Top 4 from Middle School Winter Camp

I know that there are "top X" lists all over the place but this one is going to be special to me.  See in October 2006 our church hired Chase Feindel to lead Ignite; our middle school ministry.  That year was a super tough year for me in ministry and it was nice to pass Ignite off to Chase, actually its realistic to say that I dumped it on him because I was done.  In 2007 Chase ran his first winter camp to Big Bear Lake and did really good with the poor planning and lame set-up that I had done.  I have to randomly include this picture of the coldest temp while were up there.

Well after leading a few more camps on his Chase has totally turned the wheel and done some amazing ministry.  This year was a treat for me to be invited to speak at our middle school winter camp up at Pine Summit in Big Bear Lake.  As I watched, engaged and spoke this weekend here are four things that really stuck out to me:

1) Our church has a great Middle School Pastor
Please notice that I did not say "good" middle school pastor.  Chase has grown into a great middle school pastor and I truly believe that he will continue to grow in his leadership.  I am starting with this because of how I see Chase lead students and his adult leader team.  There is a huge love for Chase in his ministry and I know that he desires to point these students to Christ; that is one thing that makes him great.

2) Adult Leaders who Lead
In our church we call our adults who help out leaders.  We do not have chaperones in our ministry.  Chase has a team of leaders who serve alongside him that are leaders.  Chase is actively training up new leaders and inviting leaders onto the team to lead students.  I loved watching this this weekend and just seeing leaders doing what God has called them to do.

3) God Sending Snow
I have been on so many winter camps that I cannot even count how many I have been on now.  This was my third winter camp this year (I lead one and spoke at another one prior to this) and it was so rad having God send snow!  It snowed about 18-24 inches while we were up there and it just made for a cool weekend.  Anytime you can take a bunch of kids from the desert and get them fresh snow its super cool.

4) Speaking to Our Church
It was so rad for me speaking to our middle school students and the leadership team.  See when I came out here over six years ago we had 8 students on my first night; there were many more than that this weekend.  I felt very strongly that I needed to communicate the message clearly to our students this weekend because I will have these students in my ministry in the coming year.  I felt like I had a chance to share with these students about what they can expect in their coming years at South Hills.

Ignite Winter Camp 2011 Saturday Overview

This morning I woke up at 3:40am when Leah started crying
I moved to the couch around 4:20am when Leah came into our bed
I woke up around 6am when my mom came into the living room and opened the windows

I was so thrashed tire this morning when I rolled up to camp but it is so cool to see God moving up here.  I am so proud of our middle school team right now and tomorrow I'm going to post about my top 4 favorite things from winter camp.  This morning I spoke about finding our identity in Christ and helping students move from listening to the world to listening to God.  You gotta watch this video and see how the road conditions were when I drove to camp and how much snow we got last night.



After chapel I went home and played in the snow with the girls for a little while, spent some time with my family and then had a yummy dinner.  I headed back to Pine Summit for Saturday night chapel and God showed up.  I prayed that God would help students to leave here with understanding His truth and not my stories.  Tonight was decision night and I shared my favorite story from Mark 10; the story of Blind Bartimaeus.  I challenged the students pretty hard tonight because I go to the same church they do and I was convicted to not make it easy to accept Christ.  I know that salvation is free for us; but it was costly for Jesus.  I know its easy to raise your hand; but its tough to live for Christ.

My prayer is that these students grow this weekend and radically live for Christ

Love Story Overview

Last night we finished up teaching our "Love Story" series.  We are like most student ministry programs take the month of February to teach about love or purity; this year it fell on love for us.  The main goal that I wanted to communicate through this teaching series was to look at the different aspects of Love that we encounter in society.  We decided that the best way to do this would be to start out by looking at how God loves us and cares for us; that seemed to simple so I took it one step further.

Here is how the series broke out:

Week 1: The Joy of Being Loved
This week instead of talking about love and being kind of generic; I chose to talk about finding our identity in Christ.  The main point from the night was "Through forgiveness and acceptance I begin to find my true identity in Christ".  This point came from teaching about the sinful woman who fell at the feet of Jesus crying and found out how loved she was by Jesus.

