My Glossary, Part 2

Before I begin today, I must report some sad news- at least to me.  Nina Mock, one of the youth from WMUMC (and one of the finest young women I have ever known) wrote Marilyn last night that Kado, our favorite Japanese restaurant in Tampa, has closed due to financial reasons.  It will be the subject of tomorrow's blog.  It shall be missed...

Today I continue my explanations of abbreviations, acronyms and terms used to describe various aspects of my student ministries over the years- often to much confusion amongst adults!  Here we go:

Graceland-  The name of our student ministry at WMUMC.  When I arrived in Tampa, the student ministry went by the name God's Property.  After a year of phasing that name out, we had a little contest to pick a new name- which I then pretty much ignored and decided to go with Graceland.  I loved the tag line we put with the name in our logo (at left)- "Living in God's grace and spending time with the King!"  (Both this logo and the Crosseyed logo were designed by Uth Stuph, a fabulous company out of Orlando.)  I was never a huge Elvis fan, but I loved this classic logo and the meaning behind the name.  It did, however, confuse the older folks every time it showed up in the church bulletin...

YSOP-  Youth Service Opportunity Project.  This was a youth-led service project we started at FUMC-K.  The youth took over the nursery during the 8:30 AM Sunday worship service, providing lesson plans, teachers and helpers.  Cyndi Reep and Jill Souther were the first youth to direct the program; others followed.  Then name was "stolen" from a New York City Quaker ministry I once worked with.  That just proves the old saying:  "A youth pastor is only as good as the people they steal from..."

Blizzard Run-  Any trip to Dairy Queen.  We started doing these as official events on Sunday evenings after UMYF in Kissimmee.  Fifty or so of us would storm the local DQ and eat many blizzards.  In Tampa, we went to Baskin-Robbins instead because it was much closer.  In Waycross, it was back to the DQ.  Free blizzards made very popular prizes in my various contests, and you could always claim your prize at a Blizzard Run!

Rec Around the Clock-  An all-night "Lock-In."  Another stolen title (thank you, Tom Klaus!) that is still is use at various churches I served, this was a totally different type of church lock-in.  Mostly because for the majority of the night you were actually locked OUT!  A few of my favorite things we ever did at RAC include seeing Laser Led Zeppelin at the Orlando Planetarium;  3 AM picnic in a Krispy Kreme parking lot in High Point;  4 AM Laser Tag in Kissimmee, joined by half of the local area drug dealers;  4 AM ice skating (sleepy ice skaters are hilarious!) and early morning shopping cart races in the K-Mart parking lot.  We also often finished with breakfast at Shoney's or Denny's- and once at an IHOP in Tampa, where they took 3 hours to feed us all.  Strangely enough, I really miss this event...

Happy Hour-  An afternoon of fellowship at the local Sonic Drive-In.   Sonic began advertising an afternoon special called Happy Hour in Tampa, where drinks and milk shakes were half priced.  I co-opted the idea and the name for our program, and during the summer we would gather from 2-4 PM at the local Sonic and just hang out.  We would play cards, eat, drink and be merry!  Some youth would drop by; others came and stayed.  It was another great relationship builder in both Tampa and Waycross. 

Radical Sabbatical-  An overnight spiritual growth adventure.  A small group would gather on a Friday night and spend the next 24 hours together exploring the scriptures and other spiritual disciplines.  We did this several times at FUMC-K, including one very memorable experience with a guided meditation where the students walked with Jesus in their mind's eye.  We had a number of excellent experiences, including one on sharing your faith called Live the Life and one where we took a road trip to Jerry Hanbery's apartment in Gainesville.  We also did a couple of weekends at WMUMC.  I would love to do these for adults some day, if that is somewhere God leads me.

One On One- I would meet with a student- 1 on 1!  Several days each summer, from 1987 through 2006, I would set aside a whole day to meet with students one at a time for an hour at a time.  We would usually go grab a milk shake and just talk about whatever was on their minds.  The 9 AM appointment got breakfast and the 12 noon got lunch, so those were highly coveted time slots!  There were some youth who made an appointment every time I offered it.  This was always a very valuable ministry.

Crosseyed-  The name of our student ministry at TUMC.  Upon arriving in Waycross, I wanted to brand our ministry just like we had done with Graceland at WMUMC.  I went with Crosseyed Student Ministries (see logo at bottom).  The idea was that we would stay focused on the Cross of Christ.  Our tag line was one I still use quite often- "It's all about Jesus!"  This was yet another youth group friendly name that left adults scratching their heads and wondering if we were making fun of cross eyed people...

So there you have it- two days of examples of ways I tried to create a unique culture for our students at the various churches I served.  And there are more- but I think you get the idea.  If not, then you can sign-up for the Timothy Club or Super Service Saturday (SSS) by visiting the Super Summer Sign-Up Center in the youth room or on the website.  Sorry- old habits die hard!  See you tomorrow as I remember an old friend- Kado!

Because of Jesus,