Junior High Mission Trip to Cincinnati 2009

Well what can I say about the Junior High mission trip? A lot!!! I saved the biggest team for last. We had 30 Junior Highers with 3 adults and a Senior guy to help me out with the boys. This was also the most boys we have ever taken on one trip: 15 boys, 15 girls. We signed up with the organization called "Christ in Youth" who put on "Know Sweat" mission trips. We staid on campus at Cincinnati Christian University and then would travel out to our work sites during the day. It was nice not to have to travel at all. We had a 20 minute trip to the downtown area. Before we left the church though, I had each Junior Higher quote one of their memory verses to me (without repeating the same verse as the person in front of them) before I would let them get into a van. This caused complete pandemonium but it was fun to see them scramble to refresh their memories on the verses they learned earlier.

Once we got down there, we got ourselves situated into our rooms. It was a complete joy to discover that the boys were put into a dorm that actually had air conditioning! I can't even remember the last time I had an air-conditioned room to sleep in on a mission trip. I was also excited that I might have my own room all to myself. But that was a short lived dream as I acquired some room mates by the end of the day. It seemed that it was punishment to make some of my junior high boys come into my room. This was new territory for me. I was not sure how I felt about being feared this way. Anyhow, I stuck to my guns and by the middle of the week I actually had a great time with my room mates. We had some good conversations going into the night.

On the first work day we ended up over at Walnut Hills High School. Just out front of the school is a large patch of ground owned by the Cincinnati Parks. The issue is that the honeysuckle shrubs have taken over the entire area. In fact, the entire school was pretty much hidden from site as a result of these shrubs and vines. It was our task to get into the woods with saws and trimmers and pretty much level any and all honeysuckle shrubs and vines. Our Junior Highers attacked it with a passion.

During our lunch we talked about some of the things that we observed while getting down into the woods. The teens saw a lot of alcohol containers, some condoms, and several other things that made you wonder just what was going on deep down in these woods that are just a few steps to the front door of one of the best high schools in Ohio. We were able to see the spiritual significance of what we were doing: shining light into the darkness so that all may see the truth and the things that happen in the darkness will vanish in the light.

On our next work day we went to Ault Park. This was a beautiful park. The issue here once again was that the honeysuckle shrubs have taken over the trails. In fact, some of the trails were just about unrecognizable as trails because of the overhanging plants, trees and shrubs. All the trails needed to be opened up in a big way. We attacked the trails from several different directions. Once again, our teens worked very hard and had a lot of fun.

At one point I was using a chainsaw to cut a fallen tree trunk in half. As I was working hard at splitting this log, I could feel several things hitting me in the back. Turns out that the rest of my team was right next to a bush that had tons of briers. The teens were picking them off the plant and using me as target practice. We ended up with a mini-war as the briers were being lobbed back and forth.

During our lunch break it just so happened that Tyler accidentally dropped his dorm key into the trash can. We had a good 10-15 minutes of entertainment as he went digging through every speck of trash trying desperately to find his key. He would lean into the trash can and reach down to try and dig out piece by piece everything he could grab to find this key. After a while, I suggested that he just lift the lid, take out the trash bag, rip it open and look through it like that. He finally took my advice and found the key.

We attacked the trails for another hour or two while some of the other teens did some mulching. After we finished up we decided to make a trip to a UDF for some ice cream. Once we got inside the UDF store a huge torrential downpour happened outside. It was fun to eat ice cream and look outside in amazement at the storm that was passing though.

On the third work day, we ended up back at Walnut Hills High School. We had a very interesting morning as several city officials gathered together to thank the teens. One in particular was from Xavier University. He encouraged the teens to continue to serve. He also mentioned that Xavier gives out 10 full-ride scholarships for students who have demonstrated a life of service. This struck me as a much easier and cheaper way to help get your teen through college than putting all your time and effort into the slim chance of a sports scholarship. It was really a great honor to have so many important people take the time out of their day and leave their air-conditioned offices to thank a bunch of hot, sweaty Junior Highers for their hard work. It was pretty sweet. After that I challenged the teens to double their efforts and try and get as much done as they can today. Our teens took that challenge personally and did a tremendous job attacking the woods with their saws.

Part way through the day Bill Schnure, who is one of our parents and a Science teacher at Walnut Hills, took us to see his classroom and the courtyard in which he and his classes have designed several biological environments. He just got a shipment of several different types of fish in that day that he added to some of his displays. It was very cool to see Bill's classroom and the projects that he and his students have created out in the courtyard.

When we arrived back at the college we cleaned up, ate dinner, and went to the last session. The sessions in the evening consisted of a worship band and a speaker. We had a great experience processing all that we were learning through these sessions. The speaker was challenging and the worship band was energetic although all the songs they sang were songs that I was hearing for the first time. As we were chilling out on our last night, another torrential downpour occurred. This time, many of the Junior Highers did not just look from the inside-out. Instead they ran outside and enjoyed the shear power of the storm. As it took seconds for them to become completely soaked, someone decided to slide down one of the many steep hills on the campus. This lead to a lot of sliding that was fun to watch. In fact, all of the water that was coming down the hills had one spot that it all collected. Some of the teens started sliding down that hill into the massive puddle. They had a lot of fun getting wet and muddy. Unfortunately, the next morning I ran into a maintenance guy who was looking up at the hill as we were loading up. He was not happy about the hill commenting on the grass being destroyed and how troubling it is that kids would do this. I had a difficult time seeing things through his perspective though. I have spent Summers doing landscaping in my earlier years and I did not see any damage other that grass that was pushed down and given a day or two it would pop right back up. Plus when you consider all the good that was done all throughout the Cincinnati area with unleashing over 300 Junior Highers for the week to serve (for 4 weeks even), I think sliding on the grass is of little significance. But I knew I was talking to a grounds keeper and not a youth pastor so I quietly sympathized with him and moved on.

On Friday we heading over the river to Newport. We went to the aquarium for the morning. I built up the fact that in the past I have always missed the feeding of the piranhas and I was not going to miss it this time! We had the time down! At 11AM the piranha's would feast. As we made our way slowly through the aquarium, we made sure that we doubled-back to the tank with the piranhas at 10:45. The excitement was building up for a savage and bloody feeding. As each minute past, the excitement kept on building. Finally, the moment came as food was dropped into the water and then . . . the freakin' piranhas ate them like goldfish eat crumbs. It was such a letdown. I got ragged on for the rest of the time. I wanted to see a piranha feeding frenzy that would savagely rip fresh meat right off the bones of its victims. Instead we saw these passive, docile fish dine quietly and elegantly on dead fish. No excitement. No savagery. I wanted to turn the dumb piranhas into fish sticks.

After the fun at the Newport Aquarium we went and had lunch at Dewey's Pizza then headed home. It was an excellent trip especially for our Junior Highers. It was important to me to instill within them that missions must start first of all in our own community before they head off on mission adventures elsewhere.

I have also been told that I need a GPS! This has been a theme that has continued for a while now and I think that I am beginning to agree. I am never, ever, ever going to do another mission trip without a GPS. I am tired of trusting Google Maps or Mapquest or just going on instincts. These three have not served me well. Plus I have been teased about making a wrong turn with the team on just about every mission trip I have ever lead from my first year as a youth pastor. So as we look to next year, there will be a new tool added to my backpack.

I also want to say a very, very big thank you to my adult leaders who helped with all of the trips, and to all of you who helped with your prayers and financial support. We would not have been able to have such a great Summer of missions if it were not for adult assistance on all of these levels. It was truly a remarkable and amazing Summer! Thanks again!!!

Blog Post #4: Senior High Youthworks Chicago Mission Trip - Lisa Wachenfeld

Just returned from a this year’s mission trip to Chicago with the senior high youth. They are really a great group of kids – kind and accepting of each other, compassionate toward those less fortunate than themselves, and willing to share their faith and pray out loud for a group. And Scott Russ has had a lot to do with all that. He’s really fun, but he’s also very open with the kids and serious about the word of God and how it affects their daily lives. I had always thought our youth program was good, but didn’t have any real frame of reference or comparison. We worked side by side, day and night , with four other youth groups. It was really clear - our kids are in the right place with the right influences.

We stayed in the Humbolt Park area of Chicago – a mostly Hispanic neighborhood. We slept on the floor of a classroom in a small Christian school and packed a change of clothes each day so that we could stop at a public pool or park on the way back from our work site, to take a shower. It amazed us each day that the nine girls in our group could be showered and out before the two guys! Then back to the school where we had a bit of free time before dinner and usually ended up socializing at Tastee-Freeze or on the steps listening to Ben play guitar and singing along. A night activity – a speaker, trip to Millenium Park, a local worship service, trip to the beach – a group worship service and finally, time with our own Epiphany group to download the day. Each morning, we had breakfast, devotions and then off to the work sites by 9:00am.

We were divided into four mixed groups. So I was with Chelsea, Sarah and Zana plus six other youth and a leader from a church in Grove City. Most of the week we spent at Casa Centrale, a social services organization serving the Hispanic community. The first two days we were with the older people that were in adult daycare. Many of them did not speak English, so we were a little apprehensive going in. Fortunately, our three girls have all taken Spanish, so that really helped and eventually the language of love took over. We talked, played games with them, did crafts, gave them hand massages with lotion and played lots of bingo! Our Spanish numbers are now very good! We got attached quickly and it was sad to say goodbye.

