JonathanHerron.com

Passing the Baton

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."  Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. - Acts 13.2-3 (ESV)

This is what a movement of God looks like:

127 area teenagers laying hands upon and praying over their new Student Pastor and his wife, Justin and Carrie Bowers.

Last night we passed the baton to new leadership. 
We're behind him heart and soul. 
Colwood Students' best days are ahead!

FORTY-FOUR CHANGED LIVES

What does 150+ area teens worshiping One look/sound like?
This:

The tweets during Students UN1TED last night say it all:

"Get ready, teens. I've got a big Jesus-saturated, pull-no-punches message stirring in my gut for tonight's Students #UN1TED!" - @FollowJon

"Holy cow! Just got goosebumps as I saw 44 teens rise & accept Jesus for the first time.  #UN1TED " - @HerronHacienda

"FORTY-FOUR students STOOD UP among their peers and PRAYED to RECEIVE CHRIST. #UN1TED  #MovementofGod    http://yfrog.com/hsckpbyj " - @FollowJon

"Jesus wants me around!" - @ipartywithjesus

"All the teens in this pic are brand new followers of Jesus. #UN1TED  http://yfrog.com/gyx15hjj " - @FollowJon

*And lest you be skeptical, we individually recorded and personally followed up with each and every new Christ-follower last night.  Currently ordering a ton of Bibles to distribute next Monday night.

Seriously, nearly every adult volunteer serving last night had TEARS.
So proud of them.

Colwood, get ready.
This is just the beginning.
God is unmistakably moving.
I'm going to make some BIG ASKS of you this Sunday.
Pray up!

Colwood Students #UN1TED, Night 2 + Tuscola County Award of Excellence

140 area students.
50+ youth workers.
15 teens receiving Christ.
Last week was no anamoly.
God is moving, Ezekiel 37 is happening, and we're just trying to keep up!

We have car-loads of students pouring into Colwood from as far away as Reese, Saginaw, and Bay City.  Only God.

During the Huddle Groups time, Dan and I were each quietly presented with Explorers Awards of Excellence by the Tuscola County Sherrif's Office.  Presented by Deputy Steve Roland and Deputy Chris Rogner (click pic below), these awards recognize individuals and organizations who are excelling at providing safe programs for area youth while also instilling strong values and adult mentoring relationships. 

To receive this award in only our 2nd week of CS #UN1TED is unbelievable. 
Quite honestly, Dan and I are just the public faces of this ministry. 
Truly and humbly we share this award with:
- Dave Dickson, for its his foundation we're building upon,
- Julie Priestley, who ensures Monday nights run smoothly,
- Sherri Hoy, who slogs through logistical crud and keeps us sane,
- Kelly Ball, who coordinates childcare to free up more adult workers, and
- Colwood's Volunteers!  These heros ARE the teens' ministers!

 

Colwood Students #UN1TED, Night 1

Last night I joined 48 other adults in helping launch Colwood Students #UN1TED. 
Here's how things went down.

First, Little Man led me in some very important pre-game stretches (click pix):

Check-in for all students opened at 6:15pm:


Cafe and Gym were open while the Auditorium remained closed:


At 6:38pm, I tweeted that we had run out of registration cards for students.
We had made up 100 registration cards for the night.

At 6:55pm, the Countdown began and teens flooded the Worship Ctr:



The Dan Band led an army of area students into the throne room of God.
Breathtaking for all the adult volunteers present to witness and experience.

We had two surprises up our sleeve for the teens:
1)  The teens did a live on-stage interview of one of our Youth Pastor candidates.
2)  Everybody got a UN1TED hoodie (I felt like Oprah!):

I spoke on Matthew 16 and how Jesus is the Author of Life.
Simple Jesus Math:

Everything - Jesus = NOTHING
Jesus + Nothing = EVERYTHING

At least ten teenagers prayed to receive Christ!
Finally we made a beautiful mess by breaking the crowd up into smaller Huddle Groups:


Purpose of Huddle Groups?
For every High Tech (Dan Band, free hoodies),
there HAS to be High Touch (Huddle Groups, relationships with consistent, big-hearted adults):

Bottom-line:
This whole thing was one big experiment (combining jr high with sr high, moving into the Main Auditorium, going gang-busters in building anticipation, etc).

I had prayed for 60 teens to show up on Night 1.
And God more than doubled that prayer with 122 students.
Which increased my faith.

Although, on the lighter side, I'm a bit worried.
I had already announced that if we hit 200 students by the end of February, my hair would be shaved.  And so I'm telling teenagers everywhere not to invite anyone to UN1TED next Monday.  :)

Also very thankful for all the volunteers.  One of our Community Groups has pledged to serve every Monday night in January in the Cafe and Check-in.  Other volunteers jumped in to watch/entertain children (mine included), freeing up other adults to minister to teenagers.  Amazing.

The tweets from students post-UN1TED sum it all up:

"Church was sooo fantastic tonight! especially the dan band! :D #united" - high school senior

"Over 100 students here, monday nights, united. This is crazy. This is a movement of God" - high school junior

And we get to do it all over again next Monday night!

