Oct 24

Praying for a Family

At any particular time, we have a number of children at Intermountain in residential care that are looking for a family. They are categorized as “hard to place” because of their age, their difficulty in previous foster homes, and their history of emotional disturbance that causes acting out in unsafe ways. Each of these children make tremendous strides towards healing and wholeness while they are in our care, and they desperately want a “forever family” that will continue to help them grow in relationship.

Praying for a FamilyNow, I have been a foster parent and am an adoptive parent of an emotionally disturbed child that acts out at times just as severely as the children in our care at Intermountain. It is terribly hard, sometimes, to be the type of parent that these children need. When I see the kids I work with each day, I see my own children… children that are hurting, looking for hope that things will be better. And, many of our children have fantastic homes, supportive parents, and they know where they are going after they have done their work here. But, for those few that have no prospects for an adoptive placement, my heart breaks.

On a fairly regular basis I solicit prayer requests from the children. Invariably, I get a note like the one in this article: “Chris, Pray and ask God to keep his dreams [for me]. I hope I get a family. Help my mom to be a great person. Watch over me. Help me be strong and reach my goals.” Thankfully, the child that wrote this prayer has found a family. Her prayer was answered. In that I rejoice and I am thankful to God.

But, sadly, not every prayer for a family gets answered… at least not right away while they are in our care. I have to believe that our churches and communities could do something to meet this need and be the answer to a child’s prayer. Would you consider what you, your church, and your community could do to provide homes for these children that have made such tremendous progress in trusting adults and relying on God’s help in the process?

This fall Intermountain is going to draw special attention to the needs of children in our care and throughout the state that need foster and adoptive homes. November is National Adoption month. Many churches seek to get information out to their congregations about the need for foster and adoptive families through celebrating National Adoption Sunday, which this year falls on November 23rd.

Ideas for faith-based communities can be found at: http://www.nationaladoptionday.org/communities/faith-based-organizations. And, of course, be on the lookout for more information from Intermountain, as we seek to get the word out and help ensure that our children’s prayers for a forever family are answered.

Chaplain Chris Haughee

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Oct 16

Would you consider “Change for Children” this Christmas?

Once again, I would like to make available to you and your church free Advent children’s object lessons! While written primarily for a Children’s Sermon format, these object lessons could be used in a Sunday school setting, youth group, or even as sermon illustrations! None of the lessons are dependent on Change for Children (CFC) participation, because we would like them to simply be a gift to you. If you choose to dovetail CFC into these lessons, it may be as simply as contacting us and requesting our prayer cards or setting a goal of numbers of cans returned by Christmas!

The Angels of ChristmasIn my seventeen years in children and youth ministry, the object lessons I have used for children’s sermon times have been a very effective way of communicating the truth of God’s Word. Many of the adults in the congregation would tell me they preferred my children’s sermons to my “regular” sermons! Jesus taught in object lessons and word pictures, too, so it should be no surprise to us that this method is highly effective—surely Jesus knew what he was doing and set an example for us to follow!

These lessons have been carefully crafted around the stories of the Advent season, how the message of God’s love for us in Jesus impacts our hearts and lives, and specifically the “angel stories” interspersed through the narrative. I hope this resource blesses you, saves you time in preparation, and makes your workload a little lighter. It is my hope that our relationship will truly be a partnership of mutual benefit. As Intermountain’s Chaplain, I want to be a resource to you and an encouragement in your work with children and families. The children’s sermons can be found on the “Resource” page, as well as examples from previous years, should those object lessons fit better with what you are planning.

So, enjoy these lessons, and let me know what you think. I’d love to hear from you and build a stronger relationship between the chaplain’s ministry at Intermountain and the good work you are doing in your church and community.

Chaplain Chris Haughee, chrish@intermountain.org

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Oct 06

Finding our faith, holding on to hope

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

Finding our faithFaith and hope are needed for healing in relationships. At Intermountain, we focus a great deal of energy on bringing healing to the relationship between parent and child. Furthermore, I know from both personal and professional experience that faith and hope are not just optional for the journey of parenting, they are essential. These sentiments are echoed by both the children in our care and their families. But, consider for a moment those children who don’t have a family. For the child going through the struggle of healing deep emotional wounds, imagine how much deeper the need for faith and hope when they don’t have parents to heal with.

At any particular time on campus we have a handful of children that have no permanent placement. When I ask for prayer requests, invariably these children ask me to pray that they would get a family. They long for parents to love them and stick with them through the hard work they are doing to trust, to have faith, and to hope for something better. The challenge that these children would bring to adoptive parents can be very intense, and taking on the responsibility to parent should never be entered into without a great deal of prayer and careful investigation. But, I would argue, if any would have the resources, experience, and support system in place to make parenting these children possible, I’d say it would be those connected to our supporting churches and our larger faith community.

