College Camp '08

Tomorrow starts College Camp at the Kentucky Horse Park and for the the 2nd year in a roll I am directing it. This camp has been on life support for several years and it seems that this year will be no different.



When I was in middle/high school, camp was a big deal, not just a big deal it was HUGE. It was always a time for old friends to get together reconnect and for at least a week forget about life. The experience of the worship services were always enlightening, and helped "boost" our spiritual gage, almost always in a life changing way.



Times have changed, we can see the change reflected in the camp attendance. When College Camp started it was packed out but now it lives with a ventilator. That is not necessarily a bad thing. Times change and so do people. It's not easy to take off work or travel for a couple of days. Plus, those childhood experiences are different, we don't connect the way we use to. It seems I am reading more and more of my friends who have abandoned the church and even God. I'm not sure I can blame them, not that the church is bad but sometimes it misunderstands who we are. There are these expectations to believe but not question, there are the "extremist" who represents "christianity" that look like hypocrites and say really stupid things. This whole christianity thing is not what they remember or even felt, and our questioning goes unanswered or we are given the "simple" answer but it lacks the meat.



We always learned this "love" of Jesus, this Jesus who went to people who are NOT perfect, who suffered from their own bad choices, but the church doesn't do the same thing. So in a sense we are rejectedby those who taught us. Our quesions go on unanswered and our spark of interest slowly dims to where we can no longer understand the flame that once was.



My hope and my prayer is that we get a few people who still have that spark and that we can feed that spark just a little, not with easy answers but with hope and a clearer vision of who God is.

This was written before College Camp occurred

A Case of the Mondays

Its Monday....

and it sucks....

But I had a great weekend with my wife's brother and his family. We went to Bowling Green to attend a wedding reception for Elizabeth's niece. (It was a reception for those who could not attend her wedding in Florida) It was a lot of fun. We stayed up til the early morning helping setup and then eating late night snacks and chatting with Jerry and Chris. I think I got a total of <5 hrs this weekend. I am at work this morning trying my hardest to stay awake. Its really a challenge.

Im here and now I am getting ready to get setup for College Camp starting this next weekend. There are several things I need to buy and get ready for so there is still a lot of work to do. Unfortuately this camp is going to be different. I have not found a music leader, I have a different speaker for every day of the weekend, and it looks like it might rain the whole weekend. Yeah....

It should be interesting that is for sure.

Bowling Green

This weekend we will be going to Bowling Green to be apart of Elizabeth's niece wedding reception. It should be fun. I always enjoy spending time with her family and really keep fascinated with Jerry's Koi pond.

Things again have been busy. Work has just been absolutely crazy with prints coming and going. When I get home my energy has just drained out of me.

I still drink Coke like its the only source of liquid left on this earth and I am fighting hard to kick the habit. Excerise has taken the back burner for now but hopefully I can motivate myself to get back into shape.

Besides those little things, life is good and getting better!!!

E3 Playstation

I can't say I was to interested in what Sony had to offer. Their games didn't look that amazing and they still have to prove a lot with PSNetwork. It will be interesting what else they will bring for 2008-2009.

Highlights:
Resistance 2
MAG - Although I am skeptical about their promises
DC Universe - Didnt look good but it will be intersting to see how it progresses

E3 Nintendo

Maybe its time for them to think realistically. They didn't really offer anything exciting. I am most excited about Animal Crossing: City Folk w/ Communicator though I think its kind of dumb to make it where you can hear everything.

No word on the storage problem, nothing real revolutionary, for the most part just a dissappointing press brief and will be very forgettable!!!

Malachi's Drawing

Malachi's Picture

Its tough to see but if you look to the right you can see a person with a face, arms and legs. The big tumor on its head is what Malachi calls a skateboard. The big square to the left is a skate park. The character on the very bottom is a Panda????

Every once and a while I get the pleasure of having Malachi with me as I work. Yesterday was such a day. He helped me in different capacities but mostly took my stamps and stamped paper and drew on pieces of paper. He kept occupied so I could get some things done.