Week 2: Protecting the Goldfish
I started off this week sharing my story of failure in my sexual purity and how I made one really bad choice that lead to other bad choices in my life.  Talked about how King David made one really bad choice and how that lead to other bad choices in his life; how sin tends to take us downward in a spiral.  I ended the message with an illustration about how the world is like a blender and we are a goldfish.

Week 3: Life is about Who you Love
This was a super cool message because one of our adult leaders taught the night while I was away at seminary.  Mikey McComb shared from 1st John about love and how we need to engage culture by loving it.  Mikey brought it that night and talked about how our love needs to flow from God.

Week 4: The Difference Between Pink and Blue
The last week of the message series had to be my favorite week for a few reasons.  One of our graduated students came home and has joined our Adult Leader Team.  She jumped in for this message and we team taught the message sharing about differences that guys and girls face but how we are all called to seek out God.

Overall, I was very impressed with the series and how it turned out.  For week two of the series our student leaders took the time to deck out our room and created an amazing environment for students.  We did what we call "Invite Night" and the room was packed; it felt good!  Better than all the students was seeing our students take their time to reach out to their friends.  Watch this video to see a quick overview of the night.

Leah's Got Style

I can't believe that in less than one month Leah is going to be one year old!

Well the funny thing about Leah is that she likes to do it her way and the girl has style!  Most kids crawl, and then walk; but not Leah.  Leah thought that she needed to add another step into the system.  So if you want to take 30 seconds out of your life and have a good laugh you can see how Leah walks... on her knees.

I have never seen this before but it makes me smile watching my little Leah grow up

Top 10 things to do in Vegas

This week I was catching a flight home and found myself talking with those around me about what to do in Vegas.  Since we have lived here for the last six years I decided to come up with this list of my top ten things to do while you are in Vegas.

1. Fountains at Bellagio
This has to be my favorite thing that Charity and I do here in town.  Its free so all you have to do is get down to the strip!  We always park Valet and just tip the guys a few bucks when we pick up our car.  The fountains run regularly every 15 minutes.  They play various songs and I have noticed that over the years they keep adding songs to the list. Cost= Free

2. Jean Philippe Cafe
While you are down on the strip and heading to the fountains, make a stop inside the Bellagio.  Charity and I like to go in there and share a crape.  We usually get one with nutella and raspberries on top.  This is a must while you are in town and in love! Cost= $15

3. The Shark Reef
If you have an hour or so to kill and want to just relax a take a stroll while looking at some super cool fish then stop in at the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay.  We have gone here with friends, family and I loved it when we took our daughter.  The experience is not too long but its a great thing to get away from the slots while you are here.  Cost= $15 per person

4. Viva Elvis
We have seen about five shows since we moved here and this one was my favorite that we have seen.  Now don't get me wrong; KA, Celine Dion, and Blue Man Group (close second) are amazing but this was my favorite.  Viva Elvis combines dance, music and some sweet acrobatics into a tantalizing show.  Cost= Depends where you sit

5. Mona Mi Gabi
This is the restaurant that is directly under the Eiffel Tower at the Paris.  You can get reservations but don't.  If the weather is nice you want to sit on the patio.  The patio is on the strip and you sit directly across from the Fountains at Bellagio.  The food is great but not too expensive.  This is a great date for a couple that wants to have fun but not break the bank.  Cost= $60 for a couple

6. Indoor Skydiving
Its technically called: "Vegas Indoor Skydiving". This is pretty random on the list but I loved it!  I have been once and would love to go more often.  Its kinda like skydiving but less expensive.  Its a trill, something you will never forget, close to your hotel and not super expensive. Cost= $70 per person

7. Secret Garden at The Mirage
The Secret Garden at the Mirage is a cool exhibit that Charity and I visited about 4 years ago.  They have dolphins, tigers, and many other animals to look at.  The cost was worth the visit but I don't think that it is worth a re-visit that often.  I still want to take my daughters there.  Cost $15 per person

8. Visit Lake Mead
Lake Mead is slowly depleting but it remains one of my favorite attractions in Las Vegas.  While you are there you can hit the Hoover Dam tour, rent a boat, take out Jet Ski's, or catch a meal on a river boat. I personally like to bring a loaf of bread out there and just feed the fish and ducks with my family.  Cost= $5 per car

