Pour Into Your Students

What are you doing with your students this summer? Camping? Youth Quake? Rafting trips (I would love to guide for you if you if you go on the Deschutes river)? Missions trips? LIFE? What ever you do, pour into your students as much as you can while making sure you balance time with your family and some good alone time too.

Don't just do stuff to fill your calendar. Really think through who will be there and what kind of conversations you are going to have with them. Maybe you just need to have a good time laughing together and enjoying a shared experience. That's great too. Make the most of every opportunity and enjoy this summer fully!

Social Networking for Middle Schoolers?

Is it a good idea? Are your middle schoolers/jr. highers on a social networking site? Most likely. I just got done reading a blog post by Dr. Laura It is a letter from a principal to the parents saying they should absolutely NOT have an account. The biggest reason he sites is the damage even just one mean comment has caused on so many students. One of the things I read was alarming.

5 of the last 8 parents who we have informed that their child was posting inappropriate things on Facebook said their child did not have an account. Every single one of the students had an account.

It really has caused me to think about this. I think that for the reasons stated I may agree. I think about my daughter, who is about to enter middle school, and know that I definitely do not want her fragile heart to be wrecked because some other girl posts some mean thing on a picture or posting she has uploaded. It is hard enough in school, imagine how hard it is online when kids can be "bolder" in their words and actions because somehow they feel it's OK because they are not face to face. I love social networking, I'm a huge fan, an early adopter, but this really has me thinking about age appropriateness.

As youth pastors, should we discourage this? After all, this is a major form of communication for many of us with students.

I would love to hear what you think. Click the link below and the poll will pop up. Speak more into this conversation in the comment area.

Baptism Memories

When you do baptisms, do you do anything for your students to remember the moment? I just saw Josh Griffin's posts on what they do for their high school ministry. They make a card with a picture of the student in the baptismal tank and write a few things on there and give it to the student. A VERY simple thing to do, but I think perhaps a very wonderful physical reminder to the students of that momentous occasion. You may want to "steal" the idea for your own ministry. Perhaps you do something like it or something different. I would love to hear what you do.
Check out the "girl's version" here.
Check out the "guy's version" here.

Time for Vacation?

Just posted this to my personal blog, but thought it was something that was worth the read here too.

I just read a great little blog that deals with time management. This is something I have to consistently work on. I read a book a few years ago that is called Eat That Frog.
The basic premise of the book is that if the worst thing you have to do today is eat a frog, do that first and get it out of the way. If you have to eat 2 frogs, eat the ugliest one first. Bottom line: Do the hardest things on your to do list first so they don't weigh you down.

Every day(ish) I write a new frog list for the next day. I put down all my to dos, the things I can delegate, phone calls, emails, etc. Then I try to knock off as many as possible that next day. I try to make this list feasible. I don't put down the things I have to accomplish "this year," just that day. I may include some things that be done if I finish the rest of the list, but I don't stress myself out.

What kind of helps do you use to get things done? Another great book for productivity is Getting Things Done by David Allen. I have recently started using a program called Things and so far so good. It is pricey and I have not decided if I want to go beyond the trial or not. Another good resource is Remember the Milk. This is a web app, you can download a desktop app to go with it and for you iPhone users out there, "there is an app for that" too. Also, they can integrate it with twitter.


Being a guy who is not known for details or great time management, this has done wonders for me. As a matter of fact I am trying to drop the stigma that I am not good with details, etc. So please disregard the first sentence in this paragraph. That is no longer true. I will not speak tearing down prophecy on myself anymore.

Back to the blog I read. Is it time for you to take a vacation? Are you too stressed out? I will give you a peek at what he did by showing you a picture. Then I want you to go read the blog here.  My results? I am good. I just had a vacation and don't need one just yet. ;)

Wow, lots of links in this post!

Crazy Collaboration

I truly believe we can often do things better together than we can do on our own. This is an amazing example of just that. This is why way use teams for our events (DYC, Youth Quake, Quest). Those teams are invaluable. Without them it would be really difficult to pull off. Each person on the team plays a part and has valuable input into what happens during the event and how everything is threaded together.

