Posts Tagged ‘ministry’

Just Give Up and Have a Cup of Coffee!

// November 20th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Youth Ministry

This is just so great!  I totally believe it, too.

Shout out to @worshipcity!

Fully Loaded

// October 1st, 2008 // No Comments » // Elevate Update, Just for Fun

I got a call on my cell phone right after the service on Sunday morning.  Ray told me, “Come outside, we’ve got a photographic-moment that needs to be put on the blog.” Not knowing what to expect, I went outside and found this in Ryan’s car…

NI…CE!

Painful Message Illustration

// August 27th, 2008 // No Comments » // Youth Ministry

Every youth pastor is excited when they come up with a good, memorable illustration that ties in well with the message that they are trying to communicate. But every once in a while, those same illustrations that we get so excited about flop. This is one of those times…

ht ymgeek

Steph's Rose

// August 20th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Spiritual

Stephanie F. came to me last week with a few pages from a notebook that she took with her on the trip to IHOP.  I remember her coming to me at one point during our IHOP visit and asking me, “Does this means anything to you” — she was showing me what looked like scribbles on a page.  I responded “no”, but if God was speaking to her, that He would make it clear to her eventually.  He did… this is the end result of her “scribbles” and the attached notes…

It says, “Lord, take Your oil and make our faces shiny so that they reflect you.” The attached page ends with this…

This one says, “When He stirs up things in your life, it is like taking all of the parts and pieces — stirring and mixing them together.  When you have all of these things by themselves, they are dull… but together, can make a masterpiece.” She noted how wonderfully her notes fit in with our current message series, “Congratulations… You’re Gifted”, and the message we’ve been sharing about how God shapes and forms us into beautiful and unique, God-crafted vessels.  God is so good!

Making Fundraising Easy?!

// June 13th, 2008 // No Comments » // Youth Ministry

Okay, maybe some of you youth workers have got budgets that cover things like mission trips, camps, and outreach projects, but the list of youth workers whose budget covers it ALL is likely very short. That’s where the necessary evil — as I like to call it — of fundraising comes in. We’ve got a few great events that we’ve come up with over the years that are pretty pain-free, fun, and don’t feel like we’re pulling people’s teeth asking for money (such as this weekend’s 8th annual Elevation Talent Show — wink, wink!). But I’m always looking for new and creative ways for students to raise monies for their individual fundraising efforts, too — such as an upcoming mission trip we’re planning with our camp speaker this year.

Fund the Nations looks like a winner to me. Now, I’ve never personally tried it, but we do have a long tradition of selling T-shirts to help students with their summer camp balances (through LivingEpistles.com). That’s worked well for us. People like getting new T-shirts and supporting our students at the same time. That’s the same idea behind this site, but Fund the Nations is exclusively missions-focussed. Their T-shirts all have the same grayed-out, kind of grungy-look featuring the flag and/or state/country of where your team will be ministering. So, not only do people get a cool T-shirt and get to support you in your students’ personal fundraising efforts, but they’ll also be wearing a T-shirt reminding them and others to pray for your students while they are away. Great idea!

By the way, I discovered this gem through another new site passed on by YM friend, Mark Matlock of PlanetWisdom fame. The site is YMNow. This has been a good week of Internet discovery for me!

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