The next two days we spent in the Head Start program with children ages 2-5. It was crazy but the kids were very interested in having us there and liked all the extra attention. And we were able to do some cleaning and organizing for the teachers. The last day we worked to fix up the gardens and landscape at a school for disabled children.

You mostly think of youth mission trips as physical work, but most of ours was relational, which is a nice change and opportunity for our kids. And it expands their ideas of what kinds of service they can do back home.

And the trip back and forth in the 15 passenger vans…? What happens in the van, stays in the van!

Lisa Wachenfeld

Blog Post #3: Senior High Youthworks Chicago Mission Trip - Tom King

Our mission consisted of work, play, work, work, and more play. We plastered and painted walls, pulled weeds in gardens and manicured some former empty lots into gardens. Besides the physical labors we experienced, we got to really experience this mission trip several different ways. It had several aspects that consisted of Relational, Educational, and Spiritual.

Relational:
It terms of being a relational aspect on this mission trip, with the Puerto Rican/Latino neighborhood, we had the assistance of our Leader and Pastor Tomas Sanabria, who comes from Chicago, (born and raised) and is of Puerto Rican ancestry.
He is President and Pastor for Ekklesia Ministry of Helps– a neighborhood outreach program involving work projects.
Pastor Tomas shed light on the life of the neighborhood – the issues he sees with violence, drugs, gangs, and overall attacks on his ancestry for some being undocumented persons. He offered many opportunities for the team to go and reach out to those on the sidewalks, in the alley’s, and in the store fronts. We were introduced to Mikey – a young child next door who rode his bike and did foot races in the street against Marissa, Hannah, Claire and others. Mikey claimed no one could ever beat him – pretty good for a 7 year old. We met Emmanuel – a young teen who had gotten into some trouble with the police that Pastor was trying to help with his leadership. Emmanuel had to do some Community Service, so he worked side by side with our youth and he was a very sincere teen who will be successful with the example of Pastor Tomas in his life.

The youth met many other people that we shared faith time and play time with. Johnny and Estefan came to meet us and we played Alley Ball (which is played with any kind of ball in the Alley where the Garbage Trucks use to pickup garbage).
Natasha and her little sister came to help in the Garden and play Four Square.

The parents of EUMC and the EUMC Sr High Youth should be very proud of there children. They are an amazing bunch to watch them work unselfishly with Christ in them as they spoke, worked and played with these kids all week; simply amazing!

Educational:
We also had the privilege to meet Flor (Spanish for Flower), at a UMC church that is a ‘Sanctuary’ for her. She is what we people in the USA most likely would tab as an ‘illegal immigrant’, but after hearing her talk, she is what I would like to call an undocumented person. It was an eye opening experience for all us as we sat in that ‘sanctuary’ of hers, listening to her words of why she is doing what she is doing, seeing her tears of joy and pain through her travels, and seeing God in her eyes as she spoke of the reasons why she is doing what she is doing. This experience and time with Flor will undoubtedly have a big influence on the opinions our youth will form on the present day situation with undocumented persons. To quote what the Pastor of this Sanctuary Church says on this situation (from Fox News): The church’s pastor, Rev. Walter Coleman, has defended his recurring choice to provide shelter for illegal immigrants running from the law: “I fear God more than Homeland Security.”

An article / opinion on Flor from the Chicago Tribune and Fox News are linked below. Please read and then discuss amongst your youth as it brings up some good conversation: Please remember we were on a mission trip to serve ‘unselfishly with open spirits and open heart’. Not too many times are we like this when we hear words.
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/jan/27/news/chi-ap-il-immigrationactivi

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,327147,00.html

Spiritual:
Pastor Tomas led us each morning in devotion with a Bible verse and a personal reflection. He shared some of his own faith and that led to some personal sharing times from the Senior High youth regarding where they stood in their daily faith. We had some great tie-ins to the message from his personal experiences during his life in Chicago. He spoke of many friends and family members.

Take for instance Boco, who was gunned down in a gang related target. The gang members expressed piety due to Boco’s death by creating an Alter at the corner of the street where he was killed. This was a block away from Pastor Tomas’ home. They had made a little bench with candles around and other objects such as empty whiskey bottles and crafts made of yarn. Pastor called this Gangland Piety, and he came out of his home to pray and minister to the Gang members and there Alter they had built without a church.

Then there is Tommy Soto, one of nine children from his mother Margariutte. She was a woman who had tough times staying with the same partner or choosing her partners. Anyhow Tommy Soto grew up without a father and had many siblings with different fathers. He came to find an adult mentor at a Florist in town at the age of 11 where he worked. This mentor took Tommy in and did all kinds of good deeds for him. He did well up until they had a falling out when he was 17. Tommy then joined the Marines and off he went to Viet Nam. Then he had an incident where he punched an Officer of the Military and was given his Dishonorable Discharge. So, where does an 18 year old who was in the Viet Nam War with a Dishonorable Discharge go when they weren’t welcomed back home to the states? He turned to drugs and alcohol and a lost for God in his life. He succumbed to eternal life at a young age of 22, with Pastor Tomas being the last one to see him take his last breath. Tommy Soto was Pastor Tomas’ little brother. It is Pastor Tomas’ creed to fine those Tommy Soto’s in the world to help and minister too, and share together the love of Jesus Christ and his Father.

Lastly, this should not end without saying the YouthWorks organization did a great job with the evening activities they had planned.
God Bless,
Tom King
Sr High Youth Team Leader
Epiphany United Methodist Chuch

Blog Post #2: Senior High Youthworks Chicago Mission Trip - Meg King

Wow, what an incredible trip this was for all of us. The anticipation and excitement of what kind of service we would be providing to those in the south side community of Chicago was prevalent in everyone’s minds, or least I’m sure in mine, on the trip there. Great group of kids in my van. Sleepers on the way there; chatty and singing on the way back!

The trip proved to be an eye-opening experience for me in two ways: 1) Just how awesome it is to be given an opportunity to immerse your mind, heart and soul in doing the Lord’s work and helping others in such a hands-on way, and 2) To fully realize what a spiritual, respectful, intelligent and hard-working group of senior high youth we have at Epiphany. Their work ethic and compassion really shined through– even at moments of exhaustion or boredom. Proud to be their youth leader for the week! I learned as much from our own youth while in Chicago as I did at the different ministry sites.

Once in Chicago, our particular group was assigned to the ministry site that was actually right there onsite at the school we were staying/sleeping at. At first, this seemed like it might not be as “interesting” as those groups that got to go offsite but that thought quickly left our minds as we made our own adventure right there at the Salem Christian School – and once we realized our showers were right down the street!! The majority of our work there was more of the physical labor type – painting (we have quite the painters in our group – Julia and Lauren did a bang-up job on the stairwell of the school!); caulking, plastering/sanding (our interior decorators Kelsey, Marnie, and Lauren will certainly now know how to renovate their own homes one day!); moving heavy boxes of classroom supplies, constructing sturdy wooden tables for the classrooms (Wynn and Phil were such the hard-workers and covered in sweat most of the time!) One of the best parts of the week was the day we visited the Dream House, an organization who focuses on rebuilding and renovating abandoned houses. They had a house they needed help with right down the street from their offices –and this was our job for the day! We spent hours ripping walls down and tearing them apart with axes – you should have seen the look of excitement in Winn’s eyes when he found out we were going to be doing this. I think he ripped down the walls in an entire room or more! We all felt like we got quite a bit done at the house and then spent some time cleaning up and shoveling all the garbage into bags. The kids worked very, very hard this day. LOTS of sweat that day!
Another experience that our group had that definitely opened our eyes to the needs of some of the young ladies in the inner city was the day we went to the Young Mothers organization down the street from the school. We helped them collate and package some of the newsletters they were sending out. We also watched a video about the people that this organization serves: young mothers between the ages of 10-18 that have had children (most of whom are single mothers) and are struggling to make it in this world. Something like 84% of young girls in this part of the city had babies before the age of 18. A startling statistic that made us all realize what a dire need these folks had for an opportunity for an education, to make money and possibly start a career in order to provide for their families and provide a roof over their head. The Young Mothers organization provided just that – a shelter for a limited number of participants in the program, an educational opportunity, and career development training. They have helped many, many young women face this feat and beat it!

And a favorite day for many of us was the day we got to spend time with the children who attended the Salem Christian School. The teachers needed help tending to the children while they had a staff meeting so we played games with them, ate lunch with them, listened to their stories and saw God in the eyes of these children and their innocent and carefree ways. It was obvious that some of these children were so appreciative of all the attention and laughter and fun that they were able to have that day with our teens. A few of them especially fond of a couple of youth! They were sad to see us go, and we were sad to say goodbye as well. They touched our hearts in a special way that day!

The other very unique and special experience for me and my husband Tom was that we were able to go on this trip with two of our daughters –and this was such a special and meaningful thing to do this as a family. I hope the girls will never forget it and how it seemed to touch them so deeply to serve others in need and be in fellowship with each other and with so many other great youth and adults.

The Chicago trip was such a wonderful experience – and couldn’t have been with a better youth group! It’s so special to see that all of our teens are being exposed to this type of experience at a young age. I never had that opportunity as a child/teen. I can’t imagine the impact it will in some way be sure to have on their futures!

