Sagle and Bonner County

After leaving the Lewis and Clark area, I headed up to Sagle, ID to spend some time with Wayne Gunter.  Wayne is the pastor of the Sagle congregation and is wise soul with more knowledge than I will be able to obtain.  He is a librarian by passion and profession.  He took my by the library where he is the administrator in Sandpoint, ID as well as a smaller branch in Clark Fork, ID that is also in his jurisdiction.  Both libraries were well equipped both with resources and pleasant people, although I am kind of a nerd when it comes to libraries.  

Wayne also took me inside of the Sagle church, which also has a library.  Inside 

the Sagle church in the sanctuary are some peculiar looking pews that were made by the 

first missionaries out of shipping crates.  As Wayne and I were talking he asked me about my family heritage and told me that the first missionaries to Sagle were Chatburns and they had built those pews.  I do have a long heritage in the church and I knew that some Chatburns had settled in Idaho, but I had no idea that when I went into that church I would be greeted by the work of some of my ancestors.  

Back on the tour of Bonner County, Wayne gave me a first class tour of the sights and beautiful landscape.  While we were at the library in Clark Fork he told me that Viggo Morrison from the Lord of the Ring's movies has a home there - we looked for him, but no luck.  I finished out the day with a dinner at Pat and Candy Moon's home with some other church folks and then headed back to Spokane.  

Lewis and Clark

On October 14th I traveled from Spokane, WA to the Lewiston, ID/Clarkston, WA to meet a group of down to earth and authentic group of young adults.  Andrea Bentz-Frost and Travis Frost hosted a dinner and at their home (some of the best food I had on the trip!) and I shared with the young adults gathered some about my experiences as a young adult minister and I did a fair amount of listening as well.  That group has a lot of horsepower and passion and which ever direction they choose to go blessings are sure to come.  

I spent the night at Travis and Andrea's home and felt blessed to be able to extend my circle of friends with so many cool people.  

Inland West Mission Center Conference

This past weekend was my first mission center conference where I had particular assignments that were meaningful to the conference.  I got to preach at the opening worship on Saturday morning, led a budget presentation on Saturday afternoon, and was set apart on Sunday morning as the Financial Officer on Sunday morning.  I think the conference went really well.  In fact, the budget presentation was apparently one of the quickest in this jurisdiction's history and people seemed to be pleased.  

I was really happy that my parents could come up for my setting apart on Sunday.  They live in the Houston area and were enjoying some much needed vacation time in the Northwest.  I also feel blessed to work with a good mission center staff and I feel as though I am developing a good relationship with people in the mission center.  

I do have to confess that when I worked for Central and Midlands Mission Centers simultaneously I had four mission center conferences per year.  Now I only have one!!

World Church Leader's Meeting in Independence

During September 29th - October 2 I spent all day and parts of the evenings in very productive meetings with other World Church Leaders.  Leaders from all over the world were present at this meeting and it was well organized.  Our main task was looking at a draft of the new Core Values/Enduring Principles of the Community of Christ put together by the extended World Church Leadership Council.  Group wordsmithing is not my cup of tea, and there was a fair amount of that, but all in all those were some of the best meetings I have been to.  We were even treated to dinner at the Kansas City Zoo and we got to watch a Sea Lion show - if only I get my dogs to behave like a Sea Lion!!

Echo Valley and Salt Lake City

I must confess I'm still getting the hang of this traveling business.  I had a wonderful road trip in the Northwest, but when I returned home I had a slew of work waiting for me.  I wanted to share to last images from my the last two stops on my road trip.  The first is of the chapel from the Echo Valley campground near Avon, MT.  I was there the weekend after Labor Day for the first part of a spiritual formation retreat.  Kris and Peter Judd where there and it was good to see them.  We first met while I was working as an Intern for the church in Australia during a Graceland Winterterm and they were over there providing guest ministry.  Always good to see them as well as meet new folks from the mission center. 

The last stop on my trip was in Salt Lake City, UT.  It is safe to say that we are more than just a little out numbered in Salt Lake City.  It is a beautiful city with some unique challenges for the church.  It was good to share with the folks there and to visit another part 

of the mission center. 

I'll be back in the Inland West Mission Center in another two weeks or so for Mission Center Conference.  I'm really looking forward to that.  I'll get to preach a sermon as well as see if I have any skills at budget presentation! 

Great Falls

After spending the night in Sacry's I toured Terry Reiff's clinic in Whitehall.  Andi is interested in doing a Rural and Family Practice rotation at his clinic and I wanted to be able to give her a good description.  From Whitehall I went to Great Falls via Whitetail rd. which is a partially paved road that goes through the mountains from Whitehall to Boulder, MT.  Beautiful scenery and no traffic.   

I went to Great Falls to meet with Nathan Reiff who is a young adult and the pastor   of the Great Falls Congregation.  He, his spouse Karen, and daughter Kate are quality people and a lot of fun to be with.  They fixed an awesome homemade pizza with fig jab and prosciutto with mozzarella cheese - good stuff.  I really enjoyed my time with them and getting to know them.  

Pizza Church in Whitehall

Last week on Wednesday I traveled from Spokane, WA to Whitehall, MT to visit with folks and participate in a mid-week fellowship they call "Pizza Church."  Unless I missed it, there was no pizza involved, but there was good food and good fellowship of about 30-35 folks.  I met Terry Reiff who is one of the doctors in town and interestingly enough he went to the same medical school that Andi is going to.  

I spent the night at the Sacry ranch just east of Whitehall.  The farmhouse had a lot of character to it.  The room I stayed in had the original logs exposed and at some point someone had used newspaper to insulate the room and there was a 100 year old copy of the Saint's Herald stuck to the wall!!