Saturday was a beautiful day, and we went to a park as a family during the afternoon. Enjoyed a nice walk with the dogs, and playing on a playground. In the evening I spoke to almost 200 boys at a Royal Ranger camp-out. Afterward my mother-in-law hosted a surprise birthday get-together for me. It was very nice!
Lunch in the City
This morning I surprised Ady and took her to the city for lunch. We grabbed some Starbucks and bagels and hopped on the train at 9:30 am. During our ride in we enjoyed some wonderful conversation about our marriage and our family. After arriving at Penn Station we took the 1 train down to Greenwich Village where we walked around for a while, stopping into a few shops, before sitting down for lunch outside at Caliente Cab Co. on this absolutely gorgeous day. We enjoyed some tacos and guacamole. After lunch we walked around a bit more before heading back home. What a fun date!
Don’t Tell Mom!
A few nights ago I was in bed reading at 1 a.m. when my 7-year old came in basically sleep walking. Her eyes were squinting, shocked by the light. She looked totally out of it as she entered carrying her blanket. I asked her what was going on, and she simply said,
“Don’t tell mom!”
I asked her what she was talking about and she walked around to my side of the bed and said,
“Don’t tell mom. I want to surprise her.”
It was then that I looked at her and realized that she was fully dressed in her school uniform. She thought it would be a good surprise for mom if she found her dressed for school when she went to wake her up in the morning. I followed her back to her room and just had to get a pic. So funny!
It’s 2009. Do You Know Where Your Soul Is?
I AM in Midtown Manhattan, where drivers still play their car horns as if they were musical instruments and shouting in restaurants is sport.
I am a long way from the warm breeze of voices I heard a week ago on Easter Sunday.
“Glorify your name,” the island women sang, as they swayed in a cut sandstone church. I was overwhelmed by a riot of color, an emotional swell that carried me to sea.
Christianity, it turns out, has a rhythm …
Read the full article here.
Small Groups Vision Becomes a Reality!
8 years ago when I began working as a youth pastor full-time, I never would have guessed that I would be so passionate about small groups. In fact, I was almost passionately against small groups. Not that I thought they were bad, I was just more into the big program. Well, God takes Sauls and turns them into Pauls, and that’s what he did with me in terms of small groups. My first senior pastor will remember almost literally having to beg me to put my time and energy into small groups. I didn’t grow up in small groups – although looking back I do remember a few months at one point when I was in junior high that I did go to a couple of youth leaders’ houses which I now know were small groups. I never really participated in a small group as an adult, although we did go to a couple of homes on a couple of occasions for ministry time. I was simply not very interested. I didn’t understand the power of what can happen when people truly go life-on-life. All that has changed. Today, small groups are a mountain I am willing to die on.
Four years ago when I was interviewing for my current position, I told those interviewing me that small groups were the direction I was planning on going, and that within two years we would launch them. And we did. It was exciting. We went through that initial surge, the dip, and then leveled off with around 45-55% of our regular kids connected in a small group. This spring I decided to try something new. I wanted to do a sex series, but I wanted to use our small group infrastructure to do it. So, I took a risk. I wasn’t sure if it would work, but I knew that I had to put my money where my mouth was and prove in my actions that I believe that small groups are the way to go. I actually asked kids to register and pay to be in a small group to talk about the most taboo subject in our culture. The first Sunday we had a fairly decent response, and I was mildly optimistic. The next two weeks, however, I was blindsided, and so many kids signed up. Yesterday I registered even more, using up the last workbooks we had, to the point that I even had to turn several students away, because we simply did not have room or workbooks for them. Unfortunate, but wow! What an incredible win for us! During this series, we have almost 80% of our students in a small group! We have 8 groups, but one group is too large, so next week I am planning on multiplying it and starting another group, so we’ll have 9. Glory to God! Last night I traveled to five of them, quickly saying hi, dropping off a bag of chips, and taking a group pic. Next week I’ll hit the others and post the pics.
Planet Impact Worship Team Members Part of Mass Choir At Battle Cry!
This past Friday night and Saturday the Planet Impact worship team members had the tremendous privilege and opportunity to participate in the mass choir for Battle Cry at the Izod Center in New Jersey in front of over 14,000 people! It was a great experience, and we are so proud of them for their hard work! Way to go guys!
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