A Pick-Me-Up Monday

I love Jr. High students. Yes, they sometimes don't wear deodorant and they forget to shower regularly. Yes, they can be very awkward. And yes, their small attention span makes it hard to keep their attention longer than 30 seconds.....but....I love them! I don't know why God has wired me this way, but I'm glad He did.

We had our kickoff for fall programming yesterday, and it was awesome! There was a lot of energy and a lot of students! We had a biggest crowd ever, the students were excited to be back at LIFT. Cody (the youth pastor) and I decided to start the year of with a little bit of vision casting for our students and what we want our student ministry to be about this year. As we thought about what to name our series, the term WEIRD came up. It just seemed perfect for our students and what we want to accomplish. We want to create an environment where students can come and feel like they belong. The way we presented it to our students is that the normal thing to do in life is to surround yourself with people just like you and can offer you something in return. The weird thing is to let everyone in your circle of friends no matter who they are!

Yesterday after I was able to talk to our students about this idea of us being "Weird," we had them break out into groups and come up with ideas to make new students feel welcome in LIFT. We gave each group a poster board and a sharpie and told them to write down their ideas....and here is a list of things we got from them....I guess this is what we get for giving middle schoolers a sharpie and blank poster board. Remember, these ideas were supposed to make students feel welcome at LIFT.

- Say “Ello’ Governor” and run over them with a British taxi.

- Throw them out a window.

- Creepily stare until they talk.

- Beat the living snot out of them

- Taco

- Hold their hand

Now if these were the only ideas we got from our students, I would say we would be in big trouble (and so would anybody who decided to visit LIFT), but these were the minority. I just had to write them down because they made me laugh! I have another list about 5 times bigger with great ideas about making first time visitors feel like they belong.

Its a Monday, and so that means you just try to get through it the best you can because they drag on forever! I hope this helps a little and gives you a quick laugh like it gave me. Love you guys!

Hospital Visits and Jr. High Boys

I always hate starting out a post this way, but I just feel the need to apologize for not writing more. I wish I could give you guys a good excuse why I haven't blogged in a while. I wish I could tell you that I was climbing a mountain or that I was writing the foreword to Francis Chan's new book coming out on Hell. Unfortunately I can't tell you anything like that...all I can say is that haven't made time to blog. Before you start throwing erroneous things out like, "Charlie has blogged because he doesn't care about us" or "Charlie must be backsliding in his faith, so he hasn't written anything," let me update you on my life!

I am moved into my new apartment even though there are still boxes kind of scattered throughout my bedroom. I am in charge of our jr. high program this summer called LIFT Remix. I got a haircut about 2 weeks ago. I just got done drinking a Sprite, and I gelled my hair this morning. I'm a busy guy. I tell you all of this just to say, "I'm sorry for not making time for you, blog nation."

But on a serious note, this week as been a really good week. I've got a lot accomplished for LIFT Remix, and I was able to hang out with students two days this week. For some reason, anytime I get to hang out with students it re-energizes me. I just love doing life with students. Recently I started meeting with 3 Jr. High boys once a week. We hang out and have fun, but it is also a time for me to be able to pour into these guys. What is really cool is that I am already seeing results! The 3 guys I've been able to hang out with have great potential for leadership, and we have been talking about what it means to be a leader. Well last week at Remix, one of the guys really stepped up and was leading his group during a time where other groups were just goofing off. Now to you that might sound normal, but this kid is usually the student who is goofing off the most. It was really neat to see that my time with them is already paying off, but I can't take the credit. God is moving in their lives, and he is allowing me to help.

Another thing that I was really encouraged by this week was an encounter I had with an older lady named Helen in a hospital. This week we had 4 staff members out of the office on vacation and 3 of them are ministers that make hospital visits, so when this lady needed someone to come pray with her there was no one available...except me. I have never made a hospital call before, so I was pretty nervous. When I got to the hospital, I nervously walked down the hall to her room and knocked on her door. She quietly said, "Come in," still tired from her surgery that morning. I walked in and introduced myself and asked how she was doing. We ended up talking for about 15 minutes, and she told me about her life how her surgery went. As I grabbed her hand to pray with her she said, "Oh...you have nice warm hands." Then she smiled and prayed for her.

I usually hate going to hospitals because it always reminds me of my grandpa, but this time I was smiling as I left. It was so encouraging to be able to just sit and talk with Helen. I hope something has happened to you guys this week that has reminded you of how much God cares for you and how involved He is today. Love you guys!

My Reason for Mondays

I love Jr. High ministry! Right now we are in the middle of a teaching series on love and dating. Its called the "Love Shack." Someone people think this title is a little questionable, because it came from a song that is about having, as Bill Clinton puts it, "sexual relations." But the whole purpose of this series is to talk about how our view of love is skewed and misguided. As imperfect people, we often tend to reside in a run-down, dirty shack instead of a strong, stable house when it comes to love. Basically, we are just trying to teach our students about healthy relationships and God's love.

Yesterday we had a question and answer session with our Jr. High students about dating. We sat them all down and talked to them for about 10 minutes about healthy relationships, and how our relationship with God has to be the number one thing in our lives. Afterward we gave them each a piece of paper and asked them to write down a question they have about dating and relationships. Here are a couple of questions we received:

How many girlfriends do boys have on average?

Is it wrong to smack your boyfriend?

Why are girls so complicated? They ask so many questions!

(this one is more of a statement) Why kiss so many different people? God has already picked the one for you. Oh and by the way, I can't date until I am married.

If you have a wedgie is it okay to pick it on your date? Or should you excuse yourself??

Are there more girls than boys?

Why do teens have sex knowing they may have aids?


These are only a few of the questions we got, but I just wanted to share with you guys why I love Jr. Highers! Mondays are sometimes hard to get motivated for, but I just love looking back on Sunday and seeing why I come in on Monday. Middle School students make me laugh and smile all in the same moment. They are in this stage of their life where they are becoming who they are for the rest of their lives. They're bodies are changing physically and emotionally, and it is amazing to see them change spiritually. This is when their faith is no longer just their parents faith, but they start to grasp this idea of God on their own.

This is why I come into work on Mondays. Why do you get up on Monday?