Empowerment!

Ah, summer is definately upon me as I bask in the glow of the computer screen and know that... I don't have any school work to be doing at this time! Of course that doesn't mean that I'm bored by any stretch of the imagination as I am getting ready to leave for Mississippi on Wednesday. I'm really excited about this conference and not just because I've been working on planning it, but because young adult seminarians from around the country are going to be gathering together to unite! And if you want to talk really and truly...Young Adult Seminarians from around the world (Dana is from Romania!). It's really exciting and I really just want to get down there. But, there are still some loose ends that I wish I could tie up right now, unfortunately the people that I need to talk with are already at our site in Jackson. So, hopefully we can get everything all straightened out by the time the event takes place. YASN is something that I'm passionate about and I know that GBHEM is proud of the work that we're doing, but I really wish that the Church would take notice. Not to take notice in order to gain attention, but to be encouraged that this is the new generation of leaders for the Church and we are excited to be here and we want them to be excited for us.

My ministry is based around empowering young people and I mean young people from children to tweens to teens to college age and beyond. These people need to know that they have a very important place in the Church and the Church needs to welcome them with open arms. I'm tired of churches who claim to want a children's or youth ministry, but when it comes time to actually do something, they back down. I'm not talking about any one church in specific as I hear this over and over from my friends and colleagues. It's very sad and it really breaks my heart. I believe that is why God has called me to this particular ministry. I've been there too and I know what it's like to be told that you can't do something and to feel like you're worthless. But nobody is worthless-- everybody has wonderful gifts and graces and talents and it's up to them how they use them. It's exciting to me when I see a young person's face light up because of something that they just learned about their faith. I know that children and youth have an amazing spirituality, but all too often they are told to suppress it and to hide it because it's not real or they're just being "cute"... It's not just being "cute"--- that's the Holy Spirit moving! If you would let your guard down once in a while, you'd act like that too! Remember that we're supposed to be like children! That means child-like and not child-ish!

Screech!

Okay folks... I was able to relive some of my childhood/adolescent history this weekend. Yes, that's right Dustin "Screech" Diamond was in Dayton this weekend doing a show. I saw Screech back in DBQ abour 2 years ago and I wasn't completely impressed. But, the show was the last one and he was pretty drunk...And really bitter. But, there wasn't much else happening in Dayton, so I rounded up my other Gen X friends and we hit up Jokers to see Screech.

I must say that I was pretty impressed with the show. We went to the early show, or the "church show" as he called it...Kinda of funny seeing as how 2 of us are pastors...Anyway, any thought that it would actually be "Screech" went out the window in the first 5 seconds. He came out on the stage and did a little Screech dance, the Screech stare, and shouted at the audience, "Great to see you f*ers!" His act was really good-- I'm not sure if he's grown since the 2 years that I've seen him or if being sober really helps with that! I'm not a comedy analyst by any stretch, but I thought that his act was really connected, there was nothing that was really left hanging out there.

After the show, he said he'd be out in the lobby taking pictures and signing autographs, so me being the nerd that I am... I got my picture taken! He charges $10 for a picture/autograph. I wasn't all about that, but he said that he takes some for the film, and the rest goes to charity-- he does a lot of charity work-- mostly working with substance abuse. Anyway, we made little small talk, nothing really exciting, but I talked to Screech!

Welcome back to about 6th grade...