Kicking Over An Ant Hill - Snowpacalypse 2014

I am writing this as a blog in response to the many people on Facebook who shared my late night status update today. I am a horrible writer who is plagued with ADD and I can never get my thoughts out very clearly and trying to make sense of what happened Tuesday in Atlanta seemed doable impossible, but I kept going back to this analogy in my head. 

When I was 14-15 years old, my friend's family owned some property and being teenage boys, obviously we were gonna cover every square inch of that property, looking for....well, anything really! What doesn't intrigue and excite a teenage boy! 

One afternoon, we had split up and were just roaming around the woods when I came upon something I had never seen before....I couldn't explain the structure, other than it looked like a tree stump that had been broken off about 3 feet up from the root base and it was in very fragile condition. It looked soft...like the images of the Titanic at the bottom of the ocean....structure still in place, but with a simple touch, what looked like it was still a hard surface, just desintigrates into powder.

I took a stick and poked at it (cause that's how a teenage boy checks to see if something is safe or not) and a few ants came pouring out of the hole that was just made. It was an ant hill, the largest ant hill I had ever seen (besides the ones in the Britanica Encylopedias we had at home). So, what comes next is obvious, right? I found a large tree branch that was about the size if a baseball bat and decided it was time for a little batting practice! I swung and nailed the ant hill right in the center and the branch got stuck about half way in, as the sides of this ant hill collapsed and came crumbling all over my shoes, ankles and legs...I reached in to grab my branch back to take another swing, when I felt ants crawling all over my arms, legs...and everywhere else!!!!

I came screaming out of the woods with millions of tiny ants all over my body! No one was home at my friends house and my friends were still in the woods, somewhere. I got undressed and took the water house and doused myself with water, trying to get them off of me. It was a disaster and this reminded me of what happened in Atlanta on Tuesday afternoon.

Atlanta is the 11th largest "ant hill" in the US and the city got kicked over on Tuesday with millions of little ants scrambling around to get home!

I started looking up US states and their population numbers and it immediately hit me. This was literally like knocking over a massive ant hill.

People make fun of us in the south for closing schools when it's cold and not a flake of snow on the ground. Most of us have gotten used to the "warnings" of snow and it never comes. But on this day, the snow came but that is not where the problem was. Many of us have relatives in the north and we have been schooled on how to drive in the snow....but what no one can teach is how to drive on ice...the only way to be fully prepared for ice travel is to have a Zamboni ready (See, in the south, we can follow hockey too).

So, you take the icy conditions, the failure to be planned and prepared for another "snow warning," the fact that businesses in the Atlanta Metro area all closed within hours if each other AND many of the county schools releasing students in High, Middle and Elementary all at one time, without any prior notification for many counties...you have mass hysteria on your hands!

Here is the equation I came up with that quite literally that puts it all into perspective and would never happen again statistically, and why a state of emergency was issued for this crazy day!

The metro Atlanta area is made up of some 28 counties with roughly 5.6 million people calling this area home. It is not a large area....about 8,000 square miles. 

Let's say that the majority, but not all work in the metro area as well. I was generous here and estimated (on the smaller side) that 4.3 million people work in this area....the number is probably quite larger but maybe some where out of town, some worked at home, etc....

The metro Atlanta area and it's population is the same sum as the entire population in Kentucky or Louisiana or South Carolina or 34 other states in the US....yes I said states, not cities. 

So, while your state may get more snow than we ever do and you may never experience the kind of problem we experienced on Tuesday and you make fun of us for it, let me tell you.....the exact same thing would have happened to you. 

Imagine taking the entire population of Kentucky or South Carolina....yes, the entire population of either state, who are used to living in about 41,000 square miles of land and drop them in 10,000 square miles of land and tell them all to go home, all at once and oh, by the way, your children have just been released from school and you aren't there to get them and to make matters worse, the roads are gonna be covered in ice.....GO! 

Can you picture it? Seriously, can you see the problem? 

You have just released the entire state of South Carolina to go home, under not just one or two extreme conditions, more like 4-5 and you have also taken away 3/4 of the land space they are used to and told them to do it in 1/4 of that space. It can be nothing but chaos!!!! Even if the roads had been cleared, it would have still been a nightmare! 

