Last night was our last IGNITE service at the Fusebox at the Anderson Mall. We are moving to a new facility called “The 2Seven”. We also finished up our series called Prison break. We spent the time discussing issues that keep us locked in prison and away from what God has called us to do. Shame, Guilt, Anger, and Jealousy were the main discussion topics, but last night we also threw in some others such as: pornography, cutting, suicidal thoughts, and cheating.

One of the highlights of the night, was when Andrew Sentell, Meagan Gregory, and Tiffany Sellers came out and sang an acoustic version of “I Need You to Love Me” by Barlow Girl. Take some time to go and read the lyrics to the song, even go to I-Tunes and buy the darn thing and listen to it.

The night was geared towards presenting the gospel in a clear understandable way. Well, the best part of the whole night was when we we had 5 students accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. It was awesome. We also had numerous students say they are tired of playing games and they want to take their relationship to the next level with Jesus.

After IGNITE, the volunteers all went to Chili’s for our First Sunday Meeting. I always love hanging out with our volunteer leaders. During this time we always hand out our Phenomenal Awards. These awards go to volunteers who have done something PHENOMENAL throughout the month.

Here are the Phenomenal Award Winners for this month:

• Meagan Gregory: Phenomenal Witness in the Workplace
• David Fisher: Phenomenal Ability to Plan and Execute a Small Group Activity
• Ali Henson: Phenomenal Ability to Assist and take care of our leaders and observers
• Sean Gaffney: Phenomenal Service In and Outside of IGNITE.

I think I got all those right…but, if I didn’t they are really close!

Also tonight is stay-at-home date night. Deanna and I are ordering a pizza and renting a movie. We are having a time to just hang out together. I can’t wait to just chill with the most awesome woman in the world! Peace!

Yesterday was the First Sunday of April, that means we always go out to eat as a youth volunteer staff. We always eat at the Chili’s in Anderson They always give us great service, they never mind that we take up half the restaurant and create ALL the noise.

The awesome volunteers that were given a Phenomenal were:

• Dale Sellers: Phenomenal Ability and Dedication. Dale is ALWAYS there at IGNITE. He has been running our lights for a while and does a GREAT job. Dale has a PASTOR’S heart! He loves people and loves students. I am so thankful to have him apart of the IGNITE team!
• Keri Holder: Phenomenal Encouragement. Keri has the unbelievable gift of encouragement. She has encouraged so many of our leaders since she has joined the IGNITE team. **I get the awesome privilege to be able to officiate her wedding to Mr. Jonathan Unsworth on June 2, 2007! I am really excited about being a part of their special day!**
• Mike Smith: Phenomenal Husband, Dad, and Leader. Mike has been “that” guy in my life since coming to NewSpring. I will never forget sitting on his front porch along with his family and talking about ministry and them welcoming us to NewSpring. since that time our friendship has grown tremendously! I have the utmost respect for Mike, because he loves his family, his Lord, and his church.
• Ryan Sutherland: Phenomenal Creativity. Ryan is the reason for our MADE Videos that we did a couple of weeks back. He came up with the idea, took the pics for each shot, made the set, and then assisted in putting them in video form. I referenced all of the videos in a post back on March 5, 2007. Be sure to check them out here. Dude, you rock! Keep using your talents for Jesus!

On the First Sunday of each month we present the Phenomenal Awards. These are given to leaders who do something PHENOMENAL during the previous month, some are serious and some are not so serious.

This has become something that the staff and leaders look forward to each month to see who we are going to pick. And now…presenting the Phenomenal Awards for March of 2007:

• Matt Broderick: Phenomenal Phantom Award - Matt is our phantom leader. If you did not know Matt you would know that he was there. He is so stinking quiet. He leads a group of our 6th Grade guys, which he is awesome at doing. Matt leads by example, not a HUGE vocal leader, but one that you can ALWAYS count on and is SOLID to the core. Matt, you ROCK!!! Thank you for all you do!!

• Deanna Ellis: Phenomenal Servanthood without Prompting Award - This person is absolutely AMAZING!! Deanna got this award for always being willing to serve without being asked. She is consistently looking for areas that needs assistance and then gives her help. Not to mention is she is an awesome worker, but she is even more of an AMAZING wife. I love her so much and each day, I fall more in love with her each and every day. Deanna has been so supportive of the ministry that God has placed us in. She is such a great pastor’s wife; she is bold when she needs to smack me down, full of compassion and mercy, full of Jesus, and willing to serve. Needless to say, SHE IS AMAZING!!!

• Kelley Amick: Phenomenal Fastest Check-In - Each week Kelley takes our front check-in station and just gets our students check in so fast. Her line is always moving at a great speed. A part of the reason that she gets students checked in so fast is that she knows the students names and information. When she does not know the student’s, she always has another student beside that does. This is important because if it takes too long to get students checked in the become disengaged.

• Gil Karkins: Phenomenal Slumber/Ability to Sleep Through an Ignite Service - This one was hilarious. A couple of weeks ago, Gil showed up to IGNITE very tired. Well…in an effort to lead his small group with a lot of energy, he decided to sleep in the service. It had to be one of the funniest things that has happened with our leaders. Gil has been a champ about it, through all the picking, teasing, laughing that has come from that wonderful time.

I always look forward to this time, because we laugh so much and celebrate our leaders; as they pour so much into our students!