Monday Morning Update - August 25, 2008

With his permission, I've decided to swipe a concept from Marko and try to get back into blogging.

The plan is to post a new one of these at the top of every week. If you aren't interested or don't care then I'm not offended. This is mostly for me, so here we go...

Monday Morning Update - August 25, 2008

Where did the weekend go -

Jenn posted an excellent blog about how busy our weekend was. I won't repeat all that she had to say (you should go read it) but I will add that I also had a fantastic weekend!

Church was amazing on Sunday morning. The special music (go watch it here) along with Steve's message about the Liturgical Year made for one of the best services I can remember in recent months.

Also the entire weekend (football Friday night, through-out the day on Saturday, church on Sunday, lunch on Sunday afternoon, and the church's pool part/baptism celebration on Sunday night) were all filled with great conversations and great conversations (and the relationship building, which invariably follows) being two of my favorite things, I would have to rate the weekend as fantastic!

Where I am right now -

Unfortunately, this Monday morning like many others, finds me sitting at my desk, in my office at Horizon Chillicothe Telephone. This morning has been busy with phone calls, emails, meetings, and finding time to read blogs and news from the weekend. (as well as work on this one)

This week at a glance -

As far as I know we have no out of the ordinary plans this week. (Which means work during the day, and hang out at home with the fam in the evenings...)

For the past several weeks we've been having teens over for dinner and to hang out almost every evening, but with school starting and folks moving off to college that trend is slowing down.

This coming Friday night is our first home football game of the year, which means our first Fifth Quarter of the season as well. I also need to get into the church one night this week to update the MacPro.

Procrastination report -

I have been procrastinating about blogging for far far too long.

I am also quite the slacker in getting the church's podcast up to date. Hopefully admitting that here, will elicit some nagging and I will make time to do that today!

Book(s) I'm reading -

I have a horrible habit of picking up and re-reading books that I really like... I guess with that kind of habit, it is good that I'm a fast reader. Anyway... Now that you know about that habit, I have to admit that I picked up and read Lamb by Chris Moore again on Saturday (finished it last night).

What?!?! It's a great book!

I'm also reading Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne, which I'm sad to say is struggling to keep my attention... Also, I finished The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs while on vacation a couple of weeks ago, and I haven't gotten over it, or stopped leafing through it on an almost daily basis.

How I feel about the week ahead -

Relaxed about the week in general. A little stressed about getting the plan for Fifth Quarter in place soon enough to make it work.

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Well, that wraps up my first Monday morning update. I have lots of blogs in the hopper, which I'm hoping to get published soon. For those of you who have been bugging me to get them done, please don't stop. It really is working.

Mission Trip Redux - St. Francis Table

While in Toronto with Youthworks, my work crew spent three of our four days on site at a ministry in Parkdale called St. Francis Table.

From their website:

St. Francis Table is a restaurant dedicated to providing meals and a welcoming environment for the needy of our community. Patrons receive full restaurant service while seated at tables. For one dollar, they are presented with a meal, a hot and cold beverage, and a desert.

St. Francis Table is run by Brother John Frampton, a Franciscan Monk of the Capucin Order, and also has two employees, Dominic and Sam, who are both cooks at the restaurant. All of the other "staff" are volunteers who come in to help prepare the meals, wait tables, carry dishes, work in the kitchen, and clean up afterwards.

It takes at least twelve people to make one meal service possible, and Brother John keeps a running list of volunteers who come in to make sure the restaurant is able to maintain the nine meals per week served at St. Francis Table.

In the event that there aren't enough volunteers to make a meal service possible, then the food is prepared and passed out at the door ("to go" style) for $1.

Brother John explained to us, that the one dollar donation for the meal is not only to help the restaurant recoup some of it's expenses, but also to give the patrons a sense of dignity in that they have come to the restaurant and are purchasing their lunch as opposed to going to a soup kitchen or shelter and begging for lunch.

While my group was at St. Francis as part of our Youthworks trip, we arrived every day around 10 AM to help prepare, serve, and clean up after lunch.

