The Journey Begins

Well, well, well... my first real post for this site. I don't know where this will go, or if anyone will ever even come across it. If you do, well... this is the beginning. This is the first visible root this place will see, the first piece of the puzzle... and I have absolutely no idea where this is going to go.

And I DO NOT CARE, one little bit. It has to start somewhere.

This site is here, for the moment, for a concept I want to develop, as home base for a passion on my heart, one I want to share with others, and one I need help with from others to make happen. I am not going into this alone. I may start here alone - but there are already several behind me lifting this ministry, my passions, and the direction of this up in prayer. And if you made it here, I guess it did something.

Here is my dream. It may grow. It may change directions. It may totally change. But this is it, NOW.

I am a hunter. I am a hunter of hearts. I love finding fresh hearts, damaged hearts, hurt hearts... hearts much like my own... and seeing them come alive. Seeing them come alive for the first time - yes - but also seeing what may be simply a candlelight have fresh fire breathed upon it into a roaring flame. As someone once put it, I long to help people quit trying to become who the world asks them to be. I want to see them, to help them, to go with them, as they find what makes them come alive, and see them go do that. I believe that the things that make us come alive, when we really get down to it, are things with eternal significance - not things that matter "in the afterlife" - but things that matter now, and will affect us - and others - from now into eternity. This means things like purpose, meaning, destiny... we are each put into this universe with those things, and I think so many of us, myself included for so, so long, simply forgot, or were never told.

I am beginning to experience this fresh flame myself. And it's time to start sharing.

My heart lies in two places right now. First, I love to equip leaders. For me, at the moment, that means playing the role I have in my local church. I have a leadership team of about 8 people I lead, and from those eight people, we lead about 20 other people, who in turn lead about another 100 people. It's small right now... a big stagnant, even a bit rough and hard to figure out from time to time. But I am beginning to see my team come alive in their roles, from leading preschool teachers to captivating adults with new styles of learning... I see visions being formed, lofty goals being set, and it is a thrill to be on this ride.

Secondly, I love the hearts of youth. I love teaching them, love hanging out around them, love seeing them try to figure me out (and doing the same with them). I'm not all that hip on the churchy youth group thing - I can do that, but Sunday Morning Sunday School in the teen room is not so much my thing as a free-for-all Wednesday night when we can just sit back and let our hearts run wild. When we can talk. When we can laugh, when we can maybe even disagree some... but where we can talk about what matters, to us, and to God.

As I see those to places where my heart is at - youth, and leadership - I come to where I am with this site today. I need some comrades. I have some ideas for this, which I'm sure I'll eventually get written out here, that are bigger than me... much, much bigger than me. I could attempt them now, but if I did, I am sure I'd fall flat on my face, and probably give up. But that is not stopping me from starting what I need to do, now.

Here's the short version. If you have ever read anything by John Eldridge, you'll know where a lot of this comes from, but this is what I love, how it's a different story each time. I recently read the short book Epic while on a solo camping trip in an Indiana forest. It's a quick read - easy to do in a few hours, and there's apparently a youth leadership kit that you can get with it as well, complete with plans, DVD's, all that... That is where I think this may start.

• A couple men.
• 2-3 teenage guys.
• A pickup truck.
• A horse trailer.
• Some horses.
• Some adventure ideas.
• Maybe a couple mountain bikes.
• Some navigating stuff.
• Some trust games.
• Some discussion time.
• Some reading time.
• Some quiet time - as in TOTALLY quiet time.
• A teensy bit of sleep
• A campfire.
• Some water.
• Some food.
• Very scant cell phone coverage... maybe.

Get the idea? If you do - and if you'd like to be part of this - in person, or in prayer, please.... email me. Leave feedback here. Do something. I need comrades in this. I want to be a comrade in this. Maybe someone else already is doing this around here and I can add to what they have... fine. But this is where my heart is, where God is taking me, and this is now the first post on a website I've been longing to start for quite a while.