Rocky Mountain High 2011

Every three years our denomination has a HUGE youth conference in Estes Park Colorado.  It's mostly only the Synod of the Heartland, which includes Minnesota, South/North Dakota, and Iowa.  It does not include us, but we've gone I think every time it's been held since we started our church 21 years ago by tagging along with a church in Des Moines.  That church has gotten HUGE so this year we went as our own entity because they saved spots of out-of-synod groups like us.

It's held at the YMCA of the Rockies and if you're looking for an AMAZING place to stay in Colorado, this is it.  It's a conference/retreat center so it has lodges and cabins, dining halls, meeting rooms, and a huge gym that they turned into our worship center for the week.  But it's all nestled in the mountains.  I mean, seriously, this was the view from my balcony.

So we spent the week going to seminars in the morning and hanging out in the afternoon.  Each morning and evening we'd have main sessions, which was basically a giant church session.  Worship was led by Kristian Stanfill.  I had head of Stanfill before -- he has a song on the local radio station and he's recorded on the Passion CDs -- but I wasn't incredibly familiar with him.  He totally ROCKS.  He has a song called Like a Lion that kind of became the anthem of the week.  A few other artists led worship as well, but seriously Stanfill was the worship leader who has the most rock infused worship which pretty much meant he was my favorite.

The messages were delivered by a few different people.  The main guy was Jared Herd and he did an AMAZING job of relating to the kids in a way that they were absolutely enraptured by him.  The them for the week was "Amplify," tuning in to God and turning up His message.  Trusting Him.  Knowing that He has plans for our lives.  "I don't know where I'm going, but I know who I'm following" was the biggest lesson we learned that week. We tell our kids to trust God week after week but this guy?  He conveyed it in a way that they got it.  I've got kids dealing with heart surgery, drug addiction in the family, death of a family member, moving 900 miles away... Not to mention the things they're dealing with that I don't know about.  It was awesome.

There was another guy there named Ben Glen who was a chalk artist.  The kids who went in '08 had raved and raved about him and I was worried that he wouldn't live up to the hype.  He is a motivational speaker who speaks at school and youth events (different things depending on the audience) and to teachers.  He was diagnosed with ADHD in school and struggled a lot with it.  Now in his tours, he'll talk and then "draw a pit-cher" (or the other way around -- draw and then talk).  People this guy is AMAZING.  He takes a giant bed sheet sized piece of canvas and turns it into an amazing piece of art.  I took a video of the breakout session he did but I want to respect his work and not post it (which is a bummer because seriously this guy is AMAZING).  But you can go to his YouTube channel and take a look at some of his work. Here is a short video that shows an example of his work.  He actually did this drawing at Rocky and I was in tears, folks.  Amazing.



Tuesday morning, a bunch of us climbed Hallet Peak in RMNP.  We left campus at 6 in the morning, when the sky looked like this:

It's about a ten hour hike round trip.  I didn't make it all the way to the top, sadly.  I made it about 3/4 of the way.  I wanted to quit about a mile before we actually did so in that respect I am INCREDIBLY proud of myself.  My knees couldn't handle anymore and as much as I wanted to push myself the extra mile to the top, it just got too steep and I didn't want them to have to come and rescue me at the top of the mountain!  Not to mention it was COLD up there above the treeline!

It was an amazing week.  Jerome can't wait to go back in three years because he says we will make it to the top of the mountain.  I personally hope we have a baby by then, but if not that's my goal, too.  =)

Resolution #3

Remember my New Year's post? #3 was to read at least 4 books on youth ministry/youth culture today.

Here is my list:

1. Hurt: Inside the World of Today's Teenagers
2. Deep Ministry in a Shallow World
3. Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry: From a Strategy of Influence to a Theology of Incarnation
4. Postmodern Youth Ministry

Please note that these are subject to change at will. (Meaning, if I find something interesting and want to read it.) To stay accountable on this one, I hope to make posts as I read each book, reflecting on what they each have to say, etc.

So Here's What's Been Up...

