Year In Review Part 2

So it is Christmas and I am blogging. So you haters out there who didn't think I would blog today owe me an apology.

I have to admit, I am not feeling all that happy right now. I just watched my Dallas team lose horribly to Stan's Eagles. I definitely did not ask for that for Christmas. I did get some stuff I did ask for, which is always nice. One of them being getting my office painted by my awesome wife. So you can look forward to getting to see that. It's going to be mighty sweet.

So enough of that, on to the rest of the review.

July: Clubs and Doom
* Series: Looking Good in the Neighborhood still
* July 3rd was my Birthday and I am still waiting for some Birthday presents from some of you.
* We still got to enjoy watching Little Lady Leyden in the intro video to the series, which can still be seen on You Tube
* We did BYBCs wich were great. We had 12 kids come to Christ and one Mom. Wich was super awesome.
* We all went and saw Pirates of the Caribean 2 and then played Pirates in the Hills pool.
* We spent a lot of time together and it rocked.
* At the beginning of July we had an all-nighter and the guys played a little game called Room of Doom. That was maybe the coolest thing we did all year. The girls were chilling with Krista at our place and I they tried to have as much fun as the guys did, but that was hard to do.

August: Back to School...boo
* Series: How to Go Thru Life Without Looking Stupid
* We had a ton of awesome youth leaders join the Ministry. Bobby and Kristin, Stan and Lindsey, Jason and Beth and of course Ellie Kirkland.
* The 7th graders were promoted into the youth group and we initiated them by taking everyone to Schlitterbahn. Where we played some mad games of wave pool tag.
* Everyone was introduced to the comedic genius of Bryan Regan thru this series and challenged to make wise choices
* We had a back to school swim party at me and Krista's place. It was okay, but the pizza didn't show up until late which was not cool. Not cool at all.
* A few awesome students joined me at Bowie High and Clint Small to serve those schools by getting textbooks ready to be handed out. That was hard work, but really cool.
* Y'all went back to school.

September: Dodging and D-Grouping
* Series: Becoming a Trendsetter
* We played a sweet game where some of you dressed up like crazy people. The Franklins rocked that game. I don't know what that means.
* D-Groups got going and so did the jr. high and high school football games. Good times for all.
* We did a little outreach called the 1st Annual Dodgeball Tournament. It was amazing. We had over 60 people there and we had one guy come to Christ. That was the best. Sean's friends took the cake and the trophy and the cash prize. I really need to put their names on the trophy. Maybe I should make that my new years resolution. Maybe.
* Three days later we did a Chill Night and another guy came to Christ. A friend of Josh and Aarons. Very cool. Very cool indeed.

October: Retreat!
* Series: The Story of His Glory
* The Junior Highers went on a Fall retreat. We had a great time and have awesome shirts to prove it.
* D-Groups continued on and the Jr. High guys won a game..I think.
* Krista had a birthday and I did a great job on her presents.
* I can't remember anything else that happened this month. You might need to help me out here.

November: Murder and Stories.
* Series: The Story of His Glory still
* Colin won the story of the Glory contest on the blog pages. You can still see his "I walked with Penguins" story on his blog. If you haven't read it you should. It was awesome. Colin, did I get you your prize for that yet?
* We had our first ever Murder Mystery Outreach. It was a lot of fun. I can't wait for next years. Good customes, a good mystery and good food. It is hard to get much better than that.
* We had a great chill night. The girls had Tea and the Box's and the guys had a huge football game. The jr. high guys lost again. Ouch.
* We celebrated Thanksgiving and the Cowboys won that day.

December: Christmas Cheer
* Series: 5 Truths the Christmas Story Communicates
* Kayle and Faith won the Spreading Christmas Cheer by Singing Loud for All to Hear Contest. Well done ladies.
* The Jr. High Guys went on a sad losing streak to end out the year.
* Matt J. joined the Youth Leadership Team.
* We had the Christmas Polaroid Scavenger Hunt and lots of Christmas joy was experienced by all. One guy, a friend of Spencer's, became a Christian that night. And that is the best way to spread Christmas Cheer.
* Y'all got of school.
* We had Christmas and Dallas lost.
* Aaron and Kayle game me an awesome Christmas present...I am still waiting for my presents from most of you. I can't wait to see what you have for me when I get back.

So there you go. A quick recap of 2006. Lots of fun times, lots of new youth leaders, 16 new believers as a result of our ministry and a youth group that has doubled in size. That is a lot of happenings in one year. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us in 2007. I think this years motto has got be: It's like Heaven in 2007. What do you think? I think that could really stick.

Well, just like last week. Let me know if I missed anything you deem as noteworthy. And Merry Christmas everyone! I'll see you when I get back in town.

Year In Review

As this is my second to last post for 2006 it is fitting that I do a little looking back. The question is how detailed should I get in this Two 14 Student Ministries year in review? I think I’ll go month by month. That way I don’t get too detailed nor do I skip over anything that is noteworthy. Plus there are 12 months in the year, which happens to be my favorite number. Coincidence? I think not. But since I am going to go month by month this will have to be a two part series. 6 months now, 6 more next week.

As for that layout of the review…I will give a summation title to each month and bullet the points of interest. I hope you enjoy this walk back through the year that was 2006.

January: All Is New
* Series in youth: Prayer, What’s the Point? The hope was to get y’all to resolve to pray more this year? How did that turn out?
* Grand Opening Weekend for the church. We passed out cokes on the side of the road. No one died and it was surprisingly fun.
* It was also our first full month in the High Dive. We bought a X-Box 360 and a Big Screen. Fittingly we also began Fun Fridays to give you a chance to come play with the new toys.
* D-Groups moved from people’s houses to The High Dive.

February: Super?
* Series in youth: Disciple: Be One, Make One.
* We hosted a Super Bowl party in the High Dive. Brian shared the gospel and we had a Madden tournament. Josh spent the last quarter banned to a bathroom stall because he was in trouble. Good times.
* I don’t remember anything else about this month.

March: A Month of Losing
* Series in youth: And You Think You Have It Bad (Ultimate Authority)
* We kicked Spring Break off with a Blazer Tag All nighter. Sean shared the gospel before we headed to Blazer Tag. When we got to Blazer Tag I didn’t manage to even win one round. (Contrary to my Blog Posting that week, see my March 6th blog. We ended the night by grabbing breakfast at chic-fil-a. A number of you fell asleep while eating your chicken biscuit.
* Thanks to Brian everyone was given the chance to do a March Madness Bracket. Also thanks to Brian, Krista was given the chance to humiliate me by winning the whole thing. Which she did.

April: A Call to Ownership
* Series in youth: The Reliability of the Gospels
* Brian and I film the Indiana Jones spoofs for the series. Which can still be seen on You Tube. Just check out the link on our links page.
* Captains Camp was at the end of this month. The theme was “The World’s Best Captain” and we used clips from the Office to teach now not to lead. It was awesome. We had 8 students go to Captains Camp, which was about the size of the youth group in April 2005.
* D-Group guys football games really started heating up. The Jr. Highers finally won a game.

May: Volleyball and Roosters
* Series in youth: Reliability of The Gospel (continued)
* D-Groups came to an end.
* We kicked off the summer with the End of School Bash. Students were forced to sing the Aggie War Hymn on the steps of the UT Tower. The race ended at a pool, where you had to do a relay race. (Still the best pictures of our group ever. Check them out on our website) And Jake Franklin came all the way from France to share the gospel.
* Youth Leaders Troy and Stevi said their goodbyes and headed north. They are still badly missed.

June: Pools and Camps
* Series in youth: Titus: Looking Good In the Neighborhood
* Josh Leyden was filmed looking more like a dork than ever for the Looking Good video.
* We had a pool party at the Hills. The girls defeated the guys again in the annual water volleyball game.
* We left for Boot Camp on the 18th right after I finished preaching in big church. Boot Camp was awesome. Roosters were chased, disc golf was played and teams bonded. The worship was awesome and the group had a great afternoon of prayer. We ended Boot Camp by pulling into a Dairy Queen on the way back and chowing down on some good ice cream. Great times.

So that is the first half of the year. I felt like the youth group really bonded through that semester. Boot Camp was the highlight for me, but Josh dressed up for the looking good video was a close second. Feel free to tell me if you think I left something out that needs to be mentioned. Or just let me know what your favorite thing was from the first half of the year.

Great Games

First of all I want you to know that I did blog yesterday, but when I went to post it the Internet was down and I lost it all. I then yelled encouraging words at my computer screen until I was convinced that it would never do that again. Since I am such a forgiving soul I have decided to give my computer a second chance and blog today.

The theme of the blog this week is games. For I have been thinking about games a lot lately. Notice that I did not say "a game" nor did I name a particular sport. No, the reason I have to keep the theme general is because I have been thinking about various games of all shapes and sizes.

