Ministry Mayhem!

What a crazy Wednesday! Tuesday was fairly uneventful - a typical day in the office broken up by my scheduled lunch with Patrick. Tuesday night at 11:00 I received a call from Patrick, who was spending the night at the hospital with a family because their father/grandfather wasn't expected to live through the night, asking me if I could speak in his place at a Bible study the next morning (Wednesday) at 10:00. Patrick speaks every Wednesday morning at 10:00 for an "Adult Bible Study" held at the church, which is comprised of adults who all qualify for the discount breakfast price at Perkins, if you know what I mean. "Senior Saints", if you will. Except for Ross and Karen Stevens, they are incredible young but attend anyways :). Anyhow, I told Patrick, "Sure, no problem." A good intern always has a message in his metaphorical back pocket. 

I arrived at the church at 8:30 the next morning to prep for the Bible study, only to find a note on my office door from Brien Brough, director of childrens' minstries, asking me to come see him ASAP. I did. He asked me if I would be willing to come up with and lead the games at that afternoon's Connect* program instead of leading the singing like I had planned. This was because the guy who was supposed to lead the games was the son of the man who passed away the night before and whose family Patrick had spent time with at the hospital. "Sure, no problem," I said. A good intern always has rambunctious games capable of entertaining 170 elementary students in his metaphorical back pocket.

I then went back to my office, read through the book of Ruth as prep for my back pocket Ruth sermon, and went to the the Adult Bible Study at 10:00. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, due in large part to the wonderfully nice folks and the 

kickin' southern gospel songs played on a CD player at the beginning of the Bible study. 

After the Bible study, I had an hour of time to run to the local music store to pick up a guitar for that night and prep for Connect. To make a long story short, Connect got started a little late so we decided to do away with game time for this month, so I ran and got my guitar and led the singing for the 5th-6th graders. When the singing finished, another leader poked her head in the classroom and  asked me to go lead some spontaneous game time for 55 k-1st graders. I did. It's amazing what can happen with a big room, a few dodgeballs, and some folding chairs. While the students were still filing out of game time, I got called to go back to the group I had led music for and now lead a discussion group. I did. I enjoyed the discussion time and getting to know my group, Cassidy, Christopher, Aaron, Delynde, and Heather. 

After proof-reading what I just wrote, I can't help but think to myself, "That's not that crazy, Kevin. You falsely advertised your post. You lied to the general public." Oh well, I'm not mad at me, and that's all that matters.

This is a long post so thanks for reading. Hopefully it was a profitable read for you and you now feel compelled to go change the world as a result. This picture is of me and few amigas from church, Rachel and Charrisa (sp?), who differ in many ways but unite around a love for cardigans. Long live the collarless knitted sweater that opens down the front.

*Connect is an new afternoon program (Wednesday was the first time) Cornerstone puts on for public school students from the neighborhood public schools. It happens one Wednesday afternoon a month from 1-3. It involves Bible teaching, discussion groups, singing, snacks, and games. Wednesday we had approximately 170 K-6th graders. It was nuts!