The Non-Essential Adventures of D'Art

Tonight we had theMIX Kickoff. For those of you who don’t know, theMIX is the Student Ministry of Stevens Creek Church. We haven’t had Wednesday night services for the summer, so our student ministry department has had some down time…well kind of. This summer we hit up a Camp in Homer, GA, a mission trip to San Francisco, CA, a couple of pool parties, and a room redesign. So tonight we got back to the bread and butter of our ministry, the Wednesday night service, and we did it in style. We had about 70+ students show up, and our devoted core of leaders, which brought the total to somewhere around 90 people. We rocked our new setup, the lights were awesome, the sound was great, the band was amazing, and best of all, Jesus was there. We talked about Change, and the importance of playing for the right team. What a great night.

“Lift your hands and spin around”
Get down!

I just wanted everyone to know that our Student Ministry has the absolute volunteer staff around. Tonight we had a staff meeting to get on the same page for the upcoming semester. We started off by ingesting an over abundance of Mexican food, chips, and soda. After that we headed into the living room or our house to hit the meeting. Here is how it went, we talked about some of the following things:

**About the leadership structure and the way its changing
**We talked though the upcoming changes in small groups
**Finger Puppets, Ships, Stonehenge, Sombrero Man, Sponge Bob, and Spiney Monster were all made out of Twinkies
**About the fact that there should be an on-ramp as well as an off-ramp for our ministry volunteers
**Freeze dance to the tune of a $25 gift card to Red Lobster
**Some strategies to reach unchurched students
**Our goal of doubling in size this year from 100 to 200 students
**Balloon pop for a $50 Wal-Mart gift card…who could resist?

After all of the important stuff we broke out the karaoke on the PS2 and played together as teams. I think the guys won the first round and the girls wiped up on the second round. It was a great day, an incredible meeting, and an awesome way to head into our Kickoff week. I’m pumped!

We are currently in the process of remodeling our Student Center, and it is a royal PAIN!  I was not wired for the remodel process.  It is draining, and I feel like I’m wasting time when I am consumed by the process.  It’s starting to take shape, but it’s been almost 3 weeks now since we have launched into this necessary evil, and I’m ready to finish…Yesterday.  We are still lacking couches, TVs, stools, portable staging, and a pool table, so Thursday I head to Sam’s Club with a blank check in hand to try to put the finishing touches on this room, that will see students lives changed.

Will the pool table do it?  Probably not.  How about the Gaming stations, will they facilitate life change?  Probably not.  And the couches?  Probably not.  The portable staging or the lights? Probably not. OK, How about the video projectors? Probably not. Then why remodel at all?  I think that not one element in the new room will cause anyone to find Jesus, but together the atmosphere of the entire room will help accommodate that, along with the Biblical Truths that will be taught each week.  Life change will happen.  I’m just ready to get to the Biblical Truths part, then the party gets started.