What do you mean, I’m not cool?!

Satan works extremely hard trying to convince us that we will never be good enough, smart enough, skinny enough, strong enough, manly enough, sexy enough, rich enough, or popular enough. That is the truth isn’t it? I bust my rear trying to put together the best youth group service a kid could imagine. I go to the gym and work out for 2hrs trying to look like my idol, Hulk Hogan. I read the various magazines to keep up with what the youth are listening to and watching. I try to memorize random stuff to prove that I have a brain. I watch my carbs (kind of) in attempt to wear the size of jeans I wore in high school (notice I said size & not stylen). I want to be the popular guy on campus. Then I read, Galatians 1:10 “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be  a servant of Christ”. OUCH!!!! So I learn from that verse that it’s ok to work on a great youth service, try to be physically fit, keep up with the culture, and everything else…but I do it to please God and not man. LOL, now that’s easy to write…harder to live out! I think you can agree, that’s something we all need to work on! Check out this video from dcTalk, it’s a classic: Jesus Freaks. What if we did just live to please God?

Your Name Means _______

Let’s write about you for a second. Think about your name for a minute. What if you lived during Biblical times? Would your name be in the Bible? If so, what would it say? ______ was a honest person. _______ treated their dates with respect. ______ was a loyal person. _____ loved their spouse faithfully. ______ made a difference in a lot of lives. _____ was a liar. _____ stole from many. _____ spent their times playing video games. _______ never amounted to much. 

179 Texts @ Youth

I read from a GROUP magazine about an awesome idea for a game. The concept was to have a message on the big screen and have members of the youth group text you the message to your phone. They send you their phone numbers so you can build a quick database for the ministry and give a prize for the fastest, # 9 messenger, etc. All the youth have phones and 99.9% text message more than they talk. I figured, why not have a game around that fact (see my last post on being relevant!). It worked, 412 had about 70 youth Wednesday and I received 179 texts! HA, it worked to good! The funny part was after the first 3 text, my phone got jammed. Two minutes later my counter on the phone was flying off the charts. It went from 3 to 21 to 47 to 81 to 97. I was like, “STOP CALLING ME” (note to future self, that only makes the youth laugh harder). As their fingers were sending digital messages, I heard my wife’s beautiful voice over the sound system, “Do we have unlimited text”. Uh-oh! Course that made it even funnier for everyone! I cut my phone off & my volunteers collected the youth’s phones (we began to do that a month ago because of the distractions during services). The next morning I realized I never turned my phone back on……as soon as I did that, I had 30 more messages with texts saying, “Good morning pastor Robbie” or “hahahaha” or “am I #100?”. I love youth ministry! This is one of the many reasons that I cannot picture myself doing anything else. God, you have a sense of humor! Needless to say I am heading to Sprint to get unlimited text today….but I have everyone’s phone numbers at 412 & that makes it worth while.