#nywc : you've come a long way baby!

Greetings friends!

Two years ago, I was at the NYWC in Atlanta. Atlanta is still one of my favorite places to do the convention, because it's where my first one was, and truthfully I think Atlanta is an extremely cool city.

However, two years ago, I wrote this post.

YS was not in a good place. They had done what was referred to this weekend as one of the most awkward moment in youth ministry history as they paraded a bunch of dudes to promise us that all would be well. It didn't work. None of us thought all would be well. In fact, as I remember it, several of my friends and I thought that 2009 would be our last convention.

Some pretty significant things happened in the months and years that followed. Tic Long came back to run YS, a move that was heralded in by a video featuring me and Ed standing on the roof of our church (always trying to out-ridiculous each other). We went to the convention last year in Nashville, and had an absolutely marvelous time. Things felt right again. Not that change is a bad thing, it's frequently good. And YS did in fact change a bunch about the convention that year. There was just a calm over the place that was missing in the 2009 convention.

Fast forward to Sunday. Once again we're in Atlanta, and once again we're in a time of transition. Tic Long is moving on to become an executive pastor at the church that every youth pastor on earth now wants to work at (seriously, can you imagine Tic as your boss?). Instead of awkward squirms and cautious glances back and forth, this transition was met with standing ovations and (if I'm honest) a couple of tears of joy. We celebrated the great man that is Tic Long, but I think we also celebrated that YS is on track and headed in a great place.

For better or for worse, YS is a big influence on so many of us youth pastors. For me at least, it's a place of refuge and rest, a place that not only gives me books to help my ministry, but gives me resources to help my soul as well. It's my safety net in ministry, and in 2009 it looked like it had a lot of holes in it.

I am just so very excited for what is happening with YS now. Mark Matlock, Kara Powell, Doug Fields, Adam McLane (who I think is obligated to read my blog every time I mention YS, so how's it going buddy!) and the rest of the crew look like their passionate about the vision of YS, passionate about resourcing us, passionate about ministering to us so that we can minister to our students. I will miss the heck out of Tic, but things are headed in a beautiful direction.

All that said, I still plan on praying for those guys, and I hope you'll join me. I can't imagine that all that they do is easy on them, so I offer my prayers every day for them and their families.

What do you think? Were you at the convention? How do you feel about YS these days?

More to come this week!

Godspeed,

J

#nywc : Get out of the way.

Greetings from beautiful Atlanta.

We began our journey at 3:00 AM. That's disgusting. I don't even get up that early for hunting. And yet we loaded up on coffee, hopped in the car, and made the completely smooth (for the first time in recent memory) trip to Atlanta. The only issue was that I left my iPad behind on the plane, but some kind person managed to pick it up and follow me through the airport until they could catch up with me and give it back. Sometimes there are nice people in the world.

After getting checked in and visiting my favorite Starbucks, Simeon and I went to Marv Penner's seminar on teaching. By and large, this was information I already had tucked away in my subconscious. I've been doing this for 8 years now. I know a thing or two. And yet, I've known for a little while that my teaching and preaching have been flat at best this past year, so even if it's just a reiteration of what I've already known before, it can only help me at this point. Sometimes you have to remember to practice blocking and tackling.

If I have a complaint about the convention thus far, it is the gross distance one must walk to get from where the seminars are to where the big rooms are happening. Chances are this is my out-of-cycling-shape-self just rebelling, and not an actual issue. That said, I needed oxygen.

There was a lot that went on in the Big Room with Reggie Joiner and Starfield and the City Harmonic, which I don't want to just regurgitate here, because I know Youth Specialties is selling the tapes and the CDs and stuff, and they need their money. I was just struck by one message that seemed to be haunting me as I was listening and taking it all in: Get out of the way Jason. The Holy Spirit, the very agent of change in the world of the Triune God, is hard at work in your midst if you would only get out of the way and let him do what he has set out to do. The Holy Spirit is a significantly better youth pastor than I could ever be. All I need to do is show up with open hands and an open heart, begging to be allowed to participate in the communion of the Father and the Son in the lives of these teenagers.

