Report 10

Last night (Saturday) I attended a party specifically for Bodyshop volunteers. It only lasted an hour but it was encouraging to go to. I simply attended and relaxed, eating and hanging out with the other volunteer coolege students.

It was great because some of the students we minister too showed up and hung out a bit. Some even gave us gifts, almost like a pastor appreciation party. It was really relaxing off the side of ministry to be blessed in such a way. In the long run, it was a very uplifting event that was reasuring to me as a leader.

Spiritually I ahve been good, but I have been a little weak in my prayers lately. I've been pretty busy studying for finals so my prayer times have been cut a little shorter in order to focus on all the work for my final week of college ever. This party was a true, relaxing, encouraging study break. It uplifted my spirits all the more in the midst of a crazy week of studying.

Report 9

Bodyshop tonight went well. This week I showed up around 5:45pm. I mainly supervised this week as one volunteer gave the message. I mainly sat with the kids and hung out this week because it was my last week ever while being a student. I worshiped along side kids and helped lead the small group. The worship service with music and a message lasted about 40 to 50 minutes, then I headed into the gym with the middle school boys for discipleship group.I actually didn't have to say anything this week because the other leaders did such a great job that everything was clear and understandable. Communication was very good; the kids were very involved this week. Discipleship groups lasted roughly 30 to 40 minutes. For the rest of the night I hung out with the kids and said my final goodbyes. The building was emptied at 8 as always but I was able to talk and hangout with some kids a little past then. It was great.

The ministry was great. It was a little weird with the message for me though. The volunteer who gave the message used the movie Yes Man with Jim Carey for a video clip illustration and wrapped the message around it. She had even asked if anyone saw it, allowing leaders and students both the raise their hand publicly to it. It is a very bad movie and by the raising of hands and the use of it in the message it gave the students full permission to watch it. Other than that detail, the communication in discipleship groups was wonderful! The kids really seemed to understand and learn from one another. The love afterwards with all the kids saying goodbye was a good time also. That allowed me to see how much a was cared for and loved through the kids and the ministry.

Spiritually I felt very strong all throughout my week. I was very encouraged in my spirits from Bodyshop that night also. The kids showing their love and appreciation truly showed me that, although I don't feel like I did much, that God used me in bigger ways than what I realized. Through that my spirits were lifted and I was encouraged all the more to work with teenagers. This was also the last week before finals start so I made sure I spent much time alone with the Lord in order to keep my hearts focus right.

Report 8

This week Body Shop was amazing! It was my final time speaking before I graduate and leave the ministry. I prepared for my message throughout the weeks a total of about 2 to 3 hours; going over it and perfecting it. I spent porbably an hour gathering and planning out the skateboard demo we did; gathering the skaters and running them through the event. The night of Body Shop I showed up around 4:45pm to get ready and pray over the building. From about 5:15pm to 5:50pm I prepared the gym and the skaters as they showed up for the demo. We skated and warmed up until we started the open skate for everyone until 6:15pm. I ran an open skate for roughly a half hour and then through a demo with some of my friends that came to skate it with me. The demo went until about 7pm. At 7pm the kids played games as I went to the office to prepare myself for the message. I gave the message from about 7:20pm to 7:45pm. After the message we had another open skate until we closed down the building at 8pm.

This week was a blast but I was so overwhlemed with people that I couldn't get away to prepare my heart in order to give the message. I feel like we had a high lack in communication because everything acted as if I was the only one in charge. I had kids coming up to me, leaders coming up to me, and even the pastors coming up to me. I was even taken out of the office for something when I, FINALLY, got to the office to look over my message one last time. I was so overwhelmed people and no help that it kind of mixed up what I wanted to communicate that night in the message. The message still came out powerful and effective! I was very pleased with how it came out and I feel like many kids walked away encouraged to share their faith. The night was full of fun, laughter, and powerful love. It was very family felt because everyone suprised me with a cake and a signed skateboard. That was amazing for me to recieve!!! This week I was taught a lot about being the one in charge of an entire night, althought that wasn't the plan, it came out to be that way.

This week I felt spiritually strong. I have been learning a lot out of Romans every morning before I leave me room; thats been super encouraging. Lately, I have been only praying for the basics, like my family and close friends on my mind. I have been very focused on praying for my final semester before graduating this year. My heart was very prepared for this message, it has been on my heart for a while. I felt the Holy Spirit move strongly through me as I was communicating it. I have been seeing many prayers being answered throughout this past week. I feel like, although I have been bombarded with work, I have been very sharp spiritually...and that feels awesome!

