Hey everyone, sorry I missed last week. I was in Nashville TN for the national youth workers conference. I was pretty busy during the conference, plus the hotel had junky internet access so I didn't update. I'll talk about NYWC then thanksgiving.
national youth workers convention was an excellent experience. I learned a ton, met up an old friend I hadn't seen in about 5 years, and honed my discernment skills. I also got to hear David Crowder live and I have to say that it was phenomenal! He is such a great performer, yet his music has strong theology behind it. I even heard that he was a calvinist. I have no evidence to prove this, so I'll just leave it with "I heard". There are many seminars that I could have gone to during this conference, but I focused on the intro to youth ministry stuff. I went to seminars like "how to minister to jr high girls" (cause we have a lot of them), "recruiting and empowering your volunteers" and other similar intro classes. I also was able to run into an old friend from my home town: Adam Coleman. He and I were good friends from 5th grade till 8th. We went to the same small christian school until high school. Adam decided to goto a public school, but I stayed in private school. After that, we only saw each other in youth group and didn't hang out much through high school. When we both went off to college, we were pretty distant. So at NYWC, I was talking with my old youth pastor, Pete Eicher, and Adam came up out of no where and completely surprised me. The thought hadn't even occurred to me that he might be at NYWC too. So, we went out to dinner with some other c-bus people. I found out that he too is in in youth ministry and is running the high school youth group for my old church, CCC. It was great to see him as I wanted to contact him once I got back to columbus anyway.
As for the content of NYWC, I had to wade through the sea of postmodernism to find the good teaching techniques. I am very much NOT postmodern, so I had to be discerning. My philosophy is to chew up the meat and spit out the bones. This manifest especially in a lunch conversation I had with the people I was staying with. Somehow, the topic of Joel Osteen came up and someone asked me what I thought. Well, I figured they wanted to know since they asked me, so I said "I think he's a false teacher preaching a false gospel." To which they immediately replies with "harsh". So then I tried to explain myself.
"There are certain beliefs that you MUST hold in order to be a christian. If you don't believe in salvation by grace through Jesus death on the cross, you are not a Christian and will goto hell."
To which they replied
"Well, that's according to your interpretation of the gospel"
I immediately realized I was in for a big argument, but they had already pulled me in. I explained that I was referring to the beliefs concerning Jesus death on the cross and his substituionary atonement, but they kept repeating that that was just my personal interpretation of the gospel. We went back and forth, but I distinctly remember telling them that they were on the slippery slope of relativism and blasphemy. They disagreed, obviously.
I'm gonna get theological on you now. I think (i'm not entirely sure) that these beliefs they held stemmed from their broad definition of the gospel. To them (and many speakers at NYWC), it seemed that their gospel definition included every aspect and belief within Christianity. So, in their mind, Jesus saying "go and preach the gospel" would take a VERY long amount of time, since they would lump all of the christian life in with the gospel. Let me explain. I believe the gospel AFFECTS all of the christian life, but the gospel is not complicated. It is Jesus died on the cross to bear your sins. If you believe that Jesus bore your sins on the cross, you are a Christian (the elect, for my fellow calvinists). Then, that fact changes every area of your life. But to my postmodern friends, the gospel is almost undefinable since they through in basically every belief and good work possible into the gospel. Thus, since no one could possibly agree on all the issues of things like baptism, the charismata, eschatology, and creationism, preaching the gospel is a vague, time consuming process. I felt outnumbered at that lunch conversation, but I said at once point "I will defend to the death the gospel of salvation by grace through Jesus death on the cross." It was intense and I was amazed that this sort of argument was coming from people who's job is to tell others about Jesus. When I said there was only one to the Father, their first response was "well, that's your interpretation". Yikes!
As for Thanksgiving break, it was a good time. Family and friends came over, which is nice. I bought some new clothes, since I've gained a lot of weight lately. I went off roading with some friends on my parents property, and got to shoot a pump action shotgun. I'll tell ya, you feel like a man when you shoot a pump action shotgun. I also found out that I am a pretty good shot.
I'm running out of things to talk about, so I'll sign off here. Hope I wasn't too theological for ya
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Friday, November 5, 2010
Some controversial thoughts
So, I was recently thinking about being a pastor. I don't really want to be one right now, but I can see myself becoming one. One of the sermons I think I would want to preach is how to treat homosexuals. Now, I'm not going to try to set out and prove that homosexuality is wrong in this post. I think if you are able to read the Bible and find any other oppinion than "it's wrong" in there, you're reading with a bias. That being said, I have a homosexual friend. there is even a chance he will read this post and become angry. I hope not.
Anyway, I think what needs to be spoken to is how to treat homosexuals. Really, the most important thing to do is put things in perspective. First, a story, then a controversial statement. Let's make up a fictitious character named Bob. Bob is a convicted rapist. Did bob choose to do this thing? Technically, yes, he did. He decided to go out and rape someone. But, did Bob choose to feel this way? Cause something in Bob's head told him "something is not right/missing from your life. The only way to get that ellusive "thing you want" is to forcibly rape someone." Did Bob choose to become a rapist? With the exception of his very last choice to rape someone, he didn't choose it. The events in his life led to the point where he felt rape was the thing he needed/wanted. Is it wrong to rape? Yes. Did he choose to become a rapist? no.
Please note the distinction. No one chooses to fall into sin. I think it's due to the fact that our bodies are tainted by sin, so we naturally want to do what our body tells us. We don't have to choose cause it's the natural thing to do! A murder doesn't one day decide he's going to murder someone, the events in his life lead up to that point where he feels murder is needed/wanted. Does that make it ok to murder someone? NO! But we don't choose to do wrong, we're prewired to do wrong! No choice needs to be made, it just happens. And I assure you, I'm not arguing fatalism.
So, lets look at homosexuality. Lets make another fictitious person named Ted. Ted is gay and he affirms that he never chose to be gay. I agree, he didn't choose. The events in his life all added up to him feeling like being gay was needed/irresistible. Ted didn't choose to be gay any more than I set out to become a video game addict. The events of my life combined together with my sin nature to make the potential addiction a reality. Same with homosexuality. That being said, the fact that Ted did not choose to be gay does not make it ok. It just makes it difficult to fix. Thus, when dealing with a homosexual, I propose that we cast off our unchristian like stigma towards them and really look at the situation. We must treat them the same way we would if someone we knew was convicted of theft. How would you help someone work through their sin in the case of theft? Would you make signs that says "God hates thieves"? Whether or not God does hate thieves, I don't think that would accomplish the ministry of reconciliation. Or would you work with that person and try to help them understand why they feel the need to steal things and how God can help them overcome that problem? Obviously, the latter
So, we should treat homosexuals like we would someone stuck in sexual sin. Granted, the church is terrible at that too, but you catch my drift? I don't have a specific plan laid out as to how you'd go about working through the sin with a homosexual, but I know that we need to quit treating this like the unpardonable sin and actually label it a sin and move from there. Is not it better to help your friend leave their life of sin than condemn them all together? Drop the stigma! People in sexual sin need extra help, cause Paul says that's the only kind of sin that lives inside the body. Can't remember the reference, sorry.
Anyways, that is my stand on homosexuality. Yes, it's wrong, but we should reach out and try to help them, rather than shunning the non-believer. (Reference to candy mountain anyone?) What that looks like? I'm not sure, but it looks an awful lot like dealing with adultery, or dealing with lying, or dealing with murder, or dealing with dishonoring your parents, or....you get the idea. It is a sin, but we're treating like it's the black plague! Food for thought
Friday, October 29, 2010
Busy weekend
I've got a big weekend coming up. Tonight (friday), we're taking the Jr highers to a haunted corn maze. Tomorrow, we're taking an all day trip to kings island for fear fest. sunday, I have a big youth board meeting where I'll propose a massive change to the youth group!
