Hoosiers, Mitchells and Two Crazy Kids

Random Video Thursday: Super Bowl Top 8

2012-02-09T10:12:00.000-06:00

This is my second annual Top ___ list for Super Bowl Commercials. Last year it was 10. This year I could only find 8 that were worth showing in youth group.

Random Video Thursday: Super Bowl Party Etiquette

2012-02-02T10:15:00.002-06:00

Ever been to a Super Bowl Party with "that guy"? Planning one this year? Want to make sure you don't end up with "that guy" or "that girl"? Just send them this.

Random Video Thursday: Edible 26-Pound Gummy Party Bear

2012-01-26T10:16:00.002-06:00

Yes this is real. Yes it's huge. No it is not good for you. At 26-pounds, and 32,000 calories, this thing could put you in a sugar comma for about a week (or 2).

Random Video Thursday: Jeffrey Dallas - Akbar

2012-01-19T11:10:00.003-06:00

If you're a youth worker and haven't discovered Julian Smith, or his "cousin's" channel Jeffrey Dallas, you're missing out. Pure hilariousness. Just a brief history: Jeffrey is not retarded, he simply ate a jelly fish. Now you're ready to watch this...

Technology I Use: Group Text!

2012-01-17T10:00:00.000-06:00

If you aren't leveraging the use of text messaging with teens, you aren't communicating with them. Period. One of the ways that I use texting with my students is Group Text!

With Group Text! you can set up different groups and mass text them all at the same time. The app integrates into the native messages app on your iPhone, and works great every time.

Here a few of the ways that I use it:

1. Texting my small group. I have a group of just my small group of guys. I'll text them reminders of assignments or things they need to remember to bring. The nice thing about the app is I can text them all at once, but when they reply it's just a conversation between me and that particular student at that point.

2. Texting Students on a Trip. Before trips that we take I input all the students' cell phone numbers into my phone and then set up a group in Group Text! Then I can remind them of bus departure times. Seating sections we're sitting in if we're in a large arena. I also love to ask them what breakouts they went to and what was the one big takeaway that they got from the session. I also input all the trip sponsors into this list.

3. Texting Volunteers. Again, reminders about meetings, notifications, and anything that I need to communicate with them.

Random Video Thursday: Cell Phones in Church

2012-01-12T10:12:00.002-06:00

In case you've never noticed before, not everyone silences their phones in church. And this doesn't stop with students in our student ministry! Then I found this. The funny thing was, as I walked to the stage after showing this I saw at least 10 phones out right after this video. Subtle hints don't work with this group...

How's Your W.A.L.K.? Making Your Kidmin Environment Great

2012-01-09T13:19:00.005-06:00

Every year, on average we get about 40 hours of opportunity to impact the life of a child and their family. Each week children walk into our environment ready, scared, excited, pumped, and a multitude of other emotions and mindsets. How do we make the most of our 40 hours that we have? Here's a simple approach...we W.A.L.K.

W - arm heart and welcoming personality. As children walk over to your square of carpet, rug, or small group space, do they know that you're excited for them to be there? We have no idea what kind of environment they just came from, but we can set the kind of environment that they come in to. When we welcome children with warmth and love we show them that they matter to God, and if they matter to God, they matter to us.

A - rrive early to your ministry opportunity. When you arrive early you are more prepared. It shows. When you arrive early, and you're prepared, you're more able and ready to do the first one. I'm much more excited to see students when I'm prepared and know what I'm talking with them about. Our time goes better when I'm prepared.

L - eaders are Learners. If you lead a small group, teach a large group, put goldfish crackers on a napkin for a prek kid, you are a leader. And as Jim Wideman says, "When you stop learning, you stop leading." Take advantage of the meetings, gatherings, emails, articles, websites, blogs and everything available to learn how to be a better leader. Leaders are constantly learning something about themselves and something about the people they lead and how to lead them more effectively.

K - now the children that you minister to. One of my favorite ways to do this is whenever my son watches Diego, or Team Umizoomi or anything else on Disney or Nickelodeon I'll cue in on the commercials. Marketers know our kids sometimes better than we do. What are some of the lessons we can learn from them and translate that to our teaching environments? What are some of the cool toys? When we know the children we minister to, we can better communicate with them about what's most important.

(I owe the credit of this acrostic to Craig Jutila - it came from his Saddleback Children's Handbook a number of years ago.)

Random Video Thursday: Johnny & Chachi's Christmas Medley

2011-12-22T16:17:00.001-06:00

Last night we hosted out 6th Annual Lip Sync Contest. It's a night of simply getting together, having fun, and laughing. Each year has been a little different, but each year has always been a lot of fun. So, in keeping with the never changing Random Video segment, we had one after each of the different acts. Here is my favorite from last night:

Holiday Video Tips

2011-12-20T09:05:00.002-06:00

Are you the one who always "gets" to take the pics and videos of every staff function/party/get-together that you have? Are you the youngest on your staff and by default the job is yours? Or do you just want to make this year's video a little better. Well, say no more. Take a look at these tips from the staff at Vimeo.

Social Media and Sharing in 2011

2011-12-19T15:50:00.000-06:00

I love social media. I manage our church's Facebook page, our twitter page, and our student ministry Facebook page. So I try to keep myself up on what's working and what's not when it comes to how people interact with content on blogs and the web. AddThis produced this handy little Trend graphic, that landed in my inbox today, so I thought I'd share it.

One of the things that I found interesting was the information about Google+. I have one, and I don't love it. But so far I haven't fully dove into it (maybe that's my problem). AddThis is a widely used add-on to web and blog content to easily share stuff on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and about any other place you might share content. I've wondered if Google+ wasn't going so well, since it seemed like a hot topic a while back, but never seemed to really grab hold. Now, with AddThis's trend sheet, I know.

Random Video Thursday: 'Tis Better to Give

2011-12-15T10:22:00.000-06:00

I may sound like a broken record here, but the Skit Guys can make any serious thing that we need to learn into the funniest things. We've been in a series called Unwrapping Christmas, and last night was about how the stuff of Christmas competes with the satisfaction Jesus came to offer. So, we showed this:

Random Video Thursday: For Gifts You Can't Wait to Give

2011-12-08T10:48:00.001-06:00

Ok, confession time. Usually these posts are reserved for funny, random, non-sensical, stupid, hilarious, and/or pointless videos. This week, as I watched this video I was laughing so hard, because I could see my son in this. So I just had to put it in here, and show our students (that and it made me almost cry - all 5 times that I've seen it).

We started a series called, Unwrapping Christmas last night with them, and I felt like it definitely played well into the direction we were going for the night - which isn't a prerequisite of the random video segment.

Random Video Thursday: I Told My Kids I Ate All Their Halloween Candy

2011-12-01T10:19:00.001-06:00

Last night was our Parent Night that we try to do at least once a year with our families (I'll post a blog about that later). So when I found this, I couldn't pass up showing this.

Teaching from the iPad

2011-11-15T15:30:00.001-06:00

I'm a bit of a tech junkie. And have become a recent convert (or sell-out as some would call it) to Apple's line of products. I'm now the proud owner of a MacBook Pro 15", and iPad 2, and the iPhone 4S.

I've begun to use my iPad for just about everything. I love it. So, I started teaching from it. Here's how I go about it:

I type my sermon, lesson, or talk in Word. I prefer to do my typing still on my MacBook, so I can keep everything nicely organized in my folders. Not only am I a tech junkie, but OCD about organizing my files.
Save the file as a .pdf - just about any word processing app will allow you to do this.
I copy the file to my Dropbox. Dropbox is an app that can go on the desktop of your PC or Mac. It also has apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, and Blackberry. Once you drop it in the dropbox on your computer it automatically syncs to your mobile device. It's awesome! You need it. Trust me.
Open the .pdf in Dropbox on your iPad. Here's what I found out about teaching from Dropbox, though. I'm visual. So whenever I look up from my notes I would tend to scroll in Dropbox, and when I'd look down I had lost my point of reference. Dropbox only allows you to scroll through the pages, rather than flip to the next page. So, step #5 became necessary:
Open the file into iBooks. That's it. Then teach. One thing I try to remember is to go into settings and make sure that the screen Auto-Lock is set to 5 min. so that it doesn't lock on me while I'm in the middle of a point.

That's how I go about it.

Random Video Thursday: Guy on a Buffalo - Episode 1

2011-10-20T12:30:00.000-05:00

I have to give credit where credit is due on this one. My good friend, Jared Wheeler, posted this on his Facebook the other day, and it began what I can only refer to as a revolution in my home. My son sings it. My good friend, and worship leader for our teens, Robb Stubblefield, sings it. I laugh every time I see this.

So, grab some popcorn. Sit back. And enjoy what you are about to witness. Episode 1 of "Guy on a Baffalo."

Youth Ministry Worship

2011-10-14T10:18:00.000-05:00

Sometimes starting a worship team for Youth Ministry seams like a standing in front of a mountain and thinking "Yeah right. I'm not prepared for this!" Questions go through your mind like: How do we balance having adults and teens up there? How much do we push for excellence? What if the student gets up there without any practice and is horrible? And so many more...

Here are just a few things I've learned in doing ours. Ours is not perfect. But our students are engaging in worship. And it doesn't get any better than that.

1. Find (pray for) an adult who loves it...and is good at it.

I'm the type if it's not going to be done well, I'm not going to do it at all when it comes to stuff like this. I needed someone who loves worship, and loves teens. So I prayed for that, and you know what? God answered that prayer. I also wanted someone who could lead the students and push them to to excellence.

2. Shoot for excellence.

Anything worth doing is worth doing in excellence. If it's horrible, your students aren't going to engage in it. They're going to sit back and pick it apart - especially if they're musically inclined but not confident enough to get up there themselves. Shoot for excellent. Constantly look for new songs. Evaluate which ones they're engaging with, and look for when it's starting to get tired. Practice. Don't just "wing it"!

3. Allow for mistakes.

Don't shoot so high for excellence that you never end up with any teens helping out. This is an opportunity to polish their skills and find out if this is an area where God has gifted them. Allow for the drummer who has trouble keeping beat to try to keep a beat for you. Allow for mistakes. You just may have to turn them down a little bit at times.

