Western Mass Climbers Rendezvous

Praise the Lord! I was able to get a ride with David(Word of Life Bible Institute student)and we headed down friday night to the Western Mass Climbers Rendezvous, where we met up with Guy Debrun and his wife. Guy is the Solid Rock Climbers for Christ area rep for Mass. After going over the gameplan and a time of prayer we went and hung out around the fire with the organizers of the event. David had an excellent conversation about spiritual thing with one of the guys. In the morning we served breakfast and coffee to about 80 climbers. After breakfast was cleaned up two late comers showed up wondering if there was anything left. We hooked Julian and Peter up with some leftover eggs and bagels and as they ate we discussed our climbing plans for the day. We invited them to join us. We headed out to Farley to do some climbing. Guy set up a couple of top-ropes and we took turns running laps. After everyone was good and tired we headed back to base camp in the Wendell State forest. There we ate an incredible dinner of all local grown food including local grass-fed beef burgers. After watching the Reel Rock tour film David and I headed for home. We had some great conversations on the way down and the way back but, weren't paying attention to exactly where the gps was directing us to go and took the scenic route home. You have got to love technology! Overall a great weekend of ministry! (I forgot to take pictures)

2nd Annual Southern Adirondack Rockclimbers Festival

Jay Harrison and I started on Thursday by sending two new routes out at the black arches wall that we had been working on. Friday morning we went out to the measles wall and set up some top-rope routes. People began trickling in Friday afternoon. Then the rain started. It sprinkled on and off friday night but we still got a little bouldering in at the boulderwoods.

Saturday we woke up to rain. In anticipation of it clearing up we all headed to the summit cliffs. Even though it never cleared up, many people still got some climbing in.

Sunday lived up to its name and the sun appeared and dried up all of the rain. We all headed out to the Black Arches wall. The ropeguns lead some of the hard routes and setup topropes for the rest of us mortals.

Over-all I think there were more than 35 individuals who participated in one way or the other.

The silence is broken

Wow it has been a long time since my last post, and a lot has happened in our lives since that last one so I don't think that I will write about it all.

I have kinda been "wandering in the wilderness" a little the last few months trying to decide what it is God wants me to do. I have experienced a bunch of peaks and valleys these past few years trying to find my own personal ministry niche and now I am a bit hesitant to just jump right in to the next new thing. I am beginning to think that this is what God has for me though.

Since January 2009 I have been volunteering as the North East representative for a ministry called Solid Rock Climbers for Christ (SRCFC). I just hosted the National conference here in the Adirondacks a couple of weeks ago and it went well. It was during that conference that God began confirming in my heart that this is the ministry that He is calling me to.

SRCFC is a ministry focused on climbers. Its goals are to:
1. Share the good news about Jesus Christ with climbers who have never heard it or haven't considered applying to their lives personally.
2. Encourage climbers who are followers of Christ in their spiritual walk.
3. Train Christian climbers how to effectively minister to their own local climbing community.

I am planning to continue to work to pay my bills but I will be raising some financial support to cover ministry costs.

Please pray specifically for this coming weekend Sept 11-13 as we are hosting the 2nd annual Southern Adirondack Rock Climbers Festival. It looks like it is going to be well attended and will allow us to make contacts with many climbers. Pray for open doors of opportunity for ministry.