Luckily, I'm getting better at planning events. I'm still terrible at the whole advertising part, but I'm getting a lot more confident working out the logistics, like drivers, times, cost, etc. We were originally going to take the Jr high with the sr high to fear fest, but the more I thought about it, the worse of an idea it sounded like. With sr high, it's fine to let them group up and split up. With jr high, you gotta watch em like a hawk. I mean, an amusement park is really easy to lose people at. there's also the age element. Some of the jr highers are 11 years old. Keeping them out till midnight+really scary stuff=bad news. Granted, I know some of them can handle it, but I also know some cannot. So, about two weeks before fear fest, we decided to take the jr highers to a haunted corn maze instead.
the more I learn about youth group, the more I find it's important to keep jr and sr high separate. That's the big change I'll be proposing at this youth board meeting on sunday. right now, jr and sr high have combines food and worship. It was a good place to start, but we need to spearate them for many reasons I don't feel like typing out now.
actually, I don't want to talk about work anymore. I'm sure you'd rather hear about my life and stuff. Well, I sold all my ferrets about a month or two ago and I really miss them. they were alot of fun, but they were also a hassle. It's that whole responsibility vs reward. to me, the reward of having the ferrets, which I loved, was not greater than the responsibility. I cleaned the carpet in their room, but it still stinks a little bit. I think I might get an ozone generator and just scrub it clean. I've got a bed for that room, but I want to get the couch out of there first. that couch is gonna smell for the rest of its life, so I need to get rid of it.
My new termpurpedic bed is everything I hoped it would be. you all NEED one. nuff said. also, I still don't have my tax return! The IRS sent me a letter about 2 weeks ago and I got excited cause I thought it was my return! It was a letter saying "we're looking at your information. Expect a reply within 30 days". Ok. Then yesterday, I got another letter from the IRS. I got excited cause I thought it was finally here! It was another letter saying "we're reviewing your information. Expect a reply within 30 days." Swear words! They basically just extended their 30 day period by 2 weeks! Oh well. Patience is a virtue, I guess.
I joined a gym and am averaging one day a week of working out. I'm ok with this. It's important not to set unrealistic expectations. so, i'll steadily work out 1 day a week, then creep up to two days a week. right now, I am swimming. I really like it, cause i've never actually swam for excercise before. It was always recreation. It also is a full body workout with no joint impact. Seems like a win/win for me. I go in the mornings when there are only old people there. It's kinda funny. A bunch of retired people and then me. They also have a sauna, which I am goign to use everytime. I know they burn alot of calories and they make you sweat. That will help keep the clorine out of my body, whatever that means.
Life is good and I'm not lonely!
Luckily, I'm getting better at planning events. I'm still terrible at the whole advertising part, but I'm getting a lot more confident working out the logistics, like drivers, times, cost, etc. We were originally going to take the Jr high with the sr high to fear fest, but the more I thought about it, the worse of an idea it sounded like. With sr high, it's fine to let them group up and split up. With jr high, you gotta watch em like a hawk. I mean, an amusement park is really easy to lose people at. there's also the age element. Some of the jr highers are 11 years old. Keeping them out till midnight+really scary stuff=bad news. Granted, I know some of them can handle it, but I also know some cannot. So, about two weeks before fear fest, we decided to take the jr highers to a haunted corn maze instead.
the more I learn about youth group, the more I find it's important to keep jr and sr high separate. That's the big change I'll be proposing at this youth board meeting on sunday. right now, jr and sr high have combines food and worship. It was a good place to start, but we need to spearate them for many reasons I don't feel like typing out now.
actually, I don't want to talk about work anymore. I'm sure you'd rather hear about my life and stuff. Well, I sold all my ferrets about a month or two ago and I really miss them. they were alot of fun, but they were also a hassle. It's that whole responsibility vs reward. to me, the reward of having the ferrets, which I loved, was not greater than the responsibility. I cleaned the carpet in their room, but it still stinks a little bit. I think I might get an ozone generator and just scrub it clean. I've got a bed for that room, but I want to get the couch out of there first. that couch is gonna smell for the rest of its life, so I need to get rid of it.
My new termpurpedic bed is everything I hoped it would be. you all NEED one. nuff said. also, I still don't have my tax return! The IRS sent me a letter about 2 weeks ago and I got excited cause I thought it was my return! It was a letter saying "we're looking at your information. Expect a reply within 30 days". Ok. Then yesterday, I got another letter from the IRS. I got excited cause I thought it was finally here! It was another letter saying "we're reviewing your information. Expect a reply within 30 days." Swear words! They basically just extended their 30 day period by 2 weeks! Oh well. Patience is a virtue, I guess.
I joined a gym and am averaging one day a week of working out. I'm ok with this. It's important not to set unrealistic expectations. so, i'll steadily work out 1 day a week, then creep up to two days a week. right now, I am swimming. I really like it, cause i've never actually swam for excercise before. It was always recreation. It also is a full body workout with no joint impact. Seems like a win/win for me. I go in the mornings when there are only old people there. It's kinda funny. A bunch of retired people and then me. They also have a sauna, which I am goign to use everytime. I know they burn alot of calories and they make you sweat. That will help keep the clorine out of my body, whatever that means.
Life is good and I'm not lonely!
Friday, October 22, 2010
Friday!
Man, this is like a new record for my blog posts. I kinda like updating on fridays. It's so hard to get work done at Minford church for reasons I will say again: slow internet, spotty cell reception, no one here ever, silly printer that doesn't work on my laptop (have to post docs to google docs, then print from its local computer).
Anyway, what should I talk about? How about 1 timothy 2? My biblestudy which still doesn't have a name studied it 2 weeks ago. That's the passage were Paul says "I suffer not a woman to teach, nor usurp authority over a man." This passage GREATLY frustrates me. The bible says God is not a God of confusion, but I beg to differ. Well, I take it back. I know the Bible is infallible and I am not, so TO ME, God seems confusing when He has Paul write this passage.
There seem to be two interpretations available for this passage:
1.) Cultural relevance
2.) Literal
Cultural relevance says that Paul was only referring to women of that time period, therefore, women can teach men today and have authority over them. Only one problem with that: the explanation that Paul uses goes back to creation! He talks about the curse, which doesn't go away until Jesus comes back. Please hurry Lord! So, if his argument comes from creation and the curse, which still exists today, then his application still applies. If his explanation had ANYTHING to do with culture, then maybe this view of the passage would be true. If Paul said something like, "Look, christian women are taking their christian liberties to dress like our local prostitutes. you shouldn't dress like prostitutes", I could totally buy into that. But he didn't. He referenced the everpresent curse on women. Don't be angry women, men have a curse on them too.
But the literal interpretation provides even more problems. If indeed, women are not supposed to teach or have authority over a man, that becomes impossible to carry out. Example: my relationship with my mom. She has authority over me. To a degree, she will always have some authority over me, a man. Is this contrary to what Paul wants?! In my mind, it could be argued yes. She is a woman and she has authority over me, a man. And if women are not allowed to teach, well we already have a shortage of teachers in america! Take out all the women and we have no educational system. We don't even have to talk about women pastors to see the dilemma here.
So, I get frustrated by that passage. The cultural interpretation disregards scripture by using extra biblical arguments while the literal interpretation is untenable. I guess I'll have to rethink my definition of what it means that God is not the author of confusion.
In non-biblical news, I still don't have my tax refund! however, I went ahead and bought that tempurpedic bed. I know what you're saying, "Alex! Don't spend money before you have it!" and I say "You're right. I didn't". I can afford to pay off this bed if my return never comes. Now, I'm hoping it does, but this bed has an 8 months no interest deal with it. So I have 8 months to pay it off. Once that's done, I'll be back to only one debt in my life: my mortgage. I kind of have a budget in mind that I've been secretly wanting to implement as soon as my return comes, but I should probably start using it now. Basically, I need to get my emergency fund back up to par, then i'll start blasting away at my mortgage. Do you guys think it's better to throw all my spare money at the mortgage, or save part of it and pay over a longer time? I'm leaning towards save and pay, but I also know that the sooner I pay off my house, the better. Maybe I'll go 75/25. 25% to save, 75% to house. I dunno. I think I'll just work that budget out now and make it happen. If you're lucky enough to be a family member, I'll show it to you if you like!
Anyway, what should I talk about? How about 1 timothy 2? My biblestudy which still doesn't have a name studied it 2 weeks ago. That's the passage were Paul says "I suffer not a woman to teach, nor usurp authority over a man." This passage GREATLY frustrates me. The bible says God is not a God of confusion, but I beg to differ. Well, I take it back. I know the Bible is infallible and I am not, so TO ME, God seems confusing when He has Paul write this passage.
