October 16, 2009

I take the mic away from Kanye so I can do something more important than interrupt Taylor Swift. It’s time for announcements. Big things are happening at EstesYouth. Join us.

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July 30, 2009

Last night was the final Wednesday night of summer for most of you. While we’re sad that summer is coming to an end - we are extremely thankful to God for all the blessings of summer 09.

One of the challenges laid out for each of us this summer was to spend time focusing and thinking on one scripture each day. For our final night of summer I wanted to provide each of you with seven scriptures to guide your future. Some of these you may know by heart. Some of these you may not. All of these belong in our lives. There are some that may come easy to you and there are some that you may not quite get yet. Study them. Pray about them. Live them.

This year as school starts - allow God to guide your future with his words.

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May 27, 2009

New Youth Classrooms

Check this out! The awesome youth group at the Henderson Church in Henderson, KY just had a youth room re-do too. Neal, you guys are great. Hope we can cross paths again soon!

youthminister101:

Part of the reason why I’ve been so busy and not able to post is the painting and working on two new teen classrooms. We have run out of room in our present building (the reason for the plans of a new building). However, since we won’t be moving for at least a few years, problems needed to be addressed. We had a great big high school classroom that functioned as a “catch basin” for all of our youth group stuff. However, that room needed to be split in two so that we could create a new classroom.

I asked the teens how they wanted the rooms painted. Due to the inspiration of the youth room at the Estes Church in Henderson, Tennessee, our teens wanted strips and bright colors.

Here is how all this went down.

(1) The youth rally ended on Saturday afternoon. That night my partner in the work, Josh Fletcher worked on the ceiling and the patching of holes.

(2) Sunday following services, the primer coats went up.

(3) Monday the base coats of blue, yellow, neon green, and neon yellow went up in the morning. The base coats of the stripes, red, purple, orange, and royal blue went up.

(4) Wednesday morning the carpet guys came in a finished the new carpet in the rooms.

(5) This Sunday, the teens and I are going to pick out the finishing touches (clocks, trash cans, etc.)

I’ll put a slideshow up following this post to show the rooms. Somehow I don’t remember this ever coming up in my “Fundamentals of Youth Ministry” class at FHU.

Do any of you have similar stories you’d like to share? Feel free to leave those stories in the comment section or e-mail them to me at: neal@hcofc.com.

(Neal Mathis)

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May 19, 2009

It gives God honor when we try to do something that’s impossible. You haven’t believed in God until you’ve done something that can’t be done in the power of the flesh, something you’re bound to fail at unless God bails you out.

-Rick Warren

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May 6, 2009
The countdown to summer is well underway. In two weeks we’ll celebrate the last day of school with our summer kick-off and also launch our summer series: DO THE ONEIGHTY. Get psyched!

The countdown to summer is well underway. In two weeks we’ll celebrate the last day of school with our summer kick-off and also launch our summer series: DO THE ONEIGHTY.

Get psyched!

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April 22, 2009
Give us more room and we will fill it. Open House was tonight for the new youth center! We knocked down walls to make room for more and we’ve filled the new space already! I am amazed at what God is doing. Tonight was completely awe-inspiring and humbling. God does incredible things.

Give us more room and we will fill it.

Open House was tonight for the new youth center! We knocked down walls to make room for more and we’ve filled the new space already!

I am amazed at what God is doing. Tonight was completely awe-inspiring and humbling. God does incredible things.

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tryingtofollow: Before you turn away put yourself in my place: To raise awareness for the Weingart Homeless Center, agency David & Goliath from Los Angeles took a non traditional approach that made people imagine themselves homeless if only for a moment. They photographed a dozen of the 70.000 people living on the streets of Los Angeles. They gave each of them a blank cardboard sign and had them write the same message: Before you turn away, put yourself in my place. Followed by the URL, weingart.org. Then they took those images, blew them up life-size, removed their faces and made them into photo-realistic cardboard cutouts. They placed the cutouts in upscale shopping centers in Bevery Hills and Santa Monica. Soon the homeless could not be ignored. This project not only raised awareness, but it ultimately raised funds according to David & Goliath.

tryingtofollow:

Before you turn away put yourself in my place:

To raise awareness for the Weingart Homeless Center, agency David & Goliath from Los Angeles took a non traditional approach that made people imagine themselves homeless if only for a moment. They photographed a dozen of the 70.000 people living on the streets of Los Angeles. They gave each of them a blank cardboard sign and had them write the same message: Before you turn away, put yourself in my place. Followed by the URL, weingart.org. Then they took those images, blew them up life-size, removed their faces and made them into photo-realistic cardboard cutouts. They placed the cutouts in upscale shopping centers in Bevery Hills and Santa Monica. Soon the homeless could not be ignored. This project not only raised awareness, but it ultimately raised funds according to David & Goliath.

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April 9, 2009
coming soon!

coming soon!

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March 13, 2009
Ever heard The Temptations song “My Girl” sung by Price Irwin in a tux with backing music played on guitar, bass, clarinet and tuba?  I have.  It was awesome.  Going through some old photos. This is from last month’s Valentine’s Banquet we held for the Senior Citizens at our church. Best one we’ve had yet.

Ever heard The Temptations song “My Girl” sung by Price Irwin in a tux with backing music played on guitar, bass, clarinet and tuba?  I have. 

It was awesome. 

Going through some old photos. This is from last month’s Valentine’s Banquet we held for the Senior Citizens at our church. Best one we’ve had yet.

