Amazing Week in Ontario!

The Ontario, California meetings ended today.  The Pacific Union Conference Constituency Meetings provided few surprises, but they did provide me an opportunity to watch the church structure work the way it’s supposed to work.  All the Pacific Union officers were voted back into office.  The only development out of the ordinary was the retirement by the Union Asian Pacific Coordinator, Elder Atiga.  This giant of small stature gave close to fifty years of service to the church.  He still has quite a sense of humor—amazing man.

The Constituency Meeting was followed by the Pacific Union Ministerial Meetings in the same location.  The seminars were stimulating.  The exhibits were interesting.  The networking was extraordinary.  Bumping into old friends in ministry who I had not seen since the last millennium was priceless.  But I must confess that what I will remember most are three of the best sermons I had heard in a long time. Elder Dan Jackson, President of the North American Division gave the opening night presentation.  It was a moving call to uplift the Cross of Jesus.  His conviction and passion was visible.  The next night Carlton Byrd, of the Breath of Life Telecast, preached a sermon entitled, “Do Something!”  I would rank it amongst the best five sermons I have heard in my life.  I wanted to stand up and start shouting and jumping down the aisle—of course my emotionally retarded self just smiled a lot and felt convicted in my heart.  Amazing message—enthralling delivery!  Finally, this morning, Pastor Chris Oberg, Senior Pastor of the La Sierra University Church preached on the parable of the “wheat and the tares,” with a very surprising and timely punch line that had many of the hearers shouting amen and breaking out in spontaneous applause.

I was blessed beyond measure, and even now, at the end of the day, I am compelled to acknowledge that God is good to me beyond measure.  I can’t wait to get back to TAA after the weekend is over.  A lot has been taking place in my absence.  I need to be there.  But I need to be here too!  I hope I have good news to share tomorrow regarding a principal for TAA.

Rosarito Reflections

I am sitting in a condo overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico.  A blanket of cool, moist, and soothing coastal fog envelops the landscape.  The temperature hovers at about 70 degrees Fahrenheit, not what seems 70 degrees Celsius as in the Valley of the Sun!

I left Scottsdale on Friday afternoon—about three hours later than I had intended.  I had a 7:00 p.m. appointment in Orange, California—a vespers program for a small group of adolescents belonging to my daughter’s youth group.  You can see why I did not want to be late.   But as is often the case, the list of things to do and people to connect with prior to my departure overran the time allotted, as did my stress level.  Very few things stress me—being behind schedule is one of the few things that elevate my aforementioned stress index.  My level was through the roof by the time I left the TAA campus at about 1:30 p.m.

I pressed the limits of my Prius as I flew below radar down Interstate 10 between Phoenix and San Bernardino.  I arrived at my appointment at about 7:05 p.m. and had a wonderful evening with the kids— one of which I remembered as a small child early in my days at Orangewood Academy.  She is now a freshman at a local high school.  Amazing how time flies!  

The next morning I enjoyed leading the Youth Sabbath School Class the Orange church, where my daughter, Amanda, works as a youth pastor.  I had a great time with the youth group—all two of them!  At least I had met them the night before.  Then I enjoyed a wonderful sermon preached by my daughter.  This was the reason I had planned on coming early to the PUC Constituency Meeting that begins this evening in Ontario.  She preached about God doing extraordinary things through plain and ordinary people.  She even managed to say some nice things about me towards the end of her sermon.  My heart swelled with paternal pride, not only because she was my daughter, but because my ministerial genes had passed on to the next generation.

 Friday nights and Sabbaths with the family are what I miss most from my past life in California.  Although we were all busy during the week, Friday nights always brought the nuclear family together for a meal and some serious conversations about life, religion, politics, and family.  Sabbath post-church meals were an extended family event consisting of dozens of children, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, uncles, aunts, in-laws, and friends gathering in family homes on the Sabbath lunch rotation.  The conversations usually lasted into the late afternoon.  As a result we (Penny, my son Robert, and I) did not get going to Mexico, where my oldest son and his family had already gone the previous day, until late afternoon.  Sabbath ended before we crossed the border.  I stopped at my favorite food dive—El Ruso.  We stayed up late with the family, minus Amanda and Jeff, enjoying some movies on the large screen. 

