Archive - September, 2009

Something to Chew on.

September 29, 2009 in Youth Ministry with 0 Comments

Just got back from LA last night.  Spent the past 5 days with a bunch of youth workers.  It's always an interesting thing when Youth Pastors get together.  We are an eclectic group of newbies, old guard, educated and not. We come from a variety of denominations and independent churches.  There is a ton of new as well as the tried and true ideas.  The great thing for me at this convention are the relationships that I've had for many years but also the new one I have the opportunity to be involved in. 

So today I'm going to chew on what I learned and I'll post something about it later.

National Youth Workers Convention Day 1

September 26, 2009 in Youth Ministry with 0 Comments

So I'm wiped.  I had quite a bit of interactions with some great people today and since I'm a natural introvert who forces himself to appear and extrovert I get really tired.  Had a great lunch with a bunch of blogger folks today put on my Fuller Seminaries Youth Institute.  Then spent the afternoon in the general sessions (I know Big rooms) and then meeting with youth workers who signed up to spend an hour with me.  I met some great people today and have some that I want to follow up with tomorrow.

Tonight was great because I met with two couples that I'm performing weddings for this next year and just hung out.  Added into that mix was one of my closest friends, a new friend and one little brother of a bride who is also a great friend.  We walked to a taco shop downtown too which is always good for some sketchy fun.

Looking forward to Day 2.

National Youth Workers Convention Los Angeles

September 25, 2009 in Blogs, Who I am..., Youth Ministry with 0 Comments

Made it here to LA today about 1pm.  Decided to get some In N Out and then head to Santa Monica to wander around the 3rd Street Promenade for a while. After that we decided to head up the coast a little and do a surprise visit to Pepperdine to visit two girls from our youth group who are students there.  I love that about Youth Ministry that I get to go visit people at school and see how they are doing. 

Later made it to the hotel. Hooked up with some friends and had some food.

I'm looking forward to this convention. Praying that God gives me some great opportunities to hang out with people and hope that in my role here as a consultant is useful for people who need to talk.

I’m a Youth Pastor let’s get some coffee.

September 22, 2009 in Who I am..., Youth Ministry with 1 Comment

The last week or so I've been thinking a lot about what I'm qualified to do.  To put this into context a bit I'm heading to the National Youth Workers Convention in Los Angeles this next weekend.  I've been asked to be a part of the team and work as a consultant.  Basically, that means I have the amazing opportunity to meet with youth workers for 45 minute time slots, listen and give advice if they want it.  I'm pretty stoked to be given this opportunity because I feel like it's actually something that I'm pretty good at and really enjoy doing. 

To put this in further "life" context I'm barely in my 30's anymore and have been a full-time Youth pastor for almost all of my adult career.  I've worked in 4 different churches which sounds like a lot but I was first an interim, worked at a church for 6 years, left that church to raise kids at the beach and that was a bad fit so I have now been at a church for almost 3 years here in Dallas.  Along the way I've had more interns, directors and volunteers than I can even count.  I don't have a lot of gifts but two areas that God has gifted me are in the areas of discernment and leadership.  On the discernment side I have a pretty solid gift for recognizing the right people who should be in positions and when it's the right time for change.  I've learned a ton over these years and think I will have a lot to offer youth workers this weekend.

I'm pretty excited to get to see some old friends this weekend as I lived in the So.Cal area for 13 years but I'm also excited to meet with some new people I've met this last year.  These conventions for me are always a huge blessing of encouragement and if I'm honest a little bit of a kick in the pants as I realize that there is so much more I could be doing if I was more organized, focused, passionate, smart, musically gifted, technological, networked etc….. But I'm not so let's just get coffee and figure each other out.  Maybe my gifts will help you and maybe yours will help me.

Peace,

Coach to Cure MD

September 18, 2009 in Friends with 0 Comments

Poysky

One of my best friends in the world James has a son who has Duchennes Muscular Dystrophy.  They are hosting an event on September 26th called Coaches to Cure where major college football coaches from all over the US are supporting this cause of raising awareness and funds for MD.  Please watch this video and then consider joining the crusade to help create awareness for this problem.

