Promo Video for Oasis

Corey did a fun video to promo the Chicago 07 mission trip this summer. You can see it here.

They are so much better than back in the day

Just got back from watching Ashley Lutz, Taylor Lutz and Alex Morton play basketball at MBA and ND ... they are off the hook. I don't ever remember girls playing that well back in the day. Last year at camp when they beat the guys at lunch, I thought it was a combo of skill and luck. After seeing them play, it was all skill baby. AMAZING. As of now both teams are undefeated this weekend! I hope they take the championship for their respective age divisions.

Last night I went and saw the 6th and 8th grade Schmucker bands and the 8th grade Discovery band play at Penn. Once again, I was stunned. I actually expected my ears to be bloodied after the event, but the bands totally rocked. In between band performances, we took in the 8th grade Schmucker Cinderella play (the other half of the 8th grade did Aladdin last week). Watching Ashley play the role of the wicked step-sister and CJ dance was a hoot. The whole class did incredibly well, but the sound system did not do them justice. I hope they get that fixed. The kids worked so hard and did so well, then to have the sound constantly crackle or inaudible made me want to scream.

People Must Have Thought I Was Insane

Just got back from the wrestling meet ... Discovery vs. Grissom ... where people must have thought I was nuts. One minute I was cheering for Grant on the Grissom team and the next minute I was cheering for Jerrod on Discovery's team. At one point Knute went up against Ryan. Zowee...tough stuff. Got a chance to talk with Knute afterwards, he's a pretty amazing guy. If you look up good sportsmanship in the dictionary, you'll see Knute's picture next to the definition. In the end, it came down to the final match when Joe (Grissom) pinned his guy in nothing flat. Great guys, good times.

Division + Drama = Draining

I hate division and drama, it wipes me out. I think Satan's number one goal in life is to get Christians to lose sight of the real enemy and shoot arrows at each other. He's doing a pretty good job in a couple of situations with people whom I love dearly. I'm hoping prayer and communication will clear the air. We need to guard each others hearts, have each others backs and cheer each other on.

Schmucker Middle School Play

Went with the amazing Jeanna Trip to see a handful of our students in the Schmucker Middle School play. Turns out we saw a few dozen of them. Wow, I think half of Oasis' Schmucker students were in or at the play. They did a great job despite the fact that the star broke his foot two weeks ago. You could tell students were having a good time. I know Jeanna and I did.

Afterwards Jeanna's comment to me was priceless. She said, "Judy you could tell it meant a lot to them that we were there." Thats one, among many of our leaders, who truly "gets it". I love it!

This week was the Jimtown/John Young basketball game and Schmucker school play, next week is the Grissom/Discovery wrestling match and middle school band extravaganza at Penn.

Basketball

Went to see my pal Kelsey's basketball game tonight and it turns out she's playing Chelsea and Rebeccah's team. Ugh, now that's just cruel. Chelsea brings the ball down the court and who does she go up against? None other than Kelsey. Who am I supposed to cheer for? Huh?

The Jimtown Jimmies took the game tonight over John Young. It was fun hanging out with Kelsey's mom. She's a riot. Good times. Good times. While I was there I did get to show off my basketball wound. Two days into playing basketball and I already have a injury, what is that? My poor little pinkie is bruised and swollen. Looks kind of like a purple popsicle. I love showing it to people and hearing the "Ewww, what did you do?" I didn't know I enjoyed sympathy so much, even if it's just for my poor little pinkie.

Ruth - The Band

Corey "the Mann" hooked Oasis up with a band on Wednesday night. Warning...Good Times Ahead!

Weekend Recap

FRIDAY
Friday morning I hit the court running...literally. Theresa invited me to play basketball with some of her friends. I had a GREAT time for a number of reasons. Because...
1. I love basketball.
2. Theresa's friends are cool nondramatic women who kick tail (mostly my tail) at basketball.
3. I love to exercise without realizing I'm exercising. On the court, I'm just having fun. On the treadmill, I'm working out. I like having fun, I don't like working out.

I know this sounds disgusting, but I was drenched in sweat when I was done and actually had a smile on my face. I found out full court basketball for an hour can give you quite the workout. They play three times a week. I hope I stick with it...I hope they stick with it. If that happens, it's exactly what I've been looking for.

Friday night some leaders and I went to see Kasie and Corey's high school play. I'm not huge on plays, but this one was awesome and funny. They did an incredible job. Afterwards a bunch of us went out to dinner at Chili's. The dinner was expensive but the chips were good...and the company, even better.

SATURDAY
I spent all day Saturday with Seth and the Five Star Crew in Chicago. A great time was had by all. In the beginning I didn't think it was going to be possible to make the seven girls I had all happy, but with a little strategic planning at the lunch table we pulled it off. The only regret was the $7 we all paid for the "Fun House" at Navy Pier. The Fun House was not so fun. My only other purchase was for "Jesus" bandaids. They were so ridiculously stupid I had to buy them.