Report 7

This week body shop was really good. I sat down for lunch at 5:00pm with the guys I lead the discipleship group with. We took an hour discussing what would discuss for our discipleship group and we prayed about the night and the kids we would be working with. We went to body shop around 6:00pm just in time for me to supervise the prayer room until 6:15pm. There I prayed with the kids before service. When the service started I prayed around the spots where the discipleship groups take place while everyone worshiped through song. Worship lasted about 30 to 40 minutes and then we were dismissed into our discipleship groups. As everyone went to their groups I went to the office to discuss future ministry and my future messages with Matt Beck (Body Shops Pastor). After we talked for about 10 to 15 minutes I joined the discipleship groups. I helped lead the discussion which lasted about 30 to 40 minutes. When everyone was done with there discipleship groups we all played one big game together lasting about 20 minutes ending out the night. Once the majority of kids were gone by 8:00pm I stayed after and hung out with the kids that were still there for about 30 minutes. That ended the full night of ministry.

The ministry went really well tonight. The numbers were down but the kids seem to understand the focus of these nights. They appeared to worship God through music in a more passionate many than usual. When we were finishing up in our discussion for our discipleship group a boy shared that he was thankful that the discussion from everyone else truly helped him and it helped him a lot. That truly blessed us as leaders. Also, some new kids really seemed to enjoy the game afterward and it really looked like they were comfortable by the end of the night due to that game. The ministry really seemed strong tonight.

My spiritual life has been a huge improvement since last week. I feel like I am finally standing outside of a hole I dug myself into. This week I have had healthy conversations that have truly encouraged me and strengthened me. I have been able to focus strongly on prayer and I just finished reading through Proverbs. I was prepared and ready for this week’s ministry and I had a lot of great support and prayer from friends. This week I felt very strong spiritually.

Report #6

This week I met with my discipleship group leaders for supper at 5:00 pm and discussed what we anticipated for the ministry that night. We had great discussion on how to lead the discipleship group after the introduction message. We then headed to Body Shop around 5:45 pm. When I arrived I supervised the prayer room until 6:15 pm, when service starts. When service begun I worship along side the teens and led by example while sitting through the introduction message. We then headed into the gym with our boys and led a discussion on our identity in Christ as a Christ like follower. The discussion went well; I think the boys really understood it clearly. We ended around 7:45pm and we played games in the gym until 8:00 pm. I then rode on the bus that took some of the teenager’s home and supervised. When we returned back to Body Shop I talked with Matt Beck for a good hour or so about the ministry and where our hearts were in it.
I felt that the discussion we had in our small group was solid with information. We have had our rough times with communicating the topic well to the teens but tonight it was clear and understandable. The Lord set on my heart something really personal and important to share with the group and I really felt it was beneficial for everyone to hear. The games we played afterwards really seemed to make the kids happy, I think it helped them enjoy their time much more. The prayer room in the beginning was encouraging to me because I saw how seriously some of the teens took the night through their sincere prayer. The only downside I saw out of this service was that the worship music seemed so slow and quite that it was awkward for the kids. It brought an awkward feeling to the environment and it seemed to confuse the teens on what the attitude of worship was attempted to be set at.
This week I have been full of joy. I feel like I have been fresh in the Spirit every day. I keep in my word every morning when I wake up and sometimes get strong prayer time in. I felt more than ready for this week’s Wednesday night at Body Shop. I have been praying with others more than normal and I feel like that’s been making a huge difference in my ministry and in my actions. It was great because I felt the Holy Spirit leading me to share what I did with our guys at Body Shop this week. That allowed me to feel incredibly sensitive to His Spirit. This week I felt very fresh.

Report #5

This weeks Body Shop activity was amazing! Sunday we had the Barn Bash from 5 to 8pm. Within those 3 hours I supervised and played with the teens that came. With so many individaul teenagers present it was constant check ups one areas of the building and making sure those running certain areas were ok with their responsibilities. I mainly helped out with the sound system and announcing on the microphone for games and skits. That night was very fun and active!
For Open House this Wednesday I showed up at 5pm to praya round the building, rooms, and prayed for the kids who were to come. At 6:15 the students came in and we started the Open house service. I helped run some games and keeping the kids entertained on the microphone. After that I worshiped and had fun with the kids during the rap concert/message we had for the night. The night ended with a powerful alter call where, at the end, I supervised the new prayer room with recently decorated. I waited in there until all the kids praying were done. After all the kids left around 8pm, I brainstormed and discussed important details about our ministry with some other volunteers in the office for about 20 minutes. I did a total of about 6 1/2 hours of ministry in walls of the Body Shop building this week and they were very good experiences!

