Parent / Youth Retreat 2015

So a couple of weeks ago our youth group headed up to Asbury Hills for a Parent / Youth Retreat. Back when I was in the youth group, the Parent / Youth Retreat used to happen ever year. But, they haven't had a Parent / Youth Retreat since 2009, which was my Senior Year in High School! So it had been a while and I wanted to bring it back.

The purpose of the Parent / Youth Retreat is a few things. First of all, as with any retreat, its about bonding and growing closer together with God and as a group. It also gives insight to the Parents who may have never been involved or attended a retreat as a chaperone to just see what the BUMS are all about. It's also a great time because there is usually at least one game that embarrass the parents, which of course the students always love. 

So we headed up to Asbury Hills on a Friday afternoon. It was my first time actually at the camp, and it was absolutely beautiful. We got up there Friday Night, and we just played some group games together. We played one of my favorites, Animal Name Game, which is where someone stands in the middle of the group with a pool noodle, and everyone else has an animal name (for example, I was and always am Tiger Todd). Then you must call another name before you get hit by the pool noodle. We also did the Soda/Cracker/Candle Face-off Challenge! A game where two people race to drink a soda as fast as they can, but they must keep there candle lit as well as eat their saltines any time the bell rings! Here are some pictures!

On Saturday, we spent the morning in two different sessions. There was a Parent Only session in which we talked about the dangers of social media that these students are constantly surrounded by. We also had a student only session in which we talked about respecting and understanding your parents.

Then in the afternoon, we spent time doing the activities around the camp. Students had the opportunity to do the Alpine Tower, which is a giant climbing tower with tons of different obstacles on the way up. They also had the opportunity to do a regular climbing wall, as well as a giant swing. The kids had a blast. Then, we spent some time playing a game of Rio Linda Kickball, which is always fun.  Luckily the weather co-operated with us on Saturday. It rained a lot on Friday and Sunday, but the weather on Saturday was absolutely B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L. It was a gorgeous day.

On Saturday Night, we played some more group games and had a devotion in which we talked about being the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is one of my favorite uses of imagery in the Bible. Especially in this world that we live in today, there is so much that tears us apart. Even among Christians, it's amazing how many people that are different denominations will argue over what is right and what is wrong or more frequently WHO is right and WHO is wrong! It's sad that we live in a world like this. God has called us all to be Disciples of Christ and we all believe in One God, One Jesus, and the same Faith. And that's what we talked about. It's so important as Christians to work together as the body of Christ, because one person can't do it alone. It must be done as a group.

We then got up and headed home on Sunday morning after playing a few games. Overall, it was a great trip. I love always getting to spend time with the BUMS. They are a wonderful group.

The entire group that went!

⁴ For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ⁶ We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with yourfaith; ⁷ if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; ⁸ if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. Romans 12:4-8

You can check out all our pictures here in this video!

BUMS 2015 Parent Youth Retreat

Until Next Time!

-Todd Handell

Where Have You Been?

So, the other week I did write a blog post, but it wasn't really about what I've been up to lately in the life of a youth minister. And I just know that so many of you out there are just eager to hear bout my job and how everything is going (Sarcasm intended)! So I must share with everyone where I've been since I last wrote in November.

During the months of December through February, Church Basketball was in full swing. I had the pleasure of head coaching the Girls Team. We had a fantastic season! And by that, I mean, we only won one game! But we really did have a lot of fun. We made it into the playoffs (because everybody does) and we gave St. Paul a run for their money. Unfortunately, we came up just short. But it seriously was so much fun coaching this team!

During the Christmas season, we had some fun with the BUMS. The students convinced me to have a lock-in combined with our Christmas Party. It was so hard to stay up all night, but we did it. And honestly, it actually was pretty fun. But I was so exhausted the next day!

We also have been able to do some other fun activities since then. We went to a Charlotte Hornets game as a youth group! It was a blast! And the Hornets won!

We also went to Winter Jam in Greenville! Thanks to one of the parents of one of my youth, we were able to get a suite! It was sweet! We had a blast, and there were so many wonderful Christian artists there! It was a fantastic concert!

Finally, just last weekend, we went to to the Greenville Road Warriors Hockey game! We had a blast there! We had fantastic seats, only 3 rows from the ice! It was so much fun!

So as you can see! We have been super busy with the BUMS! We have been doing a combination of a lot of fun and service opportunities as well. Coming up, we are headed on a Parent / Youth Retreat in late April. And then, we will be in Summer Time, where we will be doing stuff all the time!

So I hope that you have enjoyed this little catch-up as where I've been. I still absolutely love my job! People ask me still, all the time, if I miss teaching and how I like my job. And I just tell them with so much excitement how much I love it! It is the best job and I love every single minute of it. Sure, there are some tough parts, but it's worth it. As the old saying goes "Time flies when you're having fun." I still can't believe that I am coming up on completing my 8th month here at Bethel! It has absolutely flown by! But it really is because I just enjoy it so much!

