Ski to Sea 2008 – Video Interviews

If you didn't get enough Ski to Sea action a couple weeks ago, here's a great little video of competitors being interviewed the day before. It's put together by Stead, a student at the INN and future INN intern. It's pretty great.

And I'm kind of a big dork in it. Enjoy.

hayesville – PM

i’ve had a hard time articulating the last portion of our days in hayesville, north carolina. even now, about 3 weeks after returning from our trip, i still struggle to understand what happens when a group of 15 people are placed together by God to contribute to his Kingdom. and it boggles my mind how those perfect strangers can be so open with each other, so vulnerable, so willing to share themselves and learn about each other, about each other’s struggles and faith. i’m amazed at by the times we spent, around a living room, around a dinner table, around a bon fire, in the evenings of our trip.

below is my third and final "story" post on north carolina. i hope these have articulated the trip. it’s been a pleasure sharing stories with people about God’s work in the lives of students over spring break, both here and in person. i hope to share a copy of our trip’s video on the blog sometime this week, so stay tuned. thanks!
seth

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we sat on couches, curled up in sweat pants and hoodies. some made coffee or drank juice. others sipped nalgene water bottles, re-hydrating from the warmth of the day and the hard work. i picked up my guitar and sang a few songs from a loosely bound pack of worship songs, songs we all know from our tuesday night gatherings at the INN. some how, as we begin to enter into our evening time of worship, debrief, and sharing, God meets us, calms us, joins us in our work. we join him in his work. we join each other as one body.

we open our bibles to ephesians. this week, we’ve talked through the whole book, looking at statements about all the has been done "through Christ" and "in Christ". we reflect on the blessing of God, through Christ, that we see each day. we discuss what it means to be members of the body, members of a building, much like the buildings we work on, pieces of a whole community, vital to each other’s survival and accountable to taking care of each other as faithful brothers and sisters. we grow into a better understanding of each other.

a single voice speaks. going around the room, one at a time, over the course of the week, we share our stories. however it comes out, we articulate what our faith looks like, where we’ve come from, who God has placed in our lives that has shaped us. i share about the journey i am on, a journey of deeply rooted faith coming from my parents and family who loved me growing up. i share about hard times in high school, about going to college, about meeting stacy, about being married. i share about the journey i’m still on, a journey filled with hope and doubt, faith and challenge, a continuing journey. we listen to each other. we laugh with each other, we cry and hold each other’s hands when the stories are too hard for words to tell. we are vulnerable and open with one another, trusting in God’s love that binds this group together.

the warmth of the fire is almost too much for me as i stand outside on the final night of our trip. the laughter of the group fills the crisp north carolina air. gathered around the fire, we talk about going home, about how we can continue the conversation over coffee or around similar bon fires indicative of spring quarter. i get amazing music recommendations from an expert, while the rest of the guys stoke the fire a little more than i’d like them to. i chuckle and shake my head at their exuberance. God has brought us together for one last night. the bonds and friendship he is forming may or may not continue to develop, but one thing is for sure: this trip will be remembered. through pictures, journals, blogs, and the stories we will tell, this good work will live on and be a blessing not only to our team and the people we served with, but to many, many others. and so the question of how and why we are brought together fades into the happy understanding that for tonight, we share the warmth of a fire and that tomorrow, we will be called to share the things we’ve learned to bless our world.

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hayesville – Work

it’s sad that i have a hard time remembering when i put on work gloves, knelt down on hard dirt, or used a shovel. but something about the hard, red earth of north carolina brings me right back into the groove. the days of hating to be out pulling weeds or working the earth are over. i don’t whine like i did when i was a kid. i’m excited to get to work.

the wesley meadows job site is beautiful, wrapped with the sparse woods of these foothills, nestled up in a small "cove" (the southern version of a valley or gully). a creek trickles slowly along the bottom of the development, finally flowing again after months of deep drought. the earth is dry but holds promise for the new home owners. they talk of gardens, organic vegetables, sunflowers, and the new beginnings being planted in their lives. we scratch the ground with picks, shovels, hoes, and slowly begin to see why they love this place. it becomes ours as well.

i crouch under the deck of a newly finished home, picking out large rocks from the sandy soil of the upper lots. i banter back and forth with a couple of students. we laugh, talk about movies, and inch closer and closer together, drawn into stronger friendships through our tasks. how God chooses to put us together, who He chooses to build into a team like this, always fascinates me, because of the clear design and intentionality with which we are all chosen to be here. we grow to become a family, a crew of workers who delight in the task at hand and the company in which we complete it.

crowded outside of our minivans, sitting on the warm concrete, we laugh, sing, and devour our sack lunches. someone jumps up and rushes to turn up the radio full blast when they hear a song they love. dancing ensues. smiles grow wider. we’re taking a southern work day – a couple hours of hard morning work, an extended lunch break, basking in the beaming sun, followed by a couple more hours of scraping the ground before the heat becomes too much. it sure beats the snow and rain they’re having back home.