I woke up early to get some work done and then went back to lay down for a while only to be surprised by my grandson Ruben who informed me that he could not play rough with girls, only boys.  He then informed me I was a boy and thus qualified as someone with whom he could roughhouse.  He then proceeded to jump high on the bed and land on my chest— more than a few times.  It was the best feeling in the world at that particular moment.  He is talking so much!

Family—what would I do without them?  I realize my calling is in Arizona and I will be there until God takes me somewhere else or takes me, period!  There is a cost to discipleship—my cost, for now is my family.  I am not the first, nor will I be the last, but for today, sitting in a condo overlooking the Pacific—watching little Ruben standing on the bed smiling at me while playing with a Nerf stick, Janelle, my daughter-in-law, cooking in the kitchen and my two boys, Penny, and my granddaughter sitting in the living room—I am thankful for my calling and for the brief moments from which to draw memories for the hot and dry days of the Arizona summer that await my return to Scottsdale in a few days.  God is good—all the time!

What a Day!

It’s actually early Thursday morning.  I finished some paperwork that needed tending to.  It’s been a busy day, with the usual school-related happenings.  It was a remarkable day, nonetheless.  Let me explain.

I had been more than a bit concerned about the amount of scholarships I had committed to finding to keep many students in the schools around the state.   Principals and pastors had been working to try to help parents take a step of faith and enroll the children in our schools.  The amount needed was growing daily.  But we had taken a bold step, trusting that God would provide the means. 

I had sent a letter to the constituency across the state and to my children, hoping to establish a fund that would provide the seed money for the growing needs.  The results up to date had been meager compared to the need.  I was already preparing to write a second letter to the membership to let them know the amount of money that would be needed to cover the shortfall between the students’ finances and the cost of tuition.  I had received dozens of completed scholarship applications from students from Kindergarten to 12^th grade.

As a matter of fact I had spent the greater part of the morning poring over worthy student applications and reports for Thunderbird Academy’s Worthy Student Fund Committee that was meeting in the afternoon.  We had set $50,000 dollars aside in the TAA budget to assist worthy students.  But the conference-wide need was greater, considering the elementary students that had applied to the yet to be matured education fund.  I received an email that required my presence at the conference office—a rarity nowadays.  It was while I was there that I received some sobering news—astounding news, but sobering all the same. 

I received a visit from the Wills and Trust Director for the conference.  He sat down and told me he had some disturbing news.  He mentioned that he had put an important project on hold—one designed to raise funds for the organic farming project we envisioned being established at TAA in the near future.  I understood that other priorities had taken over.  But he also shared something else.  I could tell he was enjoying the moment.  He told me, “Ruben, I will be depositing $100,000 dollars into your Education Fund account.”  He just let it sit there.  He went on to explain that a retired pastor with a heart for Adventist Education had passed away recently.  He had left $100,000 dollars in unrestricted funds to assist the Arizona schools!  Can you imagine my delight?   God had provided at the very moment when the kids needed it most.  God is good!

We have more than enough money to assist all students whose parents took the step of faith this year and enrolled their children.  I trust that this gift will open the floodgates and others will see the need and will equally want to be used by God to fund our children to attend our schools.   It’s comforting to see God’s hand working—even through imperfect vessels.

Monday/Tuesday Blurb

Monday flew by almost as if it had not been here at all.  Already it’s 5 o’clock in the in afternoon and a day full of activities is almost concluded—sort of.  Meetings with teachers, classroom visits, lunch supervision, administrative council, parent meetings, are all part and parcel of what occupied my day at TAA.  It was the first day of Spirit Week: Class Colors Day.

In brief—Freshmen are Yellow, Sophomores are Red, Juniors are Green, and Seniors are Blue.  I dressed up in all four colors.  I looked more than a bit ridiculous, but it was worth it.  I got some ribbing from the conference folk when I went dressed that way to do the morning devotional for the conference office.  But I used it as an object lesson on John 1:14—about the Word becoming human.

