Vicar Goes To Camp

To start my year off right I went to camp with the youth and friends of San Lucas. While I knew that this was happening, my mind could not neccessarily grasp the idea since Advent was so hectic. A group of us clergy-like folk got together for weekly Skype meetings planning a curriculum, games, and other details. As I sat in on calls, I could not help but think, "Do they realize you really don't speak Castellano and none of this makes sense to you?"

Regardless, my ideas were best articulated on paper as we shared Google Docs and I explained ideas, presented examples, and waited for criticism. I was both surprised and thankful at how much of my ideas were implemented into the structure. About a few days before camp I was informed that I was in charge of a Slavery themed bible study to kick off the week. Crap. 

I was a little nervous and quite insecure as I was not sure of the guidelines to creating this study. What was appropriate? What would get me in trouble? After sitting down for about two hours with Genesis 37 and my ipad, I came up with a relatively simple yet indepth study of the value of human life. I slid the ipad over to my supervisor for a quick thumbs up or thumbs down. She approved. Then again, she is very relaxed so I remain a little anxious if I was going to sink or swim next week. Let's just say if this was the Olympics, I was Symone Manuel.

Ok, maybe it wasn't that good but I atleast qualified to go to Rio.

Suprisingly enough, bible study was the least of my worries when I arrived at camp. As it turned out, there were plenty of other adjustments I had to make which I did not even think of before. One of the main adjustments was the structure. I think I say that in five different ways in the video above. At the end of the day, rather than speaking on certain subjects, I just wrote some notes to better analyze my struggle.

"When MBA meets MDiv.

I am walking on an Argentine tight rope of accompaniment trying to balance humility and knowledge. With each step I take, my body sways back and forth trying to  center my equilibrium. My front foot vibrates as if it is doubting my decision making. "Should you have really moved me forward? Was I your best your move?" The vibrations beneath my soles travel upward into my chest. Some call it anxiety. Do I speak or do I observe?

When do I feel most American?

A. When I become anxious watching others not optimize their resources in order to receive the maximum return on investment.
B. When I am significantly bothered by the lack of structure or productivity occurring during an organized event.
C. When I become cognitive of how detailed oriented and time sensitive are my operational skills.
D. When I struggle with dictating to others how to do something that others are clearly capable of doing solely because it is different from how I do it.
E. All of the above."


There was this point that I realized much of my programming was related to efficiency and maximizing the available resources. How do we translate our year round youth ministry into camp attendance? The thing is, I was not in Argentina to be a Business Analyst for IELU. I came here to learn how to be a Pastor in a missional setting. However I talk about most of this in the very entertaining video above. I lived. I learned.


#ReclaimMissionary