IGNITE | 4.15.07

Topic: "PRISON BREAK: Shame & Guilt"

Student Attendance: Above Average
Volunteer Attendance: Above Average
Observer Attendance: Average
Message Length: 21 Minutes
Music: Above Average

We started a new series called PRISON BREAK. In this four week series, we are going to be exploring Shame & Guilt, Jealousy & Envy, Anger, and how Jesus sets us free.

Last night we discussed SHAME & GUILT. Lindsay Owens did the teaching and did an AMAZING job. She rocked out and slammed home the points. She had the students bought into the lesson and the response was amazing from the students. It was also great for our female students to see a female lead and teach everyone. I think that made a HUGE impact on our ladies!

Prison Break....

This Sunday we are beginning a new series called PRISON BREAK. We are going to be exploring some topics that keep us behind bars and from the freedom that Christ gave us through His death.

Here is the breakdown of our new series:

• April 15th - SHAME & GUILT: Lindsay Owens will be teaching and it is going be awesome. I have seen the outline and she is going to rock it out!
  
• April 22th - JEALOUSY & ENVY: I am teaching.
  
• April 29th - ANGER: David Hall will be teaching this, he has some great ideas that we are going to creativity with this Thursday. Should be awesome!
  
• May 6th - CHAINS THAT HOLD US: I will be teaching again to close out the series.

The whole Ignite Staff really believes that God is going to move in this series. I cannot wait to see what God is going to do in the lives of students, when they realize that the shame, guilt, jealousy, and anger that they are holding onto is NOT the way God intended for them to live!

Rising 6th Graders & Easter at NewSpring.....

We finished the first of two or five Easter Services at NewSpring Church. I did not sit in on a service today, but look forward to doing so tomorrow. From what I heard though....the music was jamming and Perry was hitting it out of the park.

The most exciting part of the night was that I got to spend a lot of time in the Theater 2 Room, the room for our 3rd, 4th, and 5th Graders! All I have to say is that NewSpring Church's Children's Ministry Staff is rocking it out! Today, the IGNITE staff made a guest appearance in this room to introduce ourselves to the rising 6th Graders! We gave a way a bunch of t-shirts, stickers, and gift certificates to the students. They were jacked up!

We wanted to get in front of the 5th Graders EARLY before they move up to IGNITE. We truly desire for them to stay connected and involved in the Children's Ministry right up to the point they move up to our ministry. This will not only help the Children's Ministry, but help us as well, so that we can stay connected to the students in a more effective way, instead of a "Welcome Letter" from someone they have never met.

I look forward to having all of them join our ministry...but, I really need to thank Pudge and Howard for giving us the opportunity to come in there and get in front of the students. So many churches and their ministries are territorial. They compete for resources, staff, attention, and so much more, but we don't have to worry about that at NewSpring. Pudge and I consider ourselves a team! We take time out of our busy schedules to talk strategy, to listen to each other's frustrations, hang out, and just chill. I consider it a part of my job to help Pudge and his team succeed. If Pudge is not doing his job of training up the students and getting them excited about coming to IGNITE then I am...well...screwed! I need Pudge, just like he needs Cherie Duffey, Preschool Director and just like Brad Cooper, High School Pastor needs me. We all need each other, we all need to work together to make it happen!

I hope that your church functions this way. I hope your ministries can rely on each other to help each other, encourage each other, and support each other!

April Phenomenal Awards.....

Yesterday was the First Sunday of April, that means we always go out to eat as a youth volunteer staff. We always eat at the Chili's in Anderson They always give us great service, they never mind that we take up half the restaurant and create ALL the noise.

The awesome volunteers that were given a Phenomenal were:

• Dale Sellers: Phenomenal Ability and Dedication. Dale is ALWAYS there at IGNITE. He has been running our lights for a while and does a GREAT job. Dale has a PASTOR'S heart! He loves people and loves students. I am so thankful to have him apart of the IGNITE team!
• Keri Holder: Phenomenal Encouragement. Keri has the unbelievable gift of encouragement. She has encouraged so many of our leaders since she has joined the IGNITE team. **I get the awesome privilege to be able to officiate her wedding to Mr. Jonathan Unsworth on June 2, 2007! I am really excited about being a part of their special day!**
• Mike Smith: Phenomenal Husband, Dad, and Leader. Mike has been "that" guy in my life since coming to NewSpring. I will never forget sitting on his front porch along with his family and talking about ministry and them welcoming us to NewSpring. since that time our friendship has grown tremendously! I have the utmost respect for Mike, because he loves his family, his Lord, and his church.
• Ryan Sutherland: Phenomenal Creativity. Ryan is the reason for our MADE Videos that we did a couple of weeks back. He came up with the idea, took the pics for each shot, made the set, and then assisted in putting them in video form. I referenced all of the videos in a post back on March 5, 2007. Be sure to check them out here. Dude, you rock! Keep using your talents for Jesus!

