July 1, 2011
another year of Christian camp
Great week w/ lively 4-6th graders + servant-hearted staff @ Indian Lake Christian Service Camp. Oldest daughter was counselor (2nd year in row, and week right after getting back from Dominican Republic trip), youngest daughter was camper (along w/ 2 of her cousins), and middle daughter visited 3 nights during the week (including faculty hunt!).
Part of what I love about camp is the opportunity to teach again – my “day job” is more focused on administration and trouble-shooting 
I taught the morning Bible class with Jesus-stories on the week’s theme “I Am”, and Tuesday PM outdoor chapel in the newly restored and usable “amphitheater” – wooden benches overlooking the Susquehanna River – complete w eagles circling overhead, noisy power boats on the water, and 136-car freight train – yes, some of the campers chose to count the number of cars instead of listening to my lesson – surprise, surprise 
Another part of what I love about camp is reconnecting w/ a past season of life . I missed the recent work weekends getting my home church camp, Catskill Christian Assembly, but thanks to the blessing of Facebook, I’ve reconnected with some friends from wayback. Serving at camp was a crucial turning point in my journey to vocational Christian ministry . . . . and High School Retreat (Fall 1990) was an even bigger turning point in my life – that’s another story (stories!) that I should let my bride of 19+years tell
June 30, 2011
Covenant + Community – 26June resources
Ethan Magness followed through on the “to be continued” STORY from last week by teaching about “Covenant and Community,” using the stories of Nehemiah, Abraham, and Joshua to show how God rebuilds from “Catastrophe.” I just realized that because I’ve been going back & forth to Indian Lake Christian Camp each day this week – sometimes 2x day I forgot to post the study guide and notes (thinner this week because I didn’t have my phone or laptop when I hosted at MCC Bel Air) until just now – my apology! Good, though tiring, week at Indian Lake (though not nearly as tiring as the campers & staff there – including several teen staff who were in Dominican Republic the week before!) – will blog more about it tomorrow
June 19, 2011
Catastrophe – 19June resources
Ethan Magness continued MCC’s series STORY with his retelling of Adam & Eve’s sin = “everything was great, then it wasn’t…” As with last week, neither the study guide nor my notes on the message do justice to a live speaker’s story-telling Busy weekend for me plus the story-telling message format means listening to the audio or watching the video are better resources than anything on a printed page.
With so many MCC staff + key volunteers on the Kenya mission trip, I wore multiple hats Saturday & Sunday, including MI-5 (Mountain In 5 minutes – quick explantion of MCC for 1st time guests after the service), helping in nursery, and taking down chairs. I only caught a few minutes of the Fathers Day Car & Bike Show, the opening event of the summer Mountain Adventure Weekends, but thanks to generous Mountain Riders at the refreshment zone, I took home plenty of extra hot dogs
As a humorous tribute to dads, MCC showed the following in the weekend services – I won’t post my family’s opinions on how closely my style mirrors the dads being spoofed
June 14, 2011
Creation – 12June resources
Ben Cachiaras opened MCC’s STORY series with the “Creation” story, and a reminder that God’s overarching story (metanarrative) is also each one of our individual stories. In some ways the study guide doesn’t do justice to the message because it emphasized telling the story, and not merely studying the facts – so a tip for users – try to read aloud the story in as heartfelt a way a possible. Similarly, my notes leave out too much of the dramatic, humorous, personable way that Ben told the story.
My own small story from Sunday was the poignant contrast in singing the same grand hymn in two settings: “How Great Thou Art” as part of MCC’s service w/ orchestra, choir, worship team, and a 1000+ worshippers AND singing it at Lorien Senior Center with residents & MCC volunteers for the Sunday afternoon chapel service
This video will tie together each week of the series – especially in the summer, people will miss one or two “chapters” or “episodes” of STORY, but we want everyone to keep coming back!
June 7, 2011
Road trip to DC Regional Chr Ch
Heather, Abby & I drove 1.5 hours south last Sunday to hear a strong Christ-following discipleship message from lead pastor Daryl Reed during our first-time visit to DC Regional Christian Church. We also chatted a little with Steve Blake, staff leader of DC Regional college ministry. Steve presented at last year’s Eastern Chr Conference on young adult ministry, Daryl is a main session speaker at this year’s North American Chr Convention. We enjoyed the a cappella worship led by Carlos Scott and DC Regional’s worship team (last year they combined w/ MCC’s team to lead worship at the NACC) – different musical style from what we experience most weekends, but still praising the same Lord! The morning served as a great reminder of “same but different” in God’s kingdom
June 6, 2011
How to Have Really Good Fight 5June resources
Ben Cachiaras (@ Mtn Rd campus) & Luke Erickson (@ MCC Bel Air / Arena Club) spoke about how our relationships, especially marriage, are spiritual battlegrounds against the real enemy – Satan. Though I was away, here’s the small group study guide and notes I took listening to the audio (video to come).