Every once and a while I would go over and watch what he was drawing and at one point he caught me. He proceeded to draw and said, "here is eyes, here is nose, here is mouth, here is skateboard, here is arms and here is legs." It took me a second to process what he was doing but as I looked at the paper I saw that he actually drew a character and put it in the right places. I was in awe, I just couldn't believe that he knew as much as he did. It was the first time he drew something that actually translated on paper.





Malachi, you are awesome and I can't believe how smart you are. I am so proud to be the first to see your wonderful art work :) and now I can put it on my digital refrigerator so all can see it!!!

E3 Microsoft

OH MY GOSH...

This was really exciting, I watched it live at work with about a 10 minute delay. I was a little late tot the party with Resident Evil 5 (3-13-09) being presented. What an impression that has made on me. It was not even on my radar but now its a must have. It has online co-op and just really looks fantastic.

Fable 2 (10-08) was the second game that I saw, it looks really good and really caught my interest I might have to watch more before making that decision.

Gears of War 2 (11-07-08)....AWESOME 5 player co-op, great graphics, it just looks....well....oh my gosh.... I don't even have to words....

Then xbox showed us the avatars, which has been speculated but nothing really to make you think that they were actually going to do it. They looked so cool, and are suppose to be available on the Fall '08 update. I think it will make the online community more of a possibility. Again I don't have the words to explain, I think this will challenge the Wii's persona.

With that announcement came Scene it: Box Office Smash which is essentially the same game but will have downloadable content (which was a complaint of mine with the first) and it utilizes the new avatars.

The dashboard update looks great and the advancement to 8 people was cool. There is just to much to write really here are some quick highlights:

• Netflix - A combination with the xbox 360 makes me love this service.
• XBL - Lots of cool games including some tv games that are cool and Uno Rush
• Sharing Movies - Can't really explain this one to well but its really cool
• Games - Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise, We're in the Movies, Halo Wars, FFXIII are looked exciting

My biggest disappointment was the lack of new instruments for Rock Band 2, making me wonder if its worth the upgrade.

Again so much look for the E3 Press Brief online somewhere.

Dayton

**COME BACK LATER THERE WILL BE PICTURES POSTED SOON**

This weekend we stayed at the Hyatt Hotel in Florence, KY and really had a good experience there. The room was LARGE and was separated from the bed and couch with a mini wall. The room came with HD TVs with hookups for games and computers (though we regrettably did not use). The bed was a king size bed which with 3 of us was very nice and now I am a big fan of those types of beds. I got some really good sleep.
Since it was a special time together as a family I got some wine for me and the misses. The wine is called....well I will just give you the link. The name of the wine was appealing because it is an inside joke with my family. The wine did not taste very well but we bought some 7up and drank it at my sisters house the following night. With the 7up it made the wine very good and we didn't waste it.
Saturday we took Malachi to the Newport Aquarium. We had a really great time there. Elizabeth and I feel its important to really get involved with Malachi and engage him in different things. We laughed, smiled, fed birds, played, looked at poisonous frogs together. It was a great time, anytime my boy smiles and laughs it reminds me how I haven't wasted a day on this earth.
After the aquarium it was time to eat so we decided to look for someplace we haven't eaten before. After looking for quite a while we stumbled onto Dewey's Pizza. It was wonderful, the salad was especially memorable.
After we ate we headed to my sisters house in Dayton. We really enjoyed ourselves laughing and just really having a good time. Malachi got to play with his cousins and had a good time, he smiled the whole time. We brought our Wii over and introduced it to Brandon, the game that we played was Boom Blox. We played the game til after midnight. (of course I was so tired that I kept falling asleep during game play and had to bow out for a couple of innings to get re energized). Brandon loved the game so much that he kept going back to it the next day.
Our final day on our mini vacation was started by going to church. Brandon spoke a message that really struck a cord with me. It was right on some of the things I have been thinking about lately. Again as I say in most of my post about Church and spiritual things, more on that later.
After church, (which we got out at 11:20 AWESOME) we went to one of my favorite restaurants, Qdoba. We went back to their house and played more Boom Blox and let the kids played. We finally needed some time to socialize a little more and decided to play Sequence. That was the first time that I got a chance to play this game, I can honestly say I was not disappointed.
This was probably one of the best weekends for our small family and I look forward to our next mini vacation. I really think its important to set time aside for these types of things.

