20/20 (Minus Barbara Walters)

A few months ago, rapper Lecrae paid a visit to our weekly junior high meeting. It was phenomenal! He was accompanied by Ben Washer, the founder of Reach Records. Ben generously gave our ministry several CDs featuring Reach artists and, needless to say, we have become fans!

Recently, Ben sent me a copy of the new Trip Lee album called 20/20. I don't want to go into a full review (find that here, here, and here) but, in case you're unfamiliar, I wanted to share with you 3 things that I think sets Trip Lee and other Reach artists apart from the pack:

1. Their art and production value are top-notch. They don't make mainstream rip-offs and it doesn't sound like it was made in someone's basement.

2. These guys aren't chasing superstardom. They clearly value ministry over everything else. See the "ReachLife Ministries" section of their website for more.

3.They are smart. Listening to their lyrics is literally as informative as sitting in a theology class and as inspirational as listening to your favorite speaker. They are biblically informed and focused (easy 20/20 reference) on the truth.

Go ahead and download Trip Lee's 20/20 in iTunes and see for yourself that what I'm saying is true. Word (obligatory hip hop lingo).

Wake Review for 5/25/08

Wake is our weekly meeting for Junior High students at Watermark. We meet on Sunday mornings at 9:00am on the 4th floor of the Watemark Tower. Here is my assessment of this week's Wake.

Program Outline
Attendance: Below Average
Fun Factor: Average
Leader Presence: Average
Music: N/A
Message: Average

This was the final week of our "Decide" series. Everything we've been doing the last three weeks has involved the kids making decisions. We've handed out ballots and the kids have enjoyed voting for the video they want to watch. We played "Decide the Deck" based on the popular youth group game designed to get kids running around the room acting wild. Again, we pulled the plug on live music and let the kids decide how they wanted to worship...through prayer, Bible reading, encouraging, journaling, or listening to a song (Shout out to Brandon Grissom for the ideas). Overall, it's been a great three weeks.

Here is the old school video that won the kids vote for "Best Original Comedy":



If you're interested, click here to see the discussion guide that the Small Groups use throughout the week.

Another Amazing Video from Watermark!!!

Steve Vanderheide captured and edited this video from our baptism service two weeks ago. This is the best video we've put up recently...Check it out!

If Disease Sharing Is Your Thing

A great illustration of the fundamental differences between me and Mike: As represented in the post below, Mike enjoyed spending 4 days straight at a public pool (He actually called it "sabbath"). On the other hand, I spent 4 days straight installing a nice little patio in our backyard. I did this so that I could have a private sanctuary to act as an alternative to the noisy, speedo peppered, disease swapping insanity of the crowded public pool.

Sure, it looks like Ellie is having fun in the picture below...but wait until she comes down with the "slapped face" rash!



P.S. Ron Hazelton is the man!

Our Memorial Day Weekend

This weekend we found our town's best kept secret; the swimming pools. There's one down the street and we spent a good portion of the weekend there. They have this amazing splash park that both our kids enjoy and it's separate from the normal pool so we don't have to worry about them drowning. The other plus for me and mom is that we get to just chill there in the lounge chairs and watch the kiddos. Some serious sabbath was had this weekend! I took Ellie by myself tonight; we stayed until 9:00 p.m. when they closed, and there was hardly anyone there. Here's a pic...

Victory & Death

It was such a weird night last night at our house.

Alli and I had some friends over for the American Idol finale and we were genuinely surprised and so happy for David Cook when he was announced the winner. David shared his victorious experience with his family and it was obvious that the joy they felt was even more pronounced because of the sadness they also share with David's brother Adam who is suffering from cancer. I jumped right on the emotional roller coaster with them.



Next, we turned on the Nintendo Wii and started enjoying some games of Mario Kart with our friends. In the midst of our relaxed, playful fun I received a few messages relaying the news of the tragedy that hit the Chapman family. Steven Curtis Chapman's youngest adoptive daughter, Maria, died in an accident at the family's home around 5pm on Wednesday evening. I have great respect and admiration for Steven and his family. I've been so influenced by his life and music that I actually named my first son Chapman. I was greatly saddened by the news and my heart feels for his family right now.

