First Baptist Youth Ministries

Graduate Service 2011 Pics

2011-07-23T10:56:00.001-04:00

2011 Graduate Service

STEM 11 CLEVELAND/WARREN Pics

2011-07-23T10:54:00.001-04:00

STEM 11 CLE WAR photos

STEM 11 CHICAGO Pics

2011-07-23T10:53:00.003-04:00

STEM 11 CHI photos

STEM '11 Week Two slide show

2011-07-01T12:43:00.001-04:00

STEM '11 Week One slide show

2011-07-01T12:41:00.001-04:00

STEM '11

2011-06-19T00:10:00.000-04:00

Now I know we haven't been doing a lot of posting for this missions trip. Mainly because we have been home every night, but I thought it might be profitable to give everyody an update.

We are safely in our lodging for the second week if this trip. Our home is Fox Valley Baptist Church in East Dundee, IL. Great Commission Baptist Church (the church plant we are working with) had not yet received its building permit, so our host pastor, Paastor Scott Greening, to the necessary steps to make a last minute change to this church. Here we have showers (1 for guys, 1 for girls) and a gymnasium to work with. (and, as you can see, internet access)

Tonight we helped clean up and set up for church/Bible Study/construction/cleanup in the building GCBC will be calling home. We also had GIORDANO'S PIZZA which was a first for most of our crew! After that, we received a tour of the surrounding area that GCBC is reaching. The surrounding couple miles has apppx 125,000+ people! These are the people to which we will be spreading the Word about GCBC and their new facilities all week, in a number of different and unique ways.

As for last week, our team really was stretched. In Cleveland we toured the ministry of City View Baptist Church and the apartment complexes that Pastors Taylor and Dockery are reaching into. We served a meal and shared in music, and a Bible Study on Thursday. On Friday, we held their first ever VBS-style One-Day-Bible-Club. Everybody had a great time, and there were four new adults who had never been into the place of worship for City View. There was also a brand new mother and son, who had a great time and had some great conversation with the pastors.

Our VBS in Warren really pushed us, and the church we were assisting. As we expected 40 to maybe 50 kids for VBS, we ended up with numbers that went from the 40s to the 60s and finally 80s! We had a total of 110 different children and teens in Bethel Baptist Church last week. We also saw three professions of faith, and many, many families came by before and after to see what was going on. The church was truly blown away, and so were we. The team learned to deal with difficult disciplinary actions, and facilitated different structure in the opening, Bible, game, craft, and closing times. We had so much fun with the puppets, songs, and Becky the Brain versus Spacey Gracey!

God has truly been blessing our efforts, and we have been striving to give Him the glory. We have been having daily devotions in Proverbs, and sharing the verses that we feel God would have us apply on a daily basis. Proverbs 18 was LOADED for us on the trip to Chicago today. Hearing each of the teens pick 1)a verse that they saw fulfilled last week and 2)a verse that they wanted to apply today was a such a blessing to this old youth pastor's heart.

Tomorrow, our team will be complete, as Kevin Quick will be coming in via Amtrak. Pray as we serve and reach.

I know, I know, where are the photos...I left my camera in Ohio, and Kevin is bringing it here. Hopefully, I can do some uploading tomorrow.

Tanks for all the prayer FBC ELyria!!

Pastor Dave, and the STEM Team

2011-05-20T23:17:00.001-04:00

Just for the record. I am very certain that the Lord will not be returning tomorrow.

DBurman

STEM 09 presentation

2011-03-05T10:10:00.001-05:00

STEM 09 presentation!

STEM 07 video presentation

2010-12-10T17:28:00.002-05:00

I am going to post of few of the old (ok, not TOO old) STEM presentations.

Here is STEM 07!!

Enjoy!

STEM 07 presentation from David Burman on Vimeo.

Guys Night In

2010-12-10T13:46:00.002-05:00

16, well actually 18 guys playing video games in one room.

Fellowship? I think so!

Guys Night In - 16 player Halo from David Burman on Vimeo.

Josh Rader's Doom

2010-12-10T12:58:00.000-05:00

Winter Retreat '09

New video hosting service

Josh's Doom from David Burman on Vimeo.

WOL Superbowl

2010-10-20T13:24:00.000-04:00

Our big event for the Fall is Word of Life Super-bowl.
This event takes place all night on Friday, November 12th.
It includes: Hockey game, pizza, bowling, flag football, ice skating, dodge ball, basketball, volleyball, soccer, inflatable games, and LOTS of fun with our youth group and lots of other teens from the area.

If you are planning on going, you need to get your money and permission slips in to Pastor Dave. The slips are available here on the blog, just look around on the left, and you should find it.

Or click here

print it out and fill it in!

If you have more questions, please call or text me (Pastor Dave)

440-864-5192
Be at the church by 5pm

We return to the church by 6am (Saturday)

Pastor Dave

STEM '10 Saturday Night

2010-07-18T00:08:00.001-04:00

We are all home, heads on pillows!

Report on Sunday Night!!!

STEM '10 Week Two Day Seven

2010-07-16T01:23:00.000-04:00

Just a quick review.

Good morning of canvassing, a little shopping and napping in the afternoon, great VBS in the evening to closeout the week.
Ice Cream late, and to bed (sort of) early.

Long drive for tomorrow's AM canvassing in Grantsville, UT, then mountain climbing, then youth rally.

AND OF COURSE...start home early Saturday!

STEM '10 Week Two Day Five and Six

2010-07-15T01:06:00.000-04:00

Well, as you will be able to tell, something is missing tonight. That something is my camera!!
It was left at Grace Baptist (where we do our VBS)

So I will give you a little overview, and hopefully get all caught up with photos tomorrow night.

Yesterday and today had very similar looks to them, with a few twists...

Both days involved canvassing/surveying in the morning and VBS in the afternoon/evening.

Canvassing included survey work, which is a face-to-face question and answer time which is centered around a religious survey, and is designed to ask some questions which might open up the door to a follow-up visit from a local Pastor (in this case, Paul Fulks or Lloyd Larkin). The door-to-door team also would ask if they could present a tract and centering on our beliefs. The tract we, and the whole HEBRON used, was the Brdge to Eternal Life tract.

No one home? Leave literature. Someone home? Well, the possibilities are endless. From no, to no thanks, to "Can I convert you?", to lets talk so I can defend my beliefs for half an hour, to (most importantly) interest!

In two days, our team has had 13 interested in followup, and, many opportunities to go through the Bridge tract. The stories are ENDLESS! There is definitely a stirring in the souls of many hear in the SLC valley.

VBS numbers are slowly creeping up, which is good, considering this church has not had a VBS in three years. Their people have enjoyed watching us work. Pray we finish strong tomorrow.

Tomorrow, we lose Mandy (she has to leave early for a wedding) pray for her flights, and pray that we can adjust, our teams canvassing numbers are now all off, and we will miss Mandy's care and smile for all the kids at VBS.

WE MISS YOU MANDY!

Oh yes, we have been up into the mountains once as a group, and once as a smaller AM devo group (apparently getting up @ 5am scared some away). It was a lot of fun, and we got a lot of great photos. Both times, we had a great time in the Word and in prayer.

WHEW! Well, that's all for now.

Be back tomorrow night with more, and some photos!!

Pastor Dave

STEM '10 Week Two Day Three and Four

2010-07-13T02:34:00.000-04:00

It is late, and we have been going hard the last two days.

Sunday: Worshiped with Grace Baptist Church in West Valley City, the largest suburb in the SLC valley. It is a good church that runs about 100. Their Pastor is Matt Johnson, who has been pastoring here for 3 years, and seen significant growth. Four years ago it was running down around the 20s, but God used, among other things, the HEBRON canvassing to bring in some new families, and the momentum has continued. We would be running the VBS for GBC, and wanted to meet the people and run the children's church to promote the VBS.

The remainder of the day was SIX hours of training on the Mormon religion versus biblical Christianity. There was a little impatience, but everybody made it through.

Monday: Today we had HEBRON worship and devos (special speaker for the week: Paul Fulks!) at 7:30. Next up was packing to head out to canvass for and set up for VBS. For those who have experienced VBS set up with our STEM teams, we have a goal to make it fun and special. Our theme was Science/Space. This theme posed a bit of a challenge, but it ended up looking great.

We had 15 kids at first, but it bumped up a bit as the VBS progressed. All went well, and the team really did great. The church family that was there has commented on our hard work.

Next up was supper, and a long trek into the mountains to watch the sun set and have some group prayer time. As you can see, we snapped a lot of photos, and the whole group was a bit slap happy on the way home.

Spirits are up, in the midst of fatigue.

Tomorrow! We are canvassing/surveying for Paul and Laura Fulks and their church plant. All are very excited. Later, more VBS!

Sorry about the missed day...Sunday was brutal!

Thanks all for your prayers!!

Pastor Dave and the team!

STEM '10 Week Two Day Two

2010-07-11T00:57:00.000-04:00

Our temple tour/Latter Day Sense training day is done. Lots of time outside and lots of seminar has made a tired team. Today we ate breakfast at the hotel and headed to temple square. The HEBRON team toured the square in groups of 30, then together we watched an emotional and highly inaccurate movie (we know some people who ave done the research) of an account of the life of Joseph Smith.

After a good boxed lunch, we visited the conference center, which had a lot of art and the huge 21,000 seat auditorium. It was very impressive, but we were constantly reminded of the Bible telling of those who thought they had knowledge, but did not.

Our evening included part one of our training for the week, and a great catered in meal. After a group devo time, and some swimming, everybody is tucked in (or about to be).

Tomorrow has us teaching Sunday School and children's church. We will also be singing a special, and promoting VBS with our first small puppet teaser. The remainder of the day will have us finishing the training.

Pray for a great day at Grace Baptist in West Valley with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

STEM '10 Week Two Day One

2010-07-10T01:05:00.000-04:00

Should I write this from an Eastern time zone, or Mountain time? (I could even include Pacific, as we were there too)

We loaded and left the church this morning @ 4am MST. Everybody was early, and we got out a bit early, which allowed us to get to the airport JUST ahead of the other church groups. That put us first in line to board, and gave us a shorter time through security. (Speaking of which, there were no security incidents!!) Our first leg had a stop and sit @ St Louis, and dropped us finally in Los Angeles. (My - Pastor Dave's - home town!). We had just over a two hour(11:55a - 1:55p PST) layover for lunch and lounging. (plus some exploring out past security by some of our rookie guys - meaning a second trip through security and a little scolding from a youth pastor.

Still, we all got on in time and had a short jump to Salt Lake City. After we pulled all our luggage, Jen and I (PD) went across the street to get the rental vans, leaving Andy to watch the troops. Over an hour later (rental companies are SO great to work with) we were loaded up and off to our hotel. (with the help of some fellow believers and their trucks and trailers)

Once rooms were divided up, and everyone got settled in. My sister and her husband (Traci and Darren Pautz) joined us to pick up Kate (they are doing the babysitting) and we all went out to the Old Spaghetti Factory. (good food, and lots of fun)

It is now about 11MST, so 1EST, and we are all in our rooms, with lights starting to go out. (lights out is midnight or sooner)

Tomorrow is the temple tour and lots of training. Pray for open eyes!

STEM '10 parents info

2010-07-08T22:45:00.000-04:00

If you need all the phone numbers and flight info, please email a request to
me: dburmanjr@firstbaptistelyria.org
or contact the office, they will have the information as well!

STEM '10 Week One Day Four

2010-07-08T20:28:00.000-04:00

Our final day in Cleveland.
21 VBSers
3+ decisions
Great job by the team canvassing, and doing their assignments.
Great tear down, and we will be meeting @ 5:30am to load and leave for SLC!!

STEM '10 Week One Day Three

2010-07-07T21:21:00.000-04:00

DAY 3.

This is when the newness has worn off a bit. One thing we had going that WAS new was the lunch and Wednesday service. Our teens helped with kids, served food, fellowshipped, sang a song, and did a lot of setting up, cleaning up, and tearing down.

VBS had 21 kids. It was a good number, and it included some pretty feisty children. Overall, however, the quality of the Bible time, craft time, games, and verses is very good. This team is working very hard and is doing a quality job.

