Titles are hard because I switch subjects often :)

We had a meeting with the entire conference wing on the importance of bloging. Chase and I set everybody up and got people accounts . . . that was three weeks ago. This is my first blog entry since then! Ha! Life has been busy:

Believe is rocking. I like the theme and the way the weekend flows. I have changes still for week three in Portland; but overall I am very excited about how Nashville and Dallas Believe felt.

Jen and I have been so busy with suburban life. We have had parties, pumpkin patch trips, birthdays and EBay :) Check out the pics of life in Webb City
peace

Leaving . . .

We are leaving for the first Believe of the tour in the morning. Awesome!

exhibitor fued . . . ha!

Today was an awesome day hanging out at Youth Specialties in Austin. I love to check out all the exhibitors at these events. Seriously, if I ever did anything other than what I do now I would love to be a consultant for groups on how to exhibit. We had dinner tonight with the folks from “Hands on Originals” and devised gutsy and somewhat confrontational stunt for the next YS event. It deals with the marketing attempts of some exhibitors to get information from youth leaders. Many are giving away free I-pods if you “sign-up”. When I say many we have counted 23 different exhibitors. We are going to make shirts that say, “Want a free ipod? Buy it your self, we just do jr high events.” That should spark some good fun with the other exhibitors at the next convention. I actually had this idea last year and only talked about it. It’s time to implement! Check out the pics of our slamming booth and some friends. Dustin and Katie Kelm of the “Unishow” are pictured as well as jr high buddy Alan Mercer.

Tomorrow morning is Riley’s flag football game and it is the first one that I will miss this year. I’m bummed about that. I’m looking forward to getting back home tomorrow night to be with the family all day, do church and watch the Bronco Game!

Middle School Small Groups (class in Austin today)

I am at a Youth Specialties Convention in Austin Texas today. A good buddy of mine, Alan Mercer, is teaching a class on middle school small groups. Below is a handout on what some churches are currently doing with small groups in the real world right now! Alan has been apart of my inner circle for Believe planning for about 3 years now. Check this out look at how other churches weekly small groups look.

Small Group Set up...

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I made the promise . . .

I made the promise so I had to keep it. A few weeks ago at our jr high Wednesday night program I told the room full of students that we wanted them totally involved in the worship element of the program. I said, “bring whatever instruments you have and we just want to hang out with you guys and worship.” The thing about jr high students is that they actually do listen and for the most part believe you. Benji showed up last week with a ukulele. Yes, that is right, I said ukulele. I didn’t know how to spell that before I bloged this. Benji is a cool kid with a great sense of humor so I really didn’t know if he was just goofing off. I noticed right off the bat that this was a quality nylon yuk and Benji had a great ear. He tuned it himself perfectly. He had a chord book with some Hawaiian Island songs and informed me that it was his mom’s. Three weeks later he is still bringing this thing and patiently learning his finger positions. I had to keep my word so . . . . at the end of “Tell the world” (This kicking United Live worship song we are doing right now) we did a little Jack Johnson feeling outro to the chorus with him and bongos.

It was a cool moment. The students were a bit stunned and Benji was glowing. I leave for YS in the morning. This moment tonight will stick with me as I hang out with youth leaders and attend classes. It comes down to moments like that. It wasn’t difficult to put that feature piece in. It was one of the most impacting things that happened tonight in the life of Benji and for the culture of our group. It put the proof in the pudding. When we tell students we are going to involve them then we have to do that very thing.

my day back in jr high

I am sitting in a jr high lunch room in Carl Junction, MO. This school seems to be much like many of the schools students attend across this country that attend the Believe tour. I am participating in two days of observation of jr high students in environments other than church. I am struck by a few things over the past few hours. I am not saying these things are facts. These are just some of my thoughts over the last 24 hours.


1. I have forgotten that jr high boys sweat bad!
2. Jr high students are acutely aware of any change in their environment. (ie the weird old guy doesn’t usually sit in here with us!)
3. Girls are generally smarter than boys . . . this doesn’t seem to change when you are my age either.
4. The diversity in this age group is the largest spectrum developmentally than any other age other than 18-22 year olds.
5. Some kids are lonely.
6. Even though students act like they don’t want appropriate, affirming touch from adults – they need it.
7. Milk is not as good for the body as the American Dairy Farmer’s Association has led us to Believe. That is a different blog for a different time 

This is timely because I leave for a Youth Specialties conference in Austin on Thursday. I will be attending all the jr high classes at this youth leader training event. It will be awesome seeing lots of friends. What I’m soaking in today though is what I don’t get reminded of on Wednesday nights. On Wednesday nights I don’t work with jr high students in my mind. Instead, I work with Kyle, Even, Preston, Noel and Avery. I see them as my kids I know and love. I don’t see them as a demographic. For Believe I need to rethink this experience. It is so easy to forget the range of development in the students we are trying to communicate the message of Jesus to. One of the Believe tour speakers yesterday cautioned us on a fine line we were walking yesterday in dress rehearsals. “We don’t want to call students to Decisionalism.” he said. Decisions are great; but decisions need to have a broad context to take root in a students life. To develop a broader context for a student’s major faith decisions, an adult(s) must be involved (leaning, trusting and looking to the Holy Spirit) in an ongoing relationship, posturing a proper framework, for understanding the ramifications of that decision in a students mind. This can’t happen in one moment. This takes consistency in life lived together.

I do work daily in a Para church organization that has a heart to make a difference in the lives of jr high students. The longer I spend time in this school the more I am impacted by the idea that: Only the many working parts of the whole (capital “C”) Church can do the job of effectively nurturing this many students.

There is a girl who is at least two feet taller than a boy standing in line. The young man has a stack of books that seems to be at least his body weight. In my mind I am picturing these two individuals interacting in the same social setting. That is hard to comprehend. In 6 months he may be taller than she is. Jr high students are wet cement. When you make an impression it lasts.