9. Canal Ride at Venetian
Maybe you don't have the time, or money, to head over to Venice and take ride on a Gondola but you can do that here in Vegas!  Head down to the Venetian and take a ride on the grand canal.  Charity and I have done this one a few times.  You can charter your own Gondola or if funds are tight you can jump in with some others.  The ride is totally worth it no matter what road you take.  Cost= $15 per person or $60 for your own boat

10. Take a ride on the Stratosphere
This one is for the trill seeker.  I only venture down here when some of my friends from back home head into town.  They drag me down and we usually ride the big shot that is on top; its not the only ride though you have many to choose from.  The cost on this will vary so check the website and get ready to pee your pants!

You may not have a local in town that you can talk to about what to do while you are in Vegas so here is my list.  You may find something that needs to be on here; just let me know and maybe I will add it.

10 Days with the Verizon iPhone

Originally I wanted to title this post: "7 days with the Verizon iPhone" but I had seminary all week so I am stretching it out a few more days.  Now just to make it clear; I am no tech review guy; I am just a normal guy who has waited for Verizon to finally get the iPhone.  There was one point we mentioned going to AT&T but I just couldn't see going to a lesser network for a better phone.

On February 3rd 2011 I was one of the millions of people who ordered the Verizon iPhone.  Not only did I order one for myself but I also ordered one for my wife.  Now I didn't get on at 3am in the morning but I did order them around 7am.  When I ordered them I was under the impression that they would not be mailed out until February 10th.  I figured we would get them right after I left for school and then I would have to wait a week to use it; but that didn't happen.  I got a tracking number the next day telling me my iPhone was on its way!

So after having the Verizon iPhone here are some of my thoughts:

Set-up: The set-up of these phones was super easy.  We just plugged them into our Macbooks and boom! It set it all up for me.

Battery LIfe:  This is something that is important for my life.  I have been up all day today.  I was in class.  I checked email, texted people, checked email, played a game, checked in for my flight, called my wife and even did some FaceTime with her.  I still have over 50% of my battery.

FaceTime: I love FaceTime.  Its great to be able to talk to my family face to face while I am away at work or out of town.  Its nice to be able to call them up and see how they are doing.  The bummer on this is that you have to be connected to WI-FI to make it happen.

Apps: I am not that huge of an app guy.  I actually had a student I work with grab my phone and flip through it.  I could see she was disappointed at my lack of apps.  I do have apps that work for me.  I have Twitter, Southwest Airlines, some games and then a few more apps.  I am satisfied with the apps and how they work.

Calls: The reason I didn't get the AT&T iPhone is due to the massive issue of dropped calls.  I have to say that I have not dropped one call.  This phone has great reception.  There was one instance where I had mediocre service but I could still hear just fine.

Camera: The camera on this phone is so rad!  All the pics on this post are from the camera on here.  It has great picture quality and the video capability is top notch also.  If you want to see video quality, I posted a video here on youtube.

Email/Calendar: I am weird on this.  I want my gmail but I don't want my work email.  I want my work calendar but I don't want my gmail calendar.  I can have all that.  It was very easy to set up to get my personal email but not my personal calendar.  I set up my work calendar but told it not to sync work email.  Very easy!

Overall: I love the phone!  I am one of the many Verizon customers that didn't switch and I am very thankful for that choice.  I am glad that I waited for the iPhone to come to me.  Overall I am a satisfied customer.

Eleven Years of Being Sober

Today is not a special day for me because of Hallmark or the present that I bought the love of my life.  Today is a special day to me because eleven years ago, this morning, is the last time I went to jail.

You may think that sounds funny... and to be honest it does.  February 13th 2000 is the last time I was arrested.  That night when I went to Vista County Jail I was sure that I was going to serve a one year sentence for violating my probation.  That night in jail, though, something different happened.  I specifically remember looking around the jail and questioning the choices I had made to get to this point in life.  I often wondered what had gotten me here and understood that it was a series of unwise decisions.

