Project Care4Kids

I'm so stoked about a new outreach we are starting here at Nags Head Church!  I know that many of us who serve on staff in churches sort of have an entrepreneurial spirit.  So when there is something new I get to be involved in I get excited.

In 2015 there were 670,000 children in foster care in the United States.  Unfortunately this number is growing each year.  We aren't, as a nation, making headway in helping parents to be better parents.  What is the church doing about it?  In our church we have some who are foster parents and some who have been in the past.  We are encouraging more to get involved.

But what can we do as the church to help meet immediate needs in foster care?  Our church is launching a new outreach to the community, Project Care4Kids. 
Project Care4Kids has four areas of focus:

1. Encouraging people to be foster parents
2. Meeting temporary needs of foster children and their foster parents
3. Supporting our local crisis pregnancy center
4. 
Supporting and promoting adoption

This past Sunday I was able to bring the message in "big church" and our focus was on sanctity of life.  At the end of the message I called the church to action and had an overwhelming response.  We asked them to respond on a communication card.  I have a big stack of these cards on my desk  right now.  We asked people to commit to prayer, giving financially, meeting practical needs, going on mission trips, adopting and foster parenting.  Many indicated they would pray and most committed to other areas as well, even adoption and foster parenting!  The response is overwhelming.

One element of this new outreach/ministry is really going to make in impact in our community.  We formed a team of volunteers from our church (over 30 committed to this on Sunday) who will put together backpacks for foster kids.  These backpacks will be packed according to different age ranges.  In the pack will be age appropriate toys, stuffed animal, school supplies, toothbrush, toothpaste, body wash, shampoo, etc.   Local foster parents will be able to call a "hotline" number, set it up on google voice, when they get the call that they will be receiving a child in their home.  So when they get the call that at 7pm social service will be bringing them an 8 year old foster child they can then turn and call us and someone from our team will drop the back pack to their house.  We will also drop a duffle bag because many of these kids show up with all their belongings in a trash bag.  A trash bag!  What message does this send to the child?  We will also let the foster parent know we are available to help with other needs if they let us know, clothes, shoes, coats, etc.

We will be having in March a Project Care4Kids launch party.  We will gather together on a Saturday morning and divide up supplies, organize and pack backpacks and duffle bags.  We will be also making a "no sew" fleece blanket for each child and teen.  It's going to be a fun time of serving together, building relationships and meeting needs.

We are getting going on this new outreach.  We aren't sure how it will all work out, we don't have all the answers but we are willing to dive in and do something, to put feet to our prayers.
If you would like to know more about this outreach project please feel free to contact me.

Focusing in on One on One Discipleship

This year our volunteer team if going to focus on one on one discipleship.  We have taken our group of students and divided them up among our leaders, including myself.  The goal is to take advantage of the moments at Student Church to ask questions, encourage, pray with the students.

My brain thinks in pictures, I learn and process better with pictures and flow charts.  I have taken what we are going to do and created a graphic using MindNode.  MindNode allows me to map out what is going on in my noggin, which can be a scary place at times.

I hope this will get you to thinking about how your student ministry team can best invest and disciple students.

Our Annual YM Team Retreat

This past weekend was our annual YM Team Retreat.  When we have our retreat we focus in two areas:  Spiritual challenge/health in our own lives and our team goals for the year in youth ministry.  We all gathered in a vacation rental home for the retreat.

Here is what it looked like:

Friday - 6:30 - Dinner (Tacos and Enchiladas if you are interested)
              7:30 - Goals for the weekend and look back at 2013's goals
              8:00 - Small Things Big Difference.   Viewed a message on the small things. 
              8:40 - Discussed the small things we should be doing and discovered they are the same         things we are encouraging in student's lives and if we aren't doing them how can we expect the youth to do them?
Here is our "small things" list:  (not all encompassing)
Prayer
Word
Sharing our Faith
Time Management
Quiet Times
Give thought to my words
Faithfulness
Trust
Dependability
Attitudes
Discipline

         9:00(ish) - have some fun/hang out

Saturday -
        9:00 - Breakfast (Biscuits and gravy, eggs, sausage, hash browns if you are interested)
        9:45 - Small Things Big Difference #2
     10:30 -  Discussion then a break
     11:00 -  Discussion on 2014's focus the three areas we are focusing on this year:
                   1.  Developing Student Leaders
                   2.  Growth
                   3.  Mission Projects
                   and there was much discussion and input from the team.  Great group of thinkers on our  team.
     12:30 - We went out to Lunch together
       2:00 - Afternoon free time
      6:00 -   Supper (Lasagna, salad and bread if you are interested)
      During Supper the team asked some questions and we talked about some changes we would make in our flow of students around the building while at youth group, safety/security issues, dealing with cell phone use.
      7:00 - Life Mapping (each individually taking a look at the coming year on a personal level)
      8:00 - We cleaned up and packed up and went home.

