Youth Worker Appreciation Day...

Youth Specialties has declared tomorrow, September 6th National Youth Worker Appreciation Day. I love that. I've been involved in Student Ministry my entire adult life. I got my first youth ministry job at the age of 18 and have breathed that as a lifestyle ever since. I'm glad there are folks like Youth Specialties that recognize the hard work, sacrifice, commitment, and all out effort that youth workers pour into ministering to students. Don't get me wrong...I know there are some lazy Youth Pastors and volunteers. That goes with every profession. And that infuriates me because they give those of us who are doing everything we can to storm the gates of hell for the lives of students a bad name. But I have had the privilege of knowing, befriending, and working with some incredible youth pastors and youth workers. My last team was simply amazing. The team I have now at TCC is fantastic. So tomorrow if you have any youth pastors or youth workers in your circle of influence be sure and tell them thanks. I know it will mean a lot.

On a slightly related note, my friend and fellow blogger Terrace Crawford has been having some awesome give-a-ways on his blog in honor of National Youth Worker Day and I was yesterday's winner! He hooked me up and you can read about it here. Thanks for all you do to support and encourage your fellow youth workers Terrace!

Jesus Is My Friend...

Our Lead Pastor Cole Phillips showed us this video today at the office. I'm not sure where or how he found it. I'm not even sure what to say. It left me pretty much speechless...

The Weekend Update...

Here's a recap of the weekend. Let me just forewarn you that it mostly involves moving. If you're hatred for moving is as big as mine, you might want to skip this post...

• Thursday night the moving began. My friend Brett Scott and I moved a couple of small loads to get started.


• Friday Johanna and I spent most of the day packing. My brother drove in from Houston Friday night and he and I packed all of our junk that would fit into a 26 ft. Uhaul. We had a good time hanging out, but both of us would've preferred different circumstances for our chats.


• Saturday we moved the Uhaul stuff and a few other loads to Kyle. We had some GREAT folks from The Connection Church help us out. We even had some friends from TCC mow our lawn while we were picking up more stuff. Gotta' love that! Thanks to all who helped out!


• Sunday was an incredible day at TCC. Cole knocked it out of the park on Sunday morning.


• Sunday night we had Surge, our middle school ministry. It turned into an all-out water war, with water balloons flying everywhere.


• Monday we spent just relaxing and running a few errands after the move. Monday evening we went to The Salt Lick with some friends to celebrate Joe's birthday. It was a blast!

Like I said, our weekend revolved around moving. Labor day weekend really was filled with labor. And my back is sore to prove it...

The Weekend Update...

Sorry for the blogging silence folks. Between speaking at a retreat this past weekend, getting stuff packed, and trying to get ready to move it has been beyond crazy this past week. This week holds more craziness as we make our actual move to Kyle, so the blogging may be spotty this week too, but I know it will pick up after that. With that said, here's a recap of the weekend.

• Friday Johanna, myself, and a couple of our students from Lockhart spent the morning and early afternoon getting stuff ready for our garage sale that Johanna held on Saturday.
• Friday afternoon I headed out to Camp Travis outside of Austin, TX on Lake Travis. I spent the weekend speaking at FUEL weekend for Randy Moore and the students of Millwood Baptist Church. Even though Randy had to leave early for some family stuff, it was a really good weekend. Pray for Randy and his family and pray for the students of Millwood as they start school this week.
• Sunday was spent gettilng acclimated some more with all things The Connection Church. I absolutely love this place and am honored to be able to serve on the TCC team!
• Speaking of Sunday, Cole knocked it out of the park with his sermon. At TCC we use hell as a motivation because we don't want people to spend eternity there. And in his words, "If that means we charge the gates with water guns, that's what we'll do!"

I'm hoping to blog a little more consistently this week, but the packing and moving craziness is in full swing. If I'm not back on my regular blogging schedule this week, it'll hit back up next week for sure. Thanks for your patience...

Link "Love"...

My friend David Stippick recently started blogging. From time to time I throw out link love and he's been giving me a pretty hard time about leaving him out. In turn, I've been holding off showing him any link love simply in spite.

Well, the ban is over. Today I read Stippick's blog and he wrote one of the most incredible blogs I've ever read in the form of a letter to his future wife. It is a MUST READ. Click here now to read it.

I absolutely love my wife. I am a pretty romantic guy. I love making her feel like the most incredible woman on this planet. And in light of all these things, I wish I had written this blog. It's good. Really good. (Except for the part about watching chick flicks and reading romantic novels...that's scary.)

So Stippick, here's your link love bro. Enjoy.

The Weekend Update...

INCREDIBLE weekend. Here's the recap, bulletin style:

• Friday night, Johanna, myself, and a few students from our ministry in Lockhart headed to Kyle to the Chris Sligh concert. It was a great night. Good food at Chilis. Great concert at the PAC. Some of the best company on the planet.
• Saturday we headed back to Kyle for a Current meeting. That's the quarterly leadership meeting at The Connection Church for any and all volunteers and ministry leaders.
• Saturday afternoon Jo and I met with a lady about leasing her house...And we signed a lease! We actually have a place to move into at the end of this month...and it has a hot tub!
• Sunday was spent being involved at TCC...ALL DAY. We spent the morning at the worship service at the PAC, the afternoon golfing with some guys from one of the small groups, and the evening getting a taste of what the Surge Jr. High ministry is all about...FANTASTIC DAY!

As you can see, the weekend was packed. But it was a blast! Now, it's time to follow it up with a great week!

What It's All About...

Over the last two weekends Elevation Church, led by Steven Furtick, had a goal to baptize 1,000 people in their two weekend Awakening series. They didn't hit that goal. They passed it. In the past two weekends 1,044 people were baptized during the services at Elevation. Life-change. People taking the plunge to follow Jesus. That's what it is all about.

I just watched this video and read about Leo's story on Steven Furtick's blog. INCREDIBLE. You need to click here and watch it now. Seriously. Right now.

An Office Jewel...

I spent a lot of time this week packing and cleaning out my office. Just so you know, I despise both packing and cleaning. I'm just not sure which one I hate the most. But in the midst of the cleaning, sorting, and discarding I came across several random pages of old notes. One of them had to do with "Why Stillness Is Important." This morning I met with a great friend for breakfast and one of the first things he asked me was how my walk with God was going. Straight up and to the point. We all need those kind of friends. Then this afternoon I found these notes so I thought I'd share. I don't have a clue where I got them. For all I know, I may have made them up. But I doubt it. They may be notes of someone else's teaching. I honestly don't know. They were written on some notes that I recognize to be around 3 years old. In any case, I hope this encourages you, as it has me, to seek times of stillness with God.

Why Is Stillness Important? - Psalm 23:1-3

1. God orders it. - Psalm 46:10 - What God has to say to us is worth waiting to hear.
2. Wisdom prescribes it. - Ps. 51:6
3. Survival depends on it. - Psalm 1:1-3 - Just as we need physical rest, we must have spiritual stillness.
4. Success requires it. - Jeremiah 9:23-24 & Matthew 11:28-29

If you're like me, your life is busy. The temptation is to fool ourselves into always thinking that busyness = godliness. But it's a dangerous thing to get so busy that we forget to be still with God. I pray that this weekend we'll all be able to spend some still time with God.

The End of an Era and The Start of Something New...

