memoryBOOTH at WINTERCHILL

WinterChill for Fellowship Bible Church was this weekend at Shepherd of the Ozarks. I dont know how well any of you know me, but I’ve worked with FSM (Fellowship Student Ministries) for a while. My freshman year of college, I started thinking about what I wanted to do for the summer. In November, I called my friend Paul Stevens, who at the time was campus pastor for Fellowship Benton. He informed me that FSM in Little Rock had gotten a new youth pastor, and he may be interested in an intern. So I called Brandon Barnard, who just started working for FBC. He didn’t answer. So I called him the next week. No answer, so I emailed him that day, no answer. SO…I went up there with my friend Aaron Williams. We talked and he seemed interested to an extent. A few weeks later, I called. No reply. This went on for literally (and embarrassingly) months. Finally, a new guy, Tim Caldwell, started working for the junior high, and one of his first jobs was to finally call “that kid” back.

LONGER story short, I was hired. Whether out of sheer nussance, or merit, i was hired. The original deal was for it to last through August 2008. Well….I’m still here. Still kickin’ till they tell me to quit showing up.

Over the weekend, we took our Senior High on the yearly retreat. Our speaker was Dave Edwards, the band was Solace Found, and Drew Worsham is an illusionist that came. I took the opportunity to bring some of my gear, and had a BLAST! Soon enough, we’ll have a too-legit-to-quit coffee table book around the offices. Here’s my top 10 favorite shots from the memoryBOOTH.

10. Youth Group Rule: You can’t dance in line for lunch and then turn down a photo request.

9. Bobby has been one of the amazing adult volunteers around FSM in the past. He’s recently started working as a youth minister in Camden, AR…AND falling in pictures.

8. If you’ve been around FSM long enough, you know the staff kids. Hudson is a tiny ball of crazy huge energy, as he runs through a shot while Momma’s trying to get a family picture together.

7. Landon’s arm is the one you see in the photo. His direct quote after the shot, “Dude…you were supposed to hit my arm and fall to the ground. Let’s try again, I’ll put some force in it.” We didn’t try again.

6. More staff kids. Ready to fight…and to tease you….and again, to fight.

5. Guys saying “Lets make fun of their jump picture” turned into a near black eye. Worth it.

4. Wes is one of the more reserved out of my closest group of friends. But the second he realized taking pictures like this had limitless possibilities, he lit up like a Christmas tree.