I hope you spend some focused time each year with your youth ministry volunteers doing some training and growth together.  Spending an extended time together gives you a real glimpse into the hearts of your team and their love and dedication to serving students.

When else do we meet?  Glad you asked.  We meet every Sunday night a half hour before our youth group gathering to have a "pre-game" meeting and prayer together.

Ministry Team Retreat

This weekend our youth ministry team, comprised of 10 great volunteers who love to minister to students and myself, will get together and spend the weekend together.  I will post more next week about our retreat this post will focus on why I feel retreats are important for teams.

• Bonding - you spend a weekend together and get to know each other better, laugh together, pray together, learn together.  Together is always better.  Getting to know who you serve with his important when you are in the trenches of ministry.

• Learning - we will spend some time focusing on learning some things about youth ministry and about ourselves that will help us be better equipped in serving students this coming year.  There is always something to be learned by a ministry team.  No matter what team a person is on there are some vital things to know and learn to help that team successfully focus on the purpose of the church. 

•  Growing  - we don't have a huge budget to bring in some great youth ministry guru or leadership specialist to help us grow.   I scour the internet, watch videos, etc. to find something we can watch and discuss that will challenge us to grow spiritually.  We can't feed students if we are running on empty.  We can't lead students to a place we have not been ourselves.

• Focusing - we will spend sometime to focus on our purpose and strategy and what some of our plans and ideas and dreams for 2014.

• Funning - sometimes when I share what we are doing in youth ministry a person will respond and say, "Wow.  That sounds like fun.  I wish I could do that."  To which I usually respond with an invite to our team.  Momma didn't raise no dummy.  In youth ministry we get to have fun, that's one of the perks of the ministry.  Usually in our setting we are sitting around chatting with students, playing with them on the Wii or Bananagrams, or simply schooling them in foosball.  We get to have fun with students.  I love our retreat because we get to have fun together as a team.  Laughing together, playing some games together, breaking bad in banangrams or spades, it's all good for the unity of the team.

Side note:  I lead our children's ministry team and we have yet to do a "retreat".  I've had some thoughts stirring about this one so I look forward to doing this with our team soon.

Does your ministry team have a retreat?  What do you do? 
No retreat?  Why not start small by getting together for dinner and have some fun then build from there?

Where are We Going?

Next week we wrap up "Stories".  For the past several weeks our youth ministry team volunteers have been sharing their stories at Contagious Youth.  All the stories have been different; everyone had some sort of struggle in their life.  While all of the stories are different they had this in common, Jesus changes lives.  Our goal in doing "Stories" was that our students would hear that even though we are old we have had struggles and hopefully some of the students would connect with a story and see how God can impact their lives.  Every story can impact someone's life.  Who are you sharing your story with?

July 8th we move out of The Loft and onto the beach.  We will spend several weeks meeting together for Contagious on the beach.  This is one of our favorite times of the year.  It is a great change of pace and mixes it up a bit.  This summer we will be taking a look at Matthew 5 and specifically the Beatitudes.  Everyone wants to be happy and we are going to unpack what true happiness is all about.

Each week a short 5 to 10 minute devotional talk (cause it's hard to hold attention with the ocean in the background) and that will be followed by a small group time where students will be divided into small groups and spend some time discussing together the topic of the night.

In September we move back to The Loft.  We are going to spend 6 weeks talking about relationships.

Relationship with God - His desire is that we know him and follow Christ

Relationship with Family - Families come in all shapes and sizes but there is one thing we should have in common, respect for each member in the family.

Relationships with Friends - Friends will either make you or break you.  We will look at David and Jonathan and their incredible friendship.

Love Relationships - What is love?  Everyone wants to be loved.  Sometimes we confuse love with other things in relationships.

Relationships with Authority in our lives - We will always answer to someone.  Learn now how to have a healthy relationship with those in authority and reap the benefits as you grow older.

Relationship in the Church - no church is perfect and no one in the church is perfect.  Getting along with other believers. 

Support

In talking with other youth ministers it is obvious that in churches with youth ministries there are some parents and some students who take their youth ministry for granted.  I would venture a guess and say we have this happening at our church also.  I talk with parents and church leaders from other churches that do not have youth ministries and hear them share how they wish they had something for their students.

