Tonight in Middle School Gathering we will have a special speaker. (Who doesn’t want a break from me?!?)
Chris Provence, the Executive Director from Rebuilding the Wall will be continuing our series on “Hope”. Click here to learn more about Chris and the ministry of Rebuilding the Wall.
Last week, Eric howard from Outreach Indiana, spoke on homeless teenagers. You can check out more about his ministry here. http://outreachindiana.org/
This was written Marcia Zgirta, The Director of Women in Middle School. Please note how nice I am to leave in her comment that girls retreat was better than the guys… I am so nice! Tim
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Hey to anyone interested in all things Tim Mauriello. He asked me to write a short bit about the Middle School Girls’ Fall Retreat, which was equally as wonderful as the guys’ retreat and probably even more so since we had 170 total on our retreat, compared to 130 on the guys. Our destination was Country Lake Christian Retreat Center in booming Underwood, Indiana. We began with a stirring charge by our speaker, the incredible Melody Boyer, to not listen to the lies perpetrated by the media, our culture, and Hollywood on what look is pretty, what kind of person is valuable, and what kind of behavior is cool. It was fun watching the girls tear into teen mags, glamour mags, people mags and make posters displaying the ostentatious lies presented to them in their daily diet of media. The girls themselves were amazed at what they saw when they put it all together.
Then we broke for an afternoon of low ropes course challenges by small groups, and free time including boating, sports, crafts, facials and hang time. The facial/make-up room seemed to be the most popular, followed by the boats.
The next two sessions with Mel focused on who we are, how God has gifted us, and how we can enjoy and thrive in the natural bents that God has given us. The girls soaked it up. Then, were dismissed to spend a directed hour with God thinking and praying through what they had learned over the weekend.
We also spent a great deal of time processing through questions and thoughts in our small groups.
All in all, a great time was had by all. Well, except for those who are culinarially inclined. The meals were not the highlight of our time.
Respectfully submitted by Marcia.
So the soundsystem fried my laptop (very thankful it’s under warranty) which leaves me blogging from my iPhone. You’ll have to excuse any typos.
Free time was great, great weather and awesome fun just being guys together.
Session 2 starts great with the guys really into the worship. Started with let the praises ring then went a little old school with “my glorious” I can’t believe we think of that as old school! Craig shares a bit from jis heart. From the inside out finishes the first set. Really was a powerful moment there as we worshipped.
Kyle is up. Starts strong talking about how we all mess up but god gives us gifts anyway. Romans 12. I am gifted by god. How do we approach these gifts? We need to get real. At this age these guy think they are all that, but we need to get real about who we are. They way we do and the we figure pit what our gifts are is in community. The point of these small groups is to me real an honest with these guys.
We are all gifted and important to the body. We can’t focus on how other people are gifted and wish we were like them. God did not intend you to be the guy sitting next to you. He made you the way you are.
Use your gifts. It’s a lie that middle school men can’t use their gifts to further gods kingdom. Then as we use our gifts we start to communicate with god in a whole new way.
Another great message. Short and to the point. Perfect for these guys.
On to worship set 2. Give me Jesus, holy is the lord, one way.
Then time in small groups to discuss the message. I just love processing these things together in groups.
Things got off to a fun start with Craig’s re-written “smells like teen spirit” though the fun stop came to a screaching halt as a guitar stopped working and we had to change a cable. so, we started over and all was good. I introdced Kyle, who I am so excited is speaking this weekend, including random questions from students and it was time to worship. Two songs, too loud. We gotta figure out how to keep the volume under control in this old barn!
Kyle starts with a great idea of having the guys respond like spartan warriors! so cool! then he just brings the gospel thunder with the big idea that “I am forgiven by God” I’m a little late posting so I am missing some of the finer points, but he did a great job and set the tone for a weekend that will be manly as well as the in your face truth of scripture. Very cool.
the guys seem like they are more into the music in the second set, and I’m up after we finish this song, so I better go! Let god arise!
So, since we have web access (even though its slow) I think I’ll blog from the retreat. Of course, Iwon’t be able to post about the girls trip as they are a few hundred miles away.
Things went very well at church, checking in 300 students and leaders! A huge testimony to the team’s organization and the quality of our leaders.
The bus trip was going great until we slamed on the breaks and came to a dead stop. A truck had just jack-knifed in the road and was blocking both lanes! We were a onl a few hundred yards behind. hd we been maybe 10 seconds earlier we may have been involved. After an hour wait all three busses stopped at a rest area and we still made it to the camp in time to get luggage to cabins and mae it to lunch.
God is good and we’re here!
So, I just got back in the office yesterday after three weeks off. It was great! I got to spend lots of time at home with my wife and son and also got to see family in the Chicago area and in Orlando. I saw plenty of MMA (if you don’t know, don’t ask!) and really had time to let go of work and ministry for a while. I’ll post some highlights another time, but I didn’t want to share some reflections I had as I couldn’t sleep last night!