4. Be Patient!

We've only been at it for about a year and a half, and we are just now seeing our students love worship. Now they stand without being asked to. They're participating instead of viewing like a really bad concert. They're asking to be a part of it.

This is how we've approached this. There are other ways to do it, but for us this is working. What would you add or subtract from the list? I'd love your feedback.

Random Video Thursday: Amish Angry Birds

2011-10-13T09:28:00.000-05:00

Yep, you read that title correctly. Amish. Angry. Birds. Three words that without even seeing the video make you giggle. I know this because that's what I did when I saw the title. Enjoy.

Random Video Thursday: See You on Monday

2011-09-22T14:19:00.000-05:00

I'm a huge Chic-Fil-A fan. Ever since my first experience in Atlanta for the Orange Conference in 2007, to now manipulating travel schedules in order to stop at known ones along travel routes, I am probably a borderline Chic-Fil-A junky. So when I found this nugget (pun intended) on YouTube I had to show it to our teens last night. Enjoy.

Random Video Thursday: Thumbs Up for Rock and Roll

2011-09-08T09:17:00.003-05:00

Last night was our first night to kick off our student ministry's regular meetings. It was by far one of my favorite nights. We kicked off with a 6-week series, Not a Fan - which is written for adults, but we're making some edits to help it fit in the lives of our teens.

So, in order to kick off the night right, we needed to get pumped up, and this guy had the motivational words to get us there:

Focus

2011-08-29T15:07:00.003-05:00

In my house, the main hallway that runs back to two of our bedrooms and our second bathroom is a long stretch of wall space. So a while back we put three pictures up. One is of Caleb when he was two; one is of Haley when she was born, and the other is of Jessica when she was pregnant with Haley.

First, a confession: I'm obsessed with things being in VERY straight lines, or being straight across from each other (dining room chairs). I hate clutter. If I had it my way, our house would always look like it was ready for a realtor to show it. It's a sickness. It drives my wife batty.

So, I decided to hang these three pictures in a straight row, exactly the same distance apart from one another. So I got out my tape measure, pencil, and level (I really need one of those laser levels). I hung them perfectly. Just right.

But, now when I walk down the hall I'm constantly focusing on the tops of the picture frames and if they're straight or not. If they're not, I'll straighten them. Instead of focusing on the beautiful gems that are pictured inside of the frames, I'm focused on the frames themselves.

How often do we do this with our families? We focus so much on the "stuff" and not near enough on the relationship. We focus so much on correct behavior, and very little on the precious children that we get the privilege of raising and spending time with. I've lost perspective of what's important, on put it on the thing that's really not all that important.

Where do you get off focus? Where do you lose perspective of what is truly important?

Called to Ministry - Part 3

2011-08-06T09:25:00.002-05:00

For the last couple of days I've written about the calling to ministry, and in particular my calling to ministry, and things I try to remind myself of when things are going well.

Today I want to talk about the calling when things don't go so well. Light I mentioned yesterday, things are going well for me, but I also realize that it's not always going to stay this way. Life happens. Ministry cycles happen. Sin happens. Tough situations that are our of our control happen. And when things aren't going as planned, I want to be reminded of these things. I believe that have to make have planned for bad times in order to know how we want to react, because in the emotion of those times, often times we're not thinking clearly.

Here are the things I want to be reminded of when things don't go as planned:

Stay Humble - Nothing like a swift kick to the pants gets me more bent our of shape, and proudly puffing out my chest with the war cry of "don't you know I'm called by God? Don't you realize who I am?" When things aren't going well, I need to reminded of who called me, and whose I am. I'm still his child, and HE is still in control - even if I'm not.
Stay in the Word - Nothing will comfort me or give me strength like the Word of God. Nothing reminds me better that ministry doesn't always look successful like the word of God (see Isaiah 6:9-13). Nothing reminds me that life is too often out of our control like the word of God (see Job 1:6-12).
Keep Learning - Keep reading blogs. Other people are having rough times too, and they often have some great insight into how dig out of the hole. Keep reading books. Great men and women have learned to rely on God's strength during times of uncertainty. Keep listening to leadership podcasts. Great leaders know how to cast vision and rally the team to better things.

I realize that this list is just like yesterday's. But I also believe that consistency is virtue that needs to be lived out (you may have read 'conistency' as 'boring'). I want to be consistent in my faith, and my leadership. I want to be a 'no matter what' kind of man and leader.

What would you add to this list? What would you take out? Would love to hear what God has taught you about calling.

Called to Ministry - Part 2

2011-08-05T09:07:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I wrote about about my call to ministry. Today I want to focus on some of the things I try to remind myself of when things are going well. Right now, in my current situation, things are going really well in ministry. We've seen tremendous growth in our children's and student ministries. So much so, that we are transitioning our children's ministry to two services.

So here are a few things that I try to remind myself of when things are going good:

Stay Humble - Too often with a calling when things are going well, we often default to puffing out our chest and saying "Look what I'm doing." But instead it's time like this that it's important to remember where my calling came from in the first place...from God, not me.
Stay in the Word - For me, I don't know about you, when things are going well, it's often accompanied by a lot of busy work as well. Things are moving fast. New systems are needing to be put into place. New volunteers to recruit and train. Stuff to buy. Kids to meet with. In all of that busyness if I don't stay in the Word, I'll get a rude awakening quicker than I'd like.
Keep Learning - Keep reading blogs. Keep reading books. Keep reading articles and listening to podcasts. Keep learning. When things are going great, they can always be going better. We can always learn from someone a new way to lead our team. We can always tweak our teaching to get a little better. We can always be encouraged or inspired by what God is doing in other places.

Those are just a few of the things that I'm trying to keep myself grounded with during this season. I'd love to hear your additions or subtractions to the list. Tomorrow, I'll touch on the things I want to remind myself of now, for when things don't go well down the road.

Called to Ministry - Part 1

2011-08-04T08:51:00.003-05:00

This week, I've been reading the Simply Youth Ministry Today email blasts talking about calling, and it got me thinking.

The phrase "called to ministry" seems so vague and probably odd to a lot of people. As one writer of the email blasts wrote, "I remember hearing a pastor once talk about his “calling to ministry” – my first thought was how mystical it all sounded; that God would pick out some normal person and make them super special for ministry. Would God’s calling be accompanied by bright light, an audible voice, smoke and lasers?"

So for part 1, I thought I'd share about my "call" to youth ministry. I volunteered after my freshman year of college to work at the church camp I had grown up in as a kid. I went to have fun, but ended up feeling a deep longing to continue pouring into students lives. I went back to the same college for one more semester and sought the confirmation or the "what are you thinking?" of my mentor and friend, Roger Charley. Through meeting with Roger and prayer I felt like God was indeed calling me to youth ministry. I changed schools, subsequently changed majors, and the rest as they say is history.

Retro Post: Random Video Thursday - Bowlin' - With a little bit of Commentary

2011-07-19T09:43:00.004-05:00

I just found out that Random Video Thursday has IMPACT. Today, my summer intern, told me that one of my teens knew all the words to a song in one of the videos that we showed on Wednesday night youth group. Lessons I'm learning from this:

Random Videos rock in student ministry
They have no inherant value, other than it's makes for great inside jokes that bring fun, stupid bonding.
The Random Video segment WILL stay in this year's schedule.
Students can memorize anything, if they will only dive into it repeatedly.

I love just about everything that Tripp and Tyler produce. The word on the street (why do people say that - especially people in small towns) is that this was played at Catalyst last year to kick things off, and then afterwards there were people set up giving bowl cuts. That's a video starting a revolution. We tried to get two of our youth sponsors who also cut hair to do the same for us after youth group, but they said 'No'. Lame.

Thoughts on Camp - A New Generation

2011-06-22T14:57:00.004-05:00

This summer I had the opportunity to go back to the camp that I grew up going to as a child. I had the privilege of speaking to the Junior High camp - if I'm honest, probably my favorite group to work with.

The theme of the week was Encounter - Never the Same, and we talked through different encounters that people had with Jesus, and how from that point, they were never the same.

Probably the coolest thing about camp this year, for Jessica and I was watching students that had been in our family groups, now leading family groups of their own.

I'm just now starting to be in ministry for long enough to watch a new generation of leaders begin to emerge, and I love it. I see it in my own ministry to children and students. And I got to see it at camp this last week as well. There is nothing cooler than to watch someone get it and then teach others.

A couple of thoughts about this:

There need to be more opportunities for students to lead and serve now. My dad did this for me often - and it paid off. Check out this old post.
It's not always going to be like we would do it - and that's ok. It's not suppose to be. They are going to do it different - and sometimes better.

How are you investing in this generation of new leaders?

Random Video Thursday: Parkour!

2011-05-26T09:03:00.001-05:00

I love the office. I love random. And I especially love it when the beginning of the Office is completely random and has nothing to do with the actual episode. When that happens, you get something like this:

There's an App for That!!

2011-05-23T13:17:00.005-05:00

Our lives are busy. As parents, we want to prioritize our children. We want to do everything we can to invest in them relationally, to guide them developmentally and to help them grow in their faith in Christ. But it’s just so easy to get caught up in the urgent day-to-day business of life.

So, the reThink Group, who produces the curriculum we use for Maliki Land, Rush Hour and BRIGADE our PreK, Elementary and Student Ministries has just released an App!

The Parent Cue app provides videos, music, and discussion starters specifically designed for Drive Time, Meal Time, and Hang Time. Plus, a new Parent Time full of resources to enrich each parent in your ministry. The app also provides a weekly plan so that each day parents are cued with a new tool to connect with their kids.

For those of you with Apple devices (iPad, iPod touch and iPhone) you can download the app here. And for those of you with Android Devices, download it here.

Most importantly, use them. As parents, you are the most influential person in your child's life. You spend more time in the car in an average month with your kids than we do as a church in a given year. Utilize this app, or use the the GodTime Cards and FridgeDoor Cards that are sent home with your kids each week. Help your children make the connection that faith is something that can be lived outside of the church walls into the every day of life.

Random Video Thursday: Tripp Gets Knighted

2011-05-19T11:27:00.002-05:00

Tripp & Tyler have quickly become a couple of my favorites, especially in light of they have so much good stuff for the random video segment on Wednesdays! Here's one of their recent creations.