Tomorrow will close out the first phase of our trip. Pray for decisions and a TON of kids (we think we can handle it!

STEM '10 Week One Day Two

2010-07-06T22:06:00.000-04:00

Not alot to report on other than another great day of VBS. About 8 new kids, but we were missing some due to the pool opening up (it's a hot one). Finished with Steak N Shake and hide and seek. (lots of fun, and only a couple of injuries!

Big day tomorrow with choir, me preaching, lunch serving, and the regular VBS.

Thanks for the prayers!

STEM '10 Week One Day One

2010-07-05T20:34:00.001-04:00

Our Youth Missions Trip started off very well today. We took off at 9:15a and arrived at Faith Baptist Community Center just before 10a. This left us with about two hours to transform the center into a racing themed setting, ready for Bible time, Craft time, games, puppets, and an opening and closing time filled with songs and fun.

The team did a great job (see the pics) and was pretty well prepared by lunch time. Lunch was provided by our friends at the center, and then it was time to get into the housing complex across the street for some canvassing and rounding up.

Our VBS had 19 young people arrive, which was a pretty good number, considering the holiday turnover. Everything ran very smooth, and the team did very well.

After some clean up, the we spent time doing our Missions Trip devos and spending a little time reviewing the day. We covered what we did well, what we needed to improve on, what we learned, and what was cool. Then we each said what we appreciated about something we saw somebody else do.

After our final cleanup and run-through for Tuesday, we loaded up and did a little split Chik-Fil-a and Chipotle time for supper and arrived home early.

Thanks so much for the prayers, pray for more kids, and more opportunities for our teens to show and share Christ's love.

On the Verge of Mssions Trip 2010

2010-07-02T12:11:00.000-04:00

Well, we are on the verge of our 2010 mission trip.

This trip will start with four days of canvassing and Vacation Bible School with Faith Baptist Community Center. We will be doing our Race Themed VBS with Amazing Aaron!

Friday, we will be off the Salt Lake City for Training, Canvassing, and Vacation Bible School for a week.

Please pray for the team as we minister and reach out in Cleveland and Salt Lake City. Pray for safety, smooth travels, ready hearts, and lots of opportunties to share the gospel and show the love of Christ.

Also, please pray as we are asking God to provide the final just under $3000 to make this trip possible.

We will, as usual, try to keep you up to date with photos and info here on the youth blog.

Feel free to leave comments and messages, we will also be trying to feed the
First Baptist Church of Elyria Youth Ministries
facebook page (it might be easier to comment there...)

Pastor Dave and the 2010 Misisons Team

The Great Golf-floG Open 2010

2010-04-30T08:26:00.001-04:00

May 22nd, the Youth Ministries here at First Baptist will be holding our Golf-floG Open.

What is a Golf-floG Open you ask. Simply put, it is a competition of golf/anti-golf (floG) proportions. Each level of competition will allow the participant to compete as a Golfer, or a floGger.

For example: The long drive competition will also allow floGgers to THROW the golf balls. Accuracy and distance will both be a factor!

We have rubber band golf, Frisbee golf, and putt-putt/kick-kick/slap-slap golf!

We will also be serving traditional golf foods: Candy Bars, Soda (or pop if you prefer), Hot Dogs, Cheesy Dogs, Chili Dogs, and Onion Dogs.

This event runs from 5:30p-8:15p

Cost is a WHOPPING $2!

So grab some friends, and form a foursome! (you can even bring along someone to caddy, if they would rather be your slave/scorekeeper)

And get out to First Baptist on

MAY 22nd!

for the
Great Golf-floG Open!

questions?
dburmanjr@firstbaptistelyria.org
440-864-5192

What to do, what to do.

2010-02-23T16:59:00.000-05:00

Well, the holidays are WAY in the rear view mirror, Senior High Winter Retreat has past (which was a blast), and it is still cold and snowy. I believe it will stay that way until June here in northern Ohio.

That MUST mean it is the Burman home Bible Study time if year!

This year, we will be doing a couple of GREAT Bible studies on Tuesday nights. One for the guys, and one for the girls.

We will be meeting for food and hangin' out at 7pm. The Bible study time begins at 8pm and ends at 9pm.

Plan on getting to the Burman home as many Tuesdays as you can!

PDave

WInter Blah's

2010-01-22T14:42:00.000-05:00

Well, I am sure your holidays went well, and you are already a pro at adding '10' at the end of your dates. The skies have been gray since November, and you know it will be that way until March.

I added some tunes to the blog site, and we have added permission slips, so dig around.

You are bored, you say? Blahs fill your heart?

What to do, what to do?

Well, you can plan ahead: SERVE!
Summer STEM applications are in, and you have just a week left to get it all squared away. Salt Lake City anyone?

You can plan for now: REACH!
Rec Center overnighter on Jan 29th. Invite your friends, see if you can match Pastor Dave in all-night energy.

You can get your year ready to go:
Winter Retreat is Feb 14th and 15th. A time to get away, relax, have fun, be challenged, and set the tone for 2010.

You can prepare yourself: GROW!
Wednesday nights, we are learning how to approach skepticism and what the world's biggest obstacles are to trusting Christ.
Sunday School, we are looking at God's plan for the future.

SO...Put down the cell phone, or the video game, or the keyboard, and

DO SOMETHING!!

PDave

Holidays

2009-12-11T11:34:00.001-05:00

Saturday, Dec 11th. we are having our annual Mall Invasion.

This is a chance for you to get your Christmas shopping done with style. (In the new church bus - if you haven't had a chance to roll in the new ride, this is your day!)

We will be going to South Park Mall, shopping there, eating there, and coming back to wrap presents (we provide wrapping paper, tape, bows, etc.!!

We will be LEAVING @ 8:30 and returning @ 1:30pm (that is a change)

From 1:30 to 2:00 we will be helping do a little cleaning up from the Friday Night musicale.

It will not take long, and we will really be helping the church as there will have been about 900 people through the auditorium for the Christmas Musicale!

Don't for get to plan for our HUGE Parent-Teen (and family) New Year's Eve bash. We will have games, gym time, movies, lots of food, and an overview of the 2010 year.

12-31 7pm 'til 2010.

Be looking for your Missions Trip Sign Up and Applications. They will be coming out in the next week.

AND, while I am gabbing.

This Wednesday, we will be continuing our Survivor Series.

We are currently looking at surviving Spiritual Doubts. This week, we start looking at - 'The Top 7 Reasons You Shouldn't be a Christian!'

Sunday School - We are starting the series on prophecy.

That's enough! (for now)

Pastor Dave

-If you didn't get this as an email, then I don't have your correct email address!

November 2k10

2009-11-06T10:19:00.000-05:00

Hey, this is a little update post for the month.

This weekend is the Hebron retreat "The Following"

Leave @ 5pm Friday, return @ 6:30pm Saturday.

Bring: Bible, clothes (could be cold) bedding, towel, toiletries, permission slips, and money

NEXT weekend: WOL Superbowl

leaving @ 5:30pm returning @ 6am

Three pages of permission slips (for the different locations)

BRING: $ and permission slipS!

Printable Permission Slip 09-10

2009-11-06T09:37:00.008-05:00

________________________ (name)
has my permission to go on the

________________________ (event)
on

______________ (date)
In the event my child becomes ill or is injured while under church supervision; I approve the sponsors taking the following steps:

Contact a parent or guardian of the young person and follow his instructions.

In the event that neither parent or guardian can be reached, contact the young persons’ physician and follow his/her instructions.

If the young persons’ physician cannot be reached, the sponsors will use their own judgement in contacting a properly licensed practicing physician and follow his/her instructions.

In the case my child is involved in an accident and requires treatment, the attending physician has my permission to examine and begin treatment in my absence.

I agree to relieve the church and youth group sponsors from any liability in connection with these activities and instructions.

________________________ (family doctor name)

________________________ (doctor phone)

________________________ (parents name)

________________________ (home phone)

________________________ (work phone)

________________________ (parents signature)

September

2009-09-04T08:16:00.003-04:00

Well, everyone is finally in school, so the facebooking during the day has settled down.

Junior High has started their AWANA year. I am teaching a series this year called "The Dif" speaking to why and how Christians are different. We will deal with a TON of relevant issues. What is a godly young man, what is a godly young woman, modesty, personal hygiene, personal appearance, life relationships, relationships with the other gender, communication, music and media choices, family, etc. Each area we will be looking at what the Bible specifically says, and what principles in the Bible apply.

JH Sunday School will be about Spiritual conflict! Pride v Humility, Deceit v Truth, Wickedness v Obedience, Doubt v Trust, Impurity v Purity, Distraction v Decision, Compromise v Set Apart, Resisting v Yielding, My Will v God's Will, Giving Up v Perseverance, Division v Unity, AND Halfhearted v Wholehearted.

WHEW! The Junior High will definitely be getting their fill of Good, Godly teaching, with a lot of fun mixed in.

At the Senior High level, Wednesday Nights has started with a deeper look at what it REALLY means to do God's will. We are looking at the Biblical principles brought forward from the book "Just Do Something" by Kevin DeYoung. This will be followed up by our series on Engaging the Mind. Where we will cover what the Bible says and how to think through, well, a lot, including:
creation
masculinity and femininity
God's view of the nations
a 2 week study on music
the blessing and pitfalls in both Christina and public schooling
biblical counseling v psychology
economics
a Scriptural view of science
origin of sin
naturalism v transcendentalism v theism
(not necessarily in that order)

Senior High Sunday School starts with a study through I and II Timothy and Titus. Looking at how a young person can be ready for the life and decisions they are facing and will face.

And that is just the teaching part. We also have events! (as you see on our calendar)

Our next big night is Saturday night, September 12. USC @ OSU! Big time college football with lots of food and fellowship, and we are praying for more decisions for Christ!

Short list of announcements:
Puppets starts on September 13th with a big kickoff!
BIG SNAC that night! ALL 7-12 teens invited!
Senior High Groupies Night Out will be on September 23rd

Keep Up! God is working, get on board!

PDave

Welcome to FALL!

2009-08-19T10:14:00.002-04:00

I continue to be the ever vigilant blogger. (and I am REAL active on TWITTER!)

Our new Youth Ministries year has already started off with a bang! Our new activity "FiredUp FridayNight" was a huge hit. We had 61 teens and 14 leaders. About 25 of the teens were new to our Youth Ministries, and they got to see us at our best (worst?!)

We had a hot wings eating contest, milder wings for everyone, 8 different salsas for the chips, popcorn, and dessert. We also had the Carlisle fire dept show up with one of their trucks, a great big wet water game, a HUGE bonfire, and lots of fun.

We also saw 7 decisions for Christ! Praise the Lord!

A big thanks goes out to all the leaders who helped. And to all the leaders and teens who invited. I can't think of an event where we had more NEW teens at.

What's coming up, you ask?

Look at the calendar!!! It's on the page!!!

HOME

2009-07-10T12:35:00.002-04:00

I know, I know,

Start strong and finish weak. I blogged so well, then fell off the map. I formally apologize!

SORRY!

While we were not as "ministry" busy. We were all over Boston, seeing the city, doing Bible studies, and going wherever Pastor Edmundson wanted us to go.

I would tell you all about it, but then you would not come on Sunday night to HEAR all about it.

So, see you SUNDAY @ 6pm!!

Pastor Dave

SATURDAY!!! JULY 4th!!!

2009-07-05T09:20:00.002-04:00

I will try to divide this up into two parts.

First, Team 1. The One Weekers had to take up an awesome, yet big task. Because Team 2 left so early, the campers would only be able to love on/say good bye to Team 1. At this point, I will assume they had a lot of goodbyes.

With Mike and Stuart in a van with all the girls, they headed home. The trip included singing If I Were a Butterfly, and sending Team 2 an audio text of it, plus doing devos. They arrived home @ 4:30PM, and all apparently are safe at home.

Now, about Team 2.

Boston was only a 5 hour drive. After saying Hi, and Bye to Deanna Parker, and those from Team 1 who had got up early, we headed off. One stop for gas and Dunkin' Donuts and another for a bathroom break (good bus discipline!) got us to Boston by 12:20p.

