Yesterday and NYWC.....

Yesterday, my friend, Jaime Salmon asked me this simple question. "Alden, what happened on October 26, 2006?" I thought for a moment and said, "I am not sure, but that day sounds really familiar to me." His response: "Well, it should because that this the last time you posted on your blog!"

Jaime, thanks for reminding me of my slackness and inability to faithfully post. I appreciate the encouragement from you! HAHAHAHA! I am just kidding!

Today is the beginning of the NYWC (National Youth Worker's Convention) here in Charlotte. Sandy Gibbes and myself are hear to refresh, learn, unwind, and have a lot of fun. I have been praying that God would really teach me something new in this time away from my normal routine.

This morning I read in Hebrews 12:1-13, which it takes about discipline and receiving it from God. Well, I am not sure if what that means for this conference, but in my life may I always receive discipline in the LOVE that God gives it. Not with a complaining, whining heart!

Pray for us today as we are participating in some early seminars (Sandy: Starting Right in Your First Two Years of Ministry by Doug Fields and Kurt Johnston & Alden: Marriage and ministry by Jim & Cathy Burns). I will post some insights and info later as the conference rolls through the weekend!!

CATALYST 2006: Marcus Buckingham...

(I know that I have been really behind in getting up some notes from Catalyst. I have been really busy...last 2 weeks I have spoken 10+ times, lots of planning with the Middle School Ministry, and much more!)

Here are some notes from the session with Marcus Buckingham at Catalyst 2006:

• In all great teams they have:
  
• A GREAT Manager (How long you stay, how well you succeed, how well you do your job depends on your manager.)
• What is the job of the manager?
  
• To turn one person's talent into performance.
• The best managers are able to see the growth in a person and IT keeps you going!
• People are always a work in progress.
• One thing I know about GREAT Managers:
• They find out what is UNIQUE about each person and capitalize on it.
• This is a great challenge of managing people.
• 3 Myths that you have been taught and believe:
• As you grow, your personality changes
• TRUTH: As you grow, you become more and more of who you really are!
  
• You will grow the most in your area of weaknesses
• TRUTH: You will grow the most in your strengths, in that an area of your GREATEST strength!
  
• The team need the most of you is to chip in
• TRUTH: The team needs you to focus on your strengths and give it to the team. If each person does this you will have a well rounded team!
• "And the day came when the risk it took to remain in the bud, became greater than the day it took to blossom."

I enjoyed listening to Marcus Buckingham. He did a good job talking about playing to your strengths, but I really enjoyed learning about managing people. That is something that I have been trying to read an study more. Good information. I think that I will read some of his books:

• Now, Discover Your Strengths
• The One Thing You Need to Know: ... About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success
• First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

I have already acquired the first two listed. If anyone would like to get me the third, just let me know. Leave a comment!!! Have a great one!

Think about this.....

Andy Stanley opened the Catalyst Conference with this quote from scripture:

"The Most High God is Sovereign over the kingdoms of man and does with them as He wishes."

This should liberate and free us from fear. God is sovereign, He has placed you in the place of leadership for a reason...Lead like it!!

Andy commented that, our leadership:

• Is A Gift
• Is Temporary
  
• Will be held Accountable

Great leadership advice!

CATALYST 2006

I just returned from Catalyst Conference 2006. It was an awesome! Over the next couple of days, I am going to post some of the comments that hit me the hardest. Check back soon! Now, I am going to tell my wife all about it! PEACE OUT!!

Looking Forward.....

Today, has been a great day! My wife and I slept in a later than normal. I got up and fixed up some breakfast (cinnamon rolls!!!). Cut the grass, relaxed, washed clothes, grilled out, and watching some College Football. What a great day! I always look forward to our Saturdays, when we can just chill out with one another! It doesn't get much better than that!

I am also looking forward to tomorrow! Every Saturday, I look forward to Sunday. Tomorrow, will be a GREAT day! There are going to be a ton of people at NewSpring, Lindsay Owens (our New Middle School Ministry Assistant) joins the team tomorrow, we will be having IGNITE at the main campus, and Jesus is going to rock some lives of some people tomorrow!!

I hope that you are looking forward to tomorrow, if you are in the area - join us at NEWSPRING Church (services at 9:15AM, 11:15AM, and 6:00PM)! Have a great tomorrow!!

WOW!!!

8289 people in attendance!
214 salvations!

Check out our pastor's thoughts here.

Thank you God for the opportunity to see that happen!!

Oh, by the way, we had 175 middle school students at the FUSEBOX for IGNITE!! God is doing some great stuff.