Random Video Thursday: Baby Break Dance

2011-05-12T14:00:00.000-05:00

We're in the middle of an XP3 series, called Grow Up where we are talking about the 5 catalysts that God can use to grow our faith. So, unlike many weeks, where the random video segment has no meaning, I thought having a baby breakdancing fit well with the theme.

Random Video Thursday: Pre-Blessed Food

2011-05-05T10:41:00.002-05:00

The video speaks for itself.

Random Video Thursday: Skittles Touch - Hitchhiker

2011-04-21T10:25:00.002-05:00

This might be one of the creepiest thing I've seen to advertise a product, but it sure does make you laugh to watch 50 teens holding their thumb up in the air to hold it on the skittle on the screen.

Family Service

2011-04-19T15:41:00.001-05:00

This last Saturday was the semi-annual community service project day, Super Saturday. Super Saturday is an opportunity for Christians around our community to get together as one body of Christ and help those in need. Christ has taught us that it is our duty to help the elderly and the widows. This is not one church's project, but a project organized by Christians in the community.

On Saturday, a family showed up with their two boys who are in 3rd and 1st grades. I loved it! I love to see families serving together. So I asked John and Jenn Boissy to share a little bit about the experience and why it's so important for them to do it as a family. Here is what Jenn emailed to me:

We really enjoyed ourselves Saturday and the cool thing was the boys were excited, as Jeb put it " to help the people in need". Even though they mostly think they are all older which is not always the case. We go to Oak Grove the 1st Thursday of every month to do banana bingo with the older folks. The boys pass out the bananas as they win. The best part for them is at the end when they get to help push some of the people back to their rooms- not always pretty!! ha ha, but then there is the chance to talk to the ladies a little and it gives both a good feeling. If you are looking for something for your youth to do that is a great place. The older people love to see kids!!!!

Serving together as a family is an incredible way to introduce Humility to your kids - our virtue in Rush Hour this month! Humility is putting others first by giving up what you think you deserve. Paul wrote in Philippians 2:3 to “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”

Random Video Thursday: All Mom Wants for Easter

2011-04-14T11:03:00.005-05:00

Just like the Skit Guys, the Skitzy Chicks crank out some pretty funny stuff. A Sometimes you'll even find them working together. Here's a new one for Easter that made me and some of our students laugh last night.

Haiti - Part 4

2011-04-07T13:17:00.003-05:00

Day 4 - Work Continued

Like I've mentioned before, we had the privilege to work alongside of the Haitian people, and not just blow in, and do a bunch of work and leave. Instead we had the unique opportunity to work alongside the Haitian people in what they were already doing. This was their vision and their labor, and we just go to be some helping hands in that.

One of the benefits of this was many of men that we worked with didn't know Christ as their Savior, yet.

We had the privilege to speak the gospel boldly and pray for the men that we worked alongside at the construction site. Why is it that we are so much more bold away from home to proclaim the good news? Is it because there is an interpreter? Less risk, more reward? Do we falsely feel better about ourselves because we have done that here but get to leave with very little follow-up? The beautiful thing is that among the workers there seemed to be a couple of men who had a personal relationship with Jesus. Maybe we are the seed throwers and they will water it...

...last night Greg (one of our teenagers) shared along with Will (the other teen who went with us). I was extremely proud of Greg. It's awesome to watch a student who you've known for a long time share a part of his faith with a group of adults. (Journal entry March 25, 2011)

If you have the time to watch this entire thing, do it! There are some excellent testimonies on this video. But if you want to get to the nitty gritty ones about sharing our faith, fast forward to 9:52. There are also some awesome outtakes at the end.

Random Video Thursday: Skittles Touch - Cat

2011-04-07T13:08:00.002-05:00

I stumbled upon this over on the Youth Specialties Blog. And it's awesome. There's actually a whole series of these here. This one is probably my favorite, especially in light of how creepy the end is.

Haiti - Part 3

2011-04-06T09:31:00.002-05:00

Day 3 - Continued Work

Day 3 was the second day that our nursing team did training for a nursing school. Something that was an incredibly stretching experience for them and a great resource for the nearly 40 women, and one man in the nursing school.

This country is a beautiful place. Sure, there are the tent cities and ramshakle homes, but the countryside is gorgeous. Where we are working is up on a mountain overlooking the ocean and it is gorgeous. Pastor Gio talked about the biggest problem that Haiti faces is understanding. They don't know how to provide for themselves or how to stimulate their economy or take care of their land. There is so much potential for this country, but looking at it, it seems like it could take centuries to reach that potential. What seems, on one hand, like an easy solution, on the other hand seems like an impossible task. (Journal entry March 23, 2011)

The work we were doing was to help build the foundation of a cafeteria for a training center and university. An example that they talked about what the training center would provide for the Haitian people was about mangoes. Mango season is coming, and the Haitian people eat mangoes during mango season only. Many of the people don't know how to preserve them so that they get the benefit of them year round. Many of the mangoes go uneaten and bad at the end of the season. This is just an example of the kind of training CCID wants to provide the Haitian people.

Haiti - Part 2

2011-04-05T09:23:00.002-05:00

Day 2 - Work Began

Our trips have always been lead by a couple in our church who loves missions. John and his wife, Jan, are missions "junkies" as Jan describes herself. One of the things that John makes sure happens on our trips is that we always have time for devotions and debrief. Personal and group devotions in the morning, and group devotions and debrief each night.

The first morning John challenged us to write out 3 things that we choose to do after he read the "as for me and my house we will serve the Lord." Here are my 3 things:

I will choose to see God's work when it is difficult
I will choose to see God's provision when I'm tired, hungry and need a shower.
I will choose to have the attitude of Christ when someone rubs me the wrong way.

If I'm honest, I struggled with #1 & 3. I get cynical when people don't "get it" when it comes to people or what we're doing or something like that. And basically I defeat the purpose of me being upset with them by my doing the exact same thing to them. (Journal entry March 21, 2011)

It's always nice to have our debrief time at the end of the day. That night I talked to John about my struggles with cynicism towards my team members and was able to move in a positive direction for the remainder of the trip.

Daily devotions and debrief is a MUST on a trip like this. It helps you process with God what you're experiencing and process with one another. You get to hear someone else's perspective on what God is teaching and showing them. And that, my friends, is beautiful!

Haiti - Part 1

2011-04-04T13:15:00.002-05:00

Over Spring Break I had the privilege to go to Haiti with a multi-generational team of people to serve the people there. Over the next few posts I'll be sharing with you some of the things I learned as well as some excerpts from my journal while I was there.

Day 1 - Travel

Our flights were fine and the airport was not near as bad I had anticipated once we got there. Our place that we stayed was beautiful. One shower (cold), but nice.

Pastor Guillomettre (or Pastor Gio for short) is the network pastor of the Christian Center for Integral Development (CCID) - a network of 700 Haitian churches - and shared with us the vision that CCID had for the people of Haiti. One area that CCID is focused on is development for the Haitian people. To help them understand how to thrive and prosper within their rich culture, something that Haiti's education system does not train the people to do. Their formula for this is:

INDIVIDUAL + FAMILY + CHURCH + COMMUNITY = DEVELOPMENT

And development, as I understood it, applied to everything from faith development to social to economic development.

Two things I loved about this model:

It starts with individuals. Not the church.
It's holistic. No one entity is wholly responsible for the development of the country - it requires people, families, and community.

Random Video Thursday: I've Seen it All

2011-03-31T09:12:00.002-05:00

Youth ministry is a mixed bag of awesome roller coaster moments. And I love it. From lighting farts to cell phones going off during serious moments to getting to walk with a student who is experiencing the grace of God for the first time. Youth Ministry rocks! This video is all about that.

Random Video Thursday: Bowlin' (featuring Chris Tomlin)

2011-03-17T14:39:00.002-05:00

Trying Harder Doesn't Work

2011-03-17T13:49:00.003-05:00

As a staff we've been going through a leadership study on DVD by Henry Cloud called, White Board | Red Couch. It's excellent! Seriously. Go out and get it.

This last month we discussed the third session which was on the Fig Tree. Dr. Cloud recounts the Parable of the Fig Tree. In this parable the the vineyard owner wants to cut down a fig tree that hasn't produced fruit for three years. The vinedresser asks him to wait till he works the soil and fertilizes the soil.

Cloud says that every leader goes through this. We have a time of bad, poor, or unnoticeable fruit, and after the evaluation process, we determine it's time to cut down the tree (just like the owner of the vineyard). Too often we view this as a two-step process, and don't look past this. If it stops here, we'll never develop and get better...trying harder doesn't work.

Enter the advocate. We need people who will, like the vinedresser, work our soil till it produces fruit. This needs to be a person who is neutral, safe and accepting. We need to ask ourselves the question, "Where do I go for someone to be in my camp?"

Here are some of my conclusions:

If I am the fig tree in this story, there are factors outside of myself that need to be in place for me to produce fruit. Without quality soil and fertilizer in place the fig tree will never produce as it's designed to do. In my life, without someone in my life coaching, challenging, pointing out weaknesses, encouraging, etc, nothing will get better. Trying harder doesn't work.
Producing fruit does nothing to further produce fruit. In fact, producing fruit takes nutrients away from the tree. This concept of an advocate needs to be a continual process, not a one-time-shot.

Where do you go for someone to be in your camp? Who challenges, encourages and speaks truth and grace into your life?

Random Video Thursday: More Than You Know

2011-03-10T10:57:00.002-06:00

I found these from CIY MOVE a long time ago, back when they were still called "Summer Conference". There are like 20 different ones, and they're all funny. We showed this one last night and dedicated it to our oldest youth sponsor, Chad.

To Save a Life - A Letter to Parents

2011-03-09T10:37:00.002-06:00

Hey Parents,

I want to let you know about an upcoming series for our teenagers, which I believe is going to be life changing for those involved. The seven-week series starts on March 9, and it is based on the movie To Save A Life. I highly recommend that not only your son or daughter see the movie, but you see it as well. The movie is about the real-life challenges of teens and their choices, and it can help raise awareness of what students go through.