It's easy to make fun of someone and say you never would have experienced anything like this where you live and you are exactly right, because you have more land space and less people in just about every possible area in the country, with the exception of maybe 2 or 3 northern cities....who, by the way, get snow regularly....not once every 2-3 years. 

Basically, to put this into perspective, this was a once in a lifetime event. I was in Atlanta for the blizzard of 1993 and had fun in that snow....that was the storm of the century (at that time), go look it up.....and nothing like this happened then. This was a fluke situation, poor planning and execution on the government and county levels, and mass hysteria because our children were involved, all happening at one time! 

We will be better prepared for something like this going forward! We all learn from mistakes and go forward. Trust me! I haven't touched an ant hill with a branch since I was a teenager, even though I've been tempted to.....but that's a different lesson for a different time!

Now, let's focus our efforts on finding those family members who still haven't returned home and many of those who are still stuck in their vehicles, hotels or strangers houses! My prayers tonight for those who haven't been reunited with their loved ones yet! 

Changed

This past Sunday, we ended our series called "changed" on Sunday nights at [lit], our youth worship experience for grades 6th - 12th. This was our last message series for 2013 and by coincidence  tied in many of the the other series we did this past year, like Greater Things and Extraordinary from January and February, Rich from March, Collide from our summer Beach Retreat and Who Do You Say That I Am from September.

When I was sitting in the funeral service for a good friend of mine in October, I knew that many hearts were stirred to change. Many would want to make a difference in the lives of others as my friend Ken had done, just about every day of his life. But a thought hit me as I sat there, fighting back the tears and emotions; would any of us really change? I knew his wife and children would, how could their lives not change. But for the rest of us, those of us who think about doing good and helpful things, but ted to get busy...would we start to act upon these thoughts as Ken lived out before each of us that knew him.

I wanted to believe so, but.....2 or 3 days later, I had already missed a few opportunities and 2 or 3 weeks later, I had missed 50-60 opportunities. This is where the "changed" idea hit me. Is it the big moment that brings change in our lives or is it really the small, everyday steps along the way that bring change?

What else brings change? That was a question I started asking and I came up with some props on the stage to represent a visual of change....

 

Each of these represent change in some way. Like the picture from the very top, lights need to be changed when one blows out...The creepy stryrofoam head represent the changing of hair styles, when we grow tired or bored of the one we have now....the art picture represent change because it's an original. Anything added to it would change the original work and alter it from it's original state....the tire, should be self explanatory, but for those who have never changed a tire, it represents the idea that we change these when they are worn out or when they blow....the changed shirt represents that we change clothes (some of us often and some not often enough, ha!).

I wanted to create a visual that left the students thinking about change in their own lives. I also started 'lesson card," not just for the sake of the student but for me in my preparation as well. They really helped me prepare throughout the week as I created these to hand out. Each student who attended, walked away with a decorative card with a bible passage and the 3-4 main points of the lesson.

 

Lesson 1 dealt with sanctification and how change is a process, not just a one time thing...even though the one time, big moment created the change...it's the process that moves the change forward. In this change, our hearts and minds and changed more towards what God loves, how God see's and less of what we want to love and see. Basically, it's more of God and less of me...day by day. We often leave the day by day part out but that's literally what it is, the successes and failures, each moment, drawing us closer to His heart.

Lesson 2 dealt with transformation and what it meant to be changed by the renewing of our minds...an internal change. Often, we have learned behavior modification, how to behave depending on the surroundings we are in, and that type of change is shallow and ultimately dangerous because it creates in us the theory of being a mile wide and only an inch deep. The analogy I used was from a TV show I happened to catch on the Velocity channel...I never watch TV and this was the perfect show for me to watch, 3 days before this lesson. The objective was to restore a Model A 1931 Ford and the guy didn't have enough money to fix what truly needed fixing on it, so he just wanted the exterior to look good and for it to be in driving condition when he came to pick it up. All was going well until they reached the frame of the car. it was the original frame and it looked awful. There was a fear that if they allowed him to drive off in this condition, it could fall apart after the first turn and the whole car would fall apart. After refusing to test it, they finally gave it a shot with a sledgehammer and after hitting all 4 corners, the frame busted apart and fell to the floor in pieces. What they learned was this, "you can't put lipstick on a pig." Even if the exterior looks great, if the interior is busted up, the whole thing would fall apart. If the frame is damaged, the whole vehicle is damaged, even if no one can see it. That's exactly what is dangerous about behavior modification....the outer actions might look ok, but the inner desires of the heart and beliefs will destroy the whole thing when we try to turn a corner because it can't hold up under the problems we have created.

