We say thank you, thank you, thank you!You are indeed a blessing from God!
From our Pastor…..
WOW!
Through the years I’ve begun to notice that “WOW” is one of my favorite and most often used expressions.No matter if the situation is extremely good or extremely bad, WOW seems to completely express my feelings either way.When an event of unexpectedly spectacular proportions occurs, WOW accurately describes it.Conversely, when an equally surprising catastrophe shatters the tranquil landscape of life, WOW expresses shock and disbelief as well.
What does “WOW” really mean as a word? As an abbreviation it means, “Waiting on weather.”As an interjection it means, “Expressing great surprise.” As a transitive verb it means, “To impress or delight somebody greatly.”As a noun it means, “Great success, or a pitch fluctuation in recorded sound.”
I’ve got some ideas of my own that make more sense to me about what WOW means. How about, “Wonder of Wonders” or “Words of Wisdom?”“Watch out World,”“Winners or Whiners” or “Whoops or Whispers” might make sense as well.
In Hesston Kansas, especially at Whitestone Mennonite Church, WOW only means one thing: “Whitestone On Wednesdays!”Obviously, most of you reading this already knew that.So, what’s the big deal anyway?
The big deal, at least from somebody looking at it for the first time, is that it really is a big deal!My first experience of WOW was on Wednesday, September 9th, and I was “WOWED” (impressed and delighted greatly).Unfortunately, that night we were all “WOWed” (waiting on weather).In this case it was rainy weather which required everyone to have the picnic in the fellowship hall rather than outside on the grass.
I wasn’t sure how this WOW thing worked for sure, so I followed a bunch of kids into the sanctuary.One of the adults walking with me suggested I might be needed for “crowd control” until everyone finds their places and gets settled down. Much to my “surprise and delight” (alternate meanings of WOW), very little crowd control was going to be necessary.Gwen was presenting the Christmas musical by skipping through the CD, explaining interesting parts and throwing out trial inquiries for prospective volunteers.
As I continued to observe, my mind began to marvel at the wonder of wonders, (there’s that WOW thing again) that was happening all around. I counted 31 kids of all sizes and various stages of development engaged in what was happening. The closest behavior I could remotely detect warranting crowd control was what I can best describe as whispers of welcome (did you catch the WOW?) The realization that I was watching something special in progress was beginning to dawn.This WOW event closely resembled, in fact mostly embodied a world of wholeness right before my eyes.Here sat 31 active kids engaged quietly, for the most part (some were making weird facial expressions and a few were lost in personal make-believe worlds), in an activity most kids couldn’t even conceive existed.
How could this be happening I pondered?Here are 31 kids in church at midweek, sitting attentively in orderly rows, with nothing else to do except listen to intermittent parts of an unfamiliar CD. What keeps them setting there with an adult casually strolling around not really addressing them directly or making any noticeable effort to maintain order? To be sure, there was a smattering of other adults, Moms and Dads probably, but they were making minimal efforts to maintain control.
Crowd control needed here?You’ve got to be kidding me!I drove a school bus, in one of my former lives, and I know a thing or two about crowd control. I know the necessity of it, the difficulty of it, the lack of it, and what it means to lose it altogether. Nothing drives home the point more fully than having lived through driving bus loads (about the same amount of kids here tonight) of active (putting it mildly) kids through heavy traffic on rain swept or ice covered roadways, attempting to safely deliver themhome, while maintaining “crowd control” at the same time.
When it was time to eat the indoor picnic lunch, I randomly chose a blanket on the floor and sat down with a couple of Zach’s, a Katie, and an adult named Gary.Everyone sat munching on sandwiches, veggies and snacks, engaging in unbelievable conversation.There were questions, instructions, observations, words of wisdom, order, respect, and good manners, all of which were amazing intergenerational interactions.I was once again, “WOWED!”
Whitestone on Wednesdays, Wonder of Wonderers, is a Whole other World (that’s a lot of WOWs)! Does anybody fully realize what you have here?If you don’t, or haven’t seen this, you’d better come, sit down and take notes.At the same time offer praise to God and whoever else was inspired to think up, and do, WOW.
