Community 4:12

Coming to School Ready to Learn

As we have for the past several years, we want to help low-income students in East Aurora start the year off ready to learn by helping them get all the school supplies they need.  This year we would like to sponsor all 500 students who receive free/reduced lunch.  Want to help?! Instead of getting a long list of supplies that you need to go out and buy and try to cram into a paper bag, all you have to do is tell us you would like to sponsor a child (or two or three) and we pre-order supply kits. We will still sell them for a fraction of the cost to Brady parents, so the school will earn money as they have in the past.

For $25 you can sponsor a child who will then get all the supplies they need to be prepared at school. For those of you who have purchased supplies in the past, you know that is a great bargain compared to the $40 - $50 some of the grade level kits cost if you buy all the items individually.

If you'd like to sponsor any children, just click HERE to make a donation online or email Ron Kelso at ronkelso@sbcglobal.net.  In the fall, you will receive the name(s) of the children you have sponsored so you can write them a back to school greeting.

Opportunity or Indulgence part II

A few months back I posted about our dilemma about putting Brian on a part-time traveling baseball team.  Well, we had our last of six big tournaments this past weekend.  And much to my surprise, I found myself getting a little teary-eyed as the team wrapped up their final game with a big win.  Yes, the season was stressful.  Yes, we spent more money than I would have liked for an "extra-curricular" activity.  Yes, at times it felt like our lives were controlled by baseball games and practice.  But I completely under-estimated what a character building experience this would be for Brian, how much he would be willing to sacrifice to be a part of the team, and how much I would love seeing my son excel at something that he loves so much.  Both boys have been a part of a variety of different sports activities and teams.  But neither of them has ever loved to their core something as much as Brian loved playing for this team.  The "little boy" that just a year ago cried when he struck out and fell apart under pressure, emerged as one of the top players on the team.  He pitched under pressure situations that I could hardly stand to watch.  He was confident, solid, consistent, and maintained a terrific attitude through-out the entire season.  Last night as I watched Brian pitch his final game, I knew Scott had been right when he pushed for us to give Brian this opportunity . . . and I do now think it was an opportunity and not an indulgence.   And it makes me even sadder that there are so many kids in this community who will never have an opportunity like this.  Try-outs for the 10 year old team are in August, and Brian has said all along that he will not do this again next year if it is too much for our family.  When we asked him as we drove away on a scale of 1 - 10 how much he wanted to play again next year, he hesitated and wouldn't answer.  Then Scott pushed him and said, "Don't think about what you think we want or what is best for the family, but just how much you want to do this again knowing how many fun things you had to sacrifice all year for practice and the games."  Without a second's pause, he said, "I would give up everything else to do this again."  I'm thinking I'm going to have a lot more baseball in my future, because I think my character has been shaped as much by this experience as Brian's has. 

East Aurora Art Camp

Thanks to CCC's School for the Arts, we are offering a week long Art Camp at the Lighthouse this week.  I really had no idea what kind of turn-out to expect.  We sent flyers home through the schools before school let out and advertised through our Tuesday night kids' program, but we charged $5/child and offered no transportation, so I knew that would limit attendance significantly.  I really thought we might be lucky to get 10 kids.  But, tonight, 30 showed up!  We had 4 different projects they could pick from, and they will spend the week working on their craft and then we will showcase them for the parents on Friday evening.  All of the teachers are volunteering their time and most of the supplies were donated, but the kids could choose between painting, beading, basket making, and making a bird house.  Cartooning and drawing are optional activities for later in the week.  Parents seemed very appreciative of this opportunity for their children, and the kids were all so engaged and excited.  I can't wait to see how proud the kids are to show off their completed projects on Friday!  

Family Summit 2009

We spent the weekend in Door County for our 15th annual Family Summit.  We spend three days with no technology, no other people, and no agenda other than spending tons of time outside connecting with each other and reflecting.  As the boys get older, they take part in more and more of our conversations (while still having plenty of time to hunt for bugs, swim in the lake, and play in the woods).  This year we were each responsible for planning a devotional and coming up with a question/discussion topic.  Scott's and Erik's questions in particular inspired some really good conversation.  Scott asked us all to think about whether or not we feel really cared for in our family, and what it is that makes us each feel cared for.  Erik's question was "Where have we gotten in the past year in our relationships with God, each other, and the community, and how do we want to grow in each of those in the next year?"  I have to say, Scott and I were both very surprised by the "secret" devotional/prayer life Erik has developed.  We have always viewed him as the spiritual skeptic (takes after both his parents that way), but he has really begun to "own" his faith and spiritual growth and has a hunger we have not seen before.  I am sure there will be many phases that both of the boys go through in their journeys, but it was very inspiring and encouraging to have Erik challenging US to find new ways to go deeper with God this year.

The biggest take home for us this year, that we are deeply committed to doing, was the boys' request that we take at least 3 weekends/year (besides our Summit weekend) when we commit to not being so busy.  Weekends when we just hang out and enjoy each other.  As we move into the pre-adolescent years, I cherish the fact that they still want to spend that focused time with us.  I am sure their requests in future years will be much more along the lines of having more separation from us, so we will make this time while they are hungry for it.  We all agreed that being a "missional" family means there is going to be busyness, and I think we are all okay with that for the most part.  But, I do believe that making more time to grow in our relationships with God and each other will allow us to be even more missional.

I feel so blessed to have such an incredible husband and family who are all passionately committed to the mission God has called us to here in East Aurora. 

Thank you Community 4:12 Volunteers!

