| December 2007 Dear Friends…………….….Merry Christmas and Happy New Year This past fall has been an organized whirl-wind of large events, planning meetings, training experiences and brief stops at home. My time at home though unusually brief has been extremely rich: full of love, rest and revival. I am amazed at Barb’s ability to deal with my intense travel schedule, her demanding high school teaching routine, as well as providing specialized care for her dad. Barbara is a wonderful wife and I am so thankful for her. The family continues to grow……… and fast. Our newest is Miela, born October 2nd to Lesa and Chad. Also, by mid-February, Ryan and Beth will be parents of a baby girl as well. As for Barb and I, we’re thrilled about the new additions to our family, and you can see how much our baby, Belle, has grown over the past year.  As you know, every year for the past seven, we have produced the General Sessions for the Youth Specialties National Youth Workers Convention, held in at least three different cities each Fall—15,000 in total attendance. These are always very rich times for the youth workers that attend. Our Outside the Box team is confident that we are significantly involved in influencing these youth leaders in at least four ways: inspiring them to stay in youth ministry, feeding them in lacking areas of training, expanding their creative experiences and helping them grow and develop spiritually. It is an honor to be involved with Youth Specialties in their service to youth workers and we look forward to serving with them every year. Here is an interesting fact for you: Out of the forty some events that Outside the Box produced last year, only five of them were for adults. Without a doubt, our well defined niche is youth. As a sixty year old, I am privileged to spend most of my time around teens and working with the innovative young adults on our staff. As long as the creative juices flow, the ideas work, my team says I “still have it”, and the body stays healthy, I will keep serving in youth ministry. As a team, Outside the Box is not opposed to more adult-world ministry, but for the time being, God has not opened the gate to many of those opportunities. We continue to trust His leading in bringing us each of the projects and events that He has for us…whether adult or youth focused. There are two youth events that we are now planning and for which we would ask your faithful prayer support. They are called Paradise and Fuel. Both are unique in that our team will be responsible--even more than normal--for the creation of the content for these events. In addition, both of them have never happened before so there is not an established history on which to build. We are very excited about these events. I’m including the websites, dates, purpose statements and our role in each event. Please pray for unusual creativity, strong biblical formation, the availability of the right talent and strong foresight into the needs of the audiences. PARADISE – www.paradise08.com – May 25, 2008 in a field in Kansas Paradise is a journey to awaken this generation to the supreme majesty of Christ, adoring Him as King and arising to bravely join Him in accelerating His kingdom purposes. Our role is to write a four hour program of worship that is the centerpiece of this event. We will use only songs from scripture and only words of scripture for the entire script. The intention is to take away all potential distractions from worshipping Jesus, the King of Kings. FUEL 08 – www.fuel08.com – Every weekend in the month of July 2008 3-5 Yampa, ID. 10-12 Pasadena, CA. 17-19 Toronto, CANADA. 24-26 Orlando, FL. |
