After lunch I still had two more hours to wait so I charged all my devices and watched the start of the Yankee game. Then it was time to get on the plane for Prague. The highlights of that trip were meeting the gentleman beside me who was going back to Czech to visit family and to hear his story of getting to the US. He and his family escaped communist Czechoslovakia when he was 5 and lived for the next year and a half in refugee camps before being hosted to come to the US. Other highlights include a couple of good movies (Grown Ups and Karate Kid) a not half bad airplane dinner and a relatively quick flight.

Arriving in Prague, I joined two others from the team – Harold Phillips and Karen Rogers – and we killed time during our 4 hour layover by finding a wifi hotspot and strolling the duty free shops. Finally it was time to catch the bus which dropped us off on a COLD & WINDY tarmac to board our prop plane for Slovakia (yes, a prop plane). Don’t remember any of the flight because I didn’t have anyone sitting beside me so I sacked out and slept.

CBF Field Personnel Shane McNary picked us up in Kosice, Slovakia and we had a chance to eat a great lunch and stroll through part of the downtown square area. We also heard a great deal more about the McNary’s work with the Roma gypsies, other Czech and Slovak Baptists, and the cultural and historical hatred of Roma throughout the region.

Tonight we had a great evening as the McNary’s hosted us for a Slovak dinner at their home. Bread dumplings, pork roast, and cabbage. I passed on the cabbage and thought Mekea would have loved dining with us. We also met Diane, Shane’s wife, and their children Taylor and Allie who are both in the 11th grade. Great family and kids with great senses of humor. Dessert was a choice between Apfel Struddel and Honey Cake.

Off to bed now but tomorrow will be a full day as we meet with representatives from Heifer International in Toporec about a hen project, visit one of the partner schools that the McNary’s support in Kezmarok, and visit Jarovnice, the most dense Roma settlement in Slovakia where, as Shane describes, the schools separate the Roma from the ‘whites.’

Thanks for your continued prayers.

And, of course, not only did this complicate our financial situation, it also complicated our already new family schedule.  Olivia had just started at the WEE Center for two days which means she came to church with me on Tuesday and Wednesdays.  On Tuesdays she stayed in my office from 2 pm to 5 pm (or at least that was the plan) and on Wednesdays I drove her to Ballwin at 12:30 pm for afternoon childcare (taking an hour out of my day).  In addition, with Mekea on bed rest, I needed to come home early to help make help with our evening routine.  So, for a variety of reasons, my days were being squeezed on both sides and the middle.  And all of this in a year when I was preparing 3 youth to attend PASSPORTKenya, helping set up the details for a Passport Camp in St. Louis, developing a youth advocacy group in Kirkwood, working to plan a 4 church, community wide 30 hour famine experience in Kirkwood, working with two other churches to provide cross cultural internships in our churches, finish remodeling our basement before the new baby arrived, and all during a year when our youth group was struggling to find their identity and pace.  And then, just prior to Audrey’s birth, we started working on our web/media presence and making some strategic changes which bled into our 140th celebration.  Whew!

So, as you can tell, for the most part, success (family, career, ministry) in 2010 has been defined simply as keeping our heads above water.  Now, please don’t hear any complaining in these sentiments.  More than anything these thoughts are meant to give me perspective on the year and permission to not have been perfect in keeping all of the balls juggling this year.

However, what has been perfect is God’s love and protection for me, for my family, and for the ministry at KBC.  For while so much of the time I was just thinking about the next thing down the pike, God was holding all things together and proving once again that all things do work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose.  Because as I look over the last 8 months, I see God’s fingerprints all around my family and I see his handiwork throughout the ministry of KBC.

