My Experience as Youth Pastor

Well, I don't know for sure that it is dead. It will take 3 weeks for service to make that call. Personally I think they should have just junked it and given me a new one. For the cost of the parts I know it needs I could buy a computer and I wouldn't have to wait 3 weeks plus make an extra trip to Best Buy.

Normally I wouldn't mind making the extra trip to Best Buy. I am a geek and they have named their service support Geek Squad. They even had this card there at the Geek Squad desk that said something about having the support of 11,000 geeks. It seemed funny until I found out I had to wait 3 weeks for them to either fix my laptop or junk it. Very frustrating.

Oh and why don't I want to make the extra trip? Well, Best Buy is about 50 miles away now. This means I drove 100 miles round trip today to return without my laptop. They couldn't let me just say the laptop needed to be sent into service I had to bring it to them for them to make that decision. The second I explain the problem in the store the girl started getting it ready to ship out and told me it would take 3 weeks turn around. Now I have to drive back in 3 weeks to either get my laptop or get a replacement. Honestly I'm hoping for a replacement. It has been just over a year but a replacement will have more everything by far right now. I looked at what they had and trust me the replacement is what I really want. A replacement would be worth the 200 miles of driving and possibly even the 3 week wait, but just barely.

This also meens my software I post to my blog with is unavailable so I'm using the built in interface and a very old flickering monitor so please excuse the typos.

I'm likely to give away my secret identity if I keep going, but I started a new blog until I can get the church website squared away to feature some of our sermons. The two sermons posted are a series that was done by a guest speaker and are about death, grief, and comforting the grieving.

Check it out

So I was browsing for some old HS friend a bit ago and it occurred to me that I am very much a product of my environment. Specifically I love Oklahoma football. I can't help it I just do and it is nice that they have been doing so awesome since Stoops took over.

What does that have to do with environment and my High School you ask? Well as I was browsing I noticed that the pictures of everyone seemed to include some kind of OU something or other. I am become one of the horde. I don't know if I'm totally comfortable with that, but the other option is to reject OU just because other people like them. Once again I don't think I'm comfortable with that.

I guess what it boils down to is that I move forward with what I like regardless of if everyone is doing it. I don't have to be different. Quite frankly people that try so hard to be unique end up being just like everyone else.

I don't know who really sets the trends, but I know that Indy is hot right now, and I also know that the Indy crowd is kind of ticked that it is mainstream because they moved to Indy when their last hip whatever went mainstream. That is who they think they are. The problem is that they really are just like everyone else around them. They might stick out in a group that is different but the place they feel most comfortable is going to be around people just like them.

that said I know that if I'm in a group of people exactly like me I'm not sure I'd be totally comfortable. I love who I am. I love that I can talk geek and jock and all the other stuff in between. It makes me feel comfortable around everyone, but if I was around a group exactly like me ... well I think the conversations would range in too many topics and we'd all be trying to focus on everything at once and reach critical mass and that would be total detestation for whatever city we happened to be in like when Peter lost control of his powers and nearly nuked NYC.

I love who I am but for the sake of the world people like me should just stay away.

PS. I did not write about football yesterday because my computer at home is not feeling too well. So today I am covering my monthly topic and revisiting Young Adults which didn't happen last night because of the weather.

Who you ask? Exactly.

Doctor Who that is. I have warned you all that I am a geek. This hasn't been hidden since it is right there in my name. If you are shocked then I guess you need to start considering you own discernment as being at fault. That said, many people don't know who the Dr. is. I have name dropped him a couple times lately and Adelaide has asked me some questions, which I answer below. Let me introduce a few of you to the Tardis and time travel. You may not know if but you can travel through time using many unusual objects not just a Delorian going 88 MPH, which is another post altogether.

The Doctor is a character in a series called
Dr. Who. Very few people know his real name and it is never revealed in the series. He is simply known as "The Doctor." Of course many say "Doctor who" which of course is the reason for the series name. This series originally aired back in 1963. This was a bit before my time so I had to find out about it years after it was cancelled. Then, to my surprise, it was brought back in 2005. Of course some of the original series fan probably didn't like this new version, but these are my Doctors. Yes I did intend the plural. That is actually a part of the show, the Doctor has been played by 10 different actors now. It is part of the character. Every so often he has to regenerate and so becomes a whole new person. Certainly daring to change up the title character like that, but it really works for the series. Each actor plays the Dr. differently. That is whole point. It isn't just a different body it is a different personality.

