DLmail10/27/2008 extreme impact

The Lingenfelter family found ourselves in Pekin bright and early Saturday morning at the kid's last JFL game of the season. We took advantage of being in Pekin to stop by the ABC Extreme Home Makeover house on 14th St. It was very exciting to see so many people come together to make a huge impact in the lives of this family. It is also incredible when you look closely and see beyond the big house to those actually giving of themselves and their resources to make this happen. You might not know it, but the rafters, trusses and decking of the roof on that huge house were put in place by ex DL leader and rookie Quest man Brian Cooper. We looked closely and saw a friend named Kim, a Northwoods woman, serving food to the hundreds of volunteers. I looked really close and saw a styrofoam cup. That simple cup is one of thousands provided by third grade DLer Rachel's dad Craig (hubby of Treehouse volunteer Amy). And I know there are so many more pitching in, making an impact. Then it was off to church.

We greeted about twice as many kids in the Factory as the prior week. They learned first hand about making an impact for God as they prepared the sacks they would fill later that evening for the South Side Mission Food Drive. The Northwoods plan worked (from what I noticed). The faithful of Northwoods heard the call Cal gave and went by the masses to Walmart and Kroger. We opted for Walmart and it was astonishing how many people gave of their time and resources to help the Mission through this mission. You could barely get through the aisles as they were jammed with Northwoods people filling their carts to the top. The shelves were literally being emptied while the semi trailers were filling in the parking lot. And this was Saturday night, a service that is usually attended by fewer people. I can only imagine the scene on Sunday. What a testimony to my kids to have a day such as last Saturday. Impact.

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The Impact lesson of last weekend concluded the all church Kingdom series. It was a great series but it is time to move on. We are back to studying virtues. For November our virtue is Gratitude. The lesson this week is Leaping Lepers (uh, not that I am the PC police, but can we say that?). Gratitude, letting others know you see how they've helped. The memory verse is "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever." 1 Chronicles 16:34. The Bible story is Leaping Lepers (Jesus heals 10 men) Luke 17:11-19. Bottom line, take time to just say thank you. The small group leaders material for the entire month of November can be found at this link http://www.nwoods.org/storyWithChart.asp?storyid=598.

This Saturday I plan to serve with Kevin, Monica and Zach Van B. Zach missed out on our little leader connect time we had prior to service last Saturday. In attendance were Doug & Tiffany Bergia, Doug Luebke and his son Phil, Carly, Tim & Gayle Thorson, Susan Rychener, Kevin & Monica Stewart and Pam & Rick Lingenfelter. It was a great, too brief, time of getting to know each other a little better. Leapin lepers! we are boring...I mean blessed. Just kidding, although many of us seem to have grown up under pretty similar circumstances and with similar testimonies. Of course there is likely more under the surface that some of us didn't divulge. To that I show gratitude and say "Thank you." Aren't we drowning in enough bad news these days? I have pretty much stopped watching the news with the exception of the news on ESPN, ESPN2, Comcast and The Weather Channel. Speaking of current events...

I am ready for this political season to end. It started years ago and I pretty much can't take it anymore. More and more I am hearing kids talk about politics. It just makes me uncomfortable. I even had to flex my editorial muscle in church Saturday regarding the decorating of the grocery sacks. Three were really political, and one was downright embarassingly political. Note to parents reading this blog...your kids will repeat your views in your own words outside of your view, so watch what you say. Whether it is slamming Sarah Palin for whatever she is getting slammed for this week, or writing this on your grocery sack "Obama thinks it is OK to kill babies before they are born," your kids are a window into the opinionated section of your soul. Maybe I am off base here. There is a comment section below for discussion. Just watch what you write on your sack.

DLmail 10/21/2008 Bond...G Bond

It is as if the child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang swept through the Peoria area targeting 9-11 year old kids. Where have they gone? Certainly they are not so busy already that church is the last option. I hope the age for talking their parents into not making them come to church hasn't dropped from 6th through 8th grade and now resides with our 4th and 5th graders. There is hope. 2nd and 3rd grade packed them in last Saturday. Mystery.

It was still a great night in DL, minus one. As I announced to the whole team, Melissa has decided to retire from serving in the Factory. Her gifts were obvious and will be missed. We will have a spot reserved for her in case she is just pulling a 2007 Brett Favre and decides to come back. If she is pulling a 2008 Brett Favre and shows up serving in another area of church for higher snack wages, well then, I guess we will still cheer for her, maybe.

Kevin Elder taught us all about the authority Jesus left us with. Wow. Heavy responsibility that was given to those 11 disciples and passed on to us some 2,000+ years later. Kevin brought a walking talking visual aid in the form of Officer Bond, G. Bond. He carries much authority with him and even came packing (lucky). The kids were really attentive and Kevin seemed sincerely sorry for his poor driving habits he admitted to. And of course Kevin dropped some adult thinking opportunities as he pondered Judas and his current whereabouts.

