Word of Peace Student Ministries

Thoughts from Luther Dell Bile Camp

2010-08-10T10:53:00.002-05:00

This week myself, Marcus (middle school ministry coordinator) and 27 kids have traveled to Luther Dell Bible Camp for a week of fun and a chance to get away from it all. For one thing I find it odd that I am bringing up a bunch of middle schoolers so they can "get away" from their lives filled with constant craziness. We take away their cell phones, mp3 players and any form of being plugged in and force them to play games outside that involve throwing balls and tagging one another. We are also digging deep into the Word of God, my favorite part of camp.

This year we are talking about the "I am" statements said by Jesus. Things like "I am the way, the truth and the life. I am the good shepherd, I am the vine, I am the bread of life."

Today we are talking about truth. I always am in the boat with Pontious Pilot and ask 'what is truth?'. Apparently, everyone and everything out there is trying to tell us about truth and what is true. What is true? As far as I can tell there are tons of things that are true, but not the truth. For instance, if I am working a job, make money and then have that money to buy things that could make me happy for a time. That is true, I will make money and be able to buy things. My happiness may be short lived, but it is still present. That is true. But the truth is Christ is the only way to happiness. The true statement I wrote before was merely something that has been fed to be through television, radio and the internet. Society has claimed, falsely I might add, that my life is one filled with sadness, depression and doubt. My only way out is one of consumerism and temporary fads.

The skit we had this morning at Luther Dell was wonderful. An ordinary person was feeling like she was a pretty good person. She was nice to others, helped when she could and thought that was a pretty good way to heaven. Jesus shows up and tells here that 'yes, those things are good, but the way to heaven is following Jesus.' As she began to follow Jesus there were some interruptions along the way where people said that they had an easier and quicker way to heaven. Things like playing guitar, having lots of friends and having lots of Bible smarts rounded out the list. "These are all well and good," said Jesus "but the only true way to get to heaven is to follow me."

This is the truth we as Christians deal with. This is how we should live our lives knowing that no matter what we do, God's grace abounds. So keep following Christ, play your guitar or any other instrument for Jesus, do nice things because you are following Jesus, and make friends and follow Jesus together. This is the truth.

The opposite of Faith

2010-07-21T14:24:00.002-05:00

In my love for reading blogs I came across a quote that I had forgotten by one of my favorite authors, Anne Lamott. She writes, "The opposite of faith is not doubt; it's certainty." I like that.

Over the past few days since I returned from my mission trip with an amazing group of people (look for a full report later) I have been overrun with requests for confirmation interviews. This is a required part of the confirmation process and the soon-to-be 9th graders all seem to wait till the end of the summer to finish. I still have 10 left out of my 30 but if those 10 are anything like what I have had this week, then I am really looking forward to it.

Yesterday and Monday I talked with 7 very different people who all are wonderful and amazingly brilliant young people. We talked about sports, their family and the meaning of faith, baptism and confirmation as well. We even have a place in their confirmation project for them to list any questions they may have about Jesus, God, and the Bible. Normally, I get to that point and they look at me when I ask them and they can't think of anything. But the past 7 people I talked to all had questions. What was even better than the questions were the conversations that came after the questions. The depth and thought and even a little hurt and worry about questions like "where does the Bible come from" and "why do bad things happen" caught me off guard a little. But there was something under all of that when I looked into their eyes. I'm wasn't sure what it was at the time, but after reading Lamott's quote I realized it was the small seed of a maturing faith. The encouragement I was given from those conversations was unexpected and greatly welcomed.

In my life it's easy to see that doubt and faith are connected because of the experiences I've had and the massive amounts of fist shaking God has had to put up with from me. But for a teenager who is just beginning to experience doubt and anger towards God, this can be a scary thing. I also see a lot of people, both young and old who would prefer to mask their fears and doubt so they can seem collected and put together. This leads to misunderstanding and confusion. You become certain and sure of a God that breaks all the rules.

A faith that grows is one that is doubts and challenges. A faith that is solid needs to experience uneven and shifting ground. Otherwise, it becomes harder to recognize what God is doing in our lives.

Jesus Christ's love through his death and resurrection is one of the few things that I certain about. My uncertainty is abundant and rears it's ugly head when I think about what is next, where I am going, when life is hard.....iin other words, all the time.

Ask questions, doubt, you could even be angry at God. But don't you think that God's love is at least s big as your doubt?

After each of the interviews I came away energized because of the great conversations I had. My hope and prayer is that all of us may have those same conversations with our friends, family and fellow faithful and come away stronger in our faith.

Blessings,

dain

Parenting 101

2010-06-01T16:37:00.002-05:00

Check out this video:

2 year old smokes 2 packs a day

This disgusts me to the core. Seriously, a 2 year old smoking two packs a day?Insanity.

This past weekend I spent time with my wife's family in Two Harbors, MN and I took my mom with me who was also in town from Colorado. Memorial Day weekend is a wonderful time to be "up north" from Minneapolis. My mom had only seen it in the winter time so I thought this would be a great opportunity for her to see the sights of the North Shore. While up there I spent time with both of my Godchildren. This is always a treat and they are very fun to be around. The first, Evan is almost 5 and well on his way to being a living terror. The other, Lexi is 2 and very cute. She has an older brother who is 4 and also quite great.

The difference between the two is parenting. Evan has a mother who is single and is living off of money given to her by her mom and dad. She has not been to college and doesn't have a job. Evan is also growing up in a house with her mom and another person who is soon to be going to jail for dealing drugs. Evan's manners and patience is something that are very thin and needs a lot of work.

Lexi on the other hand is a person that is very sweet. She has her moments, but loves her family and is growing up to be a very understanding and well mannered young lady. Her mother and father are very active in her life and have done a pretty good job with her and her brother.

Then I come upon a video with a 2 year old smoking with people laughing and encouraging the actions of the kid. The news report said that the kids whines and complains if he doesn't get his two packs a day.

What are we doing to kids these days? What are we giving our kids that is turning into an addiction that may not look like it's harming the child, but somewhere inside there is a growing disease that will one day hurt or harm that child? Is that good parenting?

Something as obvious as smoking when you are 2 is a no-brainer. But what about technology like the computer, video games and TV? What about certain foods like fast food? What about sports? Are our children becoming addicted to these things because we think it's cute, fun, or something "not that harmful"? I can always hear my mother saying "everything in moderation". Is that something I actually adhere to myself?

What if kids got addicted to reading, playing outside, splashing in puddles, going to church, singing, having dinner together, hugging mom or dad? I would argue those are the things we need to put in the hands of little ones like Evan and Lexi. I would hope and pray that they both get the best upbringing possible and that God is a part of their lives every step of the way.

dain

A question running through my mind

2010-05-27T15:49:00.002-05:00

Lately I have been pondering the definition of "Contemporary Worship" and being the tech savvy person I am, I decided to ask the Internet.

According to Wikipedia: "Contemporary worship music (CWM) is a loosely defined genre of Christian music which has developed over the past sixty years and is stylistically similar to pop music. The songs are frequently referred to as ‘praise songs’ or ‘worship songs’, and are typically led by a worship band, with a guitarist leading. Today it is arguably the most common genre of music sung in churches — particularly in Protestant churches, both denominational and nondenominational. Some songs are even featured in more traditional hymnals" (emphases is mine)

So to me this is one of the broadest definitions possible. But when I think about it, contemporary worship is a huge swath of different styles both in music and order of service.

Here is what we currently have as a worship description at Word of Peace:

Traditional Worship
This service uses liturgy from the Lutheran Book of Worship. Music is accompanied by organ and piano with a cantor leading.
Blended Worship
This service uses contemporary liturgy and a mix of hymns and contemporary songs. The music is led by Spirit Wind.
Contemporary Worship
This service uses lots of contemporary music, the worship style flows easily and is easy to follow. The music is led by the band Sol(e)d Out.

I don't think that does what we do here justice.

When I was growing up, my church (a wonderful Missouri Synod Lutheran Church) wanted to add a contemporary worship service to the mix once a month. They enlisted a few guitarists, vocalists, piano, bass, and a drummer. This was by far a huge deviation to the normal organ, piano, hand bells and choir arrangement of services. I saw it as a good opportunity to learn more about this guitar I was learning to play, so I joined as well. Some of the favorite songs included: He is Exalted by Twila Paris and As the Deer. The group was solid and fun to play with and since I had no real knowledge of Christian music at the time other than the hymns, I was fine with whatever we did.

I eventually graduated, went to college, discovered contemporary Christian music, worked at a Bible camp, lead worship in College, went on a music ministry team to India and Nepal that played popular Christian music, became a youth director and eventually added Contemporary Worship Leader at Word of Peace as one more thing.

But now I have come upon a bit of a personal struggle. I have heard a few comments circulating about describing contemporary music and or the group that I lead,
Sol(e)d Out Worship, that have made me think.

First, you must understand that we at Word of Peace love different styles of worship. We have 4 services and all 4 are different. They are currently labeled: Traditional, Blended, Contemporary, and Contemporary. Some of the comments I have heard have both been encouraging and challenging in the same breath. Things like, "Are you playing on Sundays during the summer? I hope so because I miss it when you don't." Or "Having Sol(e)d Out at the Blended service won't work because they are too loud." Or "The contemporary service on Sunday and Monday are the same thing because we do the same music."

The last comment really made me think and wonder what "Contemporary Worship" really is. Right now, I can only believe that it is anything that is not Traditional organ lead worship. But for the sake of the people that worship Jesus at Word of Peace and those that visit our website and church, I would hope that we could do a better job at describing what we do here.

If I were to describe the services at Word of Peace it would be something like this:

Traditional 8:00am (8:30 during the summer): What a Lutheran most likely grew up with. A worship filled with liturgy straight from the hymnal. The organ, piano and a Cantor (lead vocalist) lead the congregation in hymns, kyrie, sung psalms, and musical communion liturgy. Special music during this service is provided occasionally by the Adult Choir (Voices of Peace), hand bells (Angel Wings), Men's quintet (Harmony), small women's choir (Deo Glorious and other instrumental pieces. We do not use hymnals, but the printed bulletins you receive as you enter serve the same purpose with all hymns and liturgy printed in it.

Blended 9:30 (10:00 during the summer): Very similar to what Lutherans grew up with and find familiar. This worship service is a gathering of both Traditional and Contemporary elements of worship. Typical accompaniment is by Organ and Piano with very occasional other instrumentation such as sax or drums. Songs range from hymns to contemporary music written between the 60's and 2000's. Parts of the service liturgy are sung such as the psalm and Gospel acclimation. Special music during this service is provided occasionally by the Adult Choir (Voices of Peace), hand bells (Angel Wings), Men's quintet (Harmony), small women's choir (Deo Glorious and other instrumental pieces as well as the kids choirs (Grace Choir and Kids of the Kingdom). Hymns, songs and liturgy are all projected on the screen at the front of the church with your bulletin serving as a worship outline.

Contemporary lead by Sol(e)d Out Worship 11:00 (Varies during the summer): A high energy laid back service that draws on the fantastic traditions of the Lutheran church. The contemporary service at 11:00 focuses on music and the word. You will find music lead by a full band with acoustic guitars, electric guitars, bass, mandolin, keys, and drums (both drum set and hand drums). Songs sung include modern arrangements of traditional hymns and modern Christian worship songs by artists like Lincoln Brewster, Hillsong United, Christ Tomlin, and Paul Baloche. Loud Congregational singing and clapping is encouraged. Special music is often provided by Sol(e)d Out as well as the kids choirs (Grace Choir and Kids of the Kingdom) with occasional appearances by the adult choir (Voices of Peace) and hand bells (Angel Wings). Songs and Readings are projected on screens at the front of the sanctuary so that all are included.

Contemporary lead by Wing and a Prayer 6:30 pm Monday Nights (Varies during the summer): This worship service is extraordinarily laid back and shorter than any other service at 45 minutes. It is a service of song and word lead by vocalists, piano and drums. Songs sung during this service are contemporary and range anywhere from the 60's and 70's to the newest worship songs. This service is a great place to be after a long Monday or a crazy busy weekend.

There...that makes me feel a little better. I really think it is important to describe what we do here at Word of Peace because that way there is no confusion and if you have a preconceived notion as to what traditional, blended or contemporary worship is please put that aside and come and see what we have going here. You may just connect with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit in a way you never expected.

Blessings,

dain

Youth / Graduation / Baccalaureate Sunday

2010-05-04T17:00:00.002-05:00

May 16th marks another wonderful event in the life of the youth ministry at Word of Peace. I am excited to announce that this year’s graduating class is the first I, Dain Swanson Director of Youth Ministries, have seen all the way through confirmation and high school youth group. Wow, that means seven years have passed since I started at Word of Peace. I smile when I think about it. So, I would like to invite everyone to attend worship on Sunday the 16th or Monday the 17th to see a service put on by the youth of this congregation with music, drama and a few testimonies by some of the graduating seniors themselves. Also, we need lots of help with these services so encourage your high schooler to come the next two Wednesdays to help out.

Summer Mission Trips and Camp are here!

2010-02-01T16:17:00.003-06:00

Just when you thought it was time to hunker down and get ready for another few months of winter a glimmer of hope appears! When I think of summer I imagine warm sunny days filled with the fresh smells of cut grass and a warm breeze in my face. I drive with my windows down and the radio up. I think of campfires and roasted marshmallows between graham crackers and chocolate after a hot dog or burger on the grill. But most of all I think of the awesome trips that happen for the youth at Word of Peace. Most people think of vacation, I think of full on youth ministry and serving others as a part of that.

This summer will be no different. In fact it will be more awesome, filled with more excitement and more opportunities to serve than ever before. As parents of High School youth I encourage you to encourage them to participate in one of these amazing opportunities this summer. These trips break the cycle of a monotonous summer day while expanding their views on the world and most importantly God. These trips are filled will fun and challenges of both the physical and mental type. They are chances to grow and mature in faith and as human beings. I can assure you that your teenager will come back a different person, a better person.

Take a quick look at the options provided this summer.
Red Lake, Minnesota - July 18 - 23
Deadline is February 10th
$60 non-refundable / non-transferable deposit
Cost for this trip is $258 + transportation and extra activites
YouthWorks Website
Full Trip Details

Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada - July 18 - 23
Deadline is February 10th
$60 non-refundable / non-transferable deposit
Cost for this trip is $278 + transportation and extra activities
Trip Information Page
Full trip Details

Wilderness Canoe Base, July 11 - 17
Deadline is February 10th
$100 non-refundable / non-transferable deposit
Cost for this trip is $350 + transportation and extra activities
Trip Information Page
Full Trip Details

The wait is over…but the busyness isn’t.

2009-12-21T17:25:00.002-06:00

It is truly amazing to think that one month ago we were preparing to gather with friends and family for Thanksgiving and begin our anticipation for Christmas. Now, Christmas, the day of Christ’s birth is upon us and not a moment too soon. I can’t tell you how glad I am for all this preparation to be done and just get down to the reason for the season…worshiping Christ with friends and family.

I don’t know about you, but the moment I get to the point of being done and able to sit down and relax I am already thinking about the next day or week or even, God forbid, when I have to go back to work.

My hope and prayer for myself and for you is that we can all take time to bask in the glow of the light sent to us so long ago on Christmas. Take time as a family to read the Christmas story (Luke 2: 1- 20), share Christmas memories, put on some music in the background and just sit. We are so blessed and the greatest blessing of all is the birth of Christ the Savior of all.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your family,

Dain Swanson

Spreading Holiday Cheer

2009-12-07T14:28:00.003-06:00

The other day I was walking around a department store doing a little holiday shopping when I was overtaken by a voice on the loud speaker who proceeded to tell me that the music I was listening to was all in an effort to “spread holiday cheer.” This comment was one that I have heard often, but my mind is strange and one that tends towards over analyzing and trying to find out the “why” and the “how come” behind statements like this.

What is it about this time of year that causes us to think more about giving and caring and spreading good cheer? Is it something about the weather, the lack of sunlight, the end of another year…or is it something more? Why is it this time of year when everyone seems to be in great need and want? Have we conditioned ourselves to think that since it is November and December we must look more closely at the ads in the paper, searching for the best deal on the latest and greatest? Maybe it’s the big corporations who are controlling our minds somehow and make us think that our lives are no longer complete because what we received last year at this time is now a whole year old and the latest and greatest would be much better and faster. I don’t doubt this is part of the reason, but I still think there is something about this time of year that somehow changes the focus from ourselves and redirects it to others.

Another question is why this time of year is so important for spreading cheer? Is there a lack of it this holiday season? And can’t we spread cheer of the non-holiday variety the other 10 months of the year? There are lots of other holidays out there, but I don’t necessarily hear people telling one another to “spread some good ‘ol 4th of July holiday cheer.” Why is that?

I propose that this is nothing we haven’t heard before. Love was born on Christmas and I truly believe that there is a higher concentration of it during the Christmas season. The love of Christ and the fact that it was a baby who came to save us on a night like any other night of the year shows us truly how far God’s love for us extends. God loves. God is love. Therefore, the reason everyone is going around and buying huge amounts of gifts and running up the credit card bill is because we feel the need to tell people they are loved and we care for them. I would hope that we, as humans, are not just robots who automatically go into "buy mode" when December hits. But rather focus on the reason we are called to love one another.

1 John 4:19 “We love because God first loved us.”

Continually keep the love of Christ in your heart, make this holiday season a time of spreading Holiday Cheer and also pray the love and hope of Christ continues into the New Year.

Merry Christmas

dain

Okoboji 2009 – Relentless

2009-11-24T15:46:00.001-06:00

This year’s trip down to Iowa was one for the record books and one I will never forget. Not only was it a wonderful, powerful and very meaningful theme based on Revelation 3:20 the group of youth that came down was very special.

We began the adventure planning for around 90 youth to attend the weekend with a few chaperones as well. After a few conflicts were worked out we ended up with 84 youth and 5 chaperones on two busses leaving the parking lot of Word of Peace Friday evening. I took a bit of a straw poll before we left and on the bus about thoughts and expectations for the weekend and it was pretty level and consistent where everyone was a little reluctant and would much rather be doing something else this particular weekend. This was very normal and came to no surprise to me. But I also saw some hopefulness and excitement when it came to seeing their friends also in the group and that lifted my spirits. Either way I was going to have a great weekend no matter what the youth thought. I was just hoping that they would come along with me and have a good time as well.

Upon arriving the excitement to get off the bus and be at camp began to take over. The apprehension of the weekend already started to lift. This was fairly usual for a few youth to experience this, but to see it from an entire group was most unusual. That evening the “Relentless” theme was introduced, cabins were assigned, and bedtime was welcomed with open arms as we were all tired.

The morning came and it was like everyone in the group had stayed up late and created cardboard cutouts of themselves and placed them in Morning Chapel while they stayed in bed. There was no movement, hardly any singing and only a few open eyes. But I was determined that food would pick them up and lift their spirits. Boy was I right! As the morning progressed the 9th grades slowly gained momentum becoming engaged in the theme and all the activities that followed. One very poignant moment came when I came up to the dish window where a cabin filled with Word of Peace boys was busy cleaning all the forks and plates from breakfast. When I asked how things were going, I heard a voice from the back say “Dain I am having so much fun. I love it here and am so glad I came!” What!? This is a comment I usually hear during free time or dodge ball not the first morning on dish crew. This was a great sign.

The day continued with more chapel, games and free time where friends were made, songs were sung and most importantly God was met. And on top of all of that I couldn’t stay away from the kids. Normally, I take a little time for myself during the weekend during the free time or before dinner, but I couldn’t help but be around the excitement and joy that everyone seemed to be exuding. It was contagious.

By the time we came to the end of the weekend we had an opportunity to share thoughts we may have had during the weekend and/or funny stories. I was brought to tears when many youth from Word of Peace came up to the front and something like, “I wasn’t sure what to expect this weekend and was unsure whether it was going to be fun or not. But I had such a good time and am so thankful to Word of Peace and Okoboji for this weekend. I feel closer to God and am really excited to be involved in church when I get back.”

Wow!

I even get a little choked up now remembering the weekend and those comments. This was a weekend to remember and something that affected this year’s confirmation class beyond anything I could ever hope for. God truly answered my prayers with this group and now I am so excited to continue on in ministry to them and the rest of the High School grades.

May you relentlessly pursue God who is always pursuing you and encourage your friends, family, kids, co-workers and the world to do the same.

Blessings,

dain

Check out some of the pictures on my flickr page

How I love you Christian music, let me count the ways….

2009-11-23T14:21:00.000-06:00

It was a few years back when I discovered Christian music (when I say Christian music I mean popular, contemporary or modern Christian music.) I wasn’t in on it from the beginning. Back when it all began in the early 80’s I was a mere 2 years old and didn’t know much about anything aside from what was in front of me. Meanwhile artist like Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Stryper, Kathy Tracolli and the Gather Band were playing at local churches and praising God through music. But it wasn’t until 1991 that Christian music entered into my world of music. I have nothing against the other artists but as I was growing up I had different tastes of music than my parents and I was looking for something a little more “in your face” and “edgy”. It was Michael W. Smith concert that I attended that introduced me to an up-and-coming band named dctalk as an opening act and my life was changed. Their sound was awesome and it was the combination of music that I was looking for. From that point on, I hardly listened to anything else and couldn’t wait for the next album to come out.
My life was changed again by music when I discovered a new band called Jars of Clay. They had an acoustic sound and feel that really spoke to where I was in life and was something that my whole family could love as well. It was then that I realized that there were tons of different styles and types of Christian music and even entire stores devoted to the selling and promoting of these bands. Form that point on I have immersed myself in Christian music.
I have always been a lover of music. I listen to every type of music and try to stay up on the popular songs because of my youth director position. But there is something different about music with Christ as its focus. Christian music is something that stirs me deep inside and a spring of emotions begins to overflow from me with the love of Christ at its center. If you think about it, this is what being a Christian should feel like. Understanding that God’s love for us through His son’s death on the cross is something so amazing that it should fill us with joy and thanksgiving to the point where it overflows into our life, work, play and rest. Worship should be in perpetual motion in our lives. But I am often distracted by what the world has to offer that I loose focus and begin to forget. But I am consistently drawn back to God through the music I listen to. It encourages me and allows me to worship him in some of the most unusual places like my car, while cleaning my apartment and wherever I may be with my Ipod. And the best part is no matter what style of music you like you can find artists that sing about God and praise Christ through their music.
This is what worship is: praising God anywhere and everywhere. This is what God deserves for His sacrifice and love for us. It is our way of saying thanks and through music is the best way I know how.

