The Best Job in the Entire World!

Welcome back blog readers! I know, it's been a little over 2 months since I last wrote. I apologize for that. I think all the time about this blog, but then usually something else pops up, and I end up forgetting to take some time out of my day every so often to write.

I still absolutely love this job. It is fantastic. I still get asked a lot if I miss teaching at all, and the answer is still no. I know that I am 100% absolutely sure that this is where I am supposed to be, and I love it so much! It is the best job in the entire world. I also still get ask a lot "Well what do you do all day." But like I answered previously (Youth Ministry), it is still a lot of just whatever needs to be done.

Here is what I've been up to lately with the BUMS!

Since returning from our Team Survival Challenge (which you can see a recap of here (BUMS TSC 2014,) we have had a lot of local events going on.

We did some local work at our church by helping paint the bumpers in our church parking lot! They were very yellow!

We had a fundraising night at Chick-Fil-A to begin to raise money for our 2015 Summer Mission Trip (which will be announced on December 7th, so check back then to see where we are headed.)
Thanks to everyone who came out to support us at Chick-Fil-A.

Our church hosts a Trunk or Treat every year. Well, this year, I had the great idea of having a Dunk Tank. Little did I know, that I would be the one who would end up sitting in it! But it was fun!

We also had a fantastic Halloween Party. You can see all the pics here (BUMS Halloween Party) . Below are a few of them!

Everyone in their costumes!

Best Individual

Two of my youth decided to dress up like me and 

Alex (who is a youth helper). They won most creative!

Best Group

I also got the BUMS to help me paint my office! It is VERY GREEN now! But I like it! It's bright and sticks out, unlike the color it used to be!

And finally, just last week, we went and helped sort food at Total Ministries!

So as you can see, we have had a LOT going on. But it has been great. As I wrote earlier in one of my blog posts (see here One Year) I wrote about doing Local Missions. Well, we have been living that out! It has been awesome! It is a requirement for all of my youth to do 5 local mission projects for them to be able to attend the 2015 Summer Mission Project. It has been fun to be able to reach out into the community and help serve Spartanburg. 

So that is where I am at now. It has been a fun 4 months of Youth Ministry so far. They have flown by! I can't believe only 4 more Sundays till Christmas! Crazy! But I love my job, I love my youth group, I love my co-workers, and I love my church family! It has been a awesome experience so far, and I am looking forward to so many more experiences through the years!

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit Comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. 

In Christ,

Todd Handell

As always, you can keep up with the BUMS by liking our Facebook page (BUMS Student Ministry) or by checking out any of our other Social Media Sites (BUMS Social Media)

Team Survival Challenge 2014

Well, I did it. I survived my first trip as the leader of a youth group. This past weekend, myself along with 51 other people headed up to Awanita Valley in Marietta, SC for our annual Team Survival Challenge. Now, I had attended this trip 4 times as a youth, and 3 times as a chaperone, so I had a pretty good idea of how it should be run. And it turned out to be an awesome weekend!

The whole premise behind this trip is that the students are split up among 6 different teams based on color, which are led by BUMS Alumni (or now referred to as Bulumni). The teams we had this year were the Yellow Fire Hydrants, the Green Boogers, the Blue Bruisers, The Red Team, the Orange Oracles, and the Pink Ponies! The teams compete in games throughout the entire weekend that earn them points. The team with the most points at the end of the weekend wins the challenge and a treasure chest filled with Candy. The other cool things about the trip is that each team leads a devotion over the course of the weekend, which is an awesome thing. Also, the students are split up into teams with people from various grade levels. So it gives them all a chance to interact with people they may not normally interact with. It is an awesome thing to see.

Some of the games we played this year consisted of a Paper Airplane Challenge, Bucketball, a Marshmallow Home Run Derby, a M&M relay, Torpedo, Scatter Ball, and many others. However, each year on TSC, the trip revolves around one big activity. In the past, teams have been given supplies that they would build a boat out of that they would race across the lake. However, this year, I decided to switch things up.

This year we played a camp wide game of Capture the flag. Each of the teams constructed a base that they decorated and built for some creativity points. Then, each team had five flags at their base and the object was to try and get one flag from each of the other five bases. It turned out to be an awesome game and the kids loved it.