We really want these events to be something that supports your ministry and helps you further what you are doing at "home." Our prayer is that what happens at these events will inspire you and your students to greater things in your own backyard. Maybe that means you do Youth Quake days where you go out and serve with your middle schoolers/jr. highers; maybe that means you set up an accountability ministry for your students; perhaps you are inspired to hone your craft of message prep and delivery. Whatever it is, we want to do what we can to serve you.

Check out this little collaboration vid. Lots of people, working hard together to make a bigger picture happen. Wow!



ps. as it is in another language that I do not speak, I have no idea what is being said/sung here.

We Need Your Input for Youth Quake Worship

Please check all that apply and then add any songs you would like to see part of Youth Quake this year.

Slow Down or Speed Up in the Summer?

What does your summer look like? Are you a slow things down person? Are you a Shut it all down person? Are you a do more person? I'm curious. Tim Schmoyer blogged about it and gives a pretty good argument for slowing way down, if not completely shutting down for the summer. Take a read here.

This would not include summer camps and missions trips, more of the weekly meetings.

Youth Quake Registrations are Out

Youth Quake is July 13-17. That may seem like a long time away, but you know how summer is. You should have your registration packets and brochures in the mail and on your desk by now. You should also be ready to hand them out this weekend.

If you want to print your own let us know and we will email you the PDF, we can even put your own prices in there with your church name on it. Let us know right away. You should also have a video in your email now that you can download and show this weekend as well. It's a fun little voiceover vid encouraging your students to get in their registrations early.

If you want a PDF of the brochure hit up Mike.

Youth Specialties

10 things you won't hear at nywc.

New Blogging area

Obviously you see that the blog is in the same spot as it has always been, but we have embedded our blogger site on here so you can leave comments. It has much more functionality. Of course, I am always learning more about web stuff so I am sure this will change in the future when I figure out how to do this better.

Please feel free to comment anytime and let us know what you think.

Join the conversation.

Add to what is being said.

Leave others with something of value.

If you want to add this to your google reader or whatever rss feed you use I think you need to put in www.pnwallianceyouth.blogspot.org, but I am not 100% sure on that. Otherwise try http://allianceyouth.org/Alliance_Youth/Blog/Blog.html

Twitter for Your Ministry

Some of you are on it already, many of you will miss the “boat” entirely, but most all have at least heard of it. Twitter. I have mentioned it before and will continue to do so for a while. Email is “dead” and updating a “hotline” is time consuming and frustrating too.

I just read a great article on ways to use Twitter for your ministry. check out this blog. <---click here. A few highlights: show live tweets at your events; post weather related updates; get people to read your blog.

This is a fun and interactive medium that may be worth your time at least to check out. You can also post updates to your website and have parents check the website on when you will be returning, etc. from an event.

Also check out twitter.com for more about what twitter is.

Bachin it

So my wife and kids left for the east coast yesterday. I'm a bachelor for a week. It's not all that bad. I'm really busy the whole time. Doing a wedding. Leading worship at a church. Metting with a bunch of people. Usually I have the week free to do some projects around the house when she goes. Not that I don't mind not "having" to do a project. It's just that I love doing projects without Jeanne-Ann knowing I'm doing it. If she doesn't know I'm doing it, there are no expectations.

So here I sit with no real time to do any sort of project. Jeanne-Ann left me with a list of to dos. The biggest thing is to plant some plants the kids got at the AG Fest. So here I go. I will plant those on Sunday. We'll see how it goes. Maybe I'll post some pics. :)

Hmm...what will I eat tomorrow?

Marriage is a beautiful thing...

So today was one of the craziest looooong days in a while. Fun, but crazy and long. We had our dear friends Jess and Justin spend the night last night (playing games till late) and then on to the day. First we started with Kynzi's soccer last game. She scored a goal and they went undefeated. YAY!!! I dropped her off with Chele and Brian and Karston went to Blake's and Jeanne-Ann went to work the concessions stand at the Little League fields. It was our teams day to do so and so she did her duty.

After dropping Kynzi off I headed to the church where I was the Pastor for Patrick and Maria's wedding. What a pure joy those two are. I really enjoy them a lot. After getting a little bit of a late start last night at the rehearsal because of a wardrobe malfunction, today was great! Poor Patrick had to stay up really late because their video had the wrong songs over the wrong section. Oh well. He got to bed at 2:30am or so. Not bad the night before your BIG day!

