Kudos

This from one a Cleveland teacher: "I think I speak for all of Cleveland Elementary when I say that we are incredibly blessed to have a partnership with your congregation. Thank you so much for every ounce of encouragement, prayer, and service you provide to students and staff here at Cleveland. We are very fortunate to walk side by side with your church in helping our students succeed. Thank you for all that you do!"

In the news

The kids' school is in the news for winning a reading challenge.

Priority Check

Our basement is finished, which is awesome and has allowed us to host company, have the kids' friends sleep over, and basically regain some sanity. It has also allowed all of us to resume playing the Wii since we had to unplug it during the remodel. We've had fun playing it again and I've been able to work at lowering by record on golf score, which this past week went from -5 to -7 courtesy of a hole in one and an eagle. Boo yah. Later that night, as I was praying with one of my children, he/she thanked Jesus for being able to watch me play the Wii! Seriously- an 'ouch' moment. So, I resolved that next time that I would play with them, though it seriously affects my ability to lower my score!

Another fun fact- I'm better at golf than tennis (which is comical if you know my real life golf game) and most of my kids can beat me in Wii tennis!

What I wish I could say

Things said to me, the reply I wish I could say, and what I really said, while ringing bells the other night:

#1: Said to me "well, at least it's not that cold out tonight"

• I wanted to say "easy for you to say as you get out of your warm car and into a warm store"
• I said "yep"

#2: Said to me "Thank you for what you're doing. I used the Salvation Army years ago. They gave me $25 and I bought vegetables and Malt-O-Meal. That was back when $25 was a lot of money. You could live a whole week on Malt-O-Meal"

• I wanted to say "and look at how your life has turned around, you're shopping at ShopKo!"
• I also wanted to say "and thank you for your donation" (but that didn't happen either).
• I said "have a good night".

#3: Said to me "well, at least you're not sitting in a chair ringing bells like this guy at HyVee. I mean, if you're going to ring bells, you have to stand. Can you believe it? This guy brought his own chair!"

• I wanted to say "listen, if he's ringing bells, he can do it however he wants"
• I said "wow. Have a good night"

My favorite bell ringers

Heading to Sudan

Hillcrest's team heads to Sudan beginning this afternoon. You can follow the team's blog here. You can also get daily prayer updates if you choose to follow Hillcrest on Facebook. The team returns to Sioux Falls Thursday, December 2nd. Please be in prayer for safe tavels and for God's work to be done.

Learning something new

It's been awhile since I've read Scripture with the use of a Study Bible (my last two bibles were wide margin ones where I made my own notes), but I am enjoying the study bible that I recently picked up and much of its insightful commentary. For instance, as I'm workign through early Exodus and the plagues that God sends to the Egyptians, the commentators note that several of the plagues were in fact designed to directly confront Egyptian deities. Turning the Nile into blood confronts Hapi, the god of the Nile. Hail in the sky attacks the goddess Nut, god of the sky, and so on. Even the passover, where the Egyptian first borns die, attacks Osiris, the god of death, who will be powerless to reverse its devastating effects. It is interesting that the plagues were not just powerful acts meant to deliver the Israelites, but also symbolic of a battle between God and the gods.

I'm thankful that . . .

. . . we know our children's preschool teachers. Apparently the other day our 4 year old told his teacher, 'Miss Mindi, I don't have a bed'. Wow! What's humorous about this is that he's somewhat correct. He in fact does have a bed, but it has been covered with stuff since we lost our basement. He couldn't get to his bed if he wanted to. But also, this 4 year old actually has a very nice, king, pillow top bed that he sleeps in most every night! It's called my bed! And that might be happening even if he did have his own bed. Needless to say, everyone's looking forward to the completion of this remodel so we can avoid future incidents with social services.

Big weekend at the Hill

It's a big weekend at Hillcrest. Saturday is our annual craft fair, with the proceeds from the fair going to support the Powerhouse Tutoring Center. Sunday we welcome Pastor Julius Badigo who is the Sudanese pastor accompanying our team to Sudan next week as he will be preaching in both services.

Redo Landscape

For the last couple of months, well, ever since inches of water decided to fill up my basement, these words have been at the top of my personal 'to do' list. And someone who makes such lists and loves to cross things off of them, these were annoying thorn as it seemed like I never got to cross them off. I would go through multiple lists, a couple legal pads (those who work with me know I love the legal pad!), and every time I'd start a new list or worse, begin a new pad, I'd have to carry those words over onto the new list. In truth, these two words weren't merely something to cross off a list, they were a series of things, of steps if you will, and once those steps began to be crossed off, then I was closer to the goal. I had to remove old rock, remove dirt, rework the dirt into a (hopeful) grade that would flow away from the house (what a concept!), lay down plastic, etc, etc. The truth is, these steps took time. A lot of time. And lots of rock, but that was an earlier post.

The guys who wrote Made to Stick and Switch likened two sets of goals or to do lists. The first are rather simple- get groceries, fill up with gas, etc. The second are harder- like deal with tax issues. Sometimes I have personal or work goals that are in the second category (though I don't currently have tax issues!), and I find that a it;s helpful to write down the steps that are going to get me closer to that goal. Had I done that with the landscaping project, I would have perhaps felt some success earlier on. And so while I set some work goals each year, some are in that second category, so I've found it helpful to look at those goals and then think through the next six weeks (I thank Bill Hybels for this tool) and identify what are the 6 most important things I need to get done in the next 6 weeks? When I do this for several 6 week periods of time in a row, I find that I move closer to my annual goals? Coincidence?

And, within the last couple of weeks, I was able to cross 'redo landscaping' off of my list. Now onto 'finish basement'!

Zilch

I recently finished Zilch: The Power of Zero in Business written by Nancy Lublin who directs a hugely successful non-profit and now offers advice to business leaders. A really good read with one big takeaway from early on in the book dealing with branding. She makes the point by writing “the save-the-world sector is crowded and competitive. Organizations must ask themselves, ‘how is our breast cancer group different from the dozen other breast cancer groups?’. The trick is to be able to use one or more of the following terms to describe your organization: first, only, faster, better, cheaper. I call these ‘the five’. So long as you can pin yourself to one of these words, you’ve found a niche (38).

It is an interesting way of thinking about things. I know some church leaders who bemoan the idea of anything from the business world or that smells of marketing to influence the church, and yet Lublin’s point is a good one. And while I'm not saying that churches rush to figure out which of the five categories they fit into, it's ok for churches to figure out what kind of church they are, and perhaps more importantly, which kind of church they aren't. Does that mean that things can't change? Certainly not, but being upfront with who you are saves some potential headaches (and heartaches) down the road.

Random Thoughts

Nothing spectacular, just some random thoughts:

• Thankful that Hardees is back in Sioux Falls, and thankful that they are a bit out of the way for me otherwise I'd be getting cinnamon and raisin biscuit every morning!
• I've been to Menard's on Friday night and Saturday night the last 4 weekends. For real. Maybe I should have signed up for the Big card.
• You know you're a geek (or frugal, or both!) when the price of rock excites you. I got a ton (a literal, 2,000 pound ton) of rock from here for $28. For real. Sure beats the $3.50 a bag. And the crazy thing is I ran out- needed another 1/2 a ton.
• Thanks to bros Mike and Aaron for helping paint this last weekend. Couldn't have gotten that much done without them.
• We had a funeral at Hillcrest Monday. Anne Johnson was a special lady who loved the Lord and others. As I was setting up for the funeral on Sunday, my son asked me if we were eating lunch at church (not an unusual question for a pastor's family). I said no, it's for tomorrow's funeral. My son said, 'oh, who's dying tomorrow?'. Literal children.
• Your kids will get a ton of candy if they attend this event at CTU. Hillcrest and Powerhouse are also partnering with Wesley UMC on a trunk or treat event this Saturday from 12-2. Kids will get plenty of candy here as well. And yesterday at Sam's I picked up a couple boxes of candy bars- yes, we'll be that house this Sunday so if you have kiddos, stop by early, cause once the candy is gone, it's gone!
• R and W had a skating party at Carousel Skate for school this past Monday. A good time, got to wear costumes, see friends, etc. But, and I know I'm getting older and that our kids aren't the median for pop culture, but does a kindergartner need to roller skate to Katy Perry singing about california girls and teenage dreams?

