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Holy Discontent

I am reading a great book right now by Bill Hybels called Holy Discontent - Fueling the Fire that Ignites Personal Vision.The main question that he has been struggling to find an answer to for the past couple years is "Why do people do what they do?" Why do teachers teach, why do writers write, why do thousands of people volunteer at hundreds of non profit organizations every year? He says in his book that in an average year, Americans will volunteer roughly 20 billion hours of their time.

Basically, it is teaching me that we need to come to a place where we are not just satisfied and content with this world. We need to have our own personal holy discontent, which is something that neither God or ourselves are satisfied with. What is the passion that God stirred in your heart to help change the world? Is it helping the poor, visiting prisoners, caring for the sick, giving advice to those that are hurting?
What are you so discontent with that you must do something about it? What will you put into positive action to make the world a better place?

He uses Popeye as an Illustration. He is a pretty laid back easy going sailor but as soon as someone messes with Olive Oyl, he says " That's all I can stands, and I can't stands no more." He has to do something about it.

I'm still searching for my holy discontent. I want to help change the world.

The Ideal Young Adult Ministry

This is the answer that I have been searching for, for a long time. I still don't know.
After college you are at, in my opinion, a very awkward time in your life that the church struggles with ministering to, especially if you are single.

In college you are surrounded by people your age, you have roommates, you stay up late studying for exams with friends. You live and breathe people.
Post college, your world changes. You go to work and then go home. You have to search for community with others and most of the time it is not very successful. (at least with others in the same place you are at.)

So what is the answer? What is the ideal ministry for young post college adults?
Is it a 20 something ministry? Is it a singles ministry? Is it a college, career ministry? Where is our place in the church.

The church I work at just started a ministry that targets college, and anyone in their 20's. We will see how it goes.

I would love to hear what you think.

Most annoying sales people ever.

I am not really a big fan of shopping but there is a clothing store called the buckle that I like to shop at. They have a lot of cool clothes but once you get in, it is pretty tough to get out.
No matter which state you are in, all buckle employees are the same. They are taught in training to annoy you to death by suggesting clothes that they think you might like. They are seriously worse than used car salesmen.
Last week when I was in the store, one of the employees brought back 7 shirts, 3 pairs of jeans, and 2 pairs of shorts for me to try on.
My problem, I don't know how to say no. I feel bad rejecting their ideas. So instead of saying no thank you and walking out, I take the clothes into the dressing room and pretend that I am trying them on and then say that none of them fit.
The only solution to get out so far is to wait until they are finding more items and then sneaking out very quickly.
I think from now on, I will shop at their online store.

Why I love Texas!

My Top Summer Movie

I by no means call myself a movie expert. I am not that critical. The main thing I am looking for when I head into the theatre is if this movie will keep me entertained for the majority of the time. But in between all the mediocre films, every now and then there is one that hits home with me. This might be surprising to some, but if you know me well, not too surprising.
What it is not:
Spiderman 3
Oceans 13 (although quite entertaining)
Mr. Brooks

What it is:
The Waitress

Seriously; trying hard not to sound like a girl, this was a great movie.
It was well written, very witty, set in a small country town which reminded me of home and made me want to move back there, and had a great performance by Keri Russell. Do yourself a favor and go see it.

Youth Ministry Name

Lately our youth ministry has been trying to really define "who we are" so therefore we have to come up with a name for the jr. high, high school, and college ministries. I'm not sure how I feel about it. What is the purpose of a name, what are the pros and cons to having one? How do you even go about determining what the name will be? This is a big deal considering this would most likely be the name for years and years to come. After little research, here are some of the names that I have found. Some good, some hilarious.

180
2nd Wind
4real youth ministries
Awake student ministries
Elevate
Encounter
The Fire House
The Krush
MegaMorph Youth
Wired
Extreme
Fusion
Fuse
Fuel
Seven
On Fire
Studio 78 jr. high in Bel Air
Teen Blast

What do you think?

In honor of Bob Barker

Every year we have a great allnighter outreach for Jr. High students.
I just came up with the theme for this year.
In honor of Bob Barker working 35 years on the price is right we are dedicating this years allnighter to him.

That's Right. Our rally will be just like the game show. An announcer that picks students out of the crowd to "come on down", theme music, big name tags, fun games such as Plinko and Hole in One, big prizes, and we are even going to make a big wheel to spin.

