Friday, July 25, 2008

Don't let our teens survive re-entry

Sunday, our teens return from the Momentum Youth Conference. Like the many camp and spiritual emphasis weeks of my youth, they too will likely be coming off of a week of intense spiritual highs and will face the challenge of not riding the pendulum in the other direction. In that vein I found Josh Griffin's post today thought provoking in regards to ways we can engage our teens at Grace Church. While several of his ideas revolve around the weekend worship services, what if you applied them to your ABF, future small group or even your social groups (have families over for pizza, include the teens, and as part of the conversation, ask the teens questions about what they're learning, dreaming, etc.).

Let's not let the teens merely survive their return from Momentum, let's help them excel and keep moving closer to Christ!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Keep Up Momentum

It's not too late to keep up with the annual Youth conference, Momentum. Doug's blogging from Cedarville, OH on the Grace Student Ministries Blog.

Gym Renovations - No longer tracking the day

Though I regret I don't have any visual documentation, the floor has been glued down this week. Yesterday the subcontractors spent the day preparing the templates for the line painting and when you enter the building you can tell that the painting has been completed over the last 12-16 hours; the fumes are rather intense.

From what I understand, in addition to what will now be a full, regulation sized basketball court (it wasn't apparent at first glance, but the old court was a few feet short of a regulation sized basektball court), the floor will also be lined with two side-by-side volleyball courts and a center volleyball court.

It's unclear whether there will also be lines marking a tennis court, AWANA circle, badminton, water polo, indoor track/field, NASCAR short track, four square, Olympic-sized swimming lanes, crabwalk... okay, time to get back to work.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Bikes and Cadillacs

I've been tracking the 2008 edition of the Tour de France and wondered recently, when professional bike riders take a beach vacation, do they enjoy riding bikes with their family on the boardwalk or is the thought of getting in the saddle again repulsive?

On a completely different note my day today has consisted of finalizing the June 30 financial reports and searching the internet for a 1959 Cadillac... all official church business. Seriously, if it all comes together it'll make more sense come September.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Forget Church Softball, Grace Church Should Field a Football Team

While Manheim Central's football team has suffered through some "delayed successes" over the past two years (I know better than to use the slump word in these parts), the Warwick football program has been over-achieving. Several of the Warwick players regularly attend Grace. With that kind of talent, maybe we should enter a church football league instead of a softball league.

In fact, Warwick's feature running back was interviewed by LNPNews' Jeffrey Reinhart recently and featured on Reinhart's blog today.

Having trouble getting teenagers to talk to you? I do. But everytime Eric checks me out at Bombergers, I ask him about football. How's he training over the summer, when does pre-season camp start, or how I saw parts of the game on TV. I try to find something they're interested in and suprisingly find them very engaging in return.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Outdoor Worship

Photo courtesy of Tim Reedy


I just came in from the worship service outside under the tent. Recognizing that I was able to sit where I wanted, able to find a seat that would be in the shade throughout the service, able to locate myself on the edge of the tent to catch the breeze as it blew across the soccer field... acknowledging that I didn't have to preach for 30+ minutes or lead in singing... taking into account that it was the first service which started at 9 before the intensity of the day's sun had started to take hold... it was actually very delightful to be outside this morning. And it got me thinking that there are a lot of advantages to holding worship outdoors:

1. Anyone who has a complaint about the temperature, need not bother voicing such complaint on their Connections Card, for man has nothing to do nor any control over the day's temp.

2. Anyone who has a complaint about the lighting, too dark, dim, bright or otherwise, need to not take the time to voice their concern for it's beyond our control.

3. The electric bill of a church with regular outdoor services would be much lower than an indoor facility.

4. The cost of a tent as compared to the cost of bricks and mortar is much less of an expenditure.

5. It's almost impossible to run out of room in an exterior environment, so space is less of an issue.

6. Those neighbors who've never been in our facility to see what it is we all show up for every Sunday, got a firsthand taste of what it's like. In many ways, you could classify today as an informal, non-threatening evangelistic tool.



Of any church I know, I think Grace would be crazy enough to attempt a year-round outdoor service. Dress cooly in summer, dress warmly in winter. Think of the amount of resources that could be diverted toward other aspects of our ministry. Seasonly, we would embody Scripture as the Hot & Heaven Bound during the summers and the Frozen Chosen during the winters. Being in the controlled environment of a building affords many comforts, but this morning exposed some of the things we give up for those comforts.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Appointment Cancellations/Schedule Flexibility

I'm on a roll of late, in the span of two weeks, I've had three appointments postponed due to emergencies. Fortunately, all of the meeting topics were non-urgent making rescheduling easy and pain free.

