My Epic Journey

I know it has been a while since I have written last. 

Family . . .

. . . ministry . . .

. . . school have kept me very busy. 

I will try to be more consistent.

But now I have a reason to write.

8 members of our EPIC Leadership Team just finished a day at our local YS One Day.

It was really good!!!  I really needed it!

The focus this year–back to the Bible.

Interestingly, tomorrow we kick off our Origins series.  It is a fresh look at Genesis (I will write more about this next week).

Many of the things we learned today I already had ready to implement tomorrow.  Either I am a head of the curve or I have been trained well by others (okay, it is the latter).

Our trainer for the day was Crystal Kirgiss.  Crystal has worked with teenagers for more than 20 years. She writes a monthly column for Youthwalk magazine and is the author of What’s Up With Boys?. She’s also the coauthor of Guys, Girls and Sex Has a Price Tag, and she teaches at Purdue University.  She was hilarious and poignant!

I would encourage any one who is a youth pastor, volunteer leader, small group leader, etc. to find a One Day training in your area in register.  For our team, it was well worth it.

Thanks to my leaders who gave up a Saturday for the sake of the student ministry at Grace Point!!!!

We are currently in a series called, Outflow.

Our next series is, Origins:  Taking a Fresh Look at Genesis. 

Our goal–focus more on the Bible and less on the programming.

To help myself and our leaders to accomplish this goal, we are taking our leaders to a One Day training put on by Youth Specialties.

The event will be held April 18th, right here in Columbus, OH.

Check out this video promo for the event.

As I was reading today in Psalm I came across a verse that stuck out.

Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

Psalm 84.10 (NIV)

This verse was recently made into a current worship song by Matt Redman.  I say current because the writer of the Psalm meant it also as a song.

Questions quickly arose from this that I thought good to pass along:

1. When was the last time you spent a DAY in the courts of God?
2. What does that mean, look like, smell like, sound like.
3. What does it mean to be a "doorkeeper" in God’s house?
4. Am I a doorkeeper?  If not, is it because of the company I surround myself with?

Take some time over the next couple of days to wrestle with this verse and these questions and then take a DAY spent in God’s courts.