I was awake this morning at 4:30 am and already thinking of all the things I should take care of this week before I head out. There are schedules to finalize, meetings and discussions to be part of, plus a myriad of details pertaining to what to do with email, voice mail, snail mail (not much of that anymore!), cell phone, expense reporting, and so on.
I'm also aware that this is the time to cast vision and set direction for when I get back in August, so I am working on some key communication pieces that I hope will clarify where things are headed for the Fall and beyond.
And then I think about next Monday, when I shall rise to greet a new day (Lord willing) with a totally different agenda. The deliciousness of this idea is potent, but part of me also wonders and even expects to feel somewhat discombobulated for a while. There will be no shortage of chores and tasks around the house to do, and certainly life goes on for the girls, with their school and lesson routines. I am sure it will be a mixture of feeling really good and also kind of . . . odd.
Jeff, one of my colleagues, told me that the first couple of weeks of his sabbatical were a time of de-compressing, and then he felt like he found a new restful rhythm. That's what I am looking for - a new restful rhythm to life for a season, time to be more intentional in areas and activities long neglected.
So off to work I go . . . . .
Carmen Bajo landscape
The view from Carmen Bajo, Quito, Ecuador
Monday, April 30, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
The Gasts are going to Quito !
A major part of my upcoming sabbatical will be a family mission to Quito Ecuador to spend a month with our good friends and ministry partners Pastors Fabian and Grace Erazo and their family.
This is a momentuous event for us as a family, and for me in particular as I take Carina and the girls back to the place of my childhood for the first time.
This is a family mission trip, and International Teams has been awesome getting us set up to be able to do this under their banner. During our time in the neighbourhood of Carmen Bajo, where our sister church is located, we want to:
- strengthen existing relationships and to start new friendships,
- encourage and minister to kids and adults, and
- fortify Creekside Church’s partnership with Carmen Bajo Church through our time and presence there.
A trip like this comes with some unique challenges and opportunities. We are asking people to commit to pray for us and with us over this next several months as we prepare, as we go, and as we are there. If you would be willing and able to pray ongoing for us, please email us at rcgast@rogers.com
There is also an opportunity to partner with us financially to cover the cost of the flights. Through International Teams, we are glad to be able to offer a tax receipt for donations towards the major cost of the mission. We are prepared to cover our living expenses while there, but your help would mean so much to us.
To make a donation or to find out more information simply go to this webpage:
http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=1415914&langPref=en-CA
I'll be posting a lot over the next while on our progress and hope to be reporting to you here from Quito when the time comes!
This is a momentuous event for us as a family, and for me in particular as I take Carina and the girls back to the place of my childhood for the first time.
This is a family mission trip, and International Teams has been awesome getting us set up to be able to do this under their banner. During our time in the neighbourhood of Carmen Bajo, where our sister church is located, we want to:
- strengthen existing relationships and to start new friendships,
- encourage and minister to kids and adults, and
- fortify Creekside Church’s partnership with Carmen Bajo Church through our time and presence there.
A trip like this comes with some unique challenges and opportunities. We are asking people to commit to pray for us and with us over this next several months as we prepare, as we go, and as we are there. If you would be willing and able to pray ongoing for us, please email us at rcgast@rogers.com
There is also an opportunity to partner with us financially to cover the cost of the flights. Through International Teams, we are glad to be able to offer a tax receipt for donations towards the major cost of the mission. We are prepared to cover our living expenses while there, but your help would mean so much to us.
To make a donation or to find out more information simply go to this webpage:
http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=1415914&langPref=en-CA
I'll be posting a lot over the next while on our progress and hope to be reporting to you here from Quito when the time comes!
Monday, April 23, 2012
People of Interest - The Man Who Quit Money
One of the more fascinating people I have encountered this past year is Daniel Suelo, a man who lives in Utah and has for more than a decade lived literally without money.
