3 is all you need

there's a lot that i like about my job:
- recruiting, developing, empowering, and leading other adult leaders
- preparing messages and speaking to students
- crossing administrative tasks off a list
- planning events and services

there's even more that i love about my job:
- watching authentic community developed in a small group
- nerf dart wars and water balloon fights
- seeing students lead other students
- dreaming where the ministry could be in the future
- creating series & retreat themes to target a need

there's a few things i could do without:
- all-nighters (i like sleep)
- the predictable pressure...every week - same time, same channel
- emails that have nothing to do with me but still need to be in my files

but the thing that drives me month after month:

pacing with students through the mundane, normal, and sometimes chaotic moments of life

in youth ministry there's so much pressure to have big numbers and continual growth and more impact. and i'm all for that...more people is more impact (if you're doing the right things the right way). but sometimes i feel like the perfect youth group size is 3. a friend would always say that...and it's so true.

just the other night i was at an all nighter sitting at a table with some pizza and 3 guys that happened to also be in my small group. we were just hanging out, joking around, goofing off, and connecting about normal everyday stuff. we just came off this amazing inflatable and were showing off our flesh wounds from it. we talked about video games. that's pacing. late night conversations about stuff that's important to a student...that's pacing. normal, everyday stuff that everybody goes through all the time...but going through it together with them...that's pacing. on paper it doesn't seem to be anything monumental or earth-shattering. in fact you can do it and nobody will ever know. but i think i'm passionate about it because someone paced with me through the mundane, normal, and sometimes chaotic moments of my life...and it changed everything for me.

3 is all you need.

hickory, dickory, dock...

...the mouse ran up the clock. Or in our case - the wall and behind our stove. We started hearing our little friend a few weeks ago. Just sporadically. However, the noise has been escalating. We were pretty sure it was somewhere around the stove/oven. Actually, it sounded like it was IN the oven. But, whenever we got close it would run away. Finally, tonight we pulled the stove away from the wall. jackpot! No mouse, but 2 gigantic holes, a chestnut (which neither Cory nor I have ever had in the house), some coffee beans, and the inevitable pile of mouse poop! Sigh.

Oh yeah - did I mention yesterday, I dropped the glass top for my desk on the foot and then while trying to check out behind the stove tonight... I cracked my ankle on the cabinet in an attempt to sit on the counter top (because I'm short and can't just look over the top)... then proceeded to impale my forehead on the corner of the stove vent. And the klutz in me lives on!

overnighter

we have an all-nighter coming up next weekend and i thought i'd post this video as we get ready for it. the days after i always feel like we're "detoxing" from it. funny stuff:

twilight

following up on last night's post - found a great article on the twilight series put out by the center for parent/youth understanding's magazine "engage". a free copy of the magazine with the article can be downloaded here.

tuesday night random stuff

it's tuesday night...shanna and i (mostly shanna) are watching twilight. we've seen it a few times already, but shanna's been on this kick lately because she picked up the first book, and then had to get the other 3 and completely read them too...all within a couple days. she describes the consuming addiction of it to me like a new season of 24. i find that hard to believe except for the craze surrounding the books in teen culture. despite our own personal views on movies and books like twilight, there's definitely a sense in which it's important to see what our teens are seeing so we can speak intelligently with them on it.

as we look back at the last few days, here's a few random happenings:
1. FIREPROOF MOVIE - lakeshore showed the movie at the church on friday night and it was neat to see all the people there and the challenge the movie gives to marriages and the importance of working at it continually. the acting was pretty bad at times imho, but the plot was good and it was still challenging. what was even cooler was doing dinner with a few couples before the movie, and then going to a cafe AFTER the movie with a whole bunch of others from the church. i love how relational lakeshore is!
2. SLT PARTY - saturday evening we hosted all the students that have served on a student leadership team over to the house. we used the bbq and cooked up tons of food for everyone, put up a volleyball net in the backyard, played hide and go seek and terrorized our neighbors, and had a bonfire. it was SO great to see our entire yard used!
3. KITCHEN CABINETS - spent a good portion of my day off yesterday working on 4 of the kitchen cabinets and doors - they are hung and up. pictures soon...
4. SOFTBALL - this was the first win in like 5 or 6 games, and it felt so good. we actually beat them so bad the game ended in 5 innings due to a mercy rule. everything was good until a member of the other team made a derogatory comment at the very end about the umpire. i'm not the purest in terms of my temper on the court or on a playing field, but it really bothered me. i went up to the umpire after the game (we had casually talked some before the game) and i apologized for him. i hate apologizing for other christians. i know many have had to for me before and they probably felt the same way. it's a shame.