Great Mother’s Day video from the Skit Guys

Hey, here’s the latest by the Skit Guys.  They’re the dynamic duo of Christian drama resources with books, videos, scripts and downloadable clips!  You can find all of it on their website.  Anyway, I thought this video was absolutely hilarious … I’m debating whether or not to use it Sunday morning in “Big Church.”  Usually I really like the funny illustration, but it’s kind of nice to go inspirational on Mother’s Day, so I’m torn between this (which would make people laugh) and something that would go for more of the heart strings kind of a vibe.

Biggest Loser Boothbay updates & audio

Okay, so I’m finally getting around to posting the audio from the latest Biggest Loser Boothbay meetings!  Basically, it’s a ten week weight loss competition; with cash prizes for the top individual men and women losers (based on percentage of weight loss) as well as the team of three with the highest combined percentage of weight loss.  No, I’m not making money off this (the signup fee goes towards covering materials and the prizes) - it’s purely about helping others to lose weight and keeping myself on track with maintaining my own weight loss.  I’ve posted the audio from last Saturday’s kickoff and Wednesday night’s weekly meeting; feel free to download them and give ‘em a listen (to do so, right click the link and select “save target as” to save the audio to your computer - or just click ‘em and listen)!  I’ve also posted the links to the summary of the weight loss plan and the journal I want people following.

Biggest Loser Boothbay kickoff meeting - topics covered include counting calories, exercise and sample eating.  Recorded on May 3rd, 2008.

Biggest Loser Boothbay weekly weighin #1 - topics covered include emotional eating, as well as questions from the group and answers.  Recorded on May 7th, 2008.

McNutt’s weight loss plan - the two page summary of the weight loss plan, covering counting calories, exercise and recommended resources.

Weight loss journal - a blank journal page that you can use for food journaling, tracking exercise and emotional eating.

Weight loss journal sample - a sample journal page that I filled out with a day in my diet life.

Biggest Loser Boothbay in the news!

I just noticed that the article about the second round of the Biggest Loser Boothbay competition is online!  Lisa Kristoff, one of the reporters for the Boothbay Register, and one of the competitors in the challenge did a great piece on the program in general and some great interviews with the winners.  In fact, it’s most likely because of this article that we had over eighty people turn out for round three last Saturday!  Here’s the beginning of the article:

Boothbay’s Biggest Loser session two - it’s a wrap

Holy Weight Loss! The end of the second Boothbay’s Biggest Loser April 12 brought a revelation: 640 pounds had been lost among the participants.  Coach Matt McNutt told everyone after the “final weigh-in” that they should feel proud about the positive change they had brought into their lives.  (Read the rest of the article here)

Quiet on the blogging front

I have been a little quieter on the blogging front than normal … mostly because life got crazy busy for the last week or so and I’ve hardly had time to sit still …

In family news, Noah (2 years old) is really bursting out of his shell.  He’s a cute kid!  Whenever he hears muic by Alvin and the Chipmunks, he freaks out and starts shaking his rear all over the place.  Apparently he’s a dancing machine with the right helium induced music involved (I remember Micah going through a similar phase about this age with Avril Lavigne’s Skater Boy song).

Micah (6 years old) and Caleb (4 years old) started soccer last week.  Caleb’s one of the youngest on the field, but a lot of this sports stuff comes to him pretty naturally.  Coaches have been noticing his accuracy and what-not for a couple years now, so while he’s smaller and slower than the other kids, he’s holding his own.  They both love getting out there and playing, though, and they were pretty impressed to find out I played soccer when I was a kid (I might have failed to mention that I stunk and of the two goals I scored, one was on my own team …).

Baby update: Heather is still pregnant.  We’re now something like 30 weeks into this thing, meaning basically that the July 19th due date is coming up FAST.  Like really, stinking, out of control fast.  Basically, we’re in the single digits for how many weeks we have until this little dude might show up.  It’s actually pretty exciting; he’s kicking all the time so it’s fun to feel all the activity.  Micah and Caleb are excited about it as well while Noah doesn’t have a clue that his world is about to dramatically change.  In the long run it will be good; when the kids play it always ends up Micah and Caleb doing one thing while Noah is off by himself, so it will be nice for him to have a buddy.

