In case you don't have a 2 year old

Then you need to know these things:

-They move all the time
-They touch everything
-They want their way all the time
-They don't understand it when you explain to them why throwing stuff at the TV is not ok
-They use their smiles and giggles to get away with ALOT
-Sometimes when they do something not so good but its really funny you laugh even though you don't want to encourage them to continue to do it

Recession?

Colleen and I were at a fancy mall in Tyson's Corner this weekend seeing a movie and eating at California Pizza Kitchen and that mall was packed. It looked like it was December 23rd. No parking spaces to be found, traffic in the walkways, and we even had to wait to get in to CPK (which we usually don't). It sure doesn't seem like people's disposable income is disappearing, at least not this past Saturday.

Quake in CA

So I hear there was a quake in SoCal this morning. Hmm, nothing shaking here. One thing I like about this area is that we really do not get the natural disasters that other areas do. We only get moderate amounts of snow, no earthquakes (normally), no hurricanes, no tornadoes, just humidity. There's a lot to be said for feeling safe.

Babies everywhere

Naomi now knows where our new baby lives, in mommy's tummy. There are several of us who are expecting right around the same time next year, I can see a very busy child dedication season next year! Naomi goes back and forth about if it is a boy or a girl. Either way I think she will be a great big sister. In just a couple weeks we head off to Michigan to my sister's house. Everyone from my side of the family will be there, a full house indeed. We have lots of stuff planned but we will enjoy being all together for the first time in more than 2 years.

Back from Blog Fast

The fast is over. Between the Choir Tour/Mission trip and our week at Centrifuge blogging lost its importance.
I continue to learn how important it is for students to trust me. Most of the issues students have with the leadership revolve around trust, at least as the core issue. The students here have had as many as 5 or 6 different leaders of the Youth Ministry in their 6 years, tough to handle. I realize that a key component for the success of the work here lies in gaining the trust of the students and their parents. Unfortunately the only way I can assure them of our staying power is to stay, so time is a key component too. The other area I need to build trust in is with my decision making. Students need to trust that the decisions I make are made with their spiritual best in mind, even the decisions that don't turn out to be the best, they need to know that it was my intention for it to be outstanding. Again this will take time and a few meaningful experiences for them to fully trust me on this.
If I wasn't ready and willing to take the time to earn their trust, I wouldn't be here. This is ministry, this is what God has called me and my family to be a part of and we are thrilled to be doing it.

Oh yeah, in case you haven't heard, Colleen is pregnant with our 2nd child!

Working for a living

So I really have a good reason I have left this blog unatended...Hawaii and Tennessee. The Youth choir is going to Hawaii for 9 days, leaving Sunday and just a few days following that we will be in Tennessee for Centrifuge. Basically I have had to have everything done for all of those trips and all of our regular weekly programs for the next month by today. Busy but not burnout busy.

In case you haven't heard, the Cope family will be growing by one sometime in February! Yes, Colleen is pregnant and I am having a hard time not hoping that it will be a girl, Naomi has been so awesome, I can't imagine having a son. Obviously there will be no disappointment with a son, after all, what if Naomi doesn't like soccer or fantasy baseball?! We'll get more info out soon.

Conversation with a 2 year old

Naomi: Where'd go?
Dad: Mommy went to the store.
Naomi: Oh...why?
Dad: Because she is shopping.
Naomi: Why?
Dad: Because she needs some clothes.
Naomi: Oh...why?
Dad: Because she does.
Naomi: Why?
Dad: Because.
Naomi: Where'd go?
Dad: She went to the store.
Naomi: Oh...why
Dad: Wanna watch Winnie?
Naomi: Yeah!

Movie Review

I've seen a couple movies these last few weeks that I hadn't seen before, so I thought I would give you a non spoiler review of them.

The first one was Cloverfield. I didn't go see it in the theatre because I didn't think I could handle the hand held camera action. It was tamer than I thought and the movie was interesting, which means it was better than I thought it would be. It is not, however, Godzilla 2 just in case you thought it was or are expecting it to be.

