Savorings...451-500

451. Finding some Ale 8 one's to share with the youth

452. Confrontation Point ministries

453. CP's willingness to be a ministry that teaches truth & hard situations so that we can grow in our relationships with God, selves & others

454. This youth groups willingness to sing together 

455. Coming home to an empty house for about 4 days

456. Taking the risk to ask for help(again) in finding a new place to live

457. That community includes people I haven't even met

458. Pedicure/manicure with Michelle after the mission trip

459. Being invited out on to the boat by Michele G and getting to go

460. Spending time on a lake

461. Cheap flights to Ohio

462. Watching my sister as an amazing mom to Grace

463. Almost skipping the 4th of July Race with dad

464. Deciding to run it even if it rains

465. Going to 3 different fast food places with dad after the race

466. Watching more episodes of Big Bang Theory

467. Mom falling asleep while we watch tv 

468. Listening to mom get excited about the Tour De France 

469. Playing games with the middle schoolers

470. Choices of objects to represent Gods love in our lives

471. Hard & good conversations with Mo during VBS

472. Watching crazy rainstorms

473. Chris Crowell & Gregg Key eating dinner & taking their time

474. Deciding to leave for Memphis at 8:30 pm

475. Laughing with Stacy & Candis

476. Yummy shaved ice from Jerry's in Memphis

477. The beautiful weather during our 20 mile bike ride

478. Trying local beers

479. Listening to Cora ask questions & tell stories

480. PULSE moved to Painturo's for rest of summer

481. Reconnecting with Courtney

482. Asking a few youth to volunteer for Project Transformation & they said yes

483. Watching the youth interact with the children at Project Transformation

484. Inside jokes and lunch with the youth at Which Wich

485. The fact my mom, Julia & Grace drove with me to Pittsburgh for the day

486. Gracie's first road trip

487. Getting to see and communicate with Lorene

488. Seeing Mandi & Will in the hospital too

489. Meeting up with Rachel Warren at Chipotle - & see Chuck & Charles

490. Lazy Saturdays with Ingrid

491. Watching the youth jump in & play with our church family at the pool party

492. Tuesday night runs with the Mt Juliet Flyers

493. Completely falling apart on my 8 mile run - 

494. Going to Summer Sizzler with my youth

495. Watching some of the youth laugh & play on the seesaw

496. Worship at Vesper Point with Paul leading

497. Moving to a new house!!!!!!!!

498. House sitting at Michelle's

499. Time by the pool with Sophia & Ingrid

500. Breathing - really breathing again

“To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.” - Johannes A Gaertner

     Summer Sizzler 2013

Slow awakening

I've had two months off between leaving Pensacola and moving to Lebanon. No work!

I've had time to (re)start rhythms/patterns in my life that consist of resting, noticing & offering thanks, prayer for others, listening for God's direction, attempting to love with generosity and blogging about some of the experiences.

Man, what a gift...

This past Sunday I started a new job. At a new church. With new teenagers and families. To get to know. To grow with. To love. To empower. To be light.

My plan is to continue with this slower rhythm that I started in these two months off.

I want to be intentional in this ministry. Take my time to get to know the youth and families. Figure out who they are and where God is already leading them.

I know the staff, families and youth are pretty excited about me getting here. I know there are a lot of expectations.

I already feel a pressure (I realize I may be putting this pressure on myself) to plan things and change things and get all the youth who haven't been in awhile to come back.

So here are some goals that I pray I am able to follow through on and communicate clearly with grace:

- I'm inviting myself over to all of the youth homes for dinner. Free dinner is always a good thing. Right?! But I also want to meet the entire family together if that is possible. To see how they interact. I realized in November at FUMC Pensacola that I hadn't done this intentionally until the last few months. Because of that there were some parents I didn't know or if I did know both the youth and parent - I hadn't spent time with them together.

- To create opportunities to meet with the youth in a public location to get to know them individually or in small groups. There will be some youth who don't have a parents who are involved or have divorced parents. I want to spend time with those youth too.

- To educate our congregation about what it means to be a relational ministry. I want to get to know the adults who are already involved and find ways to encourage them. I've started praying that new adults who love teenagers will take the risk and get involved with them. I also want to empower and train all adults so that they know what will be expected of them as they share Christ's love. Hopefully we will be start small groups in the fall so that every youth has a place to be heard and known and loved.

- To watch & see where our teenagers have passion and empower them.

- To change some things that have been done for awhile IF it's time. We aren't going to do something just because we always have or because an adult thinks we need to always do it. Every year we will add new personalities to our group (7th graders) and so every year we need to reevaluate what we are doing and make sure it fits us.

- To continue to get the teenagers plugged into the congregation in service and in worship. I love that the youth are included in the sanctuary choir! What a great way to create lasting relationships!

I'm so thankful for the conversations with my Nashville YMCP cohort over the past year. Because of them and the Sticky Faith curriculum - I feel like I continue to get a clearer picture of my purpose as a youth minister.

My prayer is that we are able to be a congregation that loves our teenagers as they are. Invite our teenagers to see what Jesus is already doing in their lives and in our church. And then ask them to consider what they are called to in response (Thanks, Jon for this last part!)