The first game I feel like I have to mention and then I can gladly move past is the Dallas Cowboy game. It was awful and horrific and devastating and depressing and down right disastrous. I hated it and it made me wish that I could cry a million tears. Of course I can't cry a million tears because I am a man and I do not cry. Except for that one time, but that was only because I was trying to impress Krista by appearing sensitive.

The second game I have been thinking about is my weekly ping pong showdown with Roger. Just for the record I feel like it deserves to be noted that Roger hasn't beat me in three weeks and if he does beat me this week it is only because I might decide to let him. But most likely I won't let him and my win streak will extend to cover an entire month. Poor Roger. Awesome me.

The third game I must include in this blog is more like a set of games. And not just any set of games, but quite possibly the greatest set of game ever created. A little background; Josh Leyden and I created the first of these games two weeks ago before D-Groups. We were just hanging out playing a little ping-pong and Josh was being dominated. Out of anger (a sin issue that we are trying to work thru with Josh) he tried to hit my devastating serve right at my face instead of on the table. But since Josh is not good at sports he missed my face and instead the ping pong ball traveled over the High Dive Curtain and into the High Dive, managing to roll past all of the obstacles in the room (ie the tables, chairs and Foosball table) and hit the back wall. Instantly a new game had been created. Grand Slam Ping Pong. Where the object of the game is to see who can hit the ball the furthest after it has cleared the top of the High Dive Curtain. Needless to say, I humiliated Josh in that game as well. But it does not stop there. No, not at all. Ever since the creation of Grand Slam Ping Pong the game has morphed into even greater games. Defense has been added and with the addition of defense this game has turned into an amazing team sport. Each change has created a new game. Battle Pong has the same basis as Grand Slam Ping Pong except the server can also try to block the hit. Battle Pong Spectacular takes Battle Pong and raises it an extra defender (teammate) who stands in the High Dive and can hit the ping pong back towards the curtain as long as they hit the ball while it is still traveling thru the air. And finally, Battle Pong Spectacular Turbo turns the whole thing into a one vs. one vs. one contest where it is everyman for themselves. I know what you are thinking...when is this going to become an Olympic Sport? The answer is I am sending it to the Olympic Committee this week.

Another game I have been perpetually pondering over is the D-Group football game. The Jr. High guys have been on a sad losing streak ever since we got the lights. And I am not going to lie to you, I am pretty disappointed. This Wednesday marks the end of this season's D-Group football games. (Though Sean did have a great idea of having one more sweet game on a Sunday after church that could serve as the Super Bowl game for us.) Nonetheless, this is going to be a huge game this Wednesday. I don't know how the Jr. Highers are going to win, but I do know that they will win. For when there is a will there is a way. And I'm telling you now there is certainly a will. Certainly.

Finally, the last game that has been saturating my thoughts is the game of the week...The Christmas Polaroid Scavenger Hunt. This thing is going to be a blast. Teams of four competing against each other to see who can get the best pictures of their team collecting Christmas items and doing Christmas stuff. Will there be a little caroling? No one knows. Okay, I know, but you don't. Okay, maybe that was a hint and now you think you know. But can you really know. I submit you cannot. Anyway, this game is going to be a blast. Not only will you have the great memories of the event but you will also have the pictures to prove the memories and we will have them hanging on the High Dive wall for all to see. That way when someone shows up to church was not at the event you can say, "Hey you weren't at the Christmas Polaroid Scavenger Hunt and that is too bad for you. Because it was awesome." And they can say, "I bet it wasn't all that great." And you can say, "Whatever dude, just look at these awesome pictures. Like, look at this one where Baker is riding a camel at the live nativity scene dressed up like an elf." And that person will look at that picture and weep because that could of been them all elfed up riding a camel. And you will just be there shaking your head and saying to them that it is going to be alright fully knowing that it will not be alright because they missed out on one of the greatest events of all time. And as a result, their life will never be as full as yours.

After reading this blog you may find yourself asking, "How does Jake get any work done if all he is thinking about are these games?" And the answer to that question is the proof is in the pudding.

Help Me Know What I've Been Thinking About

It's Monday and that means it's time to blog. So, I've been sitting at my desk trying to figure out what I have been thinking about. Sure the usual stuff popped in my head: Krista, Dallas winning, good music and of course Christmas. And all of those topics are great and very blog worthy, especially Krista and Dallas winning, but they just weren't what I was looking for. And then it hit me. What I have really been thinking about is something that I can't write about.

The reason I can't write about it isn't because it is bad or inappropriate. The reason I can't write about it isn't because it doesn't exist or is incommunicable. The reason I can't write about it isn't even because I don't have the time or the space in this blog. No, the reason I can't write about what I have been thinking about is because I have been thinking about something that I don't know about.

Let me cut to the chase. The thing I have been thinking about is the conversations I have been praying you have been having with the people in your spheres of influence about Christ. I have been thinking a lot about y'all and if you have been given opportunities to talk to people about the true meaning of Christmas. I have been wondering if you have been given the chance and you backed out right when you knew you should say something or if you have made opportunities with your friends and followed thru. I have been thinking about the three people's names you wrote down three weeks ago and about how many of them have heard you equate Christmas to Christ. I have been thinking about these things not knowing if they are happening or not happening, if you have been really trying or not trying and if you need help or if you have it all under control. And because I have so many questions about what I have been thinking about I figured that I would let you help me out.

So, this week's blog is more of a bulletin board for you to leave updates on about the progress you are making in reaching your spheres of influence with the gospel. What you need to do is let me know if you aren't having any luck and why. Or, let me know the great stories that are taking place because you are faithfully and boldly taking advantage of opportunities God is placing before you. Let me know what your friend's reactions are when you talk to them about this. Let me know everything. Let me know if you backed out or if you got cut off or if you forgot or if you remembered and your friend was sick that day. Let me know so I can pray for you and encourage you and so I can know what I've been thinking about.

All you need to do is reply to this post every time you have a conversation or try to have a conversation or when you chickened out of a conversation or when you got interrupted when you were trying to have a conversation or whatever. Just post it and that will be great. This way you can also see how everyone else is doing and what God is doing thru them. So post away and let me know what i have been thinking about.

So This is Christmas

So last week I wrote a killer blog about the movie Happy Feet and how it was more than horrible. I went on and on about how the movie broke every children's movie law that there is and how the people that wrote it, filmed it and produced it should have to go to every elementary school in the nation and apologize in person for turning a fun looking children's movie into a animal rights agenda pushing UN involving charade. However, when I went to save the post the Internet was down and I lost the entire thing. I was so worn out from being up on my high horse for so long I didn't have it in my to write it again so I called it quits and spent the rest of the day sitting at my desk and crying as I thought about poor Happy Feet and all he had to do to save the penguin population.

But don't fear, I am back this week with new enthusiasm for blogging. And so I must begin this post with the vastly important question, "what have I been thinking?" Now you might think you know what I have been thinking about. I am sure many of y'all are thinking that I have been thinking about A&M's spectacular game against the once almighty and oh so hard to beat UT Longhorns. You might be thinking that I have been thinking about how no one thought A&M would be able to beat UT in Austin, a feat that they had not accomplished since 1994. An accomplishment that had not even taken place in this century. I must say if you were thinking that I had been thinking about that then you would be making a very good guess. But you'd be wrong.

Yes my friends I have been thinking about something else. Something grand and great and awesome and glorious. You see, I have been thinking about Christmas. In fact on Saturday Krista and I had our annual "Beginning of Christmas Day." That day always takes place the Saturday after Thanksgiving. And on that day we wake up and put some Christmas tunes on (this year we began with John Lennon's classic "So This Is Christmas" and then moved on to Sinatra's rendition of "Jingle Bells"). I then begin to rummage through all of our junk to find our Christmas decorations and Krista begins to make fudge. Ah yes, fudge. One of God's greatest gifts to mankind. A gift so good that it can really only be enjoyed once a year during Christmas time or else one could explode from all the goodness. After the fudge is made and cooling Krista and I are off to go make four key Christmas purchases. The first of course is a new Christmas CD. And I must say this year I picked a beauty. Sufjan Stevens Christmas. A 5 CD set complete with stickers, a comic strip and songbook. It is truly amazing. The next purchase we made was a classic Christmas DVD. This is tradition. Every year we must buy a new Christmas CD and Christmas DVD. This year I got to pick out the CD and Krista got to pick out the DVD. She choose her nostalgic favorite, "A White Christmas." After that we were off to Target to make our next key purchase, this year's Christmas Tree ornament. I think I can honestly say that we picked the best one they had. It is a wooden star with a cut-out so that we can insert a picture in it. It looks great. Once the Christmas tree ornament is picked out it is off to make the most important purchase of the day...the Christmas Tree. Of course with the picking of the Christmas Tree also come the competition of who can find the best tree first. And without going into too much detail I must say that I crushed Krista this year. In record time I came across the perfect tree. It was purchased, wrapped, thrown on top of Cloe the Corolla and escorted back to apartment 532.

