Flowers don't lie: We are loved.

     Barak and I grew up in the same youth ministry. He was my theatrical mentor in middle and high school by example. I learned the art of improv from him and it was so encouraging to have an upperclassmen affirm me at such a young age. He really left a mark on my life.
   
     I did and do now look up to him as a good buddy of mine and a wicked talented artist, actor, and comedian. I go to his site often for inspiration and often wind up procrastinating there for a while, but it is time well spent. This video made me realize that I extend grace to other people but not myself.  Hey, if a flower says it, it must be true!

Let's realize that We really are loved!

Flowers Don't Lie from 50YearPlan on Vimeo.

homosexuality: stumbling towards a youth ministry response

You Were Born What Way? | Youth Specialties

I just came across this article on the YS site. It's about the first time a youth pastor had a young person tell of their struggle with sexual identity.

He walked into my office, a junior high student in my student ministry – a young man that I had led in the salvation prayer several years ago when he was still in our children’s ministry program.
This was my first year as a student pastor – a novice. A newbie. I thought I knew all there was to know and thought I was prepared for any situations that came my way.
I was not.
He sat in my office and quietly began to tell me that he was unsure of his sexual identity.

 This is not a new issue, of course. I am grateful for his perspective. Dealing with the topic of homosexuality is tricky for sure. In my experience there are no nuggets of truth to instantly take the struggle, feelings, or whatever away. I don't know of any homosexuals that have been argued out of their persuasion. 

If I could do anything differently… if I could somehow go back in time to that first encounter in my office, I think that I would want the first and last words out of my mouth to somehow communicate that I loved him. And then I’d take him out for a coffee or soda and try and let him know that I’d be with him for the long haul.

Honestly, I've been cautious to address homosexuality directly in our services, because I've noticed that highlighting a particular sin can sometimes make young people think that they SHOULD be struggling with that area. However, I do feel the responsibility to address the issue, but will another sermon really help? In my experience, the approach of the author is highly effective, it just takes effort, prayer, lots of time, and wisdom.

Does this topic come up in your church or youth group? How have you approached the subject? How have you seen God's redemption at work in this area?

Five Hardest things a youth pastor has to do.

So you wanna be a youth pastor? Here's a post from Josh at Morethandodgeball, a great youth ministry resource for programming, nuts and bolts advice, and an inside peak at what it looks like to be a youth pastor. I highly recommend it. Check out this list of "The Five Hardest Things A Youth Pastor Has To Do" he posted recently.

1. Do the funeral of a Student in your Ministry.

2. Help hurting students as their Parent’s go through a Divorce.

3. Be with a student as they explain to their parents they are pregnant.

4. Say Goodbye to a Ministry you are leaving.

5. Explain to your Youth why you got Fired without causing further damage to the Church.

I would replace number 4 with guiding your youth group through a church scandal or church split, but that might be too rare of an occurrence. I used to think that working at church would be like working at Disney World. I pictured people praying spontaneously in the hallways, and the senior pastor plopping down in my huge office to pour into my life. We'll at Disney World sometimes Mickey takes off his head, and Pluto and Goofy don't get along. Thankfully, I have not checked off every number in this list, but my expectations of what it means to be a youth pastor has changed drastically in the past 10 years. What do you / did you think working in youth ministry would be like? How has your experience differed from what you expected?

This might be useful for your environment.

Depending on your church, this might be a good video to show in your meeting...

(ht to the folks at ys)

Wanna be cool?

Bret McCracken just wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal. It talks about the image makeover that evangelical christianity is trying to achieve.  He takes potshots at people all over the spectrum, Rob Bell, Mark Driscoll, and several other churches. He advocates his point of view as a "true-er" or more authentic version of following Christ. I agree with his premise, that following Jesus is not trendy, easy, or always popular. I had difficulty with his tone toward other authors, pastors, and Christ followers. He lumped them all together with the assumption that a catchy title or an idea was meant to first and foremost make Evangelical Christianity popular again, or worse yet...more palatable. There are many perils of "wanna be cool" christianity for sure! I'm not so sure that the examples in his article highlight people who are trying to be cool. 

Perhaps his book offers a better solution, but his article didn't. He made no attempt to differentiate between contextualizing communication and giving into the culture around us. I have a hard time believing that all the pastors and ministries he mentions in his article are as shallow and narcissistic as he makes them sound. I'll read the book for sure. I just wish his article included a clear alternative for the people he mentioned. Are they supposed to come up with ideas that are offensive and boring? Are they supposed to purposefully create barriers to others hearing about Jesus? Hmmmm...that might be a catchy idea!!! (insert smily face)

100% funnier than the shack?! Not possible.

