My Name is John Daker

VBX Pictures and the Farewell Party

Here are some VBX pictures:

[Nothing beats jumping in puddles on a rainy day.]

[O.G. -- Outback Gangstas

Matt, Rachel, Me, Kathryn]

[This won mega points for the blue team on Friday.]

[One last group shot.]

--

Saturday night the middle schoolers threw a farewell party for me at the Wasil's house. We ate good food, played volleyball, tetherball, and "cowboy, chicken, conquer," the some of the students and leaders gave me some wonderful cards and gifts. It was a fun night for all of us, and I am really going to miss all the students and leaders and Cornerstone friends.

[One girl got me a duck hat as a farewell gift. When you pull the chin strap the wings flap up and down. I will refrain from the using the term "cute" to describe the hat, even though that that would be the best word for it. (Back row: Ashley, Hannah, Kayla. Front Row: Haley, me, and Olivia)]

[For dessert we had a cake comprised of a bunch of cupcakes. With a lot of frosting. Amen]

[The students all signed a big yellow duck baby bath and gave it to me. It's totally unique and much appreciated. I will find some way to hang it from the ceiling in my bedroom in Colorado.]

[Patrick, Parker, and I]

As I said in my last post, I'm spending this week at Baptist Bible College for TLC. I'll have another post coming soon with some pics.

VBS Week

This week was VBS. I worked with the 6th grade program called VBX. VBS had 220-230 kids each day including 28-30 kids each day in VBX. From what I could tell, everyone had a great time. I had the opportunity to work with a wonderful crew of leaders who each did a phenomenal job with their respective responsibilities.

Here are a few highlight moments from the week:

When talking about the garden of Eden, I mentioned that Adam and Eve were naked and weren't embarrassed about it. One kid raised his hand and asked, "Does that mean we'll all be naked in heaven?" Awkward moment.

-- Answer: Revelation 7:9 says the multitude is wearing white robes. Any other good answers to this question? --

During the singing time (especially on "In Christ Alone") the kids were singing as loud as I've ever heard 30 kids sing. It was awesome.

After successfully staying completely dry throughout the water balloon toss contest (the key is having a good partner and using a water balloon roughly the size of a golf ball), Jenn Peck (aka game leader and previously referenced "good partner") yelled, "Everyone grab a water balloon and go get Kevin!!!" I've never ran (read: swiftly and aggressively limped) so fast in my life. I couldn't avoid all 30 pursuers so I ended up getting soaked. I did manage, however, to catch a few water balloons that were thrown my way, so I had a chance to return fire at a few kids.

On a positive note, the water from the balloons hid the tears that were streaming down my face as a result of my soul's anguish brought on by being betrayed by my now ex-friend Jenn.

On Friday, the VBX crew gave me a volleyball signed by all the leaders and students to expression appreciation for my ministry this past year. They then all circled around me and prayed for me and my future ministry as I move to Denver. This was a moment I'll never forget. Very cool and totally unexpected.

Each night during the VBX week I did something different. Monday I packed, Tuesday I went to a Tiger's game, Wednesday I went to the McGoldrick's house, Thursday I went to Greek town with Dan and Sarah Schnepper, and last night I hung out at the Moen's. Tonight is my middle school farewell party since I'll be gone this upcoming week at TLC. It (the party tonight) is going to be awesome. I'll post pictures.

The Week that Was

Wow, I just realized this is my 102nd post. Sweet.

I can't recall all I did since last post, but here's what I recall off the top of my head: Henry Ford Museum, church, party at McGoldrick's, swimming at Devin's, graduation open houses, church,Lighthouse, and day one of VBX (6th grade VBS).

Here are some pics from Wednesday and Thursday.

[I went with Ron Campbell and his grandson, Conner, to the Henry Ford Museum. The place was incredible. I'll post more pics on Facebook. Conner and I made cars out of some toy set (I don't remember the official term).]

[After the museum, we went to Miller's Bar, home of the #8 ranked hamburger in America, according to GQ*.

Here is the restaurant's entire menu:

Hamburger, Cheeseburger, Fries, Onion Rings.

*Before tasting the burger I would have questioned a fashion magazine's ability to evaluate a burger properly, but they nailed this one on the head. It's the Krispy Kreme of burgers.]

[My rapidly growing duck collection (thanks to a certain few middle school students and their siblings). Complete with Shy Sarah and Exuberant Parker.]

[I'm not sure why I'm compelled to post this pic.]

[The party at the McGoldrick's house began with a rousing game of "washers" between Parker and me. It's like a bean bag toss, only with big washers and little boxes. Hey Parker, who won?]

[I was wondering why the frisbee kept getting bigger and bigger, and then it hit me.

P.S. Parker is like a human Air Bud.]

[So that I don't get slapped, please leave a comment supplying your own caption for this photo.]

Today is the beginning of VBS. I'm leading the 6th grade VBX program. Please pray for the many kids who will attend. We had around 26 6th grades attend today, and hopefully we'll have more throughout the rest of the week.

Peace out.

Maybe I Shouldn't Wait so Long to Update

Nothing big or highly unusual this past week, except that last Wednesday I forgot to mention that the clock hit its once a century mark of 12:34:56 7/8/9.

[Wednesday night a crew went over to the Wasil's to play

some volleyball and sit around a fire. We successfully

accomplished both. We also got eaten alive by mosquitos.]