Our day typically started by helping Sam and Dominic sort and prep the food for lunch, which typically included making a salad (in large quantity), making french fries, preparing the main dish (Italian sausage, pork chops, baked chicken, roasted pork loin, tuna fish sandwiches, etc), and prepping coffee and tea stations so that we could get hot drinks out to the patrons quickly.

While Sarah mastered the art of making fresh cut french fries en-mass, the rest of us became experts at chopping carrots, celery, onions, and lettuce for salads.



One day we packaged pork chops, pork loin, and chicken legs for going it the freezer, which turned out to be lots of fun. (Hey! Some folks just don't get to play with raw meat very often).







After lunch was prepped and ready, we divided up into group to either wait tables, bus dirty dishes, or prepare plates (to be taken out to the patrons). Brother John rotated us through these duties on a daily basis, so that everyone would get the experience of working in a certain place.

Just before noon, Brother John would gather us together for a group prayer after which he would give us the following pre-lunch pep talk...

May the Lord bless you for your service. Any problems, I'm the problem solver. You're here for a good time, I'm here for a long time. This is a recording. Beep.

Sometimes he would also throw out a word of caution about giving the patrons too much salt, pepper, cream, or sugar...

If the patrons ask for 16 packets of salt, just give them two... Sam does know CPR, but we would rather he not resort to using it.

Then he would walk to the front door of the restaurant, ring the bell to announce lunch service had started, and then the craziness ensued.

Having never waited on tables or worked in a restaurant before, the confusion of keeping track of what 8 (or 12) people wanted to eat and drink, how they took their coffee or tea, whether or not they wanted desert, and how many salt, pepper, and ketchup packets they were allowed to have was a little daunting to me (and, I think, to some of the students).

That being said... all of the kids did a great job of greeting people warmly, remembering their orders, keeping their smiles on (even when they were flustered), and taking the time to make real conversation with the patrons anytime the opportunity presented itself...

The one hour lunch rush seemed to move by so fast that it was a blur, and yet through the chaos we somehow managed to learn the names of many of the patrons, we learned who the regulars were, how they liked their coffee, and whether or not they could be trusted to stay out of the kitchen. Through all of the craziness, a handful of high school students from the states made real life connections with the homeless, the poor, the broken, and the marginalized people living in the Parkdale area of Toronto.

And let me tell you.... It might be one of the coolest things I have ever witnessed!

When brother John rang the bell to end lunch service at 1 PM, the volunteers were encouraged to go ahead and fix ourselves plates and eat before we began the clean up process to make the restaurant ready for the dinner crew. Often there were still patrons (typically the ones who had straggled in right before 1) finishing their meals and having quiet conversations. It was really cool to see the students pull up a chair to share a meal and conversation with these (often) gruff, ragged, old guys.

When the last patrons had moved out the door, we were left to wipe down the tables, get the dishes done and put away, and make our way back to the housing site.

It's hard to believe that three days serving lunch at St. Francis Table could make a deep and impacting change in someones life, yet as my own days return to "normal" and I sit through meetings, answer emails, and go about my day I've caught myself wondering in the mornings what Dominic has decided to fix for lunch today...

Whether the new Youthworks kids managed to cut the carrots up correctly on the first try, or had to do it again...

Will there be enough volunteers at St. Francis to serve dinner tonight, or will Brother John have to resort to take-out?

Did Mr. Kato manage to sneak an extra portion at lunch today after all the other patrons had gone, or did Sam chase him away?

Did Thomas and Louis eat together at table nine again today? Did they talk about American politics again, or have a more exciting conversation?

Will the guy from table eight on Thursday ever actually get to see the top of the CN tower, or will he continue to look for someone who will take him dancing on Friday nights at the top of the world?


Mother Theresa once said that "In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love".

Our church's motto is that "Small things done with great love, will change the world"

I was blessed this week to watch God make a difference in the world.

One french fry, one pork chop, one plate, one conversation, one smile, one small thing at a time... small things, done with great love...

