Mike King

Finalist

The Kansas City Parent Magazine has chosen Youthfront Camps as a 2008 Family Favorite in their "reader-approved choices for the favorite family-friendly places in the Kansas City area."

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Baptisms at the Pilgrimage

I love when we do baptisms at Jacob's Well.  In addition to all the baptisms, we also had several dedications and annointings.  We pray this prayer over each person baptized, dedicated or annointed. 

Together, we pray that ___________’s minds will know Your wisdom.
Their eyes will see Your glory.
Their ears will hear Your words.
Their mouths will speak Your truth.
Their hearts will be Jesus’ home.
Their hands will do Your work.
That their knees would bow only before You, the Lord Our God.
And that ________'s feet would follow You in the way of Jesus all the days of their life.
Amen.

To conclude our time of Baptism and Dedications I invited everyone gathered to Remember their Baptism.  Martin Luther, the Father of the Reformation, consistently spoke of the importance of "Remembering our Baptism."  This remembering is a deep remembering which invites us to recommit, repent, worship, celebrate and much more.  We remember in a Kairos way instead of a Chronos way.  Baptism is a Sacrament.  This means that Baptism is multi-dimensional and layered with significance.  We Remember our Baptism not only as individuals but as a community.  Water has deep implications for life, creation, restoration, and resurrection.  We truly are a community of people called to be defined by our relationship with God.  We are identified with Christ, who died, was buried and arose to new life.  Remembering our Baptism reminds us that we have life and our destined to be resurrection people. 

I closed the service by instructing everyone gathered to scoop up a handful of water and pour it over their head or make the sign of the cross on their forehead, letting the water run down their face.  In this way we Remembered our Baptism as a community of  pilgrims.

"As often as we fall away, we ought to recall the memory of our baptism and fortify our minds with it, that we may always be sure and  confident of the forgiveness of sins." John Calvin, (Institutes, 4, xv, 3)

Sunday morning at the Pilgrimage

After morning prayer, breakfast and an hour break, the bells sounded for all to come to church.  I love bells.  It doesn't get much better than to walk to church when the bells call.  Mike Crawford and gang led some great music and Deth led us on a look at Psalm 24.

The earth is the LORD'S and all it holds, the world and those who live there.  For God founded it on the seas, established it over the rivers.  Who may go up the mountain of the LORD? Who can stand in his holy place?  "The clean of hand and pure of heart, who are not devoted to idols, who have not sworn falsely.  They will receive blessings from the LORD, and justice from their saving God.  Such are the people that love the LORD, that seek the face of the God of Jacob." Selah.  Lift up your heads, O gates; rise up, you ancient portals, that the king of glory may enter.  Who is this king of glory?  The LORD, a mighty warrior, the LORD, mighty in battle.   Lift up your heads, O gates; rise up, you ancient portals, that the king of glory may enter.  Who is this king of glory? The LORD of hosts is the king of glory. Selah.  Psalm 24

Wanderings at the Pilgrimage

 
On Saturday night all of us pilgrims on the Jacob's Well Pilgrimage leaned into and re-enacted aspects of the wanderings of Israel in the wilderness and walked through a replica of the Tabernacle God instructed the Israelites to build.  This worship and learning experience turned into an amazing worship and transformational time for all of us.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect for this night.  The stars came out and the full moon slowly emerged over the trees in the Eastern sky.  This was a time for our community to imagine what it means to be the people of God.  God's instructions to Moses and the Israelites concerning the Tabernacle was for the purpose of reconstituting for the Hebrew people what it meant to be the people of a Holy God.  The Hebrews who had spent centuries in Egypt and had forgotten who they were and who they belonged to.  One of the prayer exercises that we engaged in was to use clay to shape a representation of what our idols are.  After sharing what the idols were in our lives we destroyed them together.  We truly want to be the people of God who are following faithfully in the way of Jesus.

