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Attendance
Not sure on the exact numbers from last night...but it looked like a full house. Definitely was alot of excitement as I walked on stage to do the welcome...love that feeling when you know kids are excited to be there.
Talk: PIONEERS...Go First
Started a new series off called Pioneers. The idea is calling students out into the adventure that is a life surrendered to God. I highlighted Oregons pioneers Lewis & Clark and talked about Moses being a Pioneer as well. Overall I would say I started off strong and ended kinda week. The stories I used to start the talk off caught them and they were definitely in tune...but later on I lost them as I tried to make the turn to bibical pioneers. Need to put more work into that with the next one. I ended challenging the students to discuss in their small groups ways that God might lead them to GO FIRST.
Volunteer Involvement
Always nice starting a new year/season off...people are excited to be back serving. We had a great turnout at our 615p prayer time which was nice. Also was great to see Jeff one of our coaches be willing to fill-in for one of his small group leaders who couldnt make it. This is the kindof attitude I desire for our team to be known for.
Music
We had a full band last night! (if you regularly read my wraps you know why I mention that) We even had like 2-3 more than a full band...had an extra guitar and singer. This made for a high-energy worship set that I think went over really well. You could see that the tech and worship teams had missed doing Wildfire...they put alot of extra effort in this week to make the program really sweet.
Final Thought
It was great to be back...4 weeks is a long time for a youth pastor to be away from his flock. I feel like this new year holds alot of promise for us...I'm learning alot from Eric and am eager to apply what I am learning. Going home to Michigan and spending time with students I had worked with early on in ministry really opened my eyes to some stuff about ministry philosophy. Sunday is our first volunteer meeting of the year...I cant wait to share some stuff with the team.
- Location:My Desk
- Mood:
happy - Music:His Love Endures Forever - Chris Tomlin
Attendance
You can always tell how attendance is gonna be within the first 15 minutes the doors are opened. We were down about 30 last night…which isn’t uncommon for this time of year. I think the holidays make it tougher for families to make to church Wednesday nights. Energy was still good.
Talk: Topic Relationships911 Time
The big idea this week was that genuine relationships take time to develop. I talked a lot about Twilight…basically highlighting one of the lies in it that relationships happen really fast and are just about some feelings we have in our stomachs. I opened with a good illustration about a pastor who did a 20 year reunion with his students. He asked them what was the most impactful from their time in youth group…they answered genuine relationships. Overall seemed like it landed well and made for good discussion in small groups.
Volunteer Involvement
I think we were close to having all leaders present…which coupled with the lower numbers of students made for smaller groups. I talked with a couple of leaders that said they enjoyed the better connection due to smaller numbers.
Music
Nick is a rock star. He was down multiple band members and led from his acoustic guitar. His sister Krista led with him as well. The song selection was great and I liked how he did a mash up of a Christmas song and worship song for the response.
Final Thought
Two weeks ago I had a seven grade boy tell me that he was not getting anything out of Wildfire. While I definitely don’t like hearing that I have done this long enough to know that there’s a lot that can go into a statement like that. This week the very same boy told me that he wanted my job…in other words…he decided he wants to become a youth pastor. Whew I can’t paint a greater picture for you of middle school ministry…they are ever-changing beings. Sometimes it’s frustrating and other times it’s beautiful.
- Location:My Desk
Lesson Topic: Relationships911: Perseverance
Volunteer Involvement: Above Average
Music: Average
Talk Quality: Average
Length of Talk: 20
Student Response: Average
Tonight I launched a new series on Relationships....definitely a topic relevant to middle schoolers as their lives seem to center on relationships. Overall the program had a good feel to it...I think everyone was excited to be back and to connect with everyone. Its always great to see every seat filled when you walk on to the stage. The game was COLD FEET...kids try and get the most swedish fish out of a tub of ice cold water. This game is always better with the live video camera shooting a shot of their feet. Worship was good tonight...again kinda low key without a drummer...students miss jumpin and thumpin. I felt alright with the talk...students always love it when I tell stories about my adventures in dating. I think it a weird way they connect with the awkwardness of trying. Near the end I felt I lost em and didnt end as strong as I started. We focused on how relationships are hard and require work. In the end I pray the Father uses it in their lives and helps them to have better relationships...I know I needed to hear what I said tonight.