Once the purchases are made "Beginning of Christmas Day" turns into a Christmas decorating extravaganza. I hang lights on the balcony, Krista decorates the house, I hang lights on the Christmas Tree, Krista hangs the ornaments on the tree and we eat fudge. Ah fudge. And then once the house is decorated and the lights are on outside and on the tree we turn off all the regular lights and we put on our favorite Christmas movie...Elf.

What a spectacular day. Once we have had "Beginning of Christmas Day" all I can really think about is Christmas. So, accordingly that is what I have been thinking about, and thus this weeks blog. And with that I leave you to think about what I've been thinking about.

Reaching People...

I didn't post last week and from the response I got you would have thought that I had forgotten to show up on Sunday to teach. Between the emails, phone calls, mean looks and lazy brute comments I figured I better post this week or I might not live to see next Monday. So here I am, promptly at 9:45am blogging for my life.

Not blogging last week has given me the opportunity to think of some good stuff. Which means in the end you win. Sure you had to wait for it, but I think you will find that the waiting was worth it. Unlike the time I waited all night to get an X-Box 360 outside of Best Buy with Josh Leyden only to find that they only had 66 of them and I was number 67 in line. That story still makes me mad. But unlike me in that story, you will find you weren't waiting for nothing.

First of all, let me get a few side thoughts out of the way:
Side thought #1: I can't believe A&M has lost back to back games by 1 point. I mean I really can't believe it. I can believe they lost back to back games. I have no problem at all believing that. It is the one point thing that is throwing me off. I mean, come on!
Side thought #2: My team, The Austin Weirdos, is sitting pretty in second place in my long standing fantasy league I am in with my old roommates. I love Willy Parker. In the other league I am in I am feeling pretty confident that I am going to be victorious over fellow youth leader Lindsey Thomson. All is good in the world.
Side thought #2b: Next year we need to have a youth ministry fantasy league.
Side thought #3: This Thursday Krista and I are celebrating our 4 year dating anniversary. I don't know if you are supposed to still celebrate dating anniversaries when you are married but we are and so take that. Plus I never thought she would still like me after 4 years. Turns out she does. I am one lucky guy.
Final Side thought: Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away. That is crazy. It seems like this Fall is flying. I guess it helps that I am not in school everyday, but still, it seems like time is flying. Also, did anyone else notice the Christmas Tree tents already popping up? I think there should be an universal rule that when Christmas Tree tents go up the weather turns cold and stays cold. You should never be able to buy a Christmas Tree in shorts. Never ever ever.

I feel better having voiced those thoughts. Now I can move on to my big thought from last week. Now I feel the need to warn you that it is a little deep and might come across as a little preachy. That is not my intention. But being a pastor it seems like I cannot talk about God or spiritual things without people thinking it is preachy. Which is a shame because I would be talking about this stuff even I wasn't a pastor. For the stuff that I have been thinking about is the passion of my heart. It is what really gets me going. And so having thrown in that little disclaimer, here it is... Are we really reaching people with the life-changing reality of Jesus Christ? That is what I have been thinking about. I read a book last week called "The Present Future" and it got me thinking about that question and I have not been able to get it out of my head. As a church (and a youth ministry inside of that church) we say we are committed to reaching people for Christ. But I wonder how well we are doing that. From an outsiders perspective looking in to our student ministry I think it would appear that we are doing a good job. I mean we did have over 60 students at the Dodgeball Outreach, which at the time was double our youth group and we had 24 students commit to come to the Murder Mystery outreach which was almost double our high school group. So yeah, that looks good. But the thing that has me is this: How many of those students that are coming already know Christ or even more, already go to another church? Because we don't say we are committed to reaching people that are already reached with the life-changing reality of Jesus Christ. That doesn't make sense. You don't try to get someone to become an Aggie that goes to A&M. They are already one. When we try to reach people for Christ we shouldn't go looking for people at other churches. That doesn't make sense. What we should do is look around at my apartment complex or your lunch room. Most of those people need Christ and don't have Him. That is where it should start. And what that means is we have to go to them. We have to befriend them. Get to know them. Invest time and energy into building a relationship with them. It means outreach has to primarily be something you do personally and not something we as a ministry team do a couple times a semester for you. It means you commit to reaching people and I commit to reaching people and we do that. And I think we have a lot of room to grow in that area. I think we are taking steps, but I don't think we are there yet, not even close.

I think when it comes to going out to others and reaching them it means we have to try different things. I was just thinking this morning how awesome it would be if we had a ministry team of leaders whose job was to drive around and pick-up students who need rides to church because their parents won't take them. How awesome would that be if we were reaching students so well with the gospel that we needed a driving team to get them into church. We already have 4 students I think we could do that for. But what if we had 25? What if you were inviting students to church and you knew that if they said yes you would have a way to get them here every week. Would that help? What if we had a meeting after church once a month (with pizza of course) where we would hold each other accountable to be reaching our schools for Christ and we would have a time of equipping where you would be trained in different ways to share the gospel or reach out to your friends. But you would be held accountable to actually do it. Would you come? Would it help?

Our youth ministry has grown by over 400% since June of 2005 and that is great. But I lay awake at night and think about the thousands, literally thousands of students in range of our church that attend Clint Small and Bailey and Bedichek and Austin High and Bowie and Crocket that need to know that God loves them so much that He died for them. I think about them and I think about how we need to reach them. I think God is at work in our youth ministry and He wants to do this thru us. My question is do you want to partner with Him in it? What can I do to help you do that?

Let me know because it is what I have been thinking about these days.

My Thoughts on Murder Mysteries and the Gospel

So, The Greatest Story Ever Contest has officially ended. Colin Hemphill and his, "I walked with Penguins" story won it outright. Well done my penguin walking friend. (Speaking of penguins, maybe it is just me, but I'm super excited about the "Happy Feet" penguin movie coming out soon. It might even be opening night worthy.) Anyway, congrats Colin.

Since the contest is finished my blog officially returns again to its overarching theme of "What's the youth pastor thinking?" And so appropriately I find myself thinking about this Saturday's murder mystery outreach. We have 25 students signed-up and 5 leaders that are going to participate as characters. There are going to be two groups of 15 and each group is going to have a killer. I am excited to see how this night transpires and who figures out who did it first or if the killer can make it all the way thru the night without being figured out. It should be fun. I also pretty excited about the costumes and what y'all come up with. It should be fun to see y'all all dressed up and looking quite fabulous.

I must say that I am getting a kick out of the fact that we are doing an outreach event centered around a murder. Nothing like preparing everyone for the gospel presentation by reminding them that no one knows how long they have left here on earth. You could go at any minute, just like the poor soul who dies at the event.

The other things that are on my mind are really not all that interesting. Well, other than how Dallas delivered beautifully last night. (Take that Taylor.) Other than that I have a paper due in my DTS class this week in which I have to define God and I have a test on Friday in that same class that is going to add to an already busy week as I get things put together for this outreach. My thoughts on those two things are not very pleasant right now so I will keep them to myself. So with that I must move on with my morning and try to knock out some more things before I begin studying. I hope y'all have a great week and I'll see you on Wednesday with your character envelops in hand.

My Apologies and other thoughts

So this Sunday I failed to announce the winner of The Greatest Story Ever Contest. The reason I negated crowing a winner was because I simply have not been able to decide which story I like the best. I mean come on, there have been a lot of good stories told. Three by me alone. So this is the deal. First of all, I am extending the contest for one more week so that everyone has one more chance to impress me. Unless of course you have already written three entries for that is the allotted quota. Secondly, I am asking you to tell me which story you have liked the best. Just reply right here to this post and tell me which story you think deserves to win and in two to three sentences why you think that is the best story. I will consider what you have to say and be prepared to crown a victor by next Sunday. I promise.

Having said that I must say that having a band on Sunday was super sweet. I can't wait until that is a regular occurrence. Hopefully it will be sooner than later. (Hurry up Sean and learn how to play the guitar.) I think Jason deserves a special shout out for all he has done to lead us to worship our awesome God. I really look forward to worshipping along with him and all of y'all each Sunday. It is pretty much awesome. I also think long haired Jake deserves a mention for his dual participation on Sunday. Playing bass and staring in the skit all in one morning is a tough job for anyone. He pulled it off well.

Another thing of note was that Sunday was Brian's 18th birthday which makes him the first eligible student to enter into the honor points game. I cunned him out of his first two points by singing his part in the All About Me skit and I have to say it felt pretty good. I will soon overtake him in points and make him feel like the rookie that he is. But even as a rookie he is much cooler than anyone else because he now has access to his honor which no other student can claim. I look forward to partnering with Brian to make all of you other students wish you could handle your honor like we can.

