Baptism at the Beach

Last night our youth group gathered for our weekly youth group time.  During the summer we meet at the beach on Sunday evenings.   This gives us a break from the "routine" plus gets us out together in God's beautiful creation.  We love youth group at the beach.

Last night was fantastic.  We baptized three students!!  That's awesome!  Even more awesome is that 2 of the students were siblings who put their faith in Christ at camp.  Even more awesome we baptized their dad and he turned around and baptized mom and then both parents baptized their kids.  It was so great to get to witness this moment in this family.  We also baptized another young lady who was already a believer but had yet to follow Christ in baptism at her own choosing.

We had some parents bring food and turned it into a celebration.  Later I gathered the students together and was talked more about salvation and baptism.  It was a great night for our church.

The After Attack

I did some math while at camp last week.  I have taken kids to camp for 28 weeks of my life!  Great weeks, fun weeks, tiring weeks.

Last week I was given the honor to be the camp preacher at Camp Cale.  (Camp Cale staff brought their "A" game)  Camp Cale has made some great strides in the past several years.  Matt Thomas, the camp director, has a great vision for Camp Cale becoming a year round camp and conference center.  He shared the vision with me and I too see how Camp Cale has tremendous potential to be a top spot in eastern NC for church groups, couple retreats and youth events.

We had a great week at camp.  Several students put their faith in Jesus Christ, 4 from our own youth group (the first group to attend Cale as a "group").  Many students made things right with God, several were able to deal with some things from their past that they were holding on to, things that were keeping them from growing in their faith.

Always at camp I let the campers know on the last day that they are leaving camp.  When they leave the "bubble" of camp is where the rubber meets the road.  It seems that whenever a believer comes from a spiritual highpoint that the enemy is there waiting to knock them off their feet.

Same happens with us as youth ministers.  I came home from camp excited about the life change in students' lives and the great camp we experienced.  Wham!  I'm always tired after camp and it seems the older I get the longer it takes to get back to "normal".  This time I came back from camp and got a "bug".  It has wiped me out. 

We have to be aware, as youth ministers, that when we are walking with God the enemy looks for opportunity to attack.  He will attack when we are weak.  He will attack to attempt to move our focus from our spiritual victory.  It's not just the campers who have to be "on the ready" when returning from camp.

Contagious Youth On the Beach

Sunday night we had a great time together.  We had several guests, a couple of students who recently moved to the beach.  We picked up some pizzas and Mt. Dews and H2o's. 

Students spent about an hour hanging out, talking, playing in the ocean, building sand castles and body boarding.  Following hang time the students got into their PODz and discussed the week's lesson they did in their Rootworks book.  Each week there is a lesson from Philippians for the students to work through and answer questions.  We then get together and discuss the lesson and go through the verses and answers together.  It's great to see that many of them are actually taking the time during their summer to dig into the Word.  We are praying this creates a habit in their life.

Rootworks is put out by Simply Youth Ministry and is fully editable and you can make it your own.  I even attached a pdf version in a weekly parents update so they can follow along and even spark some discussion at home.

Today I was "Wowed"

I haven't blogged for a while.  I've been a tad bit busy writing messages for camp (8) and putting together a booklet for the campers complete with daily devotionals.

YouthMinistry360 has "Wowed" me today!  A couple of month's ago I ordered 10 books from them, "New", it is a great resource to give to both students who are new in their faith as well as for long time believers to use in their Hang Time with God.  I got an actual "thank you" card in the mail.  I never get mail! (except a few bills)

As I prepped for speaking at Camp Cale I thought this would be a great book to give to each camper.  In an e-mail to YM360 thanking them for thanking me I mentioned I was going to order 60 books for camp to give to each camper.  YM360 shoots back an e-mail with a discount coupon code for me to use!!

Next I put the word on FB that I was going to buy books for each camper and asked who wanted to help (getting creative when the budget is tight).  I had friends from as far away as Maui and the Big Island to as close as Virginia and around the corner donate money to buy the books.

The books were ordered  and in less than a week they sit here in my office waiting to go to camp.

Today, in the mail, I get a handwritten note from Lee at YM360 along with a Starbucks gift card!  In all my years of buying youth ministry resources I have never received a handwritten note of thanks and appreciation (much less a starbucks gift card).  I was "Wowed".

So here is my plug:  Youthministry360 has a desire to see students come to know Jesus Christ and for students to grow in their faith.  Check them out and see if there are some resources that would benefit your youth ministry.  I'm sold on YM360!  Not because of the Starbucks card but because I can tell by doing business with them that they are serious about impacting lives.

