Sculpting Tickets

Our final stop before heading for home to Kissimmee on our 1994 mission trip was a fun stop in Atlanta.  I had not really made any plans for this stop; I just knew I wanted us to have some fun to wrap up what had at times been a very stressful trip.  And we did have some fun...

We got rooms in a Days Inn just off the interstate and located behind a strip club.  It turned out we were not is a very nice part of town, but we didn't really care.  It was decided we would try to go to an Atlanta Braves game.  We had no tickets, but I had been to enough Braves games to know you can always scalp tickets outside the stadium.  So off we went.  I remember absolutely nothing about the game.  To tell you the truth, I don't even remember if we got in.  I do remember how excited Jocelyn Sessions was that we were going to scalp tickets.  She just kept talking about it.  Only thing was, she kept referring to the fact that we were going to "sculpt" tickets.  It was hilarious.  We all kept joking about what that would look like; to see artists sitting in front of Fulton County Stadium forging tickets out of clay.  "Sculpting" tickets became a catch phrase I used for many years.  Jocelyn would have many more "moments" in the coming years, and you will read about them here;  they would only reinforce what a special part of our youth family she was!

The next day (I think) we visited Underground Atlanta.  Again, I have very little memory of the event, but it did produce one of my all-time favorite group pictures (at top).  Getting dressed up, posing for the photo and laughing so hard we couldn't stand up was exactly the finish the trip needed.  The guys look so serious because the photographer wanted us to look like old west bandits- and it worked.  The girls were just supposed to look pretty- and they did!  It was all great fun.  We headed home with a new bond, new enthusiasm and a bright future.  God can do amazing things when we surrender to Him.  Dr. Jill definitely got it right- it was the best worst week ever!  See you tomorrow.

Because of Jesus,

The Blue Van & The Manly Men

Hollywood lives!  Thanks to Lauren Carr Cacciatore for sending me a picture of John Willis and his muppet Hollywood (with sunglasses) to share with my readers.  Lauren is a regular reader and was recently married.  You will be reading about her in the days to come.  She is still an angel!!!

I have mentioned before that while on our Mountain Top trip in 1994 that we had two church vans; a nice white one, which Jill Painter drove, and a blue one, which I drove.  The blue van had issues.  The radio didn't work.  The cruise control didn't work.  The air conditioning was suspect, seeming only to work when it was not hot outside.  The speedometer was questionable.  And, most importantly for purposes of this story, the gas gauge was not accurate.

We had left Mountain Top for the last time (and I do mean last; there was NO WAY I was ever going back again!) and were driving through the hills of Tennessee when suddenly the blue van came to an abrupt halt.  I know very little about cars and engines and such, but even I was smart enough to figure out pretty quickly that we were out of gas.  The gauge didn't say so, but we were.  Oops.  I had overestimated how far we could make it before having to refuel, and now we were stuck in the middle of the middle of nowhere.  Jill drove ahead (left us, in other words) and found the nearest gas station a few miles down the road.  After you hear what we did next, you may ask the question, "Why didn't you just send Jill to buy a gas can and bring back some gas?"  I have no response to that.  It would have made perfect sense.  But it was not what we did.  Instead, the manly men of our group-  Matt Schmidt, Todd Willis, Brian Watson, Matt Wheeler, Brad Watson, Ben Thacker, Hamp Sessions, Scott Burlison and myself-  pushed that van for about 2 miles in the hot June sun.  I give all the guys credit, because to tell the truth I don't remember who all actually pushed.  But push we did, and we eventually arrived at the gas station.  We had conquered the road and were feeling very macho...

We were bonding over our manly feat of strength when it came time to continue.  We were also incredibly sweaty and smelly, and preparing to continue our journey in a van without a decent AC system.  So the guys decided to "air out."  All of the windows were opened.  The girls were are securely placed in the white van with Jill.  Most of the guys then removed their shirts and their pants and rode for the next couple of ours in only their boxers.  It was a unifying display of manly pride that once again served as one of those unplanned events that pull a group together.  Only those of us who were not wearing boxers did not participate as I recall.  Thank God we had the good sense to excuse ourselves from the adventure!  Between the boxer brigade and them making fun of me for running out of gas in the first place, the trip was very upbeat and joyful as we headed for our stop in Atlanta.  And Dr. Jill and I were even now- a speeding ticket for her, running out of gas for me!

