if you’re a youth worker and you don’t subscribe to the fuller youth institute’s free e-journal, then you are seriously missing out or living in a cave.
this week’s e-journal had a link to an interview kara powell conducted with jim belcher, author of deep church (my review of this great book). i’m friends with both kara and jim, and worked with the two of them on a church staff a decade ago (and started a church service with them). so it was fun to hear them chatting. but i’m posting this on my blog, because the last 1/3 (or even 1/4) of the interview is where it seriously gets good, particularly for youth workers. jim says some really profound things about what we should be focusing on in youth ministry (based on his research for his book). i still recommend the book; but i highly recommend you take 5 or 7 minutes to listen to the last 1/3 of this interview (just fire it up, then click to the 2/3 point, if you don’t have time for the whole thing).
the church i attend was in a sermon series called “god-o-nomics” (a play on freak-o-nomics), really about what faith looks like in financially difficult times. days after i returned from haiti, i was chatting with our teaching pastor, ed noble (who i’ve known for more than 20 years, and was my boss in omaha a couple decades ago). after hearing some of my stories, he had this sense that what’s happening in haiti, and what i experienced there, was a hyper-version of the topic for the final sermon in the series, which was about “both struggling and being ok.”
so ed gave up 20 minutes of his sermon time to interview me about our trip, and how it connected with this topic.
people really connected with it, and i was pleased with how the whole thing connected with our own experience in tough times (even though the magnitude is clearly very different).
a few weeks ago, i spoke at forest home’s middle school winter camps. the middle school director at forest home is my friend, nate rice, a fantastic middle school youth worker and a deeply good guy. but in a great quirk of life, nate is in a role that was once — decades ago — occupied by his dad. and his dad is none other than wayne rice, the co-founder of youth specialties.
when i was just getting going in middle school ministry, i heard wayne speak. he was the man, the guy who fairly single-handedly legitimized ministry with young teens as a calling (not merely a stepping stone to high school ministry). wayne saw himself as a life-long junior high guy; and brushing against that was a significant part of my own life-long calling to middle schoolers being formed.
it’s been wonderful and at times surreal, over the years, to get to know wayne due to my time at youth specialties (though he and i never worked there at the same time).
but it was off-the-charts surreal, and somewhat intimidating, to find out that wayne was going to be sitting in the audience at my second weekend of winter camp. he was attending as a cabin counselor, with the kids from his church. yup, wayne was and is still living out that life-long calling. but it was trippy to have him sitting out there, amongst a room full of 600 middle schoolers, as i was speaking. he was nothing but gracious, and said some lovely and encouraging things to me in private and on his blog. but, really… he’s “the wayne”! and i wouldn’t be where i am were it not for him!
that’s why scott rubin and i dedicated our book, middle school ministry, to wayne. he took many of the early hits, carving a path for many of us to follow.
here’s a pic from that weekend, with me, nate and wayne.
i’ve been home from haiti for more than a week. but i’ve had a hard time figuring out how to re-engage blogging. it’s almost like i used so many words that week, and so much of what little emotional bandwidth i have, that i haven’t had reserves left for whatever this — post trip life — is supposed to be. i made it through a speaking event, but restlessly. and i’ve been plunking away at the little details of life: driving the kids to school, answering emails, making phone calls. but i can’t seem to find my way into some of the more creative or time-focused projects i have to work on; and maybe that’s because i’m afraid of what i’ll find when i go there.
tonite (friday) and sunday morning, i’ve been asked to do a 15 – 20 minute interview about haiti as part of the sermon at my church. the sermon happens to be about living with both longing and desire while still holding onto hope. and — wow — what i saw and experienced and soaked in during that short time in haiti is such a strong example of that.
but i’m choking up just typing this, and those faces keep coming back to me.
where’s johnny sleeping tonite? how about pastor chevalier? have the march rains started to impact the marassa tent cities yet? will their little stick-and-sheet tents be swept away? will these people with nothing be left with even less than nothing?
and…
do they still have that hope i saw? what about the joy?
and, really, HOW is it that suffering leads to hope and joy? and why do i ever think my life will be full of hope and joy if i run from, boundary and buffer myself from, and medicate away from suffering?
so… what now?
well, i’m working on setting up another trip. more on that later.
in the mean time, i want to suggest ways you can do something. a few of my friends from the trip have written about this also (including rhett smith, adam mclane, and lars rood). here are some thoughts:
1. pray. yeah, we say this, right? but, seriously, there’s something unique in our lifetime happening in haiti right now. pray for healing and restoration. pray for the leadership of the haitian church. pray that the hope people are experiencing in the midst of their pain and suffering will continue to be anchored in jesus christ. pray that help will come, long after the american media has stopped reporting on the earthquake.
2. give. it was amazing to see the outpouring of financial help during the first couple weeks after the quake. but the need is so great. give to organizations you trust.
