Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you and your family during this 2011 holiday season! I pray you experience "times of refreshing" with your loved ones.

Jena and I are spending Christmas in Kansas City with Kaiden. Just the three of us. Tomorrow, the rest of the gang arrives making a full house for the remainder of the week through New Year's. Keeping with Kansas City tradition, we headed to Crown Center on the 23rd to enjoy the festive downtown experience. Kaiden had a visit with Santa at the Crown Center mall and we ate lunch at famous Fritz, where an overhead train brings your order around and drops it to your table on a hydraulic lift. We rounded out the evening on the outdoor ice skating center.

We are thankful for each of you and your faithful support of our ministry at Doulos Ministries. Blessings to you on Christmas Day!

'Tis The Season

Christmas season has arrived at Shelterwood. Last weekend the boys selected a tree from the 200 surrounding acres and hauled it into the lodge for decorating. If you look closely at the picture, you will see that is does have a "Charlie Brown" quality to it, but at least it was free. With a few homemade snowflakes and some paper chain along the railings, the boys house is now ready for the season.

The annual Doulos Christmas party was last week. The house staff gathered together in the afternoon and the rest of the staff met later the same evening. A handful of folks (including myself) attended both parties. Each party featured a white elephant gift exchange and the venue for both parties was a local Asia buffet. Needless to say, I walked away with a few interesting gifts and I will not be eating Asia-style cuisine for quite some time. Good foot and great times but somewhat exhausting.

The guys house will be graduating one big brother (Daniel) in December. Two more big brothers will join our team on January 3rd (Adam and Tim). This year we are launching a new program with the big brothers and sisters allowing select graduates to return for an additional year as a residential intern. It provides an excellent opportunity for big brothers to explore their ministry gifts while capitalizing on the training and development investment. Daniel has been selected for this position and will be a tremendous asset to the team.

Heaven is for Real

Some of you may have heard of the book Heaven is for Real, by Todd Burpo. It tells the gripping story of Todd's little boy, Colton, who had a brush with death at the age of 4 from appendicitis. During this time, young Colton experienced a glimpse into Heaven. The book is doing quite well. A New York Times best seller for several weeks. A children's versions is coming out soon and discussions are taking place for a motion picture. It's a short read and well worth your time. You may be wondering; however, why I mention the book in my Shelterwood blog?

One of our residents is getting baptized this afternoon at a local church. Emma. Due to the special nature of the event, her family and hometown pastor and youth pastor have flown into Kansas City to celebrate and participate. Her pastor happens to be Todd Burpo, author of the aforementioned book. It's a small world sometimes. While the Burpo's are in town, it was arranged to have Todd speak to the staff and student body this morning during a special chapel session. I had the privilege of meeting Todd, his wife and oldest daughter Cassie. I also had the privilege of setting the stage with a few worship songs before Todd began.

The message was centered around the book with much encouragement for us to share our individual stories, especially when God has blessed us. Although it has been nearly 7 years since the events of the book, Todd was emotional when discussing such topics as Colton's severe illness and the story of Colton meeting his unborn sister in heaven. A clear sign that God has moved in the Burpo family. Todd followed his message with a Q&A time. Many of the staff and students, of course, had questions.

Immediately following chapel a portion of our staff and residents left for a short two day spiritual retreat. New Shelterwood director, Rujon Morrison, will be leading the event. It will certainly be a time of refreshing and encouragement for those in attendance. Similar retreats will be scheduled in the future to include additional staff and residents.