I am also very excited that Lindsey Owens is joining the Middle School Staff! She is the new Middle School Assistant and will add a TON of experience, knowledge, wisdom, and the much needed "feminine touch!" Welcome to the team, Lindsey!!!!

New Series...Change...Fun Times

Last Sunday, we started a new series called: MySpace.com. We are focusing on Friendships. We are going to answer some questions such as: What are true friendships? What are some qualities of friendships? What is an example of true friendships?

I spent the time, last Sunday, telling the amazing of David and Jonathan from 1 Samuel. This week we are going to be looking at the qualities of loyalty and common faith.! Should be a great time! We will also have a special visit from TONY MACARONI, our Italian friend.

Also next week, we are going to be meeting on the main campus at NewSpring. We are having a special service and wanting everyone on the main campus! Be praying for me an the Middle School staff as we are planning and working out all the logistics of next week. It will be a challenge, but I LOVE challenges and seeing them happen!

More to come later!

OVERWHELMED...

It has been a few days since I posted. First of all the past couple of days have been amazing. Allow me to share a story about my most recent Sunday night.

"We just got finished with pickup at Ignite - the water gun fight was over, David had just taught a GREAT lesson on THINKing before you peak - and all the students are gone. I gathered the staff together and gave directions to the Smith's house. We were all very excited about eating a home cooked meal together. I was one of the last to leave the FUSEBOX, I was halfway into my 15-20 minute ride to the Smith's house and my cell rang. On the other end, was my boss telling me that the alarm had gone off at the FUSEBOX. He asked "Can you go check it out?" I very reluctantly said, "Yes!" Much to my dismay/anger/unhappiness, the alarm was NOT going off when I arrived back at the FUSEBOX.

I proceeded to get back in my car and begin my journey once more. During my ride to the Smith's house I proceeded to get really mad about the fact that I had to turn around and miss some awesome time with my volunteers leaders. Well, I finally arrived and everyone was already eating and having a great time. So, naturally I was a little more frustrated. Anyways, I got some food (Anna made this chicken lasagna, WOW! It was out of this world, I literally scraped the pan it was in), and waited on dessert. Got my dessert (I was second in line!!) and sat on the porch and waited for some people to join me. Anna Smith makes a to die for Swiss Chocolate Cake with Hershey Bar Pieces. It is awesome! David Hall walks outside and tells me that Mr. Smith needs to talk to me.

So, I walk inside and asked Mr. Smith what he needed, and then David brings in a bag and tells me congratulations on my one year anniversary at NewSpring working in Student Ministry. All the leaders were hooting and hollering and acting like a bunch of Middle Schoolers (GO FIGURE!) So I open the card first and they start chanting open the gift. I open up the bag and a leather wallet looking thing is on top. I smiled, because lately I was carrying a velcro wallet (Yes, the one you carried in 5th-6th grade)! It made me laugh, but much to my surprise, I looked down and there was an iPOD in the bag. WHAT?!?!? Yes!!!! My staff and volunteer team gave me a video iPOD! I was overwhelmed!"

I was speechless (Now that was a surprise to everyone!) I always have talked about wanting an iPOD, but could never get one! NOW, I HAVE ONE!!! YES!!!

Let me say this, the iPOD is GREAT! I love it, but the thing that overwhelmed me the most was the fact that my staff and leaders thought enough of me to get me this awesome gift. That college students would give money (that a lot of them do not have a lot of) to a gift for me was out of this world! I have the BEST staff and the BEST leaders! You all hit it out of the park each and every week! You make a difference in the lives of students each week! God is using you in some awesome ways, oh by the way; we have only hit the tip of the iceberg of what God is going to do through this ministry.

Once again, thank you for the iPOD, but more importantly thank you for serving Jesus through IGNITE and allowing me the privilege to be the leader of an awesome team. YOU ALL ROCK MY FACE OFF!! Here is a salute to all of you: YOU GUYS ARE PHENOMINAL!!!

To close the story: After I opened the gift and tried to say a few words. I sat down at a table with Brittney Harris and Scott Murray and some other people. I was talking to Scott as he was explaining everything to me about my new iPOD. I look at him and said, "I feel like a complete jerk for being ill and mad about turning around and then I get the socks blessed off of me! Sorry God! Thank you for loving me in spite of me!!"

What a great day! See you later! Don't forget First Wednesday tonight at 6:30PM!!

Progress....

We are continuing our work on a new space for our students at the Anderson Mall. It has been filled with a lot of scraping, sanding, carpet pulling, getting tile up, knocking down some walls, and a whole lot of clean up. Carpet is going down today, paint is on the walls, ceiling tiles are being installed as well. Now all we need is the furniture, gaming stuff, and some little extras.