As the night wore on and I began more uneasy about staying in jail I did something that I hadn't done in a while; I prayed.  I started talking to God like He was real.  I started telling God all my unwise choices and how sorry I was for them.  I started telling God that I was sick of the life I have created for myself (I think He was sick of it too).  That night I asked God to do something for me.  I asked God if He would get me out of jail that I would quit everything and do whatever He wanted in my life (be careful when you say that).

I did the normal rounds in the jail: I went from cell to cell.  I got fingerprinted.  I got my mug shots again.  I made a phone call to my old youth leader.  As morning came around, and the alcohol wore off, I went to the last station.  This is where I was prepared to get my orange jumpsuit, again, and head down to county.  At this window came a pleasant surprise.  When I got there the lady at the window handed me all my belongings and told me this: "The bailiff will be around in 5 minutes to let you out.  Head over to that cell."

I thought it was a dream
I didn't know what to say
I was silenced
I did what she said and sure enough the bailiff came over and released me

That morning was the first time, in a long time, in my life that I thought God was real.  Well from that day I knew that I had to keep my promise to God.  He got me out and it was my turn to quit everything that I had been doing.  That week I stopped drinking and quit doing cocaine.  I didn't smoke anymore pot and to be honest it was one of the toughest weeks of my life.  Some people may think this is a tough story and it is but if I didn't get arrested that night I truly think that I would have died years ago from something drug related.

Today I celebrate new life
Today I celebrate having an amazing wife
Today I celebrate two little girls that love their dad
But most important today I celebrate a God who loved me so much that He released me from the jail I created for myself and pointed my feet on a road that leads to Him.
Thank you for loving me Lord; I need you just as much today as I did eleven years ago!

Winter Camp 2011 Overview

Winter Camp 2011 has come and gone; at least the "date" has but I think year has had a residual effect on students lives.

This year we held our winter camp in Brian Head Utah, the same place we have done it for the last five years. The last five years of doing camp on our own has taught us some good ministry lessons (and made us very thankful for summer camp at Hume Lake). This year there was something different about winter camp though; something smooth, something bigger than us. The theme we went for was growth and challenging students to grow in their walk with Christ.

We left Friday afternoon and were about 75 minutes out of Vegas when the tire blew on our trailer. I stayed back with another leader while our Executive Pastor came and brought us two new tires. This was really the only "speed bump" we hit along the way (no pun intended).

Chase Fiendel was our speaker this year and he brought it! He is our Middle School Pastor and it was so rad to have him with us because many of the students already know Chase and he was able to just jump in and start working with students. He spoke very honestly about his life on Friday night and how he needs people in his life to help him grow. He also talked about living for Eternity and making sure that we are focusing our life on God things. I wish we could have recorded the messages!

Our Adult Leaders are a key part of this event. We ask ALOT of them on this trip. They drive up vans, trucks and tow trailers. We have two leaders go up a day early with the Costco run (about $1600) and then Friday morning divi it up in the homes. The leaders are there getting students to chapel, helping to cook, clean the homes, snowboard, sled, and minister to students. This year I walked away knowing that without that exact team camp would not have been what it was. I am so thankful for the leadership team I get to work with. I constantly tell them they are a huge part of what keeps me here, with the passion I have, working with students.

One aspect I love is bringing students who graduated from our ministry and now come back to serve. Kurt Johnson was in my small group for a few years and I just love what God is doing in his life. He is a Junior at Azusa Pacific University and loves Jesus! Kurt ran recreation for us on Saturday. Kyle Rock just graduated from UNLV and has been faithful in helping us with media. Kyle came and filmed the weekend so we could capture the event on film. Marianna McComb graduated a fear years ago and is attending BIOLA University down in So Cal. She came up and lead worship for us and helped ushered students into worship with Jesus.

To be honest I thought this would have been our last time in Brian Head because it had become so much work but this year gave me hope that we are on the right track and can do this again!

Check out the video recap of the weekend

Utilizing the Off Button

For about the last two months I have been utilizing the off button on my my devices.  This basically started with a tweet that my buddy Brian Berry posted about shutting his phone off when he gets home to be able to be more focused on the family.  Well I read this tweet and had been reading a book called "Emotionally Healthy Spiritually".  The book was talking about creating intentional times in your life to connect with God and I decided that I needed to create some of those times.