It is a hard thing to do the work of healing relationships without that most significant relationship—parent and child. That conspicuous absence makes faith, hope, and trust tenuous, and it leaves the child with more questions than answers. One of the young ladies who has since left our care longed for answers to her questions. Her overriding question? “God, why would you make me if you knew I was going to be so hurt and I was going to have so many problems?”

What does your faith say in response to this young lady’s question? What hope does she have to get an answer from God… unless it is through a tangible expression of his love, care, and acceptance into a family? Indeed, “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” I am sure that God has an answer to each prayer a child makes asking for a family. I believe that this answer to prayer will come from the community of faith, and you have a role to play.

Will you commit to pray alongside our children for healing, hope, and faith? Pray for families for each of our children. And, finally, will you lift up the chaplain’s program, our counselors, care givers, therapists, teachers and technicians as they endeavor to embody love, acceptance and grace to those who need it so desperately? Thank you.

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Sep 24

“Time to Get Right” with G-d, considering the message of Rosh Hashanah

One of the great parts of working at Intermountain as the chaplain is that I get to work with kids of various faith backgrounds, and I get to minister alongside the very skilled and creative leader of the local Jewish community, our Jewish Educator, Janet Tatz. It’s been fun to collaborate with her on any number of joint chapel services and to observe the innovation and creativity she brings to working with our Jewish students in residence.

Get Right 1Recently, Janet had the opportunity to speak in our school’s cultural education classes about the significance of Rosh Hashanah and connecting its importance to the work the children are doing on campus. She brought her Shofar and blew it for the students while they were gathered in the picnic shelter for class, taking advantage of a beautiful fall day.

Janet brings a lot of creativity to her instruction of our children on campus. One of the resources that Janet uses to engage the Jewish students on campus is called “G-dcast – Meaningful Jewish Screentime.” The creative song, “Shofar Callin’” is a music video featured on their Youtube channel. I just love the write up G-dcast did for this video:

“Shofar Callin’ connects the story Jews read on the New Year — when God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac — with the ritual blowing of the Shofar, or ram’s horn. What’s the connection? Find out how the Jewish New Year is WAY more than just a day to spend in synagogue, and how the call of the Shofar can be spiritually meaningful in your daily life.

Prodezra Beats, an independent artist, broke out big on the scene when he produced the track for “Change” with Y-Love & DeScribe, released on Shemspeed. Now with the “Shofar Callin'” track for Rosh Hashanah, he is back with another viral hit! This G-dcast will have you bumping into the New Year in no time! Shana tova.”

Get Right 2Maybe it is simply my affinity for R&B/Hip Hop music, or that coincidentally we just covered the stories referenced in this video and song in our chapel services with the primarily Christian students we have on campus, but either way I really love this video!

The message is one we can all heed… as we listen to God, we don’t need to wait any longer… we can get our hearts right and enjoy deeper fellowship with our God and our Creator.

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Sep 17

When patience runs thin—a lesson in trusting God’s promises

A Child's Drawing of Abraham for ChapelRecently in chapel we covered the story of Abram and Sarai. We talked about all the years between when they received the promise that God was going to bless them with a child, and when God finally fulfilled that promise. The children offered many insightful comments and asked great questions about why God makes people wait so long to get what he has promised them. We reviewed some of the promises that God makes us, even when it doesn’t feel like he is making good on them:

  • “God will give me everything I need” –Philippians 4:19
  • “God will give me peace when I trust God.” –Isaiah 26:3
  • “When my heart is breaking, God is especially close to me.” –Psalm 34:18
  • “God will bring me to a place where there is no crying or pain.” –Revelation 21:4
  • “God is always with me, never leaving me alone.” –Hebrews 13:5
  • “God loves me.” –John 3:16
  • “When I look for God, I will find God” –Jeremiah 29:13

We discussed how, running out of patience, Sarai laughed when the promise of a child was repeated to her yet again by angelic visitors, and how Abram sought his own way of figuring out to help God fulfill his promise, resulting in a lot of heartache.

The object lesson for the chapel gathering was a promise. I promised that if we could go on a SILENT short journey around the campus, that when we arrived I would give each person in the group a piece of candy. Once we arrived, we read the story of Abram and Sarai, and then I asked which of the children would admit that they hadn’t been silent. A few hands went up. They admitted that they didn’t fulfill their end of the promise. Like Abram and Sarai (and all of us!), they weren’t perfect. If I didn’t want to fulfill my promise to give them candy, I didn’t need to.

But, then I shared with them about God’s amazing grace and how God makes deals with us where we know and God knows we’ll never be able to live up to our end of the bargain. But, instead of getting mad and withholding good things from us, God’s heart is filled with love and compassion towards us. In short, we talked about grace through faith—trusting in God and his promises to us despite our failings.

