Lots of changes going on...

Holy cow the days are starting to blend together. Our youth ministry is about to kick into high gear and I am extremely busy. The next 3 weekends will be really busy for me. We have a workday this Saturday, which will probably start on Friday because we have a ton to do. Then Aug 10/11th we have our Worlds of Fun Rally with a concert by Jonah 33 and then Aug 17th is our Back to School Bash with a concert by Sidewalk Prophets. On top of that we are in the process or starting up some new programming. Very busy indeed.

One major thing we have just overcome is naming our youth group. Before I even got here that was my #1 priority. We held a contest for students/adults to submit logos and names for what they thought the group should be. We had 4 entries. The name that was chosen was Flite Ministries (Fellowship, Leadership, Involvement thru Evangelism) and the logo is what you see here. I think it looks great and have already started integrating it into our ministry. Now comes the fun part of getting all our marketing together with the new logo.

I am constantly amazed out how God works in our lives. I know for a fact that He moved us to KC. I am glad that He did, but there are times when I don't feel that what I am doing is really worth the compliments that I get (even though I am not the one who should take credit). I just feel that there are times when I don't put my best into a lesson, event, or anything else in my ministry, but He overcomes that and makes into something special. I am just amazed...

Weekend Wrap-up 07/29/2007

Sunday 07/29/2007

Attendance: Average (for the summer)
Lesson Topic: Safe at Home Plate?: 2 Samuel 12:1-7a
Fun Factor: Above Average
Volunteer Involvement: Average
Music: Below Average (1 song)
Lesson Quality: Above Average
Length of Lesson: 30 minutes
Student Response: Above Average

Tonights youth group was interesting. I think that everything went very well. We are continuing the Join the Story series. I think I am going to end it next week and start something new on Aug 19th. We talked about David and his sin with Bathsheba. We looked at the 10 Commandments and talked how most of us have broken them and how some people see certain sins worse than others. Sin has a way of creeping into your life and getting worse as we get used to it. And when we are "caught" in sin, we tend to try to lie or cover up our sin like David did. But in the end we always get "caught" either by our parents, friends, or bosses but always by God. He knows our sins and our hearts. In Psalm 51 David wrote to God to forgive him for what he had done.

Even though it isn't always easy, when we sin we must confess and accept repentance from God and then make restitution with those we may have sinned against. The example we used was to cover-up for a friend, being asked to lie to a parent or friend to help a friend stay out of trouble. As noble as it might seem, lying for someone else only diminishes our own testimony with that person. David was confronted by Nathan and even though it wasn't easy, Nathan delivered the message of God to David. David took his punishment (as severe as it was) and looked to God for repentance.

Everyone sins. We are all sinners but Jesus Christ paid the price for our sin and that allows us to go to God for repentance and to be forgiven. He knows our every thought and deed. What sin in your life haunts you? What is it that you do that keeps you away from God? God is waiting to forgive you, all you have to do is ask.

Weekend Wrap-up 07/22/2007

Sunday 07/22/2007

Attendance: Average
Lesson Topic: Are You Dog Loyal?: Ruth 1:16-18, Ruth 3:10-13
Fun Factor: Above Average
Volunteer Involvement: Above Average
Music: Below Average
Lesson Quality: Above Average
Length of Lesson: 35 minutes
Student Response: Average

We got back on track tonight with our worship service. We cancelled
last week because I wasn't feeling good. I hate changing our service
because it seems to throw off the students. The bad thing is that the
next two weeks are going to be off with me being out of town next
week and the Platte Woods Church at the Y on Aug 5th. I am praying
that things continue to go well. Tonight we were off because we
didn't have our gym time before service because there was a banquet
going on. Some kids grumbled but overall it was good.

Tonight's service was good. We had a great PowerPoint game that the
kids loved. The song was good and I think the lesson went off well.
We talked about Ruth and her relationship with Boaz and Naomi. That
story gives us a great example of loyalty and love. The examples of
how relationships should be. Dealing with our relationships without
our own agenda and doing what we promise to do, can make all our
relationships much easier to handle. Our students spend to much time
dealing with relationships with parents, friends and
boyfriend/girlfriends rather than worrying about our relationship with
God. Society shows us relationships are about what we can get out it,
rather than what we can put into it. God has given us great capacity
of relationships with Him and others but we often twist it for our own
gain.

--
Roy E. Probus Jr
Youth Pastor @ Platte Woods Church
Cell: 816.522.2946
Blog: http://soulshaper.blogspot.com

I hate painting...

I spent most of the day painting. I really hate painting. Last week I spent Saturday painting with my Jr. High. Today I spent the day painting with my wife. We painted my office at church. It went from being a ugly light tan, to a very bright blue and yellow. I will post pictures later but I think it came out looking nice. We kind of made some lines in the wall, so they just aren't painted a single color. I wasn't sure how it would come out, but it came out very nice and very bright. I will be interested to see the reactions come Sunday and Monday.

