Coming soon to my blog near you...

I will certainly be catching all of you up to speed on the latest happenin's in Central Texas.

We had our 7th Annual Fundraising Banquet this past Monday and it was SO Successful! We had soooooo many compliments. Tons of people told us that it was the best banquet that they had ever seen before. And most of those folks had been to the past 6 years worth of banquets. We were very pleased. I don't know the total dollars raised, but I think it is lingering around $40,000. I am pumped about that number! I think there was a little more pledged last year, but last years banquet was a wee bit bigger and the economy was doing much better back then.

I wish you could have seen all of the kids! DANG, there were a lot of kids there that night! You tell a teenager that they will get free pizza and a free shirt and half the school shows up! Come on out, folks...

It is nice to take a breather for a day or two. I plan to be more consistent with this now that the banquet is over. This is a huge time consumer. It is SO worth it!

What I want to blog about next time is how I feel about Halloween. What's the story with Halloween? Are costumes evil? What about Chocolate, does it come from the devil? Should Christians trick or treat? Am I going to hell because I like Twix? I feel like you are either one extreme or the other. I love Halloween or we don't celebrate it at all. Well, there may be a middle ground. Is there such a thing?

More to follow. I have got to head up to the high school ... You know why?

BECAUSE HIGH SCHOOLERS ARE WORTH IT!

More pics from Club...

Pictures are worth a thousand words...

Enjoy your weekend!

Emery & JT


Ethan, Gonyea & Connor


Ryan, Mallory, Demetrius & Sierra


Sarah & Cherilynn


Thanks for praying for hearts and souls in Central Texas.

Because High Schoolers are Worth It...

Happy Birthday YOUNG LIFE...

Dear Friends,

This is a very special day in Young Life’s history. It’s our birthday! We are 67 years old. So run down to your local grocery store, buy a cake, ice cream and some candles, and invite some friends over to celebrate.

Sixty-seven years ago, our founder, Jim Rayburn, and a small board formed a non-profit corporation in Texas called Young Life. And now, all these years later, we get to be part of this incredible outreach to kids.

I was thinking about what it means for us to be this old. Some of my thoughts:
Seniors in Jim’s first club are now 85 and 86 years old. In fact, many of the kids, staff and volunteers involved in the early years have already gone to meet Jesus face to face.
Literally hundreds of thousands (even millions) of kids have met Christ through the vehicle of Young Life.

These young believers grew up and made a difference wherever they have lived, whatever they have done, however they have served.

God has been faithful to us in all kinds of situations so the current economic climate shouldn’t phase us in the least. In those 67 years, we have been through World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam Conflict, the Gulf War, 9/11, the War on Terrorism, inflation, recession, economic booms and busts, Woodstock, the ’60s and ’70s with the change in the sex and drug culture, the Jesus Movement, the Internet, blogs and a dozen U.S. presidents to name a few.

So let’s celebrate our birthday and give God thanks. And let us remember that the Lord is on His throne and we will serve Him with a joyful heart, a buoyant spirit, a disciplined body, and a sound mind dedicated to the mission that Jim and the board began 67 years ago: to introduce kids to Jesus Christ and help them grow in their faith.

Happy Birthday.

In Christ,
Denny (this is our YL President!)

Campaigners on Wednesday...

Well, we are having about half of our club peeps coming to Campaigners on Wednesdays. It is REALLY encouraging, but getting too big. Not too big in a sense that kids are sharing or being intimate, too big in the sense that we are running out of room in our home!

We watched the NOOMA video LUMP last night. We spoke about how our 'junk' always catches up with us. No matter what. We are always found out. We will always get exposed! I love how 'REAL' Campaigners is. Kids were so moved by the video. I talked to a kid today at lunch about last night. It was his first time to come to Campaigners. He was sitting 1 guy down from me. 10 people at this one table. I said, 'Hey bro, what did you think about last night?' He responds, 'I loved it! I was challenged to confess my sins and stop running from my past.' ARE YOU KIDDING ME? What Sophomore says THAT? I sat there in awe of the words that just dripped from his mouth! Thank You Jesus for that Sweet Treat!

Please pray for the next 12 days. We have our 7th Annual Fundraising Banquet coming up on Monday, October 27. Please lean into our Savior with me and pray that God would moves hearts during this time.

Bless you...

Enjoy these two pics of our Campaigners group from last night

Club on Monday...

Club is still rockin' on Mondays! It is fun to see kids take Ownership of Club and make it their own. Monday was the best and loudest kids have sang this semester!

Speedy and Zippo made another appearance as they 'Walked It Out!' Zippo led a game that involved 3 guys, 3 candles, matches and 3 cups of water. The object of the game was to drink your cup of water! Sounds simple. The kids had to light their own candle and drink the cup of water before someone else blew their candle out! It was great. I had never heard nor seen the game and it turned out wonderful.

Speedy & Zippo --- 'The Speed Walking Sensation that's Sweeping the Nation!'

JT laughs at the thought of this game while Alex & Jerry ponder their plans of Success...

Alex & JT blow out Jerry's candle!