Still wonder why He chose a guy like me to do this....
- Location:My Desk
- Mood:
tired - Music:King of Glory - Third Day
Lesson Topic: Why Serve? (Speaker: Austin Nealeigh)
Volunteer Involvement: Average
Music: Average
Talk Quality: GREAT FIRST EVER TALK
Length of Talk: 8
Student Response: Average
Last night was a special night cause I got to experience a first with one of my mentee's...Austin gave his first talk at Wildfire! This was rewarding because God has blessed me with the exciting/tough task of mentoring him to be a Godly man and pursue Youthwork as a profession. He did great for his first time...solid points and connection with the audience. He didn't read the whole thing or stay locked behind the music stand but actually felt free to move some. As you notice above...he came in alittle short on time...but that is very common and usually better than going over! Worship was good...ever hear the phrase: "you dont know what you had till its gone?" Yeah our drummer got grounded and couldnt play last night...and it definitely stole alot of the energy. But Nick and the team did the best without him...Since Austin was speaking...Kait did the game alone...and man did she soar! It was slurpee race and she did a great job getting them excited and keeping the game on time! Holly did great as usual with announcements...she could make an announcement about new toilets interesting! We are hoping to get her to speak sometime...she told me NO ...but if you guys would maybe put some pressure on her we might see a chick up there. We showed out first student made video last night! It was definitely pretty corny...but in a good way. If you have a couple of minutes to waste...you can see it HERE.
As if hearing Austin wasnt enough...I also was blessed to lead Jeff's small group since he was out of town on business. I love his guys and have a special connection with them from summer camp. Its always good for me to get back to that perspective and see what small groups are really like...especially when the speaker goes short and we have 45 minutes!
There's no WF next week due to Thanksgiving. We are encouraging everyone to attend the Thanksgiving Eve Praise Night. I will be back on teaching December 3rd...a new series on Relationships...
- Location:My Desk
- Music:Crazy Love - Van Morrison
Lesson Topic: Authority Matters: God uses it to GUIDE us
Volunteer Involvement: Average
Music: Average
Talk Quality: Average
Length of Talk: 25
Student Response: Average
Overall a good night. Had a lot of students back...attendance jumped by like 30 from our average. A lot of sports ended...so those students came back which is sweet. The game tonight was the Impossible Shot...which is basically a half court shot over the students heads. One of the two students actually hit the rim which was a cool moment. We really couldn't find a great video this week...so we showed THIS ONE of some dancing animal friends. Worship seemed solid...though I have to admit not being in the gym for most of it. Eric finished his two week series on Authority. He took a different approach than I would have or you might say the "normal" authority talks...and focused on how God puts authority figures in our lives with a purpose; to protect us and to guide us. The students were definitely into it...however he did go over a little bit so we had to cut the response song..but that is actually cool sometimes I think. I helped Austin with his small group...he continues to struggle with a guy in his group. I have to admit I did something foolish last night...to deal with a disruptive students I used sarcasm to shut him down. Well it worked...I recognized it came at the expense of the relationship. I share this with you to admit that I still can make mistakes in ministry after 10 years and to say that sometimes students are really tough to work with and the books/training just doesn't give us any help. I talked with the student after and will continue to work on establishing relationship...cause that in the long run will be a win-win. On a positive note...the highlight of the night for me was hearing a guy in his group recall what I taught a couple of weeks back. Very rewarding to know that students caught what you taught.
- Location:My Desk
- Mood:
blah - Music:Destination - Tiesto
Attendance: Below Average
Lesson Topic: Authority Matters: God uses it to PROTECT us
Volunteer Involvement: Average
Music: Above Average
Talk Quality: Above Average
Length of Talk: 17
Student Response: Average
Lets just say I am glad that I didn't write this post last night right after Wildfire...it might have included some swear words. Last night was a really tough night. It might not have seemed like it to most of the leaders...but there were a lot of FIREs (pun intended) last night. Its weird how some weeks I feel like no one needs me and then other weeks the need is overwhelming. Like seriously at one point I had a line of 5 people waiting to talk to me...most of whom had issues that needed to be resolved. We had a couple actually decide it was ok for them to leave our campus...our security guy found them on their way to Subway. Apparently they wanted to do a Bible Study with Jared? The irony is that Eric spoke for the first time last night...SOOOO glad I didnt have the FIRES and was speaking. He did an excellent job connecting with the students and I have alot to learn from him in that area. Worship was great. Nick and his team were right on...the kids rocked out. Game was funny as usual...something to do with eating baby food? Another one for the books....
