The Hogwarts School of Youth Ministry

Bob in Spanish Wells, 1997

This post was first shared in May of 2014. I share it again on this Flashback Friday in it's original format (slightly edited) for a couple of reasons. One, I was recently asked once again how we were able to do all we did in our student ministries and this post is my favorite answer. Two, I wanted you to see the original comments. And three, I have been talking with a lot of old Kissimmee friends these past few weeks. It got me thinking about the good old days...

"Most folks these days don't have enough faith to see that God's magic is happening all around them..."

I have a dear friend named Jennifer Kuramochi. Some of you know her her Jennifer Minnigan; still others simply as Bob. You can read about her days in the youth ministries of the First United Methodist Church of Kissimmee in many posts on this site, including The Legend of Bob, which is her entry into my Hall of Fame! So anyway...Jen and I are still friends. We were talking a few weeks back and she was telling me that whenever she recounts stories from her youth group days people are often in disbelief of all that we were able to do. Her husband Jun just shakes his head in wonder at the fact that a church youth group was able to go places like Spanish Wells, New York City and Myrtle Beach- not to mention the speakers, the concerts, the mission trips and the day trips. We got a lot of that same reaction at the FUMC-K reunion last year. Jennifer told me that once when asked how we were able to do all that we did, she thought for moment and responded, "I'm not sure. I think maybe Carl was part Wizard!" 

One of my favorite places on Walt Disney World property was The Beaches and Cream Soda Shoppe. I remember not only the great meals and the oh-so-decadent banana split pictured here, but also all the times times we were there with so many old friends and youth groups. This, after all, was the home of the Disney Dash Ice Cream Bash! One of those memories concerns the time in 1993 a group of us from Springfield Friends Meeting headed over mid-afternoon one day to get an ice cream fix and wound up singing Hopelessly Devoted to the other patrons of the restaurant (click But Now for the whole story!). That memory got me thinking more about that amazing '93 trip to WDW, stories of which were told here on this blog under the label Magic Tour back in 2010- and it took me 20 posts! Each of the nearly 50 participants had a 5-day park hopper pass. We stayed at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort. We ate at some of the finest restaurants on property, and saw both the Hoop-de-doo Musical Revue and Polynesian Luau dinner shows. We were special (and featured!) guests at Pleasure Island's Comedy Warehouse. Every day was amazing, and as Marilyn I sat talking on Saturday the words of Bob came ringing back to me. How did we do all that stuff? Maybe I was part Wizard...

Of course we know the truth. We were able to do all that we did and accomplish all that we accomplished because we were blessed by God to do these things in Jesus' name. All of the churches I served had the resources and gave us the freedom to dream, to be creative, and yes- to be MAGICAL with our youth ministry programming! But the adult leadership in each of those ministries deserves credit for this one thing- we believed the magic could happen! We had faith that amazing things could happen. We had the audacity to believe in the biblical directive to pray big prayers and dream big dreams. I learned early on from some brilliant mentors that youth ministry thrives when you live in the Possimpible (thank you, Barney Stinson)- that place where the possible and the impossible meet. There was no doubt in my mind that if we did those things, God could provide the supernatural- the MAGIC. I suppose you could say I attended the Hogwarts School of Youth Ministry! What I lacked in theological training I made up for in faith. I believed in what we were doing and never allowed nay-saying Muggles to steal our dreams. If I were indeed part Wizard, it was only in the sense that I never ruled anything out just because it seemed to be out of our reach or impractical. Big churches or small, we believed in trusting God to take us to places beyond our grasp- but firmly in His. There was never any doubt in my mind that God had great things in store for the churches I served a youth pastor. That's how we did great mission trips over my 28 years to places like DC, Chicago, Nashville, Tijuana and Spanish Wells. It's how we did ski trips, amazing weekend retreats, over a dozen NYC trips, took trips to see the Braves play baseball, spent weeks at Myrtle Beach and had

New York Trip in the early 1990s

amazing adventures together at WDW. It's how we hosted great bands like Spooky Tuesday, Sundry, Lost And Found and Geoff Moore & the Distance, and communicators like Curt Clonninger, Duffy Robbins, Mike Williams, Rick Bundschuh and Ted & Lee. It's how we did outrageous summer events, had awe-filled worship and built bonds that are still strong to this very day. It's how we changed lives! We didn't get everything right, and we had our share of mishaps. There were times when it became less about God's power and too much about me, and the ministry suffered. But even in the tough times, we never stopped believing in the magic of youth ministry to bring teenagers into the presence of God and into relationship with Jesus and with one another. And when our plans were filtered through a mission for Christ and magnified by God's love for us, all things were possible. 

Looking back now, I still can't explain how it all came together. I don't know how we paid for everything, I don't know how the plans came together so well, and I don't know why God blessed us in so many ways- other than we believed God would! I just know that for 28 years God kept sending waves, and instead of ducking and hiding we kept yelling SURF'S UP!!! It was indeed magical. And if that makes me part Wizard- probably more like the foul-up Mickey the Sorcerer than Harry Potter- so be it. The abiding lesson of the Hogwarts School of Youth Ministry? Never underestimate the awesome power of God to do things that are far beyond your reach. So tell me, fellow Christians- do you believe in that kind of magic? The church so often seems to be full of Muggles...