My day ended with a school board meeting at the Red Rock School in Mesa.  Good group of people committed to keeping their small school open at a great cost.  Five students—total.  One teacher.  They pay for the full cost of having a credentialed teacher leading the five students—two of which are the teacher’s children.  But they are a great group of people on the school board.  They laugh and pray and tell stories about their families and about places they’ve visited.  You would think that would be a waste of time—but it’s not.  It’s what makes a family—sharing life and humor and stories.  I know them better now.  I even learned that one of them got to ride from Hawaii to San Diego on a U.S. Navy Destroyer with his two sons.  Now that’s a story!

Sunday Summary

It’s late in the afternoon (evening) after a very full day.  Even superintendents have to pay bills.  In any case, it was fun having Penny over for a couple of days.  We went to Beacon Light SDA Church for Sabbath morning.  I had a great time preaching on 2 Corinthians 12.  Penny tells me she enjoyed the message.  I enjoyed preaching it—so that’s at least two people who enjoyed being there….the music was lively and the people were warm and accepting.  There was not a wall clock to be found anywhere.  I was told that I did not get up to preach till close to 12:30.  Good time!

We had a restful afternoon which ended with a stimulating conversation with some young men at the boys’ dorm.  We talked about changes at TAA and policy changes regarding closed campus, uniforms, dorms schedules, and such.  It was nice to sit down and help these young people go through the process of change and seeing how to go about making a case for their positions.  That was followed by an entertaining evening in the TAA gymnasium and the 2011 edition of Class Scramble.  It was amazing to see the things these kids brought “just in case” the man at the microphone called for them.  A lot of running and, obviously, scrambling to find the items which included such things as a Santa Clause (the Seniors brought one) and a cockroach (a dead one, fortunately, provided by the Juniors).

Today was wrapped up in paperwork—schoolwork for Penny, and finances for me.  The Good Egg sure can make a tasty breakfast, though. 

It’s amazing how expenses always grow to meet the amount of money available.  This coming week should be a busy one, as I try to catch up on the elementary side of things.  TCE needs some extra attention.  The Maricopa Village School is taking its first steps.  Enrollment numbers are up across the conference, but some schools still struggling to find students to meet their budgets.  The work begins!

Feeling a Friday Funk

I had a "heart to heart" with God this morning.  I was feeling drained, discouraged, disappointed with my state of affairs in general.  I was having a genuine personal pity-party.  Call it an Elijah moment, without the literal fire from heaven.  It has been a whirlwind for the past few weeks.  A lot of my focus has been on Thunderbird Academy, and without a permanent replacement in the foreseeable future for the previous principal, TAA needed some attention to get their new school year going.  Thankfully, Thunderbird is off and running, but going through some growing pains.  A freshman class of around forty students has required splitting classes and reassigning students to different periods.  Class schedules are subject to the domino effect, as one change causes a sequence of ripples across the entire day.  But it’s a good problem.  The students (and the teachers) are being quite flexible.  There appears to be a great spirit on campus, in spite of the large staff transition.

But now the days are beginning to return to their normalcy, as normal as high school campuses go.  In the steady frenzy (not to be confused with the chaotic frenzy of recent weeks) I had more time to see the landscape and the daunting nature of the dual task that is before me.  I don’t like short-changing people, and the thought of neglecting the bigger system for the sake of focusing on one particular segment of that system began to eat at me.  For those who would think that I have totally neglected the system, I have done my best  not to.  I will talk about those developments in the near future.   In fact, it is because of the corollary challenges in the elementary system that I was feeling stretched—thus my heart to heart with God this morning.

I am feeling better.  Perhaps because I am back working—I love what I do.  I would do it 24 hours a day if I could.  I love working with people—kids particularly.  But I also like problem-solving and bringing people together.  I even like apologizing to parents who are upset due to some perceived or real injustice and/or inconvenience.  I am stretched, but loving it.  It’s the quiet moments in the night when the thoughts swirl in my head (no voices, thank you) that the doubts and trepidation break down the doors of my soul.  Superintendents are not “super,” by any stretch of the imagination.  I ask for your prayers.  I am praying a lot.  I am trying to find balance amongst the myriad of calls for attention.

