I am no longer amazed at the power of service. How service strengthens and repairs our hearts, minds, and souls. I saw it repeatedly this past week at the Altar Fly Fishing (AFF) pastor’s retreat as our men served the pastors who came out to Missouri for this fly-fishing retreat. Our team went out of their way to go above and beyond serving the pastors that came in from all over the United States for this event.

Our FATC team of Derrik Kassebaum, Matt McClure, Mike Bisaga, Paul Jacoby, Dan Staggenborg, Sterling Short, Steve Baker, Steve Darr, Tony Kalinowski, Harold Bates, and myself (Kenny) had the privilege of serving ten pastors and the Altar team for the five days of the Altar retreat. A special kudos to Mike Bisaga and Paul Jacoby who worked continually throughout the retreat preparing, cooking, and cleaning every meal we had (3 per day!!) for not only the pastors but the FATC team too. And a big thank you to Derrik for arranging all of the lodging for our team and for all of Altar’s.

The retreat started with the president of AFF, Eric Camfield, and the leader of the retreat, Steve Ebling, arriving on Wednesday to meet up with Kenny and Mike to go over the “plan” for the entire retreat. A great dinner at the Mexican restaurant started us off on the right foot. On Thursday, our FATC team arrived around noon and after settling into lodging we discussed our plan – meals, guiding the pastors, etc. The pastors arrived around 4pm and after setting them up in their cabins we set off for dinner, arranged by Matt McClure, at the Pinecrest Campground. Pinecrest put on an impressive BBQ dinner and fire pit to gather around.

From Friday through Sunday our FATC team guided for the pastors during their time on the water in Montauk State Park. The park was not very crowded, and our “guides” took the pastors throughout the park to fish. Many nice fish were caught but more important than that were the smiles and friendships that were made. Throughout the week many of our team exchanged telephone numbers with the pastors – maybe future meetings? Enjoy the pictures below. Besides the fishing the pastors met each morning and evening to do their studies for the retreat (R=6+1,  for those of our FATC guys that went to the Altar retreat in May 2023).

This group of pastors were a fun bunch and so appreciative of all the work that our FATC team did to make the retreat a super success. Eric Camfield and Steve Ebling had nothing but glowing words for our FATC. I think we have a great partnership started.

The next time we meet up with Altar will be our May 2024 retreat. We will have fifteen of our FATC members attending and I am positive that each one will get more than expected out of it. A message to those that were part of our FATC team – soak up all that happened this past week. It’s something that will affect you for the rest of your life!

Kenny Klimes

Proud Chairman of the FATC