Also we are in he process of changing the structure of how we organize Ignite and the staff responsibilities. It is quite exciting as you see vision start to unfold and take place.

I am in the middle of a 2 week speaking break at IGNITE. John Flowers and David Hall have been taking the reigns and running with it. John did a very good job this past week and David is ready to go this week. Should be a good time! This time has been invaluable to be to watch from a different perspective, to get some things done that need to handled, and to see some areas that need work!

That is about it for now...by the way College Football starts tonight! USC Gamecocks take on Mississippi State Bulldogs at 8PM! Go Gamecocks!

M.I.A.....

Well for the past couple of days, I have been M.I.A on my blog. Last week I spent from Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and yesterday (I will be there today) at the FUSEBOX. We are in the middle of some major renovations of the place. We have knocked down a wall, built back another, built a new check-in counter in the back, rewired the lights and sound along with moving the sound board and light board.

We also just took over the lease for a new place in the mall are in the middle of trying to outfit that section as well. Today we have to try to finish up as much as possible as carpet and ceiling tiles will be arriving on Thursday. SO much to do and so little time!! If you have some time to spare head out to the FUSEBOX, we can put you to work!

By the way, HUGE / BIG Shout out to Dale Sellers and Jeff Scott. Dale is taking care of the demo and reconstruction of all that we are doing and Jeff is our electrical GENIUS. These guys have put in a lot of time and energy in to helping us outfit both places. Both are doing a GREAT job! Thanks guys for your willingness to serve and for all you are doing for the kingdom, so students can hear the love of Jesus! YOU ROCK!

See you at the FUSEBOX!!

Congratulations!!!!!

A BIG shout out to Jonathan and Amber Herron as they are expecting!! Check out Jon's Blog for all the details. Jon and Amber, we are so excited for the both of you! You both will be excellent parents. God Bless in this wonderful adventure!

Sometimes you just need to DUCK....

It seems that I am always posting after IGNITE. I hate that I do this, but I found myself evaluating on Monday and being excited about all that happened at IGNITE and then I hit it hard for the rest of the week to make it happen again! I need to be a little more faithful in posting, although there are probably not that many faithful readers, but to the FEW and FAITHFUL: THANK YOU!

Needless to say, last night was really good! First of all it was exciting that last week was not just a jump in numbers. We had 178 students attend last night. We also had 6 students accept Christ as Lord and Savior. In the past three weeks there have been 37 salvations (average of 12 a week)! That is only from God!!

We continued our series called BASIC and discuss our Freedom in Christ. IGNITE is continuing to go great, but the problem we are running into is that our SMALL groups are not as small as they could be. Please pray with me that God would continue to raise up leaders to join us in the ministry to the Middle School Students in the Anderson area.

Oh here is a pic of the set design after our first week. (This picture was taken as a reference for us to remember were things went, so it was not taken with much detail in mind!) It has changed for the better with more sandbags (instead of two rows, we now have 4 rows), etc.

By the way, we "got" the students last night. As a part of the introduction to the lesson, I was reviewing some of the things we had talked about and I said, "Also sometimes you just need to learn how to duck..." At that point David and Andrew jumped up from behind some sandbags that we were using as stage design and SOAKED the students with water guns! The faces we priceless! It was chaos! After we got calmed down again, I said, "Not only do you need to duck, but you need to watch your back..." Then John came out from behind the students and got them from behind! It was GREAT! Nothing to do with the message, but something a little fun to do!!

Peace out for now!

Losing My Hair....

Last night, we had 179 students attend IGNITE last night! Wow! We also had 21 students accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. It was an awesome night! To top it off David, John, and lost all of our hair! Here are some pics from the event:

I am smiling, but I was thinking, "What in the world have I gotten myself into!!!"

I think Andrew is enjoying this a little too much!

There you go! All the hair is gone! (By the way, we made a deal with the students, if they would bring 160 students we would shave our heads. NOTE: When we made the deal about 3 weeks ago, we were running about 90 students!) Well, it was worth it to see 179 students hear the name of Jesus and 21 accept Him as Lord!

Yes....

There were three heads that got shaved tonight at IGNITE! Pics and details about the night will come tomorrow.

Ready for tonight.....

I am sitting hear finishing up the lesson for tonight with our series, "BASIC" on the topic of GRACE. I am excited about it and I pray that God will move in the life of our students tonight. Anyways, the BIG question at hand is: Will the Middle School Staff be "BALD" after tonight? Not sure, I guess we will see. If we are, then I will post a picture of it later! PEACE!

What's the address?!?!?

