Go Vote and Get a Cup of Coffee

Go vote today!  Starbucks is giving away free coffee to those who vote today.  Simply walk in and tell them you voted and you get a cup of their coffee.  (on a side note I don't think they have the best coffee but free is free and you don't get free everyday)

My spousal unit voted when the polls opened and was there at 6:15.  She was voter number 9.  When she came out the line forming and long and around the building.  

If you are here in the mid-atlantic take your umbrella!

". . .A Moral Issue" (Bump)

I posted this following the last debate and with election tomorrow it is on my mind again today.

Last night I watched the debate, thankfully it was the last one and I can’t wait for the election to be done with for several reasons.  I would have to say that of the three debates last night was my favorite but the one I liked best was the civil forum hosted at Saddleback.  The moderator last night did not hold back any punches and I believe asked tougher questions than the other two debate moderators had.  But my post today is not about politics. 

Senator Obama said last night, “abortion is a moral issue”.  Please allow me to take Senator Obama’s statement and take a logical run with it.  We all know that there are two sides to the issue of abortion.  There are those that believe a mom has the right to end the life of the fetus.   There are also those who believe that ending the life of a fetus is basically murder, the ending of a life.  We also know that there can be endless debates about this issue. 

So take Senator Obama’s statement on abortion on a walk down the trail of logic.

Since abortion is a moral issue that means that one view of abortion has to be moral and one has to be immoral. 

Where do we even get our ideas on what is moral and what is immoral?  

Now if  we are the result of some random act of collision out in the void of darkness millions of years ago and have evolved into who we are today with the all the incredibly intricate functions and systems our bodies have then morals are what we as humans have made them to be.  Problem with this is we know that humans aren’t perfect and that we don’t always make the best choices.  Right and wrong would be what we made up as humans.  The only thing I can think of  if this is the case is that we are in a world of hurt because there is no absolute standard.  Take that line of thinking logically and that means what is moral for you may not be moral for me.  What is immoral for me may not be immoral for you because there would be no moral absolutes.  This view of morals leads to a huge mess in society because there is no standard.  One person could view stealing as immoral and another may see no problem with stealing.  Where does this slippery slope lead us?  (by the way if evolution is true how come we aren’t still evolving?  Just curious because I could certainly use eyes on the back of my head and extra set of hands)

If we were created by God, and not some random collision in the outer void of darkness millions and millions of years ago,  then our morals would come from God.  God would set the standard.  God’s standards are found in His word, the Bible.  If this is the case then God lines out what is right and what is wrong.  There would be moral absolutes, standards to live by.  If this is the case I see more order and direction in how we should live as humans and operate as a government.  If this is the case and if as Senator Obama says, “abortion is a moral issue” then we need to look to where we get our morals.

Psalm 139:13

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

Ecclisiastes 11:5

As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.

Job 31:15

Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?

It's Politics of the Pocketbook

In going back and thinking about this presidential campaign:

• I'm glad that it will be over tomorrow
• I'm concerned about the outcome and what we will have to deal with for the next 4 years
• The issue that is a deciding factor for most is the politics of the pocketbook (and from what I hear on the latest our power bills are about to increase dramatically should O'Bama become our next president)
• The war in Iraq, Afghanistan, and abortion has taken a back seat on the issues in comparison to issues like taxes.
• Cap and Trade will suck more money out of my checking account.
• Which candidate can I really trust?  Politicians are politicians and will say anything to get in office.  Make a speech saying one thing then meet a constituent on the street and say another. 
• Be careful who you associate with in life, even if it is on a superficial level.  You never know, you may run for president one day.
• Who cares where a candidate gets their clothes?  Uhhh, I guarantee one or two of the suits our candidates wear cost more than my entire wardrobe.  But I don't care.  If I was a millionaire I would probably have expensive clothes too, but for now I'll stick with my Wal Mart clothes, besides I'm more comfortable in shorts and flip flops.  If you see me in a suit someone is either getting married or buried.
• The media's influence is incredibly huge and could be damaging
• Concern on voting fraud.  How come no one asks for an ID when I go to vote?  What's going to happen wen I show up to vote and my name has already been checked off as having voted?  That day is coming, if not in this election it will be in the next unless something is done.

Parents, election time is an excellent time to teach your teen how to incorporate their morals and Christian values into their decision making on how to discern who to vote for.  Look for those teaching moments.  I've been reading Duck for President to my 4 year old, if only Duck were running for president. . . 

