Lost in the Shuffle

I realized something last night. After our high school youth group night at the corn maze, I was exhausted. I was tired, stressed, just tired of people. Yet, I got invited to Dairy Queen with some students and a couple leaders. I had said I didn't think I'd come, but thanks. I realized as I was waiting for the last students to get picked up, I realized that I was getting away of the aspect of ministry I love so much. I was so focused on the program, that I wasn't taking advantage of the realationship building outside of church that I love so much. I realized that if I was at BPPC or Oregon, I still would've gone to Applebees or hung out with the college group. Why should it be different here? So I went to DQ and it was awesome. We were only there for about 20 minutes, but it was great! Everyone was glad I came, and it was nice to hang out with a new group as well, and set up lunch with a couple guys for Friday! I'm glad that I got that realization last night, and was able to hang out!

This week has been busy but good, we had a crazy jr. high pumpkin party wed. night! Everyone had a lot of fun, and I do have to say I pull off a pretty good looking Johnny Depp Pirate! We also did the corn maze last night, so there were no normal youth groups this week. ALso got a couple days to relax down in Oregon, and see everybody. I had a blast, going to halloween parties and watching movies, shopping and just having a great time!

Life's definately never boring, but I am looking forward to a pretty normal week. Oh and I finally get to move imnto my apartment on Saturday, which will be nice! It'll be nice getting back to a normal week. Keep praying for the church in these next couple weeks, there's a lot going on.

Wow didn't realize it's been so long

Man, it's been almost 10 days since my last real update! Things are definately not boring. I think the business is starting to kick in. It seems I'm always on the go doing something! It's a ton of fun, but have to force myself to stop sometimes! Since the last update I've given 6 messages. I'm getting used to speaking multiple times a week. I've been pleased with them, I think I'm getting more and more comfortable, and am able to communicate well what I want to say.

A lot of my craziness of the last few days surrounds, the CHIC conference. It's a 5 day covenant youth conference in Knoxville, TN. We had our parent info meeting, and it's a lot to plan. We're also getting started on fundraising. A cool thing is that we were given our church's holiday bazaar, so the youth gets all of the proceeds for that event. We have a ton of signups and I have leaders doing a great job at organizing that.

This has been a weird but good few days. The honeymoon's over. I still love it, and I love that fact that I'm building relationships and sunday and wednesday nights go well, and we have 16 kids at a bowling night! There's just a lot of stuff. People stuff, transition stuff, church council stuff, youth stuff, just stuff... Today was one of those days where I was drained. Things went well, just draining. I guess my prayer requests would just be strength and patience to deal with all of the little things. The big things seem handleable (not a word, but it's 12:00 am) but it's the little things that pile up!

Oh, I almost forgot. I remember on the 4th of July a year and a half ago. I gave my first Sunday school lesson as the intern at BPPC. "God is Holy and that's cool!" Well I spoke this morning on God's Holiness, and it went really well! More than just God's holiness is cool. I've definately grown in this last year and a half. It's really encouraging to see stuff like that. I also heard from a friend that the jr. highers in Oregon remember an analogy I spoke on months ago! It's really cool on the draining days to be encouraged and see that things are working, even if I'm exhausted!

For Brian

Here's my update on my love life.

















Happy Reading!

Exciting, fun update!

Okay maybe this won't be an exciting, fun update, but I was told I needed one, so here's my best shot! This has actually been a pretty busy, but quiet week. The office has been real quiet, so I've had a lot of time yesterday and today to get things done for Sunday. The early part of the week was fun. I got to meet up with Nathanael, and go to a volleyball game in Orting! It was a ton of fun, meeting in Auburn at the exact same time, and finding dinner under $5! Fun way to enjoy my day off. Tuesday, I drove to Hoquiam. Hoquiam and Orting in the same week, I must becoming a small town guy. I went to Hoquiam with Rick (council chair) and his family to watch his son (jr. higher) play football. They won 31-0. Also had blueberry pancakes at another families house, a volleyball game and pizza with a couple seniors and I also had lunch this week with the youth pastor from Grace Covenant. I really like all these meetings that involve food! It's been good to connect with people this week, I hope that keeps continuing. I'm also the lunchroom monitor at Nisqually Middle School on Wednesday. It's fun spending an hour playing foosball and seeing kids I know! I also helped served at a Dinner Theater last night. It was a good way to hang out with students but also have some of the church see me as well!
This week being the first full week without ben has been good. It's been nice to get into a groove with my time in the office, and also start to do a few little things, like questions and a bible study time in our leader's meeting. I really want to be intentional about leading the staff as well, and I think that's starting to happen.
Outside of the stupid virus that's on my personal computer that won't go away (I'm using the church's) it's been a pretty good week! I'm heading up to applebee's sunday night, and then staying up in burien all day Monday.

