Whew! What another great day! I’m dead tired, but wanna get this posted before it becomes old news.

First I just wanna say that the Skit Guys where absolutely hilarious tonight, the best I’ve ever seen at the late night comedy club! Most of it was totally off-script. They started on a tangent and then they started feeding off each other and went further and further with it. A couple unexpected accidents made it even funnier. Fortunately I have the whole thing on video, but due to some of the “off-scriptedness” they’d like for me to show it to them before I release it online, which is understandable. They also want a copy of it to keep for themselves. lol

Today Dana and I did something neither of us has done before at a YS convention before: we took advantage of the spiritual direction counselors. We made an appointment to meet with one of them and now we’re both very glad we did. He had many good insights, wisdom and input into our lives at this point. His words were what we needed to hear and he offered clarity for an important area of our life. It was probably the key moment for us out of the entire convention so far.

Even though Dana and I have only been married for two and a half months, she’s already feeling some of the pressures that come from being a pastor’s wife. It’s pretty tough on her, but man, she sure is a trooper! She knew it would be hard before we got married, but she kinda didn’t expect it to be like this. Fortunately, her mother has always been a positive roll-model to her of being a pastor’s wife, which I’m very thankful for.

I actually only took two pages of notes today. Pretty surprising since each the other days have about 8 pages of notes. Here’s what I learned and was reminded of:

MARRIAGE, MINISTRY AND FAMILY Q&A — DOUG AND KATHY FIELDS
– Limit life to ministry and family.
– My job as a youth pastor is to work my way out of a job by training others to do what I do.
– Work hard in ministry, but don’t give your life to it. Give your life to your family. Decide what matters most and learn to say “no” to everything else.
– Keep every commitment made to your wife, even if it’s little. Don’t try to make/keep everyone else happen, just your wife.
– “This will only take a minute” is a lie. There’s always more to do. Leave the church office, go home!
– If church is stressing you out, take time before going home to relax. Try your best to walk through the front door of your home refreshed. Go read a while, watch the high school football practice, whatever, so you’re home in a good state of mind.

EVENING GENERAL SESSION — GREG STIER
Greg’s message was very clear: Youth ministry is worth it! Despite all the issues, problems, and trials, youth ministry is worth it.

However, he added a condition to his statement. Youth ministry is worth it IF we pray the way He wants us to pray and we do what God tells us to do

I’ll admit that, as Greg put it, I often pray like a wuss. I believe very strongly in the power of prayer and its significance both in a believer’s walk with Christ and in influencing other’s lives, but I often don’t pray like it. I know I need to pray with faith. I need to call out to Him and trust beyond doubt that He hears me and is able to answer my prayer.

As a youth leader, someone who leads youth, I am called to lead the way by example. I can’t tell these kids to pray more and share Christ if they don’t see me doing it first.

[tags]The Skit Guys, Greg Stier, Doug Fields, NYWC, National Youth Workers Convention, Youth Specialties, prayer[/tags]