I Never Expected This: Part Two

This week I'm taking some time to blog about what I never expected to learn while in seminary.

I knew that going to seminary I would begin to get a better understanding of scripture but I never imagined that I would get this good of an understanding.  Now please hear me that I am not saying I totally understand everything in the Bible; that is not what I am saying.  I am saying that I am beginning to see how scripture fits together better.

For example I am currently taking a course on Old Testament Kings and Prophets.  I am loving this course because for so long I had NO clue how the Kings and Prophets fit together.  I am finally getting an understanding of what is happening in the Old Testament history.  Now to give you a glimpse into my past I was the guy who dropped out of high school my junior year.  This is a huge step for me when I am seeing the unity in scripture and how the word of God is complete.

I never expected that I would learn so much in seminary and just not learn it but enjoy it this much!

I Never Expected This: Part One

This week I'm going to take some time to share some thoughts that have been stirring in my mind from seminary.  Now I know that over a month ago I was ready to quit seminary but this month has been very good for me in my studies and thinking about what I am gaining from seminary that I never thought would happen!

This last Sunday I had the opportunity to preach at my favorite church in the country; South Hills Church in Henderson, NV.  I have been on staff at SHCC for over six years now but this was a cool Sunday.  I was able to kick off a three-week series on the book of Jonah.  Now something that was a huge blessing to me was having my best friend there, Mark Salazar, to see me preach.

Mark has been key in my growth in my walk with Christ.  Mark is like a "Barnabas" to me.  He has been there through so much and we have both grown in ministry greatly over the last almost eleven years I have known him.  I think that Mark is the kind of Christian man that every pastor needs in their life.

After church Mark brought his family over to my house for dinner and some hang time with the family.  While he and I were sitting at the table he was very encouraging about how my speaking style has grown (Mark has known me for a long time).  He was stoked to see how well I handled the text, how I enunciated my words and how I made sure to engage the crowd.  I was so encouraged to hear that from Mark and get that affirmation from him.

I thought about it and I never thought that seminary would help me in my preaching at much as it has.  I really give a bunch of that credit to Dr. Rod Casey and the course he taught last summer.  I think that course has helped m with my communication style in a huge way.  Rod helped me to get my thoughts together, to keep the message to one main point and to not be scared to leave great wisdom on my desk that just didn't fit into the message.  I guess I just never expected that seminary would help me grow in my preaching as much as it has.

Here is the message if you want to judge for yourself

Little Hands: Part Three

Yep another picture of me with my shirt off

So if you have been watching the progress of my tattoo I went down to the shop a week ago and sat down for another session with Johnny Five.  Johnny filled in the frames with some cool blues behind the hands to make them pop out.  Then we added some purple to the frame in the corners.  Johnny did the jewels in the frame with the girls birthstone colors and the coolest part was to put a drop shadow around the entire frame to make it stand out more.
I am loving this tattoo more and more every day!  One more session (after summer) to get the girls names down on the bottom.

Student Lead Worship

Student lead worship is something I am very passionate.  It could be a mixture of my training, my heart to empower students or just what I saw early in ministry but for the last six years I have had a heart to empower students to lead their peers in worship.

Now I know that some people will disagree with me on this point.  I also know that when we empower students to lead we can loose what some would call "quality".  Over the last eight years of student ministry I have come to the conclusion that I will always sacrifice quality to empower students to lead worship.  Let me share with you what has caused me to get the place where I am willing to empower students to sacrifice the quality of worship:

1) My Training
Early in ministry, when I was interning, I saw students lead worship well.  Was it the best worship experience that I have ever been involved in?  No not at all but it was worship.  I look at those students who were in the worship team over eight years ago and one of the guys went into full-time ministry and another went to college and still volunteers his time at the local church in the worship team.  I saw that when you empower students to lead it helps them use the gifts and talents that God has given them.

2) My Passion
I am very passionate about worship.  I love to worship God but if you sat in front of me at church you would be very thankful that I was not on stage.  I have actually had people, in front of me in church, ask me to sing softer.  I love to worship Jesus but you do not want me to lead.  This is a passion of mine to help students use their gifts to lead worship so that others will honor God.

3) Quality versus Involvement 

I know I've said this a few times but when students lead we are empowering students to use their gifts.  Paul told this to the church as Ephesus (Ephesians 4:11-12).  He talks about being the in ministry that our job as the pastoral leader is to train others up to do the work of the ministry.  When we empower students to lead it is empowering them to be involved in the local church.

I would love to hear your thoughts on students lead worship!

Renewed Passion

It is interesting how someone can change your perspective on things.  Just over two weeks ago I was ready to quick seminary.  Last week I spent a week in Redding working on seminary and it is amazing how being around the people in my seminary, the prof that I had and chatting with the dean for a few minutes can change my mind (I'm pretty sure the drive to school helped also because it allowed me time to just listen to God and chat with Him).

Here are some keys things that I think helped change my mind and turn me back around:

Great Professor
I am very thankful for the teaching at Tozer Seminary and this last week added to that thankfulness.  I had a prof who had a cool combination of training and that encouraged me.  Dr. George Haraksin II is a Lead Pastor at a church in So Cal.  He has training in Philosophy and is currently working on his Ph.D down in So Cal.  In class I learned a great deal from George by the way he communicated to our class.  He was extremely curious to the class and was constantly saying things like: "I want to press you on that, I am not trying to embarrass you but I want to see how you got there."  I learned just as much from George about how to communicate as I did from what he was teaching.

Give it Time
The old saying of just sleep on it held true for me in this case.  I already slept on it before I almost threw in the towel but I slept on it for a few weeks.  I knew that I was overloaded in life and was trying to balance too much.  Taking two courses in one semester is just too much for me.  I tried to push it but Charity and I talked about it and she is right.  When we didn't have children I could manage it but now that we have our little girls it is just too much.  If you are burned out on something give it some time before you throw in the towel.

Vision of the Seminary
While I was in Redding I grabbed Dr. Sarah Sumner and had a quick chat with her.  I thanked her for all she is doing within the seminary and how she is really training up the next generation of church leaders.  It was very encouraging to spend those few minutes with her and hear her heart and what she is doing.  I am thankful for a dean that loves Jesus, cares about the students and is bringing in quality professors to teach us.  If you are looking for a seminary I suggest checking out Tozer (I don't get royalties for saying that)

More than a Job

This week during class my prof shared something that has stuck out in my mind for the last couple days and I can't seem to shake it.  Let me build up to get there.

