Into the Throne Room

Last night @ericafoster, @haugenpaul, @haugenjenn and myself went straight from work to Bakersfield, Ca. I know what you're thinking, "Why? Besides the occasional mention of Bakersfield in overly-dramatic TV shows like Brothers and Sisters, why would anyone have any interest in that place?" Before you judge, read ahead.

We went to the Phil Wickham & Fee Tour featuring Merideth Andrews at The Bridge Bible Church. We got to the concert right after Merideth Andrews had finished her set, but judging by her duet of Happy Day (Kim Walker style, minus the signature giggle) with Fee...she's got skills.

Fee's set led me right into the thrown room. His Louie Giglio-esque interjections and prayers were exactly why I needed to hear. I love this line from his song We Shine:

    We're Going into all the world
    Carrying the light of Jesus
    We shine, We shine
    In the Darkest Place We shine

Then he taught the crowd a new song. A song that had come to him in the middle of a concert and he has spontaneously sung. The four of us were the only ones in the place who already knew it, because we had heard Los sing it in a video on his blog. When we asked him about it, he said it was a new song from Fee and that it'd be out on his next CD. The song's lyrics are simple, yet powerful and the melody is catchy (which is a key component of a great worship song). The lyrics are:

    Give Glory to God
    Glory to God
    Glory to God
    Forever
    (Repeat)

    Take my life and let it be
    All for You and for Your glory
    Take my life and let it be
    Yours
    (Repeat)

After the concert I went up to him and asked him when we can get a copy of it, he said he'd put the chord charts up on his website in the next week. I can't wait to do this song in Student Ministries! Fee also said a hello to Turnpike and Catalyst on my flip camera...I'll be showing it on Sunday!

The tickets were only $12/person, but I would have paid $50 or more because you can't put a price on soul-filling worship! Let me put it in perspective. I don't cry much, but I had tears streaming down my face during that set, not because an awesome band was playing...but because an awesome God was filling the room.

I'll be putting up some video highlights later, but for now you'll have to settle with some pictures. (Oh yeah and Phil Wickham was great too.)

Technorati tags: twitter, fee, phil, wickham, merideth, andrews, bridge, bible, church, bakersfield, glory, to, god, new, song, louie, giglio, kim, walker

What a typical Sunday in Student Ministries looks like

Here are some pictures of last Sunday morning (10/26) in our student ministry environment:
Photog credit goes to Kelly Chandler, a Re:actionary.

WINS from 10/26

Here are some WINS we experienced this past week:

• WHAT ARE YOUR WINS? EMAIL THEM TO ME!
• Last Saturday we had our first SG (small group) Challenge. We had 30-something students here playing human foosball, dodgeball, taking a silly cultural quiz and hanging out. It was a lot of fun for those involved. We'll be praying for our next one to be even better! (Feb 21)
• On Sunday we did a combined service for Turnpike and Catalyst. That means after our worship time was over I spoke to both crowds. It was a great and energetic Sunday. Lots of students and a message that asks the question "are you all in for Christ?" Everything just came together to provide a high impact service. It's great to break the pattern every once in a while and just give students something they don't expect. We camped on the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Obnego...they were ALL IN. Then we talked about how Christ went ALL IN for us and how he wants us to be ALL IN for him. During the last song, after I spoke, we had students come up and get a poker chip from me, which represented being ALL IN.
• After service on Sunday afternoon I recieved txt messages and myspace messages saying, "I'm ALL IN" and "I've been falling away a lot, but I want to be ALL IN" and the like.
• I get pumped when people ask me about the worship music. Dawn Moats emailed me this week and asked for the recording artist of one of the songs we did. I love it!
• Kelly Chandler, a freshman at City College, took some really cool pictures of the service on Sunday. I'll attach some of them.
• She is also going to speak to our Jr High students in three weeks! This will be her debut as a speaker and we're so happy to finally have a female voice!
• David and Veronica Mendez, parents of one of our students, were baptized on Sunday! Julian, their son, gave his life to Christ about a month ago!
• I had some students txt me pre-sunday and tell me they weren't going to be there this week, but they'll be here this next week! Do you know why this is cool? They've only come twice so far! This is in large part due to our welcome team, small group leader and Debora Keeney - she calls all of our visitors! Thank you guys!
• We had 4 registered visitors on Sunday! I txted them yesterday to say thanks for coming by and I hope we'll see you again and one of them (Jimmy) said, "Thanks man. It was good to meet you too. I really wish I came way earlier. You taught me a lot with just the short time there. I'll see you Sunday." YES!!!!!!!
• Re:action, our college-age ministry, has now launched 2 different small groups. One meets on Sundays at my home and the other meets at the church building on Monday nights. I visited our Monday night group this past week to see how they were doing and I was greatly encouraged to see their openness and love for each other. They're learning a lot, going through Romans!

