Hello!

So it’s been 8 months since my last update. Things have been busy to say the least.

What brings on this sudden jump back into blogging?? Four letters…

NYWC!

Yes, the blog is back and conveniently in time for The National Youth Workers Convention. This year, we, The Bridge Youth Ministries, are driving all the way to Cincinnati, Ohio (Crazy to make a 10-12 hour drive? Yes, I know). Instead of flying this year, we are saving money by taking a bonding adventure from NJ to OH. Sad to say that many of the veterans from last year will not be accompanying us this time, such as: Samantha, Sully, Jefferson, Armando, Jenn, Sarah, Kevin, Elliott, and possibly Romulo. For those of you who met us last year, here are a few reasons why some of them are not returning: Samantha is finally a school teacher and just got engaged a few days ago, Sarah and Kevin had their first baby girl, Sydney; Elliott is also a school teacher this year, and Jenn is now the principal of a K-8 gifted and talented school. Veterans returning this year are: me (of course), Carlos (our youth pastor), Billy, Jesu, Manny, and hopefully Ali. We also have some newbies attending this year: Michael, Jenifer, Raul, Alex, and hopefully Sonia. So as of now, 9 definites with 2 possibilities will be making the long trek 1/4 across the country. Pray that we grow together, laugh together, catch some shut-eye, and not make each other crazy on the journey. :)

As for other updates, I’m still a preschool teacher in the same school, still happily single, still going through the rollercoaster ups and downs of life, mentored Jenn - a young youth pastor, through Tim Schmoyer’s free YM Mentorship program, started piano lessons, enrolled into Light University for biblical counseling, went to the WorshipGod conference in MD, and led worship for a week at T.I.M.S. thanks to Brian Ford for the invite (had a blast, met new people and learned a new game called Swat!), and just recently joined our young adult church’s (The Connection) worship team.

My roles in youth ministry have expanded. Last time I blogged, I was currently the worship director for our youth band, emerging worship station coordinator, small group leader for an all-girls group, and minute taker for leadership meetings. Last year (August08 - July09), I also took time off from being deeply involved in our youth groups unless they needed me for ratio purposes.
This year, while I am still working as a “full-time” unpaid volunteer, I was hired by my youth pastor as “part-time” to be his administrative assistant. As for my “full-time” volunteer responsibilities? I’m still the worship director for the youth band, but now have an assistant worship director to help lighten the load. I am still the emerging worship station coordinator but no longer doing “worship stations” every single month, but every 3-4 months, for our youth church, The Sanctuary. I am no longer a small group leader for the all-girls group because after 3 and a half years of being together, my girls have graduated from HS and moved off to dorm at college for a year. They intend on moving back for the remainder of their education so they can also be leaders-in-training for the youth ministry. Our last adventure was a trip for piercings (ears, nose, and eyebrow) followed by a rainy trip to the beach. So much crazy fun lol. New roles include being the stage manager for our youth church and young adult church services and being the head admin for the YouthTracker system (I’ll blog about that another time since my Twitter friend, Todd Porter, asked me about it via Facebook). So it’s been pretty busy since September.

As for youth group, I went from being “on-call” like last year to “I’ll come twice a month” to “I’ll be here every week”. We have 10 youth groups now: 5 Bridge Jr groups and 5 Bridge Sr groups. I’ll blog about that another time as well since my Twitter friend, Chris Day, was asking me why we do this instead of focusing on one youth group. We finally have an official I.D. system up and running within our youth ministry. The youth love the ID’s because it gives them a sense of belonging within their youth group, it gives us the opportunity to keep learning their names when they show us their ID card at the door, it gives the youth fun discounts on our events or at the “Bridge&Noble” store, and we’re working with the community to give us store discounts on pizzarias, coffee shops, etc. around the neighborhoods.

Eventually, I will have to discuss the accomplishments and failments of my New Years Resolutions I posted earlier this year.

Until next time, I hope you enjoyed my blog comeback of amazing updates (lol). Time to continue tackling my pyogenic bacterial conjunctivitis (pinkeye).

