Youth Ministry Trick #7

This is ironic.  This youth ministry trick falls on lucky #7 as I hit the unlucky #13.  I’m now a teen-ager in teen ministry.  I came on staff at the Lighthouse Baptist Church of La Verne 13 rollercoaster years ago this month.  Recently, a guest speaker from the Philippines was preaching in our church.  He mentioned that he had been in youth ministry an astounding 32 years!  I immediately leaned over to my wife and whispered,

“I can beat that.”

With all the ups and downs of the last thirteen years, it truly has been a thrill ride of sorts.  Slow, exciting climbs that get your heart pounding with anticipation; moments of sheer terror; sometimes turned upside down; clinging to the restraints at break-neck speeds; sometimes wishing it would end, but, for the most part, wanting it to keep going.  I’ve learned that it is in the dips that you look up the most.  It’s just too easy at the top to look down and around and just enjoy the view.  Maybe God puts us in the valley to help us re-focus … upward.  If we’ll consider that, the valleys won’t seem so bad.

But in these last 13 years, I’ve spent much more time on the mountain tops than in the valleys.  Okay, so most of my time has been spent trudging away on the plains, looking and longing for the mountain tops, but knowing they weren’t all that far away.  But I’ve definitely had my share of mountain tops.  I’ve had the privilege of bringing in the country’s best youth speakers for camps, retreats and rallies.  I’ve led some teens to the saving knowledge of Christ.  I’ve prayed and wept with young people as they gave their lives to God.  I’ve run activities that were definite hits.  I’ve written a whole bunch of Bible College recommendations.  I’ve had some of the sweetest, most encouraging notes written to me.  Want to see some successes?  Want to experience the mountain top?  Here’s the trick:

Stick around.

The Year in Review

The Youth Ministry calendar goes from Sept-Aug, rather than Jan-Dec. Our big end-of-summer event/tradition is the Ugly Banquet. Over the years, we’ve put together slide shows re-capping what we’ve experienced. Back in the day, it was 40-50 slides through an old skewl slide projector. I eventually progressed to 150-200 slides on PowerPoint. I’ve now come to enjoy video editing (my Famous Campaign had a little to do with that), so this year’s re-cap is a 14 minute video.

We are now offering “one-stop shopping” for all the BarBeQuethMinistry! videos in the handy “Videos” tab at the top. Also, I’ve updated the “Fave Five Fotos” tab with my faves of 2008-9.  Enjoy!

SoCal Compensation

Top picture: the BBQ Family at the Heaps Peak trailhead in the San Bernardino mountains.  Second picture: 3/4 of the BBQ Kids enjoying an empty beach in Ventura.  We just recently enjoyed these “Family Fun Days” within a week of each other.

I love Southern California!

Last year, my BBQ Honey and I attended a Pastor’s retreat in Pismo Beach.  One session that was particularly helpful to me was on balancing ministry and family.  I had about a 6-7 week crazy busy stretch during the summer in which I was unable to take a day off.  It happens.  But that’s why I get paid the big bucks (tongue firmly implanted in cheek)!  Sometimes there are unexpected phone calls or special church projects.  Sometimes I have to break plans.  While most people can enjoy their Saturdays with their families, I’m getting geared up for Sunday.  So what’s a preacher in a dynamic church to do?

Compensate!

My BBQ Honey and I will sometimes have a good cry when I’m about to go off on a trip.  I miss my family immensely.  I need them.  They need me.  It helps everyone to know that I’ll be making it up to them.  We go on day trips.  They miss out on a couple days of school here and there.  We’ll take advantage of the incredible area we live in.  We’re off to the beach one week, up to the mountains the next week!  How cool is that?

Let me offer up a couple tips for finding an empty beach, far from the uncivilized “naked natives”.  If you’re able to, go on the weekdays.  Drive an extra half hour or so to get away from the hoards in the O.C. or Los Angeles county.  And look for signs like this:

We survived the dangerous currents and had an awesome lunch at Andria’s Fish Market (a review is forthcoming; fish markets are a close second to BBQ as far as favorite things to research go).  Then we did some thirft store shopping in downtown Ventura and capped off the day with a nice visit with youth group alum, Antonia, her husband Robert and their two adorable girls.  Our trip to the mountains included a stop in Lake Arrowhead.  Always great fun and great shopping deals to be had there.

When it cools off some, we’ll hit the desert!

Missions Trip: The Untold Story

The goofy stuff….

Arapahoe Nation Missions Trip

Zion National Park

Literally a thousand miles away, driving across low deserts, high deserts, prairies, rocky mountains, and rolling hills, the Wind River Reservation of central Wyoming was our home for a week.  It was a joy to run a Vacation Bible School for the Arapahoe Baptist Church.  Our puppet team worked hard to get ready, the preacher boys brought some great messages and we all worked together to knock doors to get kids into church.  Seventeen precious children made professions of faith, and a number of my teens had the privilege of leading a soul to Christ for the very first time!  We also had our share of fun visiting the Wind River Canyon, Zion National Park and a very cool neighborhood playground in Riverton.  The Lord was so good to protect one of our girls, plus a local girl, from an ATV accident that really could’ve been very bad (worse than the broken clavicle, wrist, and elbow).  We laugh and joke about it now, but I literally lost sleep over that (Heather, I’m so glad you’re okay … but you should’ve gone to Wal-Mart, you dork!).  It actually was a pretty fun five hours at the emergency room!  And we also had one doooooozey of a shaving cream/silly string war!  Yeah, it was a very special week. 

The following video will give you just a taste of what we experienced. We’ll be showing it this Sunday night at church as a report to our good people. Once again, loyal BarBeQuethMinistry! readers, you are getting hooked up. Enjoy…