God and I had a nice talk last night. I journaled alot about feeling like alot of this pressure tonight arose out of not having enough. It seems like so much could/would be resolved if we only had more leaders and resources. Why doesnt He always provide when we have been asking for help for a long time?
- Location:My Desk
- Music:Scars - Papa Roach
Lesson Topic: Conscience: Second in the "Life is a Highway" series
Volunteer Involvement: Average
Music: Average
Talk Quality: Above Average
Length of Talk: 15
Student Response: Average
Tonight was a solid Wildfire. I had went into it with a lot of prayer...as I struggled to bring the talk together. For the WiFi we showed a video of a 10 year old Yo Yo Whiz that Mike sent me. You can check it HERE. We brought back the Turkey Bowl...which is always a HIT. Kaitlin is doing a great job taking more and more of the game off Austins hands. Some people are just destined for the stage. Nick and the team did awesome with worship...he did an acoustic set tonight so it was a little more chill than usual. So the talk was on the conscience...and as much as a I struggled to bring it together it seemed to land well. I think the point that really surprised me and seemed to connect was that God lets US manage our conscience...that we can actually re-program our conscience by ignoring it. I think I used to believe that it was automatic...like God always controlled it, made us feel guilty when He wanted to. After the talk I was invited to come to Donna Larson's small group. I went in alittle scared cause she wouldnt tell me why they wanted me there. (you never know if they are gonna drill you about dinosaurs or something like that.) She had made her girls some Dirt Pie and wanted me to share in the yummy treat! It was very fulfilling to sit there and laugh with them...we played two truths and a lie...
I am not speaking for the next three Wildfire's. Its bittersweet. I like the time off...however I will definitely miss the opportunity to speak to them. Eric is doing a two week series on Authority and then Austin will follow with a talk on Service.
- Location:My Desk
- Mood:
dorky - Music:The Scientist - Natasha Bedingfield
Lesson Topic: Creation: First in the "Life is a Highway" series
Volunteer Involvement: Average
Music: Average
Talk Quality: Above Average
Length of Talk: 20 (with 5 min video clip)
Student Response: Average
We kicked off a new series called "Life is a Highway..." which was absolutely inspired by God and the Rascal Flatts song of the same name. The big idea is how do we connect with God outside of the church? The verse for the series comes from the Message paraphrase of Psalm 46:10; “Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything.”
Overall it seemed like it resonated and like the students were pretty engaged. Tonight centered on CREATION. We showed THIS clip to give them a visual...I wish we could have all been teleported to Mt Hood or the coast to talk about Creation. The game was "Donut try this at home..." basically image a donut hanging in front of your mouth from a string and you cannot use anything but your mouth to eat it. Pretty funny. Worship was good. Liked how Nick got them involved with All Day...and how at the end of my talk we worked on this creative way to tell a story about Mice trapped in a piano. This weeks topic seemed "easy..." now I am studying for week 2 "Conscience" ...not going to be as easy.
Gettng excited about the Sanctus Real show at church tonight...there are still tickets available....so if you are free at 7pm stop by and check it out.
