We are selling our home. Interested?

OK friends. Gonna give this at try...
Do you know of anyone that wants to live in the Clearlake/Whiteaker/McNary area? Pass this along if you know someone. Pls send a private message if you would like our address. 

This beautiful home on quiet street is move in ready.  Four bedroom/ two bath.  1866 sq.ft.  Nice open floor plan with fireplace in great room.  Kitchen has hardwoods, SS appliances, an eating bar and walk in pantry. Laundry room with storage. Beautiful Large master suite with luxury master bath with jetted tub, double sinks, and large walk-in closet. Fenced in yard with sprinkler system (front and back) and hot tub!! Central A/C and wonderful neighbors (huge plus!). 

$239,900

If you are interested please contact me at erikwithak777 at gmail dot com (never put your email online or spam bots will find it).

 

 

The Next Chapter in Our Lives

When I was told "I think it's time for transition" my world was rocked. I am a loyalist and don't look to jump around from place to place. I have been in my last 2 jobs for almost 18 years. As you know, I have been a stay-at-home dad since March 1 and it has been fantastic. I have really enjoyed being home with my kids. (There is an upcoming post on stay-at-home Pappa life).

I want to tell you a story. On Saturday, March 8, I had lunch with my friend Kurt. We were catching up and sharing stories. He asked me what I wanted to do next. One of the things I told him I would love to do is to be a youth pastor leading a student ministry team in a local church. He thought I would be great in that kind of role. An hour later, Scott, the executive pastor at Southwest church in Indian Wells, California called him and told him that their student ministries team leader was leaving and wondered if Kurt knew anyone who might fit the bill. He told Scott that he just had lunch with his next guy!

I didn't know about that phone call until about a month later but Kurt did tell me that night but he found the perfect place for me. He set us both up on an email together and later that week we had a phone conversation just to get to know each other a little bit. We really enjoyed our conversation!

From there he asked us to look at some of the videos from the services that explain their vision for the future the church. After watching that and chatting the next week they asked us to come down and see if the area in the church and the people even fit. If that was the case then we could keep going with our conversation.

Even though we were down during a sandstorm we both loved our time there! We love the people, the area, the vision of the church, etc. We even stayed in the same hotel with bands who are performing at the Coachella festival and got to know son of them. That was pretty cool. 

After praying and seeking counsel we decided we want to come back for round two. That was a week, for me, looking "under the hood" during all of their meetings throughout the week. I also got to sit down with several of the people on their team one on one. It was a great time and I was thankful that Jeanne-Ann joined me for the last weekend of that trip. 

We met with the high school volunteer team for lunch and asked lots of questions back and forth. That was a really cool time. I also spoke at the 1st middle school service and then the high school service. On Monday we drove around with a real estate agent and looked at a bunch of homes before we flew home. Wow!

We chatted at the end of the week and agreed that we should make this thing happen. I'm so thankful that Kynzi and Karston have been involved in the conversation since the beginning. Although it will be a tough departure we all agree that this is what God is calling us to do. 

So, on August 1, I will start at Southwest Church as the Student Ministries Team Leader/High School Pastor! I will be working with a great team in the student ministries world and a great team at the church! Anyone need a place to stay during their next vacation? 😊👍✈️

We sure could use your prayers on a number of things. We need to sell our house! Ugh. We also need to find a place to live there too. We need to find the right home, neighborhood, schools, etc. Transition is not easy. Jeanne-Ann is leaving a job she loves, we are leaving "family" and our home of 18 years, Kynzi and Karston are leaving all they have known (so are Haak and Nyah, but they are getting bunk beds when we move and that is all that really matters...though there will be a point when they don't understand why we can't see some of their favorite people) and we are starting over in so many senses. 

I am super excited about what we are going to, but quite sad about what we are leaving. 

Thank you for your prayers!

A Dream Come True (baptizing my own kids)

From the day I first knew our children were on their way there were many things I dreamed for them. I dreamed of wrestling with them and teaching them to fish and how to throw ball and how to care for people and how to be humble and how to love. I dreamed of showing them how to love Jesus who loves them infinitely more than I could ever imagine. Which, honestly, is difficult to imagine.