After quickly reading the article online about what happened, I kicked back into "host" mode and the games continued on the Nintendo Wii. Isn't that odd how we ride these roller coasters of emotions? How life is going on all around us and every moment sees some experiencing the greatest joy of their life while others experience the greatest sadness?



To deal with the mixed emotions I'm feeling, I did the only thing I know how to do in moments like this. I opened up the word.

1 Corinthians 15:53-56
53For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." 55"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is a necessary reminder for me to dwell on what God says true victory is. David Cook's triumph on stage doesn't hold a candle to the victory that little Maria is experiencing through Jesus Christ. What happened to her must happen to all of us and, for those who trust in Christ, our death will be swallowed up in victory.

Click her to meet & remember Maria Chapman.

Dream Big

True Confession: I voted 3 times for David Cook last night. This marks my first time to cast a vote for any sort of reality TV show.

This morning's headlines are all hailing Archuleta as the winner, and I believe the kid has mad-talent, but I just think he's boring compared to Cook. Can't wait to see what happens tonight.



P.S. I thought the new song Cook did last night ("Dream Big") sounded a lot like a Steven Curtis Chapman anthem.

Highlight of My Week

I've been meeting with the group of guys pictured above every Tuesday night (during the school year) in their homes for the past 6 years. They are a part of a small group that I co-lead with Watermark Student Ministries. We began meeting together when they were starting 6th grade and now the guys are wrapping up their junior year of high school. I can't believe that we only have one more year left before the guys disperse for college!

Tonight is our final meeting of this school year. My co-leader and I will be reading letters of encouragement we've written to the guys, reflecting on this year, discussing summer plans, and reviewing and signing our Small Group Covenant for next year.

This type of small group that sticks together year after year has become the norm here at Watermark. The vision for really, really relational ministry has developed into one of the most influential ministry models that I've ever experienced. The community that's being developed and the investments being made by leaders into students' lives has been incredibly rewarding to watch. I feel so blessed to be a part of it and I continue to grow in a passion to help others share the same experience.

One question that keeps me up at night is: Why aren't lasting, authentic relationships the centerpiece of more student ministries?

Hello, I'm Amy Walker

This video is not only fascinating to watch, it could be used as a great illustration for a message about identity. Enjoy!

Baptism Day!!!

This morning at Watermark was another great Sunday, this time a little different. Our entire church went to Curtis Park and had a huge baptism celebration day. We got to hear tons of stories of lives that have been changed by Christ. Our student ministries director Braun and I were at one of the 6 baptism "stations" in the pond, and a bunch of high schoolers came to us to get baptized. After being in ministry for 8 years this is the coolest way I've seen baptism done. People were owning their baptism, and their friends and family were able to support them by jumping in the water with them, praying for them, and even baptizing their family member or friend themselves. Very cool morning and I'm sure David or I will post more pictures from it sometime in the next couple weeks. I've already found a couple on facebook from one of our studnets...Hopefully Steve will make a sweet video of the day.

Shoreline Review for 5/18/08

Shoreline is our weekly meeting for our High School students @ Watermark. We meet on Sunday nights at 7:00 p.m. on the 4th floor. Here's my take on Shoreline from this week...

Attendance: Above Average
Fun Factor: Above Average
Leader Presence: Above Average
Music: Above Average
Message: Above Average

Tonight was our last Shoreline of the year :( So sad. But it was an amazing night. Our band did an incredible job leading in worship, the Emo Kids showed up for one final skit, and Bode put together a highlight video from the year. I'll get it posted soon. For the teaching time I had our worship leader continue to play in the background and at the last minute I decided to have a time of corporate prayer that really turned out cool. I encouraged our students and leaders to think about the past year and to thank God out loud for specific things that He had done in their lives, in our ministry, etc... The prayer time was amazing! The prayers just kept coming and coming. I then showed a video that I shot in our church's studio of two of our seniors talking about what our student ministries had meant to them, advice they would leave to our other students, and then invited other seniors to share. It really was a cool night tonight, our students are incredible!

Fright Night

Tonight, along with two volunteer leaders, I took about thirty 8th graders to the AMC movie theatre at Northpark Mall to watch The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian on opening night. We went to the 8:20pm show that didn't get out until about 11:00pm. Here's the headline and story of what happened just outside while we were watching the movie:

Woman shot at NorthPark Center while waiting for daughter
11:16 PM CDT on Friday, May 16, 2008

Dallas police were looking for a man who shot a woman about 9 p.m. Friday in her car on the north side of NorthPark Center.

The 43-year-old woman, who police had not identified, was taken to Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas with at least one gunshot wound to the face. She was in stable condition.

She had waiting in the parking lot for her teenage daughter who was attending a movie when a man approached her running truck and pointed a gun at her.

The man chased her truck and shot her as she tried to escape.

The woman pulled up to a valet station to get help.

Police and mall security were still searching for the gunman late Friday. He is described as black, 5-foot-9 and possibly in his mid-20s. He was wearing a neon green shirt and blue jean shorts.

Yeah. I know. So I walk out of the movie and there are police everywhere. Kids are on their cell phones freaking out. Parents are freaking out trying to safely evacuate their kids from our event. I'm thanking God tonight that everyone in our group was able to navigate their way safely past the crime scene, avoid the fleeing gunman, and find their rides home. Whew!

Just another day in student ministry. Am I right?

88 Reasons Students Love Leaders (1 of 88)

"I love my two small group leaders because they are both amazing awesome people but spiritual and not too strict at the same time."

Mike & I recently Facebooked (yeah it's a verb) a handful of our students and asked them what they think about the volunteer leaders in our ministry. Instead of dropping all 88 of their responses at once, I thought I'd share them one at a time as a periodic reminder of the value of relational ministry.

Now It All Makes Sense

My friend Mel Bobadilla told me about his favorite theory to explain the insanity of Lost. It is now currently my favorite theory. If you're a confused viewer, put on your physics hat and click here to read about the Mirror Matter Theory.

"What's great about those worlds [Narnia, Oz, and Wonderland] is they're all worlds on the other side of Earth. That is to say they're not fantasy realms like in Star Wars. Narnia is actually connected to the world that we know and so is Oz, as is Wonderland... as is our island."

-Lost Producers



P.S. I got started in the blogging world back in 2006 with The Lost Experience Clues. It's been "preserved" as a time capsule and now I operate The Lost Community that resulted from the connections formed through that first experience. If you ever have post-episode thoughts or questions, everyone "in the comments" at the Lost Community is very friendly and they know just about everything about the show.

Shoreline Review for 5/11/08

Shoreline is our weekly meeting for our High School students @ Watermark. We meet on Sunday nights at 7:00 p.m. on the 4th floor. Here's my take on Shoreline from this week...

Attendance: Average
Fun Factor: Below Average
Leader Presence: Average
Music: Average
Message: Above Average

This week we had a very special guest. Pastor Chris Simmons came from Cornerstone Baptist Church in South Dallas and preached to our students. It was awesome! God is doing some amazing things in South Dallas and I encourage you to check out there site and get a picture of what they're up to. I interviewed him on stage in between song sets and then he came up and taught after the slow set of songs. It was very fun, and it was a great change of pace for our students.

Robotronic Mike Shelton

Another home run video by Steve V for our church wide Volunteer Appreciation celebration! Check out robotic Mike Shelton at the :38 second mark!



Overall, the appreciation event was a big success. Beyond the Box Catering was incredible, our staff "musical" number got a great response, comedian Tim Hawkins had everyone rolling (his "hedge of protection" bit was my favorite), and the Sigg water bottles we gave as gifts were a big hit.



Oh, and the evening had a South of the Border theme. I guess that explains part of the picture above.

Wake Review for 5/4/08 & 5/11/08

Wake is our weekly meeting for Junior High students at Watermark. We meet on Sunday mornings at 9:00am on the 4th floor of the Watemark Tower. Here is my assessment of this week's Wake.