When children are young they have a desire to become something.  We live in a society that encourages children to go to college.  When I was young I heard it loud and clear in my home that college was a great option for my life.  I think that both of my parents encouraged me to attend college so I could receive an education.  When I graduated from high school I went to college but I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life (that would be a legal source of income).

I start that story out with society and then make it more personal.  See while I was in class this week my prof said something that I will hold as truth:

People no longer go to college to receive an education but to get a job

You said what!
You are kidding me!
You want to think that students are no longer going to college to get an education but to get a job?

Think about that for a minute.  Now think about it for another minute if it still doesn't register with you.  I have thought about it for four days and I think its true.

I talk to students about going to college and I always ask them what they want to do after college.  I want to change my question to something like this:

What do you hope to learn in college?   

How will that change the way you think?

How cool would it be if we started encouraging students to learn?  Now I can't do this on my own.  I need help from adult leaders in our ministry.  I need to be able to communicate with parents on how we can encourage education over vocation.

A road block to this is going to be google. I can't believe I just said that because I love google but the truth is because of google I do not have to retain knowledge in my mind because I know where knowledge can be found.  I would love to see the community I live in encourage students to do more than just hope to get a job in life but to get an education that teaches them to think.

Leah Joy is 15 months

I can't believe that on March 11th 2010 our little Leah was born.  Here are a few pics to celebrate my 15 month old little girl who is growing up!  I constantly tell Sophie that she is growing up right in front of my eyes and the other day she said to me: "Daddy, Leah is growing up right in front of our eyes".  It broke my heart because its true.

Here is another picture that I asked Charity to send me today.  Basically Leah doing her favorite thing to do: eat!  Now the lament of a dad who has been so busy in school that for the last 15 months he has basically watched his little girl grow up on his camera.  Things will change Leah.  We will go on more dates.  We will laugh more.  We will take more time with each other as I chase you around the pool and we will cuddle more.  I love you my little Leah!

Developing a Christian Mind: Day One

This week I am taking a one-week intensive course at Tozer Seminary in Redding CA.  The course is titled "Developing a Christian Mind" and the prof is Dr. George Haraksin.

Initially I was curious about the title of the course and how this would play into my role in seminary and leadership in the local church.  The books that we read prior to the week long intensive were extremely good at helping me understand what we were going to be diving into this week.

Once I got into class I was stoked to see that a handful of my friends were in the class and as we got into the subject matter I began to see how much I was going to be thinking in this course and how much it would challenge my thinking.

Here are things from day one that really stuck out to me and have me thinking

As we think about thinking like a Christian the problem becomes how do Christians interact with the culture at hand.  Here are three ways we looked at to encounter the culture from a guy named Machen who lived about a hundred years ago;

Option #1- Culture is Captain; Christianity becomes subordinate to culture
If you allow this to happen you begin to think that religion and Christianity are just a product that help us live life while culture drives everything else.

Option #2- Throw Culture Overboard; Christianity seeks to destroy culture.
You can’t get rid of culture because everything we do defines culture.

Option #3- Consecrate the Ship; Christianity seeks to consecrate culture.
If Christianity is going to find success in consecrating culture then we must make sure that the soil is prepared to accept that. 

I'll leave you with that to think about.  Think about some obstacles that could arise from these points or what would happen if the reverse happened?  Hopefully this makes some sense because I am still learning.

Vegas to Truckee

This was my third summer driving up to Redding for summer school.  The first summer it was Charity, Sophie and I.  Once we had Leah we decided that it was too much for all four of us to make the drive and stay in the dorms.  The last two years the drive has been good and bad for me to do.  Last summer I got a speeding ticket on the way up and made the trek to Redding in one day; twelve hours is too much to drive! This year I decided to break up the drive into two parts.

Friday I headed out of Vegas and went north to visit my friend Peanut in Truckee.  If you have never made the trek from Vegas to Reno here is basically what most of the landscape looks like.  Those are dead bugs on the windshield and a little hill in the distance.  Its a two lane road that is perfect to drive when you want to talk to God.  That is why I made the drive.  It gives me time to just be still, shut off my phone and talk to God.  This time I did a bunch of talking and followed that with a good deal of listening.

I contemplated putting this picture in.  One reason to leave it out is that I am a pastor.  Another to put it in is that I am a pastor.  See the saddening thing, that you may not know, is that there are still brothels in Southern Nevada.  You can see that I am driving while I took the picture but if you enlarge it you will see the name of the establishment (if you can call it that).  It breaks my heart to see this.  I want to pray for the ladies who work here to leave the business and find hope in Christ.

Someone I want to ask as I wrap this up:
Are you taking intentional time to connect with God?  This drive made some time for me to connect with God but I know its not the best time for me.  I want to be more focused when I am connecting with God and be able to write things down.

Without the Church

Yesterday was a stark reminder of why I love the church so much!  Yesterday I started the yearly trek to Redding for seminary.  As I was starting the ascent from Reno to Truckee I got the call that no husband wants to get.  Charity called me crying and I could barely understand what she was saying.  I finally understood that she was in a car accident.  I was over eight and a half hours away from my home and I had no clue what to do.  I felt helpless.

Right after I got off the phone I found out one of my friends was already on the scene (Stephen and his wife).  He was leaving Costco at the same time as Charity and the girls.  He stayed with Charity while I was trying to make some calls.  I'm not sure how long it took but I would say in less than five minutes there were two more friends down on the scene.  One was Charity's accountability partner, Kristen, and the other was our executive pastor Brandon Gallup.

I don't know what people do without the church in their life.  

• Who do you call when your wife gets in an accident?
• Who will help you?
• Who will call your wife (multiple times) to make sure she is ok?
• Who will give your kids a bath?
• Who will take your groceries home for you so they don't melt (think Vegas heat)?
• Who takes your car to their house till the insurance comes?
• Who is praying for your family?
• Who checks up on your family?

Last night reminded me how thankful I am for my church and how I just don't know how people live without the church!  Now I understand that I am a pastor and that could play into the love but I am so thankful for the church.  I am thankful for friends that came over and helped out.  I am thankful that students are praying for my family while I am gone.  I am sure I am missing someone like the Mansfield's who totally helped out last night!

Right now I just can't stop thinking about how I have no clue what I would do without the church.

