Author: revkevjr

Watch this video from my good buddies After Edmund and get onboard to help them produce their new album. We’re getting in on the action! Look for our names in the album credits. 🙂

Hilarious clip by our student ministries staff for week 1 of our church-wide campaign Going All Out. So funny! Below is the actual message by Ray Johnston.

Trust: A building block of life and faith.

One of the key skills in life is learning to trust others, or more accurately, learning to trust the right people. For those of us who grew up in loving homes and safe communities, trust came pretty naturally even as we experienced some disappointments along the way. But many of our youth are not so fortunate. Instability in the home and community often increases the difficulty in enabling youth to take the risk to trust.

We all need face time to build trust. Nothing replaces face-to-face contact – not even Facebook. We use the FACE acronym to help our mentors build trust with their mentees. This is how it works:

Fun: For most of us, this is the easiest part (I’m assuming you’re not a bunch of curmudgeons). You can define this yourself, but it involves anything from Xbox to chess or basketball to shopping. There are three key aspects of having fun that can help build trust. First is to be willing to try something that a teenager can teach you. Second is to be willing to help a kid learn something you know. The third is to try new things together. Whether this is sports, music, food or whatever, there is an art to being both teachable and a teacher. Having fun often involves taking a risk. You can change their view of adults because most kids think that growing up means becoming boring.

Acceptance: This is where it gets harder. Acceptance does not mean condoning everything someone says or does. It means being willing to accept who they are so that they can have the freedom to explore all God wants them to be. You can change their view of adults because they assume that all adults, especially the churchy kind, are judgmental. Judging instantly kills trust.

Consistency: If you can only do one thing, just show up. That’s it. Many kids have become accustomed to adults not keeping promises. From parents to teachers, kids have a list of unreliable adults. And when you show up, be yourself. Act like an adult – just not a boring one. You can change their view of adults, because many kids expect adults to disappoint them.

Expectations: Expect teenagers to do great things. God has a plan for each life. Whether they become a banker, car mechanic, teacher or preacher, it is all great if it is in God’s plan. At the same time, expect a mutual friendship. Respect the youth and expect respect in return. You can change their view of adults, because many adults are condescending or dismissive of youth.

Investing face time with a youth can have results for generations to come. As we prove to be trustworthy adults, our youth can build their lives around trusting the right people. That is the foundation upon which work, friendship and marriage are built, not to mention, it is the basis of faith in our Savior.

Peter Vanacore began ministering to youth in 1978 through Youth for Christ on Long Island. In 1981 he joined the staff of Long Island Youth Mentoring and worked as an Area Director for mentoring ministry. He helped develop a mentoring ministry with incarcerated juveniles and later served as the Field Staff Supervisor. In 1996 Peter moved to Massachusetts to become the New England Director for Straight Ahead Ministries. In 2000 he became the National Field Director where he helped develop the School of Juvenile Justice Ministry. Peter returned to Long Island in 2003 to direct the Christian Mentoring Institute. Along with his duties at CMI, Peter is also a part-time faculty member of Gordon College where he teaches courses in counseling and at-risk youth. He has a Masters in Social Work from Fordham University.

Last night we had the conversation every parent dreads. Our oldest was at a friend’s house and our youngest was just hanging with us. Suddenly she said out of nowhere, “I don’t think Santa’s real.” She then went on to list some clues and evidence that seemed to support her theory. We talked about how he could get into the house, how she could explain the video evidence we had of him from a few years ago, who else could possibly eat all those cookies, etc. We then pulled out Santa’s letter to her this year and asked her to read it and tell us what about the letter would lead her to think he didn’t write it. Here are 5 classic statements she made as she read it that had us rolling:

1. How would he know I like to dance? Is he a stalker or something?
2. He got me a toy mustang car instead of a real one. What a cheapskate!
3. How would Santa know I miss my friends in NY. Is he in my heart or something? No!
4. I don’t want to say he’s not real because then I’ll get on the naughty list if he is real.
5. Dad, are you seriously Twittering all of this? You’re messed up!

The new PK Dizzle video “Winter Camp Time” drops live tomorrow at The Wire! Here’s a sneak peek photo from the video shoot to whet your appetite! The video will be available world wide soon!

For Christmas my daughter gave me the book There IS A God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind by philosopher Anthony Flew. It was a fascinating read! The first half of the book is Flew’s personal story – the roots of his atheism and the journey that led him to conclude in the existence of God. The second half is the actual evidence that led him to that conclusion. Flew’s journey was not one he would call necessarily “religious,” but one simply based on reason and his conviction to “follow the evidence where it leads.” He has not arrived at a conclusion as to who God is, but rather the inescapable conclusion that there is in fact a God. In his opinion, however, he believes that Christianity is far and away the most intriguing possibility citing it’s claims about Jesus and the writings of the great thinker Paul in the Bible.

I very much enjoyed reading his conversation with my favorite theologian N.T. Wright with whom Flew has developed a friendship with and whom he believes presents the strongest case for the God of the Bible as the creator. I would highly recommend this book to anyone – especially those who are searching for God and trying to reconcile science and reason with religion. It’s not the end of the journey, but certainly an important step moving people in the right direction.

Finally!

After almost 11 years of helping students connect life-on-life in small groups and raising up both adult and student small group leaders, last night my wife and I joyously open up our home and welcomed other families in for our first night of small group! With one exception (our first church) we have served in churches that were not small group oriented, so we found ourselves building community into the fabric of our volunteer teams, i.e. they were our small groups. This is the first time we have actually reached out and started a small group outside of our work and volunteer team relationships. We had a wonderful meal together and enjoyed some good “get-to-know-one-another” conversation. We’re super excited about what God is going to do as we begin to share life together.

How YOU Can Help Meet a Huge Need! 
When we approached our small group department, it was simply to find out about joining a small group. We were instantly asked to consider hosting a group as there was a shortage of small groups. In fact, there is a waiting list of people trying to get into small groups – especially small groups that are “family-friendly”, i.e. welcome children. If you go to Southwest Community Church and would be interested in hosting and/or leading a small group, please click here to contact the church and let them know of your willingness to help meet this need.

Yesterday we got a surprisingly high response to “How to Get the Most Out of a Youth Ministry Conference” and are beyond excited that many of you are joining us for SYMC 2012. Today we wanted to highlight the very best part of a youth ministry conference, but we couldn’t limit it to just one! Here’s a quick look at our four favorite parts of a conference.

Click here to read the 4 parts.

Contact me and I can give you a special code to receive $25 off of the SYM Conference.

In the words of the great Larry The Cable Guy, “Git Er Done!” … Hey, that just sounds so right considering the fact that the conference is in Kentucky, doesn’t it?! Register HERE.