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things on tab : linkage for the week

since i'll be heading out on our senior high mission experience tomorrow i'm guessing this post will stick around for a bit. unless i can find some wi-fi in the area. here are some links that i'm perusing.

• a beer pong video game controversy.. really? check out who has more skill time than one should
• teens opting to get pregnant.. is penelope onto something?
• apparently though the pregnancy numbers are low
• teen dating & other abuse
• what other than the bible is considered sacred literature?
• dealing with sexual brokenness in youth article
• magnetic wallpaper the next thing?
• employers are having to cater to gen y's wants.. how bout a youth pastor?
• honestly,.. virtual reality abuse?..
• jay got me to sign up for jott.. still not sure if i need it
• british methodist church is actually reaching to unchurch young adults
• 80's work for todays teen consumerism?
• what do teens want?
• the new teen trend is to control tv..
  
• teens various views of oral sex
• research says youth get alcohol from adults.. is that news?
• the foreclosure market is helping out the teen party scene
• the "cool" or "responsible" parent that drinks with their teen?

camp edge : vbs week at hendersonville

this week are are in vbs week. it is kinda standard the last few years for me to work with the 5th & 6th graders. we try to be more 'big kid' like so that this group isn't feeling so old for vbs. like last year, we are a test church for next years cokesbury/abingdon curriculum. the theme/title is called camp edge. being a camping kinda guy i like the theme, it's a piece of cake to work with decorations wise. our room is in a state of construction so we are sorta minimal in decor, but the rest of the place is off the hook.

the curriculum is still in development, so i won't say it's great or not great. i have liked the daily teaching stuff pretty well, we adapt most of it to fit our schedule and age group as we see it. we have been doing a lot of initiative game stuff that requires rope and other outdoor elements to help keep it moving. i really like the music, it has a good energy and some cool dance stuff (that i cannot do, but the youth can). plus there is a good component of sign language, which i like as well.

i'm starting to post pictures at our youth flickr site from this week. check it out i will keep posting them as i can. i know many folks will be wanting ideas for their vbs next year.

renaissance years : not quite the gap of today

reading this i was revisiting my 'renaissance years' as i call them.

i was, and probably still am not, much of an academic. i had two very unfruitful college credit years in my first stop at university of alabama.. though i do have some decent stories to tell. i needed some perspective so i pulled out of the campus grind and began a two year journey i called my "renaissance years/period."

let me set the stage. i suck at college. i return home to new jersey after two years of college and mission service as summer staff. my fathers only request, "don't stop school," his fear being that i would not go back.. probably true too. soo...

• i enrolled at the high institute of learning that is burlington county college. i took mostly evening classes. so i could work a normal job.
• the normal job i attained was as a security guard with a top secret clearance. i worked at lockheed martin & this odd navy base. the strange thing though was i had this curly long hair and baby face patrolling the hallways in an outfit that likens back to a certain sheriff's outfit . no gun, mace or stick.. just a whistle to thwart back evil goers. this was my day job.
• i joined the fire department. mostly because i was 21 years of age and the other firefighters were amused that i could drink with them. my brother was already a member of the fire department, joining as a junior firefighter. i went to fire school, got my certificate and started... well.. mostly we hung out and drank.. stuff rarely burned around us. but i've got some good stories when things did burn. that was my free time & sometimes days when they would pay me.
• over the weekends i became the junior high youth minister at our church in new jersey. volunteer position of course. no funding, some 45 junior high youth, a ton of energy and no real experience. my only real strategy then was wrestle and beat the strongest kid in youth group, you gain instant respect then... i don't try that now.. not sure i'd win these days. those were my weekends.
• being in the fire department the trend those days was to get in with the ambulance squad. so i did too. joined in the 809 and went to emt school. my brother and i worked the night shift like 3 or 4 nights a week. they gave us this police car looking response vehicle so that we could go straight to the scene and someone (who lived closer to the squad house) would bring the truck. nothing was cooler than being 21 & 22 driving something that looked like a police car with siren & lights in the middle of the night at high speeds. those are some great stories, probably the ones i tell the most. what i liked about ems and the fire work was having tools and presence to help people in their greatest need. that was pretty cool. that was my night job.

i don't know where the idea of going straight from one milestone to another has become such a given that taking time to develop life experiences is odd and newsworthy. i am grateful for my two years as a renaissance man. it was the best learning i had while i was supposed to be in some education process.

if you are around nashville : some youth ministry braintrust

my friends at the center for youth ministry training are putting together a pretty good looking conference this fall. i'm still working out the dates to go, but hope to make it myself. deech and the others are people i am happy to call friends and talented & knowledgeable youth ministers.

deech has made available some of his braintrust for those interested. he's got some powerpoints and note outlines from some work he presented to the virginia annual conference.

more on the links : and it's not golf

time just seems to be going everywhere but into blog posting. no biggie, just means i'm working with the youth who i am sorta paid to minister with. so for the time you can see some of the fruits of work & readings. this is my latest collection of stuff.

