Back Home

So here I am, back in the office. Our drive back was very uneventful. There werea few miles around 3 Am that we were worried. There was a terrible metal on metal sound coming from one of our back wheels. But whatever it was stopped after about a half hour of fervant prayer. We even made it across the border without any problems. It took us a total of four minutes. They didn't even pull us over to search or anything. So my record stands!! If I'm driving I don't get pulled over and searched!
It is good to be back, but there is a ton of stuff to do so... off I go.

NYWC Charlotte Day 3

So today we have now finished day three of NYWC, and I have to say the highlight of today was hearing Phil Vischer talk about how he failed, and how Big Ideas eventually went bankrupt. He had some many incredible things to say about vision (and how we shouldn't be planning 5 years ahead) and instead we must rest in God, and wait on Him. It was incredible. Also this morning I saw Shane Claiborne, as he shared about the Scandal of Grace. He is the next Tony Campolo for sure... I guess it makes sense since he was mentored by him. Anyway that also was super cool. His enthusiasm and passion are infectious.

This evening we went and caught an NBA game. That was pretty cool! So all in all this has been a great experience, but we are all tired and very ready to get home to our wives. We are planning on leaving around noon tomorrow and then hopefully the weather will be good. You can all pray for us, looking at the weather network it looks like we are going to be driving into a lot of storms. So yeah pray for a safe trip. Thanks

Cool Fact

So Charlotte is a pretty cool city, besides being pretty cool one thing we learnt is that Charlotte is:

1) The home of the first Krispy Kreme Doughnut shop


2) The birth Place of Pepsi




3) The place where the national food is anything fried.

Yup basically this is the healthiest city in the world...maybe... ok probably not... but it is a great place to go and eat out!!!

NYWC Charlotte Day 2

Alright here we are with day two done. And what a great day it was. This morning I caught Dan Kimball's session on pluralism and world religions. It was a great class and I was really stretched by what he had to say. I think that the things that he was talking about were especially relevant in Altona with the increase of refugee families who come from a totally different background than we are used to. Then we had a main session with Philip Yancey. He's so amazing. I have enjoyed some of his books in the past, but to see him in person was incredible. He is a very gifted story teller.

For lunch we took off to the Pita Pit and then went and bought tickets for the Charlotte Bobcats game. We are going to head over tomorrow and see some NBA. Not that it will be that good, but we figured for 15 bucks how can we go wrong...

So here's a funny story. As we were walking out of the main session this morning I found 13 bucks on the ground. I was pretty pumped since now I didn't have to pay for the game on Sunday. But this was just the beginning of the Canadian's cleaning up. This evening Dan and I went down to some of the draws we had entered. Dan started off with winning an Apple Shuffle, and a $7,000 youth ministry makeover. It is pretty sweet! Anyway I was feeling a little ticked since I was right there next to him the whole time and hadn't won anything. So I decided that I would just wander around and see what was up. I ended up by the Youth Walk booth and they did a draw and I WON!!! I have never won a draw in my life! But I won about $400 worth of stuff. A nooma video and some books, and 30 subscriptions to a daily devo book for a year. So that was pretty awesome. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens tomorrow :D

Tonight we decided to hang out and just relax so that we have energy for tomorrows sessions. So now we're just chilling and watching School of Rock.

NYWC Charlotte Day 1

What to say…. Well NYWC is rad!! So far it has been a super refreshing time of growing in Christ, and hanging out with some great new friends. This morning Dan and I headed over for the second half of our Critical Concerns Course, with Yaconelli, but since we had missed the first part of it yesterday we felt like we were missing a lot, so we skipped out and walked around collecting bags and bags of free stuff. It was great to see what is there, relax, and hey!! Did I mention free stuff? We even met a girl working at one of the booths who used to work at MCI and was born and raised in Morden… what a small world. So we talked about all the people we know and have in common, it seems you can’t go far enough away to escape the Mennonite game.

We also just had the first general session. It was incredible. Starfield is here… it seems weird to drive 30 hours and still see a band from Manitoba. Anyway, they led us in an awesome time of worship. It sent chills down my body to feel the presence of God, and to know that he is moving in the lives of everyone here. That no matter our denomination or context of ministry, we all have a passion for youth, and Jesus, and we are hear to learn so that we can know him more. Praise God!!! I am already starting to think how we can manipulate our coming youth budgets so we can come here again, but this time with some of our youth leaders.