What if your church’s youth ministry ceased?  What if your church decided to focus elsewhere in ministry and your parents and students were left with no youth ministry?  What would your response be?  Would you even notice?  Chances are if you are reading this you would be one of the ones who would notice.

Supporting your church’s youth ministry is vital to the future of your church’s youth ministry.  Support comes in many shapes and forms.  

Support look like this:

• Making sure your son or daughter is active and faithful in attendance to youth group and youth events.
• Understanding that youth group is church.
• Volunteering to help minister when help is needed, pitching in.
  
• Placing a priority on youth worship gatherings.
  
• Faithfully giving back to God in tithes and offerings.
  
• Inviting your friends and coworkers to bring their teens to youth.
  
• Recognizing the youth ministers who volunteer hours every week investing into your son or daughter.
• Spend time with your teen discipling them and discussing what they are learning at youth group and helping them apply what they are learning in life.
• Set the example for your teen to follow by living out your faith.

Are you supporting your church’s youth ministry?

The Ultimate Team Leader

The Ultimate Team Leader

John 6:1-14

Jesus is our example, he shows us how we are to lead those who follow us, he shows us how to be a team leader. In John 6:1-14 we find Jesus and his disciples as they arrive on the other side of the sea of Galilee that they are followed by a huge crowd. In this passage of Scripture we get a glimpse out how Jesus led a team. We get to take peek at how Jesus and his team of disciples were going to handle a problem together.

Team leaders should address the problem.
Jesus presents the problem they are facing together, inviting the team to join in on the solution. Jesus points out the obvious problem to the team, “All these people have followed us here. It’s dinner time. How are we doing to feed them?”. Jesus could have just spoke the word and everyone would have had a bag of Chick fil a in their hands.

Teams will face problems or seemingly problems there is no escaping it. Things can move along smoothly and appear to be fantastic and that can quickly turn to an immediate issue that needs resolution. Jesus sets the example that a leader looks to their team to join in on solving the issue or working on the problem together.

Team leaders should test the Team
Jesus puts Philip to the test. Growth as a team can come from problem solving together. Testing creates opportunity for an individual on the team to stretch themselves, to search out a resolution, technique or system to solve the problem. A good team leader will put scenarios in front of team members so they can push towards finding solution and in doing so grow in skill as a team member. Philip was the team’s realist but we are about to see that Andrew was the team’s dreamer and every team should have a balanced mix of both.

Team leaders should listen to the team
Jesus listens to the team as Andrew shares, “Here’s a kid’s lunch with 5 pieces of bread and a couple of fish.”

Team leaders listen to their team. I would have said that Andrew’s solution was ridiculous, there’s no way that it would work. Jesus shows us as leaders that we should take the time and listen to those on our team, that is part of working together as a team. Even though we may be the leader we are still an individual part of a team and there are others on our team who have some good input to give.

To Be Continued . . .

Underage Dating

"You can follow them on Facebook – the failed attempts at love, I mean. Somebody is always changing their status from “in a relationship” to “single.” Unfortunately, a huge number of these disappointed lovers are too young to be legally married. I wonder sometimes if I am the only one who winces to hear a thirteen-year old speak with cavalier abandon of his or her “ex?” Since when is it considered healthy and acceptable for underage people to be in “relationships?” Just what do parents and educators expect to be the result of the romantic conquests of these middle-school children and young high school students? " Read More

The above is a good article about a problem I have watched for 20 years of working with teens. The constant dating and breaking up cycle sets up a pattern for their adult years. It desensitizes them and then when they become an adult it is easy to end a relationship.

Most parents, I find, don't have a plan for their child's dating future in place when their child is young, like early elementary. So when their daughter has a "cute" relationship with their "little boyfriend", the parents don't know how to respond when this cute relationship is months into it and obviously become very serious because their little girl has let all her friends get kicked to the curb as her life is absorbed with this boy, who she "loves so much". Then they don't know how to step in and draw the line as a parent because they let a seemingly innocent relationship go way too far.

You gotta have a plan. I do for my kids. And for my daughter . . . I own a couple of shotguns that I will sit on the porch and clean them if some boy starts to think he can hang around my girl. My daughter won't date a boy until that boy is spiritually mature enough to be her spiritual leader. My sons won't date girls until they are spiritually mature enough to be the spiritual leader in the relationships.

Every date is a potential mate. Who is your kid dating? Do you have a dating plan in place? If not you should seriously consider getting a plan in place mucho pronto.

The Return on Your Investment

In youth ministry it is so easy to get discouraged when you look at a group of students who, for the most part, are spiritually stagnant. What do you do?