Yesterday I performed a funeral for one of the older members of our church.  While I have done quite a few funerals in Boothbay, this was the first for someone from our church.  Usually that honor falls to my dad, the senior pastor, but this particular time he was out of state (down in DC for a conferance with my mom).  It was a sad, but joyful funeral in many ways.  Marge had attended our church since she was five years old; she passed away at the age of 86.  81 years in one church just absolutely blows my mind.  There is not one single person at our church that can remember a time when Marge was not a part of the church; it’s not often a pastor gets called on to perform a funeral for someone who has been such a part of things for so long.  She was someone who was full of laughter and fun and brought joy to so many around her - the graveside service was full of stories from her life that had brought laughter to those present.

Also, for those wondering, the Dr. Huizenga interview is going to happen!  Stay posted - it just got delayed, that’s all! 

Brutal Honesty

So I was playing online with my Xbox 360 when Caleb (4 year old) came and sat by me.  We then had the following conversation:

Caleb:  Have you played this game before?

Me:  Yeah, it’s one of my favorites.

Caleb:  Then why are you so bad at it?

Ouch.

How to help a student prepare and give their testimony

Hey, my latest article is online over at the Who Are These Guys? blog.  It’s a followup to our podcast that we released the other week, kind of some thoughts and ideas that I wanted to add to the show.  :)  Anyway, it’s my perspective on helping kids find success in speaking to the group, whether it’s a prayer, a testimony or even a message.  Click the link, check it out and let me know what you think!

How to help a student prepare and give their testimony

On Deacons, Acts 6:1-7 (sermon audio)

I picked up my journey through Acts this past Sunday during the worship service with Acts 6:1-7.  It’s a passage that hints at the beginnings of the office of Deacon (what many Baptist churches now refer to as Trustees).  We also checked out the passage in 1 Timothy that looks at the qualifications of Deacons as well as the Ephesians passage that discusses how all the saints (Christians) are to be ministering (serving) - that the leaders are to equip them and train them for service.  Basically, I was looking at how all believers are called to serve and how every position of service in a church body is a spiritual position of leadership.  While the word Deacon literally means “to serve,” originally carrying an understanding of waiting on tables, it’s very clear that this physical or menial service in the church is very much a spiritual issue and those who filled that role are called to live up to that.  I used the video up above as an opener - you can hear it in the audio.  It’s pretty funny and a great clip.  Anyway, the link for the audio is below, just right click it and select “save target as” to save it to your computer.  Because of a sound booth issue, there were a few seconds that got missed half way through so if it suddenly skips and you’re momentarily confused, now you know why!

May 4th, 2008 - On Deacons, Matthew McNutt

My 200th post! Woo-hoo!

Apparently it’s blog protocol to point out when you get to certain milestone numbered posts.  I didn’t when I hit 100 posts because I thought it was a silly thing to do, but now that I’ve hit the massive number of 200 (vs. Josh Griffin’s impending 3000th post) I feel a little more inclined to look back.  I’ve played with having a website for about ten years now; they’ve changed a lot over the years from a basic one page static site way back when to the blog you see now, with half a dozen other variations in between (and most likely this isn’t the last).  I do have to say that I love the interactivity of blogging, though.  I love posting things I’m interested in, it helps keep my focus in maintaining my weight by writing about health related stuff, and my passion is youth ministry so I love having an outlet for things in the youth ministry world that jump out at me.  If I’m completely honest, when I started this thing last December I was hoping to get a hundred hits a week.  It’s done a bit better than that - to date there’s been 57,547 views in the almost five months which has absolutely floored me.  Especially since the number 47 is my absolute favorite number (it’s a Star Trek thing - maybe post 247 will be about that …).  Anyway, enough of that.  Here are a few of my favorites and ones that have caught me off guard.

Boothbay’s Biggest Loser Challenge Winner - the very first post!  December 19th, 2007.  Which in turn meant that Len Evans was my first comment!

Biggest Loser Casting Tips - okay, this one takes the prize for post that has run wildly out of control!  I originally posted it because every time Biggest Loser is casting, I get a bunch of emails asking for advice … so I thought I’d save myself some time and just post my thoughts.  Wow.  1057 comments/replies later, I’m still caught off guard by how popular this entry ended up.