I first read about him in reading a book by journalist Mark Boyle called The Moneyless Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living. For some strange reason I guess I'm drawn to the these accounts of people who document their experience living for a year without some aspect of what we consider 'normal life'. Boyle, from England, had decided to see if he could live for one year without spending any money. He had drawn inspiration from Daniel Suelo, and so after reading his book, for about a year I've been visiting Suelo's blog on occassion. A book has just been published about Suelo called The Man Who Quit Money. You can watch a brief clip about him here:
As a Christ-follower, I was curious to see what motivates this man to live as he does. I will be very quick to point out that he does not believe as I do, and although he quotes Scripture widely (and often inaccurately) he also draws from all kinds of other religions and traditions and philosophers, blending it all together. His worldview is not mine. Having said that, I still admit to an admiration for someone who has lived out an alternative kind of life that goes totally against the grain of North American materialism and the pursuit of the almighty Loonie (Dollar, for our American friends!)
If there is a way to live differently in a manner that aligns more closely with faith in Christ, do we follow it? Or does our faith too easily accomodate much of the world around us? I see Suelo seeking to live out a life based on values that run counter to our culture. Will I join him? Ummm I don't think so. I do pray that he one day will encounter or meet anew the One who gives us the reason to deny ourselves, to take up the cross-life, and to live not in worry or greed but in simple trust in God's goodness and provision without soul-killing cares of this world.
But can you also imagine a life connected to nature and to community that completely bypasses all the craziness of the rat race? It's a compelling idea, and Suelo is definitely a person of interest.
I first read about him in reading a book by journalist Mark Boyle called The Moneyless Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living. For some strange reason I guess I'm drawn to the these accounts of people who document their experience living for a year without some aspect of what we consider 'normal life'. Boyle, from England, had decided to see if he could live for one year without spending any money. He had drawn inspiration from Daniel Suelo, and so after reading his book, for about a year I've been visiting Suelo's blog on occassion. A book has just been published about Suelo called The Man Who Quit Money. You can watch a brief clip about him here:
As a Christ-follower, I was curious to see what motivates this man to live as he does. I will be very quick to point out that he does not believe as I do, and although he quotes Scripture widely (and often inaccurately) he also draws from all kinds of other religions and traditions and philosophers, blending it all together. His worldview is not mine. Having said that, I still admit to an admiration for someone who has lived out an alternative kind of life that goes totally against the grain of North American materialism and the pursuit of the almighty Loonie (Dollar, for our American friends!)
If there is a way to live differently in a manner that aligns more closely with faith in Christ, do we follow it? Or does our faith too easily accomodate much of the world around us? I see Suelo seeking to live out a life based on values that run counter to our culture. Will I join him? Ummm I don't think so. I do pray that he one day will encounter or meet anew the One who gives us the reason to deny ourselves, to take up the cross-life, and to live not in worry or greed but in simple trust in God's goodness and provision without soul-killing cares of this world.
But can you also imagine a life connected to nature and to community that completely bypasses all the craziness of the rat race? It's a compelling idea, and Suelo is definitely a person of interest.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Sticking To It: The Effect of Going Long
In staying as long as possible in one place, I have seen how that place has shaped me as much as I have shaped it. I have been employed on staff at Creekside for over 8 years. That is the longest I have ever held one job in my entire working life so far. I was 4 years at Bramalea Alliance, and before that 7 years at Penner International.
The milestone of the sabbatical has me thinking about how I have had the grace and the strength to hang in for 8 years. Those years have come with lots of challenges, but also lots of blessings. There were a few times when I honestly almost packed it in. Creekside has also been very good to me in all those years. I am well-paid and I know that I am cared for by the leadership.
I can see how I have adapted myself over the years to Creekside, and also how I have shaped Creekside to the degree that I have. As the primary worship leader and director, I exercise a certain amount of influence on the whole tone of worship, music and arts. In these things, Creekside is going to be to some degree a reflection of who I am and what I value. I'm not tooting my own horn here right now, because in all honesty I question myself and my effectiveness a lot, and always have. In working together with my Senior Pastor Ken and my other colleagues, we have grown over the years in our capacity to live in and manage the tensions of our various values and expectations, while all the while affirming our core values, the things we are committed to and will go to the wall for as a team.