- Location:My Desk
- Music:Hear Our Praises - Reuben Morgan
Lesson Topic: Distractions (Guest Speaker: Brad Schlief)
Volunteer Involvement: Above Average
Music: Average
Talk Quality: Above Average
Length of Talk: 13
Student Response: Average
Coming out of the National Youth Workers Convention this past weekend I made a wise move in asking one of our volunteers and friend of mine Brad Schlief to bring the talk. He talked about Distractions and even had a nice use of technology distracting the students at the beginning of the talk. I had to laugh at the idea of talking about distractions with middle schoolers...everything is distracting to a hormonal middle schooler! The program over all went very well. We returned back to the beginning of our game rotation with COLD Feet. Basically kids try and grab the most swedish fish with their feet in a tub of ice water. I wish we made them eat the other kids fish after...that would be sweet. Worship was kickin...loved bringing back Psalm 113...and Marvelous Light was particularly awesome this week! One of our new drummers, Matthew Brady rocked out. My favorite part of the night was sitting in on Jeff Israel's small group. He is such a great small group leader and you can just tell his boys love his group. And I can see why...after hanging out with them at camp I have a special place in my heart for his guys...they are just really neat guys. Its always good for me to sit in and be reminded of how the talks land in the groups. Eric has challenged us to see the talks more as a setup for small groups than a traditional talk. This will take some adjusting on my part...but I am gonna give it my best shot. Speaking of preparing for talks...I need to go and do that now.
- Location:My Desk
- Mood:
accomplished - Music:Pretend That Youre Alone - Keane
Lesson Topic: Small Groups Launch 2.0
Volunteer Involvement: Above Average
Music: Average
Talk Quality: Above Average
Length of Talk: 18 (with cooking show)
Student Response: Average
Definitely a bounce back from last week...apparently the water is back to normal. Tonight again just felt better...from the minute students ran in the door you could just feel it was different than last week. Eric did the welcome and continued his spoof on the "we are wildfire" thing that students shout at the end of the countdown. We showed a crazy clip of a skateboarder who jumped a curb and then wrapped his legs around a poll. Austin did a slurpee race game...simple yet good. Worship was better than last week...but students still struggled to connect. Nick was wise in bringing back the song "Marvelous Light" from summer camp. This week to liven up my talk I started with a cooking show skit...asked a student to help me bake a cake. Complete with a video camera showing whats happening up close, I fumbled through adding in the different elements. We then sent the cake into the kitchen to be baked and later I had it come out...which of course we had switched with a completed cake that we then gave to a student to eat with their small group. Oh yeah and my talk was about the essential ingrediants for an effective small group. Seemed to work...even though we were about 10 minutes late on timing. I am really excited about small groups this year...I think the greater focus on them will prove to be a wise move.
- Location:My Place
- Mood: happy
Lesson Topic: Small Groups Launch
Volunteer Involvement: Average
Music: Average
Talk Quality: Below Average
Length of Talk: 15
Student Response: Below Average
Is there something in the Portland Water System? Seriously there is something in youth ministry that I have learned over the years; sometimes students just aren't tracking...and are struggling to pay attention for no apparent reason. Now that's not to say that WE don't have a part to play when it comes to holding students attention and doing things that are developmentally appropriate. I confess tonight I really didn't do well with the talk...I read too much and didn't have enough stories or humor. This continues to be the tension in my job...what gets squeezed out of Thursday and Friday effects the next Wednesday night. I talked with Nick after and he noticed students didn't seem into the songs like other weeks...again I don't think it had much to do with the band...rather was just something in the culture of the students tonight. The focus tonight was small groups...which seemed to launch fairly well. We still need a lot of leaders to fill in gaps and allow for their to be co-leaders. So many of our groups have ONE leader...so when that leader falls ill or is out of town we have a problem!
On a positive note, I so appreciate having a sidekick; Austin. He comes and spends all of Wednesday helping me in preparing for Wildfire. He picked out the small group icebreaker and helped me set everything up for tonight. It was neat as well to walk up on a conversation after where he was telling students their behavior was inappropriate during the talk. Last week when he could sense I was discouraged going into the talk he asked if he could pray for me. Wow. So excited to see the future God has for this guy...I think its gonna be much bigger than any of us can imagine.
