LIFT Summer Camp 09
Parents, friends and family check back here regularly for updates each night (probably late) about the days activities at camp. My goal is to get a video of pictures that are happening each day at camp as well as video shots from throughout the day. Anything written will be under the blog tag and all video will be on the main tab located under the feature video. I will do my best we have 47 total with leaders and students.
You can also follow me on Twitter for constant updates of the days adventures.
If your on facebook you can follow me or follow the Fellowship Student Ministry group page.
New Team Member: Billy Stephens
Billy recently joined the FSM staff at Fellowship Church. Here’s a little bit of information about him to help you get to know him better. When you see him, be sure to introduce yourself and give him a huge welcome!
The Basics:
Family info: I live in Newark, DE. I have 3 sisters (2 0lder, 1 younger) a mom and a dad
Pet: Lots of fish
Hometown: College: Not currently in college (Ryan works me too hard), Just graduated from High School
Your Ministry:
What got you interested in doing youth ministry: Ryan asked me to be the intern, and I now feel God is calling me into youth ministries in some way.
Favorite part of being a youth worker: Being able to connect with students on a different level, rather than being one of the students.
How will you serve in FSM: Wherever I am needed to serve. My title is “Intern”.
Finish The Sentence:
My top three “must do’s” before I die are…Missions trip to Africa, Skydive
My friends describe me as…Funny, quiet and outgoing (yes both), and honest.
I’ve always wondered…Why so many people are “against” God.
When they make a movie about my life who will play me…John Krasinski (The Office)
The movie about my life will be a…Comedy
Personal Favorites:
Bible Verse: Psalms 91 (okay that’s a chapter)
Song: I Can Only Imagine (Mercy Me)
Movie: Facing the Giants
TV Show: The Office
Game: I enjoy all games
Book: Anything by Ted Dekkar
Clothing Store: WALMART
Color: Green
When I Was In High School:
I was…at a vo-tech school studying to become an electrician.
I was voted most likely to…Not Talk
My greatest fear was…failing my senior challenge
My most embarrassing moment was…Throwing up in the hallway!
If I could do one thing over, I would…Probably choose a different career path to study.
How Can Students Connect With You:
Office Phone: 610.358.1358
Cell Phone: 302.598.1355
Email: billy@fellowshiptoday.com
Facebook: I don’t remember the URL
Twitter: Ryan is working on me about this.
Accept
I am talking about accepting people as they are without any conditions on Saturday night for UNITED. As I looked through the Bible to prep for this I realized that there are some seriously jacked up people, and that is just in the first 30 chapters of Genesis.
Genesis 4-Cain kills his brother Abel
Genesis 9-Noah gets drunk and naked
Genesis 16-Abraham has sex with his wife’s servant and gets her pregnant
Genesis 19-Lot gives offers his daughters up to the city of Sodom in place of the angels visiting him
Genesis 29-Jacob marries 2 women, has sex with 4 and has 13 children between the four.
Why would God put all those stories in the Bible? To show us that people are messed up but regardless He died for them just like He did for us. Accepting others I believe is a form of worship and brings honor and glory to God. The key is accepting them before they change not waiting for them to make the change.
There is a line from Transformers 2 that says, “Fate rarely calls upon us in the moment of our choosing”. I feel God rarely calls upon us in the moment of our choosing. Because we naturally we don’t choose to love the unlovable like Jesus did with the Lepers in Luke 11, but that is exactly what He has called us to do.
I wonder what it would look like for us if we put ourselves in other people’s shoes and see life through their eyes for just a moment? I wonder how much more accepting we would be? Who has God put in our life that needs to see the accepting love of Jesus through us this week?
GVHS Band Night
For the first time since I have been here we opened up our doors to teenagers and let them own the night. Three bands from Garnet Valley High School showed up on Thursday to set up and check out the “church” they had to play in. As each one walked in they were blown away by the environment. They had never played in something so nice and apparently they play a lot of shows.
The best part was Friday night as teenagers who had never stepped foot on our property other to park and run to class walked in and their faces lit up. They were amazed, shocked, some said it was better than battle of the bands that the school puts on. Kids were pulling out thier phones and taking pictures of everything.
I had a chance to talk to several of the students, they asked what we did, I never pushed it. Parents asked when we met, we never pushed it. Overall they wanted to know how and what we did, without us pushing our agenda. We simply opened up the door to the community and embraced them, engaged their culture and built bridges. I do believe that this approach will not immediately get them involved but the more we do this the better it will become and the more interested they will be.
The band was shocked that they walked out with 100% of the profits from the night, if that won’t bring them back what will? We had a few technical difficulties, we need another amp to power all of their equipment and somebody on Sunday told me they wanted to pay for half the amp. Can’t tell you how excited I am to see this avenue beginning to open up and seeing adults on board and excited about it.
Thanks to all my youth staff and church staff who showed up and helped make that night those bands wont forget soon.
Ten Dislikes
Yesterday I posted about the ten things that I love about teenagers. Today I am posting on the ten things I dislike about teenagers. Remember there are great joys and then there are also great disappointments. Ministry is no different than life. We will experience both in our families, our jobs, our churches and our friendships. Even though these are dislikes, I still love students and how one minute they can be crazy and the next they can be sacrificing everything to be used for His glory.
Schedule I dislike the busyness that they have etched in their life. There is a point of over commitment and therefore they find themselves doing many things good but nothing great. I dislike how their schedule sometimes directs their relationship with God.
In The Box Faith God is so much bigger than their hurt or pain. So many times they minimize God and therefore minimize their faith and put it in a box. They pull it out on Sundays but during the week it can be silent. I dislike that because their faith is small they rarely have a biblical worldview. The reality is Christ is not a daily priority.
Discernment Everyone wants a good laugh but at what expense? At who’s expense? The line between what is funny and when is funny is something I dislike. It could be the most serious moment in a life group and then somebody passes gas and the moment is lost. Maybe the seriousness of dealing with sin in our lives causes us to become uncomfortable and try and change subjects. The choices that they make I dislike. What they think is appropriate clothes to wear to what they are finding as entertainment to who they date.
Lack Of Civility As with all of these they don’t apply to all teenagers. This is not a blanket statement for all but there are many who have a disrespect for authority and for their peers. For a cheap laugh they are willing to do almost anything if it means being accepted.
Family Absence So many students come home to empty houses. Or they have parents who are never home because of work obligations or they live with only one parent. Their is a piece of them that is really hurting and needing someone to love them. Many students are on their own at such an early age that it forces them to grow up quicker and may have something to do with the lack of respect.
Selfish We all can be this way from time to time, but I heart breaks for parents who just give and give and their kids have come to expect it without so much as a thank you. Many feel like they deserve everything.
Easily Influenced So many of them want to take a stand but if it means not being accepted sadly so many of them become easily influenced. Acceptance becomes more important than influence.
Work Ethic This goes back to being selfish. Many don’t know how to work and have developed a lazy habit of only giving half the effort. We all have the “when I was your age” stories. However, very few of today’s generation will be able to say that with any honesty.
Lack of Leadership Leadership as it pertains to lifestyle or speaking up. Speaking up for “that kid” who gets picked on or is not as popular. Speaking up in the tough decisions. Speaking up instead of giving into temptation. Leadership of simply modeling what they believe in with their lifestyle.
They Grow Up They lose their innocence and become adults and move on. I have had to say goodbye to so many students who became a big part of my life. They come in as pubescent 11 or 12 years olds who are scared and alone and searching for identity and they walk out, hopefully, as mature believers in Christ who know who they are and what they believe in.
10 Likes
If you have been in ministry for any length of time you have to look for the “wins”. There are times of great joy and times of huge disappointment. I have worked with teenagers for 9 years now and have had the chance to experience both. Teenagers get a bad rap sometimes because they are misunderstood. Those who work in the trenches and see them and their lives see a different side to the story. I tell people over and over again if you are not serving in student ministry it is your loss because it is one of the most fulfilling ministries you can be a part of. Is that biased? Yes, but it’s my blog. Feel free to keep reading to understand what I am talking about. Here are 10 things that I love about teenagers and working with them.
Culture Awareness They understand the culture like nobody else. They are catered too by marketers and have an incredible power that they may not even realize they have. They are so up to date with technology and can learn to use and utilize it faster than most. They have their own style of music but yet still know songs from my generation as well as my parents. They are diverse in there awareness of fashion and how quickly it changes, always looking for the “next thing”.
