The Hunt IV

Yet another amazing Hunt this year! 148 students participated, and many adults. The girls and I attend the Hunt every year, and help out in some way, but this was my first year to be a driver. I had a group of six 7th graders (including Hannah) in my car. My friend Kelly rode with us and kept me sane. It took us almost 4 hours of driving around to complete the mission. We were the 12th team (out of 29) to finish. I recovered nicely after taking 4 Advil and drinking 2 Cokes.

Back from Barnabas

Lance returned home today from 9 days at Camp Barnabas. He is tired, and sick. We are glad he's home. We missed him tons!

Reality Week Pics

Where Has the Week Gone?

I returned home from camp a week ago, exhausted but excited about what I had experienced. It was great to be at camp with middle school and high school students again. These kids are amazing, all of them. It was a privilege to get to know some of them better and to hear their stories.

Of course, I can't describe all that went on this year at camp, but I'll hit some highlights.

First, I've never seen a large group of students love each other like these kids do. From the oldest to the youngest, each one was taken in and made to feel a part of the family that is Underground Student Movement. We had several kids who are new to LifePoint on the trip and a few who have never attended a service or been to the Underground. These students were taken in by the group before the buses arrived at Millersville. It was also incredible to watch older students befriend and mentor younger ones.

Another highlight was having some of our good friends from Texas here for the week. Clay Walker spoke to the students Sunday morning at Elevate and Uprising, then each evening during the week. From hilarious stories to great truths and challenges, Clay was phenomenal.

Todd Wright and band played for our morning and evening services. I have known Todd and his family for years, and love to worship with him. He is an amazing song writer and musician. Please do yourself a favor and check out his new CD, All The Freed. Great stuff.

Forrest Layton, one of our former students, flew in from Nashville to play guitar with the band. I first met Forrest when he was in middle school. Throughout his high school years, Forrest played for our student ministry on Sunday mornings. This guy is super talented and fun to listen to.

One last highlight of the week had to be cornhole. We set up four cornhole games in a large commons room in the dorm and each night everyone gathered there. It was fun to stand on the balcony that stretched across the room and look down on everyone throwing some corn bags and interacting. It was also fun to stay up late and play after sending the kids to bed at midnight each night.

So, that was camp from my perspective this year. I'll post some photos later when I have time.

Reality Week 2008

I'm headed to camp this week with the student ministry. Camp was once a part of my summer each year. Then Chloe came along and when she was an infant we moved across the country and away from our family. I haven't been to camp in 5 years now. Thanks to good friends Julie and Jodie who will be taking care of Rachel and Chloe, I'm going this year! I'm excited to be rooming with Rachel, it will be like old times.

Upgrade

Hannah is now officially a part of the middle school ministry at LifePoint. We had a blast yesterday at the Elevate Upgrade Party. It was a great way to welcome all the soon to be 7th graders into the group. What great kids. Thanks for a fun event, Jason. Here are some photos from our day at Adventure Park USA.

Weekend 180 - Becoming

Weekend 180 was an amazing time again this year. Even more amazing for us because it was Hannah's first student ministry event. It was a great event for the incoming 6th graders to take part in. They'll be moving into the Underground Student Movement this summer. Hannah is ready!

Lance doing one of the things he does best

Ross King and band

Ross rocks the Underground

Hannah and friends

Hannah's group takes the stage to share their Big Live

Todd Wright - singer-song writer-speaker extraordinaire (and funniest man in the world)

BreakAway Boot Camp

Rachel had a blast at her first over night church event this weekend. She rode the giant swing at RVR and told us, "It was terrifying and I loved it!"

Thanks Jen and the BA team for putting together such a great event.

Just Another Sunday Together at LifePoint

Here it is. The finale from Children's/Student Ministry Weekend Services at Lifepoint, May 2007.

The Hunt 3: Dr. Z's Final Move

Agents of the UGR gathered at headquarters Sunday afternoon for information on a new plan to stop Dr. Z and his G.O.F.E.R. (Global Offensive for Evil's Renaissance) forces once and for all. The Duke arrived via helicopter just in time to rally the agents. Next, Earl von Strausenberg laid out the plan, Operation Check Mate.

During von Strausenberg's presentation Dr. Z broke in with a video feed showing his latest destruction. His goons had been busy kidnapping the wives of the staff and elders of LifePoint Church. The footage of these abductions only fueled the fire in each agent present and made them all more determined to put an end to Dr. Z. Agent Lurch regained control of the room, reminding the agents that his wife was there with them and had not been taken. At that very moment, two G.O.F.E.R. goons burst into the room. Surprising all those present, they grabbed Lurch's wife and dragged her away.

The agents quickly received their final orders and sprang into action to locate the wives and bring down Dr. Z.

Thanks to the hard work of many UGR agents and undercover field agents, the wives were rescued and Dr. Z was once again captured. Agent XYZ, The White Knight, escorted Dr. Z back to UGR headquarters. While waiting to be transported back to Blackheart Island, Dr. Z made a daring escape in the helicopter and flew away into the night.

We soon heard from Dr. Z again through video and watched as he celebrated yet another escape. Little did Z know that The Duke was there waiting, poised and ready to pull the trigger. His celebration turned into maniacal laughter and we watched as Z choked to death on a hot dog. The Duke confirmed his death and agents of the UGR returned home to their families, no longer worried with the looming chaos of Dr. Z and G.O.F.E.R.

Here It Goes Again . . . and Again

This is the first video I have posted on my blog. And, what better to start with than this one? Lance, Jason, Jeff, and Ben did an incredible job on the treadmills. You may have seen it on Lance's blog, but this is a better quality version. Enjoy!

Retreat

I spent the weekend at LifePoint's annual women's retreat. It was fun to get away and spend time with friends. The location was the same as last year, so that meant great accomodations and lots of good food. Not a lot of sleep. I am tired.

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night!

Well, this is it. I am pumped! A new ministry year kicks off this weekend at LifePoint.

For Children's Ministry (infants - 6th grade) that means promotion. Chloe will now be in KidPoint Green (the older pre-k class), Rachel will be in BreakAway (4th-5th grade), and Hannah will be in 6th Street (just for 6th graders). Hannah is also serving on the presentation team for KidPoint. Last week she met with her team and brought home a cool puppet and some scripts.

I am so excited about the nursery team this year. Most of them are returning from last year, but we have some great new additions as well. There are 56 members on the nursery team that will be staffing the 4 rooms for the 3 services.

Yes, I said 3 services! This weekend we will begin having a Saturday evening service at 5:30 in addition to the 2 Sunday morning services. During the Saturday service, classes will be offered for infants - 3rd graders. Our family will be worshipping together on Saturdays. And on Sundays, Lance and I will be working while our kids go to their classes and serve.

It has been an amazing summer and I can't imagine what is in store for us this fall. I love this place!