I just flew back from Edmonton, and boy, are my arms tired! OK, that was a bad joke.  But seriously, I had the pleasure of being one of eleven people from Peace Lutheran Church to attend the 2010 LCC National Youth Gathering in Edmonton this past week: six youth (Madison Bouwman, Heidi Kozussek, Kristin Donald, Klarissa Schmitz, Rick Charles, and Markus Bunge from Redeemer), two youth leaders (Kaitlin Klein and Brian Layer), one planning committee member (Bill Wardekker) and two ibods (Aaron King and myself).  It was a really positive experience, but really, there was almost too much happening for me to get it all down in writing.  Just know that you might end up hearing funny things creeping into my vocabulary – things like “scone on” (Answer: “Nothing much.  Scone on with you?”) and “stein auf” (butchered German for “rock on.”) 

     So did I learn anything, besides funny phrases?  Yes I did.  Rick Lawrence, publisher of Group Magazine, did a presentation on how our teaching and working with our youth needs to make a “beeline to Jesus.”  All of the Bible, front to back, Old and New Testaments, is about Jesus, and once we find Him and make Him our focus, all the postmodern fads, good or bad as they may be, just won’t seem that exciting anymore.  (They weren’t to Rick Lawrence.) 

     There was also a display table from a local Christian bookstore, so I did some shopping.  One of the books I bought was called Stuff Christians Like.  One of the things mentioned in there was “using VBS as free babysitting.”  Well, maybe not free, as I know we charge a fee.  Still, this author asserts that some Christians, regardless of denominations or confessional loyalties, or lack thereof, will make the rounds of different churches, enrolling their kids in their Vacation Bible Schools to keep them out of the parents’ hair.  That may or may not be true, but some VBS curricula seem to be made for a week of free babysitting.  Pastor Brad has been going through lots of them, and the best one he’s found comes from the Go Fish Guys out of the Twin Cities.  It’s called “Backstage with the Bible,” and it puts the Bible back in Vacation Bible School.  That means that your kids can expect to learn real stuff instead of fluff, and have some fun too!  So we’ll see you July 18-23, from 9:15 am to 12:00 pm for “Backstage with the Bible!”

And I’ll see you in church!
Pastor Ward