Our first stop was Matapan, MA. It was a very tough neighborhood, that a couple starting to work with Bill Edmondson (Our missionary for the week, and former prof of Pastor Dave) lives in. I will not be able to give all the wonderful info, it would take WAY too long, but I will take a shot at giving a good overview.

This is church planting at ground zero. Adam and Heather are the first and only white couple to move in to this neighborhood in a long time. It had caused quite a stir. (they even had their tires slashed on an almost daily basis for the first three weeks) They had invited all they had met in the neighborhood to a 4th of July BBQ in their backyard. Their home has been being slowly redone by Adan, the Edmondson's, and friends.

According to Doc Bill (our name for our missionary) All the people who arrived were new contacts accept for a number of people from his church. The local Community rep came, Mabel Graham. The state representative for the area came, and probably 9 or ten families/couples as well. Many races, many kids, two missionary couples, two interns from FBBC, and our team in the backyard fellow shipping hardcore and having a great 4th BBQ! Most visitors were unsaved, and Dana and I ministered to a special needs young man that came, Stevie (we determined God was getting us ready the week before, because he was very hard to understand, but once he knew we were getting most of it, he came out of his shell and really talked our ears off)

We also met Steve, from Doc's church. He is Harvard grad with a masters in Archeology. He helped us through Boston for the remainder of the day.

We left Aaron, Jared, and Derek with Doc's intern from FBBC, Andy to help clean up. The rest of us jumped into the bus (whose tires WEREN'T slashed!) with Doc, his wife, and Steve for a tour ride through the streets (lined with 4th celebrators) of Boston. I was nervous, the streets were tight, but we had NO incidents! (please tell Pastor Quick)

We all ended up at the Edmondson home. After I parallel parked the bus in an alley (WHOO HOO!) we all brought the luggage in the house. It filled their living room!

We all crashed and waited for the guys to return. (they were coming by subway) Supper was hoagies, and then we were prepped for the evening.

We were going to go downtown by rail/subway, walk through the streets downtown, tour a bit, then end up on the Charles River Bridge for Boston's 4th of July fireworks!

Doc lives two blocks from the rail, so we all got our week-long rail passes, and headed off!

What an exciting evening. Too many stories! After taking a coffee/ice cream break, we tried to find a spot to get too. It was shoulder to shoulder people! We had to make a train to get through the crowds. We went over fences, then back over fences, and finally got to the middle the bridge (or close to it) for the 10:30pm fireworks.

They were AWESOME! And we had a great time. Little did we realize the MASS of humanity we would have to weave through (in a train of 19 people) to get back to the station! The kids sang songs all the way back at the top of their lungs! (obviously fatigue was setting in) We sang, and laughed and some people in Boston probably were thinking that there were some really nutty Christians downtown!

A crammed train ride home, a walk up the street, and we were all (19!) back home. Floors had bodies everywhere, and finally we were all down.

Doc - Bill Edmondson is an incredible man. He has such a passion for this city, and has a dream of starting a church planting movement from here in Boston. He is a Baptist Mid-Missions missionary, who a reaching into a truly cross-cultural center. He has Bible studies @ Harvard, MIT, Harvard Medical, and multiple other schools. Just sitting and walking with him and letting us tell what God is doing is incredible. The guys were impressed that he had a study going with some of the New England Patriots and their strength coach. One of the new believers in his church is a former Top Gun instructor who is getting a Masters @ Harvard. After weeks of meeting in Doc's home, and after blasting Doc for believing in creation for weeks (Doc starts in Genesis with his Bible studies!) this man finally came to know the Lord. This is one of many stories. This ministry is reaching poor neighborhoods, and side-by-side are some extremely smart, talented, heavy thinking Harvard students.

It is the exposure to the wonders of ministry I was hoping for. I pray the Lord would take this ministry and encourage our teens to be all about reaching the world. Doc needs more team members to work here in Boston, and to reach out.

These teens are equipped to be eternity impactors! (is that a word?) As they see it happening before their eyes, may God call them to be ready to do whatever He wants, because there is no place more exciting than to be where God is working!!!

We are thinking about staying longer!! - But we will follow the Lord.

OH YEAH! Here are the pics for those of you who are scrolling down!

SATURDAY, July 4th

Pastor Dave

Friday PM

2009-07-05T09:02:00.002-04:00

Well we finished off the week with a huge night. After supper was the Who-Knows Annual Camper/Counselor softball game. Campers won. 15-2. Keystone Capers in the field, and I mean when the COUNSELORS were in the field! The video tells the story best, but I must say, it was some of the worst softball played, possibly ever!

Next came special music. The campers were allowed to sing special numbers. It was a very sweet time, with a lot of focus on songs about heaven and God's love. My mind went to the calling of eternity a BLESSED HOPE, and it surely is. Jen and Mike and Patty and I discussed what a blessing it thrill it is going to be to see these fellow believers in heaven with sound bodies and minds. (we will be way better off, too!)

Our team kept our part short in the interest of time. But we did review the 5(!) verses the campers had memorized. Gen 1:1; Ps 45:6; Matt 19:26; Col 1:16; Acts 16:31. Ethan the puppet (every one's favorite puppet) made his final appearance and let us know that he had won the Okomonji High Science Fair, then we sang our favorite two songs. If I Were a Butterfly and My God is So Big.

After this came the candles (too wet for campfire) and testimony time. Each camper that wanted to told us their name, cabin number, and when they were saved. I believe the count is up to four this week. One guy Roy, proudly proclaimed, "My name is Roy, from the Missionary Hut, and I got saved by Jesus Christ this week, WHOOO!" And we ALL cheered at the top of our lungs! Roy (who Mike Griswold helped lead to the Lord) definitely made an eternity changing decision! Smiles were everywhere.

This time continued with many declarations of salvation from YEARS ago. This ministry at the camp (we had found out) had been started by a church years ago who started a "Precious Jewel" ministry that got as big as 90, and they took a day at camp, then just had the crazy idea to do it for a whole week.

After the testimony time, it was the standard end of the night. Unmedicated campers out, then the medication lines. (The nurse had QUITE A WEEK)

Then your tired, but energized team packed up and loaded everything up they could from the tabernacle. Puppet stage, props, etc. Instructions wer given concerning the morning (Boston team would pull out @ 6:30am) and then an FBC Missions Trip tradition: Our First weekers lined up, and the Second weekers gave them hugs and said their goodbyes. We made Reilly cry, along with some unnamed others.

More pics from the night have been entered into the Tue-Fri picture album, so, here they are again!!

WHOOO! Now for the Saturday post!!!

Thursday and Friday

2009-07-03T12:10:00.005-04:00

Hello FBC Youth Missions Trip Followers.

Photo collection has been not really happening with such little "off" time for the teens. I hope to get some more up after lunch.

Yesterday was a pretty crazy day. It was cold, and then it cleared up a bit,and then it POURED! DELUGE style. We all went to the closest cover and then got everybody to the new dining hall for inside games. About an hour later, clear skies, and the pool even got reopened.

Our days (not including the rain) have been pretty consistent. Keeping to a tight schedule helps the campers. SO...here...is a run down of a non-rain changed schedule.

6:30 - staff devos (that's right! the team has been up and ready by 6:30)
7:00-7:30 - cabin devos - but actually it has been finish getting ready time.
7:30 - flag raising and morning exercises and prayers
Breakfast (and each meal) - the staff leaves to prepare the food. Including cutting into small pieces and making sure dietary requirements are being met. While this is going on, our team takes all the campers to wash their hands and make sure they have used the facilities. Then we take the campers to the dining hall. We eat on our own side of the dining hall, while the staff sits and assists the campers in eating. After that, the staff stays to eat while we take the campers to whatever is next - breakfast - cabin clean up, lunch - rest time, supper - an activity.

After breakfast
Cabin CleanUp - puppet and Bible time prep for some of us
Bible/Missions Time - We have 50 minutes with the girls and then the guys. This is when we do our puppet time. Ethan and the Science Fair (our new puppet productions recorded by you very own teens). We also teach a Verse (5 this week!) Dana does her creation story (in parts, if I remember!), we sing songs (If I were a Butterfly, My God is So Big, Lord's Army, God Bless America, etc.) and a Bible Story TIme with Pastor Dave.

Wrapped Around lunch and rest time (which is not necessarily restful)are different stations that the campers are divided up to do:

Lake Front - Speed Boat and Paddle Boats (they LOVE the speed boat)
Pool - We either swim or stay close
God's Helpers - Doing different work activities around the camp
Crafts - Building a lot of stuff
Snack Shack - Lots of goodies

Within these times many campers choose to just sit around and relax/color/play, which is allowed and encouraged. The teens stay with their campers where ever they go, and just interact all day.

Finally, there is supper, then an evening activity, and we do a final quick review chapel.

Campers to bed, Our team together for devos, then a snack and time with the camp staff, then to bed by about 10/10:30.

Now I am tired just typing this. Rain is starting up again!!

Off to lunch.

Pastor Dave

Boston Bound tomorrow!

Wednesday continued...

2009-07-01T16:47:00.003-04:00

Ahhhh. I am relaxing in front of the camp office, where I get the best web access. I can hear campers and teens singing songs (Amazing Grace and I Have Decided plus the ever present I've Got a Mansion - camper favorite)

Today started COLD and dreary. It was looking to be a tough day, but the clouds have parted, no rain was to be seen, and it is quite nice. campers are swimming and doing crafts and relaxing.

Our team has been getting quite the compliments from the staff. I have had multiple BaYouCa staff members say how patient and great our teens are. They think we are doing GREAT!

The campers are starting to ask of all if we will come back next year. They are even praying for it! This is quite a compliment, as this is one of the highlights of their year, and they would love for us to continue to be a part of it.

I am not sure how I can best explain how proud I am of these teens. They are spending almost 22 hours out of the day in the presence of the campers. They sleep in the same cabins, help them get from place to place, assist in bathroom breaks, showers, seizures, changing for swimming and pool time, Bible time, etc.
This creates a very exhausting atmosphere. Physically, mentally, and spiritually this team being pushed. Yet, they are really shining.

The only breaks are for meal time and for team devotions at the end of the night. This devotional time we review our devos (which everybody is doing very well at) and then talk about our best moments from the day. Each team member shares something that was very special to them. It is a time that we all have enjoyed very much. With lots of smiles and almost some tears. They all will have quite a few stories to tell after this week!

Tonight will be quite a night. We have the BaYouCa county fair, which involves a bunch of booths that the campers will go to. Your teens will be doing all sorts of things including being in a dunk tank, dressing up as clowns (I am looking forward to photographing that) and running different fun events.

Next up will be the WORLD FAMOUS BaYouCa Chicken BBQ! I already had a little taste, and it lives up to the billing. They have been basting and BBQing the chicken for almost 2 1/2 hours! The whole camp smells WONDERFUL!

AND, after that we get to watch the BaYouCa Precious Jewels Talent Show! It is sure to be a bunch of skits that will have us in total laughter.

One teen commented that he doesn't think he has frowned in a few days, there is just so much to smile about, and so many people are hugging and having fun.

I am trying to compile all the photos from the teens, but it is already reaching up around 400, so I will be getting the memory cards tonight and trying to sort through the best of the best.

Those will be online soon...

Thanks again for all the prayers. Thank you to those who are caring for our kids! And thank you for the encouragement by comments and by email!

We love you guys!

Tuesday

2009-07-01T09:21:00.000-04:00

The first FULL day of camp is complete. We are getting into the swing of things for Wednesday.

Yesterday had plenty of rain, and a little sun. Tuesday included men's and women's chapel time. We had puppets, Bible story time (Lazarus and the Rich man.

OOps, there was the bell for TODAY'S puppet and Bible time.

More Later... (hopefully)

Sunday - Monday AM

2009-06-29T10:23:00.006-04:00

Well, we have arrived! The teens are already interacting and playing with the campers as they arrive. They are all doing a great job.
Yesterday we travelled well through the rain. We switched up seating and who was in the van or bus at least three times; so everybody got to interact with each other.
Lunch was Cici's pizza, and supper was Burger King. We arrived @ 9:30pm and were greeted with pepperoni bread from BaYouCa.

After unloading, we had an orientation from the Camp Director, Russ Warner. He gave a very detailed set of instructions and things to be prepared for, including a slide show. After that, we had a little time of prayer and handed out our team devos for the week. Lights out was @11:30, we made it by 12!