PS: thank you, Patti Gibbons, for your “like” on my “Janelle is blogging” Facebook status. ;)

So i came across this song. And it peaked my interest so i’ve decided to blog about it.
Here are the lyrics: 

Song: Topics
Artist: Nevertheless
Album: In The Making… 

She spent the night out with a guy who gives attention when she cries herself to sleep, I heard her say…
And so she gives him what he wants as long as he can make her feel okay, but she’s not okay

And we avoid the topics, we make the kids have secrets
When they are exposed and everyone else knows
We’ll say we never knew it, that they had a problem
‘Cause if we would have known, we surely would have solved it
But we can’t, it’s too late

He’s skipping classes ’cause he hates them, hopes he passes, not to take them all again, I heard him say…
He escapes them with the pills, the ones he takes to make him feel like he’s okay, but he’s not okay

And we avoid the topics, we make the kids have secrets
And when they are exposed and everyone else knows
We’ll say we never knew it, that they had a problem
‘Cause if we would have known, we surely would have solved it
But we can’t, it’s too late

God, you’ve gotta save us, we hide behind the faces that we make to disguise
The things that were ashamed of and all the ugly things that make us close our eyes
They make us close our eyes,
why do we close our eyes?

We avoid the topics, we make the kids have secrets
When they are exposed and everyone else knows
We’ll say we never knew it, that they had a problem
‘Cause if we would have known, we surely would have solved it

This poses a few questions…

1. What are “the topics” anyway!?  I’m assuming its sexual promiscuity, drugs, cutting, alcoholism, orgies, pornography, abuse, beastiality, incest, etc.  What other ones am i missing?

2. Does your youth ministry avoid the topics? You know, the tough ones that make you feel uncomfortable to talk about with your kids.  

3. If you don’t avoid the topics, do you fly through them crossing your fingers that none of the kids raise their hand during altar call because if one does…

4. Do you know how to handle it if a youth admits to struggling with one of the topics?

I am going to be completely transparent right now and admit to my bloggers that I struggle with question number 4.  Why?  Because I know I don’t quite know how to handle if a youth tells me she is cutting or likes going to orgies or…God forbid, performs in beastiality. Seriously. It sounds crazy but how many youth might be in your youth ministry that struggle with one or more of “the topics” and we either avoid them or skirt around them in order to not have to admit not knowing how to handle them. 

On top of all this, how do we personally (as the leader) and we collectively (as the youth group/ministry) first create an atmosphere safe for exposure? When i was in youth ministry, i hardly felt comfortable admitting what I struggled with regardless of “the topic” being discussed during the night. I was afraid of judgement. How sad. Fear of being judged by your own brothers and sisters. So we create these masks to wear and pretend things are okay. 

What do you think? Do you have a story? Do tell, maybe it will help others (like me) figure out how to handle certain “topics”.

I know that I personally want to learn more about how to handle these kinds of situations and how to counsel those involved. If anyone has any resources i could look into, I would appreciate it. (:

Thanks.

keep smiling.be love

*Photo: “The Art of Pretending” by Nonnetta, Deviant Art.

I know, I know… It’s been a month since my last post. So much for that resolution lol. just kidding. Things have been quite busy… i do however want to post more, its just finding the time. I honestly dont know how Adam McLane and Billy Hartz does it…

* Our youth ministry’s annual youth retreat is coming up… Stand:Let Nothing Move You. You can click there and check out the website. We’ve got a few videos up already, including an amazing video made by Jesus Torres. It’s the first weekend in March (not on my birthday this year!). Much has been done and much still to do. I’m in charge of the prayer/worship station room. No labyrinth this year. As of now i believe i have about 20 worship stations for the kids to interact with. About a third of them hve to do with the theme. Then there is worship. Having to put together 5 sets, designate worship leaders, learn new songs, leave room for changes, etc. So far i’m proud of myself for meeting personal deadlines on time. It gave me more room to help out with the decorations committee and research things for other committees. This Friday i’ll be personalizing the souvenir for this year which is pretty awesome.  I can’t say it here in case any of the youth stumble upon my blog before the retreat (i doubt it though lol). And posting about worship stations only reminds me about how much i want to put all the ones i’ve borrowed, revamped and created on here as well… hmm, in due time (crosses fingers!) lol

* I sent in my application for a different job. After working with kids for 11 years it might be time for a change. We’ll see how that goes. A few of my blog readers know about it. I dont want to get into it on here yet for various reasons lol.

* I’ve been “sick” the past couple of days. rar! I dont know exactly what to call it. I ended up with laryngitis once again after working all Saturday long in the youth pastor’s attic. lol This is the second time it happened. Unfortunately this time, accompanying it is massive amounts of sinus pressure and it’s making my jaw and ears throb.

