Here I am
About this blog
Brian Frick is the Associate for Camp and Conferences Ministries with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He has been involved in camp and conference ministry since high school. For the past ten years, Brian has served as program director of Johnsonburg Center in New Jersey, Westminster Woods in California, and Heartland Center in Missouri.
Camp and conference ministry compliments and partners with other ministry aspects of our church to foster faith development and reflection. As our communities and our church changes, our ministries need to grow and adapt with creative and emergent programming and leadership to meet new realities.
These blogs entries, though varied, are intended to spur thought and conversation around the opportunities and challenges before us.
Recent posts
- Letters from Camp
- Step up to support reconciliation
- Does your Ministry Transform Young Adults?
- Camp Curriculum Discount Available
- Earth Day Resources from the National Council of Churches
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Stop the madness...
Today coal is being harvested in huge amounts by a process called
"mountaintop removal". A small group of employees working for a large
corporation come in and using HUGE equipment start taking the mountain
down and as they do, remove the coal from the ground.
Why? We need coal. A HUGE portion of our
energy (48.7% according to wikipedia -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_generation) comes from Coal and
until that changes, there will be demand.
Why is mountain top removal bad? It rips apart the landscape in a way
that can not be restored. It pollutes the land with by-products and
interestingly - it reduces - not increases - jobs in an area that needs
jobs! West Virginia has a high unemployment rate and coal mining used
to provide a large portion of their jobs. Now that number is
drastically decreased because of the "efficiency" of mountaintop
removal.
So as a society, every time we turn on a light, we are choosing to allow
this destruction to happen - either with, or without our knowledge.
The idea of "clean coal" is an interesting one when it comes to the
burning our output side of the energy equation. But does NOTHING to
address the unclean-ness, the ugliness, the brokeness of this assault on
the land. (Yes, I'm using strong words but what else can you use when
you see these pictures?)
What do to about it? Fortunately, there are many taking a stand but
standing up against big business (who rakes in a HUGE profit because of
the low number of employees needed!) is a huge challenge.
More in the next post about what we can do to address this "scar upon
the land" and at least begin to raise awareness of this complex and
politically charged reality.
What are we as a faith community doing to actively support positive interactions with God's creation? How is our use of electricity and detachment from the source a response to God's call to care for the earth? What can we do? Who can we tell? What resources are there? Where is our faith-filled voice?
January 27, 2010
FREEZE!
Ok. For those of you who know where I am writing this, it's an ironic title (I'm at the Pastors of Large Churches Gathering at St. Pete Beach.) but that's not what it's about. It's about what I read in...- Posted at 4:10 p.m.
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January 20, 2010
Bullies
When my son and I go out shopping, he usually carries his wallet "just in case" he sees a toy or deck of cards he can't live without. I'm not sure if he has learned responsible financial management as my...- Posted at 2:13 p.m.
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January 15, 2010
Pinch Me!
It's been slow on the blog and I apologize but with relatives from out of state and then a whole week of no school (Yes, the boys are still talking about it!) for snow - it's been a bit nuts...- Posted at 3:26 p.m.
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December 23, 2009
Exciting, pre-historic news from Ghost Ranch!
Once again Ghost Ranch is rocking (pun intended!) the scientific world with a unique dinosaur find! Below is an excerpt from the article published this month in Science Magazine. Newly Discovered Dinosaur Illuminates Ancient Lineage Tawa hallae a new species...- Posted at 10:00 a.m.
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