Blessings!
Meg King

Blog Post #1: Senior High Youthworks Chicago Mission Trip 2009- Scott

Well it is Tuesday and I am finally getting my thoughts together for my first report. We had a relatively uneventful trip up to Chicago. I ended up in the cargo van so I got the pleasure of listening to the music that I wanted to listen to. We managed to find our location easily. The only pain was once you cross into Illinois there is a toll ever 10 feet. Those of you who travel up here know what I am talking about. Our first night was orientation as we split up into teams and get our assignments. Our teams go like this:

Team 1: Lisa W., Sarah, Zana and Chelsea are with another youth group who are going to a place called Casa Central for the week. They will be ministering to Spanish speaking elderly people.

Team 2: Meg K., Wynn, Phil, Julia, Lauren, Kelsie, A.J., and Marnie. They are with another youth group who are staying at the location we are housed at and helping the main guy who is kind of like the care taker for a large section of this neighborhood. They are doing a bunch of manual labor type jobs.

Team 3: Tom K., Paul, Matt, Hannah, Marisa, Erin and Claire. They are with another youth group helping with a church called Ekklesia. They are assisting Pastor Tomas with a variety of things he has going on in his neighborhood.

Team 4: Scott, Ben, Eric, Lindsay S., Ally, Maddie, Sidney, Ellen, Abby and Kate. We are not with another youth group. We are on our own. We go down to a local Boy’s and Girl’s Club and assist Nick Sanchez with many of the programs that he has running for a bunch of inner-city kids.

I will have specific teens write a blog post about their teams experiences once we return. So with that in mind I will tell you about the fun stories of our teens that pop up when we are together!

Day 1: This is always an awkward day for everyone. Everyone is checking out their ministry site and sizing up what the week is going to be like. If it involves interaction with people it can be a little bit more awkward depending on what kind of situation you are walking in to. Plus a lot of our guys including me felt so tired the first day. I had no energy. I just tanked.

Our morning started out with breakfast and devotions. Then we all headed out to our ministry sites for the day. We typically finish up whatever we are doing around 3 and go take our showers and the designated public shower facility that we have been assigned to - yes, icky; but at least we feel clean and it is only for a few days.

After dinner we have a special activity, then club time involving everybody together. We usually have time for worship and a lesson from one of the Youthwork leaders. Then after that we meet in our own individual youth groups.

On Monday night we took the Loop train (L-train) into the city and wandered around Millennial Park. We ran into the famous Chicago Bean. It is this giant metallic bean shaped piece of art. You can see your reflection many different crazy ways. We took a bunch of cool team pictures. Then there was a band trying to shoot a music video right there and they asked us to be in it. All the teens gathered around the band and acted like it was a party! It was funny to watch. It will be interesting to see if this becomes the next big hit on MTV. Next thing I know they will be asking to do the next season of The Real World with our youth group because we seemed so cool in the music video.

After that we headed back to our mission site and had club time followed by youth group time. It was a good first night to get into the grove of what we are supposed to be doing.
Also, every day seems to bring us a new story about Wynn. It was announced at dinner time that those who had the letters A-K could get in line first for food. Wynn immediately jumped up all excited and ran to be the first in line. Thinking that he did not understand the instructions or was using some other type of alphabet, I called him out on it. He then explained to me that his first name is actually Albert. So regardless of whether the first half of the alphabet or the last half determined who goes first, Wynn had all his bases covered so that no matter what, he would make it to the front of the line either with Albert or with Wynn. I was very proud of him.

Day 2-5:

As you can tell I did not have the time to blog like I wanted to during this trip. Youthworks keeps a pretty tight schedule throughout the week and it lends to very little down time. But now I am sitting in my room getting ready for the first evening of the Junior High mission trip and I thought that it would be a good idea to reflect on the Senior High trip before I get to far into this trip and they begin to blend into each other.

Every day started out pretty much the same with breakfast, we make our lunches and then we head off to devotions. The morning mealtimes are great. The sack lunches bring back fond memories of elementary school with PB&J’s and Salami sandwiches.

Devotions in the morning were interesting. The teens felt that the themes were kind of repetitive with just a different theme word each day. It took discipline for some of them to have the 20-30 minute quiet time. I know for some of them prayer time turned into snooze time easily with the quietness and white noise.

Once we were done with devotions we headed off to our sites. My team had a fairly easy task this week. We were helping out a Boys and Girls Club with their day time activities. Just about every day involved swimming. I almost felt guilty at first and then some of our teens struggled with the challenge for the week. We discovered throughout the course of the week and through many different conversations that many of the government programs in Illinois were getting cut due to budget cuts. Many of the employees at the B&G Club went from full-time to part-time pay just to keep the programs afloat. So our presence and help were very much needed. It was just hard doing something that felt like we were baby sitting. We were told we really couldn’t speak about our faith so that we would not jeopardize their government funding.

As the days progressed though, we began to get to know some of the kids and really begin to start enjoying playing with them and serving them. At first for me it was hard to see some of the ways in which some of the kids treated each other - a much harsher level of heckling, bullying, and trash-talking than I am used to from our local teens. But as the days progressed, and we began to warm up to some of them, you could see the relationships starting to form between our teens and the neighborhood Chicago kids. Each day we did something different but it seemed that most of it involved swimming. On the first day we went to the local pool. On the second day we went out to the beach. On the third day we went to the theatre and saw Mall Cop and then went to the local pool. Many of us played a very intense game of Sharks and Minnows until our arms were about to fall off. On the fourth and final day we took them to a really nice local pool. At that pool we had a high dive platform where I finally got up the courage to do some flips off of it. A bunch of us did laps with several of the kids and their leaders. I ended up doing about 16 laps until my arms and legs were beginning to burn and I was physically about to die.

During the evenings we would start out with an evening activity usually right after dinner. On the first night we went to Millennial Park. You can read about that adventure above.

On the second night we had some special speakers. The were local people who decided to take action to change their neighborhoods for the better. The transformation of what they were able to accomplish by beginning with small changes that would eventually lead to massive cultural change in their communities was astounding.

On the third night we attended a local church that met at on of the area high school theatre auditoriums. I forget the name of the church but when I heard that the pastor was speaking about the tabernacle on a Wednesday night I had very low expectations. I began to wonder what exactly was going on when the entire auditorium packed out with hundreds of people. The pastor spoke on a small passage out of Chronicles about the basin that is to be in the tabernacle. He had an entire miniature tabernacle built on the stage. The images that the priest had to confront as he progressed towards the presence of God was interesting. He first had to deal with his sin by sacrificing blood on the alter. Then he had to confront his image in the water found in the basin and use the water for cleansing. There were so many amazing applications that he pulled out of that relating it to the death of Christ and the cleansing of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

On the fourth and final night we went to the beach. Lake Michigan was beautiful. Unfortunately it got very cloudy and even a bit chilly at points. As much as I am very fond of the Great Lakes, I just could not go back into the water. Many of the teens who worked hard and sweated great amounts of water actually took the plunge despite the weather.

After the activities we would have rallies with all of the other groups including the rest of our youth group who were at three other sites. We had decent worship time and teaching time. After that we would have our youth group time where we shared what each one of the teams accomplished that day and how they saw God through their efforts. These are always neat times where you can just sense the closeness and camaraderie of the youth group. The other teams shared stories of working hard within the community doing skilled labor, others assisted with the elderly, and others assisted with a local church pastor and his area of mission.

Funny Things:

The boys always insinuated that they were going to “get into trouble”. The joke behind it was that the Parker Brothers game Trouble was right in the middle of the room we were all sleeping in and they quite literally meant it when they said the were getting into trouble. They played it quite a bit and had fun with it.

Wynn and Matt decided to compete in a nacho cheese eating contest. I was excited because their only other competition was a girl from another church. I thought, hands down, Wynn would devour his cheese and shame the rest. Unfortunately when the clock started Wynn took one taste of the cheese and put his bowl down and looked straight ahead for the rest of the time. Everyone was going nuts at him but he would not respond and just stared ahead. Matt seized the moment and went head-to-head with the girl and squeaked out a victory. I was appalled by Wynn’s “tuned-out” demeanor. At the end of the game though he said that after one taste he was reminded just how much he despised melted cheese. I supposed I couldn’t blame him. I just want to see him as the next host of “Man vs. Food” if God grants me one wish involving the life and times of Wynn Rice. Wynn also had some amazingly great quotes throughout the week but let’s just say here that one involved Marisa putting out peanut butter and jelly for any of those who did not like jambalaya and the other involved Phil shaking Wynn awake if he moves around too much. In order to understand the humor behind that, you will need to find someone on the team to explain it. Both quotes were full-on belly rippin’ knee-slappin’ quotes that only Wynn could pull of in his uncanny sense of humor that shows up at unique moments.

As we rapped up the week we took our teens downtown for the day before we returned home on Friday. We had a lot of fun together. We showed up at the Water Tower Mall and went floor-to-floor window shopping mostly. Every store that had some kind of body spray, perfume or cologne Paul, Wynn and Ben seemed to dump half a gallon of it on themselves. They stank BAD after a while. Like “Pepe Le Pew” bad. We then ventured outside and made our way down to Ed Debevic’s. Half of our team ate lunch there and the other half went to Gino’s East. Each group enjoyed their culinary experiences.