Having been up since 3:00 AM, we came back for Epic Nap Time (and blanket strips and blanket strips and blanket strips...) Since the J-Blog has this new thing lately called "readers," and we're trying to hashtag each post with the NYWC, I'd invite you all if you stumbled upon this happy blog to offer your thoughts and comments as well. How do you need to get out of the way? What do you hope to gain from this convention? What do you think we should discuss here at the J-Blog?

How much Starbucks do you I could drink if I really put my mind to it this weekend?

Godspeed,

J

NYWC #0: Anticipation

Hello friends!

Every year, Christmas comes in November for me. The one thing I look forward to more than most things every year is a chance to take a trip to the host city of choice, relax with some fellow youth workers, all the while digging and learning how to master our craft a little bit better.

As I mentioned last year, I had some concerns. I think most of those are gone, and have been replaced by concerns of sharing a bus with 4 smelly youth leaders for 10 hours on a trip to Nashville. But today, I want to share a little bit about what I'm looking forward to at the Youth Workers Convention this year:

• Worshiping Crowder. Jars of Clay. Brandon Heath. Starfield. How can you not get excited about letting these folks lead you in worship.
  
• Fellowship Each year we go to the convention, there's time to hang out with friends from here in the 'Burgh as well as meet some new friends. (Small moment of regret: Ed has to stay behind because of classes. Truly, my heart breaks for this.)
  
• Food We eat like pigs wherever we are.
  
• Rest Every year, without fail, I will choose a block of seminars to skip and take a nap in a hotel room. I long for this right now. I could use a rest.
  
• Tic Long I heard him give a message on leadership a couple of years ago, and I would love to hear him give a similar message again after all he's been through.
  
• Marko Same deal as Tic. These guys have a tremendous amount to teach us.
  
• Coffee As if I needed an excuse, coffee is always in over-abundance at the convention. The fact that we're driving down instead of flying will only increase my final input.
  
• Time with Sarah This year, Sarah is making the trip with us. This is sheer joy.
  
• Breakout Sessions I took a quick glance at the schedule, and found at least 2-3 sessions I want to be at in each block. If only I could find a way to split myself into three different people.
  
• Blogging I always enjoy blogging through my thoughts at the convention every year. Last year I worked through the theme of how 6 years into my youth ministry career things were essentially the same, but totally different. Who knows what I'll come up with this year!
  

Are you coming to the convention this weekend? What are you looking forward to?

Godspeed,

Jason

Revolutionary Christians

I've been thinking about this post for a while. I've felt this lack of revolutionary motivation in my world lately, and I think I know where the root of the problem is.

First of all, this all got swimming in my head again today because I read this article by Shane Claiborne. It's a letter written in Esquire, which is most notably not a Christian Magazine. To write that openly and honestly in that venue takes some guts, and I applaud Shane for taking the time to put those thoughts on paper.

It's one of those things that gets me all excited. I feel like there's this box around Christianity and Christians in general, and we are so terrible at stepping outside the box and engaging the world. There's a way things are done, and we shouldn't depart from it. But this letter doesn't live in the box (neither does Shane if you know anything about him). And that kind of attracts me to to it.

It feels like Jesus lives in actions like this. Jesus would want us to hang with people on the fringes, on the outside, the kind that the religious elite would despise. And that's what makes a revolution. It's not dressing like a hippie, wearing thick rimmed glasses, and looking down on people who don't drink fairly traded coffee. It's going where Jesus would go. It's being where the spirit would lead you. It's getting in tune with God's will in your life.

Francis Chan noted at the NYWC this year that you couldn't start a revolution any more than you could create waves in the ocean. It's not like I could sit here at my desk and come up with revolutionary ideas and implement them by dinner time. The truth is, we need to be open to the Spirit's leading, and trying our hardest to be in lock-step with Jesus' agenda, rather than trying to create our own.

So may we listen with open ears, see with open eyes, and pray with open hearts for Christ's leading in our lives.

Godspeed,

Jason

NYWC #10: The Sale of YS! or (Everybody else is blogging about this!)

