Thursday, November 03, 2005
Sunday, October 02, 2005
NYWC: Day 4
We just finished packing up the majority of our stuff for the last day at convention. We have to get up early tomorrow to catch our plane back to Denver, CO.
The last day was like all the others –- we only wish this week could last longer. Deanna and I had the opportunity to interact with Tic Long, one of the convention hosts and YS execs. We told him that the convention is our favorite week every year. He commented about my hair (he said that it looked like I had been "rocking out") and asked Deanna about her 1-Life Revolution experience (ask her about it). Then he welcomed us back for our sixth year next year.
I attended a great seminar on Creative Bible Teaching by Jim Burns, the founder of HomeWord, this morning and attended another one by Doug Fields on Developing Student Leaders in the afternoon. I can't wait to start applying some of the things that I learned this week into play at Elevate Youth Ministry.
This day was my favorite day of worship as David Crowder took over the general session worship times. What an incredible band and great lead worshippers. I got lots of good footage from side-stage and front-stage of several of the artists. (Enough, I hope, to make our friend Barry Edwards come next year.)
Ted Dekker read his newest book with a multimedia backdrop at the morning session and the true-to-life Sue Thomas from the F.B. Eye detective show spoke in the afternoon session. Shane and Shane did a short but powerful worship set.
The day ended with a big concert featuring the Canadian boys from Starfield and everybody’s favorite southern rocker’s, Third Day. KJ-52 was supposed to be there to perform, too, but the promoter said that he never called or showed up. We never heard anything more about it.
We ran into a new youth worker friend, Paul Kind, from Rapid City, too. He is a new youth pastor taking over a youth ministry position at a church which I can't remember the name of right now. (Sorry, Paul, if you're reading this.)
All in all, the week was too much for words. I feel refreshed, renewed, re-energized, and re-filled with passion for the calling that we have to Destiny's youth. I hope that we can bring more Team Elevate leaders with us next year. Thank you SO MUCH to all of those who supported Amy this year and our other volunteers in years past! It means so much to us!
Time for bed. Got to get up at 5:00 am. See you when we get back!
The last day was like all the others –- we only wish this week could last longer. Deanna and I had the opportunity to interact with Tic Long, one of the convention hosts and YS execs. We told him that the convention is our favorite week every year. He commented about my hair (he said that it looked like I had been "rocking out") and asked Deanna about her 1-Life Revolution experience (ask her about it). Then he welcomed us back for our sixth year next year.
I attended a great seminar on Creative Bible Teaching by Jim Burns, the founder of HomeWord, this morning and attended another one by Doug Fields on Developing Student Leaders in the afternoon. I can't wait to start applying some of the things that I learned this week into play at Elevate Youth Ministry.
This day was my favorite day of worship as David Crowder took over the general session worship times. What an incredible band and great lead worshippers. I got lots of good footage from side-stage and front-stage of several of the artists. (Enough, I hope, to make our friend Barry Edwards come next year.)
Ted Dekker read his newest book with a multimedia backdrop at the morning session and the true-to-life Sue Thomas from the F.B. Eye detective show spoke in the afternoon session. Shane and Shane did a short but powerful worship set.
The day ended with a big concert featuring the Canadian boys from Starfield and everybody’s favorite southern rocker’s, Third Day. KJ-52 was supposed to be there to perform, too, but the promoter said that he never called or showed up. We never heard anything more about it.
We ran into a new youth worker friend, Paul Kind, from Rapid City, too. He is a new youth pastor taking over a youth ministry position at a church which I can't remember the name of right now. (Sorry, Paul, if you're reading this.)
All in all, the week was too much for words. I feel refreshed, renewed, re-energized, and re-filled with passion for the calling that we have to Destiny's youth. I hope that we can bring more Team Elevate leaders with us next year. Thank you SO MUCH to all of those who supported Amy this year and our other volunteers in years past! It means so much to us!
Time for bed. Got to get up at 5:00 am. See you when we get back!