We just got home from our last night at The Attic, our student ministry building. Our staff and students have called this old upstairs building home for the past year and a half. For a year before that, we were in the wilderness - bouncing from Sunday School rooms, to fellowship halls, to random homes. I couldn't help but hear the tune to Green Day's Closing Time as I walked out tonight...Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

Over the past year and a half we have seen GOD do some absolutely amazing things in our ministry in this place. We've met in an old, musty, hot, old, ugly, hot building (did I mention old and hot?). And in that place, God showed up, week after week, and changed lives. And it's been amazing. So tonight, as Johanna and I close this chapter of our lives and step into the next chapter, I am overwhelmed with a mixture of emotions.

We've seen God move incredibly and we are grateful. And we will miss our relationships in this ministry. We've made lifetime friends and ministry partners that we'll charge the gates of hell with for a long time to come. But even in the midst of those feelings, we are looking forward to this next step with great anticipation. We are beyond excited about what God has in store for our future at The Connection Church. I am pumped about being a part of the TCC team and doing whatever it takes to reach people with the love and hope of Jesus. So tonight has become both a celebration of things done and a celebration of things to come...and I can definitely handle that.

Creators or Connoisseurs?

Over the past couple years in ministry I have noticed a growing trend: most churches and ministries are simply copying innovation and creativity. If you look at churches that are considered "cutting edge" the vast majority of them are simply copying their "creativity" from a very limited, few sources. Whether it's teaching series ideas, outreach events, or overall programming, it seems that there is a lot of copycat ministry that exists in the church today.

And here's my take on it. Innovation and creativity are hard work. Even for those who are naturally creative, innovation doesn't happen without work, time, and vision. That's why it's so easy to simply copy what someone else has done. And if all of our innovation and creativy are "borrowed" then it's not really innovative at all. After all, by definition, innovation is the creation of something new.

For the church, this ought to be alarming. After all, God is the ultimate Creator. He is the author and beginning of all things innovative and creative. It is from His being that all creativity flows. Unfortunatley, far too many times we settle for being connoisseurs of innovation, rather than creators of something new. It's a whole lot easier to copy someone else's new idea than to work hard enough and pray hard enough for God to give us something new.

In short, we've settled for being consumers of innovation instead of creators. I think that the author of creativity demands more from us than that.

The Weekend Update...

So here's a little recap of this past weekend in the life of Nic:

• I spent most of Friday doing absolutely nothing. Seriously, it may have been the laziest day I've had in months!
• Friday night Jo and I went to eat at Blake's in Luling. However, we made sure that we were back in time to catch the majority of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies...That stuff was KILLER. I feel for the nation that has to follow up that act. Wow.
• Saturday was spent working on my sermon, cleaning out the Blazer, and working around the house...and more Olympics.
• Today was by far the highlight of the weekend. I preached this morning and our student worship leader, Michael Pittman, led worship. Our 2nd service was ROCKIN! Absolutely incredible stuff.
• I got to baptize two students today. One was a sophomore in our ministry and the other was his 9 year old little sister. AMAZING. The symbolism of the life-change that baptism represents gets me pumped up every time.
• Tonight was our "going away" reception at the church. We had some worship time, some cookies and punch, and some sharing of memories. Good stuff.
• After church we got to spend some time with some students and youth workers at Taco Bell just hanging out...had a great time.
• I just finished up the weekend watching more Olympics, with the USA men's swim team coming back at the last second to stick it to France. Yeah baby!

That's the wrap up. I'm out.

Pray For Clara...

I'm not sure why I haven't posted this on here yet, but I have a friend who could definitely use our prayers. Clara was our children's minister at FLBC when I came on board and I absolutely loved serving alongside her. Over the past couple years that I've known her, and even longer than that, she's suffered from some incredibly painful headaches/migraines. A few months back they found out it was all caused by something called Chiari. To make a long story short, she and her husband Tim traveled to New York this past weekend for Clara to have major surgery. You can read all about it on their blog here. Clara's surgery is done but she's still recovering in the hospital and she, Tim, and the family are defnitely still in need of prayers. Thanks in advance!

Link Love...

Here some's links you definitely need to check out:

• This (click here) might be the funniest blog I've read in months. My college roomate David Brown is a great writer and his post yesterday combined his mad creative writing skills and his almost scary love of music. If you're a Vanilla Ice fan, you've gotta' check it out.
• My student worship leader Michael Pittman is now blogging. He is hands down the most talented worship leader, as a high school student, that I have ever served with. And he's hilarious. Click here to check out his blog.
• Terrace Crawford posted this blog a few days back about 10 Ways A Church Can Show Students Love. It's really good stuff. If you work with students or attend a church and care about the students who go there too, you should check it out and pass it on.
• I'm not a Packers fan, but you cannot go anywhere without hearing the Brett Favre/Packer drama. Even though Brett is now a Jet, I loved this post by Mark Batterson about the whole situation. I mean, c'mon...Favre is a legend.

Quotable...

Tony Morgan posted an interview (click here) with Seth Godin over on his blog. In the interview Seth makes this statement, and I thought it was definitely worth sharing:

Faith is never going to go out of style, and community is more important than ever. It’s just got to be relevant.

Good stuff. Seth Godin is speaking at Catalyst and I am pumped that I get to hear it. It should be really challenging stuff.

More Thoughts on Vision...

I had a great conversation with Phil Hamblin, pastor of Rhea's Mill Baptist Church a few weekends ago. Phil is a new friend and someone who I think is an incredible leader in the church today. We talked a lot about vision over that weekend and Phil said some things that I've been processing ever since. He said that churches, or any organization for that matter, are full of three types of people:

• Those who can see the vision before it happens.
• Those who can see the vision when it happens.
• Those who will never see the vision, even when it is happening.

I think for far too long churches and pastors have allowed vision-stealers, those who refuse to understand or see the vision, to rob the church of God-sized visions. I get jazzed when I am around people who can see the vision before it happens. I can even go with people who need to be aided along to see things as they happen. But I quickly lose patience with those who refuse to see God's vision, even as it is becoming reality.

When it comes to God's vision for my ministry and for the church I lead and serve, I want to dream so big that people look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them my dream of God's vision for the church. Because it is in those God-sized visions that God shows up and gets the most glory. And lives are changed!

**UPDATE** - After I posted this blog and my wife read it she pointed me toward a blog that Steven Furtick wrote last week about vision. Check it out here. Here's a quote about vision that Furtick made in the blog: "I’ve heard it said that if people have stopped laughing at your vision, you’ve stopped leading." Love it.

Redneck Stonehenge...

What do you do if your neighbors complain about the look and smell of living next to your farm? Well, if your Rhett Davis of Hooper, Utah you offer to split the cost of a fence between properties and even say that you'll build it yourself. But if that doesn't work? Then you build a fence by planting cars in the ground. That's exactly what Davis did in creating what he calls his "redneck Stonehenge." While he says it's just in fun and not to spite anyone, I doubt his neighbors are laughing. Check out the full article by clicking here.

Big Changes Ahead...

For some of you who are involved in the ins and outs of our daily life this is old news. But to some of ya' who keep up with Johanna and my life through this blog, we've got some BIG, EXCITING news to share.

This past weekend we shared with our church that we feel God has called us to make a move in our ministry. We've spent a ton of time praying about God's direction for us as we seek to follow Him and we feel confident that God is leading us to be a part of the team at The Connection Church in Kyle, TX. TCC is a church plant a litte over 3 years old that is rocking the Kyle area and beyond with the message and hope of Jesus. And we are stoked that God has opened the door for us to be a part of the team.

