Mike King

Paradise

Yesterday Paradise08 was held at YouthFront Camp South.  Topher Philgreen served on the board of the event and our son Daniel has been working full time on this event for the last year.  They did an extraordinary job with the logistics along with the help of Fletch, Marshal, Dan and other YouthFront staff.  The weather semi cooperated with a threat of thunderstorms all day that never materialized during the main gathering time of 12:00 to 4:00 PM.  Four thousand young people gathered on, what we call, the Altar field.  Rolly Richert (Producer) Don and Lori Chaffer (Music), with a team of musicians, narrators, etc. did an amazing job with the 4 hour liturgy which followed the story of Jesus Christ before Creation through the eschaton using primarily Scripture, prayer, music and responsive reading.  That sounds like a long time (made longer by upper 80 degree temperatures) but it was so well done the time seemed to fly by.  It was good to see many youth ministry leader friends gathered at our place from around the country.  It was good to have our YouthFront co-founder Vidy Metsker at the event.  Next month is YouthFront's 65 anniversary.  Although the journey getting to this day was interesting and quite strange at times, the day itself was truly remarkable and unique. 

Look at PHOTO ALBUM

Lunar Eclipse

Last night we had a great view of the Lunar Eclipse.  The only problem was the fact that you could only keep your eyes open for 15 seconds looking at it before your eyeballs froze solid.  I ran outside a few times to take a quick picture.

6:00 PM

8:00

 

9:30

 

                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                              

   

                  

 

 

       3:00 AM (In my dreams)

Ahh, a week of family and friends...

Last Thursday marked a transition from work to a work-less focus on family and friends for the rest of 2007.  Friday night we had twelve friends over for a dinner party.  Jessica and Micah dropped in on our party which made it even better.  I have gotten a lot of hang time with Lexi our granddaughter, she is so amazing.  Yesterday we hung out at Micah and Anne's house for awhile.  Vicki watched Lexi because Lindsay was working and Daniel and I went to Sweeney Todd.  All of our kids our coming to our house tonight, very exciting.  OK, this is starting to sound like the Lyndon, KS newspaper (my mom's small hometown) which reports all exciting events in the town like Myrtle Crenshaw had her bunion removed; the Johnson family reunion has been scheduled for the July 4th weekend in Shelter House #3 in the city park; Hank Thompson slipped on the ice and twisted his ankle; and the Bridge Club is rescheduling their December Extravaganza after the New Year.

Derek Webb

The artist at Rock the Light this year who turned me into a non-worker for 45 minutes was Derek Webb.  A good number of YouthFront staff, alumni and friends also gathered for Derek's set.  Derek was also a catalyst to bring all of our adult kids together.  In fact, Derek was the only artist that they were really interested in seeing.  Derek simply used a Mic and guitar to compliment his wit for the purpose of communicating truth in an artistic fashion.  Derek makes a lot of Christians uncomfortable, but that is what Poet/Prophet's are called to do, right?

A King and a Kingdom by Derek Webb

(vs. 1)
who's your brother, who's your sister
you just walked passed him
i think you missed her
as we're all migrating to the place where our father lives
'cause we married in to a family of immigrants
(chorus)
my first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man
my first allegiance is not to democracy or blood
it's to a king & a kingdom

(vs. 2)
there are two great lies that i’ve heard:
“the day you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will not surely die”
and that Jesus Christ was a white, middle-class republican
and if you wanna be saved you have to learn to be like Him

Rolling Ridge Retreat Center

I just spent three days at the Rolling Ridge Retreat Center near Harpers Ferry, West Virginia with a small group of individuals selected to explore the possibility of establishing a Greenbelt type festival in North America.  We have the support of a lot of very prominent and influential people to develop this concept.  From the organizers of Greenbelt to Bono to many others who want to see a robust gathering of Christ followers come together around themes of Art, Justice, Creativity, Environmental stewardship, worship, etc.  We'll see.

In addition to all the planning we found time to hike in the Blue Ridge Mountains (even got lost for awhile) swim across the Shenandoah River and enjoy each others company.  My friends Karen Sloan, Karen Ward  and Tony Jones were there along with some great people I had only met via phone conferences.

