I'm Now on Amazon!

 

The Book Cover: Ta-Daaa!

As I was writing our family Christmas letter (finally!) I had to do some quick fact-checking about my book, Almost the Truth About Youth Ministry: Salesmen, Secretaries, and Smart Alecks, and found out that it is now available for purchase at amazon.com.

This is not earth-shattering news, of course, but it was kind of a thrill for me. Makes the book feel just that much more official, you know? And people are more likely to be hanging out around amazon.com than lulu.com (even though I get a bigger share of the $$$ when it's purchased directly from lulu).

If there's a youth minister in your life that you haven't given a copy of this to, what better way to celebrate the New Year?

Later...

Roth Family Christmas Epistle 1999

 

KELLY is a ten-year-old 5th grader who began piano lessons and playing flute in band this year. She now has braces and is looking forward to finally having enough room for all her beautiful teeth.

CURTIS is in 7th grade and looking forward to turning 13 in January 2000. He has put the 21st Century Kids performance troupe aside in favor of involvement in church, school, and community theater. He was in the local children's theater's productions of Jack & the Beanstalk and Charlie & the Chocolate Factory AND had a feature role in our church's fall dinner theater.

SHONDA is now 16 and a Junior. Mommy & Daddy need to get more motivated to help her practice driving so she can drive herself to FCA and madrigal rehearsals and youth group. Some ideas about what-about-after-high-school are beginning to float around.

ANGEL, our 19-year-old college sophomore, has recently gone through some "okay, now what am I really doing here?" kind of wrestling. She's planning on a month in an inner-city Chicago elementary school in January, and will probably spend a semester next year at Cincinnati Bible College. [Editor's note from 2021: That Cincinnati semester never happened.]

DEBBIE is celebrating being cancer-free, one year after her double mastectomy. She had a follow-up/clean-up surgery in June (Happy 20th Anniversary!) and really is doing great. She spent 2 1/2 weeks in Austria in late June/early July housekeeping for the church leader training center there.

Having been out of the full-time ministry for a year, DEWEY has been bitten by the acting bug again. He had a paying gig at the Dakota County fair for 13 performances of a Chautauqua (look it up), and just finished playing a guy at the ages of 19, 29, 42, and 68 in our church's dinner theater...followed by a stint as Grandpa Joe in the same Charlie & the Chocolate Factory that Curtis was in.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

The months zoom by, the children grow up, and out lives are lived. We've grown to appreciate the little pockets of extra time with the family that Dewey's 3rd shift schedule affords, but still are open to whatever door God opens next. If there's anything that Christmas can teach us, it's that God's blessings can show up anywhere, anytime.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The Year That Was: 1998 with the Roth Clan

 

For those of you who don't already know, you're about to find out that 1998 was Quite The Year for us...

JANUARY  -  Curtis turns 11; Angel plays Baruka in the high school production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; Having sold the old building, Valley Christian Church begins worshiping in an elementary school while waiting for the new building to be completed.

FEBRUARY  -  Shonda turns 15; Kelly turns 9; Dewey & Debbie attend Couples' Retreat; upon arrival, they get a phone call telling them of Dewey's mom's heart attack (She's doing fine, PTL); Debbie's dad's cancer advances, & she spends what is to be her last week with him in Wyoming.

MARCH  -  Angel is a Kit-Kat girl in Cabaret, Dewey enjoys a retreat with "A Few Good Men," his support group of peers (some of whom used to be his students).

APRIL  -  Shonda & Angel rock the house at a state solo/ensemble contest; Dewey, Debbie, & Angel spend Spring Break playing with orphaned/abandoned children at Casa De Ninos, San Luis Potosi, Mexico.

MAY  -  Angel attends and sings at her Senior Prom; With the VCC leadership wanting a more-administration-less-hands-on style of youth ministry, Dewey is given the choice of going to another church and starting over (again) or staying at VCC as a volunteer youth coach/D-Group leader and transitioning into another career. He chooses to avoid moving his family and, after 14 years in paid youth ministry, starts looking for transferable skills that he can "sell" in the mainstream marketplace; An hour after deciding to go see her dad again, Debbie gets a call saying that he has passed away.

