Topic: "From the Ground Up - Loneliness"
First-Time Visitors: 7
Student Attendance: Above Average
Volunteer Attendance: Average
Observer Attendance: Above Average
Message Length: 16 Minutes
Music: Above Average
Last night we continued our series called "From the Ground Up" and talked about Loneliness. I told the students that there were two types of lonely people: 1) lonely people who are along; 2) lonely people who are in a crowd. We also discussed loneliness from the aspect of the family. It is a pretty good chance that over 60% of our students have experienced a broken /dysfunctional home. That hit a lot of students in the face.
The Good News was two fold: 1) They did not have to be either; 2) God did not plan for them to be lonely.
Psalm 68:6, "God sets the lonely in families..." We challenged them to join the family, spiritual family of Ignite, and their small group.
Next week, we are going to challenge them with what their purpose is in the family and how it works best when they are involved and doing their part. Also, drawing a correlation from the Super Bowl and how teams become championship teams when everyone does their part!
Monday, January 29, 2007
Saturday, January 27, 2007
SNOW SKIING....
Today began at 5:00 AM! This morning a group of about 16 IGNITE Leaders went snow skiing together at Wolf Laurel in Western North Carolina. It started out way to early, but was an awesome day. I can actually say that I only fell once! I say that that was pretty awesome considering the last time I went snow skiing was when I was a junior at Anderson College, now Anderson University, back in 2002.
Conditions were actually really good in the morning, but it got a bit icy in the afternoon, which doesn't create for the most optimal skiing conditions. Still a great day for skiing!
We had a great time and it was awesome to see our leaders bond and fellowship. Sometimes the only time we get together is when we are ministering to students and that is not enough! We have to spent time together, do live together, and let each other know that we care about each other. We must have a FAMILY atmosphere!
That is my desire for our leaders at IGNITE. That they will feel like they are apart of a family, that they are cared for, they feel that their service is valued, they are valued as a person, and feel that they contribute in a necessary way! I am excited that we are on our way to this goal, we have leaders who love Jesus, students, and each other.
Conditions were actually really good in the morning, but it got a bit icy in the afternoon, which doesn't create for the most optimal skiing conditions. Still a great day for skiing!
We had a great time and it was awesome to see our leaders bond and fellowship. Sometimes the only time we get together is when we are ministering to students and that is not enough! We have to spent time together, do live together, and let each other know that we care about each other. We must have a FAMILY atmosphere!
That is my desire for our leaders at IGNITE. That they will feel like they are apart of a family, that they are cared for, they feel that their service is valued, they are valued as a person, and feel that they contribute in a necessary way! I am excited that we are on our way to this goal, we have leaders who love Jesus, students, and each other.
Friday, January 26, 2007
First Time at NewSpring.....
Joe Sangl sent this link in an email to the staff. He found it on YouTube. This video documented an older gentleman's first time in church in 20 years! It is 9 minutes long, but well worth the watch. Check out here or down below.
Be sure to catch the quote that hit me square in the eyes!
Son: Now I was worried you wouldn't like it.
Father: Nah, I liked it (I think!?!?)
Son: I know it was a BIG change from what you saw 20 years ago.
Father: Well, you just about have to change, just about have to change.....
WOW!!!
To the Young Man who produced/filmed the video:
Thank you for allowing me to share in this experience. I was greatly moved and it brought me to tears! I pray that your father will continue to come church on a regular basis. God Bless!!
Also jump over and check out Perry's thoughts about the video!
Be sure to catch the quote that hit me square in the eyes!
Son: Now I was worried you wouldn't like it.
Father: Nah, I liked it (I think!?!?)
Son: I know it was a BIG change from what you saw 20 years ago.
Father: Well, you just about have to change, just about have to change.....
WOW!!!
To the Young Man who produced/filmed the video:
Thank you for allowing me to share in this experience. I was greatly moved and it brought me to tears! I pray that your father will continue to come church on a regular basis. God Bless!!
Also jump over and check out Perry's thoughts about the video!
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Excited about....
I am really excited about two things that are headed our way!
- UNLEASHED Conference - NewSpring Church, March 15th. Please go to Perry's blog to check out this thoughts and excitement about UNLEASHED at this link. I am excited because it will be formatted in a way that will welcome questions, discussion, and not just lectures. I am also excited because I will have the opportunity to lead the roundtable on Student Ministry with Brad Cooper, our High School Pastor. It will be a whole lot of fun! Hope to see you there!