Five high school students, one sixty-three year old weight lifter from Springfield Illinois, and one youth pastor from Southern Ohio will never be the same.

Mission Trip Redux - Returning to Real Life...

I have so much to say, and so many stories to tell about our Youth mission trip to Toronto last week that as I predicted in an earlier post, things are already slipping away from me...

I've been struggling with how to best describe the week, and tell the story here and have decided that the best way is probably in little bits...

This post will be the executive summary... All the important details with as little story as I can bear to tell.

Want to know the facts, and just the facts? This is them from my vantage point.

Sunday

• We left RVCC at 5:00 AM, and made great time.
• We stopped in Columbus for breakfast, random exits in Northern Ohio and Pennyslvania for gas and bathrooms, and Niagara, Ontario for lunch.
• We arrived at the Youthworks site at almost exactly 4 PM.
• We settled in, had dinner, had some student and adult orientation, were given our assignments on work teams for the week, had some time to worship, a devotion, and time to sit and talk in our church group, and then called it a night
• We met John Reside and the rest of his crew from Springfield, Illinois
• The other church (from Northern Ohio) had van trouble, and didn't arrive until the middle of the night.

Monday

• First day on work crews.
• My group went to the Ina Grafton Gage Home for the Aged.
• We spent the morning hanging out with residents, and potting flowers.
• In the afternoon, Mason and I powerwashed the back patio while Sarah & Sarah played bingo and socialized with the residents.
• Some of our students and leaders went to Booth Industries.
• Some of our other students and leaders went to St. Judes Academy for the Arts.
• In the evening, we took a Street Walk starting at the Salvation Army Gateway Shelter and visiting both moderately poor and very wealthy areas of Toronto.
• During the walk, we got to hear from Anthony, an ex-drug addict and resident of the streets of Toronto.
• At the end of the walk Anthony was open to questions about life on the streets, drug addiction, getting clean, and shared a bit more of his life story with us.
• We returned to the church for church group time and bed.
  

Tuesday

• My work crew changed sites from Ina Grafton to St. Francis Table, where we met Brother John, Sam, and Dominic.
• We, again, had one crew travel to Booth Industries and one crew travel to St. Judes.
• On the way home from the work sites for the day the big church van broke down.
• Chris Moore did an awesome job (with the help of Reed Nutt) of getting the kids back safe, and the van in for repair.
  
• In the evening we played kick-ball at the playground behind the church where we were staying.
• We rounded out the night with worship, devotions, prayer, and church group time.

Wednesday

• Transportation was tricky today because we were short one large van.
• The work crew from Booth was transferred to St. Judes, and the St. Francis crew was dropped off enroute.
• This placed 12 of the 16 members of the RVCC team at St. Judes and 4 of us at St. Francis.
• Due to transportation issues, we had to split getting the crew "home" from St. Francis into two groups. The girls went first and Mason and I waited for the return trip. Had a good time talking to random folks at St. Francis while we waited.
• Van was fixed by mid-afternoon. Reed, again, assisted us in picking it up.
  
• Went to China-town after dinner for some random shopping and wandering around. Our time there was very short, but fun.
• Worship, devotions, prayer, and church group time rounded out the night before bed.

Thursday

• Two RVCC crews to St. Judes
• One crew back to St. Francis Table.
• St. Judes crew had a very moving day, and it sounded like many tear-filled good-byes.
• Myron volunteered at St. Francis today. He made our day!
• After showers (and before dinner) I managed to squeeze a walk and talk in with a couple of our students, was a great time.
• After dinner, our evening activity took us to a local park to play games (frisbee, red rover, freeze tag) and watch a local Christian artist play music (Jason Moon).
• Had great conversations at the park.
• Back at the church for the evening. Worship was followed by a foot washing service. This was very moving for many of our leaders and students.
• Church group time was very emotional as well, with some really cool thoughts and revelations by members of our group.
• After church group time there was pizza, ice cream, and crazy fellowship in the midst of sad good-byes. (Thanks to CMoore and Reed for the snacks!)