Life hasn't been busy so much recently as I just haven't wanted to sit and blog recently. Sorry. I have had SOME fun things happenind recently, though:

1. GRADUATION!! On May 16, I ceremoniously graduated from college with a BA in Elementary Education. (I "officially" graduated in Dec, but LU doesn't have a winter ceremony.) As much as I griped about it and didn't really want to do it, I'm glad I did. None of my family came (I told them not to worry about it) and I was okay with that because my best friend and her family were there (she also graduated) and I know that they (or, at least, SHE) cheered for me. It was nice to kind of come full circle. For those of you who don't know, my best friend Jen and I went to high school together, then went to the same college and roomed together our first two years. She moved into single parent housing when her beautiful daughter M was born, but we got to room together again our last semester. So, of course, it only made sense to graduate together again. (I kept saying I was only doing it because of that reason, and because it was her birthday, but in the end that wasn't the ONLY reason). Anyway, here are some pics from the day. I don't have any with Jen yet (they're on her and her sister's cameras), but here are some with my mom and brother:



(That last one has become a tradition because I did that at my college graduation and at my wedding. We'll probably even do it at HIS college graduation and wedding, LOL):



2. YOUTH SUNDAY
I'm so proud of my youth kids. Every year, we pick out scripture and some different materials to use to deliver the message and then guide them to the result: leading worship one Sunday in May! This year we did Isaiah 65 because of how our pastors had chosen our Dwelling passages (we've been in Isaiah since JANUARY), and I'm so proud of how all of them did! I of course helped orchestrate (no pun intended) the music worship. Overall, this was one of the best youth services we've had. Two of our kids did a skit called "The Guy with a Cardboard Christ" that was pretty freaking hilarious. It was all about a guy with a cardboard Christ and the basic lessont o be learned was that soooo many people have an image of God that isn't their image. And we did our own version of this video of this poem, "Broken Open"


3. Books.
I've been doing a lot of reading, so at least my lack of posts has been due to something constructive. I recently picked up Emily Giffin's Something Borrowed off of PaperBack Swap and enjoyed it. It was one of those easy chick lit books, very predictable, but good nonetheless. I have the sequel, Something Blue on my way to me and I just finished Baby Proof (which is not a sequel like I had thought). Here are some books on my to-read list (you can follow me on Goodreads.com, too, if you like!):
Veil of Roses by Laura Fitzgerald
Pretty in Plaid by Jen Lancaster
The Courage Tree by Diane Chamberlain
Ask Again Later by Jill A. Davis
Vision of White by Nora Roberts
Testimony by Anita Shreve
I also finished The Shack about a week and a half ago and I have one word: AMAZING.

My mom didnt let me watch Roger Rabbit when I was younger...

Because she was worried I'd get the wrong impression from Jessica Rabbit. Ha ha. (It's on TV right now, so I thought I'd share that little tid bit.)

J is cashing in a mutual fund that has been losing money for a few years now because he hasn't put anything in there. We're using it to pay off our smaller department store credit cards. This helps a LOT because we'll have about $100 more a month for expenses and my student loans kick in in June (blech) so as long as I find steady employment soon, there really IS a light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. Hee hee.

He also needs a new car. We're trying to push the one he has as long as possible, but I'm just not sure it's going to last very long. He's bee looking at cars online and has found a few he likes, but I worry that he's going to find something he loves and get his heart set on it but we won't be able to afford it. And with my employment being up in the air right now, I really don't need the stress of $150+ a month in car payments.

In other news, my graduation ceremony is on Saturday. I'm not too keen on going, but my best friend and I graduated high school together, so she wants us to walk in our college ceremony together. Plus it's her birthday, so what are you gonna do? J has to work and can't find anybody to come in, which I don't really mind. I wouldn't want to sit through a graduation of a couple thousand people. (Oh, and for those who were wondering, I WAS able to order my cap and gown. Yay!)

Our youth kids are planning the service for May 17. It's an annual thing and it's always a hit with the congregation. This year, like every year, I'm working with the kids ont he music. The other night went so well and I'm so proud of how hard they are all working! In the past, I've had trouble getting them to listen to each other and to not be afraid of the mics. This year I don't have that problem. They are all for the most part confident and listening to themselves and to each other. And the band is more youth than it has in years past. Our drummers are in 6th and 7th grade, our guitarist is in 10th grade, and our bass player is in 9th grade. Our piano player is our regular piano player, but you're only as young as you feel, right?! It's going to be a lot of fun and I'll be sure to post pictures.

I'm also going to the Cedarledge open house on Sunday the 17th. It'll be nice to go back to visit and give tours to families. And I'm pretty sure I"m to a point where I can handle being there without getting too emotional. It's werid, though. K asked me to lead worship on the 31st because she ad the woman she usually asks to fill in will be out of town. I told her I could do it, then realized that if I were going to camp this summer, I would have been gone! So weird!! I'm making plans for the summer and looking for a summerr job.... I'ver never had this kind of liberty with my summer. (Not that I'm complaining, because camp was a huge part of my childhood and made me who I am.) Should be interesting...

I'm so Proud of My Kids

I haven't worked with either youth group this semester because of student teaching, so I didn't get to see any of this come about, but check this out:



They pulled this together and performed it this past weekend. They got their inspiration from this video: