When the Smile on My Heart is as Big as the One on My Face

I love it when someone makes my heart smile... my leaders did that for me tonight! I will forever be grateful for the fact that from September through June, over 75 leaders of Oasis give me and our students 1/7 of their evenings each week. That's huge! Everything about them shines brightly for Jesus - their actions, attitudes, words and deeds.

Tonight, we had a leader's meeting and so many of them showed up that we ran out of both Chinese and Taco Bell. I've never had that problem before, but it wasn't anything that another quick food run couldn't fix (thanks Chris).

For all those present and future youth pastors out there, here's one thing I've learned through the years. While I can't repay them for what they sacrifice for our students each and every week, I can feed them well. That's why we've done Chinese (the overwhelming favorite), Chick-fil-A, Hacienda, Brunos, homemade and a few others. Tonight we added a few cool giveaways too - that was fun. I hope I beat them to heaven and get to watch their faces as Jesus shows them the impact they had on eternity that they were never able to fully see on earth.

Among many, a few of the leaders in particular that have made my heart smile are...
Karen and Wendy - They planned the entire high school leaders retreat and allowed me to just show up and play all weekend - spoons, kemps, capture the flag, ping-pong, indoor off-the-walls kickball and 3-on-3 basketball. After sitting at my computer for three weeks, it felt really, really good. I loved having the opportunity to speak what was on my heart and pray for each of the high school leaders as well.

The Five Star Boys - After hanging out with middle school students at Grissom on Wednesday afternoons, they high tail it from Grissom over to GCC to do it all over again. Thanks Seth, Jeremy, Josiah, Michael and Eric! A big Happy Birthday goes out to Josiah!