I have created four times in the day where I intentionally focus on God; one of those times is when I use the off button on my phone.  Now what I do is text Charity before I leave the office to let her know I am heading home.  Then I shut off my phone, I know its crazy, and on my drive home I take some time to connect with God again.  I pray through the day and give the day to God.  I talk to God about conversations that frustrated me, conversations that encouraged me and ask Him to help me remember what I need to work on tomorrow.

This time has been so good for me to just have 10-15 minutes in my day with no phone that can distract me and time to focus on God.  It has also helped me to be better focused when I get home with my family.  I used to talk the entire ride home and try to get more conversations in but would be distracted from my family.  Its been super rad to see how turning off my phone has been so good for my family and my soul.  How will you use the off button?

Pondo Winter Camp

About a year ago a friend of mine called and asked me if I would like to speak at the winter camp she helps coordinate and the answer was "yes, I would love to!"

So the year goes by and this weekend I had the opportunity to speak at Pondo; a camp in the San Bernardino Mountains. I pulled in around 5pm Friday night and was able to meet Dan Skipper, the man who leads Pondo. We chatted for a bit and got to know each other. I appreciate men like Dan who have ministry experience and are committed to seeing students lives change. After we chatted I got all my media set up (that is the boring part of the story). That night we had our first chapel and I have to admit that I was extremely nervous about speaking. I typically get nervous prior to speaking in any setting I find myself speaking before more than 50 people; but this time I was extremely nervous. It made me know that God wanted me to rely on Him!

Chapel started and I knew that God has asked me to speak up there, I was prayed up and prepared for the night. Saturday morning rolled around and chapel was right there. The morning started with me speaking and then worship from the Aaron Hofman Band. Aaron and I have done a few camps together but this one was special. That night was decision and I would say that about 60 of the 250 middle school students up there made a choice to follow Christ in a new way; that was exciting!

Sunday came before I knew it and it was time to share the last message; how do we duplicate our faith? I spoke on Luke 15; The Parable of the Lost Sheep, and how Jesus asks us to reach out to those around us. I feel like the camp was a huge success for the Kingdom. I had such a great time getting to meet the team up there and ministering to students. It was different for me being on that end of the program and not being there with our student but I am very thankful for the opportunity and really think that God was glorified this weekend!

I love the location of Pondo; it is close to So Cal and up in the mountains I grew up in. There is nothing like being in the mountains with a bunch of leaders who love God and like students and getting to watch God continue to change lives. Thanks for having me Pondo; I loved being there with you this weekend

Apple Care

About 3 years ago I switched over from the dark side to the light; by that I mean I got a Mac.  Now when I got a Mac so did the rest of our church staff.  Some people got a Mac Mini, some got a Macbook and there were a few iMac's.  I was super thankful for the new computer and while learning about my Macbook fell in love with it.  We also ordered this thing called  "Apple Care".  At the time it kinda seemed like a waste to me but I did enjoy being able to call Apple and ask any question that I had about my Mac.

Some of you may have seen that last week my Mac broke!  It may be better to say that I broke my Mac.  I posted this picture, using Twitpic, of the damage I caused.  After I did this I sat my desk for about two minutes in shock.  I was bummed because I had broke my computer.  I was bummed because I had broke the church's computer.  I was bummed because I knew we didn't have money to buy me a new one.

So I called Apple Care and told them the story of what happened.  The guy on the line booked me an appointment at the Genius Bar for 3pm that day.  I told the guy what I had done and how it broke.  He looked at it real quick and told me that we could fix it.
He said: "It was an easy fix; just four screws to remove."
When he said that I jokingly said: "Can you just put a new hard drive in there while you're doing that?"
His response was: "Ya for sure."
I thought he was joking but he totally wasn't.

Not only did Apple fix my broken screen, but they gave me a new hard drive too (and a bigger one)!  Oh ya I forgot to mention that they gave me a new battery too.  Now you have to be thinking; "What is the cost on that?"  Great question.  The cost would have been $692.  The great part; I had two days left of my three year warranty.  You know what that means?  I will be buying Apple Care for every Apple product I buy from here on out!