June 1, 2011
Chasing Foxes + Weathering Storms 29May resources
Ethan Magness spoke on covenant relationships (based on promise + commitment, not merely circumstance) like marriage as part of our “Love & War” series. My notes on the message are a little thinner than usual because I was busy hosted at Mountain Rd campus Saturday PM, and Bel Air campus on Sunday morning = less time to take notes. The study guide, like others in this series, covers more relationship aspects than just marriage.
Message video and audio from our MCC Creative Media, and their latest spoof of a popular online dating service w/ humorous clips of our own MCC couples – this week: Ben & Karla Cachiaras!
Late in posting this because Heather & I had our nineteenth anniversary on Monday, Memorial Day – sharing it with both of our families: morning breakfast w/ the “Camp Gerber” then driving to NYC to see my mom, dad, and both my sisters then back home a little before midnight.
May 22, 2011
Who Needs to Change? 22May resources
Ben Cachiaras welcomed Shaunti Feldhahn for the second part of MCC’s weekend message on relationships. She spoke about key findings from her research surveys on the different needs of women and men in relationships, especially marriage. Ben’s opening part of the message emphasized that because both people in any relationship, including marriage, are flawed – each of us needs to choose to change, instead of forcing change on the other person.
I wrote the small group study guide before listening to the message, so the Bible study doesn’t address Shaunti’s part of the presentation. To get details on her topics, check my quick notes I wrote while sitting next to my wife Heather during the 11:31 Mountain Rd service Better yet, later this week, check the MCC website for video + audio of the full message.
During worship, we sang while watching this video of last Saturday’s Servefest.
May 16, 2011
ServeFest + Mtn Adventure Weekends (CHANGES!) = BIG events + small groups
I ran out of time to blog about ServeFest beforehand, but after warming up w/ 1.5hrs of chair set-up w/ Team 3, I met Heather + Abby at Jerusalem Mill Village for a wet but worthwhile morning of outdoor projects w/ a few other from my Wed AM men’s small group, several other small groups, MCC members, and others. Plenty of pics and stories at the Facebook ServeFest group, and MCC’s Creative Media team is putting together a video for next weekend’s service. By Sunday afternoon (after Team 3′s chair tear-down), I was worn out!
With ServeFest done, the next big events for MCC small groups are this summer’s Mountain Adventure Weekends. Instead of setting aside only 1 summer week to “celebrate life … because God is good!” – we’re spreading the celebration over 4 summer weekends (CHANGED FROM post on Mon 16 Jun):
Sun-Mon 19-20 June: including Sunday Father’s Day Car + Bike Show; Brooms Blooms Monday Night
Fri-Sat 15-16 July: Friday Ironbirds Game; Saturday pancake breakfast
Fri-Mon 5-8 Aug: plenty of participation sports throughout the weekend; AND Sunday’s Family Game Night (I’m helping w/ this AND could use YOUR HELP too!!!); AND more Brooms Blooms on Monday night
Fri-Sat 26-27 Aug: Finale including scavenger hunt, fireworks + tailgating
I haven’t done very much work for my small slice of MAW (Mountain Adventure Weekends acronym) – Family Game Night on Saturday 6 August (after Saturday 505pm service), but if you’d like to help (even if you’ve not come before) email me, or add a comment to the blog. My family is thrilled to plan all comers in Dutch Blitz; Apples to Apples; or even old fashioned LIFE
May 15, 2011
How Do You Get Close 15May resources
Rob Kastens continued MCC’s series about healthy relationships, “Love & War”, by responding to the message title question “How Do You Get Close?” with the answer commitment – ” Commitment is what make roommates into soul mates.” Draft of study guide and message notes available now, audio & video to come.
Both service included spoofs of commercials of a popular online dating service. Last weekend’s video (7-8 May) featured Rob & Kelly, fun to watch, especially in light of Rob’s personal testimony about their marriage journey.
I’ll try to post the video from this Sunday’s message, featuring MCC staff teammate Dennis Curran & his wife Renda, even though it does have a teasing reference to the NY Yankees. Check the MCC YouTube channel for updates