Saturday, October 01, 2005
NYWC: Day 3
We started out the morning all splitting up into different workshops, which is what we normally tend to do at workshop time. That way our team gets three different workshops in one hour and a half period. I attended a seminar by a young man by the name of Chuck Bomar that started the collegeleader.org web site and ministry. He was a deep thinker, but really helped me get a first-timer's grasp at how to disciple college-age volunteers. Very cool stuff. Deep, but cool.
The morning general session featured a former pro football player turned youth speaker, Steve Fitzhugh. He was a big guy with a Pentecostal flavor to his preaching style. Very fun and encouraging. Steven Curtis Chapman was there, too but we’ve seen him so many times, we skipped out on him. Lunch was at a small Mexican restaurant with really good fresh fruit drinks and salsa, but not-so-good enchilada sauce.
We took a long afternoon nap to catch up and keep up with taking care of Mikella. Having her along definitely has kept us busy, so the two-hour nap was very welcome.
We took a walk to a far-away fish and chips place for dinner. It was worth the walk; good fried food – yum! We did pass by a passed out drunk on the way. I don't think it was the best neighborhood.
The last general session of the day was our last night with Chris Tomlin and his band. It was good to have them back with us again this year. We got to see them last year, but it was for only one night. Those guys really know how to shine the spotlights on God and lead a group into worship. I’m even more excited for the David Crowder Band tomorrow.
Louie Giglio also spoke at the evening general session and blew me away as usual. He used the best definition of worship I’ve ever heard: us in God’s hands and our life in His plans. Incredibly inspiring. Deanna and I actually spotted Louie taking an afternoon job earlier in the day. He looks like a really fit guy.
Afterwards, we stopped for a while at the late night comedy club with Taylor Mason, Thor Ramsey, the Village Idiot, and Darren Streblow. We bought a bunch of their DVD's so that Destiny can host another comedy night. I’m sad that tomorrow is our last day. We are going to have to miss out on the last day in order to make it to Colorado in time for the district convention. We are looking forward to that too, of course, but YS is very close to our hearts.
The morning general session featured a former pro football player turned youth speaker, Steve Fitzhugh. He was a big guy with a Pentecostal flavor to his preaching style. Very fun and encouraging. Steven Curtis Chapman was there, too but we’ve seen him so many times, we skipped out on him. Lunch was at a small Mexican restaurant with really good fresh fruit drinks and salsa, but not-so-good enchilada sauce.
We took a long afternoon nap to catch up and keep up with taking care of Mikella. Having her along definitely has kept us busy, so the two-hour nap was very welcome.
We took a walk to a far-away fish and chips place for dinner. It was worth the walk; good fried food – yum! We did pass by a passed out drunk on the way. I don't think it was the best neighborhood.
The last general session of the day was our last night with Chris Tomlin and his band. It was good to have them back with us again this year. We got to see them last year, but it was for only one night. Those guys really know how to shine the spotlights on God and lead a group into worship. I’m even more excited for the David Crowder Band tomorrow.
Louie Giglio also spoke at the evening general session and blew me away as usual. He used the best definition of worship I’ve ever heard: us in God’s hands and our life in His plans. Incredibly inspiring. Deanna and I actually spotted Louie taking an afternoon job earlier in the day. He looks like a really fit guy.
Afterwards, we stopped for a while at the late night comedy club with Taylor Mason, Thor Ramsey, the Village Idiot, and Darren Streblow. We bought a bunch of their DVD's so that Destiny can host another comedy night. I’m sad that tomorrow is our last day. We are going to have to miss out on the last day in order to make it to Colorado in time for the district convention. We are looking forward to that too, of course, but YS is very close to our hearts.
Friday, September 30, 2005
NYWC: Day 2
Tonight, we thankfully have a little bit earlier bedtime. Funny thing is that it was the first night that the girls wanted to try a late night event: Fear Factor – Youth Worker’s Edition. The group that was coming to do the event was not able to make it for whatever reason. I think we were all somewhat relieved. Sleep is always welcome at the end of a long convention day.
