Are you a Rope or a Rag?

I’m a rope, my wife is a rag. Yes, I know that may not seem very flattering to say. Let me explain. 
I know this after listening to a sermon by Dwayne Cline from Hughson Street Baptist Church in Hamilton. Dwayne was preaching on a passage from Jeremiah 38:1-13 about the very little known Ebed-Melek. The central message was about serving, which Ebed-Melek did well. 
Ebed-Melek may be the most obscure person in the Bible. His name means servant of the king. In fact it may not be his name, but a title. He’s a foreigner, a Cushite (likely Ethiopia) with no rights, no power, no authority and likely a eunuch. 
Ebed-Melek listens to God, approaches the king and rescues Jeremiah after he was thrown into a pit. Taking his own life into his own hands. The king assigns him 30 men to go with him because he will need protection. He took ropes to get him out and rags to make sure he wasn’t hurt. Ropes equal logistics and help. Rags equal compassion to people. 
There is a story behind each life that shows up at our ministries, a mess that only Jesus can clean up. People need more than ropes, they need compassion. Jesus our king became a servant and died on the cross, raised the third day to put our feet on a rock and song on our lips. 
We come with ropes and rags in the name of Jesus.  We serve together in Jesus’ name because we cannot do it alone. More people come along side as we walk alongside people. At the end of Jeremiah 39, Ebed-Melek will be rescued because he believed God. God will do whatever it takes to call us and cause us to be Christ-like. 

Leadership is like Ripples on Water

The effect of our leadership continues to go out like ripples on water through the people we have impacted. A ripple moves out from the center and the ripple effect is so much greater than the original impact formed. 

As a leader, every word you say, every email you write, your smile, your handshake, everything that you put into the universe has a ripple effect.

How about the fruit of the Spirit as the kind of ripples we want to be sending out. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 

Our leadership affects those around us and then their leadership becomes the next ripple. It’s always good to hear the principles that I have talked about come back to be from my summer leadership staff. 

I also suggest that each of the following attributes we exhibit and model will cause others to imitate them. Consider how being adaptable, approachable, attentive, caring, commitment, compassion, conscientious, considerate, courteous, empathy, energetic, enthusiasm, flexible, friendly, FUN, genuine, gentle, hard working, honest, integrity, kind, listener, loyal, nurtures relationships, patient, playful, positive attitude, punctual, reliable, respectful, responsible, self-disciplined, self-motivated, service-minded, supportive, teachable, team player, thoughtful, trustworthy & willing can affect the people you lead. 

I get excited when I think about the ripples of my influence as they have gone out of my view, but continue through people I have lead or mentored. 

Besides impacting performance, leaders serve as role models, impacting the attitudes, behavior, and organizational culture with almost every interaction they have with their peers and direct reports. Anita Bowness

Brothers, what we do in life… echoes in eternity. Maximus Decimus Meridius in Gladiator

What does your ripple effect say about you as a leader? 

Cooking with Moose: Peanut Butter Marshmallow Squares

Recipes we use at camp and some from Moose’s family cookbook, “That Tastes Like Home”. Today’s recipe: Peanut Butter Marshmallow Squares. Too bad we can’t serve these at Widji. 

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup butter or 1/2 cup margarine
  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 1 (300 g) bag butterscotch chips
  • 1 (200 g) bag mini coloured marshmallows

Directions

  • Melt together butter, peanut butter, and butterscotch chips on very low heat until mixed, stirring constantly.
  • Cool for a bit (so as not to melt the marshmallows).
  • Stir in mini marshmallows.
  • Pour in a greased 11″ x 13″ pan.
  • Refrigerate and cut into small (1-1/2″) squares.

Notes

  • Also known as “Funeral Squares” because you usually eat them at funerals (Palooza)

Reflections on Widji Summer 2018

Here are some of the great things to celebrate as we have been blessed at Widji this past summer.

  • 42 decisions for Christ
  • 84 Bibles given out
  • Full leadership team with age & maturity (8+ staff over 20)
  • During Royal City’s week alone, 27 bibles were given out
  • This summer we had 328 campers plus 26 volunteers from our five Ignite Partnership camps. We have had 1756 Ignite campers to date over 10 summers that started with 30 campers from Malvern! WOW. God is good. 
  • We had an increase in our Ignite week and open enrollment week attendance on the whole. We had a total of 587 camper weeks this summer, up 51 from last year, which was up 34 from the year before. This is the most campers we have had at Widji since at least 2008. 