So Patrick and I stood upfront while we waited for everyone to come down the aisle. We made small talk and laughed a lot. I'm sure people were wondering what we were talking about, but that is privileged information.Maria walked down the aisle and was stunning. The tears began for Patrick. Ahhh....love. It's a wonderful thing. I love weddings because they are such a wonderful celebration. It brings people together and they all, typically, have a great time. People come from all over to join the couple to celebrate this awesome moment.

It has been my privilege to be part of many ceremonies and it never seems to get old. I enjoy them so much. This was my 4th one this year and my next one is next weekend. After the wedding we all headed over to the Reed Opera House for the reception to hang with friends and continue the celebration. Got to see some people I haven't seen in a while: Dennis and his new girlfriend, mike and debbie, shannon, daniel, and several others. Love that.

Then I had to head out early to get to Karston's last t-ball game. Kynzi was at the wedding and reception with Chele and was going to go with me and then she decided to stay and then she was going with me and then she was going to stay and then the tears flowed and she was going with me and she ended up staying. Ahhh....women. Decisions and emotions don't start at puberty...it's wayyy earlier.aaa ;)

So I got to Karston's game a little late but got to enjoy most of it. They play 2 innings and everyone bats through. Half way through the season they started giving them 3 pitches and then back to the T if they didn't hit it. Karston knocked both of his quite well. That's my boy! Then I stand with him in the field and help him. Love that.

Appearantly there was a big deal that happened right before I got there. A kid fell off a 3 foot wall and got a little hurt. His mother came over and got him (from the other team) and brought him back by her. Next thing you know he is running away from his grandfather and he cathes the boy and hits him so hard across the face everyone hears it on the other side of the field. A social worker who was there called the cops because there was a mark on the boys face, but by the time the cops got there the mark was gone. Hopefully it was enough to scare that stupid jerk so that he never does it again. I doubt it, but I pray for that family tonight. so sad.

Back to the game...2 innings and we are on our way to Pietros for pizza, games and trophies. We went with 5 kids (picked up Brian & chele's girlsC). What fun. the best was spending FOREVER trying to figure out what they all wanted to get with their tickets they got from their games.

We left and went to Casey's graduation party. More parties this year for us than any other ever. And I'm 1 1/2 years out from the church. Crazy. Love this group of graduates though.
Now we are home and I am no longer tired, but wired. Think I will try and sleep soon...or read a few pages of Ted Dekker's Showdown.
e-out...

Bellingham is a long way

As I took off this weekend with my daughter Kynzi to almost as far north in Washington as you can go, I wasn't sure what to expect out of the trip. I had traveled with my son Karston just a few weeks prior and absolutley loved it. This was my first big trip alone with Kynzi. What a blast. We sang, we laughed, we made up stories, we had Norwegian lessons...I think I am finally getting ahold of it. (haha...aren't I funny). It is amazing how much better a trip is when you travel with someone you enjoy being around than traveling by yourself or someone you would rather not.
I got an opportunity to speak at the graduation banquet at Northside Alliance Church. Something about how we are like a cell phone and it doesn't matter what carrier we choose (Bible translation) just as long as we stay connected and follow the plan. I know, a bit corny and you can strech it too far, but hey. MAN was that chocolate cake good! I hate the word moist, but it was!
Then I got to speak to the whole congregation in both services. Amazing how God can take a bonehead like me and use my words that He has put in my heart to challenge others. Sharing stories about my crappy "share Jesus with others" abilities. Again, amazing what God can do with someone who obeys Him. A lady shared with me that she had a 100 reasons not to come to church that morning and it was a huge battle and she almost didn't come, but there was 1 reason for her to be there. That was to receive the Word. She is leaving her jb after several years and they are having a good-bye party for her this week and she knows that God wants her to verbaly share Jesus Christ with her co-workers at this party. Wow!

Stopped by the Centralia outlets for a mental pause and leg strech and then back on the road. Shell had regular unleaded for $3.01!!!! I think they didn't want people to show up as it looked like all their tanks were shut down. Hmmm.