10/18/2025
SPECIAL LIFE ANNOUNCEMENT: (probably second only in life significance to my announcement several years back that after decades of singleness, I was getting married. sorry for the length of this post, but I wanted to get all this information out)
SHORT VERSION OF POST: Retirement from vocational youth ministry
LONG VERSION OF POST:
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. – Ecc.3:1
For me that season has been 47 years, 47 years of full-time vocational youth ministry. The first 10 years were spent on staff with what is now Family Life Ministries, then 37 years as an independent missionary, helping churches use camping as a part of their church programming. Since many reading this came into my life at different entry points, and know me from many different avenues, I hope through this post to be able to tell you the complete history, for those who may not know all of the life chapters. The other day in my devotions I was reading about how God called Moses to rescue the Israelites from Pharoah’s grasp. Moses response was “Who am I to go to Pharoah and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” It is easy to see why Moses might have questioned God’s judgment and whether he was a great candidate for the job. God basically responds “I will be with you.” This is not about what you bring to the table, this is about who I am. Well, that has been true of me all these years as God has taken this introvert, who is not a Bible scholar and filled me, strengthened me and used me for these past 47 years.
After graduating from Christ Unlimited Bible Institute in Kansas City in 1978, and being ordained, I came back here to Bath and accepted an offer to join staff at Area Youth For Christ, which is now Family Life Ministries. After 10 productive years at Family Life on what was known as the Youth Action staff, leading and overseeing High School Bible Clubs, and leading camping trips and retreats for them, the door for that part of my years of youth ministry came to a close. So at that point in 1988, as I sought what God had for me next, I worked from one question “Given my interests, my personality, my spiritual gifts & my opportunities, how can I be most effective for God in the next segment of my life?” My interests included camping, retreats, and teenagers. By personality I knew I was more of a task person than a people person. My spiritual gifts are in the areas of preaching and administrating or organizing. Being single and not having any debts, my opportunities were unlimited. And many of my supporting churches and friends were willing to continue on as part of my support team in this new venture. As I put all the pieces together, God began placing on my heart a ministry of being an independent missionary speaking to young people, and facilitating some events that would give me opportunities to do that. This would also provide a service to church youth groups to be able to use camping as a tool in their youth programming. Speaking at youth camps or helping lead camping trips for camps which also utilized me as speaker was also a part of this ministry, primarily over the next couple of decades as I ministered in some way with teens from 26 different Christian Camps.
Back in those early days there were way more small to medium sized youth groups at churches in our immediate area that could utilize my services than there are now, and many of them were led by volunteer leaders that loved to have me come along side them and help them make an event happen. One activity I began to offer after a couple of years was canoeing, with some older borrowed canoes that I had access to (and that required a lot of repair work after every trip down shallow rivers). As the interest in canoeing grew, I began to buy my own more durable canoes out of my missionary support salary, and from income from canoeing events. Back in that era I also gradually likewise bought a fleet of rubber rafts for rafting trips down Pine Creek near Wellsboro, PA. There was a lot of interest back in those days of church youth groups doing tent camping trips, so I bought tents, camping gear, and all the necessary accessories as well as a motor boat, to be able to offer that as another type of event. Most church youth groups would not have had the equipment to do such an event on their own, so it provided another service to them where I could utilize my spiritual gift of preaching God’s Word.
In those days I would sit down with a leader and show then a notebook with pictures of 6-8 camps that we could rent for a weekend, and I would help them with the food, the activities and the messages for their event. The only thing I asked of them was that they reimburse me for my food costs, which I always kept as basic and nominal as possible. For tent camping trips they would cover whatever other expenses were involved, including gas for my boat. I came up with a very nominal figure for canoeing and rafting that would cover costs for my gear maintenance, gear replacement and vehicle gas expenses. I would continue to live off my missionary support and any extra love gifts groups chose to bless me with.
Some friends in the Bath area also had a small cabin with no electricity or running water that they let me use scores of times for years to host groups. But over time, groups were starting to outgrow what we could squeeze into that cabin. So around 1998 God began to lay on my heart the idea of having a cabin of my own. There was never any intention that it would be a camp then or become a camp in the future (and over the years to follow I have always tried to explain that to people when they would refer to it as a “camp”.) There were already many good Christian Camps in the region, many of which are under-utilized. It was to merely be another tool I owned that would help create opportunities for me to use my spiritual gifts, and a place where I didn’t have to keep carting the necessary gear for retreats from place to place. As such, unlike most actual camps, it was also not a “rental facility” where a group would rent it and I would be left sitting at home with an open date on my calendar, not using my spiritual gifts and doing ministry. It also was never designed to be the only place I would host or take a group. For several reason I made the decision not to incorporate but to have it merely as my own personal seasonal cabin, that I was paying taxes on, that I was letting youth groups use at no cost. So “Christian Camping Services” is not a legal entity, but merely the tagline describing services I offered. In 1998, after an extensive search for land, I found 23 acres that I bought at an affordable price. The cabin was built in 1999 with the help of many volunteers, with all the building costs coming out of my missionary support salary and some extra gifts that came in to help with that project. Initially there was no plan to use the cabin in the winter, but from the first year there were groups interested in coming for a winter event. So, over time winter retreats at my cabin became a major portion of my yearly calendar of events, and the number of groups asking me to lead a winter retreat for them at a camp we could rent quickly began to diminish.