(Author's Note: It became clear to me only after I had read Adam's comment that the previous title of this post could be construed to mean I was suggesting that YS itself had died. I was actually trying to poke fun at the people who were freaking out about it. I failed. Miserably. This could be blamed on a great many things, the first of which being my lack of sleep, or my inability to actually be funny. Sorry if I offended. I do not in any way, shape or form believe YS is dead or even dying. I'm just concerned. And now, on to the show!)

Hello friends.
What an exciting weekend we've had here at NYWC! I hope you've enjoyed these kind of reflective blog posts as much as I've enjoyed writing them. It's been fun to think about how a lot of things don't really change over time, and how even though we've learned a lot in our life-times, there's a lot left to learn.

My over all experience at the convention was wonderful! I really felt like God was speaking to me specifically (I know he was speaking to more than that, but I really needed to hear his voice this weekend!) I learned a lot, I discovered a lot about myself, and I think and I hope that I've grown a lot.

However, there was kind of an elephant in the room the whole way through the convention. At the first big room, an announcement was made that YS had been sold to YouthWorks camps. The arrangement as we were told (in what might have been the worst and most awkward announcement I've ever seen, which is staggering when matched next to all those "minute" for missions...) that Zondervan would be handling the publishing side of things, and that Youthworks would be handling the events.

PR skill aside, I knew this announcement was coming, and it still left kind of a sinking feeling in my stomach. Look back over those blogs I've written this weekend. I have 6 years of experiences just like those. 6 years of learning about youth ministry, learning how to do it better, making friends, experiencing healing and forgiveness when I needed it most, and becoming part of a family. Obviously when all of that gets threatened, a lot of people (myself included) get nervous. We all seem a little nervous.

I want to have hope in times of uncertainty (thank you Andy Stanley, and a mighty boo hiss to the dvd company that somehow forgot to push record for his talk!), and so I'm not saying I'm giving up on YS. It has literally been there for me my entire youth ministry career, which is getting longer than I had thought! (I was looking at Your First Two Years In Youth Ministry in the book shop, and thinking about how that was four years ago! Yikes!) But as is always the case, my friends and I were talking last night, and some great points were raised. And then I read some blogs by some smart people today, and some more great points were raised. And so I thought I would share my thoughts, not to be a jerk who throws stones at people in the hopes of making them feel bad, but in the hopes that some folks from YS/Zondervan/Youthworks will read this (pass it along if you can) and take these thoughts and suggestions to heart. Consider this my comment/suggestion card for next years convention!

1. Business?
One of the things I have heard most through this weekend is that Zondervan and Youth Works will most likely treat this whole thing as a business, where profit is the bottom line. This is tricky. Of course, you want to make money to be able to do more and bigger things. It's a part of the game, when you're in the business of blank, you are in business! Even those of us who find themselves in the business of youth ministry are actually in business. You would not just give away all of your trips for free, you try to cover your costs and offer something amazing to kids. That's all well and good.
But what concerns me is the potential (very critical word here: potential. I'm not saying it's happened already) for business to trump ministry. At Tony Jones' blog, he says that "I think that Yac wanted to make enough money each year to pay everyone and throw a kick-ass Christmas party." The bottom line wasn't dollars, the bottom line was lives changed through Christ.

Please, people in charge now, listen to that. I'm fine with you being a Christian business. I think it's great that we have Christian businesses. But if you plan on using that adjective in front of your name, if you claim to be different than the businesses around you, then you must actually be different than the businesses around you. This of course will mean different priorities and probably even sacrifices. Failure to do so doesn't make you a Christian business, it just makes you a business, at which point I want nothing to do with you. Again, this isn't to say this is happening yet. It's just not hard to imagine a situation in which it could.

2. One Convention?
Last night, Mark Matlock announced that there would be a true National Youth Workers Convention in Nashville. The claim was that YS was not capable of pulling off three conventions and pulling them off well. First of all, that's incorrect. They've been doing it just fine for years, and I was more than a little offended at the idea that none of them were any longer considered "good conventions".
On the surface, the idea of one convention sounds great. All of us, in one room together, for a whole extended weekend? We cause enough trouble when divided into three groups, all together is going to be a blast! Who wouldn't want to sit down front for Crowder with upwards of 10,000 youth pastor voices screaming behind you? It's going to be phenomenal!

