Sabbatical Day One

Day one is about officially over for me.  It's almost 11pm and I'm about to hit the sack, wake up again at 3 and feed babies then go take my friends Byron and Doug back to the airport at 4:30am.  I'm hoping to catch a nap when the babies nap tomorrow.

Today was a very enjoyable day for me.  I got to ride with my family to church for the first time in several years.  We took the twins to church, this was their first public appearance.  I did have to get up and go into the lobby during the sermon because I was feeding "Fred" and he was grunting rather loudly.  It was great to go to church without any responsibility this morning other than get my family their and worship with my church family.  I don't know how many people in churches realize that there are many church staff and volunteers that rarely get to ride to church with their family.  It was great to get to do that today.

Church service was rockin as Exodus led worship in music.  Rick delivered another great sermon from the life of Moses.  I'm enjoying this series.

So day 1 was pretty uneventful.  I look forward to seeing what day 2 has in store for me.

Wiped Out

Their is a combination of tiredness going on in my body right now.  We just wrapped up The Call 09.  I'm tired from lack of sleep for the past month (which has been wonderful because I love my babies) and from speaking 4 times yesterday and today at The Call.

Thanks so much to Denise and THE team for doing such an incredible job.  It seemed to flow super this year.  We had so many from the church get involved.  Even the clean up.  IF you are a youth leader and you aren't getting people involved in ministry you will know it as you are dog tired and sweeping and cleaning and wrapping everything up by yourself.  (a horrible place to be)  Our folks at NHC knocked it out of the park once again.  I love our church and every one's willingness to serve

I officially start my sabbatical tonight.  I'm feeling a bit weird because it will be definitely out of the norm for me.  I'm looking forward to getting refreshed and refueled and spending extra time with my wife and kids.  I'll be blogging about my sabbatical.

Meanwhile you can jump to The Call's blog for news and info about The Call.  We will update again later.

The Call Blog

I have posted a few updates at The Call's blog.  Check them out.  Great news from last night!!

New Blog

The Call has it's own blog site now.  Keep up with The Call 09 here!

The Call Countdown

Talked with Travis, of Exodus, on the phone today making some plans for the weekend's worship gatherings at The Call.  I'm really looking forward to the event, it's gonna be great!

I'll be talking Friday night about God's Love.  Here's a sneak peek:

God Loves You, That's His Nature

I John 4:7

Psalm 139:13-16

God's Love is Evident

I John 4:9,10

John 3:16

God Loves Us Even Though We Sin

Romans 5:8

God's Love.  How Will You Respond?

Ephesians 2:8,9

Saturday I will unpack John 4 and I'm really looking forward to those messages.  Sneak peeks on those coming soon!

The break out sessions for both the youth leaders and the students will be relevant and useful.  It is going to be cool to watch how God uses this weekend in the lives of students and their leaders.

Refuel Book Report

I have finished chapter 1 of Refuel.   I know that I'm not the only one that struggles with consistency in having time alone with God on a daily basis  in prayer and in reading the Bible.  Refuel is a great book that deals with that very topic.  I know if you have the book or get the book you will say, "Andy sure is a slow reader."  The book is a small book.  My plan is to take it very slow and to really think about what I'm reading and not rush through this book that I could easily read in a day.

Here are a couple of things that Doug Fields wrote in chapter 1, I'm a Spiritual Loser, that stood out to me or made a connection with me:

"I've become very aware that if I don't connect with God on a regular basis, I run out of passion and become spiritually empty."

"Please stop comparing.  You're not Mother Teresa or Martin Luther.  Neither am I.  You're you!   God designed you to be in your faith too.  I'm not sugesting that you can't have an intimacy with God similar to that of other heroes of our faith; of course you can.  But I'm asking you to quit comparing, and instead be challenged to learn how to be spiritually refueled in realistic ways that fit with how you're wired,  You can to this!  I know you can.

I certainly can relate with the first statement.  Sometimes I allow myself to get so busy (don't make excuses for your busyness) that I fail to take time, some time, any time, during the day with God.  It is also a danger for those that teach for a living in the church to get so wrapped up in reading and studying for a lesson or sermon prep that we forget how important it is to just spend time in the presence of God.

