Less of me...literally!

A month ago, Josh Griffin started a competition call Youthpastordiet.com. On a whim I told my wife, Hey, I'm gonna sign up for this thing it looks cool. I had been talking about losing weight and getting back into shape. It hit me during our midweek gathering, we were playing a game called Ups and Downs and it involved running around our fellowship hall. By the end of the 5 mins I could barely breath. I was so winded that I had to cancel my lesson that I had planned and let my students just hang out and talk for the rest of the time. I was embarrassed, how in the world could I be winded after 5 mins when I've ran half marathons before?

Well the fact is there was WAY more of me now then there was then! I weighed about 180-185 the and ran a road race about once every two months. Now, I had seen a gym, treadmill, or my running shoes in over two years. I had reach the most I had ever weighed and I knew it. I jumped on the scale at home, and after it said "Holy Smokes!", it told me I weighed 230. Now 230 isn't that bad, I know youth ministers who weigh way more than that, but for me it was a lot. When I graduated high school I weighed around 135-140. So I've always been naturally skinny. That night I sat down on the couch and bent over to untie my shoes. Once again I lost my breath because my stomach was so big.

That was when I read about the competition and was like alright I'm all in. I'm probably not going to win the money, I'm a lot smaller than most that are signed up, but that's not the point. I need to get my life back on track and it starts now. I owe it to myself to be healthy and be in this youth ministry game for a long time. I owe it to my family to be a good healthy example. I owe it to my wife to be the energetic passionate husband I was when we married. I owe it to my youth to be able to keep up and be healthy example for them when so many in their life may not be. And last bit certainly not least, I owe it to the Creator of the universe to keep this body that he entrusted me with in proper working order.

I hope that you join me on this quest to regain my life. If you see me at Simply Youth Ministry conference, the competition will be winding down, and I hope you see more of Him and less....WAY less of me!

Just Keep Swimming!

Keep it simple!

The other day I was checking out Josh Griffin's blog http://www.morethandodgeball.com and was looking for inspiration. As usual I found a TON of it, by the way Josh I'm stealing the Instagram idea and putting my spin on it, but it got me to thinking. When I see stuff on Josh's blog or others for that matter, why do I instantly think about wow it would be nice to be able to do a HUGE zombie event or something like that, but we're to small.

So if your like me, and I'm sure you are (doubt I have to many mega church readers) your probably at a smaller setting than Saddleback. Here are a few thoughts about that, and I'm a good Southern Baptist pastor so it will be a three point post with an invitation at the end....just joking about the invitation.

1: Inspiration
What can I draw from this to inspire an idea of my own? Josh's Instalife series is AWESOME looking! But some of it I don't know, for example his outline etc, but how can I take the same principle, an Instagram based sermon and make it my own? Josh also had awesome copies of what I assume are Instagram pictures from his students, SWEET! But I'm on a limited budget and at around $12 a pop that's not in the picture for me. However, I can take my pictures and put them on a slide show and just have them cycle around while I talk, or I can print out regular picture prints and put them on tables for the students to see. So when I see something that's awesome I try not to dismiss it, but think of how I can adapt it to work for me.

2: Scrap it
Sometimes an idea is just awesome, but cannot work in my setting. The Zombie Apocalypse game was an outstanding idea! I saw that and instantly started the gears turning to see how it could work with 30 students and 6 adults. But then as I was discussing it with some parents, they expressed concern about it being "zombie" related. Scrap that one! Don't get me wrong, no feelings hurt but after hearing their concerns I realized in a traditional Southern Baptist church in a small town, the idea was a nonstarter. Just because of your church environment an idea might not work, doesn't mean it's not good, just doesn't fit your group.

3: Embrace your individuality
What makes your group, your group? Josh's group is HUGE! Mine not so much, but our group is as unique as Josh's. Some of our best ideas, would not work at Saddleback. We had a "Camo" themed night, since a lot of my students hunt and are outdoorsy. Would that work at Saddleback? Probably not as well, but Josh would have to answer that. One idea that we embrace is that we are smaller, I LOVE the fact that I know every student by name, I know their family, I know what sports they play and can go to the games. We can do spur of the moment stuff.

One of our best event this year? A spur of moment event we planned to take our group to a local pumpkin patch. We had awesome relational time and it was a blast. Next year we're planning on doing it again, this time with a little more planning and it will be a annual event. Check out some pics of our event, see if that gives you some inspiration. And as always...

Just Keep Swimming!