Retreat Follow-up…

This one is for the parents (those of you who know about the blog so far; by the way, please help get the word out for me).

Now that I have recovered from the lack of sleep I received on the retreat and for the cold I developed over this past weekend, I thought it would be good to recap for you a little bit about what we talked about on our Winter Retreat. I would love to have you help me follow up from the weekend by asking your student a few important questions about what they learned (if you are brave enough to hear the answer).

But first, let me recap a little bit about what we learned. The theme for the weekend was “The Search for the Real Jesus”. I chose the topic because many of our kids are really struggling with questions about their faith as their friends challenge them in school about who Jesus really was. How we answer the question “Who is Jesus?” affects eternity and so it is a really important question to ask. Here are three ideas we really hit hard:

1. Jesus is not just an ordinary man, he is God in human flesh.

2. Jesus is our King, which means he belongs on the throne of our life.

3. Jesus is our Savior. The only way to come into relationship with God is to trust Him with our life.

That is a little taste of what we covered this weekend. If you get a chance to have a conversation with your teenager about the weekend, could you ask them:

1. What is something they were able to learn about Jesus?

2. How can something you learned change your thoughts about Jesus or your everyday life?

Who knows, they may surprise you with their answer…

Winter Retreat Polar Bear Club…

Here is proof that I followed through with my promise for Winter Retreat! The great thing was that I had some brave students who joined me!

Middle School Winter Retreat ‘08

I made a promise I may regret this weekend. My promise was to jump into the freezing Atlantic Ocean this weekend if we could bring 55 students or more on our retreat. Last year, we brought only 29 students, so I was feeling pretty safe. However, we have had an OVERWHELMING response to our retreat this year! I will tell you that with adult chaperones we are up to a total of 71 people (I will not say how many of those are students though). That is up from 40 total people last year.

I am not going to announce where we are at as far as the number of students, but I will say this…there is a good chance I will be taking a swim. If it happens, I will be sure to post some pictures on my blog for all to see.

Chalk one up to the parents…

Chalk one point up to our parents!

Last night, in D-groups, I had our students take a piece of paper and draw some things about themselves on each 1/4 of the paper. One quarter was devoted to their spiritual life, one to their favorite hobbies, one to their favorite food, but the last was about their favorite people/people who were most important to them. A few drew pictures of their best friends, but almost every student drew a picture of their parents! You still have a great deal of influence over your teenager and they still love you, they just will never admit it to you (I am speaking mainly about the guys)! I just thought it was an interesting tidbit, and carries with it some interesting implications.

Got Talent?

I am so pumped about an event we are doing later on in the semester during CRAVE. I thought I would let the cat out of the bag early (there will be more information to come) about our Riverland Hills Has Talent night we will be having.

We always hope to get the typical singers, dancers, etc. But if there is someone out there that can do something like this (or even crazier), you would get my vote:

Winter Retreat ‘08: Parents’ Meeting

Just a quick announcement:

Don’t forget our Winter Retreat Parents’ Meeting will be in the Attic this Sunday, January 6th at 11:20am! Come register your student for the trip (if you haven’t already) and find out what you need to pack for the weekend.

About the Blog

I have several reasons for starting my own blog, but one reason is that I can’t grow the traditional “youth minister’s goatee” (my facial hair just won’t cooperate). Since I can’t grow the goatee, I have to have something to establish myself as a real youth minister.

More importantly, however, I would really like this to become a place for news and announcements for my students and parents. I have found it difficult to get out information to my students and parents without having to make a postcard, send a letter, etc. My hope is that this blog can become a resource for you to keep up to date with what is going on in the Middle School Ministry at Riverland Hills. I will also post some things just for fun!

I hope you will check the blog regularly and interact as much as you would like!

Why I Enjoy Working with Middle School Students

Thought I would begin my blog with a simple list of reasons I enjoy working with Middle School students (surprisingly, most apply to college students as well).

1. They will play and have fun at any game. Tell them to take a bite out of an onion and they will do it–and make it fun!

2. They want to experience their relationship with Christ, not just learn facts.

3. Guys don’t have to be around the girls all of the time, girls don’t have to be around guys all of the time.

4. The opportunity to help shape and develop personality and identity.

5. They have difficulty finding their place in church, and the church has difficulty finding a place for them.