In the To Save A Life series, we will deal with hard but very real issues like social acceptance, cutting, teen suicide, depression, and somehow being Jesus’ hands and feet in a hurting world. Even though these are difficult topics, over the next few weeks the series will help your son or daughter become equipped to reach out to the hurting and lonely on their campuses and truly make a difference in their world. I really encourage you to ask your teen about their experiences each week, and be ready to listen to what they’re learning and how they’re being challenged.

What’s Your Teen’s Life Going to Be About?

In a compelling scene from the movie To Save A Life, the youth pastor tells the main character, Jake, “At some point, you’ve gotta answer the question, ‘What’s your life going to be about?’” Teen life is full of questions…and defining moments. Help your teen see themselves as loved by God and able to live a life of real significance.

Series Schedule:

March 9: Lowering the Waterline—If we are going to love the hurting and lonely, then we first need to know how much God loves us.
March 16: You’re Not Alone—We need to notice and respond to hurting and lonely peers in our sphere of influence.
March 30: Say Something…Do Something—We want to not just know about hurting and lonely peers, but to serve them and be “Jesus’ hands and feet.”
April 6: What’s your Logline?—We want to meet our peers in their hurt and to help others rewrite their stories based on how God sees them.
April 13: How to Save a Life—God can actually use our small acts of service for the hurting and lonely to save people’s lives and change the world.
April 20: Agape Feast—We’ll celebrate together with a huge potluck dinner like the early church.
April 27: Stepping Into the Bigger Picture—We will learn to reach out to the hurting and lonely in community.

Handling the Tough Stuff

Life as a teenager can be difficult. Every day, your teen does their best to be liked, do well in school, get along with their family, and make important decisions that could affect their whole lives. Teenagers can't avoid pressures, and it’s natural to worry about them. The first step in helping your teen is differentiating between normal growing pains and a crisis situation. No one knows your son or daughter better than you. Read through the following list and remember these signs as you observe your teenager. You might also be in a position to help one of their friends.

A teen might need special help if they:

Feel or act very angry most of the time, cry a lot, or overreact
Display obvious and abrupt behavioral changes
Are repeatedly involved in high-risk behaviors
Complain of medically undiagnosed physical problems
Start doing much worse in school, or lose interest in activities or other things they usually enjoy
Change their sleep or eating habits, have persistent nightmares, or use alcohol or drugs
Avoid friends or family and want to be alone all the time
Say they can’t concentrate, make decisions, or pay attention to anything
Use suicidal language such as “I’d be better off dead,” “You won’t have to worry about me much longer,” or “No one cares if I’m around, I’ll just end it all”
Talk about hurting others or lashing out at people or property

If you observe one or more of these signs, you might need to find experienced or even professional help for your student.

Did You Know…

Depression strikes about one out of eight teenagers [TeenSuicide.us]
14%-39% of teens have had at least one incident of deliberate self-injury [Journal of Abnormal Psychology]
Suicide is the third-leading cause of death among 10- to 19-year-olds [National Institute of Mental Health]

These are difficult, but very real issues. Below are some Web sites, books, and phone numbers where you can find help.

Suicidology.org
TeenSuicide.us
National Institute of Mental Health (nimh.nih.gov and search under children and adolescents)
Boys and Girls Town 24-hour Hotline: 1-800-448-3000
1-800-Suicide
1-800-273-Talk
1-877-Youthline
A Parent’s Guide to Helping Teenagers in Crisis by Rich Van Pelt and Jim Hancock
Hope and Healing For Kids Who Cut by Marv Penner

Random Video Thursday: Fuzzy Fuzzy Cute Cute

2011-03-03T10:17:00.003-06:00

Not that I ever thought to myself, "I'll never have a blog post with 'Random Video Thursday: Fuzzy Fuzzy Cute Cute' as the title," but I can honestly say that I didn't think that it would ever be a post. This might go beyond random to strange. Enjoy.

Serving Together

2011-02-24T09:08:00.003-06:00

I grew up in a small town, and in a small-town church. My dad was and is an elder in my boyhood church. I can remember from a very early age all the extra work that he did at the church - from fixing leaky sinks, to hanging suspended ceiling tiles in a church addition.

I remember him running a new electrical line to somewhere where a room needed more power. I remember Dad with a bunch of other guys tearing up old glued down carpet in our sanctuary with shovels and about anything else you could use to scrape up that nasty stuff. I remember him taking his cattle trailer, that he meticulously cleaned out, over to a family's house to help them move. I remember him and a few other men working late nights to get an old car running that they eventually gave to a family in need. I remember going over to family's houses to pray with them before surgeries, after hardships, and just about any other kind of time that prayer is needed.

Why do I remember these things? Because he took me with him to do all of these things. My Dad has a servants heart, and he wanted me to have that also. So he took me with him. And, if I'm honest there were probably times that I went kicking and screaming. But he made me go anyway. And you know what...I don't hate church. Why? Because I saw not that church attendance was important, but because serving people in need is important. It's all about the heart of a servant.

This week, we have a great opportunity for you to invest in a servants heart in your children by serving together as a family. Check this out on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150090774611986&set=pu.339205976985&theater

I hear from families all the time that say they want their kids to think about other people. Take them serving with you. What opportunities does you family have right now that you could include your kids in serving with you?

Random Video Thursday: Swiss Ball Surfing

2011-02-17T09:39:00.002-06:00

I love youth ministry. I love youth ministry games. I especially love when I get game ideas for youth ministry from stupid things that people do on YouTube! Time to up the insurance policy. Good thing I have an insurance agent as a youth sponsor.

Random Video Thursday: SuperBowl Top 10

2011-02-10T11:03:00.002-06:00

I love the Super Bowl. Heck, I love football. College, Pro, High School. I love it all. I also love the Super Bowl commercials, which is yet another reason I love YouTube. Because I never get to see all of the commercials. Commercial time is when I get up, walk around, go to the bathroom, feed myself more food I don't need, etc. Enter YouTube, and the ability to see everything you missed.

Starting this year, on the Wednesday after the Super Bowl, I will be showing my Super Bowl Commercials Top 10. These aren't anybody else's top 10, although you might like them too.

Here they are: MY SUPERBOWL TOP 10 COMMERCIALS OF 2011.

#10 - Best Buy Big Game Spot with Bieber and Ozzy

#9 - Bridgestone - Carma

#8 - NEW E*TRADE Baby -- Cat

#7 - Bridgestone - Reply All

#6 - Doritos - House Sitting

#5 - NEW E*TRADE Baby -- Tailor

#4 - Chevy Cruze - Misunderstanding

#3 - Snickers - Logging

#2 - CareerBuilder - Parking Lot

And #1 - Volkswagen Commercial: The Force

The End of "The Talk"

2011-02-07T13:33:00.002-06:00

We're in the middle of our yearly series that we do with our junior high and high school students on relationships and sex, Sex. Dating. Usually during this series I take the opportunity to be having "The Talk" with their children.

But I'm not convinced that it's enough. Just having "The Talk" is not enough. It's time to begin having "Talks". "Talks" with our daughters about how a teenage boy thinks. "Talks" with our sons about how to treat and talk to teenage girls. "Talks" about putting parameters when it comes to dating and being alone with someone that we are "in like" with - notice I didn't say "love", that's because we need to have "Talks" about what love is, and isn't.

Dads, we need to have "Talks" with our sons about pornography. And frankly, Dads, we need to take a look at ourselves and see how our example is affecting our sons in our homes. It's time we set the example for our sons in how we treat a woman. We need to talk with our daughters about how beautiful they are. Telling them that every day. Working tirelessly for our daughters to understand how a man treats a woman, and anything less than that is unacceptable.

Moms, we need you to have "Talks" about how a woman desires to be treated, and how it is so different than MTV or about any other show they might be watching wants them to think how girls want to be treated. It's time for "Talks" with our daughters about setting a standard and never backing down from that.

It's time for "Talks". Lots and lots and lots of "Talks". One talk isn't going to do it, unless you package it in a weekend long "Talk" summit that's revisited bi-monthly. There should be no one fighting for their heart and their sexuality harder than us.

Random Video Thursday: High Five Etiquette

2011-01-27T09:27:00.002-06:00

I'm a "high fiver." I especially use it to offset the awkward hug or side hug that comes on Sundays and Wednesdays. So, you can imagine my excitement when I found this! Now you'll know everything you'll need to know about high fiving.

Sex. Dating.

2011-01-24T09:48:00.000-06:00

It's that time of year again! Every year we dive into an issue that is one not worth shying away from. Sex. This year we're using a video series with authors Michael and Hayley DiMarco who have written books for teens on these very issues.

The Bible doesn’t tell us how to ask someone out and Scripture doesn’t say what the perfect date would look like. But God gives clear guidance on how we should treat our bodies and how we should treat others … including the opposite sex.

In these four video sessions, Hayley and Michael DiMarco use practical and Biblical guidelines to help teens figure out how to build healthy relationships with the opposite sex. A great Bible study for your youth group.

+ Real-life interviews with teenagers from across the country.

+ Understand the purpose of dating and how to respect ourselves and each other.

+ Four video Bible studies on these topics:

Boundaries
The Role of Dating
Tough Issues for Guys
Tough Issues for Girls

To Save a Life

2011-01-20T13:11:00.002-06:00

On February 23rd we are joining with other youth groups in our community for a movie night in the KVHS auditorium. We will be watching, To Save a Life. Here a description from their website:

To Save A Life is more than a movie. It's the difference you can make when you use your influence and time for others—whether in your family, neighborhood, campus, community or world. Some people are just dying to be heard and accepted. Don't let 'em have to. Be the person who takes the time to show people they have value. Listen. Reach out. Engage. Imagine if we took the time to show other people we care. To Save A Life dares—no, inspires—you to.

To Save A Life is an awesome movie. But it's only a movie. You can change the world.

The movie deals with many of the issues that todays teenagers deal with on a regular basis. The movie may seem a little raw, but so is the reality that many of our teens live in each day. I highly encourage you to take a look at the trailer below. I also ask you to encourage your son or daughter to be a part of this night with us.

Random Video Thursday

2011-01-13T12:32:00.002-06:00

I've mentioned it before, but I love the Skit Guys! Love. Love. Love. We showed this little nugget of comedy gold last night.