Before I bring this post to a close I must mention that this Wednesday is my beautiful bride's birthday. I do wonder what student will impress me the most by how they bless Krista on that day. Seeing that we have such an awesome youth group my expectations are high. I think if someone were to come all dressed up and sing a solo of a song they wrote for Krista that might just be the coolest thing ever. No pressure, just saying.

All right. That is what I have been thinking about lately. Shoot me some feedback on what story deserves to win it all. I need help here people. Don't let me down.

Jake

My Final Entry in The Greatest Story Ever contest

So I think I will end the contest this Friday and announce the winner Sunday during announcements so you better get your final entries in if you want a chance at that $15 gift certificate.

In order to tell this story well I have to give you some background. The title of this story is: "The Not So Lady's Man."

So when I met Krista I fell for her right away. However, I had to play a waiting game because there was another guy in the picture. (Another story) When I did get the chance and the courage to ask her out, 3 months later, she said no. Yeah, that's right, she said no. You see things with that other guy were still a bit complicated and she wanted to make sure that I made sure things were going to be okay on his side first. She told me to ask her again in two weeks though. So I left not completely discouraged, for she had thrown me some hope with that last line. Two weeks, I knew I could make it.

During those two weeks I set-up a time to talk to that guy to tell him that I was going to ask Krista on a date. I told him he better not put up a fight or else I would have to take him out and it wouldn't be pretty. Okay, actually I didn't say that to him. But I did talk to him and he wasn't a huge fan but he said he couldn't stop me and so I took that as a green light. Done and done.

Finally the two weeks came to an end. I asked Krista out again and this time she said yes. Nice. So I took her on a date and things went pretty good except for me being extremely nervous and getting food all over my face and stealing her desert. I guess you could say that I had a great time because she was awesome, more awesome than I realized, but I wasn't all that impressive. I didn't exactly bring my "A" game. I tried bringing it but then I realized that Krista was way out of my league and so I freaked out and started doing stupid things like not talking and getting food all over my face. I was acting like a rookie. Well, a couple of days passed and I asked her out again and very surprisingly she said yes. We went on another date but this one was much more laid back. You could even say it was more of a friends date. We played some disc golf and then went to chili's where she barely ate anything at all. When I got home from the date I again liked her more than ever, but I was not feeling very confident on my side of things. I remember telling my roommate Joey that I liked her I lot but that I thought things were progressing wrong and that we were beginning to head into "just friends status." No guy ever wants to find themselves in "just friends status" with a girl they like. I had to do something.

A week later I was hanging out at 120 thinking about how to keep from sliding into just friends status with Krista. Joey was there again so we started talking. It was a Thursday night I believe and Krista was up on campus studying at the computer lab. I was telling Joey that I feared there wasn't a spark in the relationship yet. I told him that we were relating together much more as friends than as people who were dating. I told him I had to do something. He said I ought to write her a note. I thought that was a genius idea, sure it was a little sixth grade, but cute and romantic nonetheless. Then I thought I ought to get her a flower too. He liked the idea. He then said that I ought to drop it off at her car in the parking lot of the SCC (student computer center on campus). Now I was on to something. In my mind nothing said I want to be much more than just friends than a surprise note and flower on your car. Without hesitation I was out of the door of 120 and on to the nearest grocery store to buy a flower and a card. I got a red rose and a sweet I'm interested in you card that did not say I love you because we weren't there yet and headed to campus.

I was feeling good. I was feeling like I was taking a strategic step to keep me from sliding into just friends status. I could just picture Krista finding the rose and the card on her car after a late night to studying and realizing that I had been thinking of her and her heart just melting at that spot and deciding that I was the one...or something like that. I was on top of the world. And then a raindrop hit my windshield. And then another and another. Rain. I couldn't believe it. I was doomed. Destined for just friends status.

I got to the parking lot but had no idea where her car was. I parked and began looking. Row after row to no avail. I was drenched and so was the card. I remember thinking this has got to be the most desperate thing I have ever done. Finally I found her car. I put the rose under the driver side windshield wiper and when I went to put the card there too it occurred to me that there was going to be no way in the world that she would be able to read it. It was soaked and would only get worse. I was stuck. I just stood there in the pouring rain thinking if I don't put a card here claiming that this rose came from me she might think it was from some other mystery guy and she would get excited about that because the guy that was trying to date her was really not very good at it and it felt more like a friendship than anything. My genius plan was backfiring on me. Some mystery guy was trying to lay claim to my rose.

I had to make a decision so I finally decided to just leave the rose there with no card and pray that when she got it she would hope it was from me and not the dreaded mystery guy. You could say I rolled the dice. Then I headed back to my car. But then another idea came to mind. I thought I could go and find her in the SCC and tell her what I had done so she wouldn't get freaked out when she came down to her car in the pouring rain and jumped in her car and turned on the wiping blades just to see a random rose scrapping up her windshield. And that way she would know that mystery man wasn't as romantic as me. So I headed inside. I was drenched, really drenched. I walked through the first floor but Krista was no where to be found. I headed up to the second floor and finally there she was as cute as ever. I headed her way but when I got close I realized she was there with one of her roommates and that scared me. On top of that I realized what a total dork I looked like. Water was actually dripping off of me. And what was I going to tell her? "Hey, there is a rose on your car that I put there and now I am having to tell you because I apparently have no romantic skills whatsoever. And I wanted to make sure that you didn't think some mystery guy put it there and fall in love with him and just want to be friends with me." I was doomed. So I turned and walked away.

I headed out to my car again and this time I got in and drove off. I remember thinking that I should consider retirement from this whole dating thing, I just didn't have it. I was a lady's man no more. I got home and my roommates had a great time laughing at me. I told the whole story and they confirmed that I should consider retirement. I went and changed out of my soaking wet clothes and waited by the phone hopefully. I kept picturing Krista calling some random guy that she hoped had dropped off the rose. I was getting sick.

To be honest I don't remember how this story actually ends. I either called Krista to claim my flower or she called me. Either way she had hoped it had come from me and she had not gotten scared to death by it scrapping up her windshield. She told me it was the most alive rose she had ever received because it had gotten more than enough water. I told her that was my plan all along. From that point on things began to progress pretty well between us. I didn't retire and she didn't just want to be friends. In the end she actually married me and I haven't stopped buying her flowers since. And so I guess you could say we lived happily ever after...The End.

Official Greatest Story Ever Entry #2

I had a really hard time picking which story I would tell from my college days. I will probably second guess this entry for the rest of my life, but here it goes. (okay, probably not for the rest of my life, but maybe for the next hour or so.)

Official Greatest Story Ever Entry #2

It was six o'clock on a Monday evening, early fall. The guys of Doux Chene 120 were hanging out trying to do anything other than study. One of them, the one they called B or 5k or Bryan, (they called him a lot things) was thinking hard about getting himself a girlfriend. The rest of them were thinking hard about the Monday Night Football game about to kick-off.

B got up from the couch and headed into his room. Five minutes later he emerged in some maroon athletic shorts, a grey cut-off t-shirt, one white arm sweat band and one super sweet head band. One of the guys, Joey, taken aback from the sight asked, "What in the world are you doing?" B, taking the bewildered looks in stride simply replied, "I'm going to go drive up to campus and drop off my truck and then run back here. I have measured it out and it is only 4 miles to campus from here. I am going to run it tonight and get up tomorrow and run back to campus to get my truck."

Silence filled the room.

Then the super cool roommate, the one they called Jake spoke up. "There is no way in the world you make that man." And in a very encouraging tone he added, "You are a fool." B comfortably rebuttled, "I bet you I can" as if he expected the reaction he was receiving from the start. Jake, the good looking roommate, piped up again, "I'll take that bet. In fact I will give you 20 bucks straight up if you make it all the way from campus to 120 without ever stopping or ever walking." B smiled slyly. "You are going to regret that," he said as he walked out the apartment with a little hop in his step.

B left the apartment around 6:15 pm. The pregame for football began at 6:30. The pregame show ended at 7:00. The game started. The first quarter came to a close. The second quarter began. It was a good game. The second quarter came to an end. Halftime. Nick, one of the roommates of 120 looked at the clock. It was now a little past 8:00. B was nowhere to be found. "You think B is dead on the side of the road somewhere?" Nick asked. "Yep" answered Joey and Jake at the same time. Halftime came to an end. There was the kickoff for the second half and a good drive. Still no B. Jake began to get a little worried. He thought, I know B is out of shape, but it shouldn't be taking him this long. I wonder if he got ran over. I wonder how much damage hitting B would do to a car? I wonder if there is any food in the refrigarator? The third quarter came to a close. It was past 9:00. Jake asked the guys of 120, "You want to hop in the car and go try to find B?" They all did.