I was very encouraged to see the team members in their Bibles and devo books this morning. Puppet stage and other props are set, cabin assignments are out, and the campers are here!

It is looking to be a great week. I will attempt to post pics and video tonight.

Thank you all for your prayers!!!

Sunday:

Monday:

ENJOY! more to come...

AHHHH!

2009-06-23T16:56:00.001-04:00

All right Youth Group!

A couple of things.

FIRST – You MUST forward/tweet/facebook/myspace/glob… your three best friends in the youth group this message and anyone else you think needs to get it.

Here is what is up…

YOUTH CHOIR!!! We now meet at 11:30am!!!!!! (not 1pm, because we sing at 1pm)

Be dressed and ready to go.

Those going to swings and things, we leave after we change from TFC (2:30ish). Taking the bus, will return about 9:15p.

You can still come to this very cool event, it runs from 3-9pm. Supper, all-access to S&T, great speaker and worship. COST: $25 (bring it along)

SPREAD THE WORD!!!

-Pastor Dave

STEM '09 info

2009-06-18T21:02:00.002-04:00

This post is mainly for the STEM '09 team and parents.

A bigger version of this with phone numbers will be available on Sunday, along with medical release forms/permission slips.

A couple of extras including a to bring list, dress code, and sleeping arrangements are at the end of this post.

Itinerary:
Sunday, June 21:
9a FBC of Elyria Children’s Church set up
10a Children’s Church see/use program Day 1
Monday, June 22:
4.30-6.30p FBC of Elyria Community Outreach cookie handouts
Sunday, June 28:
8a FBC of Elyria van/bus load up
9a Sunday School
10:15a AM Worship service
11:30 change into travel clothes
Noon Leave for BaYouCa
En route lunch/supper
9p (ish) Camp BaYouCa arrive/settle
orientation
??p team devos/Lights Out
Monday, June 29:
Camp BaYouCa Up and Ready
morning personal devos
Breakfast
Lunch
Assist w/campers
Supper
5p (?) Evening Chapel
Intros Pastor Dave & team
Songs Reilly leads
Verse Jen leads

Team devos
Lights Out
Tuesday-Friday Camp BaYouCa
Up and Ready
morning personal devos

AM Chapel
Intro Pastor Dave
Songs Reilly leads
Verse Daily verses team
Creation Days Dana K.
Puppets puppet team
Bible Story Pastor Dave

Lunch
Serve throughout afternoon
1 hour ‘next day’ chapel practice

Supper
Evening Chapels (guys/girls)
PM team devos
Lights Out
Friday night pre load

Saturday, July 4
6:30am Team 2 leaves
8a Team 1 clean up and leave
Personal devos in vehicles

3p Team 2 arrives in Boston
5p Team 1 arrives at FBC of Elyria
Late team devos/Lights Out

Team 2 schedule
Sunday, July 5 personal AM devos
AM ministry
Choir, testimonies (?)
Team devos/Lights Out

Mon-Wed am personal devos
Community Outreach Ministries
w/Bill Edmondson

Thu, July 9 Travel Home
9p Arrive home

SUNDAY NIGHT - STEM report - 6pm-7pm

Chapel Itinerary
Daily days of creation Dana Kincaid
Puppets Ethan -Ethan
Bryan -Emily
Stuart -Ashley
Parker -Reilly
Newman -Mel
Teacher, props -Katelyn B, Amanda, Wes
Prop Builders Aaron Goodrich, Phil Curless
Verse Teams Day 1 Aaron, Becky, Steph, Bryan
Day 2 Carissa, Jesse, Derek,
Day 3 Phil, Kellee, Katelyn Q
Day 4 Jared, Liz, Kellee, Stuart
Story Pastor Dave, w/called up leaders for acting purposes
Prayer Time Thank God for being
PM Chapel song, both verses, PM puppet review, story review, prayer time

TO bring:

Bible, Pen, bedding (including bag or blankets, pillow, air mattress), toiletries, towel or two, swim suit (ladies - modest one piece - tank-inis are allowed if thet adequately cover), Team 2 (Boston) will need Sunday clothing, Team 1 (BaYouCa only) will not need dress clothes, grubby clothing (this is camp) including grubby shoes, regular shoes (tennis shoes or sandals), church camp stuff (bug spray, flashlight, etc, you know the drill), permissions slip/medical release form,

dress code - modest shorts (finger length at least, t-shirts (no tanktops outside sleeping quarters)

Sleeping arrangements:
First Sunday - girls guy separate
Mon-Thu - teens will be assigned cabins to help put campers down, then meet together in Burman's cabin for team devos, then return to their assigned cabins to sleep.
Friday - Girls/guys separate after pre load for Saturday
Sat-Thu - Guys at a church, girls at missionsry home

WHEW!!

Don't forget. Sunday we have children's church, prep is @ 9a, CChurch is @ 10:15a
Monday - Church Community outreach - 4.30p-6.30p

You must let me know if and why you will not be at either of these events.

Questions, comments??

dburmanjr@firstbaptistelyria.org

HEBRON combined Annual Service (and some musings)

2009-05-05T08:06:00.010-04:00

Our church hosted the HEBRON 2nd annual combined serveice/meeting on May3. It was a fantastic service! GREAT music with a 200+ combined choir, orchestration, congregational singing, giving away camp scholarships and ministry scholarships, great message from Dr. Mike Peck, and a few organizational details. Child care was provided by Skyview (thanks guys!)

We are so blessed to be in a church that is in a fellowship that is sound in spirit and in truth!

I will be adding some vids here: Be patient!

Canticle of Hope

The Point of Grace

And, for those of you wondering about the whole GARBC/OARBC/HEBRON thing....I have some comments I will reserve for my personal blog.

Our participation within these three fellowships (GARBC/OARBC/HEBRON) has been great for our church. We are independent and autonomous. We make our own decisions who we as a church associate with, andf we gladly choose to associate with these fellowships and the churches and people that make them up.

What a fellowship!

PDave

Twilight

2009-04-02T13:00:00.004-04:00

My first review!!!

After reading a number of reviews and doing some research, one can get a lot of information on a movie/book series. Normally, I refrain from actually seeing the movie or reading the book. With the promoted 'cleanness' of the movie, I had been considering renting it.

With the rise in popularity and the increase in interest by young people (mainly girls), I wanted to have my own take on this, not just Focus in the Families, or other sites/authors. This happened because I was given the opportunity to view the movie by a friend who had purchased the movie to review it themselves.

Usually at this point, like other reviews, I would start with positives, then negatives, than a final analysis with suggestions for parents and teens. The hard part is that even the positives are really wrapped up in lies.

For example. Bella, while struggling with being in a new environment, is smart and respectful. The problem that I picked up on was the (at least in this point) almost perfection of Bella. She is made out to be what every girl wants to be true in their own life. She always knows best, every piece of advice she gives works for other people/couples. All the guys like her and are willing to sacrifice their own relationships to be with her. The girls also seem to like and follow the advice from Bella. She is kind to her parents and is willing to lie to protect them. She even seems to have every answer to her parents' problems.

This is what every teen girl wants to think. They know all the answers and they are in control. (I guess we all would like to think that!) She even knows how to handle Edward, and actually seems to control him in many ways. Positives, but wrapped up in the fantasy of Bella being always right and almost always in control of herself, her relationship, the dangerous situations she willingly places herself in, and even in control of the relationships around her, which would have all the boys flocking to her if she would let them. The positives are wrapped in lies. Lies about how life really is.

Here's another, Bella and Edward do not have sex. Positive, right? Well, the whole relationship is about the total thrill of forbidden fruit. Bella is (again in a very "every girls dream" fantasy sense) absolutely intoxicating to Edward. He actually calls her like heroin. I found this funny, because a while back, I was speaking with our teens about purity, and warned them that once they start marching down the road of physical/sexual intimacy, it acts like a drug. It is hard to get enough of it. In fact, in terms of physiological reactions and addictions, sex/porn/physical stimulation and satisfaction is the biggest drug this world seeks.

The physical and sexual tension in this story is INTENSE. Bella allows Edward to be in her bed through the night, while she is just in her undergarments. They periodically test their ability to kiss and touch without driving Edward too crazy, otherwise he would kill her/consume her. There is, physically speaking, a continual pushing the limits as far as possible. It is, in a sense, a story completely about playing with fire, and not caring about the potential consequences. Why? Because Bella loves Edward and would sacrifice her soul and eternity and family and anything else to be with him. Which she figures out after just a few times being around him.

As a youth pastor, I know that the young ladies that are not informed about, warned about, and kept from giving into these types of feelings oriented-life changing decisions have a potential to fall, and fall hard. These falls usually are into life changing decisions and relationships that will taint their relationship with God and all others for the rest of their lives. Many, after being willing to give everything away including family, friends, and their whole self, will have nothing but loneliness, regret and lifelong consequences.

I guess what is fascinating about this story is how accurate it is about what teens want. It is a story about what a teen girl wants. He is a hunky, protective, addicted (to her), strong, mysterious, committed guy, who is only and all about her. He doesn't even sleep, he just watches her sleep.

And the guy is accurately portrayed as always on the edge of totally giving in to his passions (which every teen guy is in hormonal terms) but in this fantasy world, he doesn't, because of his love for Bella. Not very realistic.

My wife made a great point about what this movie does. It awakens physical and relational passion in young girls even more so then guys. I, as a guy, was not really tuned into that, I found it interesting and even enjoyed a bit of the sci-fi/action/fantasy side of it (and laughed a couple of times at the different stereotypes thrown around in the high schoolers) My wife, however said it reminded her of some of her thoughts and struggles as a teen. I would not want my daughter thinking or feeling the thoughts and feelings this story wants to awaken in young women. The Word of God warns young women to keep from stirring up this love too early. (Song of Solomon 2:7; 3:5)

This movie sells and resonates because it is VERY passionate and erotic; mainly in very female terms. Almost in the same way that immodestly dressed women and skin can trip up a guy. The passionate, forbidden, thrill of this is designed to stir up feelings that are to be reserved for couples getting closer to marriage (in the commitment phase) and in physical terms, not until they are married.

Coming from a Mormon author, it was not surprising to me that the eternal man-woman relationship is over emphasized. It is part of one of the lies that the Mormon church plays on. The eternality of earthly relationships. Many turn to Mormonism because they want to have a family and marriage for life. THEIR relationship is what is of eternal importance, even to the point that their relationship will make them GODS for eternity. The HEIGHT of pride is making oneself their own God. Bella does it, the vampires do it, and the Mormons do it. Again, it is all fantasy and lies. Marriage, the male-female relationship, and the family (as well as the church family) is what God uses today to bring him glory and impact the world. In eternity, we will be married to Christ. Our relationship will not need the bond of physical intimacy; it will be far beyond anything we can imagine.

Also there is the whole vampire, undead, wear-wolf, murder, blood drinking, (with more to come in greater amounts later in the series). It is, in terms of today's media, not too over the top. Vampires/fantasy/sci-fi is good when there is a good story line, and the story line wrapped around the relationship of Bella and Edward is intriguing and fresh. The word of God is clear that Christians are to have no part in dealing or thinking about witchcraft and divination. This is why I had problems with Harry Potter and much of the Wicca/witchcraft promoting thing being forced through the media pipelines in to our heads. I am softer on sorcery/magic in a fictional/mystical sense. Like worlds that our not our own. See Sci-fi/Lord of the Rings/Narnia/Shannara. The question here is tough, and I am still thinking/praying through it. Do vampires, which are fictional characters, fall into this realm?

I am always a little worried when the portrayal is in a modern world context. This can be a stumbling block to those who lose sight of the line between fantasy and reality. At first I was neutral, but as I thought about things like – cannibalism, sacrifice of animals, and pagan practices, I am leaning that vampire stories do not fall into my "ok to read it/watch it as entertainment" category. (Which means I should include, Angel, Buffy, etc. as no-nos)The relationship/lust/forbidden fruit story line is of more concern to me. (Which of course means I should be putting down pretty much every teen angst/teen relationship show that is out there – you know- the 90210 repeats – men lifting trees- the Uh-O C, etc. etc. , AND almost everything on Lifetime and the WB)

OK, I have decided, stay away from vampires. I mean, vampire stories, not actual vampires.

One book on today's appeal of the underworld and witch craft makes an interesting statement about the correlation to who we are as spiritual beings. We are interested in things like eternity, living eternally, perfect love, sacrificial love, fallen beings stuck in difficulty searching for an answer.

It seems to me that when the world answers these longings, the results are corruption, deceit, consequences, and a twisted sense of satisfaction that never really satisfies. The world has twisted the gift of sexual intimacy. A gift designed to glue/cement a man and a woman together in the marriage relationship. Unfortunately, that bonding agent always creates pain and strife when use outside of marriage.

Twilight is all about playing with fire and forbidden fruit. I will not be one to allow, or even worse promote this type of temptation to my children or my teens. I would urge godly parents and leaders to consider making the same commitment.

Pastor Dave Burman, Jr.

Winter Retreat 09

2009-02-20T14:34:00.004-05:00

Here are some of the coveted videos!

More to come, slowly but surely

God's Bridge to Eternal Life Part 3

2008-09-11T11:37:00.005-04:00

If you have decided to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, we want to hear about!
We would also like to answer any questions you might have.
Please email us at: dburmanjr@firstbaptistelyria.org

God's Bridge to Eternal Life Part 2

2008-09-11T11:36:00.001-04:00

God's Bridge to Eternal Life Part 1

2008-09-11T11:31:00.003-04:00

A Little Follow Up

2008-09-03T09:03:00.003-04:00

Just when you thought the summer was over:

From our Missions Trip. One of the teams did decoration prep for Fairhaven Baptist Chruch, and they wanted to let us know how those decorations turned out.

Here is the email from them:

First Baptist Youth Group:

Thank you so much for your help when you came down with your youth group to help with our VBS directions while you were on your missions trip to Kansas City! Our decorations turned out terrific! We had a to make a few modifications to some things, but everything turned out great! Our eight foot tall T-Rex in the corner and the 6 1/2 foot pterydactal flying across the sanctuary was awesome! The worst part of VBS was taking all of our hardwork down! We didn't get to make the Volcano but we used the paper that the girls painted to be the inside of a cave that the kids passed through as they came into the church, and the cliff walls turned out great too! Thank you so much for your help!

Pastor Nathan Gast

Good job, team!

Printable Permission Slip - 08-09

2008-08-24T16:20:00.002-04:00

Some STEM Grand Canyon Pics

2008-07-30T10:29:00.001-04:00

The Final Entry (maybe)

2008-07-23T09:45:00.003-04:00

Well, we are all home and followed up our missions trip with an intense week of VBS here at are home church of FBC.

I (Pastor Dave) am at Camp Manitoumi in Illinois. I appreciate your prayers as I speak to the SHers here. A number of you had requested the final entry, so here it is.

THURSDAY

Our final day of major ministry work. We were challenged by Pastor Jeff with a pile of 1500(!) flyers to hand out! A smile is crawling across my face as I think about the teams reaction. They went out and canvassed hard and fast. It took just a little over 2 hours to get them all done. Which brings our total up to 3000+ homes reached with information about Oasis Baptist Church. The team was tired, but they had accomplished a lot.

For lunch, we got to go to the Dale's beutiful home and have some GREAT burgers, hotdogs, and chicken off the grill. We also did some relaxing and then went back to the hotel to get ready for our final evening of VBS.

VBS was awesome, our registraion for the week exceeded 50 and we had a BIG group for the last day. Everything went very well. Pastor Dave raced all the kids, we had the GREAT BIG-WHEEL race, and we also had to find out if Awesome Aaron (puppets) won his triathalon. After announcong the winners, all the kids sang and shouted and had a great time. Pastor Jeff then came up and had all the kids line up and give big hugs to all the team. I saw some tears from some unlikely sources!

After that, in the midst of an unusual Phoenix downpour, we cleaned up. The team worked hard and fast getting every thing back to normal. We then headed off to eat at a nice restaraunt. BUT...it was closed, so we ordered Papa Johns and had it delivered to Pastor Dave and Jen's room for devos and food.

FRIDAY

Our trip to the Grand Canyon. Four hours each way, and well worth it. For all but three of us (Jen, Mel, and Kristen) it was our first visit. All I can say is WOW! God has given us a magnificant display of his creation there. We all enjoyed the view, acted like tourists and bought up a bunch of souveniers, and wandered around avoiding Pastor Dave. (because I was a bit grumpy, for some reason - sorry guys)

On the way home, Pastor Dave had figured we had saved up enough to go out REALLY nice, so we had Outback! OH YEAH!.

Once we got home, the girls packed up and the guys got the trailer ready. Most of the girls just threw their luggage in withthe guys so they wouldn't have to check any luggage. The guys got all pre-packed and went to bed since they would be getting up @ 5:30 the next morning.

SPLITING UP

The next day, the guys (with MAJOR help from Mike Griswold who the Lord miraculously transported to Phoenix just for us) made it from Phoenix to Tulsa in one day. WIth quick stops and bathroom/gas/food stops.

The ladies flew home, and got back late that evening.

The guys then had to get from Tulsa to Elyria (with a stop in St Louis to pick up Derek and David Burman) NO PROBLEM! They got in around 1am, unloaded the van, put stuff away, and then headed home to get a bit of sleep then rise for VBS (as I stated at the beginning)

There is so much I want to add to this, but you will all have to come to our Report service this Sunday (July27) @6pm to here it for yourself.

I will try to add more pics later!!

Pastor Dave

Photos from Tuesday through Thursday in AZ

2008-07-10T18:53:00.001-04:00

Here are the new photos. We have added to the old ones as well!!

Another Two Day Blog

2008-07-10T02:14:00.003-04:00

It is 11 o'clock on Wednesday night. WE have had a great past two days. On Tuesday we hit 700 houses with flyers about the church. PAstor Benner took us to one of the local pools. It was fun and we all enjoyed the cold water of the pool. We also had a great night of VBS where 2 kids got saved. Afterward we played volleyball with some of the teens from the youth group at Oasis Baptist. They were Isaac, Elian, David, Nacho, Sierra, and Nicole. We then went to Applebee's at 10 o'clock at night. We were there till 11:40, and we had fun fellowshipping. They also helped with VBS on Tuesday.
Today we went canvassing and hit 900 houses with flyers. We then went to lunch and gathered our laundry to make a laundry run. Jen, Carissa, Liz and Dana went to find the laundry mat and everyone stayed and either slept or went in the pool. The four of us went to the first laundry mat closed at 2 and we got there at 1:40, so we found another one. There, Dana stayed behind while Jen took Carissa to the emergency care to find out what was wrong with the spots on her back. Liz went too to keep Carissa company. Dana was left in the very hot laundry mat for an hour and a half to keep a eye on the laundry, but we made it back to the hotel with clean laundry and medicine, and we then went to the church and got ready for VBS. The church provided dinner for us and we had a great night of VBS. We had 3 kids get saved. After VBS, we came back to the hotel and had a pool party. We then had devos and now the boys are playing x-box and the girls are crashed in Jen's room, since the guys won't let us play ='(

written by Dana Kincaid--Psalm 9:1,10
edited by Kelly =p

pics coming tomorrow:

A Two Day Blog

2008-07-09T03:03:00.002-04:00

It has been a full two days. Apologies who were waiting with baited breathe the last two days. The schedule went late Sunday night, and the computer was left at the church last night.

SUNDAY

Everyone got to sleep in a bit after our long haul through Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. The team met Pastor Jeff Benner, Pastor Wayne Dale, and the Oasis Baptist family at 9am.

The team was responsible for special music for the AM service and the afternoon service. Pastor Dave and Aaron gave an impromptu puppet promo for the VBS. Caleb played piano for a special, and Pastor Dave preached for both services.

Between services there was a carry in lunch with some GREAT chicken and better fellowship. It is always good to fellowship with fellow believers. There are a lot of children in this church, and they added some familiar faces for the VBS.

Sunday evening saw two hours of VBS preparation. This is where these teens shine. They are very creative and transformed the building into a race track with pitstops for each of the VBS areas. Bible, Crafts, and Games.

MONDAY

Keep decorating! Lots more work went into the church. Our supply list was filled by WalMart, Home Depot, and Michaels, and work continued! The morning also included VBS prep as the team worked on their assignments for Monday. Bible lessons were taught/practiced. The puppets went through their skit three times (Can I get a What, What, Kevin Quick!!!) The crafts were prepped, and the games were set up.

The Dales took us to a great Chinese Buffet for lunch, and got us a great deal! A couple of the guys showed off and then ate mini octopus! But the Iowa/Nebraska raised Pastor Dave declined the offer to partake in the eight legged delicatessen.

VBS!

After a little rest in the afternoon, it was finally time. Kids started showing up 25 minutes early, but good preparation had coloring stations ready for them. Noone knew how many to expect with church members just getting back from vacation.

All were really excited when we had 30 kids for our first night. This should be a good indicator that we could have up to 50 by Wednesday (whether the building can handle it or not)

There were also two brand new families who brought in their kids. These were families that had never been in the building and were a result of canvassing and inviting. Not only did they bring their kids, they stayed and hung around. They talked with Pastor Jeff and Pastor Wayne and their wives. They also interacted with the other church families that had hung around. This was a very rewarding aspect of the evening. Because of the layout, they stood and sat in the back and watched the teens sing, play, interact, and love their kids. They also heard the songs and heard the puppets and most importantly, heard the gospel. There were also numerous brand new kids whose parents dropped them off and picked them at the end of the evening.

All in all, it was a GREAT start to VBS. This team is great, and after a good VBS post-evaluation, some Chik-Fil-A, and a quick time of devos together, they were off to bed.

Until the next brag session- -I mean – update!

Only four days left until the waves start coming home!

Pics from Sunday and Monday:

In Arizona (finally), and some actually made it home!

2008-07-06T03:58:00.009-04:00

Well, it is 1am locally, and 4am Eastern.

The Level 2 team has arrived in Phoenix and is tucked in. We had a great day Friday. The guys got the biggest section of roof shingled, and helped move all the shingles to the roof.

Pastor Aaron Patton (of Oak Grove Baptist Church, who graciously provided free lodging for us) and the owner of the home which is used for local missions work expressed tremendous amounts of gratitude. They also mentioned numerous times how incredible the young people have been the entire week.

Friday afternoon, after packing up all the Arizona crew, we headed off to Camp CUMCITO, a mission camp for inner city kids. The girls decorated, got all dressed up, and waited on all of the teen girls having their camp "special" dinner. The girls received a standing ovation for their ministry.

The guys, still recovering from their roof work, were forced to leave the all-girls camp, and go out to find (much to their delight) an incredible BBQ joint, where they ate VERY well.

All this came to a close about 8pm. This is where the team had to part ways. The Arizona team had a late night to get to Oklahoma City (they got there at 2am). The level 1 teens went back to KC for the last night.

Saturday was ALL travel:

The young ones went and dropped off Bethany (who we all had a really hard time parting with - she seemed sad to be going back to Texas, which is saying something from a Terry) then they headed home. They took a couple of stops, including one at the St. Louis Arch, and got home about 1am Eastern.

Team two crossed two time zones into Arizona. Getting in about 45 minutes ago (12:15am) ALL were asleep as I (Pastor Dave) completed the last two hours into Phoenix.

We look forward to Sunday School, AM Worship, Lunch, Afternoon Service, and Evening VBS canvassing with Oasis Baptist Church tomorrow. Whooo Hoooo!

Thank you soooooomuch parents for your prayers.

Kevin, Barbi, Dan, Josh, Bryan, Wes, Katie, Mandy, and Bethany!
We miss you guys!!!

Finally going to sleep after 900 miles on the road!
Pastor Dave

Photos: (we have been updating the older shows, so click on one and look for more!)

Short and Sweet

2008-07-04T01:20:00.002-04:00

Well, these teens did it again. They tore off half a roof, created major decorations for VBS and accomplished all they were assigned today, AND MORE. The pictures should tell enough of the story.

