On April 22, 2012 Robin Pifer and I announced that I would be transitioning out of my role at Cedarview as Student Ministries Pastor effective May 31st, 2012. To give you all a little more detail, over the last few months Robin and I have been talking a lot about my ministry experience at Cedarview and where I was heading. I have been very clear with Robin that I didn't see myself being a youth pastor forever. As our conversation continued it became clear to both he and I that it was in the best interest of Cedarview that I transition out. Lindsey and I are sad to be leaving the friends...
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Coming soon to Fuel and theadvance is a conversation on teen depression, self-injury and suicide. I'm not entirely sure what the format will be but I'm gearing up for some helpful conversations. Pray that God would show up and that the right people would attend and the conversation would be helpful for those who need it.
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I don't typically talk about software I'm into, but in this case I can't help it. I recently came across a project management tool that is helping me change the way I organize myself. I know, a big statement. I got to the point where I had so many different programs doing somewhat the same thing that I said to myself, I just want to simplify. I want to get rid of all the excess and find something that I will 'actually' use and benefit from. So, I went online and read about Action Method and decided to check it out. It's been a week and a bit and I love it. A couple of cool features...
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Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted on the site. This is just a quick update to say how excited I am about our son Ewen. He's been incredible. Still keeps us up at night but today, he smiled at me, for the first time, on his own, without gas! Ha ha. He's growing and changing and becoming more himself. He does have a congenital heart defect and we are praying and hoping that it will heal itself. Please pray with us.
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Wow. The past month or so has been amazing. I have been working with a group of 16-year-olds in an intensive leadership development program. I've had the opportunity to share some thoughts with them, watch several of them make key decisions in their life about the role Jesus will play in their future and had others blow my mind in terms of their capacity for leadership and their potential for impacting their community with the message and life of Jesus. This first few weeks of the summer has really helped to affirm some conversations I've been having with God and others around me for the last...
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I had an interesting conversation with a young adult recently who talked about a sibling of theirs who was afraid to wear nice clothes or be fashionable because they were worried someone might think they were gay. Wow. Talk about a wake up call. Because of my personal investment in the life of this sibling it hit pretty hard. It got me thinking a lot this week about the reality of fear and what our students are really having to endure through middle and high school. I have to admit, I was pretty frustrated. I was frustrated because I thought I had been doing a good job of commending,...
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"Systems change behaviours." - Andy Stanley
That simple quote has meant a lot over the last number of weeks as the post-Drive Conference energy continues. Over the last number of weeks our team of leaders here has been working behind the scenes on many of the systems that make up how we do ministry. It's definitely not glamorous work but I am beginning to understand the importance of taking the time to do it.
For the longest time, many of our systems have been unwritten gut sort of things instead of documented processes. As our ministry to students has grown over the year our need to streamline...
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