Lesson 3 dealt with follow and this was simply based around the life of Peter. When Jesus met Peter, Jesus was a Rabbi and Peter, a fisherman. Jesus pursued Peter in a few ways and then after He was done teaching and after Peter was finished emptying his nets, there was an offer to follow. Do you think Peter fully understood what he was doing when he decided to leave the family business behind and follow Jesus. the scriptures don't tell us exactly but you can gather from a few stories along the way that Peter was struggling to put it all together, until there was that one moment when Jesus asked Peter, who do others say I am, and after answering Jesus made it more personal...""what about you? Who do you say I am?" Peter respond, "The Messiah, the son of God!" Wow, what happened in the life of Peter for him to realize this; he was changed? Not in a once and for all moment, but gradually, along the way....step by step. We ended with this idea, the calling of Nathaniel. Nathaniel was a non believer until Jesus kinda did a cool trick and blew Nathaniel's mind, then he was a believer and Jesus said, "if you think that was something cool, I will show you much greater things than this." The journey has purpose. This changed life is moment by moment, step by step, with a greater purpose than us at the center....it's God centered and our lives are being changed into His image more and more everyday, if we are stepping with purpose.

God gets the glory in this change! It's God, at the center of it all, step by step, day by day, moment by moment. Praise God for the journey, the ups and downs, the failures and successes because it all of these that when added up, over time, looking back, we can see...as Peter did, wow, I have changed!

Collector of People

I heard something the other day at the funeral for my good friend, Ken Moore, that has echoed in my head for the last 3 days now! I can not get this out of my head and I had to turn to my online journal to try and make sense of this analogy! 

As many of you know, I am an analogy person! I love a good, relatable situation or story, when explaining something that is, well....unexplainable. I have had a few people ask me, who was this guy Ken? I posted a journal thought a few days ago about who Ken Moore was to me, but this analogy was the greatest explaination of who he was and who anyone like this is.

I'll start it off this way, I used to be an avid collector of baseball cards, basketball cards and football cards! Avid might be an understatement...I have a closet in my office that won't hold them all...it's quite ridiculous, looking at a closet, jam packed with notebooks and boxes of cards and then sitting outside of the closet are 7 more boxes of cards! 

I have some valuable cards in the mix, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Walter Payton, Michael Jordan, Kobe, Peyton Manning, etc...and then I also have my autograph collection in those boxes as well....over 500 autographs and memorabilia....with no where to go. 

At one point, back around 8-13 years old, I could tell you everything about each one of those players, based upon the information given on the backs of those cards. Where they were born, what they weighed and what their batting and slugging percentages were in any given year. The statistics were memorized, because they were fascinating to me. I no longer hold that kinda info on these players, but at one time, it had become more than a hobby, it was a lifestyle! I loved everything about the hobby!

Fast forward to Wednesday afternoon, while sitting in the service for Ken Moore, I was heartbroken, red eyed from crying and emotionally, a wreck! Story after story, had me laughing and crying again, all in the same moment. I was reflecting on what an amazing friend I had lost and what a amazing person this world just lost! 

When it was time for Ken's sister to speak, she filled in all of the old details that he had talked about, many times. The stories he had told me, were all true. And then, as she was explaining her brother, she said this, "you know how people collect things....stamps, cards, etc....Ken was a collector of people." And my heart became flooded with emotion because I had never heard a more truthful, fitting analogy of a person, in my entire life! Ken Moore was a collector of people, completely! It wasn't just a hobby, it was how he lived...his lifestyle! 

Collecting people? Doesn't that sound weird or morbid, kinda? Not if you know someone like Ken! This guy never forgot a detail, a name, a face, nothing!!!! He had memorized the backs of each persons card that he met! I once stole his phone, to see if he had some sort of note system in his database somewhere, and of coarse he didn't! It didn't need to be written down, because it was not a hobby to Ken! It was how he truly lived! 

