Theres Too Much Goat Cheese In My Milkshake!
Current mood: giddy

Tonight we had a great youth meeting. We had some fun, but we also had a time of prayer and a time of encouragement to learn how to be effective with our faith. We also did some Bible trivia to see how well the kids knew their stuff… Some did well. Some, not so much – but that’s OK, because it gives us a jumping off point. And because we did it “Fear Factor” style, we also made some memories and got some great photos!

Uuum… You better check it out!

By the way, don’t forget that next week we will be having a youth outing, since our room at the YMCA is not available. We will be going to Hillwood Strick & Spare. They have bowling, roller skating, laser tag, bumper cars, video games, food, etc! You will need to bring a few dollars though, or it will be pretty boring! We will meet at the YMCA in Bellevue at our regular time of 7PM and be back by around 9PM.

OK, OK, here’s some photos…

I will post some photos as soon as I get the chance… We had a great time last week. We did a scavenger hunt on the grounds of the Bellevue YMCA. It was a lot of fun! We also had two first timers join us – I certainly hope to see them again!

As for next week…

I am trying to work out the details, but the YMCA is having the second of three “Parent’s Night Out” events for this summer, which means that the room we use will be unavailable. I am working to come up with an alternate and likely off-site solution, so stay tuned!

Yes – It was the “Parking Lot of Doom”! The temperature was in the 90′s and there we were on blacktop with a few thousand people, but there was a good time to be had and we had plenty of ice cold water in the cooler!

When we first got there, bands were playing and the “Metal Mulisha” motorcycle freestyle team was doing their insane routine – including complete flips 100 feet in the air on motorcycles! It was psycho! And do you know how hard it is to take a photo of these guys flying through the air?!

Then we hit the many booths for product samples (Mmmm… Rockstar!) contests and giveaways! We each wound up with a bag full of stuff to prove we had made the rounds…

In addition to local talent, couretousy of Nashville’s own 6th Aveune Skate Park, the pros from the Audio Skate team were also on hand to wow the crowd with some amazing stunts. I know I can hardly stand on a skateboard, let alone do a 540 atop giant ramp with screaming people all around.. If I were to try that, the only screaming would come from me… after they scraped me up off the ground!

Collectively, we made (ok, polietly pushed…) our way to the very front of the crowd during a performance by Moses Mayfield so we would have a great spot for P.O.D.

The Metal Mulisha hit the ramps again, while we calmly baked in the hot sun…

And then, a sight I hadn’t expected to ever see again, since P.O.D. origional guitarist Marcos had left the band after the success of their CD entitled, Satellite. But, low and behold, there he was on the stage again – I shouted, “Welcome back Marocs!” and he gave me metal! Then the band ripped into their set.

During the song, “Youth of a Nation”, Sonny called up the winners of the Converse Battle of the Bands, Love Fire, who happened to have been a bunch of talented little kids – they and their friends took the stage with P.O.D. during the song – I got goose bumps!

We noticed that the crowd was a little docile at first… And we just couldn’t have that. My daughter Raina said, “Dad, why isn’t anyone moshing?” to which I gave her a playful little shove and said, “I dunno…”. That was all it took. Next thing you know a little pit opened up right there around us and man did we have fun! Lauren remarked afterward that she had gotten close enough to Sonny at the end of the show that she was able to touch him! A few of the kids had never been to a concert before… let alone a rap-core band’s show, so I was kind of curious how they liked it. I got big screams and big smiles! They thought it was awesome! I pulled everybody together for a quick photo in front of the stage before we left.

Then it was off to the car, where I doused everybody with ice water… And they thanked me for it!

We got back to The UC with enough time to knock out a good portion of the setup for KidZone tomorrow and so I figured I would let them play some air hocky and go through their bags of free stuff!

