Harumba!

While most churches shut down during the summer months, Christ Lutheran continues with its full and vibrant programs. From VBS to the Experience Tour to MADD Camp, you will find the hallways teeming with youth and adult leaders throughout the week during these summer months. But one expanding ministry that will occupy most of the rooms for June and July is Freedom School.

Christ Lutheran partners with Freedom School to provide field trips and academic enrichment activities for students from McClintock Middle School and their families. As you know, for most students, summer is a time for brain drain. In the fall, most teachers need to spend the first couple of months reviewing what students have already learned but forgotten during those weeks of hanging by the pool, sleeping in and watching TV. However, for 80 elementary and middle school students from our McClintock families, they will stay ahead of the curve. The Ministry Center has been transformed to a learning academy with a “hands on” learning environment lead by several interns under the direction of Mr. Willie Pinson.

The day begins at 8:00 with a high energy, full body dance called Harumba. It is open to anyone to either watch or join in. Come to the Fellowship Hall for a great taste of this dynamic ministry and get to meet some of the scholars and their mentors. It’s a good thing.

I remember once working for a church that prided itself in perfectly painted walls and stain free carpet. Whenever you walked the hallways, the doors of the classroom were usually locked because they wanted to keep them in good order. In fact, you even had to get a key from the office and sign in and out to use the kitchen if your small group wanted to make coffee. (I think they wanted to find out who to blame for a couple of crumbs on the floor.)

When I left that church, I wanted to find a church with an open door policy. I wanted a church that would actually risk using the facilities instead of worrying about preserving them. I wanted a church that needed a high maintenance budget each year to clean stained carpets and repaint marked walls. Because that meant that the church was being used as a tool for the community.

At Christ Lutheran, we will not win any award for the cleanest carpets or the perfect walls. I hope we never aspire to that. This is a place where the facilities are used and ministry expands and people are served.

Just come by any morning at 8:00 for Harumba and you will see for yourself first hand.

Just don’t look too closely at the carpet!         Pastor Scott