And, each child got a piece of candy.

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Sep 04

Everywhere… angels!

As we turn the page from summer to fall here on campus, our chapel services will start to focus on stories in the Bible that feature angels—those amazing spiritual messengers of God! While I am sure that the children will miss the excitement of our summer series—mainly because each object lesson was based on a popular candy that they got to eat!—I know it won’t be hard to capture their imaginations with the amazing tales from Scripture that we’ll be investigating together this Fall and Advent season. We’ll start off in the book of Genesis with the angel who guarded the Tree of Life after Adam and Eve’s sin and finish up celebrating Epiphany in January with the angelic visitors that warn Joseph to take Mary and the young child Jesus to Egypt. In between those two stories, here are a few of the highlights of our planned exploration of God’s Word:

  • We’ll see how angels bring a message of hope when our hope is fading as we see the promise old Abram and Sarai received
  • In the midst of our fear, when we’re running from trouble, we’ll see how God sends a message that he is still working through our circumstances as we look at the story of Jacob’s dream of the angel staircase
  • We’ll see how important it is to see ourselves the way God sees us as we look at the angelic message Gideon received
  • In the vision of God’s throne room, we’ll enter into the song of praise the angels gave at Isaiah’s calling, singing “Holy! Holy! Holy!”
  • Then, we’ll transition into the “Angels of Christmas” as we talk about the angelic visitors that play such a big role in the telling of the amazing story of Jesus’ birth!

Advent Children’s messages will be made available to our supporting churches so you can join us on the journey through the story of the “Angels of Christmas.” And, as we get ever closer to our dream of building a permanent space of our chapel services in refurbishing one of our old cottages on campus, we’ll bring special attention to the project through an angel-themed Chaplain’s tree at this year’s Festival of Trees!

Yes, there is certainly a lot of excitement this fall on campus, and we are grateful for your continued partnership in ministry with us. May God bless us all with the wisdom to see how we, too, are God’s messengers—his angels!—to those we meet each day. We have a chance to bring a message of love, grace, and hope through both our words and our actions. I will make it my goal to carry that message to the children of Intermountain this fall and Advent, and I hope you will join me.

Blessings,

Chaplain Chris Haughee

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Aug 22

Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Youth—One of a Kind!

The youth of Our Lady of the Valley Catholic church, under the leadership of youth ministers David and Deidre Casey, shared a message of hope and healing through a unique Vacation Bible School day camp at Intermountain’s residential campus in Helena August 11-13th. The theme for the camp was “One of a Kind,” based on Group Publishing’s popular curriculum called “Weird Animals.” The camp incorporated song, dance, crafts, games, and fun lessons, all in an effort to let Intermountain’s children know that God loves them and created them to be “One of a Kind!” This joint ministry venture is part of an ongoing effort by Chaplain Chris Haughee, who wants to help Montana’s faith community find ways to connect with the healing work that Intermountain does every day.

“I am excited for this new partnership with Our Lady of the Valley and was eager to work with my friends, David and Deidre, again. Last summer we I brought in a youth group from Life Covenant Church to do a faith-based Sports Camp, and it worked so well I was encouraged to reach out to other groups this year. David and Deidre’s group responded to that invitation,” remarked Chaplain Chris Haughee. “As far as I know, it was the first time the youth of our incredible Catholic community in Helena will have had a chance to connect to Intermountain’s residential program in such a profound way. Beyond being a great opportunity in ministry for them, and I am certain our children benefited from their love and care in preparing a great day camp experience.”

At the end of the three day camp, the youth of Our Lady of the Valley were feeling fulfilled and overjoyed at the opportunity to minister to the children of Intermountain’s Residential program. When asked what they would say to other groups considering volunteering their time and talents through the chaplain’s program, one youth said, “You should definitely consider it! I was very hesitant to volunteer at first because I didn’t know what to expect, but I am so glad I did because it is inspirational to minister to the kids at Intermountain!”

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Aug 11

14 years of blessing our children – thank you Roberts UMC Youth!

This August marked the 14th year that amazing youth leader Joanne Stark and her youth group from Roberts United Methodist Church have made the trek to Intermountain’s residential campus in Helena to spend a day doing a fun art project with the children and sought to bless and encourage the children and staff as well. This year the project was making large banners for each cottage and it was a blast watching our young artists at work. As the children worked side-by-side with the youth from Roberts they had a chance to get to know one another, talk, laugh, and share stories.

After the group completed their special art project with the kids they headed out to go shopping and returned the next morning with new clothes and shoes for the kids on campus. In addition to these special gifts, the youth bought a shopping cart full of art supplies for Intermountain school and the chaplain’s program. The generosity of this group really blew me away and I was very encouraged by their interest in what we do and why we do it. We even started to talk about plans for next summer, when hopefully they will be able to be a part of the new chapel construction!

