The story unfolds...
why I do what I do

At the convention, people can sign up for an hour with a consultant. Those who sign up on the sheet of paper titled "Mark Riddle" spend that hour with me. This afternoon I sat down with a married couple let's call them John and Jane. They told me they are volunteer youth pastors. Which means I'm awe of them. They begin telling me their story.

They have a youth worker. She needs a break because her husband was injured and had severe head trama. She's teaching high school, but her hearts not in it. She loves the kids. But she's suffering from depression.
They are a part of an 8 yr old church plant.

The story unfolds.

She was enlisted into the youth ministry from John and Janes adult small group. Which is struggling. Marraiges are hurting, the community is dealing with "sin issues".

the story unfolds.

The senior pastor just return this past Sunday from chemo and radiation treatments. He has cancer. Several people left the church when he left for treatment. John is the chairman of the leadership board of the church. He's not only the leader of the youth ministry, he's the leader of the church! There are questions about how the senior minister will respond the next phase of treatment.

the story unfolds.

Other topics we dealt with were curriculum for ministering and discipling adult women, pornography and it's use amoung leaders in their church and how the church is responding.

the story unfolds.

God is at work. I love this story. John and Jane inspire me. Leading the church, leading the youth ministry, dealing with difficult issues head on, hold communities together even when it hurts... it's the story of God redeeming the world. it's the story of God's kingdom expanding.

I've received criticism for me recent move to full time congregational coaching. "It's not needed!" or "That's just what the church needs is a consultant!)[insert sarcasm] But it's people like John and Jane who compell me to help other people.

I feel like this is what I'm made to do. Serve the church. Love the John and Janes of the world.
Thank God for people like them. It's holy ground in their presence.

Nashville:.
I arrived yesterday (Thurs) and took it fairly easy. I had a lot of work to do for a church, which I finished this morning.
Last night I got to see Alex, Sarah and David.

This morning I met with my new friend Al Andrews. Al leads a ministry called The Porter's Call.

It's a ministry to professional artist, started by a non-profit organization associated with Sparrow Records several years ago.

Then I ran into Mike King and was introduced to his wife Vicki and their daughter. Upon saying goodbye to Mike I ran into Lilly Lewin, who I don't think I'd ever met before. Though it seems we have mutual friends across the Northern US. We'll chat later.

Lilly and I stepped into the first general session together and watched Tic and Marko and Karla give what I call "the rules" .

A few things entered my mind as I sat there.
First. This is the first time Yac didn't give this presentation whether it be in person or via video in some time. Marko, Tic and Carla did a great job by the way.

I was remembering Yac. Listening to "the rules" looking at this amazing set up and felt awe.
I can't put words to what I felt. Words like: normal and right don't fit. "moving on" doesn't capture it either.

Remembering is closer.

Fredrich Buechner put it this way.

"How do they live on, those giants of our childhood, and how well they manage to take even death in their stride because even death can never put an end to them right enough, it can never put an end to our relationship with them. Whereever or however else they may have come to life since, it is beyond a doubt that they live still in us. Memory is more than looking back to a time that is no longer; it is a looking out into another time altogether where everything that ever was continues not just to be, but to grow and change with the life that is in it still. The people we loved. The people who loved us. The people who, for good or ill, taught us things. Dead and gone though they may be, as we come to understand them in new ways, it is as though they come to understand us - and through them we come to understand ourselves - in new ways too. Who knows what "the communion of saints" means, but surely it means mroe than justthat we are all of us haunted by ghosts because they are not ghosts, these people we once knoew, not just echoes of voices that have years since ceased to speak, but saints in the sense that through them something of the power and richness of life itself not only touched us once long ago, but continues to touch us."

Happy Birthday
Zachery Taylor Riddle
8 years old today!

You have a witty sense of humor, a great mind and a gentle heart.
I love you buddy!

Funny quotes:

Zachery turns 8 tomorrow. In the car ride home tonight from his birthday party, he said he hopes he get's "A diary of a spider" which is a book. He said, "It's like "A Diary of a Worm".

Then my 4 year old says, "Can we stop talking about diarrhea?"

Obi-Wan-Kenobi Watch

2:01 - 2:02 - 2:03- 2:05 - 2:06 - 2:07 - 2:08
twenty minutes later

2:28 - 2:29

and so it went now that my oldest has a watch.
He tells us the time all day long

Rivendell TU:

It was a good experience this morning at TU. It was a great crowd, and we had some pretty good interaction. Steve Denton is the founder of Rivendell. He is the kind of guy I'd like to be my pastor. That's not a comment I hand out very often.

I'm glad that Rivendell allows for conversation in their services, between the person up front and the people all around. It always feels a bit ackward to talk with a group that you don't know. In preparation, you don't know what's been talked about before etc etc etc.

