The Big Kid

I’m no stranger to the concept of “the blog”. In fact, I have been an active blogger since April 15th of 2005. I started out on blogger.com and am a regular poster on MySpace.com and have now thrown my hat into the WordPress ring as a part of UpRising Church. My blogger.com site is defunct at this point and I will continue my MySpace.com postings as a means of personal expression. I will also be developing an “UpRising Youth” MySpace site in the not too distant future, so this blog will tend to focus more on the kids 12 and under. Of course though it will serve in a general sense as a means for chronicling the overall happenings of the children’s and youth ministry at UpRising Church.

That said, let me introduce you to “The Big Kid”. That would be me…

Many people mistake me as someone several years more youthful than I actually am. I don’t know how this happened. I started out life by hanging out with the big kids as much as I could and eventually became one. Somewhere along the line though, I started being more and more drawn to people that were younger than myself and well… I have become a bit of a perpetual kid! Pastor Joe Case mentioned his observation of this during a UC Youth event we had a little while ago at The Strike & Spare bowling and recreation center. I was having as much fun as the kids (if not more!) on the bumper cars, the roller rink, laser tag, etc… The kids wanted me on their teams too!

And you know what, that’s what I want. I want to be on the same team with the youth! I want them to be comfortable enough around me to share their lives. Their highs and lows. I want them to know me as “Ray” but to recognize that there is something different about this big kid… oh yeah! He’s the Youth Pastor!

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that my wife Patti. She is my partner in this endevour. She is extremely creative and caring and does so much for the kids and the church. I am proud just be be able to serve alongside her. Even if she occasionly thinks I am a bit of a big kid and in need of a time out!

Anyway, please check back for thoughts, updates, reports and news of upcoming children’s & youth events at UpRising Church!

Later-
Ray