I wore my “No, I Will Not Fix Your Computer” shirt to Short Mountain. It was a great conversation starter among me and the rest of the computer geeks at camp. There were plenty of people helping setup for this church camp. Not sure if I was needed, but it was great to be around people anticipating a great camp. They were expecting about 230 campers. Plus about 60 staff and various other people showing up makes for about 300 people at that camp. It’s a strain on resources. The kitchen staff will probably be overworked….horses will be tired….and the camp will most likely be trashed. They are having to turn people away simply because they just do not have enough beds for everyone. I visited there one night last year. It was a bit intimidating being around so many people I didn’t know.
Darrell, Tracy and I left at 8:15 Sunday morning in order to get back in time for church in Mt. Juliet. Center Chapel’s Sunday school starts at 10AM, worship at 11AM, while Mt. Juliet’s Sunday school is at 9AM and Worship is at 10. We made it back just in time for me to get to worship at Mt. Juliet. Normally I would have just stayed at Center Chapel, but there was yet another camp planning meeting after services at Mt. Juliet.
On our way back we stopped at Woodbury Church of Christ so that Tracy could make copies of the Short Mountain camp newsletter which is put out each day at camp. She needed to make 300+ copies and knew that the copier machine at Center Chapel just couldn’t handle it in the time she needed to make it. So Darrell showed me around Woodbury’s building. They obviously have some great artists at this church. There were several Biblical murals in the classrooms. Someone must have put alot of thought and time into it. I took several pictures to show some of our artists at church.
Some people at the Woodbury church get there 1 hour before church starts in order to keep the seat they always sit in. They’re growing at Woodbury…having to build on to their auditorium.
For Mt. Juliet’s camp I am teaching the junior boy campers on Tuesday. I guess this is anywhere between 3rd to 6th grade. I did get my lesson plan at the camp meeting today. Some of this stuff is pretty heavy for 3rd and 4th graders…..eternal punishment…etc. Not sure if I’ll need to water it down under the circumstances. It is slightly difficult teaching a lesson plan put together by someone else rather than myself. But at least I have something to go on.

This weekend I’ll be going to Short Mountain to help some friends get setup for their church camp. Then on Wednesday and Thursday I’m taking off and going up there to visit. I was planning on doing 2 church camps in a row, but I got talked out of it. Probably a good idea anyways. It usually takes me 2-3 days to recover from an extended week anyways.
It seems as if my sister just likes posting comments in my weblog…always something about Baya’s singing ability. I let her borrow my car this week (her car is in the shop).
Yahoo Internet Life Magazine is dead. August will be the last issue. I enjoyed the magazine. I’ve been subscribing to it for a few years now. Always looked forward to it. I had noticed the number of pages drop over the past few months, and the glossyness of the photos had grown less glossy. So what should I subscribe to now? Wired Magazine? Are there any other cool magazines about the internet?
This whole Ted Williams head freezing thing is just like an episode of Futurama. I first heard of Ted Williams after a friend in college expressed his admiration for the baseball legend. I’m sure my friend is disgusted with the public family drama that has taken place.
I am the webmaster for my church. There is an never ending battle going on trying to persude people to provide me with relavent content for the page. Church secretaries tend to forget to email me the church bulletin at times. Even if I do get the bulletin, sometimes there isn’t a good article to put on the front of the webpage. Why do you continue to view this webpage week after week? Because of current content….either that or you are completely bored. If I never updated this page, webviews and readership would plunge. Same way with the church webpage. I have seen plenty of church webpages which are never updated. I hate that. I don’t intend on letting it happen here, but sometimes it is just difficult to get updated content.

