Baseball, Crawdads, and Ministy in NW Nevada

It all began with car trouble at the airport, but we made it to Camp Galilee where I found the greatest team of camp counsellors I have ever met. Business guru Jim Collins says the first step toward success is to get the right people on the bus, and that's what Stuart Campbell has done at Galilee. I made it back to Galilee several days later -- I am there now -- to find over 40 early elementary kids having a fine time. Camp registration is up 15% this year. Stop. Read that again. 15%. Remember the economy which is hurting camps all over the country this year. But Galilee is up 15%!

A lot happened in between these two Galilee visits. There was ordaining Victoria Riley to the priesthood in a jam packed St. Peter's, Carson City. St. Peter's is in some respects our strongest parish. Fr. Jeff has done heroic work there for a long time, and it is bearing fruit with the ordination of an excellent new priest in a vibrant, theologically engaged congregation. And you should have heard the call of Isaiah (Isaiah 6) chanted first in Hebrew then in Enlgish by Rabbi ElizaBeth Beyer. Great service followed by blow out recetion. I'll be back there for two more ordinations in July.

The next morning we were at Holy Trinity, Fallon, a leader in Total Ministy and a parish with a strong commitment to social justice ministries. They have taken the Magnetic Church workshop to heart and put up a great new sign that will do a better job of evangelim. Holy Trinity renovated its offices last year. This year they are coming to terms with the needs of the parish hall, a lovely old building which may need to be replaced due to stuctural problems. They will have to sort out the best way to move forward, but they are undaunted. There is no doubt they will move forward.

Then it was on to St. Alban's, Yerrington, a faithful congregation that is keeping the fires burning until we find the resources to help them flourish again. Yerrington is a happening town. They just need some residential clergy leadership to get the evangelism train on the track.

Then it was back to Reno to watch Fr. Kirk Woodliff throw out the first pitch and to hear the combined choirs of the Reno-Sparks are Episcopal Church sing the National Anthem. Kirk threw a strike, just clipping the lower outside (to a rightie) corner; and the choir nailed the anthem. Over 200 Episcopalians clad in red cheered the Reno Aces on to a 1 run victory.

Along the way, there have been a passel of individual meetings about diverse things. More of that today. But first here I am checking in with you and writing away on sermons for the coming weekend. I am off duty at camp. The boys have specifically asked me not to bless the crawdads. Last year I blessed them and they were mysteriously liberated by the next morning.