We are all bushed, and are in bed after an unbelievable time of sharing our favorite funny moments and serious/inspirational moments. Each one gave one or more of each. There was a ton of laughter, fun, reflection, tears, and an all around wonderful capper on a tough day.

Thanks for all you parents following our adventures. Tmorrow has some big stuff and the sending forward of the PHX crew!

We have added pictures to the other days, so you can click on them and see more pictures from our previous day's exploits!

We did check our insurance, and stayed VERY SAFE today. (well, safer than Alaska!)

PDave

Wednesday

2008-07-03T00:22:00.005-04:00

Hey--Barbi here. I am so incredibly proud of our kids this week (especially today). Since Dave & Jen spent most of the morning driving around to get the wonderful, air-conditioned green van back to us, and Kevin spent the whole day finishing the roof, I got the wonderful opportunity to watch our kids show us how amazing they could be! I could seriously cry when I start to think about how much pride I have of their attitudes while they got up extra early (5:45am) to go to Faith Fellowship Baptist Church to finish all of our work. In the last three days, we have completed and accomplished an amazing amount of work. Here is what was accomplished...

OUTSIDE
-front windows cleaned & stained (Kristen-Dad, you'd be so proud!)
-mulched & weeded all beds
-trimmed all bushes
-sprayed cracks in parking lot & sidewalks
-painted all doors
-back windows cleaned & stained
-back wall (3 coats of paint)
-side wall (2 coats of paint)
-side wall vines torn down & disposed of
-patio area cleaned out
-scrubbed opposite side brick wall
-all mowing of entire property
-weed trimming

SHED (pretty much everyone, but Brian was the all-dayer)
-scraped
-primed
-painted
-organized on inside
-vines pulled away & disposed of

ROOF (Dan, Kevin, Josh, Aaron, Jarod, Derek)
-finished 1700 sq. ft. roofing project, completed with vents and caps
-steeple painted
-gutters cleaned out & stabilized (Wes, Ethan, Derek)

KITCHEN (Reilly, Katie, Mandy)
-washed down all cabinets, counters, appliances, walls, & floors
-oven-cleaned the pans
-cleaned out inside of cabinets
-divided out the expired food
-cleaned out inside of fridge
-organized towel drawers & other cabinets & drawers

NURSERY (Kristen)
-washed windows
-washed down walls
-vacuumed

UTILITY CLOSET (very, incredibly yucky) BETHANY, LIZ, CARISSA, and more
-emptied out
-vacuumed
-scrubbed down walls, floor, shelves
-threw old stuff out
-organized supplies

GIRLS BATHROOM
-entirely scrubbed down from floor to ceiling

GUYS BATHROOM (Dana, Caleb, Derek, Ethan, Kristen, Katie, Mel)
-entirely scrubbed down
-painted walls and stall dividers
-replaced stall door hinge & spring

SMALL FOYER ROOM (Liz, Carissa)
-dusted
-vacuumed
-organized

MAIN FOYER
-vacuumed (Mel--all day yesterday almost!)
-trash emptied
-borrowed carpet cleaner & cleaned carpet

SANCTUARY
-dusted all woodwork
-vacuumed

Kelly has a message--Dad, I can paint, and I'm actually pretty good at it.

ANYWAY--THESE KIDS ARE ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!! and we love them very much. They are representing their families and church and their God very well. Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to see your kids in action.

Up tomorrow:

Another roof, VBS decor, Friday has roofing and the ladies doing a teen girls banquet! (Friday also has the Level 2ers leaving for PHX)

Wednesday Pics:

STEM 08 - 1st Monday and Tuesday Pictures

2008-07-01T22:52:00.003-04:00

STEM 08 - 1st Sunday Pictures

2008-07-01T22:51:00.004-04:00

A Spectacular "Wha-chi-mation" of a day

2008-06-30T21:15:00.029-04:00

There is a new theme for this year's STEM trip. That word is "whachimation" It is from our puppet skits.

Yesterday we spent 15 hours in the car and made it a very memorable one. We hit the 100,000 mile mark, changed seats about 6 times, and went to a 'crazy' CiCi's Pizza for dinner and finally made it to the church. WE soon though found out that we all had community showers (some of the shower heads don't even work). Not long after we were all headed to bed at 12 oclock central time.

WE started out today with the lovely sound of the car alarm, and boys playing basketball. Our main goal for today was to just get there. After devos we left to find Faith Fellowship Baptist Church, an hour later of driving in circles, we get to the church and work on weeding and roofing. Next we went to the airport and got Bethany. We then left and found a walmart to get some food and WATER!!!!! BUT while we were there the van decided to lose its air-condtioning. So now after 387miles of Pastor Dave and Dan Brady driving, we know that we will be without the van Wednesday and will hopefully have a new "working" air-conditioner. We finally made it to the camp with only one bump in that road and we weeded, painted, and water-proofed.

But the highlight of the night was playing human fooseball. We all decided that we want one for our church. So now it is 'quiet' time. Josh is here alone with all the teens because all the others went to Home Depot to get supplies for the Faith Fellowship Church (shingles, paint, brushes, rakes, etc.) We are very excited about the rest of the week and can't wait to see what the Lord has in store.

Galations 6:14--Dana(the spokes person)Carissa and Liz (The fixer upers =]) Hi mommies!

P.S.
We are holding Joshua hostage for a ransom of 1,000 smackaroos. So, if he doesn't come back it's your fault. *Carissa and Liz... but shhh keep it a secret, k?

Hey, today was exciting and tiring and fun all at the same time. The devos Pastor Dave gave us are very encouraging. - Mandy

Hey Mom and Dad- I'm not dead yet!! Just thought you would want to know. Love, Reilly:)

We celebrated Jared Vincent's 18th birthday tonight with oreo ice cream sandwiches!

night night!

Summertime

2008-06-12T10:56:00.003-04:00

In case you haven't noticed, summer is upon us. That means the 2008 missions trip is upon us.

We will be travelling to Kansas City and then on to Phoenix for a big time, lots of variety ministry op. Please be praying as the financial support has a ways to go. We are almost halfway to our support.

Cedar Point Day was a blast, and summer Wednesday Night Youth has us looking through ways to worship WITHOUT music.

Late in the summer, our Junior High will be having their annual PREP retreat to get them ready for the new school year.

VBS is also a major part of our summer, so, get yourself signed up for helping in this BIG TIME ministry here in our church.

This summer will also include the following:
Taste testing of the new Mountain Dew flavors
Painting the Youth Room
Getting ready for the new fall guys Bible Study (Guys that Actually Grow - GAG)
Four youth groups visiting and using our youth room for lodging. (another ministry to others)
and...
The new 9th graders are arriving! (they are SUCH a mature group for their age!)

Here is your weekly assignment:
Each week complete as many of these ten ways to worship without music each week.

Pray
Read Your Bible Regularly
Obey God (hopefully at least once in the week)
Tithe
Build a Deeper Relationship with a Fellow Believer (met someone new in the church)
Share Jesus (bring Him up, talk about the truth in the Bible, invite someone to church...)
Serve Others (get creative)
Develop a thankful Attitude (say it...come on..."Thank You ______")
Turn an area of Your life over to God (money, bfriend, gfriend, job, school, etc)
Think Biblically and Eternally (Make investments)

That's all for this month. Unless I get some more free blogging time.

This blog WILL be the update site for the missions trip, so bookmark us!

We will have photos and info while we are away!

PDave
Gal 6:14

Updated Calendar

2008-04-15T08:37:00.000-04:00

Anyway, I have updated the calendar, and it is a public calendar, so you can upload it from the web. I also double it up, placing an agenda format so things are a bit easier to see!

All two of you (one if I don't include my wife) keep note!

Maybe...

2008-04-15T08:35:00.002-04:00

Maybe the key to good blogging is smaller posts!

Input?

(I am so proud to have [make a post on blog] crossed off my to do list)

Back to the blog

2007-11-13T09:20:00.000-05:00

I was reading in an article the other day that blogs have peaked, and will now plateau. This seems to be a result of blog fatigue. Blogging at a high rate on start-up, then losing steam until the blog is never again posted to. This is seen in how many blogs are starting up on a daily basis, and how many are not being used/closed.

I KNOW that this has been the case with this blog, but I digress.

It has been quite a start to the school year here @ First Baptist Church Youth Ministries.

We have seen the puppet team keep moving forward. They have participated in Crosstrainers, Youth Night, and will be starting up a ministry into the senior homes in the area.

Sunday School attendance has been steady. The JH are learning about the church. The SH has been digging into The Bible and the big words about it. (revelation, inspiration, inerrancy, canonicity, transmission, translation, illumination, etc.)

Wednesday Nights include JH AWANA going through the TREK series. They also spend time playing and memorizing scripture. The Senior High has been through a couple of major sections. First, we learned how to share Jesus without fear through the '5 questions' system. We have heard great stories about our young people and leaders sharing their faith. We also spent a few weeks in Ephesians looking into the ways of spiritual growth. Currently, we are walking through the aspects of What Pleases God; based loosely on the book The Pleasures of God. This series takes very seriously the fact that the more we meditate on God and who He is (though the Word and in our daily walk) the more we can become like Him. (through the H.S. working through us.

EVENTS

We have had a busy fall.

Starting with an excellent JH Retreat in August with 20 Junior Highers preparing for the school year and building up friendships within the youth group.

We also had on August 29th, RBP's Next Generation Seminar with Mel Walker. 50 youth pastors and leaders from the area attended the seminar.

In September our Youth Choir started up and worked through its first song for the year and sang for the congregation on our Youth Night. We also had a special Wednesday night with the church family when one of our favorite missionaries, Lloyd Larkin, came and presented/thanked our church for being involved with his church in Salt Lake City.

A new ministry was started this fall called RTS (Ready to Serve). This ministry is a group pf our young people who have put their name on a list to be ready to do anything needed within the ministries of our church. They have already filled in for a children's church, set up the gym (tarps/chairs/table clothes/etc) and torn it down for our missions conference banquet, washed dishes, watched little kids for choir practices, and a number of other little things around the church. PRAISE THE LORD for a youth group that is so involved and willing to serve within their church.

We also had a good showing at the HEBRON paintball event and brought 23 to the HEBRON Leadership Retreat @ Skyview Ranch.

Mix in three SNAC's and a freshman class crash, and...there you have our first two months.

This weekend is WOL Super-Bowl, so we will take our 2 big yellow buses with 74 attendees and rain down our thunder in the 'Q' for the Cavs game followed by some serious fellowship and fun for the WHOLE night.

whoo, whoo. The Youth Ministries train is rollin'

Coming UP:

Puppet Ministries
STEM (missions trip) requirements starting in December
FBC Musicale
Youth Bible Conference on 1-12
Rec Center on 1-25

well, just look at your calendars!

PDave

Let the School Year Begin

2007-09-06T08:23:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the 07-08 school year! If you haven't been around the building yet, we are off and running. The youth ministries calendar is out and I believe even up to date on the blog site!

We had our first of the year parent-teen night, and had a great turnout. almost 130 were in attendance that night. We discussed the coming year and filled in the blanks on puppets (starting Sept 9) and the season pass.

This year we will be covering some great topics.

In the Senior High, on Sunday's we will be be starting with major areas this school year.
The Bible: From inspiration to preservation, from survey to study techniques, from canonicity, transmission, and translations to the dispensations, we will be covering the guidebook for our Christian walk. This study will help the student Unlock the Truth found in God's Word
Cults and False Religions: Building off the strength of the Word and realizing that it warns against false teachers, we will see that there is only one way to God, and that is through Jesus Christ. This study will help the student understand the cults and false religions in our world today, including some of the new religions popping up such as Wicca and Kabbala.

In the Junior High, topics being covered are the church as a family and what the Bible says about ourselves, including unconditional love, change, dealing with success and failure, etc. These will be very practical studies for the Junior Highers as they continue to grow.

Stay tuned for a Wednesday Night preview!

STEM Trip '07 - The Rest of the Story

2007-07-19T11:10:00.001-04:00

Well, as most of you know (or assumed), we are all back.

This final STEM posting is a little bit of an attempt to put the rest of the week into one post.

Thursday was a good day of VBS, our numbers were down a bit, and will probably stay down as the weekend is approaching. The kids that we had were wonderful. And the entire team did a fantastic job.

