Truman Lake

April 25, 2005 @ 3:48 pm by Pressed

I am leaving this afternoon on another one of my hunting/fishing extravaganzas! My uncle owns some property on Truman Lake so I am taking my dad and my other uncle up there. I am going to turkey hunt in the mornings and crappie fish in the afternoons. Unfortunatly I do not think the weather is going to be good, which means I might not catch many fish and there is a chance that I won’t get a turkey either. It doesn’t matter to me though, I love being outdoors and its good to spend time with my family.

Needless to say I will not be back to blog until Thursday.

**UPDATE:
Terrible weather. No turkey, no fish… Oh well, maybe next time. *sigh*

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The Scavenger Hunt: Fun Youth Events

April 22, 2005 @ 6:21 pm by Pressed

I came up with a new scavenger hunt today for my youth group. After driving around for two hours, trying to find pay phones that work, I came up with 7 different areas around our town and neighboring towns that have phones. With the help of Kendall, I then made up riddles to lead our students to each of these locations, for example: (”I’m closed for the season, deserted and bare, but when summer comes my outlook is Fair.” - answer:The Sullivan Fairgrounds)

I gave each team a notebook, a roll of quarters, a digital camera, and seven sealed envelopes containing the seven riddles I had made up earlier. Here are the rules:

1. As soon as I say go the team can tear open the first envelope and read the riddle. The time starts at this point and the race is on!

2. Once a team figures out its riddle and goes to that location they must use the payphone to call back to the church. I stayed at the church and answered the phone. When the students called in I then gave them two tasks to perform before opening their next clue. (This was a digital camera scavenger hunt so each task involved getting a picture of something.) Once the two tasks were completed they could open their next envelope, figure out the next clue, go to the new location and call me for two more tasks.

3. The first team to go to all 7 locations, complete all 14 tasks, and get back to the church wins.

4. Any team who needs extra help and has to call the church for another clue is given a 2 minute penalty. This means if they need help two times they will have 4 minutes of penalty. If the team arrives first they will have to wait for 4 minutes before I will check them in. If the other team arrives before the first teams 4 minutes are up then the first team to arrive will still lose the game.

5. Any team who arrives at the wrong location and calls in will be given a 1 minute penalty and a small clue. They will still have to find the correct location before I will give them their next two tasks.

6. I also added bonuses to the tasks. If they do something designated as a bonus then they will be given a + 1:00 time bonus. This means if team 1 comes in with 4 minutes of bonus and they arrive only 2 minutes behind team 2 who has no bonus then team 1 will win even though they arrived last.

Here are the riddles and tasks I used for this scavenger hunt. You will have to personalize it to your own town and group!

7 Location Riddles:

1. I’m closed for the season, deserted and bare, but when summer comes my outlook is Fair. My phone is out of service; I’m in need of repair, just use a cell phone and get a picture there! LOCATION: Sullivan Fair Grounds.

2. You must take a trip down the road to a place with some sweet treats. Fill your stomach while you fill your car. Their “kwik” service can’t be beat! LOCATION: B&B Kwik Stop & Andy’s Ice Cream

3. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z - Look really close, letters don’t always stay, one of my letters is flying away! LOCATION: Flying J Truck Stop

4. I used to be blue, but now I am brown, I’m also the biggest store in town. - LOCATION: Wal-Mart (which was just re-painted)

5. In a nearby town named after a drink, the clue will be easy if you will just think. I’m at a place that is yellow, blue, and red. If you can’t find the phone get the van washed instead. - LOCATION: Mobil On The Run in Bourbon.

6. Tank empty? Need something to eat? Why not do both at the same time? Fill up the van, eat like a “King”, but don’t play to long or you’ll lose this thing! - LOCATION: Burger King/Gas Station

7. Flowers & trees; pavilions & cabins, Just follow the river and the next clue you’ll be grabbin! - LOCATION: The State Park

14 Different Tasks to Perform

1. Get a picture of your entire team around the nearest caboose (we have an old caboose near our church at a small park)

2. Get a picture of your entire group in front of the movie posters outside of Sullivan 6 Cinema! Extra points if Jeff Jones is in your picture. (Jeff is one of our youth who works at the theater.)

3. Get a picture of your entire group at the Harney Mansion. (The mansion is a historical site in our town.)

4. Get a picture of two of your team members playing with a dog named after unleavened dough, made of wheat flour, water, and sometimes eggs, that is molded into any of a variety of shapes and boiled. (Our music ministers dog is named Pasta.)

5. Find the Eaton Funeral Home Chapel in Bourbon and have your entire group get their picture taken there. (One of our church members owns the funeral home in Sullivan and the chapel in Bourbon. Everyone knows where the one is in Sullivan but not Bourbon.)

6. Get a picture of your group on the sidewalk at a business that is open playing “Duck, Duck, goose”

7. Get a picture of a team member shaking the hand of a stranger at Movie Gallery.

8. Two members hanging upside down on monkey bars. Extra points for eating a banana while upside down!

9. Get a picture of your team around a Diesel Truck. For a bonus, get a picture with the truck driver!

10. Get a picture of your entire team around the red cardinal statue at the city park.

11. Get a picture of your group in the play-land area of Burger King

12. Get a picture of your group walking through Kentucky Fried Chicken flapping their wings and bucking like a chicken.

13. Get a picture you your group in front of the visitor center of the state park.

14. Get back to the church as soon as possible. First team to arrive with all of their pictures taken wins!

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Busy All The Day Long

@ 4:23 pm by Pressed

As you can see it has been pretty close to 27 years since I have last posted… ok, well maybe 8 days, but still a long time right? I have been busy with funerals, turkey hunting, school, work, and so many other things that have been going on. My great aunt passed away Saturday and so I spent a large portion of my time this week with my family. It’s been crazy at work since I came home from youth lab. I am an entire week behind on everything. Hopefully now I am back in the swing of things.