- PUDGEHUCKABY.COM - Pudge is getting back in blogging after a hiatus. Should be interesting to see what in the world he write about. Especially since his first post on Monday, January 29th, will be titled, “How to Bore Kids to Hell at Church…”. Be sure to check out, add it to your feeds, whatever you want. He asked me not to mention that be begged me to put this post up! So, don't mention it to him! ;)
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
IGNITE | 1.21.07
The past Sunday at IGNITE was great! It was a last minute pull together on the set and actually the message. I talked about why it was important to have a foundation based on Jesus Christ. Check out these pictures of the set (I stole them from Ryan Sutherland's Blog):
The creativity team did an awesome job of getting it together. On Sunday, it was really neat to see about 5-8 people working on putting the setup and then tearing it down after we were finished (we have to get the FUSEBOX ready for FUSE on Wednesday Night.)
Quick Notes from Sunday Night:
The creativity team did an awesome job of getting it together. On Sunday, it was really neat to see about 5-8 people working on putting the setup and then tearing it down after we were finished (we have to get the FUSEBOX ready for FUSE on Wednesday Night.)Quick Notes from Sunday Night:
- 4 Salvations
- 8 First Time Student Visitors
- Average Attendance (Pretty good considering the constant rain/weather conditions)
- Average Leader Attendance
- Above Average Observer Attendance
- Message was 24 minutes, little long for us, but was still engaging and the students hung with it.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Congrats COLTS!!!
Well, I can honestly say that I am excited about the SUPERBOWL this year. Typically, I do not get excited and want to watch the BOWL, but this year I do! I am stoked for the Indianapolis Colts! They deserve it, especially after all the slack they have caught after this year. What a GREAT comeback, awesome performance!!
In December of 2005, I had a post on Tony Dungy. That was a horrible time in the life of his family in losing a son, but he was such a man of faith! Since that time I have been a fan of Tony Dungy. I love the way he carries himself, supports and loves his team. It is always great to see GOOD guys do well and achieve success. I hope that they win the Super Bowl this year! GO COLTS!!!
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Uneasy Feeling | Move out of Comfort
For the past couple of weeks, I have been thinking about the people that serve on the Middle School Ministry Staff at NewSpring. We have a quite diverse group of young people. John Flowers, David Hall, and Lindsay Owens do an incredible job of serving our students. Each one of them have a passion for Jesus, for middle school students, and or the local church. I consider it a privilege to be able to lead, but more importantly serve alongside them.
For sometime now, I have had the feeling that we were not structured in the most effective way for us to continue to grow. As most leaders can say, "We need more staff!" Although, I agree that we could all use more staff, the bigger question for me became "Are we structured to continue to grow with the staff that we currently have?" My answer was no!
Marcus Buckingham stated, "Great managers find out what is unique about a person and capitalizes on that." In an effort to be the most effective manager/leader, that was an evaluation that I needed to make of my staff. Needless to say, when I took a concentrated look at the unique qualities and passions of my staff, I knew that changes must be made.
First, I was trying to pigeon hole two different people into one job description/role. John and David are totally different in personalities and passion. How could I get them in a role/situation that would give them the best opportunity to succeed? That meant for me that I needed to put them in a role that they were excited and passionate about.
John's strengths lie in creative thinking, brainstorming, creating videos, creating skits, acting, random thoughts, and creating creative environments/sets. David's strengths lie in loving students, creating relationships with those students, being about to get into the student's worlds, know what is going on in their lives, and a desire to push them deeper in their relationship with Jesus. How could I capitalize on those and still be effective and grow in the ministry? How do I make sure that every area they were responsible for continues to be covered as well.
The answer: CHANGE...MOVE OUT OF COMFORT...GET HELP! Now, David and John are both serving in their strong areas. David is in charge of campus visits (coordinating visits with volunteers leaders, schools, and making sure that they have permission and any information they need to visit students), follow-up, and assisting me create the best discipleship program for our students. John is in charge of our creative sets, skits, videos, and execution of the night at IGNITE.