What does your music point you toward? Is it God?

Ecuador Day 3

2009-10-31T23:53:00.004-05:00

I write this after being home for a few days, but that is a good thing because we had a wonderful day 3 and no time to process or even rest because it was also time to come home.

The day began as usual, meeting our friend Dani (Danielle) for breakfast and processing what had gone on the day before. We loaded up in the bus and then took off on the longest drive of the trip. about two-thirds of the way into the drive we went through a tunnel that was described by Roberto (our guide) as a tunnel back in time. What he meant was this particular tunnel separates the new part of Quito from the old, the richer more modern Quito from the rural poorer version. And it was truly different. We traveled down one stretch of road for quite some time with construction in the middle and shops galore on the edges. It was very populated and quite the sight to see.

When we arrived at the church and project we were greeted by a large number of mothers and children under the age of 5. This was the essence of CSP or the Child Survival Program. Mothers who are pregnant or that have had children and they are under 5 years old can be a part of CSP.

In the program they learn about how to take care of their children and what young babies need in order to survive. We were shown all the curriculum and recording methods to keep track of and help the babies learn. We were even shown a traditional Ecuadorian dance and then were brought up to dance with them.

Next we went on home visits were we saw a mother of 2, the youngest of which was 1 year and 3 months old who was born prematurely and weighed about 3 pounds. He has struggled with being small for his age and also with breathing. But since the mother has entered the program the baby has greatly improved and received proper nutrition. It was so good to see and know that he was being taken care of.

Another short ride in the back of a truck and we were at another home visit and then headed back to a most amazing Ecuadorian meal of corn, corn cakes, a type of salsa, beats and carrots, and the most amazing chicken. It was so good.

But time was short and we headed back towards the hotel and an outdoor market where we purchased some wonderful Ecuadorian handicrafts to take home with us. The rest of the day consisted of packing up, eating dinner and processing the week that was.

I have so many more thoughts to share about this trip but I will save that for another post. Thanks for reading and check back for more on the trip.

Blessings,

dain

Ecuador Day 2

2009-10-28T21:36:00.002-05:00

There is so much to think about right now. I have no real way of describing what happened today. It was wonderful and glorious. But how do I let you know what I went through today and have you truly understand what is going on in this country and across the world?

Today we spent time with the Leadership Development Program of Compassion International. This program has basically taken sponsored youth and put them in a program that will help them through their college years. We met Jonathan and Alexandra who are in their senior year of college and are already working in their profession of choice. Jonathan is now a math and physics teacher in a high school and Alexandra is a child psychologist in schools and hospitals.

We visited the schools and Compassion projects where they grew up and are now working. It was an amazing sight to see them come almost full circle in the Compassion world. Their hope is to someday become a sponsor themselves.

We played with children, gave hugs and gifts and listened to songs. We played soccer in the street, ate lunch with children that were being sponsored by people in our group. The youth encounter staff even began a sponsorship today and met with the girl. It was amazing.

There is so much joy in these kids. And I have realized that poverty really has nothing to do about money. Yes it is a cause of it, but these children and their families are not poor in spirit. They truly have hope and dreams far beyond just today.

What I have realized is that there are people that are poorer in my own community and church because they are so far away from God. They have everything in the world, they are rich by anyone's definition except their own. And because they have everything, they they have no need for God or anyone other than themselves. Stuff only gets in the way of our relationship with God. Take all of that away, like I have seen across the world in India, Mexico, New York, Louisiana, and now in Ecuador and God is the only thing you can really rely on. Family and God are what it is all about. Taking care of each other, serving the least of these and giving until it makes you uncomfortable is what God calls us to to.

Will this change because of my words. No, but it may plant a seed. You are loved by God. We all are. But in America, we are so alone. We surround ourselves with material things and hope they make us feel better. God is the only way that we will ever be loved enough. Through Him, knowing Him, and serving Him by serving others is how we show the amazing love and acknowledge God's grace that was given through Jesus Christ.

I am looking forward to tomorrow and telling more and more about this amazing thing God is doing in Ecuador.

Blessings and Love,

dain

More pictures are up on my FLICKR PAGE

Ecuador and Compassion International

2009-10-27T21:57:00.002-05:00

We made it safe to Ecuador and are loving every minute of it. We flew from Minneapolis to Atlanta (where I searched out the Chick-fil-a in the airport) and then headed south to Ecuador.

We landed around 10:30 pm central time and so far I love it. As far as ease of travel for Americans this is the place to be. Same currency, same electrical outlets, and for the people in the midwest, same time zone! This is great. The only thing we have to really worry about is the altitude. We are in Quito which is about 9,200 feet above sea level. So lots of water and lots of sunscreen.

The city is beautiful and surrounded by mountains and a volcano. The volcano was last active in 1998 so no worries. We are traveling with a Compassion International group filled with speakers and event planners from around the United States. We have met some wonderful people and are having a great time.

Today we went to the Ecuador Compassion Headquarters and received a wonderful tour. The place is amazing and very hard working. Here is how it works.

Compassion finds children all over the word that need help to get out of poverty and get a good education. People from around the world can sponsor a child for around $38 US a month. This provides, for the children, food, education in addition to school, and leadership training when they are older so they may enter the work force. On top of all of this is the education about Jesus and preaching the Gospel to all of these children and parent of the children.

What we saw today was the other side of the sponsor money. We saw the children that were being sponsored and what facilities they learned in, where they lived, and some of the classes they take. It was amazing. They children were full of joy and so happy to see us. We played with the kids and sat in on their classes. They made gifts for us and we gave gifts to them in return.

We also did a home visit to some of the sponsored children's living space. For me, I went to Carlos' home where he, his mother Martha, brother, sister and cousin lived. It was so small and hardly enough space for all of them. One bed for 5 people, a stove, radio, and closet was all we could see in this one room.

But while we were there the children that were being sponsored received their letters from their sponsors in the USA and Canada. It was like Christmas and the joy was contagious. They received pictures, letters and stickers from their sponsors. I was a sight to see.

We also gifted, through Compassion, a grocery bag full of daily needs to Martha who was very grateful. The one room apartment they live in is $40 a month and Martha makes just over $100 in a good month. That doesn't leave much to live on. That is why Compassion is so important for the children.

I was amazed and so grateful to see and meet these children. It was a wonderful day.

We ended with dinner and a beautiful view of the city as the sun went down.

Tomorrow we meet older children in the Compassion program. I am very excited.

Blessings to you all!

dain

For pictures, follow this link Dain's Flickr

Going down south.

2009-10-25T20:24:00.002-05:00

I am headed down to Ecuador for the next week with a Compassion International trip. Heather and I are going down there with Youth Encounter (Heather's work) to see what they are all about. Youth Encounter and Compassion are teaming up to get more kids sponsored through each of their organizations. I think it will be great. Check back for pictures and stories from this short little jaunt to the southern hemisphere and South America!

Blessings,

dain

Changing Seasons

2009-10-15T13:52:00.001-05:00

Looking outside you can't help but think about the change in the seasons. The leaves are different colors and no longer on the trees. There is rain and snow, more coats and a forecast that doesn't look to get any better most days. Even in the stores there are obvious signs of the changing seasons. Fall colors, Halloween and even Christmas decorations are popping up everywhere. It's hard to miss.

This is also a time of life for High Schoolers where they may be changing "seasons" in life, but in a much more subtle way. Many times changes in attitude, grades, choice of friends and activities may go unnoticed by parents because of the natural business of society today.

In order to stay ahead of your High Schooler, be sure to take time each day to check in with them. And be truly intentional with you interest because the more authentic and caring you are towards what they have to say and are going through the more likely they will tell you about changes that are going on in their lives.

Have a wonderful MEA weekend and God Bless,

dain

Building Community

2009-10-15T12:01:00.000-05:00

Building Community

Community is created in two major ways, naturally and intentionally. But my question is "How do you intentionally create community that seems natural?" Word of Peace is a place where community abounds. We share so many things in common, the greatest of which is Jesus Christ. But when it comes to High School, it seems like the communities outside of church are talked about more than the one they are currently a part of in church.

This is where my conundrum begins: Youth form groups of friends, let's call them "clusters" that are filled with people who have the same interests, likes, dislikes and activities. These clusters are generally around 8 people and they form in places where they spend the most time. In this case it is school. So by my reasoning, church is not a place where community is easily formed. But I view this as a challenge, not a hinderance.

Our theme for the fall this year is "From the Inside Out", and it is our goal to take the love of Jesus, which is inside of us all, and show it to others through our actions, decisions, and lifestyle. This is diffucult alone, but in a community, where we support one another, it becomes easier and more exciting.

I encourage you and your students to be a part of Word of Peace and all the programming it has to offer this fall and into the winter. I encourage you to look beyond your 5 or 6 best friends and reach out to those in other communities and build relationships with them as well. I encourage youth to get to know one another, not only in own their grade or school, but with everyone that walks through the doors of Word of Peace.

For every ending there is a new beginning

2009-10-01T17:20:00.002-05:00

This week marks the last week of our dear friend and brother of mine as Middle School Ministry Corrdinator. This is a truly sad time for me and the members at Word of Peace because of how we dearly love Derek and what he has done for this church. He will be truly and dearly missed.

But with every ending there is a new and exciting beginning, both for Word of Peace and for Derek as well. His plans are to go to Australia for 25 days with his wife Michelle and then persue God's calling for their lives when they return to Minnesota. Right now they are praying over a few different opptions that may take them to L.A. in California and then possibly on to Lincoln, Nebraska. Our prayers go with them as they leave us and go on some fantastic adventures.

As for Word of Peace we are getting together a search commitiee to re-hire someone for the Middle School Ministry Corrdinator position. We have yet to officially post the position, but it will be coming shortly.

I ask that you keep this process in your prayers and thoughs over the next month. I hope and pray that God is already preparing someone outstanding for this position and will give us clear and wonderful options when the time comes.

Thank you again Derek,

Dain

The Me Generation

2009-08-28T07:59:00.007-05:00

A national study fresh out of SDSU is confirming that Generation Y really is Generation Me. The jaw-dropping conclusion? 57% of young people believe their generation uses social networking sites for self-promotion, narcissism and attention seeking. While it’s no surprise that social media would cater to a more self-promotional audience, it’s certainly interesting to note that not only does Gen Y think of their social behaviors as narcissistic, but almost 40% (39.27%) agree that “being self-promoting, narcissistic, overconfident, and attention-seeking is helpful for succeeding in a competitive world.”Jennifer Van Grove

Read the article here.

Does this surprise anyone really? It's hard to believe that an entire generation is falling into this category. What is even more surprising for me is that I fall into that generation. There are no real precise dates as to when generation Y starts and ends but by most estimates it is the people born from the 1970's to the 1990's. To give you some perspective, college freshman this year were born in 1991.

So what does this say about the adolescents that are coming up in the ranks? Will they continue the trend? Will they become more self centered and narcissistic to the point that no one cares for their neighbor anymore?

Comments that surrounded the article consisted of people thinking that narcissistic people might think themselves to good for the social websites and that people who us them are more bipolar by nature. I think there is some truth in this statement because every adolescent today is growing up a little bipolar.

The fact is, people are putting on different masks in order to be around or in their different groups. They have their close cluster of friends, one mask, they have their sports team, another mask, not to mention home, church, when they are with extended family, in class at school, or just walking the halls. Each situation is warranting a different personality. Throw on top of that what they put out into the world through facebook and myspace and it complicates matters even more.

So where is the real person under all of this? That is a hard question and the only way you are gong to find out who they really are is by getting to know them and really sending tons of time together. As a youth director I can't possibly spend all my time with every youth out there, there is just not enough time in the day. But if I strive....if we strive to make every encounter with youth a meaningful one we can begin to strip away the masks and hopefully see the true person underneath.

-dain

What's next?

2009-07-30T08:02:00.002-05:00

This is the question I have been asking every year at this time. What is next? We just went on this awesome journey to the southern state of Louisiana with bands, service and community building galore...what is next? Three years ago it was San Antonio that gave a spark to people wanting to serve. Mission trips followed for the next two years and we are back to a gathering again.

Yesterday Derek, my brother and co-worker, sat down for lunch with some of the Junior guys and talked about what they thought of the gathering. Their responses were mixed and over all good, but he also asked them the same question: what's next? They felt as though they wanted to continue serving, that the time in New Orleans was not enough. They wanted to go right back out into the community and be the hands and feet of God the next day and the next one after that. This is a great thing. So is the next step another mission trip? Where then should it be? In the United States, back to Louisiana, an international mission trip? When should it be? Spring break, summer, fall?

This may sound like a cop out answer but I really want the group of seniors this year to be in charge and plan their last event. To have ownership in what they are doing and what is going to make them grow physically, spiritually and as a community. I believe that they can do great things and with a little guidance we can accomplish great things. Now the question is where to start and how to build on the momentum we have created from this past week.

Dear Lord, be with us this next year as a youth group. Continue to help the community grow and for everyone to realize that they are a part of something so much bigger than their small group of friends and we can all serve together and change the world one person at a time. We love you Lord, amen.

Blessings,

dain

Day 5 & 6: Worship and the trip home

2009-07-28T07:58:00.003-05:00

What is worship really? Is it a set amount of time? Is it the right words? Is it when you stand or sit? Is it quiet and solum? If the worship service we attended on Sunday morning was any indication of what it is or can be then worship can be anything.

What we experienced Sunday morning was a blending of the fantastic Lutheran liturgy and the excitement of the gathering atmosphere. The house band was once again awesome and got us pumped up for worship. There was a processional of the cross but also items signifying the service we had accomplished this past week in the form of doors, cones, windows, work gloves, work lights and so on. The alter was carried in by sections: saw horses, 4 doors, and a tarp to cover it. It was the most crude and perfect alter I have ever seen.

The service itself was very familiar and the sermon was given by Bishop Hanson. He spoke to us about how we are now leaving this place and how we can take it with us. How we as a group of 37,000 people have made a difference and can still make a difference in our own homes and communities. That it is up to us to be the change in the world.

He also told us about the mayor of New Orleans, how he attended the large gathering last evening and when they entered in the Superdome he cringed a little because even though years have passed and the dome is fixed it still is viewed as a place of tragedy, sickness, death and pain. But the mayor when on. He said that this gathering of young people is a ray of hope. That it has made the Superdome a place of joy and happiness. He said that the community has seen a wonderful change in their lives and he wishes that we could surround the dome join hand and pray for the healing of this community. Well we didn't have the ability to do just that buy our service and prayer that morning was one for healing.

We also celebrated communion that morning. It is the most amazing thing to think that 37,000 people were communed in 30 minutes. It just shows that people are willing to volunteer not just for getting their hands dirty buy also for the clensing and renewal of our bodies. Every station had a yellow umbrella where we received the body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We were also anointed with oil reminding us of the cross that is always with us.

The service ended and we were sad to leave. It was a time of renewal and an exhausting week. The rest of the afternoon was spent walking back to our hotel one last time, loading up the bus in a little bit of rain, and heading to lunch. We ate on canal street. Heather, Kim and I went to Mother's restaurant and had some good southern cookin'. It was fantastic.

The ride home was lots of fun too. We went across the causeway over Lake Ponchatrain which is the longest bridge over water in the world. 24 miles of water underneath us. There is even 8 miles of that where we couldn't see land.

That evening we ate dinner and watched a beautiful sunset, sang happy birthday to Tate Miller and loaded the bus for the long haul of the night shift. But I wasn't going to let this day go down easy. I broke out the glow sticks and but on the dance music and we had ourselves a bus rave! It was a lot of fun and apparently my butt called Pastor Ron a few times. How weird is that?

We all fell asleep to Pirates of the Caribbean part 3 and tried to sleep as best we could on a bus. Bodies were everywhere and there was not chance we in the front could get back to the bathroom because of the tangled mass of teenagers on the floor and strewn across the aisle. We did a did have a short stop at a few rest stops along the way and saw an amazing sunrise.

Breakfast was in Clear Lake Iowa at a Perkins. The look on the face of the woman when I said there were 41 of us in a group was priceless. Most because there was another group that had come in 30 minutes before us. The food was awesome and handled very well. We even saw Mari helping out with the drinks.

Then it was back on the bus for the final two hours of the trip. It went fast.

In the end this was a great trip. The youth of Word of Peace are amazing people and I know they will change the world, heck they have already changed the world. We wouldn't have trusted them more in New Orleans. They were fantastic and a joy to be with. My hope and prayer is that this experience will go with them always and they will never forget the love they felt in New Orleans.

Thanks for following this trip and this blog. Check back often for more Word of Peace youth group antics.

Dain

ps: we will be leading the worship services on August 9th and 10th with the Vacation Bible School kids sharing our experiences with everyone at the 8:30 and 10 am services. Come and check out pictures, video, the stories we have.

Day 4: Service with a smile

2009-07-26T00:03:00.003-05:00

Today was our Justice day. This is something that God requires of us according to Micah 6:8. Look it up if you don't know it. It's a good one.

We started this day earlier than any other day before and we arrived at out bus right on time! This is a wonderful thing for anyone in charge of 41 people. We loaded the bus and I quickly realized that I had forgot the health forms we worked so hard at getting people to fill out. So, since we had a few minutes before we left I decided to run back to the hotel. (about a mile) By the time I got back we were ready to go and I was dripping. Wet with sweat I sat down with the papers and thanked God for and air conditioned bus.

After a rousing rendition of wheels on the bus, the hippo song and shark attack we arrived at Arthur Ash charter school. It was 2 weeks until the start of school and they just moved in to a new building. Our job: to get the place to look like a school not just a building.

I was amazed by the vigor and excitement to serve. The work was hard. We did everything from setting up rooms, leveling desks, putting together computers, painting, moving heavy objects, and organizing the library. By the time the day was done it was a change so noticeable that the people in charge couldn't believe it.

Our service time ended late because we were so into it that we didn't have time to eat dinner. We spent a little bit of time in the French Market again and then rushed back to the hotel, changed close and were back out the door by fuve so we could walk, again, to the dome.

The evening was filled with awesome speakers, jugglers, music in the form of a 7 year old accordian player that could rock out with the best of them and a 16 year old violinist involved in the IMAX film "Hurricane on the Bayou." We even had some special guests. The first was the mayor of New Orleans and the second was a letter from the President Barack Obama. Wow! The Katinas finished off the night with some energy filled praise and worship. It is truly amazing and awe inspiring to see so many people singing together.

The last thing we did was find dinner. The good thing was we had lots of time, the bad thing was we spent it all in line at McDonald's. Since we split up into groups, I was with only 11 and it still took way too long. The up side was we got to meet the 7 year old accordian player and his family and a wonderful gentleman named Ernest. The most amazing thing for me was that we had spent over an hour in line for food and we were next in line when the 7 year old and his family came in. They were in a hurry and so we let them go in front of us. Did I mention we were next in line.

We got our food and did our final Bible study for the day right there before we walked back.

What a day it was...WOW!

Bes sure to check out the pictures at my FLICKR page.

Thanks for reading and we will see everyone in Minnesota soon.

dain

Day 3: Hot and Ready to Rock

2009-07-25T00:40:00.003-05:00

Day three in New Orleans at the National Youth Gathering was once again a new experience. We began the day much like the last with breakfast and a long walk but this time it was into the interaction center. We entered a large room with a few thousand or so of our new friends and listened to a speaker talk about our service area which is literacy. We then proceeded into the massive grand hall for hundreds of different opportunities for us to learn and have hands on experience with taking action and being the change in the world.

Some of things I saw the youth doing included: letter and post card writing to our state representatives about poverty and the environment, painting, learning what it's like to be in a wheel chair, making masks, decorating murals, and signing petitions. But that wasn't all there was to do...oh no my friends. There was ping pong, beach and hard court volleyball, soccer, dodgeball, ultimate Frisbee, mini golf, karaoke, and a parade New Orleans style.

I could go on and on about all the awesome things but it is late. After our time at the interaction center we decided to head to the dome early to get floor seats for the evening program. Our path took us down some side streets and as we were rounding the corner for the dome a women approached us and told us that we didn't have enough beads. She proceeded to open up a box and pull out some of the most amazingly huge strands of beads for us as a gift. She even had the exact amount for out group. This was an amazing moment for our group. One comment made this evening was how we haven't even done anything yet as far as service and people are already thanking up for what we have done or will do. Amazing.

Our group and the woman who gave us the beads!

As we walked in the mid day heat I knew we were going to have a difficult time because the door we wanted to enter from was on the sunny side of the dome. Luckily, there was some shade we could share and the time went fast. One of the coolest things that happened while there was at 4:24. Every day we stop and pray at that time, so we did and people must have talked to God about the heat because the wind picked up and two frozen lemonade vendors came around the corner right after we said amen. Wow God is good.

The doors opened and we made a mad rush for the seats hoping to be on the floor. Not only did we make it to the floor we had great seats. The speakers were awesome and the music was powerful and rockin! Skillet played and lit up the stage with fire and amazing songs.

The night ended with a fantastic pool party where most of the chaperones were thrown in to the pool. I love it when the youth do what I tell them to. We had the nightly Bible study in the pool and it was off to bed.

Tomorrow we go out and serve!

Pictures are up on my flickr page so check it out.

Also, the national press for this gathering is amazing and you should read some of the articles that are out there. Here is one I ran across.

Peace,

Dain

Day 2: A unique look at New Orleans

2009-07-24T00:50:00.004-05:00

Today was a day of learning and understanding more about the culture of New Orleans.

We began the day with a trip the one and only authentic Voodoo Museum in the world. It was quite the sight. I was introduced to John who is the only white man to come out of Africa as a full fledged Druid Priest and Voodoo leader. This guy knew his stuff. We went on a twenty minute tour of the little shop and two back rooms filled with different things t do incantations with. There were petrified cats, and bones and alligator heads and blowfish on the walls. We talked about hexes and how they work and that the voodoo dolls are a but sensationalized by Hollywood but are really used differently that what we would expect. It was a great experience and lots of new and different things were seen in that place. Thanks John for the great tour.

Then it was on the French market and Farmers market area. It was great and everybody bought tons of souvenirs, including myself.

Then it was off to lunch. Rick, Heather, Lauren, Cally and I went to Margaritaville for some virgin margaritas and good food. i had a cheese burger.

After that it was off the the hotel and then to the Krews Learning center for out Jesus day. People could choose from over 30 different workshops, self guided, and craft activities that brought them close to Jesus. It was a crazy but good afternoon.