It has been a hard decision for us and one that's taken a lot of prayer. We love our students here in Lockhart and we will miss them greatly. Our team of youth workers here is incredible and I can't imagine a better team. We've got tons of memories and life invested in this place. But even though it's hard to say goodbye we are pumped about the next step that God has called us to.

I will be serving with Cole Phillips and Zak White, two incredible leaders and men of God, as well as with a ton of other great people on the TCC team. My official title will be Families Pastor and Johanna and I are excited about our role in helping TCC reach those who are far from God.

I'll be posting more details as they come about, but for right now we'd just ask that you pray for us as we make this move. And you can check out this video that Zak put together to show at TCC yesterday and check out his blog announcement here.

Vision...

We spent today out on Lake Travis with a bunch of students chilling on a party boat. We rented a double decker boat, drove out in the lake a bit, and tied up in a place called Devil's Cove. It's a great spot on the lake with one side lined by sheer rock cliffs and the other side lined by the same type of cliffs but with multi-million dollar homes built alongside it. What's that have to do with vision? I'm glad you asked.

While my buddy Jmob (check out his blog here) were floating out in the lake, I made this observation: At one time the only thing along this part of the lake were rocky cliffs. But then someone had the vision to place incredible homes along this cove. And that vision transformed rocky, jagged, useless land into some of the most expensive real estate in the Austin area. I know people who would kill for these homes. Seriously.

So what most people saw as useless land, someone saw as one of the most coveted places to live on the lake. And that vision has paid off...big time. It is a great example of how when vision is followed, it always pays off. It may not be monetarily, like someone selling plots to build million dollar homes. But following visions always pays off. The benefits at the end are always directly related to the willingness to seek, cast, and follow the vision from the beginning.

What about you? Got any thoughts on what it means to follow vision. If so, let's here them.

Obedience...

We're talking about obedience tonight at The Attic with our students. We spent yesterday in Austin doing some "on the street" interviews about the topic for a video we're showing tonight. It's a tough topic to talk about. And we've got some other really HARD stuff to talk about tonight so it's going to be a tough night...But back to the topic of obedience.

There's a passage in the Bible (1 Samuel 15:22) that simply says this: "Does the LORD really want sacrifices and offerings? No! He doesn't want your sacrifices. He wants you to obey him." Sounds simple enough doesn't it? But sometimes obedience is hard. Sometimes following God is difficult. When I read the Bible I see story after story of God calling people to do crazy, insane, difficult, tough things. And simply asking them to obey.

And when you read the stories through, you see that every time God calls someone to obey and they step up and follow Him, God proves himself faithful. Every time. No exceptions. God is faithful.

I don't know about you, but there are days when obedience is harder than others. There are times when it is more difficult. But when we obey, we allow God to do things that only He can as He works in us and through us. And God is always faithful. That's the one thing that never changes.

Junior High Camp - Video Style...

So you've already read my updates about Camp 7*8, our Junior High Camp that we held at Hi-Line Lake Resort on Lake Buchanan last week. But I thought I'd give you a recap of a different style. Check out this video, by the extremely talented Jonathan Mobley, to get a glimpse of what a week at Camp 7*8 holds.

Helicopter Fishing...

A few days ago a friend asked me about possibly going sky diving in the near future. Not sure I'm all about that. But one thing that I absolutely love to do is fish. In fact, it may be my favorite hobby. While this is not quite as high as jumping out of a plane, this may be the extreme sport that I'd really like to try. Check out this video!


Helicopter Fishing - Coolest Sport Ever - Watch more free videos

Parental Influence...

I make it my job to stay up on all things youth culture and all things statistically related to students because, well, it is my job after all. So when I read this on Tim Steven's blog about the influence parents vs. peers have on teenagers I was intrigued. If you are a parent of a pre-teen or teen you need to click here and read this right now. Tim, a pastor at Granger Community Church, talks about how, as children grow in age, the main influence in their lives crosses from parents to peers. You can even see the graph below which he includes in his blog. But one thing I really like about Tim's approach is that he also gives some great advice for parents on how to continue to be a positive influence on their students' lives. If you're a parent or you work with teenagers, take a few minutes to check it out

The Last Lecture...

Randy Pausch, the former Carnegie Mellon University professor who became instantly famous for his Last Lecture speech, passed away today after his battle with cancer. Pausch delivered his Last Lecture to students at the university in September of 2007 and quickly became an international sensation, appearing on Oprah and other TV shows. His speech was turned into a book that has been at the top of the best-seller list since it was released in April. You can read the Yahoo news obituary here. You can also check out his appearance on Oprah below:

Home Again...

We just got back yesterday from a week at Junior High Camp. I am exhausted and spent, but like so much of this summer, it is a good, fulfilling, satisfying exhaustion. It's a kingdom exhaustion. And that's a good thing. We had an incredible week. We played some crazy games, rode jet skis, tubed out on the lake, fished and swam, and had a great time hanging out together. But even better than all that fun was that God showed up. God did what only he can do and he drew so many of our teenagers closer to himself. They've made commitments. They've taken stands. And now they have the opportunity to show others what they learned at camp, not by the stories they share, but by how they live. I think God worked in some students' lives in such a way that the kingdom is going to be forever different. And when that happens, it's a week well spent.

Link Love...

We're at youth camp this week with our Junior High students. We're at a campground that is "out in the sticks" so the internet access and cell phone service is a bit limited. In light of that, I've set a couple blogs to post this week and I thought I'd start out with some link love. Here's some stuff off the web that I thought worthy of passing on. Check it out.

• Check out the blog Stuff Christians Like. Absolutely hilarious! This is quickly becoming one of my favorite blogs to read.
• I have the ABSOLUTE BEST student worship leader on the planet. He is insanely talented and does a great job serving in our ministry. Now he's started blogging. Watch out world, Michael Pittman is coming! Check out his blog here.
• Ben Arment had a post about "slow motion decision making" that really resonated with me. Check it out here. I think there is something to this.
• Perry Noble, pastor of Newspring Church in Anderson, SC, shared this post about leadership environments that he wanted to be in. It's really good stuff and it challenged me to evaluate my relationships with those who've been where I've been, who are where I'm at, and who are where I want to be.
• Cole Phillips, pastor of The Connection Church in Kyle, TX, shared the following video. I grew up enthralled by The Wonder Years and this Joe Cocker tune was the theme song. I know it by heart. And this is also one of my dad's favorite songs of all time. I can remember growing up hearing him sing (yell) it from the other side of the house. But this video takes a "different" approach to the song...Hope you enjoy.
  

Camp 7*8

Today we leave for our Junior High youth camp, Camp 7*8. We're loading up our 6th, 7th, & 8th graders and heading to Hi-Line Lake Resort in Tow, TX. Hi-Line is a little piece of heaven on earth tucked away in the hill country on Lake Buchanan. The couple that owns the camp are incredible people who love Jesus and love to invest in people. While I absolutely love the campgrounds, the owners are the real reason that I get excited about doing events at Hi-Line. We're looking forward to an incredible week of camp with some great students. The theme of the week is "Plunge Deeper" and our prayer is that God draws students to take the next step to a deeper walk with Him. Pray for all of us. And who knows? I might even get a little fishing in while we're there!

Got My Picture In The Paper...

Just over a week ago our student ministry was busy serving our community and sharing God's love in practical ways with the people of Lockhart. You can read about it by clicking here, here, and here. You can also check out a video highlight of the week by clicking here.

