1. Today at Epic Jr. High we taught our students about the Biblical Truth About Sex, which is simply that sex was created by God for marriage between a husband and a wife. I could tell some of the students were a little uncomfortable like "can we talk about this in church?", LOL. I think church is the perfect place to talk about it, sex should not be a bad word or topic we avoid because I promise they are hearing about it from media and in school! Our students need to know and understand God's word concerning sex so they can protect themselves and enjoy sex for what God created it for, marriage! Next week we address the topic: "How Far Is Too Far?"
2. One of my illustrations was: "Having sex before marriage is like using a blender for a manicure, it's only going to lead to hurt, pain and a mess! A blender was not created to give manicure's and we were not created to have sex before marriage!"
3. At People's Church we also started a new series called Be My Valentine, if you missed it check it out online at www.peopleschurch.tv! Pastor Herbert was hilarious and had good, practical content. I also agree with him 100% of what kind of dating plan parents should have for their teens! If you are wondering what he said again check out the message online.
4. Sunday night was all about relationships! We had our community group over our house for the Super Bowl. I enjoyed the game but it wouldn't have been as enjoyable without friends. The game was good, food was good but fellowship was better!
5. The highlight of my day was talking to a Jr. High student who was hungry for answers about God, these moments never get old and I'm excited to see what God is going to do in this student's life!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Volunteer Driven Ministry Pt. 3
One of the questions I have struggled with and have heard other youth pastors struggle with is "How do you set high standards for people who are "volunteering" their time?"
For us it's simple, our students deserve the best, period. Our students deserve excellence, period. One of the ways we give students our best is through consistency. Here are the areas we will be consistent in:
1. Consistently we want them to have an unforgettable experience at Epic. Our first impressions, media, set up/tear down, worship, safety, community group, Sunday morning leaders help us do this every week.
2. We will be consistent with holding students accountable to our rules. We believe in boundaries and discipline and must be consistent with that every week. We don't do this because stuff is out of control, to the contrary Epic is under control every week because we have volunteers who help us be consistent in this area. Plus it helps us teach students life skills about authority and respect.
3. We look for and implement volunteers who will consistently be at Epic every Wednesday or Sunday. This is a decent amount of this generation that has people that are in and out of their lives and we don't want that to happen at Epic. Words can't express my thanks for our volunteers and the commitment they have made to our students.
4. We will consistently change stuff up if it helps us reach and disciple more students. Our team is super flexible, open to change, loyal and very supportive of the vision of our church, these qualities help us change when we need to.
5. We will consistently reach students who are far from God. In order to do this we must have volunteers whose hearts are filled with grace, patience, love, acceptance and commitment for these students. Again I'm so thankful for my volunteers and their willingness to get down and dirty and reach students who are far from God.
For us it's simple, our students deserve the best, period. Our students deserve excellence, period. One of the ways we give students our best is through consistency. Here are the areas we will be consistent in:
1. Consistently we want them to have an unforgettable experience at Epic. Our first impressions, media, set up/tear down, worship, safety, community group, Sunday morning leaders help us do this every week.
2. We will be consistent with holding students accountable to our rules. We believe in boundaries and discipline and must be consistent with that every week. We don't do this because stuff is out of control, to the contrary Epic is under control every week because we have volunteers who help us be consistent in this area. Plus it helps us teach students life skills about authority and respect.
3. We look for and implement volunteers who will consistently be at Epic every Wednesday or Sunday. This is a decent amount of this generation that has people that are in and out of their lives and we don't want that to happen at Epic. Words can't express my thanks for our volunteers and the commitment they have made to our students.
4. We will consistently change stuff up if it helps us reach and disciple more students. Our team is super flexible, open to change, loyal and very supportive of the vision of our church, these qualities help us change when we need to.
5. We will consistently reach students who are far from God. In order to do this we must have volunteers whose hearts are filled with grace, patience, love, acceptance and commitment for these students. Again I'm so thankful for my volunteers and their willingness to get down and dirty and reach students who are far from God.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Volunteer Driven Ministry Pt. 2
One of the questions I hear a lot about volunteers is how do you recruit them? Here is what I have learned:
1. Make it personal. From my experience the most committed volunteers are ones who have personal connection to the ministry. Encourage current volunteers to recruit people they have relationships with and recruit parents of students in your youth ministry.
2. Be persistent and never stop. Every week look for new volunteers to recruit. Constantly remind current volunteers to recruit. Recruiting takes hard work!
