A Different Camp

This Monday 120 students and leaders head out for NMC's Jr High Camp.
Next Friday, 203 students and leaders head out for NMC's Sr High Camp.

I'm excited. I'm nervous.

I'm excited because Summer Camp has proved to be a significant moment in the lives of students in years past. New Christ-focused relationships are formed and God speaks in significant ways. The tone for the school year is often set through this "mountain top experience." On the Senior High end, this is a new attendance record by nearly 30 students. That's exciting. We've got a great group of leaders heading to each camp to dive into the lives of Jr Highers, and that is also exciting.

I'm nervous because this will be our 11th Summer Camp. Well, technically it all started in '99 with a two night "Summer Getaway" that eventually evolved into our 2003 5-night Summer Camp, but we're really in our second decade of doing this now. We've found some great "traditions" that build great memories as well as opportunities for students to connect with a living God. Yet, I can't expect God to do what God has always done in the way He's always done it through camp.

We also have, at this point, what I would call "camp junkies". It's those students who have allowed Camp to become the one spiritual event on their calendar. They have a Summer fling with Jesus at Camp only to go on through the rest of the school year with one adulterous relationship after another (some literal relationships with people, and and some with activities or sin struggles). Unfortunately, as the years of camp increase, the number of these students seems to increase.

Our theme to Camp this year is "DIFFERENT". We're calling students to understand what it means to be "Set Apart" and have an integrated faith. At the same time, I'm praying that we'll see some of the same amazing stuff in the 2nd decade of Summer Camps that we've seen through the first decade, but also a different move that shows even more of God's Spirit coming alive inside our students!

Post-CDYC Thoughts

Sunday I returned home from 5 days of speaking at CDYC, the youth conference for the Central District of the Missionary Church. It was a blast! Chris Lehane was there with me and led worship with members of the NMC Worship Team. God was very present, and did some pretty awesome stuff. In our time together, a few things became clear to me...

• I am a pastor first and foremost. A little bit of a tradition among some at CDYC is to refer to the speaker, not by name, but as "Speaker" (ex. "Hey Speaker. How's it going".) It just didnt' sound right to me. Also, there were many times I found myself wishing I was sitting out in the crowd with my students. I believe God brought me to this conference in large part, due to the fact that I am a pastor.
• The Mountaintop Picture connects. I walked students through how many of us view events like CDYC as "growth" when in reality they are "perspective" moments, and growth really takes place at home. I received more comments and thank yous for my first session with them where I bluntly stated, "You will not grow at this CDYC." I'm convinced, more than ever, that all of us in ministry need to overemphasize this truth. Students are getting away to these events/ conferences/ retreats, experiencing a huge high, then returning home to the same tough situations, and giving up because they don't feel God the way they did at the conference.
• The CDYC Staff are top-notch. Chris and I walked away from the conference with great respect for the Central District Youth leadership and those specifically putting the conference together. These folks (talent/sports coordinators, media/video teams, security, administrative leadership) love God, love students, and know how to have fun. It's a great community with a similar heartbeat to see students' lives transformed in Christ. They are to be applauded for their efforts both in the conference and through the year.

• I See a generation rising up to take their place with selfless faith. In conversations and sessions, it is quite clear there is a group (not the whole, but a decent sized group) of students who are fed up with their parents' materialistic, self-serving, and shallow version of Christianity... they want something more. I want to model that "more."

Break my heart for what breaks yours.
Everything I have for your Kingdom's Cause.
As I walk from earth into eternity.

Lessons at CDYC

A few things I've been reminded of here as I've shared with about 800 High School Students and Leaders:

• Marathon Speaking (morning sessions and night sessions) with follow up conversations can be exhausting.
• Cell phones are great and annoying at the same time (216 sent and received yesterday).
• Youth Pastors are the most amazing people around.
• Students are the second most amazing people around.
• Authentic life lived and spoken beats any amazing illustration or object lesson.
• The Central District of the Missionary Church has a fantastic network of support and love built among it's youth leaders.
• God is alive and speaking to the hearts of the next generation.
• IWU has really good food.
• This is all totally worth it!
  

Chris and the band are bringing it. So excited to be working with my NMC family and team members here at CDYC. God's up to something. You can feel it.