JUNE  -  Angel graduates from high school, 13th in a class of 600; Kelly sings, with Angel's accompaniment, in her school's talent show; Curtis performs in his school's talent show, too; Dewey's last official act as VCC's youth minister is leading the youth group's trip to Christ In Youth's Indiana Conference.

JULY  -  Family attends the wedding of Dewey's niece in Indiana as part of vacation; Curtis thrives at church camp.

AUGUST   -  Dewey turns 41; Kelly goes to church camp for the 1st time; Debbie and the kids go to Wyoming for Debbie's niece's wedding and to spread her father's ashes.

SEPTEMBER  -  Kelly begins 4th grade; Curtis, 6th; Shonda, 10th; Angel starts her freshman year at St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN, just 25 minutes away; Debbie turns 40; Angel turns 18; Curtis auditions and gets accepted into a recording project for a group called "21st Century Kids;" Dewey begins work as a proofreader of financial documents at Merrill Corporation, St. Paul, 3rd shift, and also puts in 2-3 hours a day at a friend's insurance office.

OCTOBER  -  VCC moves into the new church building; Curtis records background vocals and a few solo lines for "21st Century Kids;" Dewey earns some extra $ by scaring people at the Minnesota Zoo's haunted house; Debbie gets a call saying they want to take a second mammogram to get a better look.

NOVEMBER  -  Way cool Rich Mullins memorial concert by the Ragamuffins at VCC; Debbie's 2nd mammogram leads to a biopsy which leads to a diagnosis of ductal carcinoma, a quite-curable form of breast cancer.

DECEMBER  -  Kelly sings in her 1st concerts with "Heartbeat Chorus" at the YMCA and a local mall; Curtis learning dancing as he prepares for stage performances of "21st Century Kids;" Shonda does her own dancing and singing in her high school's musical revue, "On Stage;" Angel sings in one of the choirs for St. Olaf's Christmas Choir/Orchestra Festival; Debbie has a double mastectomy and is given every hope that no further cancer treatment is needed...just more healing from the surgery.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

And so, we keep doing what we've always done, hanging on to the Lion's mane and wondering where this part of the Ride will take us. Dewey keeps looking for more satisfying work (especially something that takes place, say, during the DAYtime), Debbie is praying for the pain to go away, and the kids keep growing. God is in control, but He's pretty consistent in NOT letting us know too far in advance what His plans are.

"To live will be a great adventure." (Peter Pan, in Hook)

A Roth Family Christmas Letter 1996

 

Sponsored in part by a grant from the U.S. Postal Service ("Lick It, Stick It, and Forget It") and by Readers Like You

Greetings from the Great White North! We got ten inches of snow a week or so before Thanksgiving, and I think it's here to stay. But that's okay, because so are we!

Hold your breath...this will be as painless as possible. (But most of you actually like getting a yearly update, don't you?)

Ooooh...a big breakthrough for our 1 1/2-year-old mutt, Charky (or Charkey, or Charkie; we haven't standardized the spelling yet). The Gray Ghost now knows how to beg. (We're thinking of having him work a busy corner in St. Paul, but he doesn't know how to "stay.")

Kelly is 7, in 2nd grade, and loves it when Daddy can go on a field trip with her or come to school and help make gingerbread houses. (Daddy gained 2.7 pounds on that last bit of community involvement.)

Curtis will turn 10 in January, and he's doing great (of course) in 4th grade. He's had a series of solos and speaking parts in school and church musicals. He really shines. (Memory check: did we tell you last year that Dewey baptized Curtis in November?)

The newest teenager in the house, Shonda, turned 13 in February. Her year involved another change of schools for 8th grade because of some boundary shifting by the school district, but she is doing SWELL at adjusting...again! Shonda also changed from fluting in band to singing in choir and loves it. And the biggest change of all came in September when Shonda made her OWN commitment to Christ and was baptized into him on Angel's birthday!