This merry band of travellers was becoming quite the youth group family.  And we still had a couple of adventures to go...

Because of Jesus,

Thanks, Moms...and Clyde!

Happy Mothers Day to all Moms within the sound of my keyboard!!!  I would especially like to take a moment to thank God for the moms in my life;  my own mother Anne Jones, my mother-in-law Marie Steele, and my incredible wife Marilyn Jones.  God has used each of them to bless me, and I am so thankful to have them in my life.  Don't miss the opportunity to let the moms in your life know how important they are- and do it today! 

Today is a very special anniversary for me.  Thirty-one years ago today, my friends Carl Semmler and Alan Brown joined me in my dad's 1977 Honda Civic Wagon (named Clyde, after Clyde the Camel in the great Ray Stevens song Ahab the Arab) as we began a month long cross-country trip.  I have not told many of the stories of the trip here (the exception being A Waste of Good Cookies), but perhaps I will give more details at a later date.  It was one of the best months of my life.  In the days that followed the excitement of May 9, 1979, we would travel to New Orleans, where we would meet the "Ash Tray Kid," nearly die from the heat while inside our motel room, and lose the Jazz Museum.  We ate at a Holiday Inn, Jr. because it was the only restaurant we found in a 200 mile stretch between Houston and San Antonio, where we would camp in poison ivy while exploring the Alamo and Riverwalk.  We stood on a corner in Winslow, AZ...and it was such a fine sight to see (it was a Denny's).  We would visit Flagstaff, AZ, and camp on the south rim of the Grand Canyon, then nearly die on a hike into the canyon while consuming only warm root beer and malted milk balls- then have to pay for a shower when we got back to the top.  We would visit Carlsbad Caverns and be attacked by bats before eating a really bad, terribly expensive meal in White City and losing our campsite because we had no flashlight (and we always managed to find the darkest campsite.)  We stayed with my Uncle Dick and Aunt Rusty in Vegas (our excuse for the entire trip, by the way) where we saw Don Rickles and won $20 worth of pennies.  We visited Disneyland, staying in a motel with no working TV and thousands of silverfish, as well as a bathroom door that fell off the first time we opened it.  We saw a famous wax museum, but failed to visit the Pacific Ocean.  On our way back Alan drove a tent stake through a water pipe at a KOA Campground in Utah, causing mass chaos and a small flood.  We ate pizza one night, then 24 hours later ate pizza again- with nothing in between. We drove 5 mph on I-70 as we reached the top of the Rockies because our carburetor wasn't adjusted and the air was too thin for Clyde to go any faster.  We spent three days in St. Louis because there was no gas to be bought on Memorial Day weekend during the gas crisis of '79.  We camped on the lawn at Quaker Hill in Richmond, IN at the offices of Friends United Meeting while visiting our friend Paula Teague (Imagine the surprise of the employees when they arrived at work to find a giant tent pitched outside their offices). We invented the game I'm Thinking of an Object to kill hours spent in the car and in the dark.  We visited DC, but for the life of me I can't remember anything we actually did while there.  And then we returned home to NC and started our summer jobs at Quaker Lake.  It was an amazing trip.

And through it all, there was Clyde.  He was overloaded, with a giant tent on top, but he never let us down.  Despite the troubles in the mountains, Carl throwing up in him, a rogue windshield wiper that pinned the driver's door shut and a few other mishaps, that car became a folk hero to us. So today, as we honor all mothers, I also give a tip of the hat to Clyde, the little car that carried us on our big adventure.  May he rest in peace.  And if Carl and Alan are out there, Happy Anniversary, guys!!!