Reflections on the Eve of Something New

I've had the opportunity to speak God's truth in a lot of settings. Tomorrow is a new one. I will be the main speaker at CDYC, a youth conference of the Central District of the Missionary church. There will be approximately 850 high school students and leaders from multiple youth groups there to take a week to get away, connect with each other, connect with God, and have a ton of fun.

I'm really excited about the opportunity for several reasons:

• I can encourage students to move past religion and passionately pursue a relationship with God.
• I get the opportunity to encourage youth pastors and youth workers in their efforts. I'm a youth pastor. My heart beats and bleeds with these people who desperately want to see a generation rise up with selfless faith.
• Chris Lehane will be leading worship with several from our church. I'm super pumped for some "team time" together.
• CDYC was gracious enough to allow Janelle and Katylynn to join me at the conference. I'm excited to enjoy the conference with them.

At the same time, I'd like to be really honest and vulnerable that I'm a little freaked! I accepted the opportunity to speak nearly 15 months ago. At the time I was really excited and had all kinds of great ideas. On the eve of the conference I'm having some different feelings...

• Who am I? Like I said, I'm a youth pastor. I'm not a touring evangelist or big time speaker. I'm just a guy that's been investing in a church youth group. Although I've had the opportunities to speak, this is not my gig.
• What do I say? I've been laboring and praying over these messages for quite some time. I've been asking God to make it very clear what this group of students needs to hear and where we go over this time. I have some great clarity in some ways, and I'm totally lost in some others.
  

The reality is that I've come to grips that I'm way out of my league on this one... and tonight, I really think I'm okay with that. I'm a great big dork. I don't have my stuff (my life) all together, but I know my God does. Dude, he used a donkey to speak... and I'm pretty darn close to that one at this point!

So with angst and excitement I say, "He must become greater, and I must become less!"

10 Favorite Places in the World

Inspired by my previous post... off the top of my head and in no particular order:

1. Wrigley Field in Chicago, IL.
2. Beulah Beach Camp in Vermilion, OH.
3. Parents Cabin in Ludington, MI.
4. Family Camp in Ragunathpur, India.
5. Any Movie theater, by myself.
6. 802 Locke Ct. Nappanee, IN.
7. Great Rift Valley in Kenya.
8. Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, FL.
9. Same, Ecuador.
10. Central Park in NYC, New York.
    

This has to be one of my 10 favorite locations in the world.

Back from ChicaGO

Some thoughts:

• Empathy, Compassion, Serving... I saw these concepts grasped and put into action. I believe they will be put into action at home as well.
• There is something amazing that unleashes inside us when we are willing to take that one step past what's comfortable.
• Any time I see siblings embrace or pray with each other on trips like this, I just lose it.
• Add a new one to what will make me lose it; when a mom and son embrace or pray together on a trip like this.
• God speaks. Awesome things happen when we obey.
• There will be approximately 150 individuals who will be receiving a letter from a GO member. These letters are an effort to share the love of God with some spiritually lost or struggling friends and family members. There will be follow up to come upon returning home.
• There is a fantastic crew of 9 adult leaders investing, challenging, and encouraging students along the way.

We (Janelle, Katylynn, and I) head back to Chicago tomorrow to Katylynn's first Cubs game! We will reconnect with the GO team at the game. God's doing some great things in ChicaGO, and I think greater things are yet to come.

GO Reflections

I arrived in Chicago to spend do some morning training sessions with our ChicaGO team. The setup of our GO trip is something I really love.

Mornings are spent in Time Alone With God and training.
Afternoons are spent out on the streets in ministry.
Evenings are spent in debriefing.

The bottom line goal is for students to come home with a burden to share their faith with their peers. There are 43 High School students here who I really view (there's only a handful missing... most of them are in Haiti) as the leadership to our Youth Group next year.

My prayers for what God will do in the team are pretty simple.

• They would die to self.
• They would be burdened for others.
• A Heart of Empathy and Compassion.
• Break their hearts for what breaks God's Heart.

We are staying at the Philadelphia Church in Andersonville. It just so happened that there was a weekend festival happening right outside the church when our team arrived. 4 city blocks had been sectioned off. The bands were rocking. The beer was flowing. To add to the experience for our students, there was a large amount of those present at the festival were homosexuals.

