One of the greatest blessings to my ministry here is our “student ministry media coordinator”: Andrew.  I remember when I first came here to check out the church and meeting him.  I automatically thought that if I ended up coming here…I would look, sound, and be so uncool around him.  I’m telling you, this dude must have been born in style and up on the culture somehow.  Like a baby with a rat-tail and tight rolled baby pajamas back in the late 80’s.   Which reminds me, his birthday was yesterday.  So here we go, my shout-out to Andrew (or for you old fogies – an Ode to Andrew).

I remember going to eat with Andrew as soon as I got here.  He had been a church ministry intern here for about 5 months by that time.  I shared my vision for what I would want in an intern, and he shared his vision for what he would want to do in the church.  THEY WERE SYNONYMOUS!  We both shared our dreams for a student ministry to be extremely biblical and theological in its teaching while still remaining culturally relevant to the culture.  That way, we would both reach teens and teach teens for the glory of Christ!

So right away Andrew began doing every single bit of all of our media stuff.  He’s done our website (www.cbsm.net), our sermon series logos, our handouts, our powerpoint slides, our event fliers, our tshirts, our disciple now stuff, etc.  He’s also led our sound team, our computer team, our praise band, and now he’s leading his own student ministry media team.  In fact, every picture and download I use in this blog, Andrew has pretty much done it.  He’s definitely no longer an intern here, rather he’s a part of our permanent staff as the “student ministry media coordinator.”

God has used this whole experience to change the way I view internships, ministry associates, and wingmen.  In the past, I’ve had great interns, but they’ve been such a carbon copy with me as they wanted to preach, lead, etc.  With Andrew its totally different.  We don’t step on each others toes.  We don’t desire the same things.  We work together, complement each other, and come at the ministry in two totally different angles to get it done for Jesus!  I would encourage youth pastors to find this kind of guy for your youth staff…but you can’t have Andrew!

Lastly, I really hope you find an Andrew because this dude is a real Christian.  He grows from the preaching here at the church.  He shares his faith.  He’s a great, godly influence on the students.  He goes on trips with us and impacts their lives.  And while doing all of that, he’s still a full-time student in college.  Who knows what God will do with his life.  He could be getting his masters degree in printmaking somewhere, he could end up teaching art at a college, or he could be the coolest media minister in a church somewhere.  He’s one of the few guys that I’d work with for the rest of my life, but I sure want Him to pursue God’s will…whatever that is.

Okay, I’m out.  I just wanted to give a shoutout to my ministry wingman.