Here are some wins in response from Alicia Negri to last weeks' email:

• 10,11,& 12th grade girls I had yesterday are really excited for a community project.  They came up with great ideas!!   My small group girls may end doing a project a month!!!
• I spoke with Melissa Peterson again yesterday, she has attended 2 Sundays in a row. Ya.
• I have to agree it was such a blessing to see Kyle Barker return!! 
• The Marita girls from Clovis west returned yesterday.  They participated in sm group time.  One is a senior and one is a sophomore.  Great Family!!

My Screaming Wife

Last night Erica and I went to dinner with our friends Paul, Jenn, Luke and Sarah. After dinner we decided to head back to Paul and Jenn's apartment to watch a movie. The guys went to blockbuster and came back with The Happening. I like M. Night Shyamalan's movies. They are strangely void of human emotion right up until a really emotional part. He understands the concept of scarcity. Anyways, the movie was creepy and I know if we weren't in a room ful of people, we wouldn't have watched it.

So we get in the car to go home (11:30pm) and my wife starts saying "We have to get Cooper in the house before it blows up!" over and over again. You see in the movie one of the signs of "The Happening" is that people stop making sense when they talk. So I said, "You don't want to start that game with me." You know the game I'm talking about...the kind where you keep trying to freak each other out because you just watched a freaky movie. So I'm being very good until she walks into the hallway by herself...I start to close our bedroom door and she freaks out before I actually close it. I did this a couple of times, it was funny.

We watch TV for a while to get our minds on normal stuff and then fall asleep. Success, we're resting right? Wrong! At 3:46:57am I am sound asleep. I am deep in sleep. I'm probably dreaming. I'm peaceful. At 3:47am I awaken to Erica escalating her voice from a quiet protest of "Oh my Gosh," to yelling the same phrase, to the loudest scream (not exaggerating) I've ever heard from her! I didn't know she had it in her to be that loud. Imagine what I think is happening. (see my tweet about it here)

Here are some thoughts running through my mind: "There's someone in this room." "There's a killer on the loose." "There's a creepy old lady with a doll in here." "There's something HAPPENING!"

So what did I do? I did what any loving and FREAKED out husband with adrenaline pumping their his veins would do. I started yelling "Erica! Erica! Erica! Erica!" at the top of my lungs. (I'm pretty sure our neighbors think we're crazy.) I jump off the bed and for some reason I knew that if I just could hold her, everything would be fine. As I'm yelling, I'm trying to pull her in for a hug and she's flailing her arms and turning around in a circle doing a sort of dance. The only way I know how to describe this dance is to say it was to the sounds of "I'm so excited," yet you should replace the word excited with insanely-scared.

The problem with trying to pull my wife in for a hug while she's in this state is that I have skin and she has fingernails. Not long or big, just normal nails. But my finger gets cut in the process by one her fingernails. But I successfully pull her in for an embrace to calms her and allows her to almost laugh, after a few minutes. To add the scene, imagine having a small dog that sleeps in your bedroom. He barks at anything that moves. Imagine his response.

So what did freak her out so much? What was the big deal? She saw a huge spider on top of our bed. That's very strange because there weren't any spiders in the movie.

So we turned on the TV for like an hour and watched a dog show, CNN and random stuff. We were awake for at least another hour after this episode. What's the lesson here? Don't let Erica watch movies with a hint of horror if you want to sleep at night.

Do you have a post-movie dream/hallucination story? Do share.

Technorati tags: the, happening, movie, scared, erica, paul, jenn, luke, sarah, bad, dreams, cooper

WINS from 10/19

Here are some WINS from 10/19

 

Read 1 Cron. 16:8-12 and you'll know why we put these wins out every week!