Because of Jesus,

Throwback Thursday: Floridays 1990

Today's Throwback Thursday takes us all the way back to our 2nd trip from Springfield Friends Meeting to Walt Disney World- Floridays 1990! I wish there were more pictures to share, but we took slides for our post-trip slide show, and those slides were lost in one of my moves. Still, here are 7 things that stick out in my mind from that adventure:

1)  We had many great "performances" while at Disney. We saw Heather Beggs and Mike Mercadante dancing in front of the "Chinese Theater" that houses The Great Movie Ride. There was J.J. Carter delivering his line to David Letterman- "Hey Dave, why don't you ever do anything educational?"- at Superstar TV. But the performance of the week had to belong to Kelly Allen (pictured, on left) and her ongoing portrayal of Lucretia Soul Disney Murphy Johnson, who could never figure out "who da hat be wif" and who was constantly on the lookout for Tyrone Mouse- "cause he's a liar!" Best supporting actor awards go to Wendy Mattocks and Jennifer Woods, also pictured.

2)  Russell Farlow ran out of money on about the second day and was constantly trying to borrow from his friends. At the awards ceremony following the trip he was awarded the Brother, Can You Spare A Dime Award.

3)  Jon Moran (pictured, along with Bryan Dowling) celebrated a birthday while we were in Orlando, and we did a birthday meal at the Olive Garden. I remember it was fun and that we had a great time, but I it seems like we were there forever. There were 60 of us, and they just couldn't seem to get our food out, our drinks filled or our checks out so we could leave. Jon may have aged a year while we partied...

4)  One night, after a very long day at the parks, we arrived back at the Gold Key Inn only to find that we had lost Dana Oxendine. We were searching and getting a bit frantic when someone discovered her asleep in the back of the Suburban that Butch Moran was driving. Given that Butch had been accused of falling asleep at the wheel on occasion, it was a miracle she could sleep that soundly!

Stinky also reads the blog!

5)  I have been on a lot of youth trips in my life, and on most of them there is one room that develops a smell that is, as my friend Alan Brown used to say, "taint"-  as in, "that jus' taint natural!" The award for worst smelling room ever (mostly from very natural causes!) goes to Jamie Robinson, Danny McCorquodale, Ken Hill, Jeremy Godwin and (part-time) Todd Farlow. They blamed it all on Jeremy's stuffed animal Stinky (who still takes trips with Jeremy on occasion!). Danny took most of the credit for himself...

6)  On the afternoon we spent by the motel pool, Tim Harding (our trip pastor), Robin Thomas and I wandered across the street (Well, sprinted!  You don't wander across the Orange Blossom Trail and live to talk about it!) to an A&W Root Beer store. Those were without question the best root beer floats in history! They made them with Breyers vanilla ice cream and put them in frosted beer mugs. We had more than one that week I can promise you!

7)  The New Mickey Mouse Club was popular in 1990, and the show had produced a spin-off band called The Party. One of the guys was named Chase Hampton. He was spotted at the Magic Kingdom one day by some of our girls- Jennifer Simmons, Emily Beggs, Elizabeth Tillman and others- and was then pursued until they caught him and got his autograph on their hats. The restraining order took effect the next day...  

So there you have it- a few classic memories from Floridays 1990! There are more stories on this blog from that trip, and you can find them by searching the label below this post. Have a great Thursday and thanks for sharing in this trip down memory lane!

Because of Jesus,

Flashback Friday: Restaurants & Youth Ministry

Happy Flashback Friday! Over the years my youth groups visited many fine restaurants- and a whole bunch of not so fine ones as well! Each time you take a group of teenagers into a restaurant, you can see the fear on the faces of the employees and patrons. They expect mayhem, wildness and no tips. We always tried to surprise them and make our time there as much fun for them as it was for us. Today I take a look back at 12 places that were favorites of various groups for a variety of reasons. All of them share one thing in common; we were always invited back. I had the best students anyone could ever ask for! So here are 12 great memories:

12)  The Jade Dragon-  Located only a block from Union Church in Hinsdale, IL, this great little Chinese place was a regular stop for meetings, lunches with students and SHO-Time. We had a great meal there one night with the gang from Spooky Tuesday and had my farewell dinner there as well.

11)  Sonic Drive-In-  In both Tampa and Waycross we used a Sonic for a summer program called Happy Hour. I would go sit at the tables outside and spend several hours greeting students, playing cards and drinking Cherry Limeaids. It was always a great time of relationship building, and I miss those very hot summer days!

10)  Captain John's Seafood-  I picked this fine Calabash restaurant (a favorite since my own youth group days) to represent all of the seafood restaurants we visited in the Myrtle Beach area over the years, including the all-you-can-eat places (pictured) we favored in the later years. Special memories include Lisa Kraus destroying an entire army of crab legs and the night I discovered half of the Springfield group didn't like seafood.  Not included in this list is White's Point (inside joke for my oldest buddies!).

  9)  The Roadhouse Grill/Rio Bravo-  These two Kissimmee restaurants were favorite SHO-Time spots, and we ate at both on many occasions. We loved the queso at Rio and the bread and throwing peanut shells on the floor at Roadhouse, and both places knew us well. Later on a Roadhouse in Clearwater became a favorite of the Wesley Memorial group. None of those three restaurants are still in business. I blame myself...

