transition Team

Each year we try to help our incoming 6th graders transition into the jr hi ministry through out the summer time. We call this group the transition team. It is lead by the Children's pastor and some of our jr hi sponsors. We have a number of events with the kids and these are pictures from two of those events. The joy of working with these kids is awesome and I can't wait to see them with us in the IMPACT group.

Day Camp 2006

This years Day camp (for 4 year olds - 1st graders) for NCBC was awesome. One of the things that really got me so excited was the fact that the jr hi kids worked so hard at it. Please click on the picture to see a slide show of some of the kids and the jr hi kids that helped. This year the children's program had to turn some of the jr hi kids down to be helpers this year because there were so many that wanted to do so. We also have a Kids camp (2nd-5th grades) that again there were so many jr hi kids that wanted to help that some had to be turned away. Man that is so kewl.

That's Miss Adele

"My kids"
Originally uploaded by Boyznberry.

Showed this picture to my son Nathaniel and he reconized Adele completly. I know that his mommy and him have decied to some day take a trip to Africa to see Miss Adele and serve in a short term mission there.

More Pictures from Theatrical camp

I was able to find a lot more pictures from the theatrical camp IMPACT did and wanted to get them out for people to see. Please click on this link to see a slide show. Enjoy and again great job to all the youth who were invovled and the incredable job the adults did to make this all work out. I enjoy ever minute of it.

Prayer request

Our Sr. Hi. Group at New Covenant Bible Church (NCBC) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa has left for another awesome Mexico trip where they will be building 3 more homes for people in Mexico (This will bring the total to 17 homes NCBC Sr. Hi has built). As of Thursday (July 20th) Lisa (My wife) was needed and decided to go on this trip. I’m so excited for her and I’m looking forward to the stories she will be sharing but it also brings up a big prayer concern for me and the kids (Lindsey 10, Nathaniel (soon to be 5) and Daniel (3)). We have never been away from mom this long before and we have some needs that we are looking for help with:
1) Please prayer for the Sr. Hi. Mexico team that Lord will be glorified in all that they do there in Mexico, that they will work as a team to build the homes, and that the memorize they will make will impact them is incredible ways.
2) Please prayer for me and the kids as we have never been away from mom this long before. I’m really excited to have this chance to spend with this kids but I have a lot of logistics to deal with while she is gone. I would like to make some family memories with the kids and any suggestions would be awesome.
3) I would like to do two major projects while she is gone and ask that you would be in prayer over them:
a. We have a huge dyeing tree in our front yard that we would like to get removed, stump removed, and a new tree put in its place.
b. I have a lot of base trim work that needs to be done on our main floor of our home and I need help knowing how to put trim down and help actually doing it.
It is so incredible to think that I have a wife that would be willing to sacrifice for our Lord this kind of time from her family and that I have a Church family abroad that I can ask for prayer like this and know that through it all God will receive all the glory and praise.

Authentic Community

As I lay here with my two boys in bed with me and my wife traveling with the Sr Hi Mexico team I had a thought. She is in a bus that holds 51 people uncomfortably and yet she is having more community than I am here in my nice comfortable bed. I wonder what stories she will have when she comes back. What interactions and experiences will impact her and the team. What will this developing community we call the Sr Hi Mexico team will be like when they come back. I wonder what others think about this.

What does authentic community look like to you? As Christians, what does authentic community mean? Is authentic community even possible? What are the ideas, feelings, smells, experiences that creep out of your head when I mention community?

The Future Of Junior High Ministry

I read a number of blogs and web sites of other jr hi youth ministries (there isn't that many) and get ideas and thoughts for me to chew on and think about. This question has come up a few times and I wanted to place some comments others have made about it and my small thought I have about it as well.

First from Kurt Johnston jr hi guy at Saddle Back - I think the big program/outreach/lights, camera, action approach to ministry is due for a comeback (not so much because I think it works but, because like everything else, youth ministry tends to run in cycles) and I think we've learned the importance of small groups and won't trade the small for the big, but might come up with a good blend of the two.

From Mark Yoconelli - arthor of "Contemplative Youth Ministry" - I see two main trends that will continue. In one trend youth ministry will become more diverse and organic. It will involve more adults, less focused on a youth minister. It will be more creative with more experiments in music, prayer, rituals and the arts. It will be based more in experiencing life with kids and less about transferring information. There will be less of a division between youth and adults—both age groups will be fed and nourished through the ministry. Youth ministry will be a way of life, practiced intergenerationally.

