jodiemcneill.com

Thanks to the ease of WordPress, I’ve put together a quick website for the youth ministry I lead at Sylvania Anglican. Check it out by visiting www.sylvaniayouth.org and tell me what you think!

The beauty of WordPress is that I can give all the leaders passwords, and they can help me keep the site up to date. I think one of the great advantages to using a CMS (Content Management System) is this ease of entry and editing. I remember in the not-so-old-days that to update a website required major HTML editing, with FTP and all other primitive nasties. Now, those days are behind us.

We’re also planning in time to convert our website to use the upcoming www.cyiada.com platform. Check out that blog to find out what is being planned!

It’s days like today when I remember why I love youth ministry so much.

I have just got back from a great weekend away with Slice, the junior youth group at Sylvania Anglican. And I can confidently say that it has been an amazing weekend.

Part of the challenge of the youth ministry at this church has been getting the kids from church families to connect with kids outside the church. Despite our plans, the Friday afternoon timeslot didn’t work well for our junior high group, as, amongst other reasons, many of our church kids couldn’t make it. So we ended up with two mainly distinct groups. So, we have decided to merge the two groups and run Slice at 10am on Sundays.

This weekend was the first time we brought the two groups together, and it was a real success. Because no one group dominated the weekend, we were able, in the power of the Spirit of God, to create a new identity for the group. God has done a great work in our midst, and we now have a great year 5 to 8 group with a healthy mix of boys and girls, and kids from church and non-church backgrounds. The 12 kids on the weekend, plus our great team of 5 leaders, forms something new and very exciting.

Stay tuned to find out how the first group goes when we get back in February!

This week we proudly took ownership of Baxter, an eight week old English Springer Spaniel. Ever since we saw the movie ‘Eight Below’ we began to explore the possibilities of adopting a dog. We considered several options until we found out that some friends from church had bred a litter of Springers.

Choosing a name was fairly, but not entirely straight forward. Ken, my old youth minister from many years ago had a practice of naming his animals after church leaders. So, he had Tony the dog (the first name of the Rector at the time,) Jensen the duck (after the now Archbishop–or his brother, Dean of St Andrew’s Cathedral,) and I recall he had an animal named Woodhouse (after his then Rector and the now Principal of Moore College.)

With this in mind, I considered options. What about Stewart, or Willis or Stanton? All worthy contenders. But what about a church leader from history? My initial favourite name was ‘Cranmer’ (after Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the English Reformer who wrote the Book of Common Prayer.) But every member of my family voted against me. Rather than enforce my powerful right of veto (after all, I paid for the thing…) I considered another alternative. And so, ‘Baxter’ was suggested (after Richard Baxter, the great Puritan), and unanimously supported by the McNeill caucus.

Baxter has brought us great joy in these initial puppy days, although we (and I expect the neighbours) look forward to him getting over his detachment anxiety (with its accompanying midnight barking and whimpering.)

Do you know of any animal names based on church figures? How did you stop your dog whimpering during the night? I’d be interested to hear your comments…

Jodie has had a great year at work, launching and leading the new Youthworks ‘Year 13’ program. He keeps wishing it was around when he was 18, so that he could’ve avoided making his mistakes as a very young adult. He also keeps training people in youth ministry, organising the TWIST conference, and doing youth ministry and music at our church at Sylvania Anglican.  And last, but certainly not least, he loves relaxing with family and friends, usually with coffee in hand!

Mandy has been a busy mum, running a household of  three kids plus Hugo, our newborn (13 May 06.) She leads the ‘WOW’ (Women on Wednesday’) Bible study, and co-leads the youth with Jodie. As ‘Chief of Staff’ in the McNeill household, she continues to avidly watch ‘The West Wing’ for tips on how to keep the President in line.

Liana (9 in January) has entered the ‘Tweens,’ and seems only days away from adolescence. She loves to sing, dance and talk (frequently all at once) and would love a pony if she could somehow sneak one into her bedroom.

Jemimah (8 in February) is loving school, and continues to keep up with her older sister in many ways. She shares the family love of music, but has developed an uncharacteristic love of maths (drawing upon talents previously undiscovered in our DNA.)

Oscar (4 in January) loves anything with wheels. He plays with his cars 24/7, and only pauses when he stops to watch his favourite DVD…yes, ‘Cars!’ He loves preschool and continues to be a testament to the difference testosterone makes in a growing child.

Hugo (8 months) is a ‘mini-me’ version of Jodie…permanent smile, blonde hair, and an attention span that should keep the makers of Ritalin in business for years. Despite a few respiratory illnesses, he keeps smiling, and smiling… 

2006 has been a great year for the McNeills. We have settled in well to our new house in Sylvania (yes, ‘The Shire!’) and are continuing to love our church, job, and spending time with our friends and family, both new and old. We are thankful to God for our health, and for the ways in which he keeps sustaining us through the normal ups and downs of life. Overall, it has been a full-on year, with a new house, child, and job responsibilities for Jodie, which has made us feel a bit too frantic at times. But we look forward the opportunity to consolidate our roles and responsibilities in 2007 (i.e. less changes… yeah, right!)

To God be the glory!

It was great yesterday to meet and plan with the leaders of our all-new youth group at my church, Sylvania Anglican. We start the new group, ‘Slice’, next term.

I was a great joy to experience the enthusiasm and excitement of the leaders as we start something new and even a bit groundbreaking! We’re starting a group for years 6 to 8, and it’s going to run from 3.15 to 5.15 on Friday afternoons. The plan is that it will help smooth out the ‘bump’ between our children’s ministry and the teenage youth ministry.

However, in many ways nothing is really new. We’re still preaching Christ in his word to young people, encouraging them to pray and serve God and each other, and we still will provide leaders who love and care for them as spiritual parents. Nothing new there.

Pray that the new ministry next term will meet its goals, and will be a place where people Grow in God!

To find out about ‘Slice’ visit http://www.youth.sylvaniaanglican.org