Roswell, but no Aliens

Made a trip to Roswell today. Shana's cousins graduated, one from high school and the other from college. I got to hang out with a bunch of people I don't know from the other side of the other side of (yeah, that far away) Shana's family. Woohoo.

Tomorrow we're going to church in Lovington (woohoo again) and then hitting the road for Sweetwater. We're doing the classic hamburger/devo/tryout thing. So far it looks like God is opening up this door for us. Hope I don't mess it up, because we sure need that job, and it sounds like a great ministry opportunity.

For those that care (Terry), I did go prairie dog hunting yesterday. I took some digital pics, but I won't have a way to post them until I get home some time Monday, so I'll hold off on the story of the hunt till then.

Guess that's it.
Jason

Outside the Box

Honestly, I had low expectations. I did an interview last night with the Fourth and Elm church in Sweetwater. I didn't know anything at all about the church until I drove into the parking lot. I honestly expected a church of 150-200, and I expected to sit through an interview where I would be asked questions about "the issues," be branded a "liberal" and get on my way to Lovington. I'm so glad I was wrong.

The church is a congregation of about 350 with about 50 kids in the youth group. Their building burned in '98, so their facility is excellent. They have projection systems in at least four classrooms, plus the auditorium. The preacher's been there eight years. Several years ago they "fired" some elders, which by their account has made the church much healthier. They have a good relationship with ACU. The other churches of Christ in town won't have much to do with them because they're the "liberal" church. And the clincher for me: they don't require an inquisition to be a member. To join their fellowship, all you have to do is... get this... ASK! You may not get to teach or lead in worship if you're unbaptized, but they don't turn you away or give you a God-forsaken asterisk in the directory.

The interview went well by my estimation. Apparently they thought so too, because I'm coming back on Sunday night to do the hamburger/devo thing common to most youth ministry tryouts.

I hate to be too hopeful, but this looks like a really good thing. Could it be, could there actually be a church where I fit? A church where my gifts are needed and used, a church where elders, deacons, and staff work TOGETHER, a church where flexibility and love are more important than correct opinions on "the issues?" (Sorry if I sound a bit grumpy, being burned makes you crispy)

Friends and family, pray for this situation. My prayer is that if it is the Lord's will to bring this church and my family together that it will be clear to everyone involved. Pray that we would know the will of God in this situation. Of course, we'd like it if his will were for us to work there, so you can pray for that too.

And in other, much less important news...
I made it to Lovington last night about midnight. I hit a mouse, a snake, and a rabbit on the way, but no deer and no cops.

I get to shoot some prairie dogs this afternoon. Yipeee!

Derrick and Wayne won second in the tourney this Tuesday. Congrats.

Guess that's about it for today.
Jason

Updates and News About the Hunting

First thing, this is the first Tuesday tourney I've missed this year. Hope Derrick and Wayne won.

Now, back to the unpleasant reality of homeless joblessness....

I spoke today with Jeff Reese about a research position in the psychology department. Since he and I last spoke, the responsibility for getting that particular work done has shifted back to Dr.McKelvain, which probably works in my favor. Problem is Dr.M is in Uruguay until tomorrow. Lucky for me, Jeff was supposed to pick him up from the Abilene airport at 11am tomorrow, and he gave the job to me. (the pick up job, not a real one) That's all for lead #1

Number two, I have an interview tomorrow night with the 4th and Elm church in Sweetwater who is looking for a youth minister. I told them about my school situation before I even sent a resume and they want to talk to me anyway. Could be good.

Number three, I found an opening with the American Cancer Society that I applied for.

Number next (to shamelessly steal a phrase from David Wray), I registered for classes this morning. I'm going to take Advanced Old Testament as a summer 2 short course, supervised practice of ministry (SPM=stupid pointless meaningless??), Intermediate Greek (which assumes that I'll pass the Greek exam), spiritual formation (with the above mentioned Dr. Wray), and Advanced Restoration History with a guy who looks like a famous German but is much nicer. (Don't know why I'm so big on parenthesis all of a sudden)

Number five, I got the realtor's list of rentals and looked at about 6 houses today on driveby. One of them looked nice and there was a car in the driveway, so we knocked on the door and got a tour. Looks like a winner. It's a bit far from campus and a bit more than I'd like to pay, but is exactly what we need (except for the place to park the boat).