The theme relates to "you are not your own, you were bought with a price"
The game show theme should be an easy transition into a salvation message.

Cant wait!

Think before you post... or blog

It seems like this Internet access is getting out of control for many people I know.
I don't understand why, but it seems that when students post information or pictures on their myspace page that they aren't aware that other people see it. Do they know and not care? Are they just not thinking? I have realized though that you can really tell a lot about somebody just from going to their page.

I have also heard many stories and know some adults who have written things on their blog that resulted in major consequences such as hurt friendships, and even getting fired from their job. I know you know this, but I am going to sound like a parent here and tell you to please remember to be careful when putting stuff out there for the entire world to see.

If you are a parent or youth pastor, take a look around at your students myspace page and see if there is anything for concern. You can learn a lot of stuff that your student would not normally tell you to your face.

Oh Duck!

There is a repetitive occurrence that has taken place that I must just deal to learn with. My local golf course has ducks and geese all over it. I think that it started out with only a couple and they have just multiplied like crazy. But I never knew that they could be so dangerous. 4 times now since I have played at this golf course I have had some kind of bird or multiple birds fly at me trying to attack me. I finally realized why. Since I suck at golf, one of my favorite hobbies is to get out the ball retriever and go fishing in the lake for balls. I am pretty sure that these birds think that I am taking their babies eggs out of the water so therefore I am attacked. Just yesterday as I was playing I took out a club with the retriever just in case. Sure enough 2 ducks come charging at me and I swing my 7 iron at them for protection. After I scare them away, all I hear is laughing. 2 different groups witnessed this. Quite embarrassing to say the least.

New Students

We just had our transition last week where my 8th graders move up and I get a whole new batch of 7th graders. The 8th graders that just moved up had another jr. high pastor before me so now everyone in jr. high only knows me as their pastor. Does that make sense? Anyways, I am looking forward to a great but busy summer that includes summer camp at Hume Lake, our sports league Wednesday night program, and our first ever jr. high mission trip. Should be a great summer!

NBA Finals helps me sleep.

Last night I had a hard time falling asleep. Not even sleeping pills would work.
I thought of the next best thing. I went into the living room and turned on game 4 of the Spurs Cavs nba game that I had on tivo. Within 20 minutes I was out.
Now I know why the ratings were some of the lowest ever. These two teams must of been a nightmare for the commissioner. Spurs are good but by far the most boring style to ever watch.

Annual Staff Retreat

This Monday our staff is headed to Cayucos, CA. for 3 days of hanging out, discussing issues in the church, and relaxing. (wait, can those go together?)Anyways, I cant wait. I have been needing to get away for a while now because if I don't I will go insane and this seems like the perfect opportunity.

The cost of independence

A year and a half ago my parents and I moved to the same place in California to take on our new roles at our two different churches. (my dad is a pastor) Definitely not a coincidence, more a God thing. This has given me the chance to take my time in looking for a cheap place to live. A year and a half later, I am still with the parentals. It really has not been bad. I don't have much of a social life anyways so I don't mind too much.

I was just recently approached with the opportunity to move in with some great guys from church. They are a couple years younger and it seems though that it would be very similar to college life. Nothing wrong with that, just not sure that is what I want to live through again. I'm 27. I want to have nice, quiet conversations with friends and go to bed at a reasonable hours. And yes I do like to relax by throwing on some Kenny G and taking bubble baths. Cant do this with 4 other guys in the house.

So here are the pros and cons of moving in with these guys and then give me your opinion.

Pros - Hours upon hours of video games, hanging out with awesome guys, can tell people I don't live with my parents.

Cons - Most likely messy, cant save as much money, 5 guys in a 4 bedroom house, not much peace and quiet.

Answers Please!

Half Marathon Training Starts Today

I cant believe this day has finally arrived. I have been dreading it for the last few weeks but I cant hide any longer. My 12 week training for the half marathon starts today. Here is my upcoming schedule.
I AM GOING TO DIE!

It's Summer Break!! from church

There has been this vibe in the youth ministry the past couple weeks that everything is going really slow and the students dont seem to be too interested with what is going on in the youth ministry. Sign ups for camps, mission trips, events just seem to be really slow this year. IT is pretty frustrating. Shouldnt it be opposite? Students are out of school so time is not an issue; you would think they would want this extra time to spend with friends that they cant see. Summer just started so it might change but I really hope that as youth pastors we can make this the best summer ever for our students.