5/4 Program Outline
5/11 Program Outline
Attendance: Average
Fun Factor: Above Average
Leader Presence: Average
Music: N/A
Messages: Average



These were the first 2 weeks of our "Decide" series. Everything we've been doing the last two weeks has involved the kids making decisions. We've handed out ballots and the kids have enjoyed voting for the video they want to watch. Every game we've played has involved making decisions. This week, we pulled the plug on worship music and let the kids decide how they wanted to worship...through prayer, Bible reading, encouraging, journaling, or listening to a song (Shout out to Brandon Grissom for the ideas). Overall, it's been a pretty cool two weeks.

If you're interested, click here to see the discussion guide from 5/4 and here to see the discussion guide from 5/11 that the Small Groups use throughout the week.

My 2 Year Old

Here's a clip with my daughter talking before bed, she is simply the best 2 year old ever.

Relational Thought from the Week

This week Wilson (pictured above) texted me and said dude mike we need to hang out, can we get lunch sometime? So two days later we found ourselves getting him out of school and heading over to Freebirds, a great place to get burritos, quesadillas, and they have some great queso. I thought this might be a time where he might share some struggle with me, ask me for some sort of wisdom, instead we just laughed the whole time, quoting our favorite movies, etc...Here's the top 5 quotes from our time together:

1. Can't post this one, jr. highers read this blog. And my parents.

2. Mike: "So Wilson, did you have any deep personal issue you wanted to talk about since you called this meeting."
Wilson: "Safety, I just farted."

3. Mike: "So how's school been lately?"
Wilson: "Well today I saw a fight break out between two girls, one of them pulled the other's weave out which had blood on it and she ran around with it like a trophy. Gotta love Lake Highlands."

4. Wilson: "Dude Mike have you seen this movie called Wayne's World? I have it memorized."
Mike: "Hi, we're in _________."
Wilson: "DELAWARE! Dude that's cool that you've seen Wayne's World."
Mike: (i hate saying this) "Bro that came out when I was in jr. high."

5. Wilson: "Hey I forgot my money for lunch. Can you spot me?"

I hear number 5 a lot. More than you'd think with some of the coin our students have. It was a great time with Wilson and I have to say he's one of my favorites in our group!

Shoreline Review for 5/4/08

Shoreline is our weekly meeting for our High School students @ Watermark. We meet on Sunday nights at 7:00 p.m. on the 4th floor. Here's my take on Shoreline from this week...

Attendance: Average
Fun Factor: Average
Leader Presence: Average
Music: Above Average
Message: Above Average

This week I had Kyle Kaiggler come and speak about Baptism to our students. Kyle does a number of things at Watermark, and is moving towards only being over the service (aka missions) part of our church. He did a great job of communicating, is very passionate about God's Word, and it was so great for our students to see that. We of course showed the clip from Nacho Libre where he baptizes his wrestling partner, if you have no idea what I'm talking about you can click here to watch it. Next weekend we will be having a huge baptism party church wide that is going to be a blast. We'll be sure to post pictures of it in the next couple weeks. Bode was funny as usual, and can't wait for Shoreline this week!

Thank The Chad

The rest of the Texas Large Church forum was great. Overall, I came away with a renewed sense of how great it is to exchange ideas and resources with like-minded cohorts in ministry. Mike and I really have a heart to continue and proliferate that kind of exchange using this blog. A great example of someone who is already doing this sort of resource sharing really well is Chad Swanzy.

I met Chad at the Forum and I was really impressed when I looked at his blog. He does a fantastic job at sharing resources that are relevant and easy to use. Check out his blog today and browse the group games and weekend services labels.Then click through his graphics on Flickr (games here, teaching series here). I really want to add some features like this to our blog.

Leave a comment, and thank Chad for sharing all of his hard work with us free of charge. Then think about starting your own blog or using your current blog to share your own creative resources with others.

Texas. Large. Church. Forum.

This Tuesday and Wednesday, leaders from about 10 independent large churches in Texas are gathering exchange ideas and build relationships. I don't have much time for a full post but wanted to dump my thoughts from the first day of the "Texas Large Church Forum". All of these thoughts pertain specifically to the Junior High ministries of these churches...

