New location

So, it will be a new month this sunday and that means a new location for youth group. We've been meeting in the wheelersburg church for the last month and now we will meet in the sciotoville church for november. All our meetings have been going well. The games are fun, I'm getting to know the youth better, and the messages seem to be going well. However, it's time to start planning events. Each church have their own events which they are used to doing, so my first step will be to simply combine them into our calendar and make sure there are a good number of events that the youth can attend.

I moved 4 couches today into the sciotoville church. The room we are going to use for the scene has no youth stuff at all in it, so I'm starting from scratch with the room. It's really three rooms with those sliding dividers between each room. When they're open, one big room. This gives ample room for a praise band, but the permenancy of the room might be a problem. Other classes use these rooms and we can't just set up a youth room and leave it. So, that will be frustrating, but managable. It reminds of the importance of pushing the new building.

See, next door to the sciotoville church is a run down building which they own. It is perfect for youth ministry and community outreach. The trustees of the church decided to spend some money fixing the room and bricking up the windows. Once this is done, we can come in and do all the free fixup work that is possible. (by free, i mean not hiring a contractor). We can clean up the place, demo walls, lay carpet, even build a stage in this place. It will make a great permenant location, but that is a long way off. Currently, the room leaks and our insurance company won't let the youth into it. But, I did make a video walkthrough of the building where I talk about my ideas for using the building and it was received very well at my first youth board meeting. The board has people from all three churches on it and I gave them an update on what the youth group has been doing and where we're going. I also showed my video walkthrough and it seemed to make a lot of them excited about the possibilites. I have to also be willing to get my (and the youth's) hands dirty with this project, to really help see it get finished. But that is something exciting for the future and I know that the youth will somehow be involved, even if we don't get to use the building.

Here's a little bonus story: I was going to make some lunch today and thought I would finally make some hamburger helper. I had bought a pund of hamburger and decided to whip it up. So, I warmed up the skillet and opened the hamburger. The hamburger looked fine, but I immediatley smelled death. You know when you come upon a dead animal and you smell death? Well, that's what I smelled when I opened the package. Then I laughed, because it WAS A DEAD ANIMAL. I put it into the trash, then took the bag immediately outside to the trashcan. I didn't even want to give this thing a chance to stink up my house. So, I didn't make hamburger helper today :-(

Week three

So, tomorrow will be my third youth group meeting. I've technically been here for 5 sundays, but had two pre-planned events when I first arrived. I've already learned a lot about this whole youth pastor thing, but I have a long way to go. I began by giving a straight up lecture on the first night. It was probablly too much for the youth, since it was 30 mins long. I did get a little bit of interaction with them by asking them for the 10 commandments, but I quickly noticed that these youth needed something different than school on sunday night. So, at my 2nd meeting, I sat in the couches with them and talked with them. I asked some more questions than the first night, but there still wasnt a discussion. I think discussions are where a lot of progress can happen, so this sunday, we're having small group. We're all going to get our Bbiles out and read through a passage of Scripture. Then, we'll talk about it. I have a direction I want the discussion to go, but I am going to back off and let them work through the Word. I think it's a lot better that way and it also helps me to get to know them better.

That's also another thing I need to work on: being their friend. I don't expect to be their best friend, but I know I can do better. I just went to my first sporting event. It was a football game and was actually pretty fun to watch. I'm starting to try to make all of their games. That's one good way to befriend them, but we're also starting to plan events. This is where the pastors can help out. Between the 4 of us, there's no shortage of ideas and leads, I just need to grab their ideas and run with them. However, I am happy with the progress the youth group has made, I just need to make sure that we keep going.

I'm in the process of forming a youth praise band. I already have a 3 people who can help me with it. One plays both bass and guitar, another just guitar, and the third is on drums. So, if I play the piano, all we need are vocals. So, we're pretty close to having a praise band, and that instantly limits us on our location. Wheelersburg church has the ideal location for a praise band to perform, but the Sciotoville pastor wants me to have youthgroup at his church sometimes too. So, I don't really know how to deal with it. To have youth group there, I have to take over a large room that is not geared towards youth at all. I'd have to redecorate, bring in seating, a sound system, etc. This is all the more reason why we need our own building to have youth group in. More on that later

Better video tour

So, one of the pastors has a nice video camera which has become mine/the youth group's. So, I thought I would take a better video tour and show you the outside of my house.