Random Video Thursday

2011-01-06T09:43:00.002-06:00

A few weeks back we showed the iBand Video from NorthPoint. If you haven't watched that, DO IT! But then the next week, when you thought it couldn't be topped (or at least up to the same level), they pulled off yet another great production with, Santa went down to Georgia. Enjoy.

Fake it Until You Make It?

2011-01-05T09:19:00.004-06:00

I recently read an article in Collide Magazine's final issue title, Fake it Until You Make it, by Ben Arment. The article told the story of U2's rise to fame. They were from Dublin, Ireland and struggling to make it. So they went to London to make it big...except they didn't. But they gave off the impression to their hometown that they did. They faked it, and that made all the difference in their hometown. Quickly they became a bigger deal than they previously were, and the rest, as they say, is history. Arment summed up the article with this:

Whether it's rock bands, best-selling books, or churches, people prefer to go with options that have already made it. And if you haven't made it just yet, you have to fake it.

Then, yesterday in our staff meeting we watched the first session of Dr. Henry Cloud's White Board | Red Couch leadership teaching DVD. In this first session he explains that there are 3 key ingredients to success in leadership - 1. Competence, 2. Alliances, and 3. Character.

Competence speaks to what we know how to do. Alliances speaks to who we know. Both key ingredients to success. But a lot of people stop with these first two. And you can get a long way on just those two. But long-term success needs character as a part of it.

Your character, or your make-up is what holds up the success of the business, or your leadership or whatever else. It's like the foundation. Everyone has cracks in their foundation - they're human. But someone with a developing character is able to make it further, and over the long haul.

So, can you fake it until you make it? Sure. It worked for U2, and it's worked for a lot of companies and people. But at some point, without character developing along with all of that, you'll end up being found out. As my Senior Pastor, Tim always says, "Character will reveal itself."

Random Video Thursday...a week late

2010-12-22T15:39:00.003-06:00

I love the Skit Guys. I first saw them at a National Youth Worker Convention put on by YS when I was in college interning at a church in MO. Just about everything they put out is comedy gold. Too often I'll see one of their new videos and call a "staff meeting" for everyone to come take a look. Here, the Sanders - your average over the top "religious" juggernauts invade your privacy yet again while inviting you to Christmas Eve with little subtlety.

Random Video Thursday

2010-12-09T10:30:00.002-06:00

It's Random Video Thursday!! And, having been a little under the weather last week we have a double dose of random awesomeness. First, a the video we showed last week in BRIGADE.

And then, for the grand-daddy of them all. Really this next one deserves like a series of blog posts. We might never out-do ourselves on this one. It's well worth watching the entire thing, but if you only have a couple minutes start it at 5 min. You won't be disappointed.

Christmas Stress

2010-12-08T12:45:00.003-06:00

Yesterday in my post, "Rediscovering the Christmas Season" I talked about my love for the Christmas season. I'm loving the reading that I'm doing to refocus my energy and thoughts on the time of year. I don't get too worked up over the material stuff of the Christmas season, although I am pretty excited about the Blu-Ray player I'm getting this year.

Sometimes, however, and this year is no exception, stress always seems to creep in around this time of year. For me, stress makes me irritable (I'm sure none of you can relate) and I lose out on opportunities to enjoy my family the way I intend to during the Christmas season.

Last week I stumbled upon a series a blog posts by the Orange Parents blog on "Christmas Stress". I love the big-picture, imagine the end thought that Reggie Joinner and Carrie Nieuwhof put into each of their posts. Here's one of the ideas from part 2 that I really liked.

Travel less

The tug-of-war some people go through at Christmas makes this season their least favorite time of the year. Trying to figure out how to see every relative during the holidays is enough to put some families in therapy. I am not sure why every parent expects their adult children to pack up their kids and make a personal house call every Thanksgiving and Christmas, but somehow it has become the standard expectation. The problem is that the growing complexity of family has taken all of the peace and good will out of the season. I know families who are expected to drag their children to at least four different sets of parents and step-parents, just to keep everyone happy. Maybe it’s time to have a heart to heart with all of the in-laws, and come up with some creative solutions. Consider putting parents on an annual rotation, or better yet, invite them to take turns every other year to come to your house. Just be creative. But don’t sacrifice a quality experience at Christmas for your immediate family by trying to live up to everyone else’s unrealistic expectations.

And then another from part 3:

Take a Holiday on Your Vacation

I love thinking through the meaning of words, and while I’m no etymologist (and am not even sure how to say that word properly, but they are people who study word origins), years ago I started thinking about the difference between a holiday and a vacation. ”Holiday” is a word that came from the fusion of “holy” and “day”. Vacation, on the other hand, is from the Latin word vacare meaning ‘empty’ or ‘free’.

Every Christmas, I try to take both. I try to mark the spiritual meaning of Christmas in some way that is personally significant. I try not to lose the meaning of Christmas in my rush.

And part of that means learning not to rush. So I also try to ‘vacate’ and take some time off. That doesn’t necessarily mean heading out of town, but it does mean planning a few days of nothing others than maybe hanging out or leaving footprints in the snow on a long hike.

Book some time to simply vacate and set aside time to reflect on what matters most. It’s a way of refueling.

There are 5 parts to the whole series. Check them all out at www.orangeparents.org.

Rediscovering the Christmas Season

2010-12-07T09:05:00.004-06:00

I love the Christmas season. A lot of the excitement for me is getting to see family during a week break that we always take as a staff. I live about 9 hours away from both my family and my wife's family, so our family always makes a week's vacation trip and splits time with my family and my in-laws.

Another thing that I love is getting to enjoy how cozy our little house gets when my wife, Jessica puts up the tree and all the lights and decorations in our house. It's a joy to come home, turn off all the house lights and watch some TV with my family under the light of just our tree and other decorative lights in the house.

I've been wanting this Christmas season to be a little different, however. And the other day I stumbled on the "Rediscovering the Christmas Season" Bible reading plan over on YouVersion. So I'm doing my first reading plan that I've done with them during this season to refocus some of what I love about Christmas back to what's important. So if you're looking for a quick reminder that really only takes about 5-10 minutes each day to do, I really encourage you to click the link above and join in.

The cool thing about it, is if you have a smart phone, you can download their app, and do it on your phone too if you set up an account on the website and login on your phone.

Random Video Thursday...a week late

2010-11-24T10:07:00.001-06:00

I believe that you could type in "Kung Fu" into YouTube and come up with enough random videos to last you a year. Here's just one of those awesome finds:

What I Should Have Said...

2010-11-23T08:58:00.000-06:00

Not long ago, in my junior high group the subject of forgiveness came up. I can’t remember how, or even what the focus of forgiveness was. But eventually in our conversation the question got posed to me hypothetically about whether I could ever forgive someone if they killed my little boy, Caleb.

I told them that I hoped that I could eventually get to the point where I could forgive them. My boys were astonished. They couldn’t get their heads around the fact, and I couldn’t – in the moment – think of a good way to help them see the whats and whys of why I believe that I could forgive this horrible, hypothetical situation.

This morning, as I was reading I came to Matthew 18:23-35, the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant. Jesus has just instructed Peter to forgive, not just seven times – as is above and beyond in Jewish customs – but however many times it takes. So Jesus decides the illustrate his point, as he often does, with a parable.

In the parable, a servant owes the king an amount more than he will be able to pay back. He begs for patience from the king, and instead the king wipes the dept away. The servant immediately leaves the presence of the king to find another servant who owes him money. He grabs him by the throat, and threatens to throw him in jail if he doesn’t pay back what he owes the first servant – an amount somewhere around a million to one what he owed the king.

The king heres the news and does treats the servant who owed him more than he could repay how he had just treated the second servant who could over time repay the debt. In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed…This is how my heavenly father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart (Matthew 18 34-35).

Here is what I should have said to my boys that night: ”I can forgive because he first forgave me my offenses. If I lose sight of where God has saved me from I will never be able to forgive people of the petty things they do to me. But if I know that I had a debt that could not be repaid except for by the blood of Jesus, then, and only then can I have the strength to forgive others.”

D.A. Carson wrote, “Jesus sees no incongruity in the actions of a heavenly Father who forgives so bountifully and punishes so ruthlessly, and neither should we. Indeed, it is precisely because he is a God of such compassion and mercy that he cannot possibly accept as his those devoid of compassion and mercy.”

“If we don’t forgive our fellow servants their puny little offenses against us. God won’t forgive our huge offenses against him. God’s actions are both severe and fair. Those in the church who bear grudges against brothers or spouses or parents must pay attention to this teaching. Forgiveness of others is essential to our own salvation.” – Mark Moore

Random Video Thursday...on Saturday

2010-11-13T09:18:00.002-06:00

I wasn't able to be in our youth group Wednesday night this week. I'm in Nashville at a mentoring weekend with Jim Wideman. I almost forgot to post this weeks awesomeness.

I found this video a few months ago and loved watching it. It's one you have to watch at least twice.

Random Video Thursday

2010-11-04T16:17:00.002-05:00

This week, in keeping with our Halloween theme in BRIGADE we showed this little nugget of randomness. Yes, this my dog...no she is no longer a resident of our home...yes I laugh like a fool.

Grounded From Church

2010-11-01T10:50:00.001-05:00

This is a post that’s been on my mind for a long time. I write it with humility and the willingness for you to disagree with me. But it’s something that I feel I can’t ignore.

Over the last 5 years of talking with students and parents about why they hadn’t been in youth group for a while one of the reasons that’s bugged me tremendously has been that they’ve been grounded. The grounding doesn’t bug me so much as the being grounded from church. Here is some of the thinking behind why I believe that we should never ground our kids from church.

First, Church simply becomes a bartering chip that we as parents play in order to enact some sort of punishment. If we expect this rising generation to view the community of Christ that they experience at this age as something that they simply can’t and shouldn’t try to live without, we cannot use it as something that is optional. Think about it. Most of us don’t expect our children to grow up to be professional athletes, but we’d never consider grounding them from a sports practice. But we do want our children to grow up to be life-long followers of Christ. The community of Christ cannot be a bartering chip or trump card to play.

Second, when we ground our kids from church we are communicating that we don’t believe in the redemptive purpose that a youth group experience provides. Are they going to have fun at youth group? Probably. Isn’t fellowship with other believers supposed to be a joyful experience? But are they going to hear the gospel preached? Absolutely. And I believe that nothing in this world has the potential to change the hearts of the most hardened people like the Word of God. We also believe that life-change happens best in the context of a small group – something that we provide in every experience for our youth and children.

