A new Program Manager...

Calvin Crest Conferences is pleased to announce the addition of NICK MASTEN to the staff, as the new Program Manager. He will start March 17.

Nick has served on Calvin Crest staff in many positions such as Guest Group Host, Lead Counselor, and Food Service Assistant. Nick has been serving as Camp Director and Program Director for the past two years at Templed Hills Camp & Retreat Center in Woodland Park, CO. Before that, Nick has been the Youth Director in Turlock, CA, Resource & Referral Child Care Specialist for Stanislaus County Office of Education in Modesto, CA, and Short Term Volunteer Supervisor, in Turkey.

He graduated with a degree in Child Development Programs and Administration from California State University.

Needless to say, we feel that Nick is extremely qualified to be a part of the new team that is leading Calvin Crest Conferences to be witnesses of the love of Jesus Christ... so that lives may be changed.

Looking for a new Program Manager...

We will be opening up a new position at Calvin Crest, the Program Manager, this next week. I will post the job description on the www.calvincrest.com website, hopefully on Monday, January 28. The position is planned to start the beginning of April or sometime in March.

If you are interested and wish to discuss this position with me, you may email me at tony@calvincrest.com

The hills are alive...

The forest around Calvin Crest is getting logged and brushed out which will make it healthy again and not a timberbox. As the picture above shows the forest is overgrown and not very healthy. Some were saying that it won't look the same, but it will look healthy, which is better. We are seeing some change already in some of the areas where the responsible logging is taking place. It feels like there is more air in the forest which will bring more wildlife and less wildfires. I will do a compare photograph when they get to that area. It is a two year endeavor.

Last times...

What do we do with the breath God gives us? Was the last 10 weeks a good use of it? What about the next 42? Those are the ones that scare me. I don't do a good job breathing during the "off season." I want to be creative and design new programs for Calvin Crest with Nellie and Scott and the rest of the team, but I don't get as stimulated without the staff that is here during the summer.

I loved thinking this summer and asking, "what if we...?" and new ideas would come out which worked, by the way. Sitting with coordinators and Nellie under the "blue" and having light arguments which, I think, brought out the best of us. Arguments are good if they are directed at an outcome and not just masturbating our minds.

Being able to move people in new directions to solve the needs that weren't there a few years ago is a bit scary but at the same time a lot of fun. Scott Henderson, the new Executive Director, stretches me and questions me so that I want to come up with significant changes at CC for the program but more for the mission in which we endeavor.

"Who are we reaching and how are we doing that?" is causing us to make some significant changes. What if we did day camps in parks around the Valley so that people who cannot afford to go to camp could have the relative same experience as on the mountain. We could invite churches and be a mission for them to reach out to the parish around them so that they could become involved in the children's life after the day camp is over.

What if we are thinking the use of our property for things and programs that are more than camp? Educating those who are going off into missions, whether proclamational or social or health? What if the hotel was used for significant summit meetings between people in conflict and were able to resolve these differences in a Christ-like way?

What if we did internships for people who need to learn a skill, like cooking, and get them off governmental assistance.

What if part of the property became a solar field that started putting electricity back into the grid instead of just taking it and we became self-sustaining as well as help missionaries bring this training and supplies with them? We could partner with LifeWaters or Living Waters for the World as well.

What if people came to be quiet for a week, instead of more things to entertain them?

What if young couples came to spend time with a marriage counselor somewhere in the first year of marriage and shared issues that are not unique to their marriage but they were so convince they were and have been feeling like they are a failure and the marriage is doomed?

What if we had a staff that was trained and only worked with at-risk students and we ran camps that dealt with those ministries and organizations?

What if our AIM developed leaders but also gave the AIMer the opportunity to work on a Water Safety certificate so they could be the lifeguards the following summer?

What if...?

This week...

We are in week 4. High School, Outpost, AIM, and A Week in the Forest for people with Developmental Disabilities are the programs going on.

Keith Beebe, a professor at Whitworth University and a friend, is the speaker for this and the next HS camp. He is talking about the Kingdom and has entitled his talks, "The Revolution Jesus Started."

Beth and Michelle are the nurses which make the week fun and secure. These are very caring women who take their profession and confession seriously and they are always ready to laugh or make me laugh.

This week also is pretty stressful because Outpost is going off grounds, High School brings people who are dealing with so much, a lot of medications and needs in the Forest, and AIM is at the end of its second of a two week program. The leadership in all of these programs are incredible. New ideas that are built on the past bring a lively consistency to the programs.

We are very concerned about the water situation as this was a very dry winter. Streams are still running but very slowly. We are implementing Navy Showers and minimized the watering of lawns. High concerns about what the autumn will be like. We are having some thundershowers predicted for today, which will hopefully bring some showers and bring some relief to the lawns and dusty roads...

Conversations from under the blue...

I know I have said it many times but I love what I get to do. I get to sit and shepherd college age people. (I hate putting them with an adjective that they have to be college age, but when they are older they don't think much of me.) I get to have conversations with the future. I meet with them now outside at my office.

I use to meet with people off campus, we would hop in their car with an ice chest and beverages and sit in the middle of a forest, by a stream, or just down the road away from distractions and interruptions. Sometimes we talk of their futures, sometimes about their pasts, pray for their pain or confusion, sometimes we sit and talk about Jesus from their experiences and questions.