  8)  Dick's Wings-  This wonderful wing house became the home of our 5th Quarter "after football" events in Waycross, which drew big crowds of students on Friday nights. You had to beware of Dick's Special Sauce- it was lethal!

  7)  The Beaches & Cream Soda Shoppe-  Located at Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resort, this place serves great hamburgers and hot dogs- but no one cares! They have some of the most amazing ice cream creations anywhere, and we visited often, as tourists from Springfield and as locals from Kissimmee and Tampa. This was the home of the Kitchen Sink, and the much-missed Disney Dash Ice Cream Bash event. 

  6)  The Fireworks Factory-  Another out-of-business restaurant and the second in a trilogy of Disney eateries, we only had two meals there with youth groups. The first already received its own post, and you can read it by clicking here. The second was the night Marilyn and I informed everyone on the Springfield Alumni Trip in December of 1994 that she was pregnant. A very special place.

  5)  The Cape May Cafe-  On long trips or just going over for the morning, there was no place quite like Cape May when it came to breakfast.  Both the Springfield and FUMC-K groups got to experience the wonder of this all-you-can-eat buffet that never ceases to amaze.  Plus you get to share the meal with Chip, Dale, Goofy and other Disney stars!  Located in Disney's Beach Club Resort, this one is still open for business!

  4)  Lee Gardens-  Located near Wesley Memorial in Tampa, this Chinese buffet was host to us on so many occasions, and they never failed to show us a great time. To this day when I walk in with just Marilyn they are stunned, and ask "Only 2?" Best egg drop soup ever!

  

3)  Carmine's-  This Manhattan establishment has the feel of something straight out of The Godfather. It is a great place under any circumstance; to go there with a large group simply defies description (especially when I got to order everything in advance!). The service, the sheer amount of food, and the desserts are all amazing. We didn't find this place until Jill Painter's Aunt Gerry took us there in the late '90's; we didn't ever miss a chance to go there after that!

  

2)  Kyotos-  Many of my former students will be stunned to see this come in at #2.  After all, no place spanned as many years of my ministry as did this Japanese steakhouse. While at Springfield, we discovered one in Greensboro, NC, and began to plan regular group events there. It became tradition for me to take youth there to celebrate their 16th birthdays. When we moved to Kissimmee, we discovered one in Longwood (just north of Orlando; see picture) and began regular pilgrimages, often with huge groups of teens. Later, we discovered one in Myrtle Beach and ate there with both the Wesley Memorial and FUMC-K groups. So many stories, so many memories and so much food! Also have to give a quick shout out to Kado Japanese in Tampa, which also hosted many a memorable meal!

  1)  Pizza Inn-  Although we ate at Kyotos many times over many years, for shear quantity nothing came close to Pizza Inn in High Point, NC. It has so much meaning to so many people who were a part of the Springfield Friends Meeting youth ministry (see The Ministry of Pizza Inn), partly because at least a portion of us ate there every week- at least once a week!  No other restaurant ever had as much impact on my ministry, and we had a pretty major impact on them as well. Congrats, Pizza Inn- you are still #1!!!

So there it is- I would love to hear your thoughts on oversights and omissions from this list. And thanks to so many of you for making theses memories so wonderful! 

Because of Jesus,

Flashback Friday: The Ministry of Gumby

Today is another Flashback Friday, and we are headed back to my days (1986-1994) in youth ministry at Springfield Friends Meeting. Those were special years with some incredible people, and in many ways Springfield will always be home to me. What does Gumby have to do with any of this? Read on, my friends...

So today's youth ministry artifact comes with a mystery. You see, as keenly as I remember so many details from 30 years ago, I do not remember at all the exact how or why the Gumby you see pictured here came to be in my possession. It was the late 1980s, during my time at Springfield Friends Meeting,  and I know that it was given to me by Shelley Godwin and Heather Beggs because their initials and a message- "Gumbys live forever!"- are on his tag. I also remember that it was Keri Vinson who first turned his rainbow colored belt into a hippie-style headband. But as far as details, that's all I've got.

So why even bring up Gumby? Because his presence in my offices over the years always served as a reminder of something important. This blog goes on and on concerning the need to be intentional about building relationships with students and how important I believe that to be in student ministry. As our TNT  outreach program took off and we began to reach more and more students from the community, this became a real challenge at SFM. As incredible kids like Shelley and her twin brother Jeremy, Heather and Keri became involved in our ministry, I wanted to make sure we stayed connected and that they knew they were loved individually- not just because we liked having a large group. So I turned to one of my mentors, J. David Stone. He had written a book in 1985 for GROUP Books called Spiritual Growth in Youth Ministry, and one chapter contained a plan for a different type of outreach that would change my ministry forever-  24 Weeks of Caring.