**COME BACK LATER THERE WILL BE PICTURES POSTED SOON**

Cincinnati

Ok I am not really in Cincinnati I am in Florence but for the most part it is one and the same... well at least in my book it is I am sure there are those who would disagree.

We are here to take a minivacation to the Newport Aquarium and eventually visit my sister. I am excited about getting away even if its just for the weekend.

Right now the wife and child are sleeping and I am up just kind of waisting a little time enjoying a little bit of piece of quite. There are not to many opportunities I can actually be by myself so I cherish these small moments. Unfortuately this little bit of time has given me a bit of writers block which is why there is not going to be much on this post.

We will be returning Sunday hopefully rested and ready for the next week but I am living in the now and really enjoying myself, if there is time and I remember I will write about what we did at the Aquarium!!!

a summery

This morning has been a long morning so far.  I can say that because right now its 7:00 am and I feel like I have already been at work for 8 hours.  I am just exhausted today...

Sunday I was asked to teach youth, again.  I am really excited, I am not sure what to teach about yet but it will come to me as my brain gets to functioning again.  I really enjoy coming up with lessons and teaching them.  It will be a blast I am sure.

Yesterday I heard about this beanbag that seemed really comfortable.  I thought if we ever bought a house with a basement instead of couches it would be cool to have over sized beanbags.  Anyway I knew about a couple of brands but these seem really reasonable.  It has gotten on my obsessive got to get list and I will bother everyone until either I dish out the money to get it or I get it for my birthday or Christmas.  You can find what I am talking about at http://www.sumolounge.com/.

I have been enjoying the game Super Mario Galaxy of late and really have gotten into this new world.  My wife has recently gotten the Galaxy bug and also been playing.  I must say this might be my favorite Mario game ever, yes even more than Super Mario Brothers 3.  Its challanging without being to difficult and simply fun to play.  I suggest anyone with a Wii go rent it and try it out. 

I will be in Cincinnati this weekend with the family but I will write more on that later...

Sunday

I am going to try to write a summery of my week every Sunday. I don't know if I can even do it but here is my first attempt. I was trying to come up with a clever name to call it but all I came up with was "Sunday" well maybe I will be inspired with a name for next week. Right now I am watching the Deadliest Catch by myself, in my room, as my wife is putting our son to sleep. I really like the Deadliest Catch, I am not sure why, maybe because it looks like a lot of work but fun at the same time. Maybe its because there is nothing with you except a bunch of testosterone, in the open sea, with literally no where to hide. It would be lonely, sacrificing, but I think a great experience. If I had the time, gut and bad sense I might attempt to "apply" but I think I will stay at my safe steel job right now. This morning I woke up in a bad mood. It might have been the lack of sleep due to the horrible smell last night, but I think its something deeper. These past several months I have struggled with what I am doing. I am unfulfilled, I work hard, make good money, I don't even hate my job, but for some reason I feel like I wasn't meant for this. This job is safe, its comfortable, its easy there really is no challenge. Just to keep myself awake I go to the corner store and buy a Ale8 and a pack of sunflower seeds and redesign my office that would fit what I am doing a little more properly. I have been thinking a lot about ministry of late as well. Again I have picked safe places, non-challenging. I sometimes get wrapped up in what I am doing that "ministry" has lost its meaning but fun has become where why energy lies. (Not that you shouldn't have fun, but I am looking for the deeper meaning) I have struggled with the recent changes in the Church of God (Anderson) movement and their ordination process. Its gotten to be more about Indoctrinating and less about accountability, mentoring, and yes validation. I am not sure Jesus would be to happy with this non-denominational denomination but to be honest I am not sure he would be to satisfied with most Christians. I am kind of in the middle of depression and excitement, it almost feels like a fire that has just started, if left alone it will die, if fed it can be a massive heap of destruction. I am not sure what God is doing right now, the challenges that I face with my own thinking and feelings can teeter towards acceptance of where I am or it can teeter towards something beautiful, destruction, and inspiring. Again I am not sure. Time will tell, I have lots of thoughts inside my head its just a matter if I put them to practice or not. OK that really wasn't a summery but oh well. Here is more a summery: We finally turned in our Nintendo Gamecube with the games Super Smash Brothers Melee and Mario Kart: Double Dash and for an extra $20 we got two games: Rayman Raving Rabbids Super Mario Galaxy To say the least I am not disappointed in either title more on that later. My wife and I have being discussing "GREEN" more frequently, not really for environmental reasons (although that is part of the equation as to why we are thinking deeper into the situation) but for economical reasons. We have talked about our future house, with the existence of chickens, maybe some pigs and cows (mmm I love meat) and a garden. We want to be more self sufficient, able to rely on ourselves more. We started our "GREEN" endeavor with buying reusable shopping bags, yes they are a $1 but you use them more than once. It is one step towards using less. Again I am interested where this start might leave us and I will share more as we progress. This weekend was about getting stuff done. Elizabeth and I took a bunch of stuff to the goodwill as we cleaned out the first portion of my parents garage. We also took a ratty old couch to the dump that we later found out was closed. But the couch remains on the trailer until Monday evening when we drop it off. The basement is still FAR FROM CLEAN but its got a nice dent. Yesterday we came home to a very funky smell that left us well almost puking our brains out. So today's project was for my father and I to dig up two man holes in the septic tank, which we found with some accuracy (thanks Dad). So that is pretty much it for now I will post more later.

