This past weekend I took my daughter to a 5 year old’s birthday party.  It was a lot of fun.  They had all kinds of games, jump houses, and a pin-yada.  (Ok, I can’t find the spelling of that ANYWHERE!.  I don’t know if it’s just one of those moments where you can’t spell the most basic word - know what I mean? - or if this is a word we made up!  But, I’m CONFIDENT there’s a way to spell it…I just can’t seem to find it!).  Dang.  Now I’m mad.

Anyway, my daughter being a couple years younger (3 1/2) they let her take her swings without a blindfold.  She still couldn’t really hit it, but she tried.  Actually, she hit it really good once…then, I think the rest of the time she came closer to hitting herself than the (oh, here we go again) pin-yada.  Dang!

I was thinking about this idea of pin-yada’s (now I’m ashamed) and how it articulates how so many of us feel in ministry.  Do you ever feel like you’re swinging to hit, but never seem to get it dead on?  Do you ever feel like you’re trying, you come close, but you know you can get closer?  Or, even worse, do you ever feel like you hit dead on and yet no reward falls?

Yeah, join the club.  Thankfully God’s interested in more than our temporal rewards!  My thought is our job is to just keep swinging and the rest is up to Him… 

By the way, if you know the spelling to that stupid word SOMEBODY TELL ME!

For many of us college-age ministry looks vastly different in the summer. People are on completely different schedules, work hours pick up for many, routines totally adjust, and even sleeping habits get out of whack. There are some things people are doing around the country that seem to work effectively during the summer months, different than the normal weekly gathering points we’re all used to. Here are 4 things I’ve seen be great for college-age people that anyone, in any context, with almost any budget can implement:

Late night BBQ’s.  One night during the week have people over for a bbq - that starts around 9:30-10pm.  Hang out into the wee-hours.  You may even think about doing this instead of your normal gathering!

Sugar cereal gatherings.  This may seem cheezy, but trust me, you can sell it!  Buy all the sugar cereal you can - Lucky Charms, Honey Comb, Captain Crunch (don’t forget the berries!), Frosted Flakes, Cocoa Puffs, etc - and invite everyone over for breakfast…at noon!  This is all the cereal they can’t afford anymore.  Again, this may seem weird at first, but they’ll love it.  This can even work for after your formal gathering times.  Just have it available…and it will get devoured!

Homeless Experience.  Take a group of your students out for one night (or two if you can) of homelessness.  Go to a community where a lot of people live and spend the night with them.  Make sure people don’t bring any money, no change of clothes…nothing.  Throughout the day(s) talk about gratitude.

Office Marathon.  Get a couple series’ of The Office and pull an all-nighter.  Start with dinner and end with breakfast.

Ok, one last tip…put these together at the last minute!  Stay away from fliers and Facebook invites.  Let the word spread naturally.  Spur of the moment things are the best, especially with college-age people!  Oh, and don’t try to spiritualize it.  That will come in time, no need to force it.

you have to watch this.  shallow, scary, wow.

to read an article on this go here

I don’t have time to watch much t.v., but after my daughters are in bed and my wife “turns in” I love to sit down and watch a bit to wind down.  So, around 10 or 10:30 I turn on the discovery channel.  My favorite shows are Man vs. Wild, Survivorman and Deadliest Catch.  Most of the time I miss the shows, so I watch them on DVR - that way I can watch two in about the time it takes to watch one.  Perfect.

Every once in a while there’s a special on that blows my mind, but right now there’s one on called, “When We Left Earth” and it’s about Nasa’s journey’s into space.  Let me just come out and say this: space kinda freaks me out!  I can’t picture myself out in the middle of space, traveling so fast that I orbit the entire earth 16 times in a day, and then float out there all by myself not attached to anything.  Are you serious!?  No way.  Those people are nuts.

This series is 8 or 9 parts I think and last night was about the space station and the Hubble telescope.  Absolutely amazing things.  Apparently, and not sure how they know this, this telescope can see up to 5 billion light years away…huh?  First, how do they know that?  How can you tell?Secondly, how can you ever verify if that is correct or not?  Anyway, regardless of how far away some of these pictures are, they’re pretty cool.  You can check them out here (just click on the flashing red lights, and in the top right you can move the red box to see more…pretty cool).  As I surfed through Discovery’s website I found a couple you may be familiar with.  What the heck are these things?  What is it that allows these to project light?  I guess they say these are entire galaxies, but I just see them as God’s amazing creating ability…weird, yet amazing. 

I’m sitting in a little coffee shop on the campus of Point Loma University.  There are some students that have summer jobs on campus, and their on a break right now.  And, they come here every morning at the same time to watch Price Is Right!  So funny, I mean they are into this.  They yell at the people, scream prices…totally into it.  In my college days I used to watch Love Connection…every morning and we used to talk back to the t.v. too.  Kind of funny.  I remember going to my friend Brad’s house everyday, it was just a part of our daily routine.  

