This is the question of the weekend!
As most of you know, Ventana Ministries has been at the National Youth Conference hosted by Youth Specialties this week and weekend. With our desire to attract more students and develop contacts with youth pastors we signed up for a booth in the exhibit hall at the conference. […]

Hola,
Do you know that warm, fuzzy feeling you get in the inner-recesses of your heart when you’ve been away on a long journey and you turn up the street that leads to your home? The thought of your comfortable bed. The nuances of your shower spray. The broken in couch that you sit while watching […]

Did I ever mention that Santa Cruz is weird?
Every Monday and Friday nights we find ourselves immersed in the smell of urine, alcohol, and sweat.  While serving at Elm Street Mission in Santa Cruz, California we rub shoulders, sit beside, give hugs, and offer prayer with people whom society has labeled as discards.

Did I mention that Santa Cruz is weird?
By now students have been living, serving, and sight-seeing thru most of the ‘Cruz.’ We’ve established some traditions which brings me to Sunday’s at Ventana.
On a given Sunday you’d find all of the students growing beneath the insightful and creative teaching

As promised, our time of chillin’ and playin’ at Hume Lake is about over.
By the time we hit the hemp-wearin’ and tie-dye lovin’ town of Santa Cruz in October, you’re study break is over.  Here are a few tips that will assist as you begin stretching those brain cells (rather than killing them like most […]

So you think you want to visit Surftown, USA?  Think again valley-boy!
Here’s a head up: don’t paddle into the lineup until you know what you’re doing. Novice surfers are regularly vibed out of the water by locals who think they own the waves. With the temperature gauge still reading 80 degree afternoons and a long overdue swell pounding […]

We arrived two weeks ago to mid-80 degree heat, pleasant evenings, and surf that is firing!  A far cry of Hume Lake with frost-biten mornings, parka wearin’ evenings, and pond algae between the teeth (don’t ask).
Weird people live in Santa Cruz. 
There’s the guy that walks very slowly around downtown, carrying an umbrella and smiling incessantly. There’s […]