There seem to be two interpretations available for this passage:
1.) Cultural relevance
2.) Literal
Cultural relevance says that Paul was only referring to women of that time period, therefore, women can teach men today and have authority over them. Only one problem with that: the explanation that Paul uses goes back to creation! He talks about the curse, which doesn't go away until Jesus comes back. Please hurry Lord! So, if his argument comes from creation and the curse, which still exists today, then his application still applies. If his explanation had ANYTHING to do with culture, then maybe this view of the passage would be true. If Paul said something like, "Look, christian women are taking their christian liberties to dress like our local prostitutes. you shouldn't dress like prostitutes", I could totally buy into that. But he didn't. He referenced the everpresent curse on women. Don't be angry women, men have a curse on them too.
But the literal interpretation provides even more problems. If indeed, women are not supposed to teach or have authority over a man, that becomes impossible to carry out. Example: my relationship with my mom. She has authority over me. To a degree, she will always have some authority over me, a man. Is this contrary to what Paul wants?! In my mind, it could be argued yes. She is a woman and she has authority over me, a man. And if women are not allowed to teach, well we already have a shortage of teachers in america! Take out all the women and we have no educational system. We don't even have to talk about women pastors to see the dilemma here.
So, I get frustrated by that passage. The cultural interpretation disregards scripture by using extra biblical arguments while the literal interpretation is untenable. I guess I'll have to rethink my definition of what it means that God is not the author of confusion.
In non-biblical news, I still don't have my tax refund! however, I went ahead and bought that tempurpedic bed. I know what you're saying, "Alex! Don't spend money before you have it!" and I say "You're right. I didn't". I can afford to pay off this bed if my return never comes. Now, I'm hoping it does, but this bed has an 8 months no interest deal with it. So I have 8 months to pay it off. Once that's done, I'll be back to only one debt in my life: my mortgage. I kind of have a budget in mind that I've been secretly wanting to implement as soon as my return comes, but I should probably start using it now. Basically, I need to get my emergency fund back up to par, then i'll start blasting away at my mortgage. Do you guys think it's better to throw all my spare money at the mortgage, or save part of it and pay over a longer time? I'm leaning towards save and pay, but I also know that the sooner I pay off my house, the better. Maybe I'll go 75/25. 25% to save, 75% to house. I dunno. I think I'll just work that budget out now and make it happen. If you're lucky enough to be a family member, I'll show it to you if you like!
Friday, October 15, 2010
Look at me! Posting twice in a month!
hey everyone, I told you last time that I would update this blog every friday. Well, it's friday so here goes. Lemme tell you why I picked this day. I keep office hours every day except sunday and wednesday, 11-4pm. Yea, those are sweet hours, cause I can sleep in till 10am each day if I want. But we picked those so that I would be able to catch the students as they leave from school at 3pm. So, if I need to make any calls to students, I have office time to do that. Anyway, I'm also on a rotational system with my office hours. I goto sciotoville church on monday/saturday, wheelersburg on tuesday/thursday, and minford on friday. I don't ever goto south webster for office hours, since they have a very small church with a very small office...and no wi-fi+spotty cell reception. Just a reminder of the 4 churches I work for
Anyway, on fridays, I come to minford and the internet is slow, cell signal isn't great, and I NEVER see anyone here. So, I devote this time to things that don't need fast internet/cell signal/people, lol. I'm sure you'll all be much happier because of this.
And on the subject of Fridays, they no longer seem like days off. In fact, my Sabbath is now on Wednesday. It can't be on sunday, cause I work the hardest on sunday. I usually put in a 12 hour day every week. All total, I'm averaging a 40 hour work week, with wednesday as my sabbath. i fill out time sheets every week to let my pastors know what I do with my work time and I always refer to wednesday as my sabbath, not my day off. I think it's important to remember the sabbath, well for starters, because God says so in the 10 commandments, but also because our bodies need a day off every week or we get run down. So, wednesday is like my weekend. I kinda like it.
I've also been dealing with several personal problems. The least of which is me gaining weight. I've gained a lot of weight since I moved here. It's due to a combo of poor eating habits and lack of excercise. It's so bad, that only a few of my pants still fit, and none of them are long pants. they are all shorts! so, as things get colder, I either better lose some weight fast or buy new clothes. As much as I hate it, I'm gonna have to buy new clothes. I have joined a local health club, but am having trouble finding a good time I can goto it. The best is obviously in the morning. I could get up at 8, go workout and start my day right: devos and excercise. But despite my slick new tempurpedic bed, it is very tough for me to get up in the morning. I think the bed might be too comfortable, lol. But this health club (named the life center) has a nice pool and I'd like to start swimming for excercise. Low joint impact, multi-area workout, and good cardio. If only I could just wake up when I want...Actually, if you guys could, please pray for me in the area: waking up at 8am. That also involves going to bed earlier, which I've been doing almost great with. I usually get into bed right around midnight, but I play around on my iPad and end up not falling asleep till 1:30! So, I think in addition to praying for help with this, I will dedicate myself to not using the iPad in bed and actually trying to sleep at midnight. that would give me a solid potential 8hours of sleep. If that fails, I'll move my bedtime back to 11pm. but if I am able to wake up early, it would improve my life a lot, I think. I'd be able to read my bible steadily, work out consistently, and both those things will make all areas of my life better!
Now lets talk about ministry. First, the bad things. I HATE how hard it is to make things happen. Like, if I want to take the youthgroup to kings island, it's so bloody hard. First, getting all the logistics sqaured away is tough. Finding ticket prices, getting permission slips, drivers, advertising. Granted, most of it is my fault and my shortcomings, but it's so hard to make stuff happen at all. And if we don't do stuff, the students get bored and stop coming. Now, I don't want to say anything bad about the students cause I really like em all. Even the crazy ones! But they are so busy with their own lives, that youth group has to be awesome for them to come. I can totally relate as a former teenager, but this is obviously frustrating to me as a youth minister. In an ideal world, students would care more about learning about God than being entertained. But like I said, we've got some solid Christians in the youth group, both young and old, they are just uber busy. But then again, everyone tells me to expect it to take 2 years to form a somewhat normal youth ministry. I think we're on the right path.
I've also been thinking about the often heard "it's not about numbers" cliche. My theology greatly agrees with this. It's about their spiritual growth, which isn't measured in attendance. However...I also think that a strong Christian community is one that grows, both in service and faith. Both those areas cause new people to want to join the Christian community. So, in all honesty, I do believe that a "good" ministry aimed at Christians (rather than a food pantry for example) should naturally grow as members grow closer to God and reach out to others in faith and service. So, as controversial as it sounds, I think a good youth ministry is one that grows. It's the same as saying that a good christian should produce good works. It's the whole "real christianity naturally produces works" thing. Real christian growth in my students should
1.) Make them more open to God's truth/working
2.) More concerned about their peers' souls
3.) More likely to serve others
All those things make for a place where people hopefully want to be. I haven't fully developed this idea yet, but what do you all think? I mean, if people don't want to be a part of my youth ministry, doesn't that mean I'm doing something wrong? The 1st century church saw explosive growth, to the point at which some 5000+ people got saved after hearing one message. I'd call that a successful ministry, wouldn't you?
Anyway, on fridays, I come to minford and the internet is slow, cell signal isn't great, and I NEVER see anyone here. So, I devote this time to things that don't need fast internet/cell signal/people, lol. I'm sure you'll all be much happier because of this.
And on the subject of Fridays, they no longer seem like days off. In fact, my Sabbath is now on Wednesday. It can't be on sunday, cause I work the hardest on sunday. I usually put in a 12 hour day every week. All total, I'm averaging a 40 hour work week, with wednesday as my sabbath. i fill out time sheets every week to let my pastors know what I do with my work time and I always refer to wednesday as my sabbath, not my day off. I think it's important to remember the sabbath, well for starters, because God says so in the 10 commandments, but also because our bodies need a day off every week or we get run down. So, wednesday is like my weekend. I kinda like it.
