Oklahoma Part II

Things are going all kinds of well here in Texas’ neighbor to the north. Since I last blogged, I’ve been able to speak at two different classes. One was an entry level Bible class for Ministry majors, and the other was an early course in the Education Department, and both were chock full of potential counselors.

In addition to those, I also got to present my message to a group of students at a meeting called Outreach. Apparently, every Monday night a few dozen students gather to hear about ways to reach out to their peers, their community, and their world. For instance, the guest speaker took missionary trips to Kenya, and was encouraging everyone with stories of his time there and asking them to consider doing the same. I got to get up and tell a couple of quick stories of campers before the main speaker and talk to people afterward.

Tuesday wasn’t as productive as Sunday or Monday. I hadn’t been able to secure any times to talk to classes that day and there wasn’t anything going on that night. Well, maybe there was a little something going on…

During my time in Thailand, I got to missing America every now and then. One of my ways to deal with that was to look at U.S. news on the internet. That soon blossomed into me becoming a full-fledged political junkie. Tuesday was a culmination of ten months of intense scrutiny on my part, and I did not want to miss it.

I started watching the news in earnest in the early evening, probably around 6:00ish. I was in a common room for the dorm I was staying in. There were a couple of couches and a few guys sitting and watching the results. They weren’t exactly the most open-minded folks I had ever met, and their assertions that an Obama win would guarantee the end of the world were a bit off-putting. I left them to grab some food as well as to try to find a different group to watch with.

For the record, after a lot of introspection and study of both parties, I feel that I don’t fit into either category. I agree with one party on some issues, but I’m on the other side of the fence on other issues. So when asked about my political affiliation, I find myself answering Independent. With many friends on both sides of the aisle, I believe that I’m the kind of person who can have an open and honest discussion about issues, political, economic, or religious, while remaining respectful and kind.

Anyway, I was walking through the O.C. campus center, when I saw a large gathering of people around a big screen T.V. I grabbed a foot-long meatball sandwich and sauntered over. Sure enough, they were glued to CNN. I pulled up a chair and watched with them. I got a couple of raised eyebrows at first, because I didn’t exactly fit the mold of the others who were watching, but I felt welcome. It ended up being a group of about fifteen people watching, fourteen black, one white.

We got to talking about hometowns, (I was one of two Texans, with most people being from either Oklahoma or Kansas) and just shooting the breeze. We’d get really excited when the top of the hour was coming up as we watched for new projections and we laughed when they brought out will.i.am as a hologram. I honestly felt completely at ease, which I think is a blessing God’s given me through my time at Camp of the Hills.

When they finally got to California, and projected Obama as the winner, the people around me went nuts. There was singing, dancing, and running around. High-fives and hugs. Even a few tears. In a moment of clarity, I caught a glimpse of the significance of the night. I looked around, knowing that the images on the screen and those from my new friends celebrating would be mine forever. I’ll fondly look back at these memories years from now, and recall the historic night as I tell the story to my kids and grandkids someday. In addition to a little piece of history, one of the girls I met there is interested in working at Camp of the Hills.

Wednesday, I was able to go to Stillwater, home of the Oklahoma State Cowboys, and bring a message to a fairly large college ministry. I was the guest speaker for their evening service last night. I had a bit of an adventure of it. I had thought about what I wanted to talk about, and finalized my talk in their library that afternoon. The campus ministers took me and a few others out to eat, and we enjoyed talking about our pasts, and they got a good laugh when they heard the story of my on-going college experience.

We got back into the truck and headed back to the church, but it started absolutely pouring on us immediately. We scurried into the building and began getting ready for services. Matt, the younger of the ministers, was trying to get the announcement page checked by his boss. “How’s this look?” he asked.

A flash of lightning illuminated the room, and by the time the eerie light of it had vanished, the rest of our lights had fled along with it. We stood in pitch black.

“Uhh… I don’t see any mistakes.”

We scrambled for candles and lighters by the light of cell-phones. Luckily, they were planning a holiday banquet, so they had plenty of candles at the ready. We set them up in the main room and prepared for our candlelit service as we listened to the sound of small hail pelting our roof. As people started trickling in, all soaked to the skin, we were optimistic about a different worship service than what we were used to. We were calling it a little taste of the first century church, until the power came back on.

I felt like the lesson went fairly well. Apparently they aren’t used to much talking back and forth during a lesson, because I got a crowd full of blank stares the first time I asked for their input, but they warmed up to the idea after a while. I was even able to use some stories from Camp of the Hills in my talk, along with talking about Mom’s fight with cancer. (I doubt I’ll ever be able to talk about James 1:2-3 without bringing her up. She took joy in her circumstances during that ordeal!)

