Ten Years of Ministry Collage

This month, we included a photo collage of pictures spanning ten years of ministry in our newsletter. Below are the photo captions:

1. Family Canoe Camp group poses under Smith Falls on the Niobrara River, 2005.

2. Camp Rock helpers celebrate Crazy Sock day.

3. Bailye Geller and Jana Peyton (Gwen's sister) celebrate Jesalynn's birth with us, 2003. We invested much time into the lives of these two girls, and are still involved with them today.

4. We took our Sidney E-Free Bible study group to Fort Collins (Faith E-Free Church) to practice the Evangelism Explosion material they had learned.

5. Ross Ohnesorg and Phil Merlino traveled with Tim on a scouting trip for the Family Canoe Camp, 2001.

6. Sidney E-Free Church brought their youth group for a winter retreat at Table in the Wilderness, 2010. We have worked with this church in Nebraska, Wyoming, and Kansas.

7. The mime troupe from Alliance E-Free church provided entertainment at the first annual Camp Rock Banquet, 2002.

8. Michelle Larington, of McCook Nebraska, teaches a workshop at the first Christian Workers Conference, 2011.

9. Tim and Gwen are happy to have survived three days on the river during a Table in the Wilderness white water rafting trip, 2008.

10. Tim chats with Kevin Shelton, a pheasant hunter from Lawrence, KS, 2010.

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Old Friends, New Friends

Shepherd's Staff hosted two youth groups this weekend. The youth groups are pastored by twin brothers Kevin Larson and Kyle Larson, from Leoti KS and Sidney NE, respectively. We know Kyle, since he brought kids to Table in the Wilderness while we were there, and he is part of Sidney E-Free Church, one of our supporting churches.

While Kyle is an old friend, Kevin is a new friend. He actually attended the same college as Gwen's sister, during the same time period, but while she knew Kevin, we never met him. It's just been in the past year that we've gotten to know him.

So it was neat that the two brothers decided to do a combined youth retreat...and to hold it at Shepherd's Staff. We knew most of the sponsors for the Sidney group...and enjoyed getting to know the sponsors from Leoti.

It's always a blessing for us when familiar faces show up at Shepherd's Staff. It's a reminder that ministry isn't confined to one organization or locale--that the body of Christ is intertwined and varied.

Running

We've been running for the past week and are getting ready for a break. But it's a good sort of running. I am so thankful for the hunters who came for Opening Weekend of pheasant season. It's been a neat mix of new and old friends. We met our new board member and his Dad, a consultant from Texas, and a few more guys. We also had the chance to catch up with hunters we met last year and to connect with Robert Malone.

Robert Malone is a pastor from Kansas City. Every year he puts together a group of men together and they all come out to pheasant hunt. We met him for the first time last year. But the neat thing about Robert is that he has maintained contact with Tim throughout the past 12 months. They pray together on the phone and share what is going on in their ministries. I am so thankful to God for bringing this man into Tim's life.

Which reminds me: one of the reasons we left Table in the Wilderness was that we felt we weren't getting to build relationships in the way we wanted to. Here at Shepherd's Staff we constantly see God bringing people back into our lives (one of our pheasant hunters this week is a friend from Laramie; over the weekend we'll host a youth pastor from Sidney), allowing us to continue relationship-building that started years ago. He also continually brings new people into our sphere--some we minister to, some encourage us, and all of them are relationships.

That's ministry news. Here's an update on our family. We're almost into the 1900's in our homeschool history. Tyson has been reading "Farmer Boy" and Jesalynn is working on "Little House on the Prairie". We're learning about force and gravity in science. Natasha is starting to learn to read. And we're getting ready for Jesalynn's birthday on November 26.

The kids are such a blessing in ministry. They connect with people in a way that opens doors for future ministry. They have such helpful attitudes--most of the time. Yesterday the girls worked to fill the little containers that hold sweetener, sugar and toothpicks. It wasn't a big thing--I could have gotten it done in five minutes, but they chose to save me that five minutes and did it cheerfully.

So....that's it for now. We so appreciate those of you who pray for us and take the time to read our ramblings.

When It Rains It Pours

Have you ever had one of those times when it seems like everything is falling apart? I hit that point this week: our 8-year-old computer crashes regularly, Tyson came to tell me that the keyboard tray on the computer desk itself was broken, a drawer on my dresser wouldn't pull out right, and then the pencil sharpener quit working. Apart from the computer, none of these are big things, but put all together in one week, it was frustrating--especially when I kept watching the mileage on our van climb (224,000 miles and counting!)

My first reaction was to get cranky--to whine to God about how expensive it is going to be to fix/replace these things, about how much time it will eat up. And then it occurred to me--God has kept our van running long past the average lifetime for many vehicles. Same with the computer. And he gave Tim the skills to figure out how to fix the rest of the mess. I have no reason to throw a pity party, and every reason to thank God for His provision.

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As I type this, the kids are playing with balloons--P.E., right? They are each trying to keep their own balloon in the air while knocking down their siblings balloons. We've had a good morning in school with just a little work left for the afternoon. This afternoon we'll haul ourselves to Colby (dropping off a meal for a friend along the way), where Tyson and Jesalynn will hit gymnastics and Natasha and I will visit a friend. Then we'll have dinner before Tim and Tyson attend their first 4-H Shooting Sports meeting. By the time we all get home, groceries and library books in tow, it will be time to dump the kids into bed and try to get a couple more hours in on the computer. Wednesdays and Thursdays are definitely our busy days right now!

This weekend we begin to welcome pheasant hunters to our facilities. We'll also host the Teens for Christ (TFC) group on Saturday night. We love being able to have the kids home during the day--and when they choose to be a part of the work of the ministry.

See you soon!

So Many Options

I just got back from a training conference in Denver. It was a good conference, entitled "The Marketing and Social Media Conference". Right down my (Gwen's) alley. Exciting...and discouraging all at once. On the one hand, I've been doing some things right, without knowing why. And I came home with some ideas I feel like I can implement right away.

On the other hand, there are so many things that we could expand into or improve upon, but there's just no time. And this is the crux of many discussions Tim and I have lately. There's so much more that we could be doing here at Shepherd's Staff, but eventually we have to set limits on our work time, or it will eat up our lives and we'll be burned out and useless. We're at a point where we really see a need for more staff at Shepherd's Staff...but not at the point where leadership here is ready to pursue it.

You can pray with us that God will give us wisdom--to know which projects get our attention and how much, and in presenting the need we feel to our boss and our board. We will need grace and patience in the coming busy months: our food service/housekeeping person had a bad break in her leg this fall and everyone is pulling together to meet the gap. Please pray also that we will be able to step back when needed, to let things fall through the cracks--even when that means something important gets left out or not done quite as well as it could have been.

Just a quick update on our lives this week. You might see some changes in the way we market Shepherd's Staff (and our TAGG Team publicity) and hopefully those changes will reflect the things I learned today. Be watching!