I got to speak again this week. I LOVE speaking to these high schoolers! I wish you could be there one week. It is amazing how quiet and engaged the kids get. You can physically see them 'leaning in' toward hear the Talk. I spoke about something that I have never spoke on in front of YL kids in my 9 years on staff. Last week I spoke about the Heart of God and how / why Jesus turned the Water into Wine. This week, I also spoke about the Heart of God and how / why Jesus cleared the temple. This passage follows last weeks in John 2.

It was almost time for Passover and Jesus makes his way to Jerusalem for this Feast. While he is there, he runs across some Priests who have booths in the temple selling animals for sacrifice and / or who are exchanging money. They are ripping the Pilgrims off and making a profit ... all in the name of Religion! And not only are they ripping off the Pilgrims, but they have turned God's House of Prayer / Worship into a Market Place! They are desecrating the Temple. Do you remember that saying from the early nineties, 'Homey Don't Play That!'? Well, Jesus Don't Play That! He pours out the wrath of God on these folks. He over turns their tables. He runs the animals out of the Temple.

Basically, I think Jesus was so upset because the Religious People had missed the boat once again. The Passover Feast was a time of Celebration, Prayer, Reflection and Rememberance of what God has done and how he rescued the Israelites out of Slavery in Egypt. They missed the boat. They took their eye off the ball. They were Commercializing this HOLYday and turning it into a Holiday. Does this happen today? You Betcha! And I think God's heart STILL breaks when we miss the boat today. When we take our eyes off the ball. If during Thanksgiving, you focus on the turkey, yams, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce and the Cowboys, rather then on Thanking Jesus for everything, then you have missed the boat. If you focus on the presents, flash and flare of Christmas, rather than on the birth of our Savior, then you have missed the boat. If you worry more about decorating your home for Easter, getting Easter baskets ready for the Grandkids than on our Resurrected Christ, then you have taken your eye off the ball. And I will go out on a limb and say that Jesus responds the same way today as he did then. It breaks his heart!

May today be the day you get back in the boat.

May today be the day you put your eyes back on the ball.

The Main Thing is to keep The Main Thing the Main Thing...

Still Movin'...

YL Club was ROCKIN' on Monday evening... There were just as many kids this week as last week. Kids were EXCITED to be there! Golly Gee. I LOVE Energy! Energy in a room of 45 kids can make it seem like there are 150 folks there. And that is how Monday felt to me.

We sang some great songs: California (the OC theme song), Free Falling, Say by John Mayer, World's Greatest, What if what they say is true and I still haven't found what I'm looking for (and two more that I can't remember).

Our game / skit was Hilarious! I gave the game / skit idea to Chris and Dustin and they came up with it all. Their characters were Gus (mama says Guuuuuuuuuuuus) and Rickey (mama says RICKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!). 'No Shoes. No Shirt. No Problem.' They had 3 clear bins full of grapes. Girls had to squish the grapes with their feet and guys had to drink up the juice with straws.

Gus and Rickey


Leslie, Katrina and Coco stompin' away


Ryan takes a 'breather' from the juice


Heather, Sarah, Lorelei and JT


Girls singing their hearts OUT!


When the guys picked the game idea, they had no idea that I was going to be talking about Jesus turning water into wine from John 2. How cool is that? I think it's really COOL! I spoke about Jesus being invited to a wedding along with 5 of his friends. People wanted them around. They were likable people. The water runs out and Mary, Jesus' mother, says, 'DO SOMETHING!' Jesus knows that if he meets this need, Life will never be the same again. Ever. He hesitates. And then performs a Miracle. His first Miracle! Jesus took something Ordinary like Water and turned it into something EXTRAORDINARY like Wine! Don't miss the point here... This isn't just about Water and Wine. This is about YOU & ME! We are the Water. We are Ordinary. Jesus' offer to us is to turn our lives into Wine and make us EXTRAordinary!!! You should have seen JT's face during my talk. See above picture of JT. I took him lunch today at school. We ate on the bed of my truck in the parking lot. He said that he LOVED Young Life and that he WILL be back every Monday! So Incredible... God is opening up crazy doors. My goal this semester is to SMASH kids' Misconceptions about who they think God and Jesus are. I showed this video that is chalked full of Misconceptions of who Jesus is. Bare with me...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8432855181040611040&ei=CgPtSMr9GJmSrAKgyv2IAQ&q=vintage+21&vt=lf&hl=en

Sadly enough, that's how the World views Jesus Christ. This saddens me soul...

Pray for Campaigners this evening. We have had 17 kids each Wednesday the past two weeks. It's a little much. We need a bigger living room! It's hard to keep order. We are talking about Jesus appointing the 12 Apostles tonight.

Thanks for your support. We believe that Life is ALL about Relationships and that High Schoolers are WORTH IT!

I've been replaced by a MIRROR!

Here are some pics of our house in it's new Fall Decor...

Taylor and her mom did such an AWESOME job. And I am not even bitter that I (my incredible picture of myself at the Grand Canyon!) have been replaced by a dang MIRROR!!! Marriage is about dying to oneself every single day. Amen...