363 days ago I wrote my first ever "blog post" it was on MySpace and not really meant fully for public consumption. Now I have a real blog, several regular readers (literally tens of people every day) and the same motivation for posting. First I present to you that old post

Youth ministry

I have been in youth ministry for almost 10 years now and there is no other job I could be happy doing.

Sometimes it is incredibly frustrating. Students won't listen or they don't seem to care what you are teaching, or they refuse to do something very simple like bring their Bibles to church with them.

But other times are truly rewarding. Today was one of those times. This was youth Sunday at our church and that means that our youth lead in every part of the service. They taught adult Sunday school classes, they filled the choir, they took up offering and prayed every public prayer. Also today we watched a video of Brandon's [who has moved to Texas] Baptism, and Derrick gave his testimony.

It was a wonderful experience and I am proud of all of them

Thank you to my youth group.

Yesterday was again youth Sunday but yesterday had a different feel than previous years. Our students taught all the adult SS classes, filled the choir and, led the music, etc. Normally our main speakers are the graduating seniors, but we had no graduating seniors, so I, as the youth minister, decided to be the main speaker. My message was very simple. I simply explained the gospel clearly and thoroughly. In the past, youth Sunday has always, been about the students. But as I shook hands with people as they were leaving I could not help but feel like it was different. I felt that I somehow took away from the emphasis on the youth. I am proud of them, they did an excellent job and deserve whatever credit they get.

Regarding my message, I have listened to it, and I am still convinced that I am not a preacher, nor am I likely to be one. It was my first time ever in the pulpit since I began in the ministry, and it was not terrible. I was clear, and people seemed interested. (Only like 4 people had their eyes closed.) Essentially I went slow and repeated myself often. I have way too many uhmms and okays, to be a good public speaker. I have included the message in this post if you want to listen to it, or you can download it here. It's long, so carve yourself out a good chunk of time.

[audio=http://lagrangeparkbc.org/audio/08.17.08.mp3]