I've dreamed of marrying them off someday to an amazing spouse! I've dreamed of them having children of their own that I get to spoil. One of my dreams became a reality today after inviting Jesus into their life many years ago, I got to baptize them. 

I don't like to make assumptions, so I'm not going to assume you know or don't know much about baptism. Here's what I do know: I know that baptism is not a magical thing. There is no magic powers you get when you go in the water. Baptism is an outward expression of an inward choice to follow after Jesus for the rest of your life. It's also a symbol of our death to sin and our new life in Christ. Going down in the water is like death that Jesus paid as a result of our sin. Coming up out of the water symbolizes the new life that we have in Jesus. It also symbolizes Jesus rising from the grave and coming back to life.

Today I got to baptize both Kynzi and Karston! As a dad, to see my own children publicly claimed that they love Jesus and want to follow him for the rest of their lives is so huge! Trying to keep it together while I was in the tank was difficult. Tears began to well up in my eyes. Of course, if you've read my blog for very long you know that tears come relatively quickly to me. Ha ha. It was also cool to have Meesh and Sean in there with us as their pastors!

If you've never been baptized but have thought about it I would encourage you to consider it and talk to a pastor about it. Or contact me and I would be happy to chat with you about it.

I'm blessed to have some pretty amazing kids!

A comedy show with my college roommates

A few weeks ago my friend Derrick texted me and asked me what I was doing the week of April 3. I said nothing, outside of being a stay-at-home dad. My life is pretty free these days.

He asked me if I wanted to go to Houghton with him. I told them I would love to but $400-$500 is not something that I just had laying around these days or ever. He told me he would fly me out there and wanted me to open up for his standup comedy show. I replied to him that being funny when we hang out and doing standup was totally different and he should know that. He agreed but still thought I could do something to warm up the crowd. I have spoken to audiences all over the world and I usually made them laugh. But never in a standup routine type of deal.

I decided I would do something I have done many many times over the last 15 years. Improv! I started doing improv with a group at our church at a church function. After that one time we were asked to perform at several different events. Each time we would do an event someone else would ask if we could come to do their event. It became regular thing for us to do. 

We got really good at it and actually got a gig every Friday night at a restaurant. If I am totally honest, I would tell you that I have said many times that if the guys at Whose Line is it Anyway would have given me one shot I think they would let me be on their show. I love improv so much! Wayne Brady was always my hero when it comes improb. Particularly his ability to come up with songs on the spot. I love doing that.

As Derrick, Shoe and I sat in our old campus center that look very similar and very different at the same time, we planned the evening together. We walked through a few of the things that Derrick would be doing that night and then we talked through the different improv games I was planning. Landed on a game called freeze, and mannequins.

Freeze was the first improv game I ever did in my life and it was at my first week of college at a freshman orientation meeting. I thought it would be apropos doing that evening. Then in mannequins I had Shoe up with me and two students, who were the ones who moved us into position every time we were going to do something in the game.

Thanx to Amanda Salvatore for the pic

The last thing I did was ask for five words, grabbed a guitar and created a song on the spot using all five of those words. It was so much fun! Derrick got up and did his standup routine and we all laughed all night long. I cannot believe I got to do a comedy show with my two best friends from college at the college we graduated from!

A couple of side notes for my trip:

A few of our friends from college (Shelly, Amy and Dan and Amy's husband Chris.)
that work there now, came and had dinner with us and stayed for the show as well. It was also fun to get to meet their kids.

I also got to hang with Shelly and Christy, James and on top of that my friend Julie from high school! My old friend love tank was really filled this week! Honestly, I needed several more days to my friends just catch up on old stuff and new! We all had so much to share and we barely scratched the surface. It's things like that where I am thankful for Facebook and other forms of social media.

I also walked around the campus and saw all the new things that had changed. Of course, some things never change...like the gum tree!

AND

I remember walking through our campus bookstore when I was in college and seeing the "Houghton Author" section thinking, "One day I am going to have books in this section." Now I do! Y is for Youth Worker is the newest book on their bookshelves!!

