yaconelli quotes

i had just entered the youth ministry world back when mike yaconelli suddenly passed away, but his videos, books, and quotes have challenged me greatly. here's one i found buried on my facebook page:

"if i were to have a heart attack right at this moment, i hope i would have just enough air in my lungs and just enough strength in me to utter one last sentence as i fell to the floor: 'what a ride!' my life has been up and down, careening left then right, full of mistakes and bad decisions, and if i died right now, even though i would love to live longer, i could say from the depths of my soul, 'what a ride!'"

this guy truly was crazy.

(this clip is kinda long, but it's worth hearing his passion for student ministry and his "wahoooo's")

LEADership Day at LCC

the last few years lakeshore has dedicated an entire saturday to helping its leaders grow in their leadership (in addition to the global leadership summit in august) and today was this year's big day. it was great... and here's a few reasons why:

- a relatively new church member is the president of an executive and leadership development firm, and she gifted us today by leading the entire event and taking us through some of her material. it was so beneficial and i can tell why big corporations in the area bring her in to work with their executives.

- in explaining how he stumbled upon this "gem" right within our church's community, pastor vince stated that "whatever God has GIVEN your church right now is exactly what your church NEEDS right now". it was a profound statement and reminder for me. like many other pastors, i find it easy to look at other churches and covet their resources, facilities, levels of staff, absence of conflict (yeah right), and big budgets.

- a few of our student leaders were able to join up all day with us adults, and it was fun to see the two groups interact together. in an overwhelmingly adult environment, these guys kept right up and added value to the room. it truly felt as if everyone in the room shared my view of them: that they're not the leaders of tomorrow, but the leaders of today!

on stage artwork

here are the images i was trying to post the other night from the conference. it was a great time away, and it's great to be back!

highlights from the Simply Youth Ministry Conference

i'm so crazy blessed right now to be able to be here in chicago at the simply youth ministry conference (a live feed during general sessions can be viewed here). the only thing that could possibly make it better would be to have shanna here with us. definitely gotta fix that for next year!
here's a few random things that have made me smile during the weekend so far:

1. powerful general sessions
the worship and speakers have hit it out of the park each time! God is using them in big ways to challenge our hearts, recharge our reservoires, and create space for us to be intimate with the Almighty. doug fields spoke last night (with some CRAZY on-screen creativity), and louie giglio killed it in the morning session today! the skit guys have been hilarious, and shane and shane, matt maher, and tim timmons have brought us to the throne.

2. time with each other
i'm especially thankful for the opportunity to be here with 5 other adult leaders from our student ministry back home. in fact, i'd love to have all 15 of them here (and the other youth leaders from other area churches in our community). it has been truly great to connect deeper together in a more relaxed and casual environment, and discuss all the things we're learning and growing through during this time. it's so much better than coming alone!

3. watching them connect with God
i love seeing God work in our students... and i love seeing Him work in our leaders. to see them with their hands raised in worship and to watch them digest life-giving, mission-inspiring words puts a smile on my face like nothing else.

4. creativity unleashed
there's something about large group presentations that tap into the creative arts that connect our hearts to God in profound ways. there's a truly gifted artist here this weekend who has been painting on canvases and adding to the stage design live during the worship sessions, and it's been powerful to watch. coming from someone who's still trying to perfect the stick figure, it truly amazes me! i was gonna try to put some pictures in here, but it's not letting me right now. :(

5. practical tips, tricks, and ideas
my moleskine journal is filling up fast with tons of great ideas, tips, and tricks that we can easily implement in our setting back home. i want to make the most of this conference so that i can make the most of my calling. it's in spaces like this where God really begins to use things we've heard and learned to shape some ideas that may change and morph some things in our ministry, and it'll influence how our students interface with God!

birthdays

one of my small group guys has a birthday tomorrow, and tonight at group we're gonna try to celebrate it so that he feels a little extra special. not really doing much - just a few cheap and easy things - but it's amazing how as a small group leader just "noticing" can go so far.

i'm not a big birthday person at all - in fact the people close to me know that because it shows in the effort i've often given to their birthday gifts (or lack thereof, to be more truthful). in fact my roommate in college literally got ticked off if you said happy birthday to him or got him a gift! i think he rubbed off on me.

but... as a small group leader, it's not about me. if it's a big deal to most people, it's probably worth a little effort for all.

i'm just hoping the guy in my small group isn't like my roommate!

what are some creative (and simple) ways you've found to celebrate someone's birthday?

randomness

some random happenings in life lately:

vacation

this whole past week has been SOOOO great for us - 8 straight days with nothing scheduled and no obligations. it has been a wonderful break from the constant pressures of email, texting, facebook, and the phone... truly necessary. spent lots of time reading, sleeping in, and doing little projects around the house. i feel like we're more rested and recharged as we head into another busy season of ministry.

