Andrew and I spent the day traveling down to the Grand Strand of South Carolina. We made a stop in Florence to eat lunch with my parents and I introduced Andrew to Marinated Greek Chicken. He is a huge fan. We then headed down to the beach and on the way down we encounter some traffic and a lot of rain.

Tonight was the first session for the INFERNO. It was awesome! David Walker and the guys did a great job of ushering the students into the presence of the King before I spoke. They also rocked it out after I spoke and really celebrated God’s love for us.

The scripture for the week is Daniel 3, where Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego get tossed in the fire for worshipping God. Below are some of my notes for the night.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are now faced with a choice:

• Who will I worship? Statue or God
• They had to make a decision and they knew the consequences.

We all must answer a couple of questions:

1. Who will I serve / worship?

• Man
• Myself
• God

2. Will I face the consequences?

• Ridicule
• Embarrassment
• Shame

3. Will I commit to stand true for God?

• Yes
• No

It was a great night and I am looking forward to tomorrow. Got to get some sleep! Peace!

The INFERNO begins tonight! I am so excited about tonight! I am speaking for Millbrook Baptist Church NewLife Student Ministry Summer Camp. We are down at Garden City Chapel in Garden City Beach, SC. David Walker and his band are going to be leading worship. I was able to meet David and Brandon Bowers, Minister of Students at Millbrook, a couple of weeks ago and these guys are the real deal. I am looking forward to ministering alongside both of these guys this week.

We are going to be focusing our time together in Daniel 3, where the 3Amigos withstood the temptation to denounce God. I am looking forward to meeting the students, worshiping with them, teaching them God’s word, beating in basketball, and seeing how God is going to change there lives after being in the INFERNO!! Please be praying for me, David, Brandon, and the students at camp this week.

I will be posting daily throughout camp what is happening and how the sessions go each night!

Here is the graphic for the week:

Last night was awesome for me. I decided to take a break from speaking…to prepare for future messages and to get ready for a camp I am speaking for this week for Millbrook Baptist Church NewLife Student Ministries…which is always a little difficult for me. Whenever I do this, I always see stuff that needs improvement and stuff that needs to receive a little care to improve our ministry. A lot of the time it is the small stuff, nothing major or huge, but stuff that bothers me. Stuff that i do not want to bother others when they attend our ministry for the first time. Regardless, it was fun for me to sit int he back and be an observer for tonight. Here is the run down from tonight!

Attendance: Above Average - Up from the previous week…always a good thing
Music: Above Average
Message: Above Average - Andrew Sentell gave the message and did an AWESOME job. He rocked it out last night!
Topic: Play It: Sorry - Accepting Forgiveness
Fun Factor: Average
Crowd Involvement: Above Average
Volunteer Involvement: Above Average - Small groups were crazy but seemed to be very effective tonight!

A couple of weeks ago, Deanna and I ate dinner with a couple that serves in our middle school ministry. They are a great family, the husband told me about a show he really loved. the show is called, Man vs. Wild. Click here is a link for an explanation from Wikipedia. The show is hosted by Bear Grylls. I have become an avid fan. I actually DVR the show and watch it each time. below are two links about the show being staged/fake. I can’t believe this…I am really hoping that this is not true!!!

GRYLLS THRILLS BOGUS: EXPERT

‘WILD’ STORM: REALITY SURVIVAL SHOW FAKED

If the show is fake or parts of it are fake…was it fake when Bear drank his own urine to stay hydrated?? Don’t believe me…check it out here. (I would embed the video but I don’t know how. Any suggestions?) Check it out below. (A HUGE shout to Sean Gaffney for helping a computer idiot such as myself!)

Does anyone else ever watch this show? Let me know and if so what are your thoughts?

Last night was the first night for our rising 6th Graders. It was a whole of fun because new 6th Graders bring a whole bunch of energy with them! they were through the roof last night!

Here is a pic from my Motorola Q from the side of the stage:

Attendance: Above Average
Music: Above Average - Daniel and the guys rocked it out!
Message: Average (little on the longer side than normal)
Topic: Play It: Risk of not living with Jesus
Fun Factor: Average - We did have an adult eat a tub of creme dessert filling in 7 bites it hilarious (a trash can was close by for obvious reasons)!!
Crowd Involvement: Above Average (New 6th Grade energy)
Volunteer Involvement: Above Average (We had a good number of observers, people who want to get involved in our ministry who come and check it out!)

We had 11 students accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. It was AWESOME! Overall it was a great night and a lot of fun. The staff and I are really looking forward to having this new crop of 6th Graders with us for the next 3 years!

I just saw that Tony Morgan (T-Mo) has linked some of the NewSpring bloggers! Somehow I made that “prestigious” list…so I would like to welcome all who have jumped on over to AldenEllis.com. Take a moment to leave a comment to let me know who you are and where you are from. Be sure to head back over to Tony’s and check out some of the other guys. Anyway, thanks for stopping by….I look forward to visiting with you! Peace!

Last night was the opening night of Summer Blockbuster, The Secret of Sarsaparilla City. After Deanna and I went out to eat at Longhorn Steakhouse we drove back to the church to check out the main stage production. All I can say is, “IMPRESSIVE!” The children’s ministry team did a PHENOMENAL job. The set was great, the production was great, everything was awesome. We had 1019 children! Over a thousand is AMAZING!!

Now, if you asked our children’s ministry team how it went, they would probably say that this and this went wrong, etc. I love that about them! I love that they always want to improve and make it better.

NewSpring Children’s Ministry Team, you guys rocked it out! I know that you are tired, but you are doing awesome. Keep up the hard work and know that what you are doing is making an eternal difference. I am so proud of you! I am thankful that the students that graduate from your ministry get this excellence and commitment every Sunday!

Here is a pic from the balcony:

WOW! That is a lot of kids…mind you that is only the center section!

Mark 12:30-31, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

“The true leader serves. Serves people. Serves their best interests, and in doing so will not always be popular, may not always impress. But because true leaders are motivated by loving concern rather than a desire for personal glory, they are willing to pay the price.” Euguene B. Habecker

These are the two things that I shared with our leaders Sunday night in our IGNITE Staff Meeting. I casted some vision to let them know that we are about to get in over our heads in ministry. We are expecting close to 200 students next week at IGNITE with the rising 6th Graders attending for the first time. We are taking 80 of them with us on an event this week called the UPRISING.

With that in mind, I challenged them to be on the look out for GREAT leaders. Those people who will be leaders in the truest sense of the word…a servant. A person who will come to IGNITE and a have a desire to serve the students in their small group and will be willing to do it when they do not get all the praise in the world. A leader who is motivated out of a desire to serve Jesus through serving our students. A leader who understands that it is worth the price to serve these students. A leader who is willing to listen to the sad stories, broken hearted laments, wipe away the tears, listen intently to what they are saying, and do their best to relate to them.

As a leader it takes time, energy, effort, preparation (spiritual, emotional, mental), and love. As a leader this is the price we pay to work with our students. Please know…IT IS WORTH THE PRICE WE PAY! The rewards and benefits are through the roof. When a student accepts Christ…it is worth the price we pay. When a student grows in their faith…it is worth the price we pay. When the light-bulb comes on after multiple conversations… it is worth the price we pay. When they tell their friends about Christ…it is worth the price we pay.

Come join us if you would like to see an infinite return on your investment into the lives of students! Contact us here is you are a member of NewSpring and want to be part of something amazing!