Our church right now is in a very interesting spot. We are in the process of becoming a "Fruitful Congregation". This is based off a book written by the Biship of the Missouri Conference. The book talks about 5 way to become a more fruitful congregation. Radical Hospitality, Passionate Worship, Intentional Faith Development, Risk-taking Mission & Service and Extravagant Generosity are what he describes as things churches need to do to become more fruitful. Our pastor is really wanting us to make changes within these areas. I am excited about it and really hoping that our church takes it seriously and we can get some things done. I believe our biggest issue is in the form of radical hospitality. We are a large church, so it is much easier for people to get lost in our crowd. We have over 800 in worship each week, in 4 difference services over two days, so it is hard to know really when someone comes or not.

I know there are some things we can change. For our youth group, it is the changing of rooms and painting them with nice, bright colors. The students who have helped paint, love the look and are glad for the changes. Next week we will be doing even more painting as we take over another room and move our classes. Over the next couple months we will be making even more changes. I am praying they are for the good. I am excited about being here, but I still hate painting....

I missed a major milestone...

I went to start blogging today and realize that I had missed a big blogging milestone. I have blogged over 100 times. This is my 101st blog. I am excited.

I am still amazed that some people continue reading my blog and I do my best to make the information more than just personal issues. Over the next few months I will begin to dive deeper into faith and spiritual growth issues. God is really pushing me deeper than what I am currently at. I know that my students will only go as deep as I am, so I must "stay ahead of the curve" so to speak.

So tell me what your favorite post was of the last 100? I am interested to see what people like or don't like. If there are any questions that you want to ask, please let me know and I can do as much as I can...

Jr. High Mission Trip

So here is my post from the Jr High Mission Trip. We have had a blast
today. We started by washing eggs at Harvester's. There was some
complaining but it went well. Then we hit Cici's for dinner and then
Wal-mar for a scavenger hunt. I wanted the students to make
commercials with certain products but it seems that Wal-mart doesn't
allow video taping in their stores. So we improvised and used cell
phones. I haven't seen them yet but I can't wait. We came back to
the cjurch for a bit and then headed to Gladstone Bowling for some
Galactic bowling. It was fun and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves.
We had some girls do karaoke and it was funny. So know I am waiting
for the boys to go to sleep. Look for more updates tomorrow as we
start cleaning and painting our new youth rooms.

--
Roy E. Probus Jr
Youth Pastor @ Platte Woods Church
Cell: 816.522.2946
Blog: http://soulshaper.blogspot.com

Jr. High Mission Trip - Woohoo

So tomorrow I have my first big event at Platte Woods. We are having a Jr. High Mission Trip. Now, we aren't really going anywhere but the kids are still excited about it. When I say we aren't going anywhere, that isn't entirely true. We will start out by going to Harvester's and help sorting donated items so they can give it to those who need it. Check out their website, http://www.harvesters.org/ I am glad the kids are excited about helping out.

After we leave Harvester's we will head back to the church, clean up and then head to dinner. Around 9, we will head to go Galactic Bowling at Gladstone Bowling. This will be exciting and fun to do. Then on Saturday we will get up and start doing some work around the church. This will be the fun part because we are moving two of our youth rooms to the other end of the building. The new rooms will have to be cleaned out, touched up and then painted. Plus all the furniture will have to be moved. The students are going to work.

I am really excited about this because I have close to 30 students who said they are coming. That is great for a Jr. High only event and one that isn't very exciting on the front end. We are going to have fun, but we are also going to have to work also. I also have a bunch of students who really haven't come since I have been there, but they are coming to this event. Again, excited...

One other cool thing will be to see how our attendance changes once we get closer to the school year. I have tons of students who have busy summers that haven't been to church, but once school starts they will come back. I am looking forward to it. I can see God's hand at work in this ministry. Things are just working and hopefully lives are being changed because of it.

I had a great lunch with one of my seniors today, and also our associate pastor. It was a fun time. I enjoyed getting to know her and find out what she is interested in. She loves music and plays the violin and is learning the cello(spelling). The Sr. High in our group is the toughest to deal with. They are great students but they have a lot of things going on. Because of things that have happened in the group, they don't seem to have the attachment to it that the Jr. High does. I am hoping that will change.

As I end, I just want to give Thanks to God for all He is doing in this ministry. I am only a vessel to be used...

Weekend Wrap-Up 07/08/2007

Sunday 07/01/2007

Attendance: Average
Lesson Topic:Finally Getting What You Want: Joshua 2-4, 6
'Fun Factor': Slightly Average
Volunteer Involvement: Average
Music: Average
Lesson Quality: Below Average
Length of Lesson: 35 minutes
Student Response: Below Average

Do you ever have those nights were things just don't seem right? I think I delivered my worst lesson since I have been at Platte Woods. I know that isn't many, but tonight just seemed way off. I think I am getting too cocky when preparing my lessons. Not putting the time I need to into it. Not delivering it the way I need to. I was just off. My wife even said so, which isn't usually the case. I will work harder this week. Spend more time on it.