• Bent Tree Bible Fellowship takes their kids on tons (over 20) of mission trips each summer!
• Chase Oaks Church had a great idea with the "box of consequences". I'm gonna try it.
• Fellowship Bible Dallas has found great church-wide synergy around 3 words: worship, grow, and serve.
• First Evangelical Free Church has a great vision built around 2 words: community and mission. They also did a hilarious series of 24 parody videos.
• Hill Country Bible has a great small group ministry built around a great volunteer team.
• Oak Hills Church does a really interesting parent meeting once a month.
• Stonebriar Church has had some great ideas for student leadership.
• The Village breaks up their teaching into 3 sections with discussions following each segment.
• Gateway Church is willing to wrestle with the question "why" when it comes to "normal" student ministry programs.

I've loved meeting with all the guys and gals from these churches who have a heart for Junior High kids. Can't wait for tomorrow's exchanges...

Penuel's Picks: Summer Movies

Alli and I love summer movies! They're a great oasis from the Texas heat. Things are going to look a little different this year with Chapman scooting around so we may need to get my mom on some sort of movie night babysitting schedule! After sizing up all the trailers, I've made my picks and divided them into "definitely" and "maybe" categories.

Definitely:
Speed Racer - May 9
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - May 16
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - May 22
Get Smart - June 20
Hancock - July 2
The Dark Knight - July 18
Henry Poole is Here - July 25

Maybe:
Kung Fu Panda - June 6
Don't Mess with the Zohan - June 6
The Incredible Hulk - June 13
The Happening - June 13
Wall-E - June 27
The Rocker - August 1

Before actually watching any of these movies, I plan on sticking with my "3 Step Movie Selection Process" that I mentioned in a previous post.

Greater Things Are Still To Be Done

This is a really great video Steve Vanderheide put together about Watermark's Service Day (posted about here). What in the world would happen if the church didn't show up for "church" for just one day?

Planning Retreat Take Aways

Our annual planning retreat was this past weekend. We had a great time out at the lake with several of our leaders. After hashing, rehashing, and prehashing the previous and upcoming years, I'm really excited about what's ahead. Here are the five take aways that I'm most eager to apply.

1. Small Group Resources:
Extra stuff that leaders creatively add to our curriculum is what makes their group time great! Collect ideas from leaders, scan and put them on our website, and compile a notebook to promote a culture of idea exchange amongst leaders on our team.

2. Wake Frontlines:
The most important people in our ministry are the next 100 people that walk through our doors. Welcoming and connecting our guests is an area that definitely needs improvement in our Junior High ministry.

Increase visibility of a place for guests to "check in" when they arrive at our weekly meeting with a big "Welcome Guests" banner (duh). All guests will get a silicone bracelet with our website on it as a gift. Student volunteers will be equipped with a list of leaders and basic group demographics (gender, grade, school, etc.). Student volunteers will greet guests and take them to find a group that the guest would fit in. The volunteer will stay with the guest and the group for the entire morning and then fill out an Info Card with the guest after Wake.

We'll send a welcome letter to parents of guests that A) explains what we do, B) inspires them to engage with our ministry and the spiritual development of their child, and C) gives them practical ways to get involved as a parent.

3. Experiential Worship:
Right now during our "worship" time, we simply sing. We're going to test some creative ways to allow kids to sing, pray, read, and share during our worship time at Wake. It seems like stations would be distracting but it may really help kids engage. We'll see...

4. Small Group Service:
While we offer opportunities for our large group to participate in service activities, it is often more meaningful if our small groups take ownership of it and do it themselves. We want to put together an extensive list of local service opportunities with contact info, locations, times, and descriptions of how to get involved. We want to make service a "lay up" for our leaders and groups.

5. More Intimate Leaders Meetings
Up until now, almost all of our leaders meetings have been large gatherings of all of our leaders from both Junior High and High School. We've made plans to mix things up big time next year with Junior High/High School splits, Guy/Girl splits, and even grade-specific splits. Our aim is to get people back in homes, help them feel more personal connections, and help deepen the equipping piece by making it more specific and interactive.

What in the World?

David Blaine has done it. He held his breath for 17 minutes setting a world record. And he did it on Oprah this week. He said it's been a life-long goal of his. This got me thinking about what record I would break on the Oprah Show. I'm still deciding, but I would love to hear from YOU READERS! If you could set a world record on Oprah, what would it be?