HSM YEAR END STATS AND THOUGHTS

Ministry is often an ego contest. I would be lying if I said I don’t compare myself to others.  That is not a good idea; all you can do is make sure you are being faithful with what God has given you.  I THINK THAT MIGHT BE A STORY IN THE BIBLE.

For that reason WE track the percentage of growth in something since the previous year.  Sometimes stats can look good or bad depending on the context and story. Here are those numbers and some things that HSM is doing well or may need work on based on what we are looking for.

FIRST TIME VISITORS                   UP 5%

(This is up, but not at the level of our overall growth, makes me wonder if we are developing a core, or if we are becoming an aged group whose outreach is slowing down?)

REGISTERED STUDENTS                       UP 26%

(This is the core I talked about. This is great, but must be looked at with outreach. We don’t want a stagnant core.)

TOTAL STUDENTS IN ROOM       UP 30%

(this is just the way of measuring our target audience, no real commentary since it is a combination of the other two above)

ADULT INVOLVEMENT                 UP 61%

(You could look at this and think it is great, and it is, but the reason it is up so much is because we were way understaffed the year before and this was just catch up. We have a long way to go before we are on pace.)

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END OF THE YEAR MIND DUMP

• I am very aware how lucky I am that I get paid to do what I do for a living. Feeling so blessed and grateful for the ministry God has given Kristin and I.
• Tonight was the last HSM Wednesday night of the school year.
• Closed out our facedown series with God is love.
• I talked out of I Corinthians 13 and talked to our seniors for the last time.
• We talked about living out love as a response to the love God has shown us.  That means loving yourself as God loves you and loving others as God does.
• I finally got to tell them that the worst part of my job is seeing them put pics up on facebook in college of beer pong, slutty Halloween, and spring break stuff no one should see.
• These are not cases of loving yourself as the image of God or loving others.
• The world cannot see us living empty religious love. That is a clanging gong!
• Time got away from us and I didn’t get to embarrass our worship band and hospitality staff and tell them what an amazing job they do week in and week out.  If you guys are reading this THANK YOU!
• Jim Heffner got on the mic and embarrassed me.  He said everyone had to give me a hug before they left.  I was honored and I am a hugger.
• We have so many great students I am going to miss. The bittersweet part of the job.
• They aren’t gone forever, it was awesome to have tons of our college people back and coming to the house the last two weeks. Awesome to see them grow up and start talking about marriage counselingJ
• I mentioned that we pause Wednesday nights for the summer.  Let me explain more….We still have our grace groups meeting and they are student lead, we have 5 different trip options for students, and we have monthly gatherings for large group.  Things do not slow down, they just look different.
• This time of year is so busy. I actually have a yearly list of things I launch into after our last Wednesday night.
• Tomorrow Dave Nicodemus and I will have the big Momentum planning session for our pre-session antics.
• In the next week I will also do major work at clarifying the systems, positions and job-descriptions for HSM next year.
• This is also the time of year that we do the teaching calendar for next year and gather resources and teaching series ideas. Any ideas from someone reading this?
• We are also launching into our college ministry for the summer. Excited about the people HSM has developed into this next stage of life.
• Also going on the yearly shopping trip to try and make our basement music/sound and game room stuff functional again.  Some people are of the persuasion that pool sticks need tips, and mic stands should hold mics. I happen to be one of those people.
• Doing some big planning for the 2010 Kalahari retreat in the next week too.
• Finally diving into the world of a mass texting service. We dabbled in it before but are now committing money as email, facebook, and websites just aren’t getting it done. Shoutout to Kelly Coville for doing the admin work as it was no small task to input 500 numbers and find out their cell carrier.
• 7 years ago, I did an internship at Wooster Grace and lived with Jake Workman’s family. This summer he is interning in Columbus so I found him a family to live with. Can’t wait to hang out with him and put him on some blind dates.
• I actually have at least two other blind dates brewing between friends of ours I want to meet. That is definitely me and Kristin’sguilty pleasure.
• I am so pumped for the MTV movie awards this summer. I am really digging Aziz Ansari’s comedy and writing and expect this to be a breakout night for him.
• I mentioned a few months ago I realized I am not using creativity enough in my life. Over the next months I have arranged a coffee house show, hope to write some songs. Hope to oil paint, am going to dabble in comedy writing and filming some videos for ministry stuff. Not sure what any of it will lead to but I am excited.
• Graduation party season is right around the corner.  Youth pastors don’t have to buy groceries for these 3 weeks.
• So much more I could write, but I want to eat a bowl of cereal instead.

WE SHARE 2010 POST #2

WeShare2010 is still going and my fast for the gospel continues. I thought today I would highlight two things I have been thinking about as this month moves on.

1)    WHY DID I GIVE UP ICE CREAM?

The vision of weShare2010 was to fast from something and than redirect that money toward advancing the gospel. Here was my thought process as I looked at excess in my life.

We don’t have cable, we don’t go to movies, and we don’t really eat out with consistency as a family. Our budget is pretty locked in. Lots of people could give up renting movies, buying Starbucks, going out for lunch, or things like that. To be honest, we don’t do any of those things, but every summer I seem to alter my schedule and budget around my love of ice cream. It might be sad, but if I am being honest, I spend significant time and money focused on ice cream. So I decided to give it up-cold turkey.

2)    SO HOW MUCH HAVE YOU GIVEN UP?

I would say I eat ice cream 2-3 times a week easily. I can’t reveal how many times or the money…at least not yet.  Let’s just say I miss my ice cream and it hasn’t been easy 🙂