Are you easily scared?

Over the last 9 years I have had 4 different bosses and 4 assistants. As for my assistants, I had the privilege to serve with Tracy, Jessica, Mike and Hannah. Each of them has had their own amazing gifts and abilities that they have added to the picture. It has been such a treat for me to work and serve with such incredible people. I have lots of memories and am so thankful for each of them. 

Tracy was someone who volunteered with me when I was a middle school pastor in Salem and then we got to work together at the district office serving youth pastors and students. She could plan an event with her hands tied behind her back. Jess was my partner in crime at Salem Alliance, where we served as middle school pastors together and then she made the jump to working with me at the district office. We built off of our past working relationship and continued to build relational networks across our district. Super creative and fun.  Mike left being a youth pastor at Mosaic to come work with me and brought some more testosterone to the office. Mike and I connected on technology, creativity and mischievousness. It was fun to work with a guy for a few years. Hannah came on in a last minute "did we call that one girl Mark Lynch mentioned?" moment. We hadn't. We did. We were all glad. She came from eastern Washington via Western Africa, where she was a youth pastor for 2 years. 

As I reflect on the last year and a half working with Hannah there have been a number of things I have enjoyed about working with her. She is an honest, Holy Spirit-trusting, super fun girl. She is also quite jumpy. She once told me that she loved scaring her dad and after finding that out I thought it would be fun to document me giving her dad some payback. (Well I masked it as a favor to her dad at least). 

Here is a quick compilation of Hannah bringing me great joy!

Each of these wonderful people were a delight to work with and I am thankful to God for having had the opportunity to spend that time with them. 

Six Words That Changed My Life

 A few years ago, my former boss, Matt, shared with our staff a story about Ernest Hemingway. Supposedly he was trying to win a bet with some colleagues. The bet was that he couldn't write a complete story in six words. He took the challenge and won the bet. Here was his story. "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

This story grabbed me. It was so sad. Matt then challenged us to write our own six word story and I wrote several. I don't remember what they were but I want to tell you a story about six words that changed my life:

A little over nine years ago I took a role at the district office for the Christian & Missionary Alliance. I was the next-generation ministries director. My role was to come alongside youth pastors and basically help them take steps towards becoming a better youth pastor. That has included training; one-on-one time at Starbucks; coaching calls, running events for them so that we can "do better together than on our own"; volunteer training; and much more. It has been a privilege to serve in this role and I, and my family, have been hugely blessed as a result of it.In those nine years I have had four different assistants and four different bosses. I am the only person on staff who was there when I first started. Everyone is new.

My new boss, Randy, is a church planter who is very much about change. In our first staff meeting he asked us all to hold our job descriptions with open hands. He said there will be a lot of shifting around and it would be clunky for a while, but in the end it will be good. Part of his change will be moving the office from Wilsonville (25 minutes from home) to Portland, near the airport (50 minutes from home...without traffic). This would also mean a move for our family to Portland, away from our "family" and home town of 17 years. This has been a significant conversation between Jeanne-Ann and I. Not knowing for sure what my role would look like we wondered if we could live in Portland. I recognize that in ministry it is a rarity to live in one area for that long and so I am thankful. Growing up in a military family I was uprooted from friends every couple of years or so. This is home.

Randy and I have had a number of conversations during the last four months about what the future of next-generation ministries should, could and it might look like. He told me that we could not build the new job description around me but that it needed to be built around what the needs were of the district. I completely agreed with that.

One of the major changes within the office is that we are moving the building from Wilsonville, about 25 minutes away from my home, to Portland near the airport, about 50 minutes away from my home. We have been in Salem/Keizer area for 17 years. It is home. It is the only place my children have ever known.

As the future has begun to unfold, there are some very exciting parts to come. We have talked about what potentially could be in my job description, and although it would require a significant shift, I was beginning to get excited about it. Five days later...

On the Saturday before Thanksgiving, I sat down with Randy and he told me six words that would change my life forever, "I think it's time for transition." In that moment, I was not expecting to hear those words. If I pulled back to the 35,000 foot, level I am sure I could see the writing has been on the wall but not in that moment. My world was shaken.

