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. ;)

I slept in today! But unfortunately it seems to have done more harm than good. I awoke feeling groggy and fighting a headache. Bleh.  But after blogging last night until 2am and losing the post lol I needed to catch up on sleep I thought.

Bought some stuff at the YS Store today: a black BE shirt and a book I was completely drawn to: How To Help Your Hurting Friend – Clear Guidance for Messy Problems by Susie Shellenberger.  It was previously released as Help! My Friend’s In Trouble which I vaguely remember. Somehow, the title change did a world of good.  I want to implement this into my all-girls small group, One Way Turn for this final year since all of my girls are seniors in high school and will be going off to college in September.

General Session Thr3e… Worship: Starfield – awesome again. Talent: Ron McGehee (good) and Marquis Laughlin (good). Speaker: Francis Chan – compelling! (borrowing the word from Sara). He brought up tough questions about how we portray Jesus to teens.  I absolutely loved the part of talking about the Parables and how Jesus wrote them purely to confuse people. Because the one’s who are true seekers will ask questions and chase down understanding. He talked about being salt to flavor the earth and if you are lukewarm in between, you have absolutely NO USE, NO VALUE at all. I love loved his description of when Jesus says that when you are lukewarm with no use to anyone, you are not even fit to be with a pile of manure. It’s like if you sit on a piece of crap, Jesus says get off!! You’re ruining that crap! I have use for that, it will fertilize the soil, but you… you who is half-hearted and in between, you have no use at all. That’s amazing. And that’s what I long for (again!) a new perspective on God and His Word and Jesus! What an awesome session!

Twitter lunch was cool. Myself, Sara, Billy, and Jesu went to the Westin. I got a toasted cheese sandwich from the Brown Bag Deli. Got to meet Chris (@coffeewithChris). Then we swung over to the exhibit hall where we went to the SermonSpice booth where you were challenged to eat a chili pepper in order to get money for video products from their website and a black or red shirt. There are three levels of “hotness”. I took the lightest pepper and Jesu took the hottest pepper! That stuff is freakin crazy! Billy captured it all on video of course, including Jesu running to the bathroom and the tears uncontrollably running down my face. Lol  As a reward for our extreme antics, I received a black shirt which reads on the back “I earned this shirt” and Jesu received the coveted red shirt that reads “I REALLY earned this shirt.” :P

Seminar Series 3… I didn’t go to one. Not because I was being lazy, but there wasn’t anything I would have actively used in the ministry areas I’m in, so I utilized my time by purchasing a gift for my dad for Christmas (hope he likes it lol) and stopped by the YMX booth where I finally got to see Patti (@pattigibbons). Then later on, I find out that I already met Adam McLane (@mclanea) and didn’t even know it!  Sara went back to her hotel for a siesta and I walked around Pittsburgh. Took some pictures and stopped by Starbucks. Twas fun. Proceeded to spend more time in the exhibit hall where I hung out at various twitter friend booths and talking to random people I met earlier or brand new. Definitely not me… this exhibit hall brings some kind of startling confidence out of me. Lol such things.

I won something! VChurches was doing their big giveaway and they called my name from the computer list and I became a contender for the possible $1,000 drawing. So myself and this other girl had to draw a playing card. VChurches rep chose one and said whosever card was closest to his would win. He drew an Ace of Hearts.  I held a 4 of clubs and she held… a 3 of diamonds.  Ahhh! So I lost the chance at the cash drawing but I went away with the consolation prize which is just as amazing to me lol a $50 gift card to Starbucks! And you guys know how much I love Starbucks and their hot chocolate. Now this will give me more of a reason to trying Chris’ wife’s favorite: The Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate. (:

Dinner was pizza back at the hotel. And Pepsi. Oh, beloved cold sparkling carbonated amazing Pepsi. <3

There was a nice blog talk with Jenn and Sami in the hotel room before heading off to the general session.

General Session Fo’… yay for beforehand, I “officially” met Adam and also Matthew McNutt (@matthewmcnutt). Billy told me about how liveblogging works and its awesome and looks like so much fun. (: So as far as I know now, I have officially met 10 Twitter tweeps in this weekend alone. I heart Twitterrrrrrr. Lol  okay okay, back to the General Session. Worship: Matt Maher (good), Talent: Taylor Mason (hilarious as usual). Artist: Mercy Me (great). Speaker: Phyllis Tickle. She’s a smart cookie, and I learned that what we do as a church now will mold and create what the church will be 500 years from now. Scary stuff. Other than that, mucho history is not my cup of tea. But that’s okay, not everyone loves everything. I enjoyed my time on the YS Store couch conversating with my sister, Carly, through text. (:

Late Night Option…  As always for the past years of being at the National Youth Workers Convention, we participate in the Comedy Hour. This year was the usual Taylor Mason accompanied by Dave & Brian, Ron McGehee, and Joby Saad. Funny stuff from Taylor Mason, very glad that he has a brand new character followed by new material!  I didn’t see any of the comedians before him because I was backstage with Billy and soon later, Jenn, getting a backstage green room tour compliments of Adam McLane. He’s a great guy with a passion for youth ministry. I hope we’ll get to work with him more often through networking and such.

So that’s day three! We’ve got two more to go.

Loving the extra hour of sleep tonight. Hope you enjoy it too.

keep smiling.be love