Taking Steps at NEXT

We are experiencing a great week for NEXT worship this week. On Monday, Andrea Ryan started as the interim children's director for NEXT and Micah Burdick started as the NEXT Worship Leader. In addition, Chad Cooper started as the Director for Student Ministries for the church. Each one of these individuals have a crucial part in helping develop ministries for NEXT. In the same way, each person participating in NEXT has the same crucial role in developing ministries of invitation, welcome, learning, serving, and worshiping. Angie and I are excited as the team continues to grow and new opportunities to minister begin.

Let us support one another in our ministries. Pastor Steve mentioned during a staff meeting that we need to help people succeed in their task by giving them what they need to succeed. Micah is already moving quickly to connect with potential worship team members. Andrea is working with Angie and the church's children ministry team to move forward the children's activities during NEXT. She recently found curriculum for this fall that will be a valuable resource in teaching our children about Jesus.

Now, I ask what do you need to succeed in your ministry? Come and share with us your thoughts, your hopes, and your dreams. Let us continue to work together and with God to flourish the ministry of NEXT!

See you Sunday at 5pm as we join together in fellowship and worship. We will be discussing a powerful way to share Christ with others.

Live Life Loud

Angie and I (and several others from the church) had the great opportunity to lead a church camp this past week (July 5th-9th). The camp was for incoming 5th-7th graders. We enjoyed an awesome week of interacting with the campers, getting inspired by God, and avoiding the extremely high temperatures for at least awhile. One of the highlights of the week is always the theme song for the week. This year we used Hawk Nelson's "Live Life Loud" (listen here). This was a great song for the campers to connect with since it calls them to live life loud. We directly connected this song to living life for God. The beginning of the week they were hesitant and quiet. By the end, they were yelling the song and have continued singing it since camp (this comes from reports of the parents).

One of the amazing impacts I see after camp each year is how the theme we used can speak to us all. How many of us are careful when we express our faith? When do we tell others that we are Christians? This continues to be a topic people ask and how to do it respecting others while also sharing the love of Christ. I've come to realize each person will be comfortable at different levels of expression. For some, they naturally talk about their faith and talk about it quickly in a conversation. For others, they would prefer their actions to speak about their faith. No matter your comfort level, the important lesson is that we are sharing our faith. God calls us to live life loud so that our actions, words and thoughts express the love of Christ that we have experienced and desire to share. The reality is that people are watching. When they see us living out our faith, they will begin to ask why we live the way we do. Therefore, we can share our faith at any moment of our lives because we are living our faith. This is living life loud!

In order to help us live life loud, we are speaking about knowing our faith story and sharing our faith during our Sunday evening gatherings. We begin at 5 p.m. and you're invited to join us. Dinner and childcare provided.

I'm excited as we all live our lives loud for God!

"Suitcases" and Packing

On the radio there is a new song by Dana Maclean that says, “you can’t run when you’re holding suitcases.” (listen to the song here) This image really struck home and made us wonder. Are we all carrying too much? Sometimes we carry overwhelming debt; guilt over harsh words; uncertainty about the future; fear of failure; physical pain; illness…you add your burden. Do you worry if you are a good enough friend, spouse, son/daughter, parent, employee... Add in God to the mix and many of us carry uncertainty about what we believe.

This last weekend, our family moved. If you have ever moved, you know the stress of purging, organizing, and packing. You know the stress of asking people to help, because moving pianos and wrapping plates is not something people just look forward to doing. Yet, this past weekend we literally had people holding our suitcases. They concretely took our burden on for themselves. This is what we hope for NEXT.

NEXT will not only be a worship service, but it is a worship gathering. As we come together, we invite you to come just as you are and not try to be anything you are not. This is a burden you don’t have to carry. We hope to create a place where others will literally help you carry your burdens and dance, laugh and shout when you experience joy. As we sit down for a meal after worship and in small groups, we long to have a place where people can ask their deep questions about life, religion, and Jesus Christ. In this gathering, we know the Holy Spirit will meet us there to offer lessons for life, forgiveness, encouragement, and inspiration.

One of the lines in the suitcase song says, “there’s nothing holding you back now, just run.” NEXT let’s run together.

Curtis and Angie Olsen

Back to School!

This last week, the Olsen family marked another milestone … Drew started preschool. We are not sure who was more excited about shopping for school supplies, mom (Angie) or Drew. Drew was excited about getting a new backpack and Angie was excited about new crayons. Tuesday morning with backpack full of cool new stuff, we took a picture of our little man for posterity. Looking at him, he seemed so big and so little all at the same time. When we went to see him in his class, he was sitting so politely and looking studious. Weird and wonderful?! He was all smiles when we picked him up and when we asked how the day was he said, “School was pretty fun.” This is high praise from a 4-year-old: kudos to Sunbeams Preschool!!

There was so much excitement and newness this last week and also a realization of how quickly time passes. It made us wonder why we lose this exuberance for learning and meeting new people as we get older. On September 8th, we are kicking off all our new classes at Platte Woods United Methodist Church for the fall. We are hoping you can recapture some of the enthusiasm for meeting new people and learning something more about the God who loves you extravagantly. It is not too late to sign up for studies!

