Suncreststudentlife’s Weblog

We made it to Louisville safe and sound.  Getting ready to crash for the night.

Fun facts from the trip:

• Chris Hall had to stop at the first rest stop…worse than the kids!!!
• Picked up Kyle Granskog in Indy
• Learned that you should ask for the burger fresh off broiler at Burger King…Thanks Spence
• Awesome to see Pujols was the leading vote getter for the all star game
• Adam made us listen to Taylor Brown for half the trip
• The excitement is in the air…students excited to see what God is going to do this week
• All of Emily Watson’s jokes involve people dying

Most of that is from my van…I am sure there is much more from the other van.

As a youth pastor, summer is a crazy time.  We offer a number of great things for our students to do during the summer which is why I am soo excited about it.  However, the down side is that I end up going on all of the trips we offer so my life gets really busy.  I know that it is going to happen but every year it sneaks up on me.  I am looking at my schedule realizing that I am out of town for the next two weeks.  The first week I am the assistant dean of the middle school cabin camp out at Camp LRCA.  Suncrest has a number of our youth leaders working this week as counselors; Dan Schuler, Chris Hall, Courtney Hoyle, Kayla Wierzbicki, and Emily Watson.  It is going to be a great week! The second week is MOVE, formerly known as CIY, and we are going down to Tennessee.  It is by far the best event that we offer every year.  I remember the impact it had on my friends and me when I was a high school student. Then I get to be home for a couple of weeks before we have a mission trip down to Dallas, TX.  Please pray for God to transform the lives of the students that will be on these trips.

This picture is from the Great America trip last week

Hi my name is Dan Schuler, and I am the new Student Life Intern at Suncrest Christian Church.  Jared asked me to put a little bio together for the blog, so hopefully this comes out semi-coherent for the three and a half people that actually manage to read this thing.  I was born and raised in rural Northeast Ohio where I spent much of my childhood climbing trees, catching spiders, tossing the football, running through sprinklers, burning ants with a magnifying glass, and doing all the other stereotypical things boys are supposed to do.  I did all of them with my older brother.  I could never admit it then, and I struggle to admit it now, but he always has been and always be my big brother.  He was and is a tall and handsome, smart and athletic, charismatic and charming young man.  I grew up in a big shadow (literally and figuratively seeing as he is 6’3”).  He was valedictorian, lay-leader of the youth group, a member of prom court, voted for best smile, and a varsity letter winner in three sports.  The list continues, but this blog entry is supposed to be about me so I will try to stay on task.

I say all these things about my brother to give you, (the reader) that knows nothing about me, a little perspective that my brother is a big deal.  He is a big deal to many people, but I think it’s a bigger deal that he is such a big deal to me.  Few people have the luxury of a good brother or sister.  I have one that I care about more than I care about myself and I pray that he feels the same about his annoying cry about everything to mom; little brother.  I love you Rich, thank you, for everything, I know it’s not much being that you are my only brother, but you are the best brother I have ever had.

Fewer still have an entire family they genuinely view as a big deal.  My dad is a hero, and my mom is my guardian.  They swoop down to save the day for me, even when I don’t ask them to, sometimes when I don’t want them to.  Regardless the apparent reason, and regardless the often imperfect outcome I don’t really care how or why I just care that they care.  As you may see by now family is a big part of everything that I am.  Makes sense when you see the family tree; over 150 people from my grandparents on down.  That a lot of names to remember, and truth be told I don’t.  I could give special mention to many of them, but I only have room for one, my cousin Katie who taught me the meaning of unconditional love.  So many years I thought I was protecting her, and all along she has been protecting me.

This is a pretty heavy blog post; I realize this now as I re-read the paragraphs above.  I’m not entirely sure how to transition from that, but I guess this sentence will just have to do.  My college years were spent in east Tennessee at Johnson Bible College.  (Which is actually in Knoxville not in Johnson City I have been asked this very question more than you can imagine.)  It was a great experience, and I cannot say enough good things about the development that happened as I was there.  Friendships were forged, books were studied, campouts were executed, classes were attended, odd food combination were eaten, papers were written, campus buildings were repelled from, and rules were created by the dean of students to ban the future repelling from campus buildings.  All in all Johnson was a worthwhile endeavor.

