One Insane Day in Youth Ministry

Happy Throwback Thursday! I have mentioned on many occasions that youth ministry often causes you to push the limits of sanity in order to increase excitement and attract students.Over the years many of those days have occurred during the summer, especially during Youth Week.  Today we remember one very wild and wacky day.

Tuesday, July 8th, 1997 was a part of Youth Week '97 at FUMC-Kissimmee which featured the theme It's Good To Be Alive!  At the end of this particular day, I might have questioned that! We began the day by meeting at FUMC-K at 9 AM and heading over to Disney's Yacht Club Resort and the character breakfast at the Cape May Cafe (see group picture above). The all you-could-eat buffet featured every breakfast food you could imagine, including Mickey Mouse waffles. One of my favorite parts of the meal was that I could get orange juice, coffee and chocolate milk all at the same meal without paying extra. Plus, you got to eat with Pluto, Goofy, Chip, Dale and Donald. It was a great start to the day...but it was only the beginning!

We returned to the church around 11:30 AM, where many of the youth just hung out until 1 PM and the next phase of our journey. Others joined us, and we headed to The Florida Mall for another of our famous Mall Scavenger Hunts, including the search for The Pink Panther (for an explanation, click here!). After a long afternoon of invading every store in the mall in search of the answers to trivia questions, we returned to the church around 5 PM and the students went home...for a while. In the meantime, summer intern Jerry Hanbery and myself had more work to do to be ready for the final event of the day.

We had rented a huge, World War II era searchlight to use as part of the grand finale. After the kids went home for supper, we hauled this gigantic light out into a large pasture on the outskirts of Kissimmee and prepared for the big finish. When the crowd returned at 8 PM, we divided them into vehicles and gave them one task-find the giant searchlight. As darkness fell, the light was turned on, and you could see it for miles around. Determining where it was coming from was a bit more difficult. Our original plan had been to have worship at the site of the searchlight, but it was brutally hot and there was thunder and lightning, so as groups found the site they were sent back to the church. Some groups were able to find it fairly quickly; for others, it took a while. Once everyone made it back to home base, we had snacks and settled in for a time of worship. We finished around 10:30 PM and sent everyone home. It was an amazing day. Well over 100 students participated between the three events. The Spotlight Search was another of those weird things we did that had the whole community talking, and had our youth saying once again, "I can't believe we just did that!"  And the day ended with dozens of students praising Jesus. It just doesn't get any better than that!

I don't know that any of these events, taken on their own, were particularly memorable to the youth who attended, but days like this were very important to the ministry.  They were days that Jerry and I looked forward to every summer. The great Tony Campolo once wrote a book entitled The Kingdom of God Is A Party. I hope we communicated that feeling in our ministry, and in those wild, wacky days.

Because of Jesus,

I'll Have What He's Having..."

One of the great stories told about the late Rich Mullins in the book An Arrow Pointing to Heaven concerns his time in the pubs of Ireland. Rich loved Ireland, and loved to spend his evenings mixing and mingling with the people at their local watering holes. Irish pubs are famous for their vitality and hospitality, but there was one odd thing about Rich enjoying them so much. He was a teetotaler- Rich did not drink alcohol at all! But still he would be in the pubs, telling stories and laughing with the people. And almost every night, according to author James Smith, Rich would be honored with the ultimate pub salute- patrons yelling out, pointing to him and saying, "I'll have a pint of what he's having!" They could see that Rich was overflowing- with the love of Jesus.

Over the years my youth groups were often accused of being the "life of the party." We were always very visible; we were often very loud. There was never any doubt that when we were together, we were having fun. Other youth groups were often jealous of the joy and freedom we shared. People we didn't know often weren't sure what to make of us- we never seemed "pious" enough to be a church group to them. We seldom had rules and regulations; we had a shared respect born from a love for one another. This often freaked parents out, but it made our ministry special and different. And people saw this difference in us. Every motel and every restaurant we ever booked invited us back and commented on how much they enjoyed having us- even the ones that were scared to death of teenagers! It's not that we were angels; I made bazillions of mistakes and we did not always represent Christ as we should have. When we did fail, we would address the mistakes, forgive each other, and move on. The band Stellar Kart once described grace with the words "There will always be a second chance and you will always be on your first try."  We tried to live out that kind of love. We were far from perfect, and we were sometimes obnoxious. It's just that we were Jesus Freaks, full of life, love and joy. We knew how to SHINE (Make 'em wonder what you've got, make them wish that they were not on the outside looking bored.  SHINE, let it shine before all men, let 'em see your works and then let them glorify the LORD- Newsboys)!

There are so many people who have a view of the church as boring and joyless. It is my prayer that from New Garden to Springfield, on to Kissimmee and Chicago, Tampa and Waycross, that people who encountered my groups in restaurants, malls and everywhere else found themselves wondering where our joy came from. The answer, of course, is Jesus. I hope that after they encountered me, surrounded by teenagers and singing Lean On Me in line at Disney World that people young and old looked at each other, smiled, and said, "I'll have a glass of what they're having!" - and that through our actions and silliness Jesus was glorified!

One last thought- if you think that following Jesus is boring, I suggest you try reading your New Testament one more time...

Because of Jesus,

Throwback Thursday: Breathe Deep

Happy Throwback Thursday! Today we're blasting back to my youth pastor days at FUMC-Kissimmee, when we used to sing this weird song at youth group on Sunday evenings. At the time, I had never heard a recorded version of the song- I found it in the Songs & Creations songbook put together by one my heroes, Yohann Anderson. So we sort of made up our own version. We liked it because it was different. We liked it because it had a message of hope for the hurting, the outcast and the disenfranchised. And we liked it because it was full of big words we had to look up to actually get what the song was about! That group loved to sing- and this Terry Taylor tune was one of the songs we sang with gusto.


