Day 2 of a Camp

Good morning!

I'm sleepy. . . .my eyes hurt. . .coffee not working . . . .
Check our camp blog.  Video of the van ride with the boys.

I'm at camp. . . .

This week my blog time will be devoted to our youth group blog at camp.   See you there!

Contagious Tonight

I won't be giving a Contagious report tonight.  Too much going on with getting ready for camp and wrapping up school work since I'll be gone to camp this week.

BUT

We are talking about David and how easy it is to start off strong and then have a major hiccup (sin) derail us along the way.

Parent/Teen Discipleship Discussion:

Read and discuss 2 Chronicles 26

• What were some of King Uzziah's success stories?
• What was his problem?
• What was the result of this problem?
• What were the fatal flaws of the following:

David Adultery/Deception

Rich Young Ruler Materialism

Herod Pride

Judas Greed

Sampson Lust

Rich Fool Self-satisfaction

Martha Busyness

Spend some time praying for your teen(with them) and ask God to help them to protect their ways and not fall into the trap of falling hard.

"I do". She did.

21 years ago I stood next to a buddy at college and pointed at a beautiful blond and told my friend, "I'm going to marry her."  I had not even met her yet.   (I wasn't a prophet, I was just looking at a, as we said in the 80's, a foxy American babe)  

It was on Thursday, June 15, 1989 that Misha said "I do".    I have now been married to my lovely wife for 19 years.  That is amazing!   After 19 years of marriage to me she is still a hottie. 

This year we agreed not to waste money on anniversary cards since two cards could buy two gallons of gasoline.  We were so serious about it we did this:

That's right.  The pinky swear.

So what did I get my wife for our anniversary?  The same thing she got me:

Our Anniversary Grill

Those would be NY strips grillin for last night's anniversary supper.

Started with a organic greens salad with grapes and feta.

Green beans cooked with new potatoes.

Corn on the cob.

Coconut pudding with cinnamon for dessert.

Thanks Misha for 19 great years!  You are the best wife and the world's greatest mommy.

I Love You!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sure I'll get comments because I mentioned food.

I Feel a Blog Party Coming On

Do you know why?

Removed and Saturated

One of the biggest influences in a student's life at camp is the fact that they are...(Read More)

Another Great Blog Site

Next week our students and leaders head to Student Life Camp at Wake Forest.  Student Life is the best Christian camp ministry on the face of the planet.  They are also quickly becoming an incredible youth ministry resource for youth ministries.

If you would like to watch what is happening with us at camp next week you can go to our new camp blog site and check in on us.  There will be daily pictures posted and students can blog their camp thoughts.  It should be quite cool.

See you on the blog!

Operation Backpack

I'm excited about an outreach event our church will be doing on Saturday, August 9th called Operation Backpack.  Over the next couple of months we are asking our partners here at NHC to bring in school supplies like notebook paper, spiral notebooks, #2 pencils and crayons.  We are also collecting the lists from the school as soon as they are made available in June so we can be more specific with the items needed.

The day of the event should be exciting and quick we will run till the supplies are tapped out.  We will have the moon bounces up to entertain the kids, we may even pop some popcorn and give out cold drinks.  Parents will be able to come and go through our auditorium which will be set up s the distribution center and pick up the items they need for their child's school supply list absolutely free.  While they are walking through the distribution we will have our Kids' Church curriculum, Kidmo and 'Lil K, playing on the big screen. 

The whole purpose of this event is to show our community that NHC cares for them and to meet a need.  You know the old line, "They won't care how much you know until they know how much you care."

This will be our first Operation Backpack.  We hope it will grow ginormous as our Trunk or Treat has.  

If you are an NHC partner I encourage you to join the team today!

After Affect

We have moved our youth group meeting time, Contagious, from Wednesday night to Sunday night for several reasons.  Our church meets the first Sunday night for the Lord's supper gathering and fellowship dinner.  The first Sunday night in June we had several students attend that gathering that don't normally attend since this is our new meeting time for Contagious.

We kicked off After Affect (a remodeling of the old school "Afterglow" that was so popular in the seventies).  For our first After Affect we went to Rita's.  It was good.  More pics to come on our student web site in the next week or so.

