what happens when you lead someone?

i had a really good talk today with our small group/volunteer pastor at our church. we were talking about how student ministries is totally re-organizing our strategy on how we do groups. it was one of those conversations that you wish you could have recorded or had a court reporter in the room with you. i really felt God leading us toward some profound truth when it comes to community and relationships.

he said that high level professional coaches are some of the best leaders around and i totally agree. they teach and motivate those who play for them. and those coaches who are the best at what they do, teach and motivate players to do things that they would not be able accomplish without that coach leading them.

are we leading those who God has placed in our lives in this way? are we leading people toward the relationship with God that they were created to live?

staff retreat

so, we (phillip, kevin, brian, sarah, billy and myself) went out to the lake for our staff retreat this weekend and it was very productive.

God helped us open some discussion that we wouldn't typically ave with one another. our relationships and understanding of one another was strengthened. we also developed a mission statement and our core values. we nixed our "youth group" name and hopefully nixed the term "youth group" within our student ministry team (Northwood Student Ministry; NSM). we thought of some new potential environment names and recognized roles and structure within the organization.

we also had some fun by playing some games and just hanging out and eating with each other. i enjoyed the work and fun time this weekend so much. when we were creating and developing aspects of the ministry, that made me want to just working because i really realized this is what i love doing and this is what i was created to do. even though we were working very diligently on our student ministry department it did not seem like work at all.

what a great weekend and great leadership team we have at NSM. i am so excited about what God is doing at our church and with our department.

headache

i am very interested in where headaches come from. i mean, what causes them? i rarely get them but allison seems to get them frequently. i am one of those people who rarely gets sick and i sometimes think people are faking when they say they are "sick".

why am i talking about this? well, because today i have a major headache. all those who i thought were faking in the past, please forgive me. headache meds here i come.

blogging slacker

wow. i have been slack blogging. i have been working outside with arborscape, leading a tree trimming crew so i have not had any time to get on the computer during the week to blog. but i do today!

we are about to go on a summer road trip. i am pumped. we are going to be taking some students on some airboats (gator watching, which i've never done), and to universal and islands of adventure. i loved islands of adventure but i didn't even get to ride the spiderman ride which i have heard is the best ride at the park. so there will still be an element of surprise for me when i go there.

i have a feeling that it's going to be a great trip!

office ghost town

i just saw a tumbleweed blow by at the church office.
seriously though, no one is hear. everyone is on vacation. but i finally have a schedule at arborscape. therefore, i have a more set schedule here at the church. it's so nice.

my streak of predicting where we are eating staff lunch continued today...they tried to throw me a curveball with wild wings but i still got it right. i have a weird sixth sense of predicting where we are going to eat. long live the streak.

back home

mexico city was a blast. God is doing some amazing things down there. i really hope our team of students and leaders can bring the enthusiasm for people coming to know Christ home with them. over 1600 people came to know Jesus as their Savior on the missions trip.

it was my first missions trip so it was definitely a great experience and i had an awesome time connecting with God and our team. now, all we gotta do is put it into action hear and stay in tune with what God is doing in charleston and be ready for him to put us to work here. the task of missions and evangelism is to important not to go all out for God. we are on the frontline where life or death is decided and where heaven or hell is determined. this is the place where people have their eternity and their forever determined. if we don't sound the horn (Ezekiel 33) their blood is on our hands.

list making mode

i made a bunch of lists tonight and i felt as though tonight was a very productive night. i made a pros and cons list which was very beneficial and i made a ministry goals list for the rest of 2008. i like typing something when thinking about goals because you are more likely to take inventory if you actually type/write them down.