Next was the whirlwind dinner and a brisk walk to the Superdome. Unfortunately we were a little late and our seats were not the greatest, but it was an awesome night once again. Each night gets us more excited for the next.

Afterwards we went separate ways in groups (with chaperones) and went to dances, concerts and well more dances. It was a great night that closed with some time together back at the hotel and prayer to close the day.

There was so much that happened it's hard to tell you all about it. But we will try when we return.

Thanks and keep up the prayers,

dain

be sure to check out more pictures on the flickr page.

No Busting for Us! We made it!

2009-07-22T22:01:00.003-05:00

After a fantastic start to the trip and a wonderful sendoff from the parent in Rogers, we made it safe. We stopped in St. Louis for a wonderful tour of the Western Expansion Museum and a trip up the Arch. Man is that high up! Most of the youth and people who are on the trip hadn't been there before so I enjoyed watching people enjoy the incredible view. Check out the pictures.

After St. Louis it was the night time portion of the drive. We had dinner and then left the driving up to the bus drivers and we did the best we could to fall asleep. Some got a few hours some got a few minutes. After a short stop in..actually I have no idea where we stopped because it was very early and very dark and looked like any other gas station out there. Rick and I threw the football and the students went into the bathroom and connivence store. Then back on the bus for another 5 or so hours. Let's just say that New Orleans was a welcome site when we could get off the bus and stretch.

When we arrived we saw lots and lots of water. it's no wonder that there is such a flood problem. There is tons of water. When we hit land again we arrived at Grace Lutheran Church. Word of Peace and Grace are partnering through our Vacation Bible School program and we stopped because of their amazing story. Check out their website and come to VBS in a few weeks to hear their story. http://www.gracenola.com/ We met their pastor and a few members that told us some stories. It was truly Amazing Grace.

We were still very hungry because we ended up a little behind schedule and so breakfast was the next stop. We found a great grocery store and purchased our milk and other perishables. Then to a park not far from our hotel for a much needed meal.

Finally it was on to the hotel and a free afternoon. The students took naps, swam and hung out at the hotel while a few of us went t register everyone at the convention center. While we were there we found out an interesting fact that the work that is done in New Orleans over the next three days will equal 3 years of work for normal volunteering efforts. Wow this is going to be amazing.

The walk back was interesting because we got caught in the rain. One second cloudy sky the next downpour. No wonder people carry umbrellas all the time. But after the typical five minutes it was done and we were on our way. I gathered the group when we got back to the hotel and we left for the Superdome we took a walk down Bourbon Street. The best way to describe the walk was an "eye opening experience," for most of the passer-bys.

The dome event was awesome and full of speakers, music, giant conga lines and the Bishop of the ELCA arriving to the gathering in a motorized bathtub and bathrobe. It was a night full of special moments and it seems as though everyone is looking forward to a great week.

I am tired as is everyone else so I think this is about it for today. Keep us and New Orleans in your prayers.

dain

check out more pictures on my FLICKR page

New Orleans or Bust!

2009-07-21T00:38:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow we leave for New Orleans. But I write this looking at the clock on my computer realizing that we actually leave today. Which makes me even more glad that we decided to leave at 8 in the morning rather than 3am...yuck!

We will be off on many wonderful adventures learning about God, Jesus, The Holy Spirit and ourselves and the relationship we have with them along with 36,000 other youth who are presently descending on New Orleans. I am really looking forward to see the youth and how they grow over the next week.

Stay tuned for daily updates, pictures and stories from the road and our soon to be awesome trip!

Blessings,

dain and the word of peace crew!

The Last Day

2009-07-13T20:56:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow I return to Word of Peace to prepare for our trip to Louisiana and the National Youth Gathering. I still have a month of sabbatical left but this was a trip that I could not miss. This return also marks the beginning of taking what I have learned and been taught by the Holy Spirit and putting it into action or at least of plan for action for the next years of youth ministry at Word of Peace. To be perfectly honest, I am really freaked out about what I have learned. How in the world am I, an individual working for the Lord going to effect the lives of the thousands of youth in the Rogers area? Well, one thing I did learn is that it is not about me doing it all. It is more about a community raising up and providing a safe environment where youth are able to be themselves, where they can forget about the pressure for one minute placed on them by their peers, society, coaches, and parents. I can't tell you how important it is for kids to be kids and youth to be youth. To not grow up so quickly. To hold on to that child-like faith we once had because before we know it parents will be placing their kids into advanced classes, higher level sports teams, and confirmation just so the accomplishment of achieving something can be held and had and shown off to everyone around. To me this seems like a very publicly lived life where the teens and twenties are being put in the spotlight while everyone else looks at them and says "wow, aren't they amazing".

When did this life become about becoming the best the earliest? Is it really that important that we get kids potty trained, walking, speaking, reading, and going to school before they are 1 year old? Or is it really important for youth to be married, have two kids, a PHD, a house, a nice car and be the boss of their own company by 25? In the same vein is it necessary for youth to be so mature in their faith that they can debate with the greats and understand what God thinks by the time that they are done with confirmation and/or high school? I personally can't believe that youth are ever done. The learning, questioning, discovery, wonder and imagination of youth should never leave any of us. But it does. We begin to settle realizing that we will never be able to grow any more than we have, that our efforts will be in vain and we best be happy with where we are. This never got anyone anywhere.

The idea that God can somehow be fully grasped understood and even predicted is a load of bull. God is by far the most confusing thing I have come upon and I believe that God is fully present in the youth of today. (Maybe that's why they are so confusing). And that God is working in ways that we will hardly understand until we are years down the road and can look back and see His guidance along the way.

God is in all of us and until we loose ourself and realize that fact we will never be able to be used in a way that is truly pleasing unto our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Think about it, really think, what is the ultimate goal in your life, in my life? Is it to make money, grow old and retire, invent something amazing, have a historical marker somewhere with my name on it, or is it to live this life as best I can loving everyone, caring for the least of these, raising wonderful children, loving my wife and family, and loving God? In my mind these things can't be measured or compared, they don't need to be because it is not about the accomplishment it is not about what we can do to please God or getting into heaven. It is taking the grace God has given us and turning right around and giving it away to someone else who needs it. It is forming and being a part of a community that is working for justice on earth and praising God. It is loving Jesus in the wonderful times and in the dark times. Using Jesus instead of relying on our own strength . It is loving Jesus from the inside out, loving others, praising God with others, worshipping Jesus with others, helping others, being the light of Christ to the world. Stepping out even when it may seem like you are alone. It is about loving everyone.

I love youth. I care more everyday for their lives and the decisions they make hoping and praying they do so with so much love in their hearts that it can't help but overflow to everyone they know and even to strangers they don't know. I pray their lives are examples not only Christ when it is convenient but in everything, everywhere, everyday.

My prayer is that I can effect one person in my lifetime, and that that person may effect someone else and they would also do the same. I pray that my goals and focus are not dictated by the pressures of the world but of the one and only Savior of my life, Jesus Christ. That my life would be lived from the inside out.

There is nothing stopping us, there is nothing that can tear us down, there is nothing that Christ has not overcome. Bring it on. Here WE go!

dain

More on "Hurt" by Chap Clark

2009-07-01T16:33:00.002-05:00

It's really amazing to think that someone can write a book and basically say the obvious and have it be so poignant. Really, all the things that Chap is saying are very true and it all makes sense. I can see everything he is talking about in the youth that I work with. I can even see a little bit of it in me as well. Most likely because I am at the end of my adolescence myself. But I also feel like a bridge between the adult world that "just doesn't understand" and the new generation of youth who are redefining so many of the standards the older generations hold so dear. For example, the word "stress" is something that is well understood by generations who grew up with fewer commitments as adolescents than the current generation. So if a thirty-something says they are stressed it is most likely because there is more on their plate than they can handle and responsibilities are being piled upon them. The difference, as noted by Clark, is that adolescents of today are already so busy, so involved and so stressed that it becomes their version of normal. Imagine a life where stress at very high levels is normal.

There is another side to all of this as well Adolescents who don't think that they are stressed, who think that life this way is normal believe they are doing are going to run themselves into the ground. I am in the ministry of helping youth understand that Christ our Savior who takes our sins, burdens and even our stress and gives us salvation and rest in the arms of love. But there is a disconnect. Why would someone that fees like life is normal, that being tired being overcommitted and not getting enough sleep ever want someone that would give them rest? This is a huge dilemma. I find huge value in retreats and moments where we can have time one on one with God. Where we can experience God in the small and and the large. But to minister to a a generation that doesn't think they need something like that makes for an interesting time and quite a bit of trial and error.

It is going to take a lot of prayer, research and error to know what is going to work and help the youth of this generation and how to let them know what they need. Pray for the youth ministry of Word of Peace and the world that we may do the best we can and make Christ real to them.

Peace,

dain

The final day in Sydney

2009-06-18T14:22:00.002-05:00

Well we knew this day would come. Sad to think that we spent some great times with friends and are now headed back to the US, we wish we could stay longer. But rather than sit and be sad about the fact that we were leaving, we still had places to see and souvenirs to pick up.

Now, Heather and I have been married for almost a year now and we have found out a lot about each other and the family cultures that we both come from. One difference that I came upon this trip was the importance of souvenirs and gifts for the family. I think it might stem from one of Heather's love languages because she is much more into the fun little gifts than I am. With that said I do enjoy a good souvenir but prefer all the pictures I take to be what I bring back from places.

Anyway, the day began at Eva's once again. We saw a few familiar faces and lots of new ones as well. Thankfully we found a parking space on the same block so it wasn't far to take the luggage. We had breakfast at the first cafe' we ate at in Sydney, Joe's. It was so good the first time that we had to go back, that and we had to say thank you for the great advice for the walk we went on. I had french toast again with english breakfast tea and Heather had the eggs and toast with bacon, wow it was good!

We then loaded the car and went to find a post office to buy stamps and we found one right around the corner. Heather did a great job at parking the car with me spotting because the whole parallel parking thing is really different with the steering wheel on the other side.

Next it was off to downtown Sydney and a "quick" stop at a shop for some gifts. Problem was the parking place we found was really confusing and didn't look right and there was no street parking so after becoming a little frustrated Heather and I switched as drivers, she stayed to get the souvenirs and I drove around the block. That worked well. But we still had to find parking so we could go to Malny Beach on the ferry. We found a spot right near the ferry dock at a hotel parking lot and hurried to grab the ferry. We sat in the aft (back) part of the ship and watched as the skyline and Opera House disappeared in the distance.

We then switched to the bow (front) of the boat to see the Manly Warf come into sight. We also noticed that to our left we could see out into the open ocean. "Wow" I thought, "the next big thing that direction is South America". And with a little bit of the open ocean came some pretty good swells. The boat was rockin'!

We arrived at Many Wharf and walked the short distance to the beach where we saw a beautiful and very empty beach. Normally this beach is packed with people at all times of day, but apparently last night and this morning was one of the coldest days in Sydney on record so that made fewer people want to come and be outside. For Heather and I it was beautiful, cool and crisp. A beautiful day for a walk on the beach and some frisbee.

Our time was short on the beach because we needed to get back and catch the ferry so we could catch our plane eventually as well. So we started back and Heather wanted fish and chips so as she waited for them to be done I went and looked at post cards. Time passed and passed and I started to be a little concerned that we were going to miss the ferry. Out window of time was not very big and we needed to begin picking up the pace so we would make our deadlines. Heather agreed and we bolted as soon as she had her food. We crossed the street to the wharf and arrived just as the boat was pulling out...we missed it. This was not good. We needed to have the car back by 1 pm and the ferry ride was 15 minutes and the next ferry out was 12:45. Things were starting to look a little too tight for my liking. But there was nothing really we could do about it, so we walked back to the gift shops and bought a few post cards and Heather noticed that this shop in particular had all the things she purchased earlier in the day. We were not very happy with the way things were going.

We did make it on to the next ferry and got the prime seat in the front of the boat. We sat down and watched as the skyline came back into view. It was a beautiful day and the view of the harbour was amazing. I loved the ride.

But the moment we landed we were off and running again back to the parking lot and into the hotel to pay for the parking. We got back into the car and prayed that we weren't too late and wouldn't miss our plane. We punched in the airport on the GPS and we were off. We really needed to fill up the car as well but nowhere along the way could we find a gas station. It was frustrating so we bit the bullet and paid the refill fee as we pulled into the car return. We dashed into the ticketing part of the airport and realized that we had no idea where to go. It was totally different than anything I had ever seen and we most likely looked like a pair of chickens running around without our heads. We found the United counter just as they were getting ready to close check-in and said we were going to San Francisco. We got our tickets and express pass through security and were off again. It's a good thing we had been walking a lot this past week because we felt in shape for the rush across the airport. We arrived to a friendly looking gentleman who told us to relax and take a deep breath and that the plane was not going to leave without us now...whew we made it.

The flight home was enjoyable and seemed to go a little quicker than the way over. I saw three movies and a few shows, took quite a few naps and Heather and I witnessed a woman fainting wile we were up for the toilet. Heather almost caught her and I rushed for the flight attendant who was serving drinks. His cart was quickly parked and spilled at the same time. So I cleaned up the mess while he attended to the newly fainted women. I was glad she fell in one of the few open spaces in the plane so she could be helped. She was fine, but all I remember thinking was "where in God's creation are we going to land if we have to?"

The rest of the flight was uneventful and with a small layover in San Fran we were on our way home to Minnesota. It was a truly great trip and I really can't wait to go back and see more someday.

Thanks for everyone who kept up with our travels and pictures. I am still on sabbatical until the middle of July but I have lots of thoughts coming my way from things I am reading and learning. I will post some of them here. Check back often.

God Bless and I hope you are having a wonderful summer,

dain and heather

Canberra to Sydney

2009-06-15T09:48:00.004-05:00

Our final day of traveling in the car and it proved to be a doozy. We said our good-byes in Canberra and realized that we needed to perform the age old Minnesotan ritual of "warming up the car" as the temperature had dropped to near freezing last night. We had a quality frost on the car, one that truly meant it was cold outside. So with the car warm and us on our way we found a petrol station and filled up.

Our next stop was Wollongong in New South Wales to meet with Pastor Fred. Now Pastor Fred is a friend of Heather's and was a contact of her Youth Encounter team when they were in Australia in 2004. They spent a week or so in Sydney at St. john's Lutheran Church and Pastor Fred made a wonderful impression on Heather that she thought it would be nice to look him up. Fred has since moved away from Sydney to a really southern suburb, if you could call it that, and taken an extended leave from the ministry so he had lots of time to sit and chat.

We made it into Wollongong around 12:30 in time for tea and lunch so we sat at the kitchen table and talked about all kinds of stuff, mostly having to do with the frustrations in Pastor Fred's life at the moment. We heard stories about how Fred felt empty spiritually and unfed. And when it came to reading the Bible or anything with spiritual connotations rather than filling him up he felt as thought it passed right through him and into something he could use for a sermon. He was more concerned about the spiritual life of others and had been neglecting himself. The amazing thing I realized while watching and listening to Fred was how true this was for most people in the ministry including myself. I felt sorry for all those wonderful people out there that never get the chance to recharge their christian battery like I am presently doing on sabbatical. So when Fred said that he was leaving St. John's it wasn't because of some big falling out or another calling per-say, it was because he felt the need to spend some quality time with God that he had been missing for who knows how long. It was a very refreshing statement to hear.

Fred said one thing that really stuck out to me in our conversation. He was concerned that even in the Christian church we have drifted away from a Christocentric and preaching a more universalistic mentality towards God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. One example he gave was in the songs we sing. He noticed that in a normal grouping of songs in a Sunday service it was a rarity to hear the name of Jesus sung. Now this is not really the problem, the songs are good and about our saving Lord but what about the people in this world of different faiths? Fred told us a story about how he was at a Lutheran gathering and he noticed an Indian woman at this conference he was attending. Fred listened intently and realized that Jesus specifically wasn't really being talked about by name. There were tons of references to God, Lord, Savior, Love and helping your neighbor but the name of Jesus wasn't hardly heard. So Fred approached the woman he saw before and found out she was a Hindu among other things and asked what she thought of the speakers. She said that she could agree with most everything that was said today, and that really made Fred think.

Fred continued to talk about how he felt the Christian church he a part of in Australia was so focused on being inclusive and "seeker friendly" that they had taken Jesus, the real reason we celebrate and are saved out of the picture. Wow, this was interesting and I could have listened to him talk for a much longer time, but Heather and I needed to be off. So after a quick tour of his house and new construction projects we were on the road again to Sydney.

View of Wollongong from the bluffs above!

But before we got to Sydney we had to make a few stops. The first back out in the Blue Mountains to pick up my tripod that i left in a cafe' we ate in and then to Hillsong Church for an informational night about the church.

The Blue Mountains were great again and we found the tripod, whew and we arrived just in time for the program to begin at Hillsong. We found out lots about the church and the best part for me was to feel very welcomed and even recognized from when we were there last week. It was amazing that a huge church that has 4 campuses in Australia and 3 others across the world could feel so small and wonderful. In the end it made me miss being at Word of Peace because even though it was a great experience I realized that I missed the community I was a part of back home.

We left Hillsong and found ourselves at the mercy of the GPS again and a few toll roads and the Harbour Bridge later we were downtown Sydney again headed back to Kings' Cross for one more night at Eva's Backpackers.

Have a wonderful day, tomorrow is Manly Beach, crazy downtown driving, and the trip home.

Blessings,

dain

Canberra Day 2

2009-06-13T17:40:00.001-05:00

I think the best way to describe this day was "nothing major really happened." For once we didn't head out the door at an early hour, or go to see all the sights, or even walk anywhere. It was so nice to have a day where we sept in and had a leisurely day talking with Tanya and taking care of Liam. The conversation was wonderful and the stories ranged from what has been going on in the Lutheran Church in Australia, to the local Bible camp happenings, to weddings to the death of Tanya's best friend Amy. It has really been an up and down year for Tanya and family but the Lord has really provided in marvelous ways.

Little Baby Liam

The two best parts of the day were the food and the movie we watched. First the food. For lunch we had pumpkin soup. This is a fantastic Aussie dish that is made from Butternut Squash or Yellow Pumpkins as the Aussies call it. It was so good and well worth the adventurous spirit it took just to imagine a soup made from pumpkin. Dinner was also good with a roast, steamed and baked cheesy vegetables and some really good soda drink.

Afterwards we looked at wedding photos and then sat down for desert and a movie. The movie we watched was a very Australian movie called The Castle. It was a movie mostly about a family who lived next to the airport and their house was going to be repossessed by the government to add to the runway. The court battles and family hyginks that ensue are rather hilarious and touching. I am looking forward to finding it and showing it to some of our friends.

The day ended after that knowing we were headed to Wollogong the next day to meet with Pastor Fred so it was off to bed with us. Another great day in Australia.

Melbourne to Canberra

2009-06-13T14:11:00.001-05:00

Now begins the journey from Melbourne back to Sydney. We rented a car and under the instruction of Rory we are to get the car and head through the Roundabout of Hell to Jenny's place of work to drop off the key. No problem right? Well, we did get the car and we did manage to also get a GPS unit to help us find our way. The way was through the roundabout of hell and I was quite nervous. Heather was the first to drive and I had my head on a swivel so that we didn't run into anything or turn the wrong way.

We made it to Jenny's work place and then it was off to Rory's school to say good-by. It was a lovely and very modern looking school. Most of the classrooms were exposed to the outside and very open. So if anyone were to ask, "can we have class outside today?" the answer would be, "we are outside!" After a couple of hugs and some direction of how to get out of town and a quick stop at a cafe' for lunch, we were on our way north to Canberra.

The eight hour drive proved to be uneventful and very beautiful. We spent the first 3 hours looking at the countryside and the vast amounts of grazing pasture for cattle and sheep. We were told to keep our eyes out for kangaroos as they tend to hop across the road and be obliterated by cars. We were hoping that would not be us. Luckily, we came upon none to speak of.

We arrived in Canberra around 11:00 pm and found our friend Tanya's house with only a few missed turns. We stayed up talking and catching up while ogling over the new 5 week old Liam.

Finally after a long day we decided to go to bed and be ready for a nice day with Tanya and Liam in Canberra, the capitol of Australia.

Note: I am writing this from the comfort of the United States as we have returned on June 12th. Stay tuned for the final days of our trip.

dain

Melbourne Day 2

2009-06-10T16:58:00.003-05:00

Waking up and not having to share a bathroom or wait a really long time for one to open up is really a luxury. I really like staying with Rory and Jenny.

Today is Queen's Day, God save the Queen. Where Australia celebrates the birthday of the queen. God save the Queen. And it is a national holiday, God save the Queen. And you have to say God save the Queen after everything, God save the Queen. The funny thing is no one really knows why they do this holiday and even if it is her real birthday and nobody says God save the Queen. So basically it is a holiday that everyone loves because it makes for a long weekend.

We took the morning to have pancakes and got ready for a cold rainy day. Our plan was to make the footy pilgrimage to the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground). This is a fantastic stadium that holds 100,000 people and today Melbourne was playing Collingwood. We arrived just in time for the first bounce and the game was on. If you don't know anything about Australian Rules Football (Footy) then here are a few things to know. Basically the game is on a huge oval playing field (pitch) and there is a goal for each team. The game consists of each team working the footy (football shaped ball that is not as pointy on the ends) to their goal and kicking it through the middle part of the goal. You can pass the ball with a volleyball type bump or by kicking it and if you catch it off a kick that is called a "mark" where you receive a free kick or you can run with it. This game is full contact, which makes it rather rough. So in the end it is a combination of Ultimate Frisbee, soccer and hockey.

The game was not close. Collingwood smashed Melbourne who has not won a game this season. The rain fell hard and we were very thankful that we were under cover. We stuck it out for the whole match and had a great time rooting for everything! A great time was had.

After the game we headed down to the river and had a BBQ. The city has gas grills set up in the parks that are free so we took full advantage of the grill and cooked some fantastic food including veggies and kangaroo meat. It was all good! The meat was not as "gamey" as I thought it would be. It was actually very close to beef in consistency so I enjoyed it a lot.

It was then off to the Melbourne Center for the Moving Picture, which is a nationally and internationally known museum for movies, right up our alley. The museum was closed but we were there for something else, Fanboys! Rory, Heather and I are huge Star Wars fans so we thought it would be awesome to see it together. It was great and the ultimate Star Wars geek movie.

We spent the rest of the night walking around Melbourne seeing the sights and stopping in cafe's for some great coffee. We also saw the Crown casino, a huge casino that makes a lot of money for the city and is very lavish. They even have this fireball display in front that shoots huge balls of fire into the air. It was pretty cool.

