It's Graduation Time

Here is a wrap up of the weekend thus far: (15 years of graduations for me)

Last night's graduation at FFHS:

>Hot and Outdoors

>Fireworks cancelled due to fire danger

>Fun time listening to speakers trying to deal with their own echo (causes slurred and slow speech)

>Fun time watching several of our students walk across the platform and receive their diploma.

Congrats!

This morning graduation at MHS:

>Moved to the gymnasium due to smoke from the wildfires and the high temps

>Nicely air conditioned gym

>Graduates really seemed to enjoy their graduation ceremony

>Trombone player will have a mohawk by tomorrow night

>Fun time watching one of our students walk across the platform and receive her diploma (thanks for the ticket!)

>Congrats!

Tomorrow I will blog about the food I enjoyed at 4 graduation parties, so far I've been to 3, tomorrow afternoon I hit the 4th.

Live from Practice

Chris and I enjoying band practice with Nate back in the saddle.  Giddyup!

Welcome Home Lawrenson Family, Welcome Home.

I can't even imagine the feeling of joy Nate and Tricia are experiencing right now.

I know I'm excited for them and to see them.  I'm excited to get to hold Gwyneth and make faces at her like all good uncles do.  I'm excited to have Nathan around the church again.  I'm excited to hear Tricia laugh.  I'm excited that I don't have to change Gwyneth's diapers.  

This Sunday is going to be a cool worship gathering at NHC as Nate shares with the church.  I'm thinking Kleenex stock may go up.  

Life has brought them all kinds of changes and now a new change, getting used to living at home (and finding a house).

God is a God of miracles.  Don't believe me?  Explain what the doctors can't explain.  Look at Tricia's smiling face and at that teeny tiny little baby girl, if you look at them you are looking at a miracle.  (Not to mention Nate getting the privilege of having  Tricia as his wife, that alone is a miracle)

So as Ty Pennington says, welcome home Lawrenson family.  Welcome home.

What Message Are You Sending?

I've heard some interesting, yet sad, stories recently from other youth leaders.  I can't share them because it may come back to bite someone.  But these stories got me thinking this morning about the post title question.

What message is a church sending to youth when they...

1.   Refer to them as children?

2.  Won't let them paint their sterile looking youth room or remove the 1960 era paneling?

3.  Make their teacher/leader get approval for everything they hang up in their room?

4.  Gear your worship service to tickle the fancy of older adults?  

5.  Won't invest money into their leaders by sending them off for some training?

6.  When students are told that their dress is not fit for church?

7.  Tell them their contemporary Christian music is "of the devil"?

Amazingly enough churches make these statements and then wonder why they don't have youth in their church.

NHC has made a huge investment into reaching students, that makes a fantastic statement to youth.  What message is your church sending to youth?

PS  Feel free to print this and distribute to your deacons ;) 

Ministry Teams

I'm reading Leading the Team-Based Church for my current class, at Rockbridge, Building an Effective Ministry Team.  Here are some good quotes from the book (I suggest anyone connected to a ministry team in their church to get this book and read it, it is very good):

"Effective ministry teams are those that case a vision that unites people around a God-given cause.  Visionary teams are motivated by a strong sense of mission and purpose.  They know where they are going and work to align their energy and effort toward fulfilling their divinely inspired purpose."

"Visionary teams act with passion and purpose."

"But do the people we recruit have a larger vision of how their contribution of work makes a difference in the lives of people?"

This one may be my favorite from this chapter:

"The key ingredient is a leadership team that lives the vision, breathes it, models it, tells its story and chance it gets, sleeps and eats it, and otherwise calls people together around it."

Here is another really good one:

"Churches are not everything to everyone in practice.  Why not be clear what it is we do well as a congregation, or feel called to do well, and celebrate that and let another congregation pick up where we leave off?"

StudentDevo.com Launches Today!

Today Studentdevo.com launched.  Studentdevo.com is a daily devotional site for students in middle and high school.  Each day a student can surf to the site and read a devotion for the day starting with Matthew chapter 1 and then we will go through the book of Matthew going a chapter per day.  As we go we will also add some other tools to the site that students can use in developing the HABITS of spiritual discipline.

I'm joined on this site by my friends and fellow youth ministers, Steve Turrentine of FBC Valliant, Ok., Byron Smith, FBC Hugo, OK., Chip Bagget, Kitty Hawk UMC, Kitty Hawk, NC., Amy Brothers, Duck UMC, Duck, NC.  Hopefully as we go this team will grow.

Pass the word on to your students, other youth leaders.  It is a free resource that can help your students start having a daily quiet time with God.  

Contagious Tonight

Tonight we had our first official Sunday night youth group (since the old days).    We had a few students that don't normally come to our Lord's supper gatherings.  I asked a couple what they thought and they said they really liked it.  Pastor Burnie did a great job tonight and as usual the band did well leading us in worship in song.

Following the fellowship meal (awesome!) we loaded up and went to Rita's Italian Ice.  Our first ever After Affect in the history of the world.  We basically took the place over.  We were all in the store and then out on the walk out front.  I enjoyed the Mango gelati.  I got my picture taken with everyone there from our group and a few innocent bystanders.  (Pictures to come)

Next Sunday night we do our first Contagious on the beach.  Our devo on the beach will follow up a week's worth of reading our students are doing in the One Minute Bible (a daily devotional Bible).  Should be most excellent!