Contagious Tonight

We had a great time tonight at Contagious.  

Hang Time went well with farkle and ping pong and just hanging out.  We had the OBX Presbyterian youth group hang out with us tonight.  Thanks to a student's birthday we had pizza and a cold stone creamery cake.  (thanks Nancy!)

I think the 15 pizzas and cake for 50 were consumed incredibly fast.  Observing the students in their natural habitat consuming the pizzas in less than 20 minutes was quite fascinating. :)

Tonight we looked at the importance for a believer to be connected to a local church.  God has hardwired us to be relational.  First our relationship with him and then second with others, and in that order.  It is vital for believers to connect with other believers and what better way to do so then in a small group?   God's design is for every follower of Christ to be part of a local church.

Some students go church hopping to participate in the youth group that has the latest and greatest thing going on.  Some hop because of friendships or boyfriend/girlfriend.  I reminded students that if they church hopped now they would become church hoppers as adults or even quit church all together.  Some students learn to church hop from their parents or other adults that have in influence in their lives.  Fellowship is part of our purpose and important that we teach this to students.  

Anti-Trunk or Treat

While looking for our Trunk or Treat group on Facebook I stumbled across a "Stop Trunk or Treat" facebook group.  While reading their group description it became very obvious to me that the founder of this group had apparently been to a lame Trunk or Treat.  One of his major complaints was the people were dressed like "Moses" and Bible characters and it just wasn't fun going from trunk to trunk.  

If the church is going to use an event as a bridging event the church needs to make sure it is not lame.  Followers of Christ need to think of how the event will impact the un-churched.  I'll admit I think if I went to the Trunk or Treat this group was describing I may have the same feelings.

Please let's not do "lame" events, they don't work in reaching people.  If we are going to do an event to reach the community we need to strive for excellence.  If we can't do it with excellence we should probably not do it at all.

I'm glad that NHC's Trunk or Treat wasn't lame.  On a side note to the Anti-Trunk or Treat group there was not one Bible character at our Trunk or Treat.  You won't see me dressed up as Baalam, I'm Elvis, "thank you, thank you very much".    

ToT 08 How did we do?

How did we do?

I have already received an e-mail from a family in the community who is not from our church.  They had a great time and look forward to future Trunk Or Treats.

I quickly cruised through the drawing cards this afternoon and 30 parents checked off that they would like more information about NHC and our children's and youth ministries.  It will be cool to see the results of this year's event.  

The biggest accomplishment is that every family received the gospel as well as noticed that NHC is a church that loves families and where children are a priority.

Thanks to the great team of around 80 for helping make a successful bridging event.

Trunk Or Treat 08

Trunk or Treat 08 is over and was bigger than ever.  Now to plan for ToT 09. . .

Tonight we saw around 1,000 children come through and they were loaded with candy.  We gave out several hundred pounds of candy.

The inflatable games were a blast and they were huge.

We ran out of the popcorn about an hour or so into the night (note to self - order more popcorn)

We gave out around 300 bags and cones of cotton candy.  (order more cotton candy)

I saw many sipping on cups of hot coffee and hot chocolate.

Boars Head was serving up the hot dogs.  (thanks Fred Flintstone)

The traffic team was working hard directing the hundreds of cars that came through tonight.

The trunks were great.  I saw several that were fantastic and it would have been hard to pick a winner this year.  A few of my favorites:

The Penguin family complete with infant penguin.

The Men in Black family complete with infant alien.

Aunt Jemima and her pancake.  (Mark was a good Aunt J.  Sue was a great short stack)

Shreck and Fiona were quite green.

Cat in the hat was popular this year.

We were fair and balanced with both Obama and McCain there and even Sarah Palin paid a visit.

The ToT team did an incredible job, I'm not sure of the count tonight but I think we had at least 80 from our church helping pull of this most excellent bridging event.  All the teams did the great job.  Now it's time to evaluate and adjust.  Wonder if there is any candy left in the house?

Evaluate and Adjust, Evaluate and Adjust

Seven years ago NHC had a "Harvest Party" at the church for the children.  The children would come in their costumes eat some junk food, hear a Bible story, and play some games.  The only children that attended were our usual crowd of 15 or so from Sunday morning.  Six years ago was my second year at NHC and we did the Harvest Party again and I quickly realized the event did not fit with the purpose of our church.   We did some evaluation and made an adjustment.