I've also been dealing with several personal problems. The least of which is me gaining weight. I've gained a lot of weight since I moved here. It's due to a combo of poor eating habits and lack of excercise. It's so bad, that only a few of my pants still fit, and none of them are long pants. they are all shorts! so, as things get colder, I either better lose some weight fast or buy new clothes. As much as I hate it, I'm gonna have to buy new clothes. I have joined a local health club, but am having trouble finding a good time I can goto it. The best is obviously in the morning. I could get up at 8, go workout and start my day right: devos and excercise. But despite my slick new tempurpedic bed, it is very tough for me to get up in the morning. I think the bed might be too comfortable, lol. But this health club (named the life center) has a nice pool and I'd like to start swimming for excercise. Low joint impact, multi-area workout, and good cardio. If only I could just wake up when I want...Actually, if you guys could, please pray for me in the area: waking up at 8am. That also involves going to bed earlier, which I've been doing almost great with. I usually get into bed right around midnight, but I play around on my iPad and end up not falling asleep till 1:30! So, I think in addition to praying for help with this, I will dedicate myself to not using the iPad in bed and actually trying to sleep at midnight. that would give me a solid potential 8hours of sleep. If that fails, I'll move my bedtime back to 11pm. but if I am able to wake up early, it would improve my life a lot, I think. I'd be able to read my bible steadily, work out consistently, and both those things will make all areas of my life better!
Now lets talk about ministry. First, the bad things. I HATE how hard it is to make things happen. Like, if I want to take the youthgroup to kings island, it's so bloody hard. First, getting all the logistics sqaured away is tough. Finding ticket prices, getting permission slips, drivers, advertising. Granted, most of it is my fault and my shortcomings, but it's so hard to make stuff happen at all. And if we don't do stuff, the students get bored and stop coming. Now, I don't want to say anything bad about the students cause I really like em all. Even the crazy ones! But they are so busy with their own lives, that youth group has to be awesome for them to come. I can totally relate as a former teenager, but this is obviously frustrating to me as a youth minister. In an ideal world, students would care more about learning about God than being entertained. But like I said, we've got some solid Christians in the youth group, both young and old, they are just uber busy. But then again, everyone tells me to expect it to take 2 years to form a somewhat normal youth ministry. I think we're on the right path.
I've also been thinking about the often heard "it's not about numbers" cliche. My theology greatly agrees with this. It's about their spiritual growth, which isn't measured in attendance. However...I also think that a strong Christian community is one that grows, both in service and faith. Both those areas cause new people to want to join the Christian community. So, in all honesty, I do believe that a "good" ministry aimed at Christians (rather than a food pantry for example) should naturally grow as members grow closer to God and reach out to others in faith and service. So, as controversial as it sounds, I think a good youth ministry is one that grows. It's the same as saying that a good christian should produce good works. It's the whole "real christianity naturally produces works" thing. Real christian growth in my students should
1.) Make them more open to God's truth/working
2.) More concerned about their peers' souls
3.) More likely to serve others
All those things make for a place where people hopefully want to be. I haven't fully developed this idea yet, but what do you all think? I mean, if people don't want to be a part of my youth ministry, doesn't that mean I'm doing something wrong? The 1st century church saw explosive growth, to the point at which some 5000+ people got saved after hearing one message. I'd call that a successful ministry, wouldn't you?
Thursday, October 7, 2010
It's been a year...
So, it's been two months since my last entry. I am sorry, truly, but I can't promise I'll get any better at posting on here. I suppose I could make a dedicated day to update this thing. Ok, I think I'll update my blog every friday. That should make yall happy! It will also make me feel less guilty about it, lol
Ok, where to begin? I went to minesota again for some more training. I really enjoyed it. We went to a very remote camp near the great lake. There was no electricity except in the lodge. Our cabins had wood burning stoves, gas heaters, and oil lamps. It was fun. I also learned a whole lot. My first training session in the summer was based around my habits and skills. This training was more about youth pastoring and the specific things we run into. Very useful, practical, and enjoyable. Unfortunately, I didn't get to spend much time with my host family in minesota. Their names are Wayne and July and we became good friends the last time I stayed with them. However, this trip, I only stayed with them one night. So, that made me sad.
I've also officially become an apple fanboy. That means that I think they are pretty much the best computer/mobile company out there. My next computer purchase will be an apple. All I have to decide is if I will get a laptop or a desktop. All of this came from me buying an iphone. It came out right around my birthday and I had been really frustrated with my old phone. The old one could only send 10 texts at a time, and I had to manually select every name. There was no group support for mass texting. Combine that with the fact that I would text 35 students each week with the same message meant alot of work to do a little. Then I saw an iphone ad and got interested. I did research and kept liking what I saw. So, I bought one of the new iphones for my birthday and it's been one of the best investments I've ever made! The sheer quality of the iphone 4 blew me away. I could tell someone had really thought about all the angles to a smart phone. Anyway, it made me a fan, then I decided to buy an ipad. I must confess, I had no reason to buy one other than "i want one". But it has actually become incredibly useful in both my professional and personal life.
Here's where I rave about my ipad. First off, I use it in youth group. I put up a bible trivia question on the board and the first person who answers it gets to play with ipad. And I only let one person use it and jr high have to sit down while using it. They mostly just play the games I have on it, and there are alot of em. Tons of em are free, and the rest are just $1. So, you can fill it up with games for like $20. I also use the ipad as my bible. It's got a great Bible program on it, so I take my ipad to church and read my bible from it! It usually gets people talking just when they see it! And of course, I make sure not to use it for anything else during church. It also syncs up with google calendar. I can add an event on my phone, ipad, or computer and all of them get updated. It's really nice and helps me keep track of events. I can also add contacts to any of the three and the others get updated. For example, if I'm at church and I meet a new high schooler, I can add their name and phone number on my ipad. It then is automatically added to my phone and stored online with gmail. Very slick.
I also bought a tempurpedic bed. This has always been a long time goal of mine and it was well worth it. You might be asking, "alex, how can you afford all this stuff on a youth pastor's salary?" Well, God has truly blessed me financially. Thanks to my parents, I have no college debt, which I think is a huge part. I also have no car loans or anything. The only loan I have is the one on my house. So, combine that, with the ability to save money towards something=ability to buy things you want. I am also continuing to save money, including an emergency fund. I also have my huge tax return coming soon. Hopefully, I finally gave the IRS what they need to verify that I live in my house. Sheesh. Anyway, once that tax return comes, I'll use it to finish my emergency fund, then split my money between saving and paying off my mortgage. Like I said, God has blessed me greatly, especially by teaching me about handling money from people like my dad and uncle brad. Thanks guys!
Ok, if i'm going to update this thing once a week, I better not tell you everything in one post! So, enjoy. Also, i've lived in ohio 1 year!
Ok, where to begin? I went to minesota again for some more training. I really enjoyed it. We went to a very remote camp near the great lake. There was no electricity except in the lodge. Our cabins had wood burning stoves, gas heaters, and oil lamps. It was fun. I also learned a whole lot. My first training session in the summer was based around my habits and skills. This training was more about youth pastoring and the specific things we run into. Very useful, practical, and enjoyable. Unfortunately, I didn't get to spend much time with my host family in minesota. Their names are Wayne and July and we became good friends the last time I stayed with them. However, this trip, I only stayed with them one night. So, that made me sad.
I've also officially become an apple fanboy. That means that I think they are pretty much the best computer/mobile company out there. My next computer purchase will be an apple. All I have to decide is if I will get a laptop or a desktop. All of this came from me buying an iphone. It came out right around my birthday and I had been really frustrated with my old phone. The old one could only send 10 texts at a time, and I had to manually select every name. There was no group support for mass texting. Combine that with the fact that I would text 35 students each week with the same message meant alot of work to do a little. Then I saw an iphone ad and got interested. I did research and kept liking what I saw. So, I bought one of the new iphones for my birthday and it's been one of the best investments I've ever made! The sheer quality of the iphone 4 blew me away. I could tell someone had really thought about all the angles to a smart phone. Anyway, it made me a fan, then I decided to buy an ipad. I must confess, I had no reason to buy one other than "i want one". But it has actually become incredibly useful in both my professional and personal life.
Here's where I rave about my ipad. First off, I use it in youth group. I put up a bible trivia question on the board and the first person who answers it gets to play with ipad. And I only let one person use it and jr high have to sit down while using it. They mostly just play the games I have on it, and there are alot of em. Tons of em are free, and the rest are just $1. So, you can fill it up with games for like $20. I also use the ipad as my bible. It's got a great Bible program on it, so I take my ipad to church and read my bible from it! It usually gets people talking just when they see it! And of course, I make sure not to use it for anything else during church. It also syncs up with google calendar. I can add an event on my phone, ipad, or computer and all of them get updated. It's really nice and helps me keep track of events. I can also add contacts to any of the three and the others get updated. For example, if I'm at church and I meet a new high schooler, I can add their name and phone number on my ipad. It then is automatically added to my phone and stored online with gmail. Very slick.