After the “mountain top” experience of the week of miracles at TAA, I am left wondering when the proverbial shoe will drop.  So many things can go wrong in a system.  A school system has so many moving parts- mainly children.  They are our greatest asset, and at the same time our greatest liability.  Here by the Grace of God we go…His Grace will have to be sufficient.  (I started this entry on Thursday.  It’s now Friday afternoon).

Sabbath will take me to Beacon Light SDA Church to preach.   Later.

Day One Update

Day One is here!  Very exciting day at TAA and TCE.  I had a chance to do some mini-visits at the elementary side of the campus.  Some of the classrooms were given a major makeover.  It’s wonderful, as was seeing some parents who were on the fence last week about returning to TCE.  It was great to find them there—all smiles as they took pictures with their child.  All the classrooms seemed full of excited students and corresponding parents taking pictures like a gathering of paparazzi intent on getting the right shot.

TAA kids looked good on their first day.  There are areas that need tweaking, but we will get there.  Keep all our schools in your prayers.  I hear from Saguaro Hills that they may be looking at 36 or perhaps 39 students in school.  They hired a third teacher to spread the joy of teaching amongst the three of them!  That’s pretty awesome.   Back to work!

Registration Day Epilogue

Registrations Day is over officially.  Some students may still come tomorrow or trickle in for the next few days, but no other day like today is anticipated anytime soon.

To put our numbers today deserves a little perspective to temper the expectations.  Our budget for the school year was built on 112 students.  This was done based on a conservative appraisal of the state of the economy and other financial indicators.  It seemed like a reasonable number to shoot for at the time.

I must confess that I remembered the figure as closer to 119.  This is the number on which I was proceeding.  I know our staffing need required at least that much.  When the large turnover in staffing took place, our once balanced budget quickly turned upside down.   Seeking qualified teachers to take the place of the outstanding teachers already in place required not only a rise in the cost of their salaries, but also moving allowances (these can be quite costly).  Even 119 students did not cover the budget, but I figured some cost saving measures (including saving a principal’s budget) might get us close enough to break even.

I did not want to just break even.  I knew we would need more students to fully fund the initiatives we had launched, even after the valuable assistance of the Alumni Awards Foundation.  I decided 130 students would come close.  I knew it was a stretch, considering the delicate state of the community in the wake of such painful staff transitions.  I prayed for 130 students.  We prayed as a staff for that number.  I shared that number with the recruitment team.  We called potential students.  We prayed.  We called again.  We prayed some more.   We visited Tween and Teen Camp at Yavapines in Prescott.  We prayed even more.  We visited the churches to preach.  We called every returning and potentially returning student.  We even made calls to people who had decided to pull out.  At every step we prayed for the students God wanted to bring here.  We prayed for 130, but recognized that God could choose to send us less.

Our figures at the end of registration day were 136 students already in the fold, with a few more potential students trickling in.  Lesson learned:  be careful what you pray for—you may get more that you bargained for.  So now we have to figure out what to do with 43 freshmen!  It’s a good problem, but a problem nonetheless.  Keep TAA in your prayers.  Whatever good happened is a God thing!  I am just jazzed to be a part of it.

I met a lot of great kids today!  I prayed with a lot of families in my office.  That alone will be worth any loss of future sleep and rest.  Day One—tomorrow.

Summer Break is Ended

T minus 1.  I only have time for a short entry.  It’s 7:15 on Sunday morning.  The First Day of School is tomorrow.  Registration takes place today.  A lot of preparation has taken place in the days leading up to today.  Undoubtedly, something is bound to be missing or go wrong, in spite of our due diligence.  In the end, the people God wants in any of the elementary schools around the conference will come.  God will bring as many as we are ready to receive.  It is our job to receive them and provide them the best education possible.

The butterflies are fluttering in the pit of my stomach, but it’s a good feeling.  God is good—all the time.  I live my life in the reality of His presence and leading—although life may not always unfold in ways we would have chosen.  Prayers are needed.  Students are needed. We are prepared for more, but we will take as many as God sends us.

Sunday's a Comin!"