1. Go to the Word - are we starting with the Bible as our foundation to youth ministry?
2. Pray - Pray that your heart is right where it needs to be. Pray that students get a passion for Christ like they have never had before.
3. Evaluate - are we being effective in students lives?
4. Improve - find the areas of the ministry that need work and work on improvement.
5. Continue - continue to invest your time and resources in to their lives. Continue to reach out to students who don’t know Christ.
6. Realize - realize that all we can do if we are doing the first 4 is to continue to put the buffet our there. The students have to decide for themselves to pick up the plates, load it with food and starting eating. (somehow I feel compelled to use food as an illustration) Realize that we can’t force students to grow spiritually, it is a choice that they must make for themselves. Realize that not every students will be a Billy Graham. Realize that the students are a mirror reflection of the adults in your church.

Youth Ministry is like financial investment, sometimes you don’t see the return for several years.

This morning I stopped in a local coffee shop for a cup of the Tortuga Lie blend. I walked in and there was a young man standing there that looked familiar. It clicked for both of us at the same time. He said, “Andy right? From Nags Head Church?” I said, “Yep! And you are *Ted.” (thankfully God helped me to remember his name). Ted was no spiritual champion in high school. I noticed Ted had on a t-shirt that was the face of Jesus on superman’s body. I also noticed that Ted had grown a foot and a half. Then it happened!

The Return on the Investment.

“Ted” began talking about his relationship with God. “I strayed during my high school years and wasn’t in a good relationship with God. Now that I’ve graduated I’ve stepped back and taken a look at where I’m at. I’m going to church. I’m staying around here and taking classes at the community college until I figure out what the Lord wants me to do.” I didn’t even have to ask probing questions he just started sharing his story.

Boom! Cha-Ching!! That was the pay off!



“Ted” has no idea the encouragement that he was to me this morning. He has no idea the tears of joy our conversation has brought on me as I sit in my office and think about our “by chance” meeting at the coffee shop this morning.

Here is the deal. Over the past 20 years of working with students I have seen some go on to really be productive in their relationship with God. I have seen many, many more fall by the wayside. There are many who I have no clue at this point how their life has turned out or will turn out. You see change can happen when they are 18, 28 or 48, we don’t know when the investment will “kick in” and pay off.
BUT if “Ted” were the only one to have been impacted by our church’s youth ministry in the past 11 years (and he’s not) then the investment of the past 11 years of the youth ministry team of our church was well worth it.

SO . . . . keep investing!

Shoe String Budget Team Retreat

Your team is missing out if you don't spend time together outside of your normal ministry time.

This past weekend we had a youth ministry team retreat. (More details below)
Our youth ministry team is totally volunteer. We have 10 fantastic adults who love students.

Here are elements of our retreat:
Encouragement - Your team serves each week together pouring into the lives of students. Sometimes it is easy to get down or even start to struggle. A retreat gives you opportunity to encourage each other.

Challenged - It's great to be challenged to grow spiritually and challenged to serve students better.

Refreshing - We all get drained spiritually from time to time. A retreat is a great time to find refreshment.

Training - We always need to look for ways to improve and learn some new skills or approaches in youth ministry.

Strength - A team that hangs out together stays together. There is strength and depth added to the team when the team hangs out together outside of the normal ministry time.

Our retreat looked like this:
Friday night:
Dinner - We ate pizza and salad together.
Following dinner we watched a video by Andy Stanley about momentum.
We followed the video with a great discussion and analyzing time.
Saturday:
We cooked and ate breakfast together. It was very good.
We took a "walk thru" the book Refuel, by Doug Fields. All about refueling spiritually. This was our Connect with God time encouraging spiritual refreshment.
Lunch
In the afternoon we talked about being a great small group leader. We came up with expectations of our students and expectations of the leaders.
We also watched some TV and various team members fell asleep at various times.
Dinner - we cooked fajitas! Bueno.
We ended the retreat talking about Connecting with Students and evaluating the balance in our youth ministry and also evaluating where each student is at in their spiritual/faith journey.

All the curriculum we used was free or already in our church's possession. We stayed at a donated vacation rental. The only thing we spent money on was our food and some supplies.

When does your youth ministry team get together for training?

Youth Room Dedication

Sunday night we had a fantastic turn out for the dedication of the new youth room, a space dedicated to be used in reaching students to discover life in Christ. I'm glad to be a partner in a church that has a passion for reaching students. Nags Head Church has made a huge investment in the youth ministry to finish out this 1600 square foot space. I was impressed by the church partners who showed up for the dedication who had no connection to the students other than the fact of being a partner in the church, their participation in the dedication showed their passion as a church to invest into the lives of the youth.

