The Low Down

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2012 Giantslayers Youth Conference Promo

 

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A Youth Pastor's Dream

Last night we kicked off the new year at Ignition by sharing our "State of Ignition Address". We had the youth room all decked out to look special. I have never preached from a podium in our Wednesday night experience, but last night I shared from one that made my talk resemble something, "Presidential". I shared about the amazing things that God had done in our our student ministry in 2011, we unveiled the new theme for this new year, and we talked about some of the "God goals" and direction that our ministry is headed for 2012. I think it's an understatement to simply say that God is doing something special in our student ministry. Things are really rocking.

I have always dreamed about what a youth ministry would look like under these circumstances; and now that we are here it's amazing how "right" it feels. It's almost like meeting a sports star or someone famous. There is always that "Star-struck" feeling at first, but after you spend more time with a person of promience you understand that they are touchable just like everyone else. I feel that way about our student ministry. I have always dreamed about what we have, but it doesn't feel glamorous at all. I pray that it never does. Now we have in no way at all arrived, but the direction we are heading is extremely exciting. AND daily, God continues to drop bigger and greater dreams into my heart for our student ministry.

Probably the most exciting thing for me last night was seeing a specific student that I have been chasing now for nearly 5 years walk through the door of our student ministry. Kate and I are about to celebrate our 5th anniversary here in March at Central Assembly and for the entire duration of our ministry here, we have been trying to connect with this one young man and his family. He just beams of leadership and influence and last night after one more text message, he came and he connected. It was a youth pastors dream come true. If you are a youth pastor and you are reading this, let me encourage you to never give up on going after a student, no matter how many times you have been rejected. Continue to build that relationship, and one day it will happen. Don't give up!

I can honestly say that I'm living my dream here as the leader of Ignition Student Ministries. AND I can't wait as 2012 unfolds to see all that God is going to do. I'm ready to move out of the way and go along for the ride.  

Friends, a gift from God!

Today was a great day to spend with friends. It's always nice to have one of those days in student ministry that don't require a deposit, a parent signature, and a three hour van ride to get some quality time with students. Today we placed some cones in the front yard of the church, pulled out the flags and aired out a fun game of backyard football. It was neat to watch some of the students exchanging names and smiles in a way that just doesn't happen on Wednesday nights. We ate some chili and watched some football in our student life center and simply enjoyed each other. Days like these remind me of the importance of seeing our students as individuals and not as an entire ministry. That it's the individual parts that make up the whole. It can become challenging week after week when the room is packed and the energy is high to try to create a perfect atmosphere of perfectly behaved people. However, the truth is that because there are no perfect people, there will always be some challenges. God simply wants us to remember that each person represents a life, and each life has both ebs and flows, ups and downs, successes and failures. My job is to just love people! That's why I love what I do. This Thanksgiving season, let me challenge you to never forget that your friends are a gift from God! So take care of them and love them to the best of your ability! 

Thanksgiving Comes as We Thanks-Live

Yep, it's really that time of year again. AND honestly I am so excited for Thanksgiving. I am excited that my wife's parents are coming to spend the holiday with us in Oklahoma and I'm anticipating the time I will have to set aside for my family. I can't wait. We are just a few days away from our Turkey Bowl and all of the ISM festivities. AND this November we have kicked off a brand new series at ISM with our students entitled, "Servolution". The series is inspired from Dino Rizzo's book that bares the same title and emphasizes our role as people who know how to serve. As I began preparing for this month's theme with our students, the plan that I had and the direction I was intending to lead was quickly changed. In my prayer time and preparation I genuinely sensed God speaking to my Spirit that during this season of Thanksgiving the message for my students and leaders was to be one about "thanks-living". Let's face it, one of the best ways that we can show our thanks and our grateful hearts is by learning to live out that life of thanks and serve others. So in a period of two days I digested Dino's book, Servolution and re-read the classic Gene Edwards, A Tale of Three Kings and God began to pour into my spirit about serving and how to encourage those He has intrusted in my ministry to become servolutionists as well. Last Wednesday night we unveiled the new theme and shared on what I called, "The Domino Effect" or the starting point of a servolution. If you would like to listen to that message you can do so by going to www.ignitionstudents.com and clicking on the podcast link. I hope you have an awesome Thanksgiving holiday this month. My prayer for your life is that when you have the opportunity to serve someone that you will step out and make a difference in their life as you serve them!

Boxed In: A Dude and a Big Fish

It's 4:30 pm and we're doing what we usually do here at ISM at this hour, we're in full swing preparing for tonight's service. The production script has been written and the media is all set. The worship team is working on some lead guitar issues and Mikelia is ready to check people in at the front desk. In just about 30 minutes the remainder of our leadership team will be filing in for team devotions and prayer. It's truly one of my favorite times of the week.

Tonight, I'm excited for another opportunity to worship with our teenagers. It's the first day of school for many and I'm excited to see some faces we haven't seen for a while due to the Summer. God has been so good to us here at Ignition the past few months. Over the last five weeks we have been talking about things in life that throw our faith for a curve; things that could potentially cause us to put our faith in a box. This week we're going to be talking about a dude by the name of Jonah. AND let's face it, the dude had a pretty bad attitude. So bad in fact, that God had to place him in the digestive track of a big fish for a few days so that he could chill out and refocus once again. I'm going to enjoy preaching from this passage.

Our Battle of the Schools event is slated to take place on Wednesday, September 14th with special guest Ron Rhoads. This is always the highlight event of the fall for us. We're praying for lots of students to come and for many to respond to Christ. Please keep us in prayer and for more information about Ignition Student Ministries and what is going on please check out our podcast and our website at www.ignitionstudents.com.  

Called 2 Serve

It's been an extremely busy summer, but God has been faithful to my family. This year I have already been to Atlanta, Orlando, Nassau, Tela (Honduras) and Phoenix and we still have a quarter of the year left. We've been so busy, but we have seen and experienced some incredible moves of God. This year we have had the opportunity to preach the gospel and see students lives changed for the Lord. We spent a week in June leading almost 800 teenagers in worship at youth camp. We have been able to do so much. We are so blessed. In a few short days, our students will hit their campuses once again. Our Battle of the Schools Event and 5th Quarters will kickoff the school year, not to mention the high school football! We love serving our community and our students. We pray that this school year will be even that much more effective. Thank you for your continued prayers!

Soccer Salvation Camp 2011

Eventually the teal blue of the ocean came into full view from the window of Continental flight 762, and after months of hard work and anticipation our team could finally say that we had made it on Honduran soil. We made our way through immagration and claimed our bags and met up with the rest of out team - Ronald, Heather and Quique. After eating Wendy's we loaded up in three vehicles and set off for Tela.

After a two hour trek and a quick stop at the supermercado, we made it to the beautiful resort. Today we had the opportunity to spend the morning in prayer and devotions as a team. We ate lunch and then spent a few hours body surfing the waves on the beach.

Tonight we went to church and the presence of God was so strong. Ronald preached from Acts 16:22-26 about worshipping God through your problems. The altars were packed and we had the opportunity to pray with the people. Just an hour or so ago, we came back to the report to eat and get some rest.

We're so excited to kickoff the Soccer Salvation camp tomorrow. I'll be sure to post more pics here and on Facebook. Thanks so much for your prayers!