Overcommunicate

I guessed asked every now and then about our communication process.  How we communicate youth ministry events and activities to parents.  I've heard and learned that you have to over-communicate and have discovered that even then you still have some that miss out on what is going on.  

Here is what we do:

1.  Monthly Parent Newsletter with calendar included

2.  Weekly Update e-mail

3.  Reminder shot e-mails when needed

4.  Printed copy of newsletter available at the welcome center

5.  Our web site obxstudents.com on our web site is an events page

6.  Parent page on our web site

7.  Posters and also announcement slides on the big screen and lobby monitors.

I'm sure some get sick of all the info and just hit delete when they see the e-mail, I'm also sure that others are fastidious about keeping up with what is going on, I'm sure that some "read" but, like I do sometimes, don't absorb the info.

What we don't want to do is to fail to communicate.  If someone says, "I didn't know...."  it's not from lack of info.    Below is a sample of our weekly update:

thoughts from the mind of an ADD youth pastor

Why if we pronounce knee as "nee" is there a k before the nee?  Why is a Knight of the round table a knight instead of a night if both are pronounced the same way?  Why slap a K on the beginning of a word if you aren't going to use it verbally or audibly?  

I don't grasp the english language well, you have noticed this if you read my blog on a regular basis, so these are the questions that roll through my mind.  Who decided that nee needed a k at the front end?  In that case how come the word I just used, "needed", isn't spelled kneeded?

I think it is time we re-evaluate the english language.  Which also leads me to think we need to re-evaluate our whole system of voting in a president in the US.  See, I told you I'm ADD.

Stimulation Check

Here is the deal.  I got my letter this week from Uncle Sam informing me that my stimulus check will be arriving soon.  I think I would have enjoyed it more if the check just showed up in the mail without an information letter informing me it is on the way.  The surprise would have been great!  I also would have liked if my check had the extra .42 cents that Uncle Sam spent to send me that letter.  Think about that.  How much was spent in tax payers hard earned money to send us money back?

So it is a stimulus check.  I'm assuming, because I'm not an economist I'm a youth pastor, the purpose of the check is to get us all to spend our money to stimulate the economy.  With gasoline prices as they are I think I know where our check is going.  So basically we won't be participating in stimulating the economy.  Plus what we don't spend is going into the savings account for various reasons.

If Uncle Sam wants to stimulate me to spend he is going to have to send me at least $10,000.00, but I would also settle for a cool million.

So spend your check wisely.

No More Contagious . . .

on Wednesday nights.

Last night we had our last Wednesday night youth group gathering, at least for a while, we are going to experiment with youth group on Sunday night.  Why?

1.  Lots of scheduling conflicts that interrupted our momentum.

2.  To relieve already stressful week with parents having to rush home from work, feed the kids, run the teen to the church, all within an hour's time.

So now we move onto Sunday nights.  It's always fun to try something new and at NHC change is a part of our normal routine.

Last night we had a bunch of students here building relationships with each other.  We were pretty much stuck indoors because the weather was quite nasty.  We downed 45 hot dogs (I hear one guy ate 6, I'm sure he had to get sick, we will have to impose a limit when we get tot he beach on amount of hot dogs consumed by one individual), and a few gallons of ice cream.  All the baptists out there said, "hey, that's fellowship!"

We wrapped up our six week series on HABITS with Studying Scripture.

Here's the outline:

DEVELOPING HABITS THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE

Part 6: Studying Scripture

******************

Opposing views of the Bible

 

World’s view:		Christian view:
a book about a bunch of dead guys and irrelevant information that has nothing to do with life in the 21st century it’s a history book it’s a book of rules		it’s the history of God’s power and his route for salvation, peace, & happiness it’s God’s love letter it’s a road map for living life to its fullest

Why study the Bible?

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.

The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight to life. Psalm 19:7-8

1. To understand God’s CHARACTER

[Jesus speaking] The Father and I are one." I and the Father are one . . . If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. John 10:30

2. To know God’s WAYS

Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105

3. To hear God’s VOICE

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God's way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

4. To deepen your FAITH

And we are confident in the Lord that you are practicing the things we commanded you, and that you always will. May the Lord bring you into an ever deeper understanding of the love of God and the endurance that comes from Christ. 2 Thessalonians 3:4-5

5. To change your LIFE

For the word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires. It exposes us for what we really are. Hebrews 4:12

How studying the Bible can change your life

But if you keep looking steadily into God's perfect law—the law that sets you free—and if youdo what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. James 1:25

…looking steadily  STUDY  +  do what it says OBEY  =  God will bless you  REWARD

But those who obey God's word really do love him. That is the way to know whether or not we live in him. 1 John 2:5

 One Last Thought: Mark Twain said, “It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it’s the parts that I do understand.” When you develop habits that will change your life, you’ll have the discipline and power to make God’s Word VISIBLE in your life…and you’ll never be the same again.

Thanks to Doug Fields and the good folks at Simply Youth Ministry. 

I've been using Simply as a resource for years, always good stuff there to be found and used.

Parents:  Look for some good Bible study resources for your teen.  We gave out, to students that wanted, a study on I John last night.  We have also made available to our youth the One Minute Bible (which we will use to tie into our devos on the beach this summer) and launching June 1st,studentdevo.com a few of my youth pastor friends and I have been working on a daily devotional blog site.  We have provided all the materials to go along with the HABITS for our students keeping in mind that you can take a horse to water but you can't make them drink.  Developing HABITS is something that students have to do on their own.  Watching their parents and other adults model these HABITS helps them, more is caught than taught.