Jr. High Youth Group

We had our first Jr. High Youth group of the fall last night. It was fun, I bought a new blender, and put someone in charge of our first dollar challenge. He may have really outdone himself, as there were all kinds of people running to the trash can!

It's weird, my methodology really did not change too much from Jr. High youth group in Newburgh...

Oh well! We had a good time!

Block Party: A dream realized.

This is the invitation I received inviting me to the block's party:

I made it out there about 6, with Banana Creme Pie in hand

The guy in the yellow shirt there is our unofficial Block Mayor (Kind of like Assistant to the Regional Manager).

The city brought out barricades to block off our street (for a fee of course), Daniel brought out tables from the church and they were placed in the middle of the block .

Daniel and Emily (music minister and wife) manned a "match the dog with the correct house" contest. Daniel made up some pretty slick color posters for this, and the winner matched all 9 pets to people's homes. There was also a trophy for best yard (go figure, I didn't win) and a 50/50 raffle.

One of the guys on our block has a bunch of DJ equipment, so he set up an awning and DJ'd the event.

Before dinner was served, some fire-fighters came out and taught the children of the block fire safety, and showed off their truck. They stayed and ate with us! 
Here is my plate of food. There was a huge spread! Several different kinds of The GBC (Green Bean Casserole, my favorite) and pulled pork, and all kinds of dessert. The west side brought desserts and the east side brought sides. We had a 90% block turnout, so that equaled a lot of food!

After dinner there were some presentations. I was introduced as the new guy on the block, and the winners of the contests were announced. I won the 50/50 raffle, 37 large!

After that, people volunteered to give some tours. Last year 7 showed their homes, and this year 2 volunteered theirs. It was nice to be in your neighbor's homes and be able to meet them where they are.

So what's the point? I think for me, the point is, that there is no point. Daniel was thanked for all the work that he did, and it was mentioned from the announcer that he worked at the church a block away. I was mentioned as the new guy on the block, and that I worked there as well. That was pretty much were that talk ended. I think it is amazing to be able to live in community with your neighbors, to be in their houses, to eat and share life with them. One hopes and prays that at some point, there will be a chance for some conversation to happen that will share the very words of life to your friends, but until that time comes... simply living and loving your neighbors is more than enough. It's what we are here for. 

1 We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

24and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 25Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

Some Updates:

I pulled my hamstring last night at a Jr. High swim party. It hurts a lot.

Today is my block's party!

This video is funny!

I know, I am boring!

Update

Hi guys! I made it to Kenya safe and sound, Today was our first day doing our health clinics - Laura and I saw and treated 45 families.

All I can really say is that I am completely overwhelmed. I was fine all day and then I sat down on the bus and had to literally get up and walk around to stop myself from weeping. There just is so much to do - soebs knows the song by rich mullins - where it talks about the morning coming so soon and being so tired but so much work left to do... I am completely overwhelmed.

But I am blessed - blessed beyond belief. I was able to give such simple simple medications that literally saved some little kids lives. I was able to set up and entire family to get them started on antiretroviral drugs for HIV - it's been amazing.

Funny story - this family had 3 sets of twins and all the twins had the same names with the number 1 or 2 after! So I saw Kevin 1 and Kevin 2 today! :)

I will try to keep in touch - lots of love to you all.
SoeYun

I know, I am so behind the times!

But Wentz just showed me this guy! Funny stuff!

Off to see the giraffes!

SoeYun is off to Kenya today. She is going with a team of doctors and nurses with her church to go serve Jesus! Her favorite animal is the giraffe, and I hope she glances up and gets to see one as she saves people's lives and tells them about the love of Jesus! I am so proud of her, and extremely jealous!

If you remember, please pray for her!

Thanks God!

There are some times that God tells you... "You know, here is a little gift for you. Just to let you know that you are on the right track."

God has given me a few of those lately. Today in staff meeting, we had a discussion... on block parties.

If you know me well at all in the last few years, you have heard me talk about block parties. I have talked about how we need to be doing them, we need to be intentional about them, etc. I don't mean block parties out in the church parking lot, I mean block parties that you organize with people, *gasp*, on your block!

Today in staff meeting, one of the issues that was on the agenda was block parties. Obviously, I was curious about what they would say about them.

Currently, there are two staff members that are talking about them. Our music minister's block is having one, and our senior minister is wanting to do one. John's block does them quite frequently. The discussion today was about how to take church money and support them.

We are talking about letting them use tables and chairs for free, we are talking about using outreach budget to furnish some things, like bounce houses and food. We are talking about doing outreach with the express purpose of reaching out to our neighbors, regardless of whether they go to our church, the church down the street, or if they even go to church at all!

There have been several God moments already in the last couple weeks that I have been here. Thanks God for talking... I am trying to listen!

Here is to my guys!

Monday nights are going to be really tough. For the last year or so, I have been meeting with some dear, dear friends to argue, er, discuss theology.

These are some of the best times I have had in my short life. Joe, Eric, Darin, Scott, et al., you guys pushed me, you guys challenged me, you guys helped me grow. Thanks for making me think about church in a new light, christians in a new light, and especially God in a new light. I needed that, I am a better man and minister because of those discussions. God really was there when we gathered.

I love you guys a ton, thanks for everything!

Oh ya, and Bill, thanks for making me think about predestination all the time.

The superfriends!

I remember near the end of my Junior year of college having this dream. The dream was that a group of us guys, all brothers for several years at Lincoln, would form a team. A team of Superfriends, with the express purpose of doing ministry together.

I would do youth ministry, Toad would administrate, Lowery would preach, John would evangelize, John Hughes would do something... anyway I have made that dream one step closer. I have joined Wentz at Southside Christian Church, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Toad, we are waiting for you!

Batman was awesome! Just got back from it. I think I need to see it again! I loved it. Heath Ledger was crazy!

You know what's amazing? You never realize the depth of crazy until you remove yourself from crazy.

I am going to blog more. I have stuff to talk about!