So here's the plan: If I'm not able to schedule any interviews on Thursday, I'll leave from Sweetwater to go to Lovington on Wednesday night. If Sweetwater goes well, then I won't do anything about houses just yet. If Sweetwater bombs, then I'll put a deposit down on the nice place on Baylor Street (No UT street in town, sorry) and see what happens from there.

I guess that's it. I probably won't update again until some time Thursday so I can report on the Sweetwater interview.

Jason

No houses!

I drove around a bit, and it looks like there are no houses in our price range that aren't tiny or in the 'hood. The Abilene Board of Realtors publishes a weekly rental list on Tuesdays, so maybe that'll pan out into something.

On the job front, I sent applications and resumes out on a couple of MHMR type positions for case managers for drug rehab types. Both are full time jobs but pay 25-30K. Will see how that turns out.

I also called on Herald of Truth and it turns out that all three of the people I could talk to are out of the COUNTRY until some time next week.

I applied for a job as a student financial services counselor. The guy in charge is an old friend of my parents. Turns out his wife went into labor while playing dominoes at my parents' house twentysomething years ago.

I also plan on applying for a job as a "civic center attendant" aka maintenance guy/janitor at the Abilene civic center. Pays about 15K, but the hours are flexible.

I've got appointments with the MDiv advisor and one of the two potential employing professors tomorrow, and with the other professor on Wednesday. I also got shot for the tuberculosis test that health services requires. I'll find out if I've got TB on Wednesday.

I guess that's it for now. It's 97 degrees or something like that, and Trav's landlord still hasn't fixed the AC. Sounds like a good excuse to head to the lake :)

Jason

Austin

I've been in Austin this weekend. Some interesting things happened...

I saw some T-shirts at a couple of businesses downtown that said "Keep Austin Wierd." Not going to be a problem... lots of wierd people around here.

I fished with Chris Rylander on Friday. The lake people had killed all the grass, so we had to find fish the hard way, but we did. Ended up with four keepers and lost two more. White crankbaits were the ticket.

Went to my cousin's wedding this evening at an 1890's mansion. Kind of cool place. The ceremony was nice and the food wasn't bad either. Got to see my grandparents, all the aunts and uncles, and most of the cousins. For those of you who've never met my family, every one of my male cousins is as into bass fishing as I am. We've always got something to talk about.

I guess that's about it. Going to go to the old home church in the morning. Headed to Abilene in the afternoon tomorrow. I'll post as I get the chance.

Jason

Lots of questions, lots of answers

I spent about seven hours over the last two days filling out a questionnaire for the Baker Heights church in Abilene. They're looking for a youth minister and I've applied. Lots of connections... my old youth minister went to high school with the church secretary, and her mom attends my old church... John Cannon's friend Jack English used to preach there... John's friend Ron McSomething is an elder there... the building design is identical to the church where I grew up. After seven hours of answering questions and asking them questions in return, I'm kind of worn out.

And in other news...

Yesterday's fishing was a bust. I was able to go in the morning from about 6-9 and caught about 10, mostly short ones. We fished the same areas in the evening tournament and didn't get a single bite. We ended up catching only one fish all evening. Doh!

My office is all cleaned out. Those of you that read Tim's or Shana's blog know that I had a little help. You'd think after working some place for three years you could at least have two days to clean out your office. I feel like some people have a guilty conscience and want to forget about me.

I handed over control of the Walnut youth blog yesterday, since I'm no longer "walnutyouthministry." Strangely it hasn't come up since then... did they pull the plug? Time will tell.

