04.24.10 - Narnia!

Dave (Aslan) and Arielle (Susan) both went to Africa with us.

The costumes and the make up were awesome!

KT, Katy and Jess. (Jess made a few signs for some of the students that we knew!)

Thursday night Jess and I went and saw the Warren County Christian School's production of Narnia. They did such an awesome job!

JIM baker

04.21.10 - youngsville track meet

Nathan - triple jump

Hannah just passed off the baton to Lexi in the 4x400

Heather doing the high jump.

This was both Jess and my first time to a track event. We learned a lot and got to watch some of our students compete. They all did a really good job!

Back to left align, last post was center (out of habit)

JIM baker

03.01.2010 - where did February go?

Where in the world did February go?!

Anyway, I'm feeling better, my stomach is pretty normal, I'm still pretty tired though all the time. Malaria test came back negative, which means either I never had it OR the meds killed it.

We had a retreat this weekend. The time4revolution group got together which is a group of 4 youth ministries in the Warren PA area.

Our theme for the weekend was something along the lines of "Chilling Out." We met up at Camp Mission Meadows and by the end of the weekend I had over a foot of snow on my car.

Aaron led worship all weekend and did a great job.

J brought a real solid message of not giving up on God because He doesn't meet our expectations.

Rick came up and preached an awesome message that I wished I would have heard in high school. Outlining that from age 15-25 this is the decade of decision. And that you have to decide on 4 "M" words.

who is your MASTER
you can have many masters, but only Jesus is going to love you

what are you going to do with your MONEY
give!
live below your means
stay out of debt

what are you going to MAJOR in
do research see if there are jobs in the field you want to go into

and who is going to be your MATE/MARRIAGE
choose well

I spoke during the evening session and just had the kids intention themselves on Jesus during the worship time. And then we just sat in silence and I encouraged them to listen to Jesus. I brought a simple message of God's unconditional grace for them and said that they would never be able to chill out until they knew who they were and who's they were. We ended the evening praying for kids which was awesome.

PJ spoke the next morning. His premise. Not everyone who poops on you is your enemy and not everyone that cleans you off is your friend.
(Come on.. it's youth ministry)

He taught from Proverbs 27:6-7
⁶ Wounds from a friend can be trusted,
but an enemy multiplies kisses.
⁷ He who is full loathes honey,
but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.

He encouraged the kids to pick friends that wouldn't just comfort them and agree with them, but friends that would get in their faces and speak hard truth to them. And also ended with verse 7, saying that when we aren't getting our fill of God that we run to stupid things. He also encouraged the kids to MAKE COMMITMENTS and said that if we don't commit to things we don't grow.

Another Africa blog this week I promise.

JIM baker

01.22.10 - why a vision statement is important

out and about with the 5dm2 // jamestown NY // jan 2010

In a previous post I asked other youth pastors if they could sum up what they were trying to do in 5 sentences or less. We had an awesome ongoing conversation with 26 comments. It challenged me to think about a lot, and it made me realize how blessed I am to be in such an awesome network of people.

While I'm not impressed with grand vision statements if there is no real evidence of those things getting done, I think that having a tangible vision statement helps put parameters and borders on what we do. We can examine everything we do with, "does this help us achieve the things we've set out to achieve?" A vision statement helps keep us focused and on track. In a world where there are pushes, pulls and well meaning suggestions in every direction, we could use some parameters.

I'm still working on my 5 sentences. They need to be given more thought because I want you to hold me accountable to them. I encourage you if you have a vision statement for your ministry or for your life share it with us and ask yourself if the things you're doing are in line with that.

JIM baker