Teams Get 'Er Done

Good stuff on the difference of teams and committees and on leadership from one of the lectures in my studies:

(Leadership on the Other Side, Bill Easum)

 

. . .most church-based ministry is most effective when it is performed in teams:

 

Unlike committees, teams are never nominated and elected by majority vote. Teams are best put together by the leader of the team. Say a person wants to start a shelter for the homeless. In a permission-giving system this person is free to begin this ministry if it fits into the mission, vision, and values of the church. Permission can be granted by any leader of the church. This person begins looking for a team by casting his/her vision about working with the homeless. The leader assembles a team of people who really want to help the homeless and are willing to give their time, energy, and money to make the shelter a reality. The team plans and carries out the strategy without interference from above. If the team runs into problems, it solves them without interference from an outside committee or person. The team is free to carry out the ministry any way it deems appropriate, even if it has never been done that way before. If the homeless ministry is successful, the church may make it a core ministry and put it in the church budget. If the team messes up and does not do what it was commissioned to do, the team leader is held accountable.

 

Teams never meet to decide what they are supposed to do, never have to convince a member of the team if the team should do the ministry, never have to waste time debating the merits of the projects. Teams can direct all of the energy to making the ministry successful.

 

Graduation Party Food Report

One weekend, two graduations, 4 graduation parties, didn't have to eat any meals in my home on Saturday or Sunday = a great weekend.

I've already blogged on the graduations.  (Let me add the teacher that gave the speech at MHS did a great job working in scripture without mentioning God or the Bible.)

Now I'll turn my attention to the party food.  (I won't mention names since I don't have permission to plaster them on the world wide web and I choose to respect their privacy)

Saturday's Noon Party - Wonderful spread of food.  A crab dip that was really really good (and I don't eat seafood usually) it was cooked with some peppers and had a little kick because of the seasonings and flavors. ;)  Lots of cheeses, crackers, fruit, breads, lunch meats, nuts.  The other highlight of my eatfest there was the sushi, yum yum.  Her cake was incredible with huge strawberries on top and other berries, very moist and tasty.  The food was all nicely arranged by The Embellishers

Saturday's 2 to 5 Party - Fantastic pork BBQ cooked in the cooker in their driveway, east carolina style (the best, don't argue with me), slaw.  The baked beans were great and lots of good flavors.  They also grilled some huge chicken breasts, didn't taste the chicken but my family ate it up.  Now to the cake. . .the cake was made by Just Desserts.  Just Desserts makes this cake that is to die for.  Put a slice on your head and watch your tongue slap your brains out trying to get to it.  We had two of these cakes for our little guys baby showers.  I ate some cake, forget the stinking weight watchers when there is a Just Desserts cake in site.  Oh, I also ate a slice of cake at the Noon Party, don't tell anyone.

Saturday's 6 to ? Party - By this point in the weekend I had eaten well beyond my point allowance but these kids only graduate once from high school.  Lot's of good grub at this party as well.  BBQ, sausage and peppers, nacho dip (I ate lots of that) chips, crackers, cheese.  My goal was to eat one of the small dessert size plates of food.  I did it!  4 Times!  The food was great!!  There were two cakes at this party a chocolate and white cake if I remember correctly.  I held off eating cake since I had already had two slices earlier in the day.  This party was a combo graduation and birthday party.  Congrats and Happy Birthday!

Sunday's 2:00 Party - There were so many people in the house I wondered what the weight rating on the pilings was.  Lots of great party food here as well.  Pimento cheese sandwiches and chicken salad sandwiches sliced into those little triangles.  I must have ate 50 pimento cheese sandwiches.  My son woofed down several chocolate dipped strawberries, I also at some chips and dip (keep in mind this was immediately following a new member interview lunch at the church).  The cake... I saw it...it saw me...I tried to not make contact...I failed.  The strawberry cake was awesome.

To end Andy's Eatfest 2008 I wrapped it up with two Oscar Meyer all beef hot dogs grilled at the beach during youth group on Sunday evening.  It was hot when I got home so I ate a Eddy's coconut fruit bar.  If you haven't had one of these tasty frozen all fruit treats and if you like coconut you need to buy a box they are fantabulous.  I only gained 2 lbs last week :)  Today I've been a good boy.  I'll tell you later about the pork loin I grilled tonight it was da bomb diggity.