Final Thoughts:

I believe that our trip accomplished what I always hope that our mission trips will do: deepen our faith, bring us closer together, learn how to become more like Christ, and just see the world through a different angle that the one we are used to. I am confident that many of our Seniors will do well in taking their faith to college and continuing to grow in their faith. And I believe that our new school year is going to be awesome. We had many students and leaders who were new to mission trips and strangers to youth group. I think this trip helped to connect them a little closer to the group so that they can feel even more apart of the family once we kick things off in the Fall. I really enjoyed getting to know Kate and see how she is coming out of the shadows of her big brother. It was awesome to see Zana finally connect in a deep way with our group. Matt fit right in with the guys as if he has always been one of us. Now he is! I don’t want to accept that Ally, Marisa, Chelsea, Julia, Claire and Trent are going off to college soon. They have been just as much a part of my life and spiritual growth as I hope I have been to them. I will miss not seeing them on a regular basis but thank God for Facebook and a darn good reason for me to go on a college road trip with some dads and act like were in college again!

Post #4 from the Senior High Mission Trip to Hamlin, WV

While going through my blogs I just realized that I never posted anything about my team from last year! Our team spent a lot of time in a neighborhood that was really run down. We spent the majority of our time focused on painting the outside of a house where the family had so many issues going on that they just needed some help. While we worked we were able to build relationships with some of the people.

One little boy that lived in the house would come out just about every day and hang out with us. He took a particular liking to Jimmy. The girls also made a big deal about him so he was enjoying all of the attention. While we were working on his house one day someone from the water or electric company stopped by when the family was not home. He told us to tell them that they were there to shut off their electric/water unless they paid their bill immediately. We were shocked at hearing this.

Another person was this older West Virginian lady named Patty. She made a huge impression on me. From all appearances she looked like the kind of person whom you would not give the time of day. She lived in a trailer that was recently condemned until Youthworks fixed it up enough so that it wouldn't get destroyed. She had a very thick West Virginia accent so you really had to pay attention to catch everything. But through getting to know her the Lord convicted me in a lot of ways. He taught me that appearances in many instances mean absolutely nothing. Patty had a house that she stored stuff that she collected that could help other people. It was called the Jesus house. The outside of the house was painted a funky purple with all kinds of spiritual murals and Bible verses painted all over it. She saw this as her mission to give to others in need. The irony here was she was in every definition of the phrase on of those "persons in need". The fact is though, she had a deep faith and knew that her spiritual gifts were to give and be hospitable. Every day she would provide food for our lunches despite the fact that we had sack lunches with us! She wanted to make home cooked meals for us just about every day. On the last day, she cooked a huge chicken dinner for us and stuffed us like pigs. I tried to tell her midway through the week that this was unnecessary and that we are here to help and assist her and her neighborhood but she continued to want to give from the goodness of her heart. The issue that plagued me here was how in the world did she have the money to feed us anything. I found out later that she spends a part of her day collecting metal to turn it in for money so she has enough to give to others. I was humbled.

We also had quite an adventure going white water rafting on our last day before we headed back. At the tail end of our rafting trip I had one of my girls go into a asthma attack that for the most part began paralyzing her. At that moment I realized one of the weaknesses of cell phones. My phone was back up at the lodge and I had no way to get to it because I needed to jump in the ambulance with my teen. Unfortunately I decided at the beginning of the rafting trip not to wear a shirt. Another decision I could do nothing about once I jumped into the ambulance with just a wet bathing suit on. Once we got the the hospital my teenager got the attention she needed to feel better. But then I began to wrestle with how to get a hold of the rest of my team. Because of cell phones, I have never memorized any ones phone numbers because I just have to look up their name and press the green button. So I went through the process of using the antique called a phone book and tried to locate the rafting company where the rest of my team was so that I could tell them which hospital I was at and have them come get us. It was a little frustrating realizing how much we are tied to our technology.

Overall our teens did another amazing job working hard and relating and ministering to people in a rural setting. This was my first Summer where we focused on doing mission trips to rural areas. Rural poverty was much more different than urban poverty. I wrestled with why some of these people didn't just move far away from here and move to a spot that is a little bit more civilized and active. But for many of these people this is all they know and this has been where their family has always lived. This town did not have a local Walmart (40 minutes away) or even a movie theatre. When I ask one of the local teenager what they did for fun around here the activity at the top of the list was hunting.

Our teens also did an amazing job getting to know the other youth groups that were with us and really warming up to the Youthworks staff, especially this one dude named Alex. He was very outgoing and extremely relational with the teens.

Post #3 from the Senior High Mission Trip to Hamlin, WV 2008

Kids Club: We went to West Virginia with the Youth Works organization. The youth g group was split up into different work projects. Me, Emily, Jessica, Amanda, and Ben were put in the kids club group. Our job was to help run the day care/ fun time with the kids of Lincoln County. The day we found out, everyone but Jessica really would have rather not worked with kids. We tried to get out of it and switch but didn’t. During the first day everyone felt that their work would be better used elsewhere.

Then the kids showed up, and we realized that we were put in this group for a reason. Throughout the week we got to know the kids better and started to really grow close to them and realized that our services were truly being put to use in the best way. There were a few kids in particular that we got to know especially well:

DJ: To put it lightly DJ was the problem child. The first day he came charging out of the van started hanging from rafters and punched one of the workers in the stomach.

Clayton: He was the screamer of the group. If he had an emotion he would express it through screaming. Whether he was happy sad mad or just bored he screamed about it. And because he was so cute it helped him get his way.

Mackenzie: He was a guy despite his name. But he was the face of kids club. During skits and songs on the first day even though none of the kids like skits and songs he went up front and led three worship songs.

Logan: She was a girl despite her name and she was Mackenzie’s sister. She was the sweetest kid out of all of them. She never complained about anything and always did what we told her to.

Chris, Dustin, and Trevor: Chris was the oldest. He was eleven. The first day he came up to me and showed me that he was dipping chewing tobacco. The previous weekend he told me his dad taught him to spit tobacco. He also beat up on his little brothers. But he also had a sweet side and would help his brothers out.

Isabelle: She just started going to kids club two weeks before we got there. She was very volatile. She attached herself to one person and never left their side. She was very emotional due to her problems at home.

The first day started out with us waiting for about an hour for the kids to show up. Then the van pulled up with them. DJ charged out hung from the rafters and punched a youth worker within the first five minutes. Then he picked up a board that had nails coming out of it and hit another worker with it. Finally he settled down a bit and we thought we had him under control. Then out of nowhere he slapped his cousin in the face and Beth (A youth works leader) had to take him home. And this entire time Clayton was screaming!

Then I got to meet Logan. She was with Jessica and they were just talking. I went over and got to know her and instantly liked Logan. She then introduced me to her brother Mackenzie and I played on the play set with him. While I was doing that I noticed Chris spitting a lot but I didn’t know why. So I went over and started talking to him and he showed me a can of SKOAL in his pocket. I was shocked because he was only eleven, but doing something that would still be illegal for him to do for another seven years. This was when I started to see how little all of these kids had. None of them came from wealthy families and many of them were forced to grow up at a very early age.

No one was quite ready for that first day but in the following days we got into a rhythm and we didn’t have all that many more problems. Except throughout the week we learned more and more about all of the children and we got to realize that many of them had a terrible home life and that the only constant that they had in their entire life was kids club. We had snack/lunch every day and for many kids that was the first time that they had eaten all day. Some of them took home food so they had something to eat that night. It really helped us realize what a huge service we were providing for these children.

Although at the beginning of the week I dreaded being on the kids club team. By the end I was extremely happy that I got to work and help the kids that I interacted with. I truly felt that I was a huge blessing to these kids. But not only that but they were a huge blessing to me. I got to actually understand how lucky I was and I realized that you don’t need everything you want to be happy. Because some of these kids had barely anything but they were still happy as can be.

Post #2 from the Senior High Mission Trip to Hamlin, WV

Firefighters’ Story: We went to work in a trailer park. The trailer park was owned by a man named Vernon. He was amazing because he would let people who didn’t have home live there without having to pay. Whenever he would come by to see how we were doing, we could always count on hearing a story from his life when he was younger. Rusty was the man who was going to move into the trailer when it was finished. He also told us stories of his past, especially from when he was in the military. We also learned that he had three ruptured disks in his back, and it was very painful for him to do much. However, while we were outside painting the trailer (we couldn’t tell if the paint was very light green or gray), Rusty was inside working on the interior of the house. The inside needed much more done than the outside. The trailer had dealt with some flooding, and the floor needed to be redone. Most of the windows were broken and needed to be replaced and the walls were a mess as well. There was a large pile of junk behind the trailer that included an old bathtub. There was siding at the bottom of the trailer that had been taken off so the people could go under the trailer to work too. Aside from this, there were large spiders, mosquitoes, and red wasps. Despite all this the trip was absolutely amazing, and I would not trade one thing out of it. We had the chance to give someone a better home and meet really great people from other youth groups outside of Ohio. We were definitely beyond the limits of our comfort zones, but it was definitely for the best. written by Ally Ballentine