The plan was so simple, yet totally brilliant. You would chose 4 groups of a specified (I eventually settled on 6 after trying 8) number of youth with whom you wanted to build a better relationship- a total of 24 students (using 6 per group- HA!  I did math!).  The program would begin by sending all 24 teenagers a letter informing them that they had been chosen for this special event, and that nothing was required of them. It was just going to happen to them. Each group was given a designated communication category for a specific number of weeks (again I chose 6, so at 24 weeks I could do the program twice in a year.). For the first 6 weeks, I would pray every day for each person in Group 1 and send them a note each week reminding them that I was praying for them and asking for prayer requests. During those same 6 weeks I would give the members of Group 2 a phone call once a week. Group 3 received a weekly personalized post card in which nothing was said about our youth ministry- it was all about them. And Group 4 I received visits once a week- outside of church. Sometimes it was over a milk shake, sometimes at school, sometimes at a community event.  At the end of the first 6 weeks, you simply rotate the groups. When you complete the 24 weeks, you have connected every week with all 24 students in 4 different ways- and your relationship with all of them will be different...

Obviously it could be updated to fit today's high-tech culture, and you could use Facebook, Twitter, texting or e-mail to replace some of "mailing" that I did. The last time few times I did it I used e-mail instead of writing the post cards. No matter, the point remains the same- letting youth know they are important and they are loved- and that NONE of that is based on how many times they show up for church.

So why does Gumby remind me of this? I'm not sure I can explain it. But just maybe it's because that at Springfield we reached so many students whose families were not a part of that church, and because of efforts like the 24 Weeks of Caring they became a huge part of OUR family. I look at Gumby and remember that I have seldom had better relationships (or more fun) with students over the years than I had with Heather, Shelley, Keri, Jeremy and so many other TNT survivors. Some of those relationships remain strong to this day. Gumby reminds me that praying for students is crucial. But he also reminds me that those kinds of relationships don't just happen- they require work. Even now that I am out of the professional ministry, it's still an awesome reminder. In fact, I could start up the program right now using blog readers and Twitter friends. Hmmm.  Interested?  :) 

Because of Jesus,

Remembering the Youth Ministry Hotline

Greetings and Salutations (or as they say in NC, "Howdy Ya'll!) out there in Blog World and welcome to another Flashback Friday edition of Carl's blog! Today, kiddies, we are going to take a trip in the Wayback Machine, all the way back to 1988. Think back to this time, before many people had home computers, before churches had websites, before cell phones and before online social networking sites. Even in those dark days, we still had to communicate with one another- and we often did it with this thing called a telephone.

After the epiphany about more active summers and better communication I received at the 1987 NYWC, I had spent much of my time in the following months working on ways to let my youth and their families know what was going on in our ministry at Springfield Friends Meeting. I had improved the monthly newsletters, sent out more postcards, and put up more bulletin boards in the facility. This all culminated in the summer of '88 with the publication of my first Summer Ministries Booklet and the introduction of the Youth Group Hotline. The concept of the Hotline was not new. The idea was to have a separate phone line with an answering machine (get Grandpa to explain that contraption to ya!) attached where people could call and receive information on youth events. But I wanted to take the idea to another level. I found an answering machine with a 1 minute message tape, and advertised that the message would change every day! And from June of 1988 (887-8366 at Springfield) until March of 2000 (847-XLAX in Kissimmee-"get a new message every day that will really MOVE you...") I did just that- at least most every day. It was much more than just information- it was entertainment, it was interactive, and it was a great means of connecting with students. Here are just a few of the things that happened on the Hotline over the years:

• Al Sleet, Hippy-Dippy Youth Leader-  Stolen from a George Carlin character, Al sounded a little stoned, and delivered the youth news along with great lines like "The forecast for tonight is dark...continued mostly dark tonight, ending in widely scattered light tomorrow." Al was a favorite for years.
• Chicken Man-  With his famous cry of "He's everywhere, he's everywhere," Chicken Man's heroic tales (as told by me, the narrator) would always include some of the youth and the upcoming events in our program. He was a weekly character for years.
• The Student Spotlight-  Once a week I would highlight one of our youth, giving true facts and some humorous stories- or facts I would just make up! "Bob's favorite subject is basket weaving; he loves football and chinese checkers; and his hobbies include eating cheesecake and knitting sweaters for senior citizens."
• Contests-  There were all kinds of contests designed to get kids to call in and leave messages, and they did. I would publish the contests in our newsletter and get them hooked on calling.  They were having fun and hearing what we were up to as a ministry- hmmm this idea just might work...
• The DJ-  I would play a corny AM-radio style disk jockey, giving the youth news and singing songs like Carlin's One Last Pimple (I've got one last pimple from going steady with you, don't know whether to break it or leave it alone, it's the only one I call my own...") and Put Your Hand In the Fan ("Put your hand in the fan and you could lose a finger.  Put your foot in the fan and you could lose a toe.  Put your face in the fan and you will look at others differently, put your body in the fan and alter your anatomy!"). Always a favorite.
• Top 10 Lists-  I would do lists about our ministry, about events, and about individual youth. I would also borrow directly from the master, David Letterman!
• Mocking Culture- From time to time I would latch on to something that was huge in the youth culture and make fun of it in various ways. For instance, during the Titanic craze of 1997 I introduced a recurring character named Leonardo Decappuchinobreath to torture all of the young women who were madly in love with Leo. I had so much fun with this one...