Over the course of the week, I’ve found about six or seven people who are interested in working at Camp this summer. I think that’s pretty successful, but I’d love to get to ten prospects before I leave. But considering how nervous I was about this trip beforehand, I feel really good about it. I believe Camp of the Hills now has a foothold in Oklahoma, and that was my main goal for this trip. Hopefully we will see more and more counselors from this state in the future.

Oklahoma

Since my recent posts have been somewhat downers, especially that last one, I wanted to clue y’all in on some good stuff that’s going down. I’m typing this post from Oklahoma City! In the biggest recruiting trip I’ve ever been on, I’m spending more than a week in Texas’ northern neighbor. I’m going to be recruiting at a couple of Christian colleges, and I’ll be spending time in some college ministries at secular universities.

Tonight I sat in on a high school class for Capitol Hill Church of Christ. They bring kids out each summer, and I have a good raport with many of them after watching them grow up from year to year. A couple are possibly counselor material for this summer, while more are looking like part of our backbone in future summers.

One guy I know well, U.S., is now a freshman at Oklahoma Christian University. I’m crashing on his floor for the week, and I might even go to class with him some. He’s apparently a very sought after guy, because multiple churches want him to come intern at their congregation for the summer. But after a week hanging out with me, hopefully he’ll be ready to sign up for a move from camper to counselor.

One of the things I want to pursue hardest is campers who turn into counselors. The kids need role models they can relate to, and often times it helps that relationship to begin if the counselor has been in their position. To be fair, you don’t have to come from their same background to make a difference, but it sure helps out a lot. That’s one reason why I’m heavily recruiting former campers who I think have what it takes to be a counselor.

Many other camps have to turn people away for summer counselor positions, because many of the kids dream of being counselors someday. They get to pick and choose the best of the best, because they have so many applicants. While not every former CotH camper would make a good counselor, one of my goals is to help campers see a transistion into giving back as a counselor as a viable option.

That’s all I’ve got for now, but I hope to update another couple of times while on my trip, or at least get a good wrap-up when I’m back home.

Heartbreak

This morning I wanted so badly to be upset with a friend of mine. He’s a guy who I have been counting on for next summer, one of the best new guys we had in ‘08. He was going to be a huge part of what we are planning for next summer.

But he’s planning to be a doctor specializing in pediatric cancer treatment. That means he has to take the MCAT test. And he has to take it in August. And he has to spend the preceding months studying 40 to 50 hours a week for it.

It scared me that now I don’t know how to fill the hole he leaves behind. I felt like the time I spent planning with him in mine has been partially wasted. But soon, those feelings were replaced by the cold feeling of realizing what he had to do.

This guy is the most passionate counselor I have seen in a long time. Many people think that I’m the most excited about Camp of the Hills, but I could make a good argument for this guy. He went all out this last summer at every moment I watched him. He recruits with a love of camp that makes me proud. And all of a sudden his summer has gone from out in the place he loves to in a classroom.

I can’t imagine the pain that is causing him. I know that he has talked to everyone he could searching for a way to be out here this summer. He’s currently planning to skip three weeks of MCAT prep classes to be out here, but all his advisors are telling him that there is no way to miss any more than that.

He, better than most, understands how much we need returning counselors. And it has been, is, and will continue to tear him up inside. He and I are really similar in a lot of ways (Other than him being REALLY good at school, thus being a doctor someday). I can’t fathom how much it would have hurt for me to have to give up Camp when I knew I was badly needed.

But more than anything, I’m sad for the kids. They are now going to miss out on meeting an amazing Christian man who truly wants to show them the love of Jesus. I pray, and hope that you will also pray, that God will fill the hole that losing him leaves. Jesus said it well. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

Board Meeting

In a couple of weeks, I will be attending my first ever Board Meeting for Camp of the Hills. The Board members were the ones who chose me as the new director, and I’ll be answering to them as my bosses, although Mel Bowman is my direct supervisor.

I will be reporting to them about what I’m doing as director. Everything from recruiting and finding a Servant Staff to setting the curriculum for next summer. I’m pretty nervous about it, but I do have a good relationship with all the Board members. In fact, I was a counselor alongside the newest of them, and have done manual labor for a family on the Board when they were building a house. I even saved a Board member’s nephew from drowning a few years back.

That being said, it’s still intimidating to know that I’m going in front of a group who’ve poured untold hours and dollars into Camp. Hopefully I will have some good news about recruiting for them. While returners are still few and far between, we’re looking at a lot of new people. I know they will be happy to hear that.