Blessing from my IGNITE leaders....

A little over two weeks ago, I went to Willow Creek Church for SHIFT Student Leadership Conference. It was a great trip and awesome time to learn from and network with youth leaders from all over the country.

During that time, there was something that was happening back home in South Carolina that I did not know about. There were some IGNITE volunteer leaders messing with my car. When I say messing with, I mean giving it some tender, loving, care. A group of about 39 or so IGNITE leaders, were taking my car to get detailed (cleaned, waxed, etc.), getting a full service oil change, getting my headlights changed, along with getting the casing for the headlights burnished.

For a long time now, my lights worked, but I could not see all the light that the headlights were given off because the casing for the lights was very foggy. A couple weeks back, I was having a conversation with a couple of volunteers and we were all talking about issues with our individual cars. I mentioned my headlights and the issue I was having with them. I said that i had gotten so used to it that there was no need to get them fixed. One of those volunteers heard that and ran with it.

When we returned it was about 1:00 AM, I could not see my car real well, but I noticed my hands were sliding on the steering wheel. I also thought that my lights were brighter, but I had been driving another car all week, so I didn’t think much about it. I got home and park my car in the garage and look at my car and it was clean and shiny! I looked at my headlights and the casing was clear. I was blown away! My wife greeted me at the door with a smile, and asked if I noticed a difference.

What a HUGE blessing!

To ALL the IGNITE Volunteer Leaders: I am still blown away by the generosity and thoughtfulness of all the volunteers that contributed to giving my car such a clean up job! You guys rock! Each week, you make IGNITE happen through setting up the stage, running check-in, setting up the chairs, straighten up the Fusebox, leading your small groups, and much more! You bless me each week by serving Jesus and serving our students, so this messes me up that you would do this as well. I consider it a privilege to minister alongside each of you! Keep rockin it out for Jesus!

Matrix Pics...

Andrew & the Band ROCKIN it out!

One of the plasmas that is running Matrix Code!

Crazy Middle School Pastor teaching on truth!

Shot of the band, be sure to check out that we had a projector running the code on the ceiling as well! AWESOME!

Thanks to Sean Gaffney and Lloyd Gibson for the great pictures!

IGNITE | 3.11.07: MATRIX

Topic: "MATRIX: TRUTH"

Student Attendance: Below Average
Volunteer Attendance: Below Average
Observer Attendance: Average
Message Length: 20 Minutes
Music: Above Average

We started a new series called MATRIX. In this three week series, we are going to be exploring TRUTH, FREEDOM, and REVOLUTION. I am really excited about this series and what we are going to be talking about.

Last night we discussed TRUTH. Here are the points from last night:

“Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes
to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

1. Truth is Unchanging

· It doesn’t change from day to day…week to week…month to month…year to year…decade to decade…century to century.

2. Truth is Universal

· Truth applies to all of us.

3. God’s Word is Truth – Psalm 119:160 “All your words are true…”

· What is says…HAPPENED (ex. Donkey Talking, Giant Killed with a Stone & Slingshot, Elijah and Fire falling down)

4. Does God’s truth apply to my life?

· Can God’s Word help me keep me out of trouble?

a) YES! -- Psalm 119:9-11

· Can God’s Word give me peace?

a) YES! -- Philippians 4:6-7

· Can God’s Word fix my relationships?

a) YES! -- 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

· Can God’s Word make me smarter?

a) YES! -- James 1:5

I will be posting some pics from last night later today! Be sure to check back for those to catch a glimpse of the stage design!

PHENOMENAL AWARDS MARCH 2007.....

On the First Sunday of each month we present the Phenomenal Awards. These are given to leaders who do something PHENOMENAL during the previous month, some are serious and some are not so serious.

This has become something that the staff and leaders look forward to each month to see who we are going to pick. And now...presenting the Phenomenal Awards for March of 2007:

• Matt Broderick: Phenomenal Phantom Award - Matt is our phantom leader. If you did not know Matt you would know that he was there. He is so stinking quiet. He leads a group of our 6th Grade guys, which he is awesome at doing. Matt leads by example, not a HUGE vocal leader, but one that you can ALWAYS count on and is SOLID to the core. Matt, you ROCK!!! Thank you for all you do!!
  