The next year we started Trunk or Treat at NHC.  We put up a few posters and had around 100 show up for Trunk or Treat.  The Harvest Party was typical of a small church with no desire to grow.  Trunk or Treat screamed "reach the community".  The Harvest Party was not a quality event that would draw people in.   We evaluated Trunk or Treat and made adjustments.

Each year Trunk or Treat has grown and each year we made adjustments.  Last year we made the adjustment of really promoting the event, we were even able to send TOT cards home with kids in our local schools.  We added hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy and hot chocolate and games with prizes and made the event more of a fair atmosphere.  Over 1,000 attended!  Each child got a gospel tract in their candy bag and each parent went home with the Purpose Driven life booklet.  We evaluated because with that many people traffic flow was tricky to say the least since our parking lot is no where big enough for that size of crowd.  We have also added more inflatable games.  Our auditorium has been cleared out and will be set up with lots of games and prizes, the goal, besides giving the kids a fun time, is to get people to simply walk through the doors of the church.  We will have Kidmo playing on the big screen and music in the background.

Tonight is Trunk Or Treat. I'm about to head out the door and spend my day with volunteers who will be dropping in setting up for this now huge event.  It's going to be a fun day and I look forward to watching Trunk or Treat unfold tonight and see what sort of crowd we attract.  I hear that Elvis may even be spotted in the crowd.  After ToT is all cleaned up and packed up we will evaluate and adjust again.  Anything we do in the church should be evaluated often to make sure we are hitting our target, accomplishing our goal, carrying out our purpose.  This may mean killing off some sacred cow programs.  Have a safe night!

Please Pray

My brother Mark had a heart attack last night and is in the hospital.

Your prayers for him would and his family would be appreciated.

Thanks.

My Focus

Something I learned as a young driver is the fact that I drive where I look.  If I focus on something on the side of the road then that is the direction the car will drift.  I also learned in driving a tractor that if I'm not focused on the other end of the field I'm plowing then my rows tend to get a little lob-lolly and then when I look back I can see exactly where I lost focus.

Matthew 14:22-33

Peter had his focus right where it should have been.  He was focusing on Jesus, of course who wouldn't find it easy to focus on someone walking towards you in the middle of the night on the water?  That would surely get my attention.

It is very easy for my focus to shift and then when it shifts my life goes off the direction that God would want me to go.  My relationship with Christ, as a believer, should be my focus. Problem is I get off track very easily.   

Peter took his focus off of Jesus and put his focus on his current circumstances.  The moment Peter did that is the moment Peter began to sink.  It is so easy to move my focus from Christ and put my focus on my current circumstances, whether the circumstances are good or bad. 

Sometimes I find that ministry is where I focus.  Ministry is great!  Ministry is what we are all called to do, serve others with the love of Christ.  When ministry becomes my focus rather than Jesus Christ this is when I begin to sink.

When ministry gets my focus rather than focusing on Jesus Christ does ministry then become my god?

When you focus on ____________ rather than focusing on Jesus Christ does __________ become your god?

Staying Ahead

I recently wrote a post about growing your team ahead of the growth of the youth group.  I recognize the need to have more team members than you need to make sure you can adequately minister to student's as a team.  

At the time of writing the first post our team was in need in of two men to join our team.  Since the beginning of summer our team has grown by adding two new ladies and two new men to be family group (table) leaders.  We also added two new kitchen queens to the team, these ladies are vital to the success of Hang Time as they prepare the goodies we put in our bellies.

I'm still convinced that if I am going to pray that God would grow our youth group then I need to stay ahead of the growth.  So where do we stand now?  Right now we are at the exact number of YM team members for our current need and numbers.  So this means that I am, as the team leader, on the prowl for 4 more team members, two men and two ladies.  The goal is to get them into place with another family group leader so they can learn how to lead and then as a group grows we can multiply that group by sending some of the students to another table with their new leader.

This whole idea is true for any youth ministry even if you don't go family or table groups.  If you have decided the ratio for your group to be one adult to ten students then you should staff ahead of the growth as well, especially if you are asking God to grow the youth group.  On a side note I like the ratio of 1 to 8, I think the lower number makes shepherding  group of students easier, especially if you are going to truly shepherd them and build those super important relationships.