Some encouraging stories for your encouragement

  • Campers from Capstone Camp banded together to raise funds for a new to Canada camper to be funded to come to camp. This means that we have campers helping campers help campers to come to camp.
  • The funding for Ephraim’s Place made it possible for the campers from Ephraim’s Place to go into their community and bring new campers who have no or little contact with Ephraim’s Place. This has equipped them to share the gospel and share their programming with more kids in their community beyond their circle.
  • During Escape Camp, Derek shared with me that there was a cabin of boys that when discussing it shared that none of them have dads. Sad Sac has shared with me that one of the compelling drives behind the Capstone week is to reach boys without a dad, and to be a father to the fatherless. This has been a frequent reality for the campers coming this summer – the need for dads. 2 nights ago, one of the volunteers from Ephraim’s Place shared with me that his guys started talking before bed, and for a few minutes all of the façade came off, talking about their dads, and their desire to have a good dad in their life. This transparency was unheard of from these boys.
  • During Fresh Air Camp we had a couple of boys that would run off property and were highly disruptive; one of which was named John. The group home that sent him decided he should come home, and we had him packed up to go and while waiting a couple of staff started talking about their lives. He listened from a distance and occasionally chimed in. Afterward, he decided he wanted to stay, and half way through the week had started to help the service team sweep and move benches and clean. I joked with him that I would have to start paying him for the work and he said yeah right. At the end of the week, John told me to save him a position on service someday, and he’s planning to come back.
  • Knowing the home situations some campers come from is humbling and sobering for me. The bus driver for Escape Camp told me that on her way up she overheard a conversation between 3 girls. One asked another how her house was doing. Another girl entered the conversation and asked what happened to her house, to which she replied that all of their windows had been shot out, but it was okay now because they were boarded up.
  • The past three years I’ve seen a first nations camper come to camp and he’s always a handful, but generally has a good week on the whole. He told me one day, while we were hanging out in the hammocks, that he could speak several languages. So I opened up google translate on my phone and had him speak a whole lot of Japanese and Korean and other languages he “knew”. The translations were hilarious and we laughed about it together for quite a while along with some cabin leaders and he confessed that he was making it all up but loved to see what the translations would be. It was great to see him finish a week at camp with memories and value.
  • We had 2 campers who came with an Ignite week, brother and sister, who then chose to return to camp for 4 weeks this summer. This was in part such a praise item because not only would they never have come to camp otherwise, but they both had what we thought were horrible weeks last summer. It turns out that those weeks, though hard for them, played a part in building a relationship they never thought possible, and this summer were pretty much fabulous – becoming a fixture at camp that everyone knew, and even helping other campers in their experiences.
  • This has been a summer there we as a staff have felt so edified by God’s work in kids lives, and these are only a few of the many stories from this summer.
  • From Scott Veals with Youth Unlimited Toronto, here with Ephraim’s Place
    • A youth who has light involvement with gang & drug activity softened considerably!
    • The morning cabin discussions were amazing, with many youth sharing openly & moving closer to full commitment to Jesus!
    • The whole camp atmosphere felt anointed! An amazing week at camp!

We thank each person who donated, prayed and offered encouragement this summer. God did His amazing work and chose to use us to do it. God is good! All the time! 

Josh Heyoo Laverty & Mike Moose Greenfield

All’s Well That Ends… Well

Guest ReBlog by Dan Bolin, International Director – CCI Worldwide

A SLICE OF FRESH BREAD

This is the next to last Fresh Bread, so reflect with me on ending well. 

Beginning well is a momentary thing; finishing well is a lifelong thing. Ravi Zacharias

Peter gives us excellent advice when it comes to finishing strong. He wrote, “The end of all things is near

Therefore,
o be clear minded
o self-controlled
o pray
o love each other
o offer hospitality
o If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.
o If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides

So that
o in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 4:7-11)

“Therefore” and “so that” are hinge words. “Therefore” looks back providing the motivation to do what lies ahead. “So that” looks forward to the result that should be produced.

Time is running out.Therefore, we need to think clearly, act wisely, pray, love, support, speak truthfully and serve each other. Not for our benefit but rather, so that God may be praised and receive glory.

