Youth Week 1999

Just Me & the Dog, Day 3-  I got a couple of phone calls from Jerry Hanbery because he was driving from West Palm to Orlando and had lots of time to kill. Got e-mails from Lisa Kraus Spires because she was bored.  Who you gonna' call (or e-mail)?  Boredom Busters!!!  Break up your boredom today- leave a comment on this blog!  OH- I made Cheesy Hashbrown Hamburger Helper for dinner last.  Conner and I both approved...

By July of 1999 it was clear to me that things were changing at FUMC-K.  A new pastor had arrived in June.  I am sure, with the passage of time and a mellowing of hearts, that there are people who have good things to say about the pastor who arrived in June, 1999.  I am not one of those people.  A month after his arrival I was already polishing up my resume.  So the second half of the summer of '99 was very important to me.  This Youth Week, and the Last Gasp Summer Blowout (featuring Spooky Tuesday) were of great significance to me.  And looking back, Youth Week '99 was an amazing event.  The original schedule is above so I won't go through every event, but here are some of the highlights:

• I still can't believe that we had CPR, Mike Williams and Lost And Found all the same week.  Most youth pastors would be fortunate to get three acts like that in a career.  It is a testimony to the support of the church and the creativity of our Youth Ministry Team that it happened, and it made for an unbelievable week for our students.
• The Putt-Putt Masters Golf Tournament was a annual event.  We never cared who won, but we sure had big crowds and lots of fun.  Tubing the Ichetucknee River was another annual event; you can see from the calendar above that I never learned how to spell the river's name during my entire time in Kissimmee!
• I loved making Banana Splits in wallpaper trays- it was awesome and disgusting at the same time!  The use of individual bowls should be forbidden...
• Some day very soon I am going to have breakfast again at The Cape May Cafe.  It is one of my favorite meals to eat anywhere.  I especially love that I can have coffee, orange juice and chocolate milk- all I can drink of all 3- and it doesn't change the cost.  WIN!
• Doing Coffeehouse Live! at the food court of the Osceola Square Mall was my idea.  I thought it would help remind the community who we were and promote the idea that we were no ordinary youth ministry.  We wanted to take Jesus to the masses.  I think it probably would have worked, if indeed anyone has shopped at that mall!  We did not draw much of a crowd, but we still had fun.
• Eleven years later, they still use the name Rec Around the Clock for their all-night event at FUMC-K.  I have joked with Dwight, the current youth pastor, that there will be a bill forthcoming for royalties...

Our theme for that summer was taken from an Audio Adrenaline song.  We were announcing to the world that we were "Coming at ya like a BLITZ!" in the name of Jesus.  We sure gave it our best shot.  There also some pretty cool "BLITZ" t-shirts that summer.  Anybody still have one?  I would love a picture...

Because of Jesus,