• Yesterday we had 44 Jr. High and 38 High School for a total of 82 students in CatlyPike yesterday...hahaha, I think that's a funny name
• Mario Torres might be our new 8th grade boys small group leader. This would be HUGE!
• Anita and Barbara, 8th grade girl leaders, are planning an outing to Sakura Chaya and a service project! This is what I like to see!
• An 8th Grader, Robert Acevedo, gave his life to Christ on 10/12! Thank you Christian Hunt for leading him to Christ and following up with him during the week!!!!!!!
• Students are starting to get the hang of actually moving in closer together away from the entrance and towards the stage. That helps a lot!
• Despite our check-in computer problems yesterday we were able to capture two new students and 6 returning visitors. I believe this is largely due to the follow-up work Deborah Keeney has been providing with visitors! You are so awesome!
• I saw Kyle Barker, a senior that's been gone for a few months, two Sundays in a row! I like these returner stories!
• Rusty Karraker was greeting students and making them feel welcome! With his personality in that kind of position...you can't get much better (though Josh Phanco gives him a run for his money)
• I've had one Turnpike SGL contact me today saying that the discussion in their small group was great! This is a huge deal! The SG discussion is perhaps the most beneficial part of Sunday be
• 10 people are scheduled for baptism this next Sunday! There are several others that are pending (Tanner Melton, 7th grade boy, is one of those pending people). IF YOU HAVEN'T BEEN BAPTIZED, NOW WOULD BE A GREAT TIME TO START THINKING ABOUT IT. There is a baptism class on this Wednesday night for adults. Just call the office to set RSVP. (797.7000)
• Kelly Chandler, college student, is going to be taking some photographs for us the next couple of weeks. She's taking a class and we need more pictures! It's a WIN/WIN
• On Saturday night NHC hosted an event called MarriedLife Live. It was AWESOME! If you are married and were unable to attend, the next one is Feb. 14. I know what you're thinking...but it really would be a GREAT valentine's date! There were 300 + people there and at least 80 of them are not Christians. Wow! I've heard several really cool stories of connections and God moving through that event. Can't wait for the next one!
• The new church website is almost online! Want a preview? Click here.
• What are you WINS? Seriously, share.

WINS I got last week via email:

 

From Alicia Negri

• The cousins that came to church yesterday liked it!!! That is a HUGH win. They don't go to church. The twins Alec & Arianna are in 7th gr at computech. Alec told me he really liked it and wants to come back. They all remembered the lesson & understood it! I will share more about this latter.
• A 9th grade girl Melissa showed up again. I called her this weekend and ran in to her in the cafe. I pretty much kidnapped her to get her to come to catalyst. LOL. She seemed to enjoy it.
• Cole hoover came to turnpike. Ya!
• Jaycee is attending and sharing!!

From Barbara Hamel

• I took role when we split the eighth grade girls, I had seven (in Group #2) two were visitors who said they would return next week.  Yeah!  We spoke of our Small Group Challenge and they seemed razzed about it.  Then when we talk about a community project they brainstormed a million ideas but settled on visits to retirement homes with emphasis on those who don't receive company.  Even though I explained the tasked may be pre-assigned, they were incredibly excited!

Technorati tags: wins, new, harvest, church, student, ministries

Connecting: Adventure Christian Church Student Ministry

I love to connect with other people in ministry. I recently blogged about going to Atlanta and making some pretty awesome connections there. Yesterday, Greg Zuffelato and I went up to Sacramento, Ca and spent some time with the Student Ministry staff of Adventure Christian Church. They shared some things they've been learning recently and I really enjoyed exchanging thoughts and ideas with them. Here's what Scott, Brian, Drew, Drue, Mandy and Mar said they'v been learning the past couple of months:

• Leaders lead Leaders
• Replace Yourself - Get people to apprentice you
• Get someone who can do what you do at least 80% as well as you do it and train them to do it better than you
• Neither Quality or Connection bring growth alone
• Apprenticing is all about
• Asking someone to observe what you do
• Asking someoen to help you do what you do
• Asking someone to do what you do
• Asking someone to own what you did
• Pick leaders, don't take volunteers!
• Target the parents of your freshman students
• The time you spend WITH someone is often better than any giftcard you could give them
• Things that are important in relationship to volunteers
• The person
• The job
• The measurement (accountability)
• When you calendar...back date.
  

What are YOU learning?

Technorati tags: adventure, christian, church, greg, zuffelato, new, harvest, sacramento, ca, what, are, you, learning?

WINS from 10/12

• We had 79 students yesterday with 7 registered visitors (and more that didn't fill anything out)
• 45 students in high school! That's some kind of record for NHC.
• I saw some students I hadn't seen in a while (Tyler Thomas, Jessica Twedt, etc)
• More and more students are actually checking in! It's been hard because most students want to be under the radar.
• I met a lot of people yesterday! I was able to talk to some teens hanging out after first service. They were pretty shy, but at least I was able to invite them to our student service.
• I met some parents that want their two high schoolers to get involved. I got to tell them about what we do and give them some tips on how to get their kids here.
• The band was GREAT and they played 2 new songs (Burn for You by Steve Fee and Your Love Never Fails by Chris Quilala) Chris is doing a great job leading them.
• Chris Hudiburgh has offered to give free guitar and/or bass lessons - 12 students signed up yesterday!
• Jonah Ribera is returning from a season off of drums. He's playing this coming week!
• We had a great lunch from Taco Bell yesterday!
• Last week I was able to see some students at the Freshman CW football game against Edison and the BHS vs. CW girls volleyball game. I was encouraged to see Ken Horton, small group leader, at the volleyball game supporting Ashley Ferguson and Hillary Brians! Great job Ken!
• Jessica Steele, buchananeer, brought her two cousins on Sunday morning. Always good to see people bringing others!
• The Negri's brought their cousins too!
• Saturday night, Turnpike went to the Corn Maze. Robbie Schaak, Jacob Blomgren and I made it out in 15 minutes!
• I'm meeting with 3 potential volunteers soon! Hoping to find that 8th grade boys leader!
• Re:action went to the Fresno Fair last night (Sunday) and Chris did some Karaoke. Click to watch.
• What WINS are you experiencing? - I really want to know!