I have had my thinking and my values shaped by Creekside as much as I have been a part of shaping Creekside's identity as an expression of the Body of Christ. Perhaps I am the one who has been shaped more. I am thankful for God's enabling me to hang in there these 8+ years and am eager to continue to shape and BE SHAPED by this place!
The milestone of the sabbatical has me thinking about how I have had the grace and the strength to hang in for 8 years. Those years have come with lots of challenges, but also lots of blessings. There were a few times when I honestly almost packed it in. Creekside has also been very good to me in all those years. I am well-paid and I know that I am cared for by the leadership.
I can see how I have adapted myself over the years to Creekside, and also how I have shaped Creekside to the degree that I have. As the primary worship leader and director, I exercise a certain amount of influence on the whole tone of worship, music and arts. In these things, Creekside is going to be to some degree a reflection of who I am and what I value. I'm not tooting my own horn here right now, because in all honesty I question myself and my effectiveness a lot, and always have. In working together with my Senior Pastor Ken and my other colleagues, we have grown over the years in our capacity to live in and manage the tensions of our various values and expectations, while all the while affirming our core values, the things we are committed to and will go to the wall for as a team.
I have had my thinking and my values shaped by Creekside as much as I have been a part of shaping Creekside's identity as an expression of the Body of Christ. Perhaps I am the one who has been shaped more. I am thankful for God's enabling me to hang in there these 8+ years and am eager to continue to shape and BE SHAPED by this place!
Sunday, April 15, 2012
3 Weeks and Counting !!!
With each week the sabbatical draweth nigh. The list of things to do lengtheneth. The last minute details multiplieth. I get thillier. And thillier.
Very soon we will be setting up a webpage at www.iteams.ca to raise funds for our family mission to Quito Ecuador. We are very excited to be able to go as short-term missionaries with International Teams under the banner of Impact Ecuador, and are praying that we will be able to raise both prayer support and funds for the flights, the biggest chunk of the costs.
As a family we will be engaging in life alongside our friends the Erazo's, who pastor the church in Carmen Bajo as well as running a school and Compassion center as well. We hope to meet and get to know people, young and old, and that all of us, including the girls, will connect with people there and be a blessing. I am sure I'll have opportunity again to lead worship and am already dusting off my spanish worship songs.
The Quito trip is the high point of the sabbatical time, and of course I'll be up to other stuff in May and June in other areas of life.
Your prayers for us are highly valued! Stay tuned for more.
Very soon we will be setting up a webpage at www.iteams.ca to raise funds for our family mission to Quito Ecuador. We are very excited to be able to go as short-term missionaries with International Teams under the banner of Impact Ecuador, and are praying that we will be able to raise both prayer support and funds for the flights, the biggest chunk of the costs.
As a family we will be engaging in life alongside our friends the Erazo's, who pastor the church in Carmen Bajo as well as running a school and Compassion center as well. We hope to meet and get to know people, young and old, and that all of us, including the girls, will connect with people there and be a blessing. I am sure I'll have opportunity again to lead worship and am already dusting off my spanish worship songs.
The Quito trip is the high point of the sabbatical time, and of course I'll be up to other stuff in May and June in other areas of life.
Your prayers for us are highly valued! Stay tuned for more.
Monday, April 9, 2012
27 Days and Counting . . .
After a great Easter weekend of celebrations (I am SO proud of the Worship and Arts people at Creekside!) I now turn my thoughts and energies toward wrapping up on Sunday May 6th after which the sabbatical begins.
27 Days to do as much advance planning as possible, to make sure those leading in my place know what is needed from them during my absence, as well as helping plan a visit to Canada by Pastors Fabian and Grace Erazo and their family from Quito, and being a part of The ReConnect, a technical ministries conference being held here in Cambridge on April 28-29.
We are also in the midst of plans for our own family trip to Quito during my sabbatical, and also finalizing some other places we want to go and things we want to do.