Friday

• Eric tried to wake the guys up two hours early because he misread the clock.
• We got up, packed, cleaned the church, filled out evaluation forms, took some photos, and loaded our vehicles all before 9 AM.
• We said good-bye to the Youthworks staff, and the other churches and headed for Casa Loma, via Tim Hortons.
• Got a little lost looking for a Tim's, which wasn't where the GPS said it should be.
• Made it to Casa Loma by 10.
• Sight seeing and exploring at Casa Loma till noon.
• Went to the Eaton Centre Mall downtown for lunch in the food court, and walking, talking, and shopping.
• Headed to SkyDome (a.k.a Rogers Center) by 4 PM.
• Took a large group up into the CN Tower.
• Had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, in Skydome.
• On the road by 9PM headed for Niagra Falls.
• Arrived at the hotel a little after midnight due to bad road construction and traffic.
• Crashed.

Saturday

• Did breakfast "on our own" and met to leave the hotel by 10.
• Did sight-seeing (Maid of the Mist, Journey Behind the Falls, and walking around) till noon-thirty.
• Crossed the Rainbow Bridge back into the US at 1 PM.
• Chris had an interesting discussion with the border crossing gaurds. This will be the source of much laughter for years to come.
• Drove home pretty much straight through from Niagara Falls to Waverly Ohio.
• Stopped for dinner and gas a couple of times along the way.
• Drove through crazy rain between Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio.
• HUGE thank you to Sarah for talking with me and keeping me awake for 6+ hours.
• Started having transmission (??) trouble with the white van on 71 south of Cleveland.
• Chris did a great job of getting the van and all of the occupants home safe.
• Arrived at RVCC around 9:30, unpacked, said good-bye, and headed home to crash.

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Once again, this is the bare-bones version of what happened during the week. If you read this blog and you have any access at all to one of the kids that went on the trip, please take the time to sit down with them and hear their stories.

My plan from this point on is to blog some of my own stories, and encourage the kids (and other leaders) to find an outlet to tell their own.

I honestly believe that people were changed this week. I know that I was.

Can't wait to keep hearing more stories.

Praying that everyone is adjusting to "real life" without letting go of the things that impacted you while we were away.

That's it for now.

- Roogles out

Bite Back!

On April 25, 2008 students from the Jr. High and Sr. High youth groups from River Valley Community Church came together for a one evening event to Bite Back, and help stop malaria from killing thousands in Africa.

We met out at the Milestone Lodge for an evening of fellowship, games, discussion, worship, and of course food.

Following hot dogs around the fire, the youth jumped in a played some crazy mosquioto and African themed games before we settled down to hear Wayne Beam share about his trip to Africa with Wes in 2006, and about the effect malaria has there on so many people.

At the end of the evening we were blessed by worship with The [All New] Marty Ford Experience, and even more blessed to have Sarah, one of our seniors, express her worship by painting during the worship set.

The event was a great success, and I'm pleased to say that thanks to the amazing support of our church we are sending $2380 dollars to Compassion International for the purchase of 238 mosquito nets to help Bite Back and put an end to malaria in Africa!

BiteBack.net is the official website of Compassion's Bite Back campaign.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Jesus Junk

Dan Kimball's book, They Like Jesus but not the Church, has a great chapter on Jesus in pop culture, and even touches on Marko's oft posted topic of "Jesus Junk".

Was out Christmas shopping on Dec 23, and ran across a rack of these guys at Border's in Parkersburg.



I really wanted one, but Jenn wouldn't let me.

If you read the fine print you'll even see that he has "poseable arms, and gliding action!"




Oh... and the best bit.... Jesus is not recommended for children under three years.

NYWC Atlanta - Day 3

We were so tired this morning that when the alarm clock went off I just killed it onto the floor and went back to sleep. As such, we missed the 8:00 seminars this morning. I was really hoping to go hear Dave Ambrose share the seminar 'What Monks Can Teach Us'... I'll be picking it up on MP3 before we split.