Chris Hudiburgh singing Karaoke

This is Chris "I'm not afraid to make a fool of my self" Hudiburgh doing karaoke at the Fresno Fair with Re:action.

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Technorati tags: big, fresno, fair, re:action, college, ministry, chris, hudiburgh, karaoke

Touring Buckhead Church

This is from a couple of weeks ago when we went to Bobby Norris' wedding in Georgia. We attended Buckhead Church and Los gave us a tour. Thanks Los!

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Technorati tags: buckhead, church, atlanta, georgia, carlos, whittaker, tour, video, upstreet, kidstuf, insideout, los, vacation

WINS from Sunday

• Kent & Kristie Robison started as Freshman Small Groups Leaders on Sunday! They have already proven to be huge assets to Student Ministries. They each called their student lists before Sunday and introduced themselves as the new leaders for our freshman. Our freshman had been combining with other groups all summer long and now they finally have their own groups! Kristie was really excited to see of the names on her list!
• The worship band was awesome! Chris Hudiburgh has been running their rehearsals and he was out of town on Sunday, but they were completely prepared and played great together without him leading on Sunday morning.
• Josh Phanco and the Karrakers will be teaming up to be our Greeter organizers. They will be leading some students in that role in helping people feel welcomed as they enter into our space and helping them to get connected to people. We are so blessed to have these servants stepping up! Josh helped us on Sunday and was able to catch some people that hadn't filled our information sheets.
• Dawn Moats, 7th Grade Girls leader, emailed me Sunday night informing me that her entire family was sick and she wouldn't be able to make it on Sunday morning. I immediately txted one of our College girls that already volunteers during first service and she jumped at the opportunity to help lead our girls during the small group time. Willing hearts are precious gifts.
• Thanks to the Wong's & Schuler's we had a good time with our lunch time fellowship after second service. I was able to connect with several students and adults that I haven't had the pleasure of getting to know yet.
• Two Jr. High brothers approached me yesterday and asked if they could get electric guitar lessons. They are fairly new to NHC and want to get involved in something positive. I'll be speaking with Chris about this opportunity.
• I filled in as the 8th grade small group leader yesterday morning and Robbie Schaak shared that his cousin Chad needs prayer. I love to see honest and real prayer requests and soft hearts for people!
• Barbara Hamel, 8th grade girls leader, said that she loves how Family Ministry (Children's/Students) are run. She said that nobody else is doing what we're attempting and it's so exciting to see people developing their ministry rapidly.
• Last Monday at Re:action we had a new girl, Beth. She's a friend of Jenna Ribera's and she's exploring faith. She came by herself and had the courage to hang out with people she's never met before. I keep praying for more connection opportunities with people like Beth to plug into Re:action.

100 Years Ago

I got this email from my Grandma last week. I thought it was really interesting.

THE YEAR 1908

This will boggle your mind, I know it did mine!
The year is 1908.
One hundred years ago.
What a difference a century makes!
Here are some statistics for the Year 1908 :

The average life expectancy was 47 years.

Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!

The average wage in 1908 was 22 cents per hour.

The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year .

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year,
A dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births took place at HOME .

Ninety percent of all doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION!

Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press AND the government as 'substandard. '

Sugar cost four cents a pound...

Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen...

Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Five leading causes of death were:

1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars.

The population of Las Vegas , Nevada, was only 30!!!!

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea hadn't been invented yet.

There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write.

Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacists said, 'Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health.' 

Eighteen percent of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.

There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE U.S.A.!

And organized Barbershop didn't exist

Technorati tags: 1908, 100, years, ago, culture, change, united, states, america

Caption Please

I got this in an email from a volunteer. Thanks Ken for the laughs.

I love this.

I stole this from Ryan's blog. Pretty sweet!