The end of the night came when we arrived at home and warmed up with coffee and scones. It was a great day and we had a blast seeing and being "normal" Ausies for a day.

Tomorrow we drive in Australia up to Canberra...pray we don't forget to drive on the correct side of the road.

dain

Melbourne

2009-06-10T16:57:00.000-05:00

For the second leg of our trip we headed to Melbourne to visit our friends Rory and Jenny. We got up crazy early (4:00 am) so we could catch the Sydney shuttle at 5. We were out and ready to go at 10 till and we waited and waited and waited till we started to get a little worried. There were plenty of taxis passing by the hostel but no shuttle. We were relieved when the shuttle rounded the corner and we climbed in with the other passengers. Turns out because of the holiday weekend everyone was out for the night and since Kings Cross is the "place to be" for dance clubs and strip joints and since the clubs were beginning to close, well that made for really bad traffic and a lot of drunk people. We eventually made it to the airport in plenty of time and had a great flight to Melbourne on Quants.

Once we arrived we were greeted with open arms by Rory who took us back to his flat in Ivanhoe. We spent the morning relaxing and catching up until the four of us headed out for the afternoon of touring Melbourne. We headed downtown to the markets and stores that were quite numerous. We tasted all kinds of fun food and almost bought lots of stuff...but didn't. We stopped at a cafe' and had some great coffee, something that Melbourne is know for.

Later that evening we headed to church with Rory and Jenny. We had dinner at a house nearby with some friends of theirs. The church service was quite good and fun to see a group of young adults worshiping together. Rory and Jenny really like this group and I can see why. After hanging around for a while after the service we went to the favorite pizza place, which was very active because of the long weekend. The pizza was great! I had a capsicum or red pepper pizza, Heather had mushroom, Rory had a salmon pizza, and Jenny an olive version. They were all good. I tried a local beer too, very nice. It was hard to carry on conversation because of the noise so we were homeward bound. Another hour of chatting and having fun and it was time for bed after a very long day.

It is great to see good friends. Tomorrow footy game and Fanboys!

dain

Sydney Day 4

2009-06-06T08:14:00.002-05:00

A truly fantastic day! I think we have finally had the good weather Australia is known for. It was beautiful, warm cloudless and a slight breeze from the ocean.

We started out the day heading over to the Harbour Bridge so we could climb one of the pylons that hold up this massive structure. Inside was a museum of the construction and history of how long it took just to get the thing built. In the end it is not the longest steel arch bridge (it missed it by 38 cm) but it is considered the biggest because of the sheer size and weight. It was build during the depression (yes the depression was not just in the US) and it was considered the thing that got Sydney if not Australia through it. It is truly an amazing structure. We climbed to the top of the pylon and got some amazing views of the Harbour, downtown and the Opera House. The number of sail and motor boats in the water was beautiful.

We finished the climb and headed to The Rocks, a quaint part of old Sydney just by the bridge where an outdoor market was taking place. We found all kinds of great stuff including some great food. And apparently there is a scent and a tree called the Daintree, who knew? Answer: the crafty people that made some awesome smelling potpourri.

After that it was off to the Paddy Market (the one I mentioned in an earlier post) for a time of souvenir shopping. I think we found something for almost everyone, and for those who we didn't find something for, it's not for lack of shops. We successfully saw every store and had fun listening to people barter and try and sell there wares. (with Lebanese accent) "I guarantee these carrots will last two weeks in the refrigerator if not you find me and I will give you $200!" That is a good selling point if you ask me.

Finally we had to get on a train for the Hills so we could go to church at Hillsong. We caught the train then hopped on the Hillsong bus and with some friendly people onboard we took the 20 minute trip from the train station to the church. We eve got a snack on the bus! We arrived to a parking lot full of cars and entered one of the buildings. We were not in the main "convention center" which was fine, because it was a smaller service.

The evening was great, we felt very welcome and met a few other people from the states. The music was good and the message was fun to listen to. The atmosphere was very laid back so it was just good to be there. Afterwards I met with Nick for a few minutes, he is the Youth Pastor for Senior High. I am looking forward to talking to him some more in the future.

In the end, it was a short visit, but a good one. We took the bus back to the station with another snack and arrived back at the hostel where we were greeted by a hoard of people in the kitchen/eating area. Tomorrow it is off to Melbourne to see our friends Rory and Jennie.

Blessings,

dain

Sydney Day 3

2009-06-05T08:56:00.002-05:00

If we thought we had walked far before, day three proved every day before to be nothing in comparison! We began the day where we left off - back at Darling Harbour and the Wildlife World. But on the way there we decided to actually walk through the Royal Botanical Gardens rather than just around it. We were not disappointed. It was amazing. There were plants from all over the world and in such huge form too. I can't believe some of the things we saw. The cactus and tropical plants. The sheer number of different types of Rhododendrons was crazy. Some of the plants were in bloom but because it is "winter" most of the plants were not in bloom. But I could only imagine what it would look like. We even stopped to smell the roses. They all smelled different. Who knew? Answer: a rose connoisseur.

Next we walked to the Wildlife World where we saw some of the most amazing and dangerous animals on the face of the earth. The animals were all native to Australia. Some interesting facts. There are more dangerous animals than non-dangerous animals in Australia and 65% of the animal activity in this country happens at night. The highlight of the day was when we got to see Koala's being fed so they were awake and very cute! We even got to pet one. Very awesome. We continued seeing huge spiders, yikes and a number of Kangaroos. It was a great time.

When we finished at the Wildlife World we headed over to Chinatown for dinner and some needed rest. We found a food court in a "mall" and started looking at all the pictures of the food, thank God for pictures. I found my favorite (sweet and sour pork) and Heather found hers (Wonton Soup). Both portions were amazing and we didn't finish the soup because it was "the combination" with shrimp, squid, wontons, vegetables, beef, pork and a heap of noodles in this wash basin of a bowl. Truly well worth the money. "It was the best Wonton soup in the world" - Heather

Next was the walking tour but along the way we ran into an indoor flea market that put all markets to shame. It was quite the place with tons of booths and cool stuff. We hardly had time to look before it closed down. We are going to go back on Saturday.

So the walking tour was next. Sydney is putting on a night time walking tour called VIVID that shows off some of the great places in Sydney by lighting them in really cool ways and then having modern light art between locations. We started by getting lost and going the long way to the observatory but ended up finding some awesome views once we made it to the start of the tour. All in all we ended up at 25 different "exhibits" of smart lighting that were all very fun. The culmination was the Sydney Opera house lit up...well....like a huge work of modern art or a lizard. It was amazing to look at.

We finally decided that the day should be done and we should get home because of our extreme tiredness. We still had a few miles to walk to get home to the hostel but we toughed it out and despite sore feet, knees, calves, and bodies we made it and crashed. Hence the reason I am posting this blog a day late.

What a day and we got tons of more pictures that will slowly load over the next few days. Check out my Flickr page for more pics.

Blessings and Blue Mountains tomorrow,

dain

Sydney Day 2

2009-06-03T18:51:00.002-05:00

There really is nothing like a full nights rest! And that is what we got last night. Comfy bed and not too much noise outside helped as well. Breakfast in the Hostel and then it was off in the rain to the Opera house and whatever else we wanted to do today.

The path we took, as recommended by Joe was fantastic. There were all kinds of paths and walkways that were right on the water. We walked by Woolloomooloo wharf were we had to dodge the rain quite a bit. I also had a first today, aside from the fact that everything is a first since I've never been to Australia, but I was standing on the side of the road, well actually it was the middle of the road on a median and I was splashed by a truck that drove by. It soaked my already soaked pants and, well, I laughed.

Next we continued down the path along the wharf and came around the corner to one of the most amazing views of the harbor, opera house and harbor bridge. It was beautiful. We took lots of pictures and waited out the rain that came back. It's a good thing we brought our rain coats.

Next it was through the Royal Botanical Gardens and past tons of people jogging. It seemed strange to me that there were so many people out jogging in the middle of the day and in the rain. Don't they have jobs, but maybe not. Maybe it was a early lunch break of something? We eventually got to the Opera House itself and looked around at the amazing building that it was. Very Cool!

The walking tour wasn't done yet. We went to the Rocks, Circular Quay, Darling Harbour, downtown Sydney and the world famous Aquarium. They were all awesome, but I love the Aquarium the best. The animals and fish and shark and rays that were all twice the size of me astounded me. We got to go underwater to see them. The tunnels led us into a land that few get to see. A great tour. Plus on top of all the cool stuff we got to see Nemo, Dory, Marlin, Crush, Bubbles, Gill and the whole crew from Finding Nemo. It was a star studded day!

Heather taking a nap with Crush!

Finally, it was back to the hostel and make dinner together. We made a chicken stir fry and it was tasty.

Looking back on the day I realized that I finally felt like I was in Australia when I came around the corner and saw the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. Strange that the accents and constant reminders that I am in Australia didn't do it for me. But the moment I saw the iconic locations I had finally arrived. Seeing it up close was amazing and changed my perception on what the building is and that it in fact three buildings. Also, it's not white. It's actually a cream and grey combination. All in all a beautiful and amazing piece of architecture.

Have a great day, I am looking froward to tomorrow and maybe some more sun.

Once again you can check out more pictures on my Flickr page: Click Here

Peace,

dain

Sydney Day 1

2009-06-02T18:09:00.001-05:00

What a wonderful first day in Australia! Really, I couldn't think of a better way of doing it. Arrive at 6:30 in the morning and then have the rest of the day to bum around and get our bearings. Throw in a shower in the morning and a nap in the afternoon and whaaapowww...you've got yourself a first day.

Heather and I started our adventure with breakfast at Joe's. Turns out, Australians can make a great French Toast and bacon. The eggs, tea and chai were also fantastic. Joe also gave us a map and some great ideas for tomorrow as we are planning on seeing the Opera house and some other places on the harbor.

After breakfast we walked around Kings Cross and saw the sights. Fantastic and lots of things to see. Turns out we are in Backpackers heaven because not only are there tons of places to stay, but also lots of "adult clubs" if you know what I mean. I am already glad that Heather and I are staying a little off the beaten track.

Next, because we are staying at a hostel we want to cook some of our own food. So we went on the look for a grocery store. What we found was Woolworths, a very fine establishment and all underground. A bit different than we are used to but a great variety. We got our breakfast fixings and have our spot in the fridge where we are staying.

The rest of the day we devoted to Hyde Park and Downtown Sydney. It was awesome, a beautiful city and pretty easy to get around. Here are a few shots of Hyde Park:

But I did learn a few things about traffic in Australia. First, look right. Traffic is coming from a different direction than I am used to and I almost got hit a few times. Talk about looking like a tourist straight away. (Straight away is Australian for immediately). They even have help because apparently I am not the only person that has no clue.

The way you know to cross is signaled by a Green walking guy rather than white, and a laser -beam sound coming from the button I just pushed. So to sum up: look down so you remember to look right, and wait for the laser.

Finally, dusk came and I got some awesome pictures of a huge Catholic Church and the down town area. The panoramic pictures are from the roof of Eva's where we are staying.

Now it is off to bed to try and get some real sleep, meaning laying down and not in an airplane.

You can check out more pictures of our trip on my flickr page: www.flickr.com/photos/dmswanso

Blessings and good night,

dain

Made it safe!

2009-06-01T18:28:00.001-05:00

Well, our first day is Australia is here and we are ready to go. After a shower and getting used to the hostel we are staying in I think we will head out on foot and see what we can see. We already had a bit of a Mr. Toad's wild ride on the way here. Straight through downtown Sydney and stopping at all the other Hostels in the area (we had a few riders in our shuttle) and then it was off to Kings Cross where we are staying at Eva's Backpackers Hostel. Not a bad place. Nice and quaint I think. We have our own room and a nice view of the city out our window. We are planning on heading out on foot after we get our feet under us again.

More to come soon,

dain

My trip to Australia

2009-05-31T01:06:00.002-05:00

I will be headed to Australia with my wife Heather for a few weeks. While over there I will be keep you up to date through this blog and the blog that Heather and I have together. http://dainandheather.blogspot.com/ Check back often for updates. I am taking Hurt with me so I can continue to ponder the writing of Chap Clark. That will be good for the long flight we have ahead of us.

Keep up in your prayers as we travel,

Peace,

dain

A good change coming?

2009-05-30T00:27:00.002-05:00

I have entered the second part of Chap Clark's book "Hurt" and it is continuing to give me lots to think about. First, imagine how much more interesting your text books would have been if you would have had real life experience with what they were talking about. It's amazing how much I love this book. But I think it's because I have a point of reference.

Second, Clark suggests that in today's teenage culture small groups or "clusters" are created in every high school across the United States. Clusters are not cliques. Clusters are "a group of adolescents who identify themselves as a defined relational unit." as defined by Clark. They are not something that is in the vocabulary of today's youth but is something unspoken and almost automatic when entering high school. They are groups of, on average, 8 to 13, but could be less but rarely more. These clusters are so obvious to me now that Clark has defined them that I can't believe I missed it.

The primary formation time for clusters are at the beginning of 9th grade, or their first year of high school. This is where we experience the most drop off of youth in the church today. We hardly have a retention rate to speak of because these clusters are being formed and because church is something very low on the priority list then it no longer is a priority of the cluster as a whole.

Once again a light bulb went off. Why do youth always ask who's going to be at an event? It's because they want to know if anyone from their cluster is going to be there. The problem that Clark noticed is that the clusters tend to work as a unit. In other words the the whole group isn't keen to the idea, then no one is. Plus, you have to take into consideration what other clusters are going to be at a church event, because if the event isn't huge then the clusters may just have to interact and that may or may not be a good thing. Can we say drama!?

So, what does this mean for Word of Peace? This is a very reassuring bit of information from my point of view. If we can get the 9th grade clusters to be formed or at least have a common interest be church then we may have a fighting chance to keep the youth around longer. By pushing back confirmation and encouraging if not requiring 9th grade small groups we will intentionally infuse Jesus into the cluster forming process.

Youth are looking for a safe place right? Clusters provide that. Church is also a safe place. So what could be safer than a cluster based around the love of Christ? Not much if you ask me. Hopefully we can make it so this fall.

Blessings,

dain

More on "Hurt" by Chap Clark

2009-05-29T08:58:00.002-05:00

I haven't decided yet if a good way to start the day is by reading "Hurt" by Chap Clark. Some of my best reading and comprehension time is in the morning because I'm not awake enough to be distracted. (Does that even make sense?) It has become a little harder reading this book because of the compassion and love I have for the age range, high school, he is talking about. The distressing facts he discovered, the poetry the students gave him, and the idea there are dark recesses in each and every life I work with makes me want to put the book down and let the sense of hopelessness wash over me.

I do understand, however, that this is the way books are written. The problem is posed. The weight of the situation pointed out again and again until I reach the last third of the book where small glimpses of hope are brought into focus. Since I am only just beginning part 2 I have yet to see any trace of this hope, but nonetheless I am still hopeful.

Here are a few things I read in the past chapter that stood out to me:

Clark is explaining about the multiple "selves" that midadolescence have in order to survive daily life.

"The necessity for multiple selves, a far more complex developmental requirement that for any previous generation, causes midadolescents to seem almost schizophrenic to an adult who can see life only through a lens of a single (or dominant) self who plays many different roles....I became convinced that the defining development characteristic of midadolescence, then, is the ability to draw on abstract and complex processes of thinking and logic within each layer. Interestingly enough, however, midadolescents are not yet able to integrate such thinking across the many layers in which they live."

To me, this is very interesting, especially when I deal with parents. I can't tell you how many times I have heard about or seen a student act one way in a certain situation and then turn right around and act or say something completely opposite. Parents are always telling me this. "They are wonderful at home but when they go off with their friends they are someone completely different."
This has huge implications in youth ministry. If students only come to church and put on their "church self" then leave only to take that "self" off and put it aside until they walk through the doors of the church again...that bothers me...a lot! Isn't it my job to get youth to apply Godly principles in their daily lives? Aren't I supposed to help students make good choices by giving them the ultimate reference point on which to make said decisions? Logic and complex thinking are capable, as Clark said, but getting them to apply that thinking to another area of their life....that is the challenge. And what a challenge it is.

Something just made sense to me. I try, as the extrovert that I am, to get out of the church as much as I can in order to "be seen" in the lives of youth at their sporting events, concerts, and general daily life. Every time, without fail, I get the question "what are you doing here?" And in that moment I see a clashing of worlds happen. I realize what I am seeing is the confusion and decision process of "who am I going to be now that Dain is here?" happening right in front of me. It is a strange sight and one I love to see because it is throwing church, God and Jesus into a mix when they were most likely not even there in the first place.

Imagine if that happened all the time and division of midadolescent worlds became foggy and uncertain. Imagine if students were forced to walk in more than one, even three of four of their identities at one time! It would blow their minds, but it would also let them know it is possible. I have no doubt that the dominant persona will win out and that will most likely not be the church person, but what if it was? It is possible.

Thanks Chap Clark for a good chapter.

dain

With my Brother

2009-05-28T17:04:00.007-05:00

Amongst all the planning and details involved with taking a trip overseas I decided I needed some quality time with my brother. It's a good thing he agreed. Really why wouldn't he? Derek and I went out to Maple Groove to shoot some pictures for a gift he wanted to give his wife Michelle. We went over to the Great River Energy company and found some great little places. Check it out.

Further North

2009-05-24T10:27:00.003-05:00

For the past couple of days I was up at Luther Dell Bible camp, one of my favorite places. I was helping out Youth Encounter by lending my guitar skills and then earned my keep at the camp by building a bridge over a marshy swampy area along one of the trails. It was a messy day of work, but was also rewarding as well.

I have also been reading one of the books I gained in my Understand class called "Hurt" by Chap Clark.

It has been a very interesting and somewhat depressing book to read knowing that the truth he writes about connects on so many levels: school, family, and church to name a few. Here are a few quotes I have come across.

"To survive, a young person must learn how to be a child, a student, an athlete, and a friend, while also continuing the ever lengthening process of determining who he or she is. In other words, we have allowed a new stage of life known as midadolescence to emerge, and this new stage carries with it new and at times very difficult challenges." pg 20

"Adolescents have been cut off for gar too long from the adults who have the power and experience to escort them into the greater society. Adolescents have been abandoned. They have, therefore, created their own world, a world that is designed to protect them from the destructive forces and wiles of the adult community." pg 21

"What is interesting is that many adults will highlight these (sports and dance) and other activities as proof as their commitment to the young. "I drive my kid to all of these activities. I sacrificed my own life, work, avocation, and enjoyment in order to take the kids to soccer games, concerts, and competitions."...We have evolved to the point where we believe that driving is support, being active in love, and providing and and ever opportunity is selfless nature. We are in a culture that has forgotten how to be together." pg 46

"The sharp and attractive and the rebellious and countercultural make up only 20 percent of the population, and yet they receive 80 percent of adults' attention" page 49

"The loss of meaningful relationships with adults has been the most devastating to developing adolescents" pg 50

These are only a few of the ones I have come across. But I shutter at the fact that parents, teachers and even youth workers have fallen into this perpetuation of adolescent abandonment. We believe deep down inside that we are doing them a service, but are we really? Are we providing what is best for their lives? Or are we putting our own selfish needs and wants first and making them happen through the youth of today?

dain

North

2009-05-18T19:23:00.007-05:00

During my sabbatical I am planning on doing two things I love, and do them at the same time: riding my bike and photography. Today was my first day I was able to ride and take pictures. Each time I am going to go off in a different direction and see what I see. Today I went north and this is a little of what I saw.

The end of Understanding

2009-05-13T17:52:00.002-05:00

It's not that I am through with trying to understand the teenage mind, but that would be a logical conclusion after all the information I heard today, but it is only that the class is done and I am moving on to another.

The biggest thing that i took from this class is knowing that this is something kids and parents need to hear. And then trying to earn the right to give that information to them.

I have tried this before. It was called Parent Teen Connection. I had it once a month and I had two families show up. The amazing thing was I thought they went well and there was a lot taken from the class. Problem was, that was it, no one came after that. Is it because they don' think I can tell them anything they don't already know, or is it that I am young and have no kids so I can't possibly know what it is to parent.

I am not telling them how to parent....well maybe I am, but that is beside the point. I believe that as a person that is immersed in youth culture and is paid to know what is going on in the lives of teenagers today that I should have the respect of the parents. But maybe I am only viewed as the goofy youth director that has nothing wise or important to say. That's why I need to earn the right to talk to parents and go from there.

I am looking forward to the next class called "Manage," it should be equally as interesting.

-dain

Development of the brain

2009-05-12T17:45:00.003-05:00

Back to front, left to right.

I always wondered why in such a crazy time of life we are trying to talk to kids and give them all kinds of knowledge when their brains are hardly ready for something that intense. We as "fully developed" adults try to rationalize and quantify Jesus in a way that makes sense to us, but literally goes in one ear and out the other of the audience we are in front of...the youth.

What does make sense to me is how Middle and High School students, and their brains, are looking for memories. This is what their brains are learning at this point in life. Abstract thought comes later. Right now they are looking for experiences to hold on to. A lot of people talk about how the world is event driven, that you and adults alike want something worth coming out for. They want to know who is going to be there, what is going to happen and what they are going to get out of it. They are looking for a memory making time in their life. Mission Trips, National Youth Gatherings...these are things that youth sign up for because they know they are going to have a wonderful time and they will never forget it. And that is not a bad thing. But what about the rest of the time. What about the weekly, mundane, relationship building times? Those are important too because in the end they too will be memories. It's hard to see it that way when you are in the midst of it.

So maybe we shouldn't always look at events as a bad thing. Pizza and movie nights, lock-ins, random nights throughout the year, those are memory making times. They are positive times in their life. Imagine if you had a bank full of positive memories that outweighed any bad memory you had. That would be something.

We are in the business of sharing Jesus and the Gospel with youth, but we are also all about being a good influence for the kids. If all kids that leave Word of Peace know when they leave after High School is they are loved and that the adult leaders cared for them and Jesus is a part of some great memories then maybe we did a pretty good job of helping that brain grow in a very formational time of life.

-dain

Sophistication vs Maturity

2009-05-11T17:54:00.002-05:00

One of the biggest smacks on the head today was the idea that sophistication and maturity are different things. I guess I may have already realized this, but never thought that it was relevant to youth ministry. Let me explain.

