Your Superpower

Our large youth group gathering, 7 , met last night and a wonderful (and exhausting) time was had by all. With great sunny weather in the 70s we were able to do a fun outdoor game followed by some wonderful strawberry shortcake supplied by the parents of one of our new students. (We had three new students the week before and two more last night. All in all our group has welcomed nine students from outside of Journey North to our Ignite youth group in the past month!)

After finishing up our four-part series, Connect 4, last week, this week's 7 featured a one-part challenge called "Your Superpower, Your Mouth". We did an in-depth study of the first part of James 3 and students were challenged to be careful about the words they use and the potential damage they can do with their speech.

Next Wednesday night we'll be taking a road trip to Northwestern College's Spring Reign event, leaving from the school back parking lot by the Dragon's Den playground at 5 p.m. and returning at 9:45. Students who are planing to attend need to sign up so that we have enough transportation. It looks like we'll fill the church van plus another vehicle so far. (We're still looking for an additional adult driver, so let me know if you're interested!)

In two weeks we'll begin a new four-part series: Rescued from An Ordinary Life. I'm really excited about this one and will post more about it soon. Right now we're getting ready to head to Districts for the weekend. We should miss the snow that is headed for the northern part of the state. (Only in Minnesota can you have sunny 70s one day and snow a couple days later!)

Looking for some Peace this Summer?

Our first Financial Peace University small group at Journey North concludes this week. We've had a lot of fun and learned a ton. I loved getting to know some other people from the church and community that I might never have had the opportunity to interact with at this level. That's one of the benefits of a small group environment.

I can't wait to do it again! One of the things we've been told is that it's almost impossible to run a FPU class during the summer around here as people's schedules are too crowded. Of course, when have we ever followed conventional wisdom? We've talked to some people who actually have more time during the summer (especially those employed by the school system, etc.) We're considering trying to begin again in a couple of weeks at the end of April and running straight through the end of July.

Journey North people and others in the greater Pine City metropolitan area who may be interested in joining in this session should let me know ASAP so that we can evaluate potential attendance. Class members should be able to commit to attend all or most of the 13 weeks. If we have enough participants, we'll start right back up. If not we probably won't be able to run it again until January.

Financial Peace University is taught via video by Dave Ramsey and followed by a discussion time among the small group members making for a two hour session each week. The cost is $95 for the kit which includes a lifetime membership, meaning you can retake the class as often as you'd like at no additional charge. Plus there are a ton of goodies in the kit, making it a great value. Check out FPU at Dave Ramsey's site for additional information or drop me a note at rob@journeynorthchurch.com.

Snow Day in April - 70s Next Week

Pine City schools have a snow day today due to our foot or so of snow with some more on the way today. Yes, students will have to make up the day, meaning their last day of school will be a Monday! (I'm surprised they don't build in a couple of snow days, but whatever.) Nevertheless, it's a nice break and my kids are excited to have a three-day weekend.

I don't mind the snow knowing that it'll all melt in a few days. Plus I don't have to shovel as a very nice neighbor already plowed our driveway!

Next week temperatures are supposed to be in the 70s! Only in Minnesota.

Ignite Road Trip is No Illusion

Ignite students will be taking a road trip on Wednesday, April 30, as we head to Northwestern College for "Spring Reign" - an evening of humor, magic and music.

Dynamic speaker and illusionist Dave Horsager shows how easy it is to be deceived by your eyes … and by the enemy. You’ll be on the edge of your seat and challenged to live a faith that’s the “real thing” as Dave delivers a fun, engaging and powerful message of life-changing truth.

Students will meet by the outdoor basketball courts of the elementary school to depart at 5 p.m. and return at 9:45 p.m. We'll stop by Taco Bell/Long John Silvers on the way down so you'll want to have a few bucks for dinner. There is no charge for the evening, but we need to know who is planning to attend so that we'll have enough transportation. Register by e-mailing Pastor Rob or writing "Spring Reign" on your response cards at 7 on Wednesday night. Don’t miss it!

Seth shares how to write like a blogger

In addition to being a youth pastor, one of my first passions is writing. Seth Godin has a great blog post that I thought was very interesting and a wonderful way of spicing up any writing. I was going to just quote part, but one of the geniuses of his blog posts is that they are so short and easy to read but hard to distill any more than they already are. Plus I hate having to jump to something when I'm trying to read a blog, so here's the whole thing. If you like it, you will want to check out his blog regularly. Great stuff.