We woke up this morning and went to the La Boo for breakfast. Very good iced chai tea and breakfast pastry. The first general session of the convention we all attended together. It was a “Rant by a Runt on What’s Wrong with the Church” by Marko, the president of Youth Specialties. I liked it because he asked a lot of tough questions that made me re-think my own personal philosophy of ministry.
The first general session featured Mark Yaconelli, who I hadn’t enjoyed much in the past, but did an incredible job today. In fact, I would like to hear him again, if I have the chance. The Skit Guys were absolutely hilarious and the Swift were mediocre.
We all shared dinner at a loud restaurant called “Pizza by the Slice”. It didn’t pass all of the inspection codes by the health department, but we didn’t see that until we were leaving (smile).
I attended my afternoon workshop with Doug Fields on “Small Groups from Start to Finish”. I have been really praying about starting some kind of small group ministry within our youth group for a long time now. This class was super-practical and eye-opening when it comes to the effectiveness (and toughness) of doing small groups ministry. It doesn’t hurt that Doug Fields has always been one of my convention favorites.
The evening general session went just as well with featured speaker (drum roll please) Doug Fields. He spoke on the importance of saying “no” to ministry (yes, ministry) and keeping family and other more important things first. Kendall Payne was a surprising treat (better than I thought) and One Time Blind was a pleasant mix of rhythm and drama.
Mikella has been doing fairly well, although, Deanna and Amy have taken some time out a time or two to take her to the kid’s play room, which features a live video feed of all of the action on the main stage. Otherwise, she loves the music and the clapping the most and really seems to dig the party atmosphere!
We woke up this morning and went to the La Boo for breakfast. Very good iced chai tea and breakfast pastry. The first general session of the convention we all attended together. It was a “Rant by a Runt on What’s Wrong with the Church” by Marko, the president of Youth Specialties. I liked it because he asked a lot of tough questions that made me re-think my own personal philosophy of ministry.
The first general session featured Mark Yaconelli, who I hadn’t enjoyed much in the past, but did an incredible job today. In fact, I would like to hear him again, if I have the chance. The Skit Guys were absolutely hilarious and the Swift were mediocre.
We all shared dinner at a loud restaurant called “Pizza by the Slice”. It didn’t pass all of the inspection codes by the health department, but we didn’t see that until we were leaving (smile).
I attended my afternoon workshop with Doug Fields on “Small Groups from Start to Finish”. I have been really praying about starting some kind of small group ministry within our youth group for a long time now. This class was super-practical and eye-opening when it comes to the effectiveness (and toughness) of doing small groups ministry. It doesn’t hurt that Doug Fields has always been one of my convention favorites.
The evening general session went just as well with featured speaker (drum roll please) Doug Fields. He spoke on the importance of saying “no” to ministry (yes, ministry) and keeping family and other more important things first. Kendall Payne was a surprising treat (better than I thought) and One Time Blind was a pleasant mix of rhythm and drama.
Mikella has been doing fairly well, although, Deanna and Amy have taken some time out a time or two to take her to the kid’s play room, which features a live video feed of all of the action on the main stage. Otherwise, she loves the music and the clapping the most and really seems to dig the party atmosphere!
Thursday, September 29, 2005
NYWC: Day 1
I just got back from the first night at the National Youth Worker’s Convention in Sacramento, CA. I’ll tell you about it in just a second, but first let me tell you about the trip here so far…
We -– Deanna, Mikella, Amy, and I -- left on Wednesday morning from Rapid City. Our goal was to leave sometime between 10:00 am that morning and noon. Well, go figure, we left at noon. The milometer on our car as we drove out read “77,777.7” miles. We joked to each other that God was going to be with us even from the start of the trip. The day before we had to have some expensive repair work done on our car to prepare it for the trip. Something that we weren’t expecting when we took it in for an oil change on Monday.
