check out this kid in a wheelchair & his hardcore sitting. especially the backflip around 2min
Youth Ministry
greetings from our bunch!
i am felling all normal after spending the night at the church with the fellas of room in the inn & our youth super bowl party. it is a sacrifice to each year say yes to our group hosting the room in the inn guests and not just doing some larger group party at someones home or even leaving the day open as a personal day, but when everyone shows up i am thankful to be the innkeeper for the night. i decided to plug one of the pics of the night into my project 365, the rest i have put on the youth ministries flickr pages.
i am not used to getting up at 4am, especially after only getting to bed at 1am, but it all works out after a nice afternoon nap.
dismantle the mission trip
a few weeks ago i mentioned a change in language about our not taking missions trips, but going on missions experiences. since that time, but not spurred by my posting ariah has gotten into some great discussion over short term missions. it reminds me of dixon’s deconstructing of the short-term mission trip which was and is an excellent read. he destructed them & then restructured them, so it is fairly balanced. of ariah’s most recent, a letter to returning members of short term missions, post this sticks with me.
What was never said to me, and what I want to say to you now is that
that tugging at your heart, that current impassioned disgust with our
consumeristic culture, that feeling that you should drastically change
the way that you have been living, all of that is the Holy Spirit
instilling truth in you. They are truth’s that you won’t hear preached
from a pulpit, it won’t be the topic of a Youth Group Bible Study, and
you will find very few leaders, mentors, or peers in your life that
will encourage you in your new found convictions and passion, but don’t
give them up. The Holy Spirit has placed a great stirring on your heart
through the unique trip that you have gone on and it would be a shame
to let others snuff that out.
i would like to think of myself as one of those people that does not put out those fires. they are too important. i would hope that i am a person who helps to stoke those embers into fires. maybe though, what i do not do is seek out more firewood….
update: seems more folks are talking about short term missions trips. matt has two postings here on how they suck & more on how they suck, via rethinkingyouthministry folks.
thecorner : ski trip 2008 promo video
having a little fun with the kids. threw together this promo video for our ski trip this evening on a whim. 1 minute that i hope will give you a laugh or two.
church marketing during school : slight rant
i hear quite a few horror stories from parents and teachers about a number of churches in our area that market to kids during school hours. to these folks, these specific churches get some sort of preferential treatment. i don’t get too bent out of shape about it myself, but when you have a school call a general assembly to promote a student event at a church, that is just bad form.
when I asked a Powell High administrator this morning whether the
Grace Baptist event underway is of a more evangelical and/or religious
nature, he replied "Oh, it is."Given that confirmation, I asked the administrator why this
invitation from Grace Baptist was not extended through some before or
after school channel, rather than through a general assembly during
school hours. He indicated that it was because "nobody would come." He
added that the general assembly was approved by school system personnel.
i get that some people feel they work on behalf of higher power and the separation of church and state is something to subvert for your greater good. but when i don’t believe your leader or mine ever said anything of breaking the law, or manipulating the law, to spread my word. if you don’t think your gospel message is good enough that youth would not invite their friends in the first place then think of a new way to spread your message.
besides, a motivation bait and switch to salvation isn’t going to help anybody. ugh!
update: the folks at nashvilleistalking have picked up the debate talk & this post. one thing i shared in comments there was a quote of tony campolo, "democracy is not where the majority rules, but where the minority is safe."