* My teacher at work has been out and those of you who follow me on Twitter know about the chaos that has ensued due to faulty substitution. For those of you who haven’t: Monday, they sent me a non-English speaking (and non-English understanding) teacher (so you can imagine the difficulties in that) and Tuesday, it was Miss “Teacher Superior”. She walked right in and looked at my stuff at the teacher’s desk and said, “oh. you already have your things there.” And she stood there waiting for me to remove it. Then she tried to meticulously follow the class schedule, not quite understanding me when i tried letting her know of the already instilled flexible routine because let’s be honest here! Class schedules are just for show. Mine, for instance, says breakfast is from 8:20-8:30, then large group from 8:30-8:45. But you have to be lenient to the fact that by the time i bring in the bus kids, its already 8:45am! lol so today when they came in then and sat down for breakfast, she looked disapprovingly and said, “oh really? i didnt know it was still breakfast time. it’s supposed to be over at 8:30. well i guess they have to eat as well.” what?  lol it was crazy. Where was Mike Kupferer when i needed a good sub!? ;)

* Right now i’m listening to Red’s newest album which i just purchased from iTunes: Innocence & Instinct (Bonus Track Version). I’m loving it more than i intended to.  I’m not privy to disliking the “screaming” and that remains the same, but there aren’t as much ear-splitting roars as i thought there would be which is nice. This album is definitely has a great focus on the redemption theme which is awesome. If you don’t mind this kind of music, i highly recommend this album (the Bonus Track Version especially).

* Speaking of recommendations: I handed in my first book review (”Kiss” by Ted Dekker and Erin Healy) for Youth Ministry Exchange (amazing site if you’ve never checked it out). Hopefully I did okay. It was challenging and alot of fun honestly. (:

Well that’s about it for now.

I can promise you my next post will be very soon. (:

keep smiling.be love

So this is my first post of ‘09.

It came on a quiet night this year. Alone at midnight, i raised my champagne glass of bubbly Pepsi and rang in the new year with a pirate-esque photo of myself which i uploaded onto Facebook. Cheers to the new year.

Before then, i was busy writing my New Year Resolutions. They are as follows:

1. Start over. *For me, it means not giving up. And sometimes you just need to “start over” even if its not physically literally starting over. This resolution goes with my last resolution.

2. Be more… patient . kind . slow to anger . quick to listen . encouraging . thankful . compassionate . understanding . loving . joy-giving . supportive . self-less . trustworthy . serving . humble . courageous . fearless . merciful . … *That’s pretty much self-explanatory. The triple dots mean there are more to be added.

3. Drink at least one glass of water everyday; no Pepsi allowed unless I drink a glass of water first. This goes for home, work, restaurants, anywhere. *I am so serious about this and have been doing great (except today…but i still have time right?)

4. Wear my seatbelt every time I am in the car. *Now this seems like common sense, but ever since my first car - a ‘93 Saturn SL1 with the lovely automatic seatbelts, i forget very often (almost all the time) to now manually put on my seatbelt in my ‘98 Nissan Altima GXE. i know, tis a shame.

5. Learn the piano and take voice lessons: set aside one evening a week (Tuesdays) to school myself. Practice on other days where time permitted. *I was supposed to start these (at home) classes today, but today was a crazy stressful day, so i postponed my “schooling” for next week.

6. Meet with Grace and have “No Pressure, No Diamonds” recorded in the studio. *For those of you who know me, actually writing and performing a song of my own (which can be seen on my Facebook) was a BIG deal. I am not very confident or extroverted. It took me 10 years (since i first started writing lyrics) before I ever finally did an entire song of my own. And i have to say “entire song” because I did write and record the hook for one of our youth pastor’s rap albums (The Quickening). It’s a song called “Complete”. So it’s going to be another push to actually get into my dad’s studio and record it.

7. Set aside one day every month to watch a web-seminar on worship leading. *This is pretty awesome actually. I found this website called The Worship Teleseminar and it’s free worship leading and worship ministry training. They ask you to register (it’s free) and once you login, you are able to access online replays of each session and download the mp3’s and handouts. This is part of my personal dedication in growing to become a better worship leader/director.

8. Look for a graphics art course to take and learn more about designing. *This will come after my piano and vocal classes. I will either look for something to take online, attend a graphics art course at the local community college, or ask one of my friends to teach me. In due time.

9. Write and perform more original songs. *Easier said than done, but I need to push myself more.

10. Organize my worship stations and post them available on my blog for other churches to use, oh yeah, and blog more. *One of these days i’ll get them all together and you’ll be able to find them under “Refuel Your Creativity” as well as regularly update this here blog o’ mines.

11. Stay within my budget. Take out money from each paycheck and put within savings. Save more money by not purchasing what I don’t need. Pay off credit cards/get out of debt.  *I am well on my way towards paying off my credit card debt (for the past 2 years) since i have not touched a credit card since i began this quest. As for taking out money from each paycheck? I have been little by little. Of course, it helped that when i needed emergency money for stuff, I was able to dive into that a bit. Still, paying off my credit card debt is the most important.