It is amazing that my full time job is to get to hang out with kids, but more importantly, teach them the word of God on a daily basis. Just today, as I was preparing for my lesson tomorrow night, I seriously just felt my heart swell up with joy! I just love it! I love being able to teach God's word every week! It is so much fun!

So that's all for now! Wow, two blog posts in a week! What is wrong with me! I don't think I've ever done this before. I promise, I will try to make the next one happen before 6 months passes again! Until next time!

In Christ,

Todd Handell

When Tragedy Comes

Hey Everyone,

I hope that all of you are doing well, and I apologize for it being forever since I have written anything in this blog. Things are still going well in our youth group. We are chugging right along, and summer is going to be here before we know it. But today, I write to you on a different occasion.  But this has been laid on my heart recently, and I felt I needed to share.

Over the weekend, there was a tragedy in our church.  There was an unexpected death, and someone left injured, and it has a lot of people (myself included) asking a lot of questions lately. These questions have included:

• Why would God let this happen?
• What was God thinking?
• Why does God let bad things happen to good people?
• Isn't God supposed to be loving and take care of us?

And many, many others.

People want answers. They want to understand what is going on. So people turn to Scripture. But sometimes, we don't always understand scripture. So I write to you today to hopefully help you understand at least these few passages of scripture.  But know that I, by no means, claim to have all the answers or have it all together. 

First and foremost. Before I go any further. We must remember, that...

2 Timothy 3:16- All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

That is the most important thing to remember in all of this.

Moving on, we get to probably my least favorite verse in the entire bible.

Jeremiah 29:11-  "For I know the plans I have for you," declared the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." 

Everybody looks at this verse for comfort and guidance, especially a lot of youth age people. This verse is very comforting and encouraging. People use it for all kinds of occasions. For people going off to college, and saying that God won't let anything bad happen because he says "he will not harm you" and all kinds of things. But the problem is, when you just look at this verse, it's taken completely out of context, if you only look at this one verse.  If you just look 7 verses before, you will find this:

Jeremiah 29:4- "This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon"

There it is. Sorry everyone, but Jeremiah 29:11 is not your saving grace. It's not really applicable to us, because it was written to the Israelite people in exile. This may come as a shock to you. Because so many people use this verse and apply it to themselves. But the "you" in this passage isn't singular. It's plural. And it's related to the Israelites. 

But unfortunately, this doesn't make people happy. They want an answer. So we look at these next two things. 

First of all, and probably most importantly. There are just some things in this world that we don't understand. Just as there are so many scientific equations and math problems that would probably sail over the average Joe's head, so do things about God. If we knew everything that God had planned, well then, the world would be a lot different place. Could you imagine, if you knew everything that was going to happen in your life, how weird that would be? If you have ever seen the Movie "Stranger Than Fiction", we get a glimpse into that. Now this doesn't make us happy. Because in our human nature, we want to control things. And when something bad goes wrong, we want to fix things. But sometimes, we can't. Sometimes we just need to let God take care of things. This is a true struggle for all humans, myself included. 

Secondly, and this is my best chance at answering a question someone may have, we turn to the book of Romans.

Romans 8:18-19: "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed."

Romans 8:24-28: "For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

That's my best answer to how God handles tragedy. The thing is, no matter how rough things get here on earth, our reward in heaven and the glory that will be revealed is going to be so much greater. And once again, we don't understand that. We can't fathom something being that much greater for good then the sufferings we go through now. It doesn't make sense to us, which goes back to point number 1 (we don't always understand everything.)

And finally, at the end of that passage, it says "and we know that in all things". Notice, it says ALL THINGS. Not just the good, not just the bad, but ALL THINGS. 

I am not writing this blog post to say that I have all the answers and I have everything figured out, because I most certainly do not. God is always teaching me new things every day and I still mess up and make mistakes all the time. 

Tragedy is one of the hardest times to keep the faith in God. We automatically want to turn against him and blame him for the bad things in our life. But we can't, because God provides so much good for us that we just take for granted. And we have to take it all, the good from God and the bad that exists in this world. 

I have been through many trials and tribulations. I have suffered through the passing of many family members, and there were many times where I turned away from God too. No one does it perfectly. We all have our mistakes. But today, if you have made it this far and are still reading, I just ask that you pray for the family and our church family. Because that's the best thing that we can do.  It's never easy to go through anything like this. But God never promised it would be easy, he just said it would be possible. And the best way to get through anything is to rely on God, and pray and talk to him.

I hope that maybe this will help answer a question for at least one person. If you are going through tragedy, just know you are not alone. Until next time.

In Christ,

Todd Handell

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.