I love the second statement that I put in "bold".  We are all wired differently.  We learn differently, some are morning and some are night time type of people.  What's wrong with praying in the car? (please make sure your eyes are open if you are driving)  Doug wrote about the reading the Bible through in a year plan.  That's nice and I'm proud of those who can do that.  My mind just doesn't function that way.   I started to attempt that again this year and have already failed.  

This week is going to be a very hectic one.  We have The Call on Friday and Saturday.  Due to circumstances beyond my control I have become (reluctantly but realizing this is what God wants) the speaker in the main sessions.  This means I have two more messages to prep this week as well as one break out seminar for leaders.  I also have the other stuffs that go along with prep for the event, good thing we have a ministry team for The Call, it's going to be a busy week.  The danger is that I don't spend time with God, just me and him, then step up to speak to hundreds of students and be "empty, have no passion". 

So why am I sitting here typing this?  I gotta go get some refueling!

Twins Update

"Fred" and "Wilma" are doing great.  Growing, packing on the ounces.  "Fred" is weighing in at 5 lb 12 oz and "Wilma" is 5lb and 5 oz.  They are sleeping well only waking once during the night.  They both have a lot of "alert" time during the day which we enjoy.  It's fun holding two sleeping babies at one time!

Refuel

If you've always struggled with the stereotypical quiet - time, don't give up hope! You've been told that you're supposed to spend time with God. You've valiantly set your alarm clock an hour early or worked partway through some ambitious study guides, but sooner or later your busy life creeps back in and steals your resolve. Why do you consistently fail at your quiet times? Maybe it's because you've bought into somebody else's unrealistic, unsustainable idea of what time with God ought to look like. Lose the guilt. Drop the unrealistic expectations. You can connect with God stay spiritually full. Doug Fields, pastor at Saddleback Church, offers a simple, uncomplicated plan that you can carry out. All you have to do is: STOP, BE QUIET, MAKE A CONNECTION. Simple. But not simplistic. If you can practice these habits throughout your day, you will enjoy a new depth and fullness in your spiritual life. Book includes group study guide and questions!

If you would like to purchase a copy of the book simply click on the pic of the book.

The Call 2009 (Bump)

The Call is the only Purpose Driven Student Conference on the east coast.  Each year we focus our them on one of the 5 purposes.  This year we will zoom in on evangelism, sharing your faith.  Our theme verse is John 4:35.

Worship in music will be led by Exodus from Liberty University.  These guys were here last year and rocked.  They related great with the teenagers.  

We have a great line up of relevant break out sessions for both the students and youth leaders led by some of my best friends, we are bringing in 3 great youth pastors (and me) and my little nephew to lead some sessions.  

You can listen to a couple of last year's sessions here.

For the Students:

Following and Growing

The SHAPE of your Life

Your Mission Should You Choose to Accept it.

Plug In

For Youth Leaders:

Purpose Driven Youth Ministry

Campus Ministry

Do You Techno At All?

Engaging Students in Worship

Teaching Teenagers about God, Jesus and other Spiritual Stuff

In the past we have brought in a main session speaker to challenge the students.  This year since we flew in the talented and gifted to lead break outs we are letting them share.  I'll be delivering the message on Friday night about God's life changing love.  Saturday we will unpack John 4:35. 

Each year our church turns out in force to staff this event.  We have a great team of caring adults that show up to serve in registration, product sales, concessions, greeters, set-up and clean-up.  It is a fun time for the adults who don't usually serve in youth ministry to get involved in serving and rubbing elbows with the students.  Last year we had 300 from 27 different youth groups from 5 denominations.  I expect we will pack out again this year.  We only charge $25 to help cover the expenses and a couple of local hotels give groups a break on the price of rooms.

The purpose of this event is to challenge students and their leaders to live life on purpose.  My prayer is that we again see students trust Jesus Christ as their Savior this year as we have in past years.

If your youth group is close enough to come to The Call we would invite you to check it out, we even offer online registration.