Jake, Ben, Joey and Nick all hopped in Jake's super sweet Ford Mustang. It was a little tight. Then with the windows rolled down they set-out on the road to find their lost girlfriend desiring out of shape roommate. They were all prepared to be driving all night, pinning up signs with B's beautiful face on them that would read, Have You Seen Me? But much to the guy's surprise when the turned down the first street there was B. A mere 2 blocks away. Jake stepped on the gas so he could pull up next to him. Joey, Nick and Ben hung out the windows of Mustang Sally to get a better view. There was B in all of his glory. His shirt had changed from a light grey to a black due to the sweat that it had soaked up. His super cool headband was crooked and sagging due to the amount of perspiration it held. B's face was red and he was breathing hard. He was running, but running slower than most grandma's can walk. But he was running nonetheless. Jake got worried that he might actually have to pay up. He called out from the window, "Dude, have you stopped yet? Have you walked yet?" B smiled. "2 blocks to go and I haven't walked or stopped. Just been running as slow as I can so I can pace myself" he said threw huffs and puffs. Ben, Joey and Nick started to yell with glee. B was going to do it. They couldn't believe it. Neither could Jake. The guys started singing "Eye of the Tiger" as Mustang Salley cruised next to B. "It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight..." they bellowed out. B began to get exicted. He began to pick up the pace. Less than a block and a half. He started running to keep up with the car. The guys kept singing, B started throwing punches in the air. He knew he was going to make it.

Then it happened. In mid stride, in the middle of throwing a strong left hook in the air during a wonderful serenade of the first verse of Eye of the Tiger, B blew. Vomit everywhere. Like a bathtub faucet getting turned on, everything in B came shooting out. There he was bent over, throwing-up and...stopped. The guys couldn't believe it. Not only was that one of the most disgusting things they had ever seen, but there was B less than a block away from the apartment stooped over and not running. Mustang Salley came to a stop. The guys checked on B and he said he was okay. He just wanted to finish the race. A man's man.

They guys pulled into the parking lot and ran up to the apartment to get some toilet paper to form a finish line for B to run through. (And then clean up with.) B turned into the parking lot and ran through the finish line. Jake smiled. And with a sly look on his face he said, "Guess God didn't want you to get my 20 bucks. Better luck next time."

B had Nick drive him into school that next morning to get his truck. They laughed as they past the point in the road still covered with B's dinner from the night before.

My Official First Entry into the Greatest Story Ever Contest

Before you read this blog you must first read the blog that comes directly before this one or else you will be confused and bewildered, and no on likes being bewildered.

Okay, I have waited long enough. I feel like the anticipation has built to a point that if I do not submit my first entry today a riot might breakout. And that wouldn't be good because someone could get hurt.

I do confess that I have a bit of a dilemma here. My first deli ma is that I have told many of y'all a lot of my greatest stories as illustrations on Sunday morning. My second dilemma is that I still have so many good stories I am not sure what three I want to submit. My third dilemma is that I have never been to Antarctica (see Colin's first story). Oh well, I must press on for the sake of the game.

I believe that each story I will submit in this contest will come from a different stage in my life. The first will be a family story that took place when I was a sophomore in high school, the second will take place when I was in college living with my roommates and my third will be about me and Krista. So without further ado, let story time begin...

Official Story entry #1: To Prank and To Be Pranked

A little background for the story: One of the greatest things about my family is that we had fun together. Growing up we would have "family night" on Thursday nights. We would eat together and hang out and my Dad would lead us in a family devotional of some kind and we would talk about stuff. Sometimes on family night we would do a thing we called an ice cream drop. We would all jump in our sweet Ford Aerostar Van swing by a grocery story pick up some Blue Bell ice cream and randomly and always unannounced we would show up at a friends house and ring the door bell, leave the ice cream on the porch and run. We would hide and watch their expressions and laugh and it was always a good time. Another thing that my family did together was pranks. We wrapped a lot of houses together, forked a few yards and even dog-biscuited a yard (another story for another time).

One night my family decided it was time to combine a prank with the ice cream drop. Word had gotten around the church that the Boxes did ice cream drops and so there wasn't much surprise factor to it anymore so we thought we would actually make a ice cream delivery this time with a twist. Instead of just dropping off ice cream we would make sure we got invited into the house and then the pranks would begin. And so they did.

The lucky family we targeted were the Ledbetters, good family friends of ours from the church. We picked up some ice cream and cruised on up to their place in the old Aerostar. It was cold night so me and my brother where wearing our sweet huge Starter jackets. (Sadly before most of your time) We rang the door bell and the were greeted warmly by the Ledbetters. Happy to see us and happy to get ice cream they invited us in. We sat down in the living room and spent some time catching up. Then, as planned, one at a time each kid (me, my brother Ben and my sister Kaley) got up to use the restroom. While we were in the restroom our mission was to steal (spelled right) all the toothbrushes and toilet paper in the house. Ben and I would pack the stuff in our jackets and you couldn't tell (like I said they were big). Kaley had a oversized purse to put her stuff in. Then one at a time we would come back into the living room and join the conversation like nothing ever happened. Right before we left my Mom asked excused herself to use the restroom and managed to sneak into the Ledbetters bedroom. While in there she stole the last of the toothbrushes and toilet paper and hid an alarm clock we had brought under their bed and set it for 2:00 am. I know, she is awesome. Finally it was time to go so my Dad offered to pray for the Ledbetter family and thank God for them and their friendship. Then we left.

When we got in the van Ben and I unzipped our jackets to unveil a mission accomplished. We ended up with over 12 rolls of toilet paper (every roll in the house) and every tooth brush. With all of that toilet paper it only felt right for us to go use it so we headed over to another families house that lived pretty close by and wrapped their house with the Ledbetter's toilet paper. After ringing the door bell and jumping into the sweet Aerostar as my Dad peeled out (if you can do that in a minivan) as the door opened at the house we wrapped we knew it was a successful family night.

When we got home we had a couple of messages on the phone from the Ledbetters. Turns out that when they had sent their kids to bed the kids could not find their tooth brushes and on top of that they could not find any of their toilet paper. We assured them we did not have their toilet paper and hoped they would find their tooth brushes soon. We also got a phone call at 2:05 am that morning. No one bothered to get up for it though, we knew who was calling.

Great Stories

So, I don't know if any of y'all will go along with me on this one, but if you do it could be pretty fun.

I say that since we are starting The Story of His Glory, the greatest story ever told, we should stick with that theme and tell some great stories here on this blog, or even on your own blogs. Seeing that we all love a great story it could be pretty fun and I would even be willing to put a poll up to see who has the best story and the winner would get a prize (15 bucks to either Target or Best Buy) So what do you say?

I say that we better lay out some rules:
1. You may submit up to 3 stories, but no more than that.
2. You may post your stories as a reply to this posting or on your own blog, just indicate that it is an official submission into the Great Stories contest
3. The stories can either be true or fictional, they can be about you or about someone else and they can have a spiritual tie in or be about nothing important at all.
4. The poll will be posted for voting on the best stories as soon as we have a good number of submissions. The poll will continue to change as the submissions pour in, and I do expect to see them pour in.
5. The final rule is to not get your hopes up because there is no way in the world you will ever beat any of my stories. (And yes I did just do some story smack talking.)

Having laid out the rules I now say let story time begin...

Dodgeball Memories and Other Nostalgia

What a weekend.

As I sit in my office this Monday morning and think thru all that transpired this weekend I can't help but let a quite smirk pierce my lips and a tinge of nostalgia tease my spirit. Okay, I don't even know what that means, quite smirks and nostalgia teasing my spirit, I'm such a dork. But what I am trying to say is that I feel pretty blessed that I got to be a part of all that went down this weekend.

Friday night the Leydens had Krista and me over for dinner and Chuck served up the finest steak I have ever tasted in my entire 26 years. Between the steak, the shrimp, the croissant's (a must), the company and getting to see Josh in a wheel chair for elongated period of time I couldn't help but feel that good things were in store for this weekend.

Then came Saturday and with Saturday came Dodgeball. 62 students, 27 visitors, parents video taping the games, great music, a crazy guy in a afro wig, some amazing dodgeball, and an impromptu break out of "We Will Rock You" during the leaders game made that night a night to remember for years to come. In fact there were a ton of great thing that night that stuck out to me. One reoccurring super fine moment came when Kasey took not one, not two, but three dodgeballs to the head and shrugged them off like the other team was throwing pillows instead of dodgeballs. Not that the other team was not throwing them hard, they were, but she took them like a champ. One after another and not even a tear. What a girl. Another great moment came when Those Guys were bringing it to team Handicap and yet they couldn't quickly secure a victory because Josh had himself pinned against the wall in his wheel chair with only his head sticking out. Incredible strategy and yet the complete opposite style of his champ sister. Whatever works though. I remember seeing team Titanium Hippos strut on the floor with their uniforms made completely out of duct tape and thinking to myself these guys are insane and after watching them play deciding again that they truly were insane. One other thing that sticks out to me from that night is seeing Colin single-handedly keeping his team alive against the dreaded C-Unit by catching ball after ball after ball. What a performance. He did quickly bust out "In the Navy" though he did leave me wishing for more. What a show.