As we wrapped up our time together, I asked a few of the youth to share why they saved up their money, came all the way from Roberts, and wanted to be a part of blessing the children on campus. Here are a few of their responses:

“I love seeing their smiles and joy when we do things with them. I’ve come before and I remember last year I got a pair of shoes for one of the little girls and she put them on and was so happy… she just jumped up and down all over with this big smile on her face. It was the best feeling ever!” –Matthew Donohue, age 15

“If someone asked why they should come and volunteer at Intermountain, I would say it was one of the funnest times I have had. Also, I would want them to have fun too by coming to help.” –Gracey Everett, age 13

“I’ve been here before and one of the little boys even remembered me, and I thought that was really cool. I volunteer at intermountain because it is so much fun to learn about new people and make new friends. I have a blast doing the activities with the kids.” –Brooke Miller, age 12

I am so thankful for the partnership of churches like Roberts UMC and their youth. They understand that you don’t need a huge church, a big budget, and lots of people to make a difference. They have just humbly responded to the call to get involved and make the children of intermountain a priority. As they have done so, the Lord has blessed them tremendously and they have been able to surpass even some of their own expectations. I hope their story is an encouragement to you as you think about how you, or your group, might want to get involved in the ministry here.

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Aug 04

“I don’t like grace…”

NOTE: This post is an update to the original story, which ran last October. The young lady who didn’t like grace is now ready to transition back home. I think you’ll like to hear about the change God has worked in her life!

Last Fall I was attending a luncheon with a few of the girls from the residential program at Intermountain (www.intermountain.org). We had been invited to share a bit of what we have been doing in chapel services and the girls were given the opportunity to share which of the recent series of lessons had the most impact in their lives. We had not rehearsed their responses, and I trusted that if God had really used those lessons to teach them something that they would be able to articulate it to the small group gathered.

The lessons, five in all, were each based upon spiritual truths that common road signs could teach us. Conceptually, the lessons would also feed into the discussions we would have in November and December around the meaning and significance of symbols around the Christmas holiday. But, sometimes in the midst of a pretty straight-forward presentation, the profound breaks through. It did for all of us in attendance at that luncheon last fall, and it was an honor to hear from the heart of one of our children.

I was reviewing the Bible stories in the series and asked the children to hold up the signs and help me explain how they corresponded to the stories. I started with the STOP sign… this sign taught us to “Stop and listen to God.” One young lady helped explain that “Stop and listen to God” is a little like the skill learned in the cottage called “taking seats,” which help children stop and think about what is happening in the present. “How am I feeling? What is my body telling me? How can I slow down and not get caught up in strong emotion (anger, wanting to fight)?” These are the kinds of questions children are encouraged to process when they stop and think. The STOP sign we used in chapel added one more step to that process: Pray and listen to God. The Bible lesson was on Samuel as a little boy and how he heard God’s voice in the night. God called Samuel to follow him, and the children were encouraged to think about how God is calling us, too.

Then, we came to the caution sign for “Grace Ahead.” The girl that held this sign did a wonderful job of recounting the story and lesson behind the sign. We had covered the parable of the unforgiving servant in conjunction with that sign. She explained to the luncheon crowd that “The King had forgiven this guy like a whole bunch, and then he had someone who owed him just a little bit thrown in jail when he couldn’t pay back what he owed. He had been forgiven so much, but he couldn’t forgive anyone.” Then I asked her why she had chosen that particular “GRACE AHEAD” sign to share with the group. She responded, without hesitating, “Because I don’t like grace.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Jul 28

What’s a work and play day? St. Paul’s UMC gives an example

I have fond memories of summer youth mission trips from my time as a youth pastor and associate pastor. Now, in my role as Intermountain’s chaplain, it is a great joy to host groups that want to support the work of Intermountain with their presence and passion for ministry. In my work with youth, I always tried to balance work projects with what is sometimes called “contact work”—those opportunities you have to directly interact with the group you are trying to help.

Now, as you might expect, we need to minimize “contact work” with the children in our care because they need to be assured that they are in a safe and secure environment. But, with plenty of time to prepare and plan for contact work, there are very appropriate ways that youth groups and civic organizations can help encourage the staff and children at Intermountain’s residential facilities in Helena, Montana. The best model we have right now is something I’d call a “Work and Play Day.” The “work” portion is some sort of manageable project involving manual labor that can be suited to the size and skill level of the group visiting. The “play” part is where the group can be directly involved with the children and their direct care staff. This can be outdoor or indoor games, crafts and activities, or some other sort of special project that draws the children together for fun interaction.

St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Helena, Montana, has been a great example of a group that knows how Read the rest of this entry »

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