Category: ministry

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they must be scratching the bottom of the barrel

my blog on th ys update
i was thrilled today to find out that my blog was listed as the featured blog of the week on the ys update. the only problem with this is that it has officially lowered my opinion of youth specialties. as groucho marx once said:

i refuse to belong to any club that will accept me as a member.

by listing this blog ys has mistakenly shown how far the standards of youth specialties have slipped. for shame marko.

thanks to gerrard for pointing this whole situation out because i somehow missed it (i love the ys update and the ys student newsletter).

SIDE NOTE – yes i do know that today is international talk like a pirate day and therefore i should post something about it, BUT i refuse to. i have not liked pirates much since they raped and pillaged the community in which i was raised (which is saying something since that community was located 70-80 miles off the cost). i say down with pirates … up with ninjas.

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everybody likes free stuff

i like free stuff and therefore i was thrilled when earlier today i received an email stating that sermon cloud and church planting resources had partnered together to get us a few discounts and that one of those discounts was $20 off any audiobook at . for me this equaled a free audiobook (n.t. wright’s “kingdom, spirit & the people of GOD: eschatology and the church” – regular price – $24.98, sale price – $19.98, price after $20 coupon – $0). score!

just in case you are wondering what the coupon code is it’s CP20. by the way, they also have a 50% coupon (CPR50Y7M9)for highway video products (i love the vibe videos).

while i was there i also downloaded n.t. wright’s lecture “the JESUS of myth and history“. this lecture was free and it has been amazing thus far. i’ve especially enjoyed his discussion on JESUS statement to repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and the implications of josephus’s statement to jesus the galilean (a different ancient near eastern person) to “repent and believe in me.” since it is a free lecture i would highly recommend downloading and listening to it.

SIDE NOTE – yesterday i ate lunch with a local youth minister and it once again reminded my how wonderful youth ministry is. i’m real thankful for what i get to do now but i’ll always have a warm and fuzzy place in my heart for youth ministry. unfortunately the truth is our church won’t have a youth ministry for quite some time. so if any of the youth ministers who read this blog want to bring in a a fellow going through youth ministry d.t.’s i’m your man.

SIDE SIDE NOTE – i attended my first kiwanis club meeting today. it was pretty darn good. i went to the stevens point kiwanis today (i’ll attend the plover kiwanis next week). they meet at the stevens point country club which i wasn’t too thrilled about (i’m not a fan of country clubs) until i saw that they had a curling club. any place that has a curling club is okay with me.

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thank you

while it was an uncomfortable night for me it was still a very much appreciated night. tonight control of “the view” was stolen away from me. jessica, eric, and some others took control of “the view” and turned it into a “let’s roast robert” night. while i was real uncomfortable with everyone talking about me for 45 minutes i was really moved by much of what was said and done. i am very appreciative of every one that was there and what was said. i also can’t thank you enough for the jambalaya cooking equipment. it will be well used and loved in wisconsin.

my last request is that you all give me a sandwich bag with a little soil from your home in it. pam and i would like to mix a little part of each of your homes with our new home. we will take the soil from your homes and mix it with the soil from our new home and plant a small piece of the youth ministry ginger plant in it. you will always be a part of our lives and this way a little of your soil will be with ours.

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a few days more

my time at parkview is winding down quickly. sunday is my last day. it’s all pretty freaky to me. not just because i’m leaving people i love nor the fact that about all i have done this week is pack up my study at the church. not just because of all the changes involved in moving to wisconsin nor the thought of having to start over again. all of those are important and a wee bit stressful but the thing that is freaking me out is that i am about to be through with my direct involvement within ministry to and with youth for at least a few years. working with teens is fun and challenging.

it’s fun because what other group would be cool with and connect with such a wide range of things? what other group would have thought an mp3 worship service was awesome? or be okay with a labyrinth and a food fight at the same retreat? ministry with teens is just plain fun.

it’s challenging because adolescents haven’t learned how to politely leave their questions unsaid. teens aren’t afraid to challenge you when they don’t understand or agree with you. they haven’t learned what adults have that sometimes you are just supposed to fain interest. so if you say something that doesn’t make sense or you teach in a boring manner then they will have no problems whipping out their phones and text messaging people or passing notes during your well prepared message. when you’ve hit it with teens then you’ve treated GOD’s word well.

for the next several years we will probably not have many teens in tapestry other than my own. that’s not youth ministry, it’s parenting (which i also love). i’m going to miss working with youth for awhile.

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the view for this week

hey guys & girls i just wanted to let you know that we won’t have “the view” this week because of the revival services that will be going on this week. instead we will meet with the whole church in the sanctuary at 7 p.m. this means i have one last “view” with everyone. it will be wednesday, august 8th. if all goes right josh causey is going teaching me how to cook jambalaya right before the service. it’s a win/win situation for me and you. i win because i learn how to cook jambalaya and you win because you get to eat free jambalaya. i’m not sure how or even if josh wins in this situation but that’s not very important as long as i learn how to cook jambalaya. 🙂

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my continued flight problems

as many of you know all the major airlines hate pam and i. it is definitely a conspiracy because every time either of us fly something happens. well last night, six hours before i was to leave with our youth for nicragua, delta called and left a voicemail on the church emergency number that our flight for today had been canceled and we would be flying out sunday instead. great. i tried everything i could but i was unable to arrange anything and therefore our trip to nicaragua to work with our friends has been made one day shorter. hopefully this will be the only trouble we have flying. southwest arilines is now officially the only airlines i have flown with that i don’t despise.