lunch finishes. we wander back to the houses we’ve been landscaping. the home owners meet us at their doorsteps with offers of sweet tea, stories of their lives, and special requests for this or that small project. our group grows beyond the bellingham crowd. we now have a hayesville, north carolina family.

as the day draws to a close, i look across the "cove" to see a team of 14 individuals from so many different places, so many different stories, and i see God’s unity. they push wheel-barrows back and forth in coordinated rhythms. they
sing and dance in youthful excitement as they pick up sticks, drive the
rototiller, and weed flower beds. these are God’s people, working together to build something bigger than just houses. this is community.

something remarkable happened that day.

hayesville – AM

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This post is the first of 3 posts describing our recent trip to Hayesville, NC, for an INN mission trip. I’ve taken a little creative license, as a burgeoning writer, to expand, develop, and combine elements of the days into a memoir-esque narrative. Enjoy.
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the morning air is crisp. there’s a freshness of spring that i breathe in, something is clearly changing in the breeze, something opening up, thawing out, shaking it’s wings clean of winter and becoming new. i look across the hillside of the appalachians and see the misty air rise up through the valleys, across the lakes, over the rolling hills in the distance. north carolina is waking up.

i’m up before the rest of the mission team. i find the coffee grounds in the top shelf above the stove, hidden for safe keeping. i fill the filter, pour the water, press the button, and a little more joy begins to fill the sun soaked room. nothing can wake up a sore body, tired from a previous day’s work, than spring sunshine and a fresh pot of coffee.

something rustles in one of the bedrooms. they’re starting to wake. bleary-eyed, two or three students slowly walk into the kitchen, murmuring something about 6:30 being too early to start breakfast. i smile. we start the bacon, pull the cold cereal out from the cupboard, pour juice. cold-cuts, cheap bread, sticky jars of jam and peanut butter, are set out for lunches. apples and oranges are sliced. i hear alarm clocks, showers, and hair dryers. dirty work pants are dawned. gloves, hats, sunscreen. we’re ready for another day of work.

by 8:00, everyone has rushed out the door, thrown on their cold work boots and shoes, laced up, and walked swiftly to the hinton center offices. we meet bill, clarissa, charles, bill, and darren, who all smile widely at our energetic crew, hopeful of the work we’ll accomplish today. we crack jokes, pretend we have southern accents, and find out what we’ll be doing this day. we shiver a bit with that fresh spring air still being warmed by the new morning sun.

the cars load up. the stereos come on. maps are checked, directions confirmed. we’re off.

Spring Break Mission Trip – Hayesville, NC

I haven’t talked about it a whole lot on my blog, due to the busyness of the quarter, but tomorrow I depart with 14 other INN people to North Carolina for one of our Spring Break Mission Trips!

We’ll be spending a week in Hayesville, NC, working with the Hinton Rural Life Center, helping out with a couple of different housing projects they have going there. The Hinton Center serves families in rural North Carolina by offering affordable housing projects. We will be working on a variety of things during the week, from clearing land, digging ditches, helping put together foundations, and even helping people move into some of their newly finished homes.

I am co-leading the team, with Becca, one of the interns. We are taking 13 students, from freshmen to "super"-seniors. They are a great group and are very excited for the trip. Finals are over and they are all packing this evening to meet at the airport tomorrow morning to depart.

Last year I had the opportunity to "live-blog" from the heart of Vancouver, BC. I have decided to leave my laptop at home this year (a huge decision for me), but I will be taking my trusty moleskin journal and doing my best to write about the experience. Then, when I get back, I’ll post some of those reflections here, so I can share the stories of the trip. We’ll also be taking video of the trip and with any luck, I’ll be able to post some of that here too.

Please pray for our safety this week, as we travel, work hard, and spend time in a new part of the country. Please pray that our team continues to grow close, for the opportunities we all have learn about each other this week, for the chance for God’s work to be done in us as we serve others. Mission trips are often very significant experiences for me and for students, so please remember us this week as you respond to the joy of Easter and the hope of the new Spring.

Thanks for all your support. I look forward to sharing this trip with you all.

Graduating Early – the Mentoring Experience

We’re in to day 3 down here in Oregon at the Murdock Trust Mentoring Experience. Today, we actually get to "start" the course, which is spread over 3 parts throughout the next year. However, since we have our first week of INN activities during the final session in September, we’ve also been here to "complete" the course with the group who is here finishing up their cohort this week. It’s kinda of odd, we’re "graduating early" and then re-enrolling. I think we might be a little ahead of the game as we can think with the end in mind a bit now.

People have been impressed that we have our year scheduled out that far to know we can’t make the last session. All those meetings over the INN calendar for 2008-09 pay off I guess!

The Mentoring Experience

It’s time for me to get back into the blogging world again, and what better way to start off a new stint than to get me out traveling. I like to blog about going places. So, as I sit alone in my room at a conference center in Canby, OR, preparing for a week long conference, I thought it would be only fitting to share a bit about what I’m up to.

