Apache Indians...Here We Come!

I'm leaving in about an hour on our Mission trip to AZ to partner with a youth center on an Apache Indian reservation. I'm going along with a team of four dads as part of the "early crew" who will shop for food, supplies, meet with the leader of the youth center etc. so we're ready to go when our students arrive tomorrow night.

Likely won't be posting much over the long weekend.

Grappling For Resources?

Jr. High Grapple, a new resource from Group Publishing has me really, really interested. Much more than merely curriculum it is an online community, gives students a chance to vote for upcoming program elements and more.

I'll be really interested to see how this resource is received and used....I love the idea, but it also feels really different and risky, which is why I love it so much!

If you try it, I would love to hear your reports.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

I've tried creating "features" in the past but I haven't had much success being faithful to them, but I'm going to try it again. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly will be a new occasional post in which I'll feature a good, a bad and an ugly from my ministry.

THE GOOD:

PRIZE WHEEL: We invested a couple hundred bucks for a decent quality spinning prize wheel. It has about 30 slots and each slot has a different prize listed. Instead of constantly buying prizes that we think kids might like (and spending way too much time and money...) we decided to buy a tub full of goofy prizes and let kids spin the wheel to see what they win. Plastic dinosaur, can of corn, rubber spatula, pair of socks etc. are all on the wheel and ready to be won. Students totally love it.

THE BAD:

WEEKEND FOLLOW UP: Man, we just can't seem to get this one right. I really want to do a better job of following up on students who attend our weekend program, but I have an aversion to mandated check in systems. The result: really poor follow up! Because we don't take it seriously, we simply aren't following up on students the way we should. I have to figure this one out...probably just sucking it up and creating a mandatory check-in of some sort.

THE UGLY:

VOLUNTEER DISILLUSIONMENT:

Had a tough meeting with a key volunteer in our ministry the other day. We mad a major decision that effected this particular volunteer significantly. While it was the right decision, his response made it clear that the process by which we made it was flawed. Flawed to the point that a significant level of trust was broken and I wanted to own our part in the process. It was one of those long, uncomfortable conversations that you hate to have but know you need to have.

Monday Miscellaneous

- Joined Twitter about a week ago. Interesting. I'm surprised that I enjoy getting frequent updates from buddies.

- This was a great weekend in our JH ministry. We kicked off our "Heroes...from average to awesome" series with a lesson on Gideon. Lots of creative elements, great music and a pretty good lesson. We had students totally engaged from start to finish.

- I'm sure I'll see Indiana Jones even though I'm not a huge fan and I've heard this one is a bit of a let down which is a bummer considering all the hype and incredible hassle to get it done.

- It's hot, hot, hot and I'm realizing that I'm not quite ready for Summer. I'm ready for all the fun it brings, just not for the heat!

- Last night, a crew of us snuck into the Refinery, our soon-to-open student center, to play the inaugural game of basketball on the new court. High temps mixed with stuffy building mixed with lack of running water. But we had a Great time.

- Not sure which I'm more excited about: Our upcoming Mission trip to the Apache Indian Reservation in AZ. or my vacation that immediately follows. I haven't taken a full week off in well over a year and we have absolutely nothing planned for this one....which is PERFECT!

Leadership Gold #5

The 5th, and final, nugget from Stanley:

“When your memories exceed your dreams, the end is near.”

- Most churches are living in the “good old days” and trying to figure out how to recapture them instead of creating new ones.

Takeaway: Don’t let past success or current momentum overshadow your vision…keep vision out in front.


Question for junior high ministry: Are you more excited about the past successes of your ministry of the future potential? What memories from the past are actually jeopardizing your future?