But...

There are logistical concerns that may not be on the tip of everybody's mind yet. Were you in the food court at CNN this year? Did you see how hard it was to find a table? Our group spent a lot of time every day trying to find something to eat. Combine this with the fact that everything in Nashville closes at 4 in the afternoon (them musicians gotta get to their gigs!), and I wonder where we're all going to eat? I wonder if you will have to intentionally allow more time for meals, or just hope that we all find food and make it back in time? Either way, chances are there's going to be less time for sessions or big rooms, which sucks big time. That's what we come from.

Or what about hotels? Our church is lucky to have the budget we have, so we were able to have hotel rooms within a reasonable walking distance of the convention center. These were not cheap by any stretch. So we have to assume then that the less expensive hotels (which tend to be farther and father away from the downtown of any city) will be where most youth workers go, and they will sell out quickly. What does this mean for smaller churches with smaller budgets? Are they out in the cold? Will a single convention actually be bigger, or will condensing it like that actually drain a cities resources to the point where it's the same size as any of the conventions we have now? People will miss out...and that's not good.

Maybe one convention is a good business decision (you only have to set it up once, pay the bands once, rent the convention center once, etc...), but I don't know that it was made with youth workers in mind. With that said...

3. Where are our guys?
For as long as I have been coming to this convention, I have been certain of one thing: Tic and Marko were one of us. They didn't just understand our world from a philosophical standpoint, they were citizens in our world. As I watched that announcement on Friday night, I got the sinking feeling that nobody at the top is a part of our world any more. And at the risk of sounding melodramatic, our world is not the easiest to understand.
Who will represent us? Who will be our voice when decisions are made? Who will separate the actual, honest to goodness good youth ministry ideas from the absolutely terrible books that are going to come across Zondervan's desk? My heart breaks for Mark Matlock. I was hoping to get to see him sometime this weekend and talk to him, but unfortunately our paths never crossed. He looks like someone in stress to say the least. If suddenly we're asking him to be our go to guy and our voice, that's a lot to put on his shoulders. And I think he'd do a phenomenal job at that, I trust him fully. But he's not in charge, YW and Zondervan are. So like I said, I'm nervous.

Please, don't take any of this in the wrong light. I'm not mad. I'm not enraged. I'm not trying to stir up a fight (read my previous fights and see how quickly I shy away from them!). I'm simply trying to raise some concerns that are in my head. All in all this convention was one of the best I've been to, and I'm super thankful to the YS family for putting it on once again. But let's be honest, this is the last one like it. Next year's convention will be completely different, and unless some of these concerns are addressed, I feel like we're going to experience some birth pains in the not too distant future.

Thanks again to everyone who started reading the blog through the convention. It's been a blast to write for you! I'm headed to the airport now, and will be back in Pittsburgh before you know it! And then (I can't believe I'm saying this) I'm back to work tomorrow! (Gasp!)
Stay tuned for more stunning adventures at J-Blog!

Godspeed,

Jason

NYWC #9: Going home.

Six Years AgoI can’t believe it’s over. EJ, Ro, and I are sitting just beside the escalators that head down to the main room. EJ is real big on the concept of a debrief, making sure that we have opportunities to discuss what we’ve learned, and spend a little bit of time learning from each other. As we’re sitting there talking about our latest seminar, Karla Yaconelli, wife of the late Mike Yaconelli, goes zipping by on a pink scooter, looks at us, and proclaims “Huh, guess there really isn’t an elevator down here...” I look at her and say “I don’t know, but I bet the business men having a conference down the hall aren’t riding around on scooters!”

Today:
I woke up in a cloud in my room. Literally. I opened the window and all I saw was white. That was kind of neat, not going to lie!

