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Hej Ladies! Episode 06—Greg Asimakoupoulos
78 Plays26 days ago
In this episode, Jenny and Calla speak with Greg Asimakoupoulos, a Covenant pastor who has served churches and other institutions in California, the Midwest, and the Pacific Northwest. He shares some of his favorite memories of Mission Springs after being introduced to the camp while pastor of Crossroads Covenant church in Concord, California.
If you have questions or ideas for Hej Ladies, please send us an email at jenny@nwrtw.com. Have fun listening!
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Transcript
Introduction: The Holmgren Twins and 'Hey Ladies' Podcast
00:00:03
Speaker
Hi there, this is Kala and Jenny Holmgren, otherwise known as the Holmgren Twins, or just Hey Ladies. Hey, Hey Ladies. We have been coming to Mission Springs for our entire lives. So as part of the Centennial Celebration, we decided to start this podcast to talk Mission Springs memories. We invite you to listen and share in 100 years of what's been happening at Mission Springs.
00:00:27
Speaker
Welcome to Hey Ladies. Hey Ladies. Hi, Kala. Hey, Jenny. Okay, we're back and Kala's back with us for this episode. Welcome back. I'm happy to be
Balancing Historical Accuracy with Storytelling
00:00:37
Speaker
here. So in this first part of this latest episode, I thought that we could just go through some of the things that maybe we have not quite been correct about as we were talking about them. It's a list I think might be a little long. It might be a little long. And what I'm learning as we do this podcast is that When it comes to the details of history, I'm not as committed to exactly what happened as I am to the sentiment behind it, the feelings behind it. i think there's definitely a historian type brain and I don't have it and you don't have it, maybe.
00:01:12
Speaker
No, I kind of like the narrative. And sometimes that narrative is a little bit less accurate. Precise. Precise or accurate. Okay. So we have ah one person to thank for helping us though. And that is Dave Erickson. Dave Erickson lives up on Free Me Circle at Mission Springs. And he's emailed us a few times with some details that have helped us to try to make our podcast a little more accurate. And for that, we say a big thank you to Dave. Thanks, Dave.
00:01:40
Speaker
Yeah. So one of the things that he emailed about was the rules at Mission Springs. Now, a few times I've asked guests, you've asked guests, if they have broken a Mission Springs quote unquote rule.
00:01:53
Speaker
And I think I've said, i don't even know if there are rules. Well, it turns out there are. Oh, okay. Good to know. Yes, and these rules, some of them
Reflecting on Mission Springs' Rules and Regulations
00:02:03
Speaker
go back quite a long time. In one document that he sent me, it says, rules governing Mission Springs Conference grounds. And I think it's from a long time ago, because at the bottom it says, this property is owned and operated by the covenant California Covenant, Sunday School, and Young People's League. i think these rules are old.
00:02:22
Speaker
And there are actually not that many rules on here, so I'll just tell you some of the ones they mentioned. The first one is the speed limit. on the grounds not over 15 miles per hour yes that's a good rule there are a lot of little children there are a lot of animals both wild and domesticated yeah and um i think we need to be very careful about how quickly we drive around the ground that's true but i'm going to point out that it used to be 15 and now it's 11. oh yeah i guess so as cars have gotten faster the speed limit has gotten a little bit more strict
00:02:55
Speaker
Huh, I wonder when they changed. 11 is kind a weird number too. I wonder when that changed. I don't know. See, this is where my attention to detail with history isn't very precise, but I wonder if it has something to do with insurance.
00:03:08
Speaker
You know, but insurance companies saying it should be 11. Maybe it was when the turkey showed up. Maybe. i don't know. You know how I feel about people speeding around Mission Springs, that I want to set up cameras and take their picture like the city of Chicago does for me on a regular basis.
00:03:25
Speaker
Yeah, bust them. Yeah. Well, it'll be $35 for speeding past the homegrown athletic complex that's right on Foster Avenue. I know you owe a lot of money to the city of Chicago. Oh, much money. So much money.
00:03:38
Speaker
Well,
Humorous Anecdotes about Mission Springs Wildlife
00:03:39
Speaker
I, to be honest, I'm wondering if it has to do with the turkeys, because when I was a kid, I don't remember there being turkeys at Mission Springs. Me neither. Well, there now there are a lot of turkeys at Mission Springs. A lot.
00:03:51
Speaker
But if you hit one of those, like, okay, this is really off topic, but this year I was noticing in the wintertime, a lot of friends that I had on Facebook who lived in Michigan were sending in posts about people hitting turkeys in Michigan and doing a lot of damage to their car. no And i don't I don't know why i never asked myself the question as to whether or not they had turkeys in Michigan. Of course they must, right?
00:04:17
Speaker
Sure. Yeah. Well, maybe that's why. I keep thinking if people are going hit those turkeys, they could really mess up your car. They're not small. Wow. Turkey is, you know, I think it's good for people to be careful about how fast they drive. That's true.
00:04:29
Speaker
Okay. Second rule, no smoking on the grounds, destroying of trees or other property. Yeah. Well, and it's also really bad for you. True. Yeah. And when they wrote this, they probably didn't even know the extent, but they were still like, they probably said it because of the fires, right? Like let's not. Just a legitimate reason. And it is also very bad for one's personal health. That's true. Okay, lights out, quiet on the grounds in cabins, in dormitories, and other public buildings on the grounds, not later than 11 o'clock p.m., unless otherwise decided by the board of directors.
00:05:04
Speaker
So they said lights out had to be at... Now, what I think is funny about this is there's currently a rule about noise curfew, and it actually starts at 10 now. I think that's more than fair.
00:05:17
Speaker
People be busy during the day. They can go to bed, a good night's sleep, and going to bed at 10, I got to tell you, as over 50 years old person, I'm in bed happily at 830. Yeah.
00:05:28
Speaker
10 o'clock seems very reasonable during the summer. ah But again, I think it's funny that the rules have gotten more stringent. They used to be a little less. Maybe there were fewer neighbors. I think people just want to go to bed.
00:05:40
Speaker
Maybe. And if you are down, especially on the flat where a lot of confries and people are, can get really loud. It'd be very hard to sleep. Yeah, that's true. That's true.
Dress Code and Decency: Then and Now
00:05:52
Speaker
Okay, next rule. No games on Sundays or during services in the Tabernacle or Cathedral Grove. I don't think we can comment on this given our father's choice of profession. So and I think I'll leave that one alone. Yeah. Yeah.
00:06:08
Speaker
It's just the way it works sometimes. Okay. The next rule is called decency. deportment and modesty in dress, becoming a Christian must be observed at all times.
00:06:20
Speaker
I don't know what they mean by that. to I don't know if this has to do with the pedal pushers that we referenced before or like the things. I don't really know. I mean, don't get me wrong. i'm I'm all for people wearing clothing that is respectful, but it's a place where, I mean...
