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. ;)

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