We had a follow-up conversation the Monday after to talk about more details. As of March 1, 2014, I will no longer be serving in the Alliance Northwest District office. During our conversation I told Randy that, although it was not my choice and I would not have made it, I totally see God's hand in all of this. One way I have seen that to be true, is that during all of our hard conversations, I have always felt peace. Usually in conflict, especially with "my boss", I feel like the room temperature has dropped 30° and I can feel my body shivering. That has not been the case here. Philippians 4:7 clearly says that God gives us peace that passes or transcends all understanding. The peace I have does not make sense except that God is giving it.

I need to be clear about something here. There are other pieces to the puzzle, but nothing anyone is hiding. There is no maliciousness. Randy likes me, I like him. He wasn't looking for a way to get rid of me. Nothing inappropriate has happened. There are no cracks to go searching for. If that is what you are looking for, you will not find it.

As for the future, we have no idea what's next. What I know is that we are listening to God and ready to follow Him wherever He leads. I believe God has shaped me in such a way that I will continue to impact and influence young people for the rest of my life. I thought that would always be in a local church, but that perspective changed direction nine years ago when I was asked to take a role in our district office working with youth pastors. 

So I honestly have no idea. We are living in faith and trusting in God completely, knowing that he will care for us.

You may be wondering how you can pray for us. We would be honored if you would. You can pray for my family, especially my children who are dreading the possibility of leaving their lifelong friends. In some ways, it is probably hardest on them. You can pray for Jeanne-Ann, who is a kindergarten teacher and loves her job. The thought of looking for another job in another school is not high on her fun list. She loves the school that she is at, the people that she works with, and the kids that she gets to teach. She is an amazing teacher!

You can pray for me that in my weak moments I will only listen to God. Pray that I follow after wherever it is He leads us. 

Below is a copy of the newsletter that was sent out so you can read what others have read.

For nearly a decade "Erik w/a k" has tirelessly served, led, and invested in youth pastors and students across the region. His influence and impact have been far-reaching and I've personally been blessed by the influence he's had on my son. Erik and I have been processing the future of the Alliance NW ministry to the emerging generations. In those conversations, I’ve come to believe the timing is right for a change in leadership for Next Generation Ministries. Erik and I have both seen God’s hand in our conversations and in this decision. I am very grateful to Erik for agreeing to continue to lead through February 2014, including DYC, and his willingness to speak into the redefining process of Next Generation ministries. As a self-described “lifer” to students, I believe that Erik and Jeanne-Ann, together with their children, will land in another role that will continue his impact in the lives of students. I know that his friendship and servant's heart will be missed in the office!

Sidenote: If you are looking for a camp speaker or worship leader at your retreat, I am currently available. I have no idea what is next, but we are listening to God and dreaming together.

Survivor party

Wednesday night I got to sneak out to the very end of a survivor viewing party. Laura and Ciera Morrett, who are on this season, were having a viewing party near where I live. I have not been able to get to one all season long because they are on Wednesdays and I have youth group that night. Tonight I snuck out in time after Kynzi's choir concert and got to the party.

When I got there Laura was sharing a couple of things that she was proud of her daughter for. Then she told us that Jeff had given her a call this week about the finale. He said so many people are wondering what in the world it is about her relationship with her daughter. He said, "Everyone seems to think there is something extremely special about your relationship that they don't normally see." She told him, "Jeff, I don't want to be preachy but it truly is because of our foundation in Jesus Christ."

He said, "I know, I know. But what is it really?" Ha ha. She said, "Faith, hope and love. And the greatest of those is love. Love always wins!" Jeff said to her, "That's it! And that's what I want you to say at the finale."

Laura was a volunteer at MorningStar church when I went to speak at a couple of their camps. Then we did some retreats together with our Youth-Ministry and theirs. So when she was on survivor the first time I came to a viewing party with my friend Steve and I was excited that she remembered me. She still hasn't forgotten. She's a great lady.

I'm thankful for people like her who are normal, everyday people that love Jesus and live their lives for him.

I'm hoping one of you wins!

Here is the video of her conversation.