Post #1: Letters from the Senior High Mission Trip to Hamlin, WV 2008

The Hornets team was Mrs. Mosby, Wynn, Robert, Marisa, Chelsea, and Trent from Epiphany. We also had Mike, Breanne, Lindsey, Brian, and Tom from Freeland, Michigan. Our entire team clicked right away. Our first project was to finish painting a trailer, because the group before us had not quite finished it yet. This trailer belonged to a man who drives 2 hours to and from the hospital everyday to get his chemo treatment. A man whose yard and house are full of junk. A man who would take care of these things if he had time, but something always comes up to forestall him. In this case, a cancer that requires so much care. What we thought would take an hour or two ended up lasting all day. We found that there was much more to do, such as scrubbing off all the caked-on dirt and algae from the skirting around the base of the trailer. Even though we walked up to this house almost finished, we were shocked at how much of a difference our day of work made. This sense of completion inspired us and kept us going when we were given our next project: another trailer that would give a homeless person somewhere to live. The Firefighters team also worked on a trailer in this “homeless trailer park”. This was a group of several trailers that a man named Vernon looks after. With dogs running all over the place, and people sitting on porches with each other, it seemed like a great community for people without money for homes to be a part of. The trailer we worked on was very dirty and green from all the algae. Our first day on this project consisted of scrubbing off all the algae with rags and sponges. Once this was completed we worked on the trim, painting it white. The next day we nearly painted all of the house a very nice-looking sage color. We had all intentions of finishing the painting and putting on final touches on Thursday, however the weather didn’t cooperate. Thursday we had rain, so we played “Bear, Ninja, Cowboy” (a variation of Rock, Paper, Scissors) to see what team had to do which chore around the site. Since we lost both times, we were stuck cleaning the shower rooms. We thought it wouldn’t take more than an hour, but it turned into a whole day’s project. The boy’s showers were mopped and cleaned in half an hour. The girl’s showers took much longer. We couldn’t mop until we had “Shop-Vac”ed all the standing water out, only to notice that the floor’s paint was peeling left and right. So we got paint scrapers and scraped chips of cracking latex paint from the floor (a total of 2 garbage bags full). Once that was done, we broke out the Drain-o, Comet, and Tilex and went to town on every square inch of this shower house. When we were done, the room smelled and looked fresh and clean, probably the first time it had been all summer. (written by Trent Compton)

Junior High WV Mission Trip 2008: Observation Day 4

Today was the final work day for our team. The teens did a phenomenal job of finishing up many of the projects we started. It was almost similar to Extreme Home Makeover! They transformed a moldy basement into an incredible play area for the two boys, they stripped and stained a huge deck, they did tons of landscaping, they cleaned gutters, destroyed wasp nests, babysat, cleaned pets, cleaned carpets, installed brand new flooring in the dining room and kitchen, prayed over the homeowners, and went to McD's late at night. Be sure to check back here and on Facebook for many more pictures to come. I am tired right now and want to go to bed as I have to take all these teens white water rafting early in the morning!

Quote of the Day

Sheila: (serious tone) . . . and when I am 75 I hope I am still doing missions and plan to keep on going until this body gives up!

Olivia: Why Mrs. Stebbins, you don't look a day over 63!

Sheila: (hostile tone) WHO SAID THAT?!?!?!?!

Junior High WV Trip 2008: Observation Day 2 and 3

As you can tell from many of the pictures the teens are doing an amazing job. We have been assigned a home that needs a lot of attention. Our teens are working on such things as: stripping and staining a deck, deck repairs, painting, flooring, gutter cleaning, moving lots of stuff, power cleaning, playing with the kids and pets, spending time with the mom, and many other things. It is truly amazing how much work has been done in just two days. Pray that we get some really nice weather tomorrow so that we can complete some of the jobs that we have started outside.

The evening sessions have been great. The themes so far have been Story, Love and Justice. On the first night we learned about the importance of our story connecting with God's story. On the second night we focused on the extreme love that God has for us. And on tonight we talked about the importance of justice and asking the deeper questions of why things are the way they are. The session have been great and our teens have responded well!

Quote of the day (Day #2):
Kid from other youth group: Those eyes, she just has amazing eyes!
Scott: Who are you talking about?
Kid: Cassie!
Scott: Come here kid. We gotta talk.

Near death at Walmart: Our teens entered into Walmart singing a song they made up about Walmart. As they passed by the greeter she made the comment "Teens these days have too much time on their hands!" Shelia overheard this and almost killed her on the spot. She went to the manager to let her know what exactly OUR teens were doing in their community and how they were treated as they walked into the local Walmart which we have been frequenting quite a bit since we got here! Shelia Stebbins wins the "Social Justice in Action" Award for the trip so far! Way to stick up for the teens and to stick it to the man in the name of JUSTICE!

Quote of the day: (Day #3): Hey Sheila, you're lactating!

Junior High WV Trip 2008: Day 1: We Made It!

We got here! Everyone is safe. During our trip I was constantly reminded that this was a Junior High trip as farts and other bodily functions were a prime topic of conversation. Logan won the quote of the day by saying "When my tum-tum hurts, my bum-bum squirts." Many people were blamed for farting throughout the trip until we realized it was Southern Ohio that farted.

Once we got here we got into our rooms, ate dinner, went through orientation and our evening session.

We will be helping a lady who is going through chemo treatments for cancer and needs a lot of help for her house. Please pray for her that we can be a help and that our teens connect with her throughout the week.

Our dorms are not air-conditioned but the rest of the campus is nice and cool so there is some relief. We went and got some cheap box fans for each room. It cools off nice in the evenings down here.

The scenery is beautiful as we drove over to here. Most of the trip we were right along the Ohio River until we crossed over into West Virginia.

We are off to a good start!

Beyond the Yearbook

This is an outline of a talk I gave to my church congregation on December 28, 2008.

I. Introduction:

A. Welcome back all college students
B. Introduce Senior class of 2009: first class I had all the way through
C. Power Point Game

II. Beyond the Yearbook

A. 18 years of nurture in an environment of family, church, school and
community and then off to college!

B. Proverbs 22:6:

1. Various Translations:

a. NIV: Train a child in the way he should go, and when he
is old he will not turn from it

b. New Living Translation: Direct your children onto the
right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.

c. Contemporary English Version: Teach your children right from
wrong, and when they are grown they will still do right.

d. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young Version: Teach your children
well . . .

2. Emphasis is on the word “train”: the verb includes the idea of
“dedicate,” and so the training should be with purpose.

3. Proverbs contrast two ways of life: the way of the wicked and foolish
in contrast to the way of the righteous and wise.

4. Cultural context vs. the reality of our day! Agrarian society vs. the
Post-modern, post-industrial information age

B. Recent Trends:

1. 70% OF CHRISTIAN TEENS WILL WALK AWAY FROM THEIR FAITH DURING THEIR FIRST YEAR OF COLLEGE
In an August 7, 2007 USA Today article (“Young Adults Aren’t Sticking With Church”), a national survey by LifeWay Research unveiled groundbreaking research that shows that 70% of church-attending Christian teens leave the church. The greatest numbers leave at ages 17, 18 or 19 throughout their senior year of high school and upon entering their freshman year at college. College becomes a spiritual graveyard for many Christian students… a place where their faith wanes. Culture shock, loneliness, peer pressure and an environment of freedom without bounds result in 70% of approximately 1.2 million youth ministry graduates per year leaving the foundations of their faith. For many of them, their God-given needs go unmet for the first time: to be loved, accepted and to fit into a group. When our students leave home alone with no established connection to Christian roommates, college, career or military ministries (on campus or in the church) and godly Christian friends they lose the accountability and balance provided by these vital relationships.

If there is any truth to this at all, this as a youth pastor and a parent is totally unacceptable to me. This means that in my own household I will have only one child continue in their faith into their adult life. Weather forecasters are wrong 50% of the time. We as a church cannot afford to be wrong 70% when we are talking about the souls of our own children!

2. Many ideas out there about whose fault this is: parents, youth ministries,
College professors, Campus life

3. Video of “Laurie’s Story” http://videoroom.youthtransitionnetwork.org/

C. The training of a child

1. What we can do NOW: A Model in Luke 2:52 - "And Jesus grew in wisdom (mental) and stature (physical), and in favor with God (spiritual) and men (social)."

Jesus developed the mental, physical, social and spiritual areas of his life.

Some observations:
- Social and Mental take over during college while physical
and spiritual get neglected
- My life: the crazier life gets, the easier it is to neglect my
spiritual disciplines
- Jesus’ adult life: the crazier it got, the more he made time
to spend with his Father
- Luke 2:52 gives us a model to live by individually as well
as a good parenting model

2. What can we do BETTER to prepare for the next stage?

3. A few ideas:

a. Develop a College Transition Team

b. Campus/College Ministries: Wesley Foundation, Campus
Crusade, InterVarsity, Fellowship of Christian Athletes,
local churches, etc.

c. Develop our own ministry to our college students: be more
intentional in helping with transitioning from high school to
college

d. Empower our students to lead themselves

e. Stay connected through cell phones, e-mails, texting,
Facebook, etc.

f. Pray, pray, pray

g. Add your thoughts and ideas to the blog

h. Make a New Year’s Resolution to “train up yourself and you child” in a life that demonstrates balance and commitment to all areas of life.

Legendary Coaches: George Horton and John Wooden

Theme: Legendary Coaches - George Horton and John Wooden

Large Group Lesson

I. Understanding Our Focus

A. George Horton

1. Basic Facts and Accomplishments from Wikipedia

2. Show DVD Special Feature from “We Are Marshall” starting at 24:13 and ending at 29:40

3. Coach Horton: taught the 3 “P’s”: to stay present, stay positive and stay with the process.

B. Philippians 3:7-14

1. Paul does not focus on failure or the past

2. Paul understands the goal

3. “I press on toward the goal” Paul lives in the moment, in the process! He is FOCUSED on the present.

