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.