Bruce Wayne, he is a very sophisticated person right. He was at least until Christian Bale got his hands on the character. The sophistication was still there because of the money and the knowledge in his head, but what he did with that knowledge and power was not the most mature. Anytime you would see Bruce in public, at a restaurant or driving a car he was always reckless and maybe even drunk. Granted this was an alter ego, but the point is that most youth with the abilities they have to become knowledgeable about anything via the internet and other people's lives may be sophisticated but are still immature. 20 years ago when parents of today were teenagers it took a lot of work and maturity to be sophisticated, now the ruse of teenage life is to convince parents that they are more mature than they really are. Kids will be kids.

Parenting needs to happen no matter how sophisticated youth may seem. Youth need to realize that it is their responsibility to see their parents as parents not an older version of a teenager.

Adolescence is expanding and is twice the size it was in the 50's. This means that youth begin seeming more mature earlier and continue the ruse later in life.

This is all to say that as adult leaders, especially in ministry, do not assume that your kids can think and comprehend on the same level as you. That you are able to give them some amazing philosophical quandary that will blow their mind only to realize it confused the heck out of them and maybe even turned them off of church.

Kids are kids and that is a good thing, be kids. Don't grow up before you have to and when it is time take responsibility for who you are and your actions, truly make them yours an don't blame them on your parents. Don't try to be something you are not. You are loved for who you are and not for who your parents think you are. You belong to the kingdom of God from the day you were baptized. This is a great thing.

Love this time of life, love each other and love your family.

-dain

Sabbatical - Day 1

2009-05-11T10:21:00.002-05:00

Youth Leadership - Understand with Tiger Mcluen.

It has been a few hours of my first class in an effort to Understand youth and Youth Ministry better. So far I am affirmed in my lack of understanding and also the recognition of the transition period that youth are going through in their lives.

The big questions:

Middle School: Do you like me?
High School: Do I like you?

8th and 9th Grade: Do I like that you like me?

Just as I read in Youth Ministry 3.0, adolescence is expanding and has been for years. But the "church should be the same as it was in the 70's" mentality from our current leaders is sending us down the crapper because of the shift that is constantly happening. We need to take a page from the book of India, Africa, China....that youth / adolescence is not just high school it is truly a process that is one fourth of our life.

More to come...

dain

Nothing like a good cry

2009-05-01T10:49:00.002-05:00

Last night I was in the mood for a great movie. It was a long day, a long week, I was taxed and done for. I couldn't help but think about doing anything more than allowing myself to be transported into a good drama. One that would challenge me to stay awake and be a movie I hadn't seen in some time. That movie was Dead Poet's Society. A favorite of mine.

I tried my best to stay awake, but to no avail. I was fast asleep a third of the way into the movie. No matter. I was up in the morning and after some time with my wife I picked up right where I left off. As I watched I remembered how much I love this movie and wondered why I had to unwrap it from plastic when I wanted to watch it this time. This was a movie that reached deep into my soul touching and strumming some elusive chord I had forgotten was there. My life of action packed fast paced movies, music and work buried my love and respect for this type of emotion and commitment to a movie. But even more than that it spoke to my place in life. Teaching and trying to inspire passion and commitment to something others even peers may seem odd and uncool. The teaching of poetry and literature in this movie in a way different and in an experiential way grabbed hold of me. Rather than relating to the youth, the young boys of this movie I found myself in the shoes of Robin Williams, the teacher wanting to teach and feed the Word of God to the students I encounter every day. I cried. I was a blubbering mess on the couch under my blanked as the credits rolled. How could you just take that opportunity away from them? Why are the pillars of the school more important that getting to what's underneath the words on the page? Can't you give him another chance....?

I feel this way in my life all the time. I sing praise songs, I read the Bible, I sing choir anthems... the words, they sit on the page and stare back at me. Why aren't they jumping out at me? Why don't I spend time "sucking the marrow" from the poetry that is in front of me day after day? Why don't I encourage it more from the youth I teach?

In the end it wasn't the poetry, the words on the page that mattered. They had gone beyond just words and become life. They were something more. They were deep inside and wanting to come out so badly the one holding them could burst. I had forgotten that deep inside of me those words had once taken hold. I was once ready to burst. But my busy life and constant gaze toward the future and next event has not allowed myself to enjoy these words. But in the same emotion I was comforted knowing that the words, although hidden deep inside of me, had never let go. They were there welling up inside of me during this very moment. I was connected to something long ago and present at the same time. I was happy, sad, excited, scared, and anxious in the same tear. What a wonderful feeling this was. More I want more of it I want to be moved to the point of emotion bursting out of me because of what I have seen or read or experienced.

I pray I take the time to enjoy the words God has given us through poets, song writers, scholars, and even myself during my sabbatical. I pray that we all may take time to dwell in the house of the Lord more often chewing and ingesting all of the goodness our Lord has set out before us.

The feast is before us....let us partake of it.

Blessings,

dain

Sabbatical Part 1 - Preperation

2009-04-08T14:53:00.002-05:00

This summer I am way excited for a couple of things. The first is the National Youth Gathering in New Orleans and the second is the opportunity to do what ever I want whenever I want and get paid for it. Let me explain.

There is a great word out in the world that not too many people know about and even fewer get to experience. The word: sabbatical. Basically, it is a study/rest/spiritual renewal time that (mostly) church workers get every 6 or so years. It isn't limited to church workers but in my circle of friends that's what I know.

What makes this a little more special for me is that I am a Youth Worker, not a rostered, card carrying, master's degree owning Pastor. I have been at my church for almost 6 years (18 months is the average youth worker term) so that is also special and my church cares enough about the youth program that it is ready and willing to give me time off...wow. In other words, the deck is stacked a little against me. I never thought I would be at this point when I started this job. I figured this would be something I would watch the Pastors I work with do while I slave away at my job while burning myself out.

Well, I now have a plan and have been approved to be away from my job for 3 months during the summer. I am looking forward to my time of learning, travel, rest and time with friends and my wife.

Keep checking back for updates and pictures of my adventures starting May 11th 2009.

Peace,

dain

Do you Twitter?

2009-03-25T10:41:00.002-05:00

Twitter....I don't understand it. I mean I have watched the "Twitter in plain english" video and checked out their website and even seen some people twitter in person...it's just I don't understand the point.

Going back to the MySpace and Facebook phenomenon I got the point of being able to communicate with people through your computer and cell phone via the internet. I have to say that I have been able to connect with many old friends, but only once or twice since I added them as a friend on my facebook page. However, it is kind of fun to be able to read what people are thinking and going through. The strange thing is that I know more about the youth that I work with from their facebook page than I do from talking with them. How sad is that? So knowing that my youth love to be on facebook and give lots of updates in their "status" I would assume that Twitter is the next greatest thing in life...right?

This past Monday I took an informal survey at our High School worship asking how many people had a Twitter account. What followed was rather shocking. All I got were blank stares. "Really?" I thought, was I completely wrong? There were no Twitter accounts to be had and all but a few even knew what it was. Wow, that was a shocker. So I showed them the Twitter in Plain english video and they looked like they had just seen the dumbest most pointless thing ever. They laughed and scoffed at the concept. It actually made me feel a little good inside knowing that it would be a few months or even a year before they get tired with Facebook and move to the next thing, possibly Twitter.

So, because I saw a reaction I was glad to see I showed them this video:

I found this video hilarious and completely agree with the "why the heck is this even needed?" thought. I mean really, is this something anyone really needs to do. What's the point? Don't get me wrong, I like knowing what people are up to. But Twitter is taking me back to college when I would ask my friends how their day was going. Most would say good and give me a few highlights. Then there was Nate, I would ask him and for the next half hour it was a complete rundown of his day. Yikes. I love Nate to death, but it kind-of became a joke in our circle of friends, still is.

My point: in life we can feasibly keep somewhere between 15 to 20 actual real friendships. Those are the people you can connect with, know their name, what goes on in their life, and more importantly go deeper in conversation with. You can tell them your pains your sorrows you can actually work towards a solution for your problems. Is that something that Facebook and Twitter can provide. I don't think so.

Really in the end you can put out a plea for help online and people will respond, i have seen it. But when it comes to getting to the depths of your problem and a point where it's better to be right next to the person and helping them when they need it most, that is something that Twitter and Facebook can not provide.

There is a time and a place for surface friendships, but make sure those people you really care about know it and can trust you to be there when it matters most.

Blessings,

dain

New High Score?

2009-03-12T08:58:00.003-05:00

I think it is safe to say that I am a competitive person. There is something that wells up in me when I get into a game or someone is better than me. Don't get me wrong, I can loose, but that doesn't mean I like it. So, for the past 8 months I have been "loosing" at the game of Electronic Yahtzee. My wife, somehow managed to get three Yahtzees not to mention the bonus and scored a ridiculous 489 points. I got over 400, but only once in the 9 months we have had the game. But I was bound and very determined to see I could beat her high score.

Yesterday as I was in the midst of my morning routine I picked up the electronic Yahtzee and began playing. The game was like any other game, I employed my strategy of getting the runs first and working my way through the 3 of a kind and 4 of a kind before trying for a Yahtzee with all the numbers. Early on in the game I get a Yahtzee, "this is good" I thought. About halfway through the game I got another one, "this is very good". It wasn't until I broke 400 with quite a few spots open that I realized what was going on. I was on my way to one of the most amazing scores in Yahtzee history. The third Yahtzee came and it was with 6's. I got the bonus on that one as well. Where would this momentous game end....the sky is the limit. And finally a 4th Yahtzee. I was stunned and amazed as I watched the old score be overrun by my new high score. I couldn't believe it. I had conquered the high score and felt a relief I didn't expect. I was tense and excited and I didn't even notice. Wow, did I get worked up over a little game.

But it all goes to show that it can be done. I just hope I can be satisfied with this high score, because I don't know if I will ever be able to do this again.

(picture and proof coming soon)

Dain

Evaluation and Accountability

2009-03-10T23:34:00.000-05:00

I love the staff at Word of Peace. They are a caring, loving and hard working bunch of people. We are very nice to each other and we have a great congregation to lead and shepherd in their faith. But what happens when we have a staff that has been around for a while and have found a great way of doing things and is fairly content with how it is all going? This question came up when Derek and I were discussing an email I got from another staff member about evaluations that need to be done on a yearly basis. Now, I have no problems with evaluations. I welcome them. It think they are a great way to better ourselves and continue to grow in our ministry. But what I am really longing for right now is a good evaluation of the youth ministry from someone who knows youth ministry. Now, I know we all have different ways of doing things and there is no real way of doing youth ministry, but I would love to hear some feedback from someone who is immersed in it as much as I am. I know my supervising pastor does a great job, but he is also watching over 4 other areas in the church that take up as much if not more time than the youth ministry. So, I can't expect him to give a real focused evaluation because he is focused in so many different directions.

So this lends to the question of who should we get to evaluate us as youth ministers? Who should be the ones that give us the constructive criticism? In the past I have asked and surveyed the youth, that was helpful. Knowing things that they liked and didn't like. But as teenagers they don't always know what is best for them. You can't have all games and pizza and lockins without substance.

I also asked the parents what they thought. That was interesting...mostly because they didn't know what was going on. They gave good reports if their kid was happy and didn't return it if their kid didn't come. So, not what I had hoped. This is a hard question because I don't want the survey to be all about programs either. This is what I have learned about youth ministry from 3.0 by Marko, that we should not focus on programs but the relationships in and around the community.

Maybe I'm not asking the right questions. Maybe I need to be more specific and dig deeper, ask some tough questions.

And that is all well and good for information gathering purposes, but what about the ministry, how do I evaluate that? How do get other people to evaluate it? I do I get feedback from a congregation who is used to how I do things and (thankfully) can do no wrong in their eyes. Maybe I'm not doing crazy, edgy, and wild enough things. Maybe I'm playing it too safe. No, I shouldn't do stuff just to get a reaction out of people, that's just like the attention starved teenager that does dumb things to get people to notice.

This is an ongoing process in my head and youth ministry is just the beginning of it. I also lead worship and do lots of tech stuff for the church too. How does that get evaluated?

The bottom line is that I hope we all are willing to give and receive constructive and helpful criticism. That way we can know that we can and should do things better. But also don't forget the other side of the coin. Complement each other and tell them what they are doing well also. Be willing to take it and dish it out so that we can continue to work to further God's kingdom.

Dain

Youth Ministry 3.0 Part 2

2009-03-06T10:41:00.000-06:00

I'm at the point in my reading that I think I need to stop and think. The book is a lot of fun, but when it comes to provoking my thoughts, I need time. This happens when my brain likes to distract my eyes by thinking of a bigger picture. This has also happened with other books as well. So, let's let my brain expand on some more MarkO thoughts.

The idea of a new train.

I love the idea that the train analogy is changing or has already changed. I guess I noticed it happening in my own ministry but didn't know how to express it or build on it either. Here is an example we had in our confirmation program. A few weeks ago we were trying to figure out how we could take 3 weeks worth of material and boil it down to 1 week and still get the point across. The topic: stewardship, not an easy task. How were we supposed to get this complicated subject into the minds of youth whose parents don't even understand the concept? Using our curriculum we decided to have three distinct teaching section in the evening. Time, Talents and Treasure were the areas we needed to cover in a matter of an hour. But I would have to say the Holy Spirit was working in us that day of planning, because we came up with a way for the youth to experience stewardship rather than just throw facts at them.

In the end we got our senior pastor up with us as a Scrooge character who didn't like to give anything away and Pastor Rick, Derek and I were the "Ghosts of Stewardship" time, talent, and treasure. It became really elaborate from that point on, but after the fact I noticed something different about the youth that evening. Not only were they engaged with the lesson, they remembered what we told them. We even heard complements back from the youth. That doesn't happen often.

My point being, rather than just hearing the facts that people need to give to the church and charity with their time, talents and treasure they saw something in what we presented that made them experience the importance of the topic. Then, somewhere down the road, they will remember this night and feel like they have something to give, even if they don't have money.

The experience is driving them. They felt, saw, heard, and were touched by the message given that evening. Isn't that something we would all love to hear said about everything we do as youth workers? That somehow we were able to provide a place where youth can experience God? That we are no longer the goofy person up front, but a transparent youth worker that youth can see through us and straight to God? This is not an easy task. But we have to realize that the experience is backed up by faith and facts. That unless we are rooted in the Bible and believe whole-heartedly that God is working through us, we will not be able to provide the experiences youth need to connect to God in today's society.

My prayer is that we will offer experiences to youth that will help them encounter God in new ways, that will offer up a different view of themselves and the world so that they are forced to reevaluate their faith based on the facts and experience they had. And then the train, their life, will move down the tracks God has set out for them with those valuable experiences leading them ever closer to Christ.

Blessings,

dain

Youth Ministry 3.0

2009-02-16T08:13:00.000-06:00

This past weekend I was away from my normal routine and on Choir tour with the National Lutheran Choir. I have been singing with this choir for 5 years and love this group of people. Choir tour is always a great time to get away from the routine normalcy of life, see a little bit of the countryside and perform some great music at the same time.

I also looked forward to this trip because I picked up a new book about youth ministry called Youth Ministry 3.0. I was interested in it for a couple of reasons: 1, it was written By Marko from Youth Specialities and 2, I have noticed a change in the youth at Word of Peace and this book addresses some of the key points I am experiencing.

The basic idea is that there has been two major shifts in how youth ministry is run and how it reaches youth. The first was when youth ministry first became youth ministry. It was back in the 60's and 70's, post WWII, and churches began to realize that youth culture, for the first time, was in fact a culture of its own and need to be talked to and dealt with in a unique way. The first years of youth ministry were all about winning back the lost youth who had gone astray and pick up some new youth along the way as well.

The next shift came in the late 70's and 80's when the focus was on programming. How many awesome events could you plan and more importantly, how many people showed up. We are still experiencing this mentality today because "Programming or Youth Ministry 2.0 is what current Youth Directors were brought up in and are shaping their ministries after.

But youth culture has changed a lot since the 80's and 90's. There has been a huge change in the way youth communicate with each other. Back in the 70's youth was defined by when you were going through puberty, now it has more to do with mental and social rather than physical development. All this to say I was thinking a lot about the ministry at Word of Peace this weekend.

I haven't finished the book yet, but because it's not very long I will be done soon. There are lots of good points made so far, some of which I agree with and will look forward to implementing. There are also ideas that we are already doing. But there is still a fundamental change that needs to be made in how we minister and who we minister to. The time of gauging success by numbers is over. We need t start looking deeper into how we are affecting the lives of youth. We need to begin by finding a balance between telling them how to live their lives and just living it with them. We need to focus less on making the program awesome and more on relationships.

The strange part about this book is it's not a "how to" book. There are no formulas or cookie cutter youth ministry programs to follow because the essence of Youth Ministry 3.0 is individualizing your ministry to your community. And that only happens if you know your youth.

I am excited to see where God leads me with this book. I am excited to see where God leads all of us.

Blessings,

dain

Surprise Me God - Day 24 - Wednesday

2009-02-09T08:08:00.000-06:00

Dickens + Stewardship = Confirmation

I have to believe that the Holy Spirit was working through Derek, Rick and I last Wednesday when we planned confirmation for tonight. The reason being, we were so far from what we normally do and how we normally teach that there must have been some type of spiritual intervention involved because somehow it worked. Let me explain.

A "normal" night of confirmation is centered around music, teaching, video clips, something we call "filler" that breaks up the time between teachings, prayer, quiz bowls, and blessing each other. Basically, each night is the same format with variation every week in what we are teaching on and who is doing what. This week wasn't that much different accept that we had three things to talk about under the topic of stewardship: time, talents, and treasure. Our thought was we could use the model of the Christmas story for our teaching times. We would bring in our senior pastor, he would play the Scrooge character, and he would be visited by three ghosts, each having to do with a different part of stewardship.

In previous years we have done some crazy stuff and been creative about the message we present to the kids. But I must admit, in my mind I was a little skeptical about tonight. Stewardship is not an easy topic to deal with, if it was then we wouldn't have poor people, or hunger, or shrinking non-profit budgets. We would have plenty to go around and share.

The night itself went wonderful. For lack of practice and how much we ad-libbed the evening, I thought it went well. To my surprise the effect it had on the kids was one I never expected. I actually think they will remember what we taught them tonight. I even heard positive feedback from the kids. That they enjoyed the evening. That is a rare occurrence in itself, and a welcome one at that.

To end the evening Derek and I ran out into the parking lot of the church to greet the parents sitting in their cars waiting for their children. We never see the parents because they never come in they sit in the car waiting and so we don't get the chance to interact with them...ever. So Derek came up with the idea that we should go and give people the flyers about camp sunday directly to the parents in the cars this year rather than through the youth. The one consistent comments I hear from middle school parents is "I didn't know about it, my child never tells me anything." So this running through the parking lot in 15 degree weather with t-shirts on giving out flyers is an effort to let parents know what is going on. We shall see how it works.

Most of the comments made to us were receptive and thankful along with "put a jacket on!" But the most surprising comment was this: "Is this the only way to can get parents to know what is going on?" And our answer..."No, but we have to try all we can because we are not reaching everybody." So our quest continues to reach middle school age kids and parents. It is a long one but a worthy cause, I can assure you of that."

Blessings,

dain

Surprise Me God - Day 23 - Tuesday

2009-02-07T23:21:00.000-06:00

Unexpected Praise

Today was another typical day...full of meetings and the normal routine. One interesting thing that did happen involved Michael and I at work. You see, I am the resident techie around Word of Peace. I seem to know enough, or am interested enough to get involved in almost everything that has to do with electronics around the church. So, when something breaks that puts me into a spot of fixing it. The projectors in the sanctuary are no exception.

Over the past weeks we have noticed a lack-luster performance from one of the projectors and felt as though it was time to replace the bulb. Now this is no easy task. Ordering the bulb, no problem. Putting it in and taking the other out....problem. Not having enough money to call someone to do it for us....bigger problem. So Michael and I get out the ladder and I go up first. As a side note, the last time I had anything to do with a projector and putting it in place I had a harness and was tied into the beam 30 feet in the air. This time I forgot to bring it. This made my confidence level go way down and my stress to go through the roof. As a matter of clarification you can't just unscrew the lightbulb from a projector, you have to bring it down from where it is mounted and take the old out and put in the new. So not wanting to drop the projector nor fall off the ladder was first and foremost in my mind. Needless to say, I am still here and the bulb was replaced without incident. WHEW.

Later that evening I had choir practice. We are currently working on a Bach piece that is huge and is a lot of work. We have a while to work on it still but have a long way to go. We are at the point where we should know the notes and should start refining the nuances of the piece but I was worried that we were no where close to that point and we might get yelled at. What came from the evening was my surprise for the day. Rather than getting reprimanded for not being where we should be, our director was actually pleased with our progress, really pleased. This was a shock because none of us felt like we were improving at a good enough rate. This was encouraging and a relief to hear.

I love when this type of praise comes. You have beat yourself up for not doing well or are not confident of your performance when someone comes up and tells you what a wonderful job you have done. This is a hard thing to hear sometimes because of the expectations we put on ourselves most of the time. But we try to be humble and write it off, but it does feel good inside to have a complement like that said to you. It makes we wonder if I compliment people enough when they are least expecting it. I guess I could compliment people like crazy and hope I hit one of those unexpected times.

Blessings,

Dain

Surprise Me God - Day 22 - Monday

2009-02-07T07:10:00.000-06:00

Which Centurion?

On Mondays I plan an evening worship for the high school youth of this congregation. It is sparsely attended but averages around 15 people. We sing, hear a message from me and then do something so we can experience God in a way we normally don't in our lives. This is a lot of planning and I wish sometimes I had more time to do it. But I must confess that I sometimes save the writing of a message or planning an experiential element until the day of.

But today was different. I had had two weeks to plan for tonight and I was ahead of the game. I had thought about what was going to happen, planned it out and written my message before today. I was pleased with myself. So when I went to ask Derek what songs we think we should do tonight so I could put them in the computer, he asked me what we were talking about. I began to tell him and explain the stories I was going to use and the video clip at the end. Now, one point of important information: Derek and I thought up this idea and how it was going to pan out 4 weeks ago so he knows what is going on. He looked at me with confusion and said Dain which Centurion are you talking about. "The one at the cross, right?" "No Dain that's the wrong one."

I couldn't believe it. 2 hours before I was to give the message and I had written it about the wrong person. Man did I feel dumb. So I went away to my computer and switched some things around, put in the right Bible verses and made sure that it made sense and then hoped for the best to come of it.