I was to meet with someone to work on some items related to the addition of a third worship service, but a day or so before the meeting, I was notified that their father passed away unexpectedly and the meeting would have to be rescheduled.

My Dad was to have a Dr appointment yesterday, but the office called to reschedule because the Doctor had been in surgery most of the day throwing his appointment schedule all out of whack.

I was to have a meeting about health insurance this morning, but that got postponed yesterday because the father of the guy we were to meet with had a heart attack this week.

Three separate cancellations from three different contexts caught my attention and seemed noteworthy. One of the things I appreciate about church work, is the freedom we have in a life perspective. Our day to day work is important, but I'd much rather each of these individuals spend time with the loved ones in the midst of crisis than still maintain an appointment to discuss building signage or health plans. And though they're simply handling the logistic of cancelling an appointment, they don't realize they're activating a prayer line. Nothing outstanding about that, just a quick prayer as I think of them and what they might be experiencing. We'll eventually make up the appointments and keep the work of the church moving forward, signs, health plans and all.

Gym Renovations - Day 11

Thankfully, the glue arrived this morning and plans were already in place for Sunday's worship services to be held outdoors as there's no way the gym could be usable this Sunday.

The tent is up on the soccer field and the chairs are being set up this morning, all in preparation for the worship services on Sunday. Bottles of water will be available for hydrating.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the property, the sidewalk was extended from Fellowship Hall around to the Young Chapel entrances this week where previously you had to walk in the driveway.

Gym Renovations - Day 9

The flooring material arrived from Colorado on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the glue didn't arrive with the rolls of flooring, so the project's been in a holding pattern for the past two days and I don't have any pictoral documentation.

Gym Renovations - Day 8

DAY EIGHT

Flashing and holes for the volleyball net standards were drilled into the cement. Whereas formerly two volleyball courts were side-by-side, a center volleyball court in the middle of the gym is being added with the new floor.

Gym Renovations - Days 6 & 7

Following the Genesis example, on the sixth day, we rested and on the seventh, we worshipped.

Gym Renovations - Day 5

DAY FIVE

The floor was swept and vacuumed as best as possible before setting up the chairs for Sunday's worship services. As many discovered, there was still a lot of residual glue dust left on the floor.

Several people thought the cement floor looked beautiful and thought it was the finished product. I guess that reveals how bad the carpet looked.

Gym Renovations - Day 4

DAY FOUR
Floor joists filled and conducted moisture tests

Gym Renovations - Day 3

DAY THREE
The track for the curtain along the back of the room was extended out beyond the Mezzanine so it will enclose the bleachers that will be installed in a few weeks.

Gym Renovations - Day 2

DAY TWO
Once the carpet was removed, all of the old glue had to be sanded off to get down to the original concrete base. More about glue dust later...

The walls were primed for painting.

Gym Renovations - Day 1

Alas, I've been remissed in documenting the on-going facility changes around Grace Church over the past two weeks. So here's to catching up...

DAY ONE


The carpet was taken off the floor...


and promptly relaid on Rick Bernhardt's driveway

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Practical Joking Accountants

It's financial audit week at the Grace Church office. For the next few days, the 12' conference table, that usually plays more of a decor function than practical function during the work day, is occupied by sometimes six accountants. The table is covered by laptops, printers, external number pads, external computer mice and cords everywhere. A prime setup for a practical joke.

So before the crew arrived this morning, I switched the external number pads by connecting them to the laptop opposite them so when they go to enter numbers, they'll be entering data on someone elses computer. Hee hee.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Pastor Young Returns Again

Some observations from another visit and sermon from Pastor Young yesterday...

Interesting that he seems to show up, sometimes planned, but this time by coincidence, for hallmark moments in Grace Church life... celebrating paying off the mortgage and yesterday, the Auditorium renovations.

I'm amused by the families that no longer attend Grace regularly but who return only on the Sundays when Pastor Young is preaching. Says something about their relationship with Grace and also about relationship with wherever they attend when Pastor Young isn't preaching.

Though the style of delivery is quite different than most other Sunday's at Grace, the content is always dead on and like the ace on a baseball team's pitching staff, a change-up can be equally effective to a fastball in hitting the target. Did you leave encouraged like I did to daily pursue active dependence on God instead of passive dependence?

I missed his introduction and beginning of his message, but I wanted to note whether Pastor Young received another standing ovation yet again. Email me if you can help me out on that one. Over the past four years I sense that our church body has changed substantially and that the balance has shifted. That today there are more attenders who never knew Pastor Young as Pastor than there are attenders who attended regularly under his ministry. Just my guess.

Monday, July 07, 2008

When was Scripture inspired?

