Synod Assembly

This past weekend I spent at my church's synod assembly. Essentially it is all the churches of my denomination who gather together once a year to evaluate, pray, discern and try to figure out what God is doing in our world around us as well as deal with some church politics type stuff. We gather in a centralish location and spend the weekend together.
It is great in the sense that I get to see a ton of my colleagues and friends and I get a weekend where I just get to attend worship without having to have any form of a leadership role. It is a welcomed break, although it is exhausting for this introvert. It is a mandatory event for all clergy and rostered leaders.

The painting that was made during worship.

While it was nice to not have to work in the traditional sense on Sunday it was hard to not be working because I know all of the things I am missing out on and the things I wish I had gotten done. It's a catch 22 - it is great to go away but it is also wonderful to come back home. I can't complain, not to mention I missed my sweet puppy like crazy and getting up early to get my runs in wasn't the same without her. Funny how you get accustom to running a certain way and then when things change it feels different.

One sweet thing that happened during worship was Pr. Paul Oman did a painting during worship (above you see the picture transforming) - it seriously was amazing. He began with a blank canvas and transformed it into this beautiful work of art as the service progressed - worship wasn't more than about an hour and fifteen minutes! IT WAS IMPRESSIVE.



It was a great weekend. It was wonderful to help out with the 5k run/2 mile walk - I was thankful for all the people who showed up to run and help to raise some money for our outdoor ministries in this area.

Race Director

My fellow race director and I

This past weekend I had my first stint as a race director - sort of fell in my lap in a crazy fashion - I learned a lot and have a whole new appreciation for race directors and race volunteers (remind me to volunteer more often at races - volunteers make or break it). Our race was held at our NEMN synod assembly (read a bunch of church folks who get together to talk about church stuff and what God's doing in the world and how we are called to participate in it). Last year there was a 2 mile walk to raise funds for malaria and a friend and I said wouldn't it be fun if we had a full 5k during the assembly to  promote wellness and raise funds for something. And we got put in charge - the money we raised went to our outdoor camps in the area.

Chalking sidewalks at 4:30am

My most favorite pre-race/registration email is as follows:
"I’ll plan to participate in the 5K run, under the giddily optimistic  assumption that I can move one foot in front of the other  that early in the morning with enough persistence to find my way back  to the finish line at Zion before the opening session Saturday am. Good idea, this walk/run venture. I’ll get the check and the registration form in the mail tomorrow ."

I seriously laughed aloud at this email as I read it. How funny is that?!

It was a smallish race - 90 people ran and I couldn't have been more excited and massively consider it a success. Money was raised for our camps and 90 people got in a little bit of exercise before sitting in meetings all day. I was doubtful when we began this endeavor and thought we wouldn't have more than about 30 people.

Prepping some volunteers

Lessons learned:

• people will register past the deadline
• always order way more shirts than you think you'll need - you will have plenty of people sign up the day off
• there are a TON of details that go into a race
• it is fun to watch races where people are running for the first time and to celebrate their victories 
• I desperately wanted to run it - when volunteering for a race run a ridiculously good run the day before so my legs are nice and tired and don't want to/can't fathom running
• keep a notebook of the things we want to change next year

Have you ever been a race director?

What is your favorite post race food?