- Location:My Desk
- Mood: tired
- Music:Godspeed - Anberlin
Lesson Topic: Wildfire Series WrapUp
Volunteer Involvement: Above Average
Music: Average
Talk Quality: Average
Length of Talk: 20
Student Response: Average
Last night was a little crazy going into it. You see yesterday the servers at Sunset were down...which meant no email, internet or access to files on the drive. This made preparation for the night a little hairy...we had to find some backup plans to get things done. Then Wildfire itself needed some tweaking since we use the internet live during programming and also pull files from the server. That being said things came together a lot better than I thought they would. Austin brought a new game which was called "Baby Burp" or something like that. Basically its a race to eat baby food, drink from a sippy cup and then they have to burp. It was really funny and the students seem to really enjoy it. Worship was good...Nick brought back a song he taught them last week called; Love Enough. He also did an acoustic version of Break Free to follow my talk...seemed to be a good fit. My talk was different in the sense it was the series wrapup and featured an opportunity for students to begin a relationship with God. It seemed to connect well...however I really felt out of it when i walked up and a little underprepared.
Given all the circumstances thrown to us...I think we did really well.
- Location:Beaverton Honda Waiting Area
Lesson Topic: The FIRE in the WORLD
Volunteer Involvement: Above Average
Music: Average
Talk Quality: Average
Length of Talk: 27
Student Response: Above Average
Definitely the least exciting of the 3 FIRE talks...I was challenged by Eric to modify my talk style this week...so I wasn't as comfortable with it. I definitely read a lot more than I should have. However some of the stories I used seemed to really impact people...heard a lot of feedback with my intro story and Donna sharing about God coming near to her at 30K feet. Nick did awesome with worship...especially since he had some definite obstacles to overcome. His string broke on the 3rd song...so they cut the last song. He also didnt have a lead electric guitar which made some of the songs alittle tougher to pull off. Austin brought back turkey bowl...such a hit with the students. Theres nothing like sending a froken turkey sliding down the gym floor.
As I write this I am sitting in a 2-3 hour meeting to discuss the philosophy of student ministry....it will be interesting to see where we land and how it will change the feel of Wildfire this year.
- Location:Green Room - MGT Tm Meeting
- Mood: happy
Lesson Topic: The FIRE of the WORD
Volunteer Involvement: Above Average
Music: Above Average
Talk Quality: Average
Length of Talk: 23
Student Response: Above Average
Tonight was a lot of fun. I especially enjoyed hanging out with students during the hangout time before. That continues to be a highlight of WILDFIRE...I think middle schoolers love it cause they just don't have a lot of true community time during their week. There is a group of boys from camp that continues to call themselves "the Panda boys..." all from some joke I said about Pandas! Man they dont forget anything! One thing unique about tonight is I interviewed my boss on the stage, Eric Venable. It was fun...my normal silly interview; mac/pc, coke/pepsi, britney/miley etc. He also had his two daughters on stage who definitely stole the show. My favorite line was when I asked Eric what is good about being married he said; "we get to make people." Nice...looking forward to that. The game was a fun new one, DONUT TRY THIS AT HOME. Basically imagine someone dangling a donut in front of your face on the end of a string. You have to eat it without using your hands....pretty funny sight! One girl had some trouble at the end though...actually had some of it come back out of her mouth onto the stage :( Worship was sweet! It was nice to have our students back up playing. Nick Lind has graciously taken over as the volunteer leader of the team. I continued my series on WILDFIRE...looking at the Bible and why we teach something from it each week. Seemed to go over well, kids are loosening up abit and getting to know my style. I do need to work on shortening them up abit though, I aim for 15min and it always ends up being 20. Guess I should aim for 10 and it will be 15? That is much harder.
DISCLAIMER - I think its important to remind you my readers that this is my PERSONAL blog...and should always be seen as my opinions and thoughts....not necessarily those of Sunset Church, the people I work with OR even the volunteers or students I serve. Especially with these Wildfire wraps...they are my personal evaluation of the night...so the perspective is very limited and is not necessarily everyones thought. In my mind here is the scale which never goes below a C;
ABOVE Average - A +
Average - B
Below Average - C
- Location:My Desk
- Mood:
calm - Music:Mountain of God -Third Day
Lesson Topic: The FIRE of Worship
Volunteer Involvement: Above Average
Music: Above Average
Talk Quality: Above Average
Length of Talk: 23
Student Response: Above Average
Well we are back! Hard to believe it but summer is over and WILDFIRE is back in session. Last night was a great start to the year, as you can see from all the "Above Average" ratings...things just went really well. I had some anxiety going into the night....party because it was kickoff and partly because we no longer have a worship director. I didnt know how alot of things were gonna turn out...but I did my best to be positive and pray alot.