The room was dedicated also in the memory of Shana Lawler. Shana was a youth in the NHC youth ministry several years ago. Her life ended in a tragic car accident. Shana was a 17 year old who loved the Jesus Christ. Her family came back to town for the dedication and her sister, Erin, shared some great words both about Shana and also challenged the students. NHC loves the Lawler family! A picture and plague will hang in the youth room.

The youth room has a kitchen/coffee bar, comfortable seating areas, flat screens and a projector, ping pong, foosball and table games, a space for chairs for gathering for worship. The room has lots of windows with a great view of Jockey's Ridge, the largest sand dune on the east coast.

The whole space was designed to be open and easily reconfigured for different events or needs. Their are several bistro tables for students to gather and play games or just sit and snack together and talk. A couple of seating areas with sofas and comfortable chairs to encourage fellowship and offer space for the youth ministry team to build relationships with the students. The spaces are separated by different paint colors which were taken from a retro surf design. The look is like a coffee shop/restaurant feel complete with brushed metal pendant lights.

We look forward to using this room to reach students!

A shot of the room from the west end.
50 folding chairs allow us to configure the room in different
ways to meet whatever need of the event taking place
in the room.

The Hukilau Surf Camp surfboard. Hukilau is an outreach of NHC and is led by
Pastor Steve. Each summer several camps are held and use surfing as an
avenue to share the gospel.

Pastor Steve is allowing us to store some of his antique surfboards. A great way
to dress up an open ceiling.

There are several tables around the room that allow for space for students
and the team to play games together. The tables are easy to move
to change the configuration of the room.

We used a couple of garage type tool cabinets that are fairly inexpensive to house
the tech equipment.

Currently we have two flat screens up on the walls. We have the cable and
outlets run for 3 more. The TV's are all hooked to a switcher and a distribution amp. We streamed the big game on this system which is also tied to the projector.
We did this "in house" saving the church a couple grand.
These flat screens and projector can be used for showing videos, movies, games
and presentations.

A shot of the door that leads out of the room. Our lizard.

During construction. Cork floor which is awesome and sound absorbing. A view of
the coffee bar and kitchen. We put up mirror tiles above the sink so
while cleaning up a person can still keep an eye on what's happening behind them
as well as a giving those sitting at the bar a view of what's happening in the room.

The cabinets and counter top. We put electrical outlets in the counter so we
can plug up crock pots and roaster ovens to keep important youth ministry tools
like queso and hot wings hot and tasty.

We purchased 50 folding chairs with cushy seats. The projector and screen are
recycled from the old church building.

A shot of one of the seating areas. We were given a couple of sofas and then
I went around the church and "stole" other chairs to put in the space. The blurry
dude is Chris who helped me paint the room.

Carrying the Lesson Home

This week we are starting something new with our youth ministry. Often we do our talk at youth group and then hope it sticks and perhaps cause the students (and leaders) to do some reflection and application during the week. If you are like me you often get home from church and get busy with life during the week and even have a hard time remembering what you learned Sunday. We will be posting a daily devotion at least twice a week on our group's Facebook pages.
I've made the devo in a jpg so students can simply click on the pic and do the quiet time.

Not all students will participate but if even a few do it will make a difference in their spiritual walk and hopefully rub off on others in the youth group.

New Youth Room

We are closing in fast on finishing the construction on our new youth room. After the construction is finished we start "outfitting" the room. We have even asked our church to give a special Christmas gift to Christ this year by giving to help us finish out the room. The gift isn't about the stuff inside but there is more to the reason and purpose of this room.

There will be 5 flat screens and a projection screen, pool table, ping pong, foosball, table games, a couple of Wii units, sofas and comfy chairs, bistro tables and a coffee bar, thumping sound system, espresso machine, cabinets stocked with "goodies", and a section for our worship time.

All of those things to outfit the room will be cool (and hopefully will all be in the room one day) but all those things are just things. The room is just a room. So why do all of this?

The Vision of the room

Our purpose as a youth ministry goes right in line with our church's purpose. Nags Head Church's youth ministry exists to reach students to discover life in Christ.

The room will be cool enough for our students to invite their friends to come hang out and hear the good news of Jesus Christ. That's the "reaching" part of our purpose. Our prayer is we see many students come to know Jesus Christ in this room.

The room will be a tool to help students as they discover life in Christ.
It will be comfortable, a cozy place to hang out with other students and adult leaders. That's the fellowship part of our room. A place where relationship are built.

