New Books

I just finished reading two books.

1. The Unlikely Disciple is a very interesting read. It is about a college student from Brown (one of the most liberal universities in American) who transfer to Liberty University (the most conservative University in America) for one semester. I use to live close to Liberty and I have a lot of students who are currently going there. Besides knowing Liberty, I think that seeing into the mind of a non-Christian is interesting. I have been in a Christian bubble most of my life. I sometimes forget what it is like to be non-Christian. The book is a little crude, it might shook some Christians. But this is what the real world thinks.

2. I am not but I know I Am is a good book. I still think that I like Louie's preaching better.

Next up for me is Green by Ted Dekker.

Videos used for the TRiP

Sat Supper

I tried to go to Gladys Knight's chicken and waffles tonight. I heard about it on Man vs. Food. I walked the mile to the restaurant only to find the line wrapped around the building. If you teenagers do not know who Gladys Knight is just watch the video below. (I always wanted to be a pip.)

I ended up at Buffalo Teds. It is the steakhouse owned by Ted Turner. it was good, but I wish I could have ridden the midnight train. This what they call the chicken and waffle combo. The fad was started in Harlem back in the 60s. The entertainers went get out of the clubs at 3 AM and hit the restaurants. They would want a combo of supper and breakfast. This started the chicken and waffle craze.

Big Room 1

My preconference continued this morning. This morning session focused on the message. How to be accurate to the text, how to keep teenagers attention, and using media and humor with the message.

Nothing special for lunch today. Just Taco Bell. I did try the black jack taco for the first time. I give it 2 stars. Nothing special, Very disappointing.

The conference is made up of what they call Big Room and labs. Big room is where the whole conference meets together. It looks like there is about 6000 youth ministers here. Labs are smaller and topic oriented.

Our first big room featured Andy Stanley. He is a pastor of Northpoint Community Church in Atlanta. It is a mega church which he planted 14 years ago. Some of you older people might know his dad, Charles Stanley. Andy talked about the pitfalls of leadership. He talked about how leaders do not know all the answers. When we do not know the answers we still need to have clarity and flexibility.

Even if we do not have a answer for a problem, we still need to have clarity in our purpose. We need to project this clarity to the people following us. He gave the example of Joshua. Joshua was taught by Moses about how to survive in the dessert. How to be a nomad. But now God wants Joshua to be a warrior and fight for the Holy Land. Joshua did not know how to fight. It wasn’t his training. So when it confused the Israeli dessert nomads, Joshua just kept reassuring them with the clarity that we are going to take the promised land. He did not know how he was going to do it, all he knew was that God had given him this purpose. He did not have all the answers but he had clarity in his purpose.

We also need flexibility in our ministry. Clarity in purpose, but flexibility in programming. Sometimes things just fail and we try to launch something to help it. But it fails too. We shouldn’t be afraid to start new things, but we also shouldn’t hesitate to kill something that is not working.

During the first big session, Youth Specialties and Zondervan took the time to tell us that Tic and Marko have left YS. I will miss them. I didn’t always agree with them, but I liked their ministry. They were never afraid to try to push the envelope. YS has always been kind of dangerous for Zondervan, even when Mike Yaconelli started it. The new head of YS looks like he will be a play it safe kind of guy. I will miss these guys (Marco and Tic) pushing the boundaries and I hope that YS does not lose its edge.

National Youth Workers Convention

I am now sitting in a seminar at the National Youth Worker’s Convention (NYWC.) I am going to blog about my sessions here (1) to let you know what is going on and (2) to process and think out loud to see what I am learning here and how it applies to the student ministry at FBC. So here we go:

Day 1

After a pleasantly uneventful drive down, I made it to Atlanta on time. (Thanks to my Garmin, I did get to try Firehouse Subs for the first time. I have always wanted to try the hook and ladder sub after hearing the commercial on the radio for the last 10 months. I would give it 5 stars. They even had cherry limeade. (To add a sidenote to my sidenote: I will be talking a lot about my food experiences during this blog. I love food and I love trying new things. So if you are not hungry or on a low carb diet (pastor) , please bear with me.) I ate at Firehouse in Cleveland, TN and my Garmin had me go down a two lane road for 25 miles. I did not get back on 75 until I was in Georgia. It was actually a nice break from the interstate and I missed all the Chattanooga traffic.) I had signed up for a pre-conference. I took Speaking to Teenagers: Thinking, Creating, and Delivering effective messages by Duffy Robbins. I read the book about two years ago, but at the time I was not talking to teenagers every week. So this class was a good refresher of what I had read earlier. This class met for two 3 hour sessions. I did three hours Thursday and three on Friday. The first night was good. It was about the thinking that goes on behind the message like understanding your audience and gaining trust so they will listen to what you have to say. So it was all about the audience and the speaker.

I am staying at the Omni Hotel which is in the CNN building which is in downtown Atlanta. (I watched Fox news in my room just to spite them.) I choose a perfect location. It is right across from the Georgia World Congress Center which is where the conference is being held. I can walk to all the conferences and leave my car in the parking garage. There is a food court in the lobby and I got to eat supper at Moe’s Southwest Grill. I had one where I lived in Virginia and I had missed my Billy Baroo which is basically chicken nachos.

5th Quarter

5th Quarter this Friday night after the football game. Food, Open Gym, & Video Games. 10-11:30 PM in the CAC. C U There.

Youth SS Breakfast

It is time again for our bi-monthly youth breakfast. The high school classes are hosting this one. So all you high school kids need to bring something to eat. The department will provide the drinks.

The fun starts at 9:15 in the Youth Department. We will eat and then my beautiful wife, Emily, will be sharing her story with us. You have all heard stories about her from me. Come see if they are all true.

Parents Guide to The Trip

Week 3 of Things that are Impossible to God

It is Impossible for God to Reject You

Teaching Points

1. God accepts you as you are (Romans 8:38-39)

2. God loves you too much to leave you that way (John 12:47)

3. God loves you too much to give up on you (1 John 1:9-10 & Isaiah 43:25)

How to respond to this truth:

1. ACCEPT God’s free gift of love (Colossians 2:14)

Questions to ask your kids

1. Tell me the story about the Korean orphan.

2. Explain the contrast that God loves you the way that you are but also loves you too much to leave you that way.

3. Tell me the story of David Wilkerson, the gang minister.

4. Explain how God never rejects us, but we can reject Him.

Rejected Top Tens

Top Ten Rejected Crayola Colors

10.Bruise Purple

9. Bus Station Brown

8.Michael Phelps Gold

7.Blood Red

6.Scorched Flesh

5. Hypothermia Blue

4.You’re just plain Yeller

3. Jaundice

2. I Can’t Believe It’s Not Beige

1.Baby Poop Green

Top Ten Rejected NFL Team Names

10. The Opticians

9.The Fragile Porcelain Mice

9.The Fightin’ Amish

7. The Blood-Swollen Ticks

6. The Velveteen Rabbits

5. The Referee Killers

4. The Soft Angora Sweater-Wearing Debutantes

3. The Greasy Ferrets

2. The Highly Paid Dumb Guys

1. The Half-time Streakers

Impossible for God to Fail

Teaching Points

It’s Impossible for God to Fail… regardless of how we feel

1. Sometimes I feel like God has failed because of the way I’m DESIGNED

2. Sometimes I feel like God has failed because of my PAIN

3. Sometimes I feel like God has failed because the world is MESSED UP

“Where is God when I need him?” Believing that God fails leads to a LOSS OF HOPE

For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good ad not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

The Truth

1. God has created everyone as an ORIGINAL MASTERPIECE (Psalm 139:14).

2. God comforts his children and today’s pain is only TEMPORARY (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

3. God has promised to create a new temporary HEAVEN and EARTH (Revelation 21:1).

How to have more hope

1. Open yourself to new BELIEFS (Proverbs 21:30).

2. Learn about God’s PROMISES and believe in them

3. Live your life based on GOD’S PROMISES

4. Trust your FUTURE on God’s promises (Psalm 33:11).

Questions to ask your child:

