the green room:

Dave Livermore

This past Sunday something happened. One of our elders, Dave Livermore who just happened to have flown in from china the night before took the stage Sunday morning and gave one of those special messages. The kind that truly felt like a gift to our community. If you get a chance, please check it out at www.marshill.org and let me know what you think.

Rhythms not balance

a lot of people talk about trying to find balance in life. for a season, my wife and I pursued this as well to only find this to be nearly impossible. i still remember us sitting at our dinner table struggling to figure out how to live a balanced life all the while neglecting the natural rhythms of student ministry, weather in michigan, and the culture of mars hill.

it finally dawned on us that we love the summers here in west Michigan; but struggle with the winters. mars hill students is pretty low key in the summers while in gears up for a huge kick off in the fall. september through the middle of october seem packed and then it feels calm until the beginning of december. this calm season allows me the opportunity to teach outside of the mars community, spend a weekend away with Sarah, or spend 6 straight evenings raking leaves in my yard.

december through march feels a little crazy because of winter retreats. my wife and i try to schedule our vacations during this time so that we can get out of the snow. weekends can feel a little hectic with junior high allnighters and outside retreats but we enjoy the pace when we also have the appropriate time set aside for our family.

march through june feels hectic at mars with the school year and fiscal year coming to an end. this is also the time we have our student staff retreat and get everything finalized for our summers.

all this to say, it is nearly impossible to find balance in student ministry during the busy seasons. so be smart and look ahead with your spouse at what are the true rhythms of the ministry you serve in or lead. look for the pockets that seem to overwhelming, the spaces that are crying out for either a night away by yourself or with your bride. in doing this, you will save yourself a lot of headaches and heartaches because your family will know what to expect.

kids + students + college

ok, so let me first off say i'm sorry.  i have grand hopes to be one of those people who blog everyday; but lately my life has been running from one meeting to the next.  all of this is due in part to my role shifting in June, when the leadership of mars hill asked me to join there executive team, oversee both kids + students, begin working to create a college ministry and continue teaching at the.element (our junior ministry at mars hill).  

On paper this feels like a lot; but deep down i feel good about all of this because when this transition happened, i quickly promoted Annie Oosting to be our kids pastor and Josh Bishop to be our student pastor.  these two are both young emerging leaders with so much to offer the church.  it has been a blast getting to delegate the weight of these ministries to them...

funds for the college ministry was just approved two weeks ago and my in-box is just flooded with people who have thoughts, dreams, and concerns about this.  i have so many thoughts on this, many i'll share here in the coming months; but right now the students team and i are just thrilled.

the junior high kicked off a few weeks ago and was just a blast.  these students are incredible!  last year we spent the whole year walking through the book of exodus and focussing on the places of egypt and sinai.  this year we will continue on in the new exodus motif by walking through life in Jerusalem starting with the israelites begging God for a king and then spend the season of advent in babylon.  

i'm pleased with how the fall has kicked off.  i continue to be overwhelmed with gratitufe for the team of staff and volunteers God has surrounded me with.  what a gift...

i'm getting a handle on all of the meetings and will make it a priority to begin posting at least three new blogs a week.  thanks for your patience.