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Dennis

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I Love When This Happens!

VolunteerYouthMinistry.com has moved to a new location. To catch up on the latest tips, videos, free resources and conference information click here

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I went over to SimplyYouthMinistry.com today and saw they published my article Helping Families Through Conflict. I’m sure I sent it to them at one point, but never knew it got posted.

If you have any use for material on this blog, please feel free to use it. All I ask is that you cite VolunteerYouthMinistry.com and include a link back to the original blog post.

I Went to Conan O’Brien’s Show Tonight

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Snapped a couple of pics. I wasn’t supposed to take pics inside the studio, but I’m a youth worker. Gotta let loose from time-to-time.

Staying Put at Saddleback Church

I was supposed to fly to Atlanta to interview for a youth ministry position. The youth pastor was told he could bring me out for an interview. The pastor decided the church wouldn’t pay for the airfare after all.

God is good. We just came off two weeks of camp. Before camp, I was excited to fly out & take this ministry opportunity. It’s what I’ve been looking for over the last 10 years. However, at camp my heart felt called to work with my cabin guys in small group during the upcoming school year.

I was torn between getting my ideal ministry job or following what I felt led to do with my students. I’m happy to say my volunteer days aren’t over. I’ll be able to lead a small group for these guys starting in September.

Guest Post is up at MoreThanDodgeball.com

Josh Griffin, of MoreThanDodgeball.com is on vacation. While he’s gone, he’s putting up guest posts from youth workers from around the country. Tonight, my guest post got put up. Click here to read it.

Here’s an excerpt:

Listen and act – these are secrets to creating a dedicated team of volunteer servant leaders. Creating a family of leaders who last requires getting their input into the decisions you make – especially decisions which directly affect their areas of service. From my perspective as a youth ministry volunteer, I know firsthand that these two actions have helped me last in ministry.

Currently Interviewing for Youth Ministry Opportunities

I have begun a search for a youth ministry staff opportunity. While I’ve loved my 10 years at Saddleback Church on staff and as a volunteer, I’m hoping for a position where I can once again serve on the staff of a youth ministry. My preference is to work with high school students or as the lead youth worker overseeing both the high school and junior high ministries in a full-time capacity.

Here are some “wish list” criteria of where I’d like to serve:
1. I’d love to serve on a multiple-staff youth ministry
2. I would consider a satellite location of a larger church
3. I’d be happy either being the lead youth worker or working under a youth pastor
4. The church would be open to the Purpose Driven model of ministry
5. I would consider churches without a multiple youth staff if there were volunteers willing to enthusiastically serve in the ministry

Here’s a link to my resume
Resume – Microsoft Word format
Resume – Adobe PDF format

Notarizing Documents for Adoptions

Friends of mine are adopting a child from Africa. They needed several forms notarized so they called me. Most of the notary work I do is in the mortgage industry. However, notarizing documents for an adoption is so life-affirming and contributive to an important cause compared to my typical work. I hope to get more notary opportunities like that.

If you live in Southern California, please contact me for your notary needs.

Vacation Photos

I spent the last 10 days on an amazing vacation to Washington, DC, New York and Chicago. A few of the pics are posted for those who are interested. Click here to see them

Time to Get Back on the Diet

A couple of years ago one of my small group Bible study students asked me to hold him accountable in a few areas of his life. One of them was physical fitness. If I was going to hold him accountable for fitness, I also needed to get fit. I trimmed down by 40 lbs in 2 months. It was awesome! It scared a few people that I did it so quickly, though.

I kept the weight off for 2 years. However, last Thanksgiving I fell off the wagon and didn’t get keep up good eating habits and exercise. These shorts fit me not too long ago. When I’m back in shape, they will again. Today it’s time to get back on track. Wish me luck! My goal is for these shorts to fit again by the end of May 2009. What really scares me is stepping on the scale at the gym this morning. I don’t want to know what the damage is.

This student has also fallen off the wagon. We were talking last night about it while eating at In & Out Burger… for me a last unhealthy meal for a while. I’m going to challenge him to get back in shape with me. Youth ministry can and should be about more than just spiritual health.

This time I’m keeping a log of my workouts as a way to challenge myself to gradually do better and know for sure how many days I skip. I’m a little bummed that I’m going to miss all next week since I’ll be on our high school mission trip to New Mexico. I’ll just try to eat a few less cookies this year.

My First Round of Golf

Thanks to my friend Leigh, I know that people do not play a “game of golf”, but a “round of golf”. That was my first golf lesson. Before today, my career in golf consisted of a golf class I took one summer in college. We played on a 3-par course. One day I actually got under the ball with my club (a rare event) and sent it soaring through the air passed the hole… and onto a golfer at the next tee. Golf and I weren’t really meant for each other.

Today I played my first real game. I use the term “real” loosely. The score was not kept or cared about. However, it was played on a real course. I was pretty stressed out about playing golf beforehand because I don’t have the all-important 3 C’s:

• Competitive nature
• Coordination
• Care for the game

However, those didn’t matter. We had a great time. I sent out a few Tweets during the game to let the world of Twitter know how it was going. The Tweets are in reverse order of how I sent them:

Golf Tweets

I’ve already been invited to play again. That’s a good sign. I’ll take them up on the offer after a few more practices at the driving range are under my belt and the golf course forgets about my lifetime ban.