• television and our children's children
• imvu another up and coming virtual reality world
• theology of mission
• lyfe : connecting God to us
• phyllis tickle on the new emergence
• android (which i was reading about in wired) hits snag
• reduce camera shake
• pete rollins interview on church beyond belief
• teen pregnancy pact info.. penelope's celeb parent porn
• celebs reason for teen pregnancy pact
• the pregnancy pact is called into question
• fewer peeps going towards tech degrees
• teens feeling the recession pinch?
• parents leading teenagers back to the newspaper
• pagans and patriarchs
• wordle.. just try it
• incarnation in virtual world
• interval training is the way to go.. if only i exercised
• what communication lessons i learned in marriage counseling
• a church dominated by the young and unexperienced
• build your own photo wire wall
• words for non-believers
• church practice gutenberg mindset in google world
• map-it your brainstorm session
• waking up to pluralism
• the creative worship tour
• are you young umc clergy? this is for you then
• the new classics.. and what kat thinks of some of them
• i am thinking of a bamm experience for myself
• what books have changed your life?
• pastors need to theologian in weekly columns.. they still do this?
• diary of an outreach flop
• i don't get radiohead, but this is a cool stage set!
• thomas's welcome message
• mitch on facebook past, myspace present, linked-in future.. hmm
• scot on the whole dobson obama junk
• white people like to compare folks to hitler.. and acting poor
• does the church have a responsibility to encourage carpooling?
• for teens email just doesn't cut it.. duh! i've know that for years
• ypulse on some hypothetical questions of youth, social media culture
• teens crashing pools using google earth.. hmm.. smart.. maybe use street view too
• bullying becoming a younger thing
• my faith isn't the only way.. neither is yours
• cutting understanding the self-mutilating teenager

youth ministry video : glimpse of our church

myself and a group of our youth are putting together these highlight videos for all the overarching ministries of our church. one video highlight gets show each sunday through the summer. this past sunday was our youth min sunday. it's kinda hard to capture everything that we are in a 3 min video, but i'm kinda happy with this one, plus its different than the other videos we've been doing so far.

things on tab : random links for friday

just a myriad of links from odd stuff i've have on tab in the browser.

• make a difference join ctrl+alt+del
• why is youth culture more global?
• oh very young, and gadgety
• college students bike to break silence
• a green social network?.. interesting
• help the united methodist global aids fund
• nashville and their bad drivers
• how youth and video cameras are changing the world
• "truth comes from being involved, and not from an observation or speculation"
• best apocalyptic movies
• easter ad series reaches people.. tip don
• 100 topics i hope you write about
• twitter church..
• 10 things adults should know about youth
• on moving into smaller youth ministries
• how myspace is moving to help brand
• youth media & hip-hop
• drunkorexia?.. might not be a word, but is is a condition
• playing politics & facebook, latest from pew internet research
• how do we pass the baton to the younger folks in mainline & beth's add-on
• willimon on empowering a new generation of leaders & connecting with young people
• facebook takes over myspace
• crazy tornado picture
• post-evangelical youth ministry

leading in change : youth perspective

our youth this past weekend engaged in conversation over what it would take to lead through the changing culture. these are their notes.

FRESH Happenings

Leaders of Change- What should a leader look like?
Integrity- act because it is the right thing to do
Trustworthy/Trusting- no control issues
Open-minded- equality, nonjudgmental, remember that we are all God’s children and we are all valuable
Mutual Respect
Fearless- courage, takes on challenges, brave
Good Communication
Listening- values all input
Vision- plan, set goals, be in motion
Confidence with Humility- confident but not arrogant
Optimistic- positive, hopeful
Inspirational
Passion- enjoy what you are doing
Teamwork- cooperative
Service- leading by example, knows when to follow and when to lead
Unity- everyone works together, common goals
Knowledge- understanding, research