Un-ordinary They don’t settle for the regular. They are fearless and they take chances that sometimes seem unnecessary but for them it is worth the payoff. They believe they can be the catalyst for change. They have their own language, style and direction.
Excitement & Passion They are willing to completely sell out to that which is important and will make a difference. They believe that hard work does pay off. They create a buzz when they enter a room and they bring a perspective to things that is almost innocent. They can change the temperature of a room and can rally others to join in.
Teachability They want depth and application. They want to know who God is and what God wants from their life. They are not interested in information but transformation. They are willing to learn from their mistakes. Sadly it is their mistakes they learn from and not necessarily from others. Experience is a valuable thing. They want to know about the world they live in and are hungry to learn how to leave their mark.
Relational They desire deep relationships and push back from superficialness. They want people they can trust. They want transparency and genuineness. They want to be accepted and they want to be heard. They are willing to make friends who are not like them. They are a master of social networking and have learned how to use that to connect with people who looking to make a difference like them.
Authentic They have a realness and an honesty about them. They speak their mind and tell you how it is. That is good but it can also be humbling. Typically what you see is what you get. They wear their emotions on their sleave.
Change Em-bracers Teenagers today are curious. They are willing to take risks. They adapt easily. They will jump on board with an idea if they see that it will make a difference. Change is the theme of President Obama and that is why he connected with today’s culture.
Compassion They have a heart for the poor and for the mistreated. They have an ability to forgive even though trust takes longer to build after it. They are huge into missions and have a heart for helping those who are less fortunate.
Endurance They are stronger than we give them credit for. With the schedule they keep it is amazing they are able to make it day to day. With the pressure on them for summer jobs as they compete with the high unemployment rate, parents struggling to make it, with all the demands on them every day, their endurance is remarkable.
Uniqueness Students are so complicated and unpredictable, and yet they are so diverse, sophisticated and insightful. They are forced to grow up earlier than previous generations and yet during all this they are able to create their own identity.
Quotes by Andy Stanley
Started tweeting (seriously if you don’t know what that it is you need to Google it) some of these quotes but they are so good I am just posting the whole thing that was a live blog by Tony Morgan.
Ones in BOLD resonated with me.
- 3:46 PM tonymorganlive - “I don’t see things until they happen.” (referring to the song & dance before he spoke.)
- 3:47 PM tonymorganlive - “Systems create behaviors.”
- 3:51 PM tonymorganlive - “Leadership is not about making decision on your own. It’s about owning decisions once they are made.”
- 3:51 PM tonymorganlive - “As leaders, we gravitate to voices we want to hear.”
- 3:52 PM tonymorganlive - “Leaders become insulated and isolated…and they like it.”
- 3:54 PM tonymorganlive - “The leader shouldn’t make all the decisions. The leader should just make sure the decisions are good ones.”
- 3:55 PM tonymorganlive - “You are probably not the smartest person in the organization. You’re just the leader.”
- 3:57 PM tonymorganlive - “You have got to create a mechanism to listen to the right people.”
- 3:58 PM tonymorganlive - “What and who you listen to will determine what you do.”
- 3:59 PM tonymorganlive - “Your private decisions will be judged publicly.
- 4:03 PM tonymorganlive - (Andy is talking about the decision process of cutting budgets during the recession.)
- 4:04 PM tonymorganlive - “The more sense of input that people have, the less the push back.”
- 4:05 PM tonymorganlive - “Leaders are attracted to environments where ideas and opinions are heard.”
- 4:05 PM tonymorganlive - “If you want great leaders, you need to create systems for listening to great leaders.”
- 4:06 PM tonymorganlive - “Leaders want more than assignments. They want input into the decision-making process.”
- 4:07 PM tonymorganlive - “Leaders want to influence their own destinies.” [amen.]
- 4:08 PM tonymorganlive - “Leaders who refuse to listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing important to say.”
- 4:09 PM tonymorganlive - (oh my… I hope you’re paying attention. This is good stuff. It’s so true.)
- 4:10 PM tonymorganlive - “The wisest man in the world [King Solomon] had the most to say about getting good counsel.”
- 4:13 PM tonymorganlive - (Andy is talking about the challenges of a highly hierarchical organizational structure.)