This week I felt that the Barn Bash was super successful! Every individual that came in the doors appeared to have a blast. By the end of the night everyone was belly laughing. We involved every kid with the games, and with the large number we had thats really good. Through that I felt like every kid, in middle school and high school, felt like that was their second home and it made them that much more comfortable walking in our doors. This Wednesday we switched up some things and had Damon, our monthly rapper, give the message along with his performance. That different, out of the ordinary, experience for us showed us a creative way of using others within our ministry. I was unable to speak this week because of the rough week I had. I was unable to prepare a well put together message so Damon took over. It was wonderful to see a different approach to the ministry. We had an amazing time to reflect, kids found the Lord and many made cmpletely knew commitments! It allowed me to see that, as a monthly speaker, there are more gifts than what I know among those I work with. My eyes were opened to how the rest of the ministry would happen without me as a speaker.

My spiritual life this week was rough. I went through a pretty intense vally. I struggled strongly with feelings of loneliness, tiredness, and sadness. I still don't have any individual that can meet with me and talk about spiritual stuff. I still dont have a bible study. Without these things I felt incredibly alone and asked many people for prayer. So when I was at the Barn bash I helped a little less active as what I usually would. I truly didn't want to be there. I actually wasn't going to show up but, through the encouragement from a friend, I did. The past week I was weak but the Lord has pulled me through thanks to the prayers of others. This weeks Open House was great because I was delivered from all of my empty feelings from the past week. It's been a rough week for me but I have seen, once again, the importance and affective power of prayer!

Report #4

This week for Body shop we had more meetings than usual as we are focusing even stronger as leaders. We had an hour long lunch the day of CRASH (the Wednesday night ministry) as leaders and discussed in detail how we were going to cover over the message and the discipleship groups properly. We discussed tying the discussions together properly in order to communicate to the kids in a clear way. We brain stormed creative ways to communicate and help the kids understand. Before CRASH started I showed up an hour early, at 5pm, and led a prayer group. We prayed around the building, over each room, for the leaders and for the kids. We spent an hour covering the ministry in prayer. At 6:15 the doors opened and we started service. From 6:15 to 8:00pm I helped the kids engage in worship through song and pay attention to the message given. Within this time period me and 3 other leaders led the boys in a discipleship group discussing being a living sacrifice to the Lord. After the Discipleship group was done we hung out with the kids by playing dodge ball. When the kids went home and cleared the building by 8pm, all the volunteers went out to relax at Dairy Queen for about an hour.

This week was our first time meeting an hour early for prayer like we did. Although there were only 3 of us, I felt a stronger focus in the ministry for my heart personally. I have learned that praying with others over a ministry helps my heart focus in on what I am actually doing the whole ministry for. In prior weeks I felt like I was simply spending a few hours out of my week to hang out with middle school kids. This time, I saw seriousness in other volunteers through sacrifice of an extra hour and sincerity through their prayers. This was a huge encouragement to me this week. Last week we had a large problem with all the volunteers in one discipleship group. This week we had a specific select few to lead the one group. This group was me and 3 other leaders and it helped a large amount. It was more controled. We still had glitches but it was much improvement from last week. Our communication has been 90% better sinse we brought it up and discussed it. So the communication allowed the ministry to flow with more understanding from one another as leaders.

Honestly, my spiritual life hasn't mean struggling to stay strong, but it has been being attacked lately. My friend back home hung himself over Fall Break and thats truly impacted my heart and bummed me a little bit. I found that the prayer before CRASH helped me focus. Leaders prayed over me so that I could focus on those who were there and it helped a lot! CRASH ended up being a highlight of my spirituality for the week. I have been klinging to the Proverbs lately and they have been teaching me how to be wise in the hard times with what I saw and how to act around others. So, this week has been rough but it is a small taste of what is to come in the future.

Report #3

This week at body shop I arrived at 6pm and hung out with kids and supervised. For the first hour (6pm - 7pm) I hung out with the kids and worshiped along side them, leading by example, and helped the speaker for the night with her illustration. For the next hour (7pm - 8pm) I helped lead a discipleship group that for the middle school boys. I would help the boys understand certain if they had any questions and make sure they were paying attention. Once all the kids were gone for the night, I had a debrief with some of the leaders, discussing how the night went and how we could make it improve. The discussion lasted from 8pm to 9ish pm, possibly a little later. We brought before Julia and discussed things with her as well. After that I talked with Julia one on one about details as a Body Shop speaker, which took roughly a half hour. After that was done I discussed issues from the night with fellow Body Shop volunteers, allowing them to know how the night went and how we planned to improve in certain areas from our experience this week. I talked with them for about 45 minutes about these issues.

