Tag Archives: Mountain T.O.P.

10.22.10
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AIM weekend

I had already posted my own video of the Mountain T.O.P. Adults In Ministry (AIM) weekend from earlier this month, but this is even better — a video of the slide show which the camp community enjoyed Saturday night of that weekend. It’s better because it includes all three work sites, not just the one at which I fumbled around.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iiQiML5rpI

This week at work, I turned in vacation requests for two AIM weeks next summer, the first time I’ll have done that since at least 2003. I want to do both Kaleidoscope (an arts program for special-needs kids) and Summer Plus (enrichment workshops for teens from the mountains). I teach creative writing at Summer Plus; that’s how I first got involved in AIM, and thus in Mountain T.O.P.

Would you like to join me? At the June 12-18 week, you have your choice of working in home repair or Kaleidoscope. At the June 26-July 2 week, you have the choice of working in home repair or Summer Plus. There’s a third week, July 10-16, at which you would have the choice of home repair or Quest, an adventure program for teens from the mountains. There will also be a weekend event, July 21-24, at which only home repair will be offered. All four events will be at Mountain T.O.P.’s base camp, Cumberland Pines, near Altamont, Tenn.

10.10.10
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Tired, but a good tired

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEAEJ4QaLR8

It was a great weekend at Mountain T.O.P. Adults In Ministry. I tore up the cord to my cell phone charger, so I did not have my smartphone with me during the day — It was turned off, back in my cabin, to preserve power. That turned out to be a good thing, I think, but that’s why I didn’t check in after early Thursday evening.

I first got involved with AIM, not in home repair, but in the youth programming: Summer Plus and Kaleidoscope, both of which I’m hoping I get to do next summer. But during the fall weekends, home repair is the only option. I sometimes get frustrated with myself — and did, at a couple points, this weekend. But it all worked out OK. It was a great (if small) camp community, and my work team, with Mountain T.O.P. stalwart Reed Bradford as our point person, was tremendous.

I am still sore. I had brought sunscreen with me but forgot to apply it on Friday and got a lot of sun. I did apply it on Saturday.

Because my camp weekend started on Thursday night, even though our actual home repair work didn’t start until Friday, I counted AIM as an act of kindness for Henry. I never knew Henry, but I know some of the family.

06.30.10
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Aim high

Before I started going on foreign mission trips, I was a regular summer participant in Mountain T.O.P.‘s Adults In Ministry (AIM) program. (I was a member of the Mountain T.O.P. board for 12 years over a 14-year period from 1994 through 2007.) I miss it. For various reasons, I think I may take a break from the foreign trips next year, and if that happens I plan to do at least one AIM week, maybe two.

Andy Borders from my church is a current member of the board, although — like me — summer travel plans have prevented him and his wife Edna Lee from being campers at AIM this summer.

The summer AIM weeks traditionally feature a cookout on Wednesday nights, and that cookout is informally open for board members and other friends of the ministry who want to drop by. It’s a fun opportunity to catch up with old friends, but it’s also frustrating, because those old friends are in camp — and you, as a visitor, aren’t.

Last year, the cookouts were extra-special, celebrating AIM’s 20th anniversary. I tried to make one of them, but cut open my finger instead.

This year, Andy and Edna Lee invited me to ride up to the cookout with them, and I happily accepted. Not only was it a great time to see old Mountain T.O.P. friends, it was also a chance to touch base with Jan Schilling, who will be my Kenya teammate in (can this be possible?) two weeks. Jan was my Mountain T.O.P. buddy before she was my LEAMIS buddy, and she’s at AIM as a camper this week.

Another highlight of the evening was a special recognition for longtime Mountain T.O.P. friend Reed Bradford, on the 30th anniversary of his first involvement with the ministry. Way to go, Reed!

10.31.09
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Graduated, again

Well, it’s been a fine day and a half.

The lay speaking class was excellent. The Rev. De Hennessy was a terrific teacher, and my only regret now is that I didn’t get to know him back when he was stationed in Bedford County. And our class was terrific, including the other three men (David Smith, Brad Demonbreun and Greg Holleran) who made up my small group for some of the activities. My frequent LEAMIS teammate Bob Willems was also among the class. This was, if I’m counting correctly, the sixth time I’ve taken an advanced lay speaking class, and the only one it compares to was the first time, when I had the great Don Ladd as a teacher.