One of the coolest things that happened on the trip was Saturday Night. We talked about discipleship and how God is calling us to reach others. However, we also talked about how stuff in our life often gets in the way of what God is calling us to do. So what every person did is this. They took a piece of paper and wrote down what is distracting them from God. Then, they took that paper, we went out to a campfire, and each student threw their paper into the fire. The fire didn't symbolize that thing disappearing from their lives though. The fire represented Jesus, and that Jesus was going to take whatever was holding them back and consume it. I encouraged the students to turn all of their problems over to God.

It was truly an awesome sight to see. And afterwards, students gathered together, not by my suggestion, but on their own, into small groups and prayed for each other and this group. It was awesome!

So overall, it was a successful trip. I had a blast, and I know all the kids did too. I think we are all still in recovery mode. It was a long, exhausting weekend. Below are a few pics from the weekend. Until next time!

Fun on the Hummer Ride

The Green Team Champions and their signatures on the Treasure Chest!

The entire group! What a wonderful weekend!

Romans 12:1-2: "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and please to God - this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Also, check out more pics on our Facebook Page (BUMS Student Ministry) and on our twitter Page (BUMS Twitter Page)!

In Christ,

Todd Handell

So.... What exactly does a youth minister do?

So I couldn't help but title my blog post what I did, because I get ask that question at least 3 times a week! Maybe even more. So, I thought I would open up and update you on exactly what I have been doing.

Since I started this job, I have hit the ground running. There has been absolutely no slowing down, which is great. I absolutely love that! I want to be as busy as I possibly can. After this summer, which was great and relaxing, I was ready to be back to an active lifestyle of doing a lot! And I am absolutely loving it.

The first few weeks of my job consisted of a lot of hanging out with the youth, which was great. It really gave me a chance to reconnect with the youth after being gone for a while, as well as giving me a chance to get to know some of the new youth. These events consisted of having a 7th grade induction party, welcoming in our new youth, "Loving our City" by helping them sort food and supplies at Total Ministries, tubing on the green river, playing lots of indoor soccer, and enjoying lunch and other various activities with the youth. It was a very busy two weeks, but it was great. 

After the first few busy weeks, things slowed down a little bit, but not too much. Since then, I have been busy planning our annual Team Survival Challenge trip. It is a trip where the group splits up into teams and competes in various games, events and challenges throughout the weekend to win the coveted treasure chest, which the winning team gets to sign, and it contains over 10 lbs of candy! It is a great time!

Other than that, I spend a lot of my days doing various odd jobs throughout the day. I honestly just do what needs to be done. There is no better way to explain it, which I know sounds vary vague. But it is true. 

I think probably the coolest thing that just comes along with my job is that I am kind of forced to really study the bible on a more consistent basis, which is awesome! I am really bad at holding myself accountable to reading the Bible on a daily basis as a Christian. But, I teach a lesson every Wednesday Night and some Sundays, and as I am preparing for those lessons, I get to dive into scriptures throughout the week to prepare. Currently on Wednesday Nights, we are doing a series that is looking at some basic questions of Christianity (such as the importance of the bible, Why our religion focus on Jesus and how we can overcome sin, etc). This series has been just as beneficial to me as I hope it has been to my students. It has allowed me to do a lot of biblical research on these questions that I have heard answered throughout my walk with Christ, and have my faith reassured in them and how awesome Jesus Christ is. And as I study and prepare, it gets me excited about how awesome it is that my job is sharing these truths with youth! I absolutely love that! And as I share with the youth, awesome things come of that. One thing that I recently started with my youth group is that I challenged them to read through the bible with me. We are going to be doing a devotional book titled "The One Minute Bible for Students." It gives a quick devotional each day with some commentary to get you in the bible every single day for an entire year. I am looking forward to getting that started with my students in the next month or so! 

