Month: September 2008

This morning Adriana took her oath to become a United States citizen! 15 years after first coming here as a student, 12 years after our wedding, it has finally happened! We have long awaited this day and we are very excited for her. Now onto Social Security, DMV and to get a US passport. Yeah! lol

Check out this website designed for youth groups of 20 people or less: http://smallyouthgroup.com/?page_id=4

A few weeks ago on the PDYM podcast Josh mentioned that he was going to try a guided parent tour of the youth ministry at Saddleback as a fresh way to try to reach out to and connect with parents. Motivated, I instantly jumped on the idea and ran with it. Within a couple of days postcards were mailed out to parents inviting them to attend. We told them to bring the postcard with them to the event. During the next two weeks students came to my office and prepared displays for various aspects of our ministry – small groups, mid-week, missions trips, leadership, retreats, etc. On the night of the event I shared a few things with the group of parents and then we had different leaders serving as tour guides take small groups of parents around to the stations. At the stations the parents were able to interact with adult leaders and student leaders who answered questions and shared about their particular area – how it serves our purposes and how their lives have been impacted. The parents then had their postcards stamped verifying that they had visited the station. We told them that if their students brought the fully-stamped postcard to our kickoff service the following week they would get $10 off of their winter retreat registration. We also had deserts and coffee available. My favorite thing was how the parents lingered and mingled with my volunteers and student leaders, as well as with each other. Nobody seemed to be in a hurry to get their cards stamped and hit the road. Oh yeah, and the $10 thing … worked like a charm! We had by far the best turn out of parents to anything I have ever tried! Thanks Josh! lol

These words by Hannah Whitall Smith (1832-1911) in Devotional Classics (Foster & Smith) caught my attention this evening:

“In all the ordinary forms of Christian life, service is apt to have more or less of bondage in it; that is, it is done purely as a matter of duty, and often as a trial and a cross. Certain things, which at first may have been a joy and a delight, become after a while weary tasks, performed faithfully, perhaps, but with much secret disinclination, and many confessed or unconfessed wishes that they need not be done at all, or at least that they need not be done so often. The soul finds itself saying, instead of the “May I?” of love, the “Must I?” of duty.”

“I am ashamed to think that any Christian should ever put on a long face and shed tears over doing a thing for Christ which a worldly person would be only too glad to do for money.”

Excerpts from The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life

Selah.

Now I’m not saying that I want my office trashed, but I will say that returning from vacation to find it so actually made me feel loved. My fellow pastors unanimously said they would have lost it – that they can’t stand practical jokes. I guess that’s the difference between youth pastors and “real” pastors. lol! A big fan of The Office, my Jr. High Coordinator for the past three years who is leaving to pursue teaching opportunities, Laura, was inspired to wrap my desk and all of my office supplies in tin foil. Some of the students decided to add the touch of reversing everything on my desk and turning all of my pictures and frames backward on the wall. It took me about an hour to unwrap everything and put it all back, but as I did I was able to actually clean my desk and thought about how much I love and appreciate my students and youth workers as I did it. On the desk was a note from Laura telling me she hoped I missed her. I do, Laura. Oh, and Laura, I never forget! Watch your back! lol