I met with our Activities Director, Jonathan, today and talked about his philosophy of programming, the church, music, and many other great things. I am really enjoying being with him this year. I have know him since he was a freshman at our high school camp many years ago. He just graduated from Gordan.

One of the activities that he did last night was a labyrinth and hand-washing. I drove up at around 10:00pm and saw on the "green" a wonderful sight of christmas lights in a formation and high schoolers walking meditatively through the maze. It was a delight to see and watch them experience it. When the students came up from the vespers to the green they were instantly quiet and in awe. It was great to see something that grabbed their attention.

I ask Jonathan what was he thinking when he designed it and he said, "Things need to have a bit of magic in it to make it meaningful..."

I like that.

One of my favorite days...

The Saturday after the Fourth of July, I treat the staff and friends to a BBQ. I am the Chief Barbequer. This year Dan and Suzanne Kimball and Steve Juarena came and started up the BBQ at 8:30am to cook Pork Butt and Beef Ribs slowly until 6:00pm. The Pulled Pork was incredible. Fell apart and was so flavorful. These friends know how to BBQ and love us. We are very blessed to have them work so hard for this dinner. It blesses the staff and me very much.

I made a Cactus Mango Sauce which turned out very good, and Josh Krane and Katelyn Anderson made a great sauce using Root Beer as its base. Josh Haas made a great potatoe salad, bread, and a wonderful vegetarian meal for 15 or 20 veggies that we have on staff. He also made a great cobbler with a bit of chili and a couple of other spices. Very good with a slight kick.

It is a lot of preparing for 45 minutes of consumption. But the smiles (with sauce on it) is worth the time.

I was missing a few messy faces from previous summers...

Beginning week three...

Many who have been here know that two things begin to happen during this week. The staff shirt is stained with the sweat of the first two weeks and it is becoming a part of the fabric. This either creates a rhythm or it creates a spiritual dementia.

Some find their calling's heart and begin to move with its beat and to the people whom they are being called while others begin to think about things off the hill and wondering what is going on.

To many a conversation with someone about their heart and head is more important than a concert or a party.

Some spend off time going up the mountain to stretch their experiences that add to their lives and faith while others go down the hill to see a movie which is forgotten by breakfast the next morning.

Questions are asked to find out more about something said or done by those who are following but accusations and gossip are central to those who have mentally and spiritual departed.

I am amazed by those who start developing lifelong spiritual friends who will support and encourage them from now on versus those who go down and get a tattoo that stays on the surface but never reaches the heart or soul.

This is the week that decides for many what tomorrow will bring. I am always impressed with those who have to work through feelings of "been there, done that..."

Calvin Crest Golf Tournament...

That's right, Saturday Calvin Crest had a golf tournament and I had a blast. There were about ninety people that participated and over $10,000.00 raised for the Sherwood Forest renovation fund. That's right Sherwood is getting renovated. We are starting with running some power down there to certain spots this summer and will then run it throughout the hamlets and huts. It will still feel like Sherwood except that there will be appropriate lighting in the huts and bathrooms as well as along the trails.

I know, some of you feel like it won't be Sherwood any more and it might even become Hume Lake. Why is it whenever we talk about improving Calvin Crest someone always says, "...we don't want to become another Hume Lake?" Poppycock! I know that is harsh language and some will quit reading this blog because I am getting vulgar but Hume has done a great job in doing quality camping and having good accommodations. They put through their program in one week what we do in one summer. No, we will never become that, but if we don't repair and maintain a decent facility that is up to date, we will be more like the forest of decomposition and not have anyone attending. A little electricity here and there will give this facility the look and safety we want and have needed for long time.

Back to the golf tournament, hats off to Colin, Heather and her crew of volunteers, and Sandy for their incredible work to make this one of the best things to happen with Calvin Crest in a long time. There was a great vibe out there at the Sherwood Forest Golf Course, in my old stomping grounds of Sanger, just down the street from where Nellie grew up. Cosby hit some incredible drives, not bad for his first time out in a long time. I teamed up with Scott Henderson and Ruben Quintana and we included Sandra Gunter from Sierra Vista. We came in 4 under par in the Best Ball. Not good enough or worse enough for any trophy but I had a great time. It is fun again...

Heading out...

I had to get up early and write an apology letter before I headed off to Las Vegas for a Counselor Training tonight. I have some dear friends there whom I am hoping to catch up with briefly before the training as well as after. I am not a casino kind of guy so I will not be hanging out much on the Strip. I am gambling enough just getting on an airplane...

VEGAS! (To be read with a bit of raspiness in the throat and whole lotta attitude.)

An important day...

Today was a day long awaited. Scott Henderson, the new executive director of Calvin Crest, hired an arborist, one who works with trees, to come up and give us some advice on our grove of apple trees. She gave us detailed instructions on clearing out the dead branches, pruning, soil management, organic pesticides and fungicide. I know this doesn't sound like much but we have over 50 trees on the property that hasn't been cared for in many, many years.

I am very impressed with Scott's assessment of Calvin Crest and her staff, grounds, systems, and assets. Making that call to bring someone up here to give us valuable information showed that he cared a lot about the history and land, as well as trees to continue to make this camp a Godly place. Scott's concept of stewardship was on displayed today and was much appreciated by the staff.

Those of you who have fond memories of the life in the Apple Orchard will be excited to learn that we plan to make it an annual event in a year or so to have an apple festival or something similar as a family event. Stay tuned...

(The picture above is of Scott and his wife, Julie)