At the end of the dodgeball tournament, after the gospel, after the leaders domination, after all of the students had headed home and after Roger accidentally spilled an entire cooler of ice on the floor I had a chance to look through the response cards and to my delight and to God's credit one visitor indicated they had prayed to receive Christ that night, right there in the middle of a dodgeball tournament. Incredible. And on top of that several other students indicated that they wanted more information about how to have a relationship with Christ. How sweet it is. I was so proud of this youth group and the effort everyone put into inviting their friends to this crazy event and I was so honored to be a part of something even greater that God was doing right there in our midst. Praise God.

Finally Sunday rolled around. And even though the weekend was coming to an end the blessings were not. Summary Sunday was excellent. Getting to hear from Sean, Jessica and Brian was awesome. I thought all three of them had really good things to share. I love getting to hear from y'all what God is doing in your lives. I hope that He continues to work in your lives in this area of being influencers and real friends to your friends that do not know Christ so that one day in his timing He may use you to draw them into a relationship with Him.

But Summary Sunday was not the only reason I loved Sunday, for after Summary Sunday ended church didn't. What I mean is that a group of students stayed after the services ended and stuck around to help our youth leaders, Bobby and Kristin move. A picture of the church in action. (I know more of y'all would have liked to have stayed, which is really cool.) The one's that did stay worked hard all the way past 5 pm moving Bobby and Kristin from their apartment into their new sweet casa. Getting to see those students serve and blessing their youth leaders who serve them every week was so cool. Again I felt so blessed and so thankful for what God was doing there. What a great day. Sure, I didn't get to see all the football games I wanted to but I wouldn't change a thing.

All in all, looking back, this weekend was a great picture of the church. The Leydens having me and Krista over and blessing us as we eat and hang out together. The youth group reaching out to this community, to their friends and having fun playing dodgeball and investing in people's lives and seeing God draw at least one student into a relationship with Him as a result and finally getting to hear what God is doing in student's lives during Summary Sunday and getting to see what God is doing in student's lives by watching y'all serve Bobby and Kristin Sunday afternoon. What a blessing.

Like I said, what a weekend.

Dodgeball!

I'm on the staff retreat right now so I don't have much time. But I couldn't pass up the chance to share my thoughts about the upcoming dodgeball tournament. Here are a few predictions for the upcoming event...enjoy.

This dodgeball tournament will be the greatest event we have ever done.
People will talk about the events of this day for years to come. Between the number of people there, the number of times Jonathan Baker gets pegged with a ball and the crazy uniforms this tournament will quickly grow to legendary status.

Sean's team will win the tournament.
I don't think there is any way that any other team will be able to handle the depth and quality of Sean's team. He will embarrass a number of teams and have one dramatic come from behind victory. By the end of the tournament people will be asking for his autograph.

Colin will have the best overall performance of the tournament.
Colin's football performance of two weeks ago was just a preview of the skills he is going to bust out at the tournament. In the second game that Colin plays he will peg someone and then quickly catch a ball that has been thrown at him. Then immidiatly he will bust out the ddr dance to "In The Navy" as everyone on the sidelines salutes Captain Colin. The only reason Colin's team falls short of the championship is because of the dramatic comeback by Sean's team.

Kasey's team of all girls will shock a couple of all guys teams.
A couple of guys teams, both primarily jr. high guy teams, including one team with Kasey's brother Josh on it, will be shocked by how badly they are beat down by Kasey's team. The second game that Kasey's team wins, the one in which they will be playing Josh's team, will end with Josh pegging Kasey with a ball that bounces off of her shoulder and into the outstretched arms of Ruth as she dives and catches it before it hits the ground thereby saving Kasey and getting Josh out. Immediately after these events Josh will run from the gym crying.

Jake Franklin's team will win best uniform and best cheer.
How can you compete against the first and second place winners of the trendsetting game? With both Faith and Jake representing there is no way that anyone stands a chance. Then to top it off Faith will lead the team in a cheer that makes Sean's limericks look like child's play. This cheer will be the second highlight of the night, just behind Josh running from the gym crying but just ahead of Colin's ddr dance.

Finally, the Youth Leader's team (team name yet to be unveiled) will absolutely destroy Sean's championship team.
This last game will not even be close. Sean will leave this game with a bloody nose and Jarrod will be hit so hard in the stomach that his hair straightens.

So, there you go. That is how I see it will happen. Feel free to rebuttal my comments, but know you will be wrong, unless of course you are agreeing with me. See you Saturday.

Jake

My Last Point

In between Brian Regan, football, ACL and more football I have been thinking a lot about this Trendsetters series. You might have been able to tell, because when I think about something a lot I tend to have a lot to say about that thing. And the past two Sundays I have ran out of time trying to say everything I wanted to. I hate it when that happens. It is like when I say something stupid when I am doing announcements and I get in trouble for it from Krista and y'all all know that I'm an idiot. Not that that has ever happened or anything, but if I were to do that I am sure that running out of time on Sunday morning would feel a lot like that. That's all I'm trying to say, that's all.

Well like I said, this Sunday I ran out of time again and pretty much had to skip my last point. And that bothered me all day yesterday because I think the last point was really key to everything I was telling y'all. And so in between annihilating Lindsey in Fantasy Football and watching Drew Bledsoe single handedly give away the Dallas Cowboy's game I thought that I ought to sum up that last point in today's blog, so here it is...

The point was that in order to gain influence in someone's life you must engage them like the Holy Spirit empowers you to engage them. The idea behind that point is this: For us to love like God loves (the 1st point) and if we are to accept like Christ accepted (2nd point) then it better be God in us prompting us, moving us and empowering us to do so. Because there is no way in the world I am going to be able to love like God loves on my own. You know? Last time I checked I wasn't God and I didn't have any of the God attributes down exactly so loving like God loves in my own power is a ridiculous thought. It is like saying be omniscient like God is omniscient. Good luck with that.

So how are we to do it? By relying on God in us, the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us in Galatians 5 that if we live by the Spirit we will not give into our sinful desires. Which means we won't give into our me first, I am the most important and that is why you should love me and I shouldn't have to live for anyone else kind of sinful desires. Paul also says in that passage that if we live in the Spirit than the result will be that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control exude from us.

So to put it all together, if we rely on the Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit then we will not give into our me first kind of living but instead we will exude love and joy and faithfulness and all of that other really good stuff. And not just any kind of love and joy and goodness and peace, but God's love and joy and... You see? How do we love like God loves and accept like Christ accepted? We rely on the Spirit, we abide in Christ and we let God's love flow from us. And it is when we are doing that that we begin to gain influence in other people's lives because people are drawn to people who love them and accept them.

I hope that clarifies it some for you guys. The whole living by the Spirit thing is so crucial to all of this. It is also a very interesting topic. So if you want to bat it around a bit on the blog this week I will be happy to answer any questions you have about what that looks like or how to do it or how to know you are doing it.

I hope y'all all have a glorious week and I'll catch all of y'all on Wednesday night.

Jake

Colin

The second blog of the week, I never thought I'd let myself get to this point. But here I am. And it is all because of one man, Colin Hemphill.

I thought nothing and I mean nothing could but a damper on this week. A get-away weekend with Krista in San Antonio, Brian Regan and the beginning of football season. Like I said it is as if God was taking a picture of Heaven and right when He said "say cheese" I looked up at the sky and there Heaven was smiling down on me. But then Wednesday night happened. But then Colin Hemphill happened. And ever since my mind has been on the staggering smack down the sr. highers laid on the jr. highers in the weekly football game. And the main instigator of that smack down was none other than Mr. Sticky Fingers Colin Hemphill. Sure other high school guys had great games too, Sean's one in a million catch at the end of the game off of the tip by Stan and Taylor and Camren's numerous right in the right spot catches or touchdown grabs didn't help. But Colin's grab at the beginning of the game in the endzone on fourth and one was amazing. And then his interception and his second touchdown grab and then his third...it pains me to think thru it again. Oh the pain. It is as if Heaven was still pogo sticking but instead of landing on me like it had been doing it was landing all around me and I got to see it, but not be blessed by it. Instead Colin stole my pogo sticking heavenly bounces.

So, that is what I have been thinking about. I felt like I had to put it into words so that I could move on and get ready to enjoy this weekend. I'll be thinking of you guys while I am laughing so hard it hurts tonight at the Brian Regan show. Hope y'all have a great weekend and I'll see you on Sunday.

