Archives for 2008

OK, so you have shoes, and possibly socks that are cool but not something that will scare your parents, now you need to figure out the whole pants situation. Sure you can just slap on any old pair of jeans or work the white slacks that were oh so popular with preachers in the 80s, but if you want to impress your youth enough to be allowed on the cool van then you will need ot think about what you wear.Shorts:One of the most dangerous pitfalls any person can face is choosing the wrong shorts. You need to know your body type before you can wear shorts. If you have chicken legs then don't wear … [Read more...]

There are a lot of different YPs out there with their own unique style. That is cool and all. This is for the guy or girl that isn't sure how to dress as a YP. This is a very important choice and needs to be well thought out. There are some very treacherous pitfalls to avoid along the path. You want to look cool, but not like you are just adopting the same style your students wear. You don't ever want to get confused for the metrosexual worship leader. I mean think about it you go up to give an announcement and the band start playing because they got confused by your Puma's and paper … [Read more...]

So if you are not aware, it is October and that means Halloween is near. Of course, not knowing this in America means you must be living in a cave and therefore must not be reading anything on the internet so I'm guess you aren't reading this right now which means I'm talking to myself … kinda worries me a bit but that's ok.Anyways, Christians have a love to hate relationship with Halloween. A lot of churches, though, want to provide a safe place for their children and make an outreach for the neighborhood kids. I think that is great, but let's consider the names for these parties. … [Read more...]

The Youth group is growing again so that is cool, but we aren't quite to the point of splitting into Jr. High and Sr. High so that presents some problems. The biggest problem is the things that the younger group really get into the older group pretends they are too cool to enjoy. I say pretends because if you watch you will catch them off guard from time to time getting into it until the remember their friends might notice and put the cool face back on.Game night is where this become most obvious. I do various ice breakers and such ever week but once a month we have a game night with … [Read more...]

I have said recently, possibly here or in a comment on another blog, that one of my biggest struggles is pride. My wife will gladly admit that my ego makes Texas big look small most of the time. Suffice it to say that I can think highly of myself. My opinion is based on a true story. I am well read and blessed with many talents both intellectually and physically. This means I'm often right so I tend to assume I am right more often than not.This is, of course, a problem. Pride is the most evil of all sins because it breeds all sin. God tends to keep me humble by allowing me to get to … [Read more...]

I love tech. I am a geek, I freely admit that, but I am a tech geek to be specific. I am drawn to electronics like a moth to a high intensity LED array surrounded by a wire mesh conducting extreme amperage. If it flashes I want it. More than wanting, though, I also understand. I can do my own coding and assemble my own computers. I say all of this to make it clear that I am not about to attack technology lightly.Technology, as awesome as it is, is a feeble crutch at best. If you rely on electronics to do everything you will be in a world of hurt when it doesn't work right. What is … [Read more...]

I am blessed to have the Senior Pastor I have. I feel it is very important to fall under the authority of your Senior Pastor as a Youth Pastor. I made sure to ask mine some questions during the interview to make sure that I would be able to serve under him. I wanted to know his vision for the church and expectations for me. His answers were exactly what I needed to hear because they lined up very well with what I felt God was calling me to. We have been able to work very well together. I work to keep him in the loop on what I am doing and to stay under the protection of his authority in … [Read more...]

Numbers aren't everything but they sure do help. That is the problem with numbers. When you have a bunch of people come to your service you feel great but when the numbers drop you feel terrible. Your self-worth gets attached to these numbers. That is probably why ministers play the number game. You know, when 15 people show up but you go ahead and round that to 20. 40 people might as well be 50 and 75 is as good as a hundred. Pretty soon you are rounding 600 to an even thousand.When you round like that it is much easier to ignore the dropping numbers unless they drop below the next … [Read more...]

So I'm going through our music selection the other day and it occurs to me that all the music we have, every last song, was great back in the 90s. Oh we might have a song or two from the turn of the millennium, but not much and those are pretty slow.I am now in the hunt for good worship music for my Youth group. Stuff that we don't sing in "big church." Right now our worship is exactly what we do up top and the youth just aren't into it. I have been able to make a few changes with what we are doing that seems to be working but I can't seem to find music that has the driving beat but is … [Read more...]

I actually enjoy history. I keep this bit of information secret because then people might wonder why I hate learning history so much. If you asked what my least favorite class was in school it was history. The problem is learning dates. My brain just isn't wired for dates. I honestly have trouble with the most basic of information like my birthday. It isn't that I can't remember numbers. I can remember certain kinds of numbers like no bodies business. I can tell you my phone number from when I was 14 years old. I know IP addresses for servers I setup years ago. I just can't remember … [Read more...]