The lesson was on Joshua and Jericho. We talked about finally getting prayers answered and keeping ourselves out of God's way. I think we get in our own way when we ask God to do things. We think we have a better plan than God, just as Joshua probably thought walking around the walls of Jericho wouldn't have brought the wall down.

The good thing is that I am continuing to have new students show up. Some that I haven't met yet or who haven't been to the church in a while. We have some new things getting ready to start, so hopefully that will help the service.

My New Phone

So the iPhone came out last week. When I originally heard about this phone I really wanted one. I love technology and I thought that the iPhone would really give me a boost in productivity since I do most of my work on the internet, and being connected all the time really helps. But once I heard that it was going to cost $500+ plus a 2 year contract with At&T, I decided it wasn't worth the cost. Luckily, when I got the job at Platte Woods they were going to get me a new phone. So I started looking to see what Spring had to offer. The Spring PPC-6700 was the phone I decided to get.

I had been looking at Cingular's version of this phone as well. I really like this phone. I am almost constantly on it. I love the way it sits in my hand. The way it connects when I am in a hotspot or not. It is a little thinker than I like but it still fits in my hand pretty well. The battery life and memory are the two biggest issues I have. The battery life is horrible. Nothing else to say. For something that is supposed to be used as a pda, it doesn't last very long on a charge. On Tuesdays I have two meetings from 9 until 11. I take notes with my phone. When I get out at 11, if I had a full charge to start with, the phone is below half when I am done. So most of the time I have to go back and charge it for a bit so that I can continue using it during the day. I have purchased an extra battery and have chargers all over the place, so I can keep it pretty charged. And I know there are limitations on batteries for mobile devices anyways, but it is still annoying.

The memory on the other hand is horrendous. The device comes with only 128meg of memory on it, with almost 90 megs used before you install anything on it. I can't imagine it. My Lifedrive came with 4 gigs of memory, so I had to make the adjustment. I purchased two 1 gig micro sd cards to use in it. One for all the programs I installed and the other for my music. I am fairly happy with them. I wish it came with more memory and I would bet the newer versions do.

Overall I like this phone. I am not completely in love with it and might continue to look at the iPhone for a future purchase, especially if you can get it without an At&T contract but we will see. I am still working on this one. I do some tweaks every now and then. I actually installed an iPhone interface for it, but it had some bugs so I took it off.

So, if you are looking for a new pda or pocket pc, I might recommend this. I knew most phone carriers have a version of this phone.

Poison Ivy II

So I still have poison ivy.... I am so tired of this. It has gone from my arms to my hands and legs. I don't seem to be itching as much, so hopefully it is going away. Right now I look like I have measles or chicken pox. Argh, it needs to go away.

Anyway, so I am approaching the 2 month anniversary of being at Platte Woods Church. I still can't believe that we are here. I still think I am in Nashville sometimes. Next week Beth and I go to get our new car tags and driver license to make this move completely official. It is amazing how God works. I sat and had lunch with our new associate pastor on Thursday and kind of talked about the move. As I told him, I realized that for the most part everything went smooth. God is good.

I haven't been blogging as much as I want to. I need to get more disciplined at doing that. I have a lot to talk about but just can't sit down and spend the time. Well, I have been up since 3:45am and was not able to go back to sleep. I need to get some stuff done this morning...

Weekend Wrap-Up 07/01/2007

Sunday 07/01/2007

Attendance: Average
Lesson Topic:When Nothing Goes Right: Genesis 39-45
'Fun Factor': Slightly Average
Volunteer Involvement: Below Average
Music: Average
Lesson Quality: Above Average
Length of Lesson: 35 minutes
Student Response: Good

So how do you handle life when it doesn't go your way? Do you tuck tail and run or do you face it head on? Do you allow God to work through you so that He is glorified or do you blame someone else for your problems.
Joseph had a life of hard times. He started with his mother fighting with her sister about who can have the most babies. Then his brothers sold him into slavery, accused of molestation, etc, etc. But each and every time something went wrong, he continued to rely on God for strength and help. And each time God helped him through. Why is it so hard for us to rely on God? To do our best when tough situations come.
Kids today have to go through too much and sometimes we adults are too selfish to help. We have students who are cutting, suicidal thoughts, drugs, alcohol, apathy, sexual pressure and much more. How do we teach students how to cope and deal with those problems? How can we step next to them and be the hero's they need us to be? With God, we can all be hero's. Our students need us to be hero's. Joseph knew that only God could help him through his problems. We need to help students find that same assurance.