The room will be a place where students learn to use the gifts God has given them to serve the church, the body of Christ. They will have opportunity to serve each-other each week.

The room will be a place where there is an environment for our students (and leaders) to worship God through music, art, Bible study. Part of this life discovery in Christ is learning to worship and understanding the value of worship.

The room will be a place where students will gather each week in small groups with a caring adult and they will discuss the lesson for the week, spend time in prayer, and be encouraged to spend time in the Bible on their own during the week. This will be the discipleship tool that our room will help provide.

The room will be a place that acts as a launching pad for mission. Students will be challenged and equipped to share their story with their friends. A place where we can gather and plan events to reach their world and the world beyond our county lines.

This new youth room becomes a "tool" for us and our students to reach and disciple students. The things that outfit the room become tools to reach students.

I will be posting pictures soon!!

Consumerism Starts Young

(I haven't posted in a long time)

This Saturday night we are showing a movie, having a little "movie night" with the students. The movie is a great film about a girl who goes through a terrible tragedy and turns that tragedy into an opportunity to share the love of Jesus Christ and the power of God with others. We took the students to see it when it was released in the theaters.

Last night after middle school youth group a young lady walked up and asked, "Why are you showing a movie we have already seen?". Her attitude was one of "why should I watch this when I've seen it already?". Great question.

At that point I was reminded of two things:

1. Consumerism ("it's about me") in the church starts young. We (the adults) do everything for the kids from the time they are little toddlers all the way up through high school rather than teaching them to "do" for themselves. We minister to them constantly and consistently rather than train them to minister to each other. The result is we produce the adults that we have all encountered (and have been that person at times) in the church that thinks church is for them and about them, "Cater to my needs. Feed me. Deal with my problems". The person who doesn't reach out and minister to others in any way shape or form or roll up their sleeves and get involved in ministry themselves.

2. I failed. I failed to communicate the "vision" of the event. Every time we do an event that has a purpose (which we should have a purpose every time) and that purpose needs to be communicated.

The purpose of showing this great movie that we have seen already is not for our students entertainment (they will enjoy it) but for out students to have an opportunity to bring a friend to see a movie about a girl with a strong Christian testimony. I guess, in a way it is, for our students. It's for our students to give them an opportunity to open up conversation with their friends about Jesus Christ.

So my lessons learned (or reminded of) at middle school youth last night:
1. Train students to serve. The servant's attitude will impact the rest of their life and the church.
2. Communicate vision over and over and over and over.

The Busyness of Summer

Just realized I haven't blogged for a few weeks. Summer is a busy time!

Camp prep is coming along:
Whitewater rafting - Check!
Cabin reserved - Check!
Dollywood Tickets - ordering this week!
Campers' Handbooks - Check!
Camp Small Group studies - Check!
Menu - Check!
Vans reserved - Check!
Church van serviced - Next week!
Med Kit/First Aid Kit - Check!
Board and Table Games - Check!
Pre Camp Meeting with Parents and campers - Check!
Shedule - Check!
Morning Worship - Check!
Evening Worship - working on the talks now
Camp Staff notebooks - next week!
Trailer reserved - Check!
Dog sitter - Check!

Contagious is meeting on the beach this summer (as is our habit) and we are still in the shallow to deep series. Coming along nicely. This Sunday we talk about God and our resources.

New youth room - waiting on a couple more estimates before we can get our permit. Hoping to knock it out fast!

YM Team meeting - coming up Sunday evening. Looking towards the new school year.

Tubbs Hot Dogs - rolling along. Hoping business increases as does traffic flow this coming week.

Sleep debt - 16 hours. Hoping to catch up on that on my new space age foam mattress. Comfy.

Observation

I was invited to be on a question and answer panel at another local church's youth group gathering this week. I was honored they would ask me. Why me? I have no idea but I accepted.

Students wrote their questions on 3x5 cards and the panel answered their questions.

Of course upon arrival I kicked into evaluation mode. I was watching for a few different things. Mostly looking for students' interaction with each other and the adult volunteers interaction with the kids.

I noticed several different things throughout the evening that I took mental note of. The youth group had a great bunch of students there and all were high schoolers with only a couple of middle school students.

With so many students in attendance I observed several things but will point out three:
1. The students are bringing their friends (obvious by the amount of visitors)
2. Momentum. The excitement of the obvious growth is generating a momentum which is building each week. (obvious by the amount of chairs that had to be added)
3. Small space. The space isn't big enough for the amount of students. The feeling was the room was "full" when half the kids arrived. When they other half poured in at the last minute the room felt jam packed. This too adds to the momentum.

