Wednesday Night Recap

• Wow, we had more than 100 students at Varsity
• I love speaking about God size Dreams
• I believe we have the greatest group of Adult Leaders in the country
• I love teenagers
• I love the song Happy Day by Tim Hughes
• This verse is amazing and rocks my face off
• I love being the High School Pastor at this church
• Students can and will change the world!
• We are on the verge of something great
• We are in the midst of something great
• I am glad that Jesus is the reason for the season--Go Tigers
• Is there anything more exciting than a room full of teenagers on a Wednesday Night
• I am living my Dream!
• This list is kind of long and this is the place where I should link to people
  

Let's Go Tigers

Monday morning I have the pleasure of going to an FCA breakfast where Tommy and Bobby Bowden will be speaking together. I am so excited. I can't wait. After we leave the breakfast we will be traveling to Clemson to enjoy a great day of tailgating with the Callahan family. The only thing that could make the day better is a win over FSU. I am so glad football season is back. Let's go Tigers!!!

Dreams

Wednesday night is on the way with the second of our three part series on Dreams. The week the message is titled Dream Robbers. I am talking about the obstacles that you may face while making your dream a reality. What are some obstacles that you have faced?

Back from the Mountains

I am back and I am now more sure than ever that we have the greatest group of Adult Leaders on the Planet. We had a great time hanging out out this place. These guys are passionate about reaching teenagers with the truth of the gospel. I am blown away!!!!

I watched this and It made me cry for two hours.

Click Here.

Gatlinburg, TN

I am leaving today to hang out with some of the greatest Adult Leaders on the Planet. I am so excited about this coming year and the impact that our Adult leaders are going to make on the lives of the Students in the upstate. are hanging out in a mac daddy cabin in the mountains of Tennessee. I will be without email for two days. I am co-dependent. There, I said it.

First night of the year.

Tonight was an amazing night at Varsity. We had a great time welcoming a lot of new faces. I love speaking about living a life of passion and dreaming big. God is doing a great work in the lives of our Students and I know that this will be an amazing year.

Dreams

Tomorrow night we start our new series Dreams. I am so excited to kick-off the new year. We are hosting a little competition between the students of our local schools and I am anxious to see who all is gonna show up? It should be a great night.

Saturday.

Today was pretty uneventful. I hung out in my recliner all day and watched movies. Dawson and I had a blast while Renae went to get her nails done with some of the girls. I watched three entire movies today and it was awesome. I love watching movies, it is one of my favorite activities. What are some suggestions for great movies I need to see?

Hanging Out with Students

I just had a bunch of Students over to the house for a goodbye party for the seniors. It was pretty fun. These guys stayed until about 12am. I am tired and going to bed. By the way, Me and one of the seniors, Shoue dominated in Spades.

Simpsonized Josh?

Today I turned myself into a Simpson character. It really makes me laugh. Here it is.

Student Ministry...Part III

3. Build an Adult Leadership Team. Leading in student ministry can be very difficult and lonely place. Most youth pastors find themselves with lots of responsibility and very little help. When it comes to investing in the lives of teenagers, great adult leaders are few and far between. I have inherited a group of amazing Adult leaders and I am blessed to have people around me who love students. I not only want them to know I appreciate them, I also want them to know that my job is impossible without them. In a few weeks I am taking all of our adult leaders and their spouses to the mountains to hang out for a weekend. I will share with them our vision and we will spend some time training in different areas. I love the Adult Volunteers here at Varsity and I can't wait to spend some time investing in the people who invest in our students. What are some ways that have been successful for you to recruit adult volunteers?

Back Home

Just got back from a week in Louisiana doing Katrina relief. The team of HS Students that we took were amazing. I am really tired and ready to go to sleep. That's all the blog I have in me today.

Student Ministry...Part II

#2. Develop a Student Leadership Team.

Students are now more than ever crying out for someone to challenge them. One of the most valuable things you can do is develop your key students into key leaders. This week we have taken a group of our key leaders on a mission trip to Louisiana. They are blowing my mind. Teenagers want to be stretched out of their comfort zone. If we don't challenge them to lead, someone else will challenge them to follow. Find key student and make them key leaders. Students, what are some ways you would like to be challenged to lead others?

Student Ministry...Part I

I love Student Ministry. When I am 90 years old and walking with a cane, I plan on still investing in the lives of teenagers. Nothing is more exciting than watching change happen in the lives of Students. I am convinced that Teenagers are more open to radical life changing Christianity than any group of people I can think of. I want to invest in the lives of the Students so that God will be glorified and that people will be what God created them to be. There are lots of things we need to focus on when reaching this generation of students, but, here are three of them that are huge to us:

1. Personally Invest in your Students. There are a lot of things in and around student ministry that can and will monopolize your time, but there is nothing more important than the time you spend with your students personally. Teenagers spell the word love "T I M E". They are hoping that you, or anyone else for that matter, will stop being so consumed with yourself and take a moment to ask them about their life. As youth workers, Student Pastors, or Parents we have to be very careful not to become lost in the many, many different things that can hijack our devotion and divert our attention. As your ministry grows it becomes more and more difficult to do this. How can we maintain a healthy connection to our students as our ministries grow, any ideas? Let me know what you think.
   

More to come tomorrow.

Great Friends

Two of my best friends in the whole world are here this weekend and I am reminded of how crazy we used to be. Jr, Todd and I hung out last night and ended up at the IHOP. These guys love Jesus and I am praying for them as they start this.
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Emotion v/s Will

Emotions are a powerful thing and God created them. As teachers we are constantly presented with situations where we have the opportunity to tap into people's emotion. The level of responsibility in these moments are insanely intense. More than anything I want the preaching of God's word to bring change to people's lives. However, if we aim our message at the emotion, we set ourselves up for an emotional response. Emotional responses may or may not be authentic, I am not the judge. However, If we direct our preaching at the will, we eliminate the up and down of our emotion as is relates to our response. The will is breeding ground for change. Although an emotional message is more exciting, the best way to apply the truth of God's word is to aim it directly at the will.