I got to spend all last week laying on the couch being waited on hand and foot by a beautiful woman, entertaining myself with whatever I could imagine on-screen. Well, that’s one way of putting it. Makes it sound like I had a good week, eh?

Nothing could be further from the truth.

A phone call from the doctor’s office this morning confirmed that last week I was delivered a knock-out punch from H1-N1 that my body was not ready for, and despite it’s best rolling with said punch, I ultimately succumbed and rolled up in the fetal position to try to heal. Ouch. Normally when I come down with the flu, it burns through my body in about 36 hours or less. Not so H1-N1. Down for three straight days, finally got into the doctor for some meds, and 4 more days of recuperation. This stuff is nasty.

But the real fear was in that my two children (6 months and 2 years) both came down with it as well. And Toby (6 months) decided to try to pop a tooth in at the same time. He was so miserable. But they are on the road to recovery as well (thankfully), and Kelly can finally try to rest easy. Or as easy as a mother of two and youth pastor’s wife can rest.

But God did a few things for/with/to me while I was down. First, He forced my body to rest. I needed it more than I realized. Today I feel energized, refreshed, and ready to go (if not a little overwhelmed at everything that needs done to catch up). I also lost about 5 pounds. Cool.

He also provided me with amazing care from my beautiful wife Kelly. She ran herself ragged taking care of all three of us, and I don’t remember hearing her vent or complain about how rough it was even one time! She deserves so much more than I could ever give her. Thank you Kelly!

He also allowed me to be blessed by a few of our volunteers who stepped up and took over 2 of our programs that ran this past week (Wednesday Night Live and Sunday School. Friday Night Flood was already canceled), and from what I have heard they did an excellent job. Thank you Matt, Megan and Nancy!

So there you have it. I had Swine Flu, and now I am better. Hopefully I can get back on track soon and get back to providing quality resources and information to you guys this week. Thanks for your continued prayers as my family continues to heal from this illness this week!

I’m under the weather this week, so this week’s Jump Start is a day late and is different from the normal format. Hope it can be of use to you or your ministry.

Tonight marked the return of Hero Night, a theme night from last year in which we invited teens to come dressed as their favorite hero, to share stories about their heroes, and learn a little more about the ultimate hero.

It was a success, I feel. Some of the successes of the evening:

• There were some great conversations. Really. I myself got to catch up with one of our teens who is searching for solid footing, learn a little bit more about a handful of other teens who are taking the earlier steps on their journeys, and meet teens who came for the first time tonight.
• I invited 3 teens to share a story or two about their favorite hero, and they all did very well, even though at least 2 were nervous.
• After those three teens shared, there were 3 or 4 more teens who jumped at the chance to share about their own heroes.

Some of the negatives to the evening:

• There was a large crowd left hanging around after we were supposed to close the doors for the night. While possibly a good problem, tonight it didn’t really lead to anything other than frustration at teenagers who did not call for rides early enough.
• It took nearly a dozen teens almost 15 minutes to set up a couple tables and chairs.
• There were a handful of teens who were fairly negative toward the idea of dressing up to share about their hero.

Like I said. I think it was a success. The rough spots were indeed rough, but in the big picture they are merely distractions to the work of God’s Kingdom.

This week I share the “official” release poster for The Purple Police: Rise, Fall and Redemption with you. If you haven’t watched it yet, surf on over to The Purple Police page here and view it. The Purple Police is a TV series created by a handful of our teens. Rise, Fall and Redemption is the mini-movie that served as the second season finale.

Set List: Come To Me My Child (Mine), Storm (Lifehouse), In the Secret (Andy Park), Doxology (David Crowder*Band rendition), Jesus Paid it All (Kristian Stanfill arrangement), How Deep the Father’s Love for Us (Stuart Townsend), Rain Down (David Crowder*Band), Shadows (David Crowder*Band), My Savior, My God (Aaron Shust).

Prepwork For the Evening: Prepared and practiced set list, created meditative moments to interspersed between songs and Scripture, set up Youth Room for proper atmosphere, bought additional candles, prepped Action News bulletins (and video).