II. Understanding Our Impact

A. John Wooden

1. Basic Facts and Accomplishments from Wikipedia

2. Show Video Special Feature from “We Are Marshall” starting at 29:41 and ending at 36:23

3. Coach Wooden: understood that we make a LIFE by what we GIVE!

B. Matthew 5:13-16

1. Salt gives: flavor, taste, preservation

2. Light gives: clarity, direction, focus, understanding

C. Galatians 5:22-26; 6:7-10

1. Spiritual fruit: gives an abundance of good stuff from me to others

2. Spiritual fruit: reaps a harvest of even better things

III. Conclusion: How will this apply to your small group?

1. We live in an entertainment based culture where it is so easy not to focus on anything other than my own entertainment and self-gratification. Focus takes determination and will-power. What is it that you need to focus on for this year to help you grow spiritually?

2. If you were able to view the end of your life right now, what type of person would you hope you are? What can you do now to develop the kind of fruit you want your life to develop?

Theme: Legendary Coaches - George Horton and John Wooden

Small Group Discussion

Questions that can be used for discussion:

What specifically impacted you about George Horton?

Why does the fear of failure hold us back at times? What makes our minds go to worst-case-scenarios that hold us back from even trying?

How can focusing too much on the “end result” take our focus off of doing our best in the present moment?

You will fail. A good baseball player averages .300! That is a lot of strike outs! How will you deal with failure when it comes your way? How will you deal with others when they fail you and your team?

What specifically impacted you about John Wooden?

This is his Seven Point Creed for life:
1. Be true to yourself
2. Make each day your masterpiece
3. Help others
4. Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible
5. Make friendship a fine art
6. Build a shelter against a rainy day
7. Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day

Study Wooden’s Pyramid of Success. Take a copy home with you and put it up in your bedroom. What strikes you about his Creed and Pyramid?

If you could sum up his approach into one word what would it be? CHARACTER! Wooden understood that if he could create a better QUALITY OF LIFE for his players then he would have extraordinary athletes.

Live a life where you can look forward to the hear-after! How can we do this now?

Spend time in prayer as a small group on these topics:

1. Prayer for Strength: Every athlete will go through loses that are difficult, but through adversity we can either give up or grow stronger. Pray for super-natural strength from God to live each moment for him through his strength.

2. Prayer for Character: The quality of character as described by Paul in the letter to the Galatians comes through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within us. Pray for the Holy Spirit to produce fruit in your life that is godly and beneficial to yourself and others. Pray that godly character may develop within you so that you may be used of God to be his light in this world.

Legendary Coaches: Pat Summit and Lute Olsen

Theme: Legendary Coaches - Pat Summit and Lute Olsen

Large Group Lesson

I. Understanding Discipline

A. Pat Summit

1. Basic Facts and Accomplishments from Wikipedia

2. Show DVD Special Feature from “We Are Marshall” starting at 12:51 and ending at 18:05

3. Coach Summit: taught that hard work is the goal to success

B. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

1. Paul see running a race as an analogy for spiritual discipline

2. Only one wins 1st place in a race.

3. As strict physical discipline prepares us to achieve athletic goals so must spiritual disciplines help us to grow in our relationship to God and others

II. Understanding the Fundamentals

A. Lute Olsen

1. Basic Facts and Accomplishments from Wikipedia

2. Show DVD Special Feature from “We Are Marshall” starting at 18:06 and ending at 24:12

3. Coach Olsen: taught that there are no quick fixes if you want to be good at something. You must learn the fundamentals.

B. 1 Timothy 4:11-16

1. Paul encouraged Timothy to master the fundamentals.

2. Paul understood the importance of education AND application, both are required to master the fundamentals.

III. Conclusion: How will this apply to your small group?

1. How will you discipline yourself to grow in your faith? How can others help you stay motivated and focused?

2. Can you clarify the fundamentals of your faith? What are some “spiritual exercises that can help you become spiritually strong? What are you willing to do this year that will sharpen you?

Theme: Legendary Coaches - Pat Summit and Lute Olsen

Small Group Discussion

Questions that can be used for discussion:

What specifically impacted you about Pat Summit?

Why does the fear of failure have a way of keeping us from even trying sometimes?

Why is hard work so hard?

Why does our culture seem to champion instant gratification over hard work?

Which is hard work and which is instant gratification?

- having sex now with anyone who is willing or saving myself for the right person I want to spend the rest of my life with?

- eating to stay healthy or eating fast food?

- cheating on a test or studying to do well on a test?

- steroids to improve athleticism or training in the gym day after day?

- serving others or serving myself?

- trying to think the best of others or gossiping?

- bullying those I know I can push over or standing up for those who can’t stand up for themselves?

- doing honest work for a fair wage or spending my money gambling or on the lottery?

- the abuse of substances in order to feel good or finding satisfaction through overcoming difficulties in your life?

Instant gratification is ultimately a LIE. Real lasting gratification comes from knowing you did the RIGHT thing and you did it to the best of your abilities.

What specifically impacted you about Lute Olsen?

What are the fundamentals that a basketball player must master?
A baseball player?
A runner?
A volleyball player?
A football player?

What are some spiritual disciplines that are fundamental to spiritual growth? What do YOU want to commit to as a small group for this year?

Spend time in prayer as a small group on these topics:

1. Prayer of Confession: If we are all honest with ourselves, we are all guilty of giving into the lie of “instant gratification” at some level. Confess it before God and your small group so that they can support you and encourage you to take the high road of discipline (hard work) to become a better person.

2. Prayer of Dedication: Determine what you want to commit to doing this year in your spiritual education and the application of it. Dedicate yourself to God and begin your “spiritual training”!

Legendary Coaches: Jack Lengyel and Bobby Bowden

Theme: Legendary Coaches - Jack Lengyel and Bobby Bowden

Large Group Lesson

I. Understanding the Big Picture

A. Jack Lengyel

1. Basic Facts and Accomplishments from Wikipedia

2. Show DVD Special Feature from “We Are Marshall” starting at 1:50 and ending at 5:13

3. Coach Lengyel: inspired his players to honor the memories of those who have gone on before us understanding that we have a small part in a much bigger picture.

B. Author of Hebrews understood this

1. Chapter 11: by faith Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, read v. 32-39.

a. These people left a legacy that has been passed on to us

b. Their faith lead the way for us to do great things NOW!

2. Hebrews 12:1-3 - “a great cloud of witnesses” inspire us to do our best!

II. Understanding our Main Priority!

A. Bobby Bowden

1. Basic Facts and Accomplishments from Wikipedia

2. Show DVD Special Feature from “We Are Marshall” starting at 5:14 and ending at 12:50

3. Coach Bowden coached with LOVE as the main priority.

B. A Case Study of John

1. Jesus teaches him to love in John 13:34-35

2. John passes it on to others in 1 John 4:7-12

III. Conclusion: How will this apply to your small group?

1. Can you fully grasp all the people in your life who have brought you into this moment right now? Can you fully appreciate the flow of history that has brought you to right now?

2. Do you understand the main priority of our small groups? It is to love and be loved. It is to experience fully God’s love for us so that we too can be agents of his love to others.

Theme: Legendary Coaches - Jack Lengyel and Bobby Bowden

Small Group Discussion

Questions that can be used for discussion:

What specifically impacted you about Jack Lengyel?

Who are some of the people that have had a significant impact on shaping who you are today?

How can we honor those who have help to make us who we are?

What specifically impacted you about Bobby Bowden?

Does “love” seem like a good coaching strategy? Do you think the Bengals should try this approach?

Coach Bowden’s methods are extremely effective. How can we implement love within the context of our small groups?

Love takes effort and work. Love is not a warm, fuzzy feeling that comes and goes. Love is saying I will commit myself to the well-being of others. Some people are easy to love and some people are not so easy. Can you commit to being sure that love is the main priority of your small group?

Spend time in prayer as a small group on these topics:

1. Prayer of Thanksgiving: for all of those who have come before you to bring You to this moment in time. The freedoms you have as an American and as a Christian.

2. Prayer of Commitment: Pray that LOVE is the main priority of your small group this year. That you all look out for each others best interests, celebrate good time, hold each other up through tough times, defend each other at school, and hold each other accountable through times of
temptation.

Our Ex-Con(firmands)Waking Up All The New Confirmands

Some Thoughts in Relation to Confirmation

It wasn’t too long that I sat in a non-denominational and Baptist church dreaming of a way to create a right-of-passage experience for teens in which they could more concretely take ownership of their faith instead of it happening haphazardly at some point between their Junior High through college years. Then I got involved in this United Methodist church where one of the expectations was to teach a Confirmation class. Little did I know what I was in for. Much to my surprise I discovered that many of the mainline churches were light years ahead of the evangelical churches when it came to a particular right-of-passage called Confirmation. Now as I began asking other youth pastors about Confirmation I got a grim picture of what this program has morphed into at many churches. It was described to me as a theological class that was enforced on teens for the sake of their parents and as soon as they finished the attitude was that they “graduated” from church. So the overall sense was that many of the teens involved in youth group where not directly influenced by Confirmation or vise-versa. Now I have had the privilege of confirming my third class here at Epiphany UMC. During these three years the Confirmation process has been just as much of an educational / spiritual experience for me as well as the students. The establishment of this process at this particular church has had an overwhelmingly positive effect in the lives of the teens as well as the whole congregation. There are many things to celebrate. But also, after three years of immersing myself into this process, I am beginning to see areas that we can most definitely improve on. Let’s begin with the positive aspect of the program.

