...and A Huge Letdown

I mentioned yesterday that when the summer of 2000 arrived at the Union Church of Hinsdale I was ready.  I had put together one of my famous summer brochures (the one pictured is from FUMC-K, 1999) that was filled with ministry opportunities and relationship-building events for the summer.  No one had tried anything like it before at UC, I was told.  When the brochure hit mailboxes there seemed to be some excitement over the variety of opportunities to stay active and keep momentum going. I had no reason to doubt that it would be a success- as it had been for many years.

Since the first brochure in 1988 (see The Start of Something Big) summers had just gotten bigger and crazier in the student ministries I served.  There were more events planned each year, and the successful ones always seemed to be in demand again the next summer.  There had been beach trips, Disney trips, mission trips, mystery trips and adventure trips.  Youth Week had become a staple of summer programming, and it seemed to get bigger every year as well.  We had done Schoolzout Blowouts at the beginning of summer and Last Gasp Summer Blowouts to end it.  There were weekly Bible study/event nights and local mission projects.  And in-between these big events there were always tons of opportunities just to "hang out."  Programs like One on One, SHO-Time, Magic Middles, The Lunch Bunch and more were just chances for me to spend time with the students, and for them to spend time with each other.  Summers were what turned groups of youth into youth groups.  If you thing it sounds like our schedule was insane, think about this- in 1997 we had 75 days between the end of one school year and the start of the next.  We had some sort of youth gathering on 72 of those 75 days.  And I was ready for God to use the summer of 2000 to have a transforming effect on student ministry at UC.

School ended and the parade of events started.  And no one showed up.  Literally no one.  No one was signing up for big events and no one was showing up for the little ones.  We would still have small crowds on Sunday afternoons at both our TNT and Discovery programs, but that was it.  I was distraught.  After a couple of weeks of this, I went to see my Senior Pastor, Dick Nye.  I told him of my frustration.  He explained to me that the wealth of the families in our congregation meant they they often were away most of the summer.  He also repeated what I had been told about no one having tried such an ambitious summer program before.  I began to think that perhaps it was me; that I needed to adjust my thinking and my attitude, and approach summer differently.  I asked Dick for suggestions about what sorts of things I should be planning that would work with the Hinsdale community.  His response just stunned me.  "Well Carl, I guess my best advice to you would be get used to summers off..." 

"Get used to summers off."  That was not an answer I could live with.  I went back to my office and cried.  And prayed.  And thought.  And before I left my office that afternoon, I had updated my resume and posted it to the YS Job Bank.  Only 4 months in to this ministry, I was ready to call it quits.  It would be another 14 months before I left.  It seems that God had called me to UC for a reason- I just had no idea what that reason was.  The next 14 months would be unlike anything I had experienced before, but God was going to use me- whether I liked it or not.

One last side note:  I have a copy of every summer brochure I published between 1988 and 2006, including one from 2005 that was never actually sent out- except for the one from the summer of 2000.  Coincidence?  I think not...     

Jesus- the only hope for me is you...and You alone!