1. Have you ever felt like God has failed you?

2. What did you learn tonight to help you know that God never fails us?

3. Where can you go with the pain in your life?

4. What is the biggest pain that Wes has experienced in his life?

Fail Pics

Famous Failures from the TRiP

Liar Liar

clip for the Trip

Parents Guide to The Trip

Tomorrow we are starting a new sermon series tomorrow called Things that are impossible to God. First up is impossible for God to Lie. Here are the main points:

1. The Bible teaches that God is all-powerful, and has control over EVERYTHING. (Luke 1:37)

2. God can’t go against his OWN NATURE; God can’t be inconsistent. (Num 23:19)

This Truth Means We Can:

1. Hold on to God’s PROMISES (2 Cor 1:20-21)

2. TRUST God’s motives. (Romans 8:28)

3. SHARE FREELY with God who loves you.

4. We can rest in the TRUTH OF GOD (John 14:6)

Questions to ask your Teena

gers

1. Why can't God lie?

2. Why did Wes bring his middle schol yearbook?

3. What are some of God's promises for us?

4. Jesus said he is the what? (John 14:6)

5. Why is it important to you that God cannot lie?

GHS Volleyball

Got to see the GHS volleyball team in action tonight. Briarman and Katie were out sick, but Emily rocked the house. Emily had a massive block tonight. GHS won in straight sets, but every game was close. Especially coming from behind to win late in game two. Great job girls.

What i am Reading

I am just about to finish "Take Your Best Shot" by Austin Gutwein. He is a teenager that started a basketball foul shot fundraiser to help Aids victims in Africa. So far he has raised over a million dollars and built a school and a hospital in Africa. Awesome story about what God can do with our availability.

Also about half way through with "Simple Student Ministry" by Eric Geiger. The book is about how to simply your ministry. Good read so far.

The Trip

First Baptist Church

Student Worship Center

Wednesdays 6:00 PM

Come to the TRiP this week as we start a new 3 week sermon series; "Things that are Impossible for God." It is impossible for God to lie, to reject you, and to fail.

The (former) Blind Man

The picture is from one of my favorite photographers, Paul Strand. The lesson we studied tonight is where Jesus healed a blind man by putting mud on the blind person's eyes. We talked about the three types of people found in the text: the followers (Disciples), the hurting (Blind Man), and the skeptics (Pharisees.) We also talked about what Jesus does for these three sets of people. Jesus brings healing to hurting, Jesus has answers for the skeptics, and Jesus proves his power to His followers.

"I don't know whether he is a sinner,” the man replied. “But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!" (John 9:25).

Questions to ask your teenagers:

1. Describe what happened in John 9?
2. Why did Jesus make the blind man walk to the pool?
3. Where did the blind guy go after he was healed?
4. What did Jesus do at the end of the chapter?
5. How can Jesus heal your hurts?

Video for The Trip

This is the video that we played at the TRiP tonight. It is from the movie "The Gospel of John."

The 4 for 8-25-09

Here are your top four youth announcements for this week:

1. Come to yHOT this Wednesday after school, 3-6 PM in the Youth Department. I’ll provide the snacks and the fun.

1. Starting new 3 week sermon series @ the TRiP this week, He did What? We will look at 3 healings of Jesus.

1. No Open Gym this Friday after school.

1. Moonlight Madness this Sat from 5-10 PM. Come play Where’s Waldo in the JC mall. Bring money for supper @ food court.

He Did What?

New sermon series starting next Wednesday called He Did What? Healings by Jesus. We will be focusing on three healings performed by Jesus.

Week 1 - John 9: Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
Week 2 - Mark 2: Jesus Heals a Paralytic
Week 3 - Mark 5: Jesus Heals a Sick Woman

We will be looking at how God changed peoples lives through healing and we will look about how God wants to change our lives too. Join us on for the TRiP as we journey with Jesus and witness a miracle.