I knew him to be that way with me and the people around him that I knew as mutual friends, but his wife shared a few stories with me after the funeral that just astounded me and made this "people collector" analogy even more concrete in my head...

As they were trying to contact people to let them know about his passing, they started to comb through his phone and call the people that didn't live nearby. What they found was an extensive phone book of contacts, people that his wife had no idea he was keeping up with...like the people in their old neighborhood in Virginia and most interestingly, the couple that they had gone out with on a double date, 30 years ago, before being married...Ken was still in active communication with them over the years!

This is not learned y'all, this is a way of living, truly caring about each person you ever come in contact with and making them feel important because you hold their friendship or acquaintance in high value to keep in contact with them. Ken, knew the details of each person he met. It's like the back of a baseball card....not just the team they were on, but where they were born, what they liked and didn't like, where they had lived, what their struggles and joys were about. 

That's as real as real can get! That's genuine friendship....listening, not just talking....which is mind blowing to me because Ken was a talker! He carried every conversation and told story after story! An active listener and talker! That is rare my friends! I can only think of one person in history, who was like that....His name was Jesus! Jesus made people feel welcome, he made them feel like they all mattered equally, he listened and spoke! Attentive ears and powerful words that followed!!

Christ embodied for us, who we are to be to the world around us, His image, to a world in need of mattering to someone! I wish I possessed this gift! I have seen first hand, the life change that comes with treating people in this manner and it is beautiful to watch! 

So, as you and I become more like the image of Christ as we follow Jesus, may it be our prayer that every person that we meet, feels important, connected and loved! Instead of looking at people as projects, let's begin to move away from the hobby of friendship and become more deeply connected to genuine friendship, by collecting people, knowing each with purpose! Not to fulfill anything in us, but to pour ourselves out and fill others! Yes please! 

My Friend, Ken Moore.

Tomorrow, I will be heading to the funeral for one of the "good guys" in this life, gone to soon. Actually, Ken Moore was without a shadow of a doubt, the best guy I have known in the first 41 (42 tomorrow) years of my life. In a world that has watered down the genuine characteristics of friendship, and everyone has become a "best," Ken was one of a kind and quite literally, the embodiment of the word "friend."

You see, as a youth pastor, we come into a church and make immediate relationships. It's our calling, our passion, our inner drive. It's who we are and I guess you could say it's part of our gifts our Lord has given those in ministry. But, after 17 years of doing this, I have noticed a trend...you come to a church, do your thing, make friends and after some time has passed and your work is finished, you are called elsewhere and many of those friendships end. They don't move on with you. I mean, the fondness always remains, but being in the trenches of everyday life stops and the everyday or every week conversations turn in to 2-3 times a year conversations. Friends on Facebook, followers on Twitter, but the genuine "how's life going for ya" conversations end....

For the first and only time in my life, I had one of those friendships come with me and that friend was Ken Moore. I left Lawrenceville FUMC in 2006 and was still friends with Ken Moore, because he pursued me. From the week I left, Ken and I were on the phone, chatting about the church, the new kids, the old kids, how the move was going and those conversations continued right up until the beginning of this year.

So I wanted to take a moment to explain who Ken Moore was, too me...and to everyone else that knew him.

I first met Ken in the fellowship hall, right before youth group, in 2006. He walked up, introduced himself and his kids, Nic and Natalie. Nic didn't meet a stranger and Natalie was a shy little thing. Ken carried the conversation (as I would find out in every conversation after that, Ken always carried the conversation!). I explained what we did, where his kids would be and then he said the phrase every youth minister dreams about, "ok, so where do you need me," and from that day, Ken didn't miss one single Sunday night, retreat or event...even long after I was gone. It was too good to be true, but Ken always followed up on what he said he was going to do and I also found out as our friendship grew, he always followed through...always!

Ken never approached us and told us what we should be doing better....he always approached those moments with sleeves rolled up, working boots on and standing behind the phrase, "how bout I help in this way..." He always had a plan. It was as if he was not just one step ahead of the game....he was 10-20 steps ahead of things. If there was a new student visiting, the student and family had met Ken Moore already! If there was a student who hadn't been attending, they had received a message from Ken Moore! If the student was in college, graduated from the youth program, they had received a message from Ken Moore.

