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How NOT to Choose Curriculum

It’s that time of year again – you may be evaluating your curriculum and determining whether you want to make a change. Let me suggest of ways you SHOULD NOT choose what curriculum to use in your children’s ministry: Use what you have always used. Traditions might be great at Christmas time, but using a curriculum “because you’ve always used it” is a terrible reason – unless you can explain its scope and sequence and the strategy for why it was put in place. But if it is “just there” because Moses brought it down from Mt. Sinai, or some other long gone leader who is kickin’ back with Jesus by now… it is time to re-evaluate! Let your teachers each pick their own. Love your teachers, support your teachers, but DO NOT let them each pick what they want to teach in their classroom. This is a formula for educational disaster! Why? Your students may end up learning about Joseph and Jesus six times to Sunday and never even find out who Moses or Abraham are! You need a comprehensive strategy for what content you want covered throughout the entire range of your educational program, so you need a…

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What is it about Yosemite?

This place is beyond description, though of course, I try. As I often say, it is where God showed off. Our language lacks adequate words to do Yosemite justice. Incredible. Amazing. Spectacular. Breathtaking. Beautiful. Magnificent. I suppose the best I can use is awe-inspiring. Awe at the sheer size, and height, and depth, and distance, and beauty, and splendor that hits your eyes all at once. And no matter how many pictures you take (and I take a lot) you can’t contain it. You can’t get your mind around it. You have to be there and just experience it. But what is the “it” – “it” is not Yosemite, it is GOD. His Bigness, His Majesty, His Beauty, His Greatness, His Power, His Creative ability, – I do not worship Yosemite – I love Yosemite because it draws out of me a depth of worship I can only experience there. It’s like somehow God is more there than anywhere else. While I know theologically that isn’t true, this broken spiritual vessel is somehow healed there – even if only temporarily – and able to feel God’s presence like no other time. All doubts, All worries, All concerns, All pressures, All…

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Back from Yosemite

Yosemite Summit 2010 is now history. I’m sitting in the airport waiting to come home. E-mail and work will still need to wait until Tuesday (sorry), my family is eager to spend some time with me. It was, as always, an amazing week. I did both my hardest hike ever (Upper Yosemite Falls) and discovered the most amazing, most incredible, most mind-numbingly beautiful hike in Yosemite that we did when when weather caused us to cancel our original plan to head to Hech Hechy due to its higher elevation and possible road closures. I’ll perhaps write more about it later, but online it will only be referred to as “The Trail That Shall Not Be Named” since it is by far both the best trail in Yosemite and the least known. You’ll have to ask me personally for its name and location, and yes, I will tell you, I’m just not posting it online for random web surfers to read! I’d like to help keep the trail traffic low! But aside from the amazing hikes and scenery, it was a fantastic week of rest and time with the Creator. We enjoyed good fellowship, encouraging conversations, prayer and enriching friendships that…

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Yosemite Here We Come

We’re off! The guys have all arrived and we are ON OUR WAY! This is my final post! We will now we OFF LINE until next Friday other than checking in with our families. Pray for us as we head to Yosemite! Pray for safety and for the work God wants to do in our lives. Proverbs 16:9 comes to mind as we plan to hike – we’ve made our plans, but we want God to direct our steps! Signing off, Karl [Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

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Off to Yosemite Summit

Just letting y’all know, that from this Saturday night through next Thursday I will be COMPLETELY off line. No e-mail, no cell phone, no facebook, no twitter, no nothing electronic, except worship music on my iPod shuffle and my Sony Alpha 350 digital camera enjoying Yosemite Summit with several other guys. Many people joke that going offline must be ‘torture’ for me, and they forget I created this event. This may come as a shock to some, but while I very much ENJOY ministry and serving others and am comfortable ‘in the spotlight’ I do not crave it, I am, in fact, an introvert and crave being alone and feed off being disconnected and long for times like this. So, fear not, I’ll be back, for it is my Calling from God – but I’m very much going to enjoy the next few days and will not be bothered a bit that my inbox, voicemail, and snail mail box will be piling up while I am away. I appreciate your patience while I recharge! PS: I’m also testing mobile blogging from my iPad here, lets hope this worked! [Posted with iBlogger from my iPad]

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