Embracing Change-What sets United Methodists apart?
Bigger Picture- faith, trust, hope
Actions- compassion, inclusiveness, attempt new things
Acceptance- open-minded
Risk Taking- faith, acceptance of results, responsibility, confidence
Same Emotions but Different Reactions- peace, hope, life changing, strength from struggles
Support- God, church members, youth groups, pastors
Miracles/Blessings- seeing the world through different eyes
Prayer/Bible
Motives- acting for others and not for self
Conflict Resolution
Being An Example- actions, grace, love, stories
Presence and Energy- being there, support
Shared Experience- witnessing, guidance, sharing is caring
Forgiveness- love, live by example, progress, lets go of negative energy
Community- connections, support system
Encouragement- support, sharing
Sharing of Strengths- new ways of communicating, art, music
Having and Holding Faith- provide healing time
Hakuna Matata- worry free life

Transformation- What calls to us?
Issues- teen pregnancy, eating disorders, addiction, suicide, over indulgence, pornography, Instant gratification
Spiritual Depth- touching God, sharing God’s love, worship, hands on, ideas, creativeness
Wastefulness and Indulgence- recycling
Small Things Big Effects- volunteer
Bring Passion- make changes in issues that excite you
Raising Funds and Awareness
Be Role Models- not just to younger people but also adults
Be Selfless- passion for helping others, think about others, no selfish thoughts
Discipleship
Involvement
Become Someone’s Hero- share time and experiences, smile at someone
War- be peace makers
Be A Childlike Teacher- learn how to play again, children at heart

a pretty extensive list.. what do you think. btw meet our new ccym leader for the next year. it's a good looking group.

thoughts of an annual conference : running tab

i'm keeping a running tab on my thoughts and opinions from annual conference.. they are my thoughts and come through my lens of being part of this family. take issue with them or agree.

• our youth president is sitting with our bishop and entourage as a sign of showing support for and giving importance to the youth of our church. so why did the bishop just get the youth president to go and get him some coffee? bad form
• laity address is giving the same old rhetoric of 'we need to get younger laity and clergy'.. funny, that didn't seem to matter to you last year when we were electing delegates for general conference and the young adult laity were begging for consideration of balance of ages for our laity delegation. maybe i was too old at 32 to be considered young.
• mckendree report coming in. the fallout from all that is really tragic & hopefully will find its way into a better place. my grand father-inlaw got to stay because he had personal care insurance and wasn't dependent on medi-care stuff.
• thinking bout conversation with my pastor before entering the sanctuary.. i'm dreaming big now & excited to know i work with a solid and challenging visionary. cool thing too, i think some of the dreams can happen
• not sure what the 'other business' we are discussing, but i'm tuned out and scanning the crowd. see a lot of lovely people that i hope to catch up with sometime in the next 2 days
• hispanic report was cool. some good folks involved in that whom i really like. lame that i really know very little about engaging in those ministries.
• tennessee conference had the highest increase in percent participation with the advance in '07 in the southeast jurisdiction.. impressive
• into nominations. not sure what all is happening, but there are some good people & number of youth on the nomination list.
• this is a nice article that i find relevant for my days context
• on my pew: computer science homework, twitter, sudoku, book, book, txt msg, book, day dreaming, book, book, sleeping, the last two are paying attention. business as usual
• bishop's address: "its been a hard year".. yes, it has
•   "you would be surprised what you can learn from our middle school students" yes, if only you actually listened.

evening highlights

• got recognized for my work/participation with youth ministry institute 2. afterwards ginna said some great things about beth as recognition for her work. beth cried, which got me crying. we hugged, it was special, and sad at the same.
• i seemed to be sequestered by people to talk about the upcoming camping task force & conference program position resolutions. i don't know how all that is going to go down, but it was interesting that so many people sought me out for perspective.
• ran into adam hamilton while trying to figure out the camera stuff and talking to others. talked with his wife about their travel in. she seems quite nice. adam said thanks when i held the door for him.
• change of plans, change of plans.. but we got the ordination service recorded. it wasn't ideal so it will be a bear to get compiled into video. there is footage and that was goal 1 after every single plan seemed to fall apart beforehand. it was fun to chat through the headsets. probably was too chatty, oh well. dock my pay
• ran into richard, an old youth who is now in working world and finishing university. he was all dressed up in a suit. very professional looking.

junior high mission : hump day

DSC_5040.JPG
Originally uploaded by hfumcyouth

so it is wednesday and it is our 2nd day of out and about work. i am the set driver for the saint andrews mission/urban ministry center. it's pretty darn cool. it is a dead methodist church in urban chattanooga that has been brought to life partnering with all kinds of immigrant congregations, community college, after-school programs, and more.. it is wonderful.

mike the pastor who heads it all up is a mutual friend from working with youth03 & youth07.

one thing i like about the place. wi-fi.. i have been able to upload pictures and send out email updates. check out our growing camp lookout service week flickr set.

camp twit

today we are on our way to camp for our junior high service week. i hope to post for some of you interested parties. but since posting might be at a minimum you can follow the twitter updates.

where is the twit?

follow me on Twitter

bummer : last day

today, friday, was my friend and cohort beth's last day at the conference office as conference youth director. i've been too busy to think about it this week. but when i got home there was an email.

