last week in the office...

Well today is the first day of my last week in the office. This morning and part of the afternoon myself, four other staff members, and an elder went around to different churches in the area to get ideas for renovating an old sanctuary into a student center for the youth and college/young adults ministry. It was really awesome to see the different approaches churches have to accomplish the same goal: reach the lost. We got some really great insight through the visits, and I got a free lunch! So it was a good way to start the day.

Last week was crazy, we had a whitewater rafting trip Sunday-Tuesday, then I was in the office on Wednesday, then a trip to a water park on Thursday and back in the office on Friday. Saturday I just hang out until some of my family came into town, then Sunday the rest of my family came into town and we had a small reunion. It was great to get to see everyone! Sunday morning the Youth Minister was at another church preaching, and though I wasn't teaching, I was in charge of the rest of The Awakening. I thought it went really well, and really can't find anything that went wrong. We've begun really pushing Life Groups (Jr and Sr high small groups) so last Friday, the Youth minister only worked half a day, so in the afternoon I made some ridiculous videos to promote Life Groups. They turned out better than expected, and it was a ton of fun!

It's really crazy that this is my last week, this summer has been incredible. I'm really excited because I am going to get to come back up here the first weekend in October and teach in The Awakening again, so it'll be good to see everyone. This summer I have continued to learn how important reading is to my spiritual walk, and I have put together a reading list for the fall. Unfortunately I am not really looking forward to many classes this fall because I have to take a couple Gen Eds that I would rather not take, but I also have the easiest schedule I've had since coming to KCU. So I am extremely excited to see the doors God opens outside of class, and the different ministry opportunities God will open up.

almost done...

Well the summer is coming to a close...I was at camp all week last week with 3-4 graders, it ended up being a pretty good week! I taught twice, was a family leader, and created a new game. So it was a lot of fun! Then I taught Sunday, which I thought I once again struggled with delivery, but I discovered that I really just didn't practice enough. I would practice a couple times, but I need to do it at least 4 times if it is going to be a good lesson. Sunday after church we left for senior send-off, we went white-water rafting and camped out a couple nights. It was a ton of fun, it was also cool to hear the seniors testimonies about what God has been doing in their lives.

I'm in the office tomorrow, then we have a day trip on Thursday, then back in the office on Friday. I have two more Sunday's here and will really miss the church. They have been incredible! God has taught me a ton about life and ministry this summer, and I'm really looking forward to doing ministry full-time soon!

Blahhhh

Well this week has been pretty busy! I leave for camp tomorrow, my summer event was Friday, and I taught today. Friday at the event I showed the movie Blindside and had totally forgot about the cussing near the end, so just as parents walked in the cussing began...so that was awesome! But overall the event went really well, we had some unexpected things happen which caused us to go over budget quite a bit, but it went well and no one was upset about it.

I taught today as I mentioned earlier, I don't know what my problem has been the last two times I've taught, but my delivery has not been very good at all. Everyone said it was good, but that's what they always say, I was definitely not happy with it. But I think the message got across, I just wish I could have had better delivery.

In my cubical someone put a picture of a random girl from some a mission trip blowing bubbles, and another staff member put a picture of a cigar in place of the bubbles...well about five minutes ago I walked into my cubical to see a note that said "Not Funny" and signed by a church member. Then he walked by, and wouldn't say anything to my face. So that was frustrating.

But I leave for camp in a couple hours, I teach tomorrow, and then again next Sunday. So things are staying busy! But the summer has been amazing and I wish I could just stay here and keep interning rather than go back to school, but I guess God has other plans...

I do have a prayer request, a former KCU student who helped with my youth group works with a church in Ill. and they are taking a 5 day trip to Costa Rica in October and I have the opportunity to go. I really need to decide by tomorrow, so if you all get the chance to pray about it, that would be awesome!

Whirlwind

The last two weeks have been crazy! I went to JR High camp two weeks ago, and I just got back to the church from 5th and 6th grade camp. It's been nuts! I taught for the first time this summer at JR high camp, it was on Holiness and I was pretty happy with how it went. I felt as if I started off well, but didn't finish as strong as I should have. Then last Sunday I taught in The Awakening for the first time, it was an introduction to Paul and the idea of our "SHAPE" (S-Spiritual gifts, H-Heart, A-Abilities, P-Personality, E-Experiences.) It didn't go terrible, but I definitely felt like it could have been a lot better, I don't know what was wrong with me but my presentation was really weak. This last week I was a family leader and also the Recreation Director, the boys in my family were incredible. It was tough at the beginning of the week because there was a boy in my group that had a little sister that has cancer, and he really did not want to be at camp. We had some really good talks, but he ended up going home Wednesday evening. As for Recreation, it went well but I am exhausted from 3 hours of running around with 5th and 6th graders all week. Next week we have a sports camp here at church, then I teach again the next two weeks after Sunday. I also go back to camp for a week next Sunday :) The summer has been awesome! I finished Ruthless Trust last week (which was awesome!), and am now reading The Ragamuffin Gospel. Both books have been great! Now I am going to go home to sleep in a real bed :) my host family is in Europe, so I'm all alone for a couple weeks! I hope all is well with all of you!

