fine arts festival recap…

this weekend was memorable and exciting!
- 1st place in youth choir, christian band, visual art and sign language group.
- 2nd place in worship team, female vocal solo, songwriting and puppet group.
– 3rd place in Instrumental ensemble and then many other advancements…Small vocal ensemble – 2 groups advance, 2 Large human video groups, 3 Small human video group, 2 small vocal ensembles, 2 worship teams, 2 songwriting entries and a Short Sermon.

crave i am proud of you!

props go out to all our coaches…ronnie, jen, mark, brian, megan, tj, marvin, jinny, DeAngelo..you guys rock!

national fine arts festival is in charlotte, NC.

prison break

prison break…last show of the season aired tonight with an ending that left ya guessing. will michael get locked up in some prison to escape? is it the end of sucre in sona? will link ride off into the sunset with lj and the sofia.  gretchen is still a mean chic now that we know whistler is apart of the company and why would mahone go back to the company? michael rides off with a gun and a passion for vengeance. maybe he is now in his own prison-trying to escape from the anger of vengeance?  have to tune in next season…i felt jilted on this one. a little empty feeling on the ending!

prison break

only 2 episodes left…where will they end up.  the suspense that left you hanging from last week was drawn into unexpected drama and turns that brought about even more suspense. i love this show and this week proved why…i couldn’t believe sucre got caught for an arrest warrant for the guy he was impersonating but it was totally expected when he was given up by t bag. bellick, t bag and lucare hung out to dry in the escape was priceless. the basketball kids dad that picked them up in a boat out in the ocean as they hung onto a buoy waiting for sucre to show up…but he was handcuffed to a file cabinet…DRAMA.

one last episode this season…will sucre die in sona? will michael and link get away or get locked up again so their can be another season of suspense…i have my opinions but lets wait and see as the drama unfolds…

why do i blog?

reasons why i blog?

 

1. i believe i have something to say…or close to 100 per day would not read what i write.

2. life is so full of drama…my blog is my thoughts on life.

3. i am a real person with real struggles…i can’t walk on water, so what you read is my way of working out life’s struggles.

4. truth- someone needs to tell it.

5. challenge- someone needs to be challenged in life.

6. focus- blogging helps me focus on life and grasp how God is working in everyday life.

7. influence- reading a good blog can influence the way you process life… 

8. youth ministry- i write alot about what i love to do- youth ministry. 

 

here are some blogs i read…

mark batterson

corey mann

ben arment

mark atrip

tony morgan

deadly viper

jinny force

steve brewster 

 

i read about 35 other blogs on a regular basis…

 

if you have a blog and don’t blog, then ask yourself a simple question…why? 

 

  

locked out…

have you ever locked your keys in the car with the car running? I can say this has never happened to me, but today, yes just today i went to lunch with an amazing person…my wife…and 4 of our staff members.  

on the way back to church the 4 staff that drove on their own were in front of the gym and one had such a look of dispair on his face…he was standing next to his car…door shut and the car running!   i went to the maitnance office to get a slim jim…they had a bag of tools to break into a car (yes a church has tools to break into cars), but after much work i ended up calling our maitnance director to come over to the rescue. life has so much drama in it. the last time i saw this was walking through the church parking lot…car parked in a spot…running and locked up tight!

if you let it, life will rule you and lock you out of your own world and leave you running with nowhere to go! the facts are simple…life is full of drama…but you are the ultimate director of your performance on the stage of life. lie is running full speed ahead…dont get locked out while its sitting in park!

hell house at the fall festival.

cast of 30 plus tech people and staff to run hell house turned into an amazing night. we ran 18 groups through hell…it was like herding sheep. the responses were varied in each room depending on the individuals in the rooms. a few people ran out afraid, and others laughed, but in the last room, the heaven room, lives were changed forever. I saw tears streaming down faces, as 90 people made a decision for christ. this was a huge endeavor to undertake. props go out to our team of leaders and cast that made it all possible. heaven is gonna be a better place. my thoughts…not everyone is afraid of hell. each scene touched lives in different ways. the cutter and the suicide was more real to some than others. the girl that lost it in t he club scene found a connection to the event. no matter how much pizza and snacks you provide…teenagers will eat whatever they can get there hands on…fake blood stains-concrete, clothes, walls and skin…makeup on demons in a dark hell can leave hand prints and smudges all over the walls…the lights in heaven wont have a breaker that can trip! a walk thru hell can have a lasting effect on a 6th grader. heaven is truly worth living for! at midnight we still had stuff to clean up…but it was worth it all!

2 nights and nearly 900 people walked thru….165 decisions were worth it all!

hell house…

today we start a walk thru drama that has taken weeks to prepare for. we have been working with actors and tech people for several weeks and last night we ran our choir thru as a test run, and it was creepy. all in all its about 10 rooms that takes roughly 30 minutes to walk thru. it takes you on an emotional roller coaster ride. props go out to the youth leaders that have spent hours hanging plastic, drapes, hauling an 800lb motorcycle upstairs and editing sound and video. matt and tomas have one nuts with this thing. heaven is gonna be more populated after the 2 nights we hold HELL HOUSE. the hell house was supposed to run with a fall festival, but noel is blowing outside and we moved the festival to sunday so its gonna be hell for 2 nights. thats nice!