Today we only did 134 miles of driving; a nice, relaxing day without the long drives we have done the other days of our trip. We got up at 7am and drove to The Founder’s Inn hotel and spa for showers. We then returned to New Life Church, cleaned, packed, had breakfast, loaded up, and departed at 9:30am. We had our personal devotional time during the half-hour drive to New Covenant Church in Hampton, VA where we unloaded and setup for tonight. We then worked on our memory verses during the 30 minute drive to Colonial Williamsburg. We spent 4 hours touring and exploring the historic town. Afterward we had our small group discussion about our theme for the day, Legacy. We then went to my Aunt Patty’s home where she and her family had prepared dinner for our team. My Grandpa Mahaffy also came by and everyone got to meet him. While the team was hanging out after dinner, Grandpa and I went out for a bit and stopped by to say Hi to my Aunt Susan and Uncle Alan. The students played with their chickens, played games, had a bonfire, roasted marshmallows, then my cousins came back to New Covenant with us and we enjoyed playing Manhunt and games in the gym. After making sandwiches for tomorrow’s lunch we had some team time. Carol shared a word with us, then we prayed together before heading off to bed. 
Let’s Ride Discipleship Road Trip 2017 Day 3
533 more miles traveled today. This morning all the boys got up at 6am and drove to get showers at the YMCA in Asheville. The girls chose to get a bit more sleep. We then packed, cleaned, ate breakfast, loaded up and departed at 8:15am. After a 7 hour drive we arrived at The Wright Brothers Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, NC where Wilbur and Orville Wright were the first persons to successfully fly an airplane. Our theme for the day was Vision, we following our visit we had some great discussion during our drive to Moyock, NC where we stopped at Southland for Eastern Carolina BBQ. We then drove over the border into Chesapeake, VA and passed by our old family home, and Natalia and I popped by to say hello to our dear former neighbor Miss Frances who has been having some recent health issues. We then drove to New Life Church in Deep Creek, VA where we are spending the night. New Life is the first church I served at in full-time ministry. After settling in I was so blessed to have two of my former students, Rachel and Jeremy, come by. Rachel shared a greeting, then Jeremy Miller, who is now a pastor at the church, spoke a great word to our team. We are really lookingforward to more sleep tonight than we have had on either of our first two nights, since we don’t have to drive far tomorrow. We are having a great time! 
Let’s Ride Discipleship Road Trip 2017 Day 2
712 more miles traveled today. This morning we were up and at ’em at 6am. After getting ready, we packed, cleaned, ate breakfast, then loaded up aand hit the road at 7:30am. We drove 5 hours to the Ark Encounter in Williamstown, Kentucky. It is a full scale replica of Noah’s ark. It was incredible! Talk about the Scriptures coming to life! The thing was so massive! We spent 2 hours walking around the ark before departing. During rhe ride afterward we had some great discussion about Noah, the ark, and our theme for the day: Faithful Obedience. We stopped for dinner at Cracker Barrel, the first time 6 of our 15 people have eaten there. During our drive after dinner Peter spoke to our team. We arrived at Covenant Community Church in Asheville, NC at 11:40pm. Got settled in, made lunches for tomorrow, and now heading to bed. Early start again tomorrow. 
Let’s Ride Discipleship Road Trip 2017 Day 1
This morning our crew of 15 left Shelter Rock Church and began our 5 day discipleship road trip. Each day we have a theme, Scripture reading, meditations for everyone to contemplate, journaling, small group discussion, and Bible memory verses. We then visit a historical site or museum that connects with our theme for the day. Today’s theme was Justice and we visites the Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, PA. We discussed the terrible injustice of slavery in history, where we continue to see slavery in the world today, and what God expects of us as Christians. We then drove to Belle Vernon, PA where we are staying at a wonderful church. After getting settled in and making lunches for tomorrow we gathered together for sharing, worship, a word from Santhosh Paulus (one of our leaders) about his work of fighting human trafficking through his organization, Cycling for Change, and prayer. It was a great day, and we have 390 under our belt. 
Look Who’s Talking!
I am passionate about small groups. They are the backbone of the youth ministry that I lead. I am not personally leading one of our student small groups at the moment, but I do visit our groups each week and take time to observe and connect with our students and adult leaders. Here’s a principle that I shared with our leaders recently. I call it the “Look Who’s Talking” Principle.