This past Thursday the Lockhart Post Register printed a story in the newspaper about what our students were doing to serve others and to share God's love. They interviewed me and some of our students and put together a pretty cool little article, including some color pics of our group working. In Lockhart, getting color pics in the paper is a big deal!

Anyway, if you want to check it out you can do so by simply clicking here. Enjoy!

GREAT Quote...

I just read this quote from Seth Godin, author and speaker, over on Tony Morgan's blog and had to share it. GREAT food for thought!

"If you are willing to satisfy people with good enough, you can make just about everybody happy. If you delight people and create change that lasts, you’re going to offend those that hate change in all its forms. Your choice."

Today Should Be A National Holiday...

The title says it all. Today should be a national holiday. Each year, on a Tuesday in mid-July one of the greatest gifts technology has ever given us is renewed in the form of the newest edition. That's right. I am talking about NCAA Football by EA Sports. It is, hands-down, without-a-doubt, no-question-about-it, the one reason I own an Xbox 360. I like some other games. I'll spend time playing other games from time to time. But nothing in the gaming world compares to my love for NCAA Football. Last night at midnight Jaron picked up a copy at Wal-Mart and we were well into our first game of NCAA 09 by 1:00 AM. This afternoon we are having some "youth staff bonding time" and hooking it up to the projector for some "big-time" fun. I think I may write a letter to the president this week seeing if we can work on swithing this one out with one of those minor national holidays so that people can show their proper respects. Everyone could stay at home to play and all the businesses could be closed - except for the ones that sell the game. Let the sleepless nights, wasted hours, and addiction begin.

Happy Birthday Babe!...

Today (Monday, July 14th) my incredible wife celebrates her 25th year on planet earth. We have spent the last several days celebrating her birthday. We started a tradition in our first year of marriage where instead of just a "birthday" she had a birthday week. It's a long story, but I was away on a mission trip so I left her a gift each day of the week. It's a tradition that stuck and I love doing it because it brings a smile to Johanna's face.

For the past few days leading up to today I've given Jo small gifts for her birthday. Today I suprised her with an Ipod Nano, some flowers and balloons, and we spent the evening in Austin and had dinner at Chuy's. It was a great day spent with the most amazing woman on the planet.

I absolutely love to celebrate Johanna's birthday. It's not only a celebration for her, but for me as well. It's a celebration of the day that God brought into the world my partner for life, my best friend, and my wife. It marks the day of God's incredible gift to me. If that's not reason to celebrate I don't know what is. Happy Birthday Babe! I love you!

The Weekend Update...

We had a great weekend. It's been both productive and relaxing. You just can't beat that. Here are some highlights:

• Jo and I spent Friday having "the hottest, coolest time in Texas" at Schlitterbahn water park. We enjoyed getting to hang out with the family and it was cool to get to spend some time with my nieces and nephews. That said, we missed you Jerry, Ingrid, Lilliana, and Diego!
• I spent Saturday morning in a meeting. Gotta' love meetings like this one! I'm pumped about what's in store for the future! But you'll have to wait to find out...
• I took the longest nap I have taken in a long, long time Saturday afternoon/evening. Not sure why I've been so exhausted the past few days...Maybe summer youth ministry has something to do with it...
• Had church this morning. The new drummer rocked it. We also sang the new Tomlin song "Jesus Messiah." It's good.
• Jo & I had lunch and hung out all afternoon with a couple of my interns. We watched some TV, played some NCAA Football on the 360, and went for a swim. Now we're just all chillin' at the house.
• That about wraps up the weekend. Hope yours was as relaxing and as good as ours.

Mission LTX - Video Style...

Here's a video recap of all our students did to share God's love with our community last week at Mission LTX. As always, Jmob did an oustanding job with the video. Check it out. I think you'll like it...

Bring Ya' To Your Feet...

Yahoo recently featured this article (click here) ranking, in their opinion, the top 10 bands that will move you and bring you to your feet. While I'm all about U2, dig some of The Killers' stuff, and have always considered Oasis one of my all-time favorite bands, a lot of this list just didn't resonate with me.

I think they focused too much on one genre of music and even in that missed out on some great bands. When I think of music and performers that bring me to my feet, there are more misses than hits on Yahoo's list.

But what about YOU, my faithful readers (ok...my mom)? What bands bring you to your feet? Comment away...

Mission LTX Update

This has been a tiring, hot, exhausting, work-filled, sleepless, INCREDIBLE week. Our students have dominated this week. They have taken seriously what it means to BE the church and have swarmed our community with the love of God.

We've painted houses, helped demo houses, landscaped, lead Backyard Bible Clubs at apartment complexes, and still have more to do. Through our words, our action, our work ethic, and our sweat we have said over and over to our community "God loves you and we do to!" That has been the message we have hoped and prayed would be communicated this week. And I think it is being heard.

On Wednesday morning I had a great conversation with one of the apartment managers where we are doing one of our Backyard Bible Clubs (We call them Rainbow Express - Thanks Mission Arlington!). She was new to this complex and at first was a little hesitant about the whole deal. But since we arrived on Monday she has really been blown away by what is going on. She shared with me that on Tuesday morning the owner's rep was there inspecting the property and watched our Rainbow Express team work with the children at the complex for a while. She was so impressed she contacted the owners and they asked us to go to another complex in town that they own and do the same thing next week! Of course we are all over that, so we'll be doing another Rainbow Express next week at a new location. The manager also told me that they have been so impressed with how our students have served that they are open to other ministries we might want to do at these complexes as well.

Wow. God is good. He knows exactly what he is doing. Last week we weren't even sure if we would be allowed at this apartment when Monday morning rolled around they were so hesitant of what we were doing. Now they want us here every week. God is moving. And it is amazing to just get out of the way and enjoy the ride.

Video Stuff...

I have the blessing of having some incredibly gifted people on my team. One of those people is Jonathan Mobley (or Jmob to our crew). He is one of our student ministry interns and he specializes in everything technology. Seriously, if it is media or technology related I don't even attempt to answer it or try it. I just sick Jmob on it. Basically, we give him worse than terrible equipment, no money, and hardly any time and he makes the magic happen - whether it's design, video, running sound...he makes it happen. Check out his blog on the right of this page and check out these videos he's done for us this summer. The first is a brief highlight video of our Mission Arlington mission trip from a couple of weeks ago. The second is an intro video we play for our summer series ("You Make The Call") at our midweek student gathering. Check 'em out.

That's Why We Do This...

Today at Mission LTX we got to see God do what only God does - take dead things and make them alive. And I just had to share the story. So here it is:

One of our work projects this week is helping a family whose home has burned. The shell of the house is pretty stable and the family is wanting to rebuild around the walls, floor, etc that are left. But to do that there is literally TONS of demolition that needs to be done. So far this week we've torn out all the sheetrock in the walls and ceiling and scraped up burned carpet and tiles from the floors. It has been messy and hard and hot but our students have busted their tails in order to serve this family and be a blessing to them.

Our students and our youth ministry have become the talk of the neighborhood. People are amazed that our students would not only give up a week of their summer to work in our community for free, but that they would pay to do it in order to provide their own tools, resources, etc. And then when they see the work ethic of our students, they are really shocked. We demand A LOT out of our students. And that only intensifies when we are on a mission project. We believe that most students will give you exactly what you expect from them, so we expect big things from our youth. And they deliver.