SIDE NOTE – my wife hates me. well maybe hate is a little strong. as many of you know i love photography and i take pictures as often as possible. they’re not as great as many of your photos but they still keep me busy. i post these photos on flickr and i place a creative commons license on them so that they can be used by anyone who is not making a profit. well today i received the following flickr comment on a photo of pam.

A very nice photo!

A was happy to find a good photo of a facial mask. Didnt (sic) find that many with a creative commons licens (sic) here at Flickr.

I used it in an article about facial masks: Gör en egen ansiktsmask av frukt.

Its in swedish. “Ansiktsmask” being swedish for facial mask. Frukt = fruits.

Big thanks for using creative commons. Good luck with your photo!

/Hans

oh yes this is exactly what every woman wants … a picture of her in a facial mask place on an article. i am dead meat.

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wierd ministry day

today was a good & bad day that had allot of different ministry aspects within it.

  • i visited with the 15 year old grandson of a church member who has a malignant tumor in his brain. the visit was actually a time of celebration because they now know what’s wrong after two weeks of struggling with what could be wrong. for two weeks jonathan was passed from doctor to doctor and diagnosis to diagnosis until someone finally said “we have to get you to the hospital now.” the great news is that the tumor is very treatable and after four to six weeks of radiation the tumor should be gone and because of the type of cancer he should be perfectly fine. he will be going to st. jude’s within the next week to begin his treatment. his name is jonathan. please remember him in your prayers.
  • i’m the emergency minister for parkview for the week. tonight a lady who said her name was shirley (not her real name) called saying she was going to kill herself. after allot of discussion it came out that she is manic depressive and her medicine had stopped working (or she was off it). she is not in the baton rouge area and just randomly found the church’s number on the internet and called. she promised me that she would go to the emergency room but i have no way of checking up on her. please keep her in your prayers and ask that she will call back tomorrow like she promised she would.
  • i was able to leech off some great equipment for tapestry. i spoke with red (our minister of music) today to find out if parkview might have any sound equipment sitting around not being used that i could snag for tapestry. he talked to the right people and tapestry now has a barely used sound board, mic stands, and a good bit of other miscellaneous equipment. thank you parkview.
  • after two years of not taking my guitar to get it’s preamp fixed i finally brought it to a technician today. i had feared it would cost $200 or so to fix the preamp. it actually turns out that it was just a ground that was bad and it only cost me $15 to get it fixed.

my run for the day
distance – 1.56 miles
time – 17:30
pace – 11:13/miles

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contemplative youth ministry

last night i finished mark yaconelli’s “contemplative youth ministry“. i picked this book up a month ago thinking that even though starting a church plant will change how i approach youth ministry i assumed there would be some really good stuff in the book that would relate to all ministry. my guess was on target. the book is great. i especially loved two things from the book: 1) the liturgy of discernment as a meeting agenda, and 2) and the concept of noticing, naming, and nurturing being a model for ministry. it’s good stuff and a worthy read.

btw, len has a good interview with mark yaconelli here. it’s worth reading the whole article if for no other reason than the story of yac and mark at the world series.

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wednesdays

over the next several weeks we are going to be doing some things before “the view” each week. these will be goof off moments for us to enjoy each other.

  • wednesday, may 30 – risk the game of global domination & xbox’s – 10 a.m. till 6 p.m.
  • wednesday, june 6 – 100′ slip-n-slide – 4 p.m. till 6 p.m.
  • wednesday, june 13 – laser tag – 7:15 p.m. till 9 p.m.

I’ll have more details for you at church on sundays & wednesdays

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ys resources with virginia tech in mind

as always seems to be the case youth specialties has thrown up some valuable resources on their website to help youth workers help their youth deal with the uncertainty within the world that we have once again been reminded of through the absurd violence at virginia tech.

you can find the resources here. i personally am very appreciative of the letter from jim hancock and rich van pelt

the whole letter is great but i especially appreciated the following paragraphs:

Tell them it’s not supposed to be like this.
Tell them the God who spoke through the prophets at many times and in various ways—and in these last days has spoken to us by his Son—tell them this God takes no pleasure in the suffering and death of his creatures.
Tell them it’s not supposed to be like this, and someday it won’t be.
Tell them the hope of the gospel includes a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness—we haven’t seen it, but in faith we see it coming.

In the meantime, tell them, life is grace and bad things happen; people are capable of breathtaking displays of love and staggering acts of oppression; the sun rises and the rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Tell them about the mercy of Jesus who promises the good news will one day prove every bit as good as the bad news so obviously is bad in these days. Tell them life is hard and God is good.

BUT FIRST listen to them. Listen to their denial and fear and anger and confusion. And don’t be afraid to admit your own.

i love ys.

[tags]violence, youth, resources[/tags]