The Hotline accomplished everything I ever hoped it would until it was replaced by the website. It fostered communication and contact with the youth I served, and helped eliminate moments like a youth walking in and asking when the Atlanta trip was going to be, only to be told we had just returned the day before! And websites, as great as they are, cannot replace the intimacy of hearing the excited voice of a youth responding to your work and the upcoming events. It was just one of the many ways we used to try to help connect students to our ministry, and hopefully, to Jesus. And by the way- even with this "new" computer technology, comments are still appreciated!  :) 

Because of Jesus,

Throwback Thursday: Springfield's 1991 Myrtle Beach Trip

Stacy finds yet another camera to pose for!

Today's Throwback Thursday trip takes us back to my glorious years (1986-1994) at Springfield Friends Meeting. In the summer of 1991 we took a group of students to North Myrtle Beach, SC. We stayed at a house called The Spinnaker (the Betsy B was booked) for a week. As always I brought along my trusty video camera- a Magnavox about the size of your average 50 pound TV camera. And as usual, I was having too much fun to worry about actually taping anything! Finally, on our last full day, I broke out the camera in the morning and shot for most of the morning. What you are about to read is a blog I wrote while watching that video in 2010. It was a hoot! It should be mentioned that the following is rated PG!  Here we go...

* We open on Jon Moran's temporary dragon tattoo purchased at the Pavilion the night before. Jon addresses the camera and says "I will now attempt to eat a whole box of Fruity Pebbles." It was our own little cliffhanger- stay tuned to see if he was successful!
* Stacy Gilbreth, Natalie Whitaker, Holly Harward, Charles Freedle and Ben Moran are on the oceanfront porch, watching the action on the beach as Led Zeppelin plays in the background. Stacy wants me to film some guy named Marcus, who is not with our group but who is "really cute." I refuse and harass her. Good times...
* Jennifer Simmons discusses forgetting her swim suit on a beach trip, and also how"gross" she looks. Marilyn suggests that she wear Stacy's "flowery bra" and that no one would notice. Jennifer responds by telling the camera her sister Amy looks gross too...Amy, now pictured, is not amused. 

Kelly, Kelly, Kelly...K-E-L-L-Y!!!

* A group of us wake up Kelly Allen by invading her bedroom and singing her the "Kelly, Kelly, Kelly" song from the TV show Cheers. She is also not amused.
* Avis (a friend of Jennifer Woods whose last name I have forgotten) threatens to expose herself again (A note of explanation: Avis had lost her bikini top in a wave on our first day, exposing what the kids came to call "her flippers."  Yes, this stuff really happens...) but does not.
* Shon Hildreth, Ion Hildreth, Noel Cecil and Donald Fleischman are on the porch now, listening to Guns and Roses and bothering Holly and Nat in what can only be considered an awful attempt at flirting. A moment later Journey is playing. The soundtrack to this video rocks!
* Holly, Nat, Jennifer and Stacy are walking on the beach in front of the house and screaming my name, wanting me to film them. I do briefly, but then we hear the voice of Charles in the background saying "don't get that." He then tells me to focus on two other girls walking the beach, and he yells at them "Hey ladies!  WAVE!" And they do...
* Ryan Simmons and Steven McGrath make a brief appearance, but say nothing.
* Wendy Mattocks and Kelly, sitting in a chair on the first floor, tell the following joke: "What's green and goes slam, slam, slam, slam?  A 4-door pickle!!!" I taught them that joke...it's my own fault! 

The legendary Charles Freedle

* Charles and Mike Mercadante (who has just gotten up) have tattoos, too. Jon has indeed finished the entire box of Fruity Pebbles. Tom Petty is now playing in the background. I love this trip!
* Kelly begins to tell us the story of being awakened earlier, then realizes if anyone is actually ever watching the tape, they have already seen that happen. She also tells of how we forgot to awaken her stuffed animal Yolanda, who apparently had fallen into a crack.
* Stacy takes this opportunity to once again tell us that her raft has a hole in one of the seams. And just as she has the entire week, she does this by reporting "there's a hole in my crack." Ah yes- these are my people!
* Josie (again, the last name escapes me- all I can think of is & the Pussycats and I know that is not it!), Natalie and Holly give us a tour of their room. Clothes and hair spray are everywhere! I threaten to condemn the place...
* Wendy and Kelly have changed floors but are still sitting in a chair just like the one before. Jennifer Wood has now joined them. They begin telling jokes, and then Stacy (who seems to be everywhere the camera is) tells a classic: "What do you get when you play a country song backwards?  You get your wife back, your dog back and your truck fixed!" 

Woodhead & Wendy!

* Wendy remarks that Jennifer Wood, dressed all in green, looks like a pickle. This prompts Natalie to tell the exact same pickle joke as before. We all try to act surprised. 
* Kelly brings out Yolanda, and a lengthy discussion ensues over whether this creature is a dog or a bunny. Someone even suggest a bear. Kelly swears it is a bunny. I suggest it is a "Dunny," to which Kelly replies "Yes... I mean NOOOOOO!" 
* Marie Allen is finally awake...
* Jon, Charles, Mike and Bryan Dowling emerge from their room, looking suspicious. Mike and Charles are wearing Speedos, and they proceed to run around the building. Mike has dollar bills tucked in his. As they run back into their room, Charles shouts "Well I never!" I respond "Well maybe you should!" Jimmy Buffet plays as the camera fades to static...
* One final scene- the next morning, everyone is banging pots and pans trying to wake everyone else up.  Jon, Mike, Charles and BD sleep through it all.