Hungry for God

The line I use the most in our high school ministry sounds something like this:

"I wish that when I was your age someone would have invited me to something like this.  I'm not saying I would have come but I wish I would have just been invited."

Just over a month ago there was a tragic event that happened in our community and I was invited to the local high school to help on the grief counseling team.  While I was there I met a freshman girl who was pretty shaken up.  I saw her first period and then during second period I had a chance to chat with her and she was just in tears.  I found out that she had been to our high school ministry a few times but never really got connected.  She knew a bunch of the students that come on a regular basis and have been invited.

(this is why I do student ministry)

Through that tragedy a guy in my small group was able to invite her to Explode again and she came.  She started coming and then one day I got a text message that said this (see picture).  I was so ecstatic for this young lady!  She is such a sweet girl and it was so cool to see her reach out and say that.  Later that week she went out to lunch with Kristen McComb, our freshman girls small group leader, and Kristen was able to lead her to Jesus.  Now Jordyn has more than one student that cares for her.  She has a pastor in her life; and by that I mean Kristen.  Kristen took the time to reach out to her, pick her up, take her to lunch and answer some of her questions.

I'm so excited to serve in a ministry with leaders that Love God and like students so much (most of them love the students).  I feel honored to serve alongside a leader like Kristen who would take the time to help Jordyn find Christ and not just leave her after that. I know that Kristen is a Godly woman who loves the Lord.  She will pray for Jordyn, encourage her, call her out and help keep her feet pointed towards Jesus.  Thanks for letting serve with you Kristen! And Jordyn I am so excited about the life choice you made.

Little Hands: Part Two

The dream is coming together.  I know that sounds funny to say about a tattoo but its true for me!  I went back down to the shop this weekend and Jonny Five filled in a bunch of the framing around the girls hands.  Not sure if the picture does it justice but it looks super sweet!  If you click on the picture it will enlarge and you can begin to see the detail in the color.  It really looks gold the way Jonny colored it in with a bright orange and bright yellow.

Its been fun to see this tattoo turn into what it was.  My original idea was to just do the girls hand prints on my side and maybe throw their names under their handprint.  As I look at it now it has become a real piece of artwork!  I am super thankful for the ideas that Jonny has for this piece and how they are turning out. Hopefully one more session and it will be completed!

Encouragement in Discouragement

The last few blog post's I have written have been about seminary... and to be honest they have been me sharing my discouragement in seminary.  I know I said that I quit last week and in my heart I did; I am just very thankful that I didn't tell anyone I quit.  I have learned from that and the need for balance in my life.  I am thankful that this summer is my last semester of taking two courses at the same time.

This weekend I needed some encouragement as I was knee deep in my Old Testament paper.  This OT course I am taking is pretty cool and very informative.  Well I decided to take a little break from class and check up on my grade from the spring:

Its always good to find a fat A for a course that you have put hard work and effort into.

I quit seminary this weekend

This was a tough weekend for me.

I am currently enrolled in two courses in seminary and it just was proving to be too much to handle in my life.  I found myself stressing on school work.  I was being short with my wife.  I wasn't spending time with my kids and this was just the beginning of it!

• Thursday night I was up till about 11:30pm reading a book that I thought didn't have to be read for another week.  
• The next morning I was so tired I didn't spend anytime with Jesus (it shows in my attitude when that happens).  
• All that day on Friday I was short with my wife and kids.
• I was tired and exhausted from the long hours I had put into school that week.  
• I knew that night I wasn't going to be able to spend anytime with Charity because I had to finish the book and start writing a 10 page paper.  
• I was not excited.

I began to process how long I had been working on seminary and doing a cost to benefit ratio.
The cost is high!  Seminary takes a good deal of my time that I could spend with my wife, my kids and my friends.  The benefit will be high when the degree is complete but the immediate tells me that it is not finished.  I started thinking about have I been working on this degree since September 2004. Ya I took an eighteen month break to come serve at South Hills so I have been working on it straight since March 2006.  I have put countless hours into learning: Greek, Hebrew, New Testament, Theology, Practical Ministry Courses and thinking through Church Leadership.  That is when I realized that I am done and I did it.

Friday night I was living in the immediate and that is when I quit seminary.

I woke up Saturday morning and I was comfortable with my decision to quit seminary.  I know that I only have four courses left (two after I complete the ones for summer) but I decided it was time to quit.  I didn't tell anyone about the choice to quit.  I didn't do any homework all day on Saturday or Sunday.

Monday came around and I was feeling much better.  I spent some time reading in the morning, took a break to be with the family and finished my paper Monday night.  I was thankful that I didn't tell anyone I had quit seminary.  As much as I am frustrated with seminary I know that I only have four courses left and I would kick myself if I really quit.  So I am still on track to finish in Spring 2012 and I will have my Masters Degree!

Finding Value in my Grade

I'm not sure if you struggle with the same insecurities that I struggle with but you may struggle with this one.  See I struggle with finding value in my grade.  I didn't realize this until recently but it became extremely evident to me that when I get a bad grade in seminary, or school in general, I get frustrated.  This last summer I took a course called "God in Science and Scripture".  In that course I was asked to write a final paper.  Through a random series of events I found out that I got a "C" for the final grade of my course.  Now I could vent about the circumstances that lead to that grade but its in black ink already so its pointless.

After receiving the "C" letter grade I found out that I was super bummed on the grade.  I felt like I had put so much effort into the course but obviously didn't learn the requirements for passing the course with a better grade (random side note: a "C" is passing).  Last summer I learned that for so long in my life I have found my value in a grade.  I find my value in acceptance from others and that is a tough place to wrestle with.

Since getting that grade I have done my best to find my value in Christ.  I most of the verses; I have heard the sermons... shoot I have preached the sermons but God brought me to a place in life where I had to find my value in him and not in a prof that I will most likely not see again until heaven.

I want to leave you with two questions to ask yourself:

• What is there in your life, today, that is holding you back from finding your value in Christ?  
• What is getting in your way from really becoming the person that God is asking you to be?

Its Seminary; not Cemetery

Almost a month ago I made a pretty big slip.  We had taken a week long vacation to the East Coast to see our family.  We were driving down from Hershey, PA to North Beach, MD.  We were on highway 2 just south of Annapolis and as we were passing this Cemetery I pointed it out to Charity and said: "Look at that seminary!"