As days go by

I cannot believe how much time is just flying through. I had all these post I wanted to write about but just never got around to them. They are probably lost inside my memory somewhere so it might take time for me to regurgitate them back out.

Several months ago my wife bought me a present, it was the book named Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. I just started reading it, I must say he has an unusual perspective of Church, not bad just different. Off the bat he criticizes modern day youth ministry, and can be read insultingly if not trying to figure out where his heart is. I will tell you more as I continue and hopefully finish this book.

Life has been crazy 3 weeks ago, my sister her husband and their two foster children came to visit. I have met the children before but this was my first time to really spend some time with them. They are very good kids and I just fell in love with them almost instantly. Heather and Darrell are in the process of adoption with both children.

The next week Sam and his wife came to visit. The whole family went Cincinnati Zoo and man was it fun!!! I have never had so much fun in my life....JK it was great just a little crowded and its hard to keep up with 16 people at one time.

Sam and Elya's visit went nicely. I hooked up Samuel with an xbox live account (along with my Dad) and we played Halo 3 together, I wish he would get an xbox 360 so I could play with him more. I got to know Elya a little more, and really enjoyed her company.

Some other things to update:

Bought Vegas 2 haven't gotten into yet
Haven't beat GTA IV yet
Saw Wall-E LOVED IT tell you more later (scared Malachi to death)
Did my first Video Blog (see Post #100)
Unsuccessfully worked on a podcast
Wrapping up College Camp '08 planning (having some trouble but I am sure it will all work out)

I will have more later...

WOW 100th Post

This is my 100th post!!

Healer

The above is from Drew Powell's Blog, who I knew in college. This is the first time I have heard this song and absolutely love it. It has a powerful message but even more it has a powerful story behind it. Its really a song I needed to hear right now!!! Thanks Drew for sharing!!!

edit: I need to clarify because I have had a lot of misunderstandings. The song was not written or performed by Drew Powell in this video, I just simply got this song off of his blog. But Drew was a dynamic worship leader at college and I am sure he still does a dynamic job!!!

Listening to Podcast

Several months ago I realized that it can get kind of boring when there is not much going on around here and I really needed something to listen to. I have been listening to the Simply Youth Ministry Podcast since it started but decided to stretch out a little and find some other podcast and found several about gaming, ministry and sermons. Pictured are the podcast I have downloaded as of the start of my podcasting experience:

My top 5 podcast are:

1. Mosaic - I love the sermons and Erwin McManus style of speaking
2. Sarcastic Gamer - These guys are very funny and entertaining to listen to they have a very nice podcast plus they are ....sarcastic.
3. North Point Ministries - Another very good speaker, Andy Stanley, he is currently on a sermon series talking about handling your finances, very good and very encouraging
4. The Married Gamers - This couple is very good at just having fun with their podcast, they are funny and really have a good structured show, I am looking forward to seeing the podcast live whenever I can remember.
5. IGN.com - Three Red Lights - I just started listening to this podcast and they are pretty honest about how they feel about games and seem to have a genuine love for what they do.

