This year Stephanie and I will celebrate 10 years of marriage.  When you talk to a couple that has been married for 10 years or 100 they both say the same thing. “It feels like it was just yesterday that we walked down the aisle together. 

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So when I was in school there was a popular song that came out by Will Smith A.K.A. the Fresh Prince.  The song was parents just don't understand.  The song summed up what generations of teens have assumed for years, parents just don't get it.  Little do they know that ALL parents were once teens too.  It may seem weird to think about as a student but the facts...your parents WERE your age at some point.

As a youth pastor I have found there is no better friends to my ministry than parents.  When parents catch the vision of what a youth ministry can do when they partner together great things always happen.

The recent stat that keeps me going is knowing that 70% of students leave the church after their teen years.  

Great youth pastors and great ministries can not change this stat alone...the only way to see a student stick around after they graduate is to partner with parents.

Parents DO understand...and so do I, our job is to work together to see students make a commitment to Christ long beyond their teenage years.

PJ

Well it is that time again.  The days are starting to get shorter, the isles of every store I walk in are filled with school supplies, and we are running out of time for those last minute vacations before school starts.  

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Last week we started a series called Thats what He said.  We began looking at the Red letters of Christ.  The thing is when you begin to read the red letters you begin to see a theme.  Jesus cared for “The least of these” or the untouchables. 

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As I reflect back on an incredible Easter weekend I am amazed.  The transformation of the Church in my short 31 years of existence is extraordinary.  It seems gone are the days of brand new Easter ties and girls in Bonnets.  We live in a world that is more hungry for the message of Christ than ever before.

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When I say static what comes to mind? A Busted TV set?, radio noise? The worst feeling in the world is when you are ready to watch your favorite show, or you are tuning to your favorite station and all you hear is static or white noise.  I believe that there is static in our everyday lives that keeps us from hearing the voice of God the way that He intends.  It can come in all shapes, sizes and forms.  Static in our lives is anything that keeps us from seeing or hearing the clear picture of God.

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Today I picked up my 7 year old Ashtyn from school. We stopped for an after school snack and as we sat across the table from each other discussing her day and life in general she asked "Dad was there ever a time when there weren't even old cell phones?"

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Ok so before you read this post you have to take 3 minutes and watch this video by Darius Rucker to watch the video click his name, then come back.

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As I sit in my office today I am looking at a picture from 7 years ago.  The picture is of me as a new youth pastor with my arm around a shaggy blonde haired high school kid.  From the look of the picture it looks like all the others hanging on my bulletin board.  Different students that have crossed paths with me, each one tells a story but this one is different. It's a picture of Jon Allen.  Jon was like a lot of other H.S. students that had come through my ministry.  He did not go to church regularly but decided to take a friend up on an offer to come and try it out.  His reasons for coming began as most, to hang out with friends, to meet girls, and to get out of the house.  Somewhere along the way God began to work on Jon.  He would constantly ask questions and his favorite was just "why".  After a number of youth trips, wednesday nights, broken bus doors, multiple girlfriend dramas within the group and late night conversations in hotel rooms from the Bahamas to Ohio Jon accepted Christ and revealed that he had been called into the ministry.

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As many of you know Extravaganza is coming up soon.  I have a real heart for this event because I have seen first hand what happens when students discover that the gifts they have in music, sports, art and more are actually gifts from God to be used by Him.

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