Anyhow, we left town and drove to Fort Collins, CO to spend the night at the Hyatt. It was a gift from the church for last year’s Pastor Appreciation that we hadn’t used up yet. It was a wonderful evening in a wonderful room at a really nice hotel. The next morning, we got up and drove to the Denver International Airport to fly to Sacramento. It was Mikella’s first airplane ride and she did incredible. We had a short lay-over in Phoenix and a some-what unpleasant flight from Phoenix to Sacramento. There were two guys sitting in front of us who thought too much of themselves that were drinking, reading pornographic magazines, and making rude comments to the attendants and others.
We got to our hotel with no problems, meeting up with a neat couple from South Africa who were with a dance / drama company called the “Thirteenth Floor”. They happened to be exhibitors at this year’s convention. We stopped by once we got to the hotel and convention center to say “hi” and pick up their promotional materials.
We settled into our room and walked over to the capital building to see if we could spot "The Governator". We were told later in the week that he lives on the 15th floor of the hotel that we were staying at.
After our stroll through the capital, we headed over to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. We were all really hungry because none us had eaten since breakfast -- and Amy actually hadn’t had a real meal since lunch the day before (long story). After that, the girls went back to our room and I went to the late night option at the Sheridan Hotel featuring live worship from WorshipTogether.com. The featured artists were Johnny Parks, Brenton Brown, and Vicky Beeching.
It was an incredible evening and the best way I have ever had the pleasure of starting my time at the NYWC. I hope they do it again next year. It was like two hours of general session worship with Tomlin and Crowder, only a little more intimate and personal. I was in tears through most of the time as God ministered to me in places only He could know that needed it. In fact, I found myself getting filled up spiritually in places that I didn’t even know were dry or stagnant… and this is only the first night. I can’t wait for tomorrow! I’ve gotta sign off… it’s midnight.
We -– Deanna, Mikella, Amy, and I -- left on Wednesday morning from Rapid City. Our goal was to leave sometime between 10:00 am that morning and noon. Well, go figure, we left at noon. The milometer on our car as we drove out read “77,777.7” miles. We joked to each other that God was going to be with us even from the start of the trip. The day before we had to have some expensive repair work done on our car to prepare it for the trip. Something that we weren’t expecting when we took it in for an oil change on Monday.
Anyhow, we left town and drove to Fort Collins, CO to spend the night at the Hyatt. It was a gift from the church for last year’s Pastor Appreciation that we hadn’t used up yet. It was a wonderful evening in a wonderful room at a really nice hotel. The next morning, we got up and drove to the Denver International Airport to fly to Sacramento. It was Mikella’s first airplane ride and she did incredible. We had a short lay-over in Phoenix and a some-what unpleasant flight from Phoenix to Sacramento. There were two guys sitting in front of us who thought too much of themselves that were drinking, reading pornographic magazines, and making rude comments to the attendants and others.
We got to our hotel with no problems, meeting up with a neat couple from South Africa who were with a dance / drama company called the “Thirteenth Floor”. They happened to be exhibitors at this year’s convention. We stopped by once we got to the hotel and convention center to say “hi” and pick up their promotional materials.
We settled into our room and walked over to the capital building to see if we could spot "The Governator". We were told later in the week that he lives on the 15th floor of the hotel that we were staying at.
After our stroll through the capital, we headed over to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. We were all really hungry because none us had eaten since breakfast -- and Amy actually hadn’t had a real meal since lunch the day before (long story). After that, the girls went back to our room and I went to the late night option at the Sheridan Hotel featuring live worship from WorshipTogether.com. The featured artists were Johnny Parks, Brenton Brown, and Vicky Beeching.
It was an incredible evening and the best way I have ever had the pleasure of starting my time at the NYWC. I hope they do it again next year. It was like two hours of general session worship with Tomlin and Crowder, only a little more intimate and personal. I was in tears through most of the time as God ministered to me in places only He could know that needed it. In fact, I found myself getting filled up spiritually in places that I didn’t even know were dry or stagnant… and this is only the first night. I can’t wait for tomorrow! I’ve gotta sign off… it’s midnight.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
TIME TO CHEAT SOME MORE
Okay it has been a long time since a post… so here ‘tis, the long lost post you have all been waiting for.