00:06:41
Speaker
a like race with me because It's Because it's outside. It's like camp. So, you know, i mean, I don't think people should be super dressed up. I just yeah don't think maybe people should come to church in their swimsuit. Well, yeah. In general, I'm a person who thinks more clothes is better, but that's just me across the board. But it has nothing to do with being a Christian. It's just it' like I appreciate layers. Yeah. Well, that's the decency one. They
Evolution of Community Safety Measures
00:07:06
Speaker
probably knew about what that meant back then.
00:07:08
Speaker
Okay. The last one is called groups of young. ok So groups of young people in cabins, whether conference owned or private must be properly chaperoned. Oh,
00:07:20
Speaker
you know, these are very open. Who's the proper chaperone? I don't know. I don't know either. I think they must everybody just must have agreed to what that meant.
00:07:31
Speaker
Yeah. I think a lawyer could pick apart those rules pretty fast. Well, I think they're there's some there's they're they're kind of open to interpretation. Sure. Except for the speed limit one. Yeah, that's true. Well, now, so Dave sent me that document, but then also another document, which are the rules and regulations of 2026. Oh, And to say that there's more detail and there are more rules,
00:07:54
Speaker
is accurate by a lot. lot. And i so I won't go through all of them because it's just too many. where And where are they written down where you could actually find a copy of these rules? I don't know. i don't know. But I'm sure David sent it to it whoever wanted to read them. But I'm sure they're just part of the the bylaws for things. I don't know. You know, you start to get into paperwork. Okay. So we do have that the speed limits are 11 miles an hour. it talks about limited parking. And that makes sense that yeah parking rules would be increased because there's more cars now. bi where used And we need the fire engines. If there's a fire to be able to get up the hills and down the hills. That yeah. True story. That was what Isabel and I were referencing in our lapsed episode with frontier ranch. Now there was a fire and those fire engines have to be able to get up there.
00:08:40
Speaker
Yes. Residents are asked not to use conference center parking as a regular or permanent parking solution. So people that, you know, are coming to the conference as a guest should be able to park in those spaces. Okay. There's some rules about the mall area and using no wheels and bikes and skateboards and scooters and stuff on that area. And so that mall area wasn't built until later, right? i think in the,
00:09:07
Speaker
late sixties, early seventies. I can find out for sure, but it wasn't there at the beginning when I think those previous rules were written. So that makes sense that that wouldn't have been a rule, but I understand why they do that. And I suppose people might say, Oh, what's the big deal about a skateboard or a scooter, but you just have a lot of older people walking around or small children. And either way that could be dangerous.
00:09:27
Speaker
I mean, keeping in mind, this does not apply to people who are handicapped or need to use the wheels for transportation because they can't walk. Right. you know Oh, here's a good one. The playground is designed for age appropriate use. Wow.
00:09:42
Speaker
So we don't want a bunch of high schoolers on the teeny tiny swings in the place in the playground. Right. That wouldn't work. They'll break them. Although I'm sure that rule has been broken in the past. Okay, maybe when I ask the question about the rules, I should send everybody out this sheet so that they could see if they've broken any of these things. Okay, there's a lot of rules around the trash and recycling, and around remodels or improvements that are done to cabins. Then there's a lot of rules about pets.
00:10:09
Speaker
And as the owner of a pet, I can understand how these work. And a lot of it is just that you need to keep your pet on a leash. And I understand because my husband and I have a new little dog and she weighs about three and a half pounds. And when we walk around to our neighborhood in Washington, some of the dogs are big and I just worry they just eat her. She's really small. So I wouldn't want, you know, I don't mind on a leash, even though she's 11 pounds, because she thinks it's her right and responsibility to police.
00:10:39
Speaker
the area around her. Right. So she's not on a leash. She's going to run up to you. yeah A fluffy black and white mass of hair flying towards you, barking.
00:10:50
Speaker
And I think that could freak some people out. So even here in the city of Chicago, always on the leash. That's true. Okay.
Safety Regulations on Hunting and Weapons
00:10:56
Speaker
And then there's a lot of rules related to the swimming pool. Now the swimming pool had not been built either. I think when that original list of rules came up. So there are a lot of rules about the pool.
00:11:05
Speaker
Got it. Including using, enjoying your music on some headphones. Yeah. So as to not disturb other people, which I completely agree with. We don't all enjoy the same music or podcasts or whatever. yeah.
00:11:17
Speaker
Listen to it. And you know what? Technology has given us a lot of options to listen to things in different ways. All right. And then the next one is related to smoking. Talk about smoking really bad. Oh, that here's a new one. You'll like this one. Okay.
00:11:32
Speaker
Oh, yes. No hunting the turkeys. Hunting and trapping on Mission Springs grounds are prohibited. Right. Proper security and care for weapons, including permitted firearms, bows and arrows and crossbows are required. Traps and boys and set for vermin such as mice and rats are permitted where proper care to prevent pets or other natural inhabitants from detrimental involvement. Okay.
00:11:56
Speaker
But that's interesting because at one point, Josh made a joke about hunting the turkeys and I'm like, you cannot walk around hunting turkeys. These turkeys, it's not okay to just walk around with a firearm or whatever, even though it does seem like there are a lot of turkeys. I don't think it would be very hard either. It wouldn't be much of a challenge. The turkeys don't seem all that scared of people.
00:12:13
Speaker
you know like Is there a license to hunt turkeys in California? Is that even a thing? I don't know. Okay. In addition to not knowing a lot about history and some specific facts about Mission Springs, I know next to nothing about hunting.
00:12:25
Speaker
All I know is that in Idaho, if you want to go hunt an elk, you have to get permit or a license and it's really hard. And if you want to fish for anything in Idaho, you can need a fishing license too. Not as hard because there's more fish, I guess. yeah There's definitely licenses and there's definitely seasons and you can't just go hunt for anything or fish for anything. You need, I'll look it up.
00:12:47
Speaker
Okay, look it up. Do a little research. You can hunt for turkeys in California on Mississippi's property or not. I mean, it's not the state bird. Yeah, no, for sure. No, it's not.
00:12:58
Speaker
The quail is the state bird. So you definitely cannot hunt for a quail. They're so small. They're so cute, too. Who would hunt the quail? They're just walking along the ground like s quail. You can fly. Fly away. But no, they just scatter with their feet. They're so cute.
00:13:14
Speaker
And then other big rules are about fire safety. They really want people to be safe with their fires. defenses including keeping brush around cabins cut down and smoke alarms um all that kind of stuff and then signage they just really discourage ah political signage on yeah cabins so what do understand no billboards those are ugly Yeah, well, I mean, we all have thoughts and feelings and, you know, that's great. Well, I think you should paint the water tower.