Thursday afternoon/evening was our great trip to the glacier. After a long drive up Glenn Highway, we finally arrived at our destination. There we signed a waiver (in case anyone died) and headed off.

Pastor Blood took some of the more adventurous ones off the path through some of the squishy ground, while the rest of the group took a longer route. All of us met up at a little glacier lake for photos and even some good glacier water drinking. We then all wandered together farther into the glacier. Finally we reached a tough hill which led to Pastor Blood, Pastor Burman, and a few others to venture off to the high ground. All of the other team members then had a wonderful exercise in team work getting everybody off a hill that was a lot easier to get up than to get down. Many sited this time as a great memory. Our guys really took over and helped everyone who needed it.

Overall, the glacier was fantastic. To think of the immensity of the glacier system in Alaska, and to see the compressed lines of blue ice. Created from the pressure of opened and closed cracks and lines of water. To experience aspects of God's creation most of us had never been around. It was a fun, adventurous, stretching, learning time for all of us.

Friday's VBS was a good time with the kids. We shared the Three Crosses for the Bible story, and said our goodbyes at the end of VBS. This was to be our day to go up Bear Mountain; a long hike to a great view. But the Lord brought us rain, so we went to the Bear Paw festival and wandered through the booths set up and experienced a bit of Alaska culture.

Our extra time allowed us to spend a great time that evening around the table. Pastor Friesner organized a wonderful Italian dinner and really spoiled us. The leaders (Friesners, Raders, Burmans, and Brady) served and bussed our meal of spaghetti and meatballs with a great brownie and ice cream dessert. All of the individual team members then shared what God ad taught them during the week and their favorite memory of the week. It was a wonderful time of praise and laughter.

After that wonderful time, we went up stairs for team devotions and a time for Pastor Blood to share his testimony. Pastor Blood touched all of our hearts as he poured out his life story and how God used, led, and changed him. His story of God's leading him and his family to the mission field of Alaska was an incredible testimony that God can use anyone, no matter what barriers that person (or others) may think stand in the way of being used of God. His challenge to "Give God first choice" in everything in our lives resonated in all of us. There were many tear filled eyes. And God was working in the hearts of our teens.

Which leads me to this.

In the times I was able to spend with Pastor Blood, we had some wonderful conversations about God, who he uses, and this team of teens from First Baptist.

I will share this in our report service, but I want to include it here.

Pastor Blood commented on what a wonderful, gifted group of kids we have. He mentioned that in their mission strips, they have absolutely had more ministry training than he or I ever had in High School, and more than almost ALL Christian teens have. He sees lives that have already been prepared for a life time of service to the Lord. While this obviously means in whatever context the Lord places them, he did emphasize that the Lord calls and equips, and our teens are equipped.

We have a group of young people that he (and I agree) believes God wants to do something special with; and not just for a few summers of their lives.

All around the world, fundamental, Bible preaching and teaching missionaries are getting closer and closer to retirement. Many fields are finding that the next generation of missionaries and pastors and teachers is not large enough to fill the void that will be left in the coming couple of decades. The Alaska field alone could place 12 couples IMMEDIATELY into places that are in need of missionaries.

We agreed that Satan seems to be using the consumer mindset of our generation to convince teens to stay away from ministry. That ministry costs too much, and is a calling that is a waste of intellect and ability. This mind set also is coming from parents. While it is the responsibility of parents and mentors to help a teen as they move forward into the career building, independent time of their lives, that does not meant that the Lord is not leading in the life of their teen. Unfortunately there are those who feel that a young person is being misguided if they decide to first pursue the possibility of God leading them into ministry by starting off their college at a good Bible college. Teens are told that they need to consider the financial and practical aspects of a decision to 'go off/away to Bible college'. I am glad that I was not told that. When my decision was made to go to a Christian college I knew that the Lord still had some leading in my life. I knew that despite the scholarship offers on the table, an acceptance to GMI, and the possibility of even going to school close to home, God wanted me to be in the right Christian environment, because He still had some working to do in my life. Praise the Lord that the only main question I remember my parents asking me was a clarification that THEY weren't pressuring me to go to Bible college! They just wanted to make sure I was going to Christian college because God was leading me, not them. Thanks, Mom and Dad.

We have a group of teens that God is working in RIGHT NOW. To say that decisions should not be made while in this 'spiritual high' is interesting. Should the decisions be made when they get back into the world that Satan uses to pressure and push them.

I am renewed in my prayer for those who are committed to answering the call of God. What better way to equip future Sunday School teachers and deacons and church members, than to start their education and general education classes in some place where they are also being taught the Word, and being taught Western Civ, and English, and Speech, etc. by godly professors and from a biblical point of view.

Whoa! That was a soap box.

Obviously this trip has impacted my life and love for our teens as well.

MOVING ON!!!

Saturday brought a fun-filled day of parade watching, fast-food eating, and souvenir shopping. We ended the day at the airport, anticipating our 11 hours of flying home. We endured an overnight flight with little sleep, and much anticipation of getting home to see our loved ones.

Thank you so much to the many parents who were waiting with open arms at the airport! We were glad to see the faces of those we loved.

Praise the Lord for the tremendous opportunity He has given this STEM team to serve Him in Alaska. We hope you make it to our Report service on July22nd!

Thanks for hanging in there!!

Oh yeah, here are many of the remaining pictures!!

Pastor Dave

STEM Trip '07 - Blog disclaimers

2007-07-11T17:42:00.000-04:00

Hey all you parents, friends, and family of our STEM team.

Thanks so much for checking out our site.

A few things for you to know!

We only get web access every couple of days, so approving comments and updating the site takes a bit of time.

Also, these are the tip of the photographic iceberg. There will be WAY too many photos to get onto my Picasa web albums, so please be patient, as not everybody gets onto every photo.

We are looking forward to coming home in 4 days!!!

STEM Trip '07 - Mountains and Fun

2007-07-11T17:30:00.000-04:00

STEM ’07

Tuesday, July 10th
Peters Creek Baptist Church

Mountains and Fun

The last two nights we have made treks up into the mountains.

Monday night from 8pm-midnight (still light) we went up to see some falls and then up to the Eklunta Lake, which involved for some, a back of the pickup truck ride to the top. The scenery was well worth the trip up. We got some group pictures and enjoyed the 360 degree view of the mountains.

The boys went home first, while the girls got to wave around an unloaded Smith and Wesson 44 Magnum and an unloaded 12 guage shot gun. It was a good night of fellowship and fun. But, there are still no bear or moose to be seen. Apparently we make too much noise.

It is a good thing everybody took a two hour nap today, or this would have been a late grumpy night.

Tuesday was a hard, fun day. After VBS we got revved up for a trip up to Hatcher’s Pass. Jen Burman was actually here with her FBBC ministry team 10 years ago. She is pretty happy to be with the teens in this place of fond memories.

Once we took the 45 minute drive up to the pass, we all jumped out to hike up a 1000+ foot mountain. Pastor Blood offered the guys a steak dinner if they could get to the top in 15 minutes. They think they did it, but it actually took them about 20 minutes. (Pastor Blood was impressed!) Some of the older and slightly heavier team members (which will remain unnamed) eventually got to the top a few minutes later (well, 20 minutes later). The view at the top was breathtaking. Some of the younger guys pushed off to some higher ground for an even better view. The pictures, as usual, will not do this mountain justice. It was STEEP! But everybody handled it well. Only a few scrapes!

On the way down the side of the mountain, almost everybody got to slide down a long patch of snow! This resulted in some cold, wet pants, but many laughs.

And finally, on the way back to the church, we saw MOOSE!! A baby and a momma moose came alongside of the road. We only had to tell two young people to get back in the vehicles, lest they get stomped.

We got back to the church and spent 2 hours with the Peter’s Creek youth group. I gave a challenge to their teens while our team ate supper. Then we spent an hour and a half snacking and playing with them. We played some high intensity games with a lot of running, pushing, and pain. By doing that on top of all the climbing, we were all pretty worn out, so almost everybody showered that night. (it only took from 9:30-12:30)

It was a great day, and we are looking forward to more good times in the afternoons!

STEM Trip '07 - VBS and church life

2007-07-11T16:52:00.000-04:00

Monday - Wednesday, July 11th
Peters Creek Baptist Church

VBS and life in the church

Vacation Bible School has gone very well. Our kids spent late Sunday night transfprming the church into a tropical paradise. I, as the leader only have responsibilities during the opening and the closing. All the other aspects of the VBS are being run by the teens. Each has a day and an area of assignments. And things area going about as well as any STEM VBS we have had.

We have averaged about 20. Which is good in this fishing time of year for Alaskans.

We have had three decisions in three days. Layla, Will, and his brother (his name is escaping me)

We have song time, Bible time, craft time, game time, and some crazy songs that the kids really get into. The local church has been pretty wowed by our kids and all they are doing.

Life in the church is probably one of the most challenging aspects of this trip. We have three rooms for the teens, and all use ONE SHOWER. This means 1 ½ hours in the evenings for the guys and 2+ hours in the morning for the girls. Which equals diminished sleep time.

The team has handles it very well, mainly because of some great volunteer leaders helping in SO many ways, especially in the meals. We have been well fed and well cared for.

Well, more to come in a few days!!

STEM team 2007!

VBS + pictures

Sunday and Canvassing pictures

STEM Trip '07 - Float Trip - Tuesday-Friday

2007-07-07T18:08:00.000-04:00

STEM ’07

Friday, July 6th
Peters Creek Baptist Church

Well, the float trip is over. While there are way too many stories to tell, and we are sure you will hear all about them, we have accomplished many things.

We have learned to row canoes, or at least who can and who can’t, we have slept in the rain, swam in 40 degree water, shot rifles and 44’s, spotted bald eagles, spotted no big game, fished, sang Shark songs, laughed, whined, relaxed, tensed up, dealt with minor injuries (thanks to those pesky knives), gone to the bathroom in new and exciting places, been up til 11:30 with plenty of daylight, played, prayed, done our devos, switched rowing partners, crammed into vehicles, taken 20+ showers in one shower in a matter of 2 hours, and had a GREAT time.

It rained almost every day, but always seemed to rain while we were on the water, or safe inside our tents. We did not have rain during any set up, dinner, or tear down time.

God provided some great men and women to serve as our guides, so we had quite an adventure, with 20 canoes and 3 rafts running down the Little Susitna River (you can look it up on google earth) from about 60 mile inland all the way to the last landing before Cook Inlet.

We are happy to be bathed! Many have commented how good it feels to be clean. And we are ready for a busy weekend of canvassing and recovery.

We have fed and bed all the teens for the night. Their tents are airing out outside the camp site. Jen, Terrie, Reilly, and Melissa did ALL the laundery and got it back to us folded and ready to go. They did an awesome job.

The teens are a little edgy, mainly due to a lack of sleep and close living quarters, but they are doing well. Tomorrow, the canvassing will wake them up and bind them together.

I found out I get to preach on Sunday, so I will be working on that tomorrow while the leaders help with the canvassing. I also get to teach the youth group on Tuesday during the churches weekly 6-9 pm youth time.

Thank you for your prayers. We miss you all!

STEM Team 07.

STEM Trip '07 - Monday

2007-07-07T17:48:00.000-04:00

STEM ’07

Monday, July 2nd
Hopkins International

Well, your highly mature STEMers got out of the church parking lot EARLY! After arriving at the airport in waves from 10:00-10:15, we were all through security by 10:35. Not bad for 33 passengers.

Our extreme itinerary change was revealed by Dave Leitch at the church. The 5 tickets for the Dan and Sue Friesner, Jon and Terrie Rader, and Jen Burman purchased through ORBITZ were accidently purchased (by a now very humble youth pastor) for returning ONE DAY LATER!!! Same flight numbers, same flight times, different days.Those five leaders will be staying one more day, and will be returning on Monday, July 16th!

Oh well, they will probably love the quiet after the storm, and enjoy an extra day in Alaska with out the other 26 teens and two leaders.

All the teens say ‘HI”!

Thank you to all those who helped with the transportation to the airport.

The plan for the return trip from the airport on Sunday, July 15th is as follows. We ENCOURAGE the parents to get their teens from the airport. We will be contacting the church with flight information and get them to the info desk.

