Me, my son, a flag pole, a public school, amen

A few weeks ago I was explaining to my 8-year-old son about the national event that Christian teenagers participate in every year, See You At The Pole.  His excitement continued to grow as I told him how students gathered together, whether a few or a crowd, to pray for our nation, their schools, reaching their friends with the Gospel of Christ, their teachers, etc. 

His response, “Daddy, we HAVE to do that!”

So this past Wednesday my son and I headed to school 30 minutes early so we could pray at 7am.  I was hopeful that there might be others, but my son goes to a K-8 school so I wasn’t sure if any middle school kids might be there.  As it was, my son Christian and I were the only two there and it didn’t bother him a bit.  We prayed together for his school and that he would have the opportunity to share the Gospel with his friends.  We also asked God to provide him with other Christians at his school who would support him in his quest to reach his campus for Christ.  As we said “Amen!” a friend from our church who is a teacher there showed up and was saddened that she missed our gathering.

That day when I got home Christian shared with me that the teacher saw him later that day in school and took a moment to pray with him in the copy room in the school office.  As a dad, I thought that was totally cool.  Thank You God for providing my son a support system at his school.  May you continue to bless him with boldness and a zeal for the Gospel of your Son Jesus Christ!  Would you grant him success over the next 5 years to reach his campus with Your Good News!

Amen.

A Jesus to get excited about!

• How excited would our teens be to come to Youth Group if this is how we taught Jesus?
• How many churches would be packed every Sunday morning if they understood that this is the God they worship?
• If we shared our faith with this same excitement and zeal how many people would put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ?
• What would the world look like if all believers were this passionate about Jesus?

Dare 2 Share’s Blaze conference schedule

Before we kick-off the conference tour in Denver on November 6-7, we have several Youth Leader trainings and lunches scheduled for September and October.  Here is the FIRESTARTER Youth Leader Training line-up:

	City:	Date:	Time:	Location:
	Columbus, OH	09-15-2009	11:00-1:30	Dave & Buster’s
	Lincoln, NE	09-29-2009	11:00-1:00	The Lodge at Wilderness Ridge
	Kansas City, KS	09-30-2009	11:00-1:00	Dave & Buster’s
	Phoenix, AZ	10-06-2009	11:00-1:00	Dave & Buster’s
	Seattle, WA	10-13-2009	11:00-1:00	Marriot Redmond Hotel
	Portland, OR	10-14-2009	11:00-1:00	Bullwinkle’s
	Addison, IL	10-20-2009	11:00-1:30	Dave & Buster’s
	St. Louis, MO	10-27-2009	11:00-1:00	Dave & Buster’s
	Springfield, MO	11-17-2009	11:00-1:00	Incredible Pizza

CLICK HERE to RSVP to attend the Youth Leader training closest to you!

In addition to these great trainings we are offering this fall, make sure to get your teens out to our Blaze conference tour this year!

Denver, CO	November 6-7, 2009
Columbus, OH	February 5-6, 2010
Lincoln, NE	February 26-27, 2010
Phoenix, AZ	March 5-6, 2010
Seattle, WA	March 12-13, 2010
Chicago, IL	March 19-20, 2010
St. Louis, MO	March 26-27, 2010

CLICK HERE to learn more about this year’s conference tour and to get your FREE promotional DVD!

Cool offer from Interlinc!

Hey Youth Leaders,

Many of you know from attending our conferences and being familiar with Dare 2 Share that we have a great partnership with interlinc.  They stand alone as the music and media resource for you, Youth Leaders.  They are offering a one-time FREE download of the latest YLO Book.  Dare 2 Share wanted to make sure that you had the opportunity to take advantage of this no-strings attached offer.  Did I mention it’s totally FREE?!?!?!  Check out the download.

CLICK HERE!

Here’s to reaching teenagers with the Gospel of Jesus Christ as we work togther: Dare 2 Share, Youth Leader and interlinc!

Top 10 reasons I love working at Dare 2 Share

This was inspired by a similar blog post by Greg Stier.

1. Everyday when I go to work at Dare 2 Share I know that what I do will have an impact on eternity.  I work for Jesus and not for man!
2. The people I work with are not just great co-workers and we’re not just on the “same team.”  We’re family!
3. Greg is bound to do or say something completely random that will make us laugh AT LEAST once a day.
4. What we are doing is making a difference.  More and more teenagers are trainined to share their faith and peer-to-peer evangelism on Middle School and High School campuses is happening.
5. When I travel for Dare 2 Share I meet Youth Leaders who are just as passionate about reaching teens as we are.
6. My boss Debb doesn’t just care about me but is personally invested in me.
7. I am challenged and convicted to keep personal evangelism a priority in my own life.
8. My team of Ministry Advocates cares for the Youth Leaders they work with & for the teens in those Youth Leaders’ ministries AND they get better at what they do everyday.
9. We have chapel every Wednesday for an hour.  How cool is it that we get to pray, worship, and learn together as a ministry?!?!?
10. Two things I have fun doing, Math and Ministry, collide to make my job exciting.  (When my wife Neva worked here she had nicknamed me “Rainman,” and even though she is at home with our two boys Christian & Brayden the nickname has stuck.)