Positive Elements of Confirmation

1. Mentoring: Students have an adult mentor who walks with them through the journey of Confirmation.

2. Education: Students receive a well-rounded education that covers Christian Theology, Church History and United Methodist history and doctrine.

3. Retreats: Students have several retreats that they are required to attend in which team bonding among each other, with their mentors and with the church staff, is essential.

4. The Concluding Weekend: All of the families involved and the entire church has been amazing in coming around each class and making the final weekend a special weekend that is truly a “right-of-passage” in the most amazing way possible.

With these things in mind, it is fair and right to say that this has been the most successful program for students prior to my arrival.

Changes Over the Past Three Years

Now during the time that I have been here at this church some positive changes have occurred within the Student Ministry.

1. Growth in our Junior High and Senior High: We have had a significant amount of teens become apart of our Student Ministries Church family.

2. Growth in Our Adult Volunteers: We have had many adults get involved in leading small groups and assisting with major activities such as mission trips, Ichthus, retreats and Tuned-OUT activities.

3. Growth in Our Confirmation Class: The first two years we has a class of 20 students for each year. This past year we went up by 50% with a class of 30. Next year’s class is supposed to grow again by a conservative estimate of 50% again.

4. Extension of the Confirmation Process: When I arrived, the Confirmation process lasted approximately 3 months. One of the first things that I changed was the expansion of the duration of the class to one full year.

Potential Areas for Improvement

As I receive feedback from those who were involved in the Confirmation process, those who are about to enter into it for next year, my adult leaders, the mentors, and also information from a recent conference and recent research, I believe that there are areas that we can most certainly improve on as the next class gets ready for this awesome right-of-passage.

1. The Concerns Which Began the Conversations

As many of you can tell just by checking out the videos on YouTube, this year was an exceptional year for Confirmation. We had a great class, many great people who were involved in the whole process, and retreats that topped all of the previous classes! But as the Confirmation class has grown and the youth group itself has been growing, there have been some concerns that have been raised as we have begun many of the conversations that have helped to explore ways in which we can refine the process together. Here is a list of some of the concerns that have been raised in light of this past year.

a. Mentors: We have come to a point that I believe we are maxing out the adult population of our congregation when it comes to deep, significant, spiritual mentoring. In trying to lead a class of 30 middle school students it becomes increasingly hard to guide a large group of mentors in being as effective as they should be. During this year we had a hard time getting all of the mentors we needed. We also had a handful of situations in which the mentor just was not able to invest the necessary time into the process which lead to a sense of disappointment and frustration with the student and his parents.

b. Parents: Very little is expected of parents as their teen goes through this process. This actually is unfortunate as you will see when we look at the theological framework and scholarship that heavily supports parental involvement as a critical component to the development of teens. I do not want to contribute to an attitude of parents “out-sourcing” their teenager’s spirituality.

c. Connection into the Youth Group and Church: Each class has a small percentage of students who, for whatever reason, drift away from church and youth group once Confirmation is over. The expectation is that during the Confirmation process they are to attend the main services and youth group. The reality is that some do, and some don’t. If the family only comes for one hour, then the student attends Confirmation and then goes home. As far as youth group is concerned, some have actively gotten involved in youth group and their small group while others have not.

d. My current adult leaders: I will be the first to say that I have an amazing team, the best adult team I have ever had the privilege of serving. They are phenomenal with our teenagers. If it takes a community to raise a teenager then I want these adults to assist, support and guide my children along as they head into the murky waters of adolescence. The issue is that almost all of my adult leaders are spread out into all three categories above. This makes for a crazy schedule, and most likely, over-exposure in some areas.

2. Theological Considerations

A large portion of the book of Proverbs is attributed to Solomon as it author. Solomon grew up under the influence of King David whom God declared in 1 Samuel 13:14 as a “man after his own heart.” Solomon grew up under the influence of watching his parents walk in the ways of the Lord. And in reflecting on this, Solomon attributes a lot of who he is under the structure of his family and their ability to instill their wisdom within him. In Proverbs 1:8-9, Solomon impresses upon his own son with these words: “Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.” If Solomon’s own parents did not make a deep impact on his own life then this advice would not so easily begin the entire book of Proverbs.

Also in Ephesians 6:1 we see that Paul writes to the children in the church of Ephesus stating: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’ – which is the first commandment with a promise – ‘that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth’.” This passage implies that parents are an integral part of the development of the children both spiritually as well as sociologically. They are the main authority figures in the lives of their children. It is their responsibility to train them in such a way that their teens are able to integrate into church and society so that they are able to venture off and make a deep and lasting impact wherever they may go.

But on the other hand, the Scripture has a lot to say about mentoring within the community of believers. Paul in his letter to Titus explains the need for Titus to teach and train the older generations in his church so that the older women “. . . can train the younger women” (Titus 2:4) and that he and the men in his congregation can “. . . encourage the young men to be self-controlled.” (Titus 2:6). Paul in his first letter to Timothy written around the same time also encouraged Timothy at his church to “. . . not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.” (1 Timothy 5:1-2). Paul clearly sees the importance of the community of believers coming around the younger generations and investing their lives in them in such a way that their faith flourishes.

3. Current Scholarship on Teens and Families

A lot of time has passed between ancient Israel and the 21st century. In fact there are many issues today that are having a serious impact on families. Chap Clark, professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, states in his book “Disconnected” that the problem is that:

“We (as ‘adults,’ not necessarily as individuals) have hurt our kids. We, all of us, have led our children into an environment where they have never been more ill-equipped to handle the world we have handed them, we expect much and complain much, and yet we listen so little. We demand respect and courtesy, but we are unwilling to return what we demand. In every system and structure, organization and institution, we have literally left our kids adrift in a growing tempest without the power or compass to help them navigate their way around and through the storms that life will throw at them. . . . We believe what has separated us from our kids and caused adolescence to lengthen in not a reaction to any one influence but rather these and many other factors all combining together as visible symptoms of a deeper, even more insidious and destructive conspiracy of neglect by default. . . . We have disassembled our ‘metanarrative,’ our communal story. We have ripped ourselves away from family, friends, and meaningful relationships. We have given in to the idea that the only thing to live for is TGIF (‘Thank God It’s Friday’), where all we have to offer our children is an opportunity to indulge in a favorite leisure activity while we wait to retire. We have no vision, no passion, no dreams – and worse, we’ve passed on this fatalistic, dismal, and depressing legacy to our kids. We have no idea what it means to live, to laugh, to dance. And we wonder why our children don’t want to become adults more quickly!” (pp. 72-74).

This is a book that we as a church have offered to parents as a small group study. Not surprisingly, many parents don’t have the time to attend the class but those who have, really wrestled with this idea that teens today feel abandoned and alone. It is easy to think that “kids are kids” and that teens today are not much different that when we were teens. But overwhelmingly, across the board, those involved in the study of adolescents would strongly disagree, noting profound changes of seismic proportions with today’s youth in contrast to generations past.

“Aloneness” is the word that Patricia Hersch uses in her observations of today’s teenagers. In her ground-breaking book “A Tribe Apart” Patricia states that:

Youngsters have lost more than secure families and adult interaction: they grow up in a world that lacks consistency and structure. There are no magic formulas to financial security, job stability, marital harmony. Technology and the media create a world without boundaries. For adolescents there is available a dizzying array of lifestyle choices, at the same time that home and community fail to provide a balancing sense of security. The changing contexts rob development of its coherency. Like a handful of pebbles tossed in a raging stream, young people today, as well as many adults around them, seem rushed along in currents out of their control, often ending up in completely unexpected places. . . . A clear picture of adolescents, of even our own children, eludes us – not necessarily because they are rebelling, or avoiding or evading us. It is because we aren’t there. Not just parents, but any adults. American society has left its children behind as the cost of progress in the workplace. This isn’t about working parents, right or wrong, but an issue for society to set its priorities and to pay attention to its young in the same way it pays attention to its income. . . . adolescents are growing up with no adults around, a deficit of attention, and no discussion about whether it matters at all. The most stunning change for adolescents today is their aloneness.” (p. 19)

Dr. Ron Taffel agrees with this assessment in his book “The Second Family” noting that:

The real problem is quite simple: Although most parents love their children, they aren’t able to pay the right kind of attention to them. . . . No matter how hard they try, many parents don’t really hear their children. They don’t really see them. They don’t know enough about the world their children inhabit, their interests, their motives. They know even less about adolescence, because too many of their children, as young as twelve or thirteen, have already drifted away from them. (p. 7).

These are the similar words used above to describe today’s adolescents: “drifted away”, “aloneness”, “adrift”, “separated”, “neglect”. As we let these words sink in, the obvious question is what does the consensus of these authors provide as a way to improve the plight of adolescences today?