We live in a day and age when the Church universal struggles with how (and how much) we reach out out to the poor, the different, the hungry and the sin-filled. The fact is there should be no debate, as scripture seems very clear to me. The love of God is for everyone- including the very people from whom you and I seek to "protect" ourselves. We don't get to pick and choose the people who are in the family of God based on our prejudices and preferences. Everyone is entitled to breathe deep the breath of God. The more broken or damaged we are the more we need it. When we breathe in the essence of our loving God, things like fear and worry fade. And we begin to feel alive again.

So listen to and watch the video below from the band Lost Dogs. It turns out the old FUMC-K gang was pretty close on the melody. The lyrics are included, but you must follow closely to catch them all. If you have never heard the song before, I promise the listing of who should be allowed to "breathe deep" will stun you a bit. That's a good thing. And then when you are done listening, pray for the people in your life who need to feel grace and forgiveness from you, and who need to know that the breath of God is for them...too. Because one of those people may be you...

And one more thing. When we sang this song in Kissimmee we shouted the last line of the final verse with power, like the bold statement of faith it was meant to be. I hope you will feel the same way - that "EVERYBODY EVERYWHERE!!!" deserves to know they are safe in the arms of the love of God whose name is Jesus. Amen and Amen!

Because of Jesus,

Throwback Thursday: The Magical Mystery Tour

Butch & Sundance

You may have already read the story of our first FUMC-Kissimmee Mystery Weekend (see Live To Tell), a ridiculously crazy 1996 trip to Myrtle Beach, SC. In 1998 my fabulous summer intern Jerry Hanbery and I (see picture) decided to do it again. This time we would replace the wackiness of 18 hours in a van with a more creative approach. This time it would be a middle school only adventure, and our theme would be "Crazy Times." And this time, Jerry and I had a serious plan...

We loaded up the vans at 7 PM on Friday, July 31st and hit the road. Thankfully on this trip there were no leaks from the parents; no one on the two vans had any idea where we were going. We headed north on the Florida Turnpike, and the kids were buzzing about where they thought we might be headed. We then turned north on I-75, headed towards Ocala. I was driving the always-iffy blue van, and we had the lead. The blue van's issues played an important part in our plan. About 4 miles south of Ocala, I "noticed" that the van seemed to be running hot. We pulled off to the side of the road and Jerry followed me, getting out of the white van to come assist me as I checked under the hood. We had taped a baggie of water under the hood, and when I poured it on the engine (out of sight of the youth) steam erupted as if something was terribly wrong. Jerry and I did some serious moaning and complaining about the "stupid blue van" and then returned to our vans, telling the students that the van was over-heating and that we were going to go ahead and stop for the night so we could try and get it fixed. We stopped at several motels and I went in to see if they had any rooms (I had a great time telling the front desk clerks what we were doing so the youth could see me having conversations with them), only to return and tell the group there was no vacancy. The youth were now getting a little nervous. We finally found rooms at a Super 8 Motel (where, unknown to the youth, we had reservations!) and settled in for the night. I held a meeting and informed the kids that I was going to try to get the van fixed, but that I did not know what the following day would hold. We might just have to stay in Ocala. I drove off to "get the van fixed" (I sat in the local McDonald's and pretended!) while they enjoyed the pool. I was not back when Jerry sent them to bed. They went to bed grumpy. It was perfect...

The following morning we woke everyone up early and told them to get ready, the van was fixed and we were leaving! We hurried them, half-asleep, onto the vans and hit the road. We were hoping that they would be too groggy to notice that we were now heading south on I-75. And for a while, they were. Slowly but surely, they begin to notice something had changed. We stopped at a Burger King for breakfast, and the questions began in earnest. We got back on the road, and finally some of the youth began to guess our final destination- Busch Gardens in Tampa. And then- as if a fog was lifting- they began to realize that the entire "breakdown" the night before had all been planned. We had fooled them completely, and they could not believe it- and a few were not real happy about it. Jerry and I were giddy- we thought it was one of the best things we had ever done! We went on to have a great day at the park, and a wonderful weekend, including a great time of worship on Sunday morning. We wanted to make it memorable, and we had. It was just one more time when a wild and crazy idea helped some students discover the presence of Jesus in their lives.

I found out a few years later that there were a couple of students on that trip who NEVER got the message that the entire first night had been staged. This came out when one of them asked me, "Where were we going to go on that Mid-High Mystery Trip before the van broke down?"  And the Oscar goes to Jerry Hanbery and Carl Jones...  Have a blessed Thursday, everyone!

Because of Jesus,

#TBT: The Asheboro Flash

Today will begin and end with prayers for a friend that I love very much and who need God's healing touch. Please join me in praying Big Honkin' Prayers for miracles in her life. In the meantime, we enter my 7th year of blogging by "flashing" back to one of my all-time favorite people and a guy I don't get to see much anymore. Enjoy this Throwback Thursday.

That's Alan front and center, flanked by the Semmler brothers in
front of  Danny Hines at one of our classic 80s parties.

There is absolutely no question about the identity of the number one character I ever met at Quaker Lake Camp. It has to be Alan Brown. I met Alan at a winter camp sometime in the mid 1970's. I didn't really hang out with him in those days, but I knew I liked him. Some of my earliest memories of Alan are of him playing guitar and singing Mr. Bojangles with the late Jeff Morgan. I also remember him performing I'm Easy in the Fireplace Room at the lodge (and being overly impressed because I thought he wrote it!). It really wasn't until the summer of 1976 when he was on the QLC staff and I volunteered most of the summer that we became close. My life, and Quaker Lake, would never be the same.