Greg and I were also roommates. We were awakened at 1 a.m. today by the chirping of the smoke detector in our room at DuBose Conference Center. The batteries had run low, and the detector began chirping every 30 seconds to let us know. Greg finally had to go look for a chair to stand on so that he could take down the smoke detector and remove the battery. All of this is a good reminder for you to change the batteries in your smoke detectors this weekend.

After leaving DuBose, I drove to Cumberland Pines. There’s a Mountain T.O.P. Adults In Ministry event going on there this weekend, and since I was going to be on the mountain anyway I made arrangements to stop by for dinner. Bob Willems was also there, with his wife Mary Margaret; I saw all kinds of Mountain T.O.P. friends, including Carolyn Greenwood, Jan Schilling, Ben Neal, Curtis Piper, Andy Piper (When in Nashville, stop by Pied Piper Eatery and order the Monte Cristo. Do not tell your cardiologist.), Reed and Deeda Bradford, and of course Mountain T.O.P. executive director Ed Simmons and his incredible staff.

Deeda encouraged me to stay for sharing and worship, but I don’t like to do that on the last night of a camp event. Any other night of camp, fine, but the communion and fishhook ceremony which end a camp (Friday night for a week-long event, Saturday night for an AIM weekend) are there for the volunteers, not for spectators. Besides, I’d already taken communion at the lay speaker training. I came on home to unpack and unwind.

I have to take an advanced lay speaking class at least every three years in order to remain a certified lay speaker. But the next class in which I participate will be the basic class, which I will teach some time after the first of the year on Wednesday nights at Bell Buckle United Methodist.

07.08.09
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The fickle finger of fate

Here’s a story that will leave you in stitches.

I know it left me that way.

I was eagerly anticipating driving to Beersheba Springs tonight for a cookout in honor of the 20th anniversary of Mountain T.O.P.‘s Adults In Ministry program. There is an AIM camp going on this week, and the traditional Wednesday night program was opened up to guests in celebration of AIM.

I did not know about the corresponding event which took place during the June AIM week until after it had taken place, and I would have loved to have been there. So I didn’t want to miss this week’s event.

I slipped away from work at 3 p.m. and stopped by the apartment to pick some things up and do a little, um, business before heading up the mountain. I was re-buckling my belt when the reversible buckle broke.

No problem; I would stop in Tullahoma, on the way, and buy a new one at Walmart. That’s just what I did. I was in the parking lot, putting my purchases into the back of my car, and I wanted to cut the plastic hanger off the new belt so that I could wear it right away. I had a retractable utility knife, which my father had given me for Christmas, which would do the job quite nicely. I used it to cut the plastic hanger, and I also cut a three-centimeter gash in the side of my index finger.
Continue reading →

01.11.09
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Busy weekend

Well, I went to the Mountain T.O.P. year-end party Saturday night at Cumberland Pines in Grundy County. It also served as a tribute to Jeff Grammer, who’s leaving the ministry after several years of faithful service.

Even though LEAMIS and Mountain T.O.P. have no official connection, there’s some overlap between the pool of volunteers for one and the other, due to the fact that LEAMIS co-founder Gail Drake is the daughter of Mountain T.O.P. founder George Bass and worked for Mountain T.O.P. for many years. I saw two members of my LEAMIS Kenya team at the Mountain T.O.P. party last night. The first was my dear pal Jan Schilling. I already knew Jan was coming with us to Kenya. But then I saw Sandy Hayostek, who told me that she will be coming along as well, and bringing her sister, whom I don’t believe I’ve ever met. Sandy was part of the 2006 Kenya team on which I served, and it will be good to be in mission with her again.

Andy Borders from my church had been on the mountain since Friday night helping with the pig roast. I rode up and back with his wife Edna Lee.

After getting back into Shelbyville at 10 last night, Andy and I both had to get up very early this morning to cook men’s club breakfast at church.

Then, this afternoon, I drove to Tullahoma to — well, I don’t think I’m going to tell you yet what I did in Tullahoma this afternoon. We’ll wait and see how it turns out.

Anyway, it’s been a busy weekend.

01.10.09
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Pig on the mountain

For many years, Mountain T.O.P. has had a party or gathering in early January. The main purpose of it is to serve as a reunion for people who have served on the ministry’s summer staff, but invitations go out to a variety of groups — current and former board members, recent campers from our adult ministry, and so on. The event used to be in Nashville back when the ministry’s offices were in Nashville, but now it’s held at Mountain T.O.P.’s base camp and headquarters, Cumberland Pines, in Grundy County.

