Top Ten Things I learned this Weekend

1. Lori and Kurt Salierno are rockin' this world for Jesus in incredible ways. The closer I get to them, the more amazing I realize they truly are.

2. Lori has the gift of encouragement like my friend Jeanne Mayo. I want to learn and grow to be more like them in that area of my life. Once again, I realized that it's easier to be encouraging when you are around people that encourage you in specific, identifiable and genuine ways.

3. Students want to be transformed into Christs' likeness and one significant way they are transformed is through experiences. Lori did an awesome job of inspiring us with her words and stories this weekend, but Kurt transformed us by allowing us to experience homeless ministry in a downtown Atlanta park. While we need both inspiration and transformation, transformation is what students are hungry for. Almost unanimously in my van, students' most memorable moment this weekend was doing homeless ministry in the Atlanta park. The second highlight was climbing Stone Mountain. What do the two have in common, students got to experience (1) being the hands and feet of Jesus and (2) what God's creation looks like from the top of Stone Mountain they conquered by climbing. They didn't just hear about serving and God's creation, they experienced it for themselves.

4. When it comes to homeless ministry (actually, I think anybody)...
a. Introduce yourself by asking them their name, telling them yours and by shaking their hand (touch is important).
b. Learn their name and say it at least three times during the conversation (names are important).
c. Ask them about themselves because talking about yourself is everyone's favorite subject (conversations are important).
d. Ask them for one thing that you could pray for them for (prayer is important).

5. Everything really does take 2-3 times longer than you think it should - including bathroom breaks.

6. I've got kickin' cool female leaders and they are all unique in their own God given way.

7. I love middle school students, I love my job and I love my church.

8. I loved doing and experiencing ministry with my sister. She's really cool!

9. In downtown Atlanta:
a. If you're sleeping on the streets, don't sleep up against a wall. Rats have poor eyesight at night, so they scurry next to the walls.
b. There are more male than female prosititutes. They turn tricks for $5, so they can buy $7 worth of crack cocaine.
c. Stay on the sidewalks. You shouldn't walk in the grass at parks where there are a lot of homeless and drug addicts. Drug addicts can drop their needles in the grass and you could step on them. Kurt made those with open-toed shoes stay on the sidewalk.
d. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights, there's a high probability you could run into Kurt Salierno walking the streets of Atlanta ministering to homeless people.
e. I learned where some of the runaway high school boys sleep on the streets.

10. Lori and Kurt's church does valet parking for moms with babies and pre-schoolers. That's fresh!