Camping

Some of Chad's fondest childhood memories are of camping with his family and friends. He has been trying to get back into it since our boys are getting old enough to enjoy it with him. So for Christmas he got a tent, lantern, and out door stove. This weekend the boys convinced us to go camping for the night. We called our friends the Marriotts to tag along. Tim put up a huge 3 bedroom tent and all 5 kids were stoked about sleeping in it. They also brought their pimped out RV. After putting everyone to bed I attempted to sleep in our tent on the air mattress we borrowed. At 1:00 in the morning I started digging through the car and only found a towel to cover up with. At 3:00 in the morning I decided to check on the sleeping angels in the big tent only to find that they had all deserted us and joined the Marriotts in the pimped out RV . They were sleeping soundly in the Ac on the mattresses with BLANKETS. Perhaps this is why my fond childhood memories included the holiday inn!

I'm believing

So here's the deal.... Tonight we had our small group and it was my turn to steer the discussion. I was a little nervous about how it would go. But God showed up. Doesn't He always show up if we just get out of the way. I don't often give advice about youth ministry because there are so many amazing people with such great ideas, but this one time I just can't resist because I see such a huge difference in this small group vrs ones we have done in the past. We started this group by getting up on the stage and saying if you want to be a leader in this student ministry meet right over here and sign this paper. Then we called the names on the list and said meet at our house tues. night 7pm. We eat dinner together, then our worship pastor leads us in worship. This totally sets the mood! We read scripture together out loud then silently. Then open the floor for discussion. The adults can hardly get a word in. Then we always shake it up. We try to have a creative aspect every single week. For example tonight we passed out plates of sand for the kids to write in. This went along with our lesson in John chapter 8. This creates meaning and experiences for the kids. With this group of kids we have really been focusing on quiet time with God, prayer, journaling, bible reading, accountability groups. The next step for this group is to reach out to the other kids at the uprising. This means they have to step out of their comfort zones and lead. Andy, Chad and I are expecting big God size things from this group in the Fall.