I have a feeling it will be a mad dash to the finish line ! It will be interesting to suddenly be on a totally different schedule with different demands and presssures (hopefully less than I normally manage!). In the end I do hope to make and take time to do things I never seem to get around to doing in the regular course of life.
27 Days to do as much advance planning as possible, to make sure those leading in my place know what is needed from them during my absence, as well as helping plan a visit to Canada by Pastors Fabian and Grace Erazo and their family from Quito, and being a part of The ReConnect, a technical ministries conference being held here in Cambridge on April 28-29.
We are also in the midst of plans for our own family trip to Quito during my sabbatical, and also finalizing some other places we want to go and things we want to do.
I have a feeling it will be a mad dash to the finish line ! It will be interesting to suddenly be on a totally different schedule with different demands and presssures (hopefully less than I normally manage!). In the end I do hope to make and take time to do things I never seem to get around to doing in the regular course of life.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Loving the Hymns!
On Friday evening Carina and I went to a gospel concert by the Collingsworths - my folks introduced me to the music of this incredible musical family a while back, and took us to see them. The event was in Kitchener and filled the 1,000-seat church auditorium to standing room only.
I felt somewhat like a fish out of water, since I'm more in the vein of Paul Baloche, Hillsong United, and Starfield, BUT tonite was a very nice change from my typical experience.
In particular it was striking to be in a room dominated by folks in their 60's, 70's and even 80's - a LARGE group of them - and to hear them SINGING hymns was like being in a REALLY GOOD time warp!
I have childhood memories of church services full of people singing loudly, passionately and WITH HARMONY the great hymns of the church, as well as the great gospel songs of the early 1900's - an entire body of songs that may go onto the endangered species list as the older generations pass on. Throughout the concert, (which was fantastic!) we had opportunity to sing as a congregation songs like "He Lives", and "Wonderful Grace of Jesus" among a host of other great gospel anthems.
For a guy who leads the under-55 crowd in worship on a weekly basis, it was refreshing and moving to step back in time for an evening and allow myself to be carried along on the worship music that has nourished our grandparents in their faith. In our contemporary worship setting, we often struggle with getting the mix and balance right, and with engaging people at a heart level so they will sing with abandon. In our (post)modern complexity we have lost the simple art of congregational singing. I wonder if we may get to a place where we need to look back and re-trace our steps to what's older, and what may initially seem outdated or irrelevant, but which still has power to resonate if you will let it.
The Collingsworth Family are the real deal - and world class musicians to boot - but their passion and love for Christ shines through every note, and it was a wonderful evening to share with Carina and my Mom and Dad, and a great way to rejoice again in the power of Good Friday.
I felt somewhat like a fish out of water, since I'm more in the vein of Paul Baloche, Hillsong United, and Starfield, BUT tonite was a very nice change from my typical experience.
In particular it was striking to be in a room dominated by folks in their 60's, 70's and even 80's - a LARGE group of them - and to hear them SINGING hymns was like being in a REALLY GOOD time warp!
I have childhood memories of church services full of people singing loudly, passionately and WITH HARMONY the great hymns of the church, as well as the great gospel songs of the early 1900's - an entire body of songs that may go onto the endangered species list as the older generations pass on. Throughout the concert, (which was fantastic!) we had opportunity to sing as a congregation songs like "He Lives", and "Wonderful Grace of Jesus" among a host of other great gospel anthems.
For a guy who leads the under-55 crowd in worship on a weekly basis, it was refreshing and moving to step back in time for an evening and allow myself to be carried along on the worship music that has nourished our grandparents in their faith. In our contemporary worship setting, we often struggle with getting the mix and balance right, and with engaging people at a heart level so they will sing with abandon. In our (post)modern complexity we have lost the simple art of congregational singing. I wonder if we may get to a place where we need to look back and re-trace our steps to what's older, and what may initially seem outdated or irrelevant, but which still has power to resonate if you will let it.