Yesterday the convention went out with a bang. After posting my last post, Ed, Dan, Abby, Mike and I went to John Acuff’s seminar on satire in youth ministry. The amount of jokes we were making to each other under our breath during the seminar proved for certain that we didn’t need any help with our satire! But it was a really cool seminar, and John’s an awesome guy. If you don’t already, you absolutely need to check out his blog at www.stuffchristianslike.net

We went out for dinner at the CNN center, again. Every meal we have eaten at this conference has been at the CNN center. As a matter of fact, I’m writing this blog in the CNN center. I love CNN. Maybe they’ll google their CNN brand name every now and again and CNN will put me on TV, you know, on CNN (please). Anyway, I sat looking around the table, and even thinking about it now, I get overwhelmed at the privilege of sharing this convention with the people I love. If any of you guys are reading the blog, I really had a blast with you all! I learn more from you guys than I learn from any of the presenters here, and I’m so happy to do ministry with you!

Reggie Joiner was our speaker at the big room. He spoke about systems upgrades, and making sure we don’t fall into a rut, almost doing ministry on maintenance mode. If you work in a church in any capacity, and you live in the greater Pittsburgh region, let me know and I will loan you the DVD. It was amazing! He got extra bonus points from me for making Apple products the big illustration for his talk. Huge bonus points Reggie. Huge.

I watch as EJ talks to Karla about losing Mike. I never knew Mike Yaconelli, I had just heard that he was the guru of youth ministry, and that he had died in a car crash recently. I didn’t know just how huge and wonderful a man he was until I got to the convention!You can tell that everybody here loved him deeply. You can tell that his loss has caused some very deep rifts in YS, that things are starting to change. After Reggie’s talk last night, Mark Matlock got up and once again brought up the sale of Youth Specialties, which has seemed like the big huge elephant in the room. I feel like the whole Youth Specialties staff is hurting, they aren’t sure what to do or where to go next. The youth ministries community has lost a very good friend in Marko. You can tell that a lot of people were really invested in him as a leader, and now he’s gone. Now there’s some sort of future ahead of us, but we don’t exactly know what tomorrow holds. All we know is that God is good, and that he loves our kids even more than we do. I am certain beyond all reason that youth specialties finest days are still ahead of it, even if we have to go through some painful transitions to get there...

(There will be more thoughts on the youth specialties/zondervan/youthworks camps deal later today.)

Godspeed,

Jason

NYWC #8: Photoblog 4

Greetings again folks!
By the time you read this, I will be sitting in Atlanta wondering what to do with the next four hours of my life. But the writing of the next few posts was actually at about 1 AM on Monday, as I had a lot on my mind and was working on winding down. Anyway, check out the photos!

Donald Miller will be your speaker this morning. Be prepared for awesome sarcasm, biting wit, and being challenged to see the world in a different way!

Crowder!

Jack!

Guitarmony!

Banjo. (Apparently there's no way to get a photograph of the banjo that isn't blurry. It rocks that hard!)

There's a really awesome artist here at NYWC this year named Scott Erikson. I hope it's ok that I'm posting some pictures of his work! (Let me know if it's not Scott, I'll take em right down). But this stuff is powerful and awesome. You should go to his website here and support him big time. Seriously. Have you purchased a painting yet?

This one was super cool. Based on a kid who was sponsored through Compassion. I really encourage you to (after your done supporting Scott) sponsor a child. Sarah and I have a child, and I promise you that it's absolutely a blessing.

This one was my favorite. I wanted to get it for Sarah, but I did not have the dollars. Really cool design.

Lilly Lewin's prayer station/experiential worship workshop. I have a lot of ideas that are coming from this, I'm sure there will be more on this later!

A rainy day, but I did dig this fountain all weekend. Good place to rest and think.

Ruth splashing in the puddles. Don't listen to peer pressure kids...

Hossa...you chossa...the wrong guys...

Seriously, how funny are the skit guys? SO funny!

I have two more posts left. One artsy fartsy one like the other ones, and then a wrap up, including my thoughts on the Zondervan Youth Specialties situation. Let's face it, everyone's thinking about it, and lots of people are blogging about it, and I want a piece of that pie. But I'd like to eat it when I'm more awake.

