It was sunny and 62 on Sunday, by Monday I was braving my way through a couple inches of snow and 16 degrees.  Such is the weather in Colorado.

I flew in late Saturday night.  Getting to Denver was not an easy task; after a wedding in Bellingham I had to get quickly down to Seattle to catch a flight from Seatac to Portland.  Then from Portland I was able to catch the only flight to Denver (from anywhere in the NW) after 3:00 in the afternoon (seeing as how the wedding was at 2:00 there was no way for me to take a 3:00 flight out of Seattle directly into Denver).  I arrived at DIA at 11:45 PM and into Colorado Springs at 1:30 AM.

A church in Colorado Springs is between Youth Pastors and Youthmark has been hired to do “Transitional Consulting.”  In essence (a very short summary) I am assessing the current situation, giving guidance to what could take place and helping the lay team in the interim period.

Sunday started a little early for me, I was at the church by 8:30 AM (after talking with my buddy, Peter, for an extra hour after arriving, so, 2:30 to 7:30 on the ol’ sleep) and got right to my assessment stage.  Sat through a Middle School class and then a Sr. High class.  We had a lunch meeting with the middle school volunteer team and then straight to 3 “interview” sessions with a parent group, high school boys and high school gals.  It was about 5:00 PM by the time my time at the church was complete for Sunday.

Sunday evening I was able to drive up to Palmer Lake (20 minutes north of C.Springs) and have dinner with one of my good friends, Steve.  We ate at a restaurant where you order your dinner and they bring the meat out raw and you get to grill it!  Fun stuff and great to catch up with Steve and later his family (went to his house to hang out with his fam for a few hours).  After that I got to Hot Tub with Peter until way too late (midnight).  Oh, and I also, stupidly, watched Survivor after the hot tub (so another 5 hour night of sleep… wise huh?).

Monday, once again, started early (7:30 AM) with a breakfast meeting with the Senior Pastor, Mark.  I then met with the interim Middle School guy, the interim High School guy, then the four of us together (sr, mid, high, and me).  Lunch with just me and Mark and then a few hours off in the afternoon (in which I rested a little bit, but got to play with Peter and Christa’s kids).  Dinner with Peter and Christa and then back to the church for more interviews with Middle School parents.  When I left the church (8:00 PM) it had been snowing hard and the roads were now covered.  Back at Peter and Christa’s I had my first wii experience (bowled a 145).  Amazingly, I was able to manage 5.5 hours of sleep after watching the Amazing Race with Pete and Christa.

Tuesday morning was spent with Mark (the Sr. Pastor) and then a few hours at Starbucks doing some reports for the church.  Had lunch with Steve on my way out of town and then hit the road to catch my flight.

I see a lot of hope and potential for what can be at this church in Colorado.  I was impressed with the spirit of the people and feel they are several months away from being ready for a new person.  I am praying (and invite you to quickly do the same) they wait patiently and allow the Lord to lead and prepare them for what is ahead.  I believe God is doing a healing work in the church and the students are really doing a great job of taking ownership in that process!  I hope the consulting relationship continues and other opportunities like this open up!

Grace,
Brian