I'll also add that Lifebook sent us another 1500 free Lifebooks for our students to share.  I'll be giving one of those to each camper as well.

Side note:  I always receive great customer service from youthministry360, simply youth ministry, download youth ministry and Student Life Camps (when it comes to doing camp SL has it down).

Last Night in The Loft

Sometimes you have everything planned but you feel like you need to change it up.   So that's what we did.  We were going to teach about worship and have communion but we decided to push that back to another week. 

We went ahead and set out all the Hang Time junk food up front at the beginning.  Let the students load up their snack trays.  Then we had them all find a comfortable place to sit in the room and we showed Noah's Arc on the big screen and flat screens.

We have watched this film in the past but it has been a long time.  So we introduced it to a bunch of students.  Noah's Arc is all about a local pro surfer, Noah Snyder, and his friends coming to know Christ.  The students were glued to the movie. 

I wrapped it up at the end reminding students of the power of the "invite".  They have friends just waiting to be invited to church/youth group.  Noah had a friend invite him and he went.  Now who knows how many people have been impacted by Noah's testimony? 
I also reminded them, as we saw in the documentary film, that when we are following Christ other people will see the difference in our lives.

Last Night in The Loft

We had a great time in our youth group gathering last night in The Loft.  A couple more guests again tonight. 
We continued in our series, Ancient Alive, by taking a look at Queen Esther.  What an awesome story.  The students loved the irony in the story in what unfolded for Haman and the middle school boys really enjoyed the part where Haman was impaled.
So what does Esther have to do with us today?
God has a plan for your life
No matter your background or past
He will even use the bad for his good
He uses other people in your life
He has saved you for "such a time as this".  God wants to use you to reach your world.

We followed up the Bible study in our PODz and the students discussed the story of Esther and how they related to the story.

Hang Time consisted of:
4 large bags of chips
2 Gallons of Kool Aid
4 Liters of Soda  Pop
5 sleeves of Oreos
2 packages of Chips Ahoy
5 bags of popcorn
Banangrams
Guitar hero
Ping Pong
Foosball
Football
Sitting around talking.

It was a great night for the youth of Nags Head Church.

Please Pray for Tricia

My niece, Tricia, got the call this morning to report to the hospital.  She is waiting to see if it's a "go". This will be her second lung transplant.  Please pray for her, her family, the Doctors and transplant team and please lift up in prayer the donor's family.
Thanks.
My nephew's blog:  http://cfhusband.blogspot.com/2013/04/transplant-call.html

The Book of Ruth in 35 Minutes

Last Night in The Loft:

Students arrived and seemed to be excited to be gathering together.
We had several first time guests, which is always fantstic.  One of the young ladies who is on our "5 Friends I'm praying for Poster" brought two of her friends.  It's wonderful to see youth who are excited about learning from God's Word and a passion to reach their friends.


I taught through the entire book of Ruth in 35 minutes.  Focusing in on three aspects of Ruth's life that jump out at me:
Ruth's Love for Naomi
Ruth's Respect for Naomi
The redemption of Ruth by Boaz.

We looked at additional verses about love, respect and redemption.  The students then went to their PODz and talked about Ruth and prayed together.

Hang Time included some great tasting cupcakes a couple of our young ladies prepared for the group, a couple of bags of chips, bunch of cookies, some fruit and veggies and dip.  Along with the cupcakes our strawberry kiwi slushees made in the machine loaned to us by Sea Freeze were a smash!

Lots of games were played and I enjoyed sitting around and talking with the students and watching them build relationships with each other.  I think youth group last night was really good and I would give it an A.

God Made You. God is "Remaking" You.

Last night we had our second "Next Level" worship gathering.   
(Next Level is a night when we spend more time worshipping in song and in the Word than we normally do on "regular" youth group gathering nights and we don't do small group discussion on Next Level nights.)

Order of Worship
Song:  You do All things well by Tenth Avenue North
God Made You - Psalm 139:13-18 - Ramon Sanchez our Middle School Minister (volunteer)
Song:  You Do All Things Well by Chris Tomlin
God is "Remaking" You - Romans 12:1-3 - Andy Lawrenson
Song: Inside Out -  by Hillsong United
Video:  "Born to Lose" - David Ring, I am Second video (see video below)
Song:  Beautiful Things - by Gungor
Closing Prayer for Students in Attendance - prayed for students who need to start a relationship with God, prayed for students who are told by this world that "they are nothing" to realize they are God's masterpiece creation, prayed for Christian students who need to refocus on Christ and the "renewing of their mind".