John and David used to be over all of our volunteers. Now the volunteer leaders report to volunteer Team Leaders. These Team Leaders report to me. See I had to pull stuff off of my staff and take on some responsibility, but minimize that responsibility by recruiting people who wanted to love on small group leaders. This meant giving away responsibility to VOLUNTEERS. I was really nervous about this, but each Team Leader is stoked about it. They have arose to the occasion and taking on the care and ministering of the small group leaders. It has been great so far.
Also, the neat thing about it is that David and John are both recruiting leaders to assist them in these roles. they are are GIVING away opportunities to ENABLE others to serve Jesus. John has a team that meets with him each Saturday morning to discuss creative sets, design, games, etc. David is in the process of getting a group together to assist in visiting schools (we have over 10 represented in our ministry)and doing follow-up. That is so cool.
Lindsay, continues to do an AWESOME job of assisting me, keeping organized, scheduling appointments, and making sure my brain does not get fried. She has also taken on other responsibilities in accordance with her passion. She now takes care of all of our potential volunteers and walks them through the process of getting involved, volunteer training, volunteer appreciation, and much more. This is something she is passionate about and does a whole lot better than me!
These decisions and changes made me get out of my comfort place and JUMP into a place that is much better! Thank God for doing this and making it work! You are awesome!
For sometime now, I have had the feeling that we were not structured in the most effective way for us to continue to grow. As most leaders can say, "We need more staff!" Although, I agree that we could all use more staff, the bigger question for me became "Are we structured to continue to grow with the staff that we currently have?" My answer was no!
Marcus Buckingham stated, "Great managers find out what is unique about a person and capitalizes on that." In an effort to be the most effective manager/leader, that was an evaluation that I needed to make of my staff. Needless to say, when I took a concentrated look at the unique qualities and passions of my staff, I knew that changes must be made.
First, I was trying to pigeon hole two different people into one job description/role. John and David are totally different in personalities and passion. How could I get them in a role/situation that would give them the best opportunity to succeed? That meant for me that I needed to put them in a role that they were excited and passionate about.
John's strengths lie in creative thinking, brainstorming, creating videos, creating skits, acting, random thoughts, and creating creative environments/sets. David's strengths lie in loving students, creating relationships with those students, being about to get into the student's worlds, know what is going on in their lives, and a desire to push them deeper in their relationship with Jesus. How could I capitalize on those and still be effective and grow in the ministry? How do I make sure that every area they were responsible for continues to be covered as well.
The answer: CHANGE...MOVE OUT OF COMFORT...GET HELP! Now, David and John are both serving in their strong areas. David is in charge of campus visits (coordinating visits with volunteers leaders, schools, and making sure that they have permission and any information they need to visit students), follow-up, and assisting me create the best discipleship program for our students. John is in charge of our creative sets, skits, videos, and execution of the night at IGNITE.
John and David used to be over all of our volunteers. Now the volunteer leaders report to volunteer Team Leaders. These Team Leaders report to me. See I had to pull stuff off of my staff and take on some responsibility, but minimize that responsibility by recruiting people who wanted to love on small group leaders. This meant giving away responsibility to VOLUNTEERS. I was really nervous about this, but each Team Leader is stoked about it. They have arose to the occasion and taking on the care and ministering of the small group leaders. It has been great so far.
Also, the neat thing about it is that David and John are both recruiting leaders to assist them in these roles. they are are GIVING away opportunities to ENABLE others to serve Jesus. John has a team that meets with him each Saturday morning to discuss creative sets, design, games, etc. David is in the process of getting a group together to assist in visiting schools (we have over 10 represented in our ministry)and doing follow-up. That is so cool.
Lindsay, continues to do an AWESOME job of assisting me, keeping organized, scheduling appointments, and making sure my brain does not get fried. She has also taken on other responsibilities in accordance with her passion. She now takes care of all of our potential volunteers and walks them through the process of getting involved, volunteer training, volunteer appreciation, and much more. This is something she is passionate about and does a whole lot better than me!
These decisions and changes made me get out of my comfort place and JUMP into a place that is much better! Thank God for doing this and making it work! You are awesome!
Friday, January 19, 2007
SHIFT.....