See so many times I have heard people relate "seminary" to a "cemetery".  Hearing that so many times, and the point of life I am at with seminary, I am starting to think the joke is not a joke.  I do not personally know anyone that has attended seminary and left the church but I have heard the stories.  I have heard the stories of people who were passionate about their faith and left seminary less than excited about the Gospel.

Being the competitive person that I am I love to try to break stats and not fall into the junk that I hear others fall into.  The sad thing about the point I am at in seminary right now is that I am starting to believe that seminary is more like a cemetery than a training ground that fans the fire of your passion for the Gospel.  This could be my personal journey with seminary (been working on it for over 5 years), the stage of life we are (two little kids who miss their daddy because he has to do homework), or the fact that I am just sick of sitting at my kitchen table late at night while my wife spends time alone.

Please don't hear me wrong

• I do not hate my seminary
• I am not against further education
• I don't think that we should just wing it life
• I do think that the Bible encourages us to grow in wisdom

The stage I am at in life has just brought this on.  I have heard seminary called cemetery so many times and the sad fact is that is what my mind equates it to now...

I need to figure out how to change that

Little Hands: Part One

When Sophie turned two years old I got her handprint because I wanted to get a tattoo of it.  I had been talking to my tattoo artist about getting both the girls handprints at their two year old birthday.  The plan was to get their handprints on my left side because I have a piece for Charity on my right side.

I wish I could remember when we started this piece but I can't.  I think we may have started it back in December but I am not sure (it may have been October).  Here is a picture after the third session.  First session was to do Sophie's handprint and the frame that surrounds it.  Once we did Sophie's handprint it became evident to me that I was not going to be able to wait until Leah turned two and needed to get her handprint quickly!  Session two of the tattoo was placing Leah's handprint above Sophie's in a frame that matched what we did for Sophie.  The picture defiantly shows the work we have done and how amazing this piece is looking!

For the third session we filled the girls hands in and began to color in the frame.  The color is hard to see but when it's finished the frame will be gold and have the girls birthstones near their hands.  I am super stoked on how this is turning out; honestly its about a hundred times better than I could have ever imagined it would look.

My girls will always have a place in my heart and their handprints will always be marked on my side.  They are my girls and it is my role to love them, protect them, love them some more, point them to God and father them well.

Senior Grad Night

Its almost June and that means that our seniors will be graduating from high school very shortly.  Last night we had our annual senior grad night.  The night is really a time to honor the students who are graduating, allow our adult leaders to share some funny stories and invite their parents to watch.  This event has morphed for us over the last six years, since I have been here, and I think last nights was the best we have had!

We originally started doing this event on a Friday night and inviting just the families of the graduates and their parents.  The night was good but I feel like we were missing something; the rest of our high school ministry.  After that we changed to doing the event on a Wednesday night at Explode.  This allowed our students to see how important graduation was and gave parents a snap shot of what their student experiences at our high school ministry.

We have bounced back and forth on feeding families and this year we choose to make the event a desert event and went with the theme "Dress for Success".  Here are some highlights of the night for me:

• Having Kurt Johnson (graduate from 2008) come and host the event
• The room set up that our student leadership (SL) team did
• Watching our leaders share about the investment they have made in the graduating class
• The video that we showed from some of our past graduates (scroll down to watch)

Grad night has always been a tough night for me and last night was no different.  The most difficult thing about high school ministry, for me, has been investing into students for four years and then watching them leave the nest.  Last night I looked at young men and women who have given their life to Christ in our high school ministry, been baptized at our church and serve here.  It was tough.  There are students I have known since I moved to Vegas and its been a huge blessing to watch them grow in their faith and reach out to their friends on their campus.

The line I left our graduates with last night is the same line I have used before:

"Just because you graduate from Explode does not mean you are graduating from my life"

I love you class of 2011 and I am so proud of you!


Explode Alumni Video from Neal Benson on Vimeo.

My first date with Leah

Yesterday was a special day for me.
Let me say that again; Yesterday was a very special in my life!

Yesterday Charity dropped Leah off at church and we (Leah and I) went on our first date!  I tried to ask Leah where she wanted to go but didn't get much of a response so I decided to chose the place (this is why she looks confused in the pic).  We went to the District and grabbed some stuff from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.  The date was so cool for me to get some alone time with Leah and just get to know her more.  I was able to hold her hand, hold her, laugh with her, smile with her and just spend some time for the two of us.

We got to the table, outside, and I envisioned what this date would look like in twelve years.  I envisioned what she would want to talk about.  I envisioned what she would be in to.  I envisioned what she would order and how her hair would look.  I got scared after that so I just came back to today and enjoyed the time that I was getting with my fourteen month old!

I'm not going to give all the details of the date but I do want to share some things that I learned about my youngest daughter:

• If Leah chooses milk to drink I will end up drinking it and she will drink my decaf coffee
• Leah loves treats!  (We ordered a 7 layer bar)
• Leah loves frozen yogurt; I made the mistake of walking by the frozen yogurt shop and Leah was very clear that she would have rather eaten there
• Leah loves to hold my hand
• Leah likes to dance on the grates on the ground

Yesterday was the first date, of many, that I plan of taking Leah on.  I left our date with a greater sense of responsibility as a dad and the role that I play in her life.  

Potty Training

We are currently in the middle of potty training Sophie.  To be honest it has been a long process.  We have gone through times where she wants to go in the toilet all day long and we have experienced times where she just isn't that excited about going in the toilet.  This last week though we have made some great progress.  When Sophie and I went for our weekly date she went twice at Krispy Kreme!  She actually made it the whole day without wet undies.  Then today, while at church, we got a text that Sophie had peed in her outfit....

I was bummed

See this post isn't really about potty training my daughter.  While I was thinking about the text, in church, it made me think about how my life is kinda like potty training.  I envision God as the nice dad who is patiently teaching me how to live life without "going" on myself.  I envision my life kinda like my daughter.  I am trying so hard to go in the toilet but every now and then I just can't hold it and mess up.

The great thing about God, in these situations, is that he doesn't blow up on us.  He isn't livid when I can't make it to the toilet.

I love how God cares about me so much
I love how God takes the time to teach me in life
I love how God encourages me to grow up
I love God is right there when I mess up to help me get clean

Life is pretty much like potty training.  We are all going to mess up (and make a mess).  Some of us are further along in the process of others.  Some of us get trained quicker than others.  Some of us still wet the bed at night.  Some of us can hold it all day and all night.  The thing to remember is that we serve a gracious God who is right there to help us as we venture through life and figure it out.  God wants to be there to help everyone of us grow in life the question is: "Will we accept the help?"