However, instead of watching these college students I should be writing.  I have six weeks to get this book done.  I have three chapters to write and 5 appendix sections left to complete.  Crunch time!  Man.  Dang.  And as motivating as a contract is, for some reason I just want to watch Price is Right… 

woke up this morning at 5:46 a.m. for no good reason…just awake.

last night was “commitment” night here at Hume SD.  it turned out to be a good night.  what i mean by that is i felt like i accurately communicated the gospel - that’s all my job entailed.  

i’m always a little afraid of these nights, and especially with jr highers.  in my opinion, we take these nights too seriously.  

don’t get me wrong, i think we should take them seriously - just not as much as we typically do.  it seems like we view the commitment night as the end, rather than a means to a much greater end.  sometimes we act as though this is the only time in which a student is able to accept the Lord and if they don’t we’re hugely disappointed.   other times we think of it as a one time prayer rather than a lifelong process for people.  

i think all these attitudes will eventually turn these kids off.

i have to admit, i’ve manipulated kids in the past on commitment nights.  this wasn’t malicious in anyway.  i wasn’t intentionally trying to do harm.  i really do believe my heart was right in what i was doing.  but, talking about the pain of the cross or even giving an extended amount of time of awkwardness in hopes for kids to come forward just never seems right to me.  now i avoid these at all costs and even encourage the opposite.  i don’t allow a lot of time at the end, i don’t even have kids come forward.  i talk about activities that are open, dismiss everyone, and let the kids know that if they want to talk to someone about what they heard they can stay behind.  but, if not, its 100% totally cool and they should go have fun.  

so, here’s my thoughts on commitment nights:

1. making kids feel awkward about leaving or not coming forward is manipulation.  our heart may not be to do this, but we can often do it in VERY subtle ways…and they feel it.
2. it’s not the end
3. my job is to set up the youth leaders for conversation about the gospel message, not to have kids come forward and pray with me.
4. as a speaker my responsibility is to explain not only what Christ did in regards to washing away sins, but also that his death wasn’t just about us being forgiven.  it was much bigger.  it was also so that those who are living no longer living for themselves, but for him who died (2 Cor. 5:15).  kids have to think about this as well
5. the power is in the gospel message, not the pain Christ endured
6. when we focus on the emotional aspects of the gospel, especially with jr highers, they can often make emotional decisions - especially as the week goes on and they get more and more tired.
7. altar calls are dangerous - not bad - just dangerous.  sometimes we feel like “we have to give them an opportunity to accept the Lord” and what we mean is them coming forward.  this can be good in the sense they come in front of their peers, but this can also ONLY be for their peers.  i know coming forward can be a part of a process, but the process can also happen without coming forward.
8.  i think commitment nights at camp are good, healthy, and even necessary - but not for college-age people.  it’s a much more complex process.

I didn’t sleep that well last night - I never seem to do well away from my family.  Every time I’m away I always think I will catch up on sleep, but it never works out.  There’s always something that keeps me up - thoughts, conversations, worked up from chapel…something. 

Despite my minimal 5 hours of sleep last night, today has been good.  After the counselor meeting I grabbed breakfast and ate outside looking out over the ocean!  Peaceful.  Then I wrote for a few hours in the coffee shop here on campus.  I’m a little behind schedule, so it feels good to make some headway on that.

Then I spent some time with my friend Jay Johnson (on left).  This guy is a flat out stud.  What a great guy!  He’s worked at Hume for 10 years, is so solid, and is AMAZINGLY gifted!  It’s amazing the things he thinks of and then actually does it.  

Quick comments about the picture.  First, notice the shirt.  I explained the theme in an earlier post, but know this: I WILL NEVER WEAR THIS SHIRT OUTSIDE OF THIS CAMP.  Wow.  Good camp shirt, but this one’s a bit over the top for everyday use.  Plus, I need another camp shirt like I need a hole in the head!  Secondly, notice the ocean in the background!?  Yep, all week I look out my apartment window at that. 

As I talked to Jay, we watched a little recreation.  You can see the shirts…well, you can’t miss them that’s for sure.  Rise of the Kinematics brought back neon to the fullest extreme.  I guess robotic themes means neon…?

I just had lunch and a coffee with my friend Brian Berry.  We went to high school together and he’s now a youth pastor here in San Diego so every time I’m in the area we connect.  He’s a great guy too.  I’m having dinner tonight with a Hume staff guy who was a student of mine when I worked at Hume in ‘99, so that should be fun.  Good people, good conversations, good times.

But, right now I’m going to try to catch a few zzz’s!  Then, I’ll put together my talk for tonight (it’s “decision” night) - which I will share more about thoughts on that later because they’re always a little weird for me - and then to dinner, the meeting, and hopefully bed at a decent hour.

There goes my wishful thinking again I’m afraid.

I had a cool thing happen to me today.  This morning, before chapel, a counselor walks up to me, introduces herself and tells me that one of the other counselors from her church knew me.  I asked what her name was and she told me.  It didn’t ring a bell.  Then, she told me that she knew me because I spoke at the camp she had accepted the Lord at.  That was cool.  

But then she told me that it was a Jr. High camp and she was a student!!!  Ouch, that made me feel old.

I met her and she’s a very cool girl.  In college now she is serving in the Jr. High ministry for her church, which is why she was here this weekend.  She told me about her experience at that camp and how that, for her, was the pivotal point in her relationships with God. Apparently ever since that camp she’s been walking solidly with the Lord. Man, it’s always cool to hear stories like this!

 I remember this camp and I remember leaving doubting if it was worth it.  You ever have those times when you’re just not sure if anything happened?

This was a reminder for me that God works beyond us.  If you’re feeling like you haven’t had any fruit come out of your ministry lately: first, know those are just feelings, and second know that God IS doing things in the lives of those you’re around…you just might not hear about it until later!  Keep going…