A Father's Advice

Sending his son out into the world, a Father gave his son the following rules, without which he said he could not hope to get on:
Tell the truth---falsehoods are hard to remember.
Shine the heels of your shoes as well as the toes.
Don't lend money to your friends---you will lose both.
Don't watch the clock; it will keep going---you do the same.
You do not need clean cuffs every day, but you need a clean conscience all the time.
Don't borrow money, unless you positively have the wherewithal to pay it back--and then you don't need it.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there and thanks dad for the good advice you've given me over the years.


Pay attention and grow wise, for I am gibing you good guidance. Don't turn away from my teaching. Proverbs 4:1-2

I will teach you wisdom's ways and lead you in straight paths. If you live and life guided by wisdom, you won't slip or stumble as you run. Proverbs 4:11-12

Get all the advice and instruction you can, and be wise the rest of your life. Proverbs 19: 20

Timely advice is as lovely as golden apples in a silver basket. Provers 25: 11

Website

Well, Ive been working on getting a website up and running and finally got it launched today.

Check it out. You should be able to click the picture below. If not, it's www.vincefarrell.com

Blessings!!!

A Father's Day Video

I've always wanted to do a video for Father's Day, so I did.
Enjoy.

Camps, Retreats and Summer Oh, My!

I've spoken with many Youth pastors and Pastors on the subject of "summer camp."

The responses are quite mixed, they range from;

Love to go to camp, it's great for the teens.

Camps are a necessary evil.

Got to keep teens busy.

Summer camp, ahhh!!!

Honestly, we've probably dealt with ALL of those feelings at one time or another.

I've always viewed camp as a great time to take teens away and get them exposed to something bigger than the local church while at the same time forming bonds with the teens. Regardless of your feelings about this time of year, allow me to share some thoughts on the subject.

I have the honor to speak at a camp this summer and then turn around and take a group of teens from a church to another camp.

Back to Back.

I've been doing some praying and research about camp and here's what I've discovered.

In a survey of over a 100 teens, a simple question was asked, "have you ever made a decision at a camp to make Jesus Lord of your life and has that still held true today?"

7 out of 10 said yes! The actual stat is 71% of teens asked said, they made a commitment to follow Christ and are still doing so.

Wow! What a return on an investment!

Here's another tidbit of info, several youth pastors got together and came up with 11 different things they thought teens would like at a camp. They then gave the list to those teens and asked them to rank the top 3 that was most important to them at camp. (I've added a pic below for total view)

42% said "More in-depth exploration of God"

41% said "Building deeper friendships"

Wow! Now think about this; Jesus gave us the two greatest commandments: love God with all that is within us and love people in the same way. Seems that camp is a great tool to help teens foster that type of mentality.

Now here is the final thought about these and many more findings.

It really doesn't matter if it's a small camp or large camp. What does matter is putting everything into the planning stage and execution to making it the best camp you can on whatever budget you have to work with.

No one likes cheesy (ok, some people do, it's why there are books dedicated to poking fun of church marquee signs---I have two books, they're great.....they give my purpose strength!!)

Teens don't like cheesy, but they hate fake more!

Cheesy can be tolerated, but if it's not real, they'll check out in a heartbeat.

This summer ask God to give you fresh vision for your teens, ideas for the camp experience to make their experience with God real and with others, loving.