Hey Gang,

This is it, my last message to you... Our new CCYM has made the commitment to carry on – so I hope you will look forward to what the future will hold.  Your local churches are blessed by your presence as I have been over the years.  I can be reached anytime you need me...

i'm bummed.. come monday, there will be these continuing moments of absence. change is okay, i can handle that, but the means and spirit of these things and manipulative nature still cuts deep. i have tried to keep a high road in all this, but i don't know how long that will last.. shall i just walk away. do my own thing. i don't know 

youth leader adhd : internet at its nuttiest

this afternoon geekdom took on a whole new level participating in tim's weekly skypecast. this time i plugged into my own ustream video feed. today wasn't the best day for a phone call as a bunch of folks randomly stopped in. i think tim put me on mute because of that. sorry man. this is a bit of a screen capture of the fun. i think when i do the next blog redesign i'll set a page for ustream viewing. it's pretty cool, but who wants to look at me all afternoon long. haha!

tuesday randomness : on thursday

so i've been a little busy these last two days with a short week i suppose. we are also in the midst of holding some town hall type meet ups with our youth and youth leaders to share and discuss restructure for our upcoming year in youth ministry... so blogging has come second.. well last really.

getting back on track, here are some significant links for the week.

• 30 websites to follow if you are into web development
• disability inclusion & the parents in youth min
• energy drinks linked to risky teen bahavior? no...
  
• barna on social networking, online entertainment, & church podcasts
• is gen y the dumbest generation.. we think not
• we do different things.. social media wise
• bonhoeffer vs "hyper-lutheranism" you can't pass up a title like that
• david dark and the sacredness of questioning everything
• collaborative preaching, the art of holy conversation
• beat the system, know the spirit of the game
• so your business cards suck...
• friend feed has some work to do to catch up to twitter
• by the way, i'm on friend feed.
• 7 deadly homemade weed killers
• basic business blogging suggestions
• organizational thinking
• 12 tools & techniques for building blogger relationships
• conversation killers & viral chatter
• old media needs to get over it's control issues
• why the media didn't show
• 45 ways to waste your theological education

my standing as a youthworker : reality check

i am glad to know, but a harsh reality check, of my standing as a youthworker in the church. via dave of cartoon church & cartoon blog.

mark yaconelli : youthworker movement podcast

episode five of the youthworker movement podcast is up and going. subscribe via itunes

mark is the director of the youth ministry spirituality project and the author of "contemplative youth ministry" and "growing souls." i met up with mark to talk contemplative youth ministry approach & growing souls. how does a youth leader care for the soul of themselves and the youth in their charge. we also bring back some 80's music. interviewed at the national youth workers convention in atlanta, november of 2007.

contact me to get plugged in or ask questions on the podcast. i could use hearing from some friends.
email at: gavoweb(at)gmail.com or call: 615-357-3275

tuesday randomness : link love

a run down on semi-interesting things

• young adult ministry ideas
• five social networking sites of the wealthy via revcamp
• evangelical manifesto and covert colonialism
• the things i am playing around with on my mac now
• some results and next steps to the umc young clergy project
• for writers in the nashville area
• i have this problem too, glad i'm getting answers
• teens are buying less? really?
• fraggle rock on broadway
• the rich drink better but not more beer.. which is better? hmm
• how to reduce your church meetings
• what the church can learn from wikipedia
• are we methodists liked because we are too easy?
• greatest criminal to ever live? via jordon
• old article about online religion
• young girls are bound to suffer from depression
• 7 pleasurable ways to improve your reading
• 12 traits of successful bloggers
• needing to design a sunday school room
• christian hospitality gone wrong
• questions that spark fresh ideas
• seth on new standards for meetings
• pray for our enemies
• gen x & millennials meet boomers
• the lost art of meditation for the youth worker
• a most helpful chart for navigating movies
• throw dave a bone
• who are your mentors?
• play your instrument better via online
• review of gene robinson's book
• 20 questions to ask when contemplating stopping blogging

graduation weekend : photoblog

today was graduation day for hendersonville high school seniors. some of my pictures seeing my third set of graduates from hendersonville.