I also bought a tempurpedic bed. This has always been a long time goal of mine and it was well worth it. You might be asking, "alex, how can you afford all this stuff on a youth pastor's salary?" Well, God has truly blessed me financially. Thanks to my parents, I have no college debt, which I think is a huge part. I also have no car loans or anything. The only loan I have is the one on my house. So, combine that, with the ability to save money towards something=ability to buy things you want. I am also continuing to save money, including an emergency fund. I also have my huge tax return coming soon. Hopefully, I finally gave the IRS what they need to verify that I live in my house. Sheesh. Anyway, once that tax return comes, I'll use it to finish my emergency fund, then split my money between saving and paying off my mortgage. Like I said, God has blessed me greatly, especially by teaching me about handling money from people like my dad and uncle brad. Thanks guys!
Ok, if i'm going to update this thing once a week, I better not tell you everything in one post! So, enjoy. Also, i've lived in ohio 1 year!
Friday, August 27, 2010
More stuff
Hello everyone, time for another update on life in youth ministry! Things have been going very well. Our numbers are growing, the youth are asking intelligent questions (which show they're listening/thinking/alive), and there's a great chance that we will get a large grant from the united methodist church. I already told you how busy the summer was, but now school has started back up. As crazy as it sounds, I think it will be good for our youth group.
I also had another training seminar in minnesota. It was two weeks long and was hosted at a camp called wilderness north. It's a great place for that sort of thing. It's away from civilization for starters. There were literally dirt roads that turned off of the highway we used to get there. No electricity either, except in the lodge. So, I roughed it for two weeks and ended up learning alot. The training itself was excellent and really helped me with alot of the problems I'm facing. I wont go into them, but I came back with a giant solution to a giant problem that was festering.
Also, on a sad note, I have no more ferrets. I sold them all. I did enjoy having them, but they were too much responsibility. Furthermore, they never really showed emotion. I mean, I was gone for about two weeks, and when I came home, they didn't behave any differently or looked excited to see me. In fact, they don't really show emotion at all other than curiosity and super high energy. So, I took out an ad in the paper and they sold within a few hours! I also had stanely steamers clean the ferret room. It looks and smells so much better. I'm going to turn the ferret room into a guest bedroom as soon, but I can't do that until I get my tax rebate. That's right, the first time I ever did my taxes on my own, I got audited. FAIL. It's going to be a HUGE sum of money too, since I bought a house in 2009. Anyway, once I get my rebate, I'm going to buy a king size tempurpedic bed and put my current bed in the former ferret room. I'm excited to have a bed like that. I think I have restless leg syndrome and I hope it will help. It also takes me at least an hour to fall asleep every night. It should be great
Other than that, life is good. God continues to bless me financially.
I also had another training seminar in minnesota. It was two weeks long and was hosted at a camp called wilderness north. It's a great place for that sort of thing. It's away from civilization for starters. There were literally dirt roads that turned off of the highway we used to get there. No electricity either, except in the lodge. So, I roughed it for two weeks and ended up learning alot. The training itself was excellent and really helped me with alot of the problems I'm facing. I wont go into them, but I came back with a giant solution to a giant problem that was festering.
Also, on a sad note, I have no more ferrets. I sold them all. I did enjoy having them, but they were too much responsibility. Furthermore, they never really showed emotion. I mean, I was gone for about two weeks, and when I came home, they didn't behave any differently or looked excited to see me. In fact, they don't really show emotion at all other than curiosity and super high energy. So, I took out an ad in the paper and they sold within a few hours! I also had stanely steamers clean the ferret room. It looks and smells so much better. I'm going to turn the ferret room into a guest bedroom as soon, but I can't do that until I get my tax rebate. That's right, the first time I ever did my taxes on my own, I got audited. FAIL. It's going to be a HUGE sum of money too, since I bought a house in 2009. Anyway, once I get my rebate, I'm going to buy a king size tempurpedic bed and put my current bed in the former ferret room. I'm excited to have a bed like that. I think I have restless leg syndrome and I hope it will help. It also takes me at least an hour to fall asleep every night. It should be great
Other than that, life is good. God continues to bless me financially.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Busiest month of my life
So like the title says, I just came away from the busiest 4 weeks in my life. It all started with Ichthus, which I already wrote about. Ichthus was fun, loud, and hot. I got to spend some great time with the youth. the only problem is that we weren't able to have youth group for several weeks after ichthus. So, any clout I gained from Ichthus was lost. In fact, we didn't have youth group again until july 11th, and we had 3 high schoolers show up :-( I'm amazed how missing a few weeks makes everything just fall apart. I've seen it happen at every holiday. We don't meet for a week or two and several youth stop attending. But then again, I've heard multiple people say that we never used to have youth group in the summer, so I think I just need to hold on till school starts again. Either way, the youth are hearing strong teaching from me and the games we play arn't half bad.
So after ichthus, I worked at a music day camp at a large church down the road. The church isn't in our co-op, but it's the same denomination and we have lots of ties to them. The camp was fun and I taught a bunch of 4th-6th graders how to play amazing grace on the guitar. It was a challenge, since I'd never done group teaching, just one on one teaching. I think it went ok. That lasted till through the week and then we left for bible camp. It was a camp where multiple united methoidst churches joined us. We had a blast and I made some new friends in those churches. During that same week, I had to drive back home each day and help do vbs for my sciotoville church. It was a rough week, cause it's an hour long drive through some really hilly roads. So, my typical day looked like this during that week.
7:00am: Wake up and start doing camp! (This was a highschool/jr high camp by the way)
4:00pm: Drive back home
5:00p: take care of ferrets
6:00: teach vbs to rowdy elementary kids
8:30: Drive back
1:00am goto bed
So, lots of sleep deprivation, high energy activities, and loud mouth kids (some elemntary aged, some in high school! :-) I wrote up my time logs for that week and discovered that I worked 75 hours! Needless to say, I got sick after camp ended.
Then, the next week, I helped teach vbs at the new church in our co-op: Minford. They officially have joined us and this was an opportunity to get involved with their adults and youth. I taught the 6th grade class and met a bunch of em from that church. I also had to resume my normal duties that week. So planning youth group, events, etc.
Then, that brings us up to this week. I'm exuasted, not sleeping well, and eating horribly. I've been so busy in the last 4 weeks, I've gotten into the rut of eating fast food. This is not a good thing and I need to break the cycle. I've been remembering my dreams alot, which means that I am not completing my rem cycles properly. Oh yea, I also helped out in the kitchen for a girls Chrysalis flight. For those of you who don't know what that is, please google it. I'm too lazy to explain it. I had to wake up at 5:40am on saturday and monday to do this. Yuck. But, something really good came out of it. I made two new friends who are my age! I'd been praying for some for a while now, and I assume that others might have been asking God for this too. These two GUYS are in their mid 20s and both seem to be solid Christians. One is a msucian like me who volunteers in his church's youth group while the other is a techie. Go figure that my two new friends would have two huge areas in common with me. So, this is good! Also, one of em is a fan of the TV show "House", so he's gonna come over and watch with me when the season starts back up.
Oh yea, I also got HD cable. I bought a tivo and upgraded. Sorry dad, I abandoned mythtv. (http://www.mythtv.org/detail/mythtv if you have no idea what mythtv is) I also bought one of those new iphones. It's the coolest thing I've ever seen and is really useful to me. I can communicate WAY better with my youthgroup. I've not even had it a week and can't remember not having it. Wow
Also, I still have all my ferrets. I'm trying to get rid of all but two of them and might have someone who can take them. However, I'm working through an intermediary at one of my churches, so it's moving slowly. I'm still trying to figure out which ones to keep. I know I definitely want to keep george. He has the best personality, doesn't bite, doesn't do anything annoying, and ALWAYS poops in the litter box. The others aren't so easy to decide.
Garret: hits the litter box most times, but not always. He has an obbsession with pockets. He bites them and pulls stuff out of em. It's cute, but annoying. He's bitten holes in the bottoms of my pockets.