As decades rolled on changes have happened in our world, and in the church youth group culture. Years ago I did some processing and realized the 3 biggest challenges that affected this ministry. One; as church congregations aged, less and less small to medium size churches in this region had enough teens for an actual youth group. Today I would guess that up to as many as many as half to 2/3 of churches I served over the life of this ministry no longer have an active youth group. This necessitated me reaching out further and further to major population centers to connect with enough youth groups to try to keep a full schedule. Closely connected to this is factor number two; the declining population of Western NY outside major population hubs. With young families leaving the region for career purposes, and remaining families having fewer children than decades ago, there are less teens in most towns, thus less teens for churches to minister to with a youth group. Even the public schools here in the region have experienced the decline, with some schools merging totally, and others at least merging their sports programs to be able to field teams. Factor number three has been; the consolidation of people and youth into mega-churches. As a result, many smaller to medium size churches no longer have any teens, and the larger churches either have the man-power to do their own youth events, or are too big for me to serve a youth group of their size. There are several groups I counted on serving regularly, that after a number of years, as God grew their ministry, they stopped connecting with me as they had to seek bigger facilities to host their events.
Probably the top question many may have at this point is whether or not I was training someone to take over when I could no longer do the ministry. A few people have actually been asking that question of me for nearly a decade. Part of my answer has been to explain that if I were starting the ministry again from scratch that I would not start it here in rural Western NY, but instead in a larger population base with more youth groups in the region, such as perhaps Lancaster, PA. The other part of my answer is that unlike a “camp”, or a “non-profit organization”, that are created to continue on in perpetuity, this ministry was never begun in that paradigm. It is merely me serving God with the gifts He has given me and with the equipment I accumulated over the years to help make that possible. In reality, I might have come to my current position several years back had it not been for God bringing a wonderful young lady named Tammy into my life to be my wife, and life and ministry help-mate. Could someone possibly continue this exact ministry after me, either with or without buying out the operation? Sure, but they would face some of the same challenges that I have faced.
So, after months of prayer and seeking God’s direction the time has come for me to announce that between now and the end of October I will be retiring from full-time vocational youth ministry as an independent missionary, and have already begun the winding down process by attending to some associated projects, repairs and tasks. Now I realize that “retirement” itself is not a Biblical concept, at least as far as our part in the Body of Christ. In fact, I myself have mentioned this very thing in sermons I have preached. But some of it depends on your definition of retirement. I describe it not as many in the world do, “leaving the working world to live life for self pleasure”. But it does describe my changing role as far as being a full-time missionary, and hosting and leading youth events year round. I will not be offering to lead winter retreats at the cabin this winter. I am not currently seeking to sell the cabin and/or equipment immediately (though I would prayerfully consider any offers), but as I pay taxes on the cabin, that is something that will need to be decided in the future. I plan to continue to do pulpit supply in churches as the invites come. I would still consider speaking at youth events that I am not leading or hosting. And if God leads and blesses me with health and energy, I may still be open to hosting some cabin & canoe outings next May-August, even if it is no longer a full-time vocation, but I can’t guarantee that at this time. The God who opens & closes seasons in our lives has not yet shown me all the details of what my future holds, just that it is time for the current season to close. I realize there will be a number of groups that have used this ministry regularly and will be disappointed to hear this news.
I plan for now to continue to drive school bus occasionally as I have driven for sport trips as a sideline for many years. And Tammy will continue in her current position with Headstart as a long-term sub.
I would like to express my appreciation for whatever part God has
allowed you to have as a part of this ministry, whether through your prayers and/or your financial gifts. Though it was for many years a solo ministry out there on the front line, and then became a duel ministry when God brought Tammy on board as both my soul mate and team helper, it would not have been possible without those who have prayed behind the scenes. I certainly would appreciate your prayers for continued wisdom and direction as I go through the life change of this process. Change of any type is often difficult for people in many situations. For me, in this situation, I want to above all, to continue to follow GOD’S plan for my life. If you have any further questions, feel free to email me or call me. I will be keeping the ministry email for now at [email protected]. I can also be reached through Facebook Messenger or by my cell at 607-794-2270. And if your church is ever in need of a guest speaker or someone for pulpit supply, I would love to serve in this capacity. Once again thank you for your love, support, and encouragement both now and throughout the past years.