We will meet and eat this Saturday, Oct. 25th, at 4:15pm in the Atrium. We will join the leaders from the Treehouse and have an hour of connecting and sharing. Susan Rychener will be slaving and baking tasty food stuffs. I will simply phone in an order to Avanti's and pick it up on the way to church. So, you will be eating something from Avanti's. If you want something specific, I need to hear from you. If you have any food allergies...well, sucks to be you (yes, I stole that from Cal, who maybe borrowed it from Hybels...not sure). I could be persuaded to bring something from Subway but you have to ask. I heard from Tim, the Stewarts and Zach Van B and all are coming. You can throw in $5 to defer costs if you choose. You may also want to bring a spare $6 to buy a new DL shirt after you drip marinara on the one you're wearing.

This weekend we continue the Kingdom series, but there is no small group time. There will be some plug in time and you can use it to reconnect and pray with your kids. The service is going to be over early though. The theme is Making a King-sized Impact. The mainstage service culminates about a half hour early with those in attendance being called to go to Walmart, buy canned goods and load them directly onto a semi trailer we will have there. This is a can drive of different proportions. No excuses like, "Oh, we forgot to bring the food for the can drive." Northwoods will be showing up at Walmart by the masses this weekend and we may just see our slow national economy stimulated a bit, all while providing food for those in need. So, come this Saturday and enjoy a great time of connection with the adults you serve with and pressure free connection with the kids. If you want last weeks small group info (?!?) click here: http://www.nwoods.org/storyWithChart.asp?storyid=598. If you missed Cal's mainstage message, Walking in Kingdom Authority, click here: http://www.nwoods.org/media/player.html

Finally, I am known far and wide for my photography. Not all of it is great, but take enough photos and you are bound to get a keeper or two. I am less well known outside of my family for my videography. Within my family I am known as a bit of an expert at artsy views of terra firma and peripheral objects. Am I being too vague? Sand, rocks, grass, feet, legs, conversation...all filmed from hip height. Here, enjoy an artsy short film by Rick. See you Saturday. Oh, and thanks (not) Rachel for dragging Erin up there to sing happy birthday, barf.

DLmail 10/14/2008 Crashing

How about that, go to church, learn about prayer and aviation lingo. If you missed Rick Rogy's message Saturday night, you missed a great one. His presentation touched off a great small group conversation for me with the 4th grade boys. It went so deep that I felt like...suddenly telling them time was up. Really, prayer, while so easy, is so complicated. Many "why?" questions arose and I was amazed at the depth shown by some of these kids. If I turn the clock back about 4 years, I sat in room G (or F, the old DL) and had an incredibly frustrating conversation with a boy named Jacob. It began when he flat out said, "There is no God. I have prayed and never gotten an answer." This was a child who didn't connect well. Who antagonized everyone. Who argued, as a 4th grader, using scientific theories. Who spent most of his time on the computer, alone. Who came to church every weekend. That was the key. He kept coming. I know what his unanswered prayers were, he wanted a friend, but had difficulty in being a friend. But he kept coming. It wasn't easy to catch him having fun. Then one day he met his match. Justin started coming to church. A prayer was answered months, maybe years after a kid prayed. But it was answered. Jacob and Justin became great friends. Jacob became a different DL student. Now, 4 years later, I sit in a small group with Lucas. He exudes faith and his most profound comment last Saturday was "I hope Jesus comes back really soon." He raised his hand when I asked who prayed within the last day. He prays all the time. And ironically he is Jacob's little brother. It was a great night in DL. I particularly liked that Rick suggested that the kids ask their parents what they learned in church that night on their way home. I wonder how many followed through and what kind of conversations ensued.



We were just three leaders on Saturday, Kevin, Monica and myself, but God ironed out the details and all went well. This weekend I am expecting the Stewarts, Tim and Melissa. Please let me know if you cannot make it. Having no social life, I am extremely easy to get in touch with. I check my email (rlingenf@hotmail.com) 1,500 times a day and I have a cell phone (696-3388) with me all the time. Last month I received over 4 calls from people I am not related to. So if you call, chances are I will answer quickly as it is a somewhat exciting and rare event in my everyday life to get a call.



Now some housekeeping. Kevin and Monica must miss on Nov. 8th. I need to know if you, Tim, Melissa and Zach, will be able to be in DL on that Saturday. Please let me know ASAP. Also, Susan Rychener and I had a discussion last week that we need to have a little pre-service eat time for the leaders. So, we need to know if you can come on Saturday Oct. 25th at 4PMish. This is something we did regularly a few years ago and it is so rewarding. We will do this with the 2nd-3rd grade leaders. It is an incredible time to connect as adults who have the same desire to serve. Please, please, please, let me know about those two dates. And the 25th is a get together time whether or not you are serving that evening. This is open to programmers, teachers and worship leaders also. Generally we have Subway, pizza or Avantis.