Gracie: Worst pooper of them all. I think she's either ornry or actually really stupid. She pretty much NEVER hits the litter box. She has a neat personality. Pretty mellow and she's a climber.
Sir Gregory: Best pooper of them all. I've never seen him miss. However, he is agressive. Sometimes, he starts licking me. He will usually scratch me while he licks (which I guess is a sign of affection?) and then proceeds to bite me. I've gotten to the point where I know it's coming and don't let it happen, but that's his major flaw. He also is a big fat chicken. He's scared of everything. If I move too fast, he winces. This is strange, since I am very nice to him and bought him from the pet store. I dunno
Lucy: pretty bad at pooping in the litter box, but she is still young. I like her personality alot. She lets me hold her, which none of the other ferrets do. She is cute and energetic. She often starts the whole group doing the weasel wardance (google it!) and is fun.
I definitely will keep george. But who will be the second one? I'm leaning towards lucy, but wonder if she will ever be fully potty trained. I could keep sir gregory instead, but he has that nasty lick/scratch/bite combo. I dunno.
Other than all that, I hung out with some unbeliever guys my age yesterday. They swore a good amount and talked about some pretty raunchy things. As I left, I smiled cause I could tell that God has worked powerfully in my life. I am VERY different than those guys in a good way. That was meaningful to me because I don't have one of those "bottoming out in sin" testimonies. I've just steadily grown closer to God my whole life. To see the marked difference between myself and them boosted my faith, I suppose. Anyway, I've written a whole bunch now. Enjoy!
So after ichthus, I worked at a music day camp at a large church down the road. The church isn't in our co-op, but it's the same denomination and we have lots of ties to them. The camp was fun and I taught a bunch of 4th-6th graders how to play amazing grace on the guitar. It was a challenge, since I'd never done group teaching, just one on one teaching. I think it went ok. That lasted till through the week and then we left for bible camp. It was a camp where multiple united methoidst churches joined us. We had a blast and I made some new friends in those churches. During that same week, I had to drive back home each day and help do vbs for my sciotoville church. It was a rough week, cause it's an hour long drive through some really hilly roads. So, my typical day looked like this during that week.
7:00am: Wake up and start doing camp! (This was a highschool/jr high camp by the way)
4:00pm: Drive back home
5:00p: take care of ferrets
6:00: teach vbs to rowdy elementary kids
8:30: Drive back
1:00am goto bed
So, lots of sleep deprivation, high energy activities, and loud mouth kids (some elemntary aged, some in high school! :-) I wrote up my time logs for that week and discovered that I worked 75 hours! Needless to say, I got sick after camp ended.
Then, the next week, I helped teach vbs at the new church in our co-op: Minford. They officially have joined us and this was an opportunity to get involved with their adults and youth. I taught the 6th grade class and met a bunch of em from that church. I also had to resume my normal duties that week. So planning youth group, events, etc.
Then, that brings us up to this week. I'm exuasted, not sleeping well, and eating horribly. I've been so busy in the last 4 weeks, I've gotten into the rut of eating fast food. This is not a good thing and I need to break the cycle. I've been remembering my dreams alot, which means that I am not completing my rem cycles properly. Oh yea, I also helped out in the kitchen for a girls Chrysalis flight. For those of you who don't know what that is, please google it. I'm too lazy to explain it. I had to wake up at 5:40am on saturday and monday to do this. Yuck. But, something really good came out of it. I made two new friends who are my age! I'd been praying for some for a while now, and I assume that others might have been asking God for this too. These two GUYS are in their mid 20s and both seem to be solid Christians. One is a msucian like me who volunteers in his church's youth group while the other is a techie. Go figure that my two new friends would have two huge areas in common with me. So, this is good! Also, one of em is a fan of the TV show "House", so he's gonna come over and watch with me when the season starts back up.
Oh yea, I also got HD cable. I bought a tivo and upgraded. Sorry dad, I abandoned mythtv. (http://www.mythtv.org/detail/mythtv if you have no idea what mythtv is) I also bought one of those new iphones. It's the coolest thing I've ever seen and is really useful to me. I can communicate WAY better with my youthgroup. I've not even had it a week and can't remember not having it. Wow
Also, I still have all my ferrets. I'm trying to get rid of all but two of them and might have someone who can take them. However, I'm working through an intermediary at one of my churches, so it's moving slowly. I'm still trying to figure out which ones to keep. I know I definitely want to keep george. He has the best personality, doesn't bite, doesn't do anything annoying, and ALWAYS poops in the litter box. The others aren't so easy to decide.
Garret: hits the litter box most times, but not always. He has an obbsession with pockets. He bites them and pulls stuff out of em. It's cute, but annoying. He's bitten holes in the bottoms of my pockets.
Gracie: Worst pooper of them all. I think she's either ornry or actually really stupid. She pretty much NEVER hits the litter box. She has a neat personality. Pretty mellow and she's a climber.
Sir Gregory: Best pooper of them all. I've never seen him miss. However, he is agressive. Sometimes, he starts licking me. He will usually scratch me while he licks (which I guess is a sign of affection?) and then proceeds to bite me. I've gotten to the point where I know it's coming and don't let it happen, but that's his major flaw. He also is a big fat chicken. He's scared of everything. If I move too fast, he winces. This is strange, since I am very nice to him and bought him from the pet store. I dunno
Lucy: pretty bad at pooping in the litter box, but she is still young. I like her personality alot. She lets me hold her, which none of the other ferrets do. She is cute and energetic. She often starts the whole group doing the weasel wardance (google it!) and is fun.
I definitely will keep george. But who will be the second one? I'm leaning towards lucy, but wonder if she will ever be fully potty trained. I could keep sir gregory instead, but he has that nasty lick/scratch/bite combo. I dunno.
Other than all that, I hung out with some unbeliever guys my age yesterday. They swore a good amount and talked about some pretty raunchy things. As I left, I smiled cause I could tell that God has worked powerfully in my life. I am VERY different than those guys in a good way. That was meaningful to me because I don't have one of those "bottoming out in sin" testimonies. I've just steadily grown closer to God my whole life. To see the marked difference between myself and them boosted my faith, I suppose. Anyway, I've written a whole bunch now. Enjoy!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
survived Ichthus
So, i've slipped into posting every month. sorry it's not more frequent. alot of stuff has happened since I last wrote.
The youth group went to Ichthus. It's a large christian music festival. We camped out in a farmers field with about 15,000 other people. There were dozens of concerts, some by big name bands like toby mac, newsboys, and skillet. The concerts were like all other rock concerts: loud, too much bass, and indistinguishable lyrics. It was also extremely hot. One day was about 100 degrees with no clouds. But I knew going into it that I wasn't going for the music, I went for the fellowship and it was good. I got to hobknob with other youth pastors and got some good resources that I will use for later.
I also decided I am goign to reduce my number of ferrets. see, I now have 5 of em, and the short story is that they stink. the long story is that I don't smell them, but all my guests do and I'm going to try cutting down to two of em, and possibly none of them if the smell isn't removable. I really love them and they keep me company. I hate to see em go.
We also have a fourth church joining our co-op! It's cool, because we didn't push for them to join, it just came together. Their youth haven't joined our youth group, but it should be happening within a week or two. Their pastor has done youth ministry before and I can tell he has a lot of good ideas.
I also bought a new laptop. My old one was failing. I think it's sad, really. It's only 5 years old, but it keeps getting worse and worse. I tried to install linux on this lappy, but there was some hardware incompatibility. So I begrudgingly returned to windows 7. It's pretty slick though, it's got a fingerprint scanner. But the coolest part is that the screen is humongous. It's 18.7 inches wide. It's a monster.
well, I'm watching a tv show at the moment and the season finale/climax is about to happen. So, I'll update you guys later
The youth group went to Ichthus. It's a large christian music festival. We camped out in a farmers field with about 15,000 other people. There were dozens of concerts, some by big name bands like toby mac, newsboys, and skillet. The concerts were like all other rock concerts: loud, too much bass, and indistinguishable lyrics. It was also extremely hot. One day was about 100 degrees with no clouds. But I knew going into it that I wasn't going for the music, I went for the fellowship and it was good. I got to hobknob with other youth pastors and got some good resources that I will use for later.