niagara falls

we were able to spend a couple days in niagara falls this past week (why we chose to go there in this "stupid" cold...i'm not sure). we found a really nice italian restaurant for dinner one night, but that was about the extent of our "touristy" sightseeing. we're boring. but... we did head up towards toronto to visit their ikea store. that one made the wife happy.

baby anticipation

shanna is now 30 weeks along with only 10 more to go. we are both getting more and more excited each day for this baby to finally drop by. i'll have to blog more of my thoughts from this amazing journey - but there's some jaw-dropping, unexplainable stuff that happens inside when you feel that little kid kick (shanna probably has a different way to explain it... but i think it's cool). it's still so amazing how God just "makes it all happen". her name is fully picked out, and shanna created some "custom" artwork for her room this week. we'll put pictures up once she's here, but for now you can take a peek at some of it "in progress":

church visit

with being off this week, we decided to check out a different church today - been meaning to check out this place for a while actually and see firsthand the great work they're doing. it was like nothing we had seen before. i'll be writing more about it soon...

simply youth ministry conference

this coming weekend i head out with some of our adult leaders to the simply youth ministry conference in chicago. i went last year and it was probably the best ministry investment i made all year. i'm so excited to be challenged, refreshed, and charged up to love on students better in the months ahead. shanna will be heading to pittsburgh with the dog and one of our students. i love it that the 2 of them will get to connect together a little more than usual.

mariska

speaking of the dog... it may just be the extra attention we've been able to give her this week, but she's been SO well behaved. here's a fun little picture i snapped of her earlier in the week:

an exciting time to be in student ministry

every generation has their "thing" that defines them and causes them to stand out among the other generations preceding them. after working with teenagers and immersing myself in their culture over the last few years, it seems that this generation of young people is being defined (by and large) by something very exciting and positive. in the midst of bloggers and former youth ministry "professionals" saying our whole paradigm for ministry needs to change, it seems that something bright is on the horizon.

i believe teens and 20-somethings in our culture today are ready to make real and tangible differences in response to the injustices and oppression around them. and the "around them" isn't just in their neighborhood or city... with the influx of social networking platforms, the "around them" is now global, and they're ready to make a difference!

see, they've seen a generation before them spend their energy and cash on themselves; the big house, the gated communities, the shiny cars, and the wider TV screens... and they've experienced for themselves a profound emptiness in spite of their wealth. and they're ready to make a change.

they may not believe in God... or in just God... but they believe in justice and they believe that their role in it is big.

it's an exciting time to be in student ministry!

the power of facebook

shanna found this graphic a few weeks ago with some very interesting data on facebook and how it's changing the game in so many ways.

a friend just sent me this video to check out - very interesting and well worth the 7 minutes. the more "wired" we become, the more self disciplined we must be as well. i'm trying to get better at this area of my life...

Dodgeball Tournament - Highlight Video

this weekend our student ministry hosted a dodgeball tournament for the community, and it was so fun! i'm hoping to post more on it within a few days. tons of new faces and people who seemed to go away with a positive and fun experience in a church, which is a big win for people who've been burned by church in the past.

check out me getting pummeled at 2:20!

sponges

just saw this post via my good friend doug fields (even though he doesn't know we're good friends lol). if you're a parent this quick read is WELL worth it and will make you chuckle. i think this is what gets me most excited (and scared) about parenting our little girl...

here's an excerpt. head there for the rest:

My kids are sponges. Maybe all kids are. But I'm acutely aware of my own.
They soak up everything around them and everything I do. They watch me on my phone. They watch me drive. They watch me talk. They watch me fart. They watch everything.
Today I took two of my boys to our weekly one-on-one java chat. TJ before and Tyler after school. They both had questions and in the process, reminded me... they are soaking up so much. They are sponges.

a gay man goes to church

i have been reading Love Is An Orientation by andrew marin and it's been really stretching of my view of and ministry to the GLBT community. he tells the following story in it of a gay man that went to church one day:

Ron attends a well-known evangelical church, and he began to tell me about a recent service. A video was played that had been recorded by a man a few months before he died. The man said that the five best days of his life were the day he met his wife, the day they got married and the day each of his three children were born. After the service Ron went up to the pastor with tears in his eyes and said, "If I continue to live the way that you're suggesting that I live [celibate], then I'll never experience any of the five best days that man experienced before his death." The pastor paused as he looked Ron in the eyes and said, "I don't know what to tell you."

and who, among us - heterosexual, married men, with kids - who among us would know what to say??? i think it's important for us, especially those of us in the church, to have this understanding of a gay person's reality when they step inside our worlds... not so that we can build an answer, but so that we can respond with empathy and compassion.