It’s probably a good thing I posted yesterday when I did. A storm was brewing and I hadn’t posted my entry yet and there was a reasonable chance the lights would go off. Sure enough the power flickered and my computer promptly rebooted. I would have lost that entire post if I hadn’t posted when I did. Catastrophy avoided.
Just thinking back at yesterday’s post. One thing I noticed while our former youth minister, Joey Davis was around, was Joey always choose State Parks for retreats. Rarely if ever did he choose a church sponsored camp for retreats and summer camps. I don’t know why that is. Perhaps he had something against church sponsored camps. I feel as though it is a church obligation to try to support church sponsored camp facilities since it is our dollars that keep them running. Why throw our money at the state parks?
I have mixed feelings about the upcoming camp. At times I am excited about it. Other times I feel that it is being thrown together at the last minute without any foresight in planning. There is a thin red line that separates a good camp from a bad retreat gone two days too long. To be honest with you, I don’t know how Mt. Juliet’s camp is going to turn out. I’m prepared to stay. However if it turns out lousy, then next year I’ll spend my vacation time elsewhere where I’m needed.
Capture the Flag…it’s one of those pointless games which youth leaders tend to think of when there is nothing better to do. Supposedly it is one of our evening activities at camp. I will not be participating in this game. It’s just not worth getting hurt in some pointless sprint for the flag. I can almost guarantee you that some kid will get hurt (perhaps seriously) playing this game. People in the youth group take this game way too seriously. I just don’t need this. I’m up for any other game. But capture the flag is just pointless.
Anyways I did help teach (and teach is used very loosely here) the 4th graders at church Wednesday night. It was review night so Nick just gave them crossword and wordsearch puzzles to do. No problems with the kids.
In other news….
You can get a free Slurpee at 7-11 today, because it is 7/11. Too bad there aren’t any around here.
There’s some mutant fish invading the American Northwest. Run for cover!

My history of church camps with Mt. Juliet church of Christ (and camps I didn’t attend):

• 1991-1995 – Taylor Christian Camp. The first 3 years of this was very good with Bill Speight leading our group. Everyone seemed to have a good attitude and some great things were accomplished. In latter years we seemed to be going about the motions. Bad attitudes were seen by many. Many things left a general bad taste in my mouth. I saw some things happen that Christians just should not do.
• 1996 – Fall Creek Falls State Park. This was Joey’s answer to TCC. It was ok, but something just seemed missing. It began a string of camps which Mt. Juliet went by themselves (i.e. no other churches along). With the exception of 1999, this MJ exclusive tradition has continued ever since. At this particular camp I was also pursuaded to teach the junior high class…something that I was not qualified, nor capable of teaching. I don’t felt as though I fit in with the rest of the counselors.
• 1997 – Standing Stone State Park…another nondescript camp. No too much happened. I do remember one negative experience where an adult counselor insulted a camper in a way that I just don’t feel was appropriate. Ironically that adult no longer attends church anywhere. One should never talk down to a camper, especially to the camper’s face.
• 1998 – Back to Fall Creek Falls. I didn’t go on this one. I had started a new job and decided I didn’t have enough days to take off.
• 1999 – Short Mountain Bible Camp. I didn’t go on this one either. Short Mountain Bible Camp is the crown jewell among church of Christ sponsored camps in Middle Tennessee. All of the churches seem to want to go to it, but there is never enough room or a free week open. This, however, is how bible camp should be – several churches getting together to make new friends, instead of having camp by ourselves. Mt. Juliet camped with Corinth, Central Pike, and Green Hill churches of Christ. The only problem is that it was the last week of summer right before school started. So everyone went off to camp and then went back to school the week afterwards. The whole timing issue made camp no fun. This camp tradition ended as soon as it started.
• 2000 – 2001 – Camp Meribah, Centerville, TN. I didn’t go on these either. My excuse was that I was using up all my vacation time going to China. Also my boss was on these, so both of us couldn’t easily take off for it.