Our Junior, Angel, is now 16, but hasn't gone in for her driver's test as of this writing. Guess she's too busy earning A's in all her classes...including the college-level ones. (Yikes! I used the "C" word!) Her silky-smooth singing voice continues to be used in Fresh Faith (church's teen choir) and other special music for worship.

Debbie is closer to 40 than 30 and has had a great year. She was able to turn some negative experiences of her past into a well-received and very helpful speaking engagement at our church's Ladies' Retreat in October. It went so well that one of the ladies is working on getting Debbie to do a presentation at a convention in Texas next year. The house cleaning "business" is going well, too. Actually, too well. Debbie is cutting back a few customers in an attempt to save her knees, her wrist, and her sanity.

Dewey is enjoying his last year in the 30's as he continues to serve as Youth & Worship Minister at Valley Christian Church. This year saw an exciting revival of purpose and focus that led to some totally awesome (dude) changes in the way youth stuph is done around here. Also, if you have access to the weekly publication, Christian Standard, be looking for a humor article about church secretaries. ("A Lesson in Species Identification")

Oh yeah ... almost forgot ... Dewey, Debbie, and Angel took a teeny-weeny, little trip to Panama on a mission trip this summer. What a great experience! And what a thrill to introduce Angel to our friends down there!

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Our wish for you this Christmas is that you sense the warmth of our feelings for you, even though this may very well be the only communication you've received from us all year. God has given a richness to our lives because of knowing you.

All things are continuing to "work out for the good, for those who love God."

HAVE A MERRY, JOYOUS, BLESSED CHRISTMAS!

A Roth Family Christmas

 

1995 Christmas Letter from
16715 Gannon Ave W
Rosemount MN 55068

WHAT!? Another address change? Yes, but it's a good change. God has blessed us with being able to move into a house of our very own on May 23rd! We've gone from handing a ton of money to a landlord to handing a ton of money to a bank. Ah ... the privileges of home ownership! Seriously, it's a really nice place with lots of room for the youth group and VISITORS (hint, hint).

Dewey continues to be grateful for the honor of serving with the church here. There are so many things that are just so ... so ... so right about it. He's been through a kind of culture shock (The joke around here is that if he hears the word "paradigm" one more time, he's going to be sick in a major way. Every once in a while, Dewey's office mate will leave two ten-cent pieces on his desk just to see what happens.) that gets him feeling inadequate at times, but he could use a little humility! Of course, the other area of inadequacy is not having a landlord that's responsible for house maintenance. It's a good thing Debbie is so handy at fixing things.

Speaking of Debbie, she has officially said "goodbye" to selling Tupperware and "hello" to a few nights at home. She helps us cover the house payment by cleaning seven houses and still keeps ours looking good, too! As you can imagine, she loves thinking up ways to make the new house a home. But that's not all! Debbie teaches the 1st graders during our 2nd worship service each week and also takes a turn with one of the three worship-leading teams.

Angel is a 15-year-old sophomore doing absolutely GREAT in two or three college prep/college-level courses. (Academic scholarships, here we come!?) She's cheerleading for JV football and basketball, singing up a storm, and keeping a guy named Butch interested. In her spare time, she eats and sleeps.

Shonda is 12 and in 7th grade. She got to join the church's teen choir this fall and likes it a lot. She still likes hugs from Daddy and stuffed animals, but is showing a disturbing (for Daddy) interest in ... (how should I say it?) ... a certain young person of the male gender. Nothing serious, but changes are happening. She's our tender-hearted artist and is continuing to improve on the flute.

With the move to the new house, Curtis (turning 9 in January) had to switch schools, but one of the three 3rd-grade teachers at his new school is our preacher's wife. That helped make the change bearable. (Come to think of it, Curtis has been in a different school for each year of his scholastic career. What a trooper! Unless they change the division lines, this should be the last change until middle school.) We need to find a gymnastics program for Curtis. He can balance and flip like Bart Conner. Between that and his ability to design costumes for playing "street rat," we think C.E. is pretty talented.

Kelly will be 7 in February and is enjoying 1st grade. She's reading just great and shares Shonda's and Curtis' artistic flair. The big news today is that she has a tooth that's "wiggly." Kelly always has some "good news of the day" to share around the supper table.

