we had directions, they weren't just that good)
1 bamboo plant that we bought at a grocery store - I don't know why bamboo, but they looked cool and I like being different
1 big smiley face balloon
1 recipient of aforementioned balloon and bamboo plant - a junior in our ministry that just had brain surgery last week, shes doing great by the way - we are going to rake her house and stopped in to visit

Whats left?
- Take a look at one more house and get the right directions.
- Pick up church van on Friday. Maybe put some of the seats back in.
- Finalize count and number of buses on Thurs. (I think only one unless the count goes berzerk.)
- Figure out intro activity for when students arrive and mingle. (Intern)
- See if we can still buy the launch gift idea. If not, do a little more thinking.
- Straighten up my house for lunch.

Photo: bamboo

The SPACEintern doesn't sleep, she dreams

More fun with the SPACEintern tonight. We sat down to map out the Spring and what it looks like. Since she has taken on the responsibility and risk of being our first intern, I wanted to give her a chance to see her dreams and visions come to fruition. It was great fun to sit and dream a little bit.

A few of the cool things that we did or talked about during our dream session:
- a matrix of all potential summer mission team leaders and mission localities
- a slightly different way to do summer mission prep
- some concepts and principles she wants to capture for her senior intern project (basically another Black Hole, but for her class)
- a few launches/excursions centered around the beach (???)
- the first ever SPACE weekend expedition in late January (much more to come about this)
- all the people I need to get in touch with to make some of this happen

Of course, there is much more to tell about all of these things. But I can't divulge many of the details to some of you readers, since that would taint your SPACE experience. But don't worry, soon enough.

We did a lot of dreaming and not too much concrete planning, which was totally fine with me. Overall, two things stood out to me. #1 - She bleeds this stuff. #2 - The harvest is ripe.

SPACEintern conversation

The SPACEintern and I went running some errands in preparation for Saturday's launch.  We had to get some food and stuff.  It was a good time, because we got to articulate some of the plan for Saturday as well as talk a little bit about the reading that she is doing for the mentorship.  Well, the reading that she is supposed to be doing.  No just kidding.  However, if you keep up with her blog, I think pretty soon you will begin to see a lot more detail on it.  I suspect she is much more into writing notes with paper and pencil. 

Here was one of the more humorous interchanges:
SPACEintern:  I go to a mentor class every other Tuesday, with all the other kids that have mentorships.
me:  Oh really?  How is that going?  How are the other mentorships going?  Are they doing a lot more work than you so far?
SPACEintern:  Well... <funny pause>  Let's just say... <another funny pause>... the other mentors are a lot different than you...
me:  <a hilarious amount of laughter that goes on for minutes>