-Bondo

Camp!!!

Well I will be leaving for Jr. High camp in an hour and a half! I'm really excited to see how the week will go, we have a full group of campers (150ish) so it should be a great week. This week has been a week of final preparation, I teach on Thursday (prayer would be appreciated), I found out on Tuesday that I will be leading recreation time on Monday and Tuesday, and then I am teaching the Jr. & Sr. high next Sunday here at church. Oh yeah, and I leave for another week of camp next Sunday. But God has been awesome and guided me to get both lessons ready, and all the games are prepared. So now it's time to take off and have a blast!

I began reading "Ruthless Trust" by Brennan Manning last Saturday and will be finishing it up tonight or tomorrow. I have learned a ton about myself, and the lack of trust that I show God in my daily life. It has been very convicting and I would definitely suggest that you all read it. I'll finish this post with a couple quotes from the book:

"Trust is our gift back to God, and he finds it so enchanting that Jesus died for the love of it."

"I can state unequivocally that childlike surrender in trust is the defining spirit of authentic discipleship."

SITS!

Well we just got back from SITS yesterday and it was an incredible week! We took 31 kids and had 8 adults (it was pretty awesome to have that many adult volunteers), so each adult was assigned a certain number of kids to watch over and be like a shepherd for. That ended up being a really awesome experience, and I learned a lot from it. The worship band was phenomenal, as were both speakers. Throughout the week we talked about how everyone is pursuing something, how we've been torn from God, how we've been torn from each other, and also how we can get back to God and back to having great relationships with others. All the kids loved it, and I think all the adults got just as much out of it as any of the kids. One of my favorite things about the week was that they didn't really try to use emotion to get the kids to come forward, when they used emotion it was to show us how we need to change our lives.

Nick also lead a workshop this week on how to develop spiritual habits that last and I helped with powerpoint and all that fun stuff. We did a terrible job of planning for the number of kids coming each day! When we left the church we were ready for about 45 each day and we ended up with an average of about 165+ everyday, but we recovered and it ended up being an awesome workshop.

Today I made the mistake of going to a half price book store to pick up a book, I ended up coming out with six books and spent nearly two hours in the store. Tomorrow I am doing the communion meditation in "big church" so I am trying to finish that up right now.

Next week I have to send in my discussion questions and possibly an outline to the dean of the JR High camp I will be teaching at (July 4-9), and I will also need to get my lesson done for July 11th in The Awakening. So a lot of stuff going on and coming up, but I am learning a ton and am incredibly grateful for all the opportunities I am getting to actually do stuff!

Here is a great thought about programs role in Youth Ministry:

"Programs only exist to build and strengthen relationships with God and with one another"

-Doug Fields

My head is beginning to spin...

Last Friday night we had our lock-in, it went really great. I did the shopping to pick up snacks, drinks, and other supplies and learned a great lesson at 11:30 when I was headed back out to get more drinks...kids can flat out drink Mountain Dew! We ended up having around 65 kids, and plenty of adult volunteers.

Sunday we began a new format for The Awakening, we had the students sit at tables and we would have around 10 minutes of teaching, then table discussion, then more teaching followed by more discussion. I really liked it a lot, and the kids at my table really enjoyed it.

This week has been really crazy, we go to Summer in the Son next week so we have been trying to get stuff ready for The Awakening for the next two weeks. Tuesday I had a meeting with the worship minister and ran errands with him, it was good to sit and talk ministry for a while, but it also did not help in getting stuff ready for The Awakening and SITS. Today I finished up the computer program for both weeks, got papers ready for The Awakening, and did some editing to my lesson for Jr. High camp. I also received a couple of cool emails that add to my workload over the next couple weeks, the Recreations Director for the second week I'll be at camp can no longer go, so I am now in charge of that which means I have to come up with 5 activities in the next couple days. I also found out that I'll get to do the Communion and Offering meditation on June 27th in "big church". Though this adds to the already crazy schedule, I'm really excited to get these opportunities.

