I have a student in our youth ministry who has been living with her grandparents recently because of a falling-out at home. But grandma had cancer and passed away this past month, leaving her with grandpa, who has poor health as well. She’s now unsure of where she’s going to be living this upcoming year. [...]
Archive for July, 2010
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CSM 7/30/10 Review
July 31st, 2010 
joshherndon We had a solid CSM FRIDAY NIGHTS tonight. Nothing too flashy tonight, but still really good stuff. Here’s the bullet points: Jesús’ Anniversary! It was one of our adult leader’s anniversary on Friday, so he stayed back with his family. What makes this noteworthy is the students stepped up and lead worship without missing a [...]
Tags: The Worst Hour of the Week
July 30th, 2010 joshherndon 3pm is usually a pretty bad hour in the 9-5 workday. It’s a mental firebomb. Your blood sugar is low. Your productivity crashes at an alarming rate. The smell of freedom is faint, yet still 120 clicks away. But Friday’s 3pm is different than Monday’s. Friday’s 3pm is the final sprint. The closing act. The [...]
A Wrecking Experience [Our Philippines Team Documentary]
July 30th, 2010 joshherndon Central Student Ministries (csm411.info) and El Sobrante Christian High School (escschool.com) went on a missions trip to Cabanatuan City, Philippines in June-July 2010. We returned wrecked by experiencing life, purpose, God, in a way we never had before. And we’re not looking to go back to the way we were before. Here’s the stories of [...]
Spiritually Molested
July 28th, 2010 joshherndon Some of my students have been spiritually molested. They’ve been abused and judged in church, spiritually pushed and prodded, trapped by religion and expected to be, do, or resemble something they didn’t understand. They were shown no love, compassion, authentic faith, or proper guidance. So they gave up on God. Church. Religion. I have 7 [...]
Becoming Bivocational
July 27th, 2010 joshherndon This upcoming fall my schedule and energies will be shifting dramatically. I’ll be splitting my workday in 2 directions– 50% at Central Assembly as a youth pastor, and 50% at El Sobrante Christian School as a Bible/leadership teacher. This is going to be a very difficult shift for me. Especially because both are ministry positions, [...]
CSM 7/23/10 Review
July 24th, 2010 joshherndon We had a solid CSM FRIDAY NIGHTS tonight. Nothing too flashy tonight, but still really good stuff. Here’s the bullet points: We publicly launched “We Are The Movement”. Our ministry has yearly overarching themes; similar to an annual vision statement or goal setting. Tonight we dove into what “We Are The Movement” is all about [...]
“Why I Loved Summer Camp” Video
July 23rd, 2010 joshherndon Students sharing their favorite parts of CSM’s Summer Camp! It was a great week. Related Posts:My Summer Camp Top 10Christine’s SongGoodbye, CSMFlash Mob at the BoardwalkThe Tension Between Saddness & Serenity
What to do with Young Love in Youth Group?
July 23rd, 2010 joshherndon I remember seeing youth pastors prohibit their student leaders from dating. I’ve also witnessed other pastors prohibiting their post-high school leaders from dating other post-high school leaders! And as a former student, intern, and now youth pastor I do not understand the philosophy of discouraging dating relationships. The kind of rules that discourages relationships teaches [...]
My Summer Camp Top 10
July 22nd, 2010 joshherndon My Top 10 from our youth ministry’s Summer Camp 2010: We forgot the sound board, most important element of our sound equipment. We tried to replace the soundboard with a 1.5 hour drive to a nearby friend, only to realize upon our arrival the replacement sound board does not power passive speakers (meaning: it still [...]