City Market

Saturday morning was beautiful so we decided to go to the City Market for the second Saturday in a row.  We called to see if Alexis, our granddaughter wanted to make her first trip to the City Market.  She said, "Yes, if my parents can come too."  Her stroller came in handy to store produce and flowers.  We only had to make two trips back to the car with produce. 

After the market we went to Sol Cantina at Martini Corner on Union Hill because Daniel and Lindsay had a $50 coupon.  All over the downtown area development is changing the face of Kansas City.  After we ate we headed back over to Habitat to actually make a purchase because it was way to busy during First Friday's.  I bought some "styling" shoes for myself and a pair for Alexis. 

We finished the afternoon off with a strategic stop at Kansas City's own Christopher Elbow's Chocolates.  Elbow's Chocolates are becoming world famous thanks to Oprah, Food and Wine, Fine Cooking, and InStyle Magazines.  If I was a rich man this is a place that I would go two or three times a week.  Oh well, once a month will have to do.

First Fridays

We started the evening right by eating at Fiorella's Jack Stack at the Freighthouse with friends Mike and Ginger Broyles.  This is our go to restaurant in KC.  It is also Zagat's #1 rated barbecue restaurant in the country.  So good.  If you visit us from out of town and we don't try to take you there it probably means that we don't like you that much.

Our first stop was at Stacey Schmidt's new Imago Gallery on 19th Street Ter.  Stacey goes to Jacob's Well and has just opened this studio.  This was a grand opening.

One of my favorite stops during First Friday's is Hammer Press and the Art Incubator.  Most of the time we are just talking to friends from our Jacob's Well and YouthFront worlds along with other friends from around the city.  Last night we spent a significant amount of time in Habitat owned by friends John and Kristen McClain.  We ran into Stewart and Becky Redwine in Habitat.  Stewart is producing all of our camp videos this summer.  He just got back from Austria and Switzerland shooting a production for his alma mater Azusa Pacific.  Our YouthFront board chairman Ed Garlich and Susan were also in the store with friends.  First Fridays is just the place.  I kept saying all night, "I love my city." 

On the way back to the car the heavens opened and we got a soaking but even that was a fun adventure to top off a great evening in Kansas City.

New Years Eve still seems surreal

New Year's Eve still seems a bit surreal to me.  I knew it was going to be a busy day with seven events (parties, church, chiefs game, etc.) on our schedule.  Vicki and I decided to go to the Chiefs vs Jaguars game, not because we had hope for the playoffs but because the weather was pretty nice for December 31.  The Chiefs pulled off a big win and soon we noticed that New England was beating the Titans up (no surprise) but come on there was know way all of the following could happen on this last day of 2006

Kansas City win vs. Jacksonville

Tennessee loss/tie vs. New England

Cincinnati loss/tie vs. (7-8) Pittsburgh

Denver loss vs. (6-9) San Francisco

By 3:45 PM Central time all but a Denver loss to SF had fallen into place.  NO WAY the Bronco's will lose at home when a win gets them into the playoffs, especially when their opponent is the 49'ers.  We left for church with the Bronco's up 13-0, bummed that there would be no miracle on this fine day.  Half way through the church service I started to get text updates from my sons... "the 49'ers scored..."  "they held the Bronco's" etc.  Could it be?  Was Lamar twisting the arms of the football gods?

We left church early for McCoy's - the nearest TV - to witness the overtime victory of San Francisco and the celebration of the Chiefs in the playoffs.  The rest of our night and the parties we attended were so much more fun.  GO CHIEFS... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Arrowhead

We have been Chiefs season ticket holders since 1989 the year Carl Peterson came to town as the GM and hired Marty Schottenheimer as the head coach.  Thanksgiving night at Arrowhead Stadium was one of the most memorable experiences during our 18 seasons of faithful attendence.  The atmosphere was more festive than any playoff game or opener.  Of course, the balmy weather, holiday spirit and Turkey and BBQ tailgating had something to do with it.  Also, the fact that the Broncos were in town on a national stage with a big halftime show and lots of fireworks also added to the energy.

The best part was having Jessica with me to celebrate this great victory.  I am happy to have raised a football loving daughter.

Silent Auction

Last night we held our first annual YouthFront Silent Auction.

What a blast! We had some really great stuff to auction off and an auditorium full of wonderful people.  We raised $25,000 plus but I have a feeling that this is going to be a huge event in the future.