From Sampler to Sower

I was back in my old stomping grounds in Illinois last weekend. And it was nice to be back.  I spent my first seven years of ministry in Decatur, in the very heart of Illinois.  Prior to that I spent three years at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais earning on my undergraduate degree in ministry.  Ten years creates some strong connections with a state.

Chicago's 50,000 Watt Blowtorch

During those years I fell in love with talk radio. It was before the age of iPods and podcasts.  It was before I discovered the beauty of audiobooks.  Talk radio was the easiest way to keep my mind engaged when doing otherwise mindless tasks.  Yes, I fell in love with talk radio.

I’m not talking about the bile and vitriol of nationally syndicated programs like Limbaugh, Colmes and Schlessinger (at least those were the big names back then).  I’m talking about local talk. Don Wade and Roma in the morning, Roe Conn and Garry Meier during the afternoon drive, and especially Jay Marvin‘s late nights – the local lineup back in the day for Chicago’s “50,000 watt blowtorch” WLS 890 AM.

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich

During my recent return to the state I left seven years ago, I was thrilled to discover that WLS hasn’t gone the way of so much talk radio, trading local talk for the glitz, glamor and low production costs of syndicated blather.  (Or at least, not completely.  I did run into a rebroadcast of Sean Hannity’s show around 7 pm) and quickly fired the iPod back up.)  Roe Conn wasn’t on air that Friday but his spot was being filled by another local voice and even better, they then rebroadcast that morning’s 40-some minute Don Wade and Roma interview with embattled Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich whose impeachment trial on corruption charges is slated to begin today.

Now, while I myself may be a bit of a political junkie, and I am known to twitter about politics from time to time, I don’t intend this to be a political blog.  I normally wouldn’t write about this interview here.  But one part of the interview in particular caught my attention.

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A Woodcutter's Toolbox for Youth Ministry

It’s wintertime in Indiana, and that means at least two things at my house.

We’re literally burning through the firewood I stockpiled like a responsible ant while all you grasshoppers were out playing last winter.

And in anticipation of the likely advent of another winter roughly 12 months from now, I’m spending my Wednesdays (my day off) making sure I have another pile well stocked for next winter.  And so it was that I spent about six hours of quality time with my chain saw Wednesday afternoon.

And that got me thinking.

Every time I go woodcutting, there are a handful of things that I take with me.  Some of them are necessary for the task at hand.  Some of them are just to make the job more pleasant.  And today, I realized some of them could be valuable in youth ministry.

Below are five items from my woodcutting toolbox that would be an asset to any youth pastor.  And I’ve even made each image a link to Amazon.com so you can buy some for yourself, should you so choose.

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