When people see a growing youth group they always want to know "what's the magical formula?"
The obvious key factor with this group was the kids bringing their friends.

Thanks Teachers!

Apparently this is teacher appreciation day or week or something like that. I was never a good student. I attended school for the social aspects and not for the education. BUT I would like to take some time to thank my teachers and I'm going all the way back to Kindergarten. Some will be omitted because I can see their face but can't remember their names. Some will be omitted because they didn't understand me as a child ;).

So here we go:

Mrs. Rakes - Thanks for helping me through my second year of kindergarten, I don't know why my first year of kindergarten teachers couldn't teach me my ABC's and how to color in the lines but you pulled it off. Success!

Mrs. Raines - Thanks for a great 1st grade. All I remember is the smell of the blue memiograph (sp?) paper.

Ms. Alford - My first year at LCA. Thanks for making me feel welcome and introducing me to friends that I still have today.

Miss Pearson - Thanks for a great 3rd grade year. I think I connected with you because my Mee Ma lived in Front Royal.

Mr. Welling - One of the best. I remember getting a swat in front of the whole class for not having my mom sign my homework assignment notebook. I didn't forget again after that. See spankings work!!

Miss Claiborne - You showed up the second half of fourth grade after Christmas break and we had now clue where our teach Mr. Welling went. You stepped in and took things over and I'm sure we didn't like you at first because we loved Mr. Welling.

Mrs. McKinney - just the school year before you were Miss Claiborne so thank you for bearing with us as we learned your new last name. I think a few boys in the class were mad that you got married.

Mrs. Matheny - You were stinkin awesome. You made us Peruvian food one day. Anyone who feeds me becomes my instant friend.

Mrs. Owen - You too changed your name on us during the school year but that was OK because you married our pastor so it was a smooth transition. You were fun and I will always remember you as a teacher who actually laughed and smiled in class.

Herb - You taught me how to put on a tie. A skill I use about once every two years now. You also taught me much about the Bible.

Mrs. _____________ - I'm leaving you out on purpose. You were the meanest teacher I have ever known in my existence and on this playground we call earth. I don't know why you were mean but our other two 6th grade teachers understood us and loved us.

Miss Elwell - You were my study hall teacher. You were the first teacher in my school career to send me to the principal. Not bad for a 7th grader considering my cutting up in school.

Mr. Tschetter - You taught me some math. You made me nervous because you were bigger than me. Of course at that age most everyone, including the girls were bigger than me.

Droopy - I can't remember your real name. But I enjoyed your history class.

Coach ? - I can't remember your name but you scared us into doing your English assignments. The only teacher I've seen make students do push ups in class for forgetting homework, including girls. You also tossed around the word, "whimps", which caused great respect from me. I still owe you a week in the weight room during lunch because I didn't do that book report but I was too scared of you to show up at the weight room.

Miss ? - I remember you had blonde hair and were fresh out of LU as an English teacher. You had me memorize The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe. I thank you for this. It is great to quote around the campfire and scare children with.

Mrs. Roberts - We had a love hate relationship. I loved to get you off track telling stories and you hated my shirt to be untucked and not wearing a belt and my hair touching my collar.

Mr. Klamm - You had some great stories for health and PE. Thanks for your patience in my area of throwing free throw shots. Thanks for getting to school early in the winter for indoor baseball practice. It was my advantage having two older brothers who also had you as a teacher/coach. They would tell me your stories and I would ask a leading question so you could tell us the story. I remember one where you and a friend strung up your own telephone line across the street....

Mr. Heinlein - Thanks for making economics interesting. Great class, all guys, fun times. Thanks for letting me live with you guys the last few weeks of school before heading back to Maui. Because of you I passed Mrs. Roberts final exam. You made me study and you checked the TV for warmth to make sure I had been studying and not watching TV.

Miss Newell - You played cassette tapes in class of Keith Green. I was diggin it! Thanks for being a cool English teacher. Sorry I wasn't a good student but I enjoyed your class.

Miss Reiderer - Thanks for teaching me science. If I remember correctly you had ukulele skills. Impressive. The view from your classroom of the pacific ocean was awesome which probably factored into me not doing so well in your class.

Mr. Tobita - Thanks for teaching us PE and Bible. I certainly enjoyed flag football and I'd have to say your outdoor classroom on Maui had the best views of any classroom I have ever been in. I loved Grandma Tobita!

Mr. Diment - Thanks for teaching Bible. Pilgrim's Progress, see I still remember.

Miss Carlson - for teaching me to type on antique WWII typewriters. I have mad typing skills because of you.