It is impossible to adequately thank people who give and give and give . . . of their time, their talents, and their treasures for a cause completely outside of themselves.  And there are dozens of people who do that month after month after month for Community 4:12.  Tonight about 50 of us gathered to celebrate the end of another fantastic year of service in East Aurora.  We've become like family in many ways, so being together is just so much fun for me . . . and I hope them.  Maria's authentic Mexican food was a smash hit, and Lynne did an amazing job organizing it all and creating a festive environment.  And it felt great to be able to host this dinner in our own space in downtown Aurora.  We've come a long way this year, and there is no way any of it could have happened without these over the top generous contributors.  I love you all and am so honored to serve beside you!  A huge thank you to those who came tonight, and to the many others who weren't able to join us.  Without you, there truly would be no Community 4:12.

Communitas Collective

 I am excited about this new on-line community developed by Glenn Hagar.  Communitas Collective is a collection of three blogs and other social networking features that exists to encourage people who are discovering new ways to be the church.  It is designed for those are asking questions about the institutional church or who may have left church as they have known it; those who are discovering new ways to be the church; and those who are recovering from the stresses of church leadership.  I will be a contributing writer to the blog, Verve, and there is a collection of inspiring writers who will be contributing to the three blogs.  Check it out and let me know what you think!

Milestone Day!

Today is a milestone day for Community 4:12!  I have dreamed of the day when I could hire someone from the community to be a part of the CCC/Community 4:12 team.   That day has come!  Granted it is only a very part-time position, but nonetheless, Maria Lopez joined our team today.  She has come on board as the Lighthouse Program & Facility Assistant.  She will be helping me with the Parent Mentor program and taking over the big job of making sure our Lighthouse is clean and organized and ready for all the various programs and activities that go on here.  We will also put her through computer training classes in Excel, Word, Powerpoint, and the Internet, and hope to increase her responsibilities as her skillset grows.  I've written about Maria before, and have such tremendous respect for her and believe she has tremendous potential.  I pray this will be just the first of many steps she takes towards establishing a career she can be passionate about

Tomcat Stars

We started a new program this year . . . our first involving students from East Aurora High School.  We called it the Tomcat Stars, and we worked with the school to identify a group of academically talented high school athletes.  Each week, a different pair of these students gave up a period at school to go to Bardwell Elementary to work with a third grade class.  They read with kids, helped with math, and shared their stories of how they worked hard to excel at school and sports.  We started the program, because we kept hearing elementary age kids in the neighborhood talk about all of the teens in their lives who were in gangs or drinking or failing at school.  We hoped this program would expose some of these young kids to positive high school role models.  And, by being lifted up as role models, we hoped the high school students would realize how big of an impact they really can have on younger children.  Today we wrapped up the program with a reflection time with the high school students.  We knew from teacher report at Bardwell that the program was a huge hit with the elementary students.  And it was very encouraging today to learn that the high school students got just as much out of it.  One of them shared, "It was very interesting, so fun, and just an awesome experience.  The best part was reading to the kids and answering all of the questions they had.  The hardest part was having to send them back to class, because I wish I could have had more time with them!"  Another said, "I loved going to Bardwell, because the kids were always so excited to see us.  I was suprised that these little kids really do look up to us!"  We have a few bugs to work out in terms of transportation and scheduling to make the program all it can be, but everyone is excited to do it again next year and involve even more high school students.

A John 17:23 Campus

For six years we have been praying for the right time, place, and person to launch a CCC campus in East Aurora.  And we finally feel like we are ready.  We've got the person . . . Obe and his wife Jack are nothing short of a gift from God.  We've set a date . . . the weekend of January 9.2010.  And we have a place (we think) . . .our new Lighthouse office space in downtown Aurora.   But now that it is becoming real,there are a whole list of new questions and uncertainties.  What day and time is best for a service in this community?  Will the heavily tradionally, yet non-practicing, Catholic community be interested and open to a new way of discovering God?  Will the Lighthouse, with it's modern and very non-traditional feel be a place that people will come for church?  Will a fully biingual service really be effective?  Will the 75 kids enrolled in our Kids' City program be able to get their parents to come and give our style of church a try?  What does it really mean to "contextualize" our CCC style, content, etc.?

There are so many questions and uncertainties, but there is one thing we know for sure.  We want this campus to be a John 17:23 church . . . "May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me."  Our vision is that this campus will be a truly multi-ethnic church.  That our Hispanic and Spanish speaking neighbors in East Aurora will be to worship with and alongside people like me . . .non-Hispanic and non-Spanish speaking.  We may not have a lot of answers or a proven strategy, but we will hold fast to John 17 and trust that Jesus' final prayer for unity in the body of Christ can actually happen.

East Aurora StuCo

Tonight we piloted our first East Aurora StuCo.  Thanks to some missional folks from the Yellow Box and Montgomery Campuses, we had a great team of people who came out to help us begin to reach the junior/senior high age group.  Since most of our work has been with Elementary Schools, we had no idea what to expect in terms of turn-out.  We had about 10 junior high students that came, but we also had a group of 5th graders that are part of our Kids' City Tuesday program show up.  These are kids who are so ready to be in junior high!  And they loved this new experience!  It was very hard to read the more hardened current junior high kids, but these emerging junior high students can't wait for our next event.  And that is really exciting to me.  We hooked these kids in elementary school, and if we can keep them hooked as they head into middle school, that feels like we have a huge opportunity.  We certainly have some things to keep working on to provide the best StuCo experience possible, but in these kids' eyes, we've got a great thing going, and that is what's important!