So today one of the men from our church was driving his tractor down the street from the house, bringing it over to help us load some debri into a dumpster. As he drove by a house a man went into the street waving his arms to get his attention. The man lived in a home down the street from where we are working and he started asking Mark (the guy from our church) about why our students would do what they are doing. Basically, this led to Mark telling the guy how our youth want to show the love of God to others and this is one way they do it. That led to a presentation of the gospel. And that led to this man praying to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ right there on the spot.

I am constantly amazed at how God works. I am blown away at what he uses to draw people to himself. But I am SO PUMPED that he lets me be a part of it. And when God leads and you follow, be prepared to see incredible things. Because God is in the business of incredible and amazing. As I type this I am still blown away by this story. But I know one thing: That's why we do this...

It's Who We Are...

This week our students will be serving all over our community in our 3rd annual Mission LTX. Basically, Mission LTX is a week where our students spend their days doing whatever they can to share the love of God in practical, real ways with our community of Lockhart, TX (hence the LTX).

A big group of our student ministry, along with a few youth workers, will be doing tons of stuff to help connect the people in our neighborhoods with the God who loves them. We'll be ministering to children and teens in backyard Bible clubs throughout apartment complexes and neighborhoods. We're helping a family clean up after a fire has wreaked havoc on their home and their lives. We'll be painting some houses, handing out bottled water, cleaning up some yards...basically, we've opened ourselves up to do whatever we can to serve the people of our community and show them the love of God.

In a blog a few days ago Perry Noble talked about the calling of the church to "serve people into the kingdom." That is what we are about this week. And my prayer and challenge to my students and our ministry is not that serving others would be something we do. Rather, it would be who we are.

One of our freshman girls told me Monday afternoon that what we were doing (tearing down burned sheetrock) was way more fun than sitting at home and watching tv. It's a lot more important too. I couldn't agree more.

The Weekend Update...

Johanna and I spent the end of last week and part of the weekend with my family at Stephenville. My grandfather has been having some health problems, so we decided to go down and see if we could do anything to help and to spend some time with him. It was great to get to just hang out with family and be home for a while. Here are some of the highlights of the weekend:

• Got to spend time with my Papa, my parents, my brother and my sister-in-law. I love it when we can all get together.
• My brother, dad, and myself all joined some cousins and old high school friends for a round of golf at Par Country Club on the morning of the fourth. The course was PACKED, so we decided to play a little two-man team scramble, which my brother and I dominated of course...mostly thanks to him!
• Johanna, Justin, Christie, and I spent the evening of the fourth eating Italian food, watching Hancock, and then watching the fireworks from the Stephenville Family Fun Fair with my parents. My Papa's house is literally half a block from the City Park where the firework show is, so we had some PRIME seats!
• Justin and Christie decided to come to Lockhart with us on Saturday evening. We all went out and ate some tasty seafood at Clear Springs Saturday night and then spent Sunday afternoon shopping at the outlet malls. I hate going to the outlet malls on the weekend, but it was great to get to hang out with my bro, and as a bonus I got some $9 flip flops!

That about sums it up. Like I said, it was great to spend time at home with the fam. This week is gonna' be super busy. We started our annual Mission LTX today. There'll be more about that later, but now I'm gonna' grab some supper after a long day of work...

Some Great Quotes...

In light of sharing some link love in my last post, I thought I'd follow that up with a couple quotes that are stretching me today. Check 'em out:

"The biggest need we have in the world is not lower gas prices…and our greatest tragedy is not that Starbucks is closing 600 stores…the world needs Jesus…and it is OUR JOB as HIS CHURCH to do all that we can to take HIM to the world." - Perry Noble, Pastor, Newspring Church

"Jesus didn't die to keep us safe. He died to make us dangerous! The will of God is not an insurance plan. It's a daring plan. In fact, the will of God doesn't get easier. God gives us more difficult, daring, and dangerous things to do!" - Mark Batterson, Pastor, National Community Church

"Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell." - C.T. Studd, Missionary to China, India, & Africa, Quoted by Mark Batterson

Link Love...

I read a lot of blogs and spend a lot of time online. I thought I'd share some things that have got me thinking, growing, and laughing lately. So here's some link love:

• Great post by Perry Noble sharing a story about how we are called to serve others into God's kingdom. Check it out here.
• Cole Phillips shared a great paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13 on his blog this week. It really challenged me in what it really means to love others.
• My boy Jmob moved his blog over to Wordpress. Check it out here. He's in the process of moving my site over there too but with all the craziness of summer student ministry it might take a little time...
• My college roomate Michael Norwood is one of the most creative and artistic people on this planet. Seriously. He can do it all. And his photography rocks. Last week he and a few of his photo buds got together for a "man road trip" and set up their own blog including pics they took along the way. Check it out to see some amazing pics. Go to http://www.mammothmen.com/ and prepare to be amazed.
• My friends at Commonground Community Church went live with their new website. If you're in the Bridge City or Golden Triangle area check this church out! It rocks!
• Several weeks ago I ran across the blog Stuff Christians Like. This week they compared famous pastors to Comic Superheroes. Let me just say this. Mark Driscoll = Hancock in this one. For a good laugh check out their website and scroll through some of the past entries.

Hope you find these links challenging, insightful, funny, or whatever else they were intended to be...

Meetings Galore...

The theme of this week has been meetings, meetings, meetings. I kicked off the week on Monday with a Student Ministry staff meeting and an evaluation meeting of our Mission Arlington mission trip. Today I met with a lady about an upcoming mission project for next week. Tonight was round two of meetings for today. It went great and I love it when meetings turn into hanging out and just enjoying time with people. Tomorrow morning our Youth Ministry staff is heading to Austin for a meeting with another church to recap and evaluate some ministry stuff from earlier in the summer. Like I said, this week has been all about meetings.

On another note, Johanna and I are leaving at some point tomorrow to go to the Stephenville/Ft. Worth area. We are planning to go see family, but my grandfather is also having some health issues and may have a heart procedure done on Wednesday or Thursday so keep him in your prayers.

Right now I've got a meeting scheduled with my bed and some sleep so I'm out...

The Weekend Update...

We have had a really good weekend. After a LONG week serving with my students at Mission Arlington it was nice to have the chance to just relax and hang out some. Here's the highlights - bullet style:

• After taking students home and unloading vans, I didn't get home till almost midnight on Friday night. Needless to say, we slept in on Saturday morning.
• Saturday morning Jo & I made a quick trip to Austin to take back the rental van. After that, I headed home to relax and lounge around all afternoon, while Jo did a little shopping in San Marcos.
• Saturday night we went on a dinner cruise on Town Lake in Austin. It was definitely the highlight of the weekend. Zak White invited us to join their small group from The Connection Church and we had a blast hanging out with Zak & Amber and meeting some new friends.
• The dinner cruise was really cool. But I almost died when the wind blew a tray top off of our fajita buffet table and almost decapitated me! Lucky for me, Seth stuck his arm out at the last minute and stopped the killer tray. Thanks Seth!
• We also got to see over a million bats on the dinner cruise. These bats make the South Congress bridge in Austin their home from March to October. Our boat captain, Captain Andrew, told us that those bats fly at over 60 miles per hour and would eat over 800,000 bugs a night. Crazy!
• Worship this morning at church was great. "My chains are gone, I've been set free. My God, My Savior, has ransomed me."
• This afternoon Jo, Jaron, Jenna, and myself are just chillin' at the house wathing some Family Feud and Cops...good, quality entertainment.

