From the Executive Director: November 2012

It has been just over nine months since I began as the Executive Director of Crossways Camping Ministries.  It seems that every time I run into an old friend, neighbor, former parishioner, even colleagues I get the same question:   “How do you like your new job?”

Installation as Crossways' Executive
Director at Waypost Camp in April

I think most are hoping to hear me say that I like it just fine.  The interesting part of the question is that in my former life as a parish pastor, no one would have asked it in the same way.  The question would have been framed by the notion of “call” not “job”.  I don’t know why it’s that way. Perhaps outdoor ministry is considered by many as something apart or different than real live ministry. 

If I have learned anything at all in this nine month gestation period of mine at Crossways it is the incontestable fact that Crossways is real live ministry and everyone involved is undeniably called. 
Volunteers scraping shingles off a roof, college counselors listening to a camper’s doubts, a bookkeeper finding another dollar, a pastor sharing a smile with staff, the cook’s bread pudding lovingly made, the site director who calms the parent’s fears, the housekeeper who whistles while cleaning the toilet, the registrar who squeezes in one more quilter, and the property manager who chases the bats out of the chapel are not simply doing their jobs. 

Riding 18 miles at Waypost’s
70th Anniversary Celebration

Like my pastor once told me, “If this were a job, I would have quit years ago!”  Being called is not a job.  It’s an act of Christ’s ministry to the world.  For decades I have had the privilege to watch the calls of the faithful lived out in the ministry of Crossways.  Now as the Executive Director, I get to name and celebrate the real live ministry done by you and so many others called to serve God in this place.

So when I get the question , “How do you like your new job?” my response will simply be, as yours should be, “I like my call just fine.”

See you at camp!
Rev John Meachen, Executive Director