Clifford the Big Red Dog and Hillcrest

The Powerhouse Tutoring Center received another grant! Our director Jessi submitted a proposal for Scholastic Book's "Be Big in Your Community" contest, apparently sponsored by Clifford himself! Check out the link here to see Jessi's proposal (scroll to #16). The grant will be used to cover the Achieve tutorial that Jessi uses with the students each day to boost their reading aptitude.

Halloween links

Halloweeen isn't a popular thing in Christian circles. Most probably either prefer not observing it altogether or hosting an alternative event- harvest party, etc. I get that Halloween doesn't have the best of histories. I do. But I don't think that's enough of a reason to roll over and pretend the day doesn't exist.

Here's a blog on 8 reasons this pastor enjoys Halloween- couldn't agree more.

And if you're going to hand out candy, make sure to avoid these candy mistakes.

Mission of the Month

Each month, Hillcrest selects a different mission focus for the month. Most of the time, these events tie in with groups or places that we already partner with. This month, however, one of our events comes to us from Megan, a high school student at Washington High School. Megan is the president of the Drama Club at Washington, and each October her club goes trick or treating for non-perishable food items for the food bank- a great idea! This year, Megan wanted to involve Hillcrest, her church, since she knows of Hillcrest's care for the community as well. When Megan came to us with the idea, we were more thrilled and made it part of our October focus. Megan shared in services last Sunday about the idea, and it is so cool to see a high school student combining so many different arenas of her life- school, the drama club, church- to raise food for a good cause.

Meetings, Meetings, Meetings

When I was just starting out in ministry, I used to think church meetings were the worst possible kind of meeting, and I generally placed them into three categories:

1. The 'why did we meet?' meeting- occasionally, we'd have a meeting simply because it was on the schedule or calendar and that it's what we did on a certain day of the month. These types of meetings, however, were few and far between.


2. The 'marathon' meeting- these meetings would drag on for hours, sometimes because there was that much to talk about and other times because there was that much certain people wanted to talk about. My first years at Hillcrest I can remember council meetings going until 1 or 2 in the morning (seriously!) and church business meetings going until 10 PM (and we started at 6!).


3. The 'all in' meeting- again, these were rare, but occasionally there were 'all in' meetings where you knew big stakes things were going down. A group didn't like a program change, someone or some group didn't like the staff, someone or some group didn't like the church's direction, etc. These meetings were often loud, intense, and and filled with both shouts and tears.

For years, church meetings were my only frame of reference for how 'real world' meetings went. And bouncing back and forth between marathon meetings and all in meetings, I came to believe that church meetings were the worst, especially since the folks attending them follow Jesus.

However, sveral years down the road and much more experience with meetings outside of church, I think church meetings get a bad name. Yes, there is still no place for screaming or shouting or tearing people down, but at least there's some emotion from time to time, some sense that people care about what is happening. I've been to several different types of meetings now, most of them centered on stuff that my kids are in: meetings for coaches, meetings for schools, meetings for clubs, meetings for fundraisers, etc and I've really come to believe that meetings, regardless of whether it's for a church, a school, or a club, run better with a few simple tips:

• have a simple agenda- let me know where the meeting is going, and if possible, let me know ahead of time


• cover the important stuff first- if a meeting is going to last an hour or so, doesn't it make sense to cover the important stuff right away, when everyone is at full attention?


• less reading information and more Q and A- one of the mistakes I see with informative meetings is that we give you a bunch of information, read it to you, and then ask for questions. This makes meetings go longer than they need to and insults people's intelligence. Why not provide the information ahead of time, allow people to read it, and use the meeting time to answer questions?


• end meetings with action points- meeting minutes are great, but if they don't end with a 'what am I to do now' piece, the meeting isn't as effective as it could be. Even at my kid's scout meeting last night, we ended with a take home piece, something we needed to do to be ready for the next week.

As someone who occasionally runs meetings from time to time, this stuff is just as pertinent to me as well.

Planning Retreat

Our pastoral staff was out of the office for most of this week planing sermon series and messages for the upcoming year. We like to be planned about a year out (when we left Wednesday we had made it through September 2011) and Pastor Doug is gracious enough to allow the other pastors to participate in this exercise. Some takeaways from the retreat:

• While I'm biased, we've got some great series coming up!
• If we can pull off our May 2011 series, it will be awesome! And I mean it!
• Broom Tree was an excellent location. We stayed in the cabin with a full kitchen and it was great. The howling coytoes at night were not so great, and when I went for a morning run on Wednesday, I couldn't tell if the animal that jumped out behind the cabin and proceeded to follow me was a dog or a coyote. Needless to say, I cut the run short!
• Monday night we went to Yankton to watch the game (no news here that Favre can still hurt a team as much as he helps it) and found a great little pizza joint.
• Tuesday night we watched a couple episodes of Money Hungry, a reality show that has a Hillcrester on it. Melissa, the Hillcrester, does great, but the Phillip character is over the top!

Powerhouse Pic

A sweet pic of Jessi and the Powerhouse students!

Backpack Update

As of Sunday, Hillcrest had sponsored 76 packbacks! It's one more than our goal and over $10,000 in donated funds!

Where's the beef?

To summarize Dave Workman in his book The Outward Focused Life:

Sometimes Christians wonder where the meaty teaching is- either from the pulpit, their small group, or even children's/student ministries. They claim that they wish the pastor/leader/teacher would go deeper, because apparently what's being taught is elementary and they are so past that. Workman responds this way: "Tell me who you think was the deepest teacher who ever existed. If anyone throuhgout history was going to do a Bible Study, who would be the best teacher?"

Is there not a Christian who wouldn't say "Jesus"?

Workman continues: what is the largest collected sermon we have by Jesus? Ther Sermon on the Mount- Matthew 5-7. You read that and tell me what's deep there. Jesus isn't doing some exegetical teaching of the tabernacle or the mandated feasts that all the male Jews had to attend. He's saying things like "here's how you love one another; here's how you love God. Don't do this with God. Don't do this with each other; do that instead.

His rant continues, but makes a good argument. Can we move to deep when so many of us, me included, haven't mastered the shallow?

The 20 Most Irritating things Christians Say

Hillcrest starts a new series this Sunday called the 20 Most Irritating Things Christians Say. it's similar to a series we did a couple of years ago. We'll have a 'wheel of fortune' type of wheel on the stage and a Hillcrester will come to the front and spin the wheel. Whatever saying it lands on, Pastor Doug will teach on that saying and why it is irritating. We're poking some fun at ourselves, but in all seriousness, it will force us to examine the theology behind the things we say. For instance, if someone suddenly loses their job, one of the things we might say is "well, just pray about it". This well-intentioned advice is ok, and prayer is always a good thing. But prayer won't fill out the job application and it won't answer questions at the job interview. So the saying is incomplete. What the person probably means that in the midst of taking the initative to locate a job, prayer is a good thing as well.

ADHD or a dancer?

Came across TED talks the other day, thanks to an article in Fast Company magazine. This one is a link to one of the talks- there are several- from some of the world's most profound thinkers. The one I listened to was about how sometimes schools try too hard to mainstream children and in the process squelch their creativity. Coming from a family of educators, I know it's not always the school's fault- and education is harder today than it's ever been- but this talk serves as a reminder that some kids need other outlets besides ridalin.