Another new movie we saw for our anniversary was Ironman. Good movie. Great action sequence and Robert Downey Jr. actually was believeable. I'm already looking forward to the next movie in the series.

May is a great movie month. This weekend we are taking about 100 people from church to see Prince Caspian. It's funny because there are more teenage girls interested in this one (Prince Caspian is "hot" and British) than were interested in the first one.

Swim class

Colleen's mom is leaving this week on Wednesday. It's been a good visit. We get along fine so there is none of that weird mother in law stuff.

I went to Naomi's swim class this morning. Of course this was the week we dunked them. She did great until I dunked her, she didn't really like that. It was pretty much a nightmare after that. She just screamed for mommy (who was sitting poolside). Figures, the one time I get to go with her to this time I have to be the bad guy. I hope this isn't the beginning of a pattern!

Monday blogger

I think Mondays will have to be when I post, I have to set a time or I will forget. Last night we did a Youth let evening worship. I thought it went well, no major oops and a lot of good drama and music.

I tried to play softball last week and I think I re injured my hamstring, stinky, but the good news was that I found that I can still hit! I am going to a rehabilitation/sports medicine doctor and it looks like that will continue for at least a couple more weeks. It is hard for me to be restricted from running or moving fast. I even like walknig fast.

Last thing, my mother in law is in town, which is good. We get along great and I am thankful that we don't have a weird or difficult relationship. She'll be here for a little more than a week more and then head back to Seattle. So far it has been a good visit, I think we are heading in to DC Thursday.

Double duty

So we just opened up a new website for our students which is set up like a blog too. I am pretty poor at making regualr posts so I am going to have to take it up a notch!
One exciting note is that we are going to get together with my whole family this August at my sister's house in Michigan and just a couple weeks after that visit, we will get together with all of Colleen's famliy for a wedding. We have felt pretty fortunate to have seen our families as often as we have but getting everyone seen and Naomi spoiled all in one month will be great!

Had a parents meeting this past Sunday that I thought went well, nobody threw anything at me and lots of people smiled (but not so much at my jokes). This is a great gruop of students and parents, I'm looking forward to working with them for a long time

Since we last spoke...I pulled my hamstring (lots of bruising too). I hate injuries like this, I rely on my legs for so much. I am supposed to be playing on a soccer team and a softball team and now I am relegated to cheerleader. I am hoping I can be back in about a month, we'll see.

This week we are finishing our interviews for the summer intern. I think we will have decided by the end of the week. I am excited, I have had interns before but not as full time employees. It will be interesting to see how it all works out. Little do they know that they will get a free trip to Hawaii as a part of the package (choir tour).

My bloggin skills are weak, I'll work on building them up for the 2 people who read this blog.

Out Sick

So I had the flu for almost a week. I can't remember having a fever for so many consecutive days. I have been fever free since Sunday but the energy level is still low. I did get some exciting news just before bowing to the flu...the interior design of the youth area at the church is almost finished. Once we get it nailed down we can start work on it. All of the AV equipment is in and set up, now if I could only teach everyone to use it like I want them to...

Egg Hunt

Naomi had 2 egg hunts this weekend. The one Saturday morning featured tons of kids and eggs. Unfortunately she only got 3 or 4 because the big kids really went crazy but fortunately she didn't know it was a competition to see who could get the most. Sunday evening we went to a friends house and did one there too. This time she was a little more eager because she remembered the other eggs had candy in them. Life lesson here? People get excited if there's candy involved.