That's it. I missed filming the devotions, the singing on the porch, Black Thursday and all kinds of other excitement. I seem to remember sitting up one night and trying to count all of the "Na-na-na-na-na's" in the Journey song Loving, Touching and Squeezing. Every trip offers so many memorable moments. The video did capture the feeling of community and the love that we all had for each other, even if only for one day. I hope you enjoyed this flashback- I sure did! 

Because of Jesus,

Are You Ready For the Summer?

Dear friends in Student Ministry: Summer is almost upon us! Are you ready to make the most of all of the free time your students will have? Here are some thoughts on how I became a huge fan of summer ministries, originally posted back in 2009. 

In the early days of professional youth ministry it was commonplace for summer to be downtime for the Youth Pastor. This never made any sense to me. We would take three months when students were usually available and often bored and churches would slow down their youth ministries. Many youth workers were not paid during the summer months and had to find other jobs. In fact, I spent my earliest summers in ministry working at a summer camp because I had summers off. By the time of my first summer at Springfield Friends Meeting in 1987 all of this was changing. We planned events on Wednesdays and Sundays and our first trip to Disney World. At the 1987 NYWC I attended a seminar that challenged me to expand our summer ministry and to improve our communication. The summer of 1988 was my first shot at doing both.

The programs and events for that summer now seem very tame by my later standards, but they were the start of something big! We continued to meet on Sunday afternoons and Wednesday nights (giving our award-winning TNT program the summer off). We took trips to Myrtle
Beach (That's Amy, Lavonia, Andi & Heather pictured at The Betsy B in 1988) and Atlanta. We had our first ever Youth Week, with events every day, including a trip to Carowinds and a concert by me at the Covered Bridge Pizza Parlor in Archdale. We had our first ever Breakfast Club; our first ever trip to feed the homeless of High Point at Our Father's Table; our first ever end of the summer Luau!  We collected cans of tuna to help Urban Ministry feed the hungry. We attended Quaker Lake together and had our own class at VBS. Every ministry and event that would come in the later years got a start in the summer of '88.

It was also the year of the first Summer Ministries Booklet. This picture is the cover from 1990, but the little guy, Zed, was on the cover for the first four years. In 1988 he was carrying a surfboard. The booklet laid out the plan for our summer, giving details and sign-up deadlines. Students and parents alike loved the concept; looking back, it was a website in print years before anyone had a website! In the years to come the summer info packet would grow and the schedule would expand, but it all started in 1988. Nothing I ever accomplished in youth ministry created as much of a buzz or brought as much praise my way from students and their parents as my summer schedules over the years. And no one enjoyed the hectic pace, the frantic planning and the incredible amount of time spent with students any more than me! I thank God every day for the many blessings I received through the ministries, events and programs I led for all those years. Too many churches still treat summer as a time to slow down. I respectfully suggest just the opposite. Summer is a time to shift into high gear. Students have actual free time. Wouldn't it be awesome to have them spend it with the church? The time to start planning is NOW...

Because of Jesus,

Remembering a Sweet, Sweet Spirit

Late yesterday afternoon we received word from several old friends at Springfield Friends Meeting that our dear friend Wayne Gless had passed away. His death was sudden and unexpected, despite a variety of health issues over these past few years. Our prayers are with his family and friends today as they grieve his loss.

We were at Springfield for 8 years (1986-1994) and during that time Wayne and his family were very, very important to us. His wife of 52 years, Jane, his sister-in-law Patsy Hill and his nephew Ken Hill made us feel welcome and special from the day we arrived. Wayne was truly a brother to Patsy and a father to Ken. Family was important to Wayne. When Ken & his wife Gilly brought their daughter Kaitlyn into the world Wayne became a Paw Paw to her and a new light came into his life. Wayne loved his church and he loved his God. He spent many hours in the service of Springfield Meeting. He was a brilliant artist, with his paintings in demand all over the state of North Carolina. Wayne loved the beach, and he loved to fish. And he loved to tell stories about the things he loved.

The one word that keeps coming to me when I remember Wayne is "sweet." He just had a sweet spirit about him. He treated everyone the same- with respect and love. I knew Wayne pretty well and we spent a fair amount of time together. But I have no crazy stories to tell, no one magic moment that stands out. In fact, the only picture of him in my collection from those years is the one below of he and Jane at Disney some 25 years ago. I had forgotten it, probably because his eyes are closed and I thought he wouldn't like it. I just know that while I was the youth pastor at Springfield he always made me feel like I was the best youth pastor ever and he made Marilyn feel welcome and included. His love and encouragement knew no limits. 

This past October I visited the office at Springfield one morning and Wayne happened to stop by. We had a hug-filled reunion and caught up on each other's lives. I am so glad now to have had that moment then. For the past 20 years of so a piece of Wayne's artwork, a painting of Quaker Lake Camp in the autumn, has hung in a prominent place in our home. We remember Wayne every time we see it, which is every day. And as of yesterday it has become even more priceless to us.