3. Try a Sunday morning blitz. We have done this two ways: 1. Text current leaders on Sunday morning to talk to one person that day at church about serving in our student ministry. 2. Get some of your top volunteers who are super out going, give them a clipboard and have them meet and sign up people before and after your experiences to check out your youth ministry.
4. This is the most important and should be applied to the top 3 techniques, whenever recruiting someone always cast vision. Share with them the need and impact they can help make in the lives of students.
1. Make it personal. From my experience the most committed volunteers are ones who have personal connection to the ministry. Encourage current volunteers to recruit people they have relationships with and recruit parents of students in your youth ministry.
2. Be persistent and never stop. Every week look for new volunteers to recruit. Constantly remind current volunteers to recruit. Recruiting takes hard work!
3. Try a Sunday morning blitz. We have done this two ways: 1. Text current leaders on Sunday morning to talk to one person that day at church about serving in our student ministry. 2. Get some of your top volunteers who are super out going, give them a clipboard and have them meet and sign up people before and after your experiences to check out your youth ministry.
4. This is the most important and should be applied to the top 3 techniques, whenever recruiting someone always cast vision. Share with them the need and impact they can help make in the lives of students.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Volunteer Driven Ministry
At Epic we have over 80 volunteers that serve our students weekly. We have 3 teams of adults who serve in our Jr. High Experience on Sunday mornings, a team of Jr. High community group leaders on Wednesday night and a team of High School leaders on Wednesday night. Our ministry doesn't grow or function without our volunteers, period and in order for us to continue to grow and serve our students with excellence we must always be recruiting and training new volunteers. We are looking for volunteers who:
1. Love God.
2. Love Students.
3. Have Integrity.
4. Are Committed.
5. Are Loyal to People's Church.
We pray and look for these people every week! God + volunteers has gotten us where we are and God + more volunteers will help us reach every student in OKC.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Weekend Recap
1. My weekend started off with some unexpected and not very enjoyable excitement. Friday afternoon I was in a pretty bad car wreck. My car basically got tore up from the back and the front and my neck is pretty sore, however I'm very thankful that Jamie and Jace were not in the car and I didn't have any major injuries considering it could have been a lot worse. Thank You Lord.
2. Friday night we hung out with friends and watched "How To Train a Dragon." This weekend we also watched "Inception" and "Charlie St. Cloud." Out of all 3 movies "Inception" was my favorite and "Charlie St. Cloud" was a definite disappointment.
3. Saturday my neck was pretty sore so I did a lot of chillin around the house, organizing mail, hanging with Jamie and Jace and did a lot of reading.
4. We also hit up Barnes and Noble and I purchased 3 books: Crazy Love, Death By Meeting and The Blessed Life. I'm really looking forward to reading all 3 of these books! I'm going to read Death By Meeting first because I really want to be on point and efficient with meetings I lead.
5. Our family has been missing out on Barnes and Noble, Jace loved it and we will visit it more often, especially during these colder months!
6. Sunday at People's Church was great as usual. Pastor Herbert preached a great message titled I Quit Cheating On My Wife, check it out at www.peopleschurch.tv. Jr. High also went really well, we had some new students and in every experience a student gave their life to Christ!
7. Sunday night we indulged in a pizzookie (a cookie in a pizza pan dish with ice cream on top) from BJ's Restaurant, if you haven't had one go get one this week!!! The only down side is I gotta hit up the gym to burn off those extra calories.
8. I finished two books this weekend, whoohoo! I finished In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day by Mark Batterson and Green by my youth pastor friend Rodney Wardwell. I enjoyed both books!
2. Friday night we hung out with friends and watched "How To Train a Dragon." This weekend we also watched "Inception" and "Charlie St. Cloud." Out of all 3 movies "Inception" was my favorite and "Charlie St. Cloud" was a definite disappointment.
3. Saturday my neck was pretty sore so I did a lot of chillin around the house, organizing mail, hanging with Jamie and Jace and did a lot of reading.
4. We also hit up Barnes and Noble and I purchased 3 books: Crazy Love, Death By Meeting and The Blessed Life. I'm really looking forward to reading all 3 of these books! I'm going to read Death By Meeting first because I really want to be on point and efficient with meetings I lead.
5. Our family has been missing out on Barnes and Noble, Jace loved it and we will visit it more often, especially during these colder months!
6. Sunday at People's Church was great as usual. Pastor Herbert preached a great message titled I Quit Cheating On My Wife, check it out at www.peopleschurch.tv. Jr. High also went really well, we had some new students and in every experience a student gave their life to Christ!