Football, Brian Regan & Trendsetting

So I didn't write my blog yesterday because it was Labor Day and I decided that blogging was laboring. So here it is on Tuesday. You know, Labor Day is a dumb name. You would think they (whoever they are that get to come up with these kind of names) would have called it No-Labor Day or Don't Work Day or Sleep-In Day or something like that. But Labor Day sounds like that is a day you are supposed to work, not one that you are supposed to get off. Anyway, just thought I'd point that out.

On to this week's topic...What I have been thinking. I wish I could say that I have been thinking a lot about very spiritual topics like Trinitarianism or something of that nature, but I haven't. Even though I did just start a new seminary class on Trinitarianism, we haven't done anything other than go over our syllabus and introductory stuff so I haven't had to think about it too much. I am sure it will show up on a future blog sometime. So, I digress...Instead of ultra spiritual things I have been thinking primarily about Thursday night, the kickoff of the NFL season and Friday night, when Krista and I will go see Brian Regan live in San Antonio. Even if I wanted to be thinking about something else, say something like Faith Franklin's awesome come from behind victory this past Sunday in the Trendsetting game, I couldn't. I can't seem to think about anything except those two awesome back to back nights. Football and Brian Regan. It is like a little dose of Heaven showed up in the middle of my Chic-fil-a sandwich. It is like a piece of Heaven fell off and landed on my head as took out the trash this morning. It is like Heaven got lost and found itself wandering around all franticly on Thursday and Friday night and I was there to see it and touch and whisper sweet nothings into its ear.

Again I digress. The only thing I can see competing with my thoughts this week are the Trendsetting series we are in the middle of and next weekend. Next weekend because it just might be the second greatest weekend ever and it follows this coming weekend which makes it even better. Next weekend I will find myself at Zilker Park with my lovely wife, my Dad, my brother and my sister and about a million other crazy people listening to the likes of Ray Lamontagne, Nickle Creek, John Mayer, The Shins and Van "the man" Morrison. Oh sweet ACL goodness. And then that Sunday night I will find myself at Texas Stadium with Phil, Chuck, Paul and Ruben Sosa at the Dallas Cowboy game, glorying in the defeat, nay the massacre, of the Washington Redskins. What a weekend. Again it will be like Heaven decided to go pogo-sticking and one of the places it landed was me, lucky little ol' me.

As for the Trendsetting series, I have been managing to think about that here and there when Heaven isn't trickling down on me like a blessed broken faucet. And when my mind does manage to wander there, in between heavenly pogo-sticking bounces, I have thought that this series could be a real defining point for our youth group. I say that because rarely do you find a truth that cuts to the heart of a person or a group. Sure their out there, the truth of salvation is the best example. Yet, there are not too many of them. At least not in my experience. But this one, the truth that we are called to make disciples and the truth that we are called to not conform to the pattern of this world is one of them. And it seems to have registered with everyone in our youth group. Because everyone knows which one of those commands they are following or not following. And almost everyone in our group finds themselves on one side or the other. And to think that God would be telling us together as a youth group, "I want to use y'all to do great things for my name here in Southwest Austin so I want you to get how to influence without being influenced," is awesome to me. And just like anything God tells us, it is challenging and calls us to put ourselves to the side and it is adventurous. And I love that. That makes life fun instead of boring, scary instead of monotonous and wild instead of ho-hum And that is what the Christian life should be like. Just ask the apostle Paul or Jesus Himself.

That's what I have been thinking lately. So, what do you think about what I have been thinking about?

Your blogs and other happenings

Ah Monday. Another week, another blog. And a little bit more of what I have been thinking...

Last night was weird. As y'all know Krista went to go visit her parents this weekend and so I was stag all weekend. Sunday after church I grabbed a meal at the Christensen's casa which is always delightful because Cynthia can cook. After lunch I headed home to watch Tiger win his fifth straight golf tournament and catch up on some rest. The best Sunday afternoon naps are brought on by golf tournaments. I also found some time to crunch a few more numbers for pending Fantasy Football draft that was to take place at 8:00 that very night. Around five Krista called to say she was on her way back to me (music to my ears) but that she is going to have to meet me at our friends house that the draft was to be held, which is in NW Austin. She said a few things about being tired and stressed and wishing she didn't have to drive to NW Austin and back that night and then back there in the morning for school. So, being the loving husband I am offered to call our friends (Joey and Beth LoSurdo) and ask if it was cool to spend the night at their place...Quickly after posing the idea a thought I'm an idiot. Of course Krista jumped all over that idea and asked me to give Joey a call. After hanging up with Krista I just stood there thinking thru what just happened. You see I have a personal rule about such happenings. My rule is I won't let me and Krista spend the night at a friends house when they live in the same town as me and Krista. The reason for this rule is because spending the night at a friend's house is cool when you are in jr. high or even high school. But when you are married and have a place to your own it is just weird. Especially when you live in the same town. Like if someone was coming from out town to visit I would think sure you can stay here with us. But if they live here in Austin, if their address is something something something Austin Texas, then that is just weird. At least that is how I feel. Feel free to comment.

Anyway, we ended up spending the night there and it was fine and they are great and I drafted an awesome fantasy team and Krista was happy so all was good. But I still feel weird. I broke my own rule and that is never something you want to do. Oh, well...maybe the weirdness will fade as the day goes on.

On another note, I read up on all of your blogs this morning and it was quite enjoyable. I have to say Jonathan's is by far the weirdest and that the Franklin kids can write some amazingly long blogs. I wonder if they get school credit for doing that? Just a thought. All in all though I was impressed and a little embarrassed at the lack of cool things on my blog. All you really get with me is words. With Colin you get music and videos and awesome links and pictures, that guy made my blog look dumb. And it hurt me. Hey Colin, help a brother out and make me look cooler than I obviously am. Please. I'm dying here.

So to sum up, I feel weird and not so cool. What a Monday. At least I have a sweet Fantasy Football team and cool kids in my youth group. Maybe I can just settle for being cool by association today...

Catch you cool cats later,

Jake

With every Monday comes a new blog. And with every new blog comes a Monday. It really depends on how you want to look at it. If you take option one then it is like, "Hey it is Monday and that stinks, but at least I have a new blog to look forward to." But if you take option two then it could be like, "There is a new blog today but that means it is Monday and Monday stinks." You see, it is all in how you look at it. I'd like to think you look at it like the first option. Like you would look forward to seeing that good looking girl in Math class and so you don't mind going to math class. You know what I'm talking about. Or like you look forward to getting to hear Jason lead worship on Sunday so you don't mind having to listen to...wait a minute. That doesn't work.

Jason was great this past Sunday, wasn't he? And that brings me to what I have been thinking lately. I have been thinking that we as a youth group don't do a great job worshipping God thru song on Sunday mornings. And that is disappointing. I don't know why that is really. For the most part our group is filled with students that really love God and spend time with Him regularly during the week and would say they want to glorify Him with their lives and their choices. Yet, when we get a chance to all get together and praise God as a youth group we kind of flounder. (Which is a great word.) Worship is a time for us to shout our allegiance too, praises for, and adoration of our God. Yet all too often we focus on ourselves during that time. It is like it is uncomfortable to sing in front of your friends or something. And it is. Especially if you have a bad voice like I do. And y'all all know I do. But I think that whole uncomfortable thing fits with what Phil has been saying lately. He keeps saying when we are moved out of our comfort zone we are often moved closer to God. How true that is for worshipping on a Sunday morning. When you forget about everyone else around you and you take a step out of your comfort zone and you start to sing or raise your hands or close your eyes or clap your hands or whatever and engage in worshiping our awesome God you move closer to Him. You maybe uncomfortable but you are saying I don't care, I am going to worship God and He loves that. In a very real sense that is worship. Just that attitude. Just that perspective.

So, this next Sunday worship. Worship God even though it is uncomfortable, worship God because it is uncomfortable and worship God as He moves you closer to Him as a result of moving you further away from your little it is all about me comfort zone. Plus, how you can you not worship with Jason rocking away up on stage each Sunday?

So, that's what I've been thinking. What do you think of that?

- Jake

We Have Awesome Youth Leaders!

So what's up. It is has been awhile I know. But the fall is beginning and so my schedule is getting back to normal and so I find myself blogging once again. Oh, the joy.

So the subject of this blog site is "What's The Youth Pastor Thinking?" and so fittingly I am going to stay with that topic through the Fall. And so if you ever find yourself low on thoughts or wishing you knew what other people were thinking this is the place to go. Because that is what you are going to get, my thoughts. Like it or not. Or if your thoughts aren't working out real well and they keep getting you in trouble or cause you to do stupid things then you can try on my thoughts for a little while and see if they help you out any. They might not, but hey if your thoughts are doing you wrong then it is at least worth a try. And maybe if you try my thoughts your stupid thoughts will see that you are checking out someone else's thoughts and get jealous and start acting really nice just to win you back. Then we could all have good thoughts & that would be nice, wouldn't it?