Communication is key: Body Shop this week was interesting. I have been a little confused on how things go when I am not speaking. Only speaking the first Wednesday of every month, I am a little confused on what I do as a leader on the other nights. This Wednesday I found myself a little misunderstood on how to encourage the kids during our worship songs. I was misunderstood on if I should laugh and goof with them during the music or if I should be 100% serious. Last year for Wednesday nights Body Shop worship songs were crazy with dudes running around and jumping over chairs. This year the songs are slower and more heart felt and the worship leader, Jeff, shares scripture and explain songs. So I was struggling with that this week. We also had troubles in our discipleship group this week. We had too many leaders within the group and ¾’s of them didn’t understand their roles to well. We had leaders putting in their two cents and completely taking over the conversation and also making the leader in charge look like an idiot. The discussion became so confusing that even I, a leader, didn’t understand what we were talking about. By the end of the discussion kids were slouching in their chairs and everyone left confused. Our debriefing time wasn’t planned but I sat us down and we had one due to how bad the night had gone. Through our discussion, we all agreed that there was an enormous lack of Communication within our ministry. I was personally frustrated because no one allowed me to know anything. And I am a main speaker for the ministry! Through this weeks experience I learned the importance of communicating with your fellow leaders. I learned the importance of knowing the order and mind set of the services. Our ministry will crash and burn without communication. I truly saw the importance of knowing everyone’s roles, whose in charge and whose there to supervise. Communication is key.

This week my spiritual life was amazing! I grew so much more in depth in understanding my own body. I did the Daniel fast this week with a friend and it helped me with humility, self discipline, and focusing in on God to a deeper level. Through this fast I was constantly feeling God’s help throughout my days. It helped me focus on Him stronger even when I wasn’t in solitude. My mindset was sharply focused on Him the whole week because my stomach wouldn’t let me forget. It was an amazing time of growth and beating my body into submission. I started reading in Proverbs, studying the importance of wisdom. That has been helping my thought process form more maturely. Time with God has been strong this week because of my fast.

Report 2

On Sunday morning I showed up to JC Body Shop at 9am to help Pastor Matt set up things and go to some stores for him to grab some suplies. From 9am to 10:30am I helped Matt with whatever he needed until service started. Service began at 10:30am. I stayed until 11am supervising and helping volunteering with things. At 11am I left for my church service at Exit 59. On Wednesday I showed up to Body Shop at 6pm and left at 8pm. My night consisted of helping set up for the message that another volunteer was giving, supervising, hanging out with kids, and leading a small group with the middle school boys. That took up the whole 2 hours.

This week helped me learn the importance of community. I truly felt that Wednesday night was a strong community of family. A boy that found the Lord last week returned and everyone made him feel super welcome. Our discussion in small group was sincere and genuine. I've been seeing these students mature through the ministry God has allowed me to partake in. It's been amazing! The more I treat them like friends instead of mentees the more they seem to enjoy learning about the Lord and thats what I care about. It truly feels like a family!

This past week my spiritual life has been refreshing. I have been spending incredible time with God where He allows me to feel cared for and taken care of. I've been showed some fantastic nature. I have had great times sitting and simply existing in His presents out in nature. It's been so refreshing for my spirit and my mind. Because of that I have been able to focus strongly on the mission God has set before me!

This week at Body Shop I gave a message for the open house event. The last few weeks have consisted of brainstorming of how I wanted to prepare the message. One night out of this past week I spent an hour walking and structuring my message in my head. After that I had the actually manuscript within my head. Another night shortly after that I spent roughly an hour reciting the message in my room. About a half hour before Body Shop began on Wednesday I recited it again. From 6pm to 8pm I was active at Body Shop supervising and hanging out with kids. 20 minutes out of the activity was my actual message. The rest of the time I hung out with the kids. The Great thing was that I got to talk to one of the boys who accepted Christ for the first time that night!

I have been learning so much in a pastoral position for Junior Highers. Simply understanding that I need to acknowledge each individual kid as much as possible. I understand as a speaker that the ministry isn't 100% on the stage...that may not even be half of it. I have been gaining great relationships with the kids. I havent been goofing around as much as last year. I have been treating them more like adults, that way they know that they can be open with me and open to understanding my messages. I have been trying to find the best way to have kids accept Christ in their hearts without feeling embarased. I have been struggling with understanding how to encourage kids to tell me or a leader that they made the decision. That has been hard. I have been giving them goofy, fun things to come up to me and do if they do instead of telling me word for word and that has been most effective so far. It is also interesting merging such passionate, life changing messages into a more crazy rest of the night. We do giveaways and play dodge ball after my messages so that has been interesting. It has been so great to work with such an interesting structured event. I am really enjoying the experience!

My spiritual life this last week felt dead on. I felt that my seeking for God's direction for the message was very respectful and open to His leading. I spent good amounts of time in solitude with the Lord going on walks and praying. I prayed for everyday things but within that time I would pray for the right thing to communicate to the teens for that night. My heart felt so good and content with the message topic (Real Eye's, Realize, Real Lies). I have been waking up at 8am and studying Acts before my days begin so thats been keeping my head strongly focused on preaching the gospel with passion wherever I go. I have felt very sharp in my discipline in the scriptures and meditation. It's been Great. When my heart is in line well with God's, I feel that my message are more accurate to the hearts of those listening.

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