Leadership Meeting

Last night we had our monthly leadership meeting. It was really a great time. I grilled fajita's...chicken, beef and even did some grilled shrimp for them. I really love to take care of my leaders like that.

I had about a 20 minute lesson on five points that make a championship team champions. Then we talked about the BHAG's and Critical Success Factors for our youth ministry. They had some great insight that will be a great help. I see a lot of potential in our team and know the great things that God has destined for us to do. Right now I still feel I am getting everything in order administratively so that there will be a smooth flow within the ministry. I am also trying to get more of a team feel within the ministry so that everything will be geared around the leaders and not me. Too often youth ministries are built around the youth pastor and they don't reach their full potential. The true potential will be realized as the ministry is built and geared around the leaders.

Getting Ready For Tonight

I just arrived in the office and am about to get going on today....Besides a meeting that I have scheduled (which was supposed to have been yesterday afternoon) my Wednesday's pretty much are the following routine.

Arrive around 8:30 or 9:00... First, I will check emails/messages and respond back. I will then finish up my sermon which has pretty much been fleshed out yesterday. After that I will take my sermon and bring it down into notes form to handout to the teens tonight for them to fill out during the sermon. I will create the Powerpoint for the sermon. I get our schedule for the night in order and print out everything out. That usually takes me most of the day. I'll then go over make sure our room is in order and that will be about most of the day.

Of course during the day there will be some interruptions which will try to keep me off track. Last week I was putting in a tape recorder in to record my sermons...One day I'll hit the big time and get a CD recorder...LOL...

Today will be about a 10 to 12 hour day altogether. And it is going to be a good one.

Acceptance

Well it is Tuesday morning and I am getting ready for the work day. I came in to pray this morning and my partner wasn't here...Don't know what happended to him....We always meet at 6 on Tuesdays and pray till 7 and then go to my office and have devotions. This morning he wasn't here so I thought I would check my emails and get my thoughts together for the day.

Tomorrow I am continuing the series we are currently in. It is called "I Want To Be Made." It is kind of based on the MTV reality show called Made. Anyway in this series we are dealing with 3 major points: Self-Image, Acceptance, and Being Transformed... That is what the show is pretty much about. It is about teens who have a low self-image transforming themselves in the hopes that it will bring them acceptance. Last week I dealt with the Self-Image part and this week we are going to be talking about Acceptance.

True acceptance happens when we realize we are accepted by Christ. Many people though don't have that or don't feel total acceptance so they don't truly live a life of freedom. When we know we are accepted unconditionally by Christ it will bring freedom to our lives.

Thoughts anyone?????

Our Weekend

I had a great weekend...Saturday my parents came in and spent the afternoon with us. I think I almost wore myself out though. It started with mowing the law. My daughter mowed the front for the first time. She was outside and wanted to try so she did it while I weedeed (sp). By the time I finished I was dripping with sweat. Then when my Dad came in we set up an over the ground pool and put a fence around it to keep out my dog. While it was filling I grilled up some t-bones. They came out absolutely fantastic. Tender, juicy.....man they were good.

On Sunday we had a great service...there were a lot of people there. It was packed. I guessed we were around the 600 mark. It was a good service. Afterwards we went home cooked up some burgers and my girls all went swimming. It was a really relaxing day.

I finished up an outline for a book we are reading as a staff. It is the Laws of Teamwork by John Maxwell. Great book with some fabulous points on teamwork. It is some great things to teach your team.

Wednesday Night After Service

This Wednesday night was a pretty good night. I am still not feeling the freedom in our teens that I want to feel. It seems that they are very hesitent about going after God. They are very subdued during worship and I am getting minimal response on the altar calls.

Now after service was a different thing. Our worship team (Frontline) practiced a new song called From The Inside Out, and we were just going after God. Mostly all the teens had left and we sang through the song on cd twice. After that we went live and it totally rocked. As a team we were just letting it rip. They were totally pumped....That is the kind of feel that I want to create in the service. Where we unleash in worship. We just go after God with total abandonment.

An over due update

I know some have been waiting for this update...for about two weeks we have been in the middle of getting a network installed and then on top of that our internet provider is not the best in the world in my opinion so we have been off and on with our internet connection.

This past Wednesday was a great night. We had 30 in attendance, one first time visitor and 3 rededications. The message we did was a two man skit/illustrated sermon. I did it with one of my team leaders, Juno, who did an absolutly fantastic job. The sermon was on how spiritual growth relates to weight training. We acted like we were in the gym and having a conversation. It went great. I now have a full worship team made up of teens. They are doing great. One girl learned the bass in three days to be able to play.

This week we start a new series entitled I Want To Be Made. It is going to be a three part series about self-image, acceptance and being transformed. Be praying.

And the new name is...

Sorry to keep everyone waiting on this but my internet connection had been down since last Thursday. We are installing a new network and getting it all lined out.

We named the youth ministry ELEVATE. We feel that is what we are all about. Elevating teens to go and make an impact. Our mission is to RAISE up teens to REACH the world RESTORING them to SERVE other and OFFER their lives to God. That to me fulfills the great commandment and the great commision.

There are five things that I feel a youth ministry should be about. Those five are evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, ministry and worship. If we are about fulfilling those five things our youth ministry will grow. It is kind of like a circle. We discipleship teens equiping them for ministry and to evangelize. Then in turn they will reach thier friends. As we reach them we will bring them back into fellowship with God and the church. The will then get involved in ministry opportunities and worship God will all they are.

This past Wednesday we had 33 in attendance. We got many things in store for the summer... Camp at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio...Junior High Night at Funtrackers next week...A Bar-b-que...Beach Days....

Tonight one of my adult leaders, Juno, and I will be doing a illustrated sermon on how spiritual growth relates to weight training.