We has all the "usual" stuff; funny video that showed water sports gone wrong, Austin led a new game called "Cold Feet" where students try and grab swedish fish from the bottom of a tub of ice and water. ISSAKAR led us in worship...and though these guys literally just got back from playing a retreat earlier that day...they did not disappoint. My talk seemed to go over well...I felt like it was by God's design we talked about worship the first week since it will most likely look alot different this week. As I shared with someone after...the first couple weeks with the new 6th graders is pretty challenging as a communicator....the audiance isnt comfortable yet, theres not a culture built of whats OK to do during the talk. So everyone was really quiet...which most people would think is a good thing...however I just like that when you are trying to land a serious point.
As I talked with Eric after (my new boss and the MOS) I was reminded that he is going to take us on a journey this year and challenge the things that we do. As I wrote in my journal last night, I am praying for a humble attitude and for the most part am excited to learn new ways to "do" ministry. It will not be easy.
- Location:My Desk
- Stargazing with Austin & Johns cabin. Hearing Psalm 19 read under vast summer sky was powerful
- Playing Moose and then the "Comedy Hour" before bed in Jeff & Miles cabin...it was also an honor to pray with them at the end of their small group time.
- Breakfast with Emily & Karen's six grade girls was a riot...Wendell Tseng says the craziest stuff! She told me that I should be on Last Comic Standing and that I was good looking.
- Paintball. Introducing everyone to President was soooooo fun. It was also a lot of fun to help Justin who had never played before gain the courage to get out there. He loved it.
- Watching students break "the rules" when they were told not to "jump" during worship...why? because "they couldnt possibly be worshipping and jumping at the same time." Man how I love the Christian community sometimes....
- Talking with Chelse & Laura's cabin at the swing and throughout the week was..."interesting." Not to mention the moment when I jokingly told one of her girls to kiss my tattoo and she actually did. How do you walk away from that moment? A good reminder that jokes you do with the guys might not be the best for the girls....
- Seeing soooo much growth in our high school leaders.
- Frisbee and fun by the lake was awesome...the weather could not have been better for the week.
- Location:McMenamins, Imbrie Hall
- Mood: happy
Lesson Topic: SummerKillers - Boredom
Volunteer Involvement: Average
Music: ABOVE Average
Talk Quality: Average
Length of Talk: 15
Well tonight was the LAST WILDFIRE of the 07-08 school year! I looked at the calendar and realized that we did 40 WF's this year! Man time flew by. It was a great ending to the year. Joy was back up filling in for Austin. She did Man, Gun Gorilla which is always a hit...I think the new 6th graders digged it. Worship was ON tonight! Shout it Out was seriously rockin! Seth is an amazing drummer. My talk was short and sweet, talked about overcoming Boredom. I think it was really relevant given the fact that just 3 hours before the talk I heard another student say how bored they were this summer. In the talk I gave some ideas of stuff to do when you are bored this summer and I also encouraged them to use their imagination when they have to do things they dont want to do this summer. One of my ideas was to dress up like a character when you are doing your chores, I said "who wouldnt have a good time time vacuuming dressed up like a pirate?" So I recieved the pic below from a mom who reminded me that students really are listening to what I say;
After the talk we honored Jenni since it was her last WILDFIRE as our worship director. It was fun to hear some of her team members "honor" her...the best was a couple of shoutouts from the crows nest...including a guy singing in German (you had to be there). The night ended with us singing; The Stand...which is always a very powerful song. Tonight was not any different. Jenni added in the "Hallelujah" ending...which was such a fitting end to WILDFIRE's first full year. God gets the HIGHEST PRAISE (AKA Hallelujah) for such a great year of ministry.
See you in September! Keep the FIRE burning....