I initually stopped going to camp with Mt. Juliet because of a number of different factors. First of all my new job had just started and I felt I only had a limited amount of days to take off. Also during the years where Mt. Juliet went to camp by itself, it seemed as if I just didn’t get along with the Mt. Juliet kids. In 1999-2001 I did go to other church camps which Mt. Juliet didn’t attend. Why? Seemingly I felt I enjoyed myself better. Less baggage to carry around from past experiences. People seemed to like me for who I was, not because of who my parents were or where I came from.
This brings us to 2002. I felt as though I’ve grown spiritually since my first years at camp. Seemlingly attitudes of campers have improved. Or it could be I’ve grown older and get more respect from people.
Mt. Juliet has been invited to come back to TCC. Should I use this camp opportunity to pursuade Phil to send our kids back there? Would it leave bad attitudes that I don’t feel like dealing with? Would the whole Mt. Juliet factor ruin experiences at Taylor? Who knows? All I know is that when you start bringing churches together some feelings are bound to get hurt because of some type of doctrinal issue. Can’t we all just get along?
On to other things….
I’m beginning to realize that this webpage might be viewed by way more people than what I thought. If there is anyone international who is reading this, I’ll have to apologize for my post on July 4th, if it offended anyone. I was feeling a bit nationalistic at that point in time and tended to act like an ugly American.
There’s this lady at church who sends out a daily email to church members and other interested parties. This daily email includes prayers lists and things of that nature. I really need to get with this lady to look into the possiblity of using Blogger to update the church webpage with this type of stuff. I figure it should be easy to do. Also I really should get David Shannon to to a web only sermon article on the church webpage. Maple Hill Church of Christ already does this. Why can’t we?

It makes me feel positive when things like this happens. I had recently sent a camp application to a family who has since started going to another church. In years past their kids had gone to camp with us. With the camp application I wrote a note saying that even though you’re at a different congregation, we’d love for you to come back to camp with us. I got a call from them today. Looks like their kids will be coming back to camp with us. They said they probably wouldn’t have been back if it hadn’t been for me sending them the application. Many times I don’t know if I am making a difference in people’s lives. This is one of the few times when I feel that I am.
I am a big fan of Diff’rent Strokes. Remember in the later years when they introduced Mr. Drummond’s new wife and her son Sam? At first they were trying to redo the big brother/little brother interaction between Arnold and Sam, just like it had happened years before with Willis and Arnold. It was probably good idea that ‘Strokes got cancelled when it did. Or else Sam would have grown taller than his big brother Arnold and it would have just looked weird.

I’m back from Camp Leatherwood in White Bluff, TN. I had a good time. Everyone was very friendly toward me. No regrets. The camp director even asked me to lead a prayer during one of the devotionals. That small request made me feel accepted and part of the group.
Tim was in a cabin with the high school boys. So by default I stayed in the same cabin. Normally I’m intimidated by high school kids….probably because I feel uncool around them. These kids were very friendly and we seemed to hit it off after a while.
Things I Learned at Camp:

• Spongebob Squarepants is a big hit even among high schoolers.
• Biggest disappointment: My digital camera messed up on the 4th of July. So at around midday yesterday I lost about 70 pictures I had taken. I was sorta bummed out about it, but I tried not to let it bother me. Got some great shots of fireworks.
• Some people can be very intelligent, but lack social skills.

I’ve made mental notes of the skits and devotional examples to use later on at other camps.
If you want to see pictures from last year’s camp, go here. Pictures of this year’s camp will be posted as soon as I find some time. (Maybe sooner than you think)

The first Sunday worship service at church immediately following camp is always bittersweet. It’s not that I don’t care for corporate worship. It’s just that sometimes it is just good to get away from all that formal stuff and all that.
Oh yeah. That roll of film I found at camp – Well it’s nothing more than a blank roll, I think. Nothing developed from it.
From watching the camp video tape, I think I’ve learned to accept myself on video. Used to I didn’t even like to hear my own voice, let alone see myself on video. Now that I’ve seen myself, it’s not as bad as what I thought. I’m not that awkward anymore. I guess I’ve moved on since my awkward junior high years.
In times past I’ve been writing these journal entries for myself….ie not expressing my real views deep down on a subject. This time I’m going to write what I feel…and not cater to anyone who I think might be reading this. This is my webpage isn’t it? Which reminds me. Who is reading this anyways?
Well I’ve got about 5 copies of a camp video to make. I am going to get sick of watching the same video over and over again. Maybe I should pace myself. Do one a week or something…..
I found out I took 1094 digital pictures at camp. And I didn’t even try to take that many.

