Archive for 'Events'
Why Illuminate was a Success
Posted on 29. Aug, 2011 by Kenny.
On Saturday we knocked out our first Illuminate of the 2011-12 year. It was a huge hit! Not only was it super successful, I learned so many things about hosting a conference, especially in a city where you don’t live. One of the biggest things I learned is that starting a conference in distant location is a lot harder than you would think. The Austin event came together incredibly well with seemingly little effort, but the Birmingham event required a lot more work to get the word out. Like I said though, I learned a lot from this first event which I hope to put to work in future events.
However, this last saturday was almost 100% void of stress. I had an immense amount of peace and I remember walking around at times thinking, “should I be running around or fixing an emergency of some sort?” Let me share with you two reasons why the Birmingham event was so successful (there are several other reasons as well, but these may be the biggest).
Cathy Harwick and Corey Schwarz. Period.
Cathy Harwick and Corey Schwarz work for me at Gateway and are also good friends to me and my family. Having them in Birmingham was strategic since we’ll be putting on a nearly identical conference in Austin in a little more than two months. Most of the work that we were scrambling to get done right before the event last year is already done now that Birmingham is behind up. I’m just so grateful that they were willing to come. There is no way that I would have been able to pull off what I did without their help. Cathy took care of all the details around registration, customer service and speaker care. Corey took care of all the details around the production, audio/video recordings and technical aspects. That left me with little more to do than just walk around, shake hands and welcome people to Illuminate. This is probably why I didn’t experience any stress at Birmingham. I just had fun.
I’m not sure if I’ve said much about these two team members here at Gateway. I hired Cathy Harwick as my McNeil campus Children’s Pastor about 2.5 years ago. After looking for a Children’s Pastor for nearly 9 months, Cathy sought me out. She came to Gateway with incredible experience leading a larger Children’s Ministry at a larger church. I’ve met very few people who have the ability to recruit, lead and care for volunteers like she does. Because of her gifting, I have her operating in two roles. In addition to being the Children’s Pastor at our largest campus, she also oversees the process for recruiting, leading and caring for all volunteers to kids at Gateway.
I hired Corey just a little over two years ago to be the Children’s Pastor over the Children’s
Ministry at our South Campus. He’s a total rock star. For several years he had been the children’s pastor at a smaller church in the area. When he joined our team, he was able to use his gifts as a part of a larger kidmin team, not having to do everything himself. Corey has a big passion for large group ministry, so he also operates in two roles. In addition to being the Children’s Pastor at our South Campus, he oversees production, environments and curriculum for all of the Children’s Ministry at Gateway.
I thought I’d just brag a little on Cathy and Corey. They were significant in Illuminate’s success and they are significant to me, very much like family.
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Illuminate HashTag
Posted on 26. Aug, 2011 by Kenny.
Some people have credited me for creating the #kidmin twitter hashtag. I don’t claim sole credit, but I was involved. However, I am announcing a hashtag that I am claiming responsibility for (actually, that’s not the total truth as I did as Matt McKee for his opinion). Ha!
So, the official hashtag for Illuminate is #illumin8.
Those tweeting from the event will be encouraged to use the tag and if you feel the urge to tweet anything about Illuminate, feel free to add #illumin8 along with your obligatory #kidmin tag.
Thank you and happy tweeting!
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Plotting for the Birmingham Illuminate
Posted on 23. Aug, 2011 by Kenny.
Check out this recent post from my new friend Dustin Nickerson from Washington state. For several weeks, he and I talked about him being the officially back-up to the back-up in case any of my speakers got sick. I didn’t realized how seriously he was taking this semi-important (not really) assignment. Click here to see his evil plan.
Pray for good health for all the speakers, staff and attendees at Illuminate Birmingham!
What Dustin doesn’t know is that 3 of my 4 speakers got food poising last year. Of all the great places to take them to eat here in Austin… I took them to the place where the view is the best… and the food is gross. 
Dustin… I have a feeling that in the future, I’ll have you speak at Illuminate. I’d love to see your outline for the breakout on aliens!
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Illuminate Birmingham is less than 10 days away!!!
Posted on 18. Aug, 2011 by Kenny.
Wow! One week from today, I’ll be flying out to Birmingham, AL to start getting everything ready for the first Illuminate of the 2011/2012 season. I’m really excited. I’ll admit it, there have been days where I thought I’d bit off more than I could chew, but God has been faithful and things have come together beautifully. I’ve got so many things to share, but I can’t until after this first event is over. Ha!
So, if you’re within driving distance of Birmingham, AL, please come on by and spend the day with us. It’s going to be amazing! It’s not too late to register. Click here for more info!
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Justin Graves Band
Posted on 21. Jul, 2011 by Kenny.
While at Camp Zephyr this month, I had the privilege of sharing the stage with Justin Graves… and his band. I’d never heard of Justin before this summer, but I’m glad for the opportunity to work with him. I actually wanted to give him props here on the site.