Since we were running a tad behind, Jenn made a break for general session and got seats with Marty & Alan in the "cheap seats" area while I waited in line at Starbucks for vanilla bean frappuccinos and scones.

Shane & Shane are really talented guys and Chris Tomlin was really good.

The speaker at the general session was Phyllis Tickle, and she was amazing!

Her session had to do with the huge change that the church is undergoing as denominational lines among Christians are blurring and ermgent patterns are developing all across Christianity as we know it...

She was very very deep, but I really connected with her message... I texted Steve during the session and his reply was something like "Fiesty old grandma' ain't she".

I'm definitely picking up her session on DVD. Steve needs to see it, and I want to watch it again.

Jenn went to the Women in Youth ministry luncheon at 12:15, and I came down here to the tables near the exhibit hall to blog, which I have now been doing for two hours non-stop...

My battery is about to die, I need to go check the score of the Buckeye's game, and I really need to look up some lunch after Jenn gets back from scoping out the show floor.

More updates later.

-E

NYWC St. Louis - Last Post Part 2

I just had to tack a post on here to say that the Late Night with Lost & Found, Skit Guys and Bob Stromberg was the funniest thing I have ever seen.

I laughed so hard I might be injured. Lost and Found are awesome... Bob Stromberg is a great storyteller, and the Skit Guys are two amazing and talented folks.

I stayed to talk to Tommy & Eddie briefly after the show just to tell them how much I appreciate their stuff, and say Thanks for their kind emails and comments back to me and Jenn after I blogged about the Skits that Teach thing this past year.

I know that all of these artists are bombarded with people wanting to be their friends, and share with them, and make connections with them and ( even as badly as I want to sit down with Marko and Tommy & Eddie even for a half an hour just to drink coffee and talk ) I always feel terribly guilty about being one of "those people"... because really, in the grand scheme of things, there is no reason that any of them should remember who I am, and it would be silly to expect them to take time out of their ( already ) crazy schedules just to make a connection with every Youth Worker who wanted their time/advice/etc.

Wow... This post is turning out way longer than I intended...

Anyhoo... I guess my point is that I don't want to be one of "those people" who are constantly hovering around the famous people and trying to pretend like we are friends, and that for me, it is really really cool when ( even after a year ) there is a hint of recognition when we make even a momentary connection...

I really need to shake this "marko stalker" label that the kids have on me too... haha

Wow again... I have no idea what any of this has to do with anything...

Just part of "My Story" I guess.

NYWC St. Louis - Last Post

This will probably be my last post from the NYWC here in St. Louis. We had a good afternoon on the show floor today. Lots of people came by the booth, and were excited about LiveWorship.

The last 45 minutes or so seemed to take a long long time, as the crowd had pretty much thinned out and we were basically just sitting and waiting for the official pack up time to arrive

Tear down was very quick and efficient for us. We had the whole booth torn down, packed up and back in the van in just over an hour.

With the van packed, we said good bye to the guys who had been stuck next to us all weekend and drove down to Lacede's Landing to look up some dinner. We found a little bar on the landing called the Feisty Bulldog which had good sandwiches and a great appetizer of home made chips with bleu cheese and tabasco on them.

Not much else to tell since then... With the van packed up we returned to the hotel to chill for a while before we head back to the show for the evening. General session starts at 8, followed by the Late Night with Bob Stromberg, Skit Guys, and Lost & Found.

That should put us back here in the room around midnight (or later).

Tomorrow morning we are hoping to check out by 8, and head down to the St. Louis arch for a tour and ride up to the observation deck. Then we're planning to hit Marko's session at 11, and be on the road back to Ohio by 1:30.

See my twitter for minute by minute details if you're curious as to more specific where-abouts until we get home.

If you've been reading the blogs while I'm down here, hope you've enjoyed them.

See you back in Ohio late tomorrow night.