We found a used roll of film at camp. By the end of the week, it remained unclaimed, so I took it home. I’ve dropped it off at Kmart to see what develops. I hope I’ll recognize the people in it. Otherwise the film might not make it to its intended recipiants.
We didn’t have any baptisms at camp. Used to I would judge a camp’s success by the number of baptisms by the end of the week. Now I know that this is a missused factor. All we can do is prepare the soil. God provides the increase. Baptism is a very personal decision. It was a subject which was frequently brought up during those late night cabin discussions. I never strongly urge any camper to be baptized. I wait for them to come to me to ask about baptism. I don’t want them to make a decision based on someone else’s views. I did have a few campers in my cabin who matter-of-factly admitted they weren’t baptized. I would just say to the rest of the cabin it was a personal decision and didn’t carry it any further than that.
On a similiar note, the camp director did not have any invitations given during the nightly sermons at camp. I can understand why this decision was made. I’ve been to many camps before where invitations songs were sung and many people came forward to be baptized or rededicate their lives to God. While this can provide many opportunities for spiritual motivation, it can have a negative long term effect. These type of decisions can be based on emotionallism. Once the emotionalism is gone, so is the person’s desire to go to church. Important decisions shouldn’t be based on emotionalism.
Once again I’ll be putting together a slide show CD Rom of the pictures I took at camp. I’m continuously looking for songs to put as background music. Last year I used “With a Little Help from My Friends” by Joe Cocker and “Time of Your Life” by Green Day. Here is a partial list of songs which I am considering this year:

• Right Now – Van Halen
• Forever Young – Joan Baez
• Flood – Jars of Clay
• In My Life – The Beatles
• Superman – Five for Fighting
• Good – Better than Ezra
• True Colors – Cyndi Lauper

I am really dreading going back to work on Monday. I’ll probably find out that I’ve been laid off or something. That’s what usually happens when you’re gone for a long time.

There’s always a certain type of blues that sets in just after camp. There’s a urge to go back. Being the only one from Mt. Juliet who goes to this particular camp, I have no one to share similar experiences with. Maybe I can talk Phil into sending Mt. Juliet’s youth group to this camp next year.
I was in a cabin with eight 13 year old boys. For the most part they were good. I only had to get on to them a few times. There was another counselor who was supposed to be in the cabin with me. He showed up on Sunday afternoon and then left to see a friend of a friend in the hospital. He never called after that. After almost 24 hours of anyone not hearing from him, we were going to report him as a missing person, right before he made contact with someone. He stopped by camp on Wednesday to pick up his stuff and to tell us he wasn’t going to be around for the rest of camp. Am I disappointed? Slightly. He definitely should have called to tell us what he was going. Am I mad? Not in the least. I’m not going to hold a grudge about that. It would have been good to have him in the cabin to help supervise the kids.
It’s sorta difficult being a mentor toward these campers for one week of the year, then letting them go back to their own congregations hoping they will remember whatever you told them. Some of the kids’ home life is not exactly the best. Their parents are lackluster in their church going. Some of them only come to church because close relatives take an interest in their spiritual well being.
If you want to see some pictures from this week, go here.

Whew! Back from camp. I had an excellent time. The staff was very friendly toward me. The kids were great. I think I made a positive impact at camp (at least I hope I did).
The relay races I had been so worried about went fine. The only problem is that I should have scheduled the shaving cream/cheese ball competition at the very end. Somehow having people with their face covered in shaving cream creates the tendency to make a huge mess. I gave the shaving cream participants a dollar so they wouldn’t play pranks on me. Surprisingly it worked. For some unknown reason, I don’t usually have any pranks pulled on me. I guess I am considered non threatening and would not make an easy or worthwile target. Maybe there are bigger and better targets to go after.
We did have an incident where we had to send a camper home. What basically happened was the camper lost his temper over being spurned on love. Threats were made and we thought it was best to send the camper home. It’s sad because the camper being sent home needed this camp more than any other person this week. I’m still frustrated that we had to send him home.
It is really weird to move from a very stressful environment of trying to keep up with data requests to another environment where the main concern is pulling pranks late at night. My campers seemed to be overly concerned with pranks. They started at full force Sunday night. By the time Wednesday and Thursday night had rolled around, they had run out of interesting pranks. I tried to get them to hold back until later on in the week, but they would have no part of it.
Oh yeah, if you want to look at old pictures of camp – go here.
Well I’m pretty sleepy, so I’m going to sleep. Might update this weblog later on…..