Growing Old Fast...

Time seems to FLY anymore. My little sister is graduating from High School tomorrow and I have to ask: "Where did the time go? Where's Hopey instead of the woman Hope?" It's crazy to think that she's going to be 18 and in Nursing School next year!!I also think of the seniors that are graduating this year from my ministry...where did the time go? Didn't I just see you in 10th grade? What the heck! Plus, the freshman I started with are now seniors...where...

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Last Night (Wednesday May 28)

Last night we looked at the calling of a Hero. I opened the evening up with this clip from The Lion King: I highlighted the part where Mufasa says: "You are more than you've become, you are my son...". I told the teens that they can be more than they've ever thought, because they are God's child and they can become heroes! The main points I made last night were that the world's definition of a hero is slightly different than God's. The world's definition is someone with super powers, or someone extraordinary doing acts of courage or spectacular...

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Trip to DC...

Hilary and I got back to Nyack, NY at about 8pm last night from DC. Hilary and I spent a GREAT time with friends and family. We drove Sue Pettit (m boss's wife) down with us and had some GREAT conversation with her on Friday. Hung out with my sister that afternoon, we went into downtown Washington, D.C. and saw: The Capitol Building, the Washington Monument and the Native American Museum. Went back to Heather and Brooke's house (my sis and her...

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In D.C.

Hey! I'm here sitting in Falls Church, VA at my sister and brother-in-laws house! We went into DC yesterday and are going back again today! I am totally pshycked to be here and love my family! Hilary and I are celebrating our 2 year anniversary here! Well, catch ya lat...

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Coffee, Coffee, COFFEE! (Part 2)

Today, I DID have my coffee and boy am I HYPER!! I was annoying everyone in staff meeting because I was so hyper (not really annoying, just livening them up). Todays coffee is Gold Blend from Starbucks. Freshly ground and freshly made. It's labeled "Extra Bold". Here's what I look like in my office (seriously this is true)Here's a quick video of my hyper-ness in action listening to the Afters...

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Last Night (Wednesday May 21)

Last night, we talked about How to have the Heart of a Hero. We looked at a shocking story where there were severe consequences, yet still received grace. We focussed on the life of King David and saw a few things from his life that allowed us to see how to have the heart of a hero.Here is what we discussed: God cares more about the INSIDE than the OUTSIDE; God's forgiveness is FAR-REACHING; God still allows CONSEQUENCES to our sins and God's...

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Tonight (TUES May 20)

Tonight, we talked about integrity. I started off with a shocking story of people cheating on a test and asked about the integrity of the men who did it. I discussed the ideas of all facets of integrity. I challenged the youth about how honest they are, where they let go of their integrity and why they let go of it. I shared how truly important our integrity is. I used Daniel 6 to describe how Daniel was a strong man of integrity and challenged...

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Thinking About Tonight...

Tonight, we're talking about integrity and the temptation to be integrity-less. I am shocked as I look back into my last 2 years here and realize I've never talked about it...I am excited about it and believe that it's going to be GREAT! I'll let you know...

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BIG Dreams...

I often sit and dream. People who know me, know that sometimes I come up with HUGE ideas for myself and the ministry that I am in. I often say things like: "I want to write a book, in fact I'm gonna" or "I want to speak at a conference with 10,000 people" or even "I want to be used to help design and organize Global Youth Ministry". These are my BIG dreams. They used to be due to pride. the ever present: "if only I have this, then I'll be...

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Coffee, Coffee, COFFEE!

I've been drinking Starbucks Christmas Blend (I know, it's not Christmas) for the past 2 days with my typical Creme Brulee creamer...today I neglected to make it and I am tired! In fact this is how I look:Actually, that's more acting than reality, but still I feel wiped today because I'm missing my sweet, sweet Starbucks loving! What are you missing today? Comment...

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Rob Bell and Velvet Elvis...

I have jut finished Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis and I really liked it! Tons of his ideas are rich with truth and amazing possibilities for the generations to come. I've seen and heard TONS of well-meaning Christians bash this fellow brother to bits and called him a heretic of the worst kind. Trust me brothers and sisters, he is NOT a heretic. His ideas and thoughts are radical to be sure, but none of is it inconsistent with scripture. If you take his words out of context, then yes he is heretical, but if you read his words, or listen to his Nooma...

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Heroes: Jr. High week 1

This month is going to be FUN! This is one of my favorite topics to talk about, because everyone in life does need a hero. I started last night with a quick video from the new Superman movie (you can watch it below), which got the students thinking about how we need a hero in our lives. I asked them who their personal hero was in their life, who they looked up to and who they said in their heads: "I want to be like them" was. I the shared how our society is completely obsessed with heroes and the idea of heroes. I shared how many Super-Hero...

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Tuesday Night: Temptation week 1

Tonight, we opened up the topic of Temptation with the topic of drugs and alcohol. It was a pretty "light" night as we simply defined what temptation was, and discussed how we have all suffer from it. As always, the guys small group surprised me. Even though I brought "lighter" material tonight, the guys took it to a deeper level. For this, I can't take a lick of credit...God has blessed me with amazing leaders who hear the voice of God and move that way. God is doing something in my heart and I believe I will be putting the "Temptation" theme...

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New Feature!!

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Something funny for Monday

As many of you may know, there have been several CRAZY things that have happened to me in my life...and I love to share them. Today's story is no exception. The year was 2004 and my then girlfriend (now wife Hilary) came on vacationto the Outer Banks, NC with my family for the first time. I had just finished my first year of college and Hilary and I were growing closer to each other... This isn't a sentimental story, so I will stop with the history and get to the goods. We all decided to go to the beach and swim and swim we did. We were in...

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The Messiness of Evangelism

A hard lesson I had to learn not only about my faith in Jesus, but also as a member of this culture was this: I cannot hold a non-Christian to a Christian standard. I cannot expect someone who has NO CLUE about Christ and his transforming power to live as though they do. However, we as Christians do that very thing from time to time and because we do, we turn people away from the Christ that can transform them. Tonight, some of my youth group guys IMPRESSED me. We had two students at are chill with the guys night who had pretty foul mouths...yet...

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Gawkering...

A blog I frequent (Ragamuffin Soul) had this awesome feature that he shared in which a program connected to his iSight camera (only on the MAC) and took a picture every 5 seconds and then compiled it into a quicktime movie, thus showing your day in 5 second segments (it takes about 2 minutes) So, I thought: Cool idea, I'll do it too, here's what came out... Enjoy yall...let me know what you think...

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