2008 Honor Academy Staff Christmas Party

Last night we had our annual Honor Academy Staff Christmas Party. We had a great time as we did a white elephant gift exchange and had some great food.

My Kids at the zoo and at church

Here is a quick video of our kids at the zoo and at church

Funny video

I was thinking recently what if people in my youth group made a parody of me as a youth pastor. What would they say and what video would they make of me? I would hope it would not look like the video below :0)

Funny video

This is a comedian talking about the attempt to take "under God" out of the Pledge of Allegiance. Enjoy!

Dream.

Dream.

As a Part Time YP, I often am working on the day to day details of leading the youth group that I forget to do this one thing.

Dream.

I am focusing on loving the students I interact with and hearing their stories that I sometimes forget to wonder what could happen to next years students.

Dreaming.

Why is it that it is easier to focus on the present and not plan for the future?

Dream.

Why can I be planning for this week’s message and not be planning for next March’s theme?

Dream

I meet with students and hear their struggles, victories, weaknesses, and successes and usually don’t think about what God is going to do as they go through those valley’s and mountain tops.

Dreamers.

Yes, I must get around other dreamers so that I will be a forward thinker and not just focused on the present.

Let's all dream today!

Teen Perspectives

Today I’ll be interviewing

Devin Orrick-Martin

She’s 18 and loves tea, art, music,
computers, and worship.

Let’s see what she has to say:

What were the best topics your YP taught on?

He hit on a lot of basic issues that teens face every day, then gave us the Bible’s perspective on it.

The biggest issue he addressed was drugs. He would basically say, “this is the real issue – look at what these things do to your body! You’re harming yourself when you use drugs, and the Bible says that we shouldn’t harm our bodies.”

Did you youth group do any mission trips or outreaches?

We were always involved in community service. Our YP was big on servant-hood.
And he always taught us that if we serve others, like Christ came to serve, we’d really impact people. A lot of the kids in our youth group would come with stories about how their actions influenced others. They’d talk about how their friends would ask them why they acted so different than everyone else, giving them an open door to share the Gospel.

My youth pastor would let these people share their testimonies in front of the youth group. That made such a huge impact on me. It was so encouraging to know that I’m not fighting this battle alone, but there are others who are trying to make a difference too.

What kind of relationship did your YP have with his wife?

They were really close. She was very involved with our youth group. I think their love for each other really influenced us a lot. Whenever conversations about relationships came up, they would share from their own experiences. They did a great job of not just telling us what’s best, but showing that to us. My standards for guys have been raised by the great husband my YP was.

YP’s need to realize that the teens look up to them a lot. Whenever I found myself in a hard spot, I’d always go and talk to my YP. So when a YP lives out their life as a good example for their teens, it shows in the lives of the teens following them.

The Bible says that teachers will be held to the highest standards. YP’s need to hold themselves to that standard so they can have the best possible influence on their youth group.

Top Web Searches for 2008

Here is an interesting page showing the top web searches for 2008.

As you look at all of this, what names/groups/sites do you wish people were searching for instead? Think about what we as youth workers search for. This is another sobering statistic about how people are spending their time.

http://buzz.yahoo.com/yearinreview2008/top10/

"Bad" Christian Music

I found one more video of "bad" Christian music from the 1970's. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving 2008

I spent Thanksgiving up in Tulsa. Here are some pics from this great time.