The cool thing about these talks? Each is only about 20 minutes.

Sudan Update

The Argus ran an article that features Pastor Julius, the Sudanese pastor that's accompanying Hillcrest on the trip to Sudan. Good insight into Sudan's past and current political situation and why a farm would do so much good.

Some kind words

A teacher from Cleveland sent Hillcrest these kind words the other day: “I am in my second year at Cleveland and I am overwhelmed by your generosity to the staff and students. In all my 18 years of being in the district I have never felt so appreciated.”

While these words aren't the motivation, they are sure nice reminders of why we do what we do.

Sudan

This past Sunday, Pastor Doug informed Hillcresters of our next endeavor- building a farm in southern Sudan. Pastors Doug and Ben and a few other Hillcresters have been meeting with a local Sudanese pastor named Julius and a couple members from his church about the prospect of building a farm in southern Sudan. The Hillcrest and Sudanese group will fly to Sudan the last two weeks of November to begin building the farm and providing agriculture to a part of the world who recent history has been littered with war and famine. More details to come, but an exciting development nonetheless.

Backpack Buddies

Hillcrest took her offering for backpacks this past Sunday and raised over $7,400 or enough to sponsor 55 backpacks! We're 20 short of our goal of 75 backpacks, but an encouraging number nonetheless.

For more information on the backpack program, click here.

And click here to read about a Hillcrester's (and great friend of Tarina's and mine) perspective on giving to the program.

More links . . .

The Argus Leader cites Pastor Doug here on an interesting article on why our aid and attitude towards the devastating flooding happening in Pakistan might be different than the masive earthquake that hit Haiti. Sidenote- while several of the big Christian organizations like Samaritan's Purse and World Vision are doing god work in Pakistan, I have yet to receive any communication from them, and I got several notices during the Haiti crisis.

Jessi shares a couple cool pics and an update on Powerhouse here.

Finally, we just started using Randy Williamson this month. He creates a piece called "Sermon 4 Kids" that is customized to what we're teaching that Sunday. He's a terrific value, produces high quality work, and keeps kids engaged during the message. He's worth checking out if you want to keep kids engaged during worship and/or have no children's programming during worship.

Random Remodel Thoughts

As I continue to work at rebuilding my basement, some random thoughts:

• How do people do this for a living? I am so sore, tired, and worn out after one day of digging for a new window (who am I kidding- I am worn out after an hour!), that I have new appreciation for those that do jobs like this all of the time. Not sure how my brother-in-law does it, but he works really hard, and I've never loved my office more!
• When you take two truckloads of dirt to the dump over a couple of days, they get to know you. You learn there's a little community and soon guys give you pointers and insider tips. So, if you want to know where to take your tree branches for free, I know a place . . .
• While I am typically against a credit card, I get why people have a Menard's Big Card. 2% rebate on just this first project of ours would add up!

I am sure there are more to come!

Book reviews

Been able to fit in some reading this summer; here's some quick recaps:

• Drive- interesting read on what motivates people. Liked what it had to say about homework, chores and allowances (for instance, should I really have to pay my child every time they perform work? Shouldn't some chores be part of one's character?), and some of the changes that might be coming down the pike in the world of work.
• The Emotionally Healthy Church- really good read, especially for those who lead in churches-either as paid or volunteers. As fired up as I get about what a church does or can do, it's also important to consider who a church is and who people are becoming.
• Wellbeing- I like Gallup books because they are concise, make good arguments, back up findings with data, and give application.

If you've got some other recommendations, let me know!

Modern Family

Our new sermon series begins this Sunday called Modern Family. We're showing clips from this popular and hilarious show on ABC. It's going to be a great series looking at issues such as parenting, marriage, conflcit in relationships, and other relevant topics plus we'll laugh each week as we watch short clips from the show!

My new project

For better or for worse, my basement is my next big projects since it flooded out last month. We're totally remodeling it (and I say we, I mean we are primarily helping alongside generous and talented friends and family) beginning with new egress windows which we began to dig out this past weekend. Check out the rock that I excavated- not dug out- but excavated!

Links

Some links to pass along:

• Jessi gives a better insight as to what's happening at Hillcrest's powerhouse tutoring center
• I know several and work with some truly creative and talented 20 somethings, but for those who have yet to find their niche in life, Don Miller poses some thoughts here.
• Tarina's and my friend MK blogs here about taking her kids to see medical students practicing to be doctors- our family did this too and had a similar series of events!
• Another friend of ours, Cindy, blogs here and is a hoot to read.

I miss these days . . .

Smells so good!

Jessi and the powerhouse team started last week and it's been going so well! There's been between 6- 8 middle school students coming each day and they've been hanging out for a bit, getting a snack, and working on homework.

When I was there last week, one of the boys came in, took his shoes off (so impressive!), and said "wow! It smells so good in here! And there's computers!". The kid hadn't even seen the downstairs yet!

We'll have more stories and pictures in the days and weeks to come . . .

I meant to . . .

We were fortunate to have Karmyn Marchand from LSS' school-based mentoring join us yesterday for services and share with Hillcresters the importance of mentoring. They just released a great promo video which you can see here.

A cup of coffee on us

Last Wednesday some Hillcresters, as part of Wednesday Night Service, wrote cards to Cleveland Elementary's staff as an encouragement for their first week of school. A bonus- each card had a gift card to Dunn Bros Coffee.

Extreme Makeover

Today the Powerhouse Tutoring Center officially begins! It's been quite a summer with all of the remodel work, planning, building relationships with students and families, but we're pretty much ready to go! Jessi has done a great job this summer on the program side of things building relationships, recruiting volunteers, planning curriculum and will do an excellent job with the 11- yes 11!- students on the roster. Brian (not me!) has done a great job overseeing the remodel, working with all of the subs, and pushing this thing to completion.

Hard to believe, but Powerhouse opens Monday!

Single Parents are Superheroes

A couple weeks ago Tarina visited her sister in Spokane, WA, and so thus it was six days and five sleeps of 'daddy day care'. Throw in the aformentioned basement flooding which occurred while Tarina was gone and you now have Noah's Ark + Daddy Day Care. Needless to say, we were so glad when mom came home and order was restored, but it got me thinking about single parents do it. Hillcrest has several single parent homes, and several who also got water in their basements, and I wondered how they do it? After a few days of a single parent experience, I have some questions:

• when does a single parent find time to exercise? I normally go to the gym in the mornings while T is at home with kids. No exercise for me while she was gone, unless you count numerous trips up and down stairs with sopping wet carpet.
• how does a single parent find a missing dog when the kids are sleeping? My dog loves to run away- not sure if it's a grass is greener kind of thing, but late one night my dog ran away and the kids were all asleep. Now I love my pet, but not enough to disturb 4 sleeping children for! Needless to say, Pepper came home, but I'm not going to type out how!
• how does a single parent cook (or do laundry, or mow the lawn, or any other household chore)? Fortunately, I had multiple offers of meals and people who had us over and I of course took the kids out several times- but with everything else going on that week, I had a hard time doing the things that needed to get done around the house without the help of my spouse.

I have other questions too, but I have a much greater appreciation for those who are single parents- they really are super heroes. The scriptures talk quite a bit about widows. We typically think of widows as those whose spouse has passed away, but I think a more contemporary version of a widow is the single parent, and the scriptures are clear on the role those who follow Christ are to play in the lives of the widows.

Lunch with the Teachers

This past Wednesday Hillcrest again bought lunch for the teachers and staff of Cleveland Elementary. A few of us were able to join the staff for the lunch and I think it's one of the neater things we do. The first time we did this four summers ago neither the staff nor us knew what to think or expect, but now it's a really casual and fun time to catch up with them and looking forward to working together for another year.

Remodel . . . Act 2

Earlier this year Hillcrest undertook the remodel of an old parsonage for our Powerhouse Tutoring Program that starts this Monday- more on that later! But as we undertook this remodel job, I had no idea that I'd be involved with a second remodel- my own basement! Sioux Falls had the wettest July (and August already, apparently) on record and so my basement, along with so many others in the Sioux Falls area, filled with water. We have sinced thrown out everything- carpet, paneling, sheetrock, drop ceiling, and are in the midst of one long project!

Neighborhood Appreciation

Each August Hillcrest likes to thank the neighborhood for well, being our neighbors. For years, we did a big ol' block party and it was a blast, but the last few years we've handed out $10 HyVee cards to each of our neighbors and invited them to a drive in movie on our parking lot. This year, we're showing Up on Saturday, August 21st at 8:30 PM. Last night we had a couple of groups battle the heat and deliver the cards- good times.

Tale of the Tape

When you grow up in the Dakotas, you treasure summer. When you endure the weather we do in the winter time, you soak up all you can when it is nice outside. Which is why in the Dakotas summer wreaks havoc on television ratings, consistent bedtime for children, and church attendance.


And now that I've spent about as much time in Sioux Falls as I have in North Dakota, I've learned that while both groups equally value their summers, they do so in different ways. Growing up in Grand Forks, and more so in Fargo, you spent your summer at the lake (or desperately hoped you knew someone who did!). In Sioux Falls and the surrounding areas, you spend your summer camping in the numerous state parks around the area. And while the differences between the two aren't a right/wrong thing and more of a different strokes for different folks things, I thought I'd offer a novice comparison between the two ways to spend a summer.


Mascot

• The lake mascot is the Loon, the official bird of Minnesota, with its distinct call.
• The camping mascot is the Park Ranger, with the rounds its makes around the park making sure you abide by quiet hours and don't have more than 6 vehicles at your campsite.

Vehicle

• The lake vehicle isn't really a vehicle, it's a boat- be it a speedboat, fishing boat, pontoon, or jet ski. If you have no lake vehicle or know someone that does, your fun at the lake is significantly diminshed.
• The camping vehicle is either a pop up, 5th wheel, or travel trailer, though my friends say sleeping in a pop up during a storm will convince you to make the move up. You can certainly tent camp or stay in a camping cabin (as I do!), but the camping pros seem to avoid these options and opt for the camping vehicle.

The Role of Wind

• For the lake, wind is a major downer. Even a 10 mph breeze can delay any lake fun.
• For camping, a little wind isn't a big deal, and in fact might be welcome as it cools you off as you sit in one of those zero gravity chairs.

Theme Song

• For the lake, Brad Paisley's "Water"
• Sorry, can't think of one for campers

Role of the Campfire

• For the lake, to warm you up after an evening of boating.
• For the camper, provides light as I found out that there are few outdoor lights at state parks.

Insider tip

• For the lake, if it is a windy day, you can ususally find a bay or the other side of the lake where you can still boat.
• For the camper, set up camp on Thursday to either save your spot at places where you can't reserve them or to maximize camping enjoyment on the weekend.

Cruel irony

• For the lake, you can almost guarantee that the nicest day will be the day that you are heading home
• For the camper, you can almost guarantee that you will forget something, at least if you're not an expert camper. We forgot towels last weekend- seriously! I guess we just expected the camping cabin to also have a linen service.

Summer Service

Our Wednesday Night Service, like many church programs, takes a bit of attendance hit during the summer, and that's actually a good thing, but more on that later. Last night a fun group of Hillcresters had a fun time packing backpacks for the Food Bank's summer backpack program.

Sunday's a Comin'

Transcrip of a call to the Hillcrest office this week:

• Me: Hillcrest, this is Brian.
• Caller: Yes, I just want to know if you know what is on your sign?
• Me: Yep.
• Caller: Are you sure?
• Me: Yep.
• Caller: Ok, just wanted to check.
• Me: Thanks for calling!

Now, each week we put the message title on our sign, and this week's is 'free circumcisions'! We're continuing our Galatians series and looking at the first part of Galatians 5. The real question, though, is what the over/under is on the caller attending service on Sunday?!?

Diners Club

We have had the opportunity to be on some different vacations this summer and I think one of the best parts about vacations is the food. it's no surprise to those that know me that I am big fan of food and of eating and this summer we've gotten the opportunity to partake in some spots that aren't chains and that they don't have at home. Tarina often thinks that one of my other callings could have been a food critic- the one that visits different spots and then writes about them- so keeping in that spirit I'll give you a pro and con of each spot:

Zorbaz on the Lake- we went to the ones on Lake Detroit and Pelican Lake.

• Pros- great loaded nachos, good pizza, and you can't beat the atmosphere- especially the one on Lake Detroit on Memorial Day Weekend
• Cons- no kids' menu or kids' cups so I spent like $20 just on sodas. Oh well, it's vacation.

Wall Drug- yes, we ate at the Wall Drug and though I've been to the Hills several times, never ate at the cafe.

• Pros- with their famous $.05 coffee and a little brown box you put the money in, I treated the entire dining room to coffee! Kids liked their meals and the free ice water was well, free.
• Cons- pricey, but it's a tourist spot, and the coffee tasted like it cost $.05 to make.

Spearfish Canyon Lodge- we did brunch here on July 4th with Tarina's family.

• Pros- it's tough to beat the location and the scenery of Spearfish Canyon and the service was excellent. Sidenote- Wesley really wanted a pizza- but since it was brunch time, the server and I convinced him that the breakfast quesadilla was really a breakfast pizza. He bought it.
• Cons- pretty weak coffee considering the setting. Maybe fly fishers and all those people on 4 wheelers don't need coffee.

Maple Beach Grill- probably my favorite spot of the summer, the Stroh family does this at least once a summer. It's a burger joint on the other side of the lake where my parents have a spot.

• Pros: there are so many that make this spot unique- they are only open from 11-2 and 5-8. If you don't get there early, you'll wait awhile for your food. You can boat right up to the shore, walk across the highway, and be there. Big portions, a great burger, bottled root beer and cream soda, and you pay at the end of your meal. They give you a ticket and then they bang on the window, hold up a whiteboard with a number, and that's how you know your order is done!
• Cons- hard to think of any, but there is no kids' menu (we end up taking an adult meal and splitting it) and while the outdoor seating is great, it's right next to a fairly busy state highway.

So there you go- next time you're up by Pelican Rapids, MN, or the Black Hills you'll have some local options!

Heading to Ethiopia

No not me, but a family from Hillcrest who's headed there today to bring home their recently adopted son. This will mark Hillcrest's 5th sponsored adoption since 2008. While most adoptive families are remarkable, this family adopting from Ethiopia is truly special. They have two biological college-aged children and a biological son in high school. They'v epreviously adopted twice from India- those girls are now in elementary school. And their calling and passion to adopt has taken them to Ethiopia to adopt a newborn baby boy. Please pray for their travels and for everyone's adjustment once back in the states.

Updates

Some happenings in the Stroh fam to pass along:

• My oldest son Riley learned to water ski at nana and papa's lake on the last weekend in June. So cool. We'll see if he remembers how to do it when we're there next. We were also able to take in Zorbaz (quickly becoming my favorite lake restaurant) and also be there for my grandparents' 60th anniversary. Very good times.
• We were out in the Black Hills with Tarina's family the weekend of the 4th. Very fun time. Took in Mt. Rushmore, 1880 Train, Cosmos (I got a little sick here), and Tarina even managed to squeeze in an old time photo of the kiddos in Deadwood.
• At Mt. Rushmore, we looked up from one of the 'cave' opening where a woman tells Riley that if he looks out the cave, he can see Thomas Jefferson. Riley does, and then says, 'actually, I see George Washington'. Wanna know who was right? Hint- bet on the 7 year old.
• Took in a Sioux Falls Pheasants' game as Riley's baseball team was the little league team of the night. We got great seats for a lwo price, the team got to warm up on the field, got introduced on the big screen, and got to stand next to players during the national anthem. Very fun. To top it off, since it was 'ladies' night Kinsley got to yell 'play ball' over the PA system.
• Wes and Riley head off to 'nana and papa camp' this week for a few days of grandparent spoling and where they will rarely heard a word that they often hear in our home- 'no'.

Save the Cat

One of the more recent books I read was Save the Cat which is a book on how to write a screenplay, you know, scripts that they turn into movies. I've always had this great idea for a movie and have longed for a way to get it on paper and turn it into a Hollywood blockbuster. Right. But I seriously read the book with a couple of thoughts. The first one is how can I better the times I do preach, the times I do teach, the times I do give presentations? While this book is for screen writers, there's lot of nuggets for those who have to speak in public venues. Does my message contain enough of a story? Or I am simply lecturing on some principles and then illustrating it every now and again with a story? Does my message contain conflict, change in the central characters, some sort of resolution, and other dimensions that make for screen plays and not conincenentally, great movies? The last time I preached I tried some of these elements- included more use of story and the text already set itself up well for the conflict piece. While my transitions were rougher than normal, I thought the additional use of stories seemed to connect more with the church.

The second thought is the similarities between real life and the elements that make for great movies. I think the best stories are the ones we're living right now- in our workplaces, our communities, our schools, our friends, and our families. Sometimes we discount our stories- we're too normal, too average, too this or too that. And yet if we are following the Savior who changed the world, our stories are nothing but normal or average. For those who lead in churches the challenge is to help people understand the life of faith as something far greater, far riskier and far more impactful than what happens on Sunday mornings, Wednesday nights, or even on the big screen.

Paid to Read

My kids are particpating in the local library's summer reading program. For every 30 minutes of reading, they get to mark off some fish until they finally swim to reach their goal. If they reach their goal, I think they get one of those prizes that you can get for lile $.40 from Oriental Trading, but it's the thought that counts.

I thought back to one of my summers growing up as a kid when my mom paid me for every book I read that summer. I don't remember the amount per book, but it was enough to motivate me to read something like 8 books that summer. I still remember one that I read about a journalist who spent the summer attending minor league baseball games across the country- a very insightful read. I think at the time I was a bit taken back as if it wasn't possible to make money while reading. But my mom was a genius. It didn't cost her too much- well maybe at the time, it did, but looking back the sum couldn't be that great- and it inspired me to continue to read and learn.

I think successful people in some ways are those who are paid to read. Now, I don't mean that successful people actually show up at an office or punch a time clock and start reading. I spend very little, if any, of my office time actually reading a book. But I think those make an impact, those who lead in their schools, businesses, organizations, homes, etc are paid to read. They might actually spend very little of their 'work' time reading, but no doubt they read. They read when at the gym, on a trip or an airplane, in the morning and before bed. I believe the time and investment one makes in reading always pays off, whether you're paid to do it or not.

Can I See Some ID?

Last summer, we learned that one of Sioux Falls' downtown festival, Hot Summer Nites, took place on a Wednesday night. In hindsight, we wished we would have planned better and could have merged our Wednesday Night Service with this event and provided Downtown Sioux Falls with some volunteers for the party. So this year, upon learning that the event would again take place on a Wednesday night, we volunteered some Hillcresters to participate in this event that really attracts quite a few folks to downtown Sioux Falls.

Last week Downtown Sioux Falls notified us of our potential volunteer locations- we would either be working at the beverage tents or checking IDs on potential beverage tent patrons (which clues you in to what beverages the tents are serving!). Of course. Now, there's nothing wrong with alcohol or partaking in it, but churches (and by churches, the people who make up those churches) probably handle something such as this in very different ways, so too would they handle the propsect of volunteering in such an environment. So we checked on other service options. None matched the time we could do it. So we sent out an email to everyone who had expressed interest in the service opportunity letting them know what they would be doing and that if they were uncomfortable or uninterested, they could bow out with no worries. A few gracioulsy did bow out while a few agreed to the opportunity.

So this coming Wednesday, myself, my wife, and a couple other Hillcresters will be carding people at the beverage tents (I'm hoping they aren't expecting me to be a bouncer because then I am toast!). What's even more interesting is that when I saw the roster of who's all serving at the beverage tents and ID stations, there was another church, Mercy Church, who had also volunteered folks for similar serving options. I think it's great that churches volunteer to serve where people are already going to be. I think it's great that churches communicate care for the community by helping in events and festivals that people are already going to be part of. If the folks at Downtown Sioux Falls or the patrons of Hot Summer Nites think better of churches as a result of the serving, that's a great outcome as well.

Pastor Ben's Ordination

Hillcrest ordains Pastor Ben this Sunday morning at one combined service at 10:30 AM. It's been a pleasure to serve alongside Pastor Ben the last few years and particpate in this time of affirmation and confirmation and to see how God continues to use him for ministry and bringing other closer to Him. Hillcresters and Sioux Falls folks, please don't miss this special service this Sunday at 10:30 AM.

I love it when . . .

an idea comes together quick and with contributions from different folks. Here's the timeline on one such recent idea:

• Last Thursday morning get an email from a Hillcrester with an idea for a service project Hillcrest could do in the community.
• Later that morning get a call from a Hillcrester (who's actually married to the first Hillcrester!) who says we should check and see if the Powerhouse would qualify for a service project- the same one his spouse had emailed on earlier (unknown to him!).
• Now, when that happens, you've got to think you're onto a good idea!
• Email other Hillcresters to see if they too are interested in this project.
• Meanwhile, send a facebook message to a contact at Norberg Paints to see if Powerhouse would qualify for this project.
• Receive a facebook message- yes, the house qualifies!
• Now on Friday, onto another circle of communication- email/text outreach elder to see if project works for September where we need a mission focus project. It does! Also, email lead pastor to get him in on the loop.
• Meanwhile, hear back from other Hillcresters who are interested in the project, and update them as to the developments.
• Finally, update the volunteer crew who's been tirelessly and wonderfully working on the Powerhouse on Wednesday evenings and let them know the developments.

I love it when this happens! There's movement, progress, a good idea being fleshed out. Now, here's hoping for no rain the 2nd weekend September . . .

Staying connected

A few Sundays ago I had to run our Children's Check-in at Hillcrest. I was an emergency fill in for one of our volunteers who couldn't make it at the last minute, and since I implemented our current check-in system, I was happy to fill in. Everything was going great- I was scanning check in cards, putting tags on the kids, visiting with families- until a new family came to check in. They had no check-in card and we had no labels for them and all of a sudden I didn't know what to do with a new family. And here's the kicker- I designed that part of our check-in process as well! So while I created what our check-in staff was to do with a new family, when it came time for me to practice it, I got stuck and couldn't remember what to do!

I think this event serves a good lesson for me of how important it is for me, someone who is paid to work at a church, to not lose connection with all of the various things we ask of our volunteers- whether it's checking in a new family, handing out a bulletin, serving on a Wednesday night, etc. It can be easy for me as a paid church worker to design systems, ministries, programs and events that I think will be beneficial to our people or to the community that we are serving. And yet, if I don't test out these ideas, if I don't step into the process or system I've created and see how it really works, I risk not only having something that doesn't work, but I risk losing credibility with those that I am serving. So from time to time, it's a good idea for me to fill at the check in center, even if it takes awhile to remember what it is that I am supposed to be doing!

Rework

I recently read Rework which is an interesting book on business and work. It's much different than the typical business or management book. It's broken into 2-3 page snippets where the authors tackle a quick topic or subject and then move onto another topic. One of the things they advocate is not policing people's use of Facebook or You Tube while at work. They argue that workers need diversions and if you outlaw something like Facebook, they simply find another one (solitaire anyone?!?).

One of the insights that really stuck with me was when they write "you don’t need more hours- you need better hours. When people have something to do at home, they get down to business. They get their work done at the office because they have somewhere else to be. They find ways to be more efficient because they have to. As the saying goes, ‘if you want something done, ask the busiest person you know.’ You want busy people. People who have a life outside of work. People who care about more than one thing. You shouldn’t expect the job to be someone’s entire life- at least not if you want to keep them around for a long time (258).

I think a couple of thoughts when it comes to busyness. The first is that sometimes busyness can be a competition between people or families. I often don't like this because in some regard, most people are busy- they have jobs, families, hobbies, friends, volunteering, etc. It's often futile to compare one's calendar with another in order to determine who is busier.

The second thought though is that often times being busy can be seen as negative. "You're so busy" is nowadays rarely given as a compliment, but is more likely either said

a) as a statement of reality or

b) a statement of gratitude that their schedule isn't like yours!

And yet I resonate with the words from the Rework authors, because one of the benefits of busy people is they often get things done. Now, there's plenty to be said about the pitfalls of being too busy, and I certainly can see those downsides, but as a 'busy' person, it does force me to try to utilize time as best as I can, to complete tasks as efficiently as possible, because at the end of the work day, there's other things to do.

The Gospel + . . .

I had the opportunity to preach this past Sunday which is always a rewarding experience. We're currently working through Galatians this summer and so I took us through the second half of chapter two where Paul recalls his infamous conforntation with Peter over his hypocrisy of being ok to eat with the Gentiles in some situations but pulling away from the table when some of his Jewish collegaues were in town. For Paul, the overarching concern in Galatians is how people are saved, and Paul will continue to argue that people are saved through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Galatians, and others of his letters, Paul is concerned about what we try to add to the gospel. When Peter pulls away from the table, Paul is immediately upset because it sends the message that there is a difference between the Jew and the Gentile regardless of their shared faith in the crucified and resurrected Christ. And if there is something that separates, than something has been added to the gospel. If the Gentiles wanted full fellowship with the Jews, than they'd have to be circumcised, observe food laws, and other customs. Paul was concerned that Peter's actions would add to the gospel.

I got to thinking about things that we add to the gospel- either as churches or individuals. I spoke Sunday about how churches sometimes add things onto the gospel like politics (you need to vote a certain way or be part of a certain party in order to be right with God) or theological perspective (in some Christian circles we ought to agree on the death and resurrection of Jesus, but if we differ on some theological perspective, than all of a sudden we're separated from each other). And I know from personal experience that I as an individual add to the gospel as well. Sometimes it's the gospel plus time with God (you're ok with God because of Christ's death and resurrection and the time you spend with God), or plus the time you serve, or plus the money you donate. The irony is that all of these things are good things, but in effect they are responses to what God has done; they are are activities we participate in as followers of Christ, but they are not things that we do in order to convince God to save us, otherwise, we've added to the gospel.

A Heroic VBS

It' s been a busy time lately as Tarina and the children's ministries' crew wraped up a hugely successful VBS over a week ago. There were about 90 or so students each night, a numerous and great volunteer staff, and best of all, the children donated enough money to purchase 6 Wonder Capes for sick and hospitalized children here in Sioux Falls (and it was actually 12 capes thanks to the Wonder Capes owner's generosity with a matching gift).

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Freedom

Hillcrest begins it summer series this Sunday called "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Freedom" that will take us through the book of Galatians for the next three months. And while Galatians is a meaty book and one worthy of three months of Sunday, we'll also have some fun. Some of the sermon titles include the following:

• Religion is Dead
• Good Doesn't Always Win
• This Church Breaks the Law
• Dead Man Walking

Check out Hillcrest's site for more information.

Powerhouse Tutoring Center Update

There are several updates concerning the Powerhouse Tutoring Center:

• Jessi Matson, our director, is in town! She'll begin to get her feet wet to this new project in the days and weeks to come, but it's great to have her back.


• Work continues on the house. Because of the burst of nice weather Sioux Falls has had, we've had difficulty getting framers to come in and frame the basement. So, we will do it ourselves this coming Saturday and hopefully be able to move quickly with the more technical and professional work (plumbing, electrical, etc).


• We received a grant! Special thanks to the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation for their financial partnership with the Powerhouse Tutoring Center!

• We also have our first student registered for tutoring this fall! Much work remains to insure that more students participate with this opportunity, but it's encouraging to have one name on the roster!

Land of a Thousand Hills Update

Hillcrest has donated two of these coffee bikes since beginning our partnership with Land of a 1000 Hills last fall. Each bike costs $250 and as Hillcresters donate money for the coffee they drink on Sundays, the extra amount after paying our costs goes to the purchase of bikes such as these. You can read more about the bikes and all the good they do for the Rwandan coffee farmer here.

Vacation

It's been a good past couple of weeks as I've been on vacation, which subsequently meant a break from the blog. I've been out of the office since May 18 and have completed most of the 'honey-do' list.

We also took the kids away for some time at a hotel in Owatonna, MN, where they had a great indoor waterpark that was actually open (several other Minnesota hotel waterparks are closed during the week as schools are still in session). A bonus was that the kids, all four of them, ate free at the hotel restaurant! We mini-golfed, went to a museum, played and ate at a park, went to a zoo and kids' carnival, and of course soaked up the waterpark. From there we went to my folks' lake place in Western Minnesota and had a great time with friends and family- the boys even managed to catch some fish! Tarina and I spent a couple of nights here thanks to my folks and family agreeing to watch our kids which was great as well.

Powerhouse: A Hillcrest Church Tutoring Center

I'm admittedly bad at creatively naming something so that people are captivated by it. For our new tutoring program, I had named it as "Whittier Neighborhood Tutoring Center". Wow. Doesn't that sound catchy and just roll off of a middle school student's tongue! So we sent out some ideas to some folks, solicited their ideas, and came back with Powerhouse (thanks Pastor Ben!). Pastor Doug is the creative genius behind the sharp logo, and now we have a name and a picture to further define this endeavor. And it's much, much better than what I could have or would have come up with!

Hilllcrest Nominated for Group of the Year

Hillcrest was nominated by Volunteers of America as "Group of the Year" at the recent Spirit of Volunteerism Awards. While we didn't win, it was a meaningful event and neat to just be nominated for such an award. It's inspiring what so many people, groups, and businesses are doing for the local community, and humbling to be part of that group.

Hillcrest Mentors Nominated for Awards

Two weeks ago, Lutheran Social Services School Based Mentoring Program hosted its annual 'Mentor Appreication Breakfast'. The program gives out awards to individuals nomianted as 'mentor of the year', and two Hillcresters were nominated. Here's what was said about each of these fantastic people:

Mike: Mike truly possesses the qualities of a great mentor at Cleveland Elmentary. He’s dependable, reliable, consistent, fun and very active and interested in his mentee’s life. After the relationship blossomed through the mentor program, Mike became trained through Big Brothers so he could spend more time with his student. He really has adopted his mentee to be part of his family. As a business owner and father of three, there are many demands on his time. Most men wait until later in life to give back and impact the next generation, but Mike has added this role into his life and does it so well and with such humility and genuineness.

Christy: Christina is dedicated, caring, energetic and amazing! She has volunteered to mentor an English Language Learner student at Cleveland for the past three years, serving as a constant stable and inspiring person for this child. Christina is a busy, working mother of four. Despite the complexities of being a working mom, Christina shows that you can still make a difference in the life of someone else’s child who may not have all the advantages other kids have. Her mentee thoroughly enjoys her mentor time, to the point of noticeable changes in behavior on the days that Christina visits. The child says that Christina always is encouraging to her and tells her to always do her best.

Congrats to both and to all of the Hillcresters who mentor and invest their lives in those of the next generation!

Tutoring House Remodel

Wesley's house that Hillcrest is using for the tutoring program is need of a major remodel- the picture here is the upstairs bathroom that needs an extreme makeover and one of the more minor projects! We begin remodel work in May and there are several opportunities for Hillcresters to help- either on Wednesday evenings in May or during the 'demo weekend' of May 7-8. For more information, let me know.

Next Generation Worship

We start a new series this Sunday called "Next Generation Worship" in which each week features a different age group. This Sunday is the preschoolers, the second one is elementary students, the youth will be May 16, and we will do an intergenerational one on May 23. This was a fantastic idea from Pastor Ben and will be an excellent opportunity for these groups to showcase their ministries to the rest of the church. Plus, let's be honest, anytime 15-30 preschool students are on a stage, good things tend to happen!

Tutoring House Leader

I couldn't be happier- and the whole of Hillcrest is so very excited- with who has agreed to direct our tutoring program. Jessi Matson has been working in inner-city Detroit the last few years teaching and directing an after-school tutoring program for under-resourced children. She's a perfect fit for Hillcrest's new program, and actually gives us a head start in that she's done this before, knows what to look for, and knows what to do. While there will still be some kinks to iron out, as there are in any new project or endeavor, Jessi's experience and passion will allow Hillcrest and this project to lean into the kinks, learn from them, and keep doing our best at assisting the students. Jessi is also a proven relationship builder and will build bridges into the surrounding community, allowing Hillcrest to continue to partner with Wesley in reaching in an under-resourced area of Sioux Falls.

What are we going to do now?

On Sunday we announced to our members (we'll go live with everyone at services this Sunday) our partnership with Wesley United Methodist Church in providing after school tutoring for middle school students in the east part of Sioux Falls. Wesley currently operates an after school program for K-5th graders from Terry Redlin, an under-resourced school blocks away from their church facility. As their kids move onto middle school, they lose that program that builds relationships with them and focuses on steadily assisting their academic progress. There's several after school options for middle school students in Sioux Falls, so our program isn't about meeting an unmet need per sea, but Wesley's kids don't seem to move to these options. The fact that we can continue their program- in their vacant parsonage nonetheless (see picture)- by providing tutoring for their kids is a perfect fit for them and also for Hillcrest. One of the mothers of one of the 5th graders, who had made steady improvement through Wesley's program, asked "what are we going to now?". Her concern for her daughter was that while she was moving to a good middle school, who would help her after school like she's been used to? Hillcrest is happy to partner with Wesley in seeing if we can't be the answer to that question.

If at first you don't succeed . . .

Well, the rejection letters are coming in from a couple of the foundations that we have submitted grant proposals to for an upcoming Hillcrest project. We've heard from a bank and an endowment. I heard from a media company on a different project and grant proposal, with the same result- no thanks. There are several other requests still out there, so we remain hopeful, but it reminds me of the amount of persistence and work needed for the more difficult types of projects.

Voter Appreciation

Hillcrest is a polling place for elections- we were last week in Sioux Falls' mayoral, city council, and school board elections, and will be next week when there's a runoff election for Sioux Falls' next mayor. It's interesting that with so much church/state separation fervor, that church facilities are still used as polling sites, but I guess that's for another post. Something we've been doing at Hillcrest for the last several elections now is giving away treats (donut holes, mini candy bars, cookies, coffee, etc) to those who vote at Hillcrest. Some of the recent elections have brought several hundreds of voters out to our facility, and I can't think of many other events that bring in that many of our neighbors. These folks live by us, shop by us, attend schools by us, and for a couple of times every election year, we get a rare opportunity to have them within our doors and be neighborly. If the only time a neighbor is going to step in your church building (or any church building for that matter), wouldn't you want that encounter to leave a good impression?

Birthday Mania!

It's been a whirlwind last few weeks! In the last couple of weeks, our family has either hosted and/or participated in 13 birthday parties. It's a crazy season- one that compares to Christmas in terms of all of the events going on and the gifts exchanged. Within those 13 parties, we've put down 4 Dairy Queen ice cream cakes, 2 visits to Chuck E Cheese (with my daughter Kinsley definitely NOT a fan of Chuck E's real visit to the kiddos!), and 1 sleepover with kindergartners and first graders (who did great going to bed, but somehow decided that 6 AM was the perfect time to greet the day). Oh, and we squeezed in a surgery for Kinsley to have her tonsils removed as well.

Looking forward to a more normal season- whatever that looks like!

Egg Hunt

Yesterday my wife hosted our neighborhood's annual Easter Egg Hunt. We've been doing this for a few Easters now and it's a fun yet simple event. Put candy in some eggs, hide them, and we even have a 'golden egg' where whoever finds it gets a gift card or a huge pile of candy. And while our neighborhood has changed some over the year, it's a fun and simple way to have fun with the kids and connect with neighbors. This year's hunt proved to be one of the warmer hunts on record, thanks to some unseasonably nice spring weather.

Holy Week According to Matthew

As we read through the bible as a church, it's neat that on this 'holy week' we were able to read through Matthew's account of Jesus' crucifixion, death, and resurrection. Three thoughts:

• Matthew 26:69-75: I'm always struck with Peter's denial. We like to heap judgment on Peter for being a coward with his public denial of Jesus who was just arrested (and whom Peter was just with), and yet I deny Jesus so often with my words, my actions, and my lifestyle. Peter proves the hope of being Jesus' disciple in that the journey thankfully doesn't end with our (continual) denial.
• Matthew 27:52-53: It says here that before Jesus' resurrection, there was a much bigger resurrection, at least in terms of how many bodies come back to life? What's up with this? Why haven't we heard more about that?!?
• Matthew 28:17: The resurrected Christ appears to the disciples at Galilee, and while some worship him, some were doubtful. You have to enjoy the humanity that comes through in the scriptures. Here's Jesus, resurrected, scars and all, and while some of the disciples are worshipping him, others are still doubtful! He's right there, in front of them, and yet there are still doubts! I'm thankful that the life of following Jesus need not be one that has to have all of the answers all of the time, that has to be 100% sure about everything 100% of the time. If disciples doubted with the resurrected Christ right there, it seems fair to think that disciples 2000 years later will also have their doubts.

George Strait Comes to Hillcrest

Ok, not really, but this Sunday Hillcrest kicks off our "Faith in Rock n Roll Country Style Series" where each week in April we'll look at a country music classic and connect it to our faith. Looking forward to George Strait's "Love without end, Amen" and the connection to our Easter celebration of the resurrected Christ!

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

True word, Tom Petty, true words. We've got an exciting project in the mix at Hillcrest and right now we're in the waiting process. Waiting on architects and city planners. Waiting on foundations and banks who like to give to charitable causes for the good of the community. And this isn't the complaining kind of waiting, either, but rather the good kind of waiting, the kind of waiting where we've done what we've needed to do, and now we wait on others to do what they need to do. Doesn't make it easier though.

Candidating with the Furniture Mission

I'm always appreciative of the opportunity to serve with the Furniure Mission, as we did last night. Sioux Falls elects a new mayor next month, and I couldn't help but think that the various candidates ought to take a tour with the Furniture Mission, as you learn so much about our city and it diverse citizens. Our first stop we prayed with a family who's brother is in jail and with the second family we prayed that they might find work. The opportunities are always good.

Thanking Partners

We invited several of Hillcrest's ministry partners to our volunteer appreciation event. And while none could make it (presumably because I invited them too late), I think it is important. It is true that Hillcrest provides schools and non-profits with many volunteers, but these agencies also provide Hillcrest with meaningful opportunities to serve in the local community.

One of our partners sent us this: "I think this is so neat that Hillcrest provides an appreciation event for volunteers especially when they go outside the church to spend their time. Please pass along my appreciation . . ."