Over the years, when we met for lunch, the first hour of our lunches (sometimes they went 3-4 hours), were him filling me in on what everyone was up to from Lawrencville FUMC. He had pictures, he had messages, he had stories and he had joy in his voice about every single student and adult he was telling me about.

The one moment that has always been with me was the week before his first Spring Break Beach trip. He volunteered and wanted to be prepared so I debriefed him as best I could. I told him about the group sessions and the small group sessions, the talent show, the free time, the differing roles between a small group leader and a chaperone. When it came time for me to explain the last night, the alter call night, I couldn't come up with any words...only to describe it as intense and for him to be ready. He asked, "what does that mean?" Of coarse, I had to be honest and tell him, no words could really do it justice. I said, "just be ready and you will know what to do when it happens." Years later, Ken would tell me he was terrified of that first Beach Retreat alter call because he had never been in that kind of environment before, with kids crying, hugging, forgiving one another, rededicating their lives to Christ and for some, coming to know Christ for the first time. That night, as the alter call started, I saw Ken, embracing students who ran to him for prayer, encouragement and support. He was changed! He told me he was! He had never prayed with anyone before, in that kind of manner and something changed in his life, on that trip. I saw a man, who had already been present in the lives of so many students already, have a godly presence, purpose and passion that drove him to be the great mentor, friend and counselor he became.

In the years that passed, I took a job at Alpharetta FUMC after serving Smyrna FUMC for 3 years and because it was a little closer to Lawrenceville, Ken decided to surprise me a few times by bringing a car load of students to Alpharetta for youth group. Those moments meant the world to me, to see the middle schoolers I had, all grown up as high school students and some in college. I never asked him to do any of this...once again, it was Ken, rolling up his sleeves and doing what he did best...loving people....genuinely! Looking into the hearts of others, sensing a great need and doing whatever it took to meet that need!

A few years ago, after the birth Audrey, Ken made a special trip over to H& R Block, to visit with Toni, myself and Anita Solty, but it was clear from the minute we walked in the door why he was really there...to meet Audrey! And she took right to him. He had Anita take a few pictures on his phone and these will be forever cherished in my heart.

 

In the last few years, Ken would bring his son, Nic, to the lunches and that was an added bonus because I felt that I never had the chance to fully develop the relationship God had planned for me in the life of Nic. We talked about his kids all of the time and they were his pride and joy. The next hour of our loooooong lunches were about Nic and Natalie and what his wife Angie was up to. He always seemed to have a trunk load of stuff his was taking to the post office or UPS that had to be shipped. He was attending football games, school events, etc...even though I didn't get a chance to be around his family anymore, it was as if I had been a part of their lives over those 8 years I had been gone from Lawrencville because I knew everything that was going on.

Ken was a details guy! I say this while laughing out loud because I can't clearly express the long, drawn out stories that he would tell me about things that I normally wouldn't care about...and even in my ADD state, I still had no idea who he was talking about sometimes, but the stories were so fascinating about who he was helping and what he was doing to organize this and that, I stayed glued to him. Not to his stories, just him...because I knew, every single time I was with Ken, I was in the presence of someone that was special. Someone who cared about others more deeply than the average person. Someone who treated every chance meeting, with a stranger, acquaintance or friend as a meeting of purpose.

This past Thursday, Ken had come to my mind, in a way where I knew I should have called him, but I didn't. I got busy and forgot. I never once thought that I wouldn't get to talk to him ever again. These last few days have been filled with emotion and sadness because I learned on Sunday night, right before youth group had started, that Ken took his life. I have struggled with the person I knew him to be and the road that he must have traveled to get to where he had ended up. In speaking with his best friend and some others, I was able to put the missing pieces together in my heart and know that Ken had not been himself lately and the battle with depression and anxiety that had been such turmoil in his life lately.

It's going to be hard to say goodbye to a one of a kind, well....really, a once in a lifetime friend, tomorrow. I don't want to say goodbye. So, Ken....I know and we all know that what happened was not you. It was a succumbing to who you thought you were and those of us that know you, the hundreds of youth and adults who have posted on your Facebook page speaks volumes to who you really were, I love you and will miss you greatly! I'm not angry, just deeply saddened and heartbroken. I know you are completely healed and healthy and I consider myself to have been blessed to have known the "best guy" I have ever known.