Lesson Topic: Reflections on Hosea

Scripture Used: Hosea 1

Positives From the Evening: A lot about tonight was positive. The atmosphere was perfect, utilizing three different stations for prayer requests (at the foot of the cross), Fahim money, cell phone collection and Sign-in/news bulletins was incredibly successful. The Music was well-received, even prompting honest attitudes of worship from several teens. The Scripture was shocking to a few teens (go on, read it for yourself. Just remember to read “adulterous woman” as prostitute). And on top of all that, the junior-highers who are normally pretty excitable were appropriately subdued for tonight’s setting. I feel that several teens really got a lot out of tonight, and collided with God in a way that they are not used to.

Negatives From the Evening: Virtually nothing, save for needing to rush for candles before the night started (should have picked them up earlier this week).

Results From the Evening: The meditative atmosphere really helped a handful of teens to engage the Scripture more than they normally would. Though I did not get to speak in-depth with many of them afterward,  I could see a visible change in demeanor, almost a more thoughtful group of teens leaving the room tonight. And as I stated earlier, a few of them were shocked that God would have a prophet go through so much as an example to His people.

Student Involvement: Almost nothing this week, except for praying for each others’ prayer requests.

Next Week: We start a new programmatic element with Hot Topic discussion!

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Bonus: Some pics I snapped at the end on my Blackberry

This week’s Jump Start is a day late, but I made up for it by getting a little creative with the setup. I explore Psalm 1 this week, which is one of my favorite passages in all of Scripture, and probably the one passage I have taught on the most. Use it in your own ministry or personal journey if you can, and let me know if you have been able to do so.

This year we have a couple of new shepherds/leaders helping out with Friday Night Flood. On their first night two weeks ago, we took time to introduce them to the crowd, interviewing them on stage. We asked just three questions, but each one revealed something different about them that helped the teens to understand where they are coming from a little better. Enjoy the video!

Tonight we used the “cardboard testimony” idea for our smaller Friday Night Flood crowd (the last home football game of the season was tonight). The whole night was pretty laid-back and opened up great doors for conversation, and this idea really threw those doors wide for the 7 teens who shared how God has worked in their lives.

Enjoy the video:

Set List: Medley (Third Day), How He Loves (David Crowder*Band rendition).

Prepwork For the Evening: Prepared lesson/discussion time, filmed and edited H20 Action News, put together set list, practiced set list, prepared sign-in sheet and prayer requests sheet, prepared and hung Hot Topics box and cards and Journey Groups Sign-up sheet, put together EasyWorship schedule, found and prepped “what is church” video.

Lesson Topic: What is Church?

Positives From the Evening: The music set was very well received tonight after a rough start. There was a lot of real thought put into the discussion time. There were several teens who wanted more. The announcement of Journey Groups shifting to Sunday nights was received well, and almost enjoyed.

Negatives From the Evening: There was a lot of talking tonight that was disruptive to the lesson. One student is convinced that all religions lead to God/heaven. There are no names on the Journey Groups sign-up sheet after tonight. There are still a few in the crowd who seem to see nothing wrong with being consumer Christians (my impressions, not anything stated out loud).

Results From the Evening: The discussion format really freed us up to hear multiple perspectives and see that many of our teens have a fairly solid grasp on the church as an organism, not as a building. The discussion led us to several fun tangents (some of which we will capitalize on in a few weeks), and after the lesson time was over there were a couple of in-depth conversations with students who were still thinking about the evening’s topic.

Student Involvement: Students ran EasyWorship, Student Leaders led discussion groups, half of up-front teaching focused on students sharing their answers to the questions for the evening.

Next Week: The return of Reflection Evening!

Videos Used:
What is Church? (runtime: 3:28)

H20 Action News for October 21, 2009 (runtime: 5:36)

A while back I blogged about joining with BluefishTV’s Small Group Exchange as a contributor. There are a lot of useful resources on the site for those of you who are running small group ministries, or who are seeking to start running small groups at your church.

Well, recently Small Group Exchange went through a bit of a metamorphosis and changed their name as part of the change. What was the SGX is now Small Group Trader. They still have the great articles, resources and reviews of small group resources, but now they offer video training, case studies of ministries that run small groups, comment capabilities on articles and more!
So surf on over to the Small Group Trader and see what there is that could help you to grow your small group ministry. Or to help you start one.

My Articles @ Small Group Trader:
My Cell Phone as an Offering
When Lengthy Prayer Requests Monopolize Your Time