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9/28 Student Ministry WINS

Here are some recent WINS within our student ministries:

• I saw Blake Stephens, a 7th grader, on Friday and he told me that he'd be bringing three friends on Sunday! I was blown away. It's awesome to see students INVESTING in & INVITING their friends.
• We had Turnpike and Catalyst in different rooms for our teaching/small groups portion of Sunday this past week. It seemed to go over smoothly and I think Turnpike liked the room they were in (peek into Rooms 9/10 when you get a chance)
• Saturday, Ryan Smith (9/10 grade small group leader), held a sunset worship and communion gathering at his house. He asked a couple of people to come lead some worship music and he gave a talk. This was a grass-roots kind of gathering, very personal and spiritual. I love it!
• Anita Lee, 8th grade girls leader, is inviting her girls to attend the Revolve Tour. She made fliers and give them out to her girls on Sunday. It is Awesome to see leaders taking an interest in their students!
• Anita has also been keeping a free website/forum for her girls to interact with during the week. She gave them printed out reminders about it...I'll attach it.
• Starting on Oct. 12th, there will be 2 8th grade small groups. One led by Anita and another led by Barbara Hamel! Yes!
• Kent and Kristie Robison will start as freshman small group leaders this Sunday! Everybody celebrate with me here on this one!
• Tara and Mark Ribera have started bringing their neighbors to NHC! They brought a sophomore on Sunday to Catalyst for the first time!
• I saw Ryan Beers (Junior boy from Clovis High) last week and he was so excited that we moved Catalyst to 10:45 and he said, "I'll be there every Sunday!" Glad to see students excited about what's happening!
• Last week, Sep. 24, was "See You @ The Poll" and I went to Buchanan in the morning to support the movement. I took some footage of some of our students, which you can see in this video I made for Sunday.
• After Turnpike/Catalyst students hung around yesterday and ate pizza. It was cool to see them hanging out and building community.
• After service two girls that have been coming to Catalyst for a few months made their way onto the stage and were looking at the lyric sheets for the songs that we had sung. They started singing quietly to themselves and I just saw a glimpse of God making his way into their lives and hearts! Praise Him!
• Yesterday afternoon I received a txt message from a student that said, "Hey sorry I didn't tell you this earlier but ur word today was awesome I could really relate! Looking forward to youth services this year!"

What WINS are you experiencing?

Today's Student Ministry Video

Here's a little video I'm showing today in Turnpike/Catalyst. Enjoy.

Embedded Video

Best Baptism Ever

Last Sunday Erica (on Twitter) and I (on Twitter) were on vacation. We went to my friend's wedding, Bobby Norris, (pictures later) and we were able to attend Buckhead Church (on Twitter) on Sunday morning. We went to the 11am service. It was awesome! Casey Darnell (on Twitter) led worship. Los (on Twitter) gave us a tour of the campus (video to come). And Simon was baptized by Jeff Henderson (on Twitter). They had some technical problems with Simon's testimony video and as Carlos said afterwards, "God put his finger in the machine." Enjoy the video!

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Later that day we went to lunch with Ryan and Courtney Fitzgerald (on twitter - Ryan and Courtney). I love making new friends! Then in the afternoon we got to go to Buckhead's InsideOut (High School Ministry) and meet with their Director and Groups/Admin Cooridnator. Great people!

I'll post pictures of our visit to the Georgia Aquarium. It was a great trip.

But the most exciting part of it all is what happened at New Harvest Church (on Twitter) while we were gone. Read my previous post for some of the WINS from Sunday.

Technorati tags: bobby, norris, wedding, atlanta, georgia, aquarium, buckhead, church, simon, baptism, video, jeff, henderson, casey, darnell, witter, carlos, whittaker, los, ragamuffinsoul.com, youtube, ryan, courtney, fitzgerald, insideout, high, school, ministry, new, harvest, church, wins

WINS from 09.21.08

I head amazing things from this past Sunday! Here are some WINS that I've heard...and I know that I don't know them all, because I wasn't even in town.

• Greg counted 95 students, Ken counted 98 students and when you factor in a handful (approx 5) college students you're somewhere in the 90's! Awesome!
• Paul Babcock delivered the Word and it's truth...loving people, hating sin. His video and talk was powerful. These were confirmed by students and adults (Dawn, Steve, Greg)
• Anita Lee is using a wiki page (free website) to create more conversation with her girls beyond Sundays. She posts a question of the week and this week is was..."Mr. Babcock shared in church that God loves people and hates sin.  What practical steps can we take in our daily lives to love people and hate sin?" One of the students wrote, "We can love people and hate sin at the same time by still hanging out with everyone and being nice to them, but then when they are about to do something that we know isn't right we can correct them and help them walk away from the situation." This is a very cool tool! There are 16 girls in the group and about half of them are using this tool to further their spiritual conversations.
• Chris hudiburgh led the band. I heard there were many energetic bodies on stage worshiping together!
• Steve Bollier, 7th grade SGL, told me that one of the boys in his SGL accepted Christ!!!!!!! YES, that's what I like to hear!
• Steve also took his boys on a Small Group Outing on Sunday to Lazer Tag. He said 7 boys showed up to play! I'm sure they had a great time connecting outside of the church walls, building friendships, community and trust.
• Ryan Smith performed a drama that was powerful!
• We had a couple of moms helping with hospitality, thus the nice bagel spread...Thank you guys!
• There were several visitors. I heard Alicia warmly greeted them and helped them get acclamated. Great Job!
• Saturday night there was a Catalyst hang out at the Horton's home. I checked out the pictures as soon as I could on Debbie's myspace. Looks like they had a great time together! There were a total of 30 students there! Thanks for putting that on Horton's! 
• This morning I went to Buchanan for See You @ The Pole (which is a student-led prayer time around their own flagpole). I saw many of our Buchananeers  praying. It was very cool to see! I also got some video of students to show this Sunday (thanks to Dylan, Carrington, Kaleb, Spencer, Sarah, Matt...I can't remember everyone right now for letting get some video fo them for Sunday).