So, here is what I have been thinking. We (the youth group at HCBC SW) have really awesome youth leaders. Of course we have had a strong tradition of great yout leaders, founded by the dearly loved and even more dearly missed Troy and Stevi. And so sticking with that tradition and building on that foundation God has sent some incredibly sweet people our way. And when I think sweet I don't think sweet like a little puppy sweet, but I think sweet like Travis Pastrana's double back flip in the X-Games motocross best trick sweet. You know the type. And it is true. Bobby & Kristen Kailing, Stan & Lindsey Thomson, Ellie Kirkland, Roger Webb, Gordon Muench, Jason & Beth Carrol, and Krista Box are all as cool as the back side of your pillow. They all love God, love student ministry, love our church and love the idea of getting to know all of you. Our youth leaders rock. So I think you should get to know them.

One of the best ways to get to know these incredibly cool cats is by joining a D-Group this Fall. Now talk about an all time great idea. Just picture it. You and some of your closest friends chilling with the likes of Ellie and Lindsey. Can it get any better? I submit that it cannot.

So yeah, that is what I have been thinking lately. Tune in next Monday to see what I'm thinking about then.

- Jake

Why The Great Adventure Is Better Than A Trip To Hawaii

So here is my new blog, and it is going to be a running blog so you need to help me out with this. What I am going to do is pose an idea based off the premise that The Great Adventure is better than...something (you fill in the blank). I am starting it off with it is better than a trip to Hawaii and I will give ten reasons why. After you have read my entry you need to come up with something the Great Adventure is better than and give ten reasons why you think that is the case. So here it goes...the first entry.

Why the Great Adventure is better than...Hawaii:

10. You can go to Hawaii anytime (most of us never will, but we could) the Great Adventure is only once a year.
9. If Hawaii was all that great it would be called The Great Hawaii, but it isn't so it isn't
8. When it comes down to it Hawaii is just one big Volcano of hot molten lava, but the Great Adventure is a huge volcano of love.
7. Steven Curtis Chapman never did a song called, "This is the Great Hawaii"
6. Hula skirts vs. The Sweet Cape the "teen" character gets to wear, enough said
5. In Hawaii you can get wet but during the Great Adventure you can get Wet and Wild on Wednesday and Friday
4. Going to Hawaii lasts a week or two, what we do in the Great Adventure will last for all eternity
3. There is no chance of being eaten by a shark during the Great Adventure
2. During the Great Adventure we get to lead people to Christ, in Hawaii they just lead people around a dumb mountain.
1. If you go to Hawaii all they will give you is a Leigh, but during the Great Adventure God gives people eternal life

L-O-V-E

All my life I have heard that we are to love God and love one another. Funny thing is, it never really clicked with me. It sounded more like a greeting in a Hallmark card then the motto I should live my whole life by. Love is such a tricky and touchy-feely word. I know what it is to love Krista or my parents or even my dog, but to love everyone, to love my friends and my teachers and the people in my school or wherever, that was weird to me. I mean was I supposed to wake up in the morning thinking about different people and how great they are and how I can't wait to see them because "I just love them so much?" Weird.

I also knew that I was to love God and that seemed easy enough to me, because He is God and He died for me. So, to not love Him made a lot less sense then to love Him. I can say most of my life I have felt like I had that one covered. You know, I felt love towards Him and so I loved Him. Done and done.

But over the past two years God has been teaching me a lot about love. I know, two years is a long time, but I guess I am a slow learner, or God is just a really patient teacher. Probably both. Whatever the case is, He has been teaching me about this love thing. And I think the thing that I have come to realize is love is a lot less about a certain level of emotion I feel towards somebody and a lot more about how I treat them. I think this is what Jesus was getting at when He said, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching." It is not just lip service but actually backing it up with how I live. For me this realization has been both good and bad. Good in the sense that I don't have to have a crush on every person I meet. I mean, it isn't all about this feeling I have for someone. So all of that weird, too touchy-feely problem I had with that command is gone. It isn't really about how I "feel" towards a certain person but how I treat them, and in treating them like I would want to be treated I am showing them love. So to me that is good. But it is also bad. It is bad because it isn't just about feelings anymore. (I know, it is complicated, that is why it has taken me two years to begin getting this.) But, when it is not just about feelings then I have to act, I have to do something. A big part of me would much rather just feel love towards someone or towards God than have to really love them by acting on it. Now when I say I love God I realize that means I should be obeying what He is teaching and if I am not then how can I really say I love Him? It would be words without action, it would be hypocritical, it would be shallow. Same goes for others, I need to treat them like I love them by serving, encouraging, looking out for them and doing things that show love. Being married to Krista has taught me a lot about that, because I certainly love her in the feelings kind of way, but I have come to realize that I can tell her I love her a million times in a day and it won't carry much weight if I refuse to clean the dishes for a week or never take out the trash, or if I never take her on a date or treat her special.

Love demands action. That is what God has been teaching me for almost two years now. I reckon He will keep teaching me about it too, seeing that it is the cornerstone of the two greatest commandments in scripture, to love God and to love others. So what about you? Have you ever felt this way? What does loving God and loving others look like to you, in your life?

My Greatest Summertime Memories...

Okay, here is my list of favorite summertime memories. I figured I will give you my list and then you can give me yours. We can compare notes and decide who has had the best summers so far. I will try to keep it fair and limit it to jr. high and high school memories since I have had so many more summers than all of y'all. So here it goes...my top 5 favorite jr. high and high school memories:

5. Schlitterbaghn 1998: My friends dared me to get inside of all of their tubes and let them role me down a huge hill right by a line of people waiting to get on the Hillside ride. I did it and it was a blast...well at least it was until I couldn't stop and I ran into a bunch of people. Good times.

4. Great Adventure 1996: The first bootcamp ever, we are in Waco and we are riding to go to a housing project to run a BYBC there. That year someone thought it was a good idea to use puppets in our gospel presentation. While doing the gospel presentation the kids stole our puppets in the middle of our presentation right off of our hands and then stole our puppet screen. While we were chasing them to get our stuff back they used our puppets to cuss us out. Nothing like a cussing puppet and a little adversity to make a great summer time memory.

3. Summer 1996: Ryan and I are bored and poor. All we have is a dollar between the booth of us, and thus the dollar game is born. We gallivant all over town placing that dollar in the weirdest places just to see what people will do to try to get it. Absolutely one of the greatest days of my life.

2. Summer 1999: On a missions trip to Mexico me and a couple of friends find a pool in the the middle in the poorest area of Juarez Mexico. The pool is packed with kids, like sardines in a can, we invite all of them to play soccer or "futbol" with us the next day and they say they will. We run back to our Pastor, Bobby, and tell him we need to put together a soccer tournament. We buy chalk and soccer balls and food and water and we line a giant field to make 5 soccer fields. The next day 150 people ages 8-20 show up for what turns out to be one of the coolest impromptu soccer tournaments ever. In the middle of it we sit everyone down and share the gospel. Over 40 put their faith in Christ. That was an amazing day.

1. Summer 1995: The first Great Adventure. I began to hangout with Ryan, I began to really fall in love with God as I served Him and I had a blast. In the first Great Adventure there were about 25-30 of us. We had all of our training at a families house that had kids in the group and a pool. Our whole group hung out together all summer long. The guys sang songs to the girls and the girls wrote the guys notes. The leaders had us play follow the leader to learn what it means to lead and to follow. Looking back at it all it was so goofy, yet it was awesome. That summer I got the opportunity to lead a couple of kids to the Lord. That was the coolest. Ever since then I have never missed a Great Adventure.

So that is my list of top 5 moments. And I have to say that I am pretty excited about this summer. I think it might top some of mine. But send me yours and we will see if you have already had some summers that top mine.

Jake

Survey for cash

So here are some things that I want to know and the person who fills this out and gives the best answers will win a $15 gift certificate to the store of your choice. This is how the answers will be judged:

* Your answers have to answer the question
* Honest answers get points
* Honest answers that are also funny get extra points
* Creative answers get points

So having laid the ground rules here are the questions:
1. Name?
2. Grade?
3. Birthday?
4. Favorite food?
5. Favorite Sports Teams?
6. Hated Sports Teams?
7. If you could hang out with anyone alive today it would be...
8. If you could change your name right now you what name would you choose for yourself?
9. Have you ever read an entire book?
10. What is your favorite book?
11. What is your favorite game? (PS2, 360...)
12. What was the last song you sang when no one else was around?
13. Who is your favorite band or musician?
14. If you could have a shopping spree to any store which one would it be?
15. What is something that really irritates you?
16. What is the best day of the year?
17. What is your favorite tv show?
18. What is your favorite thing about church?
19. What is your least favorite thing about church?
20. What has been your favorite series Jake has taught? And Why?
(Examples: Fool Proof, Unwrapping Jesus, And You Think You've Got It Bad, Prayer, Are the Gospels Reliable?)

Alright, there it is, bring on the answers.

Jake