To all you worn out ,under paid, under appreciated, taken for granted, glorified babysitters, and please make sure you bring the van back with a full tank of gas, all my sleeping bags come from the camp lost & found and why do I keep having the same dream about a mega pizza. ( Youth Pastors ) This video is for you. I think it pretty much sums it all up. You guys ROCK! watch?v=HPI2xYtso-s

Death brings pain no matter what the circumstances, but when it strikes a young person it can be devastating. Our hearts are breaking today for the family of a teenager who died this week after football practice at Ft. Campbell High School. This young man was only 16 years old, well loved by family and friends and a member of Ft. Campbell’s Club Beyond. We are so thankful for the ministry of Gil and Patti Carter, who lead Club Beyond at Ft. Campbell and were immediately available to counsel with teenagers and families, in the midst of their own hurt. Gil and Patti are in place in that community because of the faithful support of people like you, who see the need for ministry to military teens. I know that at military bases across the country, ministry to military teens is happening on a daily basis. It is that daily work that earns us the right to be in the middle of great tragedy and speak the name of Jesus in tough situations. My role is to support people like Gil and Patti, and help them reach as many teenagers as possible through the ministry of Club Beyond.

We spent a few days in Southern California after my mom’s memorial service, and one afternoon while eating lunch I struck up a conversation with two ladies sitting nearby. (My kids look at each other and roll their eyes when I do this but it hasn’t stopped me yet). They asked where we were from, which leads to the almost inevitable question of “what do you do?” I always enjoy sharing with people about the ministry of YFC Military Youth Ministries. Many people have some connection to someone in the military, so it resonates with them and they are excited to learn more about it. It turns out that these ladies were married to men who had served in the military many years ago, and they were revisiting some of the duty stations where they had lived. Before they left they slipped a bill into my hands, and said, “we know it’s just a drop in the bucket, but we want to help any way we can.” What a great reminder that God can use any situation to further His work! We are so excited about what God is doing through the ministry of MYM and glad to have an opportunity to share that with others.

So the world blogs now. At first I thought the word blog was a definition for not feeling well. Then my oldest son Tony and a few friends told me that I needed to BLOG. So what does a 46 year old worn out youth pastor blog about. Well maybe the fact that I am a 46 year old worn out youth guy. Or maybe the fact that I am going on my 25th year of ministry ( fundraising my support most of the way ), Well let me start with this. I am a ex jock, I really do not know what that means, but that is what I claim to be. Most of my life up until the age of 22 centered around football and only football, if it had nothing to do with football then I had nothing to do with it. As far as God was concerned, WELL, he didn’t have much to do with football so I had nothing much to do with him. It took God 22 years to get my attention, and trust me that was not easy, it took some pretty Major shakeups in my life to get to the point for me to even listen to him. Skip ahead to a new Christian guy hanging out in a small Baptist church in Utah ( Ya Baptist church in Utah ) the pastor asked me one Sunday If I would mind hanging out with some of the bored teenagers in the church. I had a real problem with this, I DID NOT like kids, heck I barely liked people. Now back then there were very few youth pastors in this world, like there is today with Middle school pastor, high school pastor, college pastor, guys pastor, girls pastor, friends of guys and girls pastor, I will stop now. So being a good new christian guy who is trying to get his life turned around and please his new pastor I said NO! Turned out that this pastor was a stubborn pastor. So after a few weeks I gave in. I hooked up with 6 high school guys and went and shot hoops. So here I sit 25 years later telling my self I should have told that pastor NO! Being in full time youth ministry has truly been a real pain. Yep I said real pain. For 25 years I have not gotten to bed befor midnight, I have driven nothing but old, used or borrowed cars. I hear that you can get some other kind of bank account called a SAVINGS account, wouldn’t know about that, and more than once my wife and friends have asked what I am going to do when I grow up. I have performed funerals, I have told a drunk dad that his son has died,if I hear one more time that” my boyfriend broke up with me’ I am going to pop, I have spent way to many years in a stinky old juvenile hall. I have consumed more pizza then any man should and swallowed gold fish that I am sure will some day kill me.

And I have got to say, I would not trade any one of those years or moments for the world. I cant Waite to see what the next 25 years might hold. It ain’t easy, but there is nothing better.

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body. But rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: WOW! WHAT A RIDE!!

“Thanks for coming in and have a great day!” These are the most common farewell words used at our Teen Pregnancy Center. All though they are sincere and caring words, we want to see them slowly disappear. Ok, now that I have you really confused, let me explain. Typically when a young lady comes into our center doors she is scared and confused. We generally get to spend 45 minutes with her to give her a pregnancy test, explain her options, listen to her story, and let her know that Jesus loves her no matter what. However, the staff and I want to see that 45 minutes turn into a year long relational ministry time. We want her first visit to be just the beginning of a relationship with The Center. Here are the steps that we are putting into place in order to make that happen:

Parenting classes: A weekly afternoon class that runs for 8 weeks. About 75 girls attend each year.
Mom2Mom: Our mentoring ministry that matches up a young mom to a Godly woman in the community for a year.
Hope Chest: A ministry that includes baby and maternity clothes from Josephine’s Closet, as well as needs based donations of diapers, formula, and food.

These are just a few ways that we are trying to become more relevant in their lives. These ministries provide us with an avenue to truly develop a relationship with that young lady allowing more time for them to be loved and experience the love of Jesus.

Talk is cheap, the easy thing to do is try to just save the baby and pat our selfs on the back. But Jesus was never into the easy thing. These girls need hope, they need real love, they need grace and they need Jesus. That can not all happen in a 45 minute time frame. We all need to start investing into the lives of teenagers, we need to be able to let them hear AND see Jesus.

Talk is cheap! Show them Jesus.