  

Talk to your kids...about stuff that matters.

The most significant conversations I've ever had with my parents were while driving somewhere. Try it.

Questions to spark spiritual conversations:

• How's your relationship with Jesus?
• How many of your friends know Christ?
• What is the most important thing you want out of life?
• What do you think is the most important thing to God? (refer to Matthew 22:34-40)
  

WARNING: THESE ARE NOT FOR EVERYONE...

Questions to spark spiritual conversations for the Daring Parents:

• What's the difference between Christianity and other religions?
• What do you think about what Jesus said about "Loving your enemies?" (see Matthew 5:43-48)
  

WARNING: THESE MAY BE DIFFICULT TO SWALLOW...

Questions to spark spiritual conversations for the Daring Parents that want to know how they are doing at modeling a relationship with Christ:

• When was the last time you saw me pray?
• When was the last time you saw me read my bible?
• What's more important to me? Scholarships, Academics, Loving People, Social Life, Championships, Working Out, Having Fun, Family, Being Popular, Loving God, Making Memories, Making Money, or Looking Good?
• How can I help you grow in your relationship with God?
  

Technorati tags: significant, spiritual, conversations, car, time, family, students, kids, teens, parents, questions, growth, Jesus

Recent SM WINS

 Here are some recent WINS we've experienced in Student Ministries:

• Following AMPLIFY, we've seen several faces return from the event. I met several students on Sunday in Catalyst that had visited NHC for AMPLIFY and have returned for a normal Sunday. This is a huge WIN becuase that's what the event is really designed for.
• One of Craig Vonberg's college students that came to AMPLIFY told him it was "Awesome" and she loved talked with Ken Horton. Way to go Ken!
• During Catalyst worship on Sunday I had one student, Chris, come up to me and ask me if we needed a violin player for worship. Some of you are thinking, yeah cool. Others are thinking, violin? My kid doesn't listen to classical music. Let me tell you some of the back story. Chris started coming to Catalyst in the Spring with a friend, Jonathan. When Chris walked in the door, he had the apprearance of depression. He told Ryan, his small group leader, that he reads the Satanic Bible. Ryan warned him about the dangers of getting involved in the occult, but kept on loving him. Chris took most of the summer off but has come back since AMPLIFY. Chris is now asking significant spiritual questions. He's searching. This is a huge deal that he wants to play in the worship team, HUGE! Praise God.
• Ryan Smith took some of his small group guys to a lady's house in desperate need of repair a couple of weekends ago. They went and worked together in her yard, house and showed her the loved of Christ. Together, this small group, are the hands and feet of Jesus.
• Steve Bollier, 7th grade SGL, is taking his boys to Lazer Quest on Sunday (I'm jealous!). It's awesome to see our SGL's putting these outings together.
• Chris Hudiburgh, a volunteer who works with our worship team, is heading up a thursday night practice for all the students who are playing on Sunday! Way to go Chris! He's also going to start them in a study called "Wired for Worship" by Louie Giglio when we get the books in.
• Re:action met on Monday and the group is inspired. They want to move. They want to do something for Christ. This Monday they are meeting at the FLC and then going to the FSU student center for some hang-time and exposure to people on campus. There's something cooking here...can't wait to see what God does.
• This past Monday I asked Re:action (college) students how God was challenging them. Some of the responses were: "to be an example around here and for my friends"..."to get serious about reading His word"..."to invest in my friends"..."to minister to others." I'm excited about what God is challenging his people to do/be.
• Over the course of the weekend we had 81 students jr high - college actively involved on campus (not counting ones who were siting in main services).
• I'm meeting with 4 potential volunteers today!
• God is moving and momentum is building...can you feel it?

Technorati tags: new, harvest, church, re:action, catalyst, turnpike, wins, volunteers, parents, students, jesus, christ, amplify, college, high, chool, jr, high, ministry

God Shines in Dark Places

Watch the news coverage of the Fuller family and their faith here.