00:13:44
Speaker
So, because I can see that signage. Talk about signage. All you people who graffiti on the water tower. That's true. It is pretty bad. All right, so that's the rules. Now, another thing that we wanted to correct, well, not so much correct, but maybe just more inform. Dave Erickson wanted everybody to know that there's actually a palm tree up on Free Me Circle. So in addition to the myriad of trees that they have at Mission Springs that are native to the area, there's also a palm tree. So if you wander up the Free Me Circle, you can see it.
00:14:17
Speaker
Now, Emerson's informed me that palm trees aren't actually trees. They're grasses. I don't know if that's true, but... Okay. I'll trust Emerson. know. I would have said that's one of the trees I knew. so that's a bummer.
00:14:32
Speaker
That's a bummer. I can recognize that. But I would be very surprised if a palm tree was indigenous to... mission like this Mission Springs area. like Well, I don't think they're even, i don't, California, I don't think California even has, I think i think they were all brought in from somewhere else.
00:14:49
Speaker
Okay. Well, we'll have to look that up too. I'm making a list. Okay. And one last thing. all in Los Angeles and stuff. And I don't think they're supposed to be there either. Really? No, I don't think so. The coconuts.
00:15:00
Speaker
All right. I thought it was a tree. So I could be completely wrong. And a coconut tree is a totally different type of tree. I think. No, palm trees grow coconuts. Don't they?
00:15:13
Speaker
Okay, we got to do some reading about palm trees. But if guys want to see one, go up to Freebie Circle. Yeah. Dave, if there are coconuts growing up on that palm tree, let us know. All right. So the last thing was that after we talked with Ryan Clint about the um playing of the trumpets,
00:15:33
Speaker
during the 4th of July. right That was very nice. Right. Joe and Penny Noakes emailed me. And a lot of people know Joe and Penny from their time spent volunteering with the high school group during 4th of July, CFC camps forever. They said, in addition to, I think, Jack Martins and um John Crew, I think we mentioned a few people. They also said that Ken Gamblegaard was one of the trumpet players and that he did an amazing job playing the trumpet. So,
00:16:01
Speaker
So those are some facts that have been updated. If anybody else has different things they want us to know about, please share. Please share. Yeah, please share. Today we're going to be talking to Greg Asimakopoulos. Greg is a longtime pastor with the Covenant Church serving in California and the Midwest and the Pacific Northwest. So he was a pastor in Concord, California, and that's when he was introduced to Mission Springs. And his family quickly became really connected to the camp. So I think it'll be fun to hear his perspective as someone who didn't grow up at Mission Springs, but came to it a little later as a pastor and kind of the role that Christian camping in Mission Springs um played in his life while he was serving in that way.
00:16:39
Speaker
For sure. No. Very interesting. Yeah. So here is our interview with Greg Asimacopoulos. Thank you.
00:16:55
Speaker
Hi, this is Jenny and Calla and I are here with Greg Asimekopoulos and we're going to talk to him a little bit today about his experience at Mission Springs. Welcome, Greg. Hey, welcome you guys. Welcome.
00:17:07
Speaker
This is so great to have you with us. In
Greg Asimakopoulos' First Impressions of Mission Springs
00:17:10
Speaker
fact, you were requested by one of the people on the task force. So I'm like, okay. I won't ask who. yeah All good things. All good things. I'll start out by asking you if you just want to kind of describe maybe your first memories of Mission Springs and you know what those experiences were like and how you might frame those later on with your experience as a pastor kind of in the greater Bay Area, things like that. sure You know, I grew up going to church camp from the time I was a little kid in the Pacific Northwest. My dad was a pastor, and we had wonderful camping opportunities. It really was formative in my own faith journey as a kid of getting to know the Lord, understanding the importance of church.
00:17:53
Speaker
Christian fellowship and to be out in creation, it all kind of came into focus early on for me as as a child and then as a teenager.
00:18:05
Speaker
Mission Springs in particular was a continuation of what had been a positive experience growing up. So having grown up in the Pacific Northwest, and then after Wendy and I got married, but we moved to Chicago for our first year of marriage where I finished my seminary at North Park Seminary.
00:18:26
Speaker
And then our first church as a married couple was in the Bay Area at Concord, at Crossroads Church, which incidentally, while Mission Springs is celebrating their 100th anniversary, Crossroads this summer is celebrating their 50th anniversary.
00:18:40
Speaker
so we're looking forward to being part of of that. So, called as pastor to Crossroads in the fall of 1983. And that's when our first daughter was born. So Kristen came along, we are settling into our new ministry and we hear about the Covenants Camp and Conference Center just about an hour and 15 minutes away from where we are living. And I remember driving up the road before we crossed the bridge and entered the camp. and being so impressed by coming through the forest. And even though our little girl was a baby at that time, from the time forward, every time we would make that trek from Concord to Mission Springs, and as we would enter that part of entrance to the camp, I would say, here we go, guys, in the tunnel of trees. And that became kind of our slogan as we came underneath those giant redwoods, shaded, and then crossing the bridge into what really became a very magical place for our young family.
00:19:55
Speaker
It was there where Wendy and I would experience pastors and wives retreat. We would go on an annual basis to get to know others who are early in ministry like we were and with their young families gathered. It's there where I would go with our guys from our church to men's retreat.
00:20:15
Speaker
It was where Wendy would go to women's retreats. Then years later, being involved as part of the program staff at family camp during 4th of July. And even after then we moved in 1994, moved to chicago area.
00:20:36
Speaker
being invited back to speak at senior adult retreat and a men's retreat that was put on by one of the churches. It just has been kind of home for us.
00:20:46
Speaker
And now here we are living back in the Seattle area. It still is something that draws us back. Our daughter, Kristen, that one that was a baby when we first visited the camp back in 1983, she Well, she loved the Santa Cruz Mountains so much that she ended up moving a couple of times to Scotts Valley, working in the area, and has continued all these years as an adult to maintain connections with staff at the Springs, as well as people living in and around Scotts Valley and Santa Cruz.
00:21:23
Speaker
That's my mom has the same exact feeling that you described on Lockhart Gulch. And she'll always ask when people come to Mission Springs for the first time, like, whether it's a friend of ours, or like I had some friends from Utah that came to stay at the cabin for a week. She's like, What do they feel about the drive-in?
00:21:41
Speaker
Is it? Because it is kind of a little magical. It's kind of like, i don't want to say like Lord of the Rings, but you're like, you you're like going into Narnia. Something like that. it's It's pretty, it's pretty cool.
00:21:53
Speaker
So do you think that Mission Springs played a pivotal role in connecting you with some of the other pastors in the Pacific? Definitely. Oh, absolutely. Because that's something that we shared in common. Yeah. I've often thought about the fact that the Kennedys had Hyannis Port, the President Bush, the senior had Kitty Bunkport, that family area where it was kind of the gathering place for the extended family. So for us pastors in the Pacific Southwest Conference, that was our estate. That's where we came to connect as an extended family.
00:22:33
Speaker
And encourage each other. There was a season during the time that we were living in the Bay Area where I went through kind of a difficult time having burned out and hit the wall.