Here’s the deal with me. I’m probably not the best to to critique or describe the nuances or what makes one band great and another one not so great. When looking for a group to play and lead kids in worship, there are so many different directions you can go. Some musicians are really edgy… perfect for your angst-filled pre-teens and others are better suited for pre-schoolers (even though they think they’re rockin’ it for pre-teens). I consider all that stuff when I hear a kids band for the first time… but there are things that I consider far more important.
How does this band connect with the kids? Does this band simply walk through a worship set or do they lead kids in worship? Lastly, how well is this band going to work with me as a team?
Let me tell you a bit about my experience with Justin. He gets kids. He loves kids and they love him. From the stage he had the kids on their feet, bouncing and having a great time. When not on the stage, kids just wanted to hang out with him. That’s great when dealing with pre-teens.
I also noticed that he was truly a kids worship leader. There would be times during the worship songs that he’d gently guide the kids to stop clapping or swaying and focus their worship to God. He was always very aware of where the kids were and where they needed to go. He knows his craft.
Lastly, I greatly enjoyed working with him. A few weeks before camp, I was able to send him my notes and suggestions on how I wanted the mood to be when I got on stage or when I’d finish the talk. We’d chat for  few minutes before each session and discuss transitions and what we needed to do to make the greatest impact. I truly felt like I was part of a team. He cared about what the Holy Spirit was doing in the lives of these kids as much as I did and he played a huge part in making it happen.
So, if you’re looking for a worship leader for a pre-teen event, I stand behind Justin Graves for sure. You’ll not regret looking him up.
Oh, and the very best part of the Justin Graves Band is his family. It is a very family focused band and they minister together. Michelle, his wife plays bass and Gabby… well, she does a lot. She sings a little, she helps with hand motions and I think she’s their roadie… and manager. She’s five and incredibly cute. Honestly, she’s the cherry on top.
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Illuminate Sponsorships… like hotcakes!
Posted on 20. Jul, 2011 by Kenny.
Believe it or not, but Illuminate begins the 2011/2012 conference year in a little more than a month. Wow… I’m totally not ready yet. Ha! It’s going to be amazing. More details to come… I’m very excited though.
However, I’m finalizing the sponsorship process. Over the past few weeks I’ve been in conversations with dozens of potential conference sponsors and I’m wrapping up that process in just another 10-14 days. If you’ve not been contacted by me and you’re interested in partnering with Illuminate and promoting your organization/service, let me know before it’s too late. Click here to contact us and get involved!
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Camp Zephyr in Sandia, TX
Posted on 20. Jul, 2011 by Kenny.
I figured that if I was going to write any more about camp, I better wrap it up this week… especially since I’ve had camp related posts for almost 3 weeks.
This is a shout-out to the camp I’ve been involved with the past two summers, Camp Zephyr in Sandia Texas. Zephyr is located on Lake Corpus Christi, only about an hour NW of Corpus. So, like most Texas Camps… it’s hot. Really hot.
However, I have only great things to say about this place. The staff is pretty amazing. They take great care of the camp and are always prompt and smiling. I remember one afternoon I remembered that I needed a hammer for an illustration. Someone got on the radio and said that I needed a hammer and within 5 minutes, I had a hammer in my hands. They’re great with stuff like that.
For two years now, I’ve been involved with their Pre-Teen Camp program. Most of the team are volunteers, but the camp director for the past several years really “gets” what kids want out of a camp. The activities are what you’d expect from a summer camp with swimming, lakefront, canoes, the blob and recreation. The food is on the better end of what I’ve had at summer camps. I think my system was ready to get back home to normal home cooked food, but what they served up was great. However, the program elements were fantastic. The kids couldn’t wait to get back to the auditorium for morning and evening sessions. The energy was electric and these times were planned just right to keep the kids in a place wehre they were always wanting more.
The option of having me speak sealed the deal for us having our kids at Camp Zephyr, but I can’t think of many other camp options I been a part of that I’d rather have my kids at. There are some great options out there, but I’d say that Zephyr pre teen camps easily holds their own with many of the other great ones.
So, if you’re in Central/South Central Texas, you should make plans to attend camp at Zephyr. You really won’t regret it!
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Kids Camp: Day 4
Posted on 13. Jul, 2011 by Kenny.
So, the video hasn’t been uploaded yet, I’ll add later when it is live.
Day four was amazing! As far as camp activities go, it wasn’t much different from any of the other days of camp… just a lot of fun. But more than anything, I was excited about what we were going to cover in our services.
The misfit we introduced in the morning session was the Samaritan woman at the well. We see how Jesus struck up a conversation with her pretty quickly and he cut right to the chase. He began talking to her about spiritual matters, essentially offering her this “living water.” Then he went straight for the jugular. He addressed her sin. Now, the very order of his conversation tells us a little about what is important to Christ. Although Jesus knew this woman was a lowly Samaritan and a woman who couldn’t keep her personal life in order, he still offered her life. He knew of her sin and wasn’t afraid to call it out.