We've had two youth group meetings now, and they are going fine. I make suer to preach the gospel at every meeting and have just been coming up with messages on my own. However, I've been looking at curriculum and trying to come up with a more long term lesson plan. We're starting pretty small and get about 13 high schoolers on sunday nights. We haven't done any kind of outreach yet, so it looks like I have a good core of students to start with. We have a whole lot of ideas for expansion and we're in the process of forming a praise team. But, mroe on that later. Enjoy your video and I'll give you another update soon

Some good news and some bad news

So, I have some good news and some bad news. Which would you like first? I'll give you the bad news first, since that's the way the gospel works. The bad news is that my cousin Jordan Noblitt died this week. The cause of death is unknown, but I suspect it is related to either past or present drug use. I didn't know Jordan too well, even though he was only one year younger than me. As I sat at his viewing tonight, I couldn't help noticing the ridiculously large number of people who knew Jordan, or his family and had come to pay their respects. The showing was scheduled from 4-8 and I left around midnight with people still waiting in line to pay their respects. It made me realize how connected we are to each other, even if we don't realize it. While this just happened a few hours ago, I can see how it could shape the way I conduct myself around others, the things I speak to them, and the urgency I feel for preaching the gospel. No one but God can know when a person is saved, but I honestly don't think Jordan had put his faith in Jesus. I had the same feelings at my grandmother's funeral. I know that there might be some reading this blogg who are offended by me "making judgements" of this nature. I am sorry to offend you, but my Christian convictions tell me that without faith in Christ's death on the cross, we will all be sent to Hell. That is why I feel an urgency to tell others and "pull them from the flame" as James says in the Bible. There is a big debate in Christianity about the way the gospel should be preached. Should we mention hell, sin, and righteousness? Or should we preach God's love. I do not intentionally set out to offend people. But I would rather give a clear and understandable gospel message to an unbeliever, than become too scared of offending them that I don't speak of the matter at all. So, I think Jordan's death will, among other things, cause me to be bold in preaching the gospel.

That leads to the good news. This past sunday, we had our first youth group. It went from 7-8:30pm and went really well. The fellowship at the beginning went well. I didn't have to do anything except listen to these kids tell their stories and just hang out. That part is easy and pretty natural to everyone. Of course, I'll try to make sure the shyer kids feel welcomed too. Then, we played a game called "signs". It's a hilarious game and the youth really seemed to like it. Maybe a little too much though. See, in the game, everyone has a sign that they send to other people when the "it" person's back is turned. It's really fun to see them try to sneak the signals past the "it" person, who stands in the middle of the circle and tries to catch the signs being sent. However, once I got up talk about Jesus, I think some of them were still sending signs when MY back was turned. So, it was really funny while we were playing and kinda funny while I was talking.

And the topic of my message that night was simply the gospel. I spent 30 mins telling them why and how to get saved. I used the 10 commandments to show them what sin was, then tried to explain how Jesus can complete that legal transaction for sin by dying. I definitely noticed a change in their demeanor as I got deeper into the 10 commandments. They stopped sending their signs. However, I did have the expected public speaking nerves. I know these will get better with time, but I also could have prepared for the message better. That also makes coming home for this funeral hard, since I had planned to finish my lesson plan on friday and practice it on sat. I think I'll be ok, but I'll have to work hard to be prepared.

Anyway, I'm in my columbus, IN home right now. We've got the funeral tomorrow and then I'll have to drive another 4 hours back to ohio. Things are going well though. Lots of cool prospects on the horizon. More on that and the weather at 11

1st actual work

Hey everyone, first off, I apologize for the crappy tour videos. I'll make another house tour during daylight hours and I'll use the youth group camera, which is much nicer! So the pastors gave me all of last week to get moved in. This week, I had to plan the first youth group meeting. It's going to be pretty simple, but the message should be really good. I'm basically goign to spend 30 mins talking about the gospel. I have a whole slew of volunteers who are willing to help me, but I won't need them for this meeting. I'm going to keep things simple and build from there. If you want to know the layout I'm using, it's 3 chunks of 30 mins. I've also convieniently named them all for alliteration's sake.

1.) Fellowship
2.) Fun
3.) Faith

In the fellowship part, we're just going to hang out. I've met alot of the youth, but don't know them very well, so 30 mins of hang out time will be good. I'm going to find some music cds that can play in the background and we'll have some snacks to munch on. We'll probably break out some cards and just play it by ear for this part. It's all about fellowship. Then, we'll get organized and play a game. I have no shortage of games at my disposal, what with my college and camp days under my belt. Plus, I received a whole bunch of activity books from my three churches, so no problem there. Then finally, we'll have our faith building part. Those of you who know me will know that I want to make sure that the teaching is the best attribute of this youth group. Of course, I want to make the kids feel welcome, accepted, and befriended, but I also want to make sure that they know how to get saved and how to follow Jesus more than anything. So, we'll see how things go. Meeting starts at 7:00 pm and I'd appreciate all the prayer I can get.

another vid

Video time!

Guys, my phone can take 3megapixel videos, so I made two new videos. One is a tour of my house and the other shows all the food that my churches gave me for my "pounding". No one did explain why it's called a pounding, but they basically gave me a whole bunch of food, gift certificates, and even some cold hard cash! So, enjoy the videos.

Contact Info

Hey guys, I received my new cell phone today, so I can now post my full contact info.


Alex Grayson
8013 Chester St.
Wheelersburg, OH 45694
Cell: 740-727-9587

I start work tomorrow!