Connection Reflection

(click above for a slideshow of pictures from the event)

Every summer, our junior high students have two opportunities to connect with a part of the Dallas community that is a little bit outside of their comfort zone by hosting a Christ centered day camp at a place called the Vickery Wellness Center. The event is called "Connection" and it's always an eye-opening, challenging 3 days for our kids. Since I get to spend 72 hours straight with junior highers, I also get to have my eyes opened to a few things...

Am I Almost Creepy Old Youth Pastor Guy?
I took three 8th grade guys with me all day on Tuesday to deliver and set up props, sound equipment, and food for the camp. We had a blast and made tons of memories. One thing that stuck with me was when they said, "You're old. Now that you're a dad you can't play video games." I realize some people will take this the wrong way, but I truly feel like every year I keep doing this job, I get just a little creepier.

Christian Cussing
From talking to kids at different times during the trip, I discovered the following "statistics" related to cussing over text messages: Christian girls from private Christian schools do not cuss over text message nor do they tolerate cuss words being sent to them. They only delete texts to make space, never to hide anything from their parents. Christian girls from public schools rarely cuss over text message and regularly tolerate cuss words being sent to them (mainly from boys). They regularly delete texts to hide them from their parents. Christian boys all cuss over text message and go to great lengths to hide every word they write and read from their parents. What a mess.

You Got Fish Spanked
We bought a whole fish (face included) to put in a blender for one of our skits at the day camp. The 8th grade guys decided I should make a video of myself hitting strangers with the fish and declaring, "You got fish spanked". Sounded like a good sequel to You Got Took. Only junior high kids know what junior high kids think is funny...so I'll be taking their advice and running the idea by Bode on Monday.

Thank You Clint

Many thanks to our friend Clint Miller for making a wish of mine come true. Utilizing Clint's super-fancy Canon zoom lens, I was finally able to discreetly capture some images of our reclusive neighbor who periodically comes outside to garden (and ride his bicycle!) in his practically translucent white boxer shorts. It is one of the many joys of living on our street.

1 Year from 30, in Black and Blue

Today I turned 29. I am now a year away from 30. I really didn't think about it today, but I got tagged on facebook by one of the guys I do community with and he sent me this picture of me with his daughters eating birthday cake. It was from Sam's Club, and as you can see it had blue and black frosting on it. A friend of ours recently noticed that while their 2 year old was potty training, the day after they ate their cake, the 2 year olds poo was blue and black. I can now confirm from personal experience, that the rumor is true. Thank you, Sam's Club. I'm off to Camp Barnabas, see you back on the blogosphere in 9 days. Keep it real David, and good idea with the hats.

99 Cent Y Mas

Three of my small group guys are going with Mike to Camp Barnabas this week. Since I won't be able to join them (I have a junior high "Connection" trip), I'm sending each of them a super bueno "I love Jesus" hat (purchased at a store called "99 Cent Y Mas") with their name and a verse written on the bill. They will be working one-one-one with kids who have physical, mental, and medical challenges and it will be a long, hard week so I chose the following verse:

"So I am willing to endure anything if it will bring salvation and eternal glory in Christ Jesus to those God has chosen." 2 Timothy 2:10

Camp Barnabas Bound

Our High School students are leaving on Monday for Camp Barnabas. We are way excited about what God is going to do, and can't wait to get there. If you haven't heard about Barnabas it's a Christian camp for disabled kids. Our students will be serving kids one on one, basically being a parent for 9 days. It is going to be amazing! We are also taking leaders whose primary role will be to cheer on and encourage our students in the hard task they are being given. Each of our leaders has taken about 10 students, have already written them notes of encouragement that they'll get on the first day, and will continue to do love on our students throughout the week.

A couple fun things we're doing on the way up there, is eating at Lambert's Cafe (if you haven't eaten there you haven't lived), and going to Doenning Barn Swings (Barnswinging is a favorite of folks in the Ozarks). I found a video of people Barnswinging here, although they haven't mastered it. Both are things that are pretty much the opposite of Dallas culture, and our students should have a good appreciation for hillbillies when they come back.

