10 December 2009

An open letter regarding the changes at Calvin Crest...

AN OPEN REPLY TO A QUESTION...

My dear friend, Thanks for the post and the concerns. I know you care about Calvin Crest and all the changes that are taking place. The craft/first aider position is only a craft position who will help out the nurses on Sundays and Saturdays with check-in and check-out. They will not be taking people down the hill during the daytime but may, just like the program assistants or dishwashers, be taking people down when they are not "on duty."

The goal for crafts and everything is minimize spending, maximize learning and knowing. Throw-away crafts are gone. I would rather put money into something that will outlast their faith impact (mid-November).

I appreciate your asking but this is still thinking IN THE PAST. Quit trying to save what we have done with less people and start thinking what needs to happen and we will hire the resources to make it happen (some resources being people).

I want to think about and react to what are the things that need to happen on that blessed property, that can't happen in their homes, churches, malls, iPods, X-boxes, HD TVs, cinemas, bedrooms,...

In your subject line, you called it "Redesigning Camp" but it should be reImagining Camp. Take the pencil out of your hand for a while and just listen. Keep asking your very appreciated questions, but dream/pray more. Open your eyes to what is going on around you. Get out and meet people. Not just their names but their souls and hidden places where fear, pain, hope, and joy dwells. We cannot design if we do not know what is happening or what can happen. What needs do we have that are in this area, where we are planted (Central California), where we can transform lives through the power, wisdom, magic, and love of the Spirit of God.

So you see it is more than just what the craft person will be doing. The question comes down to what do we see people need to know and be able to do, so they can navigate well in the Kingdom of God and I am not talking about when they die.

This is more than just Bible Study (however The Story must be taught well), it may be learning how to tie a knot, solve a puzzle, make bread, visit the sick, raise the dead, question the information coming to them, fall in love with the Savior and their neighbor again,...

I know there are a lot of concerns and even more opinions, but this is not the time to resist change but to listen to The Voice as we are led, I believe, through this desert time to a place of promise. This will take hard work and commitment and the uninvested will not be a part of the conversation. We will need people who will lay down their opinions and pick up their cross.

Sorry, I started to preach...