Buffet Blog, Grand Fortune Buffet, Waugh Chapel

Ok, so here’s how the Buffet Blog works. We take a group of teenagers to a local buffet. Eat lots of food, and share our thoughts, assessment, and interesting comments with you. So here it goes.
Last night we went to the Grand Fortune Buffet in Gambrills. We had 13 people, mostly high school and college students. We sampled everything from their Mongolian Grill to their pizza, and here’s what we thought.

Average # of plates consumed per person: 3.3

Ratings, 1-10, with 10 being the highest
Selection for Main Course: 6.3
Selection for Desert: 3.6
Overall Quality: 4.8
Value: 5.2

Best food you ate all night:
Sushi, octopus, crab biscuit thingy, shrimp toast (2), BBQ pork, shrimp, ice cream (2)

Food you wouldn’t want to eat again:
Green Beans, Fake Crab stuff, cake, egg drop soup, chocolate pudding, white rice.

Random comments heard throughout the meal:
Mac n Cheese is amazing
I like the dumpling
“Lieutenant” Tso chicken is good
I’m not sure what’s in this, but it’s good! (referring to Hot and Sour Soup)
The octopus tasted like salted rubber… That’s a compliment
The octopus stared at me while I ate it
Green Beans are good
Egg drop soup tasted watered down
Desserts were lacking
The ice cream was good
Selection of Chinese food was lacking
Lots of Americanized Chinese food

Buffet Blog

So, we take a group of teenagers to a buffet, and we combine their feedback into a blog, and post. It’s that simple. So watch on Wednesday evening when we’ll make our first entry.

Why? Well, Catalyst is here to serve, so we’ll gladly make the sacrifice to test out local buffet’s, eat, eat, and then eat some more, then let you know what we think.

Describing Catalyst

So, last night at Catalyst, we threw out a few “Apples to Apples descriptions” of our youth group.  Here they are (with my comments)  for your information and entertainment.

Exciting (You never know what to expect)
Lazy(we do sit on couches most of the time)
Charismatic (well, what can I say?)
Revolutionary (Jesus Wept)
Nerdy (the Geek Squad has nothing on us)
Twisted (Gnome Wars says it all)
Clueless (hmmmm…  who was this person describing?)
Shocking (We never get through a Wednesday night without shocking someone)
Senseless (Green Flip-Kicking Monkeys)
Irritating (only a little)
Timeless (never before, never again)
Visionary (Yes, we DO have a vision)
Scary (All I have to say is “Settlers”)
Awkward (umm,   all I have to say is “Settlers”)
Playful (always)
Spiritual (Sometimes)
Risky (come at your own risk)
Crazy (certifiable)
Unnatural (natural is overrated)
Spunky (we have lots of spunk)
Silly (Julie Squeeks)
Philosophical (What’s the air speed velocity of a swallow?)
Awesome (Always)
Lovable (Very True)
Haunting (Only occasional nightmares)
Dangerous (chairs beware)
Wild (YouTube night?)
Creepy(What did happen at McDonalds Night?)
Annoying (Jesus Wept)
European (I think someone was suggesting our next mission trip)
Mischievous (only behind the leaders’ backs)
Unbelievable (without doubt)
Desperate (????)
Repulsive (can anyone say “Messy Games Day?)
Unusual (Just one look and you’ll see)
Nasty (umm, can anyone say “Messy Games Day?)
Colorful (Bright, happy colors)
Fuzzy (and warm.)

Let It Snow

I remember playing in what seemed like mountains of snow when I was in elementary school. I remember endless snowball fights with my brothers and neighbors in middle school and high school. I remember the neighbors dog jumping to catch snowballs in mid-air.

Many people are panicked about the forecast of two feet of snow. I say, let it snow. Let everyone slow down, spend time with your family, and play a little.

Let is snow.

God Took Charge

An hour before yesterday’s 180 Worship I was feeling terribly unprepared. The message I planned seemed disorganized and inadequate, I hadn’t met with the youth who planned our Soles4Souls shoe collection, and we didn’t even have enough snacks for our usual turnout.

A few minutes later, one of the parents brought in a cake that I wasn’t expecting, and it was like God was saying, “Trust Me”

The moment that the youth brought their shoes up to donate (some of them gave the shoes off of their feet) was powerful and moving and was clear that God was in it. Elijah took God’s cue and picked up the guitar. Ashley listened to God and started singing, and God moved. There’s nothing more powerful than tuning into God and letting Him work. It was amazing.

