Suddenly it's four weeks since my last blog entry... as if nothing is happening either near me or on larger stages. Perhaps that's a good reminder about how easy it is to let the mind (and body) drift, to spend evenings criticizing WNBA officiating, or whatever else is easier than sitting down to write some random thoughts.
Or maybe it's a combination of a trip to Keokuk for a family wedding the first weekend of the month, and our two grandsons flying to spend three days plus with us (unaccompanied!), and four nights of the Democratic National Convention, and quite a few hours editing and adjusting two online college writing courses.
Or maybe it's just the lazy days of late summer.
Or... say, here's something: I am making progress on interviewing for my history of St. Luke's UMC project, which no one asked for and which has no clear end point or product. Yet, for something so vague, it certainly has been entertaining for me.
Yesterday I spent an hour on the phone with a guy who was an intern pastor for less than a year back in 1986-87, spanning the last few weeks of the tenure of the church's founding minister who was losing it to alcoholism plus the arrival of an inspiring young minister who basically restarted the church. Jay Rundell is now nearly 40 years on and works at a seminary in Ohio... but still remembers those days -- a combination of difficult times and nostalgic memories.
That then-young minister is Bill Selby, now 81, and still living right across the street from St. Luke's. He has studied church systems for many years and heads a center that spreads the word about church philosophies and systems across at least seven states. I have enjoyed sitting in a local Starbucks talking with him, and even remembering to take some notes. Sitting down for an extended interview is a good reminder of how challenging the process can be... and the only thing that has saved me is going back to my computer and trying to reconstruct as much of the conversation as I can without delay.
Bill's successor, Dick Evans, still lives in Littleton, and we have struck up a friendship that didn't have any time to build back in 2002, when Dick was the lead pastor as Kathleen and I joined the church that fall. He left the post in June of 2003. We have had extended conversations twice this summer, covering everything from how to write and deliver a great sermon to anecdotes about how a church exploded in membership in just a few years.
After Dick, came Janet Forbes, who led the church for 12 years. She was brought in to provide stable leadership, to get finances in order. and to overcome the latest rumors and feelings of abandonment and more. She was nice enough to invest some time writing down her random memories, plus her strategies and tactics in leading a church. She and her husband were off camping much of the summer, but I plan to sit down with her soon for some follow up questions.
The little history project began with wanting to add some stories and "color" to the 40th anniversary of a church that did not have a building until 1986 and that parallels the community of Highlands Ranch in many ways (the place was a working ranch 45 years ago... there were 87 occupied homes here in 1981). It grew from nothing and there were lots of ups and downs along the way. Like my research?
Back to my lame excuses for neglecting this blog: stuff happened.
So, along with other responsibilities (so much journalism judging), it's been interesting to have this church history side project. Right now, I am thinking I may need to produce two different versions of whatever I come up with... perhaps one as an interactive ebook and the other as a printed book.
But I still have at least a dozen more people to interview to flesh out what I have learned and I still need to gather visuals of all sorts, particularly from before the year 2000, which is the period when there was the most tumult (and the most riveting history, to be honest).
But today my task is to browse PDFs of 71 student newsmagazines entered in the NSPA Pacemaker competition and start separating them into "not winners" and "possible winners." I am leading a team of three who will name finalists and national winners, though we live in three time zones and two of us are active advisers.
Well, enough with the excuses, which are weak since I spent plenty of time in the past month watching old "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episodes, and the Olympics, and Fever games.
But we are already into Week 2 of the university classes and the unofficial end of summer is here, and I just reactivated by sports package with Infinity so I can get the Big 10 Network... go Hawks!
Time to refocus.