But I think the best part of my job, is that I get to teach the love of Christ on a daily basis to my students. People ask me all the time if I miss teaching (like school teaching), and sadly, the answer is no. I miss my co-workers and I miss my students, but I don't miss teaching. I think the biggest reason for that, is because I am so happy here in my new job. All the time, on a daily basis, I remind myself that this is my full time job. Sometimes it still doesn't feel real to me. And every time I think about how I work here full time, a huge smile just comes across my face. Like, I honestly could not be any happier than I with my life than right now. I honestly believe that being a youth minister is absolute the best job in the entire world. Any doubts or fears that I had when I left teaching to take this job are now gone. I know that now, with 100% faith that I am right where I am supposed to be. I love this job. I love the students. I love my church family! 

So that is a little bit about what a youth minister does. For my readers, I ask that you continue to pray for me, that I will continue to seek God on a daily basis, strengthen my relationship with him personally, so that I can share in that faith with the BUMS. Pray for me that as I speak to them, it is not my words, but the word of God being spoken through me. Tonight, we will be studying this.... 

Ephesians 2:6-10 "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith -- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

I am so thankful for the grace of God that was provided to us, so that even when I sin and mess up, I will still be shown grace through my faith. It is always great to be reminded of that constants Love, Grace, and Forgiveness that we are given from Jesus Christ on a daily basis. That is all for now. Until next time!

In Christ,

Todd Handell

One Year

It is truly amazing how much can change in one year. I don't know if you have heard of it or not, but there is this app. It is called Timehop. You download it on your phone, and it links to all of your social media (ex. Facebook, Twitter. etc.) Then, it will show you exactly what you were doing on this date over the past 5 years or so. Well, August 1st, 2013, was a very sad but exciting day for me. I moved to Charleston on this day last year. The reason it was sad, was because I was having to say goodbye to the BUMS. I had just experienced the most incredible summer of my entire life. And I was having to leave to go start a new job, in a city where I barely new anybody, and I was scared. But I was also excited to start this new chapter in my life.

Now, flash forward to today, August 1st, 2014. And guess where I am now, sitting back in the office I was in one year ago. Except this time, my job with the BUMS isn't temporary. Its not just for the summer, its my full time job. And I couldn't be more excited. I have already received such a warm welcome from everyone here at Bethel. It feels so good to be home.

It is amazing how God works, isn't it? If someone would have walked up to me on August 1st, 2013 and said "Todd, there is no reason to be sad, in exactly one year, you will be working here full time. There is nothing to worry about." I would have laughed in their face. I never thought God would bring me back to Bethel. When I left last summer, I would have loved to stay here full time. But, it wasn't in God's plan, at that time at least. I definitely think I benefited a lot from being away from Bethel for a year. I missed it every single day. But I really did learn a lot in Charleston that I think will help me be a more effective youth minister here at Bethel. One thing I definitely learned, is organizational skills. Being a special education teacher, you have to be on top everything. I think that will help me out a lot in youth ministry, as I keep papers and such organized.

But probably the biggest thing I learned from, was learning how to be a disciple of Christ. It is what we are called to do as Christians, but honestly, I am not very good at it. My favorite bible verse is the Great Commission, 

Matthew 28:16-20 "Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Although this is my favorite bible verse, to be honest, I am really bad at living it out. But the good thing is, there is a lot of encouragement in this verses. First in verse 16, it says "they worshiped him, but some doubted." I have surely doubted God in the past. I have not always trusted him to lead me where I am supposed to go. I know that I need to improve on that. But then comes in the 2nd encouraging part of the verse, the last one, where it says "and surely I will be with you to the very end of the age." God is going to be with me through everything that I go through. Through every move, every joy and every sorrow. That is an incredible reassuring thought as I embark on this new job. But back to how Charleston helped shape me....

The church I went to in Charleston was called Awaken Church (and it is awesome by the way. So if you are ever in Charleston, go check it out.) Anyways, Awaken was fantastic at making disciples of Christ. I was so inspired by the members of this church, who were always willing to go up and talk to complete strangers, and get people to come to church. They did community outreach events all the time, and would reach out to the people there. It was truly an awesome thing to see. I want to be more like that. And I am going to do my best to be like that. I have always been more "mission minded" when I go on mission trips. But something that has really been burdened on my heart lately has been doing mission work locally.