The reality of a lost and dying world was right outside our door. What I love is that we walked outside the doors and into the that world. It was intentional. Praying, listening, watching, and asking God to guide our steps.
Some students got into significant conversations.
Some students found themselves speechless and only at a spot where they could pray.
Many were broken.
For all, IT JUST GOT PERSONAL.

I'm excited with what I see God stirring in students. He is present and working!

TAWG on the streets of ChicaGO.

Is This Blog Done?

If you haven't noticed, my blogging has cut down significantly. There are several factors that come into play:

• Current roles and pace have me at a spot where I just don't have time to be around the computer blogging.
• I don't want to write something just to write something. I've had many thoughts that have been followed by "I already blogged about that." I suppose that's bound to happen after 2300 posts.
• Overall blogging is down. Many of the bloggers I regularly read are not posting as much. It's often the posts of others that inspire posts with me.
• Shift to Facebook/Twitter. I've been spending more time with these sites doing a lot of what my goal was originally with the blog.

All those are reasons why I'm not blogging as much, but the blog is not dead. Far from it. There will continue to be posts, there will likely be a series or two that will pop up soon, and as we head into a heavy trip season, I'll have plenty of reports on what's happening.

For now, I show my commitment to the blog with the first major layout redesign since it's inception!

NMC Student on the move!

I L-O-V-E this time of year. It's a time where students get stretched, challenged and used by God in some major ways...

Tomorrow morning, these 14 students and 8 adults begin their journey to Haiti. While there, they will be working in the city of Cap' Haiten with Open Door Haiti. They will be doing Vacation Bible School, hut-to-hut evangelism, construction for an orphanage, and visiting with many who were affected by the devastating earthquake. You can follow along on their journeys (June 10-20) at www.geoffcocanower.com and www.twitter.com/geoffcocanower


On Saturday morning, 43 students and 9 adults will board a bus and head to the Windy City for our ChicaGO evangelism training/experience. They will be learning how to most effectively reach their peers while being challenged to live, pray, serve, listen, and share in the city itself. I will be with this team Sunday through Wednesday. The team will be there Saturday through Friday. You can keep updated here as well as at www.gotrips.blogspot.com and www.twitter.com/nmcchicago2010.

Miracle Party for Maggie

Rodney is the key to all things tech at NMC. He and Rachel have been a model of honestly and authentically leaning on Jesus in the midst of their daughter, Maggie's, battle against Cancer. FOX 28 did a fantastic story on their jounrey...

My Favorite John Wooden Story

When I was at Bethel College, head basketball coach Mike Lightfoot told me a story. He attended a coaching clinic being put on by one of the top voices in the coaching world for the 90s (I can't remember who, which in some ways shows how cool this story is). Lightfoot came in a little late and found his seat. He pulled out his notebook as he settled in for what he hoped to be some valuable info. As he looked around the room, he noticed many familiar faces, but when he looked at who was sitting right next to him, he did a double-take. There was lengendary coach John Wooden, sitting in the crowd, notebook in hand, taking notes.

Leaders should never stop learning.

Some Random Thoughts

• Today is Janelle's birthday. I'm a big fan.
• Katylynn is well into potty training. She's now telling us when she has to go. Next stop, no diapers at bedtime.
• Jim Joyce blew it last night on a call that would've given Armando Gallaraga a Perfect game (and the 3rd in a month). Proof that instant replay needs to be brought in. BUT, maybe more impressive was the response of Joyce to say he blew it. He then, in tears, went to Gallaraga and apologized. Gallaraga was unbelievably gracious in his response. Some awesome responses of seeking and giving forgiveness. One other thought, I hope Bud Selig changes the call, which they are now saying is within his power.
• "Don't allow people with no life ruin your life." Heard Colin Cowherd say that this morning concerning the backlash toward Jim Joyce all over blogdom and sports nerd-dom. A great thought.
• As I prepare to speak at a youth conference at the end of June, I'm reminded that God's plan is bigger, God's call is personal, and God's power is key... man, that could preach!
• Katylynn just looked at Janelle, said "I have to go potty," and dropped her pants in the middle of the family room. They are now running back to the bathroom. Good times!
  

Religion to Relationship to Spiritually Reproducing

Soar intern Dustin Eby is bringing it at FYBY. Very cool moment for me as just 3 Summers ago Dustin was sitting out as an NMC high School student.

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