3. go. to the naysayers who were saying, a few weeks ago, that people should stay away from haiti unless they have a skill that is specifically needed (medical help, etc), i say, “you are completely full of crap and have no freaking idea what you’re talking about.” hands are needed, and backs, and ears, and hearts. and they’re needed by the thousands. of course, i’m not encouraging anyone to go without a plan. but, find a group that is thinking responsibly about how to help, organize a small group of friends, your youth group or young adult group or men’s ministry or adult small group or neighborhood block party club and go. bring a big heart, listening ears, and ready hands.
as far as who to go with, i can’t recommend adventures in missions more strongly. i love their thoughtfulness and approach. i love that they’re developing a strategy that involves working alongside and in partnership with the haitian church (foreshadowing: they’re putting together an amazing church partnership program that is going to be off-the-charts cool and impactful). AIM — who also host low-cost domestic trips worth checking out if you just can’t do the haiti thing — is already up and running, ready to host groups in haiti, tailoring a trip for the maturity, readiness, and abilities of your group. seriously: check ‘em out. make plans for this summer, when most people will have already forgotten about haiti, but the needs will be just as present as they are today.
ok. that’s what i have to say today. my wife just told me she has tamales inside, and i need to go eat one of those. then i’m off to church to talk about haiti and see if i can make it through without blubbering on stage.
in the midst of an otherwise intense day in haiti, i had this moment of sheer levity, punk’ing adam mclane, who was sitting on top of the bags of rice and beans we’d just purchased for a poor community. maybe it was the tension of that day that made me laugh so hard; maybe it was adam’s legs flying up in the air; or maybe it was his earnest “yeah, but don’t do that again” in response to the driver’s “are you ok?”. but this video makes me laugh every single time i watch it.
i have 9 of 12 spaces filled for the youth ministry coaching program. if anyone else is interested, the application deadline is a week from friday – march 5. email me (mark.oestreicher@gmail.com) if you want an application.
i posted a link to this video days ago, but wanted to embed it now that i have bandwidth. we found rudy in a tent hospital, where he was healing from a surgery on a broken femur. he sang this beautiful version of “redemption song” for us that brought us all to tears. rudy taught himself english by listening to music.
here’s a video from our trip — just some shots from our van as we were driving. you’ll see what the “tent cities” look like, as well as some views of the city center in port-au-prince. finally, a long food distribution line by the city port. this was a very sobering drive for all of us. we’d seen some of this on the news, but were brought to silence by the miles upon miles upon miles of these views.
one of the many moving moments of our haiti trip was this one. we’d spent some time with pastor christian, a 74 year-old wise and humble pastor of 11 churches totaling 10,000 people. later in our trip, he hosted a pastors meeting for us attended by 260 pastors, representing about 1000 churches. this is the cross-denominational group adventures in missions is hoping to work with for hosting groups and developing church partnerships. but this moment, when we asked him to pray for us, and he started singing… well… i just started weeping. you won’t be able to understand the translation, but it’s hardly the point.
i’d forgotten about this post from last year; but, re-reading it this morning (after seeing a bit of incoming traffic to it), decided it was worth re-posting. after returning from haiti last evening, i took max to carl’s junior, where i had a “grilled cheese six dollar burger”.
——
this is not a lent bashing (or spiritual discipline bashing) post. i think the practice of giving something up for lent, when actually seen as a means of reflecting on what christ gave up, is a beautiful practice (of course, for many, it’s not much more than an inverted new year’s resolution). i’ve given stuff up for lent before.
however, this time around, i’m in a wallowing kind of place, connected, i’m sure, to the stress and sadness of all our transitions here at ys. can you say “comfort food”?
so, tuesday evening, during a pre-lent pancake dinner with my kids, i broke the “no twittering at the dinner table” rule and twittered that i was thinking of giving up abstinence for lent. that got me thinking: i’ll create a big ol’ list of MERELY SOME of the things i’m going to give up for lent this year. my kids helped me with some of them.
just sit back, and be amazed by my resolve.
THINGS I AM GIVING UP FOR LENT THIS YEAR
ferel cat adoption
miley cyrus music
michael jackson gloves
driving under the speed limit
reading chick lit
putting my tongue in fans
pogoing
watching the movie “little women”
D&D
stamp collecting
whoring
running for political office
taunting babies
launching my rap career
nude banjo playing
climbing mt everest
goober (that peanut butter/jelly stripey thing)
faux candy
buying gold bullion
thong underwear
tunneling under the wall
my search for the “lost” island
stove pipe hats
parachute pants
jam sessions with U2 in my basement
colonizing
phrenology
constructing a scale model of ancient jerusalem out of mike & ikes
road tripping with rod blagojevich
vampire hunting
amateur brain surgery
freeing willy
well, i could go on, because i’m really good at abstaining, as you can see. but, please, feel free to suggest more things i might consider giving up, in a comment!
I'm an "at-large" youth worker, seeking what God has in store for me next.
I’ve been married to Jeannie for 24 years, and have two great kids: Liesl (16) and Max (12).
if you’re a youth worker and you don’t subscribe to the fuller youth institute’s free e-journal, then you are seriously missing out or living in a cave.
this week’s e-journal had a link to an interview kara powell conducted with jim belcher, author of deep church (my review of this great book). i’m friends with both kara and jim, and worked with the two of them on a church staff a decade ago (and started a church service with them). so it was fun to hear them chatting. but i’m posting this on my blog, because the last 1/3 (or even 1/4) of the interview is where it seriously gets good, particularly for youth workers. jim says some really profound things about what we should be focusing on in youth ministry (based on his research for his book). i still recommend the book; but i highly recommend you take 5 or 7 minutes to listen to the last 1/3 of this interview (just fire it up, then click to the 2/3 point, if you don’t have time for the whole thing).
