New Beginnings

I have begun! I am now officially the Minister of Youth at my new church. I stood at the front of the church this past Sunday - and shook hands with about 200 people. Yikes!

This church is one of the oldest United Methodist churches in the country. It is also a first church. But what really intrigued me was the way it has reached out to the community. Offering a community choir. In addition to this they are building a second campus. I will be a part of the staff who learns what it means to serve at two campuses. The function of these two campuses is to become more accessible to the people south of the highway. To the left is a picture of what they've begun to do with the new campus.


This week we began Vacation Bible School. I am leading recreation. That makes for a long day but a good day. Getting to play with kids has been really fun.
I was given a book Monday by one of the members of my congregation. Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations by: Robert Schnase. It is a great book for congregations to read, and particularly good for my congregation as we build the new campus. The first chapter is about Radical hospitality. Not just hospitality but radical hospitality! What does that mean? Instead of just inviting people into a relationship with Christ - what is different about the way we are inviting people to a relationship with Christ? It's inviting people into relationship with us so that they may experience the love of Christ. I really enjoyed this chapter. I think it is a good place to start ministry. How are the programs I plan going to invite others into a relationship with Christ?

As I read further on in this book hopefully I'll post some other thoughts.


And I leave you with these two pictures:



This is what I came home to yesterday evening..... a DRAGON! Interesting .... believe me it was. Imagine seeing this near your air conditioner. Now I would have left him - except about 1 foot to the left is where I lay my head.... that wasn't going to happen!

As I fought and tamed him - he ended up in this glad-ware container...



He has now been released back into his natural habitat... Hopefully never to be seen again.

Oh my starry eyed surprise

What a great weekend. My friends from college came down to hear me preach at my home church. What great friends I have that would come to visit and here what I have to say ;o) It was so good to have a girls weekend. We got to hang out and goof off. On Saturday we spent the morning at the Coke Factory.

I must say - the new Coke factory is so cool. They have new shows and a REALLY cool 4-D theater. The 4-D was my favorite part besides the tasting room. Any way - it was great to see friends to have them come support me and hang out. :o)

something new

My last week at church went by so fast! I can't believe it!
I had a horrible sinus infection from Sunday - Tuesday (when I finally got medication!)
So that left me Wednesday to work on Awaken - my last retreat.
The retreat went well. I was so excited that things worked out so well for the week.
The students were so willing to help, and it was great. They leapt into service with a great attitude. [The picture up here is of me going through a box of things
to be given to Goodwill]
During our discussions about service the students came up with so many good ideas about service, life, faith, heaven, etc. I'm so proud about ALL they know. They all have good hearts.

Saying goodbye yesterday was hard. All the students (and some parents) were so complementary. I couldn't believe it. Looking at all the students I could see a little bit of God in each one of them. I could see a little bit of spiritual growth in each of them. As sad as it was to leave I know I'm leaving a group of students who are rooted in solid teachings. I'm gonna' miss those students - and their quirks - but I'm also excited to grow and develop in a new way!