If/When we are on time, we will be arriving @ 12:15pm on Sunday, so a nice little convoy from the church after the AM service will be taking place. Jerry Bilow will be driving the green van with the trailer. That will cover 15 plus luggage.

Time for me to fellowship with the teens for our 1½hr wait to board!

Your humble youth leader,
Pastor Dave

Monday, July 2nd
Dallas

We received a bit of a scare while in route to Dallas. A delay, and the possibility of a reroute stirred us up a bit, but we finally arrived only 45 minutes late. After getting to our next gate and grabbing some food, we had to wait for the plane ahead of ours at our gate to leave. All told, we left Dallas a little over an hour late.

Monday, July 2nd
In the air on the way to Alaska.

We are half way through our 6+ hour flight. Many of the young people enjoyed the in flight movie, “Meet the Robinsons” a pretty crazy, all-over-the-board Disney movie. Now the natives are restless. Many members of the team are wandering about the plane (as much as possible in a 757) and chatting with each other. The scenery out the windows has been spectacular! God’s hand in the beauty of His creation is always evident, especially when viewing the grandeur of the Rockies!

We flew over Colorado, Vail to be precise, and are continuing north and west. Our first-time flyers have received their fill of bumps and are a bit more adjusted.

The team will be going through a two-week devotional put together by Dr. Joy from BMM. Each night we will be getting together to discuss, pray, encourage, laugh, and prepare for the next.

I LOVE traveling with these teens and leaders. They are a sharp group, and so much fun.

Hopefully we can get this published soon, and maybe even some photos!

Th.A.D.

2007-06-19T18:56:00.000-04:00

It is the start of the end of the year!

Well...

As a youth group we are going to attempt to go through the entire New Testament by the end of the year.

This will work if we do Three chapters A Day.

Thus the term Th.A.D.

This week started in Matthew chapters 1-21. Three a day.

Monday and Tuesday were Matthew 1-6. It felt a little Christmas like on Monday. And on Tuesday we had a fine trip through the Beatitudes.

KEEP UP Young People!!

Pastor Dave

-if you do your ThAD, feel free to post a comment about how much you enjoyed God's Word!

Graduation 2007

2007-06-08T12:21:00.000-04:00

Last week (June 3rd) We were privileged to have our church hold a Sunday Morning service wrapped around our graduating class of 2007. We wanted to praise God for what he has been doing in the lives of our graduates and their families.

It was a very good service that included a slide show of the graduates. Here are the "youth group" pictures from that slide show. They have and will certainly bring back some great memories!

God has truly blessed this church and youth ministry with some outstanding young people! They have brought life and leadership to our youth ministry. They will be missed, and are always welcome to 'drop in' the youth room any time.

As these 17 graduates continue through this time of transition in their lives, we are praying they will put the Lord first place in their lives. We also hope that the love and commitment to the scriptures that this church body has will continue to flow through them as the next generation of church leaders.

Luke 24:32

My shot at Google Calendar

2007-04-20T14:57:00.000-04:00

Here is the new First Baptist Youth Ministries Calendar.
It is a work in progress, but I will keep working on updating it. So it can be viewed and uploaded.

I have enjoyed making the transition to Google for my calendars. I still use Outlook fro PDA syncing purposes, but I export to Google, as I can add any calendars in layers to my work calendar. Including sports schedules, home schedules, and our church calendar I can even import.

I just hope that Google isn't another way we are being set up for the Tribulation. (does 'google' have some language connection to the number '666'?)

Well, enjoy!

Ministry extras

2007-03-08T16:42:00.000-05:00

OK...Here we go

FBCYM's JH puppet ministries is officially off and running.

Youth Choir has resumed on Wednesday nights from 8:15-8:45pm

STEM meetings started this week as well on Wed nights @ 6pm

It is also that time of year for our seniors to be completing their HEBRON scholarship applications (due 3-19).

We will be at the HEBRON/Berea Baptist Church Youth Conference on March 17th.

We will be at the OSYC Real World University event in Columbus on March 30th.

Our HEBRON activity around the BIG semifinal games from the tournament will take place on March 31st.

AND...the state Talents for Christ competition will be HERE at First Baptist on April 28th.

Little Extras

2007-03-08T16:24:00.000-05:00

Well, it is March. The sacredness of college basketball rears its head. Let the legendary folklore of NCAA basketball continue to unfold before our eyes.

What will we see, what upsets or mind numbing moments await? All this excitement makes me wonder where the excitement over changed lives falls in our order of importance.

The problem with being excited about change is that it often is something that is a process. As I look back over the changes going on in the lives of our youth and former youth, I am amazed. Amazed at the reality of the law of cause and effect. Choices have consequences. Both good and bad. The spiritual walk of our college students is usually a direct reflection of the spiritual walk and commitment they evidenced in their Junior High and Senior High years. This is also true of their values and beliefs. Their view of relationships, friends, family, money and many other areas of life ALWAYS flesh themselves out in the very near future. Usually as soon as the freedoms of college/community college/work allow them to show their true colors.

I am renewed in my passion to teach the Word. II Timothy 3 and 4 were presented by Dan Davey in a pastor's meeting I attended this week. He pointed out the 19 descriptions of men of dangerous, perilous times. These descriptions are followed by 3 result within the lives of those being described. Paul then give 3 antidotes to the problem in the form of 3 "But thou"s.

Those three things, fall within the purpose of our youth ministry here @ First Baptist.

1. Follow Godly Elders

We want to maximize the impact our godly "grey-haired" generation has on our young people. Ministering together, worshipping together. Allowing adult leaders in our youth to leave a spiritual mark on the next generation

2. Follow the Word

The Word brings to light the truth. (compare v15 to v7) ONLY the Word will bring wisdom to our young people. This is what the Holy Spirit uses. Less Word and more youth pastor does not bring about change, it only brings about superficiality.

3. Have perspective 4:5 (Be sober minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry)

Our young people need to recognize what is going on around them. And know what is being accomplished within them. This is an eternal perspective with a knowledge of how to communicate effectively to the world that has either no eternal perspective, or an extremely skewed one.

Thanks Professor Davey, for your insights.
(and all the good stuff afterwards about theological trends including reformed theology, soverigngraceministries and such, and focusing on the emergent church movement)

A little preview of 2007

2007-01-04T13:45:00.000-05:00

2007 is off and running in the First Baptist Youth Ministries.

Sunday School (9:00 am) will be seeing an old/new addition to the team. Kevin Quick will begin teaching the JH Sunday School class. He has been working with our youth for about five years. He will be teaching starting this winter quarter on the subject of Biblical Characters.

The Senior High will be continuing their study through Proverbs, and into the book of Joshua in the Spring.

Wednesday nights have seen good attendance and participation. The Juinior High (with their fearless new teacher Brett Terry) continue to hold JV AWANA.

The Senior High is completing a study on How to Study the Bible for Yourself, based on the youth edition of the book by Tim Lahaye.
This Bible study method includes three layers:

1. 15 minutes a day of Bible Reading with a simple review in a spiritual diary fromat.

2. 3 memory verses a week. These vereses are learned in a topical format. The first week included three verses on the Word of God, the second week includes three verses on the Assurance of salvation. These verses are printed onto a card and carried around for daily review. It is an amazing memorization system that is designed to have a high (100%) rate of retention. A group of SHers are meeting once a week at McDonalds to spend memorizing their verses for the week. The title of the get-to-gethers is "McMornings"

3. Doing a 30 minute Bible study 3 days a week. This is to be separate from the reading. This is to be a personally chosen study style. The study types the young people are being trained in are: book studies, chapter studies, topical studies, word studies, subjective analysis, etc. Thge young people are also encouraged to use this time to do devotionals and studies/commentaries designed for person al spiritual growth. Along with the teaching for these study times was a lesson on basci hermeneutics.

While at first glance, this system has been a bit intimidating, many of the young people have been taking up the challenge. 15 minutes a day reading/30 minutes for 3 days/3 verses.

THE NEXT STUDY that will be dealt with for the SH Youth on Wednesday nights will be an indepth look into the different world-views that believers will face in this present time. It will be a comparison study of the following worldviews. Biblical Christianity/Marxism-Leninism/secular humansim/and the New Age.

This series will be designed to equip the young people with an accurate understanding of what each of these major world views claims and offers. It will compare the views in terms of law, philiosophy, family, history, science, etc.

Upon completion of the series, the young people will be ready to field the philosophies that the world and especially secular academia will throw at them.

Event coming up include:

January
6 - HEBRON Skitzomania
14,15 - SH Winter Retreat
28 - Sophmore Class Crash @ Leitch's
28 - JH SNAC @ Parkers

February
2 - HEBRON Rec Center
18 - SH SNAC @ Buckholz's
23 to 25 - Youth Retreat @ NBBC (CANCELLED)

March
11 - JH SNAC @ Mohr's
11 - Junior Class Crash @ Quick's
17 - HEBRON Youth Bible Conference @ Berea
24 - Teen 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament
31 - Final Four Bash

Other important dates:

Bike (Pedal) Trip: June 17-23
STEM (missions) Trip to Alaska: July 1-14

for more info on these and other events, contact Pastor Dave
dburmanjr@firstbaptistelyria.org

Well, that should do it for a couple of months!!

New New Year

2007-01-04T13:40:00.000-05:00

This has, in my opinion been a highly successful blog. In that it has not consumed my time (obviously). My only blog viewer has informed me that it has been months since I last made an entry, so this is mainly for him.

Thanks for being my one supporter, Pastor Phillips.

New Year

2006-08-04T17:56:00.000-04:00

Well, the summer is pretty much complete, and the new school year begins. This year @ First Baptist Youth Ministries will feature three new opportunities for the young people.

First, for the Junior Highers, we will be restarting up the puppet ministry. Our Junior Highers are always eager to get involved, and this will hopefully be a good ministry starting point. It will feature about 4 or five training sessions, then a bi-weekly ministry in our church and in some other settings throughout the school year. It will be lead by Kevin Quick, who has a burden for puppet ministry and is eager to help get things going. His wife, Barbi while still being a Senior High Youth leader will be handling the scheduling side of this. The Lord, as always, has provided great leadership for this new ministry opportunity.

We will also be starting a canvassing ministry for our Senior Highers. This comes from a request by our missions team to continue doing the things they have learned from their missions trip experience. They requested it, and who am I to keep them from ministering? We will start with a couple of training/reminding sessions, and then will open up a once-a-month canvassing project to cover a set amount of miles surrounding the church.

Finally, we will be having McMornings. This will be a once a week, before school, no outside devos/homework, laid back, prayer and short but sweet devo time. Hopefully this will be at a local McDonalds that allows all students from our 5 (I believe) different schools. If we can't agree on a spot, I will take orders and carry in to a central location. Just want to let the kids see each other at the beginning of a school day and get focused. I also hope this will continue to build up the unity in our youth ministry that has been growing so much in the past couple years.

Praise the Lord! Enjoy the Heat!

Psalm 33:20-22
Our soul waits for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
For our heart shall rejoice in Him,
Because we have trusted in His holy name.
Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us,
Just as we hope in You.

Printable Permission Slip

2006-07-19T16:42:00.000-04:00

In the event that neither parent or guardian can be reached, contact the young persons’ physician and follow his/her instructions.

If the young persons’ physician cannot be reached, the sponsors will use their own judgement in contacting a properly licensed practicing physician and follow his/her instructions.

In the case my child is involved in an accident and requires treatment, the attending physician has my permission to examine and begin treatment in my absence.

I agree to relieve the church and youth group sponsors from any liability in connection with these activities and instructions.

________________________ (family doctor name)

________________________ (doctor phone)

________________________ (parents name)

________________________ (home phone)

________________________ (work phone)

________________________ (parents signature)
after printing

-parents: copy, paste, and print this post!

2006-07-19T16:24:00.000-04:00

Here is my family. Derek then my wife Jen, David III (D3) and myself. Two posts in one day must be a record!

Beginning

2006-07-19T16:14:00.000-04:00

And so my blogging life begins. I have high hopes and little time for another iron in the fire, so I promise to commit as much time as I don't have to up keep.

Go _____
(user friendly sports cheer!)