Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas! As I write this “It’s A Wonderful Life” is on in the background. Our home has been the hub for family activity — both on my side and Sam’s. I am grateful for all that we have in our parents, grandparents, siblings, nephews, nieces, cousins and friends. May Jesus bring warmth into your heart this holiday season. It’s been a busy season — I promise to be back and blogging before 2010.

I have to be awake in a couple hours…the problem is I’m awake now. I have a lot running through my head – everything from my lesson for small group tomorrow night to what I should get my nephew for Christmas…oy vey. Speaking of Small Group – let me give you a sneak peak of what goes on Wednesday nights in my home – for about 1.5 hours every week, 8 girls walk into my home. I also have another young woman helping me, and let me tell you – she is a God-sent, ready and willing to serve  in teaching, encouraging, praying and even driving (she often gives girls rides to and from small group, giving up her valuable time just to ensure girls are consistently engaging in our community). We’ve been meeting in my basement discussing God, life and where those two things intersect. We’ve also been praying a lot for one another-to hear the prayers these girls utter is such a precious part of our time. I’ve been really burdened for these girls lately – I look back at my closest set of friends in Jr. High – not many of them have made the best decisions, seems like the world just has a way of sucking them into a vaccuum. I couldn’t help but wonder what the story holds for my small group. I increasingly feel more and more what a parent must feel – a deeply rooted longing to protect a child from every bad choice, motive, influence, character trait, inicident, etc. I admit at times hanging around a bunch of talkative teens is the last thing I want to do after a long day of answering phones, writing emails, reporting to others and making sure I’m communicating all that I have to to keep up with my work. But then I think of the accountability, encouragement, sister-hood and community that God fosters and I feel His strength enabling me. Girls in jr./sr. high school have it rough, (I think things have gotten harder since I was in high school which was only 6 years ago) and my prayer is that every girl that passes through the youth ministry program at DHEFC will realize the following:
1. They are deeply loved by Jesus
2. Their life has a purpose
3. They were created by God

Would you join with me in praying for the girls of the youth group? Pray that they wouldn’t go off course, following the empty promises of the world, but that they would know the greatest love there is, the greatest eternal purpose that they could live for, the most loving being who out-shines any other suitor. I get excited thinking about young women who will change lives by showing the world a faith that is gentle yet strong…I think of the hope they profess and how that hope will come into the lives of those who are at wit’s end.

Barb/Dave sent me this comic about youth group attendance. It made me laugh, but as I thought about it I was really thankful for our group of students in our youth group or even our other church ministries.  Our attendance is consistently higher for service activities over fun activities. During the summer, I’ll get like 17 people for Great Adventure, and 40 for putting on an urban VBS in Roosevelt. We’ll get 4 for beach day and 15 for Helping Hand rescue mission.

Maybe that’s something really admirable about Long Island – the schools really promote community service. Way to go students! (and lots of good parents that encourage loving through service)

That’s right we adopted another dog… she’s pretty cute… and mischievous. Her name is Bella – she’s a 7 month year old Shiba Inu

The Complete NEW TESTAMENT resource for YOUTH WORKERS.

Jack Crabtree and some of his youth ministry friends (like Me, Kevin and EmLam and Jimmy)  wrote a bunch of youth group lessons complete with games application, etc – and finally the first volume is published. It’s a pretty huge publisher (that’s right dad, you will probably be able to pick this book up at Ollies soon LOL) So, I’m praying that this is a help to especially the volunteer youth group teachers who can use some guidance in knowing how to teach students.  Volume two is on its way

Publisher Blurb:

The Complete New Testament Resource for Youth Workers, Volume 1 by Livingstone Corporation, General Coming Soon!

Never before has there been a resource this comprehensive, this practical, and this relevant for teaching the New Testament to your students. With the topic overview, ideas for games, outlines for messages, study questions, and ideas to incorporate media or real-life experience into the teaching, and a searchable CD-ROM, you now have everything you need to lead students through more than 100 New Testament lessons.