After seeing Christopher’s satillite image I decided to take a look at google’s satillite maps. I found this image of Sullivan, MO. In the big white circle is the property of Temple Baptist Church where I work. The big brown looking part is actually the parking lot in front of our church that is now paved. To the left of that parking lot is another paved lot. Directly below the parking lot is the church building connected to another smaller parking lot on the side. This is pretty cool, I will be playing around with google satillite maps more often.

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More Notes From Youth Ministry Lab

April 14, 2005 @ 2:29 am by Pressed

Session 3 - Wes Black

What is the best effective student ministry? This is the thought that fills the minds and hearts of youth pastors around the world…”how can my church have a more effective ministry to teenagers?” It crosses the minds of many pastors that better buildings, better programs, and more up to date technology is the answer to building a strong effective youth ministry. However, Wes Black shared a new study that has just been completed on what makes up the most effective student ministries around the country.

This is the latest research in student ministry, the Exemplary Youth Ministry study, which answers many questions and provides a portrait of the best in youth ministry. They contacted churches of all sizes from seven denominations. Six thousand youth and adults completed an extensive questionnaire (265-354 items) about all aspects of a church’s youth ministry and then 21 congregations were selected for in-depth onsite visits. After three years they came up with a massive data bank to help guide and shape youth ministry.

Here are the top 9 things that make an eeffective student ministry:

1. It’s about God!
Exemplary youth ministry is marked by a sense of the presence and activity of God. Prayer, worship, and the presence of God are emphasized in the group.

2. This God wants to transform and claim students’ lives.
Exemplary youth ministry places an emphasis on spiritual growth, vocation (being the people of God), and discipleship. Spiritual gifts are identified and put into practice and there is an emphasis on knowing and doing. The purpose of the ministry is about changing lives.

3. This God is passionate about using kids and adults to change the world. These youth groups are active in mission trips, community service projects, and inviting friends to hear the gospel message in their youth services.

4. Unless youth ministry matters to the congregation, it doesn’t matter. If your youth ministry does not have the emotional, prayer, verbal, and financial support of the church as a whole it will most likely be unsuccessful.

5. All of this works out through quality relationships. Personal sense of relationships among the group between both teenagers and adults creates a strong group. This includes support for the youth minister, strong relationships between youth and adults, and strong family relationships.

6. It takes a team to do youth ministry. Longevity of the Youth Minister and the adult leaders makes a big difference in the quality of the group. The longer the Youth Pastor and adults have been involved the stronger the relationships will be. The pastor cannot do it on his own either, it takes a team.

7. It’s about family and the families influence. The youth group should seem like a big family. In successful youth ministries there is a strong family relationship between teens, adults, and parents and each one knows their role.

8. There are basic common practices that are effective. Do some of the same things you always do, but do them excellently. Don’t be afraid of traditions.

9. There are unique, innovative, creative practices that are effective. Long term strategies, putting ideas into context and exercising a long term plan thinking years in advance is another characteristic of sucessful youth groups.

If you are interested in more of this study with teenagers then look for the book entitled The Spirit and Culture of Youth Ministry coming out in 2006 by Roland Martinson and Wes Black.

More resources you can check out:

The Faith Journey of Young Adults (Journal of Youth Ministry, 2006, www.aymeducators.org)

National Study of Youth and Religion www.youthandreligion.org

Youth Ministry That Transforms www.linkinstitute.com

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AE’s Commenting Policy

April 10, 2005 @ 3:28 pm by Pressed

Commenting Policy

First of all I want you to know that I love to hear feedback from you (it’s the exciting part of blogging) and commenting is an easy way to get feedback. However, commenting on my personal site is not a right that you have but a privilege that I extend to you. Please respect the following rules while commenting on Avoiding Evil:

1. Do not use crude or inappropriate (as deemed by me) language within the comments.

2. Do not slander or malign anyone’s character within the comments, I prefer to keep Avoiding Evil a hate free zone.

3. I require your comment to have something to do with the post or the comment thread, please do not start off-topic commenting.

4. Do not leave comment spam or directly post your URL or E-Mail address within the comment box. Use the designated boxes to leave your information.

5. Do not intentionally use my blog as a means of posting extremely long and frequent comments to accomplish patronizing agendas, to force your conjecture and lofty opinions on others, or to treat my blog as a platform to present your ideas to the world wide web because you don’t have your own blog.

Failure to comply with the commenting rules could possibly result in deletion of the comment, alteration of your comment by me, and/or IP banning. (If I feel action is necessary I will e-mail you to let you know why I took action.)

Furthermore, it is important for you to remember that when you provide personal information (e.g., last name, address, phone number) in an online posting (such as the comments on the blog) that your information is visible to anyone, and may be used by someone in a manner unintended by you. For that reason, I discourage you from posting any personal information in the comments.

By leaving a comment you are agreeing to the above terms.

Special thanks to Christopher for the bulk of this policy.

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