Godspeed,

Jason

NYWC #7: Worship

Six Years Ago:
"You've never heard of him?" I questioned Ro in a rather shrill voice. "How is it possible that you've never heard of David Crowder? He's huge right now?"
It's true he is huge, but in all fairness he's huger to me because at this point in my life I'm going out of my way trying to be just like him. We've started a new worship service at First Presby called "The Remix", and it's my honest attempt to get contemporary worship in our community. Ed and Matt are huge helps with this, but even they would tell you that I try to be just like David Crowder a little bit too much. All the same, he is leading us in worship three times this weekend, and I am planning on being up front for all three times...

Today:
My phone rings at 8:30. I am amazed that the crew back home has sorted out the sound system and everything already! Usually I'm just rolling into the gym around then to get everything set up! After double checking a few of the finer details with Mandi, I return to my devotional time, and say a couple of quick prayers for our team back home, for the congregation at the Bridge, and for our guest speaker Chris (who I hear did an excellent job! I can't wait to hear him next week!) It's nice to #1 know that you can leave the church for a week and have an excellent team to step in and take care of things for you and #2 be part of a worshipping community where being away literally tears at my heart strings. I love the Bridge. I love the people at the Bridge. They are like family to me.

Like I've said in a couple of these blog posts, I've had a gripe with the house band at this year's convention. (Actually, at lunch my friends and I discussed a couple of things we have a grip with. Look for those in the wrap up post). Honestly, save one major detail, I would probably have rather been at home worshiping at the Bridge than be here, with lights and video and effects and 80s singers. The major detail, of course, is that Donald Miller is speaking, and David Crowder is leading worship after the house band.

Crowder rocks! Illuminate is such a good CD, and it comes across flawlessly live! Watching them lead people in worship reminds me that I want my role at the Remix to be even bigger. I want to be on this never ending quest to take worship one step further, one step bigger. What's the next click for us? What's the next big thing?
This is tough. We have a congregation that fluctuates in attendance more than any other church in the nation I am certain. Some weeks there are 30 people. Some weeks there are 5. We change the seating arrangement every week, mostly because we never know what to set ourselves up for. I keep looking for that hook, for that next big thing, for that flashy element. What's coming next?

I realize as I am down front for David Crowder that in my youth (you know, like 6 years ago) that I wanted worship to be the next big thing. I wanted to see how far I could push the envelope, how far I could push my musical ability, how many more amps we could get on stage. And that's fun, and that's cool to listen to every now and again. But I'm realizing as I listen to Crowder Band that I am in dire need of finding the next small thing. I want things to get smaller, to get to a point where it's simpler. I want quiet worship. I want things to be more personal, between me and God. That sounds appealing to me these days. Please, everyone who's reading this comment in the section below and affirm for me that this is not a result of getting old!
(Something happened in between these two paragraphs, but for security reasons I must not blog about it now. Tune in later people! It's going to be fantastic!)

We all went out for lunch and had a big discussion about Youth Specialties. I don't know how all of this strikes me, but I know that it all strikes me. I want to come back to this stuff a little bit later for a secondary blog, but again, because I've seen some increased blog traffic these days, what are your thoughts about everything that's been going on with YS? Happy? Sad? Scared? Hopeful? I'd love to read your thoughts before I offer mine.

Six Years Ago (I think...maybe I'm mixing up memories here...if I'm wrong, pretend I'm not...this totally happened, I just don't remember when...)
I browse the offerings for this afternoon's workshops, and find something called "Experiential Worship". This sounds good! I am very worship minded today, feeding that side of my Dr. Youth Minister/Mister Worship Leader monster. However, as I get there, I realize this is all completely lame. Could it be that pretzels and Goldfish crackers could actually lead anybody to a deeper prayer experience? I doubt it severely! I take a piece of advice from Marko, and leave the session early to call my girlfriend Sarah.

After lunch, I went to a lab called Experiential worship with Lilly Lewin. Dang it was cool! In fact, I had a hard time paying attention towards the end, not because it was boring or anything, but because she had my mind so busy creative with ideas and plans to impliment back home that I was having a hard time not planning or creating during her workshop. This lab, along with Dan Kimball's the other day, has kind of opened up to me that we might have a hole (all be it, a smaller one) in our ministry. What do we do for the kids who don't like the loud worship? What do we do for the kids who don't dig youth group games? Are we leaving them behind? So I snuck down to the lobby to spend some time dreaming about some new ideas. I think we're going to have a lot to discuss at the Student Leadership Meeting this week!