In Trouble Again

Each afternoon during our week in the mountains of Tennessee we had free time at Mountain Top.  This time resulted in naps, some wonderfully hardcore basketball games and other leisure activities.  One such afternoon I decided to go sit on the grassy hillside and play my guitar.  This was my Applause guitar, with the steel neck and the fiberglass back- the one Alan Brown nicknamed "The Boat."  It was the same guitar Jay Osborne had once dropped off the roof of the lodge at Quaker Lake in the early 80's (That's me pictured playing it at QLC in those same early 80's- by 1994 it was on its' last "string.").  It was beat up, falling apart and almost impossible to tune anymore-  and I loved it.  I sat on the grass in the afternoon sun, playing songs and singing softly to myself.  It was a great way to kick back.

As I sat playing, a few members of our group came and sat with me, and we began to sing songs that were familiar to us.  The more we sang and laughed and hung out on the lawn. the more people came over to join us.  After a while there were probably 50-75 youth and adults who had joined us, many of them calling out requests.  I tried to play them all.  And we sat there and sang praise to God for a long time.  Without question it was the best bonding time of the week.  Leaders from other groups thanked me for doing it, but in truth I had not done a thing.  As with all great moments of ministry, God had orchestrated this one.

At least one person did not see it that way.  The Director soon confronted me and wanted to know why I was trying to disrupt the camp.  Apparently, no ministry was allowed to happen unless it was planned and led by he and his staff.  I was actually told that if I did it again my group would be sent home.  To this day I still don't get it.  It was so tempting to leave right then and there, but I knew that was not the right thing to do.  I took my admonishment and tried to finish out the week without causing any more "trouble."  The week ended without further incident. 

The bonding that took place around Scott Burlison's misadventures and his birthday, and around this incident, was of great help to me.  Many of the youth on this trip (and Jill Painter) were already very close.  The questions were about me.  Would I fit in?  Would they learn to trust and respect me as a leader?  I came away from Mountain Top feeling like we had made great progress in the midst of a rough week.  The trip home would only confirm that. 

Because of Jesus,

Defending Scott

Comments, Guestbook signings and e-mails are always welcomed (hint, hint)!!!

I mentioned in a previous posting that Scott Burlison (at left with Carol Kraus in NYC) was unlike anyone else I ever had in a youth group.  This is actually somewhat of an understatement.  Scott was (and I would think still is) a completely unique individual.  He was often capable of making both myself and his peers a little crazy.  He said and did things that left you shaking your head with your mouth hanging wide-open.  He will be the subject of a few other stories on this blog that will tell you more about his antics.  He could be very strange.  But he was also part of our youth group family...

Very early in our week at Mountain Top some of the guys from other groups who were sleeping in the same cabin with Scott decided that he would be fun to pick on.  The irony of this is that most of our group felt the same way.  One evening some of the other guys put water balloons in Scott's bunk, and when he laid down he smashed them, leaving his sleeping bag soaking wet.  I told them that this was not cool, and we found Scott some bedding to sleep on that night.  No one stepped up to apologize, but I had a pretty good idea who did it.  The next morning I informed our guys (who, remember, were not sleeping in the same place) what had happened.  They were livid.  To paraphrase a great line from the movie Animal House, no one could do that to our friend Scott; only WE could do that to our friend Scott!!!  So our guys, led by Matt Schmidt, began to confront and interrogate the boys from Scott's cabin to determine the culprits.  You may remember that our guys were high school kids and most everyone else was in middle school;  it didn't take long for those boys to start singing!  Once names were named, Matt and his vigilante crew moved on to accuse them- and they confessed quickly.  Fear is a great motivator.  They were told in no uncertain terms what would happen to them if they were anything less than wonderful to Scott for the rest of the week, and suddenly Scott had some new best friends.  The group building I had hoped for was happening, and it was all happening around Scott Burlison.

