I know it's been awhile. Here's what's going on:

• Just got back from a PK (pastor's kids) Retreat
• Nicole's on "couch rest" - read all about it here. We go to the doctor tomorrow.
• Getting ready for our new high school room's grand opening on Sunday.
• Finishing up my semester teaching at CBU. Lots of grading and stuff.
  

Labels: CBU, random, youth ministry

It was a pretty full day today....

• 7:30 - Pastors' prayer meeting (ok, so I got there at like 7:40)
• 9:30 - High School Bible Study
• 11:00 - Worship service - I did the announcements and got the chance to make fun of one of the other pastors while I was on stage. Always a good thing.
• 12:25 - Run into former volunteers who moved to Texas. Meet their baby, chat it up, show them the new high school room.
• 1:00 - Drive through Del Taco for lunch.
• 1:20 - Eat way too much food from Del Taco for lunch.
• 2:00 - Get ready for volunteer meeting and student leadership meeting.
• 2:45 - HALO (it's a good thing when I get to sneak an hour or so of this in)
• 4:00 - Head to the church
• 4:30 - Student Ministries Volunteer Meeting
• 6:05 - Head off to pick up food for student leadership meeting
• 6:30 - Student Leadership Meeting (only 3 students show up....we eat lots of food....we take the 3 girls to Swirl, this sweet new frozen yogurt place)
• 8:40 - Last girl leaves
• 8:45 - Grading papers for my Youth Ministry class (we're done this week!)
• 9:30 - Wrap it up; enjoy a lovely coffee table book
• 10:10 - Get call from jr. high intern who's discovered an open door at the church (all is well).
• 10:30 - Type insanely detailed blog post of my day.
  

Labels: random

We have fancy new lighting controllers in our new high school room and they scheduled the training for today (which I had planned to take off, but it's my own fault since I mentioned this as a possible date). So they said the guy would be here for like 7 hours! I couldn't figure out what he'd do for 7 hours. Well, my training was done and over in about 20 minutes. Now I've gained a whole day back. I suppose I should be productive now.

Labels: random, youth ministry

The blog will be quiet this week. I am heading with some of our high schoolers to mexico for a house building trip. We will cross the border in a little bit. Back on saturday!

Had a pretty relaxing day off today. Hung out with Nicole, had some lunch at Farmer Boys, went and saw Leatherheads, met with Paul Turner at Starbucks for a bit. Tomorrow and Sunday will be a bit crazy. We're hosting a conference at our church tomorrow and I'll be running around doing Mexico errands most of the day. Sunday is packing day and then we head off to build a house in Tijuana on Monday morning.

Funny thing about big trips. I almost always dread them before they come. Once I'm in the van on Monday though I should be good to go. There are just way too many loose ends right now for being three days before we leave.

Labels: random, youth ministry

Tonight in our high school gathering our students were super chatty. I wasn't cheating (EDIT: or teaching, perhaps would be the correct word) so I had more of a chance to take it in. Working with high schoolers (and previously jr. highers) I've gotten to used to a level of chatter, but this just seemed a bit much. We're thinking of tweaking some stuff to cut it back. Here are some of the ideas:

• Eliminate sitting at tables - we currently sit at round tables. I've already known that our new room doesn't have plans for tables at this time. We may still use some, but just only use as many as we have adults available to sit at them.
• Do a very intentional transition at the start of the message - Something like "If you feel the absolute need to talk during this next bit, feel free to hang out outside instead."
• Re-train our volunteers to have a more specific role at the tables - I've slacked on helping our midweek volunteers know exactly what their role is and do it.
  

Labels: youth ministry