This morning, on my first day of work, I was looking through the desk in my office. I stumbled upon a devotional book titled "A Light for your Path." It was written by the BUMS back in 2002. I knew my brother Kevin was in the youth group then, so I flipped through the book to find his devotion. Sure enough, I open it, read it, and what does it talk about? DOING LOCAL MISSIONS! Wow. If that isn't God speaking to me, then I don't know what is. So thanks Kevin for your inspiration in a devotion you wrote 12 years ago (Bet that makes you feel old, doesn't it.)

So today, as I start this new journey and adventure in  my life, I reflect on the past year, and also look to the future. August 1st, 2014 Todd Handell, Director of Student Ministry at Bethel United Methodist Church. It has a nice ring to it doesn't it? I have no idea where I will be on August 1st, 2015. Hopefully I will still be here at Bethel doing youth ministry, but who knows what God has in plan for me. All I know, is that he is leading me exactly where I am supposed to be. That is all for now! Look at me, its my 2nd blog post in the past month. That's more than I had in the past 6 months! Thanks for reading. Until next time!

In Christ,
Todd Handell

P.S. Check this out. A little over a year ago, I was writing a blog post titled One Week . In it, I referenced the same verse (Matthew. 28:18-20)/ Now, I am writing a blog post titled One Year. Kind of cool.

Answering the Call..... I'm Coming Home

Well, God works in some pretty incredible ways. I am about to tell you a story. And its the story of how I was called to youth ministry. And now, I am getting to fulfill that call, as I was just recently chosen to be the Director of Student Ministry for the BUMS at Bethel United Methodist Church in Spartanburg, SC.

It was sometime in January of 2012. It was Martin Luther King, Jr. Weekend. I was chaperoning on a Ski Retreat for the BUMS. It had been a really fun weekend. I had been able to relate and connect with a lot of the students. It was our last night on the trip. We had just got done listening to the speaker at our last worship session. I remember it really touching my heart and really got me thinking about what I was doing with my life and where I was headed. I was a junior in college, studying special education. I had plans to graduate in just over a year and become a teacher. That was the plan. I was sitting outside by the bus waiting for Chad, the youth minister at the time and my youth minister growing up, to come unlock the bus. He opened the bus up and students began to pile in. I was sitting on the curb. Chad walked up to me and asked me one simple question "So Todd, tell me again, why aren't you doing this again?" And then he got on the bus. It just hit me. "Why wasn't I doing this?" I began to ask myself. I mean I loved doing youth ministry. I loved being on that trip. It truly puzzled me. It was on my mind for the rest of the trip. I remember on the drive home, me and Chad spent a lot of time talking about it. He also asked me if I was interested in being the intern for the upcoming summer, and I told him I would love to. I thought that would definitely help me decide on if youth ministry would be in my future. But this wasn't the first time I had really thought about ministry. When I went off to college, I really thought about youth ministry as a career path. But it just didn't work out, or so I thought.

So I spent the summer of 2012 at Bethel, serving as the youth intern. It was a fantastic summer. I loved every minute of it. It was the best summer of my life (up until that point.) So this really changed how I thought going into my senior year in college. It was too late to change my mind and change my major. So I stuck it out with education. I enjoyed parts of it, but I really just still felt God calling me to youth ministry. But to be honest, Teaching was the safe route. I mean it was my major, it honestly came pretty easy to me. So I decided to stick it out, even though I pretty much knew at this point God was calling me to youth ministry. Well, it came to around March of my senior year. I got a phone call that I really didn't want to hear. Chad called and said he was leaving Bethel. It broke my heart, because he was the man that really inspired me in the first place to go into youth ministry. I was sad, but I understood that God was calling him somewhere else, and it was time for him to go. I didn't know at the time, but this opened a huge door for me. I was asked if I would come back and intern for a 2nd summer. I of course said yes. I loved my 2nd summer there even more. Me and Emily Ward were called to kind of hold things together until the new youth minister got there. Well it ended up being the entire summer for us being there of just us. But it was fantastic, and it truly confirmed my call to be a youth minister. Well, the job was still open, but I had already signed a contract to teach for the fall. So I moved to Charleston. I began teaching, and I enjoyed it, but I didn't like it at the same time. It was tough, and I struggled to get through the year. But I made it. The summer rolled around, and I was looking forward to just relaxing and enjoying life.