Small Group Saturday

I like to brag that I have the coolest small group.  Maybe its not a brag but just my opinion.  This Saturday my family was out of town and I needed to do something crazy so I invited my small group!  Not everyone was able to make it and we even had a few other guys show up but we did have fun.

We went out to Nelson's Landing which is on Lake Mojave and did some cliff jumping.  Normally I go out there later in the year and the water is warm and the days are hot.  This day was a little different... Ok, a lot different.  It was super windy when we got out there and no warmer than 80 degrees.  I think I was the first to jump in and it was COLD!  My buddy later told me that the water temp was around 60 degrees.  Some of the guys jumped a few times but most of us jumped once or twice.

We ended up leaving early because it was so cold but made a stop at some of the old mining caves on the way home.  Now I have gone in these caves a few times and they are pretty cool.  They are not caves that you have to crawl to get any where and there are some areas that are very open.  We took the guys down in the caves for a little while and did some exploring, rock throwing and trying to scare each other.  The day was not what I expected but was a great day to get the guys out of their house and just spend some time together!

Family Walk (and a little lion hunting)

That may sound weird for some people "family walk"

I am fully aware of that; but that is something that my family has chosen to do pretty much on a daily basis (granted the weather is favorable).  Most every day my family eats dinner and then we head out for a family walk around the complex.  On that walk we do a variety of things:

• Talk about our days
• Get the mail
• Try to catch lizards
• Pet the neighbors dogs
• Talk with our neighbors
• Laugh and connect as a family

See family walk gives me some time to really connect with my family and focus on them.  It gets us out of the house, away from the TV and outside with each other.  It is something the girls look forward to!  It allows them to run around, in the grass, get some fresh air and take out their cool toys (Leah rides the braught braught and sometimes Sophie rides her scooter).  When Sophie was younger she LOVED the braught braught and now she has passed that fun on to her sister!

Today family walk was missing Charity so I decided to film a little video of Sophie and how big she is getting!  She is getting pretty good at her scooter and maneuvering it all over the place on our walk.  Today she took a break from the scooter to go lion hunting also!

The Christian Mind: Book Review

Title: The Christian Mind: How should a Christian Think?

Author: Harry Blamires

Pages: 191

Publisher: Regent College Publishing (1963)

Favorite Quote: "If Christians cannot communicate as thinking beings, there are reduced to encountering one another only at the shallow level of gossip and small talk."


Review: To start out honestly this book bored me to death for the first forty pages!  I really thought that I would never finish this read.  Maybe it was due to taking a few day off of reading or just something else this book became alive to me!

I began to see, and understand, what Blamires is talking about in this book.  I started to understand the concepts he was presenting and how he continued to share that Christians do not know how to think like Christians.  At first I was a bit upset but as I continued reading I began to understand what he meant and came to the conclusion that he is right.

We have Christians in this world that are more concerned with thinking about politics than thinking like Christians.  There are people in this world who call themselves Christians that care more about being an American than being a Christian.  Being a Christian causes your life to be altered; it changes everything in you and about you.  You begin to think differently, act differently and engage the world differently when you surrender your life to Christ.  The sad thing it that far too many people are a Christian in their heart and not in their mind.

I am going to recommend this book to you if you want a challenge in your life.  If you want to read some words that are going to shake your thoughts in life than run to order this book today!  But if you want to just keep living how you are living then don't read this book.  This book will require you to think about how you interact with the world around you and how you can engage it as a Christian!

Heaven is for Real: Book Review

Title: Heaven is for Real

Author: Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent

Pages: 162

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Favorite Quote: "Yes, Mommy, I remember," he said. "Thats where the angels sang to me."

Heaven is for Real is a book that you will only want to read if you are ready to cry.  I think that crying is good for the soul for everyone (even though I struggle with it) and therefore I recommend this book to everyone!  If you have ever had a question in your mind about the existence of heaven I think this book will help you to find some compelling evidence from the mind of a young child.

The story is about a 3 year old boy who visited heaven while in surgery.  I don't want to give away the entire story about what the family endures while their son is in the hospital or they pain they experience but I think the read is worth it.  I understand that the thought of heaven can be a tough thing to speak of but I also think that we need to think towards heaven and not just about getting there ourselves.  I think we live in a society that needs the hope of Christ in their life!

On a personal note it really brought up some emotions inside me that struck deep when our daughter was in the hospital and the pain that Charity and I endured in that time in our lives.  The book brought tears to my eyes just thinking about my little girl sitting in the NICU and the pain from that.  I truly felt with the dad who was enduring this painful situation.

Family Vacation: Jersey Shore

Back in December Charity and I planned a family vacation back to the east coast to visit our sisters who both live back there.  The first night we landed at BWI airport and headed straight to the Jersey Shore and stayed at this little cabin for two nights.  We got in pretty late Friday night and were hoping that our girls would sleep longer because of the time change but that was a joke!

We got up early on Saturday morning and headed over to the boardwalk.  I have never been on the east coast (except Florida) and this was cool.  We went to one of those typical boardwalk adventure parks.  It was super fun to take Sophie on the rides and then to watch her ride them on her own.  I just keep thinking how quickly my little girls are growing up.

Here is Sophie, Leah and their cousin Blaze riding one of the boat rides that they had their.  It brings back cool memories for me because I have seen a picture of me riding in a very similar ride when I was younger.  Going on this vacation was cool to spend some time with our family and get to let our girls connect with their Aunts and Uncles.

Coming back and looking on vacation I can see a couple immediate things that I want to adjust in my life:
1) Remember how blessed I am to have the family I have
2) Enjoy my family more
3) Take a regular vacation (I come back rejuvenated)

The Walls We Share

I've recently caught myself saying something when in conversations with people.  It goes something like this: "I just can't believe that I get to share a wall with him."

See I currently "share a wall" with Pastor Chris Lyons.  Now that name may be mean nothing to you but to me it means something to me.  I have worked with Pastor Chris for just over six years now and for the last two years Chris has been extremely helpful to me as a pastoral leader.  Now you may not know but Chris has been in ministry for over 55 years now!  He has served at only four churches during his time in ministry.