Kids Are Our Future

Our women's staff, Melissa Miller, recently forwarded me this article by Tim Elmore from Growing Leaders. I normally can do without the dissection of generational differences but I appreciated the perspective and direction offered in the context of mentoring and the "hassles" that come with it.

Check it out.

Wake Unplugged Review for 6/8 & 6/15

Wake Unplugged 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 the last two weeks of Wake Unplugged.

6/8/08 Program Outline
Attendance: Average
Fun Factor: Average
Leader Presence: Average
Music: Above Average
Bible Study: Above Average

6/15/08 Program Outline
I was out of town on vacation/at Bode's wedding. The program was completely volunteer led and, from what I hear, things went great! It's always good to know that you're not needed. (Click here or on the photo below for a slideshow of pictures from Wake Uplugged and Bode's Wedding)



Wake Unplugged is simply comprised of 3 elements: 1) A table game (we're using Power Play Volume 5 from SimplyYouthMinistry.com) with a little skit interruption (see below for our inspiration), 2) A two/three song acoustic worship set, and 3) a Bible Study discussion time based on the Beatitudes (If you're interested, click here to see the discussion guide from 6/8 or here to see the discussion guide from 6/15 that the leaders use at their tables).

Mike's Thongs

Click the picture above and get a closer look at these toenails. Those bad boys were on full display at Bode's wedding. Cousin Eddie called and wanted his wedding attire back.

Bode's Wedding

Bode (pronounced Bo-Dee) got married over the weekend in Saint Joseph, MO and our team made the flight up for the wedding. The weekend was very fun for Holly and I because we got to visit my family, friends from high school, etc... To get a good taste of what Bode does on our staff click here. He does the majority of our editing, video shooting, and all of our fun elements week in and week out. He does a great job and we are way excited that he is married!

Here's a great picture of Braun (our boss), David, and me.

And here's everything I brought up for the trip minus my wife. (She's holding the camera) The two little girls are not always perfect on the plane, and so after flying Ellie about 15 times now I've devised a plan. We take the kids on the plane after everyone has boarded. Then, we take the car seat, kids, backpack, and ourselves on. The first guy that looks at my kids like "oh no I didn't sign up to hear them scream on a plane" wins a seat closest to us. It's a beautiful mess hearing our kids on a plane. If you have two little ones, you also know that all of the luggage you see is not easily transported, and I would not recommend it for the mere man. Ha.

Rock Chalk Celtic

Last night the beloved Celtics made history. In case you didn't watch, the Celtics overcame the largest deficit ever in NBA Finals history and won game 4 to give them a 3-1 lead in the finals. They were down 24 in the 1st half. In the 3rd quarter they were down 17, and tied it going into the 4th quarter. Why is this such a big deal? Well this weekend I am in my hometown Lawrence, Kansas (home of the Jayhawks) for a wedding. Paul Pierece (pictured above) plays for the Celtics and never won a championship when he played for Kansas in college. It's now looking like he is going to get his championship ring. Way to go Paul Pierce. After sticking it out in Boston for 10 years, you've earned it!

One of the Largest Book Stores Ever

If you have a few minutes check out this story...

Tag Me

The Penuels are enjoying a week long vacation in Breckenridge, CO with Alli's side of the family. We forgot to bring the right cord to load pics from our camera but I loaded some pictures from other cameras and put them on Facebook. I'm realizing I need to put more pictures on Facebook...the last time I uploaded an album was 4 months ago.

On a related note, I'm getting some free time on vacation to research and work on stand up comedy material. I made a declaration earlier this year that I wanted to try stand up at least once in my life before I die. I'm quickly realizing that making this declaration was a really bad idea. I've been doing some reading and most comics will say that it takes months of "working the clubs" nightly before you sharpen your material to a point where it is actually funny. If I only hit the stage one time, I'm basically guaranteed to fail.

And everyone I know will be there to watch.

This is gonna hurt.

Relational Thought from the Week...