Since God apparently didn't deem it newsworthy to include in His Word, it's irrelevant, but it crossed my mind recently...

I find some of my best inspiration for blog posts and other ideas occurs as I drift off to sleep, when I awake in the middle of the night or just as I awake in the morning. So much so that I'm often caught in a dilemma of determining whether attempting to clock more minutes of shut eye outweighs the benefits of capturing the thoughts my mind is generating at the time. Which, one evening or early morning in the past few days led me to contemplate...

I wonder when God inspired the authors of Scripture to record His Words?

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Knowing You're Capabilities/Limitations

A component to my definition of maturity, is knowing what one is capable of. Not to say I personify my definition of maturity, I am aware of my capabilities or limitations in several areas. For one, I have limitations in the area of house projects. My bloodline in that department is strong, one of my grandfather's was a skilled woodsman and taught shop at Wildwood (NJ) High School for years. My other grandfather, an engineer by training, also possessed skills that would put any craftsman to the test. I unfortunately, have yet to uphold the family reputation.

While my lack of opportunity to hone such skills may be a light factor, I'm much better at the demo phase than I am at the building or finishing stages of any project. Last week, in an effort to address a toilet that would run constantly from time to time, I embarked on replacing the internals of the toilet tank. It was the second time in a year or so I tackled such a project, so I should've had the knack of it. As I learned the first time around, getting the rusty bolts that attached the tank to the base was the hardest part of the project. Unlike the first project, this second project literally went down the toilet when, in an attempt to dislodge the rusty bolt, the porcelain tank broke apart rendering the tank worthless. I'm just not made out for this type of stuff.

Likewise, I can tell that I'm getting close to crossing the threshold whence others will be better suited to take care of my Dad than I can. I know it, my wife knows it and Dad recognizes it. We've started the exploration process to assess what options are available. I have to accept my capabilities and my limitations.

Thursday, July 03, 2008

You Don't Want To Be An Astronaut

I received the following annonymous response to my last post that I found intriuging...

You don't want to be an astronaut because of the no negativism allowed group think in NASA. The primary reason they have had so many failures is that dissent isn't allowed. You have to be really positive in that organization. Thus, when it was pointed out that a mostly oxygen atmosphere in the Apollo capsule was a fire hazard, it was ignored, until they barbecued three astronauts. Thus, they wouldn't believe that a major test of the Hubble mirror was important, until it's myopia blurred the stars. They wouldn't believe that independent systems integration was necessary until the Mars lander tried to fly below the surface, because it didn't occur to them to use a consistent system of measurement units (meters vs. feet). They couldn't believe that foam fragments flying off the shuttle tank could be a problem until they scattered Columbia all over Texas.

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

My Month in Space

My class' version of the Beloit College Mindset List would include, "Man has always visited the moon." Neil and Buzz's small steps and giant leaps occurred several years before my own earth landing. But from what I recall, I first became aware of space exploration in July 1979.

The occasion was the unfortunate demise of NASA's SkyLab. Living in a provincial town in the Philippines, my friends and their families were distraught that refrigerator-sized pieces of SkyLab would be falling from the sky and destroy their life's possessions. Though I didn't want anyone or thing to be harmed, I was VERY disappointed when my parents informed me that the debris field was limited to the Indian Ocean.

Other than such doomsday predictions we received no other information about the achievements in exploration, so my fascination was flying with the rockets when I was introduced to the Space Shuttle during home service. I was a Shuttle wanna-be through and through and have ever since Walter Mitty-ed through many a day making go/no-go decisions as if I were at the Flight Director's console in Mission Control or flipping switches and declaring "We're venting something into space" as a Command Module Pilot in full problem solving mode. Having dreamt of filling such roles, the past month of so may be the closest I'll ever come to space.

I pulled the book, Apollo 13 off the shelf for the umpteenth time back in March or April and after I got through a couple of chapters I decided to go find the accounts of other NASA personnel. I started with Gene Cranz's book, Failure Is Not An Option. That was closely followed by the Discovery Channel's series, When We Left Earth and then In The Shadow of the Moon. And just this week, I finished Michael Collins' Carrying the Fire. All of these accounts made the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions as real as the Shuttle missions I often monitor live via NASA TV's web stream.

Their reality contrasted with my fantasy exposed me for the astronaut God never intended me to be. And while weightlessness always sounded like a freeing sensation the few seconds I experienced it during a recent flight made it very apparent that I'm very comfortable with my feet on the ground and in the confines of a 1g environment.

It's been a fun month in space. From the early risk takers to seeing the latest module, Kibo, added to the International Space Station. I eagerly anticipate my next visit to the Air and Space Museum.