I believe that this boils down to one of the values for families that we believe here at Grace Fellowship - Fight for the Heart. When we fight for the heart we’re doing more than fighting – we’re going toe-to-toe with the things that clamor for the attention of our children, and fighting for them to know God their Father above all else. And sometimes that has to trump us being right.

I do believe that there can be exceptions to what I’ve talked about, like special trips and other experiences that are a privilege. I invite your discussion on this.

Random Video Thursday

2010-10-21T14:23:00.001-05:00

I'm going to try a little something new and have my first weekly post that will have a theme...we'll see how this thing goes.

Every week in our student ministry I'll play some random video. I enjoy random, and so do the students. So this week I first showed them this. Enjoy. You'll thank me later!

All that, to set up this, in all it's glory!

I have to give credit where credit is due. I found these from Brandon Smith over @ www.mynameisbrandon.com.

Grace is Hard...

2010-10-14T13:53:00.002-05:00

Last night we started a series in BRIGADE entitled, TEN, where we’re looking at the 10 Commandments. Our first talk last night dealt with our common assumptions that we have deep within us that the ten are void of relationship. If we look strictly at the surface of what Exodus 20 has to say, it’s really hard to find a God who loves his people unconditionally in there.

So, we backed up and did a quick look at the history of the Israelites starting with Jacob’s move to Egypt. How the Israelites had been enslaved by the Egyptians for 400 years (twice as long as the United States has been in existence, by the way). Then we went through God calling Moses to lead his people out of slavery and how Pharaoh refused to cooperate with God’s plan, so God intervened on behalf of His people – 9 times in fact. Then with one final intervention we discussed the Passover in Exodus 12. God rescued His people.

As a result of the Israelites’ obedience, God spares them from the last plague – the death of the firstborn son in each family. When Pharaoh’s own son dies, he finally decides to let the Isrealites leave Egypt, and they walk out together as a free nation. They have been rescued by their God, who has taken a personal interest in them.

A relationship between Israel and God had already been set into place. God had already acted on Israel’s behalf. If we miss this, we miss the whole point.

God acted first. God moved first. God proved Himself first. Before the rules, before the requirements, before God asked anything of Israel, God made His character known. He made His love known. He made the relationship known.

But in all of that (at least from my perspective) we still missed the point. At the end of the night I asked my JH boys what their one takeaway was for the night, and every single one of them came back with “try harder to live my life according to the 10 Commandments,” “honor my parents better,” “make sure that I’m living a better life.”

Grace is hard.

Grace is hard to hear someone talk about and freely accept it. It’s difficult to believe that there is a God who desires a relationship with us more than for us to follow a set of rules (sounds a bit like RELIGION doesn’t it?). Grace is hard, because we rarely meet someone who is gracious. Grace is hard because so many of our first experiences with God are with His representatives – “Christians” – not living in, and extending that Grace, that unconditional love as freely as God does.

And so Grace is hard to understand. I’ll even admit, that in my writing out the words that I would say last night I had to do a double take on them, and wonder if I was going to preach a gospel with too much grace, and not enough stipulations for us to live by once we experience that Grace.

Grace is hard.

Follow a new blog

2010-09-21T11:47:00.001-05:00

Jonathon has kind of taken this blog over as a place to share his thoughts and views. And Jessica has moved to a new blog to share her thoughts as well as some of her craft and sewing inspirations. If you're interested, her new blog is here.

What I Should Have Said...

2010-08-26T13:16:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, two brothers stopped by the church saying that they were looking for a new church in the area. I intentionally didn't ask a lot of questions as to why, as often that will elicit responses that border on church gossip and I really didn't want to go down that road.

As I talked with them, one of the guys asked me, "Tell me about Grace Fellowship in a nutshell." So I told him about our service times. Our Small Group ministry. I told him that we have an awesome band (which we do). I told him about the kind of songs that we sing. I told him about our building, and even showed him around. I told them about our children's and youth ministries, and how cool (at least in my mind) they are. I told him all kinds of things that we do here at Grace Fellowship (to be honest, I was feeling a little like a used car salesman).

I went back to my office to work on a few things before going home and it hit me. I didn't really tell him who we are, and what we're trying to be and become.

So here's what I should have said...

"Grace Fellowship is about Jesus, pure and simple. We're about reaching people with that message and seeing people connect with him, fully. We are about fully connecting people to God, His Church, and His World. That's Grace Fellowship in a nut shell."

Small Groups are awesome, but it they're not centered around our relationship with Jesus, they're just a group hanging out and eating snacks. Our band is awesome and they lead us in some awesome songs, but if those songs aren't pointing people to Jesus, it's just a concert. Our children's ministry is awesome and a lot of fun, but if it's not helping a child connect to Jesus, it's just glorified babysitting. Our building is really cool, and inviting, but if it's not filled with people who love Jesus and want to welcome guests into a relationship with Jesus, then we're no different than any other social club in town. People say that Tim's preaching is awesome and really speaks to them (which it is, and does), but if people aren't taking the next step towards Jesus, what are we accomplishing?

Pizza Parties = Youth Ministry?

2010-08-16T10:45:00.003-05:00

Last week I read an article in the USA Today entitled ‘Forget pizza parties,’ Teens tell Churches. I read it, and didn’t put any thought into it. Later that same day, I was reading one of the youth ministry blogs that I try (key word “try”) to keep up on by youth ministry vet, Mark Oestreicher. And he was writing on that very article, with his post, Youth Ministry in Decline?

Finally my brain began to power up a bit on this article and Oestreicher’s words. Here’s a snippet of the USA Today article:

"Bye-bye church. We're busy." That's the message teens are giving churches today.
Only about one in four teens now participate in church youth groups, considered the hallmark of involvement; numbers have been flat since 1999. Other measures of religiosity — prayer, Bible reading and going to church — lag as well, according to Barna Group, a Ventura, Calif., evangelical research company. This all has churches canceling their summer teen camps and youth pastors looking worriedly toward the fall, when school-year youth groups kick in.

Then, towards the end of the USA Today article:

Sam Atkeson of Falls Church, Va., left his Episcopal church youth group not long after leaving middle school.
"I started to question if it was something I always wanted to do or if I just went because my friends did," says Atkeson, now 18. "It just wasn't really something I wanted to continue to do. My beliefs changed. I wouldn't consider myself a Christian anymore."

Here are Oestreicher’s concluding thoughts on this artcle:

my second thought (the first being how the article names the problem but misses the point): why are we always so dang quick to point our fingers at everyone and everything else? when will we have the humility to point that accusing finger at ourselves?
i sure would have enjoyed seeing a quote from a youth pastor or church leader or ministry expert who said something like, “well, to be honest, we dropped the ball. it’s our fault. culture has changed, and teenagers have changed, and we’ve still been rolling along with our same ol’ lame pizza parties and camps, pretending it’s 1982. i hope this is a ‘better late than never’ situation where our desire to change and find new ways to engage today’s teenagers with the love of jesus will still find purchase. we’ve stumbled, but our calling is unshaken.”
that would have been cool.

This article & blog post couldn’t have come at a better time for me as I gear up for the fall. Every single generation dealing with the message of the gospel has dealt with the issue of relevancy.

A couple of thoughts going on in my head right now. 1) How do we make the gospel relevant Answer: we don’t. The gospel is relevant. Jesus’ message is as relevant today, as it was when he spoke it. The problem then comes with our communication (spoken & unspoken) of the gospel. How are we living this message? Are we recklessly abandoned towards living a life of submission and ministry to bring people to the only hope that can save them? Do I believe it for myself? Do the students that I get to minister to see it in me?

Am I constantly trying to find ways to expose students to the work of Jesus for them, or am I just trying to convince them that if they’ll just listen to Jesus their life will be better, and they’ll get along with their parents.

2) We were never promised that the gospel, communicated clear and effectively would bring people (or keep people around). Isaiah was told that he’d preach, but no one would listen. Paul said that the gospel is foolishness for those who are perishing. Jesus said that wide is the gate that leads to destruction and many find it.

It’s tough to live and minister in that paradox. One thing I am sure of, though. I am called to do everything with the resources that God has given me to point people to him. And I want nothing more than to give my life to that cause.

Be the Church

2010-08-03T10:59:00.000-05:00

by: Jonathon Mitchell

A few weeks back I had the privilege to take 6 of our high school students to CIY MOVE in Holland, MI. If I'm honest, I was looking forward to this trip, but with little hope of there being any change in our group - much less any change in our church. The year before, we were scheduled to go it was only 2 weeks from my daughter being born and we only had 2 students signed up, so we cancelled. I didn't have a lot of expectations going into this year's trip.
On top of that, I spent very little time praying for the students that were going on this trip. I would pray from time to time about the trip, but not near what I needed to have spent. But one thing I did do, and so glad I did, was hand out some prayer sheets that CIY provided for specific ways that the people here could pray for the students going. Probably the best piece of planning I did going into the trip. Six different people praying specific things for these girls during their trip, and 5 days after the trip.

Throughout the week at CIY the students were challenged to become a Kingdom Worker. They were challenged to see needs, and meet needs. To see where God's heart was, and MOVE towards it. They are doing that.

Here's what that trip did for those students - and I believe is a direct result of the prayers that were prayed for the students during and after their conference experience. In just a little over week, these 6 teens are hosting a rummage sale here at the church that will go towards Active Water, a non-profit organization that helps to put bio-sand filters in the homes of people dealing with the water crisis going on in Africa.

These 6 students are being the church, and leading our church in an effort to do something about a problem that they know God wants us to do something about. I'm extremely proud of these students. I'm also extremely humbled to see what God is doing in their lives.

If you want details about the Rummage Sale, here they are: http://www.facebook.com/connectatgrace?v=app_2344061033&ref=ts#!/event.php?eid=122178511162434&index=1

Prayer

2010-07-14T10:37:00.001-05:00

Two things before I start. 1) An apology. I'm going to ramble. 2) A confession. I'm not that good at prayer.