So, in the evening service, we dedicated our time toward talking about sin, patterns of sin and sins that we tend to keep in the dark. Secret sins. We learned how it is our nature to hide sin and cover up the things that make us uncomfortable. However, when we don’t deal with our sins, it festers and grows and entangles us (Heb 12:1). As an illustration, I brought someone up on stage and slowly as I described various sins that hold us back, I began chaining him up. First around the waist. Then handcuffs wrapped through the waist chain. Then the legs. Lastly, the volunteer sat down and I chained his waist chain to the chains around his legs so he couldn’t even extend his legs. I pointed to the volunteer and said that this is what our sin does to us. It keep us from being able to run the race marked out for us. Sin will mess us up.
I got pretty personal and talked about the sins that many of these kids are likely to be struggling with:
- Lies
- Gossip
- Bad Language
- Bad attitudes
- Smoking, Drinking or Drugs
- Inappropriate thought life
- Temper
- A sharp tongue
- Inappropriate music and movies
- Magazines, videos or webpages with inappropriate pictures
I talked about how many of these sins draw us back. Our sinful nature has a hunger that craves some of these things and every time we go back, we feel shame and guilt. That’s the sneakiness of sin. I shared how many of us who are trapped in a sin also hear a voice in our head that lies to us. It says that we’re disgusting for doing that thing, for looking at that magazine or saying those words. The voice tries to get us to think that we’re all alone and we need to hide our shame.
Then the lights went out and one singular light came on directly above the stage. I spoke about how Jesus is the light and in the light, we can’t hide our sin. There is full transparency. If we truly want freedom from our sin, we have to walk into the light and confess our sins, get them out into the open. When we do that, sin has no power over us.
I shared a pretty personal struggle that I had when I was their age. I shared about my shame and guilt that I carried for several years and how coming into the light changed everything for me, how it set me free to run the race in a way I’d never experienced. Between the content I shared, the sensitivity of the subject matter and the somewhat emotional draw of my personal story, there were very few dry eyes in the room. The Holy Spirit was at work in heart across the room. I closed with prayer and a song (I surrender all) and we dismissed directly to small groups and hundreds of kids walked into the light. Amazing!
Yes, day 4 was incredible!
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Kids Camp: Day 3
Posted on 12. Jul, 2011 by Kenny.
Day three was incredible. At this point, we were just getting into our groove. It was another fun day at camp as you can see from the video above.
So, on day three of our Chase the Light camp series, the kids learned about Nicodemus, the Misfit Pharisee. He was a misfit because under the cover of darkness, he went to meet with Jesus privately. He knew a lot about Jesus as the Pharisees had been observing him and his work, but he didn’t really know Jesus. He was intrigued and was interested in knowing who this man really was.
The thing about the Pharisees is that they were pretty secure in their faith. They followed the law in such a way that they were secure in their eternity. Many Pharisees actually considered them the gatekeepers of heaven. If anything, they knew they would be in heaven. When Nicodemus came to meet with with Jesus, he came to get to know Jesus, but immediately, Jesus began challenging everything Nicodemus knew about going to heaven. Jesus shared information with Nicodemus that he didn’t have.
So, on night three of camp, I had a talk with the kids in a similar context as Jesus’ talk with Nicodemus. I realized that many kids in the room had never had the gospel explained to them in a clear and concise way. Many kids in the room though maybe did have faith in Jesus. However, many of those kids could tell you all the right answers, but their faith wasn’t based on all the information they needed to have. Let me explain. I gave my heart to Jesus when I was 4. I loved Jesus with all my heart. If you asked me why, I’d probably tell you all the right answers like “because Jesus died for my sins.” There’s nothing wrong with that, but part of the reason I believed all of this is because it is what my parents had been telling me was true since the time I could talk. It’s what my kids pastor and sunday school teachers told me every week. In part, my faith relied heavily on my parents faith. That’s good, but at some point, my faith has to become my faith.
So, on night three, I clearly explained who God is, why he created us (for a relationship) and how sin got in the way of our relationship and how God created a sacrificial system where the blood of lambs could bandaid the problem and then how God provided a better lamb, his only son, to remedy to problem once and for all. After sharing the entire gospel presentation in that way, I asked kids what the appropriate response should be to that information.
That night many kids came to faith for the very first time. Many kids who had already chosen to follow Christ were impacted significantly and they began to see their relationship with God entirely different. Woo hoo for night three!
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Top ten ways you know you’re at summer camp in Texas!
Posted on 12. Jul, 2011 by Kenny.
For the past 7 days, I’ve been speaking at a summer camp in South/Central Texas. It’s been an incredible week. I love this camp. But it’s Texas and this place is hot.
I’ve been going to camp for well over 20 years. I have all kinds of experience at camps all over the United States, but I must tell you, there’s nothing like camp in Texas. So, I want to share with you my top ten list of how you know you’re at camp in the state of Texas. I’ll post 3 a day and wrap up this top ten on Friday!
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