A lot of people have a place they identify as their happy place. I have several. Any place with my wife and sons could be considered a happy place. My church is a happy place. My wife and I would both say the beach is out happy place, but today I am writing this from one of my favorite happy places. Delta Lake Bible Conference Center in Rome NY. This is the place where we have Haven Camp, a special camp for some very special people. I have been very pleased to minister here for about six years or so. I love it here.
I was sharing how I first ended up coming here. In 2012 the church my wife and I planted closed its doors. I decided rather than rush out and find another pastorate I would take some time and heal. At that point I was bivocational so I was not really dependent on the church income, so instead I decided to try my hand at itinerant ministry. Then in 2015, my day job decided to go in a different direction and outsource my position. I wasn’t making a lot of money in the itinerant ministry and so I figured I would quickly try to find another job, but to be honest I was pretty wounded once again so rather than rushing into taking whatever life threw at me, I would try to make a go at what I really loves and felt called too—the itinerant ministry. I began emailing every church, camp, and venue I could find that might be interested in my unique blend of speed painting and storytelling ministry. One of those places was Delta Lake. The director Steve gave me a shot. He had me in to speak to a group of Senior Adults for the day, and out was a great time, but after the presentation, Steve and I started talking about the camp. He mentioned this program they host called Haven Camp, a camp for Adults with developmental disabilities.
I’m not even sure why I said it, I had no experience with these folks, but I said I would really love to give it a try, and Steve gave me the opportunity to do a smaller weekend camp. I thought the first night was a disaster. From about two minutes into my presentation, one of the campers said “The End,” A phrase he repeated about every two minutes. I thought I had failed and yet Steve was smiling and the rest of the group was pretty engaged. Steve explained that that particular camper does that in most of the evening programs. Once I knew that, I lightened up and by the end of the evening I was really hoping and praying that I would get another invitation, and other than 2020 I have been here, every year since, this year for three camps, and my heart is full. Why do I post this?
I felt the Spirit leading me so strongly to do this, and even though I was a little scared I gave it a shot and it’s been life changing. Sometimes, especially when the Spirit is leading, you’ve got two step beyond the comfort zone and take a chance. If the Spirit is leading the blessing will come.
AMOKArts 