7. Sunday night we indulged in a pizzookie (a cookie in a pizza pan dish with ice cream on top) from BJ's Restaurant, if you haven't had one go get one this week!!! The only down side is I gotta hit up the gym to burn off those extra calories.
8. I finished two books this weekend, whoohoo! I finished In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day by Mark Batterson and Green by my youth pastor friend Rodney Wardwell. I enjoyed both books!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Weekend Recap
1. Sunday we had 3 great Jr. High experiences! Our attendance was good and we had 14 students give their lives to Christ.
2. In my message I shared with my students the 4 greatest moments in my life, here they are: 1st is when I gave my life to Christ, 2nd is when I married Jamie, 3rd is when Jace was born and will be tied when Cali is born, 4th is when the Colts won the Super Bowl...JK, it's in my top 10 but my 4th is when I've seen or heard about people close to me giving their lives to Christ. There is no greater reward then seeing people give their lives to Jesus!
3. This weekend I finished a two week fast, it was both refreshing spiritually as well as physically. I definitely felt closer to God, got clear direction about Epic and my life and lost about 15 pounds.
4. My first post-fast meal was Orange Chicken from the Cheesecake Factory, we celebrated Jamie's birthday there Sunday night since it fell on a Wed during the fast.
5. I was hoping the Super Bowl would feature the Jets vs the Packers, only the Packers made it and I will be cheering for them to win it all!
6. I'm almost done reading Mark Batterson's book "In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day." This book has really challenged me spiritually to take risks, move forward through uncertainty and have a greater trust in God.
7. Saturday night we had community group, I love doing life with other believers, especially those in our community group.
8. Friday I watched the movie, "To Save A Life", I highly recommend it! It was a very realistic and thought provoking ministry in regards to what teenagers are facing when it comes to peer pressure and God.
9. My Buckeyes are tearing it up on the hardwood, we may have come up short on the grid iron but we are looking real good for a National BBall Championship! The Thunder are also tearing it up!
2. In my message I shared with my students the 4 greatest moments in my life, here they are: 1st is when I gave my life to Christ, 2nd is when I married Jamie, 3rd is when Jace was born and will be tied when Cali is born, 4th is when the Colts won the Super Bowl...JK, it's in my top 10 but my 4th is when I've seen or heard about people close to me giving their lives to Christ. There is no greater reward then seeing people give their lives to Jesus!
3. This weekend I finished a two week fast, it was both refreshing spiritually as well as physically. I definitely felt closer to God, got clear direction about Epic and my life and lost about 15 pounds.
4. My first post-fast meal was Orange Chicken from the Cheesecake Factory, we celebrated Jamie's birthday there Sunday night since it fell on a Wed during the fast.
5. I was hoping the Super Bowl would feature the Jets vs the Packers, only the Packers made it and I will be cheering for them to win it all!
6. I'm almost done reading Mark Batterson's book "In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day." This book has really challenged me spiritually to take risks, move forward through uncertainty and have a greater trust in God.
7. Saturday night we had community group, I love doing life with other believers, especially those in our community group.
8. Friday I watched the movie, "To Save A Life", I highly recommend it! It was a very realistic and thought provoking ministry in regards to what teenagers are facing when it comes to peer pressure and God.
9. My Buckeyes are tearing it up on the hardwood, we may have come up short on the grid iron but we are looking real good for a National BBall Championship! The Thunder are also tearing it up!
Friday, January 21, 2011
My Resolutions
Not that anyone would care but here are some of my New Year's Resolutions:
1. Sleep in my bed. No I'm not in the dog house, lol, last year I got in the bad habit of falling asleep to the TV on the coach. Sometimes my mind races so veggin out in the tv put me to sleep but no more!
2. Lift weights consistently. I haven't lifted weights in years so this year I'm getting back into the hitting the weights.
1. Sleep in my bed. No I'm not in the dog house, lol, last year I got in the bad habit of falling asleep to the TV on the coach. Sometimes my mind races so veggin out in the tv put me to sleep but no more!
2. Lift weights consistently. I haven't lifted weights in years so this year I'm getting back into the hitting the weights.
3. I'm going to attempt to eat no red meat except once a month. I'm just being real, if I'm near a Five Guys, Fogo De Chao, Texas De Brazil or Nic's I'm going to eat some red meat :).
4. I'm not going to drink any pop this year except for when we take visiting guests to Pops, again trying to keep it real :).