That about sums up the weekend thus far. I've got a busy week ahead, but it's work that helps people and Jesus connect so I'm pretty pumped about it! Sometimes it blows me away that God would allow me to do what I do...but I'm glad he called me to this craziness!

Mission Arlington Quotes...

We've had a really good week serving with Mission Arlington and being the church in the DFW metroplex this week. It's been hot. The kids we're serving have been crazy with energy. My hotel bed is crappy. I miss my wife enormously. But it has been a great week. How can you complain when you get to see God move with your very own eyes. Every time I come to MA, I am stretched to follow God more faithfully and I learn more about His plan for my life. One of my good friends, Matt Hart, works at MA and leads the student groups, like ours, that come serve each week. This guy seriously loves Jesus and people and is one of those people who will stop at nothing to make sure that those two connect. Absolute great guy. And he's said a couple things this week that have been complete gems. I wanted to share a couple his thoughts about missions with you so here they are:

• "Some of us have it so easy, you wonder if your a threat to anybody."


• "If people are worth Jesus' blood, shouldn't they at least be worth our sweat."

Chew on these two for a while and let me know what you think...

Mission Arlington Update...

It has been a quick couple days here on the Mission Trip. We've worked hard, served hard, had a blast, and sweated more than what I thought was humanly possible. Here are a few highlights and things that stick out:

• When we got to the Quality Inn & Suites on Sunday it took almost an hour and a half to check in. First our rooms weren't ready. Then they were wrong. Then they had no sheets and towels. It was a mess. And we had stayed here before so that was really suprising. But they finally worked it all out...I think.
• It is EXTREMELY hot. We are all completely soaked with sweat before 11:00 AM every day! It's hot and that leads to stinky and gross.
• I LOVE Mission Arlington. God is doing AMAZING things through the ministry here and if you are anywhere near the DFW metroplex area you should make every effort to come be a part of what is going on. Seriously, drop all the excuses and come check it out. They will put you to work and let you serve and you'll be a part of something that is changing the world, changing lives, and growing the kingdom. So do it!
• Our Rainbow Express teams (teams of students working with children teaching them Bible stories, playing games, singing songs, etc) are doing a pretty good job. There have been some times where students have lost focus, but overall they are working really hard and doing a good job.
• Several of our student leaders have taken it to ANOTHER LEVEL this week. They are leading, serving, and stepping up big time.
• It's always cool to see the faces of these kids that we're serving light up when we show up and get off the vans. It is crazy how God uses a couple hours at each apartment complex and stuff like Red Light, Green Light and Red Rover to communicate his love to children.
• I am spent. I am exhausted. And our lights are out...So I'm out too. I'll try to post some pics tomorrow so that you can get a visual picture of what's going on.

Poor Ol' Duke...

If you know me very well, you know that I am a HUGE North Carolina Tarheel basketball fan. My family bleeds Carolina blue. And as a fan of UNC, a deep hatred of the Dook Bluedevils is mandatory. I read this article Saturday and even though it's not about the basketball program, it's still pretty funny.

According to the article, Dook is so bad at football, that a judge awarded in their favor in a case against Louisville. Louisville was suing Dook for $450,000 for pulling out of the last three years of a contract to play them. However, the judge ruled that the Dook football program was so bad and at such a non-competitive level, they were exempt from paying up. You can read the full article by clicking here.

The Weekend Update (Early Edition)...

As soon as our morning church service is over tomorrow, I am leaving on a Mission Trip with a group of my students. We are going to Mission Arlington. If you've never heard of this ministry, check out there website here. I have been working with them for about 10 years now and it is incredible to see the amazing life-change that is taking place in the DFW metroplex because of the ministry of Mission Arlington. But because of that, I am writing the weekend update early. It includes a little that's been done and a little that is still to be done. I should have internet during the week and be able to blog. I'll have some posts pre-set for the week at least. And you can always follow me on twitter (or keep up with what is going on using my twitter feed to the right). So here's what this weekend has and will look like:

• Spent Friday morning resting and getting some last minute things done for the Mission Trip.
• Friday afternoon/early evening Johanna and I went on a "day date." I love spending time with my wife! We ate some Red Lobster, did a little shopping for some things I needed for the trip, and watched Get Smart.
• Today has been filled with lounging around, grabbing some Mexican food for lunch, and watching a marathon of the UFC Ultimate Fighter. In fact, as I write this I am sitting here drinking a Sonic Slush and watching the live finale.
• Tomorrow will be crazy. We load up and leave right after church. With the caravan we're taking it will take us a good four to five hours to get to DFW. Then we'll get checked into the hotel and spend some time prepping for the week.

No Extra Charge...

About a week ago Johanna, myself, and some friends went and watched the movie Kung Fu Panda. It's a pretty good flick. I even caught myself laughing out loud a couple times. Jack Black does an excellent job with the voice of Po, the Panda. And if you like animated movies, this one is probably worth your time and money.

But there is a great quote in the begining of the movie that has had me thinking over the past several days. After a fight sequence, Po, the "Kung Fu Panda" makes this statement: There is no charge for awesomeness.

It's an instant classic line that gets a lot of laughs in the movie. But the principle of it is what has my brain churning.

How many times in our churches is "awesomeness" the exception instead of the rule? I hear tons of pastors say that they want the Sunday morning worship experience to "be the best hour of your week." But so many times, we over-promise and under-deliver.

But what if the church took Kung Fu Panda as their mission, their motto, their modus operandi? What if we planned and led every worship experience with the mindset that there is no charge for awesomeness. That is, that "awesomeness" or excellence was the bar. That an incredible, life-altering experience was the norm, the standard, and the expectation.

What if we strived to make our worship gatherings the most engaging, incredible experience possible? What if awesomeness was expected as the norm and not something that comes with an "additional charge"? What if our churches took serious the obligation we have to reach the lost and awesomeness became the reality instead of the exception? Just a thought...Feel free to add your own thoughts in the comment section.

Bad Boys & Bad Boys What Ya' Gonna Do...

I love the TV show Cops. In fact, it is one of my all-time favorites. Almost every time I pass a cop car I sing the theme song...Either that, or the Ridin' Dirty song made famous by a great episode of the TV show Rob & Big. But I digress...

Today I got to be involved in my 2nd "high speed" chase in the past year. Johanna and I, along with my interns, were on our way to San Marcos to grab lunch when I noticed the car in front of me driving recklessly. And by recklessly, I mean running red lights and stop signs, stopping at the lights for the school zones, and driving in the oncoming traffic lanes running people off the road. So I did what any safety-first, community watch-dog citizen would do. I called 911. I reported the driver and then I asked the operator this question: "Would you like me to follow them until the police get here?" I fully expected a no, but the operator responded, "If you don't mind that would be a big help." Let the chase begin.

What ensued was a 5 to 10 minute "not-so-high-speed" chase while waiting on the police to track us down. The lady continued to run stop signs, almost turned into a couple yards, and stopped in the middle of the road. Finally the operator asked me if I was in a grey van, which I was (the church van!), and told me that the cop was behind us and we could pull over and let him take over.

While this chase wasn't as high speed or thrilling as the last one, I could here the words to the theme song to Cops the whole time... "Bad boys, bad boys, Whatcha gonna' do? Whatcha gonna' do when they come for you?" Even if I did only hear it at 15 mph.

Beach Break Video Recap...