Committed

This month in our High School Ministry we are doing a series called "Committed".  Over the summer I sat down with our interns and we planned out the entire teaching schedule from September through April.  One of the things that I wanted to make sure was that we didn't teach through passages that we have done before.  I know for me I can become familiar with a text and basically fall in love with the passage.  I get comfortable with the text and then I fail to venture out and teach the entirety of God's word; not this year.

Committed is a three-week series where we dive into the book of Ruth.  We tend to teach topically in our high school ministry but will often take the time to go through a book of the Bible too.  This year we are going to try to hit about three books, short ones of course, and help students really grab the Biblical lesson that we find in it.

The basic story is that Ruth is a woman from Moab who makes a commitment to God on the side of the road.  She comes to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law and while there learns about the sovereign love of God.  Her commitment of faith requires her to trust in God for provision of daily needs.  While in Bethlehem she marries a man named Boaz and becomes a mother.  Her grandson is King David and from our position in history we can see that Ruth changes history because she is the great grandmother of Jesus.

The question we are asking students is what are they committed to in life and how will that commitment change history?

The Use of Media

Last summer I took a course on preaching that was taught by Dr. Rod Casey and in that course we talked about many different aspects of the worship service. There were multiple things that stuck out to me. Sometimes guys will stop there; but I didn't. Rod was very generous with me and spent some extra time one and one and in that time I was very intentional to listen to his advice and wisdom. There were two major things that I took away from that course:

1) The need to be very intentional in my message delivery

2) The need to use media within the worship service

Now some people would disagree with point number two but not me. See I have been working with students for almost ten years now, in the church setting, and have seen first hand how media impacts students lives. There is usaully someone you know that is defined by something they use in their teaching method. I am known as the "video clip" guy at our church. I am constantly using video clips to help teach points because I think it can say things in a way that I cannot communicate and it brings a break in the message to refocus everyone on what is on the screen.

Now another use of media we have done is to allow students to help with making videos that we can show for announcements and Kyle Rock has been the man at this. Just recently though I saw an article from Kurt Johnson and we started doing very simple voice overs to communicate the announcements. It is a fun way to share the announcements and get students involved. Check some of them out



This one was for our Cheesy Christmas Sweater Party


This one cracked me up for winter camp rules


A fairly simple, inexpensive, way to communicate

My Top Five from 2010

2010 was a good year.  We had some crazy times as a family and some great times.  Overall I have to look back on the year with some huge learning lessons, some great ministry lessons and wonderful time with my family.  On New Years Eve Charity and I were talking about our top five from the year, she already blogged her's, and it was good to just talk and think about all that God has done for us and how He provides for our family.

With that said here is my top five greatest memories from 2010:

1) The birth of Leah Joy Benson
This seems to have to be a no brainer that my daughter being born was by far the best thing to happen to our family in 2010.  When Leah was born we were both a bit nervous because of all the issues that we had with Sophie.  It was great to have Charity's mom and sister in town to help out on the day Leah arrived.  We went to the hospital late on the night of March 10th and at 7:06am on March 11th Leah Joy joined us (of course I cried when I first saw her).

2) Elvis Wedding
January 7th 2010 marked Charity and I being married for 5 years.  We have decided that every five years we are going to do something big for our anniversary.  We also talked about how we may not live in Vegas for ever and we needed to do the Elvis Wedding.  So I got my tuxedo t-shirt out and we invited the friends to our wedding.  Now one of the best parts is that Charity was a good 7+ months pregnant!

3) Family Vacation in San Diego
Over the summer we packed up the girls and headed south to the beach.  Now its weird to write that we took a vacation in the city where Charity and I meet and used to live for a few years but we did.  We meet my Mom, her Husband, Sister and Nephew down there.  We went to the beach, Sea World, the Zoo and the Wild Animal Park.  Such a great time at the beach and with family!

4) Hume Lake Summer Camp
This was my sixth summer going to Hume Lake and every year I have enjoyed it more and more.  I think that is partly because we, as a student ministry, have learned how Hume functions and how we can best use the week up at camp.  Every year we bring more and more students there and have just seen God really grab students hearts in huge ways and change lives!  I am very thankful for the ministry that Hume Lake has in our students lives.

