Archives for May 2010

Ok.. so over the past 16 years as a youth pastor, I have made a reputation for myself. In an effort to keep my house from getting toilet papered every 5 seconds, I have made it my motto that “I won’t get mad, I won’t get even, but I will get one or two up.”

So, after having been toilet papered, or my car trashed, or even one time a student broke into my house and pranked the inside… I have retaliated.

• removed tires of cars at school and left their car on them sideways.
• built a crate around a car outside once while youth group was going on inside.
• put a dead 3 pound trout under a student’s bed once. that smells later. bad.
• hosed people down in many locations, even once to a college aged secretary who orchestrated a prank.
• dowsed one girl in slop from the kitchen clean up crew.
• and the list goes on.

One of my roles as Dad is to try and make as many of my kid’s school field trips as possible.

This last few weeks, I spent 2 days with my kids and their classes riding buses, walking around, reading signs, eating lunch, and checkin out fish.  Honestly, I like being with my kids, but it never really seems like it’s that big of a deal that I’m there, especially after I’ve taken the 5th kid to the same place I’ve been 5 other times.  But to my kids, it seems to mean the world.  So, I guess it’s a small price to pay to be a hero for a day while I still can and their school still lets me.

Here’s my fun days with my kids in pics.

JAKE’S CLASS WENT TO THE BIRCH AQUARIUM IN LA JOLLA.  

BECKY AND BILLY’S CLASS WENT TO SEA WORLD TO CHECK OUT THEIR WILDLIFE.

Four years ago, our student ministries started a community service day with a fund raiser piece to it.  Initially, it was a way for us to support our church building fund.  Then it became part fundraiser for kids at camp.  

This year it involved a used goods sale on site (swap meet), an onsite car wash, and yard work in people’s homes all over our county.

So, Saturday, May 15, 2010 we worked all day for the fourth year in a row and we raised $10,102 for student ministries.  More than we have ever raised before.

These days are always a lot of work and I’ve learned a few things along the way.  Here’s some thoughts from this year.

• LISTENING TO VOLUNTEER FEEDBACK PAID OFF HUGE.   We have always done work in people’s yards as part of this day.  This has always been hit or miss.  Some jobs will break your back and some are really easy.  Some people pay you well and some people well… don’t.  One change this year came after last year one of my men came back from a grueling 4 hour job all afternoon with a trailer full of yard waste, sore muscles, a tired team, and $50.  He said two things to me in response.  #1. We need to be done with these projects by like 3pm, not 5pm.  #2. We need a suggested minimum price.  So, I listened and this year jobs were scheduled to end by 2:30pm and we added a suggested minimum of $150 for a 2 hour team job.  The result?  We raised over $5000 in yard work alone, had a lot happier teams, and a much better experience.  Yeah for the wisdom of great feedback!

• WHEN THERE’S A REAL NEED, REAL LEADERS STEP UP.  One of my biggest encouragements of the day came from one family that heard my yard work jobs went from 9 to 24 in just one day, only 7 days from our work day.  When I called to ask if their son could help me, they said that it was mom’s birthday and they were going to the beach to use a jet ski gift certificate that was due to expire soon.  I said, “happy birthday mom, enjoy your family”.   An hour later I got a call saying the whole family has decided to start the day serving instead.  So for Mom’s birthday, they put on gloves and served a family at our church that has been fighting cancer and has some real yard work needs for 2 hours.  I was so blown away by their servant leadership.  My hat goes off to the Anderson family.  What a blessing.

• A BIG JOB CAN’T BE DONE WITH OUT BIG HELP.  Last year I bit off way more than I could chew… even more than our student ministries team could chew on our own.  This year, we sought out help from the larger congregation to serve with our student ministries for this day.  The result?  LOTS MORE HELP and a GREAT first serve opportunity for many of our people.  They helped gathering swap meet items, serve on yard work teams, set up and clean up our swap meet, make phone calls…. and so much more.  About 100 middle school, high school, and college students stepped up.  Adult volunteers stepped up.  When it was all said and done and all the money was counted, my body was seriously tired and my soul seriously encouraged by how a BIG job can become achievable when a GREAT TEAM steps up to the challenge.  

THIS MY FRIENDS… is freaking hilarious!! Excuse me, but I have to go get my wife and a donut. I laughed for like 20 minutes…

or just plain LOVE a good deal… and especially if you live in San Diego…

then I have 3 sweet websites I use or have recently been recommended for local steals and deals.

Each day they send out some main deal and maybe a “side deal” where if “x” number of people sign up, the coupon is activated and you can buy it for a set price. Every deal is different, but they give you all you need to know and each of these websites gives you 24 hours to buy it or lose the deal if you don’t want it.

I subscribe to their daily e-mail updates and most of the time, I have to hit delete 3 times, cuz 95% of the time, I don’t use the item. BUT… 5% of the time I do. It might be an event ticket, a date idea, a class, a restaurant gift card, etc..

So far, I’ve bought:

• a nice date breakfast at a restaurant I otherwise never woulda found.
• Paintball passes we’re gonna use for 20 students in our ministry.
• Surfing lessons and…
• A romantic date on a crazy italian gondola thing in a bay near Coronado.

If you want some great deals. Here’s 3 things to check out (thanks Stina for the heads up on the last two today!)

• San Diego Reader Steals
• Sign on San Diego
• Groupon (this one is customizable and may be available in your area, even outside of SD. you should check it out!)