Reminder to Volunteer leaders

I cannot stress enough, and I think any youth pastor out there would agree, on the importance of volunteers in your ministry. After a few years of being a youth pastor I have really come to believe they are the glue that holds a ministry together.
The ministry will not be successful without good, well trained, passionate, loving, leaders who will be an example of Christ to the students.

These leaders are not easy to find.
I have found out that there are leaders who come on board but don't necessarily do their job. I want to make sure that everyone on my staff is going in the same direction and doing their part. So I came up with a nifty little illustration to make this happen.

If you have ever been on an oar boat with a group, you know the steps you must take to get where you want to go.
1. Every one must be doing their job
2. Every one must be in unison

If you fail to accomplish either one of these steps you are either going to go no where or go in the wrong direction.

My goal is for my volunteer staff to be on the same page. To work together to accomplish the vision of the ministry. So I came up with this little reminder to give to all the leaders. They can put their oar in a place that will remind them on a daily basis the vision of our ministry.

Joaquin Phoenix on Late Show

This has to be one of the funniest but most ackward late night interviews I have ever seen.

True Love Waits

Every two years our church holds a True Love Waits conference. It is a conference that challenges students to make a commitment to remain sexually abstinent until marriage. It was a very long and challenging weekend. These poor kids had to sit through awkward sessions on what a s.t.d. can do to you. You could see the disgust on their faces. Even I almost passed out at one point. I guess the goal was to scare the sex drive out of them.
They learned about teenage pregnancies, abortions, and who knows what else.
But most importantly they learned that Gods way is by far the best way.
The truth is I have really never been sold on these kind of public commitments. For one, I never made one and I'm still following Gods plan, and two, many of these students are going to break it anyway.
The statistics show that about 80% of these students are going to break this public pledge of purity. So why do it?
I have learned that I need to set aside my normal pessimistic views (more like annoyingly realistic) and focus on the 20% that will keep this pledge.
How awesome is it in a world like today that these students have chosen to make a really unpopular choice and get up in front of their friends and family and choose to save themselves for their future spouse?
Our speaker said something that really stuck out. He said "if the world isn't making fun of you, you are doing something wrong."

Good job students. I'm proud of you!

Great Idea NBA

Just saw this on MSN. The NBA all star weekend will now include the game H-O-R-S-E. I think its genius. The actual game itself is a joke, the dunk contest never has any big name players and the three point contest usually isnt that great.

Throw a mic on some of the best shooters and have them goof off and try to make crazy shots. It will be entertaining to say the least.

My future

I have had a membership to the gym for the last year. I really didn't use it much. If you think about it, a gym is one of the biggest scams out there. You pay a lot of money every month to go lift heavy things. Who does that?
So last week I decided to put my membership on hold. But after a week, I took it off hold. Now I am confused on whether it is worth keeping or not.
These two new items are going to help my decision. They are going to change my life.

#1.
- Most "seen on TV" products never really seem to work but this item is amazing. You just place it on the door and do as many pull ups as possible. I can do about 3 right now. It can also be used for pushups, situps, and tricep dips.

#2.
- I just tried this the other night for the first time and I am still sore. It makes you do all these weird excercises that you would never do at a gym. Yoga might be my favorite right now.

If all goes well, this will be me in a few months.