Goin' Mercer…ramblings and rants!

Last week I substituted at a local high school. As I was covering the study hall class an interesting discussion developed between two boys. They weren’t loud, but close enough to my desk that I couldn’t help but overhear. Believe me, I would rather have not heard. I am not sure how it all got started but before I knew it I heard the word nipples (I can’t believe I just wrote that word on my blog). That word is not an every day word in my world so it caught my attention. I was ready to squelch any appropriate talk and give them Substitute Lecture #4 “How to be cool and appropriate at the same time.” Before jumping to any wrong conclusions I usually listen a little to make sure I need to say something. Then I gathered what the conversation entailed…piercings. Not piercings on girls, but these two boys. To be honest I am not a piercing kind of guy. Nor am I a tattoo kind of guy. I am not even a bumper sticker or slogan on my shirt kind of guy. When I feel the need to express myself, I try to make people laugh or basically I use words. Even though I am not a piercing kind of guy I listened and became enlightened about this world. It is pretty fascinating all the reasons you would pierce something on your body, the number of piercings people have, and where these piercings are. Fortunately the discussion was clean and civil and I never had to intervene with Lecture #4 (see above).

I guess the funniest part of this conversation was the reaction of another student who was also close, but obviously was not a piercing kind of guy either. I wanted to tell him that his face my get stuck like that, you know the wrinkled nose and curled lip. I guess there are some of us who just can’t bear the thought or image or pain level of having our nipples (there’s that word again) pierced.

It is always interesting substitute teaching!

-Michael

We had a great retreat this past weekend. Five churches from our area gathered at Lake Brownwood to worship, study, pray, eat, sleep, and play together. Southern Hills, Westgate, University, Sweetwater, and Highland all came together for a High School Retreat. Jeff Brooks a good friend of mine came to the retreat and spoke to us about being committed. His talks were a mixture of humor, video, interactive lessons, and straight talk from the Word. Will Smith from Southern Hills (worship intern) came and led our worship for the weekend. He did more than that though, he came and hung out with students and was extremely involved. These two guys were a big reason for our retreat being such a success.

The students from all these churches didn’t simply come and stay in their own groups. They mingled throughout all the groups and made new friends. The participated in everything we did without complaining or grumbling. Every one showed great leadership and flexibility. My kids were no different. They worked really hard to include everyone in their group and got to know more from other churches. This all culminated on Sunday morning during the communion process. We challenged them to take three other people with them to take the elements of communion and that one of those be from another church. Every group had at least one from another church. They took the body and the blood, prayed together, and then discussed their weekend and then just talked quietly in their groups. It was refreshing to see how well they connected to one another and really proved the weekend a success.

The youth ministers had a great time too. We all got a chance to talk with one another and get to know each other better. We laughed, worshipped, and worked together the entire weekend. It was a growing time for me to be with those guys and girls.

It was a great weekend!

-Michael

Today some of our high school group is attending the Big Country Fall Retreat. This retreat is for the area churches of Christ in Abilene and its surrounding area. It ought to be a great time. I love the other youth ministers in town and I think they are excellent men and women of God. I also get a bonus, because my good friend Jeff Brooks is coming in to speak at the retreat. He is always so encouraging to me and we joke and laugh a lot. I am looking forward to the students from my group that are going. We will have an awesome time and I will get to know them even better.

I substitute taught yesterday. What an interesting study hall class I had. I will have to blog about it next week.

My house finally has a contract and it hit some snags, but seems to be coming out of that and hopefully we will close this coming Thursday. Keep that in your prayers!

I went to a youth conference in Austin a couple of weekends ago. I gained a lot of encouragement from it. The ideas and theologies presented were pretty authentic and deep. I look forward to using some of these in the near future.

I did use some already for a worship experience for our high school group. I will have to blog about that as well and let you know about it.

I took my midterm for Greek this past Tuesday. I feel like I did well. Hopefully we will get them back this Tuesday so I know for sure. So far its my favorite class of all my MDIV study. I love reaching specific goals and learning this language (again).

I also need to blog about my niece. She is doing some awesome things. She is a sixth grader down in Ganado, TX. (small town between Victoria and Houston). She came in 2nd with her goat she raised for the rodeo and fair and she got first chair in band playing something I can’t remember. Oh and she has never had a “B”. Wow, is she an awesome girl or what.

So, maybe I can come back to this blog and see my list and have some things to say in the future.

-Michael

There are levels you reach in any ministry job. However, I have to say that my second is completely different from my first. Yes the churches are each different and unique but this has more to do with me and my growth as a minister. In my first job it took only weeks to bond with the core set of students. On the flip side it took years to bond with parents and receive their trust. This start of the job has been pretty much the 180 of that. I quickly gained the trust and love from the parents (many of them feel like peers). However, it has taken much longer to know the students on a sincere level. The middle school has definitely come around faster than the high school, but now 10 months into the job it is all beginning to settle.

Last night was the biggest sign of this. I didn’t really realize it at the time, but after reflecting on it last night and this morning it makes sense. I was talking to my good friend, Doug Page, from Houston. He was here to take a graduate course. As we were talking after Wednesday evening assembly many of my students walked by us. I knew every name and something personal about them. Several even came up to me and gave me a hug. This was huge for me, but I didn’t even realize it at the time. One of my middle school boys came walking straight at me and I put out my hand to shake his and passed it up for the hug. It was a great moment! It was just a hug, but showed me that I am making a difference, they do love me, and we are bonding together. It was a great night as many of the students walked by we had short conversations and both knew there was God’s love between us. I think this is one of the biggest reasons I love ministry: Building relationships with other believers!

It was a powerful night for me and the really funny thing is, is that I didn’t realize it till this morning. What a blessing!

-Michael