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WARNING!! : This post is directed towards the students involved at Reedy Fork Baptist Church and any other teenagers that might be reading

So it is finally here, at least it will be here tomorrow. The beginning of the next school year. As summers go this one was pretty good. Our youth ministry had some great things happen over the summer. We had some great memories and made some important decisions. We will look back on this summer as being pretty great. But what now? Will we forget about those times? Will we box them up an save these past three months of memories for ourselves and those who experienced them with us? Or will we walk boldly into school and let everyone know how awesome our summer was?

I have already had one student tell me that they never told people that didn’t go to our church that they were going to church. It made me think. As I thought about it I had a question come to mind so I tweeted it.

? of the day: Are you ashamed to tell people you are a Christian because of what they might think of you OR what they might expect of you?

It is a question we all need to answer. If we aren’t telling people about our involvement with church then we are probably not telling people about our relationship with Christ. So I thought some more and remembered a verse. So I tweeted it.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, Romans 1:16a

Paul understood the power of the cross and the importance of Christ. He was not ashamed of it, quite the opposite he was proud of it. Paul was bold and excited about his experience and he set the world on fire for God.

As you go back to school the only thing that is holding you back from making an impact is yourself and your priorities. I can promise you being a bold Christian is tough but it is not nearly as bad as it sounds. God didn’t call us to be  jumping up on tables at school and preaching a sermon.

But what he did call us to do is to love Him and to acknowledge Him.  When you are asked, tell your friends that you spent a lot of time with your church youth group this summer. Tell them you  learned a lot about yourself and God and feel closer to Him.  Tell them that it made such a difference in your life that they should come check out your youth group. Maybe it is Wednesday night or Sunday Morning or a 5th Quarter it doesn’t matter tell them and stop denying Him.

The power to reach your friends does not lie within your youth pastor or Sunday School teachers or Pastor. The power to reach your friends has been given to you. Don’t be weird about it. Let it come naturally allow the Spirit to open those doors. You should go to school everyday asking God to give you a chance to tell others about Him.  But be ready, if you ask He will provide and don’t think He won’t.

I believe that we stand on the edge of something really great in our community. God wants to use you. Will you let Him?

What was I saying? Where was I? Ummm. Those are common phrases for me in the course of a day. No matter how important my activity I always got lost or off track. I would always joke “It is my ADHD” but even though I said I was ADHD I never did anything about it. One of the reasons for that was that I had attached a stigma to the disorder and the medication to treat the disorder. As far as I was concerned I had made it this far with no medication I didn’t need it.

The senior classes started….

Large amounts of reading and writing were insurmountable tasks. I got worried …really worried.

I began researching ADHD and I discovered just how wrong I had been and as I read up on symptoms and took tests I realized just how wrong I had been about this disorder. There were three areas that I recognized in myself  that I never associated with ADHD. Like many people I assumed that ADHD meant I could’t sit still or pay attention but it is so much more than that. Here are the three factors that pushed me over the edge.

Sleeplessness- I have struggled for years to go to sleep. As my head hits the pillow my mind floods with all the things that are going on in the week and all the problems I can not figure out how to solve. Turns out this is a hyperactivity symptom and is fairly common.

Impulsivity- Regardless of if it was shopping or acting on a decision I see I want or like I react and go all in.

Stubbornness- The most common criticism I get from most people is I am stubborn.  Apparently it is a symptom. But the thing about this symptom is not that people with ADHD are jerks and inconsiderate but rather they see a problem think through it and arrive at a conclusion and they move towards it. It is thta they don’t care but their minds have locked in on an idea and they can’t be easily swayed.

After learning all this I made an appointment with the doctor.  After two months on Adderall I notice a marked difference and benefits.

Later this week I will post some thoughts on the benefits

We use KNOWN curriculum from Lifeway resources for our Sunday and Wednesday youth group. I always adapt the concept and points of the Midweek lesson to make my own lesson and yet stay on point. I did that this week and it went real well so I thought I would post my outline. Essentially I only used the “5 types” portion from the KNOWN material  the rest is my own.

