I am on the plane flying back from Portland Oregon where I
had a terrific onsite visit with Rolling Hills Community Church. For this trip
I flew out a few hours early so I could hike Montoloma falls and truly
experience the beauty that is the Pacific Northwest. I challenge any atheist to
make that hike and view the lush splendor of the 680 foot falls and doubt that
there is a God.
Rolling Hills was a terrific host and is very motivated to
get their entire staff out of the silos they were in and working together as
the body of Christ. My seat is more uncomfortable than usual on this flight. No
it isn’t the grumpy flight attendant or the long line to access the “lavatory”
but rather pain and discomfort brought on by my recent adventures for Christ. My
legs are a bit sore from the hike up the waterfall but I also have bruises
covering most of my body. For anyone that has been paintballing before you will
know what I mean when I say they feel good and hurt at the same time.
The one on my left flank I like so much that I named it
Charley after the teenager that skillfully snuck around behind me and shot me
at close range. From the picture below it resembles pictures taken by the
Hubble Telescope of far away nebulas. Notice the easily recognizable circle
that represents the size of the “Re-Ball” that slammed into my skin at 300 feet
per second. I particularly like the purple and green effect the impact had on
my tissue.
This latest adventure came about because as I was leaving
the church someone came in carrying a paintball gun. If you are into paintball
you know them as markers. I am not sure if this is because they shoot paint or
because they mark your skin where every ball hits. Actually I am fairly sure
the paintball industry named them markers so that my wife would not have as
much problem letting her son go into the woods to mark his friends with a
marker rather than letting him shoot his friends with anything called a gun. I
struck up a conversation with Rex who is in charge of facilities at Rolling
Hills and he invited me to join him later for a friendly game of paintball
inside the church with the Chosen Ministry.
Yes you heard me right… inside the church. How cool is that. I couldn’t turn him down so
I went to dinner and returned with a change of clothes and a desire to shoot
other Christians.
Fun just doesn’t seem to capture what paintball is. For me
it is all my childhood fantasies of hunting down bad guys and fitting them for
a pine box with a shallow grave. The best part is that you get to do this over
and over again. For indoor paintball they use small rubber balls that contain
no paint and hurt like heck when you get shot.
The Chosen Ministry smacks of my Texas Hold Em Ministry that
I started when I was a small group leader at Fellowship Church. I wanted to
play poker with my friends and wanted to be able to tell my lovely wife and
mother of my 4 beautiful children that I was doing God’s work. At first my
motives were suspect at best but over time I began to see the need for this
type of Christian activity. I was able to invite hell bound friends, which
never in a million years would come to a bible study, to a friendly game of poker
with my Christian friends. We were able to demonstrate Christ in our lives as
well as showing them that Christians weren’t all limp wristed, bible thumping
hypocrites. We didn’t drink or cuss at these games. We would talk about church
and things going on in our lives.
When you attend Fellowship Church you could always get their
attention by talking about the current series that ranged from sex to marriage
to a series call the real F word. What the Chosen Ministry is doing is getting
teens to church. It might not be how your parents and grandparents did it but
it is working. Come as you are and leave changed. For me as well as others the
changes were sub dermal.
Matthew McMaster
Delivery Manager / Extreme Sports Fanatic