And then, the guys decided to run out in the snow barefoot and make snow angels. I’m pretty sure the video is already on youtube.

Social Experiment

1 Bottle of Water, $1, and several promises of help. That was the result of my social experiment. What experiment you ask?

On their way into the youth worship service, the youth walked past a man holding a sign that read “Homeless, please help, God Bless” The man asked some for food, some for bus money, others for information about a shelter.

In addition to the bottle of water and $1, one parent did come back outside to offer assistance, but then the man let her in on the secret. The secret is that this man was not homeless, he is my brother.

Matthew 25:37 “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?”

I want to invite friends from school to Youth Group, one is very quiet, one is Catholic, how do I do it?

I think you’re right to consider your friend’s personality and religion when you’re thinking about how to invite them to be a part of our youth ministry. First of all, it shows that you know them. When we care about people, our words, and our invitations go a lot farther.

I hope that what we do as a group, and who we are as a group are exciting and meaningful enough to be a regular part of your everyday conversations. When you’re regularly talking about what we do, and how important what we do is to your life, then it’s easy to invite others to join in.

We play games and have fun special events is because it’s fun, but also because that’s a good opportunity to invite friends. So, make our fun stuff, our group, and our God a part of your everyday life and conversations and invitations will easily follow.

Why doesn’t God reveal himself to people like he did in the Old Testament?

So, in the Old Testament, God spoke to Noah and told him to build an ark, he met with Moses face to face, he made fire for Elijah, he showed Jacob a glimpse of Heaven. But today, we don’t hear about those things. Why not?

Let’s first take a good look at one of the times that God directly revealed himself to Moses.  This interaction stands out to me as really significant. Exodus 33

Verse 11 tells us that “GOD spoke with Moses face-to-face, as neighbors speak to one another.” So God and Moses were having the kind of discussion that I can only imagine having with God in Heaven. I think of the things that I would ask Him and I would guess that Moses asked Him the same questions. “How did the earth get here anyway?” “Why did you decide to create this world?” “Why do you allow for evil to exist?” I hope that Moses asked those questions, and the fact that Moses and God had those conversations gives me an answer to how we know what really happened at the creation of the world. God told Moses. Moses passed it on in what became the book of Genesis.

So these times when God directly revealed Himself in the Old Testament are extremely important. It’s also important to realize that the Old Testament covers thousands of years of history and we see dozens of direct contacts from God.

The bigger issue is that when Jesus walked the earth, He broke down the barrier between us and God and now we have the opportunity for daily direct contact with God. God is primarily speaking with us through the Holy Spirit today. Which in some sense isn’t as dramatic, but it is more direct for more people more often. Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit in the Great Commission, and even in the life of Moses, in one of his conversations with God, God promised that “My presence will go with you.” (v14) But we don’t get many more details other than that. So it may not be as dramatic, but God’s involvement in our lives today is just as active and just as meaningful as it was in the Old Testament.

I personally know people who have been healed from cancer, who have heard God audibly speak to them, and I have personally seen him answer my prayers, big and small. I have felt His direction, His Guidance, and His encouragement in my life, family, and ministry. That’s the Holy Spirit working directly in my life today.

Question Night

So, a few weeks ago at 180 Worship we had Question Night, where the youth wrote down their questions about God, Faith, Morals, Life, or whatever and the leaders did their best to answer them.  On this blog, I’m going to take some time to give a more detailed answer to these questions, so here it goes.

Question:  How can I bring God into everyday school conversations?

The simple answer is that when God is the focus of your life, you’ll show your faith in your life.  People know what you’re passionate about.  If you’re passionate about playing a sport or playing an instrument, or getting good grades, people recognize that about you and it comes up in everyday conversations.  The same is true about God.  If you’re passionate about God, it shows in your life and comes up in conversation.

Sometimes it’s important to be more deliberate about bringing God into your conversations.  I think it’s easiest to talk about ministry that you are directly involved in.  Right now, one of our youth is planning a Shoe Drive to collect shoes that will be given to children and adults living in poverty around the world.  That’s an awesome way to show our faith in action.  Imagine the conversation that starts with “hey, what did you do this weekend?” and your answer is “I helped collect 2,000 pairs of shoes to ship to poor children in a third-world country.”  I think God would come up in that conversation.