So, let me say boldly how thankful I am to God for his work and presence in our lives.  I thank God that Mekea and Olivia were protected in their accident, that God helped us through the season of bed rest (physically, mentally, spiritually, and financially), that the basement is almost done but was ready enough for all the visitors who came this summer, that we have a beautiful new addition to our family for which we are undeserving, that Mekea has been patient with me as I’ve adjusted to Audrey particularly when I wasn’t exhibiting the fruits of the spirit in the first few weeks; for friends who have cooked meals and baby sat and checked on us and encouraged us and had patience with us and generally showed us the love of Christ.  After all, youth ministers and their families need that too.

And let me also boldly thank God and celebrate the way he has worked and is working here at KBC.  From as far back as October, I am thankful for God’s guidance with HOK which has led to the town wanting to make this a community wide endeavor. I am thankful for how God is working in the lives of the four KBCers in Kenya and the healthy support I received from all corners encouraging me to stay at home; for the ways KBC embraces their role in the lives of our youth…it’s truly incredible; for the patience and support all the youth and parents have shown in a very complicated year; for the support, understanding, and unconditional love the parents and youth have shown in embracing GC; for the three recent young people who have made professions of faith; for Passport coming to St. Louis and the ministry that happened; for the ways KBC has embraced our two African American interns Josh and Rashid, for the support Scott Stearman and the whole staff give to our youth ministry and for the time relationship Scott gives to our youth, for a great group of seniors that I will be very sad to see go but in whom I have such belief; for youth who love my family and who make my daughter excited to come to church, for Trish Jackson who sees part of her calling in Christ doing more than she needs for the Johnson’s and more than we deserve, for an incredible 140th anniversary in which KBC not only reached out to the community in powerful ways but which was yet another example of the incredible number of selfless servants we have at KBC; for the four youth from Hope Unlimited who came to camp with us this summer and made me laugh and smile in ways I hadn’t in a long time (What I like about Passport); for the safety and protection God provided on our recent youth float trip; and for what is to come.

Well, if you’ve made it to the end of this, I commend your own patience. You know, this year has not necessarily been a year of tremendous growth for KBC or KBC Youth in terms of the traditional markers of church growth.  But those markers don’t always tell the story not do those markers necessarily reflect the priorities of God.  Because God’s eye is on his whole kingdom.  And when you look at things from a Kingdom Building perspective – not from a human perspective – what a great year it’s been for us and KBC.  And the Kingdom Building perspective is also the best way to see why Mekea and I love KBC and why we are so grateful that God called us to KBC.

To end, let me say that I am looking forward to a few more days of rest and relaxation in Blacksburg.  And even more, I am looking forward to what God has in store for us in 2010-11.  Although, I wouldn’t complain if it was a little more boring this year.

Previously, Daniel served as the Interim Youth Minister at First Baptist Church in Dalton, Georgia and as Interim Youth Minister at Blacksburg Baptist Church in Blacksburg, Virginia. Daniel attended the McAfee School of Theology – conquering Church History thank you very much – has written Youth Missions curriculum for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and has served on the coordinating council of the CBF of MO.

Daniel is an avid sports fan, enthusiastically following his alma mater, Indiana University, in basketball and, being born in Lincoln, the Nebraska Cornhuskers in football. Daniel is also a lifelong fan of the New York Yankees in baseball; however, he has found room in his heart for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Ordained in 2002, Daniel is passionate about partnering with the parents and adults of KBC to create a meaningful and relevant ministry for students; one that allows students to seek, discover, and more fully understand the love, acceptance, wisdom, and mission of God in Jesus Christ.

Beyond the ‘churchie” (a word created by a member of KBC Youth) stuff, Daniel enjoys every minute watching his girls grow, hiking with his wife and daughters, cooking (inside) and grilling (outside), being a child of the 80’s (“Goonies never die” and “Hello McFly”), TV (Seinfeld, Scrubs, NYPD Blue, Burn Notice to name a few) and movies (Clint Eastwood is the man), Mountain Dew, Southern Rock, and road trips.  He used to love playing basketball until he tore his Achilles tendon in ’08 and Mekea made him hang up his sneakers.  Oh well, there goes that phat NBA contract.