Monday, January 7, 2013

01.07.13 Renovate Roundup

We have mission trips on the horizon and the GOSPEL right now. Check out this week's Renovate Roundup:


Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Six Things Parents Need To Know

I ran across this video from the Today Show via Terrace Crawford's blog and thought it was too good not to share with our parents. Some of them may seem like lofty goals, but they will be worth it in the long run:


Monday, June 14, 2010

DC - Day One

I finally have some access to be able to upload some pictures and give y'all an update. It has been an interesting trip, to say the least. But we are here and have hit the ground running.


Getting Here
In case you haven't heard, we had a bit of difficulty with our vehicles. When Jane and JT and several volunteers showed up at Budget to pick up our eight 12-passenger vans (five for DC and three for Milwaukee), they had exactly NONE of them. Awesome. After much finagling, they supplied us with eight SUV's for the DC trip which the volunteers brought back with them, and Budget also dropped off three 12-passenger vans for the Milwaukee team to use. They also agreed to pay for all of our gas, tolls, and parking for the trip for our troubles. I would prefer to have the 12s, but what can you do.

The trip itself wasn't exactly smooth either. Terry Ann's vehicle lost power twice. The car was still running, but nothing would happen when she pressed on the gas. So twice she had to pull over on the highway, and wait, and then try again. We called Budget from the road and told them we wanted them to bring us a new vehicle to I-64. They said they could, but we could wait anywhere from 90 minutes to 2 hours. So we chose to go to the Louisville Airport instead. We explained our situation to them, and they hooked us up with a new SUV...which wasn't going to fit our people and luggage. In the meantime, they took our other vehicle with all of our stuff in it. They weren't going to upgrade us to a larger vehicle because they said all of their large SUVs were not one-way rentals. I told them they needed to do something. They mentioned a minivan, which everyone agreed would fit our people and stuff, so off we went...after and hour and a half setback.


Huntington, WV
We spent the night in the gymnasium of the Twenty-Sixth St. Baptist Church in Huntington, WV. This is the town probably best known for two things: Marshall University and the Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver. The church was so hospitable to us, as they were so excited to start using their gym for something like this. Some of the ladies in the church made all of our people small goodie bags to take with us, including a bottle of water, tissues, candy, gum, and crackers. It was really sweet! We got on the road again at 7:20am the next morning after a not so great night's sleep.


DC
After a beautiful drive through the mountains of West Virginia and Maryland, we made it to our site a little before 4:00pm. The people of the church we are staying at were still meeting from their morning services - a little different than La Croix. The girls are staying on the third floor of this old church building, right down the hall from the "kitchen" and the showers (two showers for the girls - one for the guys); the guys are staying on the first floor (so we are getting our exercise going up and down the stairs). After a few minutes of hang time, it was off to dinner.


We ate dinner at Addis Ababa, an Ethiopian restaurant. This is one of my favorite parts of CSM trips - the students get to experience many different cultures in one week just by eating dinner at various ethnic restaurants. Dinner consisted of a platter of various things that we scooped up with this spongy bread and ate - no utensils or plates. Many of our crew walked away hungry because they were a little unsure, but I left stuffed. It was delicious! From there, we left for our prayer tour, which started at the National Cathedral (which, unfortunately, we couldn't go inside). This is also usually a highlight of CSM trips because you really get to learn about the city and the cultures and problems within it. However, the prayer tour was less-than effective this time around because they tried to keep us together in one big group, which was basically impossible. Eight vehicles in DC - yeah, not so much. Not to mention the fact that we were exhausted and sick of being in cars for the past two days solid. We followed Kristy's vehicle, and she had a host who was trying to give us the tour over the speakerphone, but we couldn't hear her well at all. So, although the prayer tour wasn't great for the prayer and learning aspect, one thing was true: we laughed an awful lot. Kenny is a very funny man, and we were slaphappy. When we finally hit the beds, we crashed hard.

This morning, our crews are at the sites doing various project. One team even left at 5:30am to serve breakfast at a shelter. More power to them! And now, I'm going to head off to join Kristy and Ken's group to pack some food and do some cleaning for an after school program. Before I go, please pray for a couple of things:
  • Energy: Like I said, we are extremely tired, and it's only day one. This is making some of us a little raw.
  • Jason and Jenn: They are going through a difficult time right now. Pray for comfort for them.
Thanks! More updates to come soon...like, tomorrow...

Monday, May 17, 2010

Parent Connection Meeting

This past weekend, we held our first series of Parent Connection meetings. They are designed to give us - the youth ministry of La Croix Church - a chance to connect with parents of teens, to discuss upcoming activities, and to highlight a parenting resource that we have run across. In case you missed it, we highlighted a new book called Parenting Beyond Your Capacity by Reggie Joiner and Cary Nieuwhof. Here is a brief summary of the main five strategies outlined in the book:

  • Widen the Circle - The day is coming, if it has not yet come, when your children will seek affirmation and approval from adults other than you. What are you doing to strategically place adults in their lives who will speak the same truth and point them in the same direction as you would?
  • Imagine the End - Decide what you what your kids to become, and focus your priorities and those of your family on the things that will take them there. Spiritual leadership is simply helping your kids take their next step in their pursuit of a relationship with God.
  • Fight for the Heart - During their teenage years, your kids need to know that you can be trusted more than you need to know that they can be trusted. Their trust in you is affected when you discipline in anger, use words that communicate rejection, ignore their voices, don't try to understand who they really are, break your core promises, and take things too personally. Instead, communicate in a way that gives the relationship value.
  • Create a Rhythm - The rhythm in the life of your family communicates what is important to your family. What are the things you are prioritizing to be a part of the rhythm of your family, and do those need to be adjusted. It is not the quantity of time you spend with your family that is most important, or the quality of time, but the quantity of quality times. 
  • Make it Personal - If you want it to be in them, it has to be in you. If you want your children to have a thriving relationship with Jesus, you can't force it on them if you don't have one yourself. You don't have to be perfect, just authentic.
This is a VERY brief outline of the book, so I encourage all of our parents to pick up a copy of the book and read it and incorporate it into their families. I think it will be beneficial to you and your kids.