Luxury Camping

Some good friends from church invited me to go camping with them this weekend.
I was really excited to go because I haven't gone camping in a long time but it was a short trip because I had to be back for church this morning.
I have never done this kind of camping before. The two couples had big trailers with a living area, kitchen, and bedroom.

Camping in the past for me consisted fishing, sleeping in a tent, swimming in lake, eating fish you caught, and hiking. Here is the reaction, when I asked to do the listed things.
want to go fishing? We don't have poles
Want to go swimming? Lake is too cold
Want to take a hike? We are here to relax
Want to sleep in tent? Are you crazy, we have a trailer.

Then they asked me...
Do you want to watch movies?
Do you want to play board games?
Do you want to go into town to eat?

yes, yes, and yes. I think I can get use to this kind of camping.

Superbowl in Big D

It was just confirmed today that the 2011 Superbowl will be played in the new Texas stadium. The stadium is going to be beyond any other stadium ever built. It is the largest and most expensive stadium in history. The best part, there will be a huge high def screen that will hang down from the roof and go from the 20 yard line to the other 20 yard line. This could be the greatest news since sliced bread and I will do whatever it takes to go to this game. God Bless Texas!

Stranger Danger!

Tonight,I made one of the dumbest decisions I could of ever made. The sad thing is, I knew about it earlier in the day and even told my cousin I was probably going to do it. Every now and then, I like to get out and go do things on my own. Sometimes by choice, other times out of loneliness. One thing I have never had a problem with until tonight was going to see a movie on my own. I actually like it quite a bit.
Going to see movie on own, not bad idea.
Going to see Shrek 3 on my own, HORRIBLE IDEA.
The theater was filled with kids and their parents. I'm sure many parents were keeping their eye on me, praying that I wouldn't kidnap their precious child.
It was seriously the most awkward thing I have ever done.

American Idol is Rigged

Thats all I got to say.

Im Jealous

My sister called me last night and told me she was on her way to a V.I.P. party for Dallas Maverick Dirk Nowitzki to celebrate winning the MVP award.
She got to mingle with many of the mavericks. Here is a picture of her with the owner, Mark Cuban.

Where did it go?

I was browsing through the music section at Target today and thought to myself, "hey, I could use a good Christian CD." As I started looking around, I noticed that there was not much to choose from. You had a few different Kurt Franklin albums, casting crowns, Chris Tomlin, and the Gaithers family reunion.
I know that Christian music was never what you would call "great" but at one point in the 90's there was a breakthrough where the genre did gain some momentum.
Here are the top 5 that I listened to. (and still do.)
DC Talk


Jars of Clay


Delirious?


Third Day


Michael W. Smith


Don't get me wrong, Crowder, Tomlin, Charlie Hall, and Casting Crowns are all good for worship on Sunday Mornings, but not so much for concerts.

Who is your all time favorite Christian group?

Cut your volunteers some slack...

Oh how we love volunteers for youth ministry. Why wouldn't we love them? They give up their nights with the fam, vacation days to help out at summer camp, show up early on Sunday Mornings to help with anything that needs to be done, take care of the ones that hurt themselves when the youth pastor is afraid of blood, and oh yes, they do it all for free. I think that anyone who works full time in youth ministry understands how important it is to appreciate these awesome leaders. This my friend is a must! Encourage them, train them, help them in anyway possible, because youth ministry doesn't run with out them.

Here is another suggestion... Don't require so much out of them.

Volunteers get burned out too. That is one of the main reasons why they quit.
Depending on the size of the church, there might only be so many leaders that you can rely on. Some youth pastors depend on a few faithful leaders to show up every week and would freak if they didn't. But I am starting to learn that they are easier to lose if you over use them. After all, they have a job of their own, they have families, they have a social life, and they are involved in other areas of the church.

I'm not sure what this looks like or what steps a youth pastor should take to make this happen, but I think it is a necessity if you want them there 2 years from now.

Great News!

Just found out that Kelly Clarkson is coming to town in September. Tickets go on sale this Saturday and we all know that Ill be there.

Mike Seaver to prove the existence of God

This will be on tomorrow and should be interesting.

Why are Kirk Cameron, a preacher, and two self-proclaimed atheists coming together in a church this weekend? Because Cameron and preacher Ray Comfort claim that they "can prove the existence of God."

They'll take on the atheists in the first "Nightline Face Off," a debate to be moderated by "Nightline" anchor Martin Bashir.

Watch the Face Off Wednesday May 9 at 2 p.m. on ABC News Now, and on Nightline at 11:35 p.m.

Following the Way of the Master

Junior High Survey

Back in February Kurt Johnston, posted about a survey that they had junior high students fill out at a service. This past week I decided to handout a similar survey just to see what is going on in the brain of a junior high church goer. I have been at my church a little over a year now and really wanted to see where they are at spiritually and what they think of the Junior high ministry. The questions ranged from favorite movie, to have you been baptized, to what would you like to hear in a message. Some answers were hilarious and some were shocking.

100% believe Jesus died for their sins
100% have accepted Jesus in their life
90% have NOT been baptized. Something is not right there.

The main temptations that they face include: Sex, fitting in, cussing.

The main teaching subjects they want to hear were: Sex,(scary) end times, friendships. Although one student wrote Birthday. How do you teach on Birthdays?

Things they would change about the Junior High Ministry: 75% said nothing. I don't know if that is good or bad. The rest was kind of all over the place. It included more music, less music, more games, less games, more teaching time, (believe it or not) less teaching time. I don't think this question helped me too much. Some other answers included, free stuff and food.

The main result I got from this is that all students are looking for love and wanting to be accepted. Programing is ok but it is far more important to be there for them and to just listen to them and their problems.

A Weekend Reunion

This past weekend was a great one. I went down to the county of Orange for many different reasons but the main one was to attend the wedding of two of my friends from the church I interned at. John and Mariah, if you by any chance read this, congratulations!
Besides the wedding the weekend was filled with Frisbee Golf, Chick-fil-A, Movies, and hanging out with great friends that I hardly get to see. What could beat that?

A great morning

I found out yesterday that I had to attend an annual Mayor's prayer breakfast at 7:00 this morning. I was not pleased with this news at all. But then I heard who the guest speaker and singers were. It was Barry McGuire and the New Christy Minstrels. Who are they? Only one of the best folk bands of all time. Barry's hit songs include Bull Frogs and Butterflies, Green, Green and Cosmic Cowboy. What a great morning!