5) Beaver Dam Fishing Trip
My church did something great for me last year and gave me three weeks off for Spiritual Refreshment.  Part of that time I went on a four day fishing trip with my buddy here in town, Taun Yurek.  We went to Beaver Dam, in Nevada, and went fly fishing for trout.  This was by far one of the highlights of my year; getting away and just being in nature!  Now it was super cold but I pushed through it and had one of the best times of my life.

Well that's it; that's the top five things from 2010

Vision Night 2011

Last year we started a tradition in our High School Ministry.  We only have a few traditions here that we have done in the last six years since I started leading the ministry.  This one came from reading a friends blog, Josh Griffin, and what they do in their High School Ministry every year. 

The basic premise is that the first Wednesday of the year we are going to do some sort of "Vision Night" and share/remind students, and leaders, why we do what we do.  This year we called the night "Where are we going?"  Which I think is a question that churches need to be prepared to answer.  I want to be very clear with our High School students about what we are going to be about.  I want to make sure they know what they can expect from us and what we are going to expect from them.

The answer to this question is something we say around our church.  The goal of our high school ministry is to Make Jesus Famous.  Now I know for me that can be somewhat abstract and I want to make sure that we are clearly communicating.  With that said I broke it down to three concrete things that we will work on this as a high school ministry:

1) Relevant mid-week program
This means that we will teach the Bible weekly on Wednesday night in a way that a high school student can understand.  I am committed to having messages that are applicable to the life of a high school student.  The message will be clear, relevant and understand but challenging.  We are going to challenge students to grow in their faith!

2) Intentional Small Group Gatherings
This year we are calling our small groups Life Groups.  For a season we moved them onto campus but decided that we are going to move them back into homes.  I think that something happens when you sit on the couch and talk about Jesus and hear what Jesus is doing in others lives.  This will be a place where accountability and honesty can happen.  Where leaders will connect with students and ask them how they are doing.

3) Living out your faith on your camps
This is the part where students apply what they are learning from the first two.  The goal is that when life change happens that others notice it and want to be a part of that.  Our high school ministry has grown because of students lives being changed and them telling their friends.  We want students to learn to live their faith out on a daily basis.

So that is what we are going to be about this year in Explode!
(You can hear the message on Podcast if you like)

New Years Day Tradition

Our family has a New Years Eve and New Years Day Tradition!

The last two years we have hit up CPK (California Pizza Kitchen) on New Years Eve to just celebrate all that God has provided for us.  The following morning we decided to add to the tradition by heading to Mount Charleston to take the girls to play in the snow.  Now this is kinda weird for me because I grew up in Big Bear Lake and was around snow the first nineteen years of my life.  We have taken Sophie to winter camp the last two years and today was Leah's first time seeing the snow!

Mount Charleston is about an hour from our house and was about twenty-four degrees when we got there around 11am.  We parked and headed over to a small meadow that was covered in snow near a small sled area.  All Sophie talked about was building "Daddy Snowmen, Mommy Snowmen and Baby Snowmen".  So after trekking through knee deep powder we made some snow men!  The snow was very dry but we did it!

After making our snowmen I took Sophie sledding first.  She really loved it and then said she wanted to go to the top of the hill.  I took her a bit further up but when we got down she said: "I wanna go bye bye"  I think it scared her some.  We ended up staying there for a little while longer and I took Leah sledding; she loved it!  The line of the day was when Sophie was eating snow and said: "I love snow" with a huge smile.

The tradition made me very thankful for my family, all we have, and just having fun together!  Check out this video of Leah's first sled ride.

Marriage

We live in a culture where marriage is something that is disposable.

This week I had two encounters that are sparking this post to come alive but before I touch on those I want to share about my marriage.  In just over a week Charity and I will celebrate our six year anniversary.  Now I know that we don't have 50 years of marriage under our belts but I am good enough at math to know that you have to hit year six before you hit year fifty in marriage.

