Adventures Across Central Shores
I was so happy when my fellow pilgrims said, “Let’s go to the house of the Eternal!”
We have made the journey, and now we are standing within your gates,
O Jerusalem. Jerusalem! What a magnificent city!
God’s people belong here. Every tribe of the Eternal makes its way to Jerusalem
just as God decreed for Israel to come together and give thanks to the Eternal.
Psalm 122:1-4 The Voice
With Debbi’s permission, I share her musings. DS John
I, with thousands, if not millions of people, joined the fan group this summer of watching two young men from the UK – “Jase and Josh” on their adventures across Michigan.
I became addicted to their excitement, their adventures, where they would be, hearing of their challenges, what they would see and experience in nature, including the heat and humidity, new experiences, and at times their “daring feats”.
They treated each area with a sense of anticipation of not only what they would see and experience, but the people they would meet. I’m sure they had a travel coordinator, but the people they met in each area, were eager to show them and introduce them to the most exciting things, people, and places their areas had to offer.
To see them embrace each area with genuine excitement, humor, and appreciation was, to me, a daily dose of anticipatory happiness. I’m thankful they made Podcasts for those episodes I missed or want to see again.
Some of the places I have seen or experienced before. Would they find the same appreciation for the places, areas, and events that I did? Sometimes, just seeing it from a different perspective and excitement made me appreciate it more or want to visit it again. Some areas I knew about, but I had grown complacent about their existence. Yet seeing it through “new eyes” made me appreciate what I had often just taken for granted. Through their experiences, I have already formed a “bucket list” of places I will need to visit or re-visit someday.
I joined my husband, your DS, as the Chair of the District Care Team, as well as Carol Blair Bouse, the District Coordinator of Congregational Support, and Jennifer Lane, the District Coordinator of NextGen Ministries, on “Meet and Greets” as we introduced ourselves, our goals, and ministries, and as we got to know the pastors, churches, areas, and a small portion of the people that comprise our new district. While the travel to and from each area can bring its own time and challenges, it has also brought me a “Jase and Josh” sense of anticipation.
What kind of area does this Connexion Zone serve? What ministries have they established to serve the areas that they are in? Am I seeing their enthusiasm and appreciation for ways they can do ministry? Are they excited “tour guides” to their ministries? Are they pointing out areas, people, and aspects of our discipleship that we often overlook and become complacent to?
The answer to the many of these questions is, “yes!”
It was exciting, as well, to see THEIR faces as our team introduced the ways this new Central Shores District can support them in meeting their ministry goals, dreams, and ideals. In ways, some pastors are excited as we re-introduce them to “their First Love,” to know they have support, avenues for new ideas, and encouragement for them on their journey to bring others in a new or closer relationship to Christ.
Our trips home often became a reflection of the questions asked, observations made, and the feeling of ministry, sense of purpose, and calling that each of the Connexion Zones seemed to portray.
Now for the moment of truth for me. If Jase and Josh visited the ministry embodied in me, what would be their “take away”? Would they report with excitement over what they discovered? Would they see beauty and purpose? Would they report with seriousness or humor (probably the latter)? Would they see that I was genuinely interested in them, their experience, and overall well-being? Would they know I was excited that they were investing part of their time and energies into who I was and what I had to show them? Would they know that who they were and their investment of time and energies were extremely valuable to me? Would I have listened and appreciated them in such a way that we might be “new friends”? Most of all, would they have seen that Jesus is the reason I “live, move, and have my being”?
There are plenty of Jases and Joshes out there. Some are looking for the “experience.” Some are looking for the “’take away’/’what can I get’” from the encounter. Some are searching for a “relationship.” Some are looking for us to re-introduce them to a part of their lives that may have existed but they had just “taken for granted.” But many are searching for things they didn’t know existed before now.
What will I do? Who will I be? How can I introduce them to the Areas of my World that will really make a difference and eternal impression?
With you, together with my wife Debbi, on the Journey!
DS John