youth pastor mike

Youth Ministry is Dead

2011-08-14T14:08:00.000-07:00

...or so says a group of ministers from a recent Christian magazine article.

I'm not going to link to the article here, but suffice it to say that they call, "Youth Ministry a 50 Year Failed Experiment".

Personally, I really enjoyed my years of being a YP. I felt called into the ministry when I was a young man at summer camp. One of the most influential men in my life was my YP growing up in Oklahoma.

What do you think?

You Remind Me of Somebody...

2008-12-11T09:59:00.000-08:00

Do you ever meet somebody - and instantly they remind you of somebody you know?

Happened to me today. I was talking to one of the guys from work when all the sudden it hit me - this guy reminds me of a kid I used to youth pastor in the early 90's.

The mind is amazing how it makes associations. It wasn't somebody from PH youth. The kid was someone from my very 1st youth group ever... way out in East Texas. It had been almost 20 years since I was youth pastor out there, but I could still pull up his full name without a problem.

That's just crazy!

It's Official - I Like The 4 Day Work Week

2008-07-05T14:03:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about Gulf Shores lately...

One of my prospects broke an appointment with me and later called to apologize. Here's the voicemail he left me:

"Mike. I'm sorry. It's just that I've been so busy trying to get all my work finished before the holiday weekend. Honestly, in my mind, I'm already on the beach".

Me too brother. Me too!

Another Saturday doing Garage Sales

2008-06-28T07:14:00.000-07:00

I figured out a few months ago that it is a lot less expensive to take the kids to garage sales and let them go "h0g wild" buying anything they want than it is to take them to Target and force them to buy a "cheap" toy (they really don't want anyway).

So, what have we been able to find at the garage sales? Glad you asked!

The boy seems to prefer hot wheels cars, dinosaurs and action figures while the girl likes anything pretty, scarfs and buying lemonade from anyone selling it.

I guess you know what we'll be doing on this beautiful Saturday morning... that's right - looking for hot wheels and lemonade!

Is everyone in Burleson TX a Christian?

2008-05-17T12:11:00.000-07:00

I was at the Chik-fil-a off I-35 W this afternoon with the family and it seemed like everyone in the place bowed their head and prayer over their food before eating. Crazy!

I haven't seen that much giving thanks since I was in Springfield MO. The more you think about it, I rarely see Christian families praying over their food anymore. It's almost like Fast Food doesn't count. Have you ever worked in fast food? That's the first place I'm going to ask for a blessing.

[stepping down off my soap box now]

Mike

I watched her do the drugs myself

2008-05-14T16:45:00.000-07:00

She slipped back a mix of liquid sedatives... one gulp, two gulps, three then four. Pretty soon, she had swallowed the whole thing. I watched her as she slowly began to stumble around. It was like she couldn't even stand up without help. At this point, there was nothing I could do.

I was relieved when she sat down in a chair only to turn around and see her inhaling gas.

At that point, the dentist who had sat down beside her, turned to me and said, "We're going to extract at least one of her teeth today and possibly more."

Did I scare you?

Yeah, it scared me too! My daughter went to the dentist this morning and I was sitting on pins and needles the whole time. Nothing gets to you like your kids.

Chinese Food at Kroger

2008-05-04T20:15:00.000-07:00

Does anyone still eat at the Kroger Chinese Kitchen besides me anymore?

I know it is hard to find good Chinese food (and I'm not saying the Kroger kitchen is good) but you've got to dig a place that will load up two different entree's and a big scoop of fried rice and send you out the door for $6.49 with your Kroger plus card.

Tonight I had the Sweet & Sour Chicken (C-) and the Orange Chicken (B+) along with the standard heaping of Fried Rice (A-). All in all, if you like Chinese food and you live in South Arlington (Cooper & Sublet) then it's hard to beat the price.

Of Course, nobody can beat Pancho's!

Garage Sales

2008-05-04T07:51:00.000-07:00

Garage Sales are great. I love looking at other people's stuff. You know, the stuff they don't want anymore but expect you'll exchange you're hard-earned money for it. There's a lot you can learn about folks by looking at their garage sale.

The kids and I were on our own yesterday while Shelly was in Waxahachie with the church. We had a really tough time finding anybody's junk that we wanted for our own. It was so bad, that we would pull up to a sale and my daughter would say, "Keep on driving dad. There's nothin' good here." If you've got 90% clothes, she's going to skip your sale!

At about our 10th stop, we finally found a garage sale with the good stuff. Yeah, like old action figures and barely used dolls. My boy picked up a sweet X-Wing fighter and the girl got a Arial Mermaid and a magnifying glass. It only set me back $1.50. Sweet! Try doing that at Target.

That's all for now. Hope you have a great Sunday morning.