Take a look at a tribute site that has been set up for Walt Fuller here.

God is so good. Seriously...God is being glorified through how one family is responding to tragedgy.

Technorati tags: kcal, 9, news, story, walt, fuller, tribute, site, love, family, Jesus, faith

Memories of Walt Fuller

There's been a lot of traffic through google searches of Walt's name. Go here to see some great quotes from people close to Walt and his family. It's great to see people gathering around to celebrate Walt and give comfort to the family. It's great to see the body of Christ working.

Casey Fuller, Walt's son, messaged me on Facebook the other day saying thanks for the blog post. Let's continue to pray for the family Casey, Kristi and Kelly.

Facebook | Casey Fuller's Photos - Profile Pictures

Technorati tags: casey, kristi, walt, kelly, fuller, memories, LA, times, article, facebook, body, of, christ, prayer, google

Pray for the family of Walt Fuller

A couple of days ago there was a terrible train crash in SoCal. Erica got a text early this morning from Kelly Loftis (formerly Kelly Fuller), a friend who I sang in Won By One with. She said that her dad was on the train and they haven't heard from him. Not more than a couple of hours later we got calls from other Pepperdine friends (Nic Bryson and John Calhoun) informing us that Kelly's dad (Walt Fuller) had passed in the accident. Things like this usually cause huge reactions from people. The questions come flooding into our minds, "Why, God, Why..." we yell with confusion, frustration and heartbreak. But as I read through Kelly's facebook wall and see all the people rallying around their family...supporting them in prayer and probably in many other ways, I must stop and praise God for his work. Kelly's dad knew the Lord...he's eternally fantastic. But we're left here with the grief. This is Kelly's latest Facebook status "Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say 'Blessed be the name of the Lord'." Lyrics to a song sung in God's community around the globe. They now ring more true than ever for Kelly and she will be a light to this world through the tragedy. I pray for her family...her brother, sister and mom to be able to sing that song confidently in due time. God please heal our broken hearts and our land.


So what can you do? You can put Kelly's family on your prayer list. You can add her as a facebook friend and tell her you care. You can embrace your loved ones around you, because you never know. You can spread the gospel to people who need to hear it because you never know. You can be the hands and feet of Jesus to the hurting and broken. You can love the people around you. Don't waste one minute. Because you never know.

Jesus is going to use this deeply saddening event to move people and further His Kingdom.

Technorati tags: kelly, fuller, loftis, walt, fuller, train, crash, southern, california, september, won, by, one, pepperdine, frieds, Jesus, Christ, praise, lessed, broken, hurting

Buckhead Makes a Difference

I love this.

Christ Follower Vs. Christian

I Love Seeing These...

I love seeing these flyers around. It means connections are happening outside of Sundays. I hope it's a great time!

Recent WINS

Hello Interested Allies,

 

Together we're contending HARD for the faith. Here are some recent WINS we've experienced.

• On Sunday we had AMPLIFY. It was a huge success! We brought A Current Affair in to do a concert, played some dodgeball and gave a simple gospel message.
• We had 108 students register (approx. another 30-40 unregistered guests). 15 of those registered guests indicated that they do not attend church at all. 20 of them indicated that they attend another area church and the rest indicated that they attend NHC.
• We saw students we haven't seen in a long time emerge at this event. I spoke with several students I've never met that say they go to main service with their parents.
• I met a handful of students from Craig V.'s music class at FSU. They were there to do a paper/report on the concert...but they also heard the gospel. I'm praying God uses those seeds and waters them!
• The students LOVED the band. You can see a highlight video here. You can see some pictures here.
• Last thursday night there was a parent meeting with the parents of some core families. The result...unity. We had some tough conversations and came away with a resolve to do what's best for everyone.
• Last night at Re:action several students shared how God is working in their lives. Here are some quick examples: stopped drinking, excitement to be involved in ministry, overcoming deep depression through authentic Acts 2 community, pouring into specific relationships (investing), and excitement for what God's about to do.
• Your story.

Technorati tags: wins, student, ministry, new, harvest, church, amplify, a, current, affair, event, music, dodgeball

Youth Church Movement

I've noticed a movement. I don't know if you have this same sense inside you. It's not post-modern, it's not "emergent" and it's not youth group. It's called a Youth Church. What caught my attention is the Stadium Modesto. That's right...Modesto, Ca. The Stadium is a youth church. It's got 7th-twenty-somethings. It's a small part of a larger church. It's in Modesto, once again. They have the largest meeting venue in the city. They gather 500-900 youths weekly for worship and a message. Worth Dying For, a newly signed band with Integrity Music, came out of this church.

Here's my question:
1. Is it smart to have 7th-twenty-somethings in one ministry together? Why or why not?
2. What are the advantages of combining into one service for these age groups?
3. How do you speak to these various life-stages in one service?
4. Is there enough fun happening at these services?
5. Is there enough fellowship happening at these services?

