I’m on a short vacation to Palm Springs so not thinking too much about anything very blog-worthy.

- Week 7 of our Summer Series “Full Service Summer” was smooth. Each summer we do a 10-week series and, depending on the series we pick, it can either be incredible or start to feel way, way too long. This summer has been really good. I think the key to long series is to have some sort of “umbrella” theme but let each lesson stand on it’s own…trying to build off of each lesson for too long is where we seem to run into problems.

- Saw Wal-E last night and was pleasantly surprised. Such limited dialogue made good story telling a must.

- Check out Zombo.com (S.O. To Erik Williams)

- The first part of our vacation is exactly the kind I like: Lazy, nice hotel, swimming, movies, sleeping in (although I have a hard time doing that), eating out, reading…just being lazy. The highlight today will be the super fancy all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet.

- The second part of our vacation will entail a bunch of chores and projects around the house. Cleaning the side yard, pulling weeds, cleaning up planters, working on dirt bikes to get ready for riding season. Not nearly as fun or lazy as part one.

Kyle Loza, a GREAT young man who grew up in our youth ministry (he broke his ankle at junior high camp bombing a massive hill on a dirt board), won the gold medal at X-games for best trick in freestyle MotoX for the second year in a row. If you haven’t seen this you’ll need to watch it a few times to comprehend.

Summer Camp Reminds Me That…

- A good jr. high camp speaker is clear, simple, and short. Ours this week has been all three.
- My wife is a really good cook.
- Junior high boys cabins have always and will always smell like warm feet.
- Organized recreation brings out the very best and very worst in people.
- Junior high girls cry very easily, and so do their counselors.
- Paintballs hurt.
- Pranks always start off innocent enough and always escalate out of control.
- “Lights Out” really means “Okay gang now is the time we suggest you begin to start thinking about getting ready for bed….brush your teeth, take a shower, play some games, wrestle, go for a night hike and then turn your lights out in a few hours.”
- Most of our students live life at a really frantic pace and slowing down for a week is good medicine.
- God is in control, that he is a very present creator, that he loves his creation very much, that he has a unique, remarkable plan for every one of our students and we are privileged he allows us to play a small part in that plan.

- We had a GREAT weekend in our junior high ministry. The lesson felt good (Car Battery…”How To Re-charge When You Feel Drained”), the games were fun, music was great and our live “bit” that we’ve been doing each week during the lesson was one of the strongest yet. But, perhaps the highlight of the week was that we finally had some acoustics installed in the ceiling of our room which made the sound much, much, much better. I was amazed at how much more attentive and involved the crowd was, which is logical since they could actually hear what was being said from stage!

- We’re up at camp right now. The first night was great and day two seems to be off to a good start. Tons of kids who are new to our church and youth group. This is our 11th year at Thousand Pines and I’m still convinced it’s the best camp experience for our group.

- News you’ve probably already heard: Youth Specialties has joined forces with Mark Matlock and Wisdom Works. Two really, really great organizations that, together, will do make a great team as they look for ways to minister directly to kids. Good stuff.

- One of my weird, quirky, favorite things about heading up to Thousand Pines is the library of old ministry-related books in the house I stay at. I stumbled across one today written 25 years ago. The topic: How the ‘battle’ between the fundamentalists and the more liberal theology is poised to rip apart evangelicalism as we know it. The back cover suggests this book offers a practical reminder about what evangelicals should, and shouldn’t cling to. Not sure I’ll read the whole thing, but it sure seems like it may have been more prophetic than people probably realized back in ’83.

In what has to be the slowest time of the year for sports fans, this selection of recent sports pictures itched my scratch.

Of course it was the first one that caught my attention. Denver Bronco Rod Smith’s retirement brought tears to my eyes, too.

THE GOOD:
Spent most of the day today visiting our three regional campuses at their high school summer camp. We take our junior highers to the same camp next week, so it was an added bonus to get a sneak peak ahead of time. Our three regional campuses are doing a great job and it was really fun to spend a little time with the staff and students from those campuses.

THE BAD:
It was really, really hot. We left right when organized rec. time was starting and I couldn’t bare the thought of 400 high schoolers being forced to create cheers, run around with banners and compete for cheesy points. The camp does a great job with rec, but to me camp rec always equals bad. Am I alone in that sentiment?

THE UGLY:
I’ll be the first to admit that my youth ministry mindset is often one of “anything you can do, we can do better”. While visiting the camp today it didn’t take long for me to switch from a mindset of “I’m just here to visit some of my team and students” to “I’m going to critique each aspect of camp and come up with reasons we could provide a better camp by doing it ourselves.” I get that part of my role is to provide the best possible experiences for my students and to ensure they are getting their money’s worth at events etc. But it is shocking to me how quickly and easily I judge and criticize the efforts of other Christ-loving brothers and sisters who, at the end of the day, have the same goals for my students as I do. I DON’T want to run camp and I’m so thankful we go to an incredible camp that does an incredible job.

Here are a few things I probably would have given away as prizes 10 years ago that I couldn’t get away with today.
- Squirting Cigarettes
- Switchblade Comb
- Potato Gun

The rumors have been confirmed. On August 16th, Saddleback will host both candidates in a civil forum. Rick Warren will lead the discussion. Should be interesting.

- This weekend was week #5 of our ‘Full Service Summer’ series. Overall, it was a great weekend. Bethany, a member of our JH team taught a great lesson on how to put the brakes on temptation. It was the first weekend of the Summer that attendance was fairly low.

- Wasted most of the evening last night watching the Deadliest Catch marathon.

- Kayla is at Disneyland, and Cole is at a buddy’s house so Rachel and I spent some time on a ‘date’ shopping for sales on riding gear. Bought two new helmets and a jersey.

- Tomorrow we say goodbye to Allison Hibbard. Allison grew up in our junior high ministry, served as an intern for two years after college and has spent the last 5 years as a member of our full-time team. She’s moving to Kenya for six months. Not sure what our ministry will be like without her.

…What the easiest way to lose 10 pounds is. I’ve heard you can loose it just by drinking water instead of soda. For the first time in my life, I’m a little heavier than I want to be.

…If Heath Ledger is really as good in Dark Knight as we’ve been hearing. We’ll find out tonight.

…Why Cherry Coke and Sweet Tea have such a grip on me. Most likely the reason I need to lose 10 pounds.

…How many of the “core” kids in my ministry have ever had a spiritual conversation with one of their friends.

…When our junior high ministry will have a new intern or two. This is the first time in several years that we’ve been without. Intersted?

…Why CBS cancelled ‘Cane’ after one season. A decent show that, I think, would have picked up steam.

…If the ministry I lead has done a good job recently of loving, thanking, encouraging our volunteers. Our ministry would fail to exist if it weren’t for them.