The "with" factor of Discipleship

Our Savior

Matthew 8:23; 9:19; 15:23.  Mark 2:15; 3:7; 4:38; 6:1; 9:28; 10:32.  Luke 6:17; 7:11; 8:1; 9:18.  John 3:22; 6:3; 11:54; 18:1,2


When you read the above verses you see a common theme.

Often when we think about discipleship we think about teaching students to read the Bible, memorize scripture, serve with the gifts God’s given them, worship God personally and corporately.  Jesus is the one we strive to emulate and follow.  We are doing well to teach students the disciplines that help us follow Christ.  Where we fail sometimes is in following the example Jesus gave us in the verses listed above (this is not a comprehensive list).

Jesus spent time with his disciples.  During his few short years of ministry on earth Jesus lived with, walked with, ate with, traveled with, talked with and hung out with his disciples.

Our Youth Ministry

I will admit that I have the tendency to get wrapped up in the program, the administration, and miss out on opportunities to have the “with” factor with our students.  This year our team is putting a focus (one of our team goals) on investing in the lives of students.  This doesn’t necessarily mean creating more events for the youth group.  It does mean looking for opportunities as individual leaders to invest into the lives of the students in every day life.  Looking something like this: going to athletic events, extracurricular events, school plays, going out with a couple of students for a meal, inviting students to help paint the garage, etc.

“With” is just as important as the other spiritual disciplines we teach.  Out weekly youth group gathering is a 2 hour time slot.  Of that two hours our adult volunteers have about 85 minutes to put the “with” into practice.  Discussion and prayer together during our PODz (small group discussion time) and then during Hang Time, a great opportunity to sit and talk with students.

It’s also important that the students are “with” each other.  This year we will have more focused events and time for students to spend time together.  Fellowship with each other can be that “iron that sharpens iron”.  Students need opportunity to minister to and disciple each other.

Parents

God outlined his plan for us as parents in Deuteronomy 6:1-9.  Discipleship, teaching your teen about following Christ, teaching him/her God’s Word is our responsibility as parents.  In those verses we see that discipleship should be the fabric of our home.  This would mean the “with” factor of discipleship needs to happen naturally in your relationship with your son or daughter.  Create space  in your calendar and schedules to allow for conversation also mix it into normal everyday life.  How much time have you spent with your teen this week?  (staring mindlessly at the TV doesn’t count)  Put the phones away, the laptops away, eat a meal together and talk about what God is doing in your lives and pray together and for each other.  If you did this regularly you just might see some transformation happening in your home.

Last Night in The Loft

We dove into our second lesson in our Ancient Alive series.  The goal of the series is for students to learn from some of the Old Testament "greats" and apply what they learn in their own lives.  Gideon was up to bat last night.  We walked through Judges 6,7.  In talking with many of the students they had never heard of Gideon.  We talked about how Israel would go through a cycle of turning their backs on God and then God would allow an invading force to oppress them, they would then cry out for help from God and He would send a judge to deliver them.  A cycle that we as believers often go through today.  We turn our backs on God and then when we hit rock bottom we cry out for help from God.

The main point:  We often view ourselves different than God views us.

Gideon

• Hiding - he wasn't threshing the wheat out in the open on the threshing floor he was threshing in hiding in the wine press.
• Angel calls Gideon "Mighty Warrior" - yet he is hiding.  How mighty is that?
• Gideon questions God, "If you are with us . . . . . ?"
• Gideon's view of self - "I am the weakest and lowest person in the lowest and weakest clan"  Basically - I'm the last person you should be turning to as a leader
• God's assurance - "I'll be with you"
• Gideon does what God asks of him but he does it at night so no one will see who did it
• The test of the fleece . . . 2 times
• The tiny army against the huge army.
• The crazy battle plan (that worked really well)

You

1. Are you in hiding?  What do you fear?  What tears down your confidence or keeps you from what doing what you know God wants you to do?
   
   Psalm 139:23,24
2. God sees you as He created you and wants to use you.  He knows your potential.
   Psalm 139:14
3. How do you view yourself?
   
   • Your value isn't found in what others think about you
   • Your value is found in who God has made you to be
   • God has gifted you and has plans for you to serve Him
   
   Students gathered in their PODz and discussed how God views them and looked at the Psalm scriptures above and discussed those verses together.
   
   Following our Bible study we had Hang Time.  The ping pong table and foosball table were a hot item.   We ate 6 bags of chips, fritos and pretzels, one jar of dip, two packages of Chips Ahoy, 4 sleeves of Oreos, 2 bags of popcorn, 2 gallons of punch.