00:22:48
Speaker
I now know it was clinical depression, but to have a place where I knew I could go and beloved by colleagues with whom I would share what I was going through, a very healing place. So my memories of Mission Springs connect the dots on a number of different levels. Quick question. Were you raised in the Covenant Church? church and No, I need to clarify that. So I was raised in the Assemblies of God denomination. My dad and my uncles, I had several uncles who are also in that denomination. So when I first went away to seminary, I started my seminary education at Fuller.
00:23:31
Speaker
in Pasadena and then completed it at North Park. But while I was at Fuller, having recently graduated with my undergraduate degree, I discovered Pasadena Covenant, which was just a few blocks away from the Fuller campus.
00:23:47
Speaker
And I fell in love with the Covenant Church. I remember one Sunday night going to an evening service, getting there early, and there in the in the narthex, I found the red hymnal. And all this was kind of new to me because i ah really didn't know that much about this denomination. So...
00:24:07
Speaker
I'm flipping through the hymnal and I get to the heritage section of Scandinavian hymns. And I'm beginning to sing these tunes in my head to myself.
00:24:20
Speaker
And oh my gosh, here's one that my... Norwegian grandmother had taught us kids in Norwegian. And now it is in English. But again, it's something that the Swedes and the Norwegians shared. you So that was one of the little inklings that I had found a home that really wasn't that far from my, at least my ethnic origin. Even though I've got a Greek name that I'm known by, I'm more Norwegian than I am Greek.
00:24:50
Speaker
So I think my Scandinavian roots somehow got tangled up with the roots of those redwood trees there at the springs. Absolutely. thankful Even if you are a Norwegian, that's okay. that's Were you ever intimidated by all these Swedes? Like, oh boy, this is a lot of Swedes. Well, no, because I grew up with my mom telling these Norwegian Swede jokes back and forth and To me, it was just kind of a big joke. So it is a big joke. We're part Norwegian too, i actually. And I mean, it's really funny. I'm like, they were the same country. Like really long time ago.
00:25:30
Speaker
We're all Vikings. That's right. yeah Exactly. Or you guys may be by Queens, I guess. oh know something we You know, shield wall all around. Yeah. yeah um No, my dad's mom was part Norwegian. Oh, good. And it was always like, okay, how did this woman who was part Norwegian marry this son of Swedish immigrants, only child? Like how did, and like, it's all fine. It's all good. It's all fine. Yeah. Can you think of any like interesting or funny stories from any of those retreat times when,
00:26:00
Speaker
you were either speaking or participating as a pastor. I don't have a lot of hilarious stories, but there are memories that bring a smile to our face as we think back to our times there.
00:26:13
Speaker
When our kids were little, Kristen and Allison were probably... ah eight and five, I would say, and they love to play on the playground. And I heard your mom and dad's memories as they shared on one of your earlier podcasts where your dad talked about falling into the mud puddle under the swing. So it's in that same general playground area where Allison and Kristen were playing while we were at one of the meetings, I guess, and a couple of older boys were
00:26:48
Speaker
who befriended them and tried to be big brothers to them. And of course, my little girls developed crushes on these boys that they met at camp and they gave them nicknames of Jobu and Fobu. And so even now, 30 years later, we still talk about Jobu and Fobu. And I would love to know who they are. sure oh I would too. Now I think we gotta to find this out. This is a mystery.
00:27:17
Speaker
And then there was the kids part of family camp where whoever was holding the kids meetings in the building just adjacent to the playground. I can't remember what the name of that. That's probably what it was. And the theme of the week had to do with the Wonder Fair. And as the leader of the kids program would greet the kids at the door. Welcome to the Wonder Fair. I mean, it almost is scary to me now as I think back on it, but the kids were so entranced by that, that we have it on home VHF videos of that particular week. And as we play that, which we do from time to time, it stirs up these memories that bring a smile and some laughter to the Wonder Fair.
00:28:10
Speaker
I wonder who that was. That's really funny. We remember, because that's where all the little kids would be in Fireside Hall. And I can't believe they'd have so many of us in that one area. And it was always Daisy Hepburn at the front. And she could command the attention. ah How many kids? I mean, it must have been like 40 kids. At least 40. It might have been more than 50. Yeah. and and And she would, I mean, nobody would say anything. Everybody was just sitting, wrapped with attention. And she'd have the felt board. And, oh, yeah, it was amazing.
00:28:40
Speaker
Yeah, we were Noah's Navy one year. i remember we had shirts and we were Noah's Navy. And we were told if we went every day and we learned all the memory verses, they'd give us a little Bible at the end. And I remember the last day, there was a big competition as to what we were going to do because i think there was a group of people going to like Marine World Africa USA or something. Or you could go to the last day of family camp and we're like, ah no, we have to go. Otherwise, they're not going to give us this Bible. Yeah. My parents are like, what? But that those Bibles became the Frontier Ranch Bibles that everybody took to Frontier Ranch after that. this all And they fit into the luggage and all that kind of And our girls ended up going to Frontier Ranch, too. So Lauren did not because we moved to Illinois when she was just turning four. So she didn't have that experience.
00:29:29
Speaker
She did at Covenant Harbor, which became our camp then back in in the Midwest. Was there ever a contest of collecting banana slugs no that you guys participated in? We didn't participate in that, but there was a group that was called the banana slugs that were led by the Humphreys later on. And they did it for years and years and years. and they were in the old tab and they they also had shirts. And yeah yeah, I think they did have a competition like that. But we- First time I ever saw a yellow slug, but I came to realize that it's a thing.
00:30:03
Speaker
It is. you what it It endears you to them because they're cuter. You know, we always talk about this whenever anybody sees a bug in my classroom. I'm like, OK, well, if they just had better outfits, we'd probably let them stay. But, you know, that's a scary spider. So we're going have to usher it outside. Banana slugs are so cute. We just kind of keep them around. Our middle daughter, Allison, who's married to a covenant pastor here in the area, she has two little girls. So in addition to a grandson that's four months old, we have Imogen, who is nine, and Ivy, who's about to turn seven.
00:30:36
Speaker
But Ivy's favorite color is yellow. So I can hardly wait to introduce her to the yellow banana slugs at Mission Springs. Yeah. Well, my daughter Emerson just taught us why they're yellow. And why is that?
00:30:49
Speaker
Well, because the bay laurel trees that they have at Mission Springs that I think smells so good, when they start to fall off of the trees during the autumn, they're, and they they get drier, they're long and they turn yellow. And so because those fall on the ground, the banana slugs became yellow to kind of adapt to disguise themselves and camouflage themselves from predators. yeah So that's why they have them there.
00:31:14
Speaker
my Who knew? 52. Didn't know that. And I don't know what a bay tree is. I was like, what kind of tree is that? I don't know. Can you think of any specific people who were particularly impactful on your life from your time spent at Mission Springs? Well,
00:31:32
Speaker
without it sounding self-serving, that's where I met your folks. And when I met your dad, just before he was taking the job in Green Bay, I was just beginning to do some freelance writing as a pastor.
