My Last Sunday…

Well, hopefully not MY LAST Sunday (on earth), but today is my last Sunday at Village Church until the END OF MAY!!! I will be on sabbatical, traveling from Chicago to Ohio to Washington down the coast through Oregon and Northern California to San Fransico and ending up in Yosemite before flying home and then after Star Wars III will be off for one more trip to Michigan and concluding with a long anticipated trip to Cedar Point! I’m going to miss being ‘on the job’ but with my new Treo 600 I will be connected throughout and able to get my laptop online to post here. I will post here as much as possible, and will be looking forward to COMMENTS posted here so I know I’m actually missed!! While I am excited about the Adventures planned (some really cool plans are in the works) I am also finding that it is really hard to leave – and most of all – hard to leave the KIDS I get to see and enjoy every week at church. I may only get to see them for a few hours a week, but they are the BEST hours of the week!!…

Continue reading

Going to new HEIGHTS!

I’m on the top of the world, Lookin’ down on creation, And the only explanation I can find… is my new 5 foot unicycle! I debuted my new 6 foot unicycle tonight at Awana! If you follow this blog, you read the post ‘On Top of the Word’ (read here), where I learned to ride a tall unicycle on my first try at CPC. So as soon as I got home, I ordered one on ebay! Unicycle Like An Eqyptian I never was very good at basketball… But suddenly I have a HUGE, er, TALL advantage! Move over Mike! I CAN SLAM DUNK!!

Continue reading

I Kid U Not…

Well, it’s hard to believe that KID U is over! What a FUN BUNCH OF DAYS! Friday, was the pre-conference, and WHAT A BLAST that was! Every presenter did a BANG UP AWESOME job at presenting the theme in their own creative way. We had an in-house contest to spur them all on… every Kidology staff member and volunteer that wasn’t presenting was given a ballot to choose who did the best job, they ALL did awesome, and the vote was close, but the Winner of the Most Incredible Presentation went to: Jamie Doyle and his magical presentation. He won an Incredibles DVD, Basketball, and Pez Dispenser. Not bad, eh?Saturday was KID U! We had over 250 people there all to be equipped and encouraged. Dave and Jody VanKley leading the opening session I taught workshops along with several other presenters. But my favorite thing of the day was meeting Monty the Python from Camp Timber-lee: How do you like my necklace? Monty made a great hat too! OK, maybe the snake wasn’t my favorite thing, but it was pretty cool. My favoirte part of the day is usually at the end when I like to treat the staff and…

Continue reading

Taking Over Culvers – Part 2!

Sunday afternoon, and another chance to put ‘relational ministry’ into practise… that’s just my excuse for going out to lunch with a bunch of goofball kids (and their parents) Not pictured: The well balanced meal before the ice cream! Also not pictured: All the grown ups at the ‘adult’ table. Well, it was back to Culvers after church this Sunday! And guess what? The manager noticed we were back, and instead of throwing us out, offered us VIP cards for discounts in the future! So I guess I got my scheme, er, wish, without asking! (see Culvers post below) It was only a matter of time before I got ice cream on my shirt, and pants, and shoe! and I didn’t even order any! Few things in life are better than being out to lunch with a bunch of silly kids – where do they get the energy? I needed an hour long nap afterwards! Remember that verse in the Bible about ‘ol log eye?’ Ahhh Matie! It’s fun to goof around, but it’s also fun telling stories and sneakin’ in little mini-life lessons as they beg for me to tell more stories… Ouch! I also discovered why I’ve been…

Continue reading

A Grand Evening at VCBkids!

Last night was the Awana Grand Prix at my church. As usual, our Comander Dave Norbeck planned an exciting night… Along with Chuck Caswell, our church racing expert who adds fun, jokes, racing trivia, and more to the evening… It’s a great time to hang out with the kids! Of course, the FOOD is a highlight for the kids! Using my trusty Mac, I was taking pictures and videos with my digital camera, and then running slide shows on a giant screen on the stage. For one video, I strapped my camera to a kid’s car with masking tape, and sent it down the ramp to capture how it looks to a car going down the ramp! To see for yourself, click on this picture… (or right click and ‘save file’) It is a QuickTime video file. For more pictures and videos visit VCBkids.org Grand Prix 2005 Page! (See also 2004 Pics!)And….. those Aussie’s from Atlanta showed up at my church! But more on that later!

Continue reading