Where did the week go?  The whirlwind of activity, both locally at TAA as well as across the elementary school system has come to a stop today—it’s Sabbath!  Hallelujah! 

Last night our campus chaplain led out in a room by room dedication of the campus and the staff.  It was a great, albeit muggy, evening of songs and prayer.  We even prayed next to a trash bin full of refuse from the week of activity to recognize the maintenance crew who worked as hard as anyone to make the campus ready for next week.

We are not quite there yet, some furnishings and equipment did not arrive on schedule; some touch-ups and last minute movements still remain, but all in all the campus looks great.  I am looking forward to seeing the parents and students on Sunday.

Today, however, will take Penny and me to Cottonwood, Arizona—a small enclave between Jerome and Sedona, between the hills to the north of Phoenix.  I am scheduled to preach during the morning worship hour.  I am pretty excited about the passage that God led me to—Psalms 13.  Check it out.  It begins as a pretty gut-wrenching description of King David in one of his many moments of personal struggle.  It ends surprisingly with a statement that cancels out the entire Psalm.  But what a statement!  I am drawing from the brief life sketch of Eve to bring the passage home.  In any case I am looking forward to a preaching to the saints in Verde Valley (that’s what the area is called).

As Tony Campolo used to say (for totally different reasons!) in his own indomitable preaching style, “Sunday’s a comin!”  But until then we rest today (those are my words).  Gotta run!

Pre-Week Update

We are down to the wire!  The week has been peppered by conference-wide and academy specific in-services and meetings with parents, students, and colleagues.  The painting projects are almost finished.  Carpets are being cleaned or replaced.  Doors are being fixed.  Windows are being cleaned.  Floors vacuumed. Sidewalks cleared.  Students are beginning to arrive on campus to begin their work assignments.  It’s beginning to buzz.  It is exciting!

Yet the reality lingers that so much remains to be done.  The cafeteria projects are behind schedule, but I am still hopeful.  Anyone want to donate to that project?  The furniture for the student center is being delayed, but it should get here right at the wire.  The library relocation project is in full swing, but technical difficulties have arisen with the hardware.  Equipment ordered for the Physics Department and the library has not arrived as of today.  The flooring for the Life Skills Room is not in place…yet.  But hope springs eternal!

We had a great In-Service for all schools on Monday.  We dealt with team building and the “Speed of Trust.”  I hope it sinks in.  Working with people is a joy, but it is not for people who work on the basis of distrust.  It is much too costly a way of doing business.  I hope that every school in this conference will gain or foment a reputation for being customer service friendly.  We would be miles ahead if we just learned to treat people well.  It can be difficult at times, but people should know that we value them, even when are unreasonable. 

Well, anyway, TAA pre-week meeting is scheduled every morning this week.  Lots to discuss, but I will break it up to allow them the opportunity to finish their classroom.  I also need time to keep up with the e-mails and phone calls that seem to never end.  As with a kidney stone—“this too shall pass

Sleepless in Scottsdale

I realized last night that my day is not long enough to complete my tasks for the day.  I was falling behind more and more each day.  So I got up much earlier today and we’ll see what happens.  So far, it has been a productive pre-morning.  Perhaps my schedule will have to be designed in such a way that I begin my pre-day at the conference office before I go to TAA.

In any case, last night was very restless.  I could not go to sleep.  For those who know me best, they know that I can fall asleep anywhere and at any time without much effort.  But there have been two nights this week when I literally could not go to sleep!  The problem is circular since the harder you try to go to sleep the more likely you are to fail at it.  I was even tempted to go to work at about two in the morning since I was wasting valuable time!  Thankfully, I did not follow through on that self-threat.  I prayed for sleep and I got it soon after.

TAA pre-registration takes place this afternoon.  I have yet to interview one single Athletic Director.  We finally settled on a logo for the uniforms.  The schedule is almost there.  The uniform policy is close.  The handbook is not!  A major meeting is scheduled this evening between local church and school leadership.  Lots of prayers are needed!  But a lot of good things are taking place too.  We will keep doing what we do and trust that God will do what He alone can do.  The countdown continues.

               Gotta go!