As some of you may know. I am in charge of 7-college aged students. Last night at Re:action, our college ministry, I had a conversation with some of our students about timing. I asked them this question: "What time is the best time to meet together in order for maximum impact in our target audience?" Answers varied. But the biggest time-frame that seemed to work was Sundays. We've been meeting on Mondays for a year now. We've seen a lot of people move away to go out of town for college.

I do not propose a youth church.

I am simply wondering the best way to move forward. I'm really just thinking out loud. We're probably going to be moving Re:action to Sunday nights for a while and see how that works for our students and their friends. Then we can re-evaluate from there.

*Worth Dying For will be at Clovis Hills Community Church leading worship in October.

Technorati tags: the, stadium, modesto, worth, dying, for, youth, church, movement, college, ministry, re:action, new, harvest, church, students, times

Ampin' It Up @ AMPLIFY

Yesterday was a huge success! For those of you out of the loop, we held an outreach event called AMPLIFY for students in our area. The band is called A Current Affair. Here are the highlights.

Embedded Video

Technorati tags: amplify, outreach, event, new, harvest, church, a, current, affair, student, ministry, blog

AMPLIFY is TOMORROW!

Check it out...we're opening up the event with some dodgeball. Come on time so that you can get your dodgeball on.

Fiasco Friday // 1

This is the random mind-dump of  Fiasco Friday!  If you've got something crazy going on in your life or some off-the-wall comment...click below and share it. Here's a random video of  a high school student eating a burger (his 3rd in one night) in 3 bites! He's a funny guy.

Also, go check out Paul Haugen's Blog...he's got an announcement that's life-changing over there.

Embedded Video

Technorati tags: fiasco, friday, paul, haugen, blog, youtube, video

Recent Student Ministry WINs

Here are some WINs we've been experiencing in our Student Ministry department...

• We had 2 new Student Impact volunteer sign-ups from our Jr High students yesterday. Our students continue to step up to the service plate!
• We had a guest worship band from Clovis Hills in Catalyst last night! They really rocked it!
• Erica, our Children's Ministry Director, introduced me to a woman who is going to serve as a Small Group Leader in Turnpike. She loves Jr. High students and has a lot of experience with them. We are always excited for new volunteers.
• Pastor Mitch delivered a great message yesterday and he said some REALLY challenging things for all of us. Let's continue to work together for the sake of the next generation!
• I'm seeing a lot of determination from parents! They are really, really, really excited about partnering with the church to help disciple their students!
• AMPLIFY is this weekend. A CURRENT AFFAIR is excited about playing here and they've been praying for students to show who need to hear about Jesus!
• Sunday, during our Turnpike worship band practice, I told the band, "I need two volunteers to go into PitStop during first service and help out." Immediately two hands went up Ian DiMino and Nic Smith. They jumped at the opportunity to serve. That's what I like to see!
• Yesterday was Matt Terra's first day in Turnpike as a Small Group Leader. Matt will be helping with the 8th grade boys, which enables me to facilitate OnDeck (something we've been missing since we left CW). OnDeck is for visiting or returning students. I get to know them a little, help them fill out a visitor form and introduce them to their potential small group. This brings the anxiety of going directly into a group they don't know decrease exponentially!
• Sunday, Carole Blomgren, an awesome volunteer in CM and an active parent, told Greg Zuffelato, Director of Family Life, that she and her husband would love to lead a Parent Prayer Group during our new lunch time (12:15-1pm)! This is amazing! Imagine it...parents coming together somewhere on campus to contend and pray for one-another, our NHC families and students!!!
• Kelly Chandler, a college freshman (one of our recent grads and Re:action student), told me yesterday that she'd love to give her testimony and speak in Turnpike/Catalyst. Awesome! We've been missing that female voice in our speaking rotation. We'll meet again and talk some more about this possibility, but I am very excited about this prospect.
• I got an email from Ryan Rothford (some of you know this name) last week. He told me that he's recently rededicated his life to Christ and upon his return from Switzerland (laster this month or early next month), he'd love to serve in our Student Ministries! I'll be meeting with him when he gets into town.
• I've heard some rumblings of a couple of leaders, Anita Lee and Steve Bollier, planning Small Group Outings! Fantastic...that's what I like to see.
• Anita Lee has created a wiki page for her girls to connect and talk about what's going on beyond Sunday. What a great resource...meeting the students where they are!
• Ken and Debbie Horton, SGLs in Catalyst, have planned a three large group fellowship times for Catalyst students to come together and build community in a safe environment. I'm looking for a couple of people to do the same for Turnpike...any takers?

Have some WINs? Tell me about 'em!