We are both teaching classes this fall and are really looking forward to growing deeper in our faith. Curtis is teaching Starting Point, which is a conversational environment where you can explore faith and experience community. This is a safe place for people with questions about faith, as well as those who want to learn about the Bible and Christianity. Angie is teaching a class called Hope for Humanity/Hope for Creation. This study explores the Bible’s instruction on how to live a sustainable life caring for the earth and our neighbors. As a former environmental engineer this is an exciting class to facilitate.

Are you excited to go back to school also? We sure hope so and Angie says bring new crayons if this makes you happy!!!

London...WOW!!!

We left Salisbury this morning for the last time. Leaving our "home base" for the week was bittersweet. The hospitality has been incredible; the walks along their charming cobblestone streets has been a joy; and waking with the backdrop of an elegant cathedral cannot be beat. Yet, each step of this journey is amazing, because today we arrived in London. You cannot arrive in this vibrant, busy city without being awestruck. We walked from Westminster Abbey to Big Ben and across the Thames River to the London Eye. Then we returned to the heart of Methodism in Britain, Methodist Central Hall.

At Methodist Central Hall, we learned about Methodism in Britain and were excited to hear about their many plans to reach people who do not know the love of God through Jesus Christ. Many of their churches are declining also, but they just see this as a new challenge to bring the living Word of God to the people where they are today!

We had our first adventure on the Tube today and did not get separated or lost, praise God! What a joy it was to spend a quiet evening at the Canary Wharf and satisfied our silly craving for pizza at Gourmet Pizza. It was lovely to be outside just the two of us, but we are missing the boys quite a lot today! Tomorrow we hope to have our hearts strangely warmed with John Wesley's memories at Aldersgate! Jolly Good!

Homework, really???

None of us were looking forward to today. We were required to give group presentations about what we have learned on the trip and what we will do with these new found insights when we return. It felt like homework, but like many other homework assignments we have had it turned out to be so worthwhile. It was wonderful to hear other people's insights from the trip and realize how many different ways this has helped all of us grow in our faith. This trip has helped us all get back to the core of who we are as a people of faith. We are to be about loving God and neighbor, and the Wesleys reminded us that grace leads the way. In seminary, we read tons of books about the founders of the Methodist movement, but until this trip they were just characters in a book. Now, they are living breathing people who struggled with what this faith calls us to do and be. They are peopled who realize methods like prayer, fasting, scripture reading, and acts of mercy/justice help us grow into the image of God. Pretty awesome people to look to as powerful examples of Christ followers.

After we finished our group assignments, we toured the Salisbury Cathedral, which has been the backdrop of our life this last week. It was started in 1220, but incredibly it only took 38 years to build (we will be seeing the Yorkminster later this trip whose building also began in 1220, but took 250 years to complete). We heard a boys' choir and their angelic voices raised us up to God. We could not help thinking of our boys and hope they will always want to sing praises to God with the same passion. We ended our evening with a trip to something a little more modern, the movie theater. Seeing Robin Hood while in England was pretty fun, especially since we drove by Nottingham a few days ago.

Love and peace to you all!!!

On the Move(ment)

Today we went to Bristol. The drive was the most beautiful drive on our journey so far. We saw one of the white horses of Wiltshire on the hill (similar one seen in the new Robin Hood movie). In addition, the rolling hills and small towns made for a wonderful tapestry of countryside. We can imagine John riding through this land often. It is said that he rode about 250,000 miles on horseback. We know John was short, but now we wonder if he was bow-legged also. :)

Upon arriving in Bristol, one of the first things you immediately notice are the new buildings mixed in with the old buildings. Bristol was heavily bombed during the war so they had to rebuild the city. The two main locations we were visiting was the New Room and Charles Wesley's house. The New Room was a building comprised of a sanctuary and a preacher's room. This place was central to the Methodist movement because it was a place where the preachers could come and rest, study, and prepare sermons before heading out on their circuits. In addition, it was a central location for ministry with the poor that worked in the mines around Bristol and with slaves coming in on slave ships. John preached strongly opposing slavery right in the middle of the slave trade hot spot. His boldness was inspiring and is an example for us all. To mention a fact, Bristol is where American Methodism began since preachers were ordained and sent to America from here.

Charles Wesley's house was an interesting place to visit because it gave us greater insights into the "other Wesley". Charles is not as well known as John, but still had a major influence on the Methodist movement. This is because he wrote over 7,000 hymns that proclaimed the Methodist beliefs and scripture through music. We still sing some of his hymns today. We stepped into his study and were humbled by just being present where much of his work occurred.

Our afternoon was spent walking around the downtown area of Bristol learning about the history of the city and where Wesley was active. One of the most significant locations was where John preached outside for the first time. After preaching outside to more than 3,000 people, John said, "submitted to be more vile." He realized how significant outdoor preaching could be even though he did not like doing it.

The last thought about Bristol is remembering the story of Charles Wesley and the Kingswood's miners. The miners were unclean and despised by the people of Bristol. Charles brought them to receive communion in an Anglican Church and they were denied because of who they were. As a result, the Wesleys and the Methodist movement began providing communion for everyone. This is why we invite everyone to partake in communion today so that no one is denied Christ's holy supper. God's love and grace is for ALL!