Last week was amazing! I spent it with eleven youth from our church on a mission trip to Asheville, NC. The people I spent the week with changed me. Each relationship from the trip left a mark on my life. I’d like to take a moment and share with you a little about them.

Last week, I went to PASSPORT Kids Camp at Wingate University to spend four days with nine children from FBC. Two of the nine were my sons and our group needed a male chaperone. So as parent and pastor I couldn’t escape the obvious. It had been a long while since I had spent a week at a church camp. “Back in the day,” (when I was much closer to their age) I led many a youth and college students to weekend retreats at the beach and in the mountains as well as far off places like Tennessee, New Mexico, and Canada. So I’ll admit I was a little rusty. But it didn’t take long to start enjoying the experience of being a kid at camp...

I went to camp expecting to have a fun time. I didn’t expect that God would remind me of the calling and passion he had placed in my heart for ministry. Sometimes it takes being forced out of your normal routine to experience God. There is something very freeing about dancing, playing and acting like an idiot all in the name of God with a bunch of kids. This week has reminded me that being a Christian should be fun.

Clarence Jordan died in rural Georgia in 1969 at the age of 57. He was a radical pioneer of the gospel in the racially charged south of his day. Over the years he wrote a “version” of the New Testament scriptures that was called “The Cotton Patch Version.” It is written in the language of his day—which is not exactly politically correct today. But it is what it is. This Sunday I’m preaching the old familiar story of “The Good Samaritan” found in Luke 10:25-37. But I’m afraid there is too much of a disconnect between the Samaritan of Jesus’ day, as the hero of the story, and the potential “Samaritans” of our day. In Clarence Jordan’s day, his version of the story would have raised quite a fuss. It goes as follows…

 Last week, I made it all the way to Maine. I had my lobster. The trip was great and a much needed break. On my way back down the coast, I stopped in New York City. I saw lots of landmarks of the city. I saw Central Park, Time Square, and the Statue of Liberty. My favorite spot was Ellis Island.