This weekend the Kingdom series continues with Behaving Like a King's Kid. Read this passage, Matthew 28:16-20 (the Great Commission). Come and serve and follow, uh, the great commission as you share Christ with these kids. Talk about walking the talk. The memory verse is "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me..." Matthew 28:18. Pray that you will be used to carry out what Jesus calls us to do. Small group leader info will be at this link: http://www.nwoods.org/storyWithChart.asp?storyid=598 Tim Reist's mainstage message is located here:http://www.nwoods.org/media/player.html




We have begun to put a real emphasis on tracking the kids who are attending DL. We have new attendance sheets and we are going to be much more intentional as far as helping these kids connect to their leaders and each other. Leadership will begin strongly encouraging adults to bring kids to church regularly and to the same service. This is really an adult thing as kids rely on parents to get them to church, but kids do have great influence and you can encourage your small group kids to encourage their adults to bring them to the same service each week. Keep in mind that this is a huge age to encourage kids to continue their spiritual journey. Middle school is next and things really change. My Josh is now in Quest. The large consistent group of Chillicothe kids that we had during 4th/5th has dropped from 8-12 each week to Josh and maybe one or two others. Whether those kids have switched services or just don't come anymore, I don't know, but they have disappeared.




Finally, I don't do much, but I do get out to help Kathy with the ballooning thing. I enjoy helping launch the balloon, then chase it, trying to anticipate where it will land and beat the balloon to that spot in hopes of catching it and enabling a soft landing. Below is a landing where I and a former DLer reached the basket to catch it right after the first, gentle bounce. What I didn't get a video of was the second landing in a cornfield west of Dunlap Sunday at dusk. That was a high speed drop over a treeline, then a violent series of bounces and drags. Fun stuff. Not as fun as the time the basket scrapped the top of Bergners at the Shoppes, but still fun. One of these days I will have the camera ready for those landings.

DLmail 10/08/2008 Change for the Future

CHANGE. Seems to be the "in" thing these days. So I can't be called rigid, I am changing the way I distribute the information contained in my weekly DLmail. And I am getting a thumbs up from rabid young republican Emi. The 1.2 megapixels of my phone camera didn't do her new sweatshirt justice, it reads "Wake Up America...Vote Palin for VP." My guess...if she were old enough to vote, she would likely go with McCain...just a guess.

Whereas Emi boldly proclaims her leanings, I tend to take my queue from the wise deputy sheriff of Mayberry, Barney Fife as he eloquently stated "How I vote mister is my business." Besides, everyone laughs when I tell them I am voting for Harold Greene as a write in candidate. I don't even know if he wants the job, but the guy can sure play guitar.

So Emi, this video clip of Bob Hope from 1940, is for you. Enjoy.

Last weekend was another great weekend of the whole church Kingdom series. We missed Melissa who was home ailing, but Zach Van B showed on back to back Saturdays and along with Kevin, Monica and Tim, the adult to kid ratio was great. We even tripled the number of Livin It's that came back (of course we went from just one to three, but it is a start). Remember, be sure to spend plenty of time connecting with the kids, really getting to know them, reinforcing the teach time and praying with them. They need you to model prayer*, so don't let time get away from you and miss this most important part of small group time.

The small group info for this coming Saturday can be downloaded at this link.

http://www.nwoods.org/storyWithChart.asp?storyid=598

Growing as a King's Kid

*Bible story is Jesus teaches His disciples to pray, Matt. 6:5-15

Memory verse "Pray continually." I Thessalonians 5:17

Expect larger numbers of kids to begin coming on Saturday nights. By November our numbers are usually much higher as the fall outdoor activities will wane with our shorter daylight hours.

Housekeeping note. Kevin and Monica must miss on Nov. 6th. Tim, Melissa, Zach...can you arrange to be there on that date? If not I will arrange for subs, and may do so anyway, but if I know you are able to be there, that really helps.

Back to last weekend. Keith L. did a great job of going through the fruits of the spirit. The kids seemed very attentive and I trust that they carried that into the small group time. I didn't get around much during that time as I was kept busy cleaning the stage from the pie. Oh that pie. Keith did a great job of illustrating a lack of self control with it. I simply enjoyed smashing it into his face. Is that wrong? It was another moment when I wish I had remembered to bring my camera. I pushed that pie onto his face so hard I know I saw banana cream come out of his ears. Anyway, last weekend's lesson, along with Cal's mainstage message (found here if you missed it http://www.nwoods.org/media/player.html) really got me thinking. You don't know it, but there is a 350 lb. man that lives inside of me who constantly begs for food. God doesn't just put the fruits of the spirit within us, he gives us the opportunity to use our fruits. Keith was drawn to the pie, Cal was stuck next to patience provokers on airplanes, I wanted the pie Keith wanted. So many chances to practice our faith. Recently my family was treated to homemade ice cream and apple pie. Oh man, I could have eaten the entire pie, both pies, and all the ice cream. Then my man inside would have begged for something salty, like chips, pizza or hot dogs. Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut have nothing on me regarding certain foods. I have to practice self control constantly and last weekend was a great reminder.

It goes farther too. Don't forget we are being watched as we practice our fruits. We as Christians are held to a high standard as we live our human lives. So while the hungry guy inside me begs me to make another trip to the concession stand at our next football game, or the same guy, angry from hunger, wants me to yell at the refs or talk down about some players lack of ability, I will remember our lessons from last weekend and try to practice what was preached. People, kids, they are watching us. Walk the talk.