We had a fantastic time last week at Beach Break, our High School youth camp. We had a blast at the beach, were challenged to plunge deeper into a relationship with Jesus, and had the chance to grow closer together in our relationships with one another. The camp sure didn't go off without a hitch here or there, but overall it was a great week for our students. Here are some videos that recap each day of camp and one video of a couple of my interns showing that they have no idea how to skimboard. Check 'em out!

Monday Recap:


Tuesday Recap:


Wednesday Recap:


The Non-Skimboarding Interns:

Happy Father's Day...

Today is Father's Day. When it comes to father's in my life, I hit the lottery. I have a Heavenly Father that loves me unconditionally. He loves me so much he was willing to sacrifice his own son in order to have a relationship with me...even though there are times when I screw up and let him down. I have an earthly father who loves me. It's really easy for me to see God as a heavenly father who loves me unconditionally because that's what was modeled by my earthly father too. I grew up in a home where I was loved, encouraged, challenged, strengthened, and given the chance to develop character for life. I also have an incredible grandfather who has modeled so many life lessons for me and still teaches me things to this day. His strength, character, and approach to life inspire me to be the best I can be. My dad and papa are not only family to me...They're heroes. And I am blessed by God to have them in my life and to have been molded and shaped by these men. To all you dad's out there: Happy Father's Day! You never know the difference you can make in our lives!

The Happening Happened To Be Terrible...

I just got back from watching M. Night Shaymalan's newest movie The Happening. Jaron, Jmob, Dusty and myself all headed to the theater here in Lockhart to check it out. And 90 minutes later we had all come to a concensus...It is quite possibly the worst movie ever made. I had been a big fan of Shaymalan's past movies like The Village and Signs. But this movie was absolutely terrible. The acting was ok at best, the directing was about the same, and the set at times looked like it was part of a junior high One Act Play. On top of that, the storyline was the worst part of it all. Absolutely terrible. The Happening is nothing more than a 90 minute global warming commercial - and a poor one at that. If I wanted to get preached at for global warming I would've watched Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. But I didn't. So here's my advice if you're thinking about checking this movie out...Save your time and spend your money on gas. I wish I had taken my $10 and used it to put a couple gallons in my gas-guzzling SUV.

Home...

We are finally home from Beach Break! I made a detour away from the group yesterday and came home via Houston. If you look at a Texas map, you'll realize that Houston is way out of the way going from Port Aransas to Lockhart. But that is where my baby was! So I headed to Houston to pick Jo up and we got back around 10:00 last night. I am tired, exhausted, and completely spent from this week and am looking forward to just relaxing some this weekend - with no teenagers! I love my students, but I need a break...As far as camp goes, it was a pretty good week. I will be posting some videos that highlight the week this weekend. But right now I am just glad to be home and to be with Johanna. In light of being home, I thought I would include this video of the song "Home" by Michael Buble. The lyrics to the chorus are also below the video. Have a great weekend folks!



Let me go home
I’m just too far from where you are
I wanna come home

And I’m surrounded by
A million people I
I still feel alone
Oh, let me go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

Let me go home
I’ve had my run
Baby, I’m done
I gotta go home
Let me go home
It’ll all be all right
I’ll be home tonight
I’m coming back home

Laminin...

This is my last blog that has been set to post while we're at camp. I'll be back to my regular blogging as soon as we get home, which is this evening.

One of my former teachers from High School sent me this video in an email a couple weeks ago. I have been waiting to share it so here it is. It's a video of part of a message by Louie Giglio on Laminin. It's pretty incredible stuff and it shows just how BIG God is - even in the tiny, microscopic detail of human existence...It's about 9 minutes long, but it is well, well worth your time. Check it out...

Great Blog Post...

Here is another preset blog to post while I'm at the beach at youth camp. While you're reading this I'm soaking up the rays and having fun in the sun. (Actually I am probably counseling some teenager or running around trying to find one - but that's cool too!) Anyway, I read a great blog on Friday night and thought I'd pass it along. It is a GREAT post by Gary Lamb - church planter and pastor of Revolution Church in Canton, GA. Check out his blog! It's good stuff...Check out the post by clicking here. As someone who communicates regularly to a group of people, I completely understand where he is coming from. So many times people hear what they want rather than what it said. We're all guilty of it - myself included. I think churches would be a lot better off - and a lot more healthier and like God intended them to be - if people heard what pastors and leaders said, instead of what they want to here. Check out Gary's blog and his examples of this. Good stuff.

Beach Break - Day Two...

Here's a recap of day two of Beach Break. It's been a LONG day and I am exhausted from being out in the sun all day. I've got to speak at the morning Bible study so I am about to hit the sack. But here's the highlights from today and a few pics.

• The morning got off to a rough start. We had just started singing in morning worship when the sprinkler system went off right where we were sitting. It's pretty cool to do an outdoor worship time since we're at the beach...We just never thought of the sprinklers. The end result had us sitting around the pool, so check out the pics below to see it.
  
• Loved hanging out with my students this afternoon. I spent 4 1/2 hours out at the beach and pool today chillin' with students. Needless to say, I am a little tired.
  
• Worship seemed to fly by tonight. I was just getting into it when the band winded down...Not sure what that was all about, but it seemed fast to me.
  
• We had a great church group time. God is really working in the lives of some of our students and I am JACKED to see that! Keep praying that God would move this week.
  
• I miss Johanna. I know I've said that alot this week, but I really am not on my "A game" without her. I love you babe!

It's 11:30 and I still have to go over my notes for tomorrow morning. Pillow, here I come...

Beach Break - Day One...

We're here! And the Pelican has free wifi so here's a recap of day one - bulletin style:

• We had planned to leave the church at 11:00 AM. Everyone was loaded up BEFORE 10:40 and we finally pulled out about 5 minutes early. That NEVER happens in student ministry so it shows everyone was ready to hit the beach.
• Just in case you're wondering there is absolutely nowhere to stop and eat for a group of 50+ people in between Lockhart and Port Aransas if you take Hwy 80 and Hwy 181. We didn't stop for lunch until after 1:30 and our choices were Sonic, the world's slowest and crappiest Whataburger, and HEB...Yes, HEB the grocery store - without a deli.
• Got to Port A around 3:30, unloaded and checked in to the Pelican, and hit the ground running. We had orientation, divided our students into their Tribes (small groups) for the week, ate supper, and had a worship service and small group time already
• Got to spend some time chattin' with some of my students on the trip down. I LOVE to see how God is at work in our students and in this ministry!
• I miss my wife terribly! I absolutely LOVE doing ministry together with her. And it totally sucks that she can't be here this week. Please pray for us - we've got some heavy things on our plate right now.
• Looking forward to seeing God work in the lives of our students this week. But for now, I need some sleep!

A Little Laughter...

I've got this post set to publish while we are in route to the beach for our high school Youth Camp. It really is gonna' be a great week for our students. Keep us all in your prayers this week. We are praying that God would literally change old things to new and take lives that are dead and make them alive. We want to see students who are far from God come to a realization of how much God loves them.

In the meantime, here are a few vidoes to make you laugh. Laughter really is the best medicine. Hopefully these clips give you a big dose of it.

What's Nic Up To?...

I'm getting ready to go to the beach for youth camp tomorrow. Like I previously said, I'm not sure what the internet situation will be. I have some blogs already set to post this week. But if you want to know what I'm up to all week then you should follow me on twitter.