12. Take a multi-vitamin daily. *I need to keep healthy and this is one way to achieve success in this area. Call me crazy, but i love Centrum orange-flavored chewables. They remind me of those awesome Flintstone chewable vitamins that we used to eat as kids! No “horse-pills” (and aptly nicknamed by their grande size) to force myself to swallow and it doesn’t leave that odd vitamin after-taste. 

13. Trust God… in all areas of my life. Spend more time with Him. Read the Bible. Listen to podcasts. (ex: teachings from Mars Hill Bible Church) *Okay, okay, so i classified all the Christiany stuff in one resolution. But i think we can all relate to this. And as for podcasts, Mars Hill Bible Church is so far my favorite to listen to. If anyone has any suggestions on new ones i can subscribe to on iTunes and give it a whirl, let me know. 

14. Pursue… Healing . Restoration . Trust . Hope . Personal forgiveness . Peace . Rest … *These are collectively self-explanatory like resolution #2 as well as personal. I’m sure i’m not alone.

15. Take every positive moment in life. Take only the growth and lesson from every negative moment in life. Leave the past behind. Move on.  *This last resolution goes with my first resolution.

Keep smiling . be love . emunah . ahavah . speak life . dream . live

There you have it. I hope maybe I have inspired some of you. 

If not, it’s all good. (:

until next time, peace out girl scout ;)

keep smilng.be love

ha. so no one knows what to get me this year and my mom asked me for a list. The specifics i compiled are not for anyone else to try to get for me since most likely my mom will get stuff for me and tell family members to get the rest. As you can see below, its nothing imperative. just simple. For inquiring minds, feel free to use the general list. Unless you know me and know something specific thats not on the specific list. 

Specifically Speaking…

• Clothing: Anberlin “Cities” black zipper hoody
• Clothing: Anberlin girls shirt “Anberlin Throws Axes Not Grenades”
• Book: “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan
• Book: “Between Sundays” by Karen Kingsbury
• Book: “A Thousand Tomorrows” by Karen Kingsbury
• Book: “Beneath The Clouds” by Karen Kingsbury
• Book: “Every Now And Then” by Karen Kingsbury (after Ted Dekker, she is my other favorite author)
• Jewelry: Bob Siemons Sterling Silver ring with the inscription “I Am My Beloved’s” in Hebrew for my small size 4.50 ring finger on my left hand. (yes, i’ve decided to wear a ring again)
• Worship Leader magazine year subscription

Adventure.

That’s what i want. all the time.

It’s why i love Ted Dekker’s books. The Great Romance. Being pursued by Elyon. Awe. Imagination.

It’s why i love pirates. Sailing ships on the high seas. Swashbuckling battles. Excitement. arr matey! Walk the plank.

It’s why i love spontaneity. Random thoughts. Freedom from constraint. Overcoming inhibitions. Exhilaration.

and it’s why i love worship stations. or prayer stations. or multi-sensory worship. whatever you call it. I am currently reading “Wild Goose Chase: Reclaiming the Adventure of Pursing God” (doesn’t the very tagline cause your heart a commotion?) by MarkBatterson, compliments of winning a Twitter game hosted by Terrace Crawford. I am not even half way through the book yet and it’s so astoundingly unsettling! What a state of discomposure. I love this book. Here is where I left off to write this post:

              “According to the law of requisite variety, the survival of any system depends on its capacity to cultivate variety in its internal structures. Disequilibrium is life. Equilibrium is death. Prolonged equilibrium dulls our senses, numbs out minds, and atrophies our muscles.
               In physical exercise, routines eventually  become counterproductive. If you exercise the same way every time you work out, your muscles start adapting and stop growing. So you need to change the routine. You need to disorient them. The same is true spiritually.
               This is why we need the Wild Goose in our lives. Without Him, life becomes an empty routine or dull ritual. The Wild Goose keeps things crazy.”

So i stopped to think about my life. And how disoriented I feel…almost all of the time! And you know what? My disoriented life keeps me on my toes. Yes, it can become overwhelming at times or stressful, but in all actuality, it’s part of the adventure. Whenever my life seems in order, i end up feeling bored and quite apathetic. I’m starting to think I should never pray for a life of order. Especially when all i want is adventure!