More to come my friends. Oh, and as would be easily predictable, I have completely lost count of how many cups of coffee I had today.

Coffee Count: A lot.

NYWC #6: Photoblog 3

Welcome again to another day in pictures! I'm posting this early, because I didn't do anything super spiritual or deep today, I just took some time for me, and I want to keep with two blog posts a day. That, and as my friend Kathy noted on Facebook, there's no way I'm sleeping with the amount of caffeine that's in my system. So that said...

The prayer chapel. I spent about 20-30 minutes in here. Super awesome time! I really regret that there needs to be candles and nifty lights for me to get serious about prayer, so I've been thinking about ways to take that experience home with me without having to set up an Ikea in my living room every day. I welcome your suggestions!

A Sanjay Gupta cut out stared us down during lunch. I dared Ed to steal the good doctore. Ed declined.

Our hotel from the outside. My window is that one WAAAAAAAAY at the top.

Centennial Park = one of my new favorite places. Nice to take a walk through.

Remember before when I said I would totally go to the aquarium if I was on vacation? Well my walk led me there, and I decided to spoil myself a little bit and go for it.

These guys (like Phillips Arena) will play a role later...keep reading

Shucks, I was totally going to sing Raffi.

Freaking HUGE crabs! Like, deadliest catch variety! Sick!

For my hippie wife.

Frog staring contest. He totally won.

Otters are one of my favorite animals.

These were all kinds of little tiny snakes poking up from the ground. They weren't nearly as cool as watching the women around this particular tank freak the heck out when they realized they were snakes. As if the 12 inch glass won't help them. Yikes...

So I'm chillen, checking out this cool shark in a seemingly normal tank, wondering if this was worth the money, when all of a sudden...

That's right, a whale shark. These things are monstrous! I don't think any of my pictures do it justice. I was trying to find some sort of way to give scale to what was going on, but these guys are massive.

It's like two Volvo's put back to back. I sat for another good 20-30 minutes watching these guys, just amazed at the great Creator we worship. Unbelievable.

Naps are good...

Oh yeah. My new friend Mike Swick and I went to the Pens/Thrashers game tonight. It was awesome! There were probably 3 Penguins fans for every 1 Thrasher fan. And we played an exceptional game! Fleury (whose Jersey now sits in my closet) had the game of his life! Seriously, keep an eye out on youtube folks, there were some killer saves made tonight!

Phillips Arena was so cool, I can't wait until they build the Consol Energy Center. I think it's going to bring a whole new atmosphere to Pens games. Those birds in that picture? Yeah, they shoot fire. No part of me understands why birds would shoot fire, but I guess they do.

All in all a great night! I feel like I've been fed enough for an entire convention, and there are still two days to go! Let's keep it up people!

Godspeed,

Jason

NYWC #5: Me Time

Six Years Ago
EJ, Ro and I are walking to the next general session when I feel my pocket buzz. I take a quick look and realize that my mom is calling me. Apparently approaching college graduation means nothing when it comes to the frequency with which my mother can call to check in on me. I tell EJ and Ro to go ahead, and I'll catch up to them in a couple of minutes. My mom sounds disturbed. She makes small talk for a little while, but then quietly and politely informs me that our dog Tucker has died. I sit on the bench stunned. This is the same Tucker that had jumped up with his front paws on my shoulders before I left! I knew he was old, but I didn't think he was that old! I certainly didn't think there was even a remote chance that he wouldn't be alive when I got home. He developed some kind of complication of something, I couldn't really hear what my mom was saying over the voices in my head. The vet had to put him down. She was with him when he died, and I think Dad was too. I was here. In Atlanta...right outside room 201...