If you ever decide to go out and TP a house, you might want to make sure you have the right house! Check out this article and home video of what the police say, "This is the largest (toilet papering) case we've had in recent memory..." WOW! (Link via YSMarko)

Be careful all you youth pastors out there planning to take the kids!

Passion

The other day, I had the privilege to be in an interview for a position at our church.  Of course, I was told to ask any questions that came to my mind.  So…I did.  There was one question impaticular that I was glad I asked.  Not only to hear the person’s answer, but to ask myself this question.  

The question was, “In ministry, there is always something else to do, always something coming around the corner, always another phone call or letter, or email to write.  Your time will always be filled with something to do.  What is it that you enjoy doing that is a “release” for you?”

We get tired, which can lead to burnout if we are not careful.  Don’t always go and go and go and go that you end up neglecting everything else in your life.  This is something that I MUST be careful of in my life!  

Although, every night when I am going to bed and I am tired from a good day’s work, I am still thinking about ministry.  I am still thinking about my students.  

Recently, I started running (supposedly to train for a half-marathon) which has become a release for me.  Needless to say, that when I run, I am thinking about ministry.  Last week I was running on Wednesday and I remember finishing up my sermon for Sunday while I was running.  I am constantly thinking, dreaming, planning for ministry.  I can’t stop thinking about it!  Some would call me possessed, some may call me stupid, but I pray that it is seen as PASSION; passion for Jesus, for the lost, for middle school students, for the church, and so much more.  

At the end of the day, I am glad that I spent my energy and gave it my all, but I am so glad that I don’t get “weary, sick, tired” OF ministry!  Sometimes, it is so easy to get sick OF ministry.  I pray that when I get physically tired that I rest, but I also pray that I NEVER get sick OF ministry.  May God continue to swell up a passion in me that continues to grow and burn!  Thank you Jesus for allowing us to be a part of your Kingdom work!

NewSpring Middle School Staff

I had the awesome privilege to meet with the greatest Middle School Ministry Staff in the world! Andrew, David, and John do a great job at serving our students! So many awesome things are coming our way. I have been doing a lot of brainstorming about our ministry and how we function. In the future there will be changes to our volunteer leader structure, follow-up procedures, service evaluation, volunteer leader evaluation and interviews, and much more! That is a whole lot of stuff. The great thing about it is that God is totally in control of everything.

Andrew is the quiet, humble leader. He does an awesome job of leading the band and our students in worship each week. He takes time to prayerfully choose each song, work with me on set list, and spend as much time with students as possible!

David is all over the place. He is primary responsible for our follow up procedure. Each week he makes sure that all of our new students get a letter, phone call, handwritten letter, etc.! He also shares most of the responsibility for the care of our volunteers and campus group planning with John!

John is MR. CAPS LOCK! JOHN ALWAYS WRITES IN CAPS LOCK. IT QUITE A THING TO READ. JOHN IS OUR NEWEST ADDITION TO THE STAFF. JOHN SPENDS A LOT OF HIS TIME WRITING SKETCHES FOR VIDEOS, BRIANSTORMING ANY WILD IDEA THAT I COME UP WITH AND MUCH MORE. He also shares most of the responsibility for the care of our volunteers and campus group planning with David!

Both David and John are also preparing to speak at IGNITE in the very near future! John will be speaking on August 27th and David on September 3rd. They are going to do a great job!

All these guys are great! Thank you so much for your dedication and loyalty to Jesus Christ, NewSpring Church, the Middle School Students, and to me.

I look forward to see where God takes us in the future and I thankful to know that I have the right pieces in the right place and the right time for God to take us there! Keep up the GREAT work!

BASIC: LOVE

Last night was AWESOME! We began a new series at IGNITE called "BASIC." We are spending the next 4 weeks looking at some basic elements of the Christian life. Last night we talked about LOVE (How to love others) - 1 John 3:16-18. The sermon points were: 1. Love is Sacrificial; 2. Love is Generous; 3. Love takes Action.

We had 10 students accept Jesus as their Savior and Lord! WOW! It was great! Also we had a total of 143 middle school students hanging out with 30 leaders. What a great ratio of close to 5 students to 1 leader! God is continuing to do some awesome things at IGNITE!

BASIC......

I am so stoked about a new series that we are starting this week at IGNITE called BASIC. We are going to be going to boot camp and learning about some basic things about the Christian faith. We have decorated the stage to look like an army bunker, with sandbags, camo netting, ammunition boxes, bared wire (not real, just looks like it), and much more! It is going to be an awesome night!

Needless to say, David is going to shave his head if we have over 160 students present! It should be awesome!