Twitter is a social networking device that allows you to answer the question, "What are you doing?" in 140 characters or less. You can use it from the web or your mobile phone so that's how I'll be updating this week. If you want to create your own twitter account and begin to follow me, go here, set up a FREE account, and then search my username - nicburleson. If that's too complicated look to the right of this page and you'll see my twitter updates. You can check back here or just click the "Follow me on Twitter" link and it will take you to a page to set up your free account.

That'll keep ya' in the know of everything that's going on in my world - even when I'm on the beach and away from my laptop!

Busy Week and Beach Camp...

This week was supposed to be a "light" week heading into a crazy week that starts this Sunday. Sunday we leave for Beach Break, which is our High School Youth Camp in Port Aransas, TX. Well, this week has been anything but light. It has been crazy-busy. We have had a ton of stuff to do to get ready for camp, our Vacation Bible School was this week, we kicked off our summer series at The Attic on Wednesday, and I've had tons of other personal stuff going on on top of that...It's made for an insane, tough, hard week.

Sunday we leave for Port Aransas for a week of camp with our High School Students. We'll be meeting up with The Connection Church from Kyle, TX and First Baptist Church Pflugerville for the week. It should be a great week for our students. Pray for us. Pray that God would move and that students and adults alike would encounter Him in a fresh and real way.

Not sure what the internet situation will be while we're at camp. If you don't have this blog set to an RSS Feeder then check back here from time to time next week. If we have internet access at camp I'm gonna' try to get some daily updates up. If not, I'll try to have some stuff set to post next week while I'm gone...

A Special Day...

Today is a special day. It is my dad's birthday. I always say that I won the parent lottery. My parents really are incredible. As a Youth Pastor, I have seen the best and the worst of parents - and mine are the cream of the crop. The more I see of typical parenting, the more I realize how incredibly blessed I was and am to have the parents God's given me.

And my dad is one of my heroes. He has made countless sacrifices to provide for our family and to offer my brother and I an opportunity for an amazing life. He has always been there to encourage me, support me, and challenge me to be my best. Growing up as a kid and then a teenager, I can't remember him ever missing a football game or a little dribblers tournament. He's always not only told me he loved me, but has shown it by his actions. I hope to be half as incredible as a parent as my dad and mom are.

Happy Birthday Pops!!! I love ya!

Praying For Your Pastors...

I read several blogs. But there are some that I DEVOUR. One of those is the blog of Perry Noble. I think he is one of the most daring, creative, challenging leaders in the church today. His writing and teaching stretch me. Tuesday he posted a blog about praying for your pastor. In fact, much of this is a summary of what Perry wrote. While I am not the Senior Pastor of our church, it got me thinking of some general ways you can pray for me and for your pastors at your church. As a pastor, let me just say this: We COVET your prayers. We NEED your prayers. Here are just a few things you can pray for me and others:

• My Relationship With God - Far too many times we, as pastors, are really good at giving advice to others about their walk with God while allowing our ministry, work, and busy lives to cause us to neglect our own. There is not a conference, a program, or a ministry idea that can replace my time with God. Pray that my passion for God would burn deeply and that I would lead out of the overflow of my personal walk with Him.


• My Family - No one - and I mean NO ONE - understands what a pastor's family goes through except those who have lived it. We live in glass houses. We are constantly scrutinized, criticized, and critiqued. Our wives and children are under crazy expectations of perfection and the pressure is immense. If you want to BLESS your pastors, pray for their families. And pray that your pastor would put his family before his ministry and the church.


• Spiritual Warfare - Perry sums this one up great. He says "you would not believe what a pastor faces in regards to spiritual warfare. There are things that have happened to me that I have never preached about (or blogged about) because, well, they are intense." Pray that our walk with Jesus builds in us encouragement, hope, and freedom. And pray that we have the strength, courage, and character to resist temptation and fight against Satan's schemes.


• My Friends - It is very difficult to have friendships that are real and authentic as a pastor. Too many times people expect you to be perfect and are completely shocked when you show that you are just a normal person and make mistakes. Pray that God places people in your pastors' paths that provide them with meaningful, encouraging friendships.


• Rest and Health - Ministry is HARD WORK. It is intense work. Just this week I have put in almost 30 hours in two days. Our lifestyles and callings cause us to live extremely busy lives. Pray that your pastors' rest would be multiplied. Pray that his health would be blessed. Pray that rest would become a priority. And then encourage your pastor to take practical steps to rest and support him in that effort.

There are tons of other things that you could pray for me and for other pastors. You could pray for God to give us wisdom, for God's blessing in our lives and ministries, for God's provision for us, for the ability to faithfully lead the church...The list could go on and on. But here's the important part: PRAY. As pastors, we need your prayers. So just take the time each day to do it.

Wanna' Buy A Cookbook?...

One of the things that you can rest assured of in a growing student ministry is that you will NEVER have enough money in the budget to accomplish what needs to be done. I've been in student ministry for 12 years now and my budget growth has never kept up with my ministry growth. So from time to time we have to find ways to raise money to allow crucial ministry to occur. Let me just clarify this: I HATE fund-raisers. But, like I said, we just have to do them from time to time.

Now is one of those times. We have put together our own cookbook. We are doing the ENTIRE thing in house - from the recipes, to the printing, to the selling. Our youth workers and students are doing it all. And all the proceeds from these cookbooks help our students attend summer youth camps, go on mission trips where they serve others, and help us to reach those far from God with the life-altering love of Jesus.

So if you have an extra $15 bucks laying around and are just dying for a new recipe for that next big dinner you'll put on, hit me up and we'll send one your way. And I know some of you never put on big dinners...but you know someone who does. What a great suprise!

At the end of the day, the main thing is that your $15 bucks helps students get a better understanding of who Jesus is and who he wants them to be...And that is a deal you can't pass up!

Ugh...

I saw this on a link from Perry Noble's blog. It's hard to believe that there are people in today's world filled with so much hatred. And unfortunately for those of us who are really trying to reach our neighbors and our world with the love of Jesus, these people call themselves Christians...But I guess they'd never call me one. After all, I am a sports fan, have even been known to lie a couple times, and even stole a thing or two earlier in my life. I've already broke 3 of the first 4. Ugh.

The Weekend Update...

Here's a glimpse into this weekend with the Burleson's.

• Friday I played golf with Jaron, Jmob, and Dusty. I had no clue it could take almost 3 hours to play nine holes...wow.


• Friday night Jo, myself, Jaron and Jenna all headed over to the Pittman's for a little cookout and swimming...The Pittman's weren't home, except for the boys, but they graciously allowed us to use their pool and grill...Good sausage and bratwurst!


• Saturday Johanna and I met my parents and Papa for lunch at a new restaurant in Lampasas. It's called the Wild Goose Steakhouse and it was pretty tasty.


• Saturday evening, us, all of my interns, and the Horton family all had a cookout and swimming at the Pittman's. This time they were home and actually had invited us and planned on us coming!


• Sunday morning consisted of a pancake breakfast at church as part of our kick-off to a new year of small groups.
  
• Sunday afternoon 6 of us (youth workers and interns) spent about three hours typing recipes for our student ministry cookbook fund-raiser...I despise fundraisers, but that's a whole 'notha blog altogether.
  
• And for all of you who are just dying to know the BIG news...It's coming. Just remember that patience is a virtue...And for now, you have to wait.

It's not quite Sunday evening yet, so the weekend could have more in store...but I doubt it, so I'm gonna' go ahead and post this now.