Alan was known in those days as Flash, shortened from The Asheboro Flash. Wallace Sills had given him the name after catching Alan kissing two girls in one night less that an hour apart, and it stuck. There was a whole generation of campers who didn't even know his name was Alan- he was, simply, Flash! But to me, he was my partner in crime. Alan taught me early on in my days at camp that dead time for campers usually led to trouble, and we saw it as our job to entertain, even if only for a five minute lull in the action. We created Opera Day (everything you wanted to say had to be sung) and Chant Day (everything had to be chanted like you some sort of monk) just to pass time. We would sing silly songs and create disturbances to get the kids attention and pull them together. I vividly remember Alan entertaining the troops with a camper named Eric Hunsucker, who could belch on cue. Alan would sing "bright eyes don't cry.." and Eric would let loose with huge "BUUURRRRPPPP!!!" And the other campers would love it.

Alan's influence in my life extended far outside the boundaries of camp. We were at Guilford College together. We were roommates in two different apartments (Hidden Lakes and Chateau at Random Woods) and together with Carl Semmler we spent a month in 1979 travelling across the country. Spending a month together in a Honda Civic will seriously bond people together. We shared so many classic moments together. Here are a few of my favorites:

1) Alan comes to my house early one morning and says on his way into class from his home in Asheboro he has had an idea for a song. Actually, he had almost a whole song, and within the hour Blue Pick-Up Truck was finished.
2) The night before a winter camp was to start we were at my parent's house, where we stayed up all night writing Roll Over Lucy. Unfortunately, when we got up the next morning we could no longer remember the tune! To this day I am still not sure if the way we sang it was the tune we intended...
3) We, along with our friends Mark Hyde and Bill Terrell, loved to play hearts and spades- in fact, I think we could have received advanced degrees in both! There were a few times when we convinced unsuspecting newcomers that we had never played, and allowed them to teach us the games...too much fun!
4) Producing the infamous Four Songs...Two Fools cassette tape for our friend Brent Bill and his son Ben, who was our biggest (read as ONLY) fan. The Animal Song, Blue Pick-Up Truck, Roll Over Lucy and the rarely heard classic We've Got Gas were the songs. No question as to who the fools were...   Another time we came up with this card game called Triple Jim Bob, which had no rules except that you had to make up the rules as you went along. Alan and I would baffle people with ridiculous rules and names for the different situations in the game. It was great seeing how long it would take people to catch on that we were making it up as we went! Both Triple Jim Bob and a character very much based on Alan make appearances in the novel I finished earlier this year.

I guess you get the idea...we were dangerous together. I can't even begin to tell you how much I miss him. There have been others in my life with whom I could get wild and creative (Jerry Hanbery comes to mind) but no one else quite like Alan. I will never forget walking from the lodge to the boy's cabins, late at night,and stopping to salute the flag post (actually a light pole!) and singing the Quaker Lake Alma Mater:

In the city of Climax, past the Climax Mall, there's a place where campers visit and never return at all. Quaker Lake is quite a place to spend a week or two, but never press your luck with others or they might do unto you...

Through the tough times, the great times, the silly times and our Sunday afternoon conversations about the campers we were about to spend a week with, Alan was always there. I just hope someday we get to do a farewell concert featuring We've Got Gas and The Parakeet Song...

Because of Jesus,

TBT: The 1994 Mid-High Mission Trip

This post (slightly edited) was first shared back in 2010, and over the years it has been seen by exactly 9 people. For this Throwback Thursday I'm hoping we can do a little bit better...

One of the things we knew we wanted to do in the summer of 1994 (my first in Kissimmee) was to put together some sort of mission opportunity for the middle school youth of the First United Methodist Church of Kissimmee. There had been one for high school students for years, but we wanted to let the middle school kids know that they were important too. Having arrived there in April, it was too late in the season to plan any major trip, so I focused on what we might could do in Orlando. I discovered the Second Harvest Food Bank, and found that they had lots of work for a group of teenagers, sorting food and packing boxes for delivery to shelters and soup kitchens. We decided to keep it short to keep the cost low and encourage more students to participate, and so June 26-29 we were off to O-town!

Our small group stayed at a Days Inn on International Drive, down near Wet'N'Wild in southwest Orlando. We were in the middle of a huge tourist area, especially popular with foreign tourists at the time. This was made even more interesting by the fact that the Citrus Bowl, located just down the road from us, was hosting the opening rounds of the 1994 World Cup soccer tournament. Every where we looked we saw fans of Ireland and Mexico. We spent the mornings working at Second Harvest. I remember the big deal about driving from the motel to food bank was going to down the Orange Blossom Trail. I learned why the OBT (where I had stayed with youth groups on two previous Disney trips) had such a shady reputation with the locals. It seemed like we passed a strip club about every 100 yards or so. And every time we passed one, Nate Hill was there to point it out to us, like a tour guide on a bus!  It became a tradition.  We arrived to work at 8 AM each morning. We didn't work all that many hours at Second Harvest, nor was the work all that hard. But it was hot.  Brutally hot. Just imagine being in a warehouse with no AC, in late June in Florida. When we left at noon, we were drained.