NYWC St. Louis - Sunday Morning Update

The comedy show last night was just plain fantastic! All four of the comedy acts were hilarious, but Bill Arnold was my favorite by far. His humor is a little dry, but he is one funny dude.

Before the comedy show Alan and I had dinner at an little Italian place down around the corner on Broadway. J.F. Sanfillipo's I think was the name. It was awesome! The hot fresh sesame rolls rocked, and there was no way I could finish the huge plate of fettucini alfredo they set in front of me.

I was up really late again last night, even after we got back to the room from the comedy show. I ended up talking on IM and doing email until almost 2 in the morning. Thankfully the time change gave us an extra hour of sleep to go on, so I don't feel all that bad this morning.

We opened the booth for a quick morning session from 8:45 till 11 AM. Had a couple of great conversations, but especially one with a guy who was a very happy MS3 user and not about to give us the time of day when I talked him into looking a demo... I think he was genuinely impressed by our ease of use.

The morning General Session this morning was started by Jeff Johnson who I really really needed at Cinci last year. The slowing down and resting and breathing in God is a pretty powerful experience. This morning I just couldn't get into it though, and ended up sitting in the lobby with Alan researching options for visiting the arch while we are here in town.

We caught the skit guys bit after Jeff and loved it. I stopped and talked to Eddie briefly before the session started ( just to see if he would remember who I was, and to say Hi ).

Now the speaker is on stage, but I've slipped out again. I'm munching on some nachos and getting in a blog update before the booth opens again from noon till 3:30.


Oh... The cheerleaders are back in force this morning. Seemed to be mostly older girls this morning and less 3-8 year olds... Makes the fact they they aren't wearing hardly anything and are made-up like hookers even worse. I told Alan on the way in that there are only a few groups I can think of who could have been more awkward sharing the convention center with 3500 youth pastors... A stripper convention maybe, or the adult film industry...

Ok Ok maybe it isn't really all that bad. BUT... cheerleading is quickly being ruled out of Ellie's future. No way I am letting her get into anything like this. She'll be a band geek, and she'll like it.

Band kids are more spiritual anyway ( see previous post ).

Ah well... back to work.

Edit - Nov 06 - A response

Wanted to take a few minutes to respond to this comment by Daisy, and was afraid my response might go longer than a comment permitted, so I decided to do an addendum instead.

daisy said on November 5, 2007 11:07 AM...

"I have read a bunch of blogs from the people in attendance of the NYWC in STL. Let me ask you this; if so many Christians are "disgusted" by the cheerleaders and find it sad and like you stated, won't let your kids take part in it, then where are all the cheerleaders going to find Christian influence? By just letting them be segregated from the Christians, are you showing Christ's love here?"

First... I have no idea who Daisy is or how to respond to her other than by posting again here... I hope that she comes back to see my response, and that if more dialogue is needed she will continue to comment.

I guess I want to start my response by saying that my feelings toward the cheerleading competition in St. Louis has NOTHING to with the girls here at the convention being cheerleaders... There are a several cheerleaders who attend my own church and youth group and at least one of them is a "core kid" in our youth ministry.

What saddened me about the cheerleading convention ( which I saw very very little of, by the way ) is that these girls are being put on display in a way that is totally inappropriate for girls of any age group no matter how old they are. If our high school cheerleaders dressed in some of the outfits I saw walking through the lobby, they wouldn't even be permitted on the school grounds, let alone into a football or basketball game.

I guess I have no idea what is actually taking place on the stage in the competition either, so I can only assume that the "dancing" that was taking place all over the lobby were girls practicing for their routines and not just imitating the latest Brittany Spears music video...

On the way out of the convention center on Saturday afternoon, I actually walked by a group of six to ten girls ( who I would guess to have been age five or six ) all clustered around a mother who was kneeling in their midst... The girls were all wearing disturbingly short tops and short skirts with far more skin exposed than not. They all had heavy eye-makeup and bright red lipstick on. The mother (parent/coach) was saying as I walked by... "Now girls... the team from [some name I didn't catch] really put you guys to shame earlier so I want you to get back in there and kick their little asses this time!"