Write like a blogger

from Seth's Blog by Seth Godin

You can improve your writing (your business writing, your ad writing, your thank you notes and your essays) if you start thinking like a blogger:

1. Use headlines. I use them all the time now. Not just
   boring ones that announce your purpose (like the one on this post) but
   interesting or puzzling or engaging headlines. Headlines are perfect
   for engaging busy readers.
2. Realize that people have choices. With 80 million other
   blogs to choose from, I know you could leave at any moment (see, there
   goes someone now). So that makes blog writing shorter and faster and
   more exciting.
3. Drip, drip, drip. Bloggers don't have to say everything at once. We can add a new idea every day, piling on a thesis over time.
4. It's okay if you leave. Bloggers aren't afraid to include links or distractions in their writing, because we know you'll come back if what we had to say was interesting.
5. Interactivity is a great shortcut. Your readers care about
   someone's opinion even more than yours... their own. So reading your
   email or your comments or your trackbacks (your choice) makes it easy
   to stay relevant.
6. Gimmicks aren't as useful as insight. If you're going to
   blog successfully for months or years, sooner or later you need to
   actually say something. Same goes for your writing.
7. Don't be afraid of lists. People like lists.
8. Show up. Not writing is not a useful way of expressing your ideas. Waiting for perfect is a lousy strategy.
9. Say it. Don't hide, don't embellish.

What would happen if every single high school student had to have a
blog? Or every employee in your company? Or every one of your
customers?

Connect 2 out of 4

We had a great time on Wednesday night at our second 7 gathering. In addition to students from Journey North we are also excited to have some other students who have joined us each week! There's plenty of basketball, mushroom ball, crazy videos, and other games.

This week we completed part two of a four part series called Connect 4. In part one we talked about "Connecting to the Savior" (how we set our hearts and minds on things above) and part 2 was "Connecting to Your Self" (about our new identity in Christ as children of God). This coming week is "Connecting Your Stuff" where we'll talk about how materialism. All of this leads to how we "Connecting your Service" where we'll get to the core of how we put "Others First" (...one of our 7 checkpoints! You knew the number 7 would factor in somewhere, didn't you? More on that later.)

Each student received a Connect 4 booklet that they can use to take notes, journal, etc. The booklets also contain some questions for reflection throughout the week. Our hope is that students will make good use of these booklets during the series and then have something to keep as a reminder of what we talked about after the series is over.

Students are encouraged to share of these questions with their family. There's definitely some great dinner table conversation to be had.

AWOL - Now Catching Up

I realize I've been AWOL from my blog for a week or so due to a lot of great things happening and just some general busyness. So here are a couple of quick updates:

• Had a great Easter service at Journey North with a tremendous turnout. Thanks to all who worked so hard to make it a memorable celebration of the resurrection.
  
• 7 - our new entry-level student environment - launched last Wednesday night and a great time was had by all. We're learning a lot about format, setup, etc. Ideally we'd love to have some adults who are not youth sponsors that are willing to come at 6:30 each week and spend half an hour helping to set up. That would free our sponsors up to spend more relational time with our students. We are also looking for additional youth sponsors who are willing to build relationships and invest in the lives of students. Let me know if you're interested in finding out more.
  
• I spent a good portion of last week moving my office home due to our Journey North office's move to new digs in the former Garden Path shop (155 - 5th Street SE). Thanks to Howie and Christian who helped me with bookcases, boxes, etc. Thanks to everyone who helped move all of the stuff on Saturday and Sunday!!
  
• It was a Sunday of firsts last week. We had our first communion service last Sunday at Journey North and I shared a few thoughts in Pastor Tim's (first) absence. He's been sick, fighting sinus junk, allergies, etc. Keep him in your prayers.
• Marked Men guys paintball retreat registrations are due tonight at 7. Junior and senior high guys planning to attend should bring their money ($40) to group.
  
• It looks like we'll have big (good) news to share soon about Journey North. Keep an eye on Pastor Tim's blog.

That covers some of what's been going on around here. More soon!