Yesterday we took the Jr. High students to Cedar Point, it was a lot of fun! We had 31 people go total 31 people, 25 of which were students, only 4 of which were boys. So 2 and a half hour van rides with Jr High girls = not one of my favorite things, but it was a good experience.

Last night for an unknown reason I just started feeling really down, I really had no idea why but I just sat and talked to God for about 30 seconds, then just sat in silence blocking out any thoughts for a long time and felt an incredible peace. God is amazing, and the love, peace and grace I receive from Him never ceases to amaze me!

I have a few prayer request:

1. SITS next week. Pray that it is a spiritual refresher for students and sponsors (we have 40 people going total)and that it is not merely a spiritual high, but something that we all build upon.

2. Preparation for Camp. Both teaching at Jr. High camp, as well as getting all recreation activities put together for the second week.

3. Preparation for communion meditation. Please pray I speak God's word and bless Him with this meditation, and also for my nerves.

4. For me to stay focused. Pray that I keep my relationship with Christ as my main priority.

-Bondo

and the craziness begins :)

Well this week has been really good! I had four graduation parties to go to this week which = a ton of free sandwiches and cake (which I took full advantage of.) In the office I have prepared a bunch of stuff for SITS which is only a week and a half away, then I built the computer program again, worked on my lesson for July 11th, which is extremely exciting. I have also finished the first draft of my lesson for JR High camp which is only three and a half weeks away now, all there is left to do is go incubate and revise. I have also been working with the youth minister on his SITS workshop, which I may get to teach a day or two of. Last night I had the opportunity to do a devotional for the leadership meeting, and that went really well, it was a really good opportunity. Other than that this week has consisted of a lot of Lock-in prep, the lock-in is tomorrow night and we're expecting 50+, so it should be a ton of fun.

A big thing that I did last week and got to talk to the Executive minister about yesterday was a "Ministerial Interview" which is kind of like an application from Willow Creek that evaluates "the three C's" which are Character, Competency, and also Chemistry. This was an awesome opportunity to evaluate myself, and something that I would suggest everyone to look into. It consists of questions that many churches will ask, and is great experience.

Today I had my meeting with the Youth Minister to discuss "Your First Two Years in Youth Ministry" and we discussed the chapter that covers "how do I stay spiritually fresh?" This was a phenomenal meeting in which I learned a ton. It made a lot of things that have happened to me spiritually while at school made a lot more sense.

Well I hope you all are having an awesome summer, I am praying for you all, and even though this is for a grade just remember Galatians 1:10! We are doing this for Christ, not to please the ministers above us, or for Dr. Baldwin. If getting a grade, or pleasing a minister becomes the most important thing to us (anyone doing internships) this summer, we are completely failing to do what we are called to do.
I will close with a couple quotes from the chapter on staying spiritually fresh:

When talking about the two commandments that Jesus said were the greatest Fields writes: "Faithfulness to the first command (loving God) results in obedience to the second (loving others)." (67)

"Failure to see the difference between loving God and loving others (doing ministry) can result in a ministry-focused life rather than a God-focused life." (67)

"God is much more concerned with your being than your doing." (66)

one more week down...

Well this week was another short week, I always have Monday off so the church made Friday my "memorial day" and so I got to come home and have a Wii Just Dance party with my little sister :) But that meant that I had to get a lot done in just three days, on Tuesday myself and Nick evaluated The Awakening(the service for the youth on Sunday morning) we talked about what went well, and what we completely failed at, which is always good. The rest of the morning was doing other little things and looking at what we needed to get done over the next few days. Then we met at lunch for our weekly discussion about "your first two years of youth ministry", these meetings have been awesome! I have learned a ton through these meetings and it has been great to just talk about a few different aspects of ministry. Following lunch we had a really awesome staff meeting, and then just finished up the day doing a few little things to get prepare for the rest of the week.

On Wednesday I spent the day building the SongShow program in the computer for The Awakening on Sunday and then I got the rest of the videos we would need for the next month or so into the program to cut down on time we will need to spend on the computer program this month. I also spent sometime preparing for the lessons I'm teaching this summer.

First thing Thursday morning I went to the store to pick some stuff up for church on Sunday and also a gift card for a couple of the volunteers. Then I put together my "ministry report" for the Elders and other leaders at the church, which I will paste into the end of this post. I had a lunch meeting with the sports minister to talk about some of the design of their different projects which was a very beneficial meeting. The remainder of my time was spent emailing and making connections with different campus ministers of schools which seniors in the youth group will be attending. I was attempting to get information on programs, location, mission statement, as well as contact people and will be putting together a packet for each graduating seniors. I had some quick, and very useful responses and will hopefully be having a meeting with a couple of the campus ministers in the next few weeks. This was an amazing learning experience, the church has had trouble with students going to college and disconnecting, so I contacted a youth minister that I know has done a fantastic job of keeping college students involved in church and he shared several things that they do. So contacting campus ministers was merely step one, there are several other things that we will now be doing to improve student connection, while in high school and well after if we do it right.