Well, I am registered for SHIFT: Student Ministries Leadership Conference at Willow Creek on Feb. 28-March 2. I am really excited about going up to Willow Creek and checking it out. I have heard a lot of great things from the people up there. From thier line up should be a great conference, but be sure to check out some of the breakout sessions.
I look forward to hearing from Scott Rubin from Willow Creek, Kurt Johnston from Saddleback, Andy Tilly from LiveChurch.tv, and many others. It should be an awesome time to learn and think through some of the things that we have been processing from some time.
I look forward to Brad, the new High School Pastor, going as well. This should be a great time for Brad and I to get to know each other better since he just joined the team at the beginning of January. We haven't mush of an opportunity to get to know each other except for many meetings that we have been in. Also Lindsay, my assistant; and Meredith, Brad's assistant, will be attending with us as well.
This past December at the NYWC in Charlotte, NC, I was able to meet Wes Wilson, who is the program Director for Elevate, the Jr High Ministry at Willow Creek. Sandy and I had a great time sitting and talking with him. He has got a huge passion for Jesus and for Middle School students. I look forward to catching up with him and see how things are going in his world.
Anyways, if you are planning on attending, drop a comment!
I look forward to hearing from Scott Rubin from Willow Creek, Kurt Johnston from Saddleback, Andy Tilly from LiveChurch.tv, and many others. It should be an awesome time to learn and think through some of the things that we have been processing from some time.
I look forward to Brad, the new High School Pastor, going as well. This should be a great time for Brad and I to get to know each other better since he just joined the team at the beginning of January. We haven't mush of an opportunity to get to know each other except for many meetings that we have been in. Also Lindsay, my assistant; and Meredith, Brad's assistant, will be attending with us as well.
This past December at the NYWC in Charlotte, NC, I was able to meet Wes Wilson, who is the program Director for Elevate, the Jr High Ministry at Willow Creek. Sandy and I had a great time sitting and talking with him. He has got a huge passion for Jesus and for Middle School students. I look forward to catching up with him and see how things are going in his world.
Anyways, if you are planning on attending, drop a comment!
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
2007 Predictions.....
I came across this link/page the other day. Cannot remember where I came across it, because I just left it up on my screen for a couple of days. Check this page out as it makes 5 Predictions about Youth Trends for 2007.
First paragraph reads: "Today's generation of young students is causing concern among some youth leaders who see increasing fallout from the church and an increasingly secularized culture. Other leaders are just the opposite. They see a generation full of potential and passionately following Christ."
I would fall in the camp of leaders who "see a generation FULL of potential to passionately follow Christ and make a difference in this generation!" (Italics and bold are my revisions).
It was an interesting read and thought provoking. Check out and let me know what you think.
First paragraph reads: "Today's generation of young students is causing concern among some youth leaders who see increasing fallout from the church and an increasingly secularized culture. Other leaders are just the opposite. They see a generation full of potential and passionately following Christ."
I would fall in the camp of leaders who "see a generation FULL of potential to passionately follow Christ and make a difference in this generation!" (Italics and bold are my revisions).
It was an interesting read and thought provoking. Check out and let me know what you think.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
WELCOME.....
Tony Morgan announced that he will be joining the team at NewSpring Church. Tony, welcome to the team! We look forward to having you join us on this awesome journey that God has put us on. I know that Granger Community Church will be sad to see him go, but we are grateful to have him serve with us.
Transitions are always difficult, as you leave a comfortable house, comfortable job, friends, family and much more, but God is ALWAYS faithful in those times. I will never forget how HARD the transition to NewSpring from Florence, SC, but God was AWESOME to us. We were blessed way more than we could ever imagine. Anyway, God calls us to follow and that is it. Sometimes we do not understand and we wonder why, but we must follow. When God calls...follow and enjoy the ride He has chosen you for!
Tony, thanks for following the call on yours and your family's life. See you in South Carolina soon!
Transitions are always difficult, as you leave a comfortable house, comfortable job, friends, family and much more, but God is ALWAYS faithful in those times. I will never forget how HARD the transition to NewSpring from Florence, SC, but God was AWESOME to us. We were blessed way more than we could ever imagine. Anyway, God calls us to follow and that is it. Sometimes we do not understand and we wonder why, but we must follow. When God calls...follow and enjoy the ride He has chosen you for!
Tony, thanks for following the call on yours and your family's life. See you in South Carolina soon!