See our wedding didn't happen at all the way we planned we it.  For starters we bumped our wedding date up by almost six months because we felt that God was calling us to Vegas and didn't want to be apart that long.  Then on our wedding day it rained cats and dogs (not real cats and dogs, but a lot of rain) and we had to do a last minute location change from the beach to the convention center in Encinitas, CA.  The truth is we were bummed but we learned a quick lesson that night: it is about the marriage and not the wedding.

See the wedding is a one day event that we pour so much time and energy into but many couples fail to invest in their marriage.  If we could just switch the time and energy we place into those events I think we could see dramatically better results in marriage. 

Ok, so the wedding got rained out but we still had the honeymoon ahead of us.  Now since we moved the wedding up, we had to wait six months to go on the our honeymoon.  It was worth the wait.  We did Jamaica in the summer and you may know what that means; yep, Hurricane Season.  We had a hurricane pass to the North of the Island while we were there, but that didn't steal our joy.  We were a young couple in love, spending the days on the beach, eating free food, and drinking all the virgin pina colado's we wanted!

Then like most couples we had a kid, and she went to the NICU which was torture to us... literally.  We left the hospital without our daughter because she had to stay there.  We made it through that and grew stronger.  We trusted in God, confided in each other and shared our fears.  We cried together, prayed together, and called on our friends to help us through that time.  When it was time for our second daughter to be born we were scared.  Would this be the same as when Sophie was born?  Well it was the opposite!  Leah was born with no complications and a healthy little girl. 

Now I think I have the best family in the world but I still live in a culture that doesn't honor marriage or commitment.  You may wonder where I am getting that statement from.  This week I took my wife out for a date.  At our favorite Sushi restaurant we both have chopsticks that are just ours (its pretty cool to ask for them).  When I told the waiter that Charity and I both had the same last name he looked at me and said "Oh, you two are married?"  I was taken back but I get that living out in Vegas (and my wife is hot so people don't think she would marry a guy like me).

Then I was talking on the phone with an airline company and booking some tickets.  I was asking if I need to give them Leah's name as a lap baby and the lady on the phone told me I did.  She asked what we last name was; she was curious if Sophie and Leah had the same last name.  I was in shock.  I was just taken back again.  Now I know this happens all the time but what if it didn't? 

What if there was something inside humans that didn't leave each other?  I know that there are some marriages where a spouse is abusive and some leave for safety sake but what about the other situations?  Maybe I just wish that people would stick it out a bit more.  See we have hit hard times but the hard times have made the good times that much better and especially with each other.  I hope that our marriage lasts not only another six years but another sixty years.  I want to spend the rest of my life with Charity and I'm going to leave the office right now, grab some flowers and just let her know that I still love her!

Sophie Doing the Laundry

Oh my little Sophie makes me laugh in so many ways.  The other day I was doing the laundry, you read that right, and she jumped in to help.  Thankfully I was smart enough to grab the sick Sony camera and film this little ditty for you to watch!

Cheesy Christmas Sweater Night

We have an annual tradition around our high school ministry that started about 5 years ago.  I'm not really sure how it started but I am SO glad that it did!  We had some amazing leaders on our team, John and Jenny Van't Land, and they proposed that we do a Cheesy Christmas Sweater Night one year for Christmas.  I thought it was a great idea, and they were super stoked on it, so we made it happen!

Since then the event has progressively gotten better and better and this year we had our best night by far!  John and Jenny visited us from Africa (see video below)!  We had some students make a funny announcements video.  The catwalk had the steepest competition yet.  One of our students, Ciara Mangino, took pictures of the night.  We had Christmas treats galore and the night was just one of those nights that reminds me of why I love serving with our leaders and loving on high school students.  This year for the message we didn't go to the birth of Christ but talked about the need to be in a discipleship relationship and grow with Christ; the response was amazing!

Here are some of the media elements that we had from the night starting with the Explode announcements:



This was the special welcome from John and Jen

Leah is Crawling!

Well I can't believe it.
I knew it would happen and I pushed her to do it but Leah is crawling!  This video is from about 3 days ago and today Leah crawled from the living room into the kitchen.  She is totally mobile and that means more work for us.
I don't think I'm ready for little Leah to be crawling already... but I better get ready quick!