5. Read one book a month. Last year I did some reading but I want to do more this year.
6. I'm not going to watch tv while Jace is awake unless it's a major sports event (playoffs, march madness stuff like that).
7. I'm going to do my devotions in the morning. I'm not much of a morning person so a lot of times I will pray and read my bible at night but I'm going to change it up this year.
8. Get my weight to under 200 pounds. Brian Rush/Vernon Deas are my inspiration!
I'm 3 weeks into the new year and right now I'm on track with all my resolutions. If you read this blog you have my permission to ask me how I'm doing on any one of these resolutions!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
What is 220?
220 is a new 4 month discipleship program we have for our high school students at Epic. The students who are approved to be in 220 program will be doing the following:
- Weekly Scripture Memorization.
- Read through the New Testament.
- Serve at Epic every week.
- Participate in 2 service projects.
- Attend special teachings led by myself and Jason Patterson.
- And more!
This program is designed to help students go to the next level in their relationship with God. I'm super excited to see the growth, life change and impact these students are going to have on their world!
Students can get 220 applications in the high school room, the deadline for turning in applications is Wednesday, Jan. 26th.
- Weekly Scripture Memorization.
- Read through the New Testament.
- Serve at Epic every week.
- Participate in 2 service projects.
- Attend special teachings led by myself and Jason Patterson.
- And more!
This program is designed to help students go to the next level in their relationship with God. I'm super excited to see the growth, life change and impact these students are going to have on their world!
Students can get 220 applications in the high school room, the deadline for turning in applications is Wednesday, Jan. 26th.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Happy Birthday Jamie!
Today is my beautiful wife's birthday. In honor of her special day here are some things I appreciate about Jamie:
1. She's an amazing wife. Jamie is very supportive, loving, caring and I'm extremely blessed to be married to her. She is my better half and I'm a better person because of her. I thank God for bringing her into my life.
2. She's a great mother. I love watching Jamie interact with Jace and her excitement for Cali who is on the way. Jace knows and love's his mommy very much and she truly is outstanding with him. Her love, care and commitment to our children is a huge blessing.
3. She's an awesome worship leader. This year it's been amazing to watch Jamie grow as a leader. She is humble, teachable, a hard worker and does a great job with the worship team. She also can sang! Yes sang! Sang means much better then sing and has an anointing! :)
4. She can cook!!!! My house is like the food network and I love it!
5. She passionately loves Jesus. Everyday I see Jesus in Jamie. She has a passion to serve and please God. This is one of her most attractive traits in my eyes.
6. Speaking of attractive, Jamie is smokin hot! Mmm! She gets me all hot and bothered :) lol, tmi right!
Happy Birthday Babe, I love you.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Youth Ministry Lessons I Learned in 2010 Pt. 3
I finally figured out how small groups worked best for my youth ministry! We've failed many times but had success this year.
We currently do our small groups on Wed night as part of our experience & here is why:
1. All of our students attend on Wed night so this change took us from 20% of our students in small groups to 100%!
2. Our sharpest leaders attend on Wed night so I don't have to stress about finding leaders, host homes & another night of the week to do small groups, it really simplified things for us!
3. Our students can discuss the message while it's fresh on their mind!
4. All of our students are now connecting with each other & our leaders at a high level!
5. It saves everyone gas money! Not a real reason but a benefit.
I love the way we are doing small groups & wished we started earlier! This also allowed us to do a Battle of Community Groups which was very successful for us too!
If your wondering what our experience looks like the biggest change we made was I started preaching 15-20 minute sermons to give our small groups 25-30 minutes to meet at the end of our experience.
FYI: We split up our groups by gender, school & grade.
We currently do our small groups on Wed night as part of our experience & here is why:
1. All of our students attend on Wed night so this change took us from 20% of our students in small groups to 100%!
2. Our sharpest leaders attend on Wed night so I don't have to stress about finding leaders, host homes & another night of the week to do small groups, it really simplified things for us!
3. Our students can discuss the message while it's fresh on their mind!
4. All of our students are now connecting with each other & our leaders at a high level!
5. It saves everyone gas money! Not a real reason but a benefit.
I love the way we are doing small groups & wished we started earlier! This also allowed us to do a Battle of Community Groups which was very successful for us too!
If your wondering what our experience looks like the biggest change we made was I started preaching 15-20 minute sermons to give our small groups 25-30 minutes to meet at the end of our experience.
FYI: We split up our groups by gender, school & grade.
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