- 4:15 PM tonymorganlive - “Eventually a seniority structure leaves the seniors in charge.”
- 4:16 PM tonymorganlive - “Your structure has to change or your structure will impede information flow.”
- 4:20 PM tonymorganlive - “I don’t want anyone to live with the frustration that I used to live with in the lower levels of the organization.”
- 4:20 PM tonymorganlive - “You have to rethink your systems.”
- 4:21 PM tonymorganlive - “Please don’t live with an organizational structure that impedes information flow.”
- 4:23 PM tonymorganlive - (I could listen to this type of leadership, systems thinking all day long. Great stuff.)
- 4:23 PM tonymorganlive - “You want the best thinkers and the most strategic people at the table with you.”
- 4:24 PM tonymorganlive - “Fairness ended in the Garden of Eden. Never shoot for fair. When you shoot for fair, you’ll be unjust. Shoot for right.”
- 4:27 PM tonymorganlive - (Andy is talking through North Point’s current organizational structure.)
- 4:28 PM tonymorganlive - “You need to listen deep in your organization. That doesn’t mean you have to meet with everyone in the organization.”
- 4:32 PM tonymorganlive - (Now Andy is talking about how he connects with about 150 volunteers on a quarterly basis.)
- 4:34 PM tonymorganlive - “Resist the urge to lead every meeting you attend.”
- 4:34 PM tonymorganlive - “What we don’t want to hear is generally what we need to hear.”
- 4:35 PM tonymorganlive - “The people we don’t want to hear from are the people we often need to hear from most.”
- 4:36 PM tonymorganlive - (Session is concluding. Battery is dying. Continue the conversation and questions. I’ll catch up with you later.)
MAJOR CAMP ANNOUNCEMENT
ATTENTION ALL PARENTS AND STUDENTS:
We have decided to merge our middle school and high school camps together this year and will be attending LIFT summer camp on July 27th-31st.
This is for all incoming 6th to outgoing 12th graders. This is a trusted camp that has been great to me over the years and us last year. Our students benefited tremendously from being together last year. For our leaders it is great because six months of relationships can be built in literally one week.
New packets for all middle school students will be available this weekend at: Guest Services, Kid Venture Live and at life groups at the loft on Sunday night.
The dates for discounts are still as follows:
$275 if registered by May 3rd
$300 if registered by June 7th
$350 if registered after June 7th
*July 12th is the FINAL day that registrations will be accepted.
MANDATORY CAMP PLANNING MEETING: Sunday July 19th at 7:30pm at the 209 Bethel Road Campus. All forms and payments must be completed at this time or prior.
Camp will be at Philadelphia Biblical University which is one hour away and our camp speaker is Aaron Cavin who was a speaker last year.
Any questions see either myself or Joyce Winters.
ryan@fellowshiptoday.com or joyceannwinters@gmail.com
New Series_SEXED
SEXED from Ryan Geiger on Vimeo.
Alright everybody I am giving the warning now. I know that some of you feel uncomfortable when somebody mentions the word sex but that is exactly what you will hear at our next UNITED on April 4 at 6:00pm. I will launch our series talking about God’s view on sex and in case your wondering He is pro sex. In our life groups we will be covering the topics of what a girl wants/who a guy is uncovering the stereotypes and differences and do those impact our relationships. We will be talking about sex is bigger than I thought, dealing with the small picture now and big picture later of the consequences as it relates to the spiritual, mental, physical and social aspects of sex. Finally we will be talking about I’ve messed up, now what? How to start over, and dealing with the truth of Jesus and your mistakes.
I know this is a sensitive subject and so we are asking that only students and youth staff attend. One just so it is not uncomfortable for students/parents to be in there and two because of space. This is usually our most highly attended series all year although I don’t know why. I know that some of you have younger students but I would strongly encourage to allow your students to attend and use this as a tool to talk about sex with your teenager. The reality is whether they are 11 or 17 they have questions and it is the role of the parents to teach their kids about sex and it is the role of the church to come along side and affirm what you are teaching from God’s Word. There will be notes provided from the talk that your students use and we will be putting the talk up on my blog in its entirety after the weekend.
March UNITED
March UNITED from Ryan Geiger on Vimeo.