Please lift up The Call in your prayers, we truly desire to see student's lives changed.

There are those moments in youth ministry. . .

Tonight was great from a youth pastor's point of view.  There are those moments in youth ministry that make a youth leader stop and say, "I'm right where God wants me."  I joined some students up on the balcony to hang out and eat pretzels with them.   I think there were 7 or so sitting up there.  Then the next thing I know they are praying together.  Come to find out they have been doing this every week for some time now.  They were gathering over by the door to the unfinished youth room but have moved to the comfy sofas.  Totally student initiated, totally student led.  I was blessed and humbled to get to join them in prayer tonight.

It's Super Bowl Sunday night.  For those of those who couldn't give a flip about football we really don't care.  For me half time show is better than the game.  Over half the students came to youth group tonight.  We had a great time hanging out during hang time, playing farkle, ping pong, Apples to Apples.  Several students wrote notes to soldiers in Iraq.  Lots of pretzels, chips, cookies were consumed.  Youth group Super Bowl parties drive me nuts because the majority don't watch the game.  We probably could have had a Super Bowl Party and not even showed the game and would have been just fine at least half probably wouldn't have noticed.

We had the largest group we have ever had on Super Bowl Sunday for youth group even without a party.  (we used to do youth group on Wednesday nights so this was the first Super Bowl Sunday for us to have youth group)

Our lesson was about faith tonight.  I'm pasting the outline below.  I also encouraged students to pick up a copy of The Case For Faith by Lee Strobel.

Ephesians 6:13-16

DEFENDING MY FAITH (What are fiery arrows?)

• Fear
• Lies
• Temptation
• Doubt
• Confusion
• Words

 DEFINING MY FAITH

 Belief - Accepting something as truth

Faith – Giving your life to what you believe

2 Corinthians 4:18

·       Faith requires action

James 2:17

  Romans 5:1-2

 Faith gives me . . .

·  PEACE

 CONFIDENCE

JOY

SECURITY

DEEPENING MY FAITH

If I’m investigating my faith, I should:

 Start small

Luke 17:6

 If I’m struggling with my faith, I should:

 Ask for help

If I’m sold out in my faith, I should:

Remember God’s faithfulness

1 Samuel 12:24

  

Old School

Back in the day we would do events after Sunday night church called Destination Unknown.  The idea was you gathered together as a group after the service and then went somewhere but you didn't know where you were going, the youth leaders had that all lined up.

Last night we went old school.  We met at the church at 4pm and then loaded up in vehicles and headed out.  The girls went to Cloud 9 a jewelry making shop in Nags Head and they got to make necklaces.   From what I hear they had a great time and from what I saw they did a great job creating their own jewelry.  I was impressed with their bead working skills.  The guys went to Nags Head Bowling.  We had a great time hanging out and competing lane against lane.  Lots of fun.   After our adventures at Cloud 9 and the Bowling center we met back at the church for supper together.  Some parents hung out at the church while we were having fun and cooked a full on spaghetti dinner with salad, bread and cake.  I wasn't there in the kitchen but I'm pretty sure the parents had a good time of fellowship as they cooked.   It was very good.  We dined in the big lobby and ate on 44 feet of table.  It looked like a king's dining hall.  Lots of fun!  

The parents did a fantastic job!  Which brings me to the point of this post.  Last night's event was:

1.  Inexpensive (important right now with the shape the economy is in)

2.  Lots of fun (you don't have to go to an amusement park to have fun)

3.  Impossible without the involvement of parents (youth ministry is parent ministry)

Youth Ministries need to realize the value in teaming up with parents and getting parents involved in events, activities and in the youth ministry as a whole.  Our parents knocked it out of the park last night as they drove students and prepared the meal.

Destination Unknown is very easy to plan:

• Decide where you will go 
  
• Cost of the event for the students (will you pull money out of the budget)
• Contact the location of the event and make plans with the management (well in advance)
• Promote the event with the parents well in advance
• Invite parents to join in and help, weeks ahead.
• Promote the event with the students for at least two months in advance.
• A Destination Unknown would be a great event to have a ministry team put together and pull off.