We should all live with the realization that the end of all things is near – with a commitment to bring praise and glory to God by the way we live, whatever number of days God provides.

Why Widjiitiwin?

Why Widji is a great question. Why not? Or why not another place or job? I’ve always said whatever job I had needed to have a greater purpose. Maybe you’re like that too. Widji does!! 
In some ways we all have our own reason for coming to camp.
  1. Some grew up here a week at a time. 
  2. Maybe you’ve always come to Widji so it’s a natural progression to work here. 
  3. Some come to meet boys or girls
  4. For some this is your yearly dose of authentic church
  5. Some feel God led them here or called them here, though you may not be quite sure what that means
  6. You want to finally cabin lead or lead SALT or be on the leadership team or have some other unfinished work to do here 
  7. Or you feel called to ft time ministry or missions, again, not quite knowing what that looks like
  8. You’re all on a journey in your faith and being at camp is a good place to discover the next destination many want to give back in the way they were poured into as a camper or SALTer
  9. Some are here for the community, that feeling of ohana, family! 
  10. Or something else… 
I came in the fall of 2007 as a fixer. It needed a lot of work to bring it back to what it needed to be, used to be. It had 5 years of downward campers trends. We were in save it mode. It needed paint and repairs and sports equipment and staff that were here for the campers. It needed to be one team. 
Heyoo came for a cause after I invited him to a meeting with our Ignite partners. He saw a vision bigger than other places he’s been. Bigger than him. Bigger than me too. 
In 1930 two churches started Muskoka Baptist Camp with the complaint that youth and young adults needed a place to hear the Word of God taught, clearly. 
What we do here is different. We don’t have the biggest toys. We do have some of the biggest hearts and great people. Over half our summer is given over to our Ignite partnership camps. Working with kids and youth from at risk and marginalized communities. They’re a different camper than usual. They use words we didn’t used to hear at camp.
These started in 2009 as a way to get more campers. A that time I had no idea what God was about to do. He took two guys (Beef & Moose) from very different worlds and 30 campers from the Malvern neighbourhood, working with Toronto Police, 42 Division to camp.
  • And that week got big so we reached out to a church in Hamilton
  • Then Guelph
  • Then Etobicoke
  • Then North York 
These weren’t my ideas. It’s not my vision. It’s God’s vision. We went from annual donations of about $5,000 to $6,000 to over $200,000 this summer. 
It has changed camp. It has changed my heart for kids from hard places. It has changed the kind of staff we need. It has changed what we do. But not at the core. We will always focus on the Bible as our guide, for cabin devos and opening our day in prayer and God’s word. We’re known for morning monkey’s and words of wisdom. We’re known for all camp games, for cheering at everything, and for lots of other traditions. 
Turns out, it wasn’t my vision. It still isn’t. It all belongs to God. I am a steward of this ministry and He allows me, and you, to take part in it. 
No matter the reason you’re here, God can use your availability to accomplish his purpose. We’re not here by mistake. You were created to do good works. 
Ephesians 2:10 – For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Moose

Fingerprints On My Life

I find myself wondering a lot about the people who have helped form me into the person I am now. The people whose fingerprints are all over my life. The people who shaped, molded, guided and corrected me. Thanks to dad and mom, my Grandpas Greenfield & Copeland, Jack, Mr. Enns, Uncle Keith, Adolf, John, Tim, Paul, Laurie, Neil, Darrell, Greg, Jim, Ken, Roman, Burt (the best wagon ride driver ever), Mr. Enns, Peter Purvis, Mel, John x 2, Bill, Howie, Peter, Howard, Dan & Dave, Don, Mike, Darrell, Neil and Bruce x 2. You can read about them here.

It always leads me to wonder about the people whose lives I have impacted. And I feel overwhelmed by that responsibility. Was I the leader they needed? Did I steer them right… or wrong or not at all? Was I too hard on them or not hard enough? Very often we don’t get to see the results of our ministry leadership. Occasionally, we get what I call a “glimpse behind the curtain”, we get to see who or what they have become. 

Some of those who have grown to become leaders are my three daughters (Essay, Tundra and Rings), Boyardee, Giggz, Heyoo, Gaston, Squash and Tetness. I know there are more. I’m excited to see who else becomes a great leader for the sake of the Kingdom of God.

I’ve been accused of giving too many second chances and I think it’s true. But I do it because SO many leaders have given me SO many second chances.

“If you are a child at risk… all you need is one good adult to change that”. Ever since we as humans have existed, parents have struggled with raising their kids. New research is now showing that if a child has one good adult in their life, an adult who will spend time with them and form a bond with them, then their life can be changed. Travis Allison

There are a lot of people’s fingerprints on my life. It takes a village to raise a leader. 

Questions to Ask Your Child on the Way Home from Widji

After an amazing week at Widjiitiwin, it’s likely that your camper will be bursting to the seams with fun stories, great songs, and wishes to return to camp ASAP. 

The drive home from camp can be a perfect time to reconnect with your child after a week apart. If your child isn’t sleeping on the way home, here are some great intentional questions to ask. 

  1. What was your favourite camp song? Can you sing it for me?
  2. What would you be most excited for if you went back next year?
  3. What was the best thing about your cabin leaders?
  4. What was your favourite food?
  5. What did you learn about God and Jesus?
  6. Tell me something you did for the first time. 
  7. What was the best part of the week?
  8. What were some of the fun games you learned?
  9. What was your favorite activity at camp?
  10. Who is your best friend at camp? Did you meet someone new? 
  11. Do you have any goals for the summer? Is there something you want to achieve that you haven’t been able to do yet?
  12. Tell me about the camp pastor.
  13. Did you hear any chapel talks that were meaningful to you?
  14. What was the biggest challenge for you?
  15. What was the funniest thing someone did?
  16. What did you learn at camp that will make a difference in your life?
  17. Is there anything about camp that you didn’t like, or that made you anxious?
  18. Do you want to go back next year?

We’re hoping that we’ve done our jobs well and that the answer will be “YES!” to number 18. If it isn’t, please contact us on how we could have improved the Widjiitiwin experience; we’re always looking for ways to make every camper’s week more memorable! Email josh@mycamp.ca. 

Cooking With Moose: Taco Salad

Recipes we use at camp and some from Moose’s family cookbook, “That Tastes Like Home”. Today’s recipe: Taco Salad, this one tastes like summer! Thanks to Melissa for this one.

Ingredients

  • 1 head iceberg lettuce, chopped
  • 2 bunches green onions, chopped
  • 1 bag Nacho or Zesty Cheese Doritos, crushed
  • 1 green pepper, chopped
  • 1 cup shredded old cheddar cheese
  • Catalina salad dressing

Directions

  • Chop the vegetables
  • Add the Doritos
  • Mix the ingredients together
  • Cover with Catalina dressing & mix
  • Eat, repeat

What Would You Say to Your Grade 9 Self?

Now that my high school, Lester B. Pearson in Burlington, has closed, I’ve been wondering what I would tell myself going into grade 9. Here is the list I came up with. 

  • Don’t compare yourself to others. Remember that weight is just a number on a scale and it in no way defines you. Plus you’re tall and that goes a long way. 
  • Skip that last flip on the spring ski trip with your brothers in 1980. The concussion isn’t worth it!
  • Skip the beers on the music exchange trip to Huntsville. It doesn’t have any effect anyway.
  • Be ready to follow your dreams, even when others don’t understand. What you will do at camps will impact SO many people! Plus you’ll see the look on the face of the guidance counsellor when you ask about becoming a Christian camp director. 
  • Even though you don’t like English class, you do a lot of writing in your career. Pay attention. Math is good. You use that a lot too, but not trigonometry. 
  • Take a typing class. It will seem useless now, and you can pay girls in college to type your papers, but when you get a personal computer/laptop it will be invaluable. Computers get a LOT smaller than that room at Humber College. And no punch cards!!
  • Be kinder to mom. Just do it! Your wife (yes, you get married) will eventually tell you the same thing.
  • Tell dad you love him. It’s true and will mess with him. Hugs will come later.
  • Carry over from grade 8 – hitting that one guy was a big confidence boost.
  • Kiss a few more girls. 😉
  • Be more confident. You have lots to contribute. 
  • Stay in touch with more friends from high school and college.
  • There were some great teachers at Pearson.  Peter Purvis, Mr. Enns, & Mr. Rogozinski. Especially Peter!! 

What advice would you give your grade nine self??