Chip Off The Old Rock?

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That’s Chip at the top of Half Dome!

Chip is the latest to join us at Yosemite Summit! We are now past the half way mark with ONLY THREE SPOTS left for guys to join us for Yosemite Summit. Registration can not be increased, once we have eight there will be a waiting list!

Why is Chip joining us?

I love the thought of sitting in God’s presence in silence and just allowing God to speak. I feel like getting up on this Summit will give me a great chance to sit in God’s presence amidst God’s beauty and develop some better disciplines in my life. Also, the chance to hang out with some fellow men in my position and talk about what God is doing in each of them and in their ministries. Who knows what God might do through the eight of us. – Chip

I couldn’t agree more. Don’t hesitate and miss out! This could be the chance of a lifetime!

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Yosemite Summit 2009 Registraion Opens SOON!

Just want those who follow this site or subscribe to RSS to be the first to know that registration for Yosemite Summit 2009 will open August 10th and it is first deposit – first go! This event is expected to fill up again, so don’t miss out! ONLY EIGHT MEN can come with Karl on this once in a life time adventure in Yosemite!

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My iPhone wallpaper photo taken on the
Panorama Trail during Yosemite Summit 2008.

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Half FULL, Not Half Empty!

halfcup.pngIt has long been said that to an optimist the cup is Half Full, and to a pessimist the cup is Half Empty. Well, I am excited to let you know that Yosemite Summit is now HALF FULL – which means if you are feeling “half empty” in your spiritual life – there is still room for you to join us! But only FOUR SPOTS REMAIN for this amazing journey to one of the most spectacular places on God’s Earth to enjoy some deep fellowship with 7 other men who share your love for God and passion for kids.

Welcome Dave to Yosemite Summit 2008! Dave will be leaving Louisiana to join us and is looking for a place where, in his own words,

“I can see a renewal of my love for doing what I do, ministry to children. A renewal of priorities in my life. A time away from the distractions of life to totally focus on God.”

If that sounds like something you could benefit from as well, won’t you join us?

I am optimistic that God will quickly bring the Final Four men to join us. Don’t wait until it is too late!

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Hearing God Through the Noise

It is true that God is not distant, but it is difficult to hear Him over the noise of daily life. I believe that is why God bothered to create such a magnificent planet! We are so busy doing so many things, and yet God waits for us to notice Him and make time for Him. Perhaps you have felt the world (even ministry) squeezing the life out of the spiritual life. You know in your heart you need to get away and re-connect with God. There is no better place that to get out into the wonder of nature where God’s majesty is on display!

“The world is charged with the grandeur of God,” wrote the 19th-century English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins.

I’m sure you’ve been to a place that silenced the noise and where God’s still small voice could be heard as though it was a gentle thunder. Yosemite is one of those places.

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,
which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is hidden from its heat.

Pslam 19:1-6

I invite you to come along with me. It will be a fantastic time of hiking, relaxing, reading, worship, prayer and fellowship with some fellow pilgrims who share you passion for ministry and longing to know God better. Won’t you join us?

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SPOT OPENS UP FOR YOSEMITE SUMMIT!

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One of our Summiteers ruptured his achilles tendon and is headed into 9 months of rehab. (ouch!) Seems the doctor doesn’t think hiking Yosemite is such a good idea. I’ve gone ahead and guaranteed him the first spot in Yosemite Summit 2009 – but that means we have ONE MORE SPOT OPEN for this May.

If you would like to join us, register ASAP! 

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Announcing Yosemite Summit 2008

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YOSEMITE SUMMIT
May 18-22, 2008
Sunday to Thursday

The Unconference for Childrens Pastors

No Workshops – Just Worship
No Resources – Just Relationships
No Networking – Just God Working

Yosemite Summit is five day personal sabbatical for male children’s pastors located in the heart of one of the most spectacular National Parks in America. This refreshing summit of renewal is limited to only eight men who will be staying at a luxurious lodge inside Yosemite and only ten miles from the famously breathtaking Yosemite Valley.

Get away from the office, the church, the phones, the Internet, and the busyness of life and ministry and re-coop with some fellow ministers hiking, worshiping, and enjoying genuinely refreshing fellowship surrounded by vistas that only God could create.