Star Trek: Conquest - apparently my entries like this one on video games are pretty much ONLY for me.  Which is why I’m going to keep making them - video games are a bit of a hobby for me, so I enjoy posting about them.  But when I get the rankings on how often my different posts are viewed … the gaming ones are on the bottom!

My Weight Loss Plan - the single most clicked upon link on my site.  This is the one thing everyone at least glances at; it’s a summary of the plan I followed to lose the weight and now base my weight loss groups/competitions on.

The number 76 has an odd coincidence going on at the moment.  76 of my posts are youth ministry related and 76 are Biggest Loser related.  Interesting to me in that I have said all along that my blog is aimed primarily at people into Biggest Loser and people into youth ministry.  I had no idea that it was actually balanced until now, though! 

Jillian Michaels’ latest podcast (Biggest Loser, May 4th)

Jillian Michael’s latest podcast is online!  You can find her official page over at KFI AM 640, with links and show descriptions.  It’s her weekly radio talk show, with listener calls and interviews.  Good stuff!  Great to listen to in the car or during your workout.  Personally, I love it because there’s more actual weight loss content and information in one episode of her show than a season of Biggest Loser. Also, you can subscribe to the show on iTunes … but it’s a little bit of a pain.  Search for “KFI Sundays;” it’s the radio station’s weekly podcast, however, it subscribes you to all of their Sunday shows.  My iTunes doesn’t automatically download everything, though, so I just select the Jillian Michael’s show.  :)  Or you can manually download it to your computer through the links below! 

To download it, right click the link below and select “save target as” to save it to your computer.

Jillian’s May 4th podcast from KFI AM 640

Serve Your Students Summer Sizzle (mother’s day ideas)

Hey, here’s one of the latest articles over at Simply Youth Ministry, a great site for Youth Ministry resources and training. I grabbed it to reprint here (with permission, of course - thanks Andy!) because I thought it had some fantastic ideas for Mother’s Day and student/youth ministry.  Enjoy!  And check back at Simply Youth Ministry for the next three installments!

SERVE YOUR STUDENTS SUMMER SIZZLE!

by Stephanie Caro

This four-part series will provide ideas to impact your summer planning and provide unforgettable events your teens will remember forever! These ideas are centered around summer special events and holidays.

For your first Summer Special: MOTHER’S DAY! Mother’s Day is on Sunday, May 11th this year. Affirm the women of your church while providing teachable, servant moments for your students.

1. SERVANT SURPRISE PATROL: Find out what chore each mom HATES doing. Set up youth teams to go to each house with a “coupon” good for doing that chore right then and there.
2. A MOTHER’S PRAYER PATH: Have your students decorate small, stick-in-the-ground signs with encouraging prayers, sayings, and Scriptures. Send teams out to decorate each mom’s sidewalk with the signs. You might include some flowers and a small package of tissues at the end of the path because she will cry! (You know how moms are.)
3. MOTHER’S DAY SLIDE SHOW: Create a “mom” slide show of pretty scenes and Scriptures set to soothing music. Leave blank slides in the master for personalizing each mom’s slide show with pix of her and her family. How you get the pix is up to you . . . but stalking her with a camera could be okay. Show the slideshow during the main service or at the mother’s night shown below.
4. MOTHER’S NIGHT AT YOUTH: This one is simple, but moms will love it! Invite your students’ moms to a special night at youth group. Fix and serve them dinner to candlelight-moms love that. Do skits designed to encourage and thank the moms. Give them flowers and homemade cards. Moms just wanted to be included in what their kids are doing and they will be thrilled at being asked to step on to their student’s turf. Close with an affirmation circle and watch the waterworks flow! It will mean so much to the moms and they’ll remember it forever!

STEPHANIE CARO has been in ministry to youth for over . . . well, a long time. Her humorous, yet straightforward teaching style has made her a popular speaker to youth and youth workers at camps, conferences, training events, retreats, etc. She is a member of Group’s National Presenting Team and the team leader for their Youth Ministry REAL Ambassadors. She is a regular contributor to several youth and leadership ministry publications, including Group and Rev! magazines and has written/contributed to numerous ministry resources. She and her husband, Steve, live in St. Petersburg, FL where she still continues to serve on staff in the ministry trenches in her local church.