The Doctor also travels with human companions. They are really the driving factor in the stories. They help tell the story because the things we don't' understand they don't understand. It is a great device form a story telling POV, especially in the sci-fi genre. The nice thing about Doctor Who is that it has a device built in to explain everything to the people who watch the show. If you aren't a geek like me then you will likely still enjoy this show. There are two places you might start, the first season of the 2005 re-release or the second season of the same. There first is probably the best place because everything gets explained to the companion, Rose Tyler. Of course, you will be expected to suspend your disbelief. They don't explain the how of everything or even the why in some cases. You are just told this is what is happening so you know what is going on. For example, the Doctor's screwdriver is never really explained except to say that it can do almost anything. It is a sonic screwdriver after all nto just some silly old Philips.

So to the questions I was asked.

Favourite Doctor ever?

I really liked Eccleston and couldn't imagine Tennant as the Dr when I first heard he was taking over after the first new season. Then about halfway through his first season I decided his super fun take on the Dr. really made him the most fun of all the Dr.'s and I'm now wishing he could be around longer. Especially since I hear the reason they are replacing him is because they need someone to handle the darker stuff that is coming. I really think he could handle dark quite well, he has in a few episodes.

Favourite assistant ever?

Rose. She just seemed to have the right chemistry, and I really loved the way the whole romance thing kept playing back and forth ... not that it would ever go anywhere. Also, they really did a great job of telling the story of learning about the Dr.'s world through her for the new series. I thought it was brilliant the way the handled her. Absolute least favorite glad she will never be the assistant again is Donna. Oh she grated on me so much. I didn't care for her in that Christmas special and why on Earth did they have to bring her back?

Favourite episode ever?

Favourite David Tennant episode?

Honestly, the answer to both is the same. "The Doctor's Daughter." Admittedly these have the horrid Donna, but Tennant and Jenny were brilliant together. I loved watching her grow into what she was suppose to be and the end when she take off in the shuttle ... just wow. I really hope they bring her back to travel with the Dr. for a little while. It would never work for more than a couple episodes at a time, but it would be great. Running close for favorite in general episode is "Bad Wolf" and "Parting Ways" which was a great two parter. I loved when Rose saves the day like that. Just great, and that future is hilarious and disturbing all at once.

Anyone else watch the Doctor and want to chime in their responses? Do you think the first run or second is better?

I've always wanted to. I think it would be the coolest thing. I love a lot of different heroes, but my two favorites are Spider Man and Wolverine. The thing is, that Wolverine, as cool as he is, is not really as cool without his extra strong skeleton. He can recover from almost anything very quickly, but that really isn't that impressive by itself. I've been watching Heroes seasons 1&2 since we got them for Christmas. There are two characters with this same kind of healing ability. They are very important characters, but in reality they aren't all that strong, There are many other characters that are much stronger.

Of course, I have to wonder why they breakup most of the character powers. The super healing abilities aren't really the weakest. There are two guys that fly. Those are some pretty lame abilities by themselves. In the comics heroes often have more than one power. The most powerful have many abilities, like Super Man who has super speed, super hearing, super sign, heat vision, flight, super strength … You get the point right? He's just super.

I always wondered how the comic book creators came up with their characters. Do they decide on powers, then the story for the powers, or are they sitting down when a spider walks across the ceiling and think, "he what about a man that got bit by a radioactive spider … what kind of powers would he have?" I think it would be great to come up with comic book characters. There are a lot of lame ideas out there, but I guess you need some lame ideas. The problem is that they like to run with things that work. Batman works, Spiderman work so this means that we should try and put every animal and insect in front of the word "man" and see what floats. Now we have great ideas like Ant Man and the Human Wasp (just a variant). Seriously there are so many twists on this theme out there it isn't funny.

I think if I were a character designer I'd start by trying to come up with some interesting powers, then build a deep character around that. There has to be some ideas that haven't been done yet. Let's try, how about a power inverter? This character absorbs and converts other powers into a different kind of power. It would be more or less passive to start with, but the character could learn to store up power for use later. The trick is that each power converts to a given other kind of power. For example, a physical blow is a kinetic power. This would convert into … let's say a mental power of mind reading. So if you hit this character they could read minds. The harder the hit the more powerful the mind reading. Wouldn't it be hilarious to watch this guy get hit over and over trying to read someone's mind? "Don't stop hitting I think I'm almost there, he is thinking … oh hit me harder!" It would be like a reverse interrogation torture. Of course other powers would result in other abilities, like if someone tried reading his mind then he could fly. Each power would have a specific ability that it is converted into.

The back story would be harder. I'm thinking a genetic anomaly, but how does the person figure out their powers. That is the fun part. School yard fights, but he start hearing what the other kid is thinking after getting punched? He accidentally gets electrocuted and is suddenly has x-ray vision. Lots of crazy things before it is all figured out. Then the real learning starts. It would take a while before he figured out how to train his body to retain excess power like a battery. Eventually a suit could be constructed to apply some of the forces to help generate the powers, like magnetism that is changes into healing abilities, so electromagnets in the suit activate to make him heal and other forces might trigger impervious skin. The possibilities are really endless. The hardest part will be keeping track of what each force is converted into.