I also decided I am goign to reduce my number of ferrets. see, I now have 5 of em, and the short story is that they stink. the long story is that I don't smell them, but all my guests do and I'm going to try cutting down to two of em, and possibly none of them if the smell isn't removable. I really love them and they keep me company. I hate to see em go.
We also have a fourth church joining our co-op! It's cool, because we didn't push for them to join, it just came together. Their youth haven't joined our youth group, but it should be happening within a week or two. Their pastor has done youth ministry before and I can tell he has a lot of good ideas.
I also bought a new laptop. My old one was failing. I think it's sad, really. It's only 5 years old, but it keeps getting worse and worse. I tried to install linux on this lappy, but there was some hardware incompatibility. So I begrudgingly returned to windows 7. It's pretty slick though, it's got a fingerprint scanner. But the coolest part is that the screen is humongous. It's 18.7 inches wide. It's a monster.
well, I'm watching a tv show at the moment and the season finale/climax is about to happen. So, I'll update you guys later
Friday, May 14, 2010
Changes
So I've been back from training 1 week now and have a lot of changes I want to make. I learned a whole lot at this seminar and found everything very useful/practical. One of the best things I took away from it was the book How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie. It doesn't claim to be a christian book, but the conversational and communication methods taught in the book seem exactly like what Jesus talked about: considering others better than you, using affirmative words (being nice), actually listening, etc. I think every human being should read this book. If we all read it and tried to implement its methods, the world would be a much nicer place.
The training basically taught me lost of the stuff I didn't learn in college because I majored in Bible. See, I could have majored in Christian education and learned all kinds of teaching techniques and leadership skills. Instead, I choose to learn the complex, theological material. I studied the Bible instead of teaching. So, this training is greatly filling in the gaps. Some other changes I've recently made to my job are office hours. These are already helping me get more stuff done. In fact, I've made an entire database (using openoffice base) from scratch. I'm going to use this to keep track of information I need to remember about the students, like which sports they play, their attendance, and the topic of our previous conversation (another thing I learned at training). I'm also forming two leadership teams: one made up of students, the other of adults. These teams will help me run youth group, make decisions, and give me feedback. They will basically be like my cabinet, if I was president of the youth group.
However, my home life skills are still lacking. I still can't cook well at all, laundry piles up, and my house is almost always messy. Oh, and don't get me started on my ugly yard. I just bought a weedwacker and weed killer today. However, my ferrets are keeping me great company!
Other things of note include a large tax rebate coming in the mail soon. Since I bought a house, I'm getting a very large check, in fact, it's more money that I made in all of 2009! (I only worked 2 months in 2009). God continues to bless me with more money than I need, so I'm saving alot of it.
Anyway, things are on the up and up at work. Now if only I could do the same at home! Then maybe, I'd consider looking for a wife :-)
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Training
So, I'm at an airport right now, getting ready to fly off to glorious Minnesota! I'm going to a week long training session about ministry. I'm not sure if it's a youth ministry seminar, or just ministry in general. I'll be stay with a host family, which is always fun. Sometimes, host families are awesome and fun to hang out with, other times, they have big dog childs whom they fight over. (I'm referring to a band tour trip we took once. Dmoore, you should remember this.) As I sit here near the gate, I'm trying to figure out who here might be going to the same minstry training. I see some definites, but also questions. For example, there is an older guy with a goatee (a dead give away for youth minstry!) who is wearing chucks and sipping a starbucks, looking bored like a teenager. He's leaning his head on his hand, which is on the arm rest. I think he's a youth pastor, or at least in minstry of some kind.
Then there's a hippie guy who is covered in tatoos. I didn't see the tatoos, but he could be one of those hip youth pastors. Or, he could just be a rebelious dude who happens to be going to Minnesota. I'd probably rebel if I lived in Minnesota. Anyway, the pastors have recently changed my job, and I feel for the better. They're going to have me fill out some daily time logs and break down how I spend my time. There are 6 categories of minstry they want me to work in, and after I've done the logs for a few weeks, we'll see where I'm falling short and change accordingly. Also, we're establishing office hours, which I'm all for. That means I'll have time each day where I can dedicate to working on youth ministry stuff, rather than "just get it done before sunday".
Also, I've been trying to loose weight. I'm right at the point of becoming fat and need to do something. I tried p90x and it worked well, I just always had something that forced me to stop for a week (like this trip I'm going on). Once you stop a workout, it's tough to start back up. Then I tried the p90x diet. It was rediculously hard for me to cook and prepare. Currently, I'm trying nutrisystem. The food is pretty OK. It's not good, it's just ok. Also, there is apparently alot of protein in the diet and... well, just look up what happens to people when they have too much protein in their diet.
Also, there is stereo crying going on right now. A kid to the left and right just crying like someone killed their mom.
Also, I miss my ferrets already.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Bad blogger!
Hi everyone, sorry it's taken so long to update. I could have sworn that I did another post mid febuary, but it looks like it didn't take. So, what new in the world of Alex?
I now have 4 ferrets! Garrett, Gracie, Sir Gregory, and George. They are a lot of fun and not very hard to take care of. I bought sir Gregory in Indiana and drove him back here. It was an interesting trip, since he escaped in the car! I was driving down the interstate and he was scratching at the flimsy paper box the pet store game me. Pretty soon, I saw him pop out. we looked at each other, then he ran away onto the floor. (There's not a lot of space in my car to begin with). So, I pulled overand tried to repair the box. No luck. I ended up dumping all my clothes out of my laundry basket and putting him in it. Only problem was that he could climb out of it! It was a funny situation, but we made it back and he started getting along with the other two very quickly. The 4rth one, George, was little a funny little fuzball that I bought here.
I've also been playing lead guitar/singing in the praise band. I'm not that good of a singer, but I know I have potential. I think about singing the same way I do of learning a new instrument. What stinks though is that I am painfully aware of when I mess up and sound bad, since I know alot about music. But it's going well and I've got a some great band members with me. Particularly, the other singer really knows his stuff, so I don't have to help him at all, he just picks it up and can do harmony easily. We also bought a macbook and projector for the youth group. Right now we're using them for song lyrics, but we'll expand into other uses, like movie nights and youth messages.
the other big news is that I'm engaged! Her name is ...I'm just kidding! I'm still single and loving it. You'd be amazed at the number of people of who want to introduce me to some single lady they know. Grandmas especially! And actually, I kind of don't want a girlfriend right now. I've got some stuff I want to sort out in my life first before I dive into that stuff.
Oh, and I gave my first sermon last week! The logistics of the whole thing were harder to figure out than the actual content of the message. The topic was on overcoming fear and what greater spiritual fear is there in the church than witnessing? So, my sermon was very heavy on how to evangelize and especially, how to overcome the fear of evangelism. My 3 main points came down to
1.) Remain heavenly minded
2.) Seek out the promises of God in the Scriptures
3.) Remember the promises of God
I had a lot of people come up to me and say they enjoyed the sermon. I felt like I got into a zone, I guess you could say I was led by the Spirit. But the people heard the gospel, they heard a powerful argument for why we should evangelize, and they heard about the weapons that God has given us in the battle for the lost. I wish I could have recorded it, but there were too many other things to worry about.
Ok, that's a little bit for yall to think about. I've got more to say, but I gotta go.
I now have 4 ferrets! Garrett, Gracie, Sir Gregory, and George. They are a lot of fun and not very hard to take care of. I bought sir Gregory in Indiana and drove him back here. It was an interesting trip, since he escaped in the car! I was driving down the interstate and he was scratching at the flimsy paper box the pet store game me. Pretty soon, I saw him pop out. we looked at each other, then he ran away onto the floor. (There's not a lot of space in my car to begin with). So, I pulled overand tried to repair the box. No luck. I ended up dumping all my clothes out of my laundry basket and putting him in it. Only problem was that he could climb out of it! It was a funny situation, but we made it back and he started getting along with the other two very quickly. The 4rth one, George, was little a funny little fuzball that I bought here.
I've also been playing lead guitar/singing in the praise band. I'm not that good of a singer, but I know I have potential. I think about singing the same way I do of learning a new instrument. What stinks though is that I am painfully aware of when I mess up and sound bad, since I know alot about music. But it's going well and I've got a some great band members with me. Particularly, the other singer really knows his stuff, so I don't have to help him at all, he just picks it up and can do harmony easily. We also bought a macbook and projector for the youth group. Right now we're using them for song lyrics, but we'll expand into other uses, like movie nights and youth messages.
the other big news is that I'm engaged! Her name is ...I'm just kidding! I'm still single and loving it. You'd be amazed at the number of people of who want to introduce me to some single lady they know. Grandmas especially! And actually, I kind of don't want a girlfriend right now. I've got some stuff I want to sort out in my life first before I dive into that stuff.