We spent the afternoons goofing off an getting to know one another. I learned a great deal about the youth who were along for the journey. We ate lunch one of the days at an all-you-can-eat Pizza Hut buffet, and the late James (Chico) Fry ate all any of us could eat-  I stayed at the restaurant with him for 15 minutes after everyone had walked back to the motel. There were girls fighting over a guy- and two of them (Hello Erin and Jen!) were cousins. We spent one afternoon and evening at Wet'N'Wild and had a great time, including several of the students riding what ever that thing is that Erin Augenblick is riding in the picture at the top. In short, we worked hard, we played hard, and we built community. In my mind it was a very successful little trip, that paved the way for future mid-high adventures. What I don't remember is who else was on that trip, although I am fairly certain Kay Hill was the other adult. I'd love some help remembering, so give me a shout if you were there. Have a great Thursday! 

Because of Jesus,

Throwback Thursday: The Orange Jacket

Summer (and summer heat!) always take me back to the wonderful summers that I spent on the staff of Quaker Lake Camp in Climax, NC. It was an honor, a privilege and a great learning experience- and also a place where I met a great number of people I still dearly love. Every now and then it just feels right to share this post again. Today was one of those days. Have a great Throwback Thursday!

Every professional golfer dreams of winning the Masters. Winning that tournament once makes your entire career a success. Money, fame and glory are yours. But ask any pro golfer what really matters about winning the Masters and they will all tell you the same thing- the green jacket. The green jacket is unique. Only Master's winners can wear them. After one Master's champion wore his jacket on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno several years ago Jon Stewart was quoted as saying, "that's the first piece of original material on The Tonight Show since Johnny left!" The green jacket is special, and if you aspire to golf greatness you aspire to wear the green jacket.

I suppose I was about 15 when I became obsessed with the Orange Jacket (That's me modeling the classic style at top). I was serving at Quaker Lake Camp as a Counselor in Training (later to be called Counselor Assistant) when I became aware of the prestige of it. On Friday night, when it came time to walk to the Campfire Circle, the QLC summer staff almost all wore their orange windbreakers that said Quaker Lake Staff Camp. It was actually a circle that said Quaker Lake on top, and Camp on the bottom with Staff in the middle. But when you looked at it, it seemed to say Quaker Lake Staff Camp. In any case, they were cool. And the ONLY way you could have one was to be one of 14 people hired to be full-time summer staff. I knew I wanted to work at QLC someday. The staff were the coolest people in the world in my eyes, and I longed to be one of them. And I worked hard to get to that point. I volunteered every chance I got, went to all the camps and events I could, and made sure I had a good reputation with the people in charge. The first year you are eligible to work staff is the summer after your high school graduation, and so I applied in the summer of '77. Everyone thought I would be hired, but all four boys counselors- Bill Terrell, Alan Brown, Roland Pugh and Joseph Neal- returned from the previous year (Not only do I remember who they were, but I believe I have them in order, cabins 1-4! And yet I can't remember what my wife told me to get at Wal-Mart today...). So I didn't get a job, even though they should have hired me as the Assistant Cook (would have saved a lot of "Robin Pots"). Neal Thomas told me I could volunteer any week I wanted to, so I was there 6 out of 8 weeks that summer. I loved it, and I felt like part of the staff. But I didn't have an Orange Jacket...

I was hired the next summer for the first of my 6 years as summer staff and the highlight came early, when Lewis Farlow came from Beeson's in High Point and I could order my Orange Jacket. This was real. This was amazing. I had achieved my goal. I was special. I was the counselor in Boys Cabin 1. Even though the jacket was paper thin and no help in the rain, and made me sweat like a pig, I wore it every chance I got. And I knew that all the campers who aspired to do the same, to have their own Orange Jacket, looked at me with awe and envy.

The trouble with all of that was this- wearing an Orange Jacket, or working at QLC, did not make me special. When you are a camper, you believe every counselor is a hero and a saint. When you become a counselor, you wonder "how can they hire someone like me?" You continue to fail and make mistakes. As the years passed many of my former youth went on to work at camp and I happen to know none of them are perfect!  I loved my years working at camp, just like I loved my years in student ministry, but I have to tell you- you'd better love those jobs to do them or you will be miserable. Anyone who worked at camp for the glory and admiration of the campers was in for a long summer. Anyone who did it for the money in those days- well, they were just stupid! You put up with the heat, the long hours, the rotten campers (no one likes to talk about them, but they exist!), the outdoor toilets and the total lack of sleep because you felt like you were doing something tremendous, something amazing for the kids each and every week. Every week you faced a new group of campers, and every week you had to give them all of your energy and love, with no holding back for the weeks still to come. You had to do work like that because you love it and because God has called you to it, or it will eat you alive. You see, it's not Quaker Lake Staff Camp. Camp is all about the campers- and if you didn't get that, then no Orange Jacket could save you.

I don't remember exactly when the staff quit wearing Orange Jackets, but it has been a very long time. Today I think they have staff shirts, but I am sure the feeling is the same among campers- I want to wear one of those someday. And that is awesome! I just hope they all learn, like so many others before them, that working at QLC does not make you special. It simply gives you the opportunity to do special things in the name of God. Being a part of the QLC family was, and is, a blessing. It is the same with being a youth pastor. Billy Joel once wrote I never claimed to be a hero and I never said I was a saint... If I did either of those things I apologize. But how smart were we in those days, anyway? After all, we wore Orange Jackets in public!

Because of Jesus,

Throwback Thursday: Marathons & Sardines

The last five days featured what I believe to be the 5 best consecutive days of blogging ever to appear on this site. But they were also (for the most part) very serious in nature. So for this Throwback Thursday we need a palate cleanser. We need a

Scripture tells us "Raise up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." It is so true that the things we learn early on in any endeavour do tend to stay with us. I found this to be true in youth ministry as well. Today I want to talk about a couple of things I learned early on that stayed with me until my days of student ministry were over.