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March 10, 2009
We’re knocking down walls. Nearly five years ago we started working with you guys at Estes. We started with just a handful of teenagers and since then God has done some big things. Now we find ourselves with a room full of teenagers and we can barely fit in our room. We’re opening a new chapter in our ministry. The walls are now down and there’s room for all of us! If you come to class over the next month you’ll see that we’re still meeting in the midst of all the construction and it’s pretty great to be a part of. “So I will tear down the wall which you plastered over with whitewash and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation is laid bare; and when it falls, you will be consumed in its midst. And you will know that I am the LORD.” Ezekiel 13:14 Luckily these walls aren’t being torn down for the reasons we read in Ezekiel. We have a firm foundation (and we’re not being destroyed). We’re knocking down walls to make room for more people. We want God’s love to be seen and experienced by as many as we can reach. We’re knocking down the walls that have held us back. It is important, though, that we remember why this is happening. It is important that we keep God as our foundation and our focus. It if for His glory this is happening and it is only through His power that this has happened. He has big things in store. I just know it and we’re ready! It’s amazing what God can do. What are some walls in your life that need to be torn down?

We’re knocking down walls.

Nearly five years ago we started working with you guys at Estes. We started with just a handful of teenagers and since then God has done some big things. Now we find ourselves with a room full of teenagers and we can barely fit in our room.

We’re opening a new chapter in our ministry. The walls are now down and there’s room for all of us! If you come to class over the next month you’ll see that we’re still meeting in the midst of all the construction and it’s pretty great to be a part of.

“So I will tear down the wall which you plastered over with whitewash and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation is laid bare; and when it falls, you will be consumed in its midst. And you will know that I am the LORD.” Ezekiel 13:14

Luckily these walls aren’t being torn down for the reasons we read in Ezekiel. We have a firm foundation (and we’re not being destroyed). We’re knocking down walls to make room for more people. We want God’s love to be seen and experienced by as many as we can reach. We’re knocking down the walls that have held us back. It is important, though, that we remember why this is happening. It is important that we keep God as our foundation and our focus. It if for His glory this is happening and it is only through His power that this has happened. He has big things in store. I just know it and we’re ready!

It’s amazing what God can do.

What are some walls in your life that need to be torn down?

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March 9, 2009
Changing the world is an awfully tall order, especially for people like us. We have trouble keeping our own lives in order, much less being an integral part of social change. This week in class we talked about how we can’t change the world. We simply can’t do it. Real change will only happen when we decide to give God our lives. It is through God’s strength that we operate: “If anyone speaks, his speech should be like the oracles of God; if anyone serves his service should be from the strength God provides, so that in everything God may be glorified through Christ Jesus. To Him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.”  1 Peter 4:11 We talked about times we’ve all attempted to serve in our own strength. It never works. Not for long. When God is involved? That’s when real things happen. One of our key verses we kept going back to said, “What is impossible with men is possible with God” (Luke 18:27) It’s true. I hope you left class encouraged on Sunday. Not because you found out you can’t change the world - but because you found out who can. It’s comforting and refreshing to know that it’s not about us. It’s not about your strength or your talents or your extreme awesomeness.  It’s about God.  It’s about His strength.  It’s about a God who can use you to do big things if you’d just allow Him.

Changing the world is an awfully tall order, especially for people like us. We have trouble keeping our own lives in order, much less being an integral part of social change.

This week in class we talked about how we can’t change the world.

We simply can’t do it. Real change will only happen when we decide to give God our lives. It is through God’s strength that we operate:

“If anyone speaks, his speech should be like the oracles of God; if anyone serves his service should be from the strength God provides, so that in everything God may be glorified through Christ Jesus. To Him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.”  1 Peter 4:11

We talked about times we’ve all attempted to serve in our own strength. It never works. Not for long. When God is involved? That’s when real things happen. One of our key verses we kept going back to said, “What is impossible with men is possible with God” (Luke 18:27)

It’s true.

I hope you left class encouraged on Sunday. Not because you found out you can’t change the world - but because you found out who can. It’s comforting and refreshing to know that it’s not about us. It’s not about your strength or your talents or your extreme awesomeness.  It’s about God.  It’s about His strength. 

It’s about a God who can use you to do big things if you’d just allow Him.

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“ God calls you to a place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.
Fredrich Buechner
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March 3, 2009
This Sunday night after 5:00 pm church is our second Estes Fireside. Mitch Naylor will share some thoughts with us. We’ll  be singing (including a few new ones you may or may not know) and also praying about the future. This will all happen in the middle of the construction going on in our youth room. This is an exciting time and I hope you’ll share it with everyone!

This Sunday night after 5:00 pm church is our second Estes Fireside.

Mitch Naylor will share some thoughts with us. We’ll  be singing (including a few new ones you may or may not know) and also praying about the future. This will all happen in the middle of the construction going on in our youth room.

This is an exciting time and I hope you’ll share it with everyone!

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March 2, 2009
“ Is it easier to invite someone to your church or invite them to go feed the homeless with you?
Jimmy Spencer
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March 1, 2009
This past weekend I got to speak to a big group of high school students about Nehemiah and about how God can use us to do great things. What is your purpose? As part of the talk I set up this website: www.iamrepurposed.com. You may recognize a few of the faces in the video.

This past weekend I got to speak to a big group of high school students about Nehemiah and about how God can use us to do great things. What is your purpose?

As part of the talk I set up this website: www.iamrepurposed.com. You may recognize a few of the faces in the video.

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