March 2015

Great breakfast this morning.  Welcome to Adriel and Emilee Robitaille and thanks for sharing your amazing story.  I couldn't stop thinking about passage in Luke in which Jesus invites people to follow him even at the cost of leaving house and family.  Man, ya'll taking that stuff literally.  Thanks for your presence as well as that of Rich, Jeff, John, Adam.

In all the fun of sharing we forgot to mention when and where we'll be meeting next.  So, how bout we meet on Wednesday, April 8th at 8:30 at _________.  Any volunteers?

Til Easter,
Ken

Also, here are the clean up dates:

Oak Tree Park: 

Saturday, March 21^st 9:00-12:00 

at 78^th and Pine 

(Contact: Albert Styers, 961-3145)

Wapato Hills Restoration: 

March 14^th 9:00-12:00.  

2^nd Saturday of the month 

at 56^th and Tacoma Mall Blvd 

(Contact: Carol Munsey, 753-6417)

October

I've been remiss in my recaps of our meetings since June so here is the short update.

July - No meeting because everyone was enjoying vacation
August - Another skipped meeting for the same reasons
September- We met at Manitou for our annual school/prayer walk.  It was a great morning to walk and remind the leaders of the schools that they are not alone.
October - We met at Evangelical Reformed to catch up and pray with one another.  The last portion of our meeting was a good discussion of the potentially healthy and dangerous aspects of a "mid-life crisis".  Thanks for the good conversations friends.

Next Meeting:  Wednesday, November 12th at 8:30 at the Youth For Christ office on Center Street

June Breakfast

John, Ken, Rich and myself gathered from some WesternCo donuts, conversation and prayer this morning at Manitiou Park Presbyterian.  There was a lot of heart-talk going on and prayers for one another.  I think this may have had something to do with the amount of left over donuts.  Jeff, you remain in our prayers brother. It was good to be with y'all.

With John in Korea, me in Tennessee and others gallivanting around Washington we are going to skip the July meeting and gather again on Wednesday August 13th at 8:30 at the YFC office.  The gathering after that will be on Wednesday, September 10th at 8:30 at Manitou Park when we will eat some donuts and then proceed with the walk and blessing of the schools.

Enjoy the day,
Ken

March Breakfast

Thanks to John and Green Pastures for hosting this morning.  It was good to be together to share how well things are going with each of us.  My only regret from the morning is that we didn't close by singing It is Well with my soul...  Maybe next time.

Good conversation and enthusiasm regarding Point Break and Gray.  Thanks Ken for championing this endeavor.  You can now do so knowing you have the support of the South Tacoma Ministers.  We look forward to seeing how this all falls out.

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, April 9th at 8:30 at Evangelical Reformed Church.  Until then, blessings on your Lenten journeys.   May all be well.

February Breakfast

Big thanks to... well, me, for hosting our breakfast yesterday.  Actually, the thanks goes to my wife who made scones.  She's great and I know I don't tell her that often enough.  But enough of my confessions, let's jump into the recap.

After basking in the glow of great victory from Sunday (Jesus' victory that is, what did you think I was talking about?), we spent some time talking about the possibility of helping to bring the Pointbreak program to Gray Middle School. 

The purpose of Point Break is to improve the behaviors, values and attitudes of high school students on their campuses and in their communities, intervening before acts of hatred or violence occur. As a result, better learning environments are created, relationships are forged and reconciliation begins.

You can read more about it here.  Ken Schmidtke and Adam are familiar with the program as it is connected with YFC.  Both are fans and our group is still, let's say 'discerning.'  People seemed pretty interested in the shape of the one-day program, if still not sure exactly what it looks like.  In our conversation with the school district they seemed to be encouraging some large event for schools which none of us felt excited about.  However, this event seems more relational, more focused and more doable. With that being said, there are some questions that need to get fleshed out a bit which I'll go ahead and list here.
1.  What is the cost and who will pay it?
2.  What is a potential timeline?  If we started planning next month what's the soonest it could happen?
3.  What is the time commitment from volunteers?
4.  What does follow up after the event look like?  Small groups?  Campus Life?  Guidance counselors?

Ken, I'll direct these questions your way and perhaps you can come to our next meeting prepared to flesh some of these things out.  Speaking of the next meeting.  It will be on Wednesday, March 12th at 8:30 at Green Pastures Presbyterian.

Until then, enjoy the cold,
Ken

January 2014 Breakfast

Thanks to Ken and Adam for hosting us at the YFC office.  Coffee, donuts AND fruit!  Thanks guys (and yes Ken I did go back for some grapes.) 

The depth of our sharing in personal and pastoral situations is an encouraging indication of the trust we're building between one another.  Thank you for the prayers gentlemen. 

After prayer we spent some time discussing the meeting Rich, John and I had with Talana Penton at the Tacoma School District central office.  She had responded to a letter we dropped off at the schools during our prayer walk at the beginning of the school year.  We'd offered to help in any way we could.  She asked how we'd like to help.  What followed was a good discussion about where our strengths might match their needs.  The one area we agreed upon was to serve as emergency grief or tragedy counselors.  Other than that we agreed to explore the idea with the rest of the group.  This is what we explored at this morning's meeting.  How might we respond to the invitation of the school district to be more involved in the success of the South Tacoma schools?

The answer we landed upon was Point Break.  Click here to read more about it.  We're going to explore this possibility and discuss it at our next meeting.  Which is now on Wednesday, February 5th at 8:30 at Manitou Park Presbyterian. 

October Breakfast

Thanks to John at Green Pastures for hosting us this morning.  I always enjoy the coffee mix but I can't tell you how happy my taste buds were when I starting chomping that pumpkin muffin on the way to a meeting.  The only downside were my regrets for not taking one of the cranberry-orange muffins.  Those were really good, oh yes and the meeting was too.

It was good to catch up and hear how well things seem to be going with our respective churches/ministries.  Also thanks for the chance to discuss the question, "Do our churches tend to mostly attract the folks who already seem to fit?"  I can't speak for everyone else, but it was a helpful conversation for me.

Blessings on the rest of your Octobers and we'll meet again on November 13th at 8:30 at Zion's River.

Grace and Peace,
Ken