Today I started listening to The Target Demographic podcast and it might hit my top 5 list if I continue to like what I hear.

On the Brink: These podcast are loosing my interest and they are loosing it fast. They have not been unsubscribe to but they might in the coming weeks especially if I find podcast I like better:

1. 1UP Yours - These guys are foul and just not they creative or funny. I don't really believe they really know what they are doing I have not listened to their show for a couple of weeks and tried again today just to turn right off. They might be gone soon.
2. Hardcore Christian Gamer - I started really enjoying this show but have not recently. I don't know if I just get annoyed with their show or I just think they ramble to much

Recently Unsubscribe podcast:

1. Christian Gamer 2.0 - Just didn't like it to much
2. The Bungie Podcast - Wasn't bad, actually very good but I just wasn't that interested

There are obviously other podcast on the list that I like and those have been subscribed to, others were one time downloads and then others are ones I am trying before I commit to subscribing.

So these are the podcast I am listening to, what are you listening to?

Relational Youth Ministry

I have always been strong relationally in the youth group. You wouldn't know it from my testing (I am a INTP). I am very introverted and it takes time for me to come out of my shell and really get involved with the youth I am in charge of. As a Pastor I had to jump the task very quickly, as a volunteer I was able to take the back burner and allow myself to be an accepted part of the current youth group.

When being a INTP personality its hard to change your routine a bit. By being relational you become vulnerable. It allows students to see another side of you but being "out there" they can see your flaws. My past experiences have led me to be embarrassed, frustrated, and sometimes asking, "Why did I try to build a relationship?"

Then all of a sudden you have a student who reaches out. They start asking questions, sometimes really simple ones, about their friends and if what they are doing is wrong. The relationship builds to where they are asking questions about God, their relationships, their families, their struggles, their ambitions, their failures, etc. (Starting to really build a faith system themselves)

To me that is the turning point, that is where youth ministry starts being effective on a personal level.

I believe Youth Ministry is a balance of different formulas for success and to be too strong in one area can be a fault. Here is how I see Relational Youth Ministry as a fault:

• To much on Relationships can = less focus on the Bible


• Vulnerability


• Only a few will really catch on (A good base to start a Core group but I have yet to Master that)


• Some get left out (which is easily done)


• Evangelism is low key or even forgotten


• The Pastor might not get it (Relational is focused on what you have, and sometimes the success is not numerical which doesn't look pretty to some Pastors)

To be relational is vital to the success of your youth group.

Do you agree/disagree? How do you think Relational Youth Ministry is good? How is it bad?

**This article is a work in process**

A lot on my plate

There is just to much going on right now for me to spend to much time posting. Work has been absolutely crazy (except for this moment) so I have not been able to slack off to get any post out. We have family in from Florida so posting from home has been impossible.

As some of you know, but most do not, I direct the college age camp (soon to be known as Young Adult Camp) for our State Ministries. I love doing it but time doesn't allow me the time that I would like in order to do it the way I want. I tried several things to make it cheaper and relocate it to a place with air conditioning but have not been able to get it done. Hopefully we will get it done next year.

I got a speaker about a month ago that would have been perfect but he called last week and apologetically let me know that he had a prior engagement and was not able to speak. So now I am back to square one and looking (not frantically) for a speaker. Because of a small budget I have to find someone local. I have emailed a couple of people and now awaiting some kind of reply.

I have also been trying to start another ministry type project for several weeks but because of scheduling conflicts have not been able to get some testing done in order to get it started. I will let you know more about that project as it comes into existence (if it ever comes into existence).