Our Lesson at COLLIDE Youth Worship From May 4 2011

Stirring Up Trouble

I. Daily Drama Everywhere

Adam and Eve – Adam: “It was her and You gave her to me God”  can you imagine the conversation after God left? The only two people on the planet and Adam just threw Eve under the bus.

Jesus Dealt With It-Pharisees ALL up in His grill

-Mark 2:1-12 called blasphemous

-Lk 5:29-32 caught eating with outcasts

-Mt 9:14-17 Criticized for not fasting

-Mt 12:1-8 Caught picking grain on the sabbath

Lk 6:6-11 Caught healing on the sabbath

-Mt 19:3-9 Confronted about divorce

  I Deal With It

Youth/Parents- C’mon as a Youth Pastor I can’t get away from drama

Church Members- Ever been to a church? No shortage of drama

Family- I have three children and two daughters. If I hear “DADDY SHE HIT ME” one more time

Random People- You know that lady in the grocery store that always cuts you off when you are trying to reach the mac and cheese?  Well I do!

You Deal With It

At School- You know who I am talking about and if you don’t….It’s you

At Home-  If you are not the youngest child let’s face it you are your parents experiment and they just hope they don’t screw up. Boys when you hit puberty your momma stopped knowing how to handle you. Girls when you hit puberty your daddy bought a new gun. Nuff said

At Play- Been to the mall lately? DRAMA

At Work- Wait who am I kidding? But if you do work Lord knows that there is always someone who’s grandma has died 16 times and is always claiming they got hurt on the job

II.  5 Types of Drama Mamas (Boy’s can be Drama Mama’s too. If you “give birth” to drama you is the mama)

1. The Angry Mama Prov 15:18- That person who is mad about everything they are even mad they are mad and single out anyone they can be mad at

2.The Troublemakin’ mama Prov 16:28- This person loves chaos and conflict. They just love to stir the pot and sit back and relax. Another type wants attention so bad they are always getting into trouble.

3. The Mockin’Mama Prov 22:10- Always making fun of people and things

4. The Gossip Mama Prov 26:20- They love your dirt…..mhmmm girl done gone told on ya

5. The Greedy Mama Prov 28:25- They want what they want and they do whatever they have to to get it

III. How to deal with and how not to be the Drama Mama

1. Focus Col 3:2- Set your mind on things above

2. Remember Matt 5:9- The peacemakers get the blessings…let it go and make peace

3. Be Biblical Matt 18- If you can’t avoid the drama follow the path the Bible lays out to deal with a troublemaker

from churchleaders.com

My friend Joe Donahue has authoored a book here is the promotional video. I will review when I get my copy.

We are doing a twist on the Cardboard Testimonies this Sunday as a opening in our youth service this weekend and I have had a couple people ask about it so I thought I would post instructions.

We are using the video I posted not to long ago “The Church”  to use as a backdrop.

During the first verse students will come up with a cardboard sign but instead of a “testimony” they will have a US statistic on each one I have chosen

Rape

Suicide

Robberies

Divorce

Porn Industry Profit

The final two signs will say “In The United States” and “Last Year”

When the chorus begins one student will come up and hold a sign that says “Now’s the Time”

For the second verse I use World statistics. I chose

Hunger

Deaths from hunger

Lack of Clean Water

Poverty

Deaths from poverty

Number of Countries at War

Number of Non Christians

Followed by the sign “In the World”

As before on the chorus one student will hold a sign that reads “Now’s the Time”

During the bridge the students will parade to the stage with pictures of hurting people (I simply googled starving children, homeless man/woman, lonely man/woman etc etc) and stand on the stage half on one side half on the other until the end of the bridge and then when the chorus begins for the final time the student with the “Now’s the Time” comes out to center stage.

To end during the exiting stanza the students all randomly exit one by one to different exits in the building.

I hope it makes a great impact and is useful to you as well I will post a video of it later.

I am taking a Sociology course this semester and our first assignment was to write a few thoughts on the church’s role in helping the needy. Here are my thoughts

Merry Christmas from the Whole Roth Family!!