Go Team

Pastoral Pondering
by Pastor Keith Larson
I was at Ewalu Bible Camp over the weekend. I am on Ewalu’s Board of Directors and we have our meetings on the third Saturday of every other month. It is usually on Rustic Days weekend. Twice now, I have missed the parade. I might have missed this meeting, but I missed the last one because of Synod Assembly and I am taking my turn as Board President.

Every time I visit that place I recall some event, some story, some incident that has happened there over my 48 years of involvement in that place. Ewalu is celebrating 50 years of history this summer. I remember my first summer, Cedar Lodge had just opened, and that particular week when I was a camper, when we took our turn on k.p. duty, for the first time did not have to help manually wash dishes, because the new commercial dishwasher had just been hooked up. I could write a book. But many of you also have memories. Bethlehem has been connected there from the very beginning in 1961 with a member serving on the Board of Directors in 1962. I am proud to continue that tradition at Bethlehem. Many at St. Mark’s have long histories at Ewalu, too. I am so excited that three boys from the parish just had their first experience at Ewalu this summer. This fall we will have some Sunday when we recall our past connections to Camp Ewalu and let some people share stories.

Besides being a board member, and wanting to set a good example for other board members, I also felt obliged to attend last Saturday’s meeting because we are at the beginning of a search or call process for a new executive director. Dale Goodman will be retiring at the end of next summer. For me, as board president, this is a terrifying time. I feel like many of you must feel when you are asked to be part of a call committee to call a new pastor. I want us to get a good director, so 5, 10, 15 or more years done the road, folks can say – “that was a good choice”. In 50 years of camp history, we have had 4 full-time directors and they all have brought wonderful gifts and have built the camp up to be one of the better, stronger camps in the ELCA. I certainly do not want the first bad, problem director called “on my watch”.

I would be almost paralyzed –except for a couple of important truths. I am not alone. There are 17 others on the board – we will appoint a separate search team of 5 – 7 people. We work together. Like the ball player who misses the free throw or field goal at the buzzer – and even the player who gets lifted up on the shoulders of teammates for scoring or preventing the other team from scoring in the final second - all need to remember there was a whole team of other players that scored important points or made important defensive plays the whole game and a whole team of players who also missed points and made mistakes the whole game.

Furthermore, God has blessed the ministry of Ewalu for 50 years. God will not forsake us now. I can trust that God will lead us through a process that will result in a new director. I told the board, that God probably already knows who that director will be – even thought the person who will be director may not even today, know of Ewalu.