Many apologies to anyone who has been trying to check this blog to see what I'm up to. I assure you my "radio silence" has been due to more, rather than less, activity. For two weeks in June and all of July, I was involved in Ambridge Arts Camp, a companion to Ambridge Sports Camp, run by Ambridge Youth Ignite and my friend Eric Geisbert. Each morning from 9 to noon, kids were invited to participate in a different sport each week, then from 1 to 3 in the afternoon (after most of the kids enjoyed a free lunch provided by the YMCA and hosted by Church of the Savior) we gave them a chance to explore their creativity. For the first two weeks we focused on visual arts, studying eras and artists from the past (that's a photo of me teaching the kids about Matisse), letting the kids draw, paint, sculpt, and do art with various materials and methods. The next two weeks we taught them drama, and the final two weeks, we focused on music. I was director for the visual arts and drama weeks, and Sadie Rankin directed the music weeks, during which time I worked with the kids on writing lyrics for two original songs. It was all very fun and exhausting, and we all got stretched in a number of ways! Four of us plan to offer more classes in the fall, and Eric is hoping to offer one sport not otherwise available in Ambridge, so we're looking for ways to continue this ministry and these relationships throughout the school year.
On a somewhat sadder note, we had to cancel our VBS due to lack of adult volunteers. I still plan to work on the scripts and other materials in hopes of doing it at another time, but clearly we did not have the people to make it fly this summer. Many things seem to be in transition with our children's ministries at COTS, and it falls to me to discern what direction we need to take. Your prayers are welcome in this endeavor.