Momentum 2009

The team behind Momentum Youth Conference 2009 is knocking it out of the park!  The venue at Pittsburgh's Robert Morris University is great and FEE is, well, FEE (more on my Twitter).

Loved sharing from the mainstage this morning and breakouts continuing into tomorrow.  Amber & I got to spend time over lunch with some potential Pennsylvania church planters - just encouraging them to pursue God's call without apology, get some Acts 29 training, and hang on for the ride of their life!

For what its worth, here is the description of my breakout sessions from the Momentum conference booklet:

In a free-ranging conversational style, students will get a Google Earth-view of the New Testament.  From the historical reality of Jesus of Nazareth to the passionate explosive-growth of the early church movement, students will be engaged by how the Gospel intersects with their 21st Century technology-driven lives.  More info at JonathanHerron.com.

Retreat Wrap-Up

    We wrapped up our FUSE Fall Retreat today - great time had by all in the woods of North Carolina!  The weather was splendidly warm for Exploding-Salad Baseball and Capture the Chicken yesterday.    I felt so loved by our teens - I have now been pied in the face and lettuced in the face... both times from behind! 

   Our guest speaker, Brian Land, brought the house down with his talks on "Ridiculous Grace" - from Galatians to taking an axe to a clock to talking about all 612 Old Testament laws to brokeness, Land really zeroed in on where our students were at spiritually.  We'll have MP3's of his talks up soon...

7 Myths of Student Ministry

I've been reading through a short book from UK authors Nigel James and Gary Smith called Seven Myths of Youth Ministry: How to Re-Ignite Your Passion.  The Church in England is in rapid decline - I remember hearing Dan Slatter speak about it back in 2001 at Group's National Ministry Convention, citing a conservative estimate that 1,000 young people are leaving the Church there every week.  Every week.

So it's with great interest that I'm drinking in James' insight with the 7 myths. 
The 7 Myths are:
Myth #1.  We really make a difference in our one hour a week.
Myth #2.  Size isn't important.
Myth #3.  We don't preach - we are just sowing seeds.
Myth #4.  You have to ask them what they want.
Myth #5.  Young people lack commitment.
Myth #6.  Young people are the future of the church.
Myth #7.  We aren't in the entertainment business.

Before my fellow pastors in student ministry begin hitting the "Comment" key, I gotta admit James' arguments are compelling - thus far I'm in total agreement (I'm up to Myth #2).  I highly recommend grabbing a copy of this British import.

One quote that stuck out to me in particular (commenting on Luke 10:2):
"With very few exceptions, the harvest field around every youth group is plentiful.  I remember Ron Luce, from Teen Mania Ministries in the States, always emphasizing to youth leaders when he would speak to them that 'Jesus didn't just die for twelve quality people.' Jesus died for every person, and in our context every young person, in your town or city...  Jesus demonstrated the love and the sacrifice that shows where God really wants all young people to belong, and that's in His family."

Last Night

Last night @ FUSE rocked - the worship was pumpin', our volunteer leaders were on top of things, and students received the message with an open heart (and laughed at my jokes!).  Afterwards some teens invited Amber, Alden, Deanna and moi out to Brick City Grille for a late-night dinner - it was sweet.  Also got a phone call from Perry in the middle of dinner - he got to hang out with Terry Storch while in Texas yesterday - I'm so jealous!  Rissa took this pic of us last night.

Goodbye Party

Last night was our last night. It was little bit of everything - laughs, crying, goodbyes. The students & staff also took a collection for our adoption fund and, in the words of Joe, handed us a "big wad of cash" - $900! Very kind.  

 

We also were flooded with lots of notes and cards - here's some highlights:

  "Well, you're going to be leaving soon to start a new life for a lucky child and I just wanted to say how thankful I am that you two came into my life. You both have been there for me and my friends when we really needed someone to talk to. I love how when you both came to 707 you didn't treat us like a job or just a group of kids... you made us feel like family, and you are family for me as well. I hope that the new church you go to loves you as much as we do and that you meet all kinds of new people who will be there for you knowing that you would be there for them. - Emily"

 

"You were my first pastor and mentor, the first model of a Christian man. You certainly had a big impact on me... Right from the beginning when I prayed the sinner's prayer up until you baptized me and on to when I came to you for spiritual advice and help... you were always ready to be by my side when I needed but without prodding when I needed to do things on my own. - Matt"

"You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light. With Your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall." - Psalm 18:28-29 via Rhiannon

"Jon - I have loved talking to you about the many questions that have popped into my head. God has blessed you with incredible wisdom. I wanted to thank you for speaking on Crush the Crush. Thanks to you, I do not have to worry about small time love because God has called me not to date in high school. Now I can use my single years to their fullest potential. - Connie"

And an excerpt from the long letter that made me cry late last night: "Now that I've said how much you guys mean to me, it would be time to say goodbye. Somewhere in my heart I know that wherever God may take us, I hope that we will be able to stay in touch. How else am I going to ask you to marry me and Mr. Right (not a joke!)?... Anything great and good that has entered my life always links back to 707 and you both! I thank God for bringing you both into my life!! - Val"