And we weren't done yet.  Sometime during that week June 17th arrived, which is Scott's birthday.  We wanted to throw him a little party in the dining hall around dinner that night, but were told by The Director that this would break rule #1 of Mountain Top- no group can do anything that might exclude any other group.  This got us motivated.  We got some decorations and some goodies and that night we celebrated his 15th birthday.  I was reprimanded for our actions, but I really didn't care.  Scott was someone who needed our youth group to be a family.  He needed to know we were there for him.  This was a show of commitment- and sometimes you have to break a few rules to do the right thing.  And besides, when we sang Happy Birthday to Scott that night, it was not just our group.  His new friends from his cabin joined in and sang with great gusto! 

You never know what small things or unusual events will help lead a group towards a better understanding of what it takes to reach koinonia- true Christian community.  Scott had helped us on our way.  We were beginning to bond.  Tomorrow you can learn how my guitar almost got us sent home, and in doing so, set our relationships in concrete.

Because of Jesus,

CCM Countdown: 3

We have finally reached the top 3 (well, 4!) on the countdown of the 50-plus Contemporary Christian Music projects that had the most impact on my life and ministry between 1978 and 2006.  To see last Thursday's post and get links taking you all the way back to #50, click here.  Tomorrow we return to stories of the 1994 Mountain Top Mission Trip!

3)  TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER-  Newsboys-  1996
Despite the fact that this is their only appearance on this countdown,  Newsboys have been of the most popular and most durable of all of the Christian acts.  They are still going strong today, with Michael Tait (formerly of dc Talk) as their lead singer.  This project was with most of the original band, including lead singer John James who left shortly afterwards. It is a true masterpiece, with catchy tunes and incredibly creative lyrics, many written my the brilliant Steve Taylor, who also produced the album.  This CD received so much air time in the youth room of First Methodist-Kissimmee that almost everyone knew it by heart.  We saw the Newsboys in concert on at least 4 occasions in the late 90's, including the infamous Love Liberty Disco Airdome Tour...with no airdome!

FEATURED SONGS
The album opens with God Is Not A Secret, a song that gives marching orders to a church that is too often afraid of radical Christianity.  Part of the lyrics tell us "If we keep quiet, if we mass defect, these very rocks will scream, God is not a secret to be kept." This is followed by the ingenious title track (see video below) that reminds us that everyone has issues, and when they do, you need to "take them to your leader's Son."  Breathe, a rocker with a meditative "Breathe on me, breathe oh breath of God" refrain that begs God to make us new.  Reality is a song about God's never-ending love built around a young man who has run away from home and joined the circus, where he is "busy giving blood and shoveling elephant dung (send money!).  Let It Go, Cup O' Tea and Lost the Plot are other classics found on this album.  But out of all the incredible songs, the most memorable is probably Breakfast.  A song about a Breakfast Club much like the one we had in Kissimmee (and other places) that loses a key member to an early death, it reminds us to live life NOW.  It's a fun song to sing, and it has one of the great whistling solos of all-time.  So remember:

When the toast is burned and the milk has turned

and Captain Crunch is waving farewell

When the big one finds you may this song remind you

that they don't serve breakfast in hell...

OTHER RECOMMENDED ALBUMS FROM NEWSBOYS

Not Ashamed-   1992

Going Public-   1994

Step Up To the Microphone-   1998

Love Liberty Disco-  1999

Thrive-   2002

Devotion-   2004

Go-   2006

CAUTION: Rant In Progress...

"There are many powerful, popular and famous people who claim to speak in the name of the church.  They would have us believe that Christianity in our nation belongs to a political party.  They tell us what the "church" believes; they tell us what it stands for.  They may speak for the institutional church in USAmerica; I don't really know.  But I do know this-  many of them do not speak in the name of Jesus.  These are the modern day Pharisees, still thinking that the "law" can save us.  If we continue to let them speak on our behalves, we are failing as disciples of the Christ."
                                                                                                                               -WCJ, 1999

The following is just one opinion, offered today to help you think...