• Deanna Ellis: Phenomenal Servanthood without Prompting Award - This person is absolutely AMAZING!! Deanna got this award for always being willing to serve without being asked. She is consistently looking for areas that needs assistance and then gives her help. Not to mention is she is an awesome worker, but she is even more of an AMAZING wife. I love her so much and each day, I fall more in love with her each and every day. Deanna has been so supportive of the ministry that God has placed us in. She is such a great pastor's wife; she is bold when she needs to smack me down, full of compassion and mercy, full of Jesus, and willing to serve. Needless to say, SHE IS AMAZING!!!
  

• Kelley Amick: Phenomenal Fastest Check-In - Each week Kelley takes our front check-in station and just gets our students check in so fast. Her line is always moving at a great speed. A part of the reason that she gets students checked in so fast is that she knows the students names and information. When she does not know the student's, she always has another student beside that does. This is important because if it takes too long to get students checked in the become disengaged.
  

• Gil Karkins: Phenomenal Slumber/Ability to Sleep Through an Ignite Service - This one was hilarious. A couple of weeks ago, Gil showed up to IGNITE very tired. Well...in an effort to lead his small group with a lot of energy, he decided to sleep in the service. It had to be one of the funniest things that has happened with our leaders. Gil has been a champ about it, through all the picking, teasing, laughing that has come from that wonderful time.
  

I always look forward to this time, because we laugh so much and celebrate our leaders; as they pour so much into our students!

PHENOMENAL AWARDS.....

By the way, sorry for the break in posting. Been busy traveling checking out a potential resort for our summer youth camp!

Tonight, we started a tradition where we are going to give away awards to our volunteer leaders at the beginning of each month. It was WELL received!

Allow me to share with you how the name for the award originated. At the end of each IGNITE; we gather the leaders together for a meeting to share any important information, training, etc. Well, I typically always take that opportunity to encourage and cast vision. (Side Note: Ministry leaders, anytime you get the opportunity to have the ear of all your leaders: CAST VISION! When you finish…CAST VISION some more.) Most of the time while encouraging the leaders, I would typically use the word PHENOMENAL. The leaders caught on to it and basically HARASSED me when I would use the word. It became a HUGE inside joke between me and our leaders.

So, I told my staff that I wanted to recognize our leaders once a month. I asked how we could do that and this is what we decided to do each month.

The IGNITE Staff is on the front row and the reciepents are on the second row (left to right): Scott Murray, Shelley Dixon, Brandon Long, Matt Feiling.

Tonight, we gave away 4 awards! Here are the recipients and the reason for their award:

• Scott Murray for Phenomenal Attitude. A couple of weeks ago, we started a time for our Team leaders to spend intentional time with their small group leaders. At the end, Scott was so excited about that time. His expression was something close to, “WOW! That was awesome. That was a great time to connect with my leaders. Thank you so much!”

• Shelley Dixon for Phenomenal Leadership. Shelley has done an AWESOME job at a Team Leader. Each week she makes an intentional effort to lead by example for her leaders, she also makes the effort to contact her leaders each week to pray for them and with them. Shelly is a mother of one of our students, by the way, her son LOVES is that his mom is involved.
  

• Brandon Long for Phenomenal Service. Brandon has made the intentional effort to put up chairs for the past couple of weeks at the end of our service. Not only did he put up the chairs, but he also took upon himself without being asked to MOP the floors. That is HUGE!!!
  

• Matt Feiling (first from right on second row) for Phenomenal Ability. Where do I begin? This dude it the man! Anyone ever heard of DDR (Dance, Dance, Revolution)? Well, this guy can tear it up! Some of you would say that is not that big of a deal, but this guy is 6’7” with a size 17 shoe! This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I am amazed each time that I see him do DDR. I am hoping that this will be a video soon for IGNITE. Also he plays a great GIANT in our videos we shot for IGNITE.
  

To each of you: THANK YOU for loving Jesus and loving middle school students! You rock and are PHENOMENAL Leaders!

If you don’t already do something like this, take the time to brainstorm what would be the best thing for you to do and DO IT! Take the time to honor your leaders for all that they pour into the ministry! They deserve it!

IGNITE | 1.28.07

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!

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.

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:

• 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.

Closing, Sunday night was the first night for intentional time for our Team Leaders to meet with their Small Group Leaders. We heard a lot of good feedback from both our Team Leaders and Small Group Leaders. I think that this is going to really help us expand our ministry and give volunteers more opportunities to serve and use their gifts! Go GOD!!

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!

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!