Climbing Through The Death Zone

2007-09-28T12:54:00.000-07:00

The Death Zone is that last push to the summit of Mount Everest between 25,000 - 29,035 ft. above sea level - The highest place on earth!

Dan Mazur says, "at least 200 climbers have died on Everest since the mountain was first successfully scaled in 1953." Some drop off ledges, their bodies lost forever. Mazur figures that even if oxygen masks limit their vision, most climbers will spot at least 10 corpses en route to the summit.

"It's one of the most horrible, humbling experiences I've ever had, walking over those dead bodies. A lot of times you have to step over their limbs."

Some bodies have been on the mountain so long that they've become landmarks, preserved by extreme temperature. I don't want the church I pastor or the churches of Penn-Del AG, or any Christ centered church for that matter, to become mere landmarks frozen in time.

It is an amazing and sad thought that churches and leaders can stop climbing and fail to summit their "God-given Everest". Lieth Anderson comments in his book "Effective Leadership", that most churches never see their 100th birthday, which would be similar to most people. He states getting a 75 year old church to grow is like trying to get a 75 year old ready to compete in the Olympics. As I started writing this afternoon I thought of many of you and prayed for you before sharing this thought. I trust you are still hungry to climb? Still reproducing in your later years. GT turns eighty this year and I feel with God's help we can go for gold! We can reach the summit God has for us!
There is a motto climbers understand and must answer at the base of the Hillary Step, it is this:

AT THE DEATH ZONE YOU HAVE TO DECIDE TO GO NO FURTHER OR KEEP MOVING. Deciding to climb our Everest is optional, getting down is mandatory! Guys lets keep climbing!!!

Bryan Koch

Climbing Through The Death Zone