00:31:47
Speaker
and asked if I could do an interview with him about his faith journey. And he graciously agreed. And not only did it give me a little bit of motivation to continue to do that kind of interview with people all across the country, but it really endeared myself to your family. And shortly after you guys moved back to Wisconsin, we moved to Illinois. And so that that friendship had a chance to develop.
00:32:16
Speaker
mid Midway through the country. yeah I think a lot of people who aren't familiar with the Midwest don't realize that actually Green Bay is only three hour car trip from the Chicagoland area. Yeah.
00:32:26
Speaker
Yeah. but You've got to understand that it was very isolating. Talk about feeling intimidated by Swedes because I wore my cheese head to church on Sunday in Naperville. It didn't go over really well. yeah <unk> yeah In Chicago, it's always a thing. Like even now today, people are like, are you rooting for the Bears? And I'm like, well, I live in Chicago, so I'm going to do whatever's safest for my personal being.
00:32:51
Speaker
But really, I just like to see a good game and I don't want anyone to get hurt because I don't have to go to anyone in particular anymore. You know, in our times there at at different retreats, we had pastors from Peninsula Bible Church, which back in the day was one of the leading churches in the Bay Area. I remember Ron Ritchie, who was on staff with Ray Stedman and John Fisher, a Christian singer from back in in the 70s and 80s.
00:33:19
Speaker
And then Gordon Kirk, who was pastor of Rolling Hills Covenant Church. Later, he became pastor of Lake Avenue Congregational Church. He became like a mentor to me, and I met him at family camp.
00:33:33
Speaker
One of the funniest things was... Gordon Kirk shared the preaching and teaching week with Gary Burge, Dr. Gary Burge, who I had not seen since we were seminary classmates together in 1976.
00:33:52
Speaker
And at that time, Gary was this very shy, introverted, quiet guy that I never would have guessed would have gone on to get his doctorate in New Testament and become the author and wide known speaker that he became. So our lives intersected again after probably close to 20 years had having not seen him. So that was fun. Yeah, the covenant is just, you find out because he was a professor when we were in college at North Park.
00:34:21
Speaker
But just for a year, then he went on sabbatical and then he went to Wheaton and we were like, had him from Bible. Right. But just for, I didn't know my Bible studies teacher was. And then he went on to Calvin. So he didn't even stay at Wheaton. Yeah. he on the big three here yeah But it's yeah it's, it's, it's a close community and it's, I don't know if other, um, I think they do, but other church denominations have the same kind of interlocking It's the churches, it's the camps, it's some of the retirement centers, it's the university. That's thing about that. We are very unique. And I think one of the reasons that is the case is because even though we are on the smaller size when it comes to denominations, we are a disproportionately influential denominations. You know, I think back, and I've even talked about this, your dad being a well-known NFL coach, Dr. G. Timothy Johnson being the medical editor for ABC TV, How Great Thou Art, one of the greatest hymns of all time written by a covenant pastor, Warner Solomon's Head of Christ, you know, that everybody knows about, if not have in their home, coming from a covenant layman in Chicago. we
00:35:36
Speaker
Here we are, this this little denomination that has, Got a big bark. Yeah. no Everybody seems know. We used to say, if you told my grandma something in Turlock at the retirement center, everybody was going to know about it in about two weeks. Right. It would make it all the way to Chicago. by the way Chicago. And when I married Josh, Josh is, oh, so okay. So my mother's stepsister, Nancy's daughter, Julie, and I were roommates all throughout North Park. And Josh was one of her best friends from high school youth group. In Michigan. And Nancy, her mother, was Josh's Sunday school teacher when he was two.
00:36:14
Speaker
And of course, he was pretty naughty in Sunday school, but that's another story. So my grandmother, from my from my friend's mother, had heard so much good stuff about Josh. Like, he's this amazing person and all this. So by the time we end up getting engaged, all she can talk about is how lucky I am to be marrying Josh. Wow. I'm like, but grandma, you're my grandma.
00:36:38
Speaker
He's lucky to be. But she had heard all of these stories from all these different people all across the country about how great Josh was. I'm like, all right, that's that's how the company starts. She works thought he was Swedish. and And then she thought he was Swedish. and we're like, oh, I don't think he's Swedish. well What do you mean he's not Swedish? I'm like, there are people that aren't Swedish that are great, too. But did he he turn out to be Norwegian? withish of course amish Not that far removed. Actually, my kids, when they were reading all the Percy Jackson books, were like, are we Greek? I'm like, no.
00:37:11
Speaker
Too bad. no you'd like to do but we are not You know, part of it is the fact that it's family. And when these mission friends came over 150 years ago,
00:37:21
Speaker
They came as family. And in order to survive in this new country, they had to, for survival, connect as whether they were biologically related or at least faith-related.
00:37:37
Speaker
And we have continued on that sense of connectiveness through the years. It's a real strength. We go to a Creekside Covenant in Redmond, yeah which is a suburb of Seattle. And it's a small church, smaller than I've ever pastored, but our son-in-law is pastor there.
00:37:56
Speaker
And we love it because the community wonderful. enriching and we leave every week feeling loved and cared for and like we have had been at a family reunion and that's what going to mission springs is like it's going to a family reunion yeah and can hardly wait to see how this 100th anniversary gathering turns out it's going to be really something We're hoping it's going to be a fun party.
00:38:23
Speaker
I think about that in North Park all the time because I work at Swedish Covenant Hospital a couple days a month. And the diversity in the population of people that come to that hospital and go to North Park now, when you think, oh, this you know this neighborhood used to be predominantly Swedish. And now i always need an interpreter. And the languages people speak and the places they come from, how they get to the United States is so cool. It's just so neat. And I'm like that we have the university right there in the city.
00:38:52
Speaker
That's sometimes their exposure to the covenant. And that's how people get to California. And then you're like, oh, yeah, we have churches in California. We have camps. We're super in into camping. oh now we really like pools, you know, and I think that just that's it's a really cool thing. i think it'd be really interesting to discover. Somebody probably has done a survey to discover how many individuals really came into a relationship with the Lord at camp.
00:39:19
Speaker
Yeah. I think it's probably really a high percentage. yeah I think it's important. I mean, it's it's a cool thing because it it's such a unique place too. I mean, the Redwoods, you know, when I describe where Mission Springs is, if they haven't been there, I'm like, well, it's kind of in this Redwood forest. And they're like, what? I'm like, yeah, it's pretty unique and cool.
00:39:38
Speaker
And then the beach is about 10 minutes away. And then if you get kind of bored, you can drive up to San Francisco and yeah, it's a good spot. Okay, Greg, so what would you say is your favorite place at Mission Springs? If you had to pick your favorite spot?
