Woo Hoo!

In Sunday's message, I quoted youth ministry pioneer Mike Yaconelli from his book Messy Spirituality and from one of his speeches at Youth Specialties' National Youthworkers Convention; he was talking about a youthworker who had been "disciplined" because the church saw his junior highers sitting on the church lawn, smoking cigarettes. Mike said that if he was the pastor, he'd call the youthworker in and tell him, "You deserve a raise; if you can get kids who smoke to read the Bible... WOO HOO!"

I used that quote and ended up with a loud, arms-raised woo hoo.

Know that though I wear my heart on my sleeve, I'm not a loud preacher. I don't yell at the congregation. I don't say Woo Hoo a lot from the stage. But it was called for Sunday, and it was awesome. I can't really put my finger on what it was about it. Maybe it was adrenaline, but whatever the case, I was fired up. I was excited. I was nervous about the message itself; it was one that could have drawn a bit of heat from some who don't like change very much, and I wasn't really sure how "woo hoo" would go over, but once I shouted it out, I was ready to take on the world!

Perhaps it was just the adrenaline. Or maybe it was Mike Yaconelli, watching from Heaven, asking God, "Hey, he's using my quotes; can I have some fun with this?"
Whatever the case, it sure was fun! What a ride!!!!