It really is amazing how in our lives we can plan and think about where, when, how, and what to do in our lives. We plan and think we have everything under control only to find out that we are not in control, that some other being, much more powerful and loving than we could ever be is guiding us through life and helping us out. It may not seem like help at the time because it inconveniences us. But looking back, it was the right thing to happen.

The sad part of this story is I knew where I was supposed to be and what to do. But I got distracted and proud of my planning and I let that get in the way. This is the same for my life. I get proud of my plans I have and ignore what plans God has for me. I need to be willing to put my plans aside and not feel like it is an inconvenience because in the end it will all work out for the best. Because I believe that God loves us and has amazing plans for us.

Blessings,

dain

Surprise Me God - Day 21 - Sunday

2009-02-04T08:20:00.000-06:00

Super Surprise

After today Sunday afternoons become a little less interesting. The football season is ending with the Super Bowl and my team is not in it. But I do have some friends who are cheering for the Steelers. I thought they were going to win as well but being a sports fan I wanted a good game. I was not disappointed.

It seems as though some years I can't wait for the Super Bowl to be done with. I have watched 2 weeks worth of hype and every angle has been analyzed, every story told. This year I don't have ESPN, so I heard none of the hype. I was really oblivious to all that was going on. I really only knew the two teams that were in the game and that was it. I guess when I do actually watch the news I end up getting a little numb to all the importance and weight of this game. I wonder if the same thing happens in church?

Follow me for a second. People grow up and hear about God if their family attends church. They go to Sunday school and learn all the stories and have colored all the scenes of the Bible out of a coloring book. Then they get to confirmation where they learn more and more about God and the church. They finish it all off and get confirmed. All the hype all the learning and studying and the have reached the big game of life where the choice to follow Christ is theirs....and then they disappear. So many people have hyped up all the greatness of being a Christian and going to church but for most it has turned out to not live up to what people have said. Why is that? Do the people who reach the Super Bowl feel they have arrived and then quit playing the game after it is all said and done? I don't think so. There is still more to be done. And even if they stop playing, football is still a major part of their life.

I am not sure if that is the same case for Christians. See, we have never really had the chance to know what it is like without Christ. He has always been there, his love always abounding in our lives. We have never really had to make the choice of whether or not to continue on in our faith. I have seen my fair share of retirement speeches in my day and I know how emotional they can be. This is a major part of your life and you are making the decision to give it up. The sad thing is, I see that every year, but without the emotion. I see a group of 9th graders get confirmed and then make a decision to not come back. The worst part is it seems to be a relief to them.

Believing in God is not an accomplishment. The Super Bowl can't even compare to the bigness of God's love. But we still take it for granted. My hope is that in my life I can show people how to be in awe of God's love and mercy every day of their lives and that we would never forget that God is working through us. That's the whole point of this experiment...isn't it? To know and realize that it is not us that makes all this happen, but God. I pray I will not loose hope and believe all the hype about God's love in my life, and that you will too.

Blessings,

dain

Surprise Me God - Day 19 & 20 - Friday / Saturday

2009-02-02T09:12:00.000-06:00

Ski Extravaganza

Today was a day many of the youth at Word of Peace wait for all year long. Every year we plan an overnight ski trip to Welch Village in southern Minnesota where we leave the church around 9 p.m., arrive at the ski area around 10:30 p.m., get on the slopes at 11, ski like crazy until 4 am, get back on the bus and head home arriving around 6 am. It is tons of fun. This year proved to be no different. I was however, a little worried about having to many people on the bus. I was told that 56 is a comfortable amount and we were pushing it. People signing up last minute because they forgot, calling in hoping to not disappoint their kids. In the end everyone who wanted to go, even the ones who showed up at the door, got to go. That makes me glad.

The evening was really great. I got to spend a lot of it with Derek, Cory and Patrick. Cory and Patrick are two seniors who will be greatly missed when they head for college next year. I had coffee with them before we had to be at the church. It was good to sit and chat a little about life and catch up. They are great guys with a love for God that will take them far in life. And on top of that they can ski and board really well. It was a lot of fun to be with them on the slopes. Pastor Rick joined us as well at the end of the night and he is really good. I would like to say that was my surprise, but I knew that already.

Over the past few years we have had a couple of injuries in our group and I as always I hope and pray that we go without any this year. Thankfully the only time I saw the ski patrol out was for a training exercise, what a relief. There were a few bumps and bruises, but nothing serious. Thank God.

The ride home was and is my favorite ride home of any youth event we have. This is one I never have to worry about because everyone is so tired that they sleep the entire ride home, as do I. The big question is whether or not the parents are going to show up to get their kids. I have been at the church for an hour or more after the bus arrived on time waiting for parents to wake up. Tonight / this morning was, to my surprise, a very good night / morning. I was out of the church parking lot by 6:15 and on my way home to my bed. This was a great thing.

The moment I got home I was already headed to bed and hoping I could get to sleep before the sun could keep me awake. Not a problem. I was out like a light.

The rest of Saturday consisted of enjoying the new TV some more and eventually picking up my wife from the airport. We had a good rest of the evening with friends Steve and Kate coming over to rehearse for Sunday morning.

I think the best surprise I had these past two days would be the Q.T. I had with many people. The time I was able to spend with Cory and Patrick was great. I also got to spend time with a friend I haven't seen in a few years on Friday as well. Spending quality time with people always feels good to me. It's an interesting phenomenon, quality time. For some people it is a love language and I think it might one of mine as well. But I guess I haven't really realized before this that I need to make more of an effort in my life to have quality time with others. I always use the excuse that I am to busy and don't have time. And then what little time I do have I write off as quality time and call it good. The problem comes when the time I spent was only time, and it wasn't very quality. I really hope that I continue to find the value in this time I have with others, and that they see the value in it also.

Blessings,

dain

Surprise Me God - Day 18 - Thursday

2009-02-02T08:42:00.000-06:00

New Arrival

One thing I love about my job is the hours. Actually, it's more of a love/hate relationship. See I basically work what I can when I can and when I plan. In the end I am usually way over the average 40 hours for the week so I have to find some time to take off. This week was one of those weeks. I worked everyday this week because of the overnight ski trip we were taking Friday into Saturday morning. So, knowing Thursdays are usually lighter, I took Thursday morning and afternoon off. I had two things on my docket: 1, relax and two, go get my new TV.

This new TV is about 2 years in the making. Back when Heather's brother got married their parents (John and Marion) gave them a $500 credit towards a TV from John's TV store. With that they got a nice flat screen TV that made me rather jealous. Well, I can't say that I wasn't excited to get married and also receive the same credit towards a TV from John and Marian as well. So, with a lot of research and saving up of some money we decided on a TV and had it ordered. I had the day all worked out. Derek and I would go and grab an explorer from his in-laws, pick up my TV and another one to be taken to Two Harbors eventually and some DVD players for the TV shop, come back home, install it and enjoy. Well....the day didn't quite end up like that. Derek didn't get a chance to ask about the Explorer so we had to find another vehicle and the only one available was either Heather's car or mine. I took out the measuring tape and figured Heather's would be good enough if the TV was on at an angle. I really hoped this was going to work because not only did I want to enjoy 46 inches of high definition goodness later that day, I didn't want to come back empty handed since the drive was 45 minutes away.

After I picked up Derek we headed to DSI in Burnsville. I was given directions and knew where it was but didn't expect the road it was on to have nothing but look alike buildings with small names on it. So after a phone call or two and a few u-turns, Derek and I saw the place and pulled up to the back door. We walked in and saw two huge boxes and dvd players waiting for us and I knew this was going to be a least a two trip job if not three. I really hoped one of these boxes fit. We even got a "are you kidding" look from the guys at DSI when the opened the door and saw the car.

I opened the back of Heather's teal hatchback tying to eye the box and the opening. The workers then told us that it's best for the TV to ride as vertical as possible. Great! Well, there was no way that it was going to make it straight up and down, but it did go at a 45 degree angle. We braced it with whatever we had and hoped it would be enough on the pot hole riddled roads.

The ride home was quite as Derek and I watched for road land mines that would jostle the package we had in the back. The trip was fairly smooth but not without a few worries. We make it home and opened the package to see it indeed made it safe. Derek and I took it out of the package and placed it on it's new home. Derek and I watched the first part of Transformers until it was time for me to go to work. Once again, a day that was eventful, but no real surprises. Maybe the surprise was a great day with my brother. I don't get many of those lately.

Blessings,

Dain

Surprise Me God - Day 17 - Wednesday

2009-01-30T09:09:00.000-06:00

Energy abounding

Our confirmation program at Word of Peace is one that is very unique. The reason I say this s because no other confirmation has the brains of Derek and Dain Swanson behind it. We really enjoy what we do and we love to get the energy going as much as possible when we open the evening with worship. Tonight was no different. We were even talking about worship in confirmation this evening so we thought it would be appropriate to have a good time. So we picked all the songs that would help us lead the group into a crazy dancing and jumping time of worship.

What I saw during our worship set was something that wasn't really a surprise when I look back on it but more of a reaffirmation of something I already knew. Let me explain.

The way we had the band set up lent itself to lots of space to dance and sing in the front of the sanctuary and up on stage with the band. At first we had some of the high schoolers go out and grab some people to come up and have a dance competition. We had one person volunteer and come willingly (he was in High School) and two other girls who had to be dragged onto stage and forced to dance. In the end the high schooler won and it was still fun. We then invited everyone to come up and dance in the middle of the sanctuary. What I saw next was very strange but very true.

On the front let side of the sanctuary I saw a huge group of middle school students who had left the comfort of standing in front of their seat and start to come to the front. But as soon as they became visible, or were in front of their peers the posted a hasty retreat. What I saw was bit of a "mosh pit" of "You go first, no you go first, no you go!" No one wanted to be the first person to go out and make a fool of themselves even though there were high schoolers out there already doing it. We were worshiping and do you think they were focused on God? I don't. I think they were so focused on whether or not they looked dumb that God wasn't even in the minds at that moment.

The sad thing is adults are the same way. We get into church and start to focus on God but then we are asked to do something like sing...out loud....so others can hear me. (Personally, I don't know how you can sing without opening your mouth, otherwise it's called humming) Yes we want you to sing. And in the service I lead we want you to clap and smile and even move your body, do some actions, get your hand up in the air. (That last one is really hard for Lutherans to understand)

In this very moment I am being convicted of what I am saying. If I am up front and I am leading people to worship God and I am focused on what they are doing, what I see or don't see, then am I focused on God? How can people worship God when the person leading them is not focused on God? It makes it very hard.

Back to middle schoolers. They are at an interesting time in their life. They want to be popular. They want to be liked. And for some reason they believe that the best way to get their is to not care and do as little as possible to get noticed? There is something goofy about this. I can see how that could work inside a school but in a church, it is a place free from judgement right? I guess as long as you are not the first one doing it.

I would hope that in our lives we can break free of the middle school behavior. That our faith is something we take seriously. So seriously that we don't care who sees that we believe in a loving God. I would hope we are willing to be the first to offer love, service and worship to our God. And that we would not judge the first person to steps out in faith.

Blessings,

dain

Surprise Me God - Day 16 - Tuesday

2009-01-28T08:57:00.000-06:00

Today seemed like every other Tuesday. Lots of meetings and not much time to sit and think. I suppose a day like today will be lost in my memory banks somewhere because of it's lack of greatness. But that doesn't mean the day was important. A day filled with meetings could be very important. It could lay the foundations of greater days to come. Ones that will blow my mind and then I will wonder how this could happen and it will all come back to this Tuesday where I thought nothing happened.

We did have a stroke of genius come about in the confirmation planning meeting. There have been times in the past when either Derek, Rick or I have a great idea, ok well maybe not Rick and maybe not me, but Derek comes up with a great idea and then we run with it. Crazy confirmation nights in the past have included setting up the sanctuary as a wrestling ring and some of the most bizarre video clips one could think of to get the point across.

Our upcoming confirmation night where we are talking about Stewardship will be something out of the Dickens...literally. There are three types of stewardship we will be talking about: Time, Talents and Treasure....and I think you can maybe guess where we are going with this. It will be a star studded cast with Ron and Carrie involved as well. You may not want to miss this one.

So in all of the thinking and planing we did today, I am most excited for this one. We shall see how we become the surprise for all the people attending confirmation that evening. Get the history books ready.

Blessings,

dain

Surprise Me God - Day 15 - Monday

2009-01-27T08:10:00.000-06:00

Everyone for...please say YEA!

Monday's are odd enough without anything thing strange happening. Today wasn't a normal day. There was not normal evening programming tonight because of the churches annual meeting, and there was no school because of the end of the semester. So, today was not a normal by any means. I actually really liked today, it was semi low stress and everything seemed to go off without a hitch. Even the annual meeting (I always worry about that one).

The highlight of the day for me was sitting down for coffee with Tate. Tate is awesome. Here and I have been on two mission trips together and she is planning on going to New Orleans this next summer as well. She is really involved in DECA at school, not to mention she is the current Miss Rogers, MN. So I am talking bodyguards and everything. (just kidding) But It had been a long time since her and I sat down and talked so this coffee meeting was great.

Of course I had an idea of what a conversation might look like with her since we know each other fairly well, but I was a little surprised to talk about some of the things I did. Like I said she is awesome and easy to talk to. We talked about India, Country Music, DECA, school and a host of other things as well. It was fun. I am glad that I have had a chance to meet Tate.

As i think about it, there are so many youth I have worked with that I am glad to have met. There is hardly a person I have come upon that has made me wonder about their integrity as a person. And that is encouraging.

The day continued with me in the church kitchen helping organize and make the meal before the annual meeting. As a fundraiser, the youth put on a chili supper for everyone who comes to the meeting. It was a grand success and we even ran out of food. I spent most of the night "schmoozing with the locals" and then doing the dishes for the rest of the evening.

Doing the dishes is so much fun for me. Granted it is an industrial kitchen and cleaning is a breeze when it comes right down to it. But it also brings back memories of when I was in high school and would always volunteer to do the dishes for church. My friend Dan and I were unstoppable. There was no task that we could not handle. Dan and I would go to weddings and funerals at our church and rather than be out with the people we would be doing dishes. We were good. Imagine if you will a wedding with a few hundred people and the caterer showing up with all the food. They look at the kitchen (not the greatest but still functional) and would think to themselves "this is going to be a long night". This was mostly because they were in charge of cleaning up their mess as well. But in steps Dain and Dan, the wonder washers and the suds would fly. We had those nay-saying caterers out of the kitchen before the dance was even getting warmed up. Let's just say that we had a few job offers to come and do dishes for them all the time. We thought about it...but decided it was the most fun at our church.

Tonight was a little like that. I think it's because I enjoy being behind the scenes. As much of an extrovert that I am, I love working hard and letting other people, or God have the glory. I don't need any of that stuff. And then when it's all said and done I can go and sit and enjoy all the yea's and nay's of the annual meeting.

Like I said, it was an unusual day, but a good one at that.

Blessings,

dain

Surprise Me God - Day 14 - Sunday

2009-01-26T08:07:00.000-06:00

The Big Boo Surprise.

Sunday was a day that had few surprises, and I think that was a good thing. Worship was normal and fun, I got a chance to relax in the afternoon, I took a nap and was asleep for longer than expected, and we went out to dinner with a bunch of friends, some of which I haven't seen in a long time. One of these friends is Boo. He is a great guy and someone you can easily talk to and be great friends with. He is a kind hearted man and I enjoy his company greatly. As it turns out Boo is going to be in the twin cities for quite some time. This is good news because it always seems like he is on the move. On top of that he is living with a friend who lives all of 200 yards away from Heather and I up the Mississippi River. It looks like I will get to see more of him that I thought and this is a nice surprise.

The other surprise I had today came in the form of a realization. As I was driving home from church I was thinking about this surprise me God experiment and realized that on Saturday, the day of craziness, I did not pray the surprise me God prayer. I think I willingly resisted the prayer because I did not want any surprises on this day. There were too many factors on Saturday that could warrant a bad surprise and I wanted everything to go smoothly.

Now I am no Doctor of Theology, but I have been known to tinker with thoughts on God and I am fairly certain that I can not turn God's will on an off whenever I please. I can't say to the Man upstairs which day is best to do His work on and which is not. But I found myself doing it any way.

In my youth ministry I have found that this is a common thought among teens today. That God is there, but only when they need Him. What does that say about God? Is He our pet or a slave? I'm guessing there is some sense of independence going on here. "I am old enough to drive, make my own choices and thanks God for the help in the past but I will let you know when I need you next." That really bums me out. I hope and pray that God is not viewed only as a consumer product you can call up on the hotline when it works into your schedule or when a disaster in your life has occurred. That is not God. God's love is not something you can turn on and off. God loves you 24-7, 100% of the time. God rejoices in your success and pulls you closer when you fail. God cares for you and is the most reliable person in your life. God will never fail you.

So where does that put me? The person who chose not to include God in Saturday? Does it put me in the same boat? Realizing later in the day that it would be a good thing to do, I took a few moments and prayed for the rest of the day to be successful, for the youth to stay warm outside, for the tune-up to go well and for a God lead day. Rather than the prayer surprise me, I went with something more specific. Something to the point and more conversation like. It felt good to know that God was there with me. It was reassuring to know God knew what I felt and cared about. It felt good turning it over to God and letting Him take it from there.

I hope you can do the same.

dain

Surprise Me God - Day 13 - Saturday

2009-01-25T08:13:00.000-06:00

The sympathy vote

Saturday morning was a morning I was dreading and looking forward to. We had a huge fundraiser going on at church that I was going to miss the first part of and a choir "tune-up" down in Bloomington. The reason I was dreading the morning mostly was because I was going to be out of control of what was going on at my job. It's not that I have control issues, but when I know that the two people who are in charge (Mari and I) are not going to be there 100% of the time, then I have to place my trust in the volunteers and youth to get it right. And normally I am a trusting person when it even comes to that, but because of the last minute scrambling I was a little hesitant on this one. Luckily, Heather was going to be there and I know she is awesome and will make sure all is well on this one.

So, I began my morning ritual and thought it necessary to check the weather. Fantastic...12 below with a pretty good windchill. This is not looking good for the fundraiser. How many kids are going to want to go out and sell discount cards in this type of weather? All the work Mari and I put into this and we may have to cancel because of cold? I guess we have to make it a game time decision. Hope it all goes well cause I won't be there to help.

The choir tune-up was good. Not the best of the 6 or so that I have been through. I forgot I was supposed to bring my camera to take pictures (this is a standing order from the choir at any event). And normally it is just a few pictures of people singing and having a good time with each other and the guest conductor. But today, I really should have brought the camera. The National Lutheran Choir was being presented a grant from Thrivent for Lutherans for $100,000! SURPRISE! And a wonderful one at that.

This is an awesome thing to happen because it is really going to help the choir get to the next level of performance capabilities and financial support. A picture worthy moment. The moment was covered by another choir member thankfully.

At the end of the tune-up I dashed to my car, took Kate home and got to Rogers as fast as I could. Everyone was on lunch break so I did the same. Then I played command center. I made calls and kept in touch with everyone on the fundraiser to see how they were doing. I prepared the church for their arrival and waited patiently for the results of the fundraiser. As it turns out John, the fundraiser guy, expected us to sell around $600 worth or $30 cards. In the end we sold, are you ready for this? $4020 worth! We sold 201 cards! That is amazing and a wonderful surprise. The youth went out like gangbusters and knocked this one out of the park. People must have been so amazed that we were out selling on a day like this that they couldn't help but buy from us.

I think the best surprise of the day was with Emily. She has been worrying like crazy about raising enough money to go on this trip. She has to raise it all herself and is freaking out about it. At the end of the day she not only sold the most cards but she also pulled the most money out of the prize bucket. This was a blessing because today she has raised over half of the total amount and we still have 6 months till we leave.

So I guess I learned, again, that we have awesome people working with youth and amazing youth who are willing to work hard. This is always a great surprise. Praise God.

Dain

Surprise Me God - Day 12 - Friday

2009-01-25T07:55:00.000-06:00

My supposed day off.

Fridays are a great day in my book. I know that fridays are good in most everyone's book because it means the weekend is coming. But for me it means the weekend is already here. My plans for friday consisted of getting a few errands done and spending some time organizing my calender making sure everything is on it. I was also hoping that I would be surprised by tons of people volunteering for the much needed drivers for our fundraiser on Saturday.

I guess my surprise was that friday was not much of a day off at all. Granted, I was not in Rogers, but with cell phones that doesn't seem to matter. Mari and I were on the phone almost constantly yesterday working things out. Between her not being able to be there in the morning and lack of drivers and me not being able to be there in the morning, we had ourselves a pickle. As we were scrambling I could feel my stress level rising. Why was this fundraiser coming up to so much resistance? We didn't make our first date because of lack of kids, now are we going to have to cancel this one because of lack of parents?

In the end Mari and I (mostly Mari) went gang busters on the phone and got the needed drivers. Praise God.

There was one small surprise I received on Friday afternoon however. Heather and i were going to meet with a financial adviser that afternoon to work out our 2008 expenses and ask some questions. But he called in sick so that didn't happen. I was only slightly relieved because I know we need to do this, but it was nice after such a hectic morning to have a relaxing afternoon with no commitments.

For dinner I wanted to try and recreate a frozen meal I love from Trader Joe's. So I kept the package, looked at the ingredients on the back and went from there. It was pretty good. This was my first experiment like this and I might be better at cooking that I thought. This will be fun to try this with something else.

Dear Lord, please be with the youth fundraiser tomorrow. Help it be successful. Amen

dain

Surprise Me God - Day 11 - Thursday

2009-01-23T23:20:00.000-06:00

Youth and Education Staff Retreat

Today was crazy, nonstop and very intense. The day began with a retreat to a favorite pizza place for a staff retreat with myself and 7 other youth and education staff at out church. This has been a long time coming and with more and more staff we need to communicate more. Also, we have growing numbers and to put it Biblically, we are putting new wine into old wine skins. In other words...we need to change some things.

I was a little worried about how people would take a bomb shell like changing the ages of confirmation or requiring more of them, or changing the requirements. You see confirmation is a strange thing. I am not sure where it lands in the grand scheme of things. We have education staff and they deal with the little ones and there is youth staff that deal with the big ones. And then we have the medium ones who are the middle schoolers. Kids who are going through the biggest changes in their lives both physically and mentally and we are teaching them everything they should know about the Bible, Faith and God in three years and hope and pray that they stick around.