We're going to be doing some traveling now that I'm free from my obligations to Walnut. My cousin is getting married this Saturday at 7 p.m. in Austin. We're heading down there on Thursday. I'll fish with Chris Rylander, my best friend from high school, on Friday. We'll probably go to church at Leander with my parents on Sunday. Sunday afternoon we'll head to Abilene. Monday Shana's dad is going to come get her and the boys and take them to Lovington so I'll have the chance to hunt jobs and houses without family obligations. After hunting houses and jobs till Thursday, I'll probably go to Lovington. One of Shana's cousins is graduating, so we'll probably go to Roswell also. We'll go to church somewhere out there Sunday the 29th and either go to Abilene Sunday night and Texarkana Monday or drive all the way through on Monday. We are visiting family and hunting jobs and houses: we have not "left" yet. I think some people are talking about a going away party on the 19th of June, but don't quote me on that one yet.

I guess that's all the news that is news.
Jason

Editor's Note

There are times in life when I want to bite my thumb but should bite my tongue instead. Although the majority of the forces within me want to let 'er rip, the voice of prudence carries the weight today. Even so, I will say one thing.

This website is for my friends and family to keep up with the comings and goings of my life, particularly in this time of transition. Further, James tells us that if a man is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man. We all know that I am not a perfect man, and therefore will occasionally be at fault in what I say. My point is simply this: this site is a friendly place for friendly people. Although it will never be my intent to be erroneous or inflammatory, I am human, and so errors and mis-statements will probably continue to be made. If that is what you are looking for, I'm sure you'll find them eventually. This is the internet, and so I have no control over who views this site and who doesn't. On the other hand, you have a choice whether to view this site or not. If you come here looking for mis-statements and errors to use as ammunition against me, you are not welcome here.

This is a friendly place, so be nice.
Jason

Zipadee Do DA, Zipadee Yay

My oh my what a wonderful day...

Today was my last day in the office. Kind of sad, kind of not. But then....

We signed a contract on our house this afternoon! We only had to come down 1500 off of our asking price, so it looks like we'll be set up pretty nicely. Closing is set for June 24th.

I promised a fishing report that I never delivered, because there isn't much to report. We caught two keepers and didn't weigh.

That's about it, but that's plenty.
Jason

Here's a good pic of my wife and kids. I need it online so I can put it on Shana's profile. For those who haven't met my family, that's Jonathan on the left, Shana in the middle, and Jared on the right.

Scholarship

I got a letter in the mail yesterday telling me that I had been accepted into ACU's grad school (no big surprise). The big surprise was that they also offered me an 80% tuition scholarship! It doesn't apply to nasty stuff like books or the ever infamous "fees," but it still makes this thing much, much cheaper.

That's really all the news that's fit to print, but I'll print a bit more anyway...
We're planning a couple of trips to Abilene in the next couple weeks to hunt jobs and houses. Specifically pray on the 23rd and 24th, and the 31st and 1st.

Got another fishing tournament tonight. We didn't have much luck finding fish this weekend, so tonight we may just be donating our money to the winners. I'm pretty sure the story will end up on here sometime.

(Jason taps loudly on the computer monitor) Is that hit counter working? (Tap tap tap) It looks like I just passed 500 hits. Granted, alot of those are me updating and checking in for comments. Even so, it means lots of folks read what I write. Cool!

Somebody say something about the culture thing! I know it hurts our brains to think, but we should at least try!

Jason

Culture: friend or foe?

I read an interesting article today on Youthworker magazine's online journal.
Cultural Isolationists

My brother and I have also been having a discussion about culture and contextualization on his blog.

In the spirit of an educational exchange of ideas, I offer the following question: Is culture good, bad, or neutral?

The important question is not really the one I just asked, but rather: What should be the church's relationship to culture?

I'll see what you folks have to say about it, and share my opinion later on.

And in other news:
We finished our garage sale with only three boxes and a bag of stuff left over. The bag of clothes went to the Nash clothes closet. We ended up buying all the paint for our painting projects, two dinners, paying a babysitter, and still depositing over 100$.

We got alot of painting done thanks mostly to my dad who not only worked hard, but kept me on task. We painted the shed and both bathrooms. The house is almost ready to sell!