Random Pilgrimage Moments

Pilgrimage Tent Villages

While most of us prefer to pilgrimage in cabins, many have chosen to take advantage of this wonderful fall like weather by joining a tent village.

Pilgrimage Pool Party

Pilrimage Day One

After some last minute set-up and preparation at Youthfront South for the Pilgrimage, our staff of Jacob's Well enjoyed an afternoon of beautiful weather and fun in the pool.   Several staff kids pleaded for me to go down the waterslide with them.  I couldn't turn them down until I realized that I might die if I had to walk back up the hill one more time.  I caught my breath in time to engage in an intense 4 on 4 water basketball game.  I still want to play like a 25 year old.  Today I'm really sore and I can't imagine what I will feel like tomorrow.  Around 5:00 the Pilgrims started arriving.  It is beautiful here.  The August brown down never happened this summer and the property is green and lush. 

As pilgrims arrived at the entrance they were greeted by a team who prayed with them in their vehicles.

O God, our heavenly Father, whose glory fills the whole creation: May this Pilgrimage be a time of refreshment and peace.  By your Holy Spirit, restore our bodies, renew our minds, and open our hearts to the goodness of your creation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

I shared about the concept of Pilgrimage at dinner...

The practice of pilgrimage in some form is nearly universal.  There seems to be something naturally in the hearts of human beings that encourages the desire to pursue pilgrimage.  We see some manner of pilgrimage in every culture and religion throughout the world.  We take a pilgrimage not because it helps us arrive at a new destination of spiritual enlightenment.  We embrace the concept of pilgrimage to lean into the reality that we are on a life-long journey with the Holy Spirit as our guide who teaches us how to discover full life with God in the way of Jesus Christ.  Pilgrimage helps us synthesize our inward journey with our outward journey. 

After dinner we celebrated with a square dance on the outdoor basketball court and a pool party.

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.  Psalm 84:5

On Pilgrimage

300 plus pilgrims from my church, Jacob's Well, are on Pilgrimage together until Sunday night at Youthfront South.  This is our third church-wide Pilgrimage and is a major part of our church calendar and rhythm of our community.  I will post some thoughts during the weekend.

Here is an excerpt from a book I collaborated on called Sacred Life: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Living.  I wrote about the formational role of Pilgrimage. 

We find the earliest semblance of pilgrimage showing up in the Old Testament when Abraham and Sarah were called to embark on a journey with God to a land of promise.  The concept of pilgrimage was woven into the spirituality of Old Testament believers.  Psalms 120 through 134 were written specifically for the purpose of being sung by pilgrims on the way to Zion and the temple.  These scriptures helped to prepare the pilgrims for their visit to Jerusalem and the Temple.  Jesus and his family made several pilgrimages to Jerusalem as did all good Jewish families living in the Middle East during that time.  The account of Jesus being found by his parents in the temple, confounding the scholars with his wisdom, occurred when Jesus was accidentally left behind in Jerusalem during a pilgrimage.  Pilgrimage continued to play a key role in the life of the early church.  Origen, a 3rd Century Church Father spoke of the passion that followers of Jesus had to walk in the “footsteps of Christ, of the Prophets and of the Apostles.”  From the earliest days of the new Christian Church, pilgrimage has been practiced as a way to emphasize a connection of the internal journey of the heart with an external physical journey of discovery and growth.  The earliest pilgrimages were a way to take up the via crucis (the way of the cross, the way of crucifixion).  The destination of these ancient pilgrimages were the primarily places connected to Jesus, especially his birth place, the places he taught and did miracles, his place of crucifixion, burial, resurrection and ascension.  A pilgrimage was a way to reenact and embrace of the way of Jesus, who was not only displaced by becoming a human being but also as a human being had no place to lay his head.  Jesus was on the road, on a journey, and on a mission.  We are invited to follow Jesus on this journey and mission.  The pilgrim willingly enacts displacement from his/her comfort zone for a period of spiritual discovery and enlightenment.   Pilgrims displaced from their normal environments for a period of time eventually return to their normal environments.  The goal was to return home from the journey and pilgrimage with a sense that they had taken a significant step forward in their spiritual development.  The concept of pilgrimage in early Christianity became firmly established and widely accepted as a metaphor for salvation and the spiritual journey. 