I knew at this time the job at Bethel was open again. They had hired a guy for the year before, but things just didn't work out for him. So I began thinking, "Was this God opening a door for me?" So I began to pray. Asking God if this was him or if it was just me. I began to seek out the advice of close friends and family. Some people told me to go for it. Others, who were very close to me, told me not to take the chance. And that hurt. But ultimately, it came down to me and God. But I was still scared of taking the leap, taking the risk, and even applying for the job. I don't like being told no. So I was scared to even apply, and get rejected. But God had a plan, and it was about to be revealed to me.

It was a Saturday night, about a month ago. I was talking to one of my best friends from Bethel, who has grown up in the church just like I did. We were talking about the opening at Bethel, and he was asking if I was going to apply for the job. I told him I wanted to, but I gave him all kind of excuses "I don't know man, I've already signed my contract to teach, I am in debt. I just don't know man" And he responded by saying "Todd, why not? Just do it." I stopped, thought about it for just a second, and then said "Okay. I'll do it." So I sent in my resume, got an interview, and the rest is history now. I got the job, and I will be moving to Spartanburg this coming Friday.

I am so excited about this opportunity. I know God is going to do some incredible things through me and the students at Bethel. The BUMS were a group that meant so much to me as I came through youth, and now I get a chance to go and give back to that group again. I already got to spend two summers there, Now I get to work there full time. It is going to be a great experience.

So, to you, my readers (if I still have any left), I ask for your prayers to be with me as I start this new journey and adventure in my life. Maybe I can keep up with this blog more and write more than once every six months. I will try! I am so excited, and I can't wait to get started. And to the BUMS, I'm coming home. I can't wait to be with you guys! I will see you all August 1st!

Give me a break....

Well, where has the time gone? I can't believe I am nearly halfway through my first year of teaching. It has absolutely flown by, and it has been quite a journey. I have been extremely busy, which would probably explain this blog, or really, the lack there of, because I haven't written since after my first week of teaching. Now 16 weeks of school later, I am finally finding some time to write again.

This first semester of school has been pretty crazy! I have been so busy with keeping up with my school as well as having a life outside of school. School has been dominating my life, because it is demanding, and I have been enjoying it lately. But most importantly, Christmas Break came at the perfect time.

It is amazing how I appreciate Christmas break so much differently than I used to. As a student, for all of my life until this point, I looked forward to Christmas Break because I was tired of school at that point and just wanted to get away from it at that point. However, this year. I looked forward to some time to just truly rest, relax, and just get rejuvenated for my next semester of teaching. And that is exactly what I did. I took some time to go back home to Spartanburg, to see my family and enjoy Christmas and New Years with them. It was also great because I got to also see my 2nd family, my church Family at Bethel, who I miss so much after working there this past summer. I also got to spend some quality time with friends who I hadn't seen since I moved. It was a good time at home. It was also nice just to be able to come back to Charleston and enjoy some relaxing time here. Even though the weather hasn't cooperated with typical Charleston weather. We haven't seen a temperature above 50 recently. I wasn't ready for that, especially considering today is the first day me and Joey turned on the heat in our apartment!

Overall, it was a great break. It was truly nice to get relaxed and ready to go at it again. Before I know it, it will be June, and I will be done with my 1st year of teaching. I am looking forward to this next semester of teaching. I have definitely had some struggles this year with being motivated as a teacher, as it has been hard making adjustments. But now I really feel I am in a groove of teaching, and I have a pretty good grip on what I am doing now. It wouldn't be possible either without all of my co-workers. The Special Ed team at Pye Elementary is one of a kind, and they have been so supportive of me in my first year of teaching, and I have been so grateful for each of them. So here is to another semester of teaching! June, here I come!

In other news that has nothing to do with teaching at all, how bout my PANTHERS! It has been so awesome to see this team continue to build over the years and finally reach the playoffs! Their defense is incredible! I can't wait to watch them in the playoffs next week! Go Panthers! Hopefully they ride this all the way to the Super Bowl!

That is all for now. For anyone that still reads this, hope you enjoy!