This week I’ll be taking part in "The Mentoring Experience", a conference in 3 parts (2 parts now, 1 in June May), put on by the Murdock Trust, a group based in Washington that works with ministry and educational non-profits in the Northwest. One of their specific focuses is mentoring, or the mentoring experience, and the conference I’m at right now, with Jim and Lindsay (other INN staffers), is all about just that: mentoring, being mentored, and the importance of mentoring relationships in development in ministry and career.

I find the topic of mentoring pretty interesting, as I’ve had the chance to think about it a bit in the last couple of weeks of preparing for the conference. The concept is that of an intentional, purposeful relationships with people who will either coach you in a career path, provide spiritual direction and discipline help, or simply be a friend or support partner who will walk through life with you. The mentor relationship seems rather important if we’re going to get anywhere without alienating ourselves or becoming a stress case. By becoming accountable and responsible to someone, we open ourselves to critique, but also to insight that will could help us develop and grow in ways we would have otherwise not been aware we could.

I’m excited to spend some time doing more focused work in this area over the course of this "experience". I’m also excited to simply be at a conference, actually spending focused time on growing in my vocation/career. I often find it hard to believe that people in ministry can actually go off for weekend conferences or week long meetings as much as they seem to. It’s hard enough for me to keep on top of my day-to-day stuff when I’m around the office for 40+ hours a week. I sometimes like to laugh when I get a flyer in the mail about another conference or get a mass email from this ministry or that Emergent group that’s having another conference ("didn’t you just have one about that topic last month?" I say). So, with that cynicism aside, I look forward to actually stopping from the day-to-day and spending this week really learning and looking forward into how I can be mentored and how I can be a mentor in my work.

Finally, in case you didn’t pick it up from my roster mentioned above, yes, we did leave Lisa and the interns behind. And don’t worry, she’s given us plenty of grief about that.

Mission Trips – Why go?

Here’s a quick video we put together for the INN last night. Thought it’d be fun to share, as we’re trying to do a little "web promo" with this video, using the INN website, Facebook, and blogs to try a new means of communication.

   

Day after the retreat

We’re home safe from the INN’s Fall Retreat. About 60ish students and INN staff spent this last weekend out at Deception Pass State Park at Cornet Bay for our annual Fall Retreat. As with each year, it was a great chance for new and old students to bond, simply spend time together, and develop relationships with staff and each other.

There is something significant about these retreats, these getaways, that really helps students establish meaningful connections with each other. I think back to my time as a student. I remember the retreat (singular, unfortunately) that I went on with a sense of nostalgia. I remember the people I rode there with. I remember feeling the family atmosphere of the weekend that allowed me to connect with new people. And I think that once again, this weekend, these types of things happened. Our small groups are probably easiest way to meet new people, but a focused event like this has a very special way of helping lasting connections, that will play out through the rest of the year, and even through their whole student lives.

Another thing I realized about this type of retreat is this: we need to get away. We need to take breaks like that. Or for longer. We need to stop our daily grind and spend time with each other. We need these things to survive, to not go crazy. So, I’m glad we do this. I need to do it more.

And, of course, we all need a little bit of Karaoke.

Sabbath Photos

As I promised, here are a few photos from our first Sabbath gathering a couple weeks ago. The lighting was pretty low, so some of the photos were pretty blurry, but hopefully this give a good impression of what it was like. I’ve included some brief descriptions of the the different stations as well, so as to explain some of what went on. Enjoy.

Students were asked to enter quietly and spend time quieting their hearts and prepare for the evening. The service is meant to be something we all participate in as a community, so removing outside distractions was an important piece of starting the evening.

Through the night, we continued our regular routine of having a music team lead everyone in worship, while at the same time students were invited to move about the room, stopping at different stations, and finding reflective space around the sanctuary to sing, pray, and respond to God.

The theme of the evening was "Leaving Behind, Going Towards". Students had 6 different "spaces" around the room to reflect on the concept of leaving home, leaving pieces of life behind, and transitioning into this new year, with their hopes, fears, and prayers for where God is leading them. The station above had couches for students to sit, rest, and read on. We printed off excerpts from one of my favorite book passages, the author’s note from Don Miller’s "Through Painted Deserts", which is all about leaving, going forward, following God’s direction for the next chapter of your life. You can read it here.

As we reflected on where God was leading each of us this year, we asked students to think about the people who have influenced their lives, making up what Hebrews 12 describes as a "cloud of witnesses" for our faith. Writing those names on note cards and pinning them to a bulletin board, students developed a cloud of cards filled with names, pictures, and stories of people who have been faithful to them along the way, living by faith, moving in the direction God has led them.

We have had very positive response to the first run at the Sabbath program and I’m excited for the year ahead with this. I’m getting together with students next to talk about creative ideas for the upcoming gatherings and get them involved. It seems this has hit a chord with students and so we press on in developing a space for response, reflection, and worship that our community can be active in.

Interested? In the area? Join us at 10pm on Nov. 2 at First Presbyterian Church of Bellingham.