Difficulties

Well, sometimes I have great news and fun stories to share on the blog, and sometimes I have weeks like this last one. Even though new recruits for next year are coming in steadily, I’m having a really hard time getting experienced counselors to come back. Just a couple of years back, we were turning counselors away because we had too many returners, but now I’m faced with an uphill struggle, to say the least.

As of today, I have three returning guys (Two full summer, one half summer) and five returning girls (Four full summer, one half summer). In an ideal situation, we’d have twelve full summer on both sides. A lot of the problem is that we haven’t had many new counselors in the past three summers. The old people have slowly been petering out, and we have not found enough new people to replace what we’ve lost.

As I’ve mentioned before, we’re doing pretty well on new counselors for this summer, but we desperately need a core of returners to be our backbone. We need solid returners to set an example in the cabins and to answer questions that come up throughout the summer.

Right now I’m contacting every former counselor that I can, in hopes that a few people from camp’s past can come back for one last hurrah. I believe that if we can make it through this summer, the following summers will be easier, especially as far as recruiting. The problem for me right now is that I’m quickly running out of viable options for returning counselors. It feels like everybody is either married/engaged or graduating/working.

I’d appreciate prayers from y’all as I try to find my way through this situation. I know God has a plan, but it’s hard to see what it is and walk in it right now. I want to make Camp of the hills the best it can be. I just don’t know how I’m going to do that…

Disaster Relief

About two weeks ago, I called my friend Wes Fikes up, excited to tell a former Camp Director about my new position. He was really excited about the news. As we talked, he mentioned that there was a lot of Hurricane Ike disaster relief based out of the inner city church he works for. He was on the lookout for anyone with some free time who could help them out.

It turns out that my orientation as a Substitute Teacher Aid isn’t until Oct. 7th, so I had a couple of weeks with no immediate plans. I told him I’d do my best to swing through for part of that time. I knew that I had some recruits who lived in Houston that I wanted to touch base with, and I always enjoy working alongside Wes. In addition to that, driving around with a former Director would give me a chance to ask him questions about the job, and allow him to share his wisdom and advice for me.

I got to Houston on Monday, and spent most of the day talking with recruits, looking at ways to help them get to Camp next summer, and trying to get a better feel for whose personalities would work well in different settings. I ended up at Wes’ house that evening, and prepared for three days of hard work.

Tuesday’s work was mostly in and around the Impact Church. We spent the morning carrying boxes of canned food, bottled water, and other necessities from the drop-off points to storage or from storage to where the people picked them up. It was tiring, but it felt really good to watch people come up empty handed and leave with food, water, and a little more hope.

In the afternoon, Wes and I went across the street to a church member’s house. Their huge pecan had lost several massive branches, most of which had landed on an old van. He and I took turns with the chainsaw, one would cut while the other would clear the branches. We spent most of the afternoon working on it, and saw a lot of progress. By the end of the day, we had cleared off the top of the van and cleaned up the neighbor’s yard.

Wednesday was a really rewarding day. Wes had made contact with an older couple whose house had been flooded to eye-level. They lived out toward Galveston. We picked up two of the kids Wes works with who weren’t back in school yet, and went to gut their house. We also brought along a truckbed full of “Pantry Packs,” which are basically boxes of canned food and water that are supposed to feed a family of four for two days.

Jim and June had what I think would be a really cool house, if it hadn’t been flooded a week or so prior to our visit. He said that he needed us to try and rip out some ruined carpet, and if we had time we could try to work on the drywall downstairs.

We got the carpet done in less than twenty minutes. We went to work on the downstairs. In a few hours, we had removed all the drywall, taken down siding, and even cleaned up their back yard. I’m happy to say that the work that would have taken him days, if not weeks, was done before lunch.

After that, we just drove up and down the streets of their neighborhood. We would just look for people working on their houses, cleaning their yards, or driving around. Wehn we saw someone, I would hop out and ask if they could use some food. Many thankfully accepted, and in only three streets we had unloaded almost every box we had brought. Some declined, asking that we give it to others who were more needy. These were people who had lost much of their home, and were looking at months of clean-up, yet they still wanted us to find others who were in greater need. It was amazing.

Thursday we went back to Impact. We had such a great experience giving out food that we wanted to find more people to give to. I had heard someone mentioning cities that were hit hard, and the town of Orange came up. Orange holds a special place in my heart, because a church there has been sending a volunteer cooking crew to Camp of the Hills for as long as I’ve been there. I suddenly saw a chance for me to help them out, instead of them always helping us.

I made some calls, and eventually got in touch with the preacher from their church, who told us that between their church and another church they worked with in Orange, thirty families had lost everything they had. I told Wes about it, and we loaded up a trailer of Pantry Packs and bottled water.