Samaritan's Feet

Yesterday some students and most of the pastors from church helped with a Samaritan's feet distribution. If you have never heard of Samaritan's feet, here's a rundown: You gather kids in a poorer neighborhood at a church, have fun stuff (games, VBS) for them to do for several hours. You bring in several kids at a time and proceed to wash their feet while sharing the gospel with them. Hundreds of shoes are donated, Nike makes a shoe without their logo that is used as the main shoe, for 30 bucks you can buy 2 pairs to donate. Saturday in DC they gave out 1050 pairs of shoes and at least 700 Monday. At the end of teh day when all the shoes are given out there is a worship service in which teh gospel is shared again and people are given teh opportunity to respond.
On the choir tour this summer we will be doing this, I am excited to see the students learn how to share their faith to a stranger and see how God uses that experience to raise their confidence for sharing their faith.
Phase 1 of the Youth Garage update is finished-the video portion. Next up is the audio, new sound baord, new mics, new snake, etc. The last phase will be putting on a new flooring and getting some new furniture and re arranging it to suit our needs.

Rec Life

By the time summer rolls around and we head out on the choir tour to Hawaii I will either be fit as a fiddle or broken in to little pieces. This month I start playing on our church league softball team and in a seperate soccer league. I am most concerned about the soccer league, it seems pretty competitive and my fitness level isn't where I want it to be. We'll see how it goes. It is really the first time since I started full time youth ministry that I have been a part of a fun/competitive/active sports team. Sports are an outlet for me mentally and physically and I have largely been without that outlet for too long (all the while adding to the spareness of my tire). Overall I am excited to get in to shape and have fun.

Great Job

So far the perks of this ministry position are awesome!. We happen to live just 2 doors down from the church. This means my wife and daughter can visit me any time they want, pretty much. This also means I am the only staff member who can go home for lunch. The other day I forgot something at my house so I just walked home picked it up and came back to work. Unfortunately this housing situation won't last so I can't imagine what it will be like to go back to the sack lunch. I had a turkey, ham or PB&J sandwich with doritos every lunch from 1st through 12th grade, Pretty much has killed my love of sandwiches. Maybe I can spice it up with a Coke.

Church Office

So yesterday we began working on an Office parody, the Church Office. I realize pretty much every youth pastor has this same hair brain idea, but it's new for us. one of the students, Joseph, did the video and we were able to do 3 episodes. It will be interesting to see if it turns out to be funny to other peopel or just to Joseph and I. I also wonder how many episodes we can do without it becoming really lame.

The fallout of NYMC

Like I said, lots of good stuff in the seminar I went to. It was about building and sustaining a healthy ministry. What I appreciated was the depth of detail we went in to from an organizational point of view. The administration of ministry or lack of it can greatly impact the health and sustainability of that ministry. I found that I was already doing lots of the stuff he talked about (which was encouraging, as if I am on the right path) but also gave me some pieces to fill in on the structure part. We didn't talk for a minute about which method of ministry is best or works best, it was a seminar anyone from any style of ministry could have taken and benefited from.

2 things in particular came up and I didn't realize their importance until thinking about it. He said healthy ministries have 3 types of leaders, the camp counselor types (kid magnets), the organizers/administrators, and the architect (vision person). I see my self as the architect and I think we have an administration type in place (Mary, my assistant that does a great job) but I think we could use more camp counselor types. We don't really have many college folk during the school year but we do have a good group of young singles. The second thing that caught my attention was the importance of setting and evaluating goals. As far as I know we don't do that as a staff here but I think I ought to get on it for my own good, even if Mary is the only one to check me on them. I see goals as helping guide me and understand the real priorities we have as a ministry. We'll see how long it takes me to implement these things.

NYMC

Wow. By far the most helpful conference on Youth Ministry I have been apart of (I have been to 6-7 so far). I loved teh seminar format, 8 hours on one topic, rather than the 90 minutes 4 or 5 times in a weekend. In other conferences I found that I wasn't excited about 4 or 5 of their offerings, they don't change them every year, maybe just 1 or 2 new ones. I still found the cost to be prohibitive for bringing a bunch of volunteers along. The session I went to was about building a healthy and sustainable youth ministry. I think every youth leader ought to go to this one 1 time in their "career". Lots of useable stuff without going in to programming. I'll talk more about it later, but just so you know it was awesome.