This retreat will be a structured time of renewal that will provide both group and personal time of reflection, prayer, reading, and worship in a setting where God can truly be heard and experienced. Day hikes to some of the most stunning vistas in the world and evenings of rest and relaxation. (even a hot tub!)

Yosemite Summit is a ministry of Kidology.org which exists to equip and encourage those who minister to children. Kidology founder, Karl Bastian, will be your host – but the guest speaker will be Jesus Himself as each man allows this retreat to be a time and place where he can meet with God removed from the distractions and pressures of daily ministry life.

For more information, browse this site. Registration is limited to 7 men who will join Karl on this retreat. To register send the Summit Application as soon as possible. After the seven spots are filled, there will be a waiting list in case there is an opening later on.

You are invited to the only children’s ministry conference where you will get absolutely no practical ideas or helpful resources for children’s ministry – but you will get help with the most important aspect of your ministry – your walk with God.

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The Hot Tub is Almost Full!

Yes, it’s true. The outdoor hot tub at our amazing lodge in Yosemite National Park is a four person hot tub, and Tom, a children’s pastor from Pennsylvania will be leaving his wife and four kids behind to soak in more than just hot water… he’ll be soaking in the presence of God in one of the most amazing places on earth. He’s never been farther West than Kansas, but he is headin’ to Yosemite Summit!

 

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Yosemite Summit: 37.5% full – only 5 spots left!

Register soon for the experience of a life time. I am praying daily for God to brig together just the right eight men for this summit of renewal. Questions? Contact Karl.

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Whisper or Two-by-Four?

Steve Farrar in his book “Quiet Whispers from God’s Heart for Men” writes in the introduction:

If I’d been choosing the title for this book, I wouldn’t have chosen a phrase like Whispers for Men. I would have suggested Tow-by-Four’s for Men. It seems to me that it takes a two-by-four across the side of my head for God to get my attention.

But before God ever takes out the two-by-four, He whispers. He speaks gently. He speaks quietly. Yet we’re usually so busy and so preoccupied that we don’t hear…. Part of growing in our Christian life is learning to hear God when He whispers. And life is certainly much easier when we respond to a whisper rather than something more sever….

THIS IS WHY WE ARE GOING TO YOSEMITE! To hear God whisper. To get AWAY from the busyness if ministry that can suck our spiritual life dry. To hear what God is trying to tell us before He needs to do something severe.

I invite you to join me! 

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First Spot is Taken!

Well, now I know for sure I won’t be headin’ to Yosemite all by myself!

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Josh, a children’s pastor from Joliet, Illinois will be heading to California for his first time… and what a fantastic time he will have, getting to experience what is arguably the most amazing place in the Northern Hemisphere on his first trip West!

That means that this sabbatical retreat is already 25% FULL!

As the deer pants for the streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
Psalm 42:1-2

When?? You can meet with God any day – but I invite you to meet Him in an extra amazing way next May in a place where He showed off His creative heart.

Don’t miss your chance at the trip of a life time! Register Today!

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Why Climb?

I was going through a sermon note notebook and found some notes under the caption “Why Climb?” I wrote down a question the pastor had asked, “Which are you? A valley dweller or a mountain climber?” Obviously, he was asking in regard to our spiritual life. Are you content to live in the valley with everyone else, or are you willing to look up, see the distant range of spiritual growth and determine to go where few go?

In answer to the question – Why Climb? He offered two answers:

1) to see God – to experience God like never before, like you can’t in the unchallenging valley.

2) to see our Life – to gain a new and more accurate perspective on where we are and where we need to be.

There is just something about mountain climbing that inspires many. In response to the question, “Why try to climb Mt. Everest?” George Leigh-Mallory, the great English mountaineer who died climbing that peak, said, “Because it is there.”

If there are greater heights you can go in your spiritual life – if it’s there – wouldn’t you like to experience it? The reality is that in day to day life, it’s extremely difficult to get the clarity we need to hear God. But the clean air of the mountains can clear our minds and our souls.

There are only five more openings for this Summit that may just be a life changing encounter with the Creator with a small group of other men also seeking to hear God above the noise of day to day ministry.

Tony Compolo once said, “Most people are born and eventually die – but never truly live. They tip toe through life hoping to arrive at death safely.” If this retreat is something you will regret not going on years from now, now is the time to make it happen!

Why go to Yosemite Summit? Because it’s there – a deeper walk with God that is.

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