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).