Here is my "Ministry Report" (each staff member sends one of these out the week before the monthly leadership (elders, deacons and staff) meeting)


Intern Report
June 2010
Submitted by Andrew Bondurant

I am now finishing up my third full week at WCC, I am starting to actually remember some names and get some work done. So far I have absolutely loved working here, the leadership has been amazing and the congregation has been very welcoming. Here is what I have coming up this summer:

UPCOMING

 June 6 - Promo & Parent Sunday w/Cookout. I will be doing the communion meditation and getting to know the parents and kids.
 June 11-12 – Lock-In. I will merely be helping out where I can, possibly running a couple of tournaments.
 June 16 – Jr. High Cedar Point Trip
 June 20-25 - Summer In The Son.
 June 30 – High School Cedar Point Trip: Is there a better way to spend a birthday???
 July 4-9 – Jr. High Camp @ Round Lake: I will be teaching one morning and just doing whatever I’m told the rest of the week.
 July 11-16 – Camp with Greg: I will be a family leader/dorm dad. Looking forward to another great week of camp!
 July 11-August 8: Teaching series in the Awakening entitled “Paul”: I will be teaching three of the five lessons on Paul.
 July 17 – Service Project
 July 23 – Friday Night Live: Night of Fun. I will be planning and leading this event, it will mainly be an outreach event just to allow the kids to have fun in a great environment.
 July 25-30 – Camp with Lisa: I really don’t know exactly what I will be doing, but it’s with Lisa and Becky so I know it’ll be fun!
 August 1-3 – Senior Send-Off
 August 5 – Zoombezi Bay
 August 15 – My last Sunday


PRAYER REQUESTS

 Summer in the Son: That the students (and adults) that attend do not merely have a “Spiritual high” but that the week has a lasting impact.

 The entire month of July: as you can see I will be spending 3 out of 4 weeks at RLCC, so just pray for endurance and that the kids that attend the camps will be impacted in a way that lasts. I will also be doing a lot of teaching, so please pray I can say what God wants me to say and point all those that hear to Him.

 Entire summer: that I can learn as much as possible and still keep eyes and ears open to God’s leading regardless of how busy everything gets.

Thank you all so much for being so welcoming and allowing me to come be a part of the church this summer!

Well this week was a little different than "normal" (is there such thing in ministry?) I have Monday's off, so I just worked on my online class and did some reading and running. Then Tuesday I went to a board of directors meeting at a camp about an hour and a half away, that was TONS of fun...if you like listening to a bunch of people repeat themselves for hours on end. Wednesday we worked of the weekly newsletter for the kids and decided on curriculum for for the next 15 weeks, that was a really good learning experience. The student ministries generally gets their stuff through youth specialties, then just modifies the curriculum to better fit their students. So I discovered that I will be teaching on the life of Paul all three times I teach at the church, which should be good! I also discovered on Wednesday that I will be teaching a lesson on holiness at JR High camp in July, so I spent any spare time I had this week brainstorming ideas on how to keep 150 JR high students engaged for 30 minutes. I also was asked to speak at a couple of camp fires at 2 & 3 grade camp, so I have a lot of teaching coming up in July :) I am trying to work ahead now because I will be at camp three out of four weeks in July. Thursday we were in the office most of the day, and I also had my weekly meeting with the youth minister to talk about the book "Your first two years in youth ministry" that went really well! I am learning a ton from Nick. Yesterday morning I worked on the computer program for the students service this weekend which was a lot of fun, I am falling in love with SongShow...Then we had a lunch meeting with one of the youth sponsors that helps out to brain storm for an upcoming parents Sunday, and also an upcoming lock-in. It's amazing how many ideas can come through one lunch meeting! It was a very productive meeting. Then we made two hospital visits, which was tough, we visited a lady who had a stroke two days ago and talked to her husband for a while. Then we went to the Children's Hospital and visited a little boy named Sam, he has cancer and has already had to lose one leg and is currently getting chemo treatments. It was tough, but a good experience. After the visits we came back to the church and I finished the computer program while Nick went over his lesson, then we put together the cue-sheet for Sunday. With the hospital visits and meetings at the camp it was a very different week, but I learned a lot about working with unexpected responsibilities. Today is the beginning of graduation party season, so I am going to a few parties with Nick and his wife, and we also have to set up the chairs for the service on Sunday. I hope and pray that everyone else is having a great experience, or at least a useful one!