tuesday randomness : link love

for your review

• zombie protestors in nashville
• church teamwork
• how to shoot band promo photos
• shane claiborne's scandelous sermon at nywc '07
• what every good marketer should know
• parenting & jr. high dance
• small time ministry with big dreams
• not too fat for me
• turn point & shoot camera into super-camera
• found who i am voting for in '08 wooo!
• interview with phyllis tickle
• small churches should embrace cheap technology
• scot mcknight at shift conference
• wayne on the complications in myanmar
• infinite world of the web

where do we get this time to work on the internet?

shift happens : moving into the unknown

i've run across this video a few times, last time was at the shift conference. i shared this as an add on to my presentation at the youth ministry institute retreat this weekend. i also showed this and a the last 10 minutes of this. the idea is that youth are heading into mass of unknown.. how are we helping to prepare them for this?

you are nobody unless people talk about you : gossip girl blog

one the shows i've been getting interested in lately is gossip girl. since coming back on the scene with new episodes this new show, based off a series of books has some interesting hybrids and is meshing mainstream media with web2.0.

simple premise, think beverly hills 90210 characters move to upper east side new york, take on the charming care for human kind of cruel intentions, with the omnipotent narration of desperate housewives. mix in that, a blog. it could be a new favorite of mine.. when nothing else is on.

actually, i'm just intrigued how these characters are interlinked with a cyber media. with the target audience being teenagers i wonder what this might mean to the blog world. there are already enough gossip blogs, but when teens want to be somebody will similar blogs which talk of their happenings start popping up? as we know, it seems better these days to have people notice you with negatives rather than not be seen at all

youth ministry institute : everyone needs a network like this

i spent the last 30 some hours with some fellow youth ministers that have been on a journey as a group this academic year. this was our youth ministry institute 2 for the tennessee conference umc.

a number of years ago i was part of the pilot youth ministry institute, since then they have popped up around the country. our conference has had a group participate just about every year since the first one. this was our first year for up-ing the commitment level in a second year. i totally loved the group experience, these folks span lay volunteer in small church rural areas of tennessee to middle sized sub-urban and me who is probably at the largest church of the bunch. these folks have become my best friends in ministry.

if you get a chance to participate in an intensive such as this i would totally suggest you go for it.

this years tasks were collaborative youth culture readings and research. i'll probably expand more on what i have processed, but this is a little list we created of some trends & ideas.

• single gender opportunities
• drivers license worships
• parent support group
• decision making lessons
• sexual-relationship talk
• self-image issues
• help parents understand their importance as parent
• "replacement" activities for harmful behavior
• root of the solution is God
• listen to God
• think for themselves
• build in times to listen
• be present with kids
• help them be ready for the world
• see them as individuals

tuesday randomness : linkage of a different kind

so some things to look at when you have free time like so many of us. i need to send out tips for some of these.. i just don't know who. so apologies for not giving appropriate props today. i still love and appreciate you for being so wonderful

• beth gives her rundown on general conference
• post general conference poem
• 10 reasons men should not be ordained
• hauerwas, moral superiority of gays
• necessity of christian culture
• the theo-celebrity deathmatch continues
• the future of emergent gathering...
• who didn't see this coming? apparently car dealers
• 21 ways to shoot better photographs
• dan kimball visits the holyland.. in orlando
• latest worship resources from jonny baker
• if i wasn't already at camp i'd imagine going
• ultimate fooseball
• what will you buy to stimulate the economy?
• the ultimate dance off
• 10 ways to work on subject matter in linkedin (big for me, i have no idea what to do with linkedin)
• blogging getting a second wind? you decide
• which comes first the gathering or the crowd?
• make some stop motion video
• can twitter be liberated? i didn't know it was captured
• a new american
• top down vs bottom up polity in the church
• is facebook now part of a murder?
• apparently you are not God's favorite

important day in tennessee conference youth & children ministries

this is a letter i have sent off to a number of fellow youth ministers and interested parties. it's been quiet, but this a continuation of the recent firing changes of two our most functional and successful parts to the tennessee conference ministries of the united methodist church.

Hi all,

hate to leave a short notice alert for a meeting. but tomorrow has possibility to be a big day in the world of youth ministries.