I loved hanging with the girls. They're pretty amazing. More and more I realize the truth in Jeanne Mayo's statment "He/she who spends the most time wins." I want that to become the culture of our youth ministry and its leaders. I now have two of the girls in my group coming to Oasis without me ever inviting them, just their friends. Totally cool!

Saturday night I took a student to see "The Ultimate Gift". It was pretty good. I'd give it 4 of 5 stars. It's got a chick flick feel and a couple of great clips I'll one day use. I admit it ... I cried twice. I'm not sure if it was because of the movie or the fact that my muscles were screaming from Friday's workout and Saturday's shopping.

SUNDAY
Went to church Sunday morning 3rd service. I think 90% of GCC's forgot about the time change since 3rd Service was unusually packed. Mark did an amazing job and the video at the beginning was absolutely hilarious. I loved it! Afterwards, I went to lunch with my dad, sister and a couple of students, checked out a house and hit Lifeline. I had a whole entourage up in my office afterwards. It was fun catching up with some of my pals. We've got some of the most amazing students...EVER!

One Sweet Message and Other Stuff

Last Weekend
Last weekend (March 3-4), Rob knocked it out of the park...way out of the park. You can listen to the message here for a couple more days. The Domino Video at the end was sweet. In fact, it was right up there with Rob Bell's Nooma Videos. You've got to watch it.

Conference Call
Today on a conference call with youth pastors around he nation, I was counting my blessings. They were asking the question, "How do we become more missional?" I'm grateful that we've got that one covered, that it's part of our DNA.

Random stuff geeks like me only care about...
30% of our regular students are from Granger
29% from Mishawaka
14% from South Bend
7% from Osceola
6% from Elkhart
6% from Niles
4% from Edwardsburg
4% from various other places

Regular attendees (defined as making 5 of the last 8 Oasis) = 75%
(it could actually be higher, 2 of the 8 we had horrible weather)

Maximum Impact

There are way too many plays, games and concerts to go to given the number of students in our ministry. So, I've boiled it down to three priorities...

1. Jamborees and invitationals where all of our key schools play each other at one central location.
2. Any activity that our high school leaders are in that I find out about. If it's a sport, I at least try and hit one game/meet a year.
3. Any event where a student looks me in the eye and invites me to come.

Last month it was the ISSMA competition at Elkhart Central, this month it was the Wrestling Invitational at Grissom (#1). Last Saturday was Kara's play and this Saturday is Kasie's play (#2). And Friday night will be the middle school play at Discovery (#3).

It was cool seeing all the wrestlers. Our guys did well. However, it was hard to figure out who to cheer for. I have a feeling I might of cheered for an Oasis guy I knew who was competing against an Oasis guy I didn't know. So, about half way through I just started smiling and hoping for the best. After the match, I decided that was my time to go over and give personal encouragement.

John Young took the championship with Grissom coming in a close second. It went right down to the wire.

I had a good time. However, I can't get out of my head one of our students, had we not been there, had no one to cheer him on. Currently he's grounded from Oasis and outside activities for getting into trouble at home. I'm worried about him.

That's one for the encouragement file!

Jeanne Mayo has taught me a lot of things, but one that sticks out in my mind the most is that, when necessary, to ask for encouragement instead of waiting for it. I always need it and I know my leaders always need it. So when a dad came up to me tonight and was bragging on Oasis and the leaders, I asked him if he wouldn't mind saying it again in an email so that I could forward it to my leaders. His words were priceless! Now, I could of tried summarizing it for them, but if it came from him directly it would mean so much more. He went home and did just that. While I removed the names, here's what he had to say...


Dear Judy,

My wife and I want to say thank you for the ministry of Oasis. When we moved here from out of state, our biggest concern was how would our son adjust to the change. God has done so much to help him navigate the transition, but more than anything God has used Oasis to make this new place his new home. He is a sensitive kid and he can sniff out, fairly quickly, "mean" people or people who just don't care. At Oasis, he feels loved authentically and unconditionally. That is, he is accepted as that unique guy that he is. Oasis is fun for him--he insists that we bring him at 4:45 each Wednesday so he can have lots of hang out time and I don't think he has missed an activity since we moved here--but it is more than just fun. The middle school ministry at GCC is transformational for him. He is uplifted, challenged and changed through the worship, teaching and interaction. And by the way, he thought his first experience recently at the Monday night Bible study was "awesome."

Thanks to you and your team for providing normal (read "not religious stick-in-the-mud out of touch with the real world"), crazy, authentic, passionate leadership for him and thank you for helping him to connect with God through worship, scripture, community and outreach. Because you follow Jesus with your whole heart, he is learning how to be a fully-devoted follower of Jesus. As parents, we could not ask for more.

By the way, this is not mere flattery. I waited months to share this because I wanted to see if what you are doing stood the test of time. Any parent or child can be excited about a ministry after an initial impression or just a few weeks, but its the long haul that matters. Accordingly, the fire in him for Oasis, and more importantly for Christ, just grows stronger each week. What you are doing is for real and you are making a lasting difference! Be encouraged because God is using you in the lives of others.

Thanks for the sacrifices you make for all the kids, but especially for the most important kid to us--our son.