 

Pray for Jessica

Pray for Jessica tomorrow morning (Wednesday, August 13).  Our baby girl is having surgery and we would love your prayers on her behalf.

The Altar

The Altar is a Christian retreat designed for middle school, high school, and college aged students.

This year, Youthfront is partnering with Clapham Sect: Phase II, a community of student abolitionists. We anticipate being drawn closer to the heart of God and into a lifelong journey of pursuing justice.

Speak out for those who cannot speak,
     for the rights of all the destitute.
Speak out, judge righteously,
     defend the rights of the poor and needy.  Proverbs 31.8-9

We will join together as one body to seek after God and work towards the restoration of our broken world through learning about modern day slavery and engaging in the fight to end oppression.

The Altar will take place on
September 26-28, 2008 at YouthFront Camp South
near La Cygne, Kansas

Get more information or register online today!

If you have questions, or would like additional information, contact Jamie Roach at 913.262.3900.  If you would like additional brochures for The Altar, please e-mail your name and address to Jamie Roach at jroach@youthfront.com

Summer Ministry

We just completed an amazing summer of ministry.  Here are a few pictures I took on my last day at Youthfront Camp West.  Around 6,000 young people who were exposed to intense environments of spiritual formation in the last three months through the ministry of Youthfront.  Hundreds of these young people discovered for the first time the reality of being found by a Savior who lived, died and arose again for their salvation.  Those who knew Jesus were called to a deeper more radical obedience and discipleship to follow faithfully and boldly in the way of Jesus.  This is good news.  We want to do all we can to help these students continue the passionate pursuit of God in their lives when they return to school.  Sometimes this happens through on campus ministries like Club121, Justice focused clubs, Prayer groups, or special events like The Altar, along with programs like Teen Staff Development and more.  In addition, we know the way we can most strategically engage in God’s Kingdom Agenda within the calling we have for youth ministry is to aggressively train, equip and develop the youth workers who not only minister to the thousands of kids who were with us this summer but tens of thousands of students around the country.

Vacationing in North Carolina

Vicki and I spent last week unplugged on vacation at Atlantic Beach, North Carolina with Vicki's parents and siblings.  There were 15 of us.  Vicki's dad, Jack has a friend he helped finance a business start-up that became very successful.  To show his gratitude, he allows the Alfano Clan to stay in his beach home.  This year, we enjoyed his newly remodeled home built right on the sand dune a few feet away from the shoreline.  The surf was awesome all week.  The beach was uncrowded.  The weather was perfect.  I almost made it through all 566 pages of the best selling fiction novel by David Wroblewski, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.   The toughest decisions I had to make were how much should I eat and do I want to hang out at the beach, swim in the ocean, or lay by the pool. I need a three month Sabbatical at this place.   more pictures

This girl is falling for her church

This is a cool post from Danielle who is falling in love with her church.  Read

Evangelicals and Campaign '08

Here is the news story examining the role Evangelicals may play in Campaign 2008.  I posted about this here.  The piece shows an exterior of Jacob's Well, a shot during the service and b-roll of Tim Keel preaching.   A few Jacob's Well members are featured, along with several others from area KC churches.  A couple of Youthfront alumni also sound off from Heartland Church, I believe.  Jim Wallis also appears, along with Mark DeMoss who I know from my Liberty University days.  Strange to watch this on national news while vacationing in North Carolina.