He started out his pastoral leadership in a church called West Church which is located in Peabody Massachusetts where he served for 15 years.  After growing that church he took a year off and then was asked to lead Wheaton Bible Church (yep, you read that right).  Pastor Chris lead that church for 15 years also.  From there he went to the Bay Area and lead a church called Redwood Chapel for 15 years.

After completing his leadership at Redwood Chapel Pastor Chris came out to South Hills to help our church feel more like a church and less like a youth group on steroids.  Pastor Chris was on staff prior to my invitation to join the team here and I am very thankful for his leadership.

Most days in the office I spend about 15-30 minutes (sometimes longer) with Pastor Chris talking about ministry, leadership, counseling situations and life.  I am so thankful to have a leader like Pastor Chris that I get to work alongside.  The question I leave you with is: "Who do you share a wall with and what can you learn from them?"  Maybe you are on the side of the wall like Pastor Chris is and you have some rad stuff to teach the younger generation.  We need that!  We need to have more seasoned leaders teaching us, training us and helping us as we follow God and seek to lead the lost to Christ.

Like Dad, Like Daughter

Yesterday we were blessed to have the day off after a long Easter Weekend.  We decided to take the girls to one of their favorite places in Vegas.  This place is great!  You can look at fish, ducks, moose, lions, giraffes and even sharks.  Sounds like the zoo but better huh!

Well while were at the Bass Pro Shop located in the Silverton Casino (giving you insight into our life in Vegas) Leah found some toys that she liked!  This little girl is going to be our outgoing little girl.  First she found the quad.  This is her "determined" to get on this thing picture.  She climbed up on the quad and then tried to climb up on the seat to sit!  She stood on the foot pegs for a while trying to figure out how she was going to drive this thing.  I wish I had the picture of her smiling (it was too blurry) and the look she had.

After we checked out the quads she went over the ride the boats.  Did I say ride the boats?  I meant to say drive the boats!  This was the best picture I have of her driving the boat.  The first picture she had a look on her face of "can I really do this?"  While Leah was driving the boat, Sophie was taking a nap on the seat.

I just love watching Leah grow up in the little girl that she is and her exploring and how she acts!  She is such an amazing little girl.  I hope that she loves the cold and will start to snowboard with me in a few years!

Healing Care, Healing Prayer: Book Review

Book: Healing Care, Healing Prayer: Helping the Broken Find Wholeness in Christ

Author: Terry Wardle

Pages: 233

Publisher: Leafwood

Favorite Quote: God wants to meet the caregiver at the place of his own deepest pain.

This is the final book that was a required reading for my spring course at Tozer Seminary called: Suffering and Healing.  This book has some great wisdom found it in about spiritual healing that the believer needs to engage in.

I would consider this book the most helpful, in my opinion, of the required texts I read.  I am not saying that the other books are unworthy but I am saying that this book tends to speak my language.  I enjoy having a plan and being able to think through steps to achieve that plan.  Wardle lays out some steps for healing that he has used in his ministry so you know the plan is something that has been tried and tested.

If you have some wounds in your past, like we all do, Warlde lays out the coping model that helps to see how we handle pain in our life.  Here is a quick snapshot of it:

Core Needs- Safety, Worth, Uniqueness, Love, Nurture, Appreciation and God

Pain Layer- Our personal reaction to stolen pain

Protection Layer- Strategies we employ to keep our pain in check

Provision Layer- Trying to meet the unmet need in a new way

Punishment Layer- Pain often births an anger that drives a person to strike back at the one who has perpetuated the injury

This model took me a while to understand but has helped me as I am dealing with unmet core needs from my childhood.  If you are seeking healing from the pain and suffering in your life then I would recommend this book!

Soul Surfer: Movie Review

About three weeks ago a man stopped by my office and gave me some promo material for the new movie that was coming out called: "Soul Surfer".  To be honest, I am not one who is typically interested in Christian movies.  I tend to think the cinematography can be cheesy.

I heard that this movie was going to be different and I decided that I needed to go see it and have some students come with.  Last night I went and saw this movie with a few students and a few leaders and I have to say that I was amazed at how good this movie was!  Now I have to share that the story touched home for me and there were times that I couldn't help but think: "What if something like that happened to one of my little girls?"

The movie has the theme that I love to see: Don't quit!

Hopefully you have heard Bethany's story and how she was bit by a shark and lost her arm.  I am so impressed at this girl and how she continues to battle in life without quitting because most people would have.  Bethany looses her arm and continues to surf.  The movie does well at portraying the pain that she would have to endure with the loss of her love of surfing and how to get that back.

I appreciate how they show that Bethany questioned her faith, and God, in this movie.  I think its more normal than not to question your faith in a situation like this one and I appreciate that the producer added this into the movie.  Every single one of us is going to have pain and suffering in our life; the question is what will you do with that pain?  Bethany chose to not quit surfing and now she is a pro!  I would definitely recommend that you go see this movie and her Bethany's story.

People of the Lie: Book Review

Book: People of the Lie

Author: M. Scott Peck, M.D.

Pages: 269

Publisher: Touchstone 1983

Favorite Quote: “If we seriously think about it, it probably makes more sense to assume this is a naturally evil world that has somehow been mysteriously “contaminated” by goodness, rather then the other way around.”

People of the Lie is another required text for the course I am currently completing for seminary titled: "Suffering and Healing".  Now the course has rocked me and this book really hit me hard in a few places. Peck became a Christian later in life but has been a counselor for most of his professional career.  Peck shares some of the cases that he has encountered in his years of counseling and I have to say that some of them are difficult to read.

Essentially Peck outlines how we live in a world that has been effected with evil and because of that it is so important for us, Christians, to live out our faith.  Peck shares stories about how people are partners in evil.  There is an account of parents who treat their child in a manipulative way.  There is a female who has multiple issues that lead her to have inappropriate thoughts toward Peck and the list goes on.

If you have some time and you want to be stretched in your thinking then I totally recommend this book. If you can be sensitive to the pain that we encounter in life and that is tough for you to handle then I would encourage you to read this book and face that pain head on.  The book will stretch your thinking but hopefully make you aware to what you encounter and the evil that lies behind that.

Guest Host for Announcements: Barak Obama

This week in our High School Ministry we brought in a guest to share what is going on.  Now most people may be thinking: "How did you afford to get the president to come help out?  Wasn't that expensive?"