Girls Weekend - God's provision

Girls Weekend - November 1-3

One of the areas I have always joked about in my world, is that I am secure in masculinity, even though I have been surrounded by females my whole life. (Trust me, it has rubbed of in many ways because I am not your typical guys guy!) I didn't have any male cousins, my grandfathers passed away when I was younger, my own father wasn't present in my life and my uncles also passed away when I was young. So, as I sit here, contemplating our girls weekend coming up in November...as a father of 3 daughters, I am beyond excited for this event!

I have been doing youth ministry for 17 years and while youth culture changes every 3-4 years, one thing that hasn't changed in all of those years, is the influence the media, culture and peers play in the lives of female adolescents regarding their image and self esteem. I have seen it in youth ministry and I have seen it played out in my own house. Young girls are being bombarded with "what pretty is," or "what a real girlfriend is like," or "what you wear determines how you feel about yourself and how others define you"....I could go on and on for pages here, but if you have a female in your house under the age of 18, you know what I am talking about.

For years I have wanted to have a girls only weekend, but for as connected as I am to the feminine side of life, you wouldn't want me putting together a girls retreat. That would be a disaster of epic proportions! 

Over a year ago, God dropped a blessing in disguise into our laps in the youth ministry department, with the hiring of Kari Hines! We had no real idea the talent and passion she was going to bring to this position of youth ministry assistant....we only knew we needed help, especially in the area with our female students. 

Kari has been prayerfully and diligently putting together an amazing girls weekend for quite a while now, and it is shaping up to be an amazing opportunity for our female students to have a life altering encounter with God, as they focus on the theme, "are you walking with God or running with the world?"

The retreat is over a full weekend and mainly focused on high school girls, but Friday night is a celebration for all of our female students from 6-12 grade. Kari has lined up some very powerful moments that will draw each girl to take a look inward, as they connect and uncover the beauty that God has created in each one of them. But more important, it's not just the "what" they are going to focus on, but also the "how." 

Christin Hoffman, one of our former students here at Alpharetta First UMC, will be graduating from Auburn University in December and I have had the pleasure of waking along side of her the last 2 years as I have watched God completely grab a hold of her heart and do a radical transformation in her life in the area of connecting with her gifts and abilities and her relational skills with girls of all ages. She will be our main speaker for the weekend and if you have ever been in the room when she opens her mouth, get ready to fall out of your chair laughing and then have a box of tissues handy as well!

We have also been blessed to build a relationship with the UGA Wesley Foundation over the last year and their talented worship band and the girls from Wesley Foundation are coming to lead us in worship on Friday and Saturday. 

Meals will be provided and there are more activities planned than what I have space for here! Please go and sign your female student up for this event! I signed my 6th grade twins up this afternoon and can't wait for the opportunity they will have in joining together with their peers and the older girls of our church, as they meet together to worship our God, encourage one another and dig more deeply into what it means to walk with God. 

Thank you to Kari Hines for her direction, gifts and passion for the female students of our church and community! They don't know how truly blessed they are to have you walking with them at this crucial point in life. And thank you you to all of the mom's and volunteers who have agreed to volunteer for this event...from hosting girls in your homes, to serving the meals, to shuttling these girls to the Methodist Youth Center! Your service to our girls is appreciated far more reaching than what I could actually communicate. As a dad of 2 daughters that will be attending on Friday, thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you are about to create in the lives of each student that participates. (I am speaking as a father here, not the youth pastor)

Get your student signed up now at www.afumc.org and look for the youth tab. You can register online or at the Methodist Youth Center. If you would like to help in the volunteer area, please contact Kari Hines at khines@afumc.org.

Lastly, this event has been prayed up for months now and we ask that you join us in praying for everyone involved in this upcoming Girls Weekend! Invite your friends from school. This is an open event to all female students in iur community! 

In His Joy,

Jay

Catalyst - Day 1

So, in the only way I know how to start an actual day off right, I locked my keys in my car when I got to Catalyst Conference! I mean, within seconds of pulling in and checking my phone to meet Ashley in the parking lot, "bang!" The door shut and curse words were flying through my head, but I just laughed it off instead of getting mad.

I didn't want to have that moment set the tone for the rest of my day! I texted my wife to explain my blunder and her and Audrey showed up, like a knight on a horse, prepared to slay the "bad day dragon"....