I am a teacher by gifting. I love standing in front of a group of people and communicating. But when I am leading a small group, I have to remind myself that my role is different. The primary role of a small group leader is not talker, but facilitator. The reason I love small groups is that they give us a chance to help students learn in a more effective way than simply sitting in a chair and listening to an adult talk to them. Ouch! As a teacher, that hurts just a little bit. The truth is, students learn best, not by listening to us talk to them, but through experiences, and in the small group setting, through the experience of sharing what they are processing as it pertains to the topic.
A small group leader is not primarily a sage imparting wisdom, but a miner extracting wisdom from students through asking good, open-ended questions, listens carefully, and gets students involved in the conversation. Yes, adult leaders can share insights and experiences occasionally, but that should be an exception, not the rule. When leaders do all of the talking, students are relegated to the role of passive listeners rather than active participants. As leaders we must ensure that students are engaging in the conversation through sharing their thoughts with the group and listening to their peers. If you think in terms of the old Pareto (80/20) principle, as leaders you should be doing 20% of the talking, and students should be doing 80%.
If you are a small group leader, or if you have a few leaders in your group, take some time after small group to reflect and ask if students were engaging, or if you were doing too much talking. As a principle, remember the title of the 1989 movie, “Look Who’s Talking.” If there were a video recording, or even just an audio recording of your small group meeting, whose voices would you hear? Your goal should be to ensure you hear a whole lot of students’ voices (dare I say, all of your students?) and very little of yours. It’s tough, but it’s the best thing you can do for the spiritual growth of your students.
Youth Winter Fest 2017 Recap Video
Here’s a little glimpse of our incredible weekend in Pennsylvania for Youth Winter Fest 2017! I want to say a very special Thank you to our amazing team who worked so hard and tirelessly to put this event together and made it possible for students to come and have an encounter with Jesus. Also, a big shout our to Josh Griffin for coming as our speaker, Dan Bremnes for leading us in worship, and John Branyan and the Nubian Gents for blessing us with their gifts and talents. Let’s continue working with Jesus as He is building His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. #YWF17
Youth Winter Fest 2017 Promo Video!
Would love for you to join us! Contact me to bring your youth group!
Money Matters for Students
“Kev, money just burns holes in your pockets.” I remember riding in the car with my Grandpa as a little kid when he said that to me. I had just received a few bucks and I desperately wanted to spend them on something that wasn’t very important. Money wasn’t in instant supply when I was a kid, so when I got some, I had a thousand things lined up calling for it when I did get it.
I don’t know about you, but as an adult I wish someone had taken the time to really talk to me about how to manage money when I was a kid. Certainly people like my parents pointed me to the Bible and tried to steer me on the right path, but I don’t recall ever having a detailed, intentional explanation of financial matters until I had been married for several years. One of my uncles was a financial advisor and took some time to sit down and talk with me about how to budget, save, etc.
At Shelter Rock Church, our student ministry vision statement is to see students become fully-devoted, passionate, life-long followers of Jesus. Each of those three parts of the statement are important. We want students to understand that Jesus being Lord of our lives means that He is the center of every relationship and everything that we are involved in. We want students to experience that life with Jesus is not boring, but the greatest adventure you could ever imagine. And we want equip students to honor God all the days of their lives. To that extent this year we are going to be talking with our students about handling money.
I am really excited that this semester in our small groups we are going to be taking all of our students through Generation Change, the student version of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. I believe equipping our students so intentionally and strategically in this area of their lives will really give them a great head-start and empower them to live their lives free to be and do everything God has planned for them.
NYC Jr. High Mission 2016: Day 4
This morning we partnered with the Legacy Center in Brooklyn where we helped work in their warehouse. We unloaded a truck, sorted food and donated items, and packaged household goods for distribution. We returned to Living Waters for lunch and team debriefing then packed, cleaned, and are enjoying a little free time before heading back to Shelter Rock. It’s been a wonderful mission trip! Excited to see our families tonight!
NYC Jr. High Mission 2016: Day 3
This morning we talked about what it means to be a servant leader and did some team building. At noon took the train up to Hunts Point in the Bronx to serve with Real Life Church. We were met by Clay, the youth pastor from the church and we spent over an hour on the plaza, handing out invitations to the church and praying with people who were passing by. We then stopped by the Point community center to see were Real Life meets, then we went to their storage unit which we emptied, organized, and repacked. We got back to Brooklyn about 5:30pm and had dinner. At 8pm we made up 60 bags with water bottles, the sandwiches we made Sunday night, and a bag of chips and headed to Manhattan where we gave them to homeless people all around the Penn Station area. It was awesome and the students did a great job! We then walked up to Times Square, hung out, and got some ice cream before heading back to Brooklyn. We arrived back at the church at 11:15pm.
REVKEVJR.COM 