Mud Bowl 2010 Pictures

Youth Specialties rap-up

This has been an incredible few days, we have had the chance to clear our minds and hearts and allow God to enter and work with us. We have also had the opportunity to meet some awesome people from around the Napa area and even make some connections outside of the state. Doug Fields gave his testimony of working as a full time youth pastor and the effect it can have on one's family when the ministry is the main focus. He spoke of a balance yet need to pay attention to our individual families. The past few days have been a roller coaster of deep emotions as well as excitement and joy. We thank Crosswalk for sending us down here as it has allowed us to reconnect why we started youth ministry and the overall importance that it plays in the grand scheme of advancing the kingdom. With love, respect, patience, and gratitude we say THANK YOU!

-Olivium Espinoza :)

Inner battle, Finding our depth, the great intercessor

Our morning "big room" meeting was all about this inner battle of quantity verse quality. We all want our group to grow whatever it is weather it be a youth group, a congregation, business or anything that one is passionate about. There is always this overwhelming feeling that "Big" is the destroyer of deep. So is our goal to grow numerically or spiritually? When the day is done we as leaders must note that it has to be a balance that is not easily attained.
Mike Pilavachi from across the pond spoke of intercession. He posedthe idea that Intercession is much more than prayer. True intercessors identify,identification leads to agony which leads to
spiritual authority. Jesus was a true intercessor. 

Day 2 inner struggle, Gods plan, healthy healing

We started off the day listening to a good and long time friend Ben Kerns, he was my (Tim) old youth pastor who got things started and really introduced me to the love of Jesus. It was great to hear from him and even catch up over lunch. Later we heard from Mark Yaconelli, who has written many books and has done a lot of work with youth ministry as a whole. He spoke of living Jesus through our acts and reflecting on whats inside. We also heard from the widely known Miles McPherson who spoke of finding truth and the grace of God through our struggle and pain. Both speakers were very interesting. I (Tim) have always been a skeptic of natural healing through God but early on in this trip I was overcome with ear pain. Not just a little old ear ache but a crippling pain that went through my head and into my eyes. I was virtually deaf and it made it hard to see, through prayers and a true surrender to God I awoke this next day with no pain, no sorrow and a comfort that I truly never felt. God is good and through surrender and open hearts HIS work is reveled. We have much more to learn and will continue to check in throughout this trip.  

Day 1 a scary trip, weird room, and creepy picture

Wow! That was an exciting travel day. It was a decent flight not to bumpy but it did take the pilot 3 tries to land the plane due to weather, or maybe he was a rookie and this was his first flight! I guess we will never know, but the lightning storms outside all directions of the plane was a nice touch. As I mentioned after 3 attempts we finally came slamming down on San Diego runway with great force, I think we might have popped a tire but that's just my worrisome suspicion. None the less we checked into our room late and was surprised that a handicapped ADA room awaited us with kneecap level sinks, low showers and a creepy picture of a girl in a blue dress watching us sleep. All of this aside we are greatly excited to start our first day at Youth Specialties! We are looking forward to being fed by some awesome speakers and relax with three thousand other youth workers.