How I know I’m rested (or How I know I’m not tired and grumpy)
I’m sure there are more! If you know me and can add some insights (like “I know your rested when you aren’t grumpy…”) or if you have insights from your own life as well, I would love to hear them!!!!
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I’m almost through my first week of vacation and I’m so glad I have two more to go. (Yep, I took three weeks off!) We went out to Illinois last weekend for a wedding and to see family, which was great! We had tons of fun and I even got to spend an evening with a couple of my older brothers watching UFC 86 and eating a ton of BW’s!
So, we’ve only had a couple days at home and I’m looking forward to another week before we head off to Florida. One of the problems with only taking a week off at a time (like I usually do) is that I get to this point and I am finally starting to relax and let go of life at church and work and you have to head back in. I’m so grateful for more time to really decompress, refresh and renew before the craziness of the fall.
Tonight, I am taking my lovely wife out to dinner at a resturant in Indy I have been dreaming of going to, Fogo De Chau! It’s especially fun to be going out on a Wednesday night when I would normally be at church.
Anyway, you may or may not hear from me a lot during the rest of vacation. Who knows? I may feel inspired and write a ton, or I may feel like playing a lot of video games, or napping or maybe ven getting something done around the house.
I love my job, but its nice to not be a youth pastor for a few weeks!
Let me explain. There has been a bit of a long running debate with my friends as to which is the best “slap your ice cream on the counter and mash in some stuff” ice cream place. My friends (who apparently have poor taste) seem to like Cold Stone better. I don’t know why.
Now, I’ve never been a huge CS fan. (other than their cakes…) I’ve had bad experiences that invovled small amounts of candy and/or lack of mixtatude when it comes to said candy. But, when it comes to ice cream, I am kind and forgiving and also will eat almost anything has chocolate and peanut butter in it.
Two nights ago we went to Maggie Moo’s and had another wonderful ice cream experience. I got my usual. The “Peanut Butter Galaxy” but with dark chocolate ice cream. Amazing. I almost wept. It was that good. Then, last night we had a coupon, so we went to CS. Big mistake. I had dark chocolate ice cream with peanut butter cup in it. I figured this would be a good comparison and I would give CS another chance. Plus, I’m cheap and we had a coupon!
So, lets break it down in a head to head comparison of the three things that matter in a “slap your ice cream on the counter and mash in some stuff” ice cream place. The iced cream itself, amount of mixins and proper mashedupedness.
Ice Cream…
MM - Maybe the best dark chocolate ice cream on the planet. Rivaled only by Handel’s Chocoholic Chunk. But they don’t beat it up on the counter, so let’s leave them out of the discussion for now.
CS - It was gray in color. Gray! And it tasted weird. I don’t know what they used to make try to make it dark and chocolately, but they need to use something else maybe.
Amount of of mixins…
MM - Always a nice quanitity. And the more ice cream you get, the more they mix in. To make it consistent, they use little scoops and you get one scoop for a small, two for a medium, etc. So, the ratio is the same every time no matter how much you get.
CS - I had a medium and I think it was less than MM puts in a small. It was a sad little cup of gray ice cream.
Mashedupedness…
MM - Always consistent and well mixed. This makes for an enjoyable experience each and every time. The workers seem well trained, too. I think it’s based on some form of ancient lactose martial art. They are like dairy ninjas.
CS - One of my past bad experiences involved a kit kat that was only broken in half and jutting out of the ice cream. This time was a little better, but not great. When you are already starting with a small amount of candy leaving it in a few large chunks makes you feel like you have even less. Plus, when you are paying $5 for the mix and mash you’d like to see a little more effort and commitment to their craft.
So, Maggie Moo’s wins in all three catagories in a landslide victory!
If you were expecting to hear my political views… you’ll have to take me out for ice cream for that!
…is so “Stuff Christians Like!” It’s a funny and insightful take/writing on all forms of classic christian subculture. Not just old school stuff (like hymnals and VBS) but large churches, modern worship, coffee, etc. The cool part is that he’s not just trying to make fun of it, as he is christian, but to help us all to smile and laugh together a bit. Some of his posts aren’t about humor as they are thoughtful, soulful and insightful.
So, here are a few of my favoite posts…
http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/2008/04/169-clapping-our-hands-step-by-step.html
http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/2008/05/247-bizarre-relationship-with.html
http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/2008/05/234-bible-verse-arms-race-or-people.html
http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/2008/06/294-confusing-ben-franklin-with-bible.html
http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/2008/06/277-crazy-rapture-products-cue-hate.html
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
So, I haven’t had a lot of time to blog recently, thought I do have one brewing on my dual roles in unleashing and controlling creativity… but until then, here is a wonderful post by my friend Seth as he reads through Leviticus and Romans at the same time. Great thoughts and musings as he thinks about what it would have been like to live that way. My favorite quote…
I’m pretty sure the would have either stoned me pretty quick or at the least banished me to live outside the community.
http://helduphigh.blogspot.com/2008/06/something-better.html