The Collingsworth Family are the real deal - and world class musicians to boot - but their passion and love for Christ shines through every note, and it was a wonderful evening to share with Carina and my Mom and Dad, and a great way to rejoice again in the power of Good Friday.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
The Chaos and the Joy of Easter Service Rehearsals
This being Easter week, we are running not just one, but TWO full church services, 3 services on Good Friday and 3 services as usual on Sunday.
This year I've been able to set up two separate teams to run with each of the days, so that no one is doubled up and therefore completely exhausted at the end of the weekend. Especially me !!!
So for the first time in my ministry career, I intend to help out in child care with our Lifegroup in one of the Good Friday services, and then to be in the other services with Carina. I'm looking forward to being in the crowd this year for that service and am very excited about what we have planned.
We are having a choir this Easter Weekend, something of a tradition now, and a chance for us to do something that is not normally a part of our regular worship experience. There are many reasons for this, but one of the key issues is the technical challenges of miking and mixing the choir along with our usual worship band configuration. For those of you who are into sound, you know that stage volumes can't exceed the volume coming out of the house speakers, or you get what we affectionately call 'sonic mush'. With all the mics on stage for the choir, singers, drums, and horns, you have the further issue of all those mics picking up everything else around them which adds to the challenge of isolating each source of sound and each mic.
We rent some extra gear to deal with it, and throughout the rehearsal process I frequently caution the choir that "This may get loud!" and I also caution the worship team band members that "You may need to play quieter!" Somehow we managed to navigate between these last night and practice, although chaotic, was fun, (at least I think so!). I came home with a bit of a sore throat (yikes!) but also a sense that it's going to be fine, and the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus will be celebrated with great joy this weekend at Creekside!
I am really looking forward to Easter weekend, and love that we have a great team of people working hard together to make it happen!
This year I've been able to set up two separate teams to run with each of the days, so that no one is doubled up and therefore completely exhausted at the end of the weekend. Especially me !!!
So for the first time in my ministry career, I intend to help out in child care with our Lifegroup in one of the Good Friday services, and then to be in the other services with Carina. I'm looking forward to being in the crowd this year for that service and am very excited about what we have planned.
We are having a choir this Easter Weekend, something of a tradition now, and a chance for us to do something that is not normally a part of our regular worship experience. There are many reasons for this, but one of the key issues is the technical challenges of miking and mixing the choir along with our usual worship band configuration. For those of you who are into sound, you know that stage volumes can't exceed the volume coming out of the house speakers, or you get what we affectionately call 'sonic mush'. With all the mics on stage for the choir, singers, drums, and horns, you have the further issue of all those mics picking up everything else around them which adds to the challenge of isolating each source of sound and each mic.
We rent some extra gear to deal with it, and throughout the rehearsal process I frequently caution the choir that "This may get loud!" and I also caution the worship team band members that "You may need to play quieter!" Somehow we managed to navigate between these last night and practice, although chaotic, was fun, (at least I think so!). I came home with a bit of a sore throat (yikes!) but also a sense that it's going to be fine, and the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus will be celebrated with great joy this weekend at Creekside!
I am really looking forward to Easter weekend, and love that we have a great team of people working hard together to make it happen!
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Movies Worth Watching
Being a big fan of Gilbert & Sullivan, and having seen the 1994 Stratford production of Pirates of Penzance with Carina (on my 26th birthday!), I decided to sign out the movie version from the library. I recall this coming out sometime while I was in high school and seeing previews on pay-tv channel ads, but I'd never seen it until tonight with Carina and the girls.
Kayleigh needed some help understanding the plot ("Is he bad?" "Why is he crying?" "Who is the old guy?") but we all enjoyed it immensely. This movie is so well done, the acting, singing, dancing and especially the pratfalls are classic. Seeing Angela Lansbury brandishing a sword and Kevin Kline doing all sorts of hilarious sight gags not to mention the machine-gun fast singing of songs like "I am the very model of a modern major general" was pure fun, and we were all in stitches again and again.
If you've never seen it, check it out! Pirates will be on at Stratford again this year - maybe we'll plan to go.
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