My takeaway this week from my lunch with Ryan is not really that spiritual or life changing. Ryan is 16 and I picked him up today from his summer job. He's doing filing/paperwork at his dad's company. During our conversation he told me that he makes 10 dollars an hour. For real? This is his first job people. My first job was as a sandwich artist making $5.25 an hour. My next job after that was at Applesbees and my official title was G.U. I still have no idea what that stands for but all I did was wash dishes for about 11 hours straight every night. I later quit that job because I was having nightmares of dishes being thrown at me. Ryan told me that simple inflation can explain the difference in pay, but I am not convinced.

What job did you have in high school that you're not proud of?

Estes Park Family Camp

Every other year our church does a family camp in Estes Park, Colorado at the YMCA. This was my first time to go and has been absolutely crazy and amazing. Here's how our week got started...

Our first full day my wife woke up and started puking and cramping up. It hurt to move, and when she did she was hurling in a trash can. So, I was now on dad duty and in charge of all our jr. high and high schoolers. It's about 7:45 in the morning, and I've got about an hour to get the kids ready, feed them and myself in the cafeteria, take them to childcare, and try to be a couple minutes early to teach bible study at 9:00 a.m. It didn't take long to get one of those headaches that make you think you're head is going to explode. Needless to say, the next two days were pretty tough, and at the end of day two, we took my wife to the emergency room in between student ministry scheduling. Crazy.

Well my wife got to feeling better later on in the week, and started teaching bible study with Sarah Beth, and our week has gotten ten times better! This morning was our last bible study time with our students, and they have had so much fun together, and learned a lot too. Thanks Simply Youth Ministry for the great curriculum. Here's a couple of my favorite pictures from the week...

Our student ministry crew The family in Rocky Mt. National Park


One of the few calm moments for my 2 year old this week

You Know Lyle?

I'm in the restroom at the movie theater last night washing my hands when I overhear the following conversation between two strangers on either side of me at the sink. I thought it was funny enough to share:

Guy #1: You know Lyle?

Guy #2: (No response)

Guy #1: (Louder) You know Lyle?

Guy #2: (No response. I look over and notice he's wearing a Lyle Lovett concert t-shirt)

Guy #1: (Goes over and taps Guy #2) You know Lyle?

Guy #2: What? Oh. No. (Confused pause) Do you?

Guy #1: (Proudly) I met him for the first time 13 years ago.

Guy #2: So, are you guys pretty tight?

Guy #1: (Hands on his hips, nodding) Nope. But he's a really great guy though.

Guy #2: (Nodding) Cool. (Slowly walks away)

Don't ever talk to strangers in the public bathroom. It's uncomfortable for everyone involved. Also, don't ever assume that wearing a concert t-shirt means that the wearer knows the artist.

It's Nubbin

Chapman had us laughing this weekend about an old episode of Friends in which Chandler refers to his third nipple as his "nubbin" and eventually has it removed via an operation he calls a "nubbinectomy". When asked by Ross if the nubbin could do anything, he replied that it could "open the delivery entrance to the magical land of Narnia."

Luckily, Chapman's nubbin is just a cheerio.

Wake Unplugged Review for 6/1/08

Wake Unplugged 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 Unplugged.

Program Outline
Attendance: Average
Fun Factor: Average
Leader Presence: Above Average
Music: Above Average
Bible Study: Above Average



During the summer months, we change things up. We unplug. I don't really know what that means but we call it "Wake Unplugged" to demonstrate that something different is happening. Basically, we set up round tables and chairs and time is much more "group-centric" than "program-centric". We do this because our Small Groups don't meet during the week in the homes through June, July, and August.

Wake Unplugged is simply comprised of 3 elements: 1) A table game (we're using Power Play Volume 5 from SimplyYouthMinistry.com) with a little skit interruption (see below for our inspiration), 2) A two/three song acoustic worship set, and 3) a Bible Study discussion time based on the Beatitudes (If you're interested, click here to see the discussion guide that the leaders use at their tables).

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.