Thank You

This Sunday Hillcrest had its 4th Annual Volunteer Appreciation Event. Personally, I think it is one of the more fun events we do as we recognize all of our hardworking volunteers who work passionately and tirelessly behind the scenes making a difference for the kingdom. This year's event was hosted by Heath and the gang at the 41st St Pizza Ranch and they did such a great job, especially considering the 150 or so of us filled their banquet rooms and spilled over into their main seating areas.

It's pretty informal- we pick up our volunteer's and their families' meals, hang out a bit, give away tons of gift cards, and say thank you a lot! We also provided childcare back at our facility so parents could even enjoy a bit of a night out.

Before the event, each of our elders and pastors sign thank you cards for the people who serve in their ministry areas. I'm sure I signed over 200 thank you cards (apologies to those who happened to receive one from me as you will probably have to ask my wife to translate my handwriting for you!), and yet I believe I probably don't say thank you enough. When I consider it takes 40 or so volunteers to pull of a Sunday morning, another 40 or so to pull of a Wednesday night, and still more for youth ministry, small groups and bible studies, meals for the sick and volunteers for our facility, I am acutely aware of just how interdependent we are on one another, and how we are all ministers, all in this mission together.

Thank you.

Things to come

We went on a planning retreat as a staff last week where we mapped out Hillcrest's sermon series until the end of the year. Some takeaways:

• Galatians is a tough book- our summer series covers the whole book of Galatians, and it's a meaty book. Looking forward to it.
• Can't wait for our September series based off of this hilarious sitcom
• In another fall series we'll look at predestination vs. free will. Oh yeah.
• Finally, it was good to have Adam and Jesse with us to plan for a day

Planning Retreat

Hillcrest's staff goes on a planning retreat this week. We'll plan the next year's worth of sermons and series, so if you have any ideas or topics you'd like to see taught, leave a comment or drop us an email.

The Xbox Uno Generation

I was mentoring the other day, and we had to stay inside during recess because of the weather, so we went to my student's classroom and played Uno with him and a couple of his classmates. One of his classmates comes up, sees that we're playing Uno, and remarks "I don't know how to play Uno, but I can play it on my Xbox 360". Our society may never be the same if the next generation loses the time honored skill of playing Uno . . .

Linchpin

Seth Godin is one of those authors that I read pretty much anything he puts out, so I read his new book a month or so ago, and it is excellent. Just excellent. Anyone that has a job, likes their job, or wants a different job (that's about all of us, right?!?) ought to give it a look.

Of course, you can always get short slices of Seth's wisdom over at his blog.

The Sound Guy Problem

How many times have you been at a concert, a wedding, a funeral, a worship service, or any other public event that required a microphone and a speaker, and when there was a glitch in the system, some feedback from front, or the sound cut out, and instantly, without thinking about it, you turned around and looked at the sound person? But, if the event goes off without a hitch, how likely are you to comment to the sound guy or the tech team, "Great job today! No glitches! Excellent work!" It's the sound person problem, where if the sound tech does his job well, no one notices. If he makes a mistake, everyone notices. It also demonstrates our tendency to focus on the negative without crediting the positive.

In reading a new book called Switch about how to change things when change is hard (more on that topic at a later post), one of the interesting things from the book is how predisposed we as humans can be on focusing on the negative. The authors cite the following examples:

• Of the 558 emotion words in the English language, 62% of them are negative.
• People who were shown photos of bad and good events spent longer viewing the bad ones.
• When people learn bad stuff about someone else, it’s stickier than good stuff. People pay closer attention to the bad stuff, reflect on it more, remember it longer, and weigh it more heavily in assessing the person overall.

There's research to back the first three claims, and this last one is anecdotal:

• So when your kids are making As and Bs, you don’t think much about their grades. But when they make a D or an F, you spring into action. It’s weird when you think about it, isn’t it? (46-48).

It's interesting that we have a more of an alignment or focus on the negative. And I think this focus runs true in many different situations- businesses, schools, parenting, and even churches. We notice a problem, we spring into action. We don't notice a problem, we relax and assume all is well. This isn't to say that we shouldn't confront the brutal facts or embrace a negative reality; but if that is all we do, all that we focus on, we run the risk of becoming a 'Debbie Downer', and ironically, we make can make the process of change more difficult.

Oh, and one last thing- next time a public event goes off without a hitch, thank your sound person.

New Blogs

Some new blogs for you to consider checking out:

• Kristi, the mom of the Hillcrest Family who adopoted from Haiti, blogs here.
• The Kindermusik studio that Tarina works with blogs here about all things related to kids and music.
• And finally, the cofounding editor of Fast Company, blogs here.

Soft Skills

I'm not a business or organizational expert by any means, and yet I believe that the winning schools, winning organizations, and winning businesses will continue to excel at what I call soft skills. Soft skills to me are things that any one of us can do, but they are things that can turn an average or pretty good classroom, church, business, or organization into a better one. So in no particular order, here are some of the more important soft skills (I also acknowledge by writing this post, I'm probably guilty of violating several of these as well!):

• Thank yous- it's important to cultivate a culture of gratitude. Just this week I sent a thank you note to a department head at the City of Sioux Falls, to an architect, and to another pastor to thank each of them for their assistance and involvement with a a project we're working on. For some, like the department head and the architect, this is their job, and yet thanking them hopefully builds some sort of relationship as we continue to work together. How can you show appreciation for someone today?
• Return communication- whether it's an email, a voice mail, a text, whatever, I think it's important to return communication. In today's ultra busy and fast blackberry world, perhaps the temptation is to be too quick to return communication, and thus you are never actually accomplishing anything because you're always returning communication. But there's a balance somewhere between being too fast and never returning communication. Those that respond appropriately keep the ball rolling, develop new business, or build partnerships, and continue to win.
• Greeting- one of the easier things human beings can do is simply smile and greet people. How hard is this? And yet, I've been in several volunteer situations and several retail situations where I felt like I was a bother as the volunteer or the customer, instead of being appreciated for my time, my money, or both! It also serves as a good reminder for me and my work to greet people as a way of recognizing who they are and realizing that the had a choice today, and they chose to serve with us, worship with us, etc.

What others might we add to this list?

Never too old

I'm a big fan of the AmeriCorps program. It seems like a lot of the people I work with on community service projects are part of the AmeriCorps program, whether it's the VOA thrift store or the Bowden Youth Center. These young adults are passionate, talented, and dedicated individuals doing reaaly good work in our community and with segments of the city that often get overlooked.

The other day I had a meeting with another AmeriCorps person, except she wasn't a young adult- she was an elderly woman probably in her 70s! I was so encouraged by her and her desire to keep working and to keep advocating for change at an age when most people are worn out from change. There's no retirement from kingdom work.

Calling all Introverts

Every personality test and skill inventory take points that I am an introvert. I've always known this, and yet I also enjoy hanging out with people and enjoying people, so long as I'm not always doing this! So I found this book to be helpful for us introverts.

Eureka Ezekiel!

We’re in Ezekiel now as we read through the Bible as a church and I’ve always enjoyed Ezekiel- both the book and the prophet. I appreciate Ezekiel's boldness, the way he doesn’t hold back any punches, how the book really serves to modify the prevailing thought in the Old Testament that the sins of the fathers continue on to the 3rd and 4th generations and instead claims that the one who sins is the one who dies. Ezekiel also makes multiple references God proclamation that he takes no delight in seeing people die, but that he would much rather see people repent and live. I am struck by this perspective because I think sometimes we believe that God really enjoys watching people fail, that God is somehow cheering against us or rooting for people to continue to make mistakes. Books like Ezekiel really strike a balance between the idea that yes, God is indeed upset and angry with Israel’s continual disobedience and that there are consequences, severe consequences, for continuing such behavior, but Ezekiel also reminds the people and the reader that God is for people, that he so desires for them to live life right and in step with his plans, and that the consequences of that kind of life are sweet and good.