rob

A few things I am excited for...

• September 18/19 - camping with Caden!

• This fall @ YouthCrossing.  Some really cool things planned...I think God is up to something!

• Rachel and I have a few different party type gatherings at our house in the next few months.  We love doing that.

• Tim is teaching this weekend.  I heard his message today and it's pretty powerful.

• Rachel's brother and sister-in-law are coming in town soon.  I love hanging out with them!

• 36,000

• 199

• My hopes are WAY too high for the show "Community" coming on NBC this fall.  I try to manage my expectations about things but am failing miserably with this.  It better be just as good as the pilot!!  I know I don't normally click on links in blogs...but you should really click on this link and watch this little trailer for the show. 

India

A few of my friends are in India right now with Advent Conspiracy.  I'm praying for them today and I hope you would join me. 

Here is my friend Tony's latest Facebook status:

What an amazing first day in Varanasi!  Got to see a Windsor-funded well, met some inspiring people, and drank homemade chai tea. Namaste!

The "Windsor-funded well" makes me get a little emotional.  How cool is that!

Friday Fun: I like these teams

NFL - Indianapolis Colts

College Basketball - Indiana Hoosiers

MLB - St. Louis Cardinals

NBA - Cavs (Lebron), Celtics (team play), Bulls (favorite team as a kid)

College football - is stupid

This entire post was dedicated to expressing my disdain for college football.  I love championships and champions.  College football has 34 champions.  When the winner of the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl celebrates, rushes the field, puts on the hats and the t-shirts and sticks the ol' pointer finger in the air, I fall deeper and deeper into my disgust for this money hungry joke called college football.

The end.

Go Colts!

WholeFit

My wife is a serious personal trainer.  She kicks people in the tail, motivates them, encourages them, and resources them.  All in the name of healthy living.  I love what she does.  I love that she loves it.  And I love watching her continue to grow this little business revolution.

If you want to know a few things about living healthy...go here:  www.wholefit.org

YouthCrossing...tonight!

Tonight is our first night here at YouthCrossing for the fall!  I am excited because it's our first night with this schedule:

6:30 - drop-off
6:30 - 7:00 - Hang time in Loft
7:00 - 7:40 - Middle school goes to auditorium for service, High School goes to Small Groups
7:40 - 7:50 - SWITCH!
7:50 - 8:30 - High school goes to auditorium for service, Middle school goes to Small Groups
8:30 - pick-up

You betcha...Middle school/High school all on the same night in the same building!  Here is why:

• We want to be multi-generational - although we won't be mixing the groups a ton, there will be a little cross over which I think can be a beautiful picture of community.

• We want to stream-line our staff - having both services on the same night keeps us from having to double up production, administrative and pastoral staff.

• We want to make room for big church on Sunday night - with our Sunday night services growing, we want to give them the run of the building and we never want to have anything youth ministry going on during big church.  It's really important to us that our families can go to church together.

• We want to serve families who have Middle school and High school kids - all on one night allows families to only have to be here one night of the week rather than multiple nights.  Don't play with us all the time...go be on the baseball team, play soccer, be in the choir.  We are a sent people...not a "hang out together all the time" people.

The Nines

On 09/09/09 there is an online event called "The Nines."  (Isn't that clever!)

The whole thing is a pretty simple concept that I'm pretty excited about:

A whole bunch of leaders given nine minutes (get it...nine...so clever) each to answer this question...

"If you had nine minutes to talk one-on-one with thousands of church leaders, what is the one thing that you would tell them?"

It's all online so I can come and go as I please.

It starts at 9:09 am (I can't believe how clever these people are!)

Best of all my friend Judy is sharing!

Go here...sign up...and tune in for 9 minutes or 19 minutes or 90 minutes on 09/09/09 starting at 9:09 am!

More Than Dodgeball!

If you are here from More Than Dodgeball...Welcome!  Glad you stopped by.

Come on in, have a seat, and make yourself at home.  There are a few posts recently that I'd love your thoughts so scroll on down and start talking!

If you are wondering where you are...we'll I am the youth pastor at a church in St. Louis called Windsor Crossing Community Church.  I'd love to know who you are and where you are from!

If you twitter, we can be friends there too!  www.twitter.com/robbergman

3 Things...Coming This Fall

Here are a few of the topics/series I will be teaching on this fall:

• What's Your Name?  This is a kick off series to the fall that will help our students get aquainted with each other.  We'll also look into identity and depth of names in scripture.

• Secrets. There are good secrets and there are bad secrets.  We'll talk about both of them.

• I Will Scream For You.  There is some stuff going on in the world that just isn't right.  We'll scream about it.

If you are in youth ministry...what are you talking about?

Pool Party!!

We've got our end of summer pool parties tonight a couple of different homes. If you are a parent or a student and you want to know where they are hit up www.youthcrossing.org

The question that is always asked when it comes to pool parties is one piece or two piece for girls?  Often times there is a youth ministry rule that girls must wear only one piece swim suits...and if they didn't know about the rule and end up wearing their two piece they have to wear a shirt over it.

Call me crazy, but we don't have this rule.  Here's what we say:

Modest swim suits...and if you aren't sure, bring a couple suits.  We'll help you figure it out.

So, are we being too lax?  Are we causing the boys to stumble?

Blogs according to Rob...

Here are a few of my "hardly evers" when it comes to reading blogs

• I hardly ever read long posts
• I hardly ever click on links
• I hardly ever watch the videos embedded
• I hardly ever go back to a blog that has embedded music
• I hardly ever enjoy a blog when they don't include some personal stuff
• I hardly ever enjoy a blog when all they do is talk about personal stuff

Wow...a little hard to please aren't I?