Oh, and I gave my first sermon last week! The logistics of the whole thing were harder to figure out than the actual content of the message. The topic was on overcoming fear and what greater spiritual fear is there in the church than witnessing? So, my sermon was very heavy on how to evangelize and especially, how to overcome the fear of evangelism. My 3 main points came down to
1.) Remain heavenly minded
2.) Seek out the promises of God in the Scriptures
3.) Remember the promises of God
I had a lot of people come up to me and say they enjoyed the sermon. I felt like I got into a zone, I guess you could say I was led by the Spirit. But the people heard the gospel, they heard a powerful argument for why we should evangelize, and they heard about the weapons that God has given us in the battle for the lost. I wish I could have recorded it, but there were too many other things to worry about.
Ok, that's a little bit for yall to think about. I've got more to say, but I gotta go.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Clever Title
Wow guys, it's almost been a month since my last entry. Sorry about that! I'm sitting here watching my favorite show: America's Funniest Home Videos. I've learned so much from this show. Multiple times, I've said to my dad, "Dad, we shouldn't do this! AFV!" And dad knows exactly what I mean. I'm so glad he and I have that common bond. Speaking of Dad, he should be going in for surgery in a few hours. He has prostate cancer. This is the third time he's had cancer. He's obviously beaten cancer twice before, but this is the third time. So, here's a little medical history.
My Grandpa died of cancer
My grandma died of cancer
My dad has had cancer thrice
You don't need to be a medical doctor to know that I have a very high chance of getting cancer in my lifetime. I also haven't told anyone that my dad has cancer again. I think it's a combination of several feelings.
1.) Asking for prayer insinuates he might not be ok in the end
2.) I don't want people's pity
3.) I don't want to think about it
4.) I trust God
My theological ideas are at war with this issue. I know that God doesn't owe anyone anything, but I also trust that God will take care of me (and everyone around me). But I also know that Jesus and God want us to pray, yet I also know that God knows everything we need before we even ask it. In short, I know all things work together for those that God and are called according to His will. Even if my dad dies, I don't think I would be too upset. That sounds harsh, but it's because I know my dad is a Christian. With all the other deaths in my family, as far as I've known, they haven't been christians. If my dad were to die, and it's weird to say that, he would be the first christian I've been close to. Of course, I'd miss him, but it would be a totally different experience.
But all this talk is depressing, since the last time I saw him, he looked fine. He also said he felt fine. furthermore, this type of cancer is the safest kind to get and it was caught way early. So, I got you all worried, then relived you.
Now totally changing the subject, I've been playing lead guitar and singing lead for a few weeks now. I am well aware that I am not that great of a singer, but I do consider myself a good musician. Well, I'm ok when I play guitar without singing, but I am discovering the difficulty of strumming and singing at the same time. I know I'll get better, but it's frustrating at the moment. I know what sounds good musically and on some of these song I'm singing, I struggle. Whether it's the range of the song or the rhythm, it's like I'm learning a new instrument all over again. But for those of you that know, I tend to pick up new instruments pretty quickly. I do have alot to talk about, but it's late. Sorry for the long delay. I'm gonna post some new videos.
My Grandpa died of cancer
My grandma died of cancer
My dad has had cancer thrice
You don't need to be a medical doctor to know that I have a very high chance of getting cancer in my lifetime. I also haven't told anyone that my dad has cancer again. I think it's a combination of several feelings.
1.) Asking for prayer insinuates he might not be ok in the end
2.) I don't want people's pity
3.) I don't want to think about it
4.) I trust God
My theological ideas are at war with this issue. I know that God doesn't owe anyone anything, but I also trust that God will take care of me (and everyone around me). But I also know that Jesus and God want us to pray, yet I also know that God knows everything we need before we even ask it. In short, I know all things work together for those that God and are called according to His will. Even if my dad dies, I don't think I would be too upset. That sounds harsh, but it's because I know my dad is a Christian. With all the other deaths in my family, as far as I've known, they haven't been christians. If my dad were to die, and it's weird to say that, he would be the first christian I've been close to. Of course, I'd miss him, but it would be a totally different experience.
But all this talk is depressing, since the last time I saw him, he looked fine. He also said he felt fine. furthermore, this type of cancer is the safest kind to get and it was caught way early. So, I got you all worried, then relived you.
Now totally changing the subject, I've been playing lead guitar and singing lead for a few weeks now. I am well aware that I am not that great of a singer, but I do consider myself a good musician. Well, I'm ok when I play guitar without singing, but I am discovering the difficulty of strumming and singing at the same time. I know I'll get better, but it's frustrating at the moment. I know what sounds good musically and on some of these song I'm singing, I struggle. Whether it's the range of the song or the rhythm, it's like I'm learning a new instrument all over again. But for those of you that know, I tend to pick up new instruments pretty quickly. I do have alot to talk about, but it's late. Sorry for the long delay. I'm gonna post some new videos.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Christmas time... a little late
Christmas was a pretty busy time, complete with more than 12 hours of driving, a few bruises, and a visit from a college friend. I went home to indiana for Christmas and that was great. I saw only my mom's side of the family, as most of my dad's was out of town for the holiday. The only thing I asked for for Christmas was skiing clothes. I got them, just in time for the ski trip right after christmas with the youth group. This was the first Christmas in the parents new house and it was all right. It felt different, but not bad. I also received quite a bit of money from my grandparents and dad. That money was used to buy a nice new guitar (which I keep having to use for youth group) and a new dishswasher and garbage disposal! I'm really excited about the garbabge disposal because there is great conflict when you don't have one. You know, if you have a bowl of cereal you're done with, you don't wanna pour it straight into the trash, cause it might leak. But you also can't put it down the drain cause it will clog it, then you have to fish out the cereal flakes with your hand and throw those away. Also, my dishwasher is pretty old and decrepit, so it will be nice to get a new one. It doesn't clean very well either.
So, after an 8 hour drive roundtrip, I returned to ohio and got ready for the ski trip. Sean West came over and went on the trip with us, which was fun. He's a good skiier and I'm just ok. I also got stuck teaching the first timers how to ski, but that was fine. I knew the basics enough to teach them and one of em made it all the way to a blue square difficulty in only two days! Not bad, but it was probably more his part than mine. I introduced the ski trip participants to two games I probably shouldn't have: the pushup game and the blow dart game. Both are played all the time and have publicly humiliating consequences. If you lose the pushup game, you have to immediatley do 10 push ups, no matter where you are. Then, if you lose the blow dart game, you have to collaspe wherever you are, like you've been hit with a poison blow dart, and wait for someone to touch you to revive you. We played it everywhere, including the slopes. I didn't do any pushups, but I got darted alot and the youth loved it darting me. Now I have to stay on my guard, since the gamse never end.
So right now, I'm waiting for the guy from lowes to come and inspect my house to see what he needs for installing my dishwash/disposal. After he gets here, I'm going back to bed.
So, after an 8 hour drive roundtrip, I returned to ohio and got ready for the ski trip. Sean West came over and went on the trip with us, which was fun. He's a good skiier and I'm just ok. I also got stuck teaching the first timers how to ski, but that was fine. I knew the basics enough to teach them and one of em made it all the way to a blue square difficulty in only two days! Not bad, but it was probably more his part than mine. I introduced the ski trip participants to two games I probably shouldn't have: the pushup game and the blow dart game. Both are played all the time and have publicly humiliating consequences. If you lose the pushup game, you have to immediatley do 10 push ups, no matter where you are. Then, if you lose the blow dart game, you have to collaspe wherever you are, like you've been hit with a poison blow dart, and wait for someone to touch you to revive you. We played it everywhere, including the slopes. I didn't do any pushups, but I got darted alot and the youth loved it darting me. Now I have to stay on my guard, since the gamse never end.
So right now, I'm waiting for the guy from lowes to come and inspect my house to see what he needs for installing my dishwash/disposal. After he gets here, I'm going back to bed.
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