Wayne Gless will be missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with Jane, Patsy, Ken and the rest of the family. They are also with our Springfield family. Heaven has gained a "sweet, sweet spirit" and we have lost a dear friend. Rest in peace, Wayne. I'm guessing the fishing in heaven will be perfect...

Because of Jesus,

Throwback Thursday: The Legend of the Country Quakers

Happy Throwback Thursday! Yesterday was the great Tony Campolo's 80th birthday. Tony is one of the great storytellers our our time, quoted in sermons on a regular basis. But to celebrate here, I thought I would share my favorite story (originally posted in 2009) ABOUT Tony. It's one for the ages...

In the late 70's or early 80's (those years really run together in my mind!) Alan Brown showed up at my house one day having written most of a song about a blue pick-up truck. It was the type of song where heartbreak is all around- a true parody of country music. I helped him (very little) finish it, and it became legendary around Quaker Lake Camp and NC Young Friends events. As time passed, Alan was not around those events much and I took to singing it by myself. In 1986 I sang it at New England Yearly Meeting and it killed. It seemed that people everywhere could get into this song.

At the 1987 National Youth Workers Convention in Atlanta there was going to be a "talent show" at the annual Wittenburg Door Banquet. I had brought my guitar with me, and at some point Terry Venable, Ray Luther and I decided we would audition for the banquet and sing Blue Pick-Up Truck. The three of us had never performed the song together before, but we would be bound together by history. Ray would follow me as Youth Pastor at Springfield Friends Meeting, and then would follow Terry as Senior Pastor there. He was still Pastor there until December of 2014. Ray was by far the best singer of the group; I knew the verses; Terry was there for moral support! We auditioned under the name The Country Quakers. They let us sing part of the song and then told us we would get a call letting us know if we were in. The call came, and we would make our debut in front of 800  or so youth workers. 

The Wittenburg Door Banquet was a wild affair each year, and 1987 was no different. We were sharing a table with some Mennonites who were wearing suits and hotel shower caps. People dressed crazy, acted crazy and had lots of fun, all without the benefit of alcohol! Wayne Rice did his Sinatra impression ("I did it His way...") and Mike Yaconelli made fun of everyone. Before we knew it, it was our time to take the stage, one of the final acts of the night.

I introduced the song in my usual way- "How many of you like country music?" After the cheer went up in response, I said, "Well then you will hate this..."  It got a good laugh and started the song. The first verse and chorus passed with some laughter, but we had no indication of what was about to happen. People began to clap along with the music. After the second verse, as we started the chorus again, I jokingly yelled out, "Sing it if you know it!"  To our shock, they did!  "There's a blue pick-up truck where my heart used to be" rang out like Born to Run at a Springsteen concert! The place was now rocking, and we were really getting into it. Everyone in the place was standing and clapping along. The room itself was pretty dark, with candles on every table. Sometime during the final verse we noticed that someone at one of the front tables was standing in a chair and waving a candle. Others began to copy him, until he and some of the crowd were actually on the tables singing and waving candles. We couldn't really see at the time, but when the lights came up we discovered it was Tony Campolo, world renowned speaker and teacher, who had been the lead dancer! We received a huge standing ovation, and Wayne Rice told me he thought we might be the biggest hit in the history of the banquet. Tic Long, who selected the acts for the night, told us later he had chosen us because he thought we would get booed off the stage; we were supposed to have been the "Gong Show" act of the night! I just hate that this was before the days of video phones; I would love to have a tape of it all!

The next day we were full-blown celebrities. Everyone wanted to say hi and offer congratulations. Yohann Anderson wanted to publish the song. Tony himself stopped me in the hall to tell me how much fun it had been for him. The Wittenburg Door Banquet was discontinued shorty thereafter, so that was my one and only bit of  NYWC fame. It was also the one and only performance of The Country Quakers.  Always leave 'em wanting more, right? 

Because of Jesus,

Floridays 1990 Flashback: A Rough Start

Today we step into the Wayback Machine and celebrate Flashback Friday with a look back at the inauspicious first day of our second trip from Springfield Friends Meeting to Walt Disney World, June 9-15, 1990. Over 60 youth and adults caravaned together in five vehicles. Included in this adventure was our friend Jeff Byrd (that's Jeff in the glasses, with Rich Hughes at The Florida Mall ), the youth dude at Archdale Friends Meeting, and around 10 of his group. The trip had tripled in size since our first WDW outing only three years before, and there was great excitement. We were staying at the Gold Key Inn, once again out on Orange Blossom Trail (OBT) in Orlando. We would have four days at the Disney parks, including the brand new Disney/MGM Studios. We couldn't wait to get there.

Getting there turned out to be a bit of an issue, however. One of the Suburbans we were using for transportation, owned by Judy Rees and driven for most of the trip by Robin Thomas, took the wrong exit at one point. This was before the days of cell phones, but we did have some walkie-talkie type radios, and we were able to correct the mistake with minor damage to our trip time. We discovered later those radios didn't have much range. 