I'll paraphrase Marko and say, I wanted to smack the lady.

Let me try to wrap this up by saying that I totally agree with you, Daisy, that segregation from cheerleaders in general ( or any group for that matter ) is the wrong approach. And I agree that someone really needs to be "in there" sharing the love of Christ with the girls, their parents, their coaches, etc... I just have a sneaky suspicion that getting that sort of attention from me, or any one else wearing a "Youth Pastor Badge" wouldn't have gone over so well this weekend... I'm afraid it would have come across a lot like the bullhorn Jesus guy.

Also, I don't think I would honestly prevent my three year old daughter from being a high school cheerleader if she really wants to... I just hope she doesn't feel the kind of pressure to be put on display by anyone as she grows up and decides what she wants to be in life.

My biggest problem here is that I can't imagine that these (little) girls would really be doing this to themselves ( the skimpy dress, the "dancing", the kick-their-little-asses competitiveness ) unless they were pushed into it by parents, coaches, society, etc... and that they have that pressure put on them by anyone really does make me sad.

Thank you for making me clarify. I'm open to more comments and/or discussion.

-Eli

NYWC St. Louis - Day 2 in full swing.

First of all let me say that I am really bummed because I waited in the second floor guys bathroom this morning for an hour waiting to catch the seminar "Teaching Teenage boys how to kick the crap out of Non-Christians" by Winfield H. Tutte.

Must have been the wrong bathroom.

Secondly, how is this for irony... The America Center which is housing the NYWC this weekend is also playing host to some sort of crazy cheerleading competition out on the other end of the building... What this comes down to is that in order to get to and from the General Sessions and the exhibit hall all of these youth workers and staff have to walk through a mob of little girls ( some as young as three or four ) dancing provocatively (practicing, I guess??) and wearing things that little girls should never ever wear.

If it didn't make me sad, I would laugh.

We had a great crowd in our booth this morning for the show floor hours, and had some great conversations with folks about using our software in their ministries... Can't imagine what would have been drawing them our way...



Had lunch during our break at The Soup Man a couple blocks away. Great bowl of crab chowder and a grilled cheese sandwich.

The show floor opens back up in about five minutes, so I'd better get back over there...

SYATP - Thoughts About a Rant.

After some great discussion at Bible study a couple weeks ago about the the upcoming See You At the Pole on Sept 26, I ran across a blog today that had two articles worth re-posting.

The general consensus at Bible Study that night was that SYATP was a pretty ridiculous excuse for a "Christian" activity ( quotes on purpose there )... And one of the students even made the comment that she had already made a commitment to "NOT see anyone at the pole."

Here's the initial blog post. Read it.

See You at the Pole ( A Rant ) on Z Life

In my experience (both as a youth and a youth pastor) I have 1) not been really really excited about or really "good" at prayer at any time in my life and 2) dont't think SYATP does anything to help out with that.

I will admit openly that prayer doesn't appear anywhere on the top ten list of my spiritual gifts, and I am in awe of those people I meet who can commit to prayer and be faithful to it.

Dino (the guy from Z Life) got enough comments about the above listed rant, that he posted a new blog this time with a challenge.

SYATP Counter-Cultural Challenge on Z Life

I think it's a great idea! I'm also curios to know what you think.

-Roogles

( Thanks to Dino from Z Life ).

Great Article

My intention is not to steal Jenn's thunder by posting about this also, but this is one that I can't just let slip by...

Jenn turned me onto this blog a couple of weeks back, and Josh has some great insight and some of his thoughts are just fantastic!

If you didn't take Jenn's advice already, go read this post now!

"Worship" vs Worship

My favorite quote is "Sometimes I like Christians more before they know how to act like Christians."

Yes! Amen! This is what I LOVE about Youth ministry. Teenagers are sometimes so bent on "doing their own thing" that they live out their faith in ways that go against the rut we are so often stuck in as Christians. Love it!

Great stuff!