In the afternoon the camping committee is meeting (at the conference office) to discuss the future of camping ministries in the aftermath of the dissolving of the program positions as they were. As it looks, there will be a rubber stamp to have Dickie Hinton, who is program director at Beersheba, function as director over all camping. The second point of business is summer camp at Cedar Crest. There is a real lack of summer staff and if canceling camp becomes the option then there are many of us that fear it would never come back. This might be the desire as some as there is a resolution going to Annual Conference to develop a task force for exploring other options for Cedar Crest. Though my participation in Cedar Crest has been minimal over the years I appreciate and know the important of camp. My own experience in childhood being spent at the methodist camp in southern New Jersey. We hired James to try and bring Cedar Crest up to speed as a camp that gives a high adventure retreat space for summer camps as well as smaller church groupings. My personal opinion, we have nickeled and dimed our way through camping ministries to get our current results. I ask for your prayers and maybe suggestions that we could bring to the table as solutions to not let summer camp die for the hundreds of youth that call it home for a summer.

at 6:30pm we will be convening the first gathering of the youth ministry for the conference since the 'listening' session a few weeks ago. This meeting, as i know, is open to interested parties to attend. As I know, I will be there and some of the CCYM as well as Loyd. The order or content of the meeting, I do not know. I hope it is a continuation of the 'listening' session where we can do some discerning and visioning of how to actually move forward. If you car not, or cannot, make the meeting pray for discernment and listening on all parts. Like I have said in the past, I am all for churches growing and reaching those who are lost/unchurched/etc. however, it is undeniable that the methods for which our trusted leadership took upon themselves to bring change have caused hurt and unrest.

thanks for all ya'lls time
shalom
-gav

what i needed : hope this doesn't happen to you

this was sent to me by one of my beloved youth ministry buddies. sad for them, but it was a pick-me-up that gave me a much needed giggle.

We did the 30 hour famine over the weekend and went on a can food drive through a neighborhood near the church.  We were gone for about 2 hours gathering food.  We drove our old church van and we were having trouble keeping it running while we were in the neighborhood.  We got going and started back to the church and it died on top of a hill at a dangerous curve on Arno Road.  It wouldn't start and it started to smoke, I looked under the hood and more smoke started coming out, black smoke.  We got the kids out of the van and away from it and the smoke increased, it started to flame up and within minutes, it was fully in flames.  It looked like a marshmallow that had been set on fire and then blow out.  After getting the kids out of the van, I called 911 and the fire truck came but by the time they had gotten there, the van was completely destroyed.  We were able to get the kids back to the church before it really started to burn and of course they were upset that they were not allowed to stay to see it burn.

So needless to say, it was quite an exciting lock in and famine. All of the can food was destroyed in the fire, we could hear cans exploding, the van never exploded like you see on TV, but the windows blew out and the tires blew out. 

I told some people at church that God had told us to go to the top of the hill and offer a burnt offering, after we discerned that He didn't mean a junior high boy, we realized He meant the van.  We are fortunate that nobody was hurt and that the trees around it didn't catch on fire either.  There is a black stain on the road and I think some metal that melted from the van on the road also.

The kids were somewhat scared but more mad about the can food that was destroyed that they collected while fasting, I asked the church today to consider bringing in food to replace what was lost. 

See you in a couple of weeks, anybody else need to sacrifice a van?

our boys are growing so fast!

last night was the hhs prom.

hhs is where many of our youth community comes out of. the biggest group is our junior group of guys. when we got to the church they were the biggest group of youth and the primary leadership. they still are, and they are growing fast. life with them has been a real ride.

it was good to see a good number of them and get to take prom pictures of them like we are family.

thrown up some pics onto facebook cause i know a few of them will be checking as soon as they get up from sleeping in.

after the party : shift conference

fancy that. the folks at willow creek have added two of my photos to the frontpage of the shift conference website. i knew they liked my photos, they asked if they could use them and i sent them a dvd of them. i didn't realize they were throwing them up on the site. cool. the two they are using are not my favorites (here & here), but they are more willow than many of the others. the others being of charlie hall or the various speakers, so maybe that has something to do with that.

if you hadn't seen the rest of them. check out the flickr conference set.

new podcast : youth worker movement episode 4

after a long hiatus of wondering. i've released episode four of the youthworker movement podcast. this was one that we cut back in november while mike and i were at nywc. this one covers some budget talk and other ideas.

i will be releasing some of the interview podcasts from that convention in the coming days. i will also be hanging out with some musicians for gma week next week. apparently the idea is to have some podcasts come from tho