In the most comprehensive study ever done on the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers, Christian Smith states in his book “Soul Searching” that:

The best way to get most youth more involved in and serious about their faith communities is to get their parents more involved in and serious about their faith communities. For decades in many religious traditions, the prevailing model of youth ministry has relied on pulling teens away from their parents. In some cases, youth ministers have come to see parents as adversaries. There is no doubt a time and place for unique teen settings and activities; still, our findings suggest that overall youth ministry would probably best be pursued in a larger context of family ministry, that parents should be viewed as indispensable partners in the religious formation of youth. More broadly, one of the most important things that adults who are concerned about how teenagers’ religious and spiritual lives are going to turn out can do is to focus attention on strengthening their own and other adults’, especially parents’, religious and spiritual lives. For in the end, they most likely will get from teens what they as adults themselves are. (p. 267)

Parents are seen as the most vital influence in the development of the spiritual lives of teenagers. In “The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager” author Thomas Hine believes that:

. . . the most powerful positive factor that determines the well-being of young people, according to the 1997 adolescent heath study, is the presence of parents who are engaged in their children’s lives and have high expectations for them. On average, young people spend more time hanging out with people their own age. Still, just about every study that has been made of young people in their teens shows that they seek a connection with their parents and are very sensitive to their actions. (p. 25)

Teens want a relationship with their parents even if their actions might be saying something else.

In Patricia Hersch’s concluding remarks she also affirms that:

Kids need adults who bear witness to the details of their lives and count them as something. They require the watchful eyes and the community standards that provide greater stability. They need appreciation for who they are. . . The kids . . . who do best are those who have a strong interactive family and a web of relationships and activities that surround them consistently. (p. 363)

It is not right to give into the concept that generations are divided against each other but it is imperative that we bridge the generations together for the best possible environment for healthy development of our children.

In Dr. Ron Taffel’s final chapter he also affirms that:

There’s nothing wrong with expecting kids to give of themselves, but . . . the gesture is more meaningful when teens join with adults and create intergenerational connections around good deeds. Sharing charitable endeavors provides a forum that enables parents and children to break through the boundaries usually separating their worlds. Connectedness comes out of collective caring. (p. 186)

Intergenerational connections sound like mission trips, Ichthus Festival, retreats, Confirmation, and small groups! In many ways we are pursuing exactly what the doctor ordered, although I think we can improve and strengthen how we do this.

And finally, Chap Clark reminds us that it is the parent

. . . who cares enough about the big picture. A coach, teacher, or even youth pastor may be a great support to your child at various points along the way, but you are one who is there day after day, year after year, to encourage, develop, and deepen your child in the name and Spirit of Christ. So our job as parents is to continually work on knowing our kids and looking to help them as they grow, all in an effort to be there for them on their quest to discover who they are and where they fit. (p. 26)

Adult supports come in and out of the natural stages of child and teen development but the most consistent and steady presence is that of the parent. With all that in mind we are now ready to consider some areas that I believe can be significantly improved for the following year with Confirmation.

4. Suggestions for Improvement to the Confirmation Process

Primary Mentor: Parents

As seen in the quotes above it is vitally, dare I say absolutely necessary, that we empower the parents to be the primary mentors of their teens. They are the ones with the long-term investment. They are the ones who, intentional or not, have discipled their teens up to this point and will continue to be a significant spiritual influence, intentional or not, in the life of their teen for the rest of their lives. Parents need to feel empowered and given the tools and encouragement to develop the spirituality of their teens. Plus, I do not want to contribute to an attitude of parents “out-sourcing” their teen’s spiritual development. If they do not see themselves as the primary disciples of their own children then what the church has to offer is only a mere band-aid. Here are my suggestions:

a. Each family will be given the “One-Minute Bible for Students” by Fields and Kohlenberger. Instead of a student being responsible for reading through the New Testament during Confirmation, the family will be required to do devotions together with this Bible each day. It is their choice to pick the best time of day for devotions. Keep in mind the title of the Bible! It is essentially only giving God one-minute of your day as a family to learn together. But as I have personally tested out this Bible on my family, it has generated some very interesting discussions and we are praying together as a family. Sometimes it only takes a few minutes, other times we are all sitting around the family room engaged in very interesting conversation about God’s Word.

b. Parents will be given the “Talkpoints for Parents and Youth”. At several points during the Confirmation process they will be encouraged to have these conversations with their teens. Instead of having to schedule a formal time to go out, like the mentors, the parents can have these conversations as they hang out at home, travel to the next soccer game, go to a park, etc.

Secondary Mentors:

a. Team approach: 1 adult to 4 students

I will be the first to admit that my knee-jerk reaction towards the end of Confirmation was to eliminate the mentoring process and shift the entire focus over to the parents. But as I have had some more time to think, and personally realize the benefit to myself as a father of a confirmand next year, I see the advantage of someone outside of the family circle affirming and encouraging my son with the faith that we have instilled in him. I see the benefit of mentors coming along side of the parents. So instead of an either/or scenario between parents and mentors, I am proposing a both/and solution to the best possible environment for the spiritual development of our teens.

The first issue that I need to address is the fact that I believe we overextended ourselves in trying to get a mentor for each confirmand. It got to the point of being frustrating and embarrassing for our few remaining students to get paired up with a mentor. We ended up having some mentors take on two students which ended up being a positive experience. Once that was accomplished the mentoring process had a wide range of successes and breakdowns. For a variety of reasons there were some mentors who just really struggled with getting together with their confirmand. The increasing business of people’s lives along with the random surprise of personal issues that need attention left some teens essentially without a mentor. I also noticed the difficulty for most people to add another thing to their calendar to go out individually with their confirmand.

My first proposal is that we make the mentoring process a team effort. Each mentor would take on approximately 4 students. This would help with the awkwardness of students being one-on-one with an adult. This would foster better dialogue. And overall I think that this is a healthier context for spiritual growth. Jesus had 12 disciples but he also had a core group of 3 within the 12. The only case in which I see one-on-one discipleship occurring in the Scripture is when Barnabas took Paul under his wing but that was because everyone else was too afraid to accept Paul’s conversion as genuine!

b. Educational experience

Instead of mentors taking on the task of creating time to go out, I think it would be best for the mentors to be included in the educational process. This will give them weekly contact with their group of students. I will make the teaching experience interactive so that the mentor is not a passive participator but part of the teaching experience. And we could possibly develop a teaching team where I can be a part of the rotation instead of the only primary teacher.

c. Strengthening the long term connections to growth

One of the concerns listed above was the connection into the Youth Group and Church. Once again, this seems to be accomplished haphazardly with some doing it and some not doing it. Getting the teens to the church service raises a whole host of issues, but it ultimately comes down to the church having to intentionally create a culture that encourages families to see Sunday morning as a 2-hour experience instead of one hour. To enforce this on the teenagers without empowering the whole family will only lead to disappointment.

The other issue is connecting students into the youth group more intentionally. Some make it to youth group and others don’t for whatever reason. My intention is that Confirmation kick-starts a process of spiritual growth for them all throughout the teens’ years here at the church. If they drift away from the church after Confirmation then I see this as ultimately a failed process. Either we did not do the Confirmation process correctly or the student did not get it. In order to better integrate them into youth group I propose that the mentor takes advantage of our small group program at the very minimum of once a month. Every month we do an activity called Tuned-OUT. The mentor would come, with their vehicle, invite their confirmands and attend the activity in order to have fun with their confirmands! The things we have done in the past are: haunted houses, go out for ice cream, see movies, laser tag, scavenger hunts, Christmas parties, progressive dinners, etc. This way, the mentor is not required to make a completely separate time to go out. We provide the activity and the entire evening helps to also integrate them into the youth group. Now if the mentor wants to kick it up a notch, they can also commit to being a small group leader on the other Sunday evenings (Junior High Small Groups meet from 5-6:30 PM). I know that this would make for some commitment for Sundays throughout the school year, but in all seriousness the pay off would be so worth it. You would be taking advantage of programs that are already in place, you would be learning alongside of your confirmands, being integrated into the educational process, and we will make sure you have a blast with them once a month! The times are already set! You do not need to create extra time unless you think it is necessary.

At this point I want to invite dialogue into these thoughts and ideas that I have tossed out. This many or many not be the final look for Confirmation next year. There may be other ideas that we have not thought of. Some of you may be very excited or very terrified of some of the thoughts and ideas suggested here. I want to ask that you think and pray about these ideas. The ultimate outcome, if this is done correctly will be seen 10, 20 or 30 years from now. It is within this type of structure that I believe we will stop the stereotype of students drifting away from their faith as soon as they move away from home and go off to college. If their spiritual life is primarily fostered at home and supported and encouraged within the framework of the church, I believe that their faith will be strong enough to weather any storm that comes their way and will carry them into their adult years.

Also, I do realize that in light of the research above, it begs us to not only evaluate Confirmation but possibly other areas of youth ministry too. The timing is right for a healthy discussion as we enter into the Summer and we begin to dream about the new school year on the horizon.

Bibliography

Clark, Chap and Dee; Disconnected: Parenting Teens in a MySpace World. Baker Books 2007.

Hersch, Patricia; A Tribe Apart: A Journey Into the Heart of American Adolescence. Ballentine Books, 1998.

Hine, Thomas; The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager. Avon Books, 1999.

Smith, Christian and Denton, Melinda Lundquist Denton; Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. Oxford University Press, 2005.

Taffel, Dr. Ron and Blau, Melinda; The Second Family: How Adolescent Power is Challenging the American Family. St. Martin's Press, 2001.