-Bondo

Internship has been good in more than one way so far!

So far I have picked up my reading habits AND jogging again...I'm thinking this internship may be good for me in more than just ministry development. I am also relearning that my spiritual development needs to go BEFORE my development as a minister. This is a lesson that "your first two years in youth ministry" as well as the staff I am working with brought back to my attention, and now I am making it a priority. The summer is about to kick off, so I am going to need some accountability in staying true to this even through the chaos of a camp/trip/event packed summer.

-Bondo

Ministry is real...

Well two days ago I was listening to the news on the way home from the church and heard a story about a young man who was upset with his girl friend, the young man's sister was friends with his girl friend and she was in the car with her as she pulled away after an argument. The young man was extremely angry, and he shot at the car as it pulled away trying to shoot his girl friend. A bullet made its way into the car and struck his sister and killed her. After hearing this story I thought to myself “wow, how does that happen? What does a person do when something like this happens?” I went on with my evening without giving it another thought…
Yesterday I went into the church as usual at around 8:30; Friday is an odd day at the church because it’s one that most of the ministers choose to take off. The youth minister had to take the day off for one reason or another, the sports and outreach minister never works on Friday, and neither does the discipleship minister, the executive minister, children’s minister or the preschool minister. So it was myself, the worship minister, and the senior minister in the office. We received a call that afternoon from the father of the girl who had been killed, he needed some money for the funeral and so the secretary had him come in to do some paperwork, and talk with a minister. Well the worship minister left to go give some guitar lessons, the senior minister went to visit a man that was in jail, so it was just me at the church. I was given a crash course in how they normally handled these situations, and then started freaking out. Then about fifteen minutes before the man was suppose to arrive, the discipleship minister showed up! I was saved, well I was supposed to go meet the executive minister for dinner, but they wanted me to stay for the meeting. So I did, it was me, the discipleship minister, the father, the girls step mom, and her little sister. It was heartbreaking! I sat there as we talked to them about the situation, but I was relieved to see how the church handles situations like this, we sat and talked, prayed, counseled, talked, and prayed some more. The minister stressed how, though this was a tough situation, and we would love to help them with the money, we had a process we had to go through, and we were more worried about the families long term needs (spiritual) than their immediate needs. So we arranged some counseling and prayed before they left.
Now this may not sound like that big of a deal, but it was an incredible learning experience for me personally! It was my first experience in real, tough ministry. Now over dinner I discussed it with the executive minister, and we will be helping the family out with the funeral costs…but it was important for me to see the church take care of the primary need, the spiritual wellbeing of the people that came in prior to the material need. This was an amazing experience, in which I learned a ton! Counseling in real life is a whole lot different than with classmates in intro to YM! But I am so glad that I had some training previous to dealing with this situation, the look in the little sisters eyes was heartbreaking…she was broken, but we were able to at least give her, and her family a little bit of hope that will hopefully last longer than a funeral service…

First day in the office

Well yesterday was my first day in the office, and for some reason I randomly woke up at 4 AM and could not fall back asleep. So I went to work and got my sweet cubical set up, then I had about a two hour meeting with the Youth Minister, then he had me work on my schedule for the summer for a while. Then we had lunch, after lunch was exciting! It was my first staff meeting which actually went really well. Following the meeting I just finished up some scheduling stuff, stuffed about a 175 envelopes with the Youth Minister, and then called it a day. After work I went to a small group, which went pretty well! I enjoyed it. I just went home and read for a while after that, which is something I have been doing a lot of lately. I few days ago I began a 90 reading plan to read the entire Bible which has been crazy, but good! I also bought "The Reason for God" by Timothy Keller before I left and it has also been some great reading. The other book I am reading, and talking to Nick (the youth minister) about is "Your First Two Years in Youth Ministry" by Doug Fields (aka The Man) which has been awesome! I definitely suggest that you all pick it up and read it. This summer is going to be crazy, but good! I will be at camp three out of four weeks in July, and will be at Summer in the Son one of the last weeks of June. So I'm going to be all over the place, but I'm excited about it!

Dayyyy 1

well yesterday was my first day, it went really well! I was introduced to the church, almost broke a massive TV, got an offer for dinner at a church members house AND gas money...ahhh food and gasoline, what more can you ask for???

Game Time!!!!

Well I leave tomorrow to start the summer that will hopefully be filled with tons of learning, stretching, and educational failure (by this I mean mistakes I can learn from.)! I can hardly wait to see what God does with this summer