In the second trend youth ministry will continue to become more and more transparent to the market culture. This year there are Christian rock concerts, revivals and festivals sponsored by secular corporations. This will continue. The difference between Christian and corporate will diminish. Youth groups will become more and more welcoming to the market/TV culture—with hip Christian bands, cool youth coffee houses, Christian celebrity magazines, and lots of Christian “stuff.” Youth ministry will be more and more about having the right stuff to attract kids.

My small thought on this is it's all about relationship. "All ministry happens in the context of relationships" - Ray Barrett our former Sr Pastor who went to be with our Lord almost 3 years ago. Everything we do should be on developing relationships. Ever message, event, activity, talk, interaction etc. should be focused on developing relationships. If we can do this and stay constant with it the jr hi ministry of the future will be incredible.

the slip of the tonge

On the 6th grade summer trip I got my words mixed up and said a bad word in front of all the 6th graders and the sponsors. We were having a pillow fight and I was explaining to the group how it will be ran. I came to the point about "no head shots and hits." Well if you put the first two letters of "shots" and the last two letters of "hits" together you can see how I missed up. What is awesome is that the kids and sponsors all just laughed and knew that this was totally a big mistake and when it was brought up again at the debriefing with the parents all there was was laugher. It is so awesome to have built character and trust with the parents, sponsors, and kids that a mistake like this will only be laughed at.

7&8 grade summer trip slideshow

Finally after a month of having problems trying to get the 7&8 grade pictures in some form for people to look at and have it is done. I had to go through flicker and so here they are. Just click on the picture and you will get a slideshow of all the pictures. Download what you want!

Day 3 of The Fishers of men 6th grade trip

Well the final day of the 2006 6th grade summer trip has come and gone. All I can say it was a great team effort as so many people helped make it happen. Each trip I've been on (this makes my 9th) has been an wonderful adventure where I have heard so many stories from the jr highers and the sponsor about all kinds of subjects. I've enjoyed ever single one and I can't wait for my next 9 trips and more. We had a chance to debrief the trip with the parents yesterday and that was fun to do as we watched a short slide show and did testimonies from the kids. Highlights for me were:

- my wonderful wife who went on this trip and really enjoyed spending time with the girls
- my wonderful mom who came up from Kansas to take care of our kids while my wife and I were gone. She brought up cousins so it was extra special for our kids.
- the great time I got to spend with most of the 6th graders
- the great interaction I had with the sponsors as all but my wife and I have been never been on a summer trip before
- the chance that God would give me to do this, I really am where I love to be and can't see myself doing anything else (85 years old and still being a jr hi guy)

Day 2 of The Fishers of men 6th grade trip

Well the day has come and another eventful time of building relationships has happen like no other. I love being the jr hi guy for these awesome jr highers and I'm more excited than ever that I get to be their pastor for 2 more years (I will be sad when the day comes for me to send them on to high school). Today was Valley fair and that is about all we did. The rides were great but doing them with the jr highers made all of them wonderful. I personally got to ride a number of the rides with different groups of kids and sponsors. You can click on the picture to see some a slide show of the pictures of both yesterday and today (I haven't figured out how to do two different days for the same event on flicker yet). Enjoy and get ready for some reports from the jr highers about the whole trip tomorrow.

PS - the missy pictures were of the jr highers taking on Pastor Mark in a worm (gummy worm) no hands eating contest. Missy missy missy :)

Day 1 of The Fishers of men 6th grade trip

We are here at Bethel College getting some rest after a very eventful and fun day. Please click on the picture to see a slide show of some of the pictures. We started early (6:30 am who is in charge of this trip) and traveled to Cabela to enjoy a huge aquarium and some incredible stuffed animals. Then it was off to YWAMs HQ to do some major landscape and window washing. It was really hard work and the whole group got pretty tired. They stayed at it thou and two of the pictures you can see a before and after shoot of all the rocks and dirt they moved. It was awesome to work at a place that had plenty for us to do. Then we traveled to Bethel College where it took some time for us to get check in. We ordered pizza (9 large) and they had it for to us before we got into our dorm room. So we had pizza and pop in the parking lot while we waited for our keys. Finally in our room we were able to get moved in, cleaned up, and ready for some swimming in a local lake. Great times at the lake and some great devotionals happened afterwards. We are all very tired (in fact I'm the only one still up) and we have a big and wonderful day tomorrow. The relationship building has been awesome and I can't wait to see what God has planned for us tomorrow.

13 years together

The day has come and life has yet another page happen for Lisa and I. Our 13 years of marriage has come. This wonderful and beautiful women has been my "permanent roommate" that has loved me through hard and wonderful time. It has been a life that has been beyond my imagination. I love her so much and look so forward to what the Lord has for us the next 13 years and more. Lord use us and this relationship to bring you and you alone praise and glory. Thank you Lisa for loving me so much!