So my worry was that education would balk against the ideas I had, or they would throw out their own and we who hit the breaks. Neither happened. We discussed, talked, thought, questioned, and figured out a little more about where we need to go with the youth programming of this church. It was an encouraging day. When we all left at 3pm I realized that one day was not going to be enough for all of this to flush itself out. This is good, more talking and then doing comes after that.

I left encouraged and a little behind schedule. I was meeting with some of the junior guys for coffee and showed up a tad late. Not a lot but a tad. I had a great conversation with them about life and what is going on in their lives right now. No agenda other that getting to know them better. I met with three abut two others showed up in passing and one was working at the coffee shop. 6 birds, one stone. I need to do this more often. Get out of my office and just sit and talk with the youth. It brings me joy and I think they might get something out of it too.

I have another appointment with a youth for coffee on monday, I could get used to this.

Night,

dain

Surprise Me God - Day 10 - Wednesday

2009-01-23T23:05:00.000-06:00

Winter sports, what a blast.

Today was a wonderful day. One that only can come once in January and February. It was about 30 degrees today and that made it prefect for the first of two tubing outings with the confirmation group.

My surprise came in the form of a conversation I had over multiple rides up the magic carpet to the top of the tubing hill. One of our confirmation students is actually a senior in high school. He wanted to be confirmed because he never got the chance when he was in middle school. So, he has gone through the three years, learning and mentoring along side the middle schoolers. He has always been a bit of a puzzle to me because he is so tall. When I first met him I couldn't believe he was in 6th grade, turns out he wasn't (whew) and since that time I have been very impressed at his excitement on Wednesday Nights.

We had a great couple of runs down the hill at Elm Creek Park and then on the way back up again he started to ask me questions. Not simple questions, but heavy very theological questions. And they were the type of questions that were meant to start a conversation. He had something to tell me. And in increments of 5 minutes we talked about everything from how shameful he was for his past and the things he has done to what the future looks like for him. And I must say the future looks bright. My surprise was what his choice for school was going to be and to hear that eventually he wants to go to seminary. This is a great thing to hear. I can hardly think of any youth who are so certain about going into the ministry at the end of high school. But over the years I have been blessed to know a couple of great people who will be great workers for Christ in their lives.

My hope is never that all the youth go into the ministry, but that everyone realizes that ministry is already a part of their daily lives and everywhere God leads us is our mission field.

Blessings,

dain

Surprise Me God - Day 9 - Tuesday

2009-01-22T07:51:00.000-06:00

Toady I witnessed history. On this day, for the 44th time, the United States has elected a new person to be the President. But for the the first time that person is not white. Barack Obama was sworn in this morning and I was there to watch it all. Well, I wasn't actually in Washington, but I did take the time to watch it online. We actually watched it as a staff at Word of Peace. FOr our staff meeting we gathered in the youth room and sat in silence as we watched the events unfold.

I think the biggest surprise of the event itself was how much it centered around God. Now I know that there is this whole separation of church and state, but on a day like this there is no evidence of that. The inauguration is even built like a church service with an invocation, song, message, poetry, special music, and benediction. The swearing in takes place on a Bible and it is tradition for the new first family to go to church before the day kicks off.

Is this just tradition? I don't think so. Deep down it seems like everyone knows that there is a higher power out there. That we would not be capable of doing this on our own. That our inspiration and abilities come from an al-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful God above that is watching over us. The sad part is how many people then turn around and have a problem with manger scenes and the 10 commandments posted near government buildings and schools.

Another small surprise was how no matter the age we were old or young, all of us couldn't remember the last time so many people were so excited about the new president of the United States. That there was a great rallying point for the country and hope was something so thick we could hold on to it. Now the goal is to not let that hope slip through our fingers, or let go of it at the first sign of trouble. Because there will no doubt be ups and downs in this administration.

God, please bless this country and all who work for the common good. Amen

dain

Surprise Me God - Day 8 - Monday

2009-01-21T08:17:00.000-06:00

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. day. Some people had this day off...I did not. But that's ok. I woke up this morning thinking I would take it easy and go into work a little later than usual. I would sit and blog about surprise me in the morning, take a shower and maybe stop by the Circuit City that was closing in Maple Grove to see if there were any good deals. Heather went down to Fairbault to get her car fixed and see her uncle Herb so I had the apartment to myself. I started to blog and look up somethings on the internet. But I wasn't getting anywhere fast. My wireless connection was strong, my computer is newer so there shouldn't be anything wrong there. But the connection was slower that ever. I did everything I could think of to make it work but to no avail. So, I thought to myself, "Self, maybe I should take a shower." So I turned on the water and waited for it to warm up. I waited and waited and waited and waited. I have never experienced a time in my apartment where there was no hot water. What was going on here? This was a surprise.

What happened next was also a surprise. My thought process took me directly to this surprise me experiment and I thought "maybe God is trying to tell me something, maybe I need to get to work because something is going to happen there." I quickly dressed, went out to my car and drove down the interstate towards Rogers at a less leisurely clip than usual. "What does God have in store for me today? What am I going to miss?" The possibilities were limitless.

I arrived at work thinking someone was going to show up that I hadn't seen in a while or something was going to come in the mail, and I would like to tell you that something amazing happened...but it didn't. The day was as normal as normal could be. It was even a little less than normal. Only 3 youth showed up to _tag worship, that was a disappointment. So I really don't know why God got me out of bed and the apartment in the morning? Why did I feel the tug to get to work? Was there something I avoided at home? Did I miss being in an accident on the road? The best I can think of, is that God is telling me that even the ordinary is a blessing. I am healthy and have a wonderful life. I don't need surprises to have a complete life because it already is. God has made my life complete and that is enough.

I ended the day with a nice conversation with my father-in-law John about TVs. I learned a lot and it was good to talk to him. All in all it was a day and that's about all I can say about it.

Peace,

dain

Surprise Me God - Day 7 - Sunday

2009-01-20T07:56:00.000-06:00

Worship leading is something I love to do. I learned to play the guitar and rather than wanting to figure out the amazing guitar solos, I wanted to play amazing grace. Eventually I got good enough to so I could join the praise band at my church. I was the third guitarist, Steve and Pete were much better than I was, but that was the best way to learn. I sat in the back with out any volume or microphones until I was comfortable. Now I am the one that is up front.

It seems like I am always in awe at the power of music. There is something deep down inside every person that connects to some kind of music. I always hope that the music people listen to is positive and uplifting, so when the opportunity came at Word of Peace to help out the contemporary worship service I jumped at the chance.

I invited two of my friends to come and help me form a band at church so we could continue the contemporary service. Heather and Kate are still playing with me, and I married Heather so I would say it has been somewhat of a success. We even recorded a CD.

Sometimes I wonder if what I do is ever really noticed. Do people take what they have for granted? I have to believe that most of us don't really know how good we have it until what we have is gone. While I was going around and sharing the peace with as many people as I could during the service, a family told me it was good to have me back. It caught me off guard and I smiled and took their complement. I have to say that I missed being around last week. Worship is something that feeds my soul like othing else. It is something that is so powerful and wonderful it is hard to describe sometimes. Worship is the time that I get to say thanks with all my friends for all the surprises in my life.

Surprise Me God - Day 6

2009-01-18T09:12:00.000-06:00

Today was a surprisingly relaxing day. Heather and I are extroverts, and what that means is we will most likely accept invitations to anything. Our our days are usually packed with seeing people and going places that we hardly have time do do what needs to be done around the apartment. Today was not that day, entirely.

For once we got to sleep in. Thank God for that. I woke up and blogged about the previous day and spent some good quiet time with myself. I like the time in the morning when Heather is still sleeping. There is a quiet innocence to the day, like a new born baby. It's that time when you haven't started thinking about the day ahead of you yet because you are still halfway asleep and in dream land. I have to think that heaven might feel a little like that. No cares of worries, just the infinite possibility of a wonderful day ahed of you.

The great thing about this saturday was there was nothing pressing or urgent about the day. Our plan was to clean, go outside and have some fun because we could be out for more than 10 minutes and not freeze to death (let's here it for 17 degrees above zero), and then rehearse with Kate and Steve for Sunday morning. Everything went to plan and it was a wonderful day.

Heather and I love to snowshoe and try to get out whenever possible. That usually means whenever we head to northern Minnesota. There is always somewhere to snowshoe when there are woods around you. The city is a different animal all together. There just doesn't seem to be the freedom of walking out your door and just going in the city. I started looking up different places we could go, parks, golf courses and other recreation areas. All I found were snowshoeing programs and guided nature walks. Not what I wanted. I was getting a little frustrated when Heather suggested that we just walk along the river. What a wonderful idea. I didn't even realize that by living where we do, on the Mississippi, we CAN walk out our door and be in the "wilderness". We walked about a mile up the edge of the river, on the solid ice part. I wasn't about to fall through the ice, that was not a surprise I wanted. The wind was in our face and it was snowing. It was beautiful. One of my favorite things about winter is how quiet it gets when it snows. The sound is absorbed and the constant roar of the nearby interstate is lessened to a hum.

While on our walk we found some ice heaves on the shore. They were about 5 inches thick and very clear. It was pretty amazing. No doubt the river is mostly frozen because of the cold lately. Still not enough to venture away from the shore. After we turned around we had the wind at our back and followed our tracks home. We could see the bridge over the river in the distance and I wondered if anyone could see us walking? If anyone noticed bright orange and green specks on the snowy river. It didn't matter, we had found solitude in the middle of the city and it was wonderful. A fantastic surprise.

Dain

Surprise Me God - Day 5

2009-01-17T11:49:00.000-06:00

I love Fridays. Not only are they a day off for me, but I get to do pretty much whatever I want. Today what I wanted to do was help my brother with a new TV stand. Ok so he asked and I said ok, but I still was willing to help. It's a good thing too because the thing weighed a ton or 125 lbs. Derek's car didn't start so I was in charge of getting the Explorer from Derek's in-laws. The transportation and assembly went pretty well, and with a few adjustments we had a Swanson project completed without any injuries or swear words said.

I received my surprise for the day later that evening when I was making dinner. I had these big plans for making something from scratch but then got tired and decided on letting my friend Joe the Trader help me out. It was really good. But my surprise...I was making the salad and cutting up lettuce when I decided to make my thumb a part of the salad. What ensued was lots of blood and rushing water from the faucet as I tried to stop the bleeding. Luckily, I didn't need to go to the hospital for stitches but the tip of my thumb is just a little sore!

The evening did continue and Heather and I had a wonderful evening with dinner and a movie. It has been a long time since we have been able to do this. If you haven't done it in a while, I recommend it. Now, hopefully I can get to sleep with this throbbing thumb.

Dain

Surprise Me God - Day 4

2009-01-16T16:04:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure how to describe it, this feeling today had. I guess the best way is to say the day felt exactly like what it was...the day after a funeral.

I woke up this morning to bitterly cold temperatures outside. It was so cold that last night Heather and I boiled water, threw it up in the air outside and it never touched the ground. All that was left was plume of steam hanging in the air. The morning was no different, cold and a day that you would rather just stay in bed. School was even closed because it was too cold. But I got up knowing I had lots to do. I got in my car, turned it on and began to scrape the frost off the windshield. Now, in the past I have had some trouble with my tires. When it gets cold the seals don't hold and air leaks out and I noticed that this was the case in my front right tire (it's always my front right tire). It didn't look too bad and I thought I would make it to the gas station, fill it up and be on my way. I did make it to the gas station, however, I tried to fill it up but the tire was not taking air. This was not good. Here I was on the coldest day of the year, no, the past 5 years and I had a flat at the gas station. Great! I called my brother, Mari, and Heather but no one answered. So there I sat, worrying about what I was going to do.

It's times like these I really hate being an adult. I find myself crawling back to my adolescent self and wishing my Dad was there to take care of everything. He always had a level head. But not this time, I was on my own. Now, as a side note I have changed my tire before and am quite handy with car repairs, but you throw in -35 degree temps where bare skin can freeze in less than 10 minutes, and I start to worry and to put it mildly...freak out.

Well I had waited long enough and I thought I would at least try and fill the tire again. To my great surprise and relief the tire took the air! Praise God! I filled it up and checked the pressure. It was holding. I decided to head down the road to the next gas station and recheck the pressure. Still holding. It looked as though I was in the clear.

When I arrived at church I soon realized that the stress I had just put myself through completely drained any energy I had stored up during sleep last night. When Mari arrived she looked like she was also down in the dumps as well. I asked her what was up and she told me that the brother of a good friend of hers passed away last night. I'm pretty sure the last news you want after going through a tough emotionally draining day is finding out that someone closer to you has died. So Mari and I decided that this day would have been better if we had skipped it.

My last surprise came Wednesday Night. I didn't really realize that it was such a surprise until I thought about it a little more. My friend and youth volunteer Jackie, who is also a school teacher, told me that she received a call saying that she would, in spite of the cold, be having school tomorrow. I was bummed that she wasn't going to get a "cold" day (as opposed to a snow day) and it was her response that caught me off guard. She said that it was important for the school to remain open because it was warm and had food, which was more than most of the homes the kids come from can offer.

Wow, surprise. I drive by this school everyday. It is not far from where I live. To me it seems like the school is in a decent neighborhood. But Jackie knows, as do the people who go to school there, that the outside appearance doesn't always reflect what is going on at home. The school was serving a double purpose: education and learning and also shelter and life saver. The sad part is the kids can't stay there all day, they have to go home and possibly suffer through a very cold night.

It made me realize again what I learned on our mission trips this past summer. There are so many places that we think need help: the big city, the rural dying town. But there is also your home town that needs help. There are people everywhere that need help. Whether it is someone that is homeless on the street or someone who has a flat tire on the side of the road. If only were weren't farsighted when it comes to charity. I hope in the days to come I can look for places I can help.

Peace,

dain

Surprise Me God - Day 3

2009-01-15T09:10:00.000-06:00

I think it is safe to say that the temperature outside would be some of the coldest weather I have ever experienced. If I am not mistaken, the temp right now is somewhere between -21 actual and -41 windchill. Yikes! So, because I was cold and tired I decided to make this morning a lazy morning and do my surprise blog before I go to work. Maybe that will give the sun a little time to prime my car for startup.

Yesterday was a day filled with craziness. The first being the funeral of Mark Frain at Word of Peace. Mari, my wonderful assistant, is also the volunteer funeral coordinator. She is insanely busy on these days. So knowing how much she helps me out, I try and do the same for her. I was in charge of video and media for the service. I have a little knack for it, so when it comes to in house questions about the sound board, media, or anything contained in the wooden roll-top desks in the sanctuary, I am the man to come to. This is a blessing and a burden at the same time.

Anyway, the funeral was very nice. It is really hard seeing someone you know in such a broken state. Mike and Terri Frain both are wonderful people and very active in the congregation, so the whole community felt their pain this day. As it turns our, what I learned yesterday about some strange connection between me and the Frain family was not entirely true. As it turns out, it is more connected than I thought. After the funeral was done, I talked to Kathy, the wife of Mark who died. (Here comes my surprise for the day) Kathy and Mark attend St. Andrew's Methodist Church in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Derek, my brother, worked for St. Andrew's for a summer at a place called Lifespot. Mark volunteered at Lifespot while Derek was there. It gets stranger. Kathy is a preschool teacher and a few years back interviewed for a job at St. Luke's Methodist Church. The director of that preschool is my mom. So Kathy knows my mom, Derek knew Mark and I found out how small of a world this world can really be.

Now I know I was not the main source of comfort during the funeral, I was only a lowly camera and media person in the back. But I still have to believe that the connectedness that I have with this family is not a coincidence. That somewhere along the way our families crossed for a reason. Maybe this reason was because this funeral was coming up. Maybe the reason the family felt so comfortable at Word of Peace was because of a deep down feeling inside of knowing someone there? I truly find God to be amazing in these situations. I never knew I would be a comfort to someone I didn't know.

Has that ever happened to you? Do you ever seem to find yourself in a place you didn't intend, only to realize that it was a good thing you were there? I think this happens more often than not. God is constantly placing us in the right place at the right time. Preparing us for the moment where we can spread his love and grace to people we may not know. But because of our experiences in life and remembering the times someone was there for us, we can't help but want to do the same for others. What a wonderful surprise.

I hope today and always we can be willing to reach out to others that need what we have to give.

Blessings,

dain

Surprise Me God - Day 2

2009-01-13T23:15:00.000-06:00

Day 2, could it really be I only have 28 days left in the crazy experiment? How time flies. No worry, I think God has lots of time to work through me. Speaking of which, my friend Kate and I were driving to choir practice tonight (I sing in the National Lutheran Choir nlca.com) and it turns out her and I had a similar reaction to beginning the Surprise Me God prayer. She said she decided to write it on the white board in her office so she would remember to pray the prayer when one of her co-workers came and asked her what it was all about. She told her and her reaction came in the form of her saying "That sounds like you are asking for trouble."

"That's exactly what I thought" I told Kate. Soon after she confessed that she too had thought about how this is opening doors and windows for God to work in our lives. But Kate and I know better than that. We both realized at that comment that God doesn't need our permission to work in our lives. God is all powerful, you think something as little as permission will keep his plan from coming true?

I think that God is always working in our lives, however whether we know or realize that God is the cause for things happening is another question. It seems like we walk a thin line between not giving God any credit and giving him all the credit. It's easy enough to ignore God and take all the credit for yourself. "Yeah, I'm awesome! Wasn't that the greatest idea ever? I'm glad I thought of it" Or the other side of the coin is the football player that is always pointing up to the sky after he does anything. "I just ordered a number 3 at McDonald's...thank you God (point to the sky)" Ok so maybe I am exaggerating a little, but the question "when do we give God the credit?" falls in the same line as "How do I know this surprise is from God?"

I think that no matter what happens in these 30 days God is willing to work through it all, even the small things. Which means we better keep our eyes open.

One update I have from yesterday is I found out that the funeral that is happening tomorrow will in fact have some relationship to my home church Our Father Lutheran in Littleton, Colorado. From what I have figured out, one of the kids of the person who died goes to preschool at the church. It is an amazingly small world and I hope that God will use me as a comfort in this time of need.

May God continue to bless you with surprises.

dain

Surprise Me God - Day 1

2009-01-12T22:12:00.000-06:00

Believe it or not, the first thing I did this morning (even before getting out of bed) was pray surprise me God. I am proud of myself. The crazy part of it is, after I was done I almost had second thoughts, almost. I was a little scared of what I had just done. What was I doing letting God have permission to do what ever he wants in my life. I like things just the way they are. Does this mean I am going to have to *gulp* change....I'm Lutheran...I can't change! Can I?

Of course I can. So, rather than going back to sleep and pretending nothing happened I got up and began my day.

So what did Day 1 have in store for me? The morning was amazing. We had a fantastic storm start up around 8 this morning and the snow was big, fluffy and most of all reminded me of Colorado snow. As I left my apartment I looked out across the Mississippi River and took a moment with God to thank him for this moment.

My day went on very much like normal. I had to catch up on what happened in worship on Sunday because Heather, my wife, and I were up north in Two Harbors to celebrate Christmas with her side of the family. Over the course of this holiday season (which lasted almost a month and a half for me) I experienced Christmas with 7 different families. And all of them were vastly different. But what a wonderful way to form your own traditions, by stealing from the best of them. (due to the Christian nature of Dain's profession Dain wishes you to know stealing is wrong, but stealing traditions is ok, don't forget to make up ome of your own. ;) )

I did have a few other surprises today. Some good and some not so good. I learned that a brother of a member of our congregation died this past weekend in a snowmobiling accident and the funeral will be on Wednesday. The tragic thing about this is how we, as a church, have had at least one death like this each year for the past 3 years. I pray for their healing and understanding from this tragedy. Another side of this is the person who died is from the same town I grew up in, Littleton, Colorado and it is very possible they went to the same church as me growing up. This is unconfirmed, but would prove to be a big surprise if true.

As the day wore on I slowly began to lower my expectations as to how many youth were going to show up for tag, our monday night high school worship. The snow was not getting any better and reports were that the roads were not improving. But, I was pleasantly surprised to see an average size crew show up with a few people I haven't seen in quite some time. We talked about this experiment and I think it went well.

To close my night I went to the new part of our building that is still under construction and took some pictures of how people signed the concrete floor. We are getting ready to lay the carpet and as a way of blessing the building people wrote prayers, Bible verses and signed their name. My surprise was what was written on the floor. I was literally floored (yikes) by what most of the people wrote. I know that we have a spiritual bunch, but when we did a study of common church attributes we found out that Passionate Spirituality was an area we lacked. Consequently, this experiment is one way we are trying to boost our passion for Christ. But like I said, I was amazed at the wonderful prayers and Bible verses that were written on the floor. I spent 15 minutes taking pictures in all the different rooms while Derek (my brother) and Pastor Ron chatted in the background.

Seeing these prayers gave me a great sense of hope for this congregation. I have faith that God is doing great things in the community. But sometimes it is hard to see. People tend to store things like "God Stuff" deep down inside and never let them out. Why is that? What you have inside of you is beautiful and wonderful. You should not be afraid to praise God and tell the truth that God is awesome. I am excited to see how I can use these pictures.

I didn't expect so much to happen on the first day, but wow. This is fun and interesting. Let's hope that tomorrow is as well.

Blessings,

dain

Surprise Me God

2009-01-09T09:54:00.001-06:00

This Sunday marks the beginning of a 30 day experiment in faith for me and the rest of Word of Peace, my church. We are following the book "Surprise Me God" written by a local author Terry Esau. I am about a third of the way through the book already and am very excited to see what happens in my life as I pray the prayer "Surprise me God"

I really don't know what to expect. I guess its going to be a surprise. Imagine that. My hope and prayer is that people will take this seriously and no longer think that God is some distant being that only shows up on Sunday or Monday or whenever you go to church. God is around us all the time and working in our lives in ways that we never realize because we are so busy all the time.

I will be keeping this blog daily with the hopes of giving people an idea about what God is doing and has done in my life. Just like the book, I am not expecting something amazing to happen every day, but I am expecting God to be there. That I can count on.

Well here we go....

Dain

Advent Conspiracy Update

2008-12-18T16:56:00.000-06:00

I am happy to announce that in our fundraising for Living Waters International (the orginization in which Advent Conspiracy supports) has been rather wonderful. From our middle school and high school students we have raised almost $400 towards a very worthy cause. I hope we can continue giving and contributing towards this wonderful cause this Holiday season. I hope everyone has a wonderful and beautiful Christmas. Safe travels and God Bless

dain

Sacrifice vs. Responsibility

2008-12-10T13:13:00.001-06:00

A couple of things have come across my desk this past week and I have recently noticed that there is a bit of a theme in all of them.