I'm excited about this fall when we as a church take a long, hard look at the practice of prayer as it pertains to us personally, and I hope as a body as a whole. I'm excited, because we have the opportunity to learn from God, and learn from others.

In prayer personally, we have the opportunity to, as Philip Yancey describes it in the study, that instead of inviting God into my day, but instead placing myself into His. God is at work all the time. Not just when I'm at work. God is constantly writing the story of His redemption on the world, and I have the opportunity to join that story. Prayer is my opportunity to hear from God what my part in that story is.

I'm rethinking a lot of what I've always "known" and preconceived about prayer. I've been taught a lot of things about prayer. Some good...some, not so much. One thing I'm learning, and it goes back to placing myself God's day, not the other way around, is that prayer is more my opportunity to understand God's heart in every situation in my life. Is it important at all? Am I making a bigger deal out of it than I should? Should I be making a bigger deal about it than I am? Does God heart break for these people? This situation? What opportunities is God already at work in, that I just need to join Him? What opportunities am I seeing, that really aren't that important to God? Prayer is simply my chance to see God's heart on an everyday basis, and how he is already at work, and what he's at work in.

Another thing I'm excited about is the opportunity to learn from one another. As we pray with one another - in church, in small groups, with just one or two others - we get the opportunity to see other people's connection with the Father. When we pray as a staff each Tuesday, we take turns each week, and get a window into seeing how other people are connecting with the Father. It's beautiful to watch what other people are passionate and compassionate about. It's awesome to hear Tim thank God for his mercies each day. It's moving to hear Jan plead with God to intervene in our planning - whether here at Grace Fellowship, locally in Gary, or globally in India or Africa. And in hearing others we get an even broader glimpse of what story God is writing throughout his entire creation - not just what my tiny mind can comprehend.

In prayer we are connecting with a God who is massively bigger than ourselves. We participate in a story that is bigger than we could ever imagine. In prayer we get a front row seat to the redemptive story that God is writing.

The First of Many...

2010-06-10T13:44:00.000-05:00

Today I was working on some database stuff for our children’s and youth ministry. I was moving kids out of junior high into high school; outof 6th grade into junior high; out of pre-k into kindergarten; and new little ones into the pre-k (Maliki Land). This last one is what caught my attention. I moved my son into the Maliki Land class.

I’ve had moments before where I would just sit in awe and watch Caleb do something or something that he would say would catch my attention. But today there was something about it. We already read him Bible stories – just last night he asked to read the book about Goliath (to which he said, “we don’t kill people”). But now we’ll be getting the small talk cardsevery month with ways that we can begin really teaching Caleb about how God loves him, God made him, and how Jesus wants to be his friend forever.

I’m excited to see what these next few years bring as we attempt to raise our son to love and know Christ. I’m excited to have moments as he grows to begin teaching him about serving others. I’m excited to have him helping me in ministry. And all of this starts right now with simple things like everyday teachable moments that God puts in our lives. I’m sure this blog post will be the first of many where I update you on moments where I realize that my kids are growing up.

Face It

2010-06-10T13:43:00.000-05:00

The other day I was playing with Haley (my 10 month old) on our living room floor. We were playing with a red cowboy hat. I would put it on her, she would rip it off, and then throw it, or try to crawl accross the room with it. Then I would put it on, and she’d try to get it to take it off of me and take off with it again. At one point I laid down and put the hat on to where it covered my face. Haley calmly laid down on her belly and peered underneath the brim of the hat so that she could see my face.

What is it about someone’s face that we need to see, and there’s a distance if we don’t. Television blurs the face of someone that needs to hide their identity. Peek-a-boo is a fun game that makes your kids happy when you show your face. The face of someone reveals something about someone.

Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior (Psalm 27:9 NIV). If you do a quick search “face” appears 34 times in Psalms alone; most in reference God’s face (“don’t hide your face”, “I seek your face”, “make your face shine upon us”, etc.). There is something about the face of God that was important for the Psalmists to want to see.

Whenever I watch an interview with someone trying to keep their identitiy hidden and they have their face blurred, it drives me nuts. I have a tough time even listening to what they’re saying because I’m concentrating so hard on just trying to see their face- I want to see who they are.

Questions for me and you: Am I that concentrated on God? Do I desperately look to find out who God is that nothing else around me even matters, except to find out who God truly is? Am I humble enough to realize what my sin is like in God’sview that I would be concerned about God hiding his face from me?

Old Man

2009-04-05T20:45:00.002-05:00

It's been a little while since we last posted. Caleb is talking more and more everyday!! We just read something the other day that the average child of this age learns 20 words a day. They are mostly working on understanding these words, but lots are being said as well. The pregnancy is going well; we are 27 weeks, now.

Here's a funny story from today. Caleb has been seeing people in public and calling them grandma or grandpa. Today, we were at a visitation and he pointed to an older man and said "Grandpa." Usually, we say, yes, he probably is somebody's grandpa. Today, Jonathon said, "that's an old guy, Caleb." Next thing we know, Caleb matter-of-factly pointed over his shoulder at the guy and said, "old man." Wow - they repeat everything!!

Big Boy Bed!!

2009-03-05T12:52:00.002-06:00

We switched beds around and moved the queen bed into Caleb's room and the crib into the other bedroom to get ready for the baby! We had been letting Caleb play a little bit on "his big boy bed," so we knew he liked it during the day, but we weren't sure how he would handle sleeping in it. We expected him to stay awake and want to play, but he did perfect!! It was as if there was no transition at all. Here are some pictures of the first morning waking up in his big boy bed!

Just in case you haven't heard

2009-01-13T14:59:00.001-06:00

We are expecting baby #2, due July 4, 2009

Play in the snow

2009-01-13T14:06:00.003-06:00

We've had snow off and on, but it always seemed too cold to take Caleb out to play. We knew that it was supposed to be getting REALLY cold later this week, so we decided to get him outside a little bit. Ryley, our dog, loved it and was running around like a crazy dog. Caleb laughed at her but it took Caleb quite a while to even feel comfortable walking in it.

Christmas

2009-01-13T13:40:00.005-06:00

We had a wonderful Christmas with family. We got to spend several days with both of our families; had a little bit of fun weather to deal with, and dealt with the flu as well, but was all still wonderful to see our families. Caleb was a little more into opening the presents, and playing with the new stuff. Jonathon and I got Caleb a tool bench complete with the "noises" of real tools. So far it's been a hit with Caleb and the kids I watch. Daddy was pretty excited to play tools with Caleb!...here are a few pics

Thanksgiving

2008-12-04T11:09:00.002-06:00

My Grandma Lois Carder passed away the week before Thanksgiving. So, Jonathon, Caleb & I got in the car Thursday before Thanksgiving and headed toward home. We were actually supposed to be leaving that morning for a Youth Specialties conference in Tennessee, so Jonathon's mom was with us to watch Caleb. We ended up taking her home on Thursday night, staying there so that we could see Caleb's Grandpa Vern and heading toward my parents Friday morning. We will miss Grandma a lot, but Jonathon & I both were so blessed by our grandparents. We had (and still have) some truly amazing people as grandparents and they greatly influenced our parents and us and for that we are thankful!

Because the funeral was on Monday, we were able to stay through the Thanksgiving holiday and spent the week with my Mom & Dad. Joy & her family as well as Janese and her family stayed with my parents as well, so we had a full & lively house and we all LOVED it! My brother Jay and his family came as much as they could, as they have a new baby. Even though we missed an awesome conference, we were both glad to have seen some family that we haven't seen in a long time and got to spend some quality time with my siblings, parents and Caleb's cousins!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

2008-12-04T09:01:00.003-06:00

We decorated the Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We were planning on having Caleb down for a nap that afternoon, but for some reason he didn't take one. (He must have known the fun he'd miss out on). Anyway, so we were sure that he'd want to "help" and I wasn't really looking forward to that. But he did end up helping and it was very cute. He'd grab an ornament and go to the front of the tree and bend his knees like he was looking for the perfect spot. He didn't understand the hooks, but he'd carefully try to place the ornament on a limb and hoped that it wouldn't fall off. He was successful several times.

More Funny Things

2008-11-09T22:10:00.003-06:00

Here are just a few of the the funny things that Caleb has done over the last month.

-Caleb loves to watch Ryley eat and drink, and he will often laugh when he finds something funny about it. The other day I was in the kitchen and turned to see him down on his hands and knees with his his face in Ryley's water bowl (gross I know). He popped his head up with a huge grin and started back down at it. He got stopped the second time.

-Caleb has seen me watching football games a lot this fall (one of my favorite things). One Sunday the Bears game was on and I was watching in my chair. Caleb walked into the living room and started yelling, "Go, Go, Go!!!" at the TV.

-Caleb loves to get whatever it is that we have (cell phone, telephone, tv remote, etc.). So now he's come up with a new way to get these things. He simply finds something that he has that he thinks we would want, and tries to trade us by giving us whatever it is that he has and as soon as we take it, he reaches for what we have. Fair trade.

Here are a couple of his latest fall pictures.

He's a sponge!

2008-09-27T16:30:00.003-05:00

Caleb has been doing lots of fun things lately...sometimes they're fun for Mommy, sometimes they're just fun for him! But they're cute anyway. Here are a few things he's done lately:

- We stopped on the channel of Dancing with the Stars the other night. As soon as he saw the people dancing and heard the music, he started turning circles (like he was dancing). He eventually fell, just in time for the end of the dance and clapped. He loves music.

- I was getting his shoes on the other day, which most of the time doesn't mean anything because he wants to wear his shoes all day long. This particular time, though, we were all getting ready to go outside, and I guess he had figured this out. As soon as I put him down, he walked immediately to the garage door and tried to open the door.

- He happened to open the drawer in our bathroom the other day and got a hold of a couple of Q-tips. He recognized them immediately and tried to clean out his ears. Good thing Mommy was standing right there to help him.

- He loves to play with the trash can, but since he was getting in trouble, he decided to find a "reason" to go to the trash can. So, any time someone will drop a piece of paper or he'd find the tiniest piece of fuzz, or pull off a piece of tape on Mommy's guitar case, he'd go right to the trash to throw it away.