Guess that's it for today.
Jason

Selling my garage, and a job update

Well, we're halfway through day one of our garage sale. We're not really trying to get rich, just to get rid of some stuff. So far it's going well. I'm amazed at the number of people who have come by. I guess we just live in a big time garage sale neighborhood. I think we're up about 170$ so far. People buy the wierdest junk...

I went ahead and took the plunge and sent a resume on that youth ministry job. I got an e-mail back from the minister, and I talked to him on the phone for about an hour last night. So far it still sounds like it's worth pursuing. They've got a committee doing the invitations for interviews and the minister couldn't guarantee me one, but he said my resume looked "strong." Some things I like about the church are that it only has 200 members but 8 elders, and about 35 teens. He said that about 25% of the teens that come consistently are basically just dropped off by their parents from the community. That sounds like a good evangelism opportunity and probably a behavioral challenge. The church hasn't had a full time youth minister in about 15 years. They've used volunteers and some part time ACU students since then, but want to go full time again. He said that about ten people from the church work at ACU. That's kind of nice, since the church in Canadian (and maybe Walnut) is kind of biased against ACU, at least the bible department.

I still have plenty of reservations about whether I'll be able to devote the kind of time that I need to for the ministry to be successful, about whether I want to get back into church politics, and about being tied down on weekends. I've pretty much decided to just let God work this out. If I'm supposed to get it, I'll get it. If I'm not, then I won't.

My parents are coming in this afternoon to spend the weekend helping us around the house. We've got the garage sale going, and we're going to do some painting inside the house of things that didn't get painted when we moved in.

That's about it for today. Gotta go sell the rest of my junk.
Jason

One less thing on my "To Do" list

I think everyone ought to have some kind of to do list. Mine includes such things as:
Go to Alaska
Kill a bear
Kill a fox, coyote, or bobcat with a bow
Kill a Pope and Young buck
Catch a ten pound bass
Write a book

Well, I finally did something off of my list: I won a fishing tournament. Derrick and I won first place in last night's tourney with three fish weighing a whopping 9.92 pounds. Not much, but just enough to win. We won 225$ for our efforts, which puts us up about 75 dollars each for the year, not counting the gas money. Derrick caught two nice ones, one about 4# and another just under 4, and I caught another good 15" keeper to round out the sack. We really didn't think we had enough weight to win, but we weighed in anyway and came out on top. I think 2nd was 9.6 and 3rd was 9.1, so we barely made it. Now if we can just keep it up for a few more weeks....

Jason

At least it's not Monday

Lots of folks hate Mondays, and lately I've jumped on that bandwagon again. About two months ago I wrote a nice bulletin article about how great Mondays were. Boy was I full of (what's a nice word for a public blog that still conveys the meaning I'm looking for... can't think of one).

Now it's Tuesday, the day of less work in my normal routine, the day of my favorite pastime of late, the Tuesday Night Tournament, and six whole days until the next Monday.

Spent a long time on the phone with my parental units last night. They wanted to know all my plans. Of course I have lots of plans, but I just don't' have enough information right now to know if any of them are going to work out. I still need a job. I still need a place to live. I still need to finish the work on my house here and sell it. I still am having a garage sale this weekend to get rid of some of our stuff. I still haven't won any money fishing. Lots of unfinished business.

One of my former professors forwarded me an e-mail about a youth ministry job opening 15 miles from Abilene. That's a tough one. I'm not so sure I need to jump into another youth ministry right now. I've let myself be convinced that I'm not personal enough. I know that I won't be able to give as much as I think a good YM ought to, since I'll be doing school full time and raising kids. I'd appreciate your comments, you few who visit here. Should I try this youth ministry thing one more time?

Keep the faith,
Jason

Here's a recent one of Jonathan and I at the park. I mostly needed to post it so that it would be hosted online so I could add it to my profile. I've spent some time this morning transferring ownership of this blog to a new identity, as my old one was "walnutyouthministry." I'm also working on finding someone to take over the Walnut youth blog. It's pretty much been my project, and as I'm moving on, the site needs a new manager. If you're interested, let me know.
Jason