This week I will teach the youth program at our church, which will be the first time in more than a year that I have done a lesson. I am excited, I have missed working in Youth Ministry immensely and these types of opportunities allow me from being rusty for to long.

So there you have it, a lot going on. I'm excited about these things coming up but nervous on how they will turn out.

Great Father's Day

My son got me 4000 Microsoft Points, which 1/2 were spent almost immediately. I bought N+, Boogie Bunnies,and Legendary Map Pack for Halo 3.

Fathers day for me has really gotten special. Malachi is one of the most loving children I have ever known. He gives me hugs everyday and tells me he loves me. Granted he is only 3 but it still touches me. I hope he doesn't loose that geniune love for me and people. I can see that he is gifted and I believe God has some major plans for him. I am sure he will succeed where I have (and am) failed.

Thank you Malachi for being so precious to me, thank you for your hugs and kisses, thank you for your smile. I thank God the Father everyday for you and pray you are protected.

Most Anticipated Games of 2008 Revisited

A couple of months ago I listed my Most Anticipated Games of 2008 and they were the following:

1. Halo Wars (xbox 360)
2. Star Wars Unleashed (I fell in love with the Jedi Outcast Series) (MP)
3. Spore (PC)
4. Gears of War 2 (xbox 360)
5. Lego Indiana Jones/Batman (MP)

Now that a couple of months have gone by my interest has changed somewhat and thus changed my anticipation and sense most of these games have not come out yet I am good to make some changes.

1. Halo Wars (xbox 360)
2. Spore (PC)
3. Gears of War 2 (xbox 360)
4. Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (xbox 360, DS)
5. Guitar Hero IV: World Tour (MP) although I will probably not be getting this game since I have Rock Band and still love that game!!!

Star Wars Unleashed has fallen due to the lack of multiplayer support, and the whole lego phase seems to be a little overprices.

Now that more games have been announced what are you looking forward too?

The Weekend

Last weekend, we went to Bowling Green for a wedding. But instead of staying with others or a hotel we thought we would get some well needed and anticipated time together by going camping. I reserved a campsite at the KOA in Bowling Green and on Friday we all left for our exciting family getaway.

First off, gas shot up to almost $4.00 a gallon, making the trip a little pricey at the start. Next we got to the campsite and took an extra long time and frustration on how to put up the tent. Its an older tent and even though I have put it up twice prior to this trip I could not remember how to put it back up. Next we took Malachi to see Kung Fu Panda (a camping trip without the normal luxuries of life is not complete without a movie).

Here is a quick review:

Started very engagingly, from the start it caught my attention. The story was pretty good and the voice actors did a pretty good job (wish David Cross would have said more). Jack Black did a really good job as Po and just was able to keep me interested in the film. Malachi loved it!!! It was completely kid friendly and overall was fun to watch B+

Back to Camping: After the movie we went on search for firewood which took us to three different stores with no firewood on hand. We eventually just got some from KOA. We got back to the campground to find out the humidity was awful. I was sweating profusely and I was just sitting down. In this 90 degree weather with high humidity we decided to start a fire. It was just so hot, I can't explain how hot it was. We made hot dogs over a fire...man it was hot... and we did smores...and so humid... After burning ALL the wood (hey I bought it I was going to use it) we decided to go to bed. Man that tent was hot, and I don't mean with passion. Malachi decided to sleep in our bed, man he gets hot at night, and with a popped air mattress and yes it was hot we attempted to sleep throughout the night.

The HOT morning after we got up and decided as I was walking through the hot campground, still sweating, I decided we should change some of our plans. Elizabeth mentioned the night before that she wanted to hike and go swimming. I woke her up and suggested that it was WAY TO HOT outside and that we just find other things to do that were in a non-hot kind of place. She agreed immediately....it was hot.

We packed up our camping stuff, went to a relatives house to take a nice cold shower, went to the mall and then spent time with her sister, who came from PA. We also went swimming in a non-hot indoor pool :)

We had a lot of fun and even though it was HOT, I would not have changed anything. It was a well needed time alone with just Elizabeth, Malachi and myself. I can't wait to go camping with them again....in a non hot month.