00:39:50
Speaker
Oh, that's easy. It's Cathedral Grove. i just I love to worship under the trees on those rustic benches. And the opportunity I had some 35 years ago to lead worship there sticks in my mind just because of the sound of you know a few hundred people praising God in music in what has to be one of the most beautiful beautiful natural cathedrals that you can find.
00:40:19
Speaker
And yeah so that that's the first. The second would be the tab, I think, because of the glass windows and being able to look beyond the speaker, especially if they're not that interesting, to be able to look at the trees. yeah You know, it it's funny. They weren't always there.
00:40:37
Speaker
They put those in after the earthquake in 1989. And I remember my mom- The trees or the glass? The glass. The glass. artificial trees is that what you're saying no my mother would get so mad when when we were little she'd like they built that new tab and the new tabernacle which because there was an old tabernacle and they didn't put any windows and it's just we're just looking at a wall we could look at a wall and sound like this is crazy and then they had problems during the earthquake she's like great this is god giving us the opportunity to put in windows so it's much better my mom's a lot ah right about a lot of those things Yeah.
00:41:13
Speaker
Yeah. We end up agreeing with air. but That tabernacle, it probably, well, obviously was before the earthquake. Do you remember what year the earthquake was? 1989. Yeah. Yeah.
00:41:26
Speaker
yeah Okay. So it was it was after the earthquake. My little girls, Kristen and Allison, this was when we were involved in one of the family camps.
00:41:37
Speaker
I had written a song for them to sing in church. And that was the first time they ever sang in church, was at family camp. there in the tabernacle and uh that's a special memory for sure yeah yeah that's neat yes oh wow along those same lines do you have a favorite thing about fourth of july or family camp love the mountain goat run i only did that uh a couple of times love the parade it was It was special to see the floats all decorated. And I mean, here we are just kind of a conclave of people that were separated from the rest of the world. But it's as though it's in the ah middle of New York City with the Thanksgiving Macy's parade or whatever. We do it upright. And it was don't even know if they still do that or not. But yeah.
00:42:28
Speaker
It was sure fun back then playing my saxophone in the marching. That was my part. Kristen was on the Kristen float that particular year. There were like 10 Christens and they decided that that would be the theme of their float. So it was the Kristen float.
00:42:47
Speaker
Oh, if you have a picture of that, that would be awesome. I would love have to look at our family album. It's possible. Yeah. We used to have family, like it was always big to have a theme. So my parents- It was mom. Mom really wanted us to have a theme. She didn't think we could just decorate bikes and go out there and just ride them. She's like, no, there needs to be some kind of theme. You're like, okay.
00:43:08
Speaker
So what was the year when we had to wear the prairie hat? don't know. There was one where we were blondes on bikes. So you see the theme was a little loose. It wasn't like a big theme. But then one year she's like, okay, you guys can be Americans at work. And we all had to dress all this. I'm like, okay. Okay. And then one year we were Swedes on wheels. You know what I mean? Like, okay. we see we get copy the we I like these little slogans. They're good. there's yeah she was very She and my uncle would sit and my aunt would sit around and i don't know how involved my dad was. I think my dad was like, I got to worry about the barbecue. life
00:43:47
Speaker
I'm not going to worry about what the Ternsons parade thing. Right. But that still to this day, I think she gets a little bit frustrated when people don't put more thought. Sometimes like the maintenance staff will do something really complicated and she loves that. Like I think last summer... they turn some back of a truck into a swimming pool or something. There was like water in the back of a truck. She really likes that. She likes when people kind of go all out and don't just rely on some big truck or something like that. She wants effort. Creativity and putting some elbow grease into it. I was always very impressed by how many people were in the marching band.
00:44:22
Speaker
There were that many people that played instruments that could march and play the instrument, which is very hard. I didn't ever do it. Jack Martins back in the day, he was quite the character and brought a lot of personality to that music part of it. And of course, Bruce Stevenson there at the entrance to the camp. That's another memory I have of him and his rocking chair out there on the porch, kind of serving as the greeter, you know. and Awesome.
00:44:50
Speaker
awesome Very special. He was a special guy. He was the reason I got my first job at Frontier Ranch. Really? Yeah, I was at North Park. And i don't I guess I was being kind of flaky. I didn't hadn't thought about what I was going to do for the summer.
00:45:04
Speaker
and he actually called me and said, they're they're looking for people to be counselors. Are you going to apply? i said, oh i guess yeah, I guess I can. And yeah, so that's what led me to apply to work at Frontier Ranch. I got to know his twins at Seattle Pacific. We were classmates together back in the day.
00:45:22
Speaker
Yeah. He was an amazing musician too. he he was He was fabulous. Not only on the piano, but stand up bass and yeah very, very gifted. i was going to say, Greg, you're musical. So if you were going to say what your favorite song associated with Mission Springs or Camp is, what is that song?
00:45:41
Speaker
Oh, wow. I know it's hard. I asked my daughter, Isabel, in our last episode, and she told me something, and I'm like, I don't even know what that song is, but she was all excited about it, so. You know, I'll probably, it won't be a contemporary worship song. It probably would be hymns of our heritage that still speak to me. And so probably Children of the Heavenly Father slash Day by Day and With Each Passing Moment.
00:46:09
Speaker
Yeah. That shows my age. You know, I'm not as young as I once was, but probably even back then when I, as a 32-year-old, first visited the camp, it still probably would have been those because that represented what drew me into my adopted church family.
00:46:29
Speaker
Yeah. Hymns of Our Heritage. yeah And when you're in the midst of nature and creation, the thought of what Lena Sandell pictured in her lyrical poetry, it fits yeah there. I do have something, though, that isn't a hymn, but I wrote it because of my love for Mission Springs. Okay.
00:46:51
Speaker
Can I read it for you? Go it. It's called Longing for Retreat. Hmm. There's a place where your grace tastes refreshingly cool, like a gurgling brook in the woods.
00:47:04
Speaker
It's a place that I dream of when life hems me in with its pressures, its oughts, and its shoulds. It's a place where contentment comes easy, where quiet like quilt calms my sleep, where I'm mindful of nature,
00:47:22
Speaker
relaxed about clothes, where contentments I make are for keeps. It's a place reminiscent of heaven, where feasting is more than good food, where silence has meaning and you seem more real than I ever expected you could. And I'm referring to the Lord.
00:47:44
Speaker
It's a place of rare beauty and splendor, more spacious than I'll ever own, A place that is priceless and worth every cent.
00:47:55
Speaker
Yet a place where my heart feels at home. That's Mission Springs for me. That's beautiful. i'm'm I'm going to pull a Mike Holmgren and say i'm I'm getting a little weepy. That's what dad always says when he gets a little bit. usually that to him he'll go yeah you going know He will get a little weepy. That's beautiful.
