Effective Youth & Family Ministry

I have been wanting to do a post series that has some "meaning" to me and hopefully others. I have been struggling with the topic. There are a few that are really close to my heart at the present time: adoption/foster care, ending poverty, state of our economy, theological difference, partnering churches to name a few.

However, the one that keeps coming to my mind is youth and family ministry. There are many different paths that I can take with this but this morning; I chose one. Here it is:

Effective Youth and Family Ministry in ELCA congregations is:

1. Discipleship
2. Baptismal
3. Rooted
4. Excellence
5. Welcoming
6. Cross Generational
7. Advocacy
8. Congregational
9. Connected
10. Partnership


Over the next few weeks, I am going to take a look at these 10 items and see how they play out in youth and family ministry. I obviously believe that these extend far outside the walls of the ELCA. However, with working in the ELCA and this being an ELCA document; I thought it would be a great place to brainstorm.

A new series, I hope that I will carve the time out to do this. I think that it will be very beneficial to me, the church that I serve and hopefully some of my readers.

Gnashing of Teeth

There is a lot of people talking about "gnashing of teeth"; I am not sure if it has to do with the fact that Easter season is upon us or .... but here is my "gnashing of teeth" post:

An Update ....

Life has been a little crazy lately. I mean, nothing earth shattering is really happening but we (I) seem to be on the constant go and there are not many breaks.

So, I decided that I was going to take 10 mins, take a deep breath and jot a few things down on this corner of the web that a few people still check out periodically.

On Work ...

Work at the church has been going very well. It has been 2 months since I have taken over the responsibilities of the children director as well. I am needing to recruit some more help but overall the ministry is going well. I am super-pleased with how the family sunday school is going - it really seems to be working and the change to family sunday school was quick.

On Family

Our family is doing well. We have had a few normal visits up to the Cleveland Clinic, Jacob broke his toe and we have battle the sniffles a little; thankfully, it has not been nothing very seriously.

Community Work

- still helping out 1x (every other Tuesday) at the Clinic
- meals on wheel route on friday's
- bridges of hope (ending poverty in wayne county)

Looking Ahead

We have got a few trips on the burner. The one that the kids seem to be looking forward to is our trip up to Michigan next month. We are going back up there for Spring Break. The agenda: 4 days of nothing and 1 day of food and museums.

Miscelaneous

- completed one more training class for child service
- isaiah is finished with indoor soccer (good season)
- jacob is finished with swimming (swim season is over)
- new neice is almost here
- i am exhausted
- renovating room 300

10 mins are up, I need to get back to some reading and ss prep before I do a little paint work and fgure out the schedule for the rest of the week ....

Pancake Supper: Mardi Gras Style

Last night, we had a Pancake Supper at our church. The youth and their parents put on the dinner for the church members and community. We tied the Fat Tuesday (Shrove Tuesday) in with Mardi Gras.

We, the youth, are headed to New Orleans; so we thought that it would be very appropriate. We had jazz music playing in the background half of the time and a life jazz ensemble half the time.

For us, we had a good turnout. Over 200 people came out during the night and we made about 1,000 pancakes and 800 sausage links. Here are some photos from the event. Since this is a "personal" blog; most of the pics will be of our family.

Isaiah & One of the Teenagers



Bethany and a Family from the Church



Isaiah, Jacob and Bethany Eating



Bethany Being Bethany



Jeff (me) Making Pancakes



It was a fun event. We had a great time and the parents who took charge of the event did an amazing job and made the night a HUGE SUCCESS. We not only had a blast but we raised enough money to cover the hotel cost ( 3 hotel rooms - 4 nights ) for our trip.

THANK YOU

Middle School Logo ??

I am working with the synod office in a few different areas. One area is to help develop and pull off the first ever middle school gathering. I think that I am more of a sounding board and throwing out ... have you looked at it from this angle ??

However, one of the jobs that was assigned to me was to see if I could come up with a logo for the event (gathering) and to come up with one that would "stick" and be used for years to come and tie in with future themes ....

So, here is what I am proposing:

Mardi Gras

I decided that I would be in a Mardi Gras hat when we went to Panera's on Sunday. Needless to say, there was one girl in our group who wishes I would not do stuff like this, I embarrass her.

I had the hat and beads on earlier for selling tickets for Pancake Dinner on Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras)

My Wife Will Love This Photo

N O T !!!



So, here is the story of why the photo is on my blog and why my wife would not like the photo and then some ramblings .....

Roy Almquist said the following: It is painful and a sign of our brokenness, that our synod sends hundreds of gifted, motivated young people on mission trips while our city congregations struggle and our city cries out for mercy.

Roy is a former bishop in the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod and he was speaking about youth mission trips and service. We are to contemplate on the statement as we get ready to go to the Gathering. We are going there to serve the community of NOLA.

The quote has us question our motives and to take a look at our own backyard, what are we doing for the community around us. There are many hurting and need help and instead of helping them, we head out .....

Why ?

Is there theological ramifications that go with it or does it "really" matter because if you go - you are still out serving - it does not matter where ...

Things to think about .....

So, back to the picture. Why in the world do I have four teenage girls in a bikini jumping at the beach ?

Well, I was doing a search on the former Bishop and trying to get more information and trying to get a better feel of him and the context of his quote. When I did the search, it took me to a church in Pennsylvania and this picture (up above) was the first picture on the churches EASTER web page .....

Anyways, my wife would have gone through the roof if she was on the trip with the church group and all the girls in the group on the beach was in bikinis.

So, this post hit on a few things I guess but if you would, I would like to hear feedback on the quote. I have placed it in a few places to get feedback and the responses have been interesting. Here is the quote:

It is painful and a sign of our brokenness, that our synod sends hundreds of gifted, motivated young people on mission trips while our city congregations struggle and our city cries out for mercy.

David & Goliath

Okay, so it isn't funny .... but it is geared for junior higher's to roll their eyes :)

Snow ....

I wanted to take about 90 seconds and just let everyone know ....

I AM TIRED OF SNOW !!!!

I woke up this morning to come to snow and the white stuff was all over the grass / driveway and cars ... even though it was not much, it covered everything ....

AAARGGHHHHHH

God, can we please be done with winter and get to Spring ??

-------------------------------

There is my 90 second break, now I have to get back to setting things up

*deep breath*

Teleportation

My boys, now 11 and 10 are deep-thinkers and they definitely think outside-of-the-box. Two of their favorite topics to discuss (at times) is time travel and teleportation. Thy discuss this among themselves and they also share their stories with their classmates and very matter-of-factly talk about how they will (someday) create these devices.

I can see my boys having this conversation someday (segment from the Big Bang Theory):