For the past several weeks many of my Christian brothers and sisters and fellow bloggers have been caught up in a whirlwind of discussion revolving around the National Day of Prayer, which was scheduled for tomorrow.  On April 15, a U.S. District Judge in Wisconsin ruled that the annual National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional.  "It goes beyond mere 'acknowledgment' of religion because its sole purpose is to encourage all citizens to engage in prayer, an inherently religious exercise that serves no secular function in this context," wrote Judge Barbara Crabb, who said the Day of Prayer violates the First Amendment's establishment clause, which bans the creation of a "law respecting an establishment of religion" in the Constitution.  The Internet and talk radio have been all abuzz with stories of how President Obama cancelled the event (which is false) and of plans for protests and assaults on the pagan institutions that would deny us the right to pray on May 6th.  The basic idea is that no one and nothing should be allowed to stop us from praying on our National Day of Prayer.

And you know what?  THEY CAN'T!!!  While I agree that loosing a day specifically set aside for prayer is a bad thing, there is no way in all of heaven and earth that anyone can stop me from praying.  Prayer is between you and God.  It does not have to be sanctioned by the government, the church or any other institution.  In fact, scripture tells us that Jesus will be lifted up through this "persecution" of His people.  But I would argue that for many of the people bemoaning the loss of the NDOP, this has nothing to do with prayer or with following Jesus.  This has to do with politics.  The amount of hatred poured out on President Obama, even though he played no part in this decision, was incredible.  A "prayer" made the rounds on Facebook that hoped for his death.  Threats were aimed at both the White House and the Judge who handed down the ruling.  For many, this decision followed health care reform as another sign of the apocalypse.  Tomorrow, I have no doubt, there will be protests complete with the tearing of clothes and the gnashing of teeth, condemning our leaders, judges and anyone else who may disagree with the viewpoint of certain politician/Christians. 

So here's my question:  Will any of these protesters actually be praying?  Our leaders need and covet our prayers.  Our nation needs our prayers.  If the "Church" (and I include all followers of Christ in this; I cannot conveniently rule out the Christians I don't agree with) wants to make a difference on the NDOP, or any other day for that matter, it will not do so by protesting.  It will not do so by ousting the current President.  It will not do so by threatening a Judge in Wisconsin.  The way to make a difference is to turn this whole mess over to the one who rescues each of us from the mess in our lives- Jesus Christ.  If you want to change the world tomorrow, don't protest-  PRAY!!!  It is a great thing to stand up for a cause in the name of Jesus; you'd better just be darn sure it is a cause that Jesus would stand up for Himself!  Jesus came to save the lost.  Jesus taught us to pray for our enemies and those who persecute us.  Jesus said blessed are the meek and the peacemakers.  Jesus told us to take care of one another, to feed the hungry and take care of the sick and the poor.  These are the issues Jesus stood up for.  I see none of these ideals being lifted up by the powerful who claim to speak for the church.  What better way to show the world what a Christ-follower looks like than to shower those we don't understand with the love of God?  If we agree with scripture that God is love, then hatred and revenge can have nothing in common with Him.  We can, and MUST, pray for those who would tell us we cannot pray.  We must set aside our desires to have the power to make the laws of this land more Christian, and instead pray for the power of God to open the eyes of the people of our nation so they might see who Jesus really is.  Faith cannot be legislated.

The 21st century church in USAmerica is in danger of being defined by what we are against and the social/political issues that we have allowed ourselves to be co-opted by.  The church can and should be defined by only one thing- Jesus, the Christ.  So tomorrow, join me as I begin a National Year of Prayer.  Quit complaining about the way things are and pray everyday for the will of God to be done "on earth as it is in heaven."  Pray for Judge Barbara Crabb and President Obama.  Pray for our troops and our local leaders.  Pray for the leaders of foreign lands. Pray for people you don't like.  Pray for your friends, your family and everyone you know.  And then trust that God knows more than you do.  Believe that God is in control.  The love and grace of God, as found in the life and teachings of Jesus, are the only things that can save our world.  Set aside the things of this world and put your trust in the things of God.  Pray hard!

Because of Jesus,