Mike

McDonald's vs. LaMadeline's

2008-04-24T20:07:00.000-07:00

Tonight was supposed to be the Ladies Meeting over at Bonnie's house but her air conditioning wasn't working. "Good!", I selfishly thought to myself. It's always a lot of work when Shelly is gone for the night and I have to be Daddy and Mommy all at the same time. My wife does so much that I don't even notice how hard her job is until it's my turn to take the kids for the night. Fortunately, the ladies made last minute plans for a get together at LaMadeline's. "Lucky Me!"

I took the kids to McDonald's to get their play all worked out. Needless to say, they rocked the house. Several families came and left by the time we walked out the doors (with 3 cookies, a kids cone and a cherry pie for me). Where else can you entertain your kids for hours on end and it cost you less than $10? Chuck E Cheese doesn't even come close (even if it is 10 times as fun)!!!

Peace,
Mike

Pelted with Hailstones in Texas

2008-04-18T00:51:00.001-07:00

this was the view from my back porch during tonights massive pounding of marble sized hail.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking

2007-06-24T22:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I started getting serious about learning Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I would be lying if I told you it was easy. I've found myself going back to the manual over and over again.

I was trying to enter some new CDs into my gospel CD store and kept messing up. One time, I even got all the way through entering every tiny bit of information in and then all of a sudden, I lost everything because I said the wrong thing... I found myself on a web page I never asked to go to. That is extremely frustrating!

However, I can see now that if I will stick with it I'll be able to enter words into the computer a lot faster than I could just typing them. So, I'm going to stick with it... Even if I keep my wife up all night listening to me talk to a computer.

Talking to my computer

2007-06-21T20:45:00.000-07:00

I bought Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 8 quite a while ago hoping that it would make it easier for me to make postings on the blog. What I didn't realize, is that I needed 512 MB in order to run the program. Well, I finally upgraded my ram and now I'm able to use Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

I've got to tell you, this program is absolutely amazing. In less than 30 minutes it learned my speech behavior and patterns-it is just absolutely amazing.

Tim, my brother-in-law, has this great idea that involves speech recognition. I can tell you what it is (otherwise he would have to kill me). But, with technology like this I could easily see how his idea would be possible.

Babe's Chicken Dinner in Burleson

2007-06-03T19:59:00.000-07:00

On the way home from Babe's in Burleson, TX, a deep thought struck me... "I like Babe's for Sunday Chicken Dinner a lot better than I like Cracker Barrel!"

Why?

Let me make a list:

1. The chicken is a lot better. It is always done right at Babe's. Sometimes on Sunday night at Cracker Barrel, you get a bunch of kids running the place. The food isn't consistently good.

2. The management is better at Babe's in Burleson. They are on top of their game. Everyone is working, happy, and helpful. I like to think that the people who are serving me food are competent.

3. It is a better atmosphere. It's fun when people get together and sing The Hokey Pokey and do all the motions. What's wrong with that!

4. My kids like it better. When the kids are happy, I'm happy!

5. It doesn't cost anymore to eat at Babe's in Burleson than it does to eat at Cracker Barrel. The drive is a little further but it is worth it.

"That's all I've got to say about that."

The Black Eye

2007-06-02T23:29:00.000-07:00

Man, I can remember the day Alex popped Daniel in the eye with a snowball like it was yesterday. Here's what happened:

Alex and Daniel were outside having a snowball fight. Daniel was ducked down to make a snowball and just happened to pop back up right about the time Alex was throwing one at him. Daniel looked up and BANG! got popped right in the eye.

We took a picture of him hanging out on the living room sofa by the fireplace. Daniel was digging through the candy bowl at the time. He was proud of that black eye... and so was Alex!

Robert Turns 18

2007-06-02T17:54:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I went to Robert's high school graduation... those seats were so uncomfortable!!! I had always thought that I would want to go see a TCU Basketball Game but not after sitting in that arena after about an hour of listening to the Valedictorian not brag about her family. In between trying to get comfortable in my uncomfortable chair, I couldn't help but remember when I first met "Roberto".

We were having an outside BBQ at Faith Harvest when Robert and his brothers (Andy and Daniel) showed up with their Aunt Bonnie. Robert had just been hit by a car while getting off the school bus. So, I knew something about him. I just didn't know who he was. Sweet kid with a very funny personality.

Robert has a way of making road trips memorable. You'll have to ask him about "Smunderwear" someday.

Anyway, Happy 18th Birthday Robert Ochoa. You are one of a kind!

