A month

I am so sad that it has been an entire month since I last blogged...and by the way Happy Tax Day! I am up to my eyeballs in YM work. Is it me or is this last stretch a busy time of year? So this weekend is our Confirmation Retreat...I'm finding myself just a tad bit panicked. Why? Well I have one speaker section to fill still. Not kidding...I've called a handful of people and most have said no...and I'm holding out for one dad/confirmation sponsor. I hope it works out... am resting it in God's hands now. Our theme is "Now What?" as in WTH am I suppose to do now that I am confirmed. Our theme song is Van Halen's "Right Now" It should be an interesting and fun retreat...at the end of the day we can always feel that 30 min time slot with another game. So on top of Confirmation itself I am also planning Senior Dinner, Confirmation, and our last couple of gatherings before the summer. And then I get to take some time off...but that is for another post! Happy Easter!

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Dreaded Phone Call

Well last week I got the dreaded phone call. It came on my cell phone and I didn't recognize the number. Seemed suspicious but I answered it anyway. Then I quickly realized why is this happening to me. It was a mother of two boys that last year came to Youth Ministry more than enough times. These two boys are so disruptive and have no idea how rude or inconsiderate they are. The mother was inquiring on Confirmation which if you read my other posts you would know that our last class was MARCH 1st!!! I explained to her that he missed all of his classes this year and he would need to take our second year of Confirmation next year. But as I clenched my fist and squirmed my face told her that both of the boys were welcome to start Youth Ministry at anytime. She bit...she asked when the classes were etc. etc. When I got off the phone I felt good. There is a reason God is sending these boys to me and it is my new Lenten Sacrifice to be extra nice and welcoming to them. Then this Sunday before Youth Group the same mom calls me (and I knew who it was cause I saved her number from the last time she called). Apparently her oldest son had been calling around and his Confirmation Friends told him we did't have anything that night. Well I assured her that it we had YM and how sad that our Confirmation Youth don't think that YM is "anything." (But I posted about this already so I'm gonna continue with my story as though it doesn't really bother me.) So I had a lot of prepping to do if I was going to pull off the welcoming niceness that I know these boys needed. I first broke it to me Adult Leaders many of whom have dealt with these boys before and know there ins and outs. I had rolling of the eyes and some leaders even looked like they were in a great deal of pain. Then I had to break it to my Youth Leaders who would have these boys in their small groups. I must say both leaders had a "deer in headlights" look to them when I told them. I did feel sorry for them but assured them that they could handle this situation. So in came the boys...and I greeted them with a smile and told them who they were with. Both boys went obediently to their designated groups and from what I could tell were complient and as respectful as can be. I even heard that one of the younger boys classmates texted him to see what was the matter. He was well behaved and attentive. Not that I don't trust their good behavior but I'm thinking they must have really got into trouble for something. So if you are reading this offer up a quick prayer for our YM program so that we can minister to these boys without fixating on the past. God's Peace!

Deader than a Door Nail

it's that time of the year where I begin to see people drop off the face of the earth. Our last class for Confirmation was last week and we had 55 kids easily out our youth ministry gathering...last night we had 22 people. Now had this blog been started earlier I would have been complaining about growing pains...how we had too many people coming and we just weren't ready...but last night that group of kids were so dead...they were zoned out. Now my adults the optimists that they are gave me excuses...time change, severe storms, spring break coming...however one smart adult as we were leaving told me the truth...now that Confirmation is over they have the mind set that they are done...How sad is that? But how true? I need to find a way to conquer this way of thinking. And it ain't gonna be easy....maybe I'll start with a few facebook messages and then a few phone calls. God's Peace!

Gotta Love my Pastor

I am not even joking when I say that on Friday I drag my twin 4 year old boys to our staff meeting at 9 a.m. Our staff couldn't agree on a time so once again I gave in and said I could do Friday mornings if I could bring my kids. It's been frustrating for me and also quite commical. I think my Pastor is getting a little tired of them running around because he came in my office last week and asked what days would work for a staff meeting better for me. I told him next year the boys would be at school on M-W-F so any of those days work. Yeah I could have found someone to watch them for an hour or two but really...could no one else juggled their schedule so I could have met on a day when I didn't have them.

So I must tell you this story...you'll love it:

I was making dinner the day before last when I got a text from a girl that texts me all the time with little piddly things. It went like this:
Youth: What is a creed. I am really confused...
Me: (knowing she was working on make up Confirmation work says): I think you should contact your sponsor.
Youth: Do you have (name of sponsor's) number?
Me: (getting frustrated) Do you have a phone book? I am in the middle of something?
Youth: oh yeah :) thanks

Are you kidding me? I'm sorry you don't know what a creed is! Seriously this is one of the kids that doesn't go to Mass but is getting Confirmed? And you want me to text you information on the creed? Then you want me to look up your own sponsors telephone number for you?????!!!!! I did later call and leave a message for the sponsor and just said look I refered youth back to you...this may be a great opportunity for you to bond with Youth.

I love my job I really do! But when stuff like this happens...I'm thinking are you kidding me? I even looked at my cell phone to see if there was a way to block her texts (there wasn't) because she is really driving me crazy with piddly stuff that she should really be doing on her own. Look up a phone number is not in my Job Description. Not that most of the things that I do are.

Confirmation Meetings

Do you think I seriously would plan a meeting with 5 parents so I can just get organized for our upcoming Confirmation Retreat? Are you kidding me? I had an agenda, I did research on themes, I even did the prayer for us all to use. Seriously I walked out of there with a list of things that I will do call presenters, finish up the timeline, registration forms...etc etc. I even said one time I think we had this meeting for me to get organized...what are you all going to do? I was able to delegate two things 1 our pitch in dinner for closing, 2. the Confirmation letters (which are a huge task).

I love Confirmation Retreat...seriously I do...and I know that the people on team have no idea how to plan a retreat...I just need to get better at delegating...and all the things on my list I feel pretty responsible for.

You wanna no the theme, "now what?" I'm kinda excited about it...I am off to look up the lyrics to the Van Halen song "Right Now!"...God's Peace!

The Wall

I'm tired. I can tell because I've been in my office for 1 hour and haven't done anything productive. I always say after Christmas youth ministry gets really hard for everybody. I tend to see a drop off in attendance, my volunteers are exhausted, and I just can't muster the energy to think of one more thing creative. So in March and February I like to start mixing things up. Last week I had small group leaders play switch a roo. They all moved to a different small group just to tweak things a little. At some meetings I do a backwards meeting...so our order is usually: small groups, gospel reading, small group faith sharing, personal witness, game, prayer, class time, snacks, leave. On backwards night we do snack, class time, prayer, game, witness, small group faith sharing, gospel reading, small groups. I did it for the first time last year and it just was refreshing enough.

So this morning first thing I get a phone call from my faith formation rep who is also a parent and she happened to be upstairs when we started our dancing (our dynamic I will blog about another day). She called just to give a compliment. She said, "Chris I was just calling to tell you that you are so able to relate to the kids. Even the adults that were there were having a great time. And the Conga line was a great way to go because even the kids that weren't dancing could do that." Gee thanks! I've only been doing this for 6 years...you think I'd still be here is I wasn't able to relate to the kids....although I do appreciate a positive phone call coming through my telephone. It's a heck of a lot better than the other phone calls I get.