Son Sitting In

This week at youth group, my oldest son was having a hard time in Sparks. So they brought him up to me while I was leading youth group. This has never happened before so I was little concerned for my little guy. He sat so patiently in the back of the room just watching me “do my thing”.

In the past, I’ve tried bringing him with me to events and youth group only to find that in those times, he’s been needy and felt the need for me to hold him. That’s not really doable when you’re up front teaching. I was afraid when I saw him and his Sparks teacher come into our youth room that that’s what I would have to do.

Boy was I wrong. His behavior that night makes me second guess that I can’t bring him to any event. He is, after all 5 years old. I know many other youth pastors bring their younger kids with them. Maybe now I can.

Trial By Fire

Let me first start off by saying that I don’t get sick very often. Maybe one time a year and it’s just the sniffles. Recently, I hired an intern. He’s been working for me for about 2 months so I’m still getting to know him, his gifts, talents, etc.

Well, it was a Wednesday morning and I woke up sick…I mean really sick. I felt like I was laying on my death bed. I waited a couple of hours and let my intern know that he would probably have to lead the lesson that night because I was not going to make it that evening. His response? “Do you want me to continue with your series?” No hesitation on his part. This gains points in my mind for the success of this future leader. Granted I didn’t get to hear his message or watch his leadership, but from what I’ve heard so far, the night went well.

It really pays to have an intern! This was one of those “trial by fire” times.

But I also want to/have to say this. When I texted all my leaders about how I wouldn’t be there because I was sick and that the intern would lead the night…one leader responded, “Get better soon! We got it”. I truly have the best leaders a youth pastor can have. I hope and pray that they know how thankful I am for each and every one.

Thank your youth leaders today! They deserve it!

Open Use

Youth ministry is a VERY busy job. Meeting with students, watching their sport/activities, planning, writing, recruiting, training, and the list goes on. Not to mention family time. It’s hard to write 2-3 messages a week. That’s one for Jr. High, one for Sr. High, and one for Sunday mornings. So, I’m always looking for good curriculum to use. One that allows me to easily modify it to fit my needs.

I love the resources that lifechurch.tv have come out with, like the youversion bible. While poking around their stuff I came across their Open resources. They have a ton of stuff for speaking to teens. It comes with messages, videos, graphics, even small group questions. I recently used one of their series called “Greater Than” to try out this resource. I have to say…INCREDIBLE. Loved using it. I could easily make it my own. I didn’t have to reinvent graphics. It made my life a lot easier. I highly recommend that you check it out and give it a try. After all…it’s FREE!

Creative Idea For Worship

It’s that time of year where most people are fighting some sort of sickness. That’s the case for me. Tonight for youth group I couldn’t lead worship and teach. My body and voice wouldn’t make it all the way through. So, as I was thinking about what to do for worship I needed a creative way to run it. As I was picking up my son from his friends house it hit me. Let’s do something new with the technology that is at our fingertips. The answer is polleverywhere.com.

I made 3 free text polls that were projected on the screen…one at a time. One poll said, “God, to me you are…“, “God, thank you for…“, and “God, I pray for…“. Kids texted in their finished sentences and it was projected on the screen…live. While they were texting I had music playing in the background.

Very cool to see what kids responses.

Off to a GREAT start

Our regular fall schedule started up again last week. Personally, I felt we did great attendance wise. 20+ each night. (See, we have Jr. High meet on Wednesday nights and Sr. High meets on Thursday nights.) I felt the desire to start out with talking to our regulars. They are the ones that start out with us right away. Then, hopefully, we grow a little. So my messages were geared toward those who have a commitment with Jesus.

In Jr. High, I started out talking about evangelism and how to do it. It seems, now correct me if I’m wrong, that Jr. High students are more bold about talking about faith, Jesus, and church than high school students. I think they took my challenge. Guess what happened? The next week, we had almost doubled our attendance!!!

You might be thinking, “It’s not about the numbers.” YES IT IS! That’s more souls we can reach for Christ. More lives we’ll hopefully see in heaven. That’s more people we can turn from darkness to the light. Don’t tell me it not about the numbers.

I’m super excited to see what God is going to do in our ministry this year.

It’s all about the black lights

I wanted to take something old and put a new spin on it for our fall kick-offs. What a better way to make something new than to add black lights! It was too much money and too time consuming to change all the lights in our “gym” so I found a place where you can rent them. I rented 2 from Blank Extreme Entertainment.

Friday Night – we rented laser tag! Games2u is a great company that will work with you. They brag about having out door laser tag (which we’ve done a couple of time…very fun.) but we asked about doing indoor and they were able to accommodate! Kids loved the laser tag in the black lights.

Saturday Night – I bought Finger Rockets from Buckets-O-Fun. Great product and lasted the whole night! I’ve played with other brands and in one shot they brake…not these! I put a strip of neon tape so that in the black light it looked like tracer bullets flying through the air. We played a variety of different games, but ended up in an all out war, every person for themselves!

All in all, a great weekend for kicking off the school year and our fall ministry.

So It Begins

This is the time of year where my ministry runs in overdrive. We’ve got kick-off events, retreats, regular youth group nights coming, leadership training & recruiting, and a TON of planning. It doesn’t seem like it will get all done, but it has to and it will! This is just the ministry side of things.

On a personal note, my two boys just start school. #1 son started all-day kindergarden and #2 son started morning preschool. Add that into the mix and there is no rest for the weary.

With the peddle to the metal, we’re off!