Which brings me to today.  The current Student Life Intern at Suncrest Christian Church.  I don’t really know how to end this post other than noting a few fun facts and listing a few disclaimers.  I like vanilla ice cream better than chocolate, and wish I had more opportunities to cook (not clean up).  I think cats are equally as valuable as dogs, but a pc is not equally valuable to a mac.  Jared’s wife Amy (who is my real boss) trained her two year old son to call the last person with my position “intern” rather than ever use his real name.  This makes me laugh… and scared, which I have been informed is the proper response to Amy.  I do not need you to find me a future wife, I know how tempting it is to try to fix up the new kid on staff, but trust me I am just fine.  There is this girl I know she makes me smile, and that is all you need to know for now.  I have already written too much, it’s a consistent problem, more often with talking than writing, but I hope you enjoyed this experience.

This Friday and Saturday Student Life Ministries is sponsoring a yard sale to raise money for students to attend MOVE.  If you would like to drop stuff off at the Church we are accepting donations until Thursday at 10 AM.  If you would like to stop by on Friday or Saturday from 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM to buy something that would be fantastic!!!

This morning I had one of “those” meetings.  It was with a group of parents that are concerned.  In Youth Minister circles, these are the things we dread because they very commonly don’t end well.  However, one of the things I love about Suncrest is the fact that those conversations typically end well.  Today was no exception. Things went really well.  These guys came with genuine concern for their children.  However, they also brought listening ears and hearts and were sympathetic to all of the different things that are pulling on me in my role as a youth minister.  We were able to have a candid conversation about Student Life Ministries and how we can partner together to create the best ministry possible for the teens at Suncrest.   I just wanted to take a moment and thank them for their attitudes and genuine concern for what is going on in the lives of their teens.

I talk to parents all the time that are looking for help, advice, support, or just someone to talk to about the struggles they are facing with there teens.  This Sunday is a special event designed for parents of teens or parents of pre-teens looking for advice and support. Here are the bullet point facts for the evening.

• Sunday, May 17th
• 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM
• Guest Speaker: Jeremy Brown with 16 years of youth ministry experience
• Free Event
• Childcare is provided
• There will be large group teaching, small group discussion, and interactive activities
• You can just show up at the door

I look forward to seeing you there!!!

As I sit at my desk today, another famous baseball player, Manny Ramirez, has been caught using performance enhancing drugs.  For those of you that don’t follow sports or baseball, I understand that this might not mean much to you.  However, I think it still speaks to the state of humanity in our country and world.  Manny has been an amazing hitter throughout his career, however his personality has overshadowed any statistic he has ever put up.  In fact, last year the Boston Red Sox traded Manny, even though he is one of the most feared hitters in the game because they grew weary of dealing with him.

However ridiculous he is as a person, I have never heard even the slightest hint or speculation that he is a cheater.  I think his name being revealed as a cheater is going to further change the landscape of baseball and a cloud of doubt will be forever cast over every player.  It reminds me of how people in the 80’s began to doubt televangelists.

It is a sad day for true baseball fans.

High school students and 8th graders.  Do NOT miss the great opportunity Suncrest Student Life offers.  MOVE is a week long conference that is truly amazing!  The deadline to sign up is this Sunday.  The dates are July 5- 11, and we will be going to Knoxville, TN.

I know times are tough for some families, but please do not let money be the reason you don’t go on this trip.  We can work something out!

For more info check out their website!

This last week has gotten me thinking about a lot of things.  Having this kind of free time has given me the opportunity to reflect on who I am.

I wanted to list out the things that define who I am.  A lot has changed in my life since the last time I created  a list like this so it might not be that interesting to you.  However, I think it is helpful for me to write these thoughts out.

• I am a Christ follower first and foremost
• I am a husband
• I am a father
• I am blessed to have 2 healthy amazing children
• I am a pastor who happens to work with teens at this point in his life
• I love Suncrest and feel blessed to work at such a great church
• I love being a leader
• I love networking with other pastors
• I really like to have fun
• I love Starbucks even though I don’t like coffee
• I love the St. Louis Cardinals
• I wish I had better control of my temper
• I wish I didn’t let peoples opinion of me matter as much as it does
• I wish I ate healthier and worked out more
• I have a hard time working with people I don’t like-good thing I like most people I meet!
• I actually like to cook
• I enjoy fantasy sports more than I should
• I take Church league softball way too serious
• I love wearing flip flops
• I am learning to love reading Gibson books before bed

I hope this helps you understand me. I am sure there is more, but I think this is a good start.

When was the last time you sat down and thought through who you are?

Youth Leaders, so that you know, the Youth Leaders’ meeting has been pushed back to next week, we’ll get all the official when/where info to you this week

-Nathan-