NYWC Back Home

I am home and very tired now. It's kind of hard to explain that good tired where you are physically in need of a lot of sleep, and yet you feel very refreshed. That's exactly what I'm going through right now. However, there's no time to take a nap as I have to hit the ground running with the new found fire I've recieved this week.

I have three bags full of exhibit hall junk, freebies, seminar notes, and things I bought from YS to sort through. I try to keep everything filed because I never know when I'm going to need that address for some company I heard about at the convention four years ago.

Today, I attended the funeral of the person I talked about earlier in the week. There are sometimes in my life as a pastor that I have no idea what to say, and sometimes that I just know that nothing I can say will work. This time was both of those at the same time.

Time to get to work...

NYWC Day 4 Post 1

Well, we're coming down to the end of the convention. The funny thing is, right away I need to tell myself the exact same things that I would tell the students at the end of summer camp or a mission trip. Beware of the mountain top experience. God has been showing me some great things this week. Now it's time to avoid the same pitfall that every youth goes through, making sure that I live out the things I've learned and professed to this weekend.

Coming from a conservative Baptist perspective, the greatest thing for me this week was to immerse myself in the emergent worship items they had all week. So today, I worked up the nerve and took time to take care of my soul in the Labryinth. What a wonderful idea! It was such a great way to start out the day and remind me to eliminate the distractions in my life.

Focus. That's the name of the game. With three jobs, sometimes that is going to be difficult, but that's what I'm called to do. It's time to take the steps to manage myself, so that I can effectively be a great youth pastor while being a great taekwondo teacher at the same time. Just takes planning.

To my brothers and sisters in Christ that I met this week and have been hanging out with, thank you for taking time to get to know this shy and crazy youth guy from East Texas.

To Marko, thanks for the exposure, the affirmation that my perspective matters, a wonderful convention, and great slap upside the head (literally and figuratively). :) Words cannot begin to express my gratitude for all that I have learned this week.

NYWC Day 3

Ok, this has got to be a quick one as it's already very late.

The day started out with my first trip to the Starbucks across from the Center. Thank God for all his wonderful gifts like coffee!

I went to Jim Burns' session on Partnering with Parents in Ministry. All I can say is wow. The Youth Team is going to get bombarded when I get back with all this stuff. I definitely would like to shift into more of that family minister role.

Then we went to lunch to meet up with the YMX members. Nothing like a plan getting trumped out by an Independent Music promoter with a food giveaway and good music. We got our meals for free, then escaped to the Starbucks for quieter conversation.


So then, it was time for the Super Seminar time. Doug Fields hit it out of the park with his talk on Crafting Messages that Matter. It's about high time that the voice record feature on my Palm Zire gets used. Usually, I just keep things here and use them later, but the idea of keeping an audio journal with me at all times and collecting everything I can was a great one.

Went for dinner with three wonderful youth workers in the UMC after the seminar. I can't remember what the name of the Mexican place was, but outstanding! We had a great conversation sharing our struggles, laughing at our differences, and just enjoying being around people who understand.

Then, it was time for the session with Donald Miller. Wow. I may not agree with him all the time, but I love the way his mind works and the way he presents himself with authenticity. (A word I've used before this week.) When he laid it out there and said "Perfect ministry is a great commercial for the church business" I knew exactly what he meant. Sometimes ministry is messy. It's a hospital. Hospitals smell. Patients throw up. They bleed. They make messes. Ministry needs to be messy sometimes.

Then, it was time for the late night comedy club. My cheeks still hurt. Thor Ramsey, Ron Pearson, and of course, Taylor Mason. I've been a Taylor Mason fan since the last time I was at YS (2004 Dallas) when they gave out the free Bananas DVDs. Melissa is an even bigger fan. During the bit, Romeo not only lost his shoe, but his foot as well into the second row. We were rolling. Afterwards, I went up to Taylor and talked to him for bit. He's a wonderful man of God! He took a picture of him and Paco with me, then autographed my Bananas DVD to Melissa in Paco's name.

Tomorrow, I'm heading to Marko's Middle School seminar and Duffy Robbins' on understanding teenage spirituality. I'm not sure yet, but I may skip the 8am to take the labyrinth. I could use a time of prayer, and I've been eating light, so I can afford to buy one CD.

Sorry for the incoherent ramblings tonight. It's already 1:00. Later on, I'll talk about some of the things that God is revealing and what it will mean. Until then, keep your feet on!

P.S. Now 1 1/2 Sea World bags full of exhibit hall and giveaway stuff.

Update

Just to update from earlier. I'm here with a bit of a heavy heart as I have found out that the father of three of my taekwondo students was killed the day I arrived here. When I get back, I will be heading immediately to the viewing if I can make it time. Funeral is the next day. He leaves behind four kids, including the three we have at the school (all under 12). They're a great Christian family and it hurts to see them go through this.

NYWC Day 2 Post 3

Wow. What a day. It's been a long day, but a very good one. Here's what's been going on.

First off, I had a chance to meet Marko today. Very nice guy. There are just some people that when you meet them, you just know automatically that they are authentic about their faith. That's one of them. Just wish I could grow hair like that.

I knew that the theme of Reveal was going to be getting me all weekend, but I didn't know how quickly God was going to get a hold of me and tell me things. Authenticity is a big thing with me. I need to take steps to make sure that 1) I am living an authentic lifestyle of Christ-following and 2) I instill that same lifestyle into the youth that God has trusted me with.

If you are here at the convention, and you haven't done the One Life Experience yet, skip a seminar and go do it. Absolutely moving, powerful, and gut-wrenching. I won't ruin it for anyone, but let me say this. When I went for the hand stamp, I actually cried at the result. Especially when nobody from the other side came.

I think one of the greatest things about this convention is realizing that I'm not alone. Living and working in small towns, I sometimes get the feeling that I am the only one who cares that these students are hurting and need the love of Jesus. So I go out there and do all I can with the time that I have between taekwondo teaching, after school, all the office work, music work, starting my family, and caring for my wife. Then I wonder why I've been getting so tired.

I know that God has put me in ministry and continues to give me His strength each day to face the challenges. Today, I looked around at the crowd and realized that I am not the only one. There's 2500 or so other people here who love students like I do and want to see them grow up with an authentic life in Jesus. As we all prayed and lifted our hands while Mike Pilavachi asked us to clear ourselves of cynicism, I knew I'm not the only person here tired and worn out. I am not alone. We all share the same struggles. We understand each other.

Looking forward to the YMX meet tomorrow.

Bag count = 1 Sea World bag filled to the brim. It's now retired and all free stuff from exhibit hall now goes into bag #2

Tic Longhorn. I like it.

Only David Crowder can stop a worship song, crack a joke, and then keep himself and the congregation engaged with the Holy Spirit. You have to live in the Spirit for that to work.

Kudos to the Jesus Painter for playing through pain.

Jared Hall, great as always.