00:48:15
Speaker
It is beautiful. I totally agree. It's funny because I don't sleep well just in general, just because of my job. But Mission Springs is the place where I don't have any trouble sleeping. Like the minute I get there, i just, yeah, it doesn't matter where I am. I think people comment on it. yeah I could be at the yellow cabin, the red cabin, the brown cabin on the couch. It doesn't matter. Just it's like, it's so serene, peaceful, wonderful. It is a retreat. It's a wonderful place. You know, lest I forget to mention it, when one of the guys that was a member of our church in Concord who actually became church chairman kind of embarrassed himself one day. Here he is in this responsible role, but he admits to something he had done as a teenager at Mission Springs where he and a buddy from Oakland Covenant Church where he had grown up
00:49:03
Speaker
They climbed up the water tower and painted their names in big, bright colors. And I think for decades, David James and Scott Ward's names were there on the water tower headed up towards Frontier Ranch. And I captured it on film one day. oh very good.
00:49:28
Speaker
Make sure that he would be cautious next time he admitted to something as iffy as that. Well, lot of people did that. And it's kind of funny. It is kind of fun. They put their names on it. yeah So you're like, ah it wasn't a secret. It was you. We didn't think someone else would. I think we had cousins who did it. and I'm like, we didn't think someone else went and put your name in there in the fluorescent yellow.
00:49:51
Speaker
Paint. Right. Well, Auntie Bobby and Uncle Ray, like forever. Theirs was up on the second water tower that's not there anymore. As you go down the Do Not Enter Road, they put theirs up really high. I mean, I think. Why are you going down the Do Not Enter Road?
00:50:05
Speaker
ah I know. I know. It's a little bit of a... make sense to us. That's right. Like, they put it up really high because that was the only way you could guarantee no one was going to paint over it because it required a ladder or something like that. But I think my Uncle Ray, as a young man, was probably like, I'm up to the challenge. And so he had painted Ray and Bobby really high up there. And it was up there, think, until they took it down. think so. And I was like, wow, Uncle Ray and Auntie Bobby, they...
00:50:37
Speaker
did something sneaky back when they were in the church. In retrospect, I think Dave was kind of proud of the fact that he had done that. So maybe if you paint your name, you become the chair of the church. There you should go.
00:50:51
Speaker
That's great. that's great Well, we have a series of ending questions that are just kind of rapid fire questions and they're just for fun. And if you don't want to answer them all, that's okay. Caleb doesn't like all of them, but that's okay. I think that some, I think they're fun. And we call this shooting the Gulch.
00:51:09
Speaker
Shooting the Gulch. shooting and Is there a prize? No. should have a prize. Why do do that? A banana slug or something because they're notorious for drugs. You should have some Mission merch or something. Right.
00:51:23
Speaker
They're slow and shooting the Gulch is fast. Okay. There you go. That's good. Opposite. Yeah. Okay. i like that. Okay. So first question is, have you ever participated in shooting the Gulch? I am today.
00:51:37
Speaker
Perfect. All right. But in your car? no not so much. Okay. It's not safe. Really? It's not safe. It's really not safe now. It was definitely not safe back then either.
00:51:48
Speaker
No, no. But it was funny because Dean and Donna Erickson said they have a Volvo, so they couldn't have done it in a Volvo. But then Allison, my cousin, Allison Homeland said they did it in her Volvo all the time. Wow. Like, okay. So I think Volvos are capable of shooting. We don't want to discriminate. All right. Second question. You said you mentioned, you mentioned you ran the mountain go run.
00:52:11
Speaker
If you ran it now or at any time in history, I should say, where would you place? Oh, In the bottom 10%, I'm sure. Yeah. I've done some half marathons, but it's always been walking. I am not a runner, but I sure enjoy the experience.
00:52:30
Speaker
Yeah, it's fun. I don't enjoy running at all, but I like to walk. I could walk for a really long ways. One of my favorite memories of my mountain goat run experience, the first one that I did, it may be the only one I did, was your dad ran that time too.
00:52:46
Speaker
Oh, yeah wow. he He looked pretty fit. Oh. Well, we just got a picture from my, one of the nice things about doing this podcast and having people listen to it is hearing from other people about stories. And my aunt just text texted us some pictures of my parents running the Mt. Go Run and dad's running it and mom's behind him and they're at the finish line, they're ready to be done. And she's just smiling. And I'm like, who finishes that race smiling? I know. I wasn't letting her win.
00:53:15
Speaker
i know no wasn't letting her win ah I noticed that too. Dad was. who Well, maybe not bring that up. Thanksgiving dinner. Yeah.
00:53:25
Speaker
They might've run in the very first mountain goat run, mom and dad. Yeah. I feel like they did anyway. Okay. Okay. If you're at the pool, I've been in any time in history, what are you ordering from the snack bar?
00:53:38
Speaker
Oh, can you give me a multiple choice here? Sure. Well, there's a lot of different options. There's kind of your your candies. So that's the stuff the little kids like, you know, whether it's licorice or it's, you know, those horrible things for your teeth, right? Like Jolly Ranchers or Now and Laters, or they used to have those. I don't know if you remember these, the slush machine where you can get all the little, you know, the different things.
00:54:02
Speaker
flavors. It was like, do I get a lemon lime one? Do I get a grape one? Maybe I'll get all the flavors mixed together. And then there are always the people who like, like the ice cream bars, whether it's the fudgesicles or the chocolate tacos. Alison was mentioning something like a coconut wonder bar.
00:54:18
Speaker
I'm not with coconut. Why would you do i was only at the wonder fair. It's a theme. it came It would be a fudgesicle. In fact, when my cousin and I were eight years old at our grandparents' home, dreaming of what we would do in retirement. We were going to get RVs, travel the country and eat fudgesicles. Awesome. So ever since that has been my go-to dairy delight.
00:54:44
Speaker
That's a wonderful place. That sounds great. Okay. Have you ever... broken a quote unquote Mission Springs rule. And it's funny because people aren't sure. And I didn't think there were really a lot of rules. And then Dave Erickson actually sent me all the Mission Springs rules in history from the very first ones to the ones there are now. And actually now there are actually a lot of rules. I don't know if anybody knows what they are, but now I'm sure I have. I, it was probably going down the do not enter road. okay
00:55:18
Speaker
Too fast. We have all, ah a lot of people are driving around Mission Springs weirdly and too fast. ah go no If I did, it was probably sneaking into one of the meeting rooms after hours in order to take a picture of something. I've been guilty of that a few times, but nothing you know serious. So you don't need to slap on the handcuffs. No.
00:55:46
Speaker
There's some stuff we've done in our past, but we're like, we probably shouldn't mention anything that would get in us in too much trouble. Right. So it's just the minor infractions. Okay. And this is the last question. What do you think the best kissing spot is at Mission Springs? Oh.
00:55:59
Speaker
This is the question I'm not on. But I think it's funny because everybody has a different answer. Hmm. There's so many, what we were talking about in the last podcast episode is there's so many like nooks and crannies at Mission Springs. There are certainly. it's a forest. It's true, it's a forest. There are a lot of trees.