Debbie Clowser (sp?) - Happy times in your class our senior year at MCA. I think I'm getting your name right. I remember having to wash your car inside and out because we threw in lilikoi as we flew past you on the Hana Hwy. I also remember not going on the sr. trip because the last place I wanted to be was in NY or DC during January. Maui no ka oi.

I'm sure I'm leaving someone out but that's how it is with the memory when you get old. Speaking of which I'm now 44. How old does that make you feel?

Is there a point to all of this? Yes. When an adult invests into the life of a kid or teenager they are making an impact that can last a lifetime and possibly even eternity. Thanks teachers!

PS. I received good grades in college and grad school. I do much better doing school online. :)

Last Night At Contagious

We had a great time together last night at Contagious.

Students and leaders played some Polish out on the front lawn. Others were sitting and hanging out together and talking our on the sidewalk. The weather was incredible and we all agree that Contagious at the Beach can't come soon enough (June 5, we move Contagious to Bonnet St. access, mp 11)

We took a look at our new series we began last night, Shallow to Deep. We are encouraging students to make the habits that will help their faith and relationship with God to grow part of their daily lives.

Moving from the shallow to the deep doesn't happen from Bible knowledge, the growth comes from applying the knowledge. Our big idea last night was: You are responsible for your spiritual growth.

Students were challenged to take the 5/5 commitment for this series:

1. Make a commitment to be hear each Sunday night.
2. Bring your Bibles with you to Contagious.
3. Read your Bible during the week at home.
4. Pray daily
5. Choose 5 friends you know who are not Christians and pray for them daily during the next 5 weeks, share your faith with them, invite them to Contagious.

In the PODs students and their leaders took a look at the 4 types of soil in Matthew 13. Soil #1 needs a relationship with Christ. Soils #2,#3, #4 could all benefit from the habits it takes to grow in your faith.

Students were given the following for daily reading this week:

Monday - Matthew 12:46-50

Tuesday - Matthew 13:1-23

Wednesday – Matthew 13:24-30

Thursday – Matthew 13:31-35

Friday – Matthew 13:36-43

Saturday - Matthew 13:44-58

This coming Sunday night there is no Contagious so students can treat their moms to some special time together for Mother's Day and so our volunteers can enjoy the special day with their families.

Sunday, May 15, we come back together and spend some time unpacking our response of being in a relationship with Jesus Christ. What do you do when you love someone?

Shallow to Deep

This Sunday night we start a new series, Shallow to Deep, the habits you need to impact your life and the life of others.

A couple of months ago our youth group filled out a survey. I sort of had a hunch about where we are at as a youth group. While we have a few students who are striving to go deep in their faith we are mostly a shallow group when it comes to matters of our faith walk. Sixty five percent of students live in homes (keep in mind the majority of students are “church kids” from “church families”) where the Bible is not read together as a family. Seventy five percent of our students do not read the Bible on their own during the week. We have a small percentage have prayer together as a family.

We are experiencing spiritual anemia. The only time kids are feeding is at youth group or Sunday morning.

For the next several weeks we are going to look at the HABITS it takes for believers to establish in their life that will help them move from the shallows to the deep in their faith.

This Sunday night we have a conversation about this fact: “You are responsible for your spiritual growth.”

What we offer as a youth ministry:
Encouragement for parents to disciple their teens and links to some great resources.

Weekly worship with the church.
Opportunities for ministry and mission involvement.
Weekly youth worship that includes small group discussion and fellowship.
Events and activities with purpose.

So Sunday night we are saying, “Here is the buffet. It’s up to you whether or not you are going to eat. You have the tools and opportunities but the choice is yours.” More about Sunday night next Monday.

Our 7 Month 7 Strategies Focus

It has been a long time since I have seen a group of students who are passionate about their relationship with Jesus Christ. I have seen individuals with that passion spattered here and there but not a group movement in that direction. Over the next several months I would like to see us move in a direction to accomplish the 7 strategies below.

1. More Bible digging during POD’s where students read the scripture from an actual Bible. This will help them to get the feel of having a Bible in hand and reading it.
2. Challenging students to bring their Bibles to Contagious (except when at the beach)
3. A run through the HABITS series.
4. A 30-day challenge. Students will sign up for a 30-day challenge to read the Bible daily. We will read through Proverbs and they will journal about one verse per chapter that really means something to them and “why?” This will happen in an online forum on our group's Facebook page.
   
5. Invest in student leaders. Good article here http://www.youthministry.com/articles/leadership/developing-student-leaders

6. Provide materials for students to study the Bible on their own and memorize scripture.
7. Teach them how to share their faith with friends.