To be honest in our ministry we live by the principle: "Nothing is too costly when you have a message to communicate" and that is why we asked Barak Obama to come share the weekly announcements:



Now with all joking aside it was fairly easy to make this happen but it took a few keys things to do it:

1) An intern who can make people laugh (if you don't have an intern you can always ask a student)

2) A video that we jacked from youtube using keepvid

3) Once the video is downloaded to your machine we simply dropped it into iMovie and used the voice recorded in there to communicate what we needed to say

4) Now take a break, play some video games, and export it to a quicktime file and you are ready to roll!

Thank you Obama for caring about our country and sharing the weekly announcements; our students loved it!

The Wounded Healer: Book Review

Book: The Wounded Healer

Author: Henri Nouwen

Pages: 109

Publisher: Image Doubleday

Favorite Quote: It is a painful fact indeed to realize how poorly prepared most Christian leaders prove to be when they are invited to be spiritual leaders in the true sense.

The Wounded Healer is a book that I recently read for Tozer Seminary.  I had heard great things about Nouwen prior to reading this book and am able to confirm what I have heard.  Nouwen is a brilliant man!

The overall subject of the book can be summarized in this quote from the book on page 78: "Who can take away suffering without entering it?"  In this book Nouwen encourages the reader to be a "Wounded Healer" meaning that we understand that we are not perfect people.  In fact I think it would be the opposite; that we are all wounded but some of us have chosen to initiate healing in our lives while others haven't.  Those who desire healing need to be wounded healers that are mending their own wounds while being aware of where God would like them to help heal others at the same time.

The book brings up some great examples, and illustrations, that can help those of us who desire to see life change happen in others.  I am going to recommend this book to others to read but I have to give you a waring.  If you read this book you are going to be stretched in your thinking and challenged in how you live your life from this point on.

9th Annual Student Ministry Garage Sale

Last weekend we had our 9th annual student ministry garage sale.
This was the 7th garage sale that I have been involved in at our church.  When I was first informed about the garage sale I was a bit skeptical and curious about how this would work.  The basic concept is that we ask members in the church, and people in the community, to donate their gently used items to our garage sale.  We get a place to store these items for about four weeks prior to the sale.  The week of the sale is just all garage sale; picking up large donations, setting up the sale, selling items and then cleaning up our church.

This year was a tough year for me in the garage sale.  To be honest; garage sales are not my "thing" but I know the value of this sale and how much we can make for camp (last year we made just around $12,000).  See every penny that we raise from the garage sale helps to send our students to summer camp and that is important for our ministry.  This year I was discouraged for two reasons:
1) I felt like we had less "high ticket items"
2) I knew we were going to make less than the previous year

When it was all said and done we have made over $7500 to help sends students to camp so far!  I may have times that I get discouraged but I need to remember that God knows all our needs.  I have to trust, and pray, that God will bring in all the money for students to go to camp.  I also get encouraged because I was able to spend hours with students selling stuff, picking up items and cleaning up the church.  I had extra time to spend with our team and hang out with new people from our church.  I also get to see this amazing family in our church (Kevin and Nancy Rock) do what they love and help lead this sale!

I may have had a discouragement about some of the sale but overall I am thankful for the amount of money we raised and how much time I was able to spend with students.

Empowering Students to Lead

Not just letting them lead...
Empowering Students to Lead!

There is a verse in the Bible that I was taught as a young Christian.  In  Bible college I learned that my role as a pastor is to NOT do all the ministry on my own.  Don't beleive me?  Then read this:

"Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ."  Ephesians 4:11-12 (NLT)

Here are some thoughts I have learned from empowering students:

* It tends to be better when students lead
Don't get me wrong, we have failed by letting students lead but when we empower students to lead it tends to turn out better!  A junior in high school: organized this dance, got the team together to learn the dance, had the team there on time to run through the dance and they preformed it as an opener to our ministry night.  I love empowering students to lead!  Honestly the only thing I did for the dance was ask her to lead it and then check in with her, weekly, before the dance.

* Students feel more buy in
We currently have an amazing student leadership team in our high school ministry and on that team we have a young lady who loves to dance!  Now, not only does she love to dance she is really good at dancing.  A few months ago I asked her if she could choreograph a dance to open up our ministry night and she killed it!  We decided to do it again and this time we filmed it (Watch it here).  There is some huge buy in when you empower students to lead.

* More students are involved
For this particular instance we had a few students involved who may not have found another way to get involved in the weekly program (other than inviting a friend).  This gave them a cool way to invite their friends to watch them dance/sing.  I love it when we get more students involved and help them to have more investment in the ministry.

How are you empowering students to lead?

The "S" Word

In our High School Ministry we just wrapped up a three week series that I called: The "S" Word.  I have been convicted that we touch on sin in our ministry but we have never taken some time to really define sin and help students understand the consequences of sin.  The goal of the series was to teach students about what sin is, show it found in the Bible and then help them find forgiveness for their sins.  On top of that I want students to know what sin is so they can see it coming in their life and have some ideas of how to avoid it.

Here is how the series broke down:

Week One
I opened the series up some of my stupid choices in life and how those have impacted my relationship with God.  That night we looked at Genesis chapter three and the story with Adam and Eve.  I talked about how Adam and Eve had this amazing relationship with God and then one day that was interrupted.  The main point that I shared that night was how sin causes separation from our relationship with God.

Week Two
For week two of the message one of our middle school leaders, Evan Faircloth, taught on Samson.  He shared about how the choices that Samson made and how his disobedience to God lead to his demise.  The main point that Evan communicated was to let students know that they will never be stronger than any sin; only God is.

Week Three
This week we did something we have never done.  While I was laying in bed one night I came up with the idea to record the message, at a coffee shop, and show it for the final night.  The goal was to answer three questions that most students have about sin.  So I started live on stage and then we went to a 29 minute message that was recorded (I will put that up soon).  I ended the night with our need to listen to the Holy Spirit to avoid sin.

Overall I am glad we did the series.  I think it helps students understand sin and have more of a definition of it, areas in scripture to look at it and how to avoid it in their life.  Here is the bumper video we showed between worship and message.

iPad 2: Our First Touch

This weekend we took a trip down to Town Square.  The plan was that Charity and Leah would go to Old Navy and exchange some clothes for the girls while Sophie and I went to the Apple Store.  Sophie and I wanted to get our hands on the Apple iPad 2 and see what it had to offer.

