Category: Ministry

Posted on

Another Small Step to Make Huge Impacts

Back in June I posted about an opportunity to help a friend of mine with the adoption of her daughter and/or siblings with your purchase of an everyday item, coffee. You can check that post out HERE. Neely and Josh have recently been informed that they are 27th on the list to get a girl and 10th on the list to get siblings.

Today I come to you with a new opportunity to help them out by purchasing another everyday item. Adopting a baby from a foreign country is expensive, but with everyone taking small steps, we can help make it happen and essentially re-write a baby or potentially two babies life stories, as well as a families. Neely and Josh have had some really cool T-shirts made up to help raise money for the expenses of the adoption. I am sporting mine in the picture at the top of the post. The T-shirt reads “Adoption Rocks” in an Africa logo and comes in black with a white logo or White with a red logo. The T-shirts are $15 each, and you should buy one for yourself and everyone in your family (yes they have children’s sizes)!

Click HERE to go to Neely’s page to order your T-shirt. She has an order form on her right hand sidebar or Email her HERE to place your order.

For Coffee lovers or family and friends of Coffee lovers…Click HERE to place your Coffee order. Remember, you must order through the link for them to get credit for your purchase.

Thanks for Re-writing little children’s life stories!

Posted on

The Refinery at Saddleback

One of the cool things that we got to do while in California was tour the Refinery; we also held our daily meetings there. Doug expressed his love/hate relationship with the building and I think every youth worker who has a solid focus on growing their students spiritually through relationships would agree with his premise, although we would also love to have a building like the Refinery 🙂 . Doug shared that he has been doing student ministry for over 25 years without a “student building” and in that time he has come to the realization that student ministry can be done outside of a permenant building. I think most of us realize it can be done in a living room, in a gym, outisde under a tree, or where ever else students convene. If we ‘think’ our student ministries can only be effective in a nice building, we run the risk of narrowing our focus of ministry to be program driven. That is not my heart and I know it is not the heart of focus of PDYM. Doug said he made it clear that he did not want the Refinery to be considered the “Student” building, though it has a student ministry theme throughout, he wants it to be considered a “Community Center,” and by the looks of what happens throughout the week, its exactly that. They are using this beast of a building to reach out to their community…and that is awesome! They also host their new service FUSE in the high school auditorium, from what I’ve heard that service for 20 somethings to 30 somethings has exploded and God is blessing it in a huge way.

I’ve included some pictures of the Refinery below, I ripped them from my friend Tom’s Facebook and my friend Dan’s blog (My wife would not let me take her camera). Click HERE to go to the Extending the Vision Blog for more Refinery pics and stories.

By the way, this picture shows a little more about what the Gathering is. Its not a big conference and really not a big youth pastor’s event. (Its big to us) It is a “Gathering” of PDYM like minded youth pastors who Doug Fields and Neely have selected to represent the PDYM philosophy/paradigm for student ministry in their states. Like Proverbs 27:17, we sharpen each other, pray for each other, and have a lot of fun. When its time to say goodbye we are like a bunch of school girls crying that it would not end.

Posted on

Connecting Discipleship with Ministry

I am blogging at the PDYM Blog today. I will be posting once a week there now, so if you have any ideas for topics please let me know! Here is an excerpt of my article, head on over to the blog and join the conversation there, I would love to know your thoughts on the subject…

Hopefully we all have a strategy to lead our students into a growing relationship with Christ. Some may use the programs (Sunday School or small groups) that are in place at their church to emphasize spiritual growth, while others may emphasize growth outside of “programs” by utilizing tools such as the H.A.B.I.T.S. material.

How much emphasis do you put on involving students in ministry within your discipleship strategy? Is it a key element or do you hold back some of your service projects and ministry opportunities for your more spiritually mature students? READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

See you there!!!

Posted on

Conversations with a 5 Year Old (Part 5)

…about his hearts sin condition. Straight from a 5 year old’s mind and heart to his lips. (This conversation took place at MeMaw’s house)

Gavin: MeMaw!

MeMaw: What Gavin?

Gavin: (With hand placed over chest) I hate this sin in my heart

MeMaW: You hate the sin in your heart?

Gavin: Yes, how do I get rid of it?

MeMaw: You have to ask Jesus to get rid of it for you

MeMaw: How did you know about the sin in your heart?

Gavin: From 3D (Our children’s program at church for K-5th Grade)

As a parent I am excited to hear my son acknowledging the ‘sin in his heart‘ and even more his desire to get rid of it and to get it out of his heart…at the age of 5. I am reminded of what Proverbs 22:6 says about teaching our children the right things at a young age so they will stick with it at an older age. That is my daily prayer for my children…that they stay on the right path when Mom and Dad are not around.

I believe education, both secular and spiritually start at home, however I understand that we cannot expect to be the only voice in our children’s lives. That is why I am so thankful for the other voices in my children’s lives, such as 3D at TCAG, my mom-in-law, “Mr. Shane,” and many others who have taken a vested interest in my family. I appreciate my pastor pushing our children’s teams to provide environments that are second to none for the children in our church and the children in our community that have yet to be reached. Just a thought…don’t go at this parenting thing alone!

Other Conversations with a 5 Year Old Posts: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4

Join the Conversation: Any interesting conversations around your house recently?

Posted on

The Gathering in One Picture

The 2008 Gathering is over. I hate having to type those words. I think Doug tweeted it best, I wish we were all neighbors. Every year I make new friends and deepen my relationship with those who I am already connected with. My favorite part of these few days together is pictured above, sharing life with some of the sharpest leaders in student ministry. We do not discuss numbers, we don’t flaunt successes, we sharpen each other, we stretch each other, we pray for one another and we have tons of fun! I cannot describe the power of the authenticity that takes place around our tables during our various sessions, but I can say, its good.

Check back…I’ll be posting more about the Gathering and my week in California…right now I’m getting ready to fly home to my family who I greatly miss. California is great, but it stinks without them! California with my family would = Heaven 🙂