Youth Ministry Weekly

Welcome to the inaugural blog!


Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to give you a quick preview on how this will work as we go.  Each Monday morning (sometime before noon) I'll be posting a blog on youth ministry going on's at Holy Family.  There will be sections looking back on the past week, looking forward to the next, as well as several others with little side notes and such to add some flavor.  If you read Peter King's "Monday Morning Quarterback" column for Sports Illustrated, you'll likely notice that I draw a lot of inspiration from him as a writer.  Last quick note, pictures and videos will be added frequently as we go through the year, however until we have registration packets turned in with parental permission to use (or not use) pictures on the internet, I won't be able to use any.  Enjoy folks! 


Looking back


I arrived in Yakima in May, and hit the ground running at Holy Family in June.  My first few days on the job were helping facilitate the parish yard sale with Rose, our greatly gifted Director of Religious Education (DRE).  What a welcome! That first week and a half was a whirlwind, in and out of the yard sale for setup, the whole event, and tear down.  At the same time I was working to get my office cleaned out and organized.  All said and done, the yard sale was a great success, with lots of customers, and we'll definitely be doing it again!


June also saw the beginning of our summer fun activities that continued through the end of August.  We watched a movie, Tie Dyed, had a game tournament with some friends from Saint Paul's, had a water relays, and all sorts of good times.  Thank you much to our Youth Council for helping to setup, plan, and organize these events!


In July we took a weekend to fund-raise and held to our yearly tradition of baking and selling tea rings.  A small group of our young people worked tirelessly all weekend to make it happen, and it was a huge lift to help get us to Summer Camp (see further down).  I do, thankfully have some pictures of this awesome event!

August brought about summer camp, a week of adventure, fun, and prayer out at Camp Koinonia in Cle Elum.  Thirty or so campers and an adult staff team went out and had an awesome week.  We were able to experience the camp out in the woods, with campfires (scaled way way down with burn ban sadly), games of capture the flag and mission impossible, and  time to enjoy the beauty of God's creation all around us.  We took two side trips while we were away.  The first was off to Franklin Falls, a beautiful hike to a great (and very, very cold) waterfall, with a natural rock water-slide near the base of the trail.  The second was out to Lake Easton (slightly less cold) to enjoy the waterfront.  We also had the blessed opportunity to experience daily mass, reconciliation, and an all night vigil of adoration with the Blessed Sacrament.  Thank you SO much to Father Cesar, Father Gary, and Father Mike for providing the Sacraments for us, it meant a lot to all of us.

Looking Forward

This week in the office is rather exciting for me!  Today, this blog is happening from home, as the office is closed for the holiday.  Tomorrow is the beginning of a new session for RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) headed up by our Adult Faith Formation Director, Ree Kearns.  Part of my plan this year is to sit in on these classes to listen and take notes.  Every few years I try to do this as a part of my ongoing formation. I find that the questions brought up by people coming into the church, whether they're coming back after an extended absence, or coming from a protestant background, or just exploring Christianity for the first time, are the sort that many of us cradle Catholics never think to ask.  Working with young people especially, it's important for me to be prepared to field many of these same questions.  

Wednesday we'll be hitting up the first formal music practice for the worship band commissioned for leading worship at youth group throughout the school year.  We've mostly all played with some members of the band at one point or another, but it will be our first time with everyone in the same room at the same time.  Very excited!  

My big project for the week is putting together outlines for youth group nights for the fall.  This perhaps is the most exciting, if most labor intensive, part of my week.  I am really looking forward to having a week to week plan all fleshed out for our first semester.  Saint Joseph, patron of workers, pray for me!

Lastly, in this section I'll work on having the next four weeks events lined out:

• 9/7/11--Music Practice with the Band
• 9/11/11--Parish Picnic
• 9/14/11--Leadership Meeting:  Go Time!
• 9/21/11--Registration Night
• 9/28/11--Kick Off BBQ

Quote of the Week:

"In all honesty I guess I should just be thankful for problems that can be completely solved by money."

Jeremy Chase via Google +

Tweet of the Week I:

"Wak up every morning to my son's soggy dirty diaper! Gotta #CRUCIFY myself, follow Christ & clean this butt #NOTMYWILL "

David Tyree--Wide Receiver for the New York Giants, champion for marriage and the pro-life movement in New York City.  How many professional athletes took the time to protest at the capitol building when New York State voted to allow marriage privileges for same sex couples?  Great example as a man, a christian, a husband, a father, and a celebrity who's not afraid to stand up for the truth.

Tweet of the Week II:

"Breath, trust, breath again....it's the ever ending prayer of the heart."

Paul George--Catholic Musician and speaker who will be keynoting the Yakima Diocesan Youth Convention in November


Tweet of the Week III:

"@americanpapist If any national-level candidate is 98% right on #prolife issues, I will be behind him all the way."

Patrick Hoelscher--In regards to Rick Santorum's interview misstep last week.  The former Senator from Pennsylvania is making a bid for the Republican Nomination to run for President next year.  Interesting to see a solidly Catholic candidate from the Republican Party.

Ten Things I Think I Think

1. I think our summer was productive, fun, and a great learning experience.
2. I think the parish picnic may be the day I look forward to this month...and of course, it being the first Sunday of NFL football has no bearing on that thought...
3. I think the worship band is really going to rock.  Ryan Miller on guitar is amazing, Kelly Gresham on vocals is brilliant.  We are really blessed to have so much talent.
4. I think it was good to have Jennifer Thompson helping out with ushering last night at the youth mass.  She is such a gift to our parish, teaching Religious Education, and happy to serve wherever she can.  
5. Along the same lines, it's awesome to see Freshman like Jessica lector at mass.  She does a great job every time, and we're blessed to have her.  
6. I should've had a mass section earlier I guess, I've not had the pleasure of meeting the young lady who sang with the band for mass the past two weeks, but I hope she's here to stay.  Big voice that blends well.  Great find for Carleen.
7. I think Father's homily last night was one of the best I've heard (or maybe it was just something that I needed to hear) lately.  Made me think of this song by Matt Maher.  
8. I think that the new release of the week goes to Tammy Evevard with her new book, "Becoming the Woman God Made You to Be".
9. I think that this is an extremely exciting month for Christian Music, with Switchfoot, Matt Maher, and Gungor all releasing new albums.
10. I think these are my non ministry thoughts this week:
1. I think that two fantasy football leagues shouldn't be much harder to manage than one, but I am concerned that there will be weeks that I'll be really confused on who to root for with different players on my team in different leagues.
2. I think I put close to a thousand miles on my car this week traveling to and from Leavenworth, and to and from Coeur d'Alene on top of my usual driving.
3. I think my Fiancee Theresa is pretty awesome, and that her moving down this week is the biggest stress relief in my life in the past year.  So blessed to have friends here she can live with as we prepare for marriage next summer. 
4. I think God is good, and way bigger than me, and that's why I can make it day to day trusting He's already forgiven me for the mistakes I don't know I'm going to make yet.  That's pretty comforting.  
5. I think this year is gonna rock!  God bless people.