WEEKEND AT BELIEVE

What a great weekend! This past Friday, it was my pleasure to take a great group of Jr High kids to an overnight conference called BELIEVE. It was neat on so many levels. First of all, it was cool to spend some time getting to know some of the kids that just started this fall in my ministry. For some of them, it was their first time being in a hotel without their parents. It was funny because they would ask me questions like "Can I really eat this whole bag of candy?" My theory on that is that the quicker that they get hyped up eating their "Sams Club" size bags of pop rocks, candy bars and bubble tape and drinking three bottles of Mountain Dew... the quicker they CRASH. This year was a record. The the guys were asleep by 2:45am. On a more serious note, time in the hotel is also a time for some real relationship building and ministry. All of the guys in my room were great! They cracked me up all night! I think I heard the jingle "F-R-E-E that spells free, credit report dot come baby" about 4,682 times( you now will be singing that all day). The conference itself was really good this year. A little different than past years but really good. The theme was CONNECT, as in connecting to God. Junior high kids are at a point in their life when they really start to take their faith seriously and on a more personal level. The BELIEVE program did a really good job at helping the kids begin to take their connection with God to a deeper level. It was also BIG, they had just under 5,000 6th, 7th, and 8th graders there. My ears are still ringing, not from the music but from the sound of so many Jr High girls (and some boys) screaming at the top of their lungs. You have to experience it to understand. Anyway, the conferenc was great and our kids (and sponsors) were fantastic! I was so proud of them. They were polite, kind, and helpful to each other and to everyone they came in contact with. What a great group. My weekend finished with a great night at IMPACT (sunday night student worship). The night included Frosted Flakes, worship, and cutouts of various teens in our ministry. I was excited to see a few new faces and everyone was in a crazy mood. That's always a good combination. I am now looking forward to the 1st weekend in April for our RENOVATE 2008 WEEKEND. It's really coming together and should be really cool.

"F-R-E-E that spells free, credit report dot com baby" (your welcome).

YOU ARE INVITED!!!

If you have a computer in your home, this is a must attend. The evening will be divided into two sessions. The first session (at 7:00pm) is designed for kids third grade and above along with their parents. The second session will feature a live demonstration and will include a parental warning. Please make plans to attend!!!

For more information, please contact Brian Richard at brichard@lovedtolove.org

Another Super Sunday

What a great night! We had food, fun, laughing, some football, and the best part, no commercial interruptions. Have I lost my mind? No commercials? Aren't the commercials the best part? I guess I should clarify. Our student ministry meets on Sunday nights for teen worship. And last night, like many others, we had our normal program. What a great time. Goofing off with the Jr and Sr High folks is always fun and worship was really neat. As part of our worship time last night I showed a clip from the movie "Facing the Giants"(I told you we had football) (clip is below). After the clip we looked at 1 Samuel and the story of David and Goliath. You see we all have "Giants" in our lives. We all have things the we feel are too big to overcome. Our teens (and adult sponsors) then took part in an experience where we idetified our giants and asked God to help us overcome them. Some of the "giants" that were identified were: selfishness,fighting, unpure thoughts, schedules, stealing, nicotine addiction, and many others. Heavy duty stuff. A lot of times we (I said we because me too) give a half hearted effort at facing our "giants" and something really interesting happens.....nothing. We simply sell ourselves short. We defeat ourselves long before we find out that God has given us all the ability to face (AND DEFEAT) our "giants". The movie clip does a great job as an illustration of what God can do for us. I can just see/hear Him on His hands and knees right beside us as we crawl along, pleading with us not to give up, not to quit, and to work through the pain! The problem is we tend to look around, start listening to our bodies and then our "giants" deal a death blow. If we would all just concentrate on God's voice, listen to Him, we could all face our "giants" and start to be the people that God would have us to be. Anyway, it was cool. I must say, I wasn't sure what to think going into last night. All morning yesterday, I literally had parent after parent and student after student tell me that they were not coming to the Sunday night student service. I got the feeling that people thought I was nuts to have a student thing on such a "super" night or that I should have just had a party and watched the game. I'm glad that we did what we did. It was good for me and I think that is was good for everyone else. I had some "giants" that I needed to face and I now know that with God...I can do it...and so can you. In case you were wondering...I was home by the middle of the third quarter. Evidently, I didn't miss anything.