On Thursday I joined a crew of people at the Mahloy's for more volleyball. I didn't take any pics however. Some of us did stick around to watch the space station travel overhead. This will never happen again in my lifetime (the being able to see it pass overhead) because the space station will probably be going out of operation soon. R.I.P. Space Station.

[Friday was Devin's birthday. I took my shirt off in the pool and, as you can see, left it off during the taking of this picture. One can never quite appreciate how pale they are until they are exposed by the flash of a camera. I rank somewhere between an albino polar bear and cup of half-and-half.]

[Tangentially, I did hold my own at pool basketball.]

Friday night and Saturday I "dog sat" for the McGoldricks. Saturday afternoon I had coffee with Ross Stevens and Saturday night I went with Maclane to Starbucks to shoot the breeze and catch bugs. Upon further reflection, it would have been more impressive had we been able to catch the breeze and shoot bugs.

Sunday I taught on Jonah during the morning, took my annual nap during the afternoon, attended a VBS meeting in the evening, and then played volleyball and freeze tag at Mo-Mo's house at night. In order to unleash my tremendous foot speed during freeze tag, I cast off my sandals and ran barefoot. Now I have a cut on the bottom of my right food. **Please do not send meals or get well cards.**

Yesterday I was in the office and then went with Paker to Devin's house to go swimming and hang out. I learned two things while there: 1) A 19-8 lead (playing to 21) at Corn Hole is not a big enough lead to guarantee victory and 2) I am not as good at Guitar Hero as I once thought.

Today I drove a couple minutes down the road to check out the Obama frenzy at a local community college where he is speaking today. Needless to say, in a city with the highest unemployment in the country, he didn't have a lot of supporters holding up signs.

[This was the "Obama is ruining the economy" fan section.]

[I missed a chance to get pictures of the larger Pro-Life signs

further down the street, but I did manage to get a picture of these signs.]

Alas, I'm Back at Home

Currently Listening to: Derek Webb "Stockholm Syndrome"

A quick updates for ya'll.

Sunday's preaching went well. I received a lot of encouraging feedback from both friends and people I didn't know well. Some of the college students led the music and did an incredible job. After church I ran (drove) home for lunch and then went and played some street hockey for a couple hours before going to Eric Fatfield's house for swimming, pizza, and a movie.

Monday I was in the office for the first time in 3 weeks before attending Maclane's baseball game with Parker that evening. Afterward, the three of us went back to Maclane's house and went for a late night swim. **Warning: Never trust those guys to give an accurate description of the water temperature in the pool. Unrelenting goosebumps and shivers is a tell-tale sign of chilly waters. I guess I'm too trusting.**

Tuesday I was in the office in the morning catching up on random stuff before heading out to another of Maclane's baseball games. In his first inning of relief pitching he picked off 2 runners trying to steal third. He's got a killer pick off move. Oh ya, and the game went 3 hours! Wow, long game. Too bad this didn't happen at his game:



Today is Wednesday. I hit up some Cracker Barrel for lunch with Ruth and Val. We had a fun time and I beat them at the triangle peg game. I had to mention that because we* were talking serious trash about who would win.


* I don't recall if "we" were talking trash of if just "me" was talking trash. "Pride cometh before great victory" is what I always say.

Tonight is Oasis and then a bonfire at the Wasils.
Tomorrow night is Volleyball at the Mahloy's.
Friday night is Devin's birthday party.
Saturday is activities TBD.

Be sure to check out the CBC mission trip blogs from Jamaica and Manitoulin Island.

Lincoln Lake

Currently Listening To: Matt Haeck: Western States EP

Happy 4th of July!

This past week I was the speaker for their Junior High Wilderness Week at Lincoln Lake Baptist Camp. There were 19 campers, 3 counselors, and 2 program staff involved in the week and my responsibilities consisted of the typical “speak once in the morning and once in the evening” format.

[The Wilderness Campers at our last chapel of the week.]

The week was cold and occasionally rainy with the exception of Friday. Friday was beautiful. Lucky (Providentially) for me, I had requested a room in the lodge about a month ago, so I didn’t have to spend the week out sleeping on the ground in a damp tent. I did try and spend a good bit of time out with the campers and counselors, however, be it sitting around the fire or running through the woods playing Capture the Flag or playing Camouflage or fishing on the dock.

[The climbing wall.]

For the most part, I think the speaking went well. As expected, there was a moderate range of maturity levels and Bible background amongst the students and a definite range of attention spans. Speaking a lot in the woods didn’t help those with shorter attention spans. Oh well. I did my best to accurately teach the Scriptures in a way that makes sense and now I’ll leave it to the Holy Spirit to change lives.

One cool side note was that one of the counselors, Alex, had attended Faith Baptist Bible College, near where I grew up and where my sisters attend(ed), and Saylorville Baptist Church, so we shared many mutual friends.

Now it’s back to Roseville where I’ll be leading music for the students Sunday morning and then preaching from Amos 6* in the main service at 10:45. Your prayers would be much appreciated.

* I wasn’t fully aware of how bold and in your face this text was until after I had committed to preaching it. It certainly ruffled my feathers and I hope it will do the same for others on Sunday. My goal is that Scripture, not me, will be what offends people.