Getting back to blogging

I am at Exposure Youth Camp this week and will not take take to blog.  I will try to wrap up the whole Exposure Experience on Thursday when I get back to a somewhat regular routine.  For now here is a promo video for EYC:



Scott

"The Spirituality Tree"

Please excuse the quality (or lack thereof) of the included graphic. I lost the original years ago. This is part of a spiritual wellness activity I do with young people from early to late teens. The idea is to get them thinking about where they are spiritually. Take the self-examination for yourself. The process is really simple. All you have to do is to honestly answer the following questions.

As you begin, realize that everyone is somewhere on this "Spiritual Tree." Look at the picture and find yourself. Give a reason for your choice.

1. What number (or person) on the tree best represents where you are spiritually?
2. Why do you identify with that particular person? (Why are you at that place in the tree?)
3. Where do you wish you were on the tree? Why?
4. How can you get to were you want to be?

Now that you know where you are and where you want to be - - get busy for God in your Spiritual life.

Scott

Sunday's Spaghetti

This beautiful plate of spaghetti and meatballs is not what it seems. This is a creation of my wonderful wife. More about that later . . .

Sunday afternoon, our young people met for a pasta meal and to study Proverbs 17-19 for the Walker County Youth Bible Bowl. Our young team (oldest member is 16 youngest is in first grade) is doing well on the test, and are studying hard.

One of the benefits of Bible Bowl is our young people put extra time into learning the Bible. This years trek through chapters 12-31 of Proverbs is challenging when we get to the day of Bible Bowl, but the lessons we are learning as we get there are invaluable. If you do not have a Bible Bowl that meets in your area, then start one. If other congregations are not close enough or are not willing, then have the young people challenge different groups of adults (parents, deacons, ministers, elders, teachers, etc.). Great fellowship and learning about each other are great additional benefits to what you learn from the text you study.

Back to this "plate of spaghetti." What you are seeing is a dessert. Cupcakes, piped butter-cream icing (the spaghetti), a raspberry glaze (the sauce), and Ferrero Rocher Chocolates (the meatballs). Have I told you how much I love my creative and great cook of a wife?

Scott

They are Watching You

Yesterday (Monday, April 27), I went with other ministers to a meeting in Winfield, Alabama. Matt Heupel who preaches in the Florence, AL area and teaches Youth Ministry and Bible at Heritage Christian University spoke to us about Youth Ministry. There were active Youth Ministers in attendance and some of us formerly worked as Youth Ministers. He had a lot of good material to share and the conversations that followed were informative as well. Below is a test he gave us, that I want you to take. This is not a long test and will not require more than a few minutes of your time. Grab a pencil (or pen) and a sheet of paper, then answer these THREE questions:

1. In the next 30 seconds list five (5) sermons that had a great impact on who you are today.




2. Take 30 more seconds and list five (5) events or activities you attended or participated in as a young person that influenced you to be who you are today.




3. Now take 30 seconds to list five (5) people who influenced your life.


If you are like me, you struggled to list five sermons (and I preach them). It was a little easier to list five activities, but not as easy as it was to list five people.

What a great observation this little test forces us to make! I have great influence on others. Someone is watching me and learning from me. That is why Jesus tells His followers, "You are the light of the world . . . so let your light shine before men that they may see you good works and glorify God."

What do those who are watching you see?

Scott