Today:
I have slept in through the big room that starts the day. This was predictable. I didn't actually fall asleep until about midnight. I remind you of the Shane and Shane concert and the total ass kicking received from Francis Chan. Obviously I had a bunch on my mind. But rather than waste the morning, I thought I'd take some time to intentionally pray and develop my own spiritual walk. So I find my map while I'm walking to the convention center to locate the prayer chapel. Room 201.

I walk in and spend some time going through a variety of prayer stations. They had a bowl of water to dip your hand into to remember your own baptism. They had a pitcher of water with a note card reminding us from John 4 that Jesus gives us water that will lead to eternal life. I drink it quick and deeply. I have been praying ever since Chan's talk last night, like a kid who won't let up until Dad finally hears his plea: "Give me your spirit!"

I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit so I can spread it around to others. I want to know what it's like to produce fruit the way Chan was talking about. I am driven. These words just keep replaying themselves in my mind again and again and again. Give me your spirit.

And I find my way to the prayer station with candles, and I start to pray for all the people back home...

I sit on the bench outside of room 201 for at least 15 minutes. No tears will come. This is the dog who used to climb the hill in our back yard and wait for me by our clubhouse. This is the dog I used to take sledding. This is the dog who loathed our new little dog about as much as I did. Tucker and I were taking the phrase "Mans best friend" as far as it could go. And while he was suffering, I was here. While he was in pain, I was having the time of my life. While he was dying, people were investing in my life. The whole thing seemed so stupid. Why did it go down this way? Would other people understand my sadness? Would I be able to bring this up in a session? I mean he was one of my best friends to be sure, but wouldn't most other people think "He's just a dog..."
I spend the whole rest of the day wandering the convention center and the CNN food court like a zombie. I was here in my body, but my mind found itself home in Pittsburgh, with the people I love...

The prayer station was simple enough. Light a candle for the people you are praying for. I kind of got lost in my prayers and thoughts. I had just started reading Philipians, and I wanted to love my youth group as much as Paul loved that church. By the time I snapped out of it, I realized I had lit about half the candles on the table. I started praying for a couple of specific students, and just got on some kind of a roll. I wrapped up with a few other prayer stations and made my way to the door.

After lunch, our group decided we were going to spend the afternoon all over the place. Nothing that was being offered sounded all that interesting to me at the time (though I'm told now that I absolutely missed out on the open space situation), so I went for a walk. Centenial park is beautiful! Actually, this whole city is becoming one of my favorites. Then I remembered from a blog post at the begining of the trip that I would totally have gone to the aquarium if I were on vacation. So I saddled up, took a walk, and found myself hanging with the fishes...

Sometimes you just need a break.

Sometimes you just need to let the convention be, and take some time for yourself.

Sometimes the heavier things are weighing on your heart.

Sometimes when you're body's in Atlanta, your head is in Pittsburgh.

Sometimes God will speak to you when you are willing to take some time to listen.

And so it is with great joy that I announce nap time...

Godspeed,

Jason

NYWC #4: Photo Blog 2

Greetings friends!
A look back at yesterday through photographs!

Dr. Campolo lecturing. I learned my lesson from the last time I attended one of his lectures and sat way in the back. Crazy deep stuff though, really good session.

Phillips Arena is right across the street. This will come into place soon enough!

Youth workers doing what youth workers do best: going to lunch!

As for me and my house, we will dine with Larry King.

Standing in line for the Wendy's, I see a...could it be...is it possible that...

YES!!! Dunkin Donuts! What a glorious day!

The stage set up for the big rooms. Pretty cool the way they do their lights this year. Super cool production.

This one's for Sarah. In the book store they have a section for soul care, and right below the big sign you would find

Let your life speak by Parker Palmer. Sarah's been totally digging this book lately, and really wants me to read it. Apparently God does too!

Late night with Shane and Shane. What a perfectly wonderful way to end the evening!

I just got out of the prayer chapel! What a wonderful experience! More on that later.

Coffee Count:
Same as yesterday with the addition of a Pumpkin Spice Latte. The real joy of this latte was that it was free because I turned down maid service. I figure I've been living in my own filth for years, I can handle a weekend to save the environment and get some delicious coffee.

Total Cups of Coffee: 7