Love You,
Mike

Memorial Day Weekend

2007-05-26T20:10:00.000-07:00

Well, I've managed to spend an entire Saturday of the Memorial Day Weekend working! That's right. I couldn't take off like the rest of the world. I've got this sickness that drives me to work and work and work some more. It wasn't enough that I stopped in the office yesterday on my day off... NO! I had to work all day too.

it's about that time of year again

2007-04-28T20:05:00.000-07:00

It happens every year... I get older! Can't say that this year is much different than the years before except that I have a little less hair, a little more money, and a few more pounds. Happy Birthday to me :-)

The Grand Prairie Church - Faith Harvest Church in Texas

2006-12-14T19:28:00.000-08:00

The Grand Prairie Church - Faith Harvest Church in Texas

I am going to leave the old church website up for awhile. It reminds me of some very good people and fantastic times.

If you would like to find out what Richard & Bonnie Healy are doing now, you can check out their new blog at http://blog.connectionchurchofarlington.com

Peace,
Mike

the boy goes to work

2006-12-14T12:37:00.000-08:00

okay, so i love my son... no doubt. but i now fully understand why you can't take your kids to work with you. i'm getting absolutely nothing done today!

oh yeah! i love the boy and he's been a lot of fun but it hasn't been real productive. he's climbing on everything, touching things he shouldn't touch (repeatedly), and needs attention every other minute.

wow, he just knocked over the ladder i had set up to keep him out of everyone elses offices... gotta go...

Merry Christmas

2005-12-25T10:33:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Jesus! I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas.

Grand Prairie - Festival of Lights

2005-11-21T18:42:00.000-08:00

Excerpt taken from the High Point Bulletin:

"Festival of Lights kicks off this Friday at 6:00 p.m. and will continue through Christmas Day. You, your family and friends will enjoy the 20 minute drive-thru light park with over 5 million lights."

Schedule:
November 25 through December 25
Open 6-10 p.m.
7 Days a Week
Monday - Thursday: Drive Thru Open
Friday - Sunday: All Areas Open

(Note: December 18-25 all areas will be open nightly)

See you at Festival of Lights @ High Point Church. Pastor Gary & April Simons

Jazz Concert at Martin High Scool

2005-11-17T19:25:00.000-08:00

That was a realy good jazz concert tonight at Martin High. Of course, I went to see my main man Robert Ochoa. He had a trombone solo in the very first selection and he rocked it. I'm really impressed at the Martin High School Band. I remember my high school days. Our jazz band wasn't that good... actually, I don't think most HS jazz bands are as good as Martin. Maybe I'm biased. Probably not. They are really good!

Mr. Animated

2005-11-13T17:33:00.000-08:00

Oh Yeah!, my main man "Mr. Animated" was back singing this morning getting jiggy with it... God Bless You Mr. Animated.

Marilyn Hickey

2005-11-13T17:23:00.000-08:00

I just love to hear Marilyn Hickey! She told one story this morning at High Point Church that had me laughing out loud... hey, you can laugh in church.

Anyway, here's the story (or at least the best I remember it)...

Marilyn is preaching at an Assembly of God church earlier in her ministry. The pastor tells her that she can preach as long as she is "anointed". So, she starts preaching with a lot of fervor and being loud. In her quest to be anointed, She sees a man in the back of the congregation sitting in a wheel chair and calls out to him "Stand Up". Unfortunately, she can only see the man from the chest up.

When she repeats her request for the man to "stand up and be healed in the name of Jesus" and he doesn't do it, she calls on one of the associate pastor's to go back there and make the man stand up. When he shakes his head "no" he won't go back and do that, Marilyn asks, "Why Not?". The associate pastor replies, "because he has no legs".

Her point was to "STAY IN FAITH" even when you are STUPID. It was after that incident that the Lord told her that she would see many people healed in her ministry... and she certainly has!

If you live in the DFW Metroplex and need a church home please check out High Point Church in Arlington, Texas.

Peace,
Mike

Worship @ High Point Church

2005-10-23T18:16:00.000-07:00

I had one other thought that I wanted to share tonight... I don't know his name but if you attend church at High Point, you'll know who I'm talking about:

I call him Mr. Animated. He's the guy who sings on the worship team who is always very enthusiastic with his praise. His arms are swinging away and he's always moving around with earnest expressions on his face... I LOVE THAT GUY!

He was up in the Choir this morning. I think they rotate singers on the platform but I can't begin to tell you how fantastic it is to see someone worship that enthusiastically. It reminds me of when David danced before the Lord. I'm sure he might freak some people out but it totally pumps me up. I can't help but enter in to the worship when I see that kind of worship.

I love it when people are totally sold out to worship no matter what the cost. It drives religious spirits crazy. They can't stand it. Oh, they can whoop and holler at a ball game or yell at people in traffic but they can't stand to see someone going all out in worship. But I gotta tell ya, I LOVE THAT GUY!