The first: Advent Conspiracy.

The second: A story from a friend of mine.

Setting: A girl around age 24, who has been searching for jobs but with no success and who was home for Thanksgiving, goes over to her Grandparent’s home. She finds this weird because she has never been there by herself, only with family. They spend a little time on the computer, her grandpa leaves and then this happens: She writes:

“Then my grandpa walks out and comes back with an envelope. They tell me to open it, and it is a check, a very large check, one that will cover a third of my student loan debt. I tell them, "Thank you" and that it was completely unexpected. My grandpa keeps apologizing that he wishes it could be more, but you know, they have money in the stock market as well. I keep telling them that it will help out so much. I don't even realize how much it will help out until I get home. I realize that I can pay off my smaller, higher-interest rate loan. I had been paying more money on it to try to get rid of it sooner and not pay so much interest. So now my monthly bills are reduced by $200, and I have one less loan.

I still can't believe that my grandparents were willing to sacrifice some of their financial security to provide for me, to erase some of my debt. And I never asked for any of it.”

In light of all the requests I have received to donate to any number of charities this holiday season I have come upon a huge dilemma. As Christians knowing the sacrifice that Christ made for us how do we go about following His lead and make sacrifices of our own?

I struggle with knowing what a true sacrifice is. I know that it is good to give money and donate my time to others and charities. But if it is in my schedule and budget then I don't think I am really sacrificing much at all. A true sacrifice is giving up something, Jesus' life for instance, for something that you deem greater in value, our salvation according to God.

Christ put our lives above his own. He suffered death on the cross so that we may have eternal life: The ultimate sacrifice.

And so what do we do every Christmas? We plan ahead and make sure we look for the sales and even get up early the morning after Thanksgiving to save some money so that everyone has the same number of gifts under the tree. We don't want anyone to feel left out or unimportant during the Christmas season. Hardly a sacrifice.

But what if we did what the advent Conspiracy suggests? What if we were to take time and think about some real sacrifices we could make so that those people who are dieing can have a fighting chance at life.

I find it a little ironic and funny even to think that our nation is going through some hard times these past few months. The stock market has gone rogue, jobs are being cut, families are spending less, and saving more. We are feeling a little pinch because we are not as well off as we normally are. I say good, let us feel the pinch. Then maybe we will reposition our priorities and align them more with Christ and not focus so much on our own happiness and more on the happiness of those needing things like clean water and food.

My brother made a comment the other day that made my stomach turn because of the truth in the statement. He said "Organizations with alternative gift options are great...but you can't help but notice how people feel slighted when all they get for Christmas is a slip of paper that says 'a portion of a cow has been donated in your name.'"

It's true. People are so used giving with the assumption of receiving something in return that they have taken the joy out of giving.

What about those people who have no money to give gifts, what happens then? They get creative, they give of their time. They love, they spend time together, they sing, dance, and laugh.

Sacrifice and Responsibility are not different from each other. They are more connected than we realize sometimes. Because of the sacrifice God made we are responsible to make sacrifices of our own so that others may benefit. It is my responsibility. It is your sesponsibility. As Christians, it is our responsibility. This is what the world should wish for. Because out of this self sacrifice comes peace and harmony the world over. Lives are saved, mouths are fed, thirst is quenched and love is shared. And all in the name of Christ.

Be grateful for what you have because you are blessed. Be creative this Christmas with your gifts. Give without expecting to receive. Love unconditionally. Live the story of Christmas.

Blessings,

Dain

Advent Conspiracy
www.adventconspiracy.org

ELCA World Hunger
www.elca.org/Our-Faith-In-Action/Responding-to-the-World/ELCA-World-Hunger.aspx

World Vision
www.worldvision.org/

Samaritians Purse
www.samaritanspurse.org/

Ten Thousand Villages (Fair Trade Gifts)
www.tenthousandvillages.com/

Inspirational Stories

2008-11-25T15:54:00.000-06:00

I can't help but think there are too many depressing things on the news. Life, the economy, death, the war..... it really goes on and on every night and day. It makes me wonder why news crews and broadcasts do a full program of downer news and then try to make up for it by putting some funny cute clip at the end of the show. It's like a breath mint after eating an onion, my mouth will taste fine for a bit but the first time I burp that onion taste is coming right back up.

This holiday season we have been trying to focus on how awesome God truly is and understanding how truly blessed we are. We will be using a couple of stories at our Thanksgiving services and First Sunday in Advent that are truly amazing. These people inspire and truly give you the sense that God has put us on this earth to live beyond our selves and for others.

Take a look at these videos and give thanks to God of all we are and can be and do.

Dain

A new batch!

2008-10-20T15:32:00.001-05:00

For the 9th graders school has begun, confirmation is no longer required on Wednesday nights, sports have taken over and all their church requirements are completed (for the most part). Now what....we take a confirmation retreat and the following weekend we make it all official. Sounds like a massive amount of steps to call yourself a confirmed member of a church. But is it?

Requirements aside the youth in 9th grade are now required to make the decision for themselves as to what Christ means in their life. They are saying thanks to their parents for bring them up in the church and giving them rides every Wednesday and Sunday to Word of Peace Lutheran Church. They put on their robe and walk down the isle fretting about the Apostle's Creed and whether they have it memorized or not...."what was that one part after 'I believe'"?

But more than all that....more than the confirmation service, more than the retreat, more than the party and the family that come from all over, more than all that it is about LOVE.

This past weekend we took 66 youth to Okoboji Lutheran Bible Camp in Iowa and the message of the weekend was non other than LOVE. I could not count the number of times the youth were told they were loved. And not only by God but by complete strangers because of God's love. It was amazing. The theme couldn't have been more applicable for those sitting in the chairs.

This message is one we all need to hear every day and then spread. Imagine if the world loved first like God first loved us....imagine. It's not impossible.

This was a great weekend and I am looking forward to seeing the seeds that were planted this past weekend grow and mature....because it's going to be amazing.

Back to the Grind

2008-05-05T16:10:00.000-05:00

It's been months, and I haven't had the chance to type what is on my mind for what seems like forever. A lot has happened and so much needs to be said for what is going on in this community, both joyous and tragic. So I hope you join me these next few weeks for what will be a trip down memory lane and eventually a look into the future of the Student Ministry at Word of Peace Lutheran Church.

Till then,

dain

Middle School Parents

2008-01-24T15:04:00.000-06:00

How are you supposed to minister to a group of students that rely so much on their parents to bring them to events?

Think about it...in high school you have 2 and a half years with youth that can drive themselves to every event they want to come to. But in middle school the parents are really the ones making the decisions on whether or not their kids go to church or not. Think back to those years; what was the thing you wanted to do most with your time? Hang out with friends, play sports, go to dance class, swim class, piano lessons, or the most likely...sleep. Now you can add on top of all that: homework, not to mention watching tv, video games, talking on your cell phone, and being on the computer. And those are all after school activities!

No wonder there is no room for church. Why would anyone want to come to a place that is lame, boring, no fun and you have to learn more about something you don't understand? (just for the record...my personal opinion is our middle school events are as far from boring as one can get.)

But, there must be something important about it because for some reason we have 225 youth in confirmation this year and it continues to grow. Do kids come because their parents tell them to? Yes, but why do the parents think it necessary to take their kids to church? Is it because they had such a good time when they were in confirmation? Most likely not.

In the end it comes down to the importance of God in our life. Obviously, parents know this ether from their own experience as faithful people or the church is doing a good job of selling Christ on sunday morning, otherwise there would be no one around.

But in the end, getting the requirements done seems to be the end goal for the vast majority of middle school youth and their parents.

Wake up people! While we are alive we will never fully understand everything about God. And if we think 3 years of adolescent learning will teach us all we need to know about faith, God, Jesus and the Bible, then we have another thing coming. On top of that I would no longer have a job, there is no real need for pastors because they take care of adults, and we should just have a place where we can drop our kids off for an hour or two while we go out for coffee. Isn't that called daycare?

But that is not how it works, we are not perfect, we are sinners and screw up daily. That is why we need a constant, firm and loving environment no matter what age we are. Parents should note that it is up to you to initiate and encourage your kids to be involved in a positive safe environment called church. You are the greatest influence in their lives. Take them to events that will give them a real idea of what it is to be a loving a caring person, someone that will grow up and change the world for the better and love the Lord with all their heart. That is, in the end, what being a parent is all about.

Blessings,

dain

You better listen 'cause God's talking

2008-01-23T00:10:00.000-06:00

Today I was making some rounds to see some of the wonderful youth I get to hang out with each week, when I ran into a few at Luna Blue Coffee in Rogers. www.lunabluecoffee.com

They were busy studying for their Spanish test the next day when I was introduced to a person next to them. It turned out to be one of the Spanish teachers who was also a football coach at Rogers High. But the test was not the real reason they were at Luna Blue. A Bible study was about to happen as a part of FCA.

Now FCA or Fellowship of Christian Athletes is something I grew up with and I was suburbly happy to hear that something was going on at Rogers High. The funny thing is that just yesterday I was talking with my Senior Pastor and he brought up FCA. It was just a passing comment, but in conjunction with my what seemed like a random meeting at Luna Blue has made me pay attention a little closer as to what God may be doing in this community.

I always say that getting youth through the doors of any church is one of the hardest things about being a youth director. But what if we could get Christ in a place where the kids are already? This is no easy task and I think it will take a lot of work, but with the right people and some motivated student leaders, we can be a force in the community both in and out of the church. We shall see where God leads us.

Peace,

dain

When We Were Kids

2008-01-04T15:16:00.000-06:00

A dangerous title if you were to ask me. Think about it, in the work that I am in, youth ministry, if I were to start off any conversation with that statement, I'm asking for an automatic turn off as far as youth attention is concerned.

But something I have realized lately is that this statement is no longer relevant just to the older generations. I believe it can be said, and is being said by Middle School and High School students alike even as we speak.

I pulled a book off of my shelf this past week I haven't read in a while because it made me think to much. Well, it did it again. Within a few short paragraphs of Practicing Passion: Youth and the quest for a passionate Church by Kenda Creasy Dean I came to the conclusion that youth are growing up way to fast. Faster than ever according to scientific studies. Dean talked about the definition of terms like "grown-up" "adult" and even "teenager". The most interesting part that made me really think, had to do with adults not letting kids be kids.

Here is a question: At what point is it OK to say a kid should be a grown-up? Is there a time in life that it is obvious for young people to make the transition into adulthood? 25? 21? 18? 16? 15? 13?

What Dean argues is that more and more youth are being thrust into adult situations and are basically forced to grow up prematurely. I agree. Just look at the things youth are currently doing in my youth group. The majority of youth have a job, actually, it's hard to think of one that doesn't that is old enough. Youth are driving their own cars that they have paid for on their own. They own cell phones and are paying the bills. Youth are in charge of transporting their younger siblings around to their activities just like their parents did for them.

Youth are even involved in adult situations. They are becoming pregnant and being parents, dealing with divorce, and asked to make decisions for themselves when they really have no clue. These things are characteristically things only adults have dealt with in the past, but now more and more youth are willingly throwing themselves into these situations. So why is this happening? It is something in the water where youth are becoming more anxious to grow up? Or should we look more towards the parenting in the families involved?

Honestly, I believe youth are growing up faster is because the real adults in the family are not pulling their weight as adults. Adults should be adults and let the kids be kids!

Is it really necessary to ask a five year old what he wants to eat for dinner? Why not be the adult and give the kids what you know what is good for your child? Why not take the experiences we have had in life and use them to form the lives of the children under us and let them be the curious, fun loving, careless beings they are?

As adults we are showing the youth of today a world where it is most important to be on time, working constantly, involved in everything, with hardly any time to spare for Church not to mention God. As a youth minister I have the job of combating that. I am one of those people that will forever be a Lost Boy from Peter Pan who never grows up. It's not that I don't want to be an adult or think being an adult is a bad thing, it's more about faith, imagination and passion.

Christ talks about the faith of a child. A faith that runs toward God with open arms waiting for the embrace of our Lord and Savior. It is a faith that is unconditional and forever trusting because they have no reason to think otherwise.

It's about imagination. I keep Lego's in our youth room because I think they are the greatest thing for the imagination. One of the greatest things to see is how the eyes of elementary children light up when I dump thousands of Lego's on the floor. In their eyes the possibilities are endless. But as they grow older the imagination fades and youth are no longer focused on the possibilities but the realities of their lives. Encouraging imagination and creativity are key points for youth and combating premature adulthood.

And finally, passion, the essence of the book I have been reading. Have you ever noticed the passion youth have for music? Watching a hoard of teenagers flock towards the front of the stage during a concert despite the sweat, heat, and possibility of injury, is pure passion. The feeling of being in a crowd of people all singing and jumping and not having a care in the world. I want worship to be like that!

And yet, adults find these three things only useful for the young. There is no place for faith, imagination, and passion in adult lives......is there?

I dissagree! Our church is that place. The sanctuary is the venue. Our Lord and Savior is the reason why! We must not bring the worldly ideals of reality into our faith lives. Christ is about us being children before Him. Using our imagination to creatively worship Him and imagine the life beyond this one that is eternal. And if there is any place that we should be passionate about anything, it should be church. There is nothing better than knowing we are saved from our sin and shortfall and our lives should be the expression of that passion. And if you can't let it out in church, then where can you?

I pray that adults will willingly form youth into passionate, imaginative and faithful beings that love Christ while encouraging them to be kids while they still can. And who knows...maybe when it comes time to grow up and be serious about something, that something will be Christ!

Blessings,

dain

A sense of mission

2007-12-27T12:28:00.000-06:00

When I first began at Word of Peace I had one goal, well I had many goals, but I really had one overarching goal for the ministry I was planning on doing in Rogers, MN, and that was creating a sense of service and mission. I have now been here for 4 and a half years and I think I am finally getting to the point where I can feel a little satisfied that I have accomplished my goal.

Last year we sent 51 youth and 9 adults on the first ever Word of Peace Student Ministries mission trip week. It was amazing and truly life changing for most of the youth that went. This next summer we are planning on going again, and I have already reserved the spots and are anxiously waiting the registrations to come in.

But for some reason this year seems a little strange, last year we accomplished so much and were focused solely on mission trips for what seemed like the entire year. This year we postponed the mission trip registration and chose our location and opened the registration a full 3 months later this year so as to not loose focus on the service we can do here, at home.

The question is...did it work? Have the youth of this congregation taken the experiences they had last summer and put them into practice in their daily lives? I'm not totally convinced yet?

I'm not entirely sure that youth know how to take what they have learned and put it into practice without a little bit of help. As a matter of fact I'm not sure how to give them the tools to do just that. How do you ingrain the the heads of youth today the idea of helping and serving wherever and whenever you can?

The idea of summer mission trips is awesome and I will continue to do them as long as there is a need for it, but I didn't set out to have one week out of the year devoted to service and the other 51 a wash! If I could turn that around and have 51 of the 52 weeks devoted to service with a week to recoup....that would be something!

But we must not forget that we have to start some where. For me it took almost four years of preparation and struggle to help youth understand that there is more out there than just doing things that benefit only number one. The idea of serving people you don't know is a noble cause and is something we should all do, but serving those you neglect every day, people like your friends and family, is even closer to what my goal for service is.

I am NOT going to plan 51 weeks of mission trips a year! I will however continue to encourage and diligently work towards having an equal understanding that we are called to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, and one of the best ways to show that is by serving those around us, whenever and wherever we are. That way we can see that loving and serving our neighbor doesn't take vans, chaperons, thousands of dollars, and some far of location. We leave so we can come back and do likewise.

Blessings,

dain

Being Found in the Moment

2007-12-13T14:10:00.000-06:00

What is worship?

Is it work?

No?

Then what is the opposite of work? Play?

Is worship play?

No? Then what is it if it isn't work or play?

I would have to submit that if you were to take a poll of people at church you would find that worship and church would fall more under work than play. Think about it...getting up in the morning on a weekend, getting the kids ready, battling the elements to arrive on time and putting off whatever fun you had planned until the afternoon. That's a lot of work!

Face it, we view worship as a task we have to get done, and once we are done we can continue on with life and the fun things we have planned.

Be honest, when was then last time you went to worship and came out saying "I had a really great time in worship today" to your family? I suppose that all depends on what you consider a good time.

If a good time is playing video games, being pulled behind a boat, relaxing in your weekend home, being out in your deer stand, shopping with your friends, or throwing back a couple of drinks while sitting in a hut on a frozen lake....then worship is probably not fun at all.

All of these fun activities have something in common though. They all are places and activities that we get lost in. We can completely be our self and enjoy our time not working! People truly have fun when they can completely submerse themselves in an enjoyable activity. Work is never like this unless you really love what you are doing. But if you really love your job then you don't call it work anymore do you? I am truly lucky enough to be paid to hang out with young people, talk about life and God, play music, travel...you name it! The part that becomes work is the stuff I don't enjoy doing as much....the administrative side of things.

But back to worship. If we don't consider worship work, then it must be play. But if we don't get lost in worship then it can't really be play either. It just becomes a mindless task we do every other week at best. We sit through an hour or so of church time thinking about all the fun we hare going to have when we are done. Or you are focusing on all the work we have to get done in order to have our fun. We have a hard time being lost in worship.

The real catch comes when we realize we are already lost. Not in the mind sense, but our being. We are lost people. We are sinners who have fallen and are imperfect. We are wandering looking for purpose and a leader who will save us.

I don't know if you know this song, it's called Amazing Grace. It goes like this...

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me.

Here's the real kicker!!

I once was lost, but now am found

was blind but now I see!

Did you hear it? God's grace has found us! We are not actually lost at all! Jesus Christ has saved us and therefore we REJOICE!

Worship is a place we can come no matter what is going on in our life. 9 times out of 10 there is someone else out there who has got is worse than you; and God has forgiven them too!

Every week people gather in churches around the country and passively worship something worth rejoicing about. That is an injustice to God. If we believe that our problems, our work, and even our play is greater than the joy and freedom we have received through Christ's blood then we are limiting the greatness of God.

When we walk through the doors of our church we find ourselves in an environment like none other in our lives. It is a place we can lose all our inhibitions. Concern yourself with matters having to do with Christ in church, not your home improvement, or destination after worship. Get rid of them, give them up to God and let Him worry about it for an hour, while we worship Christ with all our heart, soul, body and mind! Worship is a place where we can go each week for an hour and forget about everything concerning mortal life, while focusing on the joy we will have in eternity with Christ.

We gather together not to lament, but to rejoice. And if you are a person that doesn't have time the rest of the week to rejoice, first off shame on you because the Bible says "Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS!" Phil 4:4 (emphasis is my own). But you should take this opportunity to pack in as much joyful rejoicing as you can for the week. And it doesn't matter how you do it! If you are concerned about what others think, or how others worship...don't. Worship Christ how you feel comfortable. Let the music move you, sing from the top of your lungs, stare at the cross for an hour, close your eyes and pray, listen to the message picking out helpful points, or take the time to just be in the God's presence. But what ever you do, rejoice because God's love covers us.

Life is to short to be serious all the time. "Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice!" - Paul

Blessings,

Dain

The importance of women in ministry

2007-12-06T14:07:00.000-06:00

Comments after reading "3 messages the girls in your ministry can't hear enough" - Neely McQueen http://www.simplyyouthministry.com/from-the-field-68.html

For years there has been a debate over whether or not women should be in the ministry. I would like to submit that this argument is not about ministry, it is about authority. But that's not what I want to talk about.

A quote Neely had impressed me as to the importance of women doing ministry. Here's what she said:

"Whenever we do a series in our youth ministry about people in the Bible, we make a special effort to include a female. You can imagine how confusing it is to a young girl to hear that God wants to use her, but every example she hears from the Bible is a guy. Sure there are transferable principles from every life in the Bible, but it is tremendously meaningful for a teenage girl to hear about Jael, Esther, Deborah, Lydia, Hannah, Ruth, Mary, the bleeding woman, Rizpah, etc… Women who made themselves available to be used in a powerful way to change the course of history."

The reason this thought impressed me so much was because for one, I am a guy, and secondly, we all have a wonderful role model to look up to in Jesus. But he was still a guy, so for girls he is sometimes glossed over as someone teenage girls can look up. Don't get me wrong, we should all strive to be like Jesus, but think about who you look up to as role model. They are the people in your life, people older than you, people in leadership positions that have influence in your life.

At Word of Peace we are lead by a wonderful staff. We have two wonderful women, Kristin and Lisa that lead the education program! Their influence eventually fades away and is handed over to myself, Derek and Pastor Rick for confirmation and Senior High Youth group. Granted, we have women volunteers who help lead and teach the small groups (their help is invaluable), but there is no longer any women who are consistently up front speaking the language of teen girls.

As much as I have tried to do so...I can't speak the language of teen girls. It is cryptic and confusing because what they say and how they say it confuse me to no end. How on earth do you speak to the multitude of internal and external emotions, feelings and desires of teen girls unless you have been through them yourself?

This is why it is important for women to be in ministry. Without them I would be running a boys club because that's what I know.

But what I also know, thanks to Neely for reminding me, is that teen girls need constant encouragement and that is something I must remember. We need to constantly tell girls that they are created in God's image, they are valued and have value to God, and God will use them because He values them so much.

The strange part of this is knowing that when teen girls hear that from women is one thing and carries some weight, but to hear it from a guy....that means a lot. This means these messages must come from every direction, not just guys or girls, because then they have a better chance of sticking.

I pray that we as a community lift up the teen girls of this congregation. I pray we will encourage them to no end and drill into their confused heads that God loves them as they are and values His creation above all else.

Blessing,

dain

To much stuff in my head

2007-12-06T13:57:00.000-06:00

Something that I have realized lately is the importance of picking other people's brains. In other words....continuing education or more simply, reading.

In my trip to Atlanta for a youth workers conference, I found that my knowledge of most subjects, especially the one that I have my profession in, is limited. Now for someone my age I hardly believe that this was a great dose of medicine. I tend to be a typical 20 something and believe that I am an expert in everything I dabble. This truth turned out to be the opposite of what I believed. So, here I am sucking up my pride and reading more and more about Youth ministry over lunch, when something strikes me as profound. What good is it for me to read this stuff and then sit and mull over it, when I could, in turn, impart my thoughts to those in my community?

So, this Blog is a fruit of my idea and desire to continually learn more about what I do. And considering the world and culture in which I work is forever and constantly changing...I have a long way to go.

I hope you enjoy. God Bless

dain