:: Thomas Time! ::

I have made the switch to xanga. My username is thomaschen.

Engaged ;) Read about it on my xanga.

Miss me?

If you want to say hi, drop me a line, or get a hold of me, you could text message my cell (which I have with me all the time) at youthpastortc@vtext.com
You can also go here and message me from there.

Ok...so here are the links of retreat pictures organized for you:
Chinese Church In Christ Youth Retreat (7/23-7/26) ; Chinese For Christ - Berkeley Retreat (7/30-8/1) ; Contra Costa Gospel Church Youth Retreat (8/16-8/19)


:)

Alright! Back from the Contra Costa Gospel Church youth retreat! Pictures are uploaded here. Another amazing retreat. Esther and I had an awesome time with the youth there. They all had a great attitude and a teachable heart. Always so willing to serve. Great people. Good sharing within their small groups. Had a blast speaking the Word of God to them. Spoke on who God is...His faithfulness, His holiness, His sovereignty, His perspective... Many made commitments to give/re-commit their lives to Christ. Glory to God!

The place, Sky Mountain, was gorgeous. Beautiful trees and a nice lake. We got to canoe, kayak, and swim in the lake during free time. What a nice place for a retreat. (Only thing I didn't like about the place were the HUGE giant ants. I was always afraid that they'd crawl on me when I'm sleeping.)

Good times.

Did a lot of speaking the past week. Last weekend, spoke on Friday's hot topic... "God's Extreme Makeover: Being Attractive Without Looking Good" (Doug Fields' material). On Sunday, spoke at youth service on working out your faith and then a short message at the baptism. Though there were a lot of speaking, God kept me going. I do enjoy speaking...so it didn't stress me out. The baptism was such a blessing, as they are usually. Seeing these 12 students get baptized and hearing their testimonies really encouraged me. Makes me think, "It's all so worth it." What a wonderful thing it is to be a part of their lives at such an important time. Youth ministry is exciting. Always getting new students, seeing youth get excited about God, seeing them bring their friends who get come to know Christ...then these friends bring their friends. Awesome.

Lots of retreats within a period of a month. The week after our CCIC youth summer retreat, Esther and I went back to Alliance Redwoods for the Chinese For Christ (CFC) Berkeley Retreat. They invited me as the speaker for the youth. Had a blessed time with their church. They have a great community and church family. So great to see them minister to each other, adults and youth together. Had a blast speaking to the youth and doing some acting with them in my messages. The theme was "Living Out Gracelife". Gave them 3 messages in all about grace. We all had a good time. Pictures from this retreat are uploaded here. And then this coming Monday to Thursday (8/16-8/19), we'll be going to yet another retreat...this time, with Contra Costa Gospel Church's youth retreat. Theme: "Who is Like Our God?" Ps. 113:5. I'll be giving 5 messages for this retreat. Been putting those together. Should be another great time getting to know the youth there and speaking to them. What's great about going to a retreat as a speaker is that you get your own nice room. I definitely like that. The best was last December's conference in the midwest at the hotel. Ooh, that was a nice big hotel room for me. Also, you get treated so well and everybody likes you. :) Well, looking forward to another retreat this week. Pray for me.

An amazing CCIC Youth Summer Retreat this past weekend, July 23-26, at Alliance Redwoods. Lives were impacted and God moved. What more can you ask for?

Check out my digital pictures here.
You'll have to join imagestation to view them. But it's free I believe.

I have officially made the switch and joined in. What am I talking about? Verizon Wireless. Yes, I have jumped on the bandwagon because 1) my AT&T 2-year contract has been up 2) better reception and 3) my friend works for Verizon. :)

I haven't ever been dissatisfied with my account with AT&T. Where I am at home and work, there's good signal. However, my ol' nokia 3360 was dying on me. This last week, the battery only lasted 2 minutes at the most. But that's just what happens after 2+ years. So AT&T served me well my first 2 years of youth ministry. So thanks AT&T.

I am quite impressed with the phone my friend hooked me up with. It's the new Samsung SCH-a670. It can take pictures with zoom/flash and even video clips. Good quality pics. And what I really like is that it can do voice dial (without me recording my voice and "training" it, it recognizes from what I type in). It helps when I'm on the road.

My cell # is still the same so you can still reach me there. And I have unlimited text messaging, so you can text me as well and I will text you back.

It's nice to have this little incredible machinery in order to keep in touch with people like YOU.

Yesterday night, Esther and I tried to see former president Bill Clinton at a book signing at Barnes & Nobles. It was quite a huge crowd in front of the bookstore. Only those who got wristbands were in the long line to get in to meet him and get their books signed. These people waited since the day before or really early in the morning. So we were among the crowd outside the bookstore. It's interesting because none of us can see him from the outside. He was somewhere behind everything sitting down. The closest we got to him was someone holding a video camera up zooming in and someone who came out with his signature on her book. I took Esther's camera and took a picture of his signature. Whoo hoo. I told Esther that if we really trusted someone, we can tell someone in line to take her camera and take a picture for us and meet us outside. But we didn't do that. Or...we could run in but get arrested. Nah...not worth it. If it was the Smallville cast or something, maybe.

If only we were that eager to see God. "What? You got to meet Bill Clinton? What, you know him?... Well, I know the Guy who MADE him!"