It was a two hour drive to get there, but it was worth it when three of the same women who had dilligently cooked for for me without milk, eggs, and cheese for seven year came out the doors of the church to help unload the food. They were so happy to see us, and they were thrilled that I was taking over as the new Camp Director. It was great to catch up with them, and even do a little recruiting.

I left the next morning at 9:00 A.M. It was an amazing experience. Every morning I woke up to the knowledge that I was right where I needed to be. Each day I watched very different people come together for the good of those in need. Every night my head hit the pillow around ten, exhausted but happy.

When I look back on this semester, I will undoubtably remember the move to Abilene and becoming the Camp Director vividly. But I will also remember that God turned a time when I was waiting on a job and school into a chance to minister. It feels good to see a need and be able to meet it.

Book Review – “Gates of Fire”

Well, I just finished reading through Gates of Fire for the second time, and I love it. My mom bought it for me over the summer, to give me inspiration. You see, it’s about the Battle of Thermopylae, 300 Spartans against countless foes. (To be fair there were several thousand other Greeks fighting with the Spartans, but the point is, few versus many.) It was given to help me in a time when I was outnumbered. Hundreds of kids were due in the second half of the summer, and we had but a handful of counselors.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. The descriptions painted a picture for me to visualize. The characters I met seemed both full of humanity and personality. I found myself celebrating their victories, grieving their losses, and laughing at their wit.

The story revolves around an injured warrior on the brink of death. He is cared for at the Persian king’s command, so that he can give his account of the battle to their conquerors. His story jumps around, from his humble beginnings to his finals days. As a boy, he was orphaned at a young age, and with no parents or city to call his own, he made his way to Sparta to become a part of their culture of war. He works as a servant until his courage, loyalty, and stubborn idiocy prove him to be worthy of aiding a Spartan in battle.

He chronicles the preparation for and the glories of battle. He speaks of courage and fear, honor and death. Eventually, he tells of the furious days of combat with the Persians. Though the army eventually falls to the Persian onslaught, their sacrifice give heart to Greece.

The language the Spartans use is quite crude, and often they swear, either to get a point across or just for the fun of it. (Apparently, manners were not quite as developed in Sparta.) But in spite of that, it was a very enjoyable read. I would recommend the book to those who enjoy a bit of historical fiction or are just looking for a gripping book to read.

Along these lines, I’ve been preparing for Halloween since early September. I’m going to attempt to outdo last year’s imitation of King Leonidas of Sparta. After nearly a month of not shaving, I’m pretty excited about the possibilities. My costume is sure to be a hit by late October. I’ll do my best to upload a few pictures of it.

Old Recruiting Video

Since I’ve had lots of quite serious posts as of late, I dug out an old video I made a few years back. It was shown at AFC Wednesday Night class. The purpose of it was not only to get a laugh from the students, but to get the idea in their mind that Weekend Trips were very important. And whenever one trip sticks out in someone’s mind, it’s more likely to be the trip they pick. Hope you enjoy getting a closer look at the lengths I go to for recruiting!

New Job

As of 8:13 P.M. on Saturday, September 20th, 2008, I was named the new Camp of the Hills Camp Director. I couldn’t be happier about it.

Friday Update

Tomorrow is arguably one of the most important days of my life. Tomorrow, probably in the early afternoon hours, I’ll get a call from Mel Bowman, Executive Director of Camp of the Hills. He’s going to tell me how the Board Meeting went. I’m in the running for Camp Director for next summer, and the decision will probably be made at that meeting. In about twenty-four hours, I will have a much better idea of what my future looks like in the coming months and years.

I’m nervous and excited. I’ve been having trouble sleeping, sometimes just sitting in bed, eyes wide, wondering about what’s going to happen. When I do sleep, my dreams have been focussing on Camp. (Except for that one where I was being chased by the velociraptors from Jurassic Park. They still scare me.)

I think the reason this whole thing has consumed my thoughts so much is because of the amount of time and energy I’ve poured into Camp over the years. For the last seven summers, Camp has been my life. Campers, counselors, swimming, Crucifixion, devotionals, dodgeball, hiking, basketball, Bible studies… It spills over into every facet of my life. My closest friends are mostly people I’ve worked with at Camp and many of my mentors and heros are the people I looked up to there. My plans for the future involve Camp. I can’t remember what it feels like not to be tied intrinsically to what’s going on by the banks of that little camp by Lake Travis.

I hope that whatever happens, God continues to allow me to be a part of the ministry that goes on at Camp of the Hills.