I am sure that I'm way late getting on this bandwagon, but this blog is so funny.
I saw an ad for it on Relevant and thought I'd post it here too. Enjoy a tiny taste...

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Feed

Doug Fields often says, “leaders are learners.” That’s the subject of this week’s leadership thought. Mature people intentionally nourish their souls. They take time to listen to G-d’s voice in many ways, community, books, sermons, quiet times, and even play. Here’s a short list, in no particular order of my soul feeders. What are yours?

• Running with a music or sermon podcast on. It’s not a particularly ancient discipline, but it works for me. It’s great to get outside, get   exercise, and also listen to challenging thoughts.
• Did I mention Podcasts? I know I did. They are a fire hose of information ready for you from Pastors, leaders, colleges, and seminaries that will nourish your soul.
• Study Bibles – Carlos in Shoreline’s Bookstore can set you up with a nice bible to dig into. 
• Google. If you have a question about the Bible or want to find an online devotional reading, google one. You need to be careful to test what you read, because posting something on the Internet doesn’t make it true, however this is a valuable resource for devotions and teaching. Try it!
• www.followtherabbi.com  – I love this website. I get lost on there. I just love reading about Jesus.
• www.sacredspace.ie - ever done an Ignatian Examine? This is a sweet place to have a quiet time. The site tells you what to do, prepares the scripture for you and even has help buttons along the way. 
• The Hinges of History Series by Thomas Cahill – Particularly The Gifts of the Jews, and The Desire for Everlasting Hills for profound insights on our faith and the people we come from. 
• My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers is a classic devotional book that will challenge you to depend more on G-d, surrender more of your life to Jesus, and focus your heart mind and soul on His glory. Online Versions available. Google it!
  
  
• Shoreline’s podcasts. Have you guessed that I learn audibly yet? For me, this is a great place to feed myself because I’m usually teaching the lesson in the middle school aged service. I can still take part in “grown-up” worship and conversations in my church community.
• www.relevantmagazine.com This site is fantastic. God. Life. Pop Culture. Great devotionals and a chance to interact with other people’s journey of faith. Try it!

So that’s my not-so-official feeding spots. What stirs your soul? Comment below!

Return of the blogger: Some Ideas

So, I've missed blogging lately. it's just good for me. I got busy with changes at work at the beginning of the year and then the summer camp season hit and it knocked me off of the wagon. I'm a big fan of routine when it comes to this thing, so Here's what I'm thinking. I'll blog about some specific things on specific days and if anything else comes to mind, that will be extra.

Here's version 1.0 of my schedule:
Monday: Weekend service review
Wednesday: Some sort of thought from my Bible studies.
Thursday: a thought about leadership
Friday: hi five Fridays - top 5 lists that I come up with. This Friday I plan on unveiling my hi five list of favorite beards I've seen.

Wish me luck

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Lift Leader Nuggets

It's been a while, but I will give blogging another chance at the encouragement of my friend David Lawrence. We've been doing some reorganizing of our team at shoreline. We structured our people and flow around Pastor Rob's strategy to reach this city. We have four things we put our energy and focus into: connect groups, leadership, serving, and services. I am responsible for the leadership aspect of the lift team.

That means I help out with training volunteers, discipleship, oversee our internship that will launch in January 2010, in addition to supporting the youth ministry. Here is a little encouragement that I sent to our leaders this week. I call them lift leader nuggets. I think it sounds silly. I hope it helps you.

Hi Lift Leaders!

Welcome the weekly lift leadership e-mail. We want to equip you so that you can lead well, so we’ll be sharing insights, from an assortment of leadership resources on a weekly basis. Ready? Here we go.

Today, I read a blog by Chuck Bomar about leadership and it got me thinking about the lifestyle of a leader.

If you are getting this e-mail you most likely want to live for something bigger than yourself. G-d has given you dreams and visions about His work in you and through you. However, if we are not careful we can make these things about us. We can get swept up in the business of everyday life. Along the way we can forget to take time for what’s important. We can forget to listen. To G-d and others.

This week, as you dream, toil, and share may you have the wisdom to still your heart, turn down the volume in your life and listen to the voice of Jesus and lead from that place.

We love serving with you!!!

In grace,
The Lift Staff

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Onramp To Discipleship?

Here is our first attempt at making discipleship tools more available to our youth and young adults. Our hope is that these videos encourage our community towards real relationships with people that will help them grow.

Memories

Ok...so this is a wee bit lame