Reggie Joiner cranked the conference off well with an incredible look into how we are failing our children and youth in church and Christian education inside the church. I need to go back and read my notes again, because he was firing them off, one after the other. 

I could tell we were all refreshed and prepared for the day after that....but what I didn't expect was the friendship that Turner and Christin had formed with another catalyst attendee...she sat with us and was like a normal part of our team! Her testimony was out of this world...literally, just one of those testimonies of complete brokenness and complete transparency! She actually stuck around the whole day with us and we were truly blessed by her presence. 

We then broke into our lab sessions and didn't truly get a break until 5:30pm. The labs I visited were: 

1. Knowing your identity as a church - by Leonce Crump. His main statement that resonated with me was, "how you gonna serve a community if you don't know the needs of the community around you." He encouraged church leaders to get involved in the community by asking questions, so when people in your community come to your church, you are answering the questions they are asking.

2. Missional Ministry - by Jo Saxton. I had never heard of her and didn't know what to expect. She was on spot in calling the church to look back in order to look forward. Not a looking back at what once was, but rather, at once worked that we dropped and forgot about...the early church didn't have budgets, buildings and rock star worship...they had Jesus. That was their whole marketing scheme....to make much if Him by meeting the needs of commonality in the community.

3. Hyper linked - by David Kinnaman. I was really looking forward to this one because I had read his 2 books and as one of the leaders in Barna Research group, his information was going to be current, factual and relevant. His whole premise was to say, technology has changed the world entirely...and the church sucks at embracing a powerful tool to advance the gospel....2 huge statements he made that drove home his point. 

- we all used to have to buy the things, individually, that are now located right within our pockets....video cameras, picture cameras, record players/tape players/CD players, calculators, board games, telephones, tv's, VCR's, etc....are all now located on a single device. It has taken a massive amount of technology over the last 100 years and placed them all on one single unit! Wow!

- want to know the importance of technology? Look at what this generation is learning to do without that were and still are standards for us, good and bad...don't need a bank to do banking, don't need a library to read books, don't need magazines to read current issues, don't need tv sports scores, dont need a mall to go shopping, don't need church to know Jesus....see the trend?

Lastly, the evening session with Bob Goff was out of this world and yet so simple! I will save that for a post on its own. I was cheering one minute and destroyed the next! Compelling stories of what loving others actually means for us. 

Tomorrow is the day the conference moves over to the actual big room at the Gwinnett arena and Kari will be joining us tomorrow, so our whole team gets the chance to learn together. Expectant for tomorrow! 

Catalyst - The Night Before

Last year, I had the opportunity to attend a leadership conference for church leaders called Catalyst. In a nutshell, thousands of church leaders converge upon the Gwinnett Arena, here in Georgia, and the participants and raked over the leadership coals! 

The speakers are worth the price of admission but the take aways are even greater....the resources we get to leave with are amazing! I still haven't finished reading all of the books I received for free last year! 

Last year, I wandered out into the highway of fast traveling vehicles and I never caught my wind because I felt so hurried and rushed! This year, I am more prepared, laid back and ready to be refreshed, recharged and relaxed! 

Over the next few days I will attempt to keep all of my thoughts and ideas together as I give thanks for this year, while looking back at last year....

Last year, it was Turner Lee (middle school coordinator) and myself....fast forward to this year, we are taking a team each day...a college student who is praying about ministry, our youth ministry assistant and one of our incredibly committed youth volunteers! This team has helped me be more prepared over this last year than any of the 16 other years I have been in youth ministry! I couldn't think if a better way to celebrate what God has blessed me with, than to get a jump start on the next year as a team! 

Kari, Ashley, Christin and Turner, you all hopefully know how much I appreciate you and what you do for me as an individual, not just as a youth pastor! You have each enriched my life, specifically in areas that I am weak in and have been so gracious and kind to put up with me (I am not being self deprecating here, haha!) because my weaknesses are apparent and your patience, mercy and kindness is apparent! 

I could not do what I do without your support, love and patience! 

Ok, mushy stuff is over! Let's get prepared to open our minds and dream, rest our busy minds and listen and calm our anxious hearts and learn! 

First up, tomorrow morning...Reggie Joiner...couldn't think of a better way to get things rolling!