Last Night

Last night some friends and myself went down to Huntington Beach for some beach-side Wahoo's. Had a good time, although my food was rather cold. We then went and saw the Redbull Illumine show. All along the beach where these black cube that contained photographs of people doing some incredible things: rocking climbing, surfing, biking, skating, etc. If you're down there at night be sure to check it out.

Some more thoughts on Leadership...

So, I have been thinking about different elements of leadership and its interaction with different types of personalities. Leadership is a process. It involves learning and analyzing. But ultimately it involves commitment. When we are committed to something we do regardless of the surrounding circumstances. Would I cancel our Wednesday night program because only 4 students showed-up? Would I cancel worship because only 4 students will hear? Of course not! Leadership is being committed to a task, a purpose. If our purpose is be Christ to Junior High students, how does cancelling elements of a program help. It might help our selfish need for food, or getting someplace faster, or hanging out with friends. I think a true leader rolls with the punches and uses every opportunity to connect with students, preach the word, and honor God with a mindset that encourages "going to be there for you" not bolt for the door because the program's over and your hungry.

With that said, people have a different idea of what is "best" for ministry. Personality has a lot to do with how one process' information. We all have filters, some are more adjusted than others.

I have so much more to learn...

Wow...time flys

I just realized that in a little over two weeks, I will be on a plane to Thailand. Craziness....how time flys!!!

Why I'm afraid of Josh Griffin

So I have this new thing going on on my "myspace" profile. I basically choose 16 people to be placed upon my "favorites" list. Josh Griffin who by far is my favorite podcast celebrity has made the number five spot. I recently read (on a mutual friends myspace profile) that Josh is trying to make my top 8. Now, what scares me about this is the fact that Josh is (from what I understand) rather handy with the computer. My fear is this, he will somehow change my favorites (as a joke of course) to show my "top 8" and he will be number 1!!! If he does this I will buy him a chick-Fil-A lunch.

Funny Conversation II

This is a conversation I had with a junior higher today:

Jordan- "hey Lucas, did you know that if you eat your boogers, you're eating human skin!"

Me- "what?"

Jordan- "Yeah, basically boogers is dust and dust is made up of human skin...SO we're really eating human skin when we eat our boogers."

Me- "so by eating our boogers we become cannibals?"

Jordan- "What?"

yeah, and this was an 8th grader....too funny!

When leaders don't lead

This week my attention is drawn to my current 7th grade students. It is safe to mention that most of our student leadership team is made up of 8th grade students. So, naturally I'm looking to future to see who will step up to the plate. The exciting thing about this is that I have over 8 students that come to mind. Yet, when asked to consider student leadership they rather do other things such as "sports, the mall, hanging with friends, etc." They have no desire to lead, yet they swell with enormous leadership qualities. Many of them set the social climate on any given Wednesday. So what do you do with a students who exhibit leadership qualities but don't want to lead?

CTU Daycare

This is what happens at the CTU daycare.

Fess Ups

Add to My Profile More Videos

Funny Conversation

Tonight my small group had a really funny conversation. Before we got started, we somehow started talking about Pomeranians (you know that little furry football with legs). Then it became Polynesian Pomeranian, then it became Polynesian Pomeranian dancers that do the dance you can not do. I am still wondering how we started talking such things... the funny things that 8th grade guys can come up with.

Students

I have found that students are very selfish beings. It seems to get worst as they grow up. Today was the last day to sign-up for our JH Summer Camp. Out of 35 only five have signed up. This is a first for our ministry. It seems that the "fun" factor in events is no longer the hook, while neither is the spiritual element. Here are few excuses I received today:

• "Oh we're not going to Catalina??? I don't want to go."
• "I have sports events that week."
• "It's too expensive."
• "I don't know why I don't want to go."

Such interesting times in which we live in. When I was younger or even last year students couldn't wait to sign-up. Humm....your thoughts?

A Conversation...

Yesterday evening right before our "Wired Game Night" event, I had a parent call. I answered the call thinking it was a parent asking about when the event was over. But to my surprise it was a parent concerned about the nature of the "games" we would be playing, or more specifically the game HALO.

This father was extremely gracious to me and rather brought to my attention that HALO is rated mature. I was unknowingly aware of this, but the father seemed to be concerned about the influence this would have on students. So I told him that I would look into it, and make the proper decision.

After researching why HALO is rated "mature" I found that it is so because of bad language and some blood.

What validates my decision for using HALO in the youth ministry is this:

1. The bad language is only in the Legendary setting and or campaign setting. Our students use the split-screen mode.
2. The blood factor is rather pathetic, in which would see more blood from a simple paper cut than on HALO.
3. Students like and it's a fun way to connect students who wouldn't usually hang out together.
4. It's easy to set up.

With this said, 5 years ago after having a conversation like this, I would have been angry and discouraged. But I look at like this:

1. I wish more parent's would be as forth coming as this father was.
2. This parent is concerned about me as much as he is concerned about his student.
3. Parent's can tender some form of encouragement.