Brad

Awesome night

What a great night. THis had all the signs and stuff going on that you would think tonight could be difficult. It wasn't. We played a few games that went great, Highlighted by Napolean Dynamine Power POint Trivia. Even with everything going on, I felt like God really spoke through me tongith. it's a great feeling. I totally know that it was all God tonight. We continued our series called Who is this man? And we looked at Jesus turning water into wine. We focused on Jesus meeting the need of wine at the wedding, and we tied that into how God wants mto meet our needs, and is there with us providing for us even when we don't see it. We looked at Romans 8:28, and listened to the Casting Crowns song Praise you in this storm. What a great night. I'm so pleased and awed at how God has worked and I have confidence and continue to pray that he continues to work.

Lots going on

There's a bunch going on in the world of River Ridge. It's been a very busy/chaotic week. Ben and Katie's official last day at church was this morning. We had a good bye/birthday party for noah during the Sunday school hour. it was a nice way of honoring their time here.

Junior High this week was interesting. First time where things didn't go really well. It wasn't bad, it was just a crazy very energetic junior highers being junior higher type evening.

We did a high school movie night, and a guys risk night this Friday, which was a ton of fun.

Prayer Requests
Please pray for the church. Lots of stuff going on.
Ben officially left, so pray for people dealing with this now that they're actually gone.

A Grand Farewell

Going into tonight I was excited but aprehensive at the same time. It was Ben, Katie and Noah's last time at Crew (high school group). Going into the night I didn't know what to expect. I wasn't sure if it would be awkward or what things would be like but it turned out to be a great night. Noah's birthday is on Tuesday, so we had a cake/party for him, then we had a sharing time for the students to talk about what their family has meant to them and ended with a slide show. I think it was a great thing for me to experience with this group. There was definately the sadness of The Kerns Family leaving, and that is still there but I also think it was a growing night, and could be a catalyst for some great things happening here at River Ridge.

We had an open mic time where a lot of people shared, then Ben and Katie both shared, and it was a sad farewell, but also a great time of looking back at what God has done through them in this last year and a half, and also a excitement of what God is doing now in them and also in the group at River Ridge.

It felt like the passing of the torch. Because we had the farewell for Ben and Katie, the students are more open to me. I had 2 students come up to me and gave me hugs and were like okay I'm ready to be led by you now. It felt like it was a good thing for the students to see that I care about Ben also, and wanted him to be celebrated and I want to share and have great experiences with them as well. It was awesome being a part of the celebration and seeing what Ben and Katie have done in their year and a half here. They have made a huge impact and I'm excited to continue that. These last 3 weeks working with Ben, but also living with them has been a really great experience. They have made the transition very easy, and although I've only known them a few weeks, I'm definately going to miss a lot.

It was a good night.

Coughing through the week

Outside of my stupid cough and cold that I've picked up this week, things are going really well! I was very pleased with how jr. high (area 51) went on Wednesday night. Everything seemed to flow really well, lots of excitement and energy, and I was able to relax and have a blast as well. I really feel like I'm getting into the flow, and fitting in well. It's been nice to be out of the office for much of the last few days, and spend some time with people outside of church. I've hung out with 2 seniors a bunch, had coffee with a high school leader, and had dinner at a youth family's house. It's been a blast! Today was my welcome bbq. Good chance to hang with some more students, and their parents as well. I've also gotten in at Nisqually Middle School, and I'm going to volunteer every Wednesday as a lunchroom monitor! I'm very pleased with how things have gone. I really feel like I'm fitting in, and am excited to keep getting to know everyone!

Prayer Requests:

Housing: Apartments are hard to find. Be Praying that I find something. I am able to stay at a family's house once Ben and Katie move so that's a blessing short term.

This is Ben and Katie's last week. Pray that their moving and leaving continues to be a smooth transition. Also be praying that their house sells.