Few people in the entire world have seen anything like WOW. Is it perfect? Probably not; few things are.What makes it work as well as it does?Remember the “smattering of adults, including Moms and Dads” I mentioned earlier? I think this is a big key to why WOW is a “big deal.”It’s called prioritizing time, commitment to ensure the wellbeing of future generations, personal responsibility of parenthood, intentional intergenerational activity, and other elements I haven’t thought of yet. Maybe the word of words is “miracle” at Whitestone. If I had a hat on, it would be off out of respect for everyone who is putting all the resources at your disposal into this program.
Maybe the best thing to say is simply WOW!
Bruce
Creatively Risking
When you read those words what vision, image or thought comes to your mind.As you know those words, “creatively risks” are words used in our mission statement here at Whitestone Mennonite Church, but what does it mean?
The word “creatively” is defined as a noun meaning, cleverness, genius, imagination, inventiveness, you get the picture.Being creative is looking outside the box to share the “transforming love of Jesus.
Now the word “risk” is a word that scares many of us.Risk can cost you something.Risk is defined as a noun meaning, chance taken, or a verb to take a chance.I know many of you know taking a chance can be risky.You can be hurt, or….you may be blessed, but you have to risk.
I am writing this the morning after our Youth Pastor Derek Yoder and his wife Joy announced they will be leaving Whitestone to enter voluntary service.Derek and Joy came to Whitestone with no pastoral experience, still wet behind the ears, as some would say.For seven years Derek has creatively ministered to our youth and to this congregation.We have seen Derek grow as husband and become a father to three beautiful children.He has walked with our preteens and teens, encouraging them toward healthy relationships with God and each other.
As Derek and Joy move on we here at Whitestone will have to risk again.Someone else will fill the position of Youth Pastor.She or he will not be Derek.That person may bring different talents, spiritual perspective, personality, and do things different than Derek did.We will be asked to allow someone else to minister to our children, and grandchildren.They will need our love and support to carry out the mission God has given them.We will once again be asked to “Creatively risk, loving them as we have with Derek and Joy.
Remember our mission is “to be a community that creatively risks sharing the transforming love of Jesus…in all our relationships…in every situation… with all people.”
Thanks for reading my thoughts,Dennie
fRom tHe yOuth cOrner
WOW, a lot has happened since the last time that I wrote in here.Resigning from Whitestone has not been easy or enjoyable.You have been our family, our rock, you have provided us with so much love and care it is very hard to say goodbye.But we have 2.5 months left and we will enjoy it and relish in the relationships and friendships that we have been afforded for the 11 years we have been attending.
“There are many types of ships.There are wooden ships, plastic ships, and metal ships, but the best and most important types of ships
are friendships.”—Old Irish Quote
I was asked by several people what we were doing so I thought it would be good to reiterate what our plan is.Joy and I will be moving out to southern Michigan shortly after Cedon and Caryn get out of school in December.We then will drive the 12 hours to Cassopolis, MI to Camp Friedenswald, a Mennonite Camp.After unloading and setting up our house, we will turn around and come back to Nebraska for Christmas and then head down to Hesston for a wedding that I am officiating.We will then return to Michigan for our kids to start school and we start our voluntary service experience.We will be serving as hosts for groups who come to the Camp for retreats.Much like when our church goes to Camp Wood and someone there is our contact person who gives us instructions, starts the fire for us, gives us items we may have forgotten, leads in prayers, etc.Camp Friedenswald is a big camp that has groups that come 52 weeks out of the year. Joy and I will be responsible for two weekend groups a month and then in the summer for a whole week with campers.On the weekend there could be two to three groups.The dining hall can handle 250 people at one time so there easily could be that many people retreating.As of now that is our job description.People have been asking me if we were volunteering as the camp directors and that is a no.We are part of the staff, but a small part and our responsibilities are minimal in comparison to what we are coming from; youth ministry at Whitestone.
They provide us with housing and utilities.We can eat in the dining hall any time they are providing food at camp, which is great since I will be turning into a stay-at-home dad and doing a lot of the cooking.Joy will be working as a nurse somewhere, to provide money to put food on our table and insurance to cover our costs of curing poison ivy, colds from the cold winters, and whatever else we may encounter.