- Location:My Desk
- Mood: happy
- Music:The Stand - Hillsong
Lesson Topic: SummerKillers - Bad Choices
Volunteer Involvement: Average
Music: Average
Talk Quality: Average
Length of Talk: 30 (including some interactive stuff)
Tonight was the first night with the new 6th grade class! It was a lot fun meeting many of them...so many who have weird, hard to remember names! Joy filled in for Austin (he is in Honduras) with the game. She did "Snoot Shoot" which is a an oldie that asks students to snort pieces of candy out of their noses. All of them were shy and tried their best to get them into the bucket while flinging it out of their nostril. Gross. Worship was good. Lots of energy and student excited to see what it was like in our dept. We had two girls sit in the last row with their hands over their ears. In fact when I asked a new 6th grader what she thought about her first Wildfire she said she liked it but it was really LOUD. Been awhile since I heard that :) I switched up my speaking style a bit this week. I knew they would be used to a more interactive approach. So at least for the last two weeks of the year I'm trying to make the shift as painless as possible for them. I talked about how Bad Choices can ruin our summer. My favorite part was when I did a mini-drama that told the story of Solomon's wisdom in choosing which mom was the real mom in 1 Kings 3:16-28. When I asked the students if they recognized the story many of them did! That was surprising to me.
After Wildfire a group of us leaders went to Buffalo Wild Wings for bonding and some fun. I am a firm believer that strong community is key to an effective team. We will be repeating it next Wednesday night as well.
One more to go.
- Location:My Desk
- Music:Time Wont Let Me Go - The Bravery
Lesson Topic: Being Unbreakable
Volunteer Involvement: Average
Music: Average
Talk Quality: ABOVE Average
Length of Talk: 25
Tonight was a fun night...but a tough one to start. It was the last night for our current 8th graders. We had all of the normal stuff, an internet video, Holly's announcements and the students favorite game; Take A Bite or Take A Seat. Its amazing to me how people love to watch other people suffer...eating a spoon full of mayonnaise is soooo gross. Worship was good...sound off a bit at parts...but nothing major. My favorite was Lead Me to the Cross....man those are powerful words. For my talk tonight the idea actually came from THIS website. The song really spoke to me and encouraged me in my own personal walk, so much so that I wanted to write a talk surrounding it. Basically it was about spiritual warfare and how the world is trying to break us...to get us off track from Gods plan for our lives. I took a risk tonight and did an object lesson that could have went very bad. Basically I had two identical vases...at the beginning of the talk I broke one dropping it on the stage floor saying this is what the world is trying to do to us. Then at the end of the talk to lead into the song, I drop another that didnt break. Obviously the fear was that the second one would break...I am proud to say it didnt and made for a powerful lesson.
Yesterday and today have been TOUGH days at work...and honestly it didn't occur to me today that since I was giving a talk on spiritual warfare I just might be experiencing some of my own....the Enemy doesn't want us to open peoples eyes.
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18TNIV
- Location:My Desk
- Mood: happy
- Music:Sending - Charlie Hall
Lesson Topic: Taking Risks Guest Speaker: Justin Scott
Volunteer Involvement: Below Average
Music: ABOVE Average
Talk Quality: Average
Length of Talk: 25
Ok I have to first comment on how weird it is that it is still light out as I write this tonight. Yes I know its JUNE...I just wish sometimes we could hit the pause button in life and be able to allow ourselves to catch up.ANYWAYS...tonight went well. I was smart in scheduling a guest speaker on the week when I was out of the office for a number of days. Justin Scott is a great guy from WyldLife. He spoke on the paralytic whose friends dropped him down through the ceiling to get to Jesus...on taking risks. It was fun after to co-lead a small group with him since we were short on leaders. We played the WAR game...which went alright...still needs some tweaks to make it a hit in my book. Worship was HOT...always love Jenni's song selection...great mix of fast and slow stuff. Found out today that camp is filling up...like only 10 more spots for each gender! Very cool!
Not to be negative...just authentic...I really struggle this time of year. SOOOO many students & leaders check out...dont show up, make excuses...and then some come and clearly have lost some passion and drive. I have trained my leaders about striving to be thermostats and not thermometers...to set the temp not rise & fall with it. I notice this is an area I struggle to be the thermostat.
- Location:My Desk
- Mood: blank
- Music:Indivisble - Plankeye