00:56:19
Speaker
Well, you know what? Didn't your mom and dad get married in Cathedral Grove? They did. Yeah, I think that's the perfect place for not only your wedding kiss, but your any old time kiss. So I will say that.
00:56:32
Speaker
not what's going on. It's across there on the platform in Cathedral Grove. Oh, yeah. that's nice one yeah yeah they don't Now I get a prize, right? Absolutely. I'm going to make that banana. People mention places. I'm like, I don't even know where that place is.
00:56:48
Speaker
When I'm there this summer, I need people to go around and say, okay, that's that. That's that. Like, we could just say this is the kissing spa tour. at least I don't know where the funeral grove is. But I don't like it. What was the with the man? What were the trees? There was a grove.
00:57:01
Speaker
of trees? honey Oh, that was like on the back trails behind Frontier Ranch. You know, there's like so many trails back there that my daughter, who's ah a naturalist this year, she knows all the names of, but we've just walked them, you know, don't bother. Like yeah everything kind of goes in a loop so you can't get too lost. And there's lots of beautiful groves of trees back in there.
00:57:22
Speaker
So people have choosing as their spot. I don't know where they are, but I didn't approve of the question. So You guys are great interviewers, by the way. um This has really been fun. Well, it has been. Thank you so much for agreeing to do this. We just, ah you know, because you write so much um for yourself and on behalf of other people, how much story just makes a difference in the lives of other people. Not having like these clinical facts about a place, but sharing stories is what I think brings us together. So this is just another venue for just hearing so many stories from people. I love it I'm glad you captured that vision because this is really cool. And I look forward to listening to what's still to come on your your podcast. Thank you. Appreciate it.
00:58:17
Speaker
Well, that was fun talking to Greg. Super fun. He is very interesting and very nice to talk to. Yeah, he's very creative and he's got a great pastor voice. Very good. found it was really nice. to I could just listen to him because he has a nice voice to listen to.
00:58:32
Speaker
All right. So to end this podcast, I have my question for Kala. And I'm going ask her the same question I asked Isabel last week because Kala wasn't here. And Kala, that what is... what is your favorite Mission Springs Frontier Ranch song or the song you most associate with camp?
00:58:48
Speaker
Well, the first one I think of, it's not my favorite, but it's definitely the first one I think of. Okay. We're here at Frontier Ranch. Three cheers for Frontier Ranch. That's the only place to be. Yeehaw!
00:59:00
Speaker
With winding trails with dread and giant trees ahead. taste back full of fun for me. Are you starting to forget it? no I know all the words. I know all all the words. But I um i always really loved this song that was based on the psalm where they say, i lift my eyes up to the mountains from where my where does my help come from? I like that song a lot.
00:59:24
Speaker
I don't know the name of it, but it was a psalm. I mean, all of the songs that I remember from being a little kid were related to Bible verses. That was a big way for me to remember Bible verses. so Okay.
00:59:37
Speaker
All right. Yeah, no, that's how I remember a lot of my Bible verses too. Do you remember the song? This is what I was thinking of after I asked Isabel about it. Do you remember that song, Pass It On? Yes. It only takes us back to live in a fire. maybe we oh The fire thing is not good.
00:59:56
Speaker
Well, yeah, but you have a campfire. i know. When you're having a campfire, you have to actually build a fire. And sometimes people aren't very good at it and it's hard. Was that your favorite song? No, but it's the one I associate with camp because we didn't sing it anywhere else. Oh, yeah. That was what and one of the things. It was like the things I associate most with Mission Springs and Frontier Ranch when it comes to songs are those songs that i we didn't sing at church or we didn't sing at... yeah later at North Park or things like that. It was, those were very specific Mission Springs Frontier Ranch songs.
01:00:29
Speaker
Sure. And that was one of them. That was, yeah. No, I liked that song. It wasn't my favorite, but yeah, I liked all the Bible verses songs. It was just, I thought that was a great way to remember Bible verses. Oh, it is. I still remember that. And I still remember them. i mean, so well And I was teaching my art class this week, and if this is not a song, but do remember at Frontier Ranch one time we were learning about that that verse where it's like, we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God created in advance for us to do. you remember that they had us do it where each cabin had a section of the verse and then we had to stand up and yell it? yeah
01:01:10
Speaker
Yes. I think it's Ephesians 2, 8 through 10. That's it? Yeah. No. Yeah. I can't remember what our part was. but You always wanted the part for us to do. Right. That's the end.
01:01:21
Speaker
I'm sure they gave that to a boy's cabin, but whatever. don't remember who got to say that, but um you you wanted that end one. Yeah. But that wasn't even a song, but I still remember that verse because they had us do it so many times. And so, and you had your little section and that's the only thing you had to remember.
01:01:39
Speaker
Right. It was kind of like when the kids did the, the, Abraham Lincoln's speech in that movie, Kindergarten Cop. Right, no, it was like that. it was like that. Each kid only had one little section. Thanks for request. No, it was like that.
01:01:52
Speaker
But yeah, that does a lot of camp was trying to memorize Bible verses. I remember if you got special things. I remember one time they were trying to trick some kid and they thought they had to get him up to say the 23rd Psalm and he could say the whole thing.
01:02:07
Speaker
they They were just shocked that they picked the wrong kid because that kid knew how to say the whole thing. i They weren't going to give him his mail from home unless he could say the whole thing. And then he said the whole thing and they all went, you can have everybody's mail. Okay. Like, you did a great job.
01:02:22
Speaker
You know what I just realized about the 23rd Psalm? And I'm sure pastors out there already know about it. But somebody was talking about in devotions one day at work. And we were reading it. that The pronouns change halfway through.
01:02:34
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, I didn't realize that. I'm pretty old to be realizing that. I don't know if that's in the original text. You know what i mean? We're always kind of. That's true. have to go back since i don't speak would be hebrew probably maybe we can ask james we need to have james maybe that's our brother-in-law and he's a pastor and he had to take those classes in school he had to take greek and hebrew and all those kind of things you should ask you know i think it's one thing for us to wade in to the historical waters when we start getting into the theological waters
01:03:06
Speaker
I think we might be. We're going we gonna need a life preserver pretty quick. That's a line from 30 Rock. If you hang on to me, we're both going to drown.
01:03:16
Speaker
yeah Yeah, basically we don't know what we're talking about. Yeah, we shouldn't wax. There's information on the 23rd Psalm and the pronouns. I don't know. I just thought it was interesting. Hebrew or whatever they were written in. Right. Well, if other people have their favorite songs that they love about camp, send those in ah for no other reason that there's a chance that during a hymn sing or during a service at Covenant Family Camp this summer, they might play those songs or have somebody sing them. And then you can participate in it and say, you heard your favorite song.
01:03:49
Speaker
Right. Well, that's our podcast for today. Thanks for joining us again. And we'll see you next time. see you next time.