The people there were graceful and generous. I hope God worked in some way.
My good friends Jimmy and Amy Doyle (and the three kiddos) all came to support me.

It was good.

Attend Three seminars in Nashville

I've had a few request for suggestion for the NYWC.
Here are a few seminars I highly recommend:

Pursuing a Theological Matrix for Youth Ministry: Intersecting Theology with Real-Life Youth MinistrySteve Argue , Dave Livermore
As youth leaders, we all feel the pressure to be problem solvers, yet we long to be true shepherds. Who we are and what we do in ministry springs from our theology. During this workshop, we’ll share a theological matrix that serves as a compass for navigating how we live our lives and lead our ministries. Our approach will be interactive and will include discussing tangible ways to communicate theology to 21st century students.


Hurt: Inside the World of Today's Teenager -Chap Clark
In the book of the same title, released late last fall, Chap Clark details the results of a year-long study of a wide demographic of high school kids all across the U.S. In this seminar Chap will briefly describe the reasons for his study, outline the methods used, and present in detail the eye-opening results of the team’s study. In addition, suggestions will be presented for how parents, teachers, and especially youth workers can counter the effects of systemic abandonment.

Becoming Human: A Spiritual Theology for a New Kind of Youth Worker
Mike King
Much of spiritual theology has either been oversimplified and formed through behavioral modification pedagogies or has become veiled in abstraction. Could it be that our pursuit to be like God is the cause of much of the dysfunction in our Christian lives and youth ministries? Perhaps Jesus came to dwell among us to show us how to become fully human. This seminar will look at a spiritual theology that goes beyond cliché, comfort, self, and the hyper-spiritualization of the Christian life. We will explore a spirituality that is visible, authentic, holistic, encompassing the fullness of life – a perichoresis with God!

Rivendell Fellowship this Sunday

If you are in Tulsa this Sunday, swing by the Tulsa University campus for Rivendell fellowship's TU service. I'll be speaking on the Kingdom of God. Show up at 10:30am and eat breakfast with us, then the service starts at 11:00pm.

Here's their website here.

Duncan, Oklahoma

I spent the early part of this week in Duncan, Oklahoma with the people of First Christian Church. Jason Jackson, (one of the Riddle Group consultants) and I spent three intense days with teens, parents, staff, youth workers and church leaders. I'm always amazed of how God works in these experiences. Jason and I enter the weekend as strangers to the people there, we face a bit of healthy unspoken skepticism and then are embraced as friends and partners in ministry. Our time ends with hugs and pictures and gratitude. Mostly Jason and I being humbled and full of gratitude for having been blessed by these people pursuing God.
They play Shawnee tonight in the playoffs. Go Duncan!

34
Monday I turn 34. I have some new feelings about my birthday this year. Birthdays in my opinion are the most important celebrations we expereince as people. There is a message in a birthday that says, we celebrate you because you are you. Not for what you do, but because you are with us. This year may feel ackward for me because I feel a bit of alienation from the richness of community. It's here, but it still needs some excavating I think. My boys initiated the topic of a party with my wife. Because I'll be traveling on my birthday, we had our party last night. Family attended. It was very nice and my family is very generous. I received a few canvas for me to paint, the third season of 24, a universal remote, cash and Barnes and Noble gift cards. very cool. We ate On the Border fajita's and played Texas Hold'em.

Kyle's Last Sermon
an excerpt read at his funeral:

"Live. And Live Well. BREATHE. Breathe in and Breathe deeply. Be PRESENT. Do not be past. Do not be future. Be now. On a crystal clear, breezy 70 degree day, roll down the windows and FEEL the wind against your skin. Feel the warmth of the sun.
If you run, then allow those first few breaths on a cool Autumn day to FREEZE your lungs and do not just be alarmed, be ALIVE. Get knee-deep in a novel and LOSE track of time.
If you bike, pedal HARD… and if you crash then crash well.
Feel the SATISFACTION of a job well done—a paper well-written, a project thoroughly completed, a play well-performed. If you must wipe the snot from your 3-year old’s nose, don’t be disgusted if the Kleenex didn’t catch it all… because soon he’ll be wiping his own.
If you’ve recently experienced loss, then GRIEVE. And Grieve well. At the table with friends and family, LAUGH. If you’re eating and laughing at the same time, then might as well laugh until you puke. And if you eat, then SMELL. The aromas are not impediments to your day. Steak on the grill, coffee beans freshly ground, cookies in the oven. And TASTE. Taste every ounce of flavor. Taste every ounce of friendship. Taste every ounce of Life. Because-it-is-most-definitely-a-Gift."

Inflationary Theory and Big Bang


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