Any ideas on the Inverter?

If you have been following along then you know that this year I will be attempting to have more order in my life and this blog. You also know that Fridays will be all about switching things up and that this month is about football. Thus I am interested in what the other side of the street thinks about Football. Rather, I should say the other side of the pond. I personally love football. Specifically I'm a fan of High School and NCAA football. My favorite all time team is the Oklahoma University Sooners. Somehow we got another strange upside down and confusing season full of upsets that led to OU getting a shot at the NCAA Championship again. Of course this is all straight forward, so where is the switch?

Well, over in the rest of the world football is what we call soccer here in America. It actually makes more sense. I never did get why we call a sport that typically focuses on holding and throwing the ball "football." Soccer, henceforth called football, is a huge success in most of the world. Their football superstars rival the stars of any sport here in America. Despite all of that I've never really thought about the game much. I played one season of soccer, fullback if I remember correctly. I think I would have had more fun as a center or forward. I don't think I would really want to be a goalie though. Way too much responsibility there, even if it is the only position that is allows to use hands.

I think the main reason that I prefer American football is the same reason I don't really get into hockey. A great hockey game is usually won 1-0 or 2-1 or whatever other very low score, and the same is true for football. American football, on the other hand, is scored differently. Of course the lowest possible score is 2 points. It is impossible to score only a single point until you get a touchdown. Each touchdown is worth 6 points. This means that the scores get much bigger faster and that makes it seem more exciting to me, even if the final score is 12-7, which probably is only a total of 3 scoring drives and a single extra point.

There is also the hitting factor. In football it is usually frowned upon to have more physical contact than needed. This isn't to say there aren't hard hits and "tackles." Anything excessive, though, can earn you a black card. In American football, however, the harder the hit the better the game. I still remember one of the hardest hits I've ever seen. Super Bowl XXXII in 1998 John Elway got hit hard 2xs at 37 then jumped up and went back for more. Here is a link to an article on the hit, http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/espn25/story?page=moments/68. I'm not saying it is the hardest hit, just the hardest I've seen.

Here in the states football is starting to become popular. I'm not sure it will ever surpass American football in the South, but it is definitely growing in popularity. Especially women's football, which is significantly more popular than women's American football. I knew in theory that there had to be a women's American football league, I had just never seen any games. Actually I still haven't seen any games but in looking into it I have found it does exist. Maybe next week that will be my flip, but with a twist based on a conversation that I had with one of my teens earlier this week.

Let me know what your thoughts are on the football/American football debate. What side of the fence are you on? I know several people view this site from outside the US so please convince me why football is better.

So last night into this morning we had a party. I learned a lot of good things from the experience. I also used some of the things I learned from others and found them to be a success. The Source, linked under blogs and websites I like, is an excellent place to find all kinds of things for Youth ministry. I used some of their tips and I'm glad for it. So let's see what I learned.

1. If the place you are using will be used prior to your event spend more time getting details and working out exactly what is going to happen. The adults were using the fellowship hall until 10, and our party started at 10. We had reserved it first, but they ran late because of prayer, which really made things rough getting started. Now I'm all for prayer, but at that point it would have been nice for them to move to the prayer room or sanctuary. This is a detail I should have worked out before hand, but now I know.
   
2. Plan more than one thing. This is something I learned from The Source, and I'm glad I listened. We had a movie night planned, but I also had several card games and a place to just chill. Most everyone spent time in various places, so it worked out nicely and I think added to the overall fun. I think if I just had the movie people would have bored quickly, even though it was a super awesome movie.
   
3. For New Year's Eve you need a timer set a few minutes before the countdown. I accidentally got caught up in a card game and almost missed it. We all did. I didn't have time to get things switched over from the movie, which had just ended, get the party favors and such handed out, and do the "Happy New Year!" thing. Next time I need a bit more organization just before the big moment.
   
4. You can bring everyone together, but it takes a lot of work. Don't worry if things break up into the normal clicks, that is why you need more than one thing going on so each group will have fun.
   
5. Finally, girls are still weird and I still need to get more guys in my Youth group. Seriously it seems like each week we get more girls coming. When I started we had a small majority of girls, now we are about 2 to 1, but last night it was 3 to 1. The guys aren't leaving, but very few new guys come to the group. Honestly, if the guys figured out that the odds were stacked so well in their favor here then the Youth would double next week.
   

Anyways, I had a great time, I think everyone else did. We ran an hour longer than planned but that was fun too. I learned a few more things, like I do with every new experience. I hope those add up to making the next event run better. Let me know what other bits of wisdom you might have from similar experiences. I'm always looking for ways to save myself from making a mistake.