Charky, a puppy of undefinable origins, is the newest addition to our family. We adopted him when he was flea-bit, ticked off, and swollen-bellied and he shows his gratitude for our graciousness by digging through the garbage when we're gone. Charky looks kind of like a small seal with ears and four legs. (Side chuckle: Angel had the idea of naming him "Kitty." Just picture it and laugh! "Here, Kitty!")

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

As we contemplate our blessings, please know that you are counted in that list. We hope your Christmas is a special time for you ... filled with smiles, hugs, hot chocolate, and the warmth of life on this side of the manger.

In His grip,

Destroy the Invaders! Brownstown Diary January 1992

 

[In September 2023, I ran across a journal of mine from my days as youth minister with Brownstown (IN) Christian Church. The following beginning of a short story, written in spurts from October 6, 1991 to January 23, 1992, was written as a way to process some conflict happening at the church focusing on the "kind of people" my youth ministry was attracting to our congregation.]

"Destroy the invaders!"

The greasy, too-high-pitched voice of Lord Grane, High Commander of the Planetary Forces for Peace, bounced off the back wall of the council chamber.

After an uncomfortable silence, Lt. Thirm ventured, "Uh, sir...with all due respect, it may not be in the best interests of the PFP to launch an all-out attack without considering --"

"Don't give me excuses! I decide what the Forces' best interests are, and we cannot let a minor gang of star-hopping gypsies upset the economic and social balance that we have so recently achieved!"

The young officer tried once more: "But High Commander..."

The words had barely begun to form in his mind when the deep-green-gloved finger of Lord Grane pressed a release button that resulted in the evaporation of the floor beneath Lt. Thirm's seat, sending him spiraling into the wispy-clouded sky below the floating fortress.

The forehead of the High Commander lifted to reveal his icy stare. "Any other dissenters?"

Yewed Htor had been witnessing the meeting from his normal vantage point three seats away from Lord Grane's right side. This was not the first time he had seen the Commander commandeer compliance through coercion. Something cracked open with Htor, and he stood to speak.

"High Commander Grane...respected council members...as Second Assistant morale Captain --"

Lord Grane cut him off. "As Second Assistant Morale Captain, you have very little to say about this matter."

"In that case," returned the younger officer, "it won't take much of your time to hear me out."

"Now see here..."

"Let the man talk!" It was the deep voice of the Forces' past commander and strategic touchstone, Nor Snilloc.

Lord Grane demurred. "Oh, very well."

"Thank you. As you know, the Planetary Forces for Peace have a rich history. We were formed as an outgrowth of a few men's dogged determination to see the whole globe live as one...with Truth as a watchword and love as an umbrella. And from the genesis of our endeavors, it has been a goal to not only include all higher life forms of our planet but to become a blessing  -  a shining beacon  -  to all star systems everywhere; to see our watchword and umbrella both enthuse and protect every living thing.

"Why then would we want to exclude these newcomers?"

Memories of "Snoopy!!!"

 

The musical was Snoopy!!!, a lesser-known follow-up to You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, produced by Jackson County Community Theater, in a small, storefront former movie theater in Brownstown, Indiana, August 16-24, 1991. I was awarded a trophy for Best Actor in a Lead Role because of my work as Snoopy.

My bio: DEWEY ROTH was transplanted to Brownstown in January of 1990, when he became the youth minister at the Brownstown Christian Church. While this is his first production with JCCT, Dewey is no stranger to local theatre. His previous credits, in the Ft. Wayne area, include the Danny Kaye role in Inspector General, the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, Fagin in Oliver, Jeffery in Godspell, and many others.

"Thank you for all your time, patience, and talent with the show. I appreciate the sacrifices you made in making this show work. Hope you remain involved in the theatre for years to come. It's been great getting to know you and your family. Break a leg!

David "Earl" [the director]

P.S. One lady thought you were in school.

It's a big statement about my youth ministry workload at Brownstown for me to have been able to be involved in a theater production AND be a youth minister. This was the ONLY time in over 14 years when that ever happened. Having a member of the youth group in the cast probably made it a little more acceptable.