We made it into the Orlando area and were cruising down I-4 looking for the OBT exit, all of our vehicles together in single file formation. I was driving the lead vehicle and keeping us in the center lane of traffic when I came to the exit and realized a bit too late that we would be exiting to the left, not the right as one would suppose. I signaled and pulled over, and Butch Moran and my wife Marilyn did the same, blocking the lane and allowing our other vehicles to move over as well. We took the left exit and headed for the motel, thinking all was well. We were wrong! Somehow (and to this day I don't know how) the Archdale van driven by Jeff Byrd did not take the exit with us. They had been in the middle of the caravan, but somehow had continued on down I-4! We tried the radios, but could not reach them. We continued on to the Gold Key Inn, confident that Jeff had the address of the motel and would find it. We should have been more worried. In the years that have followed I have lived in central Florida and spent much time in Orlando, and I have NEVER been able to figure out exactly where Jeff went after we lost him. Apparently he exited on to a toll road (the Florida  Turnpike or the East-West?) and then could not get anyplace he wanted to go. He traveled up and down the highway until finally figuring something out and making his way to the motel, a good hour after the rest of us had checked in. It was a joyful reunion.

After checking-in and unpacking we were all really hungry and ready to hit the food court at The Florida Mall and end this first, very long day. We prepared to cram back into our vehicles when we encountered a slight delay. It seemed that someone (Robin Thomas got all the blame at the time!) had locked the keys in Judy Rees' Suburban. The spare key was safe and secure- in North Carolina! We wandered around the motel and explored out motel while we waited for a locksmith, who eventually showed up and rescued the keys. We were now more ready than ever to make the short drive to the mall, so we once again gathered the troops and loaded up the vehicles. We had a standard operating procedure for making sure we had everyone. Each person was to ride in the same vehicle everywhere we went that week. Each vehicle would count their own passengers, and then I would go from van to van and total our numbers. It was a very safe system- usually.

On this particular night, as I began to go from vehicle to vehicle to make the final count, Jill Gilbreth (that's her in the stripes, at Archdale Friends Meeting at a pre-trip car wash! Behind her are Emily Beggs, Mary Mercadante, Dana Oxendine, Stacy Gilbreth & Beth Brown.) left her vehicle AFTER I had already made sure everyone in it was accounted for. When I finished my rounds, we had the right numbers. Jill, however, was still in the motel getting her money for dinner. Her driver (I don't remember who) didn't realize she was gone, and her friends somehow failed to mention this to anyone. I guess they were just that hungry! So off we went. We arrived at the food court and were sitting down eating, when suddenly Jillybean came running up to our table, looking rather panicked. She told us the story of how she had been left behind at the motel.  She had gone inside, freaked out and crying, and told the motel employees that her group had left her. She must have appeared to be totally panicked, because the motel gave her a ride to the mall AND gave her $5 for supper. She forgave us- sometime around 1993!  And we never failed to remind her that the Gold Key Inn was so anxious to be rid of her that they paid her off!

It's so hard to believe we are coming up on the 25th anniversary of this great trip. Floridays 1990 began with us losing a van, keys, and Jill all on the first day. The next day we would make it to Walt Disney World and things would improve greatly. It was a wonderful trip full of memories. But that first day was a doozy...

Because of Jesus,

Flashback Friday: Do You Remember?

Happy New Year! I'm still recovering from the drive back from NC yesterday, so today we will celebrate the first Flashback Friday of 2015 with a vintage post asking anyone who was ever in one of my youth groups to read this post and answer this simple question: Do you remember? 

*  On my 28th birthday, someone put a giant sign in my yard at our little house across the street from Springfield Friends Meeting inviting the world to "honk." They did...over and over again! It made for quite a celebration. It's been over 27 years. Anyone ready to confess?

*  Do you remember Burger Doodle, our once a month trips from New Garden and Springfield to various fast food shacks for dinner after YFYF?

*  Remember playing 4 On A Couch?  Remember how the guys team never won?

*  Remember mud slides and the epic Counselor vs. Staff volleyball games at Quaker Lake Camp? And does anyone besides me remember the summer of 1983 and Phi Quaka Laka?

*  At some point during the FUMC-Kissimmee years a train carrying Wendy's supplies wrecked near town, and my friend Eddie (who worked for the train company) got us huge boxes of giant Wendy's cups. There were hundreds of those things...

*  Do you remember the day when the Wesley Memorial UMC youth group skipped our Sunday evening Graceland meeting and went to a local sports bar for dinner?

*  We had this Newsboys stand-up in the youth room at FUMC-K, and I am fairly certain I have pictures of 50 different youth in this very pose! Were you one of those youth? Obviously Catlin Esry was!

*  Remember when we used to play Kick the Can in the graveyards at New Garden and Springfield? I think there are rules against such things now...

*  Do you remember playing Sardines? How about Murder, the card game where if you got an "Ace" you winked at people to kill them? Both of those games go all the way back to my own high school years in youth group.

*  Over the years many of our students got to eat at Kyotos, in Greensboro, Orlando or Myrtle Beach. Did you ever go? And were you there the night in Orlando the chefs honored us with our signature rice?

*  Do you remember camping at the Ponderosa, staying at the Betsy B, spending a week at The Spinnaker or crashing at the Ocean Surf Club? If you do, you probably went to Myrtle Beach with me...

So there we go!  Which of those moments do you remember? It would be awesome to hear some of your memories and favorite moments from over the years, so leave comments or e-mail me at youthguy07@aol.com. Everyone who was part of those moments remains an important part of my life. What a blessing! 

Because of Jesus,