New Garden Friends Meeting, like almost every other youth group we knew about in the 70's, had "lock-ins." You know the event- kids come to the church, stay up late, sneak around and find places to be alone, get cranky and finally fall asleep. I have very few memories of this as a youth, but as a youth leader they were things to be feared! I didn't mind the lack of sleep- I hated playing guard dog trying to keep kids in areas of the church they were actually allowed to be in! So as I gained some experience, the event began to morph into what we called a Marathon. The difference was subtle but very important. There would be no sleep. We would plan events for the entire night, including energetic games at the earliest hours of the morning. Where "lock-ins" had been torture for me, I LOVED Marathons! I was challenged to be at my most creative, and the excitement level for the students went through the roof. As I progressed through the years, the Marathon morphed into Rec Around the Clock (a name I stole from the great Tom Klaus) and the stakes went way up! Now not only did we stay up all night, we were OUT of the church for the vast majority of the night! We went bowling at 2 am; ice skating at 5 am; played laser tag at 4 am; saw movies, played putt-putt, went to laser light shows and always finished with a breakfast. Rec Around the Clock became the single biggest event of the summer by the time I hit Kissimmee, including a guest appearance by Lost And Found. I never tired of these events, and the memories are many.

The different ministries I served over the years had many differences, but they all had one thing in common. They all played Sardines. For some, it was a game we played on rare occasions. For others. it was an obsession (the youth at Springfield Friends Meeting and Wesley Memorial UMC were especially talented)! For the uninitiated, Sardines is a hide-and-seek game. Two people go hide, and they everyone looks for them in pairs. When you find them, you hide with them, thus packing yourselves in like...wait for it...SARDINES! We learned this game from DB3 (David Brown the third) when I was 14 or so, and it was made all the more interesting by his stories of how it had been originally called "The Make-Out Game." As with all DB3 stories, you never knew if that was true, but it sure sounded good! After all, you played with a partner, in the dark, and tried to find hiding places where you would be alone for a long time (DB3 once told us about he and a girl hiding in a front loading washing machine at his boarding school- not sure I believed that one either!). Regardless of the make-out factor, it was a great game for scaring people in dark, spooky churches, and was getting more comfortable around the people you were with. You stick 30 youth under a desk, and you have togetherness!

Jim Rayburn, the founder of Young Life, once said "It is a sin to bore a student with the Gospel." One of the ways we tried to open the hearts and minds of our youth over the years was to find ways to make church fun. Did we sometimes go too far and plan events that were a bit too wild? Oh yes- on a regular basis! But I do believe by making church a place kids WANTED to be we were able to reach students with the Gospel who otherwise would have never heard it. Over the years we learned that parents would sometimes punish their children by grounding them from youth group. While I always found that a bit odd, if we could make it so special that it was punishment not to be there we were doing something right. And if that "something right" helped bring even one student to a relationship with Jesus the Christ, then I would do it all over again. Even the 2 am shopping cart demolition derby in the K-Mart parking lot...

If anyone has actually ever tried hiding in a washing machine, please let me know.

Because of Jesus,

#TBT: Living In the Wild, Wild West!

For many of you this post will make no sense- and that's ok!  Just think of it as an experiment in time travel. It's a Throwback Thursday, and we're headed all the way back to around 1867, when the west was wild and rough and tumble men drank hard and fought harder. And then there were these two...

Welcome to the Rose of Cimarron Saloon

Dutch Jones & Dusty Semmler, Proprietors  

Not sure when this was taken, but pretty sure it was somewhere in downtown Myrtle Gulch. Not sure why it was taken, but you have to admit- the 'staches look good! But don't be fooled- if you're cheatin' at cards these tough hombres will gun you down in the blink of an eye. So come on in and have a beer or a sasparilly, dance with a pretty girl (as long as the Dutch & Dusty say it's ok) or listen to Gabby tickle the ivories while Miss Kitty serenades you. Ladies, flirting with the owners is encouraged! You men just behave yourselves and we'll all get along fine- and no one will get shot. There are always good times at The Rose of Cimarron Saloon! Re-opening September 9th in Ocean Isle for a limited engagement! Now serving nachos!!!

Throwback Thursday: Springfield's 1991 Myrtle Beach Trip

Stacy finds yet another camera to pose for!

Today's Throwback Thursday trip takes us back to my glorious years (1986-1994) at Springfield Friends Meeting. In the summer of 1991 we took a group of students to North Myrtle Beach, SC. We stayed at a house called The Spinnaker (the Betsy B was booked) for a week. As always I brought along my trusty video camera- a Magnavox about the size of your average 50 pound TV camera. And as usual, I was having too much fun to worry about actually taping anything! Finally, on our last full day, I broke out the camera in the morning and shot for most of the morning. What you are about to read is a blog I wrote while watching that video in 2010. It was a hoot! It should be mentioned that the following is rated PG!  Here we go...

* We open on Jon Moran's temporary dragon tattoo purchased at the Pavilion the night before. Jon addresses the camera and says "I will now attempt to eat a whole box of Fruity Pebbles." It was our own little cliffhanger- stay tuned to see if he was successful!
* Stacy Gilbreth, Natalie Whitaker, Holly Harward, Charles Freedle and Ben Moran are on the oceanfront porch, watching the action on the beach as Led Zeppelin plays in the background. Stacy wants me to film some guy named Marcus, who is not with our group but who is "really cute." I refuse and harass her. Good times...
* Jennifer Simmons discusses forgetting her swim suit on a beach trip, and also how"gross" she looks. Marilyn suggests that she wear Stacy's "flowery bra" and that no one would notice. Jennifer responds by telling the camera her sister Amy looks gross too...Amy, now pictured, is not amused. 

Kelly, Kelly, Kelly...K-E-L-L-Y!!!

* A group of us wake up Kelly Allen by invading her bedroom and singing her the "Kelly, Kelly, Kelly" song from the TV show Cheers. She is also not amused.
* Avis (a friend of Jennifer Woods whose last name I have forgotten) threatens to expose herself again (A note of explanation: Avis had lost her bikini top in a wave on our first day, exposing what the kids came to call "her flippers."  Yes, this stuff really happens...) but does not.
* Shon Hildreth, Ion Hildreth, Noel Cecil and Donald Fleischman are on the porch now, listening to Guns and Roses and bothering Holly and Nat in what can only be considered an awful attempt at flirting. A moment later Journey is playing. The soundtrack to this video rocks!
* Holly, Nat, Jennifer and Stacy are walking on the beach in front of the house and screaming my name, wanting me to film them. I do briefly, but then we hear the voice of Charles in the background saying "don't get that." He then tells me to focus on two other girls walking the beach, and he yells at them "Hey ladies!  WAVE!" And they do...
* Ryan Simmons and Steven McGrath make a brief appearance, but say nothing.
* Wendy Mattocks and Kelly, sitting in a chair on the first floor, tell the following joke: "What's green and goes slam, slam, slam, slam?  A 4-door pickle!!!" I taught them that joke...it's my own fault! 

The legendary Charles Freedle

* Charles and Mike Mercadante (who has just gotten up) have tattoos, too. Jon has indeed finished the entire box of Fruity Pebbles. Tom Petty is now playing in the background. I love this trip!
* Kelly begins to tell us the story of being awakened earlier, then realizes if anyone is actually ever watching the tape, they have already seen that happen. She also tells of how we forgot to awaken her stuffed animal Yolanda, who apparently had fallen into a crack.
* Stacy takes this opportunity to once again tell us that her raft has a hole in one of the seams. And just as she has the entire week, she does this by reporting "there's a hole in my crack." Ah yes- these are my people!
* Josie (again, the last name escapes me- all I can think of is & the Pussycats and I know that is not it!), Natalie and Holly give us a tour of their room. Clothes and hair spray are everywhere! I threaten to condemn the place...
* Wendy and Kelly have changed floors but are still sitting in a chair just like the one before. Jennifer Wood has now joined them. They begin telling jokes, and then Stacy (who seems to be everywhere the camera is) tells a classic: "What do you get when you play a country song backwards?  You get your wife back, your dog back and your truck fixed!" 

Woodhead & Wendy!

* Wendy remarks that Jennifer Wood, dressed all in green, looks like a pickle. This prompts Natalie to tell the exact same pickle joke as before. We all try to act surprised. 
* Kelly brings out Yolanda, and a lengthy discussion ensues over whether this creature is a dog or a bunny. Someone even suggest a bear. Kelly swears it is a bunny. I suggest it is a "Dunny," to which Kelly replies "Yes... I mean NOOOOOO!" 
* Marie Allen is finally awake...
* Jon, Charles, Mike and Bryan Dowling emerge from their room, looking suspicious. Mike and Charles are wearing Speedos, and they proceed to run around the building. Mike has dollar bills tucked in his. As they run back into their room, Charles shouts "Well I never!" I respond "Well maybe you should!" Jimmy Buffet plays as the camera fades to static...
* One final scene- the next morning, everyone is banging pots and pans trying to wake everyone else up.  Jon, Mike, Charles and BD sleep through it all.

That's it. I missed filming the devotions, the singing on the porch, Black Thursday and all kinds of other excitement. I seem to remember sitting up one night and trying to count all of the "Na-na-na-na-na's" in the Journey song Loving, Touching and Squeezing. Every trip offers so many memorable moments. The video did capture the feeling of community and the love that we all had for each other, even if only for one day. I hope you enjoyed this flashback- I sure did! 

Because of Jesus,

The Greatest College Basketball Team You Never Saw



I grew up in North Carolina in the 1960's and 70's, and it is not an overstatement to say that college basketball was a religion. The ACC Tournament was the high holy season. And I was a fully-devoted follower. I was (and still am) first and foremost a fan of the UNC Tar Heels (who open NCAA play today). But that is not the basketball story I want to tell you today. I lived about a mile from Guilford College, a small (about 1100 students at the time) but prestigious Quaker college. I attended New Garden Friends Meeting (and would later work there) in the early 70's, which was across the street from the Guilford campus. Occasionally on Sunday afternoons we would use our connections to get access to Alumni Gym (original name, huh?) and shoot some hoops. We would occasionally run into some of the players from the college. During the 1972-73 season, we shared that tiny gym with one of the best basketball teams of which you have never heard. The Guilford College Quakers had been to NAIA (small college) tournaments a couple of times, but it just seemed from the very beginning of the season that this team was special. Every game was an event, and I went to as many as I could. Alumni Gym (its nickname was "The Crackerbox") probably held 700 people, and there had to be 1000 packed in for each game. The noise was deafening. Opponents rarely had a chance in Alumni.



Coach Jack Jensen had assembled an amazing collection of talent and roll players. M.L. Carr (later of the Boston Celtics championship teams in the early 80's), Ray Massengill and beefy ex-Marine Steve Hankins (who had been a pallbearer at RFK's funeral) provided the size. Teddy East was one of the best defensive players I ever saw. Every game he would simply shut down the other teams's top scorer. Greg Jackson was a true point guard who could also jump out of the building; he had a 48" vertical leap (True story- one Sunday afternoon some friends went to the gym and found Jackson and Carr shooting around. They were debating just how high Greg could jump. Several of them witnessed as the 6'0" tall Jackson touched the TOP of the backboard! Rumor had it that he could actually take a quarter off the top, and I never doubted it. Another rumor said he could take one and leave one on the same jump. That's a bit more iffy...). The top 2 subs were freshmen Johnny Ralls and Robert Kent, both of whom graduated from what would the very next year be my high school- Western Guilford. Johnny's dad was my dentist. The final piece to the puzzle was a freshman guard from Brooklyn named Lloyd Free. He could (and did!) shoot from anywhere. He was in range as soon as he crossed half-court. And he too could jump out of the building. He later changed his name to World B. Free and was an NBA all-star with two different teams. Jackson also played in the NBA with the Phoenix Suns. This team was so good we actually had legitimate arguments about whether or not they could have won the ACC that year. For a school with an enrollment of just over 1000, this was an amazing team.

Despite the fact that UNC was already a mini-dynasty and that N.C. State had David Thompson, Tommy Burleson and Monte Towe leading them to an undefeated season that year and a national championship the next, our little community was obsessed with Guilford College basketball. They won the Carolina's Conference championship (no easy feat in 1973- almost every school had a future NBA player) and then advanced to Kansas City for the NAIA national tournament. They were unseeded, but we expected them to win it all. To do so, they had to win 5 games in 6 days. This being way before the days of cable TV and ESPN, we listened to every minute of every game on the local AM radio station, 1320-WCOG. This included hiding in bed with a transistor radio way after bedtime or listening with an earphone while in class. It was around 11 PM Greensboro time when they finally won it all, and all around the neighborhood car horns were blowing and lights were flashing. Our guys were national champions!!! National champs, with three future NBA players, a future NBA coach & General Manager (M.L.) and a future league scoring leader (Free). Hankins and Kent both went on to very successful careers as high school coaches. Today, with talent so spread out, that team would be one of the best 10 college teams in the country at ANY level. I promise you that they were the best team that you never saw. But I did- and I will never forget them.

They were indeed a great team, and unlike with big universities and schools that are on TV all the time, they were very much OUR team in the community of Guilford College. I'll share one final memory. Just a few weeks later my connection to the team got one last unexpected boost. My Dad had gone back to Guilford after nearly 15 years to finish his degree, and was taking Anatomy and Physiology. One Saturday afternoon he and his lab partner dissected a cat on our screened-in porch. That lab partner? M.L. Carr (pictured above). Thanks for reliving with me the best March Madness of my life. 

Throwback Thursday: The Legend of the Country Quakers

Happy Throwback Thursday! Yesterday was the great Tony Campolo's 80th birthday. Tony is one of the great storytellers our our time, quoted in sermons on a regular basis. But to celebrate here, I thought I would share my favorite story (originally posted in 2009) ABOUT Tony. It's one for the ages...

In the late 70's or early 80's (those years really run together in my mind!) Alan Brown showed up at my house one day having written most of a song about a blue pick-up truck. It was the type of song where heartbreak is all around- a true parody of country music. I helped him (very little) finish it, and it became legendary around Quaker Lake Camp and NC Young Friends events. As time passed, Alan was not around those events much and I took to singing it by myself. In 1986 I sang it at New England Yearly Meeting and it killed. It seemed that people everywhere could get into this song.

At the 1987 National Youth Workers Convention in Atlanta there was going to be a "talent show" at the annual Wittenburg Door Banquet. I had brought my guitar with me, and at some point Terry Venable, Ray Luther and I decided we would audition for the banquet and sing Blue Pick-Up Truck. The three of us had never performed the song together before, but we would be bound together by history. Ray would follow me as Youth Pastor at Springfield Friends Meeting, and then would follow Terry as Senior Pastor there. He was still Pastor there until December of 2014. Ray was by far the best singer of the group; I knew the verses; Terry was there for moral support! We auditioned under the name The Country Quakers. They let us sing part of the song and then told us we would get a call letting us know if we were in. The call came, and we would make our debut in front of 800  or so youth workers. 

The Wittenburg Door Banquet was a wild affair each year, and 1987 was no different. We were sharing a table with some Mennonites who were wearing suits and hotel shower caps. People dressed crazy, acted crazy and had lots of fun, all without the benefit of alcohol! Wayne Rice did his Sinatra impression ("I did it His way...") and Mike Yaconelli made fun of everyone. Before we knew it, it was our time to take the stage, one of the final acts of the night.

I introduced the song in my usual way- "How many of you like country music?" After the cheer went up in response, I said, "Well then you will hate this..."  It got a good laugh and started the song. The first verse and chorus passed with some laughter, but we had no indication of what was about to happen. People began to clap along with the music. After the second verse, as we started the chorus again, I jokingly yelled out, "Sing it if you know it!"  To our shock, they did!  "There's a blue pick-up truck where my heart used to be" rang out like Born to Run at a Springsteen concert! The place was now rocking, and we were really getting into it. Everyone in the place was standing and clapping along. The room itself was pretty dark, with candles on every table. Sometime during the final verse we noticed that someone at one of the front tables was standing in a chair and waving a candle. Others began to copy him, until he and some of the crowd were actually on the tables singing and waving candles. We couldn't really see at the time, but when the lights came up we discovered it was Tony Campolo, world renowned speaker and teacher, who had been the lead dancer! We received a huge standing ovation, and Wayne Rice told me he thought we might be the biggest hit in the history of the banquet. Tic Long, who selected the acts for the night, told us later he had chosen us because he thought we would get booed off the stage; we were supposed to have been the "Gong Show" act of the night! I just hate that this was before the days of video phones; I would love to have a tape of it all!