This year, Andy Borders from my church — one of the best cooks I know, and a big Mountain T.O.P. supporter — was asked to do a pig roast. Andy’s never roasted a whole pig before, but I can guarantee you it will be delicious.

I thought I was going to have to miss the gathering, but my work schedule changed and I’m able to go after all. Edna Lee, Andy’s wife, called me yesterday. Andy went up to the Mountain on Friday to get things started, and Edna Lee will be joining him today. She asked if I wanted to ride with her (and ride back with Andy, whom she suspects will be quite tired by the end of the evening and who will be pulling a trailer).

I’m hoping that my books arrive in the mail today so that I can take them with me to the event, in case any of my Mountain T.O.P. friends is interested in one. (I may even wear my “Ask Me About My Novel” button.)

Should be a fun evening. Then, after we return to Shelbyville, both Andy and I will have to get up early Sunday morning to cook men’s club breakfast at church.

10.18.08
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I take back my haiku

There was a haiku contest at BarCamp. Here, from memory, was my entry:

My door prize ticket
Flew away on crimson wings
I can win no swag

I don’t know if I would have won or not; it probably doesn’t matter, because I think you had to be present to win the prize.

The haiku was about the fact that I misplaced my red door prize ticket shortly after going through registration. I went through my pockets, through the tote bag that each attendee received, and through the pages of various handouts in said tote bag. I couldn’t find the ticket anywhere. And there were some good door prizes, and lots of them!

At about 2:30, I realized it was an hour until the only remaining session that I was interested in seeing — and I wasn’t interested enough to kill the hour. So I got in the car and headed home.

Just now, I dumped out the contents of my tote bag, and do you know what I found? You guessed it. Ticket #284037. It looks like I had not won any of the prizes announced at the time of this blog post.

Anyway, I’m very glad I went. I saw some terrific sessions in the morning and early afternoon, and I got to have lunch with my Mountain T.O.P. buddies Gavin and Erin Richardson and Chris Smith, all of whom were at BarCamp. I knew Gavin and Erin would be there; Chris, who now works for a company that designs web sites for recording artists, was a pleasant surprise. Chris and his wife Amy gave me a brief introduction to geocaching a few years back, and so we talked about the huge geocaching event that will take place next year in Bell Buckle.

I plan to write news stories about at least one, and possibly two, of the sessions. I may also look at setting up a Twitter account for the Times-Gazette.

I was also near sports royalty and never realized it. BarCamp was held in meeting rooms at the Sommet Center, the home of the Nashville Predators. A well-known Nashville blogger posted on Twitter that he had seen Terry Crisp, the former NHL manager who is now the beloved color commentator for the Preds, walking down the corridor next to the meeting rooms accompanied by … Gordie Howe. Depending on which of the meeting rooms I was in at the time (or perhaps I was elsewhere in the corridor), I couldn’t have been more than 50 or 100 feet away.

10.16.08
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On board

Gail Drake, co-founder of LEAMIS International Ministries, the group with which I take my foreign mission trips, and Frank Schroer of the LEAMIS staff stopped by the Mountain T.O.P. Adults In Ministry weekend I attended. Gail’s father founded Mountain T.O.P. and she was its director of adult ministry for many years, and Frank worked for a good while with the AIM home repair ministry. So it was a great chance for them to catch up with old friends whom they don’t see that often. I enjoyed sitting with Frank at dinner.

At one point, Gail came up to me in the dining hall.

“When do you rotate off the Mountain T.O.P. board, John?” she asked.

“I rotated off at the end of last year,” I told her.

The next thing I knew, I had agreed to serve on the LEAMIS board of directors. My first meeting will be at the end of the month.

10.12.08
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My AIM weekend

I had a terrific time. Here are some highlights:

I was on a great MPT, and it was a wonderful weekend, a time of spiritual renewal and a great time with old and new friends. But it was long, and tiring, and I’ve spent part of today over at my parents’ house with my sister and her kids — also a wonderful time. I’m pooped, and glad I don’t have to go in to work tomorrow. But I do have a lot to accomplish in the next couple of days: work on my sermon for Sunday, work on my lay speaking lesson for Wednesday, get ready for a radio interview I’m doing on Wednesday morning, and try to clean up the pigsty that is my apartment right now. Some vacation!