Walking students through the New Testament can feel like a daunting task?especially if you’re trying to create studies that are relevant and engaging to your students. But fear not! You now have a diverse team of nearly thirty youth ministry practitioners working for you and they’ve put together more than 100 studies that will make your job easier while helping your students dig into the Bible! Never before has there been a resource this comprehensive, this practical, and this relevant for teaching the New Testament to your students. With the topic overview, ideas for games, outlines for messages, study questions, and ideas to incorporate media or real-life experience into the teaching, the Complete New Testament Resource for Youth Workers, Volume 1 has everything you need to lead students through these New Testament books:

• Matthew
• John
• Romans
• Galatians
• Ephesians
• Philippians
• Colossians
• 1 Timothy
• 2 Timothy
• Titus
• Philemon
• 1 John
• 2 John
• 3 John
• Jude

Whether you lead them yourself or hand the lessons over to your volunteers, each lesson is easy to implement and can be used alone or combined with lessons that have already been planned. You?ll also find a searchable CD-ROM, making it even easier to find exactly what you need to help lead your students deeper into some of these life-changing books from the New Testament.

So Pastor Steve has asked me to teach an adult (yeah, I know – scary) Sunday School class this fall on Islam (also scary?) Here’s kinda what I’m looking at putting together – it still has a ways to go – I’m still working on syllabus – My only real experience with teaching adults is directing the Keswick Bible Institute – where people were scared of my class because I assigned like 900 pages of reading. I may have to tone it down from that… but still should be sweet – any ideas?? Do you know any Muslims who’d like to talk to me for a while… I have a lot to learn.

Jesus Loves Muslims, and so should you! Loving your Muslim neighbor as Jesus would.

“And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29) – In the parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus teaches us to love even those who we are inclined to hate. There is a good analogy to make between Christians/Muslims and Israelites/Samaritans. Both groups claim the same heritage and have awful histories of hatred that separates them. This quarter-long class on Christianity and Islam has some pretty simple, Jesus-commanded goals.  1) Understand your Muslim Neighbors. 2) Figure out how to show them love.  We’ll be studying Christianity to know how and why our theology differs. We’ll study the history and theology of Islam and the differing beliefs of different forms of Islam.  This will be an intense course with assignments; students will learn both sides of the conversation well – come for the challenge.  Lord-willing we will be able to have some real conversations with Muslims from our area.

Wow, it’s been forever since I (we) blogged – it’s a shame too because we’ve done a lot of cool stuff this summer. I did want to post some sermons that have been posted online. I’ve had the opportunity to preach 4 times at two churches. Here are some of the things I’ve spoke on. Summer is always a busy time, but it’s great to be able to learn and share.

	Psalm 73 Is a favorite because it is is full of hard observations about life. It is a heart wrenching autobiographical discussion about falling from faith because of injustice.
	Psalm 46 – (Link is to Grace Gospel Church, where I guest spoke) Psalm 46 is about the trials of life and how they drive us to a refuge. (a god?) And how the Cross changes everything.
	Psalm 2/St Paul – The Psalmist asks a provocative question that echoes above the battles of history – “Why do the Nations rage?” International wars, national conflict and personal struggle stand in stark contrast to the promises of peace and blessing that God has promised His people. Is God really in charge? We’ll explore the tension of the Psalms and explore a sermon on Psalm 2 of St. Paul and see how God challenges us to respond to the plots of His enemies.

Well, since the DHEFC website is acting up, I’ve posted our summer youth group schedule here – we have some really exciting things planned! You don’t want to miss it!

Check out The Summer Schedule for Youth Group 09 !

At the start of our very busy  weekend, we celebrated our graduating class from Youth Group. I always love our senior banquets because they are reminders of how our students develop and grow in their lives and in their faith. Perhaps more importantly senior banquets are a reminder of how much our church cares for Jesus’ sheep and how our diverse body can come together to celebrate the accomplishments of our students. I’m really thankful for our church and for how much they care for the mission of Jesus to support students. I’m really proud of our students and how God is and will use them – and I’m looking forward to hearing and seeing them grow and going on to do great things!