Bittersweet Farm

Bittersweet Farm

“Dispatch” from Camp

Filed Under: Camp Lessons, Current Thoughts

Facing south from the footbridge on the north end of Shear Lake at Camp Barakel.
Here is a little “dispatch” from Camp Barakel. I’ve been preaching the Word twice a day to the campers from a list of my 50 favorite “Camp Lessons” …over the years I have labored to speak to campers in a way that is faithful to the Word and fresh and understandable to them. I’ve worked hard to hone a storytelling craft and gather stories to capture their attention and make truth memorable. (Jesus was the Master Storyteller).

The weather has been perfect. Warm enough to draw most of the campers down to the waterfront every afternoon, cool enough at night to make evening chapel pleasant and sleeping sweet.

My brother Kevin A. Pierpont and his family are on full-time staff here. If you forced me to tell you what I love the most about camp, the short list would include the beauty of creation, fellowship among the workers, shared meals and rest, but above all I love to hear the campers sing the praises of Christ and I love to join them.

Tomorrow they will gather the camps from both sides of the lake into one chapel and I will preach to them. That is an experience that will ring in my heart for the rest of my life. In the afternoon we will all go to the other side for music and in the evening we will hike out to a fire ring for testimonies.

If you are grown-up and you miss or missed the camp experience you can sign up starting this week for fall and winter and spring retreats and experience Camp Barakel for yourself.

Camp Barakel
August 3, 2019

(photos are not from this year in keeping with camp policy)

Bittersweet Farm Journal (Number 54) The Heart of Summer

Filed Under: Bittersweet Farm

Last night Hope and I went out for a drive in the countryside. It was a perfect summer evening. The countryside around Bittersweet is as beautiful as any I have ever enjoyed. The company was good. Hope is a delightful companion. We decided to check out a little place over on Clark Lake good friends talk about a lot. Lois is out of town. We agreed that if it was a good place we would return with her when she got back into town.

When we got there it was pretty full and lively so we had second thoughts about eating there. We pulled back onto the property to turn our car around and I mentioned that my friends Neil and Eddie had told me they liked the place. Just then I looked up and my friend Neil stepped out of his car. He and his wife Sharrol had the same idea at the precise same time… He flagged us down and invited us to join them. We enjoyed an evening of lively, loving conversation, convinced that it had been arranged by God in down-to-the-minute timing.

We walked out after dinner into the warm night air and watched the sun setting over the lake. I had received a call about a parishioner who was admitted to the hospital, so they volunteered to take Hope home. I drove away into the mellow summer night with a heart full.

It was two years ago tomorrow that I was called to pastor the Bethel Church. God, in His kind mercy, has given us many friends who are very dear to us. A church like Bethel is a gift from the Lord. Yesterday we had a big church dinner, on the occasion of a visit from one of our missionaries Jim and Joy Abbot. It was a great day. Bethel is flourishing-even in the heart of summer.

We have a good life here on Bittersweet Farm and with Bethel Church with many to love and many who love us. We are surrounded every day by good things and by good people.

I will dive up north into Michigan to speak at Barakel this week. This will be my twenty-first year in a row to do so. I will have two of our grand-buddies, Kyle and Oliver with me for the week. The days will be warm. The nights will be cool. Middle school students from all over the state will arrive tomorrow afternoon and for a week we will tell them the story that has changed all our lives… the story of Christ.

There will be singing, swimming, laughter, loon-calls out over the lake, boy and girls, good food, and all of it circled around the truth of Christ in Scripture. There will be preaching and conversations with counselors and prayers at bedtime and fires and camp-outs, good food, some silliness and lots of love.

I’ve finished most of the raw first draft of a new book “Between the Fires; 50 Ways to Keep the Campfire Burning All Your Life.” I will be sharing the 50 camp lessons with the campers at Barakel this week. I would appreciate prayer for God to do what only He can do.

Bittersweet Farm
July 29, 2019

I Should Be More Like Hazzy

Filed Under: Virtues and Values

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. Maybe I could learn from old Hazzy. He is never critical. He never complains.

He is always eager to see me. He loves spending time with me. He never monopolizes the conversation. He’s pretty easy to please with basic things like a walk, food, water, a place to perform his necessities. He’s a good listener. He never makes me eat alone. He never makes me walk alone.

When I’m quiet he is quiet, unless he thinks something dangerous is afoot. When I’m happy and excited he dances and jumps around and worms his whole little body with delight.

He is was born in mountains of eastern Kentucky. He’s from Breathitt County. I’ve had good experiences with mountain people from the mountains of eastern Kentucky.

Lois is out of town so I was tending to her flower garden. I looked up and there was Mr. Haz digging away with me, just helping out. Normally he doesn’t dig in the dirt, but he’s always eager to help out.

I imagine someday when he is gone I will realize his quiet presence in my life and his gentle dependence on me was good for my soul. He’s been in our family for over 10 years. If he ever runs off to explore he always finds his way home.

There are ways it would do me good to be more like him.

Bittersweet Farm
July 27, 2019

“Where We Goin’ Where?”

Filed Under: Village Parson

I love it when God arranges meetings. It happened to me today. I went into a restaurant for lunch. There at a table for six were five people, one of whom is from Bethel. “Hey, why didn’t you invite me to this party?” I say.

“Pull up a chair,” they say.

I eagerly join them. We fall immediately into spirited conversation. They are people who know the Lord and love him. We have that in common.

After just a few minutes it was clear to all of us that God had arranged our meeting. We laughed and we cried. I encouraged them. They encouraged me. There was joy. There was fellowship. God arranges cool things.

I’ll go wherever he sends me. I trust him with my life.

I had my day all planned out. Nothing went as I planned. God had other plans and they were good.

When our youngest was small and she saw us getting ready to go somewhere she would chirp, “Where we goin’ where?”

I just want to live the rest of my life that way.

I look in my Father’s eyes. I can tell he’s getting ready to go somewhere and do something… I just want to say, “Where we going where, today Lord? Wherever you are I want to be there.”

Well, I need to turn in. I need some rest. God has plans for me tomorrow. I’m not sure what they are but I know they are good.

Bittersweet Farm
July 22, 2019

Follow Ken Here