Anyway so far the one thing that has REALLY stuck out to me was from that hour we spent at Mark’s course. He said that we have all the creativity, and knowledge and resources that we will ever need ALREADY in Jesus. And that if we don’t focus on that and realize that we will always come to these awesome conventions but never really get what we need. It was such a great word for us as we look around and are overwhelmed by all the options. We can go to these workshops and buy hundreds of dollars of stuff (which I’ve done) but at the end of the day, if I don’t have it together with me and Jesus, nothing is going to work.

Well anyway now it’s time to learn about why theology is important in YM. I’m looking forward to seeing what Dan Kimball has to say…….

…. Ok so now I’m back in the hotel. Another amazing time in Sessions and shops. I can’t say that I’ve learnt a whole lot of new stuff. But Both Kimball and Tony Campolo had amazing thing to say, and I found it very affirming, that I have been on the right track in our youth ministry. It has been encouraging to think about why we do stuff and how we can better incorporate what our youth is doing.

Watched Jared Hall late tonight, he is a great illusionist and it was a blast to sit on the floor right by his feet and watch him blow my mind. It was nice to take a break and laugh for a while.

Well time to get some sleep before it all starts again.

NYWC Charlotte

So anyway now we have made it to Charlotte!!! Last night in Knoxville we went to Appleby’s for supper at 11:30 at night. We sat down and we started to think about ordering and the waiter asked us if we are in a band. To which we said ,”yes, yes we are!” So anyway this made me think, I should introduce you to my traveling companions.

So in no particular order we have:

Dan “the break down” Doerksen, Dan is the man who got me in on this sweet trip. His title “the break down” because he was the man behind the wheel when our break down happened.

Jeff “The Shredder” Peters, Jeff and I actually have some history. We were both camp workers at WBC before we were reunited on this trip. “The Shredder” is not some odd reference to the villain from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. “The Shredder” instead refers to his passionate love for 80’s music. Those wailing guitar solos, and screaming vocals, nothing says road trip like some classic 80’s Christian rock.

Finally there is Kevin “The Arab” Hildebrand. “The Arab” refers to our border crossing on the way into the states. I mean seriously, take a look at this dark hair and beard. When the van broke down it was Kevin who was climbing under the van to find out what is wrong, I think it is safe to say that we were all very thankful for his expertise last night.

Just for your information the waiter placed Kevin as the Drummer, Dan as bass, and Jeff and I as guitars and vocals. So now all we need to do is learn to play our instruments, find a name and decide what style we are going to play. Well these were my traveling companions on the way down.

We are also meeting Karl Enns down there and he is traveling back up with him. I guess we’ll have to see what sort of great nick name that I will arbitrarily hand out on the way back.

Update from Knoxville

What is a vacuum pump??? Well now we know! It's the part that creates compression in a diesel engine, because a diesl engine doesn't do it on it's own. The things you learn when they break! The good news is the mechanic was suprised at how fast things were going and we should be on the road by 12!! About and hour earlier than we were planning. Thanks for praying and we'll keep you updated.

Knoxville TN

So here we are on the way to NYWC Charlotte. We had been driving 26 hours straight, with only a short stop in Chicago because DAN felt like "touring." So we were just a few minutes away from Knoxville Tennessee when we hear a loud noise, our battery power drops, our warning lights on the dash start screaming at us, our power steering goes and our breaks... well their not so hot either. We pull in to a gas station thankful that at least we made it into a big city, and we're not sitting on the interstate or is some small hick town.

Something that is very evident to all of us here is the presence and provision of God. We have been praying continually since this happened, and truly God is caring for us. We were able to get a very cheap hotel, and a great tow-truck driver. And at least as far as we know, we haven't totally destroyed the engine.

We are hoping that by one this afternoon everything will be fixed (So far the impression is that it is our water pump) and we can drive the last four hours to Charlotte. Unfortunately it sounds like we are missing our critical concerns course today, but hopefully we'll be there for the evening and we'll be able to catch everything else tomorrow morning.

So feel free in joining us in worshiping God for providing, and asking Him for a cheap, quick fix, so we can make it to Charlotte NYWC.

A few thoughts before leaving

So here is a great game to test your typing skills. It starts sort of slow, but pretty soon I was all tense doubled over my keyboard, so check out Spell fast or Die.

So I'm leaving for a week today, off to Charlotte NC, of course today we have the worst weather of the year so far. But we'll go slow, and eventually we'll get away from all the snow. I have some mixed feelings about going. One minute I am bouncing off the walls I am so excited, and then the next I feel very guilty for leaving my wife alone for a week. I really hate leaving Niki. My times with her are the best part about life... and I'm not just being stupidly romantic or anything, I actually believe it.

So I took this video the other day, and I thought I would show you what Lennox does every morning when I come home from work. This dog gets so excited to see me!!! This is why people have dogs, it makes them feel so great about themselves.
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