The highlight of my day was swinging in the back yard with my two youngest daughters. There’s something about their smiles that get to me every time. I can still remember a message that I heard at a YS convention a few years ago from Andy Stanley about cheating. “If you are ever gonna cheat on someone,” he said, “cheat on your job (or ministry) and not on your family.”
I’ve always tried to make my family a priority in life. It isn’t a task; it’s what I want. The thing is that sometimes all of the demands of life try to command out everything else without me noticing. That’s what I hate. That’s what I don’t want to happen.
Here’s something funny. I got an e-mail from myself a few days ago. It is from this web site called “FutureMe.org”. I definitely suggest giving it a try. Anyhow, here’s what I wrote:
I like how I tried to encourage myself at the end (. Anyhow, there’s another thing that I’ve maybe cheated myself on: playing and writing music. It’s something that I love to do but hardly seem to find time for anymore. I know that I need to listen to my own advice and actually “schedule” it in to my day. That sounds sad. I love what I do. I love youth ministry. I love my family and my wife. Why do I have to “schedule” in something that I love to do? How come it doesn’t come naturally?
I don’t know. Weird question? Maybe even a weird thought. Maybe I spend too much time reading e-mail or surfing the Web. It takes up a significant part of my mornings and evenings. Maybe that’s taken over my “first love” of music. Who knows? Time to ponder some more on this. Maybe even time to re-prioritize. Maybe blogging should be on the list, too, seeing that this is the first post in how many months now?
The highlight of my day was swinging in the back yard with my two youngest daughters. There’s something about their smiles that get to me every time. I can still remember a message that I heard at a YS convention a few years ago from Andy Stanley about cheating. “If you are ever gonna cheat on someone,” he said, “cheat on your job (or ministry) and not on your family.”
I’ve always tried to make my family a priority in life. It isn’t a task; it’s what I want. The thing is that sometimes all of the demands of life try to command out everything else without me noticing. That’s what I hate. That’s what I don’t want to happen.
Here’s something funny. I got an e-mail from myself a few days ago. It is from this web site called “FutureMe.org”. I definitely suggest giving it a try. Anyhow, here’s what I wrote:
(this message was composed on Tue, Sep 7, 2004)
Dear Future Me,
I thought I'd try this cool web site out. We just got back from NOT-WINNING at the LifeLight Festival [Battle of the Bands competition] in Sioux Falls this past weekend.
I feel pretty bad. I'm hoping you finally wrote and recorded some new material by now. If you haven't, stop and schedule some time in your calendar now. Don't waste the gifts that God has given you.
God bless you richly (you're a pretty cool guy),
Shawn
I like how I tried to encourage myself at the end (. Anyhow, there’s another thing that I’ve maybe cheated myself on: playing and writing music. It’s something that I love to do but hardly seem to find time for anymore. I know that I need to listen to my own advice and actually “schedule” it in to my day. That sounds sad. I love what I do. I love youth ministry. I love my family and my wife. Why do I have to “schedule” in something that I love to do? How come it doesn’t come naturally?
I don’t know. Weird question? Maybe even a weird thought. Maybe I spend too much time reading e-mail or surfing the Web. It takes up a significant part of my mornings and evenings. Maybe that’s taken over my “first love” of music. Who knows? Time to ponder some more on this. Maybe even time to re-prioritize. Maybe blogging should be on the list, too, seeing that this is the first post in how many months now?
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Thursday, September 01, 2005
BITING THE TOE NAILS
Mikella trying her first taste of "foot". Maybe she's following in Bella's tradition of hourly foot cleaning.
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Monday, August 08, 2005
Friday, July 22, 2005
Monday, July 18, 2005
Sunday, July 03, 2005
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