The next day we were full-blown celebrities. Everyone wanted to say hi and offer congratulations. Yohann Anderson wanted to publish the song. Tony himself stopped me in the hall to tell me how much fun it had been for him. The Wittenburg Door Banquet was discontinued shorty thereafter, so that was my one and only bit of  NYWC fame. It was also the one and only performance of The Country Quakers.  Always leave 'em wanting more, right? 

Because of Jesus,

#TBT: Ten Random Quaker Lake Camp Memories

My mind has been on Quaker Lake Camp a lot lately (I'm working on something special, so stay tuned!) and so this seemed like an obvious choice for a Throwback Thursday! In my 6 years as a full-time member of the Quaker Lake staff (1978-83) there were hundreds of moments that made me laugh. Here are ten of the most memorable (I left out so much, like Gail Steelman ambushing Neal Thomas, seen here!); all names are maiden names, including the guys!

10) My first week as a camper at QLC I was sleeping comfortably in my top bunk in Boys Cabin 1 when suddenly I was awakened by loud noises, giggles, and the feeling of water soaking my bed and sleeping bag. And not just me- our entire cabin had been attacked. It was a sneak attack that rivaled Pearl Harbor, brilliantly executed and very successful. There was only one problem. The water balloons tossed at our screens by the girls in question (including some people I love dearly- TAMMY...) destroyed those screens, knocking them out completely. It was all fun and games until breakfast the next morning when new camp director Neal Thomas went totally ballistic over the damage done and forced the girls to repair the screens. So it was one of those rare pranks where, in the end, everyone got to laugh at everyone else!

9) There was no air conditioning at QLC, so floor fans and window fans were very important, especially when you were trying to sleep. The girls' staff cabin, where the cooks and female lifeguards lived, was no exception. One particular night we came into possession of a 50 pound bag of dried mashed potato flakes that some mice had gotten into, so they could not be used. We waited until the middle of the night, slid a window fan to the side, and started throwing flakes through the window! As they went in, the multitude of fans began to blow the flakes all over the cabin. They woke up the next morning buried under 50 pounds of potato flakes! Snow in July!

8) David Fields, as a 4th grade camper, singing Home On the Range. "Oh give me a................HOME!" Also his famous line at dinner: "This is not Del Monte corn. I taste Del Monte corn when I taste it!"

7) My cabin of guys snuck over to the girls cabins in the early morning hours to lock in the campers of Beth Grantham's cabin. Our usual plan consisted of locking them in and singing to them, thus waking them up and causing some of them to need to use the rest room- which was located OUTSIDE the cabins! As they woke up and began screaming at us, Beth said to one of my guys "You just wait until I tell Carl Jones you are out of your cabin!" I laughed and responded "Good morning, Beth!" She forgave me about a week later...

6) On Saturday mornings one particular summer Ronnie Osborne and a very young Doug Thomas would ride around in the classic old QLC truck and empty the garbage cans dressed as Trashman and Garbage Boy! It was such a hoot to watch the parents arriving to pick up their kids try to figure our what was going on...

5) Before we knew sun tanning was bad, people used to wear oil (SPF Negative 50!) to actually attract the sun. Susan McBane was using such an oil- until Carl Semmler (the king of pranks!) substituted bacon grease from breakfast in her oil bottle. It looked the same, and she rubbed it all over her, but after a few minutes the smell started to get to her. Her response: "Oh wow, I think this oil is cankered!" A classic moment.

4) A few us were walking by the guys outhouse one afternoon when we heard the familiar voice of Lindley Osborne singing The All Day Song while sitting on the toilet. Just as we passed the door we heard "and in the in between time when you feel the pressure coming..." And we lost it! We also once lost Lindley for hours when he took a nap on a third level bunk in the back of the lodge and didn't tell anyone. We searched everywhere...

3) Head Cook Denise May and her assistant spent hours hand writing a huge chart for the kitchen with a measurement list- things like 4 Quarts=1 Gallon. Hours after they posted it, two unnamed culprits came along and wrote on the bottom 2 Cooks=1 Disaster! Denise is still mad. (Bonus: Name the 2 culprits!)

2) Alan Brown and I had written a silly song about animals dying and we premiered it at camp. We dedicated it to fellow staffer Martha Ratledge, and then finished the song with this chorus:

Isn't it a sad day, when all the animals die

There ain't nothing to do

Isn't it a sad day, when all the animals die

Why can't you die too?

It was so off the wall and so unexpected, everyone just burst into laughter. A great moment! And as always (and she needed to quite often!) Martha forgave us.

1) I had a cabin of guys for a number of years who not only came to camp together but went to school together as well. They would spend the "off-season" planning for camp, and one year they came armed with elaborate paper shooters. They would fold bits of paper and fire them at each other, leaving marks whenever they hit. One night, it was late and we had been loud, and when Neal came by for cabin check he had told us no more noise. So as David Fields, David Hockett, Robert Osborne and the rest lay in their beds, all was quiet. Until I heard this- Zing!....POP....Owwww!!!!!!!! There would be snickers, more quiet, and then a repeat. Over and over again, until, to keep from laughing, I yelled at them "ENOUGH!" Quiet set in for a minute, and then I heard a loud thump, followed by the all-time classic line "Carl- David just hit me with his saxophone!" I lost it laughing! I loved those guys...

So there you have it. If you were never a part of the QLC family then I hope this flashback makes you wish you had been. And if you were- what did I leave out? I truly hope you get a feel for how special those years were to me. 

Because of Jesus,