The 4 for 9-10

Here are your top four youth announcements for this week:

1. Due to the the football jamboree this Sat, Moonlight Madness has been postponed.

2. Come to yHOT this Wednesday after school, 3-6 PM in the Youth Department. I’ll provide the snacks and the fun.

1. We continue the sermon series “Beyond the Yearbook: How to impact your School for Chirst” this Wed @ the TRiP.

1. Open Gym this Friday after school from 3-5 PM in the CAC.

Ocean City Last Day

It has been a great week in Ocean City. In the morning, we ran a kid's club at 4 different RV sites; Frontier Town, Fort Whaley, Castaways, and Asasteague Island. We were not able to share our faith with the people at Assateague because it is a federal park, but we could at the other parks. Praise God that we had 18 decisions for Christ between the three parks. What an awesome week and some great kids at these parks.

Tonight we are hosting a international coffee house in the church. We are expecting about 200 international students to attend. Almost all of these kids are on work visas and they just come to operate the tourist industry form May until August. The normal population of Ocean City is about 20,000 people. During the summer, it swells to almost 350,000 people. Wow!

We are going to leave tomorrow morning about 9 AM for our 12 hour drive home. I cannot wait to see all of you. You should be proud of our team, they have all done a wonderful job of representing God and FBC.

Ocmd day 6

ocmd day 5

The end of day 5. Great day. I will blog it tomorrow. Bunch of a pictures on Facebook.

OCMD day 4

The end of another good day. The day was the same as yesterday except for our night time ministry. Tonight we had a dinner and bible study for the lifeguards. There are 225 lifeguards working 91 stands on the beach.

We are starting to get to know our kids in the morning and are getting very attached. We got to spend a couple of hours on the beach this afternoon for some much needed R and R. The water is freezing, but after you enter the first stages of hypothermia and your body goes numb, it is not that bad.

We have been meeting our summer missionaries each night by listening to their testimonies. Their are amazing! They are just your typical high school and college kids who have decided to give their summers to God. All of them are appointed through NAMB and are funded by the Cooperative program. Just another example of your church tithe at work.

Back to the kids in the morning, pray for strength and endurance for tired youth. Pray also for these kids and parents who are coming. We want them to understand that we are their to show them God's love. Goodnight!

pictures day three

OCMD day 3

It is the end of day three. Today was a long day. This morning we went to our four camp grounds and did our Bible clubs. Each camp had between 15-30 kids. We sang songs, played games, did crafts, and had a bible story. Todays story was God created everything (Gen. 1) We had a lot of church kids, but we had some kids that had never heard the story before. What an awesome privilege to be able to tell them about God. I forgot to blog this yesterday, but we found that Ocean City is doing a upward soccer camp this week. Three of our guys (Andrew, Pippen, and John) is helping out at the camp. They had 40 kids today.

After the Bible clubs and lunch, we split up to various ministries. Most of us did a lifeguard ministry where we walked 74 blocks on the beach handing out water to the lifeguards. Some of the rest walked the bridge and witnessed to the fishermen, and some did a sports ministry playing basketball and beach volleyball.

After supper, we went to OCBC west campus and did a Kid's night out for three hours. We did some crafts and Doug lead a kid's yoga class. The kids loved yoga! Great day of ministry and we are starting to build relationships with the children. Keep praying for chances to share our faith with the children, parents, and lifeguards.

OCMD day 2

We had a great second day. We all went to our camp grounds this morning and had a worship service. Then we attended FBC Ocean City's 11:00 service. We finished the night by leading a family night at Castaway campground. Most of us had great numbers at the service and met some great people. I will post pictures tomorrow. We start our kid's ministry tomorrow, pray for God to do great things.

oc,md day 1

After a 12 hour van trip, we finally arrived in Ocean City. Not a bad trip, just a little traffic in Norfork and Ocean City. We got to drive across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and watch fireworks on the beach in Ocean City. Tired and off to bed.

The 4 for 6-21-09

Here are your top four youth announcements for this week:

1. Come hear me preach tonight @ 6. Learn from Psalm 13 about what to do when God is silent.

2. No The TRiP planning tonight.

1. Cookout this Saturday @ the Burke’s farm. Meet at the church @ 5 PM. Guys bring a 2 liter drink, girls bring a side item or dessert

1. Hug your dad today.

crazy beards from last month

Winners from the International Beard Contest: