SPAIN!!!

Did I call this baby oh what! The Spanish finally break the Red Sox like curse hanging over them and defeated a German side that looked quite out of it all match. David Villa just made Valenica about $60 mil for his transfer, and himself a boat load of cash as his performance this tournament is going to make him the most sought after forward on the planet. It was a fun tournament, I just wish I could have watched a few more matches. If you've never tried watching soccer try catching some of the Euro 2008 games as they come on ESPN Classic. Football in Europe is just so great. Ok, I'm off.

THE Retreat

Wow!


That about sums up the weekend just experienced by myself, 25 middle school students, 4 high school student leaders, and 4 adults. I want to get a little more in depth about some of the things that we talked about and experienced over the weekend, but I'll start us with some highlights by the numbers.

9: Number of students I threw off the dock (have I mentioned I love my job)
2: Number of times I got thrown from a tube
1: the best belly flop ever, as painfully done by Jordan.
0: The number of pranks successfully pulled on me
225: Number of Bible verses memorized by our students
25: Number of students I shot with a water gun (that's funny, that's how many we brought)
12: Pounds of bacon consumed
75: The average temperature (a little better then last year's 45!)

One of the really awesome things we all experienced this weekend was our big group worship. We turned the Dolfin's living room into a worship center complete with colored lighting, sound system, mics, projector, and a wood cross. And worship we did! The passion our students displayed in worship showed their love and commitment to God, and that they really are a generation that loves to give God their praise. They sang until hoarse, danced until sore, and really poured their hearts out. Special thanks needs to go to high school music leaders Mal and Erin for helping make this such a worshipful weekend. At the request of some here are some of the songs we sang this weekend and the recording artist who made them famous if you want to get them off ITunes.
Cartoon Song: Chris Rice
I am Free: Peter Furlor (Newsboys)
Not to Us: Chris Tomlin
Your Grace is Enough: Chris Tomlin
There is no One Like You: David Crowder Band
No Sacrifice (theme song of weekend): Jason Upton
Grace Like Rain: Todd Agnew
Every Move I Make: Fusebox
Let it Rise: Big Daddy Weave
Undignified (the "hey!" song): David Crowder Band
The Happy Song: Delirious? (Chris Tomlin also has a famous version)
You are Holy (Prince of Peace): Michael W. Smith
The Power of Your Love: Lincoln Brewster (although everyone has recorded it at sometime)
Love Enough: Hillsong United


That's it for now. Check back throughout the week for more on this amazing retreat, including some picks. Mega thanks to the Dolfin's for letting us take over for the weekend, as well as the high schoolers and adults for their time and great ministry.

AMAZING driving

So, I must really be a magnet for awesome driving abilities or something. When we moved into our house a month ago a certain loud mouthed youth group member with the initials ZB harassed me (and indeed still harasses me) for having some minor issues backing into our curvy driveway. I believe he said anyone could do it better then me. Well ZB, here is proof that at least one person is worse at backing then me. We had friends over and they well, left their car in this position over night.

Took multiple service vehicles to remove it. I guess the moral of the story is be very careful backing out of my driveway. The good news is that no one was hurt and the vehicle took hardly any damage. And no, it was no one from youth group who did it.

On the more ministry front I have been studying James 3:3-12 for our retreat this weekend. Had not read it in a long time, and what a powerful and important passage for a day in age when we are so cruel to each other with our words. I know it's making me be so much more aware with the words I use and how I chose to use them. Check it out if you have not read it before.

What a week coming up!!!

So this is certainly going to be one of those weeks that if I manage to still be walking and talking afterwords that on it's own will be miraculous. Here's what's coming up in our ministries this week.
Today (Sunday) HS will be heading to the country to play a gigantic game of capture the flag, in which I'm sure the rules will be stretched to their furthest most limits as always (read: the rules simply will be ignored). Plus I'll be talking about Identity: I am...

Tuesday: Middle school students invited to our house to grill out from 6:30 to 8:00 (or later).

Thursday: I and my little high school assistacants leave for the Wisconsin northwoods to prepare for the MS retreat. Oh the pranks we are planning.....

Friday: A bus get's packed with middle school students at 7am (the only time they are somewhat tame) and heads up north to join us. I'm not sure I've ever been so excited for a retreat. We just have so much incredible stuff planned!

I love basements!

Ok, it has been proven once again. Anything you want and desire can be found for free if you just look long enough in a church basement. I've been hunting for lighting supplies for our middle school retreat as we're turning a cabin living room into a worship center. And today I find the ultimate jerry rigged lighting contraption. A 2x4 with flood lights screwed to it attached to a switch board with three different on/off switches. Oh, and the floodies are even adjustable, which will be even more helpful. Now, the bigger question is do I keep finding everything I ever need in the basement because God wants me to find it, or is it just because no church EVER throws anything away? Being a good Calvinist I'll go with God pre-ordained that Church's never throw anything away so that youth pastors could find great supplies.

In related news, I'm getting way excited for our middle school retreat a week from today. It is as jam packed with games, worship, hanging out, and crazy lake activities as we can make it. I also think its going to be a great weekend of spiritual growth. Oh, and in the grand HRC tradition we had 7 students signed up at the registration deadline and now have 24 going. Why do I try having deadlines again???

Finally, I'm about to take off as my family FINALLY gets home in about an hour. Over a week apart from your wife and daughter gets really long, but it does help hit home how much you love them.

J-E-L-L-O and such

I still think one of the greatest parts of my work is getting to see students do crazy stuff, so last night was a good night. Seeing our middle school students covered in jello was highly enjoyable, and the crazy thing is I think some of them actually enjoyed it to. The object of the game was to put a puzzle together that was buried in jello, and both teams did pretty well. The bummer part was trying to get the parking lot clean afterwords. Oh well, good times.

Last night we continued our serious called Identity by examining "who am I?" I think far too often we're more concerned with who we want to be SEEN as (and I include adults here) then who God really made us to be. We spend so much time trying to be something we think would be cool for us that we often just abandon the good things that we have already been given. A couple of students helped with a great illustration of this. One girl tried to hammer in a big nail with a 15lbs hammer (which lowered her hand about a foot and a half when I handed it to her like something out of TV) and a guy tried to tie one of our poor girls' hair in a pony tail. Guess how well both turned out. The nail never did get fully in and the pony tail was well, not great and caused a good deal of pain. When we reversed things and had them do what they were actually good at the guy quickly and accurately got the nail into place and the gal quickly and wonderful did the hair. The point? Be who you are, who God made you to be. Don't waste abilities because you think you won't make gobs of money doing something or it's not cool. Do what God made you to do and do it well.

A summer weekend

So the wife and kid were away for the weekend, which would normally be incredibly sad, but was somewhat salvaged by the non-stop hours of football and the US Open TV provided, as well as the arrival of my new Weber Grill. On the football front Spain has proven to be as good as expected, although I never thought David Villa would perform half this well (I was one infuriated by Raul being left out). Spain has to be the favorite to win this thing at the moment, although Croatia may well be the darkhorse. Oh, and congrats to Rangers for blowing 2mil on Kenny Miller. That will prove to be a giant waste.
As for the open, well Tiger is Tiger. Now all he has to do is break his arm before The Open and win it with one arm and one leg. The man is amazing. Reminded me so much of Jordan's flu game against the Jazz.

At HRC this weekend I preached on following legends, using Joshua 1 as the scripture passage. If there is one thing I hoped everyone got from it is that God is the one who helps us do things of legendary proportions. Far too often I think people in EVERY church don't even try to do anything out of fear they are incapable. The reality is that God is willing and able to help people serve as long as they believe and have faith, follow the commandments, and let scripture be their guide. God does the rest. In a nation where the Church is in decline we need more people willing to TRY to become legends, trusting that God will help them with their short comings.

Ok, time to go work on my lawn.

First Ever Entry

Welcome to the first ever entry in our HRC Youth Ministry blog. This is your place to find out whats going on in our ministry, as well as to just hear what's going to in the crazed mind of it's strange leader. We'll try to keep schedules and stuff of our youth programs on here, so bookmark this link and check in regularly.
So, check back often to stay in the loop on the in and outs of the ministry here at Hingham Church as well as my frequent rantings.