Watch the Video Here

Check out the website for Coaches to Cure here.

Back to the writing

September 18, 2009 in Who I am..., Youth Ministry with 0 Comments

I took a pretty solid break from writing the last several months.  I shared in a post that I didn't want to write anymore out of guilt but only when I felt like i really had something to say.  I quickly realized that I didn't miss it very much.   

The last two months I've been given some pretty cool opportunities to be involved in discussions about youth ministry.  I'll most likely blog about these opportunities as they happen.  It is hard for me to do that  because I'm not really one who likes to talk about what they are doing too much.  At work I often get accused of not letting people know enough the things I'm doing and if I mentioned them more people who be really interested in getting involved in them.

So I'm back for a while.  I just posted a new blog post at the Fuller Seminary Youth Institute talking about missions and in particular our desire to grow in how we do things but the pull to plan them the way we always do.  If you are interested go ahead and read it and if you think about something that might be helpful post a comment so we can interact together. 

Parenting and Technology Seminar Sept 20

September 14, 2009 in Youth Ministry with 0 Comments

Mac I'm pretty excited to have the opportunity to teach a seminar to parents about Technology.  This next Sunday I'm partnering with a couple of amazing guys to lay out a whole theology and practice of how to parent students in this crazy technology filled world we live in.  John Dyer and Rhett Smith are both technology wizards but also have the gift of making the message relevant to parents.   

We'd love to have you there so come and join us at 6pm at Highland Park Presbyterian Church in the Bell Center.

Join me on a run

September 10, 2009 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

Hey everyone-  Wanted to throw out a quick encouragement to you who want to join me in getting in shape this year.  I decided about a year ago that I wanted to become a runner but it didn't stick very well.  Then a friend of mine turned me on to the Nike+ stuff and my running has totally changed.  The Nike+ stuff tracks your runs, gives you access to online challenges and goals and puts you in a social network with other people who are all doing the same thing.

I'm not sponsored by Nike+ and don't get anything out of telling you that you should join in.  Obviously there is a  little cost to it.  You have to buy the Nike+ sports kit for $29 ($20 if you just need a sensor) and you need to have an ipod or iphone.  I have a new iphone GS so I just have a sensor that attaches to my shoe (I don't run in Nike shoes) and when I leave my front door I put in headphones and run.

A good friend of mine named Petey Crowder lost 50lbs this last year running.  He was chosen by Nike to be one of 8 ambassadors for this run thing they are doing October 24th.  Basically it's called "The Human Race" and it's everyone with the Nike+ stuff running a 10K on the same day all over the world.  Petey is a part of the Ambassador challenge (link below) and leads the team called the 'Electric Highway'.  The way all  this works is that all of us who join the 'Electric Highway' have our miles counted towards the team and the 8 teams compete to see which team can get the most miles by October 24. 

There is a prize for Petey if his team wins he gets Superbowl tickets and just so you know I'm not in line to get one of them.  Like I said this challenge doesn't benefit me in any way except that it motivates me to get in shape. 

So here's what I'd love you to do.  Take a look at this.  If it seems like something you'd like to do follow the instructions below and get signed up.  I'd also like to ask you to resend this to other friends and see if they might be interested in signing up.  Once you sign up you can friend me at "Roodman" and we can then make challenges and compete against each other.


1 – If you’re not already a Nikeplus.com member, go to Nikeplus and sign up! (And make sure you’ve got a sensor so you can start logging miles).
2 – Members should go to the Human Race registration page and click the Register button to run anywhere with Nike+
3 – You’ll be redirected to the Human Race challenge – click “register now”
4 – Once you’re registered you’ll see something that says “Join an Ambassador” – click this link to learn more about the ambassadors
5 – Join the ambassadors challenge and select the team of your favorite ambassador:

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