When I first saw the iPad 2 I was very impressed with it!  I was one of the people who watched the live blog on CNET about it and then the first day it released I called my apple rep and bought one... The tough thing about that is that I bought at 3pm and have to wait 2-3 weeks for it to ship.  So while Sophie and I were there we decided to check it out.  Sophie got more hands on time with the iPad than I did but it was cool to see her playing with it.  I was watching her interact with it and it amazed me at how comfortable she was with it.  It seemed like she instinctively knew that she could open certain games and then she would play them.

There were a few times I was in shock at how easy Sophie could play on it!  We went on youtube and even watched the trailer for Tangled (we are totally buying it when it comes out).  Here are the three main reasons that I bought the iPad 2:

1) Convenience in Traveling
It seems that I have been traveling a bit more lately; especially this year.  I would love to travel a bit lighter and have not have to bring my Macbook along with me.  The iPad is going to make that happen.  I can travel and have access to the internet, type out notes, and Face Time with the girls.

2) Family Learning/Movies
We have a family trip coming up in May.  I envision this trip us not taking a laptop.  We will take the iPad and be able to watch movies on the plane (I love the 10 hour battery life).  We will have access the to internet, be able to take pictures and just have some fun with the iPad in downtime.  Sophie can practice letters, numbers and play her matching game.

3) Ministry
Now I know this could sound weird but I see the iPad helping me in ministry.  I plan on getting to a place where I teach from the iPad.  Its going to save me paper (I manuscript all my messages) and my Bible software has an app!  I plan on using it in small group to look up questions that come up.  I plan on using it in meetings where I can just have something to take notes, be online or show a quick video that we may be looking for.

I'm really excited for my iPad to arrive at my house and see if what I think I will use it for is really what we will use it for!

Little Readers

I don't really remember loving to read when I was a child; I don't really love to read right now but I know that reading helps me grow and learn.  The other afternoon Charity was out and I put Leah in Sophie's bed to hang out for a minute.  Sophie started reading to Leah and it was too cute to pass up!

I'm so thankful that our girls get along so well right now!

Our Small Group

This year is a first for me in small groups.

For most of my life leading small groups I have been the sole leader of the group.  The burden has fallen on me to make the contacts, plan the events, choose the curriculum, line up the house, meet with the guys, pray for the guys and much more.

This year though I decided to change that and let me share what brought about that change.  See one year ago our second daughter was born.  I took some time off when Leah Joy was born and that meant that my small group wasn't going to meet during that time.  After that month off it just hit me that there has to be a better way to do this.  I thought about it, prayed about it and talked with other high school pastors about it.  All those conversations lead to the current plan we have for our small group setting now; Our Small Group.

Yep, Our Small Group

I just got home from our small group.  Another leader and I are teaming up this semester to lead our small group and its going great!  He is the freshman leader and I am the sophomore leader but its our small group.  We all meet together in one house.  We eat dinner together then jump on the couch, or sit on the floor, and open the Bible together.  Right now we are studying the Beatitudes, a small group study from Simply Youth Ministry.  

We meet together as a group and its really cool to see all the guys connect and interact with each other.  I love seeing the guys open their Bibles and asking questions.  I love leading with Mikey McComb and watching him teach (he definitely hit a home run tonight).  Then after the study we break into smaller groups (freshman and sophomore) where we pray for each other and give guys a chance to confess any sins they are struggling with.

If you are leading a group on your own I am more convinced now that it is a good idea for you to find someone to share that experience with.

Live Like a Banker

The other day I was having lunch with a friend, and ministry partner, here in Vegas.  As we were talking he brought up a principle that I have neglected thinking about recently.  As we were talking my friend reminded me to live like a banker.  I was confused for a minute and then the flashes in my mind became reality.  I became convicted because recently I have forgotten to live out a principle that I had done fairly well earlier in life (now at this point I could give you the list of my failures and reasons for not applying it but that is not the point of this post).  The point of this post is to talk about living like a banker.

See in every relationship we have a "bank account" with that person.  Now when you first start the relationship there is little room for withdrawals and most of the interactions, if you want to keep the relationship healthy, need to be deposits.  Deposits are normally in the form of; encouragement, gifts, acts of service or affirmation (but are not limited to these areas).  Maybe you have helped the person out when they got a flat tire and this got you a huge deposit in the account; think of things like this.

As time goes on and your bank account with that person increases you can now make withdrawals in that relationship.  Withdrawals can come in the form of asking for help when you find yourself in a tough spot.  They can be talking to the person about a difficult subject where you see the person could grow.  A withdrawal could be calling the person out when they have blatant sin in their life and no one else has the guts to tell them.  Withdrawals come in many forms.

There are some relationships you have in life that are constantly close to empty because the exchange is constant.  There are some relationships that you have that are thriving because you both make deposits into the others life and if there happens to be a withdrawals here or there it is not detrimental to the relationship.  There are some relationships we tolerate in life just because we work with the person, see them regularly or have to interact.   There are some relationships in life where you had to close the account because there is nothing left to keep the relationship going.

What is going on in your relational banking right now?  Do you have some accounts that you have neglected that need to get a deposit in them immediately so you can keep it open?  Do you have some accounts that are overdrawn and you need to ask for forgiveness because you have not managed the account well?  Do you have some accounts where you have the freedom to make a withdrawal that will help the other person?  Are you living life like a banker right now or just a person who is only thinking about their personal needs and gain?

Friday Family Day

Today is Friday and for the most part that means family day (besides the homework I am taking a break from right now).  Last month, February, was crazy for my family.  I was out of town for almost half the month and that means that I have been missing my family.  Today I tried to get us back in the swing of what the "normal" in our life used to be.

Early this morning Sophie and I got up and went to Krispy Kreeme where we had our fill of doughnuts and hot chocolate.  Getting doughnuts has been a cool way for Sophie and I to connect and get some one on one time with each other.  Charity puts Leah down for a nap and it allows her some moments of quite in the house.  This morning Sophie threw down!  She didn't eat her normal doughnut but ate two!  We meet a super kind Christian who got Sophie her second doughnut.

After doughnuts we stopped at the store to get Charity some flowers and headed home.  Once we got home we packed the girls in the car and headed out to Lake Mead to feed the ducks, fish, birds and seagulls (there are a lot of animals out there).  Loving our new iPhones because I can record HD videos on them and upload it straight to youtube so you can watch Sophie sharing her bread with the ducks!