Thursday, January 11, 2007
TEAM LEADERS.....
Last night was GREAT! Let me set it up. Yesterday was crazy in the office. Got out of the IGNITE Staff Meeting late, then had to meet with the High School Pastor, so I was late getting to Sam's to get all the supplies for the Team Leader Dinner at our house. Then I had to run to Bi-Lo to get some "smaller" items. Well, I got home and realized that I did not have enough time to cook the lasagna, so my AWESOME wife said run to the store and grab some hamburger meat and we will have spaghetti. I do that and then run back to the church to grab the supplies for the meeting that I had to leave my staff finishing up. Got back home by 5:30PM, right before everyone else shows up.
Just to say, dinner was GREAT! Deanna did an awesome job pulling together a meal at literally the LAST minute. (SHE ROCKS and is COMPLETELY AMAZING!!!!) It was an awesome time of fellowship. I spent 45 minutes explaining what we want our Team Leaders to do and cast vision for the ministry. I love those opportunities to cast vision for the ministry and watch people grab a hold of it and get excited. In a nutshell, we want to provide our Leadership Team of Volunteers with T.L.C. and for our Team Leaders to funnel T.L.C. down to our small group leaders. T.L.C. is not the typical: Tender, Loving, Care. At IGNITE, T.L.C. means Training, Leadership, and Care. If we display this and empower them to give T.L.C. to our small group leaders, we will enable ourselves to grow, serve, encourage, and love more students, along with more leaders!
Needless to say, last night was great! Thank you to the great group of people to are committing to be Team Leaders, which is such a diverse group. They consist of a house mom, high school teacher, pharmacist, working mom, lawyer, financial aid counselor, nurse, handy-man, and many more. I LOVE THAT!! Go God!
Just to say, dinner was GREAT! Deanna did an awesome job pulling together a meal at literally the LAST minute. (SHE ROCKS and is COMPLETELY AMAZING!!!!) It was an awesome time of fellowship. I spent 45 minutes explaining what we want our Team Leaders to do and cast vision for the ministry. I love those opportunities to cast vision for the ministry and watch people grab a hold of it and get excited. In a nutshell, we want to provide our Leadership Team of Volunteers with T.L.C. and for our Team Leaders to funnel T.L.C. down to our small group leaders. T.L.C. is not the typical: Tender, Loving, Care. At IGNITE, T.L.C. means Training, Leadership, and Care. If we display this and empower them to give T.L.C. to our small group leaders, we will enable ourselves to grow, serve, encourage, and love more students, along with more leaders!
Needless to say, last night was great! Thank you to the great group of people to are committing to be Team Leaders, which is such a diverse group. They consist of a house mom, high school teacher, pharmacist, working mom, lawyer, financial aid counselor, nurse, handy-man, and many more. I LOVE THAT!! Go God!
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
SUPER HERO WHAT.....
Your results:
You are Superman
Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test
You are Superman
| You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.  |
Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test
Monday, January 08, 2007
IGNITE on 1.7.07.....
Last night,we started back to IGNITE and had a blast. Lots of fun elements to the night, especially a video showing some of leaders doing some "Office Christmas Caroling." It was hysterical!!
The message was centered around the New Year. I discussed the difference between resolutions and covenants. Making the difference that resolutions are typically done in a private setting and kept private, but covenant is done publicly in a group between two or more people. I made some personal covenants in front of the students with come people.
I challenged the students to make a covenant with God, their small group leader, and small group peers on something that wanted to accomplish this year. We had them write themselves a letter which we will mail in a couple of months to them. Great response from the students and even the parents.
Overall a great night! Attendance was up! Energy was through the roof! Music was great! Video was awesome. Leaders were in tune and rocking it out!
The message was centered around the New Year. I discussed the difference between resolutions and covenants. Making the difference that resolutions are typically done in a private setting and kept private, but covenant is done publicly in a group between two or more people. I made some personal covenants in front of the students with come people.
I challenged the students to make a covenant with God, their small group leader, and small group peers on something that wanted to accomplish this year. We had them write themselves a letter which we will mail in a couple of months to them. Great response from the students and even the parents.
Overall a great night! Attendance was up! Energy was through the roof! Music was great! Video was awesome. Leaders were in tune and rocking it out!
New Design....
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