Raina was so proud that she was able to use my camera phone to catch a shot of the puck in action…

Of course, the person who dominated at air hockey again was me…

The only thing was that SOMEONE had gotten a free laynard at the event and it wound up getting stuck in their goal of the air hocket table and then detached while inside – dropping the attached (and thankfully empty) key ring in the goal, blocking the puck and ending the game…

Now, some of you may be reading this and saying, “Well, I don’t see anything particularaly spiritual about any of this…” and the reality is that no, there wasn’t a scripture reading or public prayer or anything like that (although I did cover the whole event personally with prayer, up to and throughout the day!). But, we did talk in the car about “being in the world, but not of it”. That we need to make sure we don’t lock ourselves behind some church doors some place and never come out! And the other thing that was huge for me, was seeing the bond that was formed. These kids talked, and laughed and made memories together! On the way out of the event, they were all talking to and caring about each other. THAT is what I have been trying to accomplish over the past couple of weeks with these kids – start some relationships! Now we are well on the way to openness when we do launch out teaching sessions in the fall.

Please pray for this group that we will continue to GROW and DIVERSIFY.

Don’t forget you can check out all my blogs:

Ray’s Personal MySpace
KidZone
UpRising Youth

OK, enough of my whining and on to Saturday’s report!

We had a good group of teens come out again this past Saturday night – In fact we had two dudes join us for the first time, Michael & Austin! It was great to have them with us and we certianly hope they will come back!

There was a brief meditation about serving, but the reality is, our youth get it – THANK GOD! Even before UpRising Youth, most of these kids were here week after week, helping to setup on Saturday nights AND many of them help out in KidZone as well! I think many of the adults could learn about serving by trying to keep up with the UpRising Youth – They may look a little differnt, talk a little different, have different hair or whatever else some may pick on, but when push comes to shove these kids have what it takes to make waves for The Kingdom and I’m proud of ‘em!

Of course, after our meditation and ice-breaker, we had some fun. Ping-Pong was a hit, as was shooting pool, but again, the big story was over on the air-hockey table. And for those who were aware of last week’s triumph for this humble leader… I was humbled this week. I only played two games and lost both – I guess pride comes before the fall! 

The other big news is that this coming week, we are taking the youth to a parking lot – Woo Hoo!

Why would we take them to a parking lot? Well, that’s where they hold the Journey’s Backyard BBQ of course! Although this is not a “Christian” event, it should be a lot of fun and it’s totally FREE! It features the Audio Skate Team, the high-flying motorcycle stunts of the Metal Mulisha and is being headlined by P.O.D. (and yes, they happen to be a “Christian Band”).

We are meeting at the Bellevue YMCA at 2PM and will leave a few minutes after to get to the event. Again, it’s free and it’s in the parking lot at the Cool Springs Galleria – So… Bring some $$$ ’cause free tells me that burgers are $10! In fact, bring a small cooler with some food and water – it’s a parking lot, right? We can go back to the car for some refreshment! Also, bring some sunscreen and appropriate clothing (hat, shades, more sunscreen, etc…)!

Lemmie know if you are comin’ OK? My email is ray@uprisingchurch.org

Later-
Ray

Don’t forget you can check out all my blogs:

Ray’s Personal MySpace
KidZone
UpRising Youth

We had our first UpRising Youth meeting on Saturday, June 2nd. We had 6 teens and man did we have a blast! This group is really just for fun and getting to know each other – develop relationships and stuff. We will be starting something mid-week that is more focused on teaching and discipleship once school is back in session.

I led a brief meditation that taught about how hard it is to start “cold” and that we need to warm things up to get them moving. We also had a couple of ice-breaker activities (we learned that our members have been attacked by snakes, bears & dogs, but not sharks!) including a contest to see who could put on an iced t-short first. Our contestants where Dianna and Heather. Then it was game on!

We had a pool table, ping-pong, foosball & of course, there was air hockey! I still can’t believe the way this unfolded, but I played the winner of a game of air hockey at like 07:45PM and went undefeated (20+ games) through the end of the night! Although there is a price to be paid for air-hockey supremacy… I got a blister on the pinky of my right hand and man did it hurt!

Yeah… I’m a big kid! But I think that qualifies me to work with awesome teens, like the ones at The UC!

Well, we would love to have you come and join us. If you are between the ages of 13 & 17, come on out Saturday night between 7 & 9PM. If you need directions, click HERE. Oh and if you need to email me for anything, it’s ray@uprisingchurch.org

Later-
Ray