Plaza Life

For a long time we've had a goal to live in Midtown Kansas City somewhere near the Country Club Plaza.  We've been trying to sell our home in Blue Springs so we could move into the neighborhood that has become our community.  We work in this area, go to church in this area, and play in this area.  We have been looking at Condo's, homes and Lofts for a couple of years.  Recently, several bargains have surfaced given the present state of our economy and the real estate market.  So we bought what is technically a second home (better interest rate) which will be lived in by our daughter Jessica and two of her Youthfront/Jacob's Well girl friends.  We have been staying there some until the girls get moved in after Youthfront camp is over.  It is great to get up early and be in a favorite coffee shop within three minutes, drive to the office in four minutes and get to church in four minutes.  Making the drive from Blue Springs is going to be harder than ever before, especially with the current gas prices.

Right by my side and Don Chaffer

The song (prayer) Right by my Side has been with me non-stop since last Friday.  I had a dozen visitors with me at Youthfront South.  We went to Midday together and joined 300 high school students in the chapel for this prayer time.  We prayed theologically rich prayers of the church, declared our faith with the Apostles Creed, read a Resurrection narrative from Luke and embraced silence.  The prayer song was simple and beautiful.

I could run away   
You would never leave
You will always stay right by my side
Oh, right by my side
Right by my side
And I need You
I need You
Every step of the way
Everything I ever wanted I’ve found in You
Everything I ever wanted I’ve found in You 

I didn't want it to end.  It didn't, it is still going on inside me one week later.

I saw Micah Thomas over the weekend.  Micah leads the music.  He said something like, "It was kind of interesting leading Right by my SIde with Don Chaffer in the room."  That is when I found out Don wrote the song.  I am much more familiar with Don's music of the last five years since we have become friends.  I talked to Don yesterday and told him that I have been living in his song for a week now.  Since the song was written around nine years ago he was happy that he could still embrace those lyrics today.  That is significant when you are on a life-long journey.  He also talked about writing some new kind of liturgical music.  As we continue to develop our liturgy at Youthfront South I am hopeful for more of Don's work. 

If you are in the Kansas City area you can see another side of Don Chaffer, the artist, when the Khrusty Brother's perform.

August 15 - Voodoo Lounge
September 13 - Bottleneck 
September 20 - Crosstown Station

Dark Knight

I thought about writing a review of Dark Knight but everyone seems convinced this is a great summer movie.  I am not on the bandwagon that Heath Ledger should win an Oscar for his performance - amazing as it was.  I also liked the storyline in Batman Begins better than the storyline in Dark Knight.  But the special effects in Dark Knight... wow!

The coolest thing about Dark Knight, however, is that Gorman Stanley (one of my closest friends and former youth ministry student followed by staff member associate at Youthfront) produced the media for the Dark Knight Premiere.  He was seeing the movie before the rest of us blokes.  Way to go Gorman, you've come a long way since The Trumpet of Jesus.  Gorman recently worked on the ESPY Awards and rumor has it that he wrote Will Ferrell's schtick upon receiving the Best Male Athlete Award on behalf of Tiger Woods.  It's only rumor...

Anyway, here is a picture Gorman sent me of his stuff from the Dark Knight Premiere.

Check out Zach and Jacob's Well people on CBS National News

Last week I spent the better part of three days with Zach Exley.  I loved every second I spent talking to him.  He is truly a refreshing and interesting person.  He does not have a church background and yet he is truly curious and intrigued by Christians, their churches, traditions and views.  I was drawn to his unique way of looking at church and culture. 

Here is a description of Zack I found online, "Zach speaks on progressive strategy as well as online organizing, advocacy and fundraising. He has appeared as a commentator on Hannity & Colmes, Hardball with Chris Mathews, Scarborough Country, All Things Considered, the Diane Rehm Show, BBC News Hour and others. He has been profiled by the Wall Street Journal, New York Observer, the Los Angeles Times, CNN Presents, Wired News, and other publications."

Check out his blog Revolution in JesusLand.  We spent the day together on Thursday at Youthfront Camp South.  While there CBS National News called him about interviewing Christians about the upcoming election.  He asked me if it would be good to have them check out Jacob's Well.  On Sunday morning a CBS news team stood on the sidewalk interviewing our congregants about the Presidential Elections.  They hit a couple of other churches also.  It should air sometime this week.