And it goes the same for church. I get bored in church, easily distracted, tired. And its simply because i often get stuck in the same routine every Sunday: worship then teaching, worship then teaching. I want depth, i want new notions to become entangled in, new ideas to dance with. And that’s how i found out why i love chasing the Wild Goose… and why i love worship stations.

I’ve always had a passion for this area of worship and quickly became the  worship stations coordinator (my unofficial name? lol) for our youth ministry (The Bridge Youth Ministries) and for our youth church, The Sanctuary. I love “refueling my creativity” by creating new stations or borrowing others to mold into the theme of the teaching. I love organizing the “labyrinth/prayer room” each year for our youth retreat. I love thinking up new directions to enhance worship in such a way that we can feel, sense, hear, smell, touch, taste, dream, embrace God.  Multi-sensory worship encourages participation, action, and movement. It’s an invitation to reckless abandonment. I love it! (:

So, my dear readers, i can’t wait to continue chasing the Wild Goose; oh so captivating is this adventure with Elyon; to be pursuing this quest with God. This is the way life should be. This is what a relationship with the One who pursues and chases me should be like as i pursue and chase Him in return. This amazy (crazy amazing) amusement we play together. The pure joy. The rush of excitement. The overtaking adoration.

This is love.

“So when you say forever, can’t you see?
You’ve already captured me.”
             -Mae ‘The Sun and the Moon’

keep smiling.be love

Hey everyone, I have been:

A. Busy

2. Sick

c. Lazy

four. All of the Above.  <— if you guessed D. you are correct.

Yes, I’ve been sick (viral syndrome), busy (work), and lazy (bleh)! So i havent posted anything in over a week.

I have been designing here and there, threw more stuff on the ksbldesigns.com site. Trying to figure out some things.

I have been cooking again. Monkey Bread and peanut butter cookies.

I cant wait for Thanksgiving.

I bought Beyonce’s new album “I Am…Sasha Fierce” on iTunes. She is amazing live.

I’ve been pretty…scribbly lately. You know, when you just scribble all over the paper for every and no reason. I have way so much stuff on my mind.

Did i post that i wrote to my Compassion Child last week? Cristina. She turns 8 in February.

It’s cold outside. very.

Song of the Moment: “Any Other Day” - Wyclef Jean and Norah Jones

Okay seriously. This is a very poor excuse of an update post. /: time for bed.

keep smiling.be love

Be the Wave. You are the hope of the future. (1Timothy 4:12)
Introducing the newest design from ksbldesigns. It’s in the ‘Be’ section of the store.
Enjoy.

Such things. I love being a teacher because we get so many days off. I had yesterday (Thursday) and today (Friday) off from work. I very much enjoyed it. Got a bunch of things crossed off of my to-do list. Did more relaxing today since tomorrow i’m going to a Heart of the Artist Worship Conference at our church from 8am-5pm. Yikes, long day, but its about worship. So i’m going to love it. And then on Tuesday, i have off for Veteran’s Day. :)

My Days-Off Such Things…
Movies: Domestic Disturbance starring John Travolta, and The Client starring Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones.
Musics: Nelly Furtado (all albums on random) and Adele, “19″ album.
Book: How To Help Your Hurting Friend by Susie Shellenburger (good book, I recommend both youth and youth workers to read this one.)
Food Binge: Domino’s Cheesy Bread with a can of Pepsi
Baking: Monkey Bread and Oatmeal Lace cookies 

That’s about it. Not much to post. Time to go read everyone else’s blogs and find something else to do for the night.

keep smiling.be love

lol so… this is going to be the first chapter of anything crazy I might do. It’s not much I do something crazy honestly. I’m rather reserved and quiet. So here is one crazy thing I’ve done and this was during the National Youth Workers Convention in Pittsburgh, PA. I’m just going to steal the “About” portion from Billy’s Vimeo page and paste it below (www.vimeo.com/williamhartz)

 
NYWC: Suffering for the Ministry from William Hartz on Vimeo.

So, in the exhibit hall at NYWC there are hundreds of vendors and organizations to talk to that may help you to run or enhance your youth ministry. Often times these exhibitors give away various things as gifts or prizes. And then there are some make you work for it. This is a story of just such an instance.
SermonSpice.com is a website that provides downloadable videos to enhance messages. There’s some great stuff on there. Well, at their booth they had a challenge offered to anyone who dared. There were three kinds of hot pepper of increasing heat intensity. If you ate a pepper they would give you a SermonSpice t-shirt and coupons for free videos from their site. I accepted the challenge myself and then made it a goal to get the rest of our team to do the same. This is the experience of Janelle and Jesus with SermonSpice’s chili pepper contest.

nywc.com
sermonspice.com