- Sometimes Ryley leaves her food somewhere around the house. we're not sure why, but we don't like it, especially when Caleb liked to pick it up and put it in his mouth. Well, lately, we've been catching Ryley as soon as she drops it and put the food back in her bowl. This morning, he caught her and picked up the food and did just what Mommy & Daddy do...walked right to her bowl and put it back.

- Oh, and one more...he was very interested in the vaccuum today. I left the vaccuum at the end of the hall to do something else really quick. When I turned around, he had figured out a way to climb onto the base and was hollaring at me. I'm not sure if he wanted a ride or just for me to see him, but he held on for a good 5 minutes.

It's just crazy all of the little things that he picks up on. He thinks he's pretty big stuff. It makes you wonder why he pretends like he doesn't understand "No, please don't touch that." But we'll get there someday! :)

Blowing Kisses

2008-09-13T14:11:00.003-05:00

Caleb has learned how to blow kisses. At first, he would just kiss his hand and wouldn't blow, so I tried to really accent the blowing part...now we have a kiss & yell...but it's still cute. He was doing this to someone in a store the other day, very loudly.

Where to start

2008-09-13T09:31:00.002-05:00

Caleb has changed so much in the last few weeks. He's just learning new things every day. He's really beginning to try to copy us and the older kids that I watch. He loves to try play with the bigger kids, too. He loves youth group night where he gets to go to the church and walk around the huge parking lot with all of the jr/sr high schoolers. He has also grown into a pair of Nike high-top tennis shoes that some wonderful friends of ours from St. Joseph got for him. And he LOVES them! He will try to put them on himself and will fuss until we put them on him. Then he walks around like he's big stuff!

He also thinks that it's really funny when someone sneezes (especially Ryley). But yesterday, Jonathon sneezed and Caleb giggled. When we laughed, he decided to start "sneezing" himself. He would cover his mouth and lean his head forward and try to make a sneezing sound. Jonathon & I laughed really hard, so he kept doing it....over and over for several mintues. Sneezing and looking at us and giggling. What a character...wonder where he gets it from???

I'll have to try to get some video of him blowing kisses, but until then, here's a few pictures from recent days.

Sunday Afternoon

2008-09-07T17:48:00.004-05:00

Today we came home from Church and it was too nice outside not to take advantage of it. I had been with a neighbor the other day and we came across a garage sale that had a basketball hoop like we'd been looking for and so I quickly nabbed it. So today we let Caleb play with it for the first time, and as you can see...HE'S A NATURAL!

Then, once we took a little walk around the neighborhood, I started vacuuming while Jessica dusted. Neither one of us was watching him closely and this is what we found after only a minute of neglect.

The Park

2008-08-15T14:38:00.002-05:00

Today Jessica was babysitting and told AJ that when we were done eating lunch that we would go to the park. I decided to go along and play with Caleb. I forgot my our camera, but we had went to the park right next to our offices, so I ran and grabbed our youth ministry camera to snap some pics of him playing all over the place.

He has wanted to be just like the big boys lately. And he thinks that anything that they can do he should be able to do, too.

Walking

2008-08-15T14:33:00.002-05:00

Caleb has been walking for the last couple of weeks. Each day he gets better and a little bit more adventurous. Just in the last couple of days he's started to let go of our hand and trying to do it on his own, rather than us wiggling our hand out of his grasp.

On Wednesday he walked all the way from the back of our sanctuary to the stage, about a 30 ft. walk. That same night we had youth group outside and he walked all over the yard with some of the girls. He loves to use his walking to show off for the girls.

Here is a video of him taking a few of his first steps and then some of him getting a little better. We don't have any from the last couple of days to show how good he is getting.

Here's an old fun one

2008-07-15T16:07:00.000-05:00

This is how you do it...

2008-07-15T15:56:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow our little boy will turn 1 year old! We can hardly believe his first year is gone already! We celebrated a little early so that we could have grandparents & family here. He woke up right as everyone was getting here, so it took him a little while to get going. As you can see in the video, he really liked the attention! In fact, even today while I was babysitting the kids had one of the hats from his birthday party and we put it on Caleb. We sang Happy Birthday, and he stopped and danced like, "Yeah, let's do that again!"

I like to swim...

2008-07-15T15:43:00.003-05:00

Caleb LOVES the water, so we bought a little blow up pool that we figured he would enjoy playing in. He loves to play in the pool, but he has also discovered that he can crawl out of it and then back in. And when he discovers something new, he likes to do it over and over!

Curious

2008-07-14T22:11:00.004-05:00

Caleb is exploring EVERYTHING, and sometimes he thinks the best fun is found doing things he shouldn't...He discovered the knobs on the stove, he fell into his toy basket (which he later got into his toy box and played there for a while. He also LOVES to be like the "big" kids that I watch. He crawled up to them and sat and watched TV just like them.

Sleeping

2008-05-30T14:16:00.004-05:00

Every night we have a little routine that we use to put Caleb to bed. After he nurses we take him back and we change his diaper and read him a book. Jess and I take turns doing one or the other every night. Then we rock him for a bit and put him in his crib before he falls asleep. Most nights it takes him only a few minutes.

But the other night we went in to check on him and found him asleep like this. Just so you know, that's the opposite end that we lay him down at. Just thought you might like to laugh a little bit like we did that night. And it's happened again since this picture was taken.

Superman

2008-05-26T16:26:00.003-05:00

We have some Superman pajamas that we like to put Caleb in and thought he looked pretty cute, so we thought we'd share them with you. Take a look at this big goof.

It's been a busy weekend for us. Today (Memorial Day) we've spent most of our time getting a bunch of stuff ready for a garage sale. Yesterday, I spent the afternoon cleaning the windows inside and outside. I really didn't know how much of a chore that was going to be. Jessica did a pretty deep clean of the house inside, yesterday and today. It's been really nice here, so we've been able to have the windows open and letting the fresh air in (except of course when I was cleaning them).

Here are a couple more pictures to finish you off with.

2008-04-24T15:19:00.002-05:00

Caleb is growing up so fast! He's learning so much so fast! Here's a picture of him giving kisses....oh wait! Daddy was eating chips and Caleb wanted one very badly, so after every chip Jonathon put in his mouth, Caleb followed with a mouth wide open. Caleb is crawling and pulling up and loves to get stuff that he sees Mommy & Daddy get such as the phones, remotes and other stuff. He plays really well with his toys, too. He is eating solids like a champ. He loves Ryley, especially now that he can get her....he loves to crawl after her and when she moves than he crawls after her again...he thinks shes playing with him and he laughs and laughs.

Mexico

2008-04-19T13:50:00.002-05:00

The week after Easter, actually we left Sunday afternoon, I had the chance go down with our church to Mexico to a village that we've worked with for three years now. The village is called Villa Juarez, about 4 1/2 hours sounth of San Antonio. It's a small village with a really small church in the town. Over the last years we've built a parsonage, and added on a classroom. This year we put the roof on the classroom, and poured a patio between the church and the parsonage.

Every year we've also had the opportunity to put on a VBS in the church for anywhere between 30-40 children that show up each day. Having been there three years now the people of the village begin to look forward to us showing up. We actually get permission to block off a whole block of the street to play games with the children before and after the VBS.

It's been an incredible blessing every year. The people of this church give a lot of time to preparing meals for us while we're there. They do an incredible job of fixing us authentic Mexican, and not trying to make it any different than they would for themselves. The food is unbelievable.

Here is a video that I put together of our trip.

Look What I Can Do

2008-03-15T20:28:00.002-05:00

Caleb has been growing up like crazy. Every day there seems to be a new thing that he decides that he's going to do. It seems like he learns a new face everyday as well. Here are a few vidoes of him last week doing some of his accomplishments.

He has also learned another new trick:

Then we thought we'd share with you a little bit of goofing time:

I have 6 teeth!

2008-02-05T22:25:00.000-06:00

The grandparents wanted to see my 6 teeth, 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom...here's my best "teeth" pictures

Rock Chalk Jayhawks!

2008-02-05T22:17:00.000-06:00

Twice Kansas University played University of Missouri this season in basketball and Kansas is having a really good year. This makes Jessica happy, but it's not so fun for Jonathon. KU vs MU is a huge rivalry. Anyway, being that Jonathon is a MU fan and Jessica is a KU fan, the bet has been that Caleb gets to wear some type of apparel of the winning team. Football season found Caleb in a Missouri bib, but thanks to the Prawl family Caleb has a cute Kansas outfit to sport during basketball season! Here's our cute Jayhawk!

Happy 6 months old!

2008-02-05T22:12:00.000-06:00

Caleb turned 6 months old in January. We just recently got some pictures professionally taken, but they aren't back yet. So, we really quickly took some pictures right before bed the night of his 1/2 birthday, as some would call it.

Look!!! I can sit up!

2008-01-26T20:13:00.000-06:00

Caleb has started to sit up this last week or so on his own. As you can see in the video he still has some kinks to work out with it, but we're almost there.

We've been terrible

2008-01-25T16:53:00.001-06:00

We've been terrible at updating our blog. Caleb is growing very fast! He is trying to help me type right now. Not too long after Christmas, we started trying to feed Caleb solid foods. He wasn't really sure about it at first, but seemed to catch on fairly well. Then, all of a sudden after about 2 weeks, he started spitting it out. Then, he started pursing his lips together so that we couldn't get anything inside his mouth. So, we decided to put the solids up for a couple of weeks and try again later. We'll keep you updated. His bottom two teeth came in right before Christmas with not too much trouble. Then just a couple of weeks ago, he had a few grouchy days and a couple of days of a fever that then turned into a runny nose and probably an infection of some kind. Finally, one of the upper middle teeth broke through. It's still working on coming down, but it's broke through AND just last night, we noticed that he has three more on top that look like they could break through any day. I'm pretty sure at least two of them have broken through a little. So, for the most part he does pretty well, but we see a little more Mr. Grumpy than normal. He's also getting pretty good at sitting up all by himself..he looks like such a big boy. And all boy he is becoming, that's for sure!

Jonathon and I are both doing well. I started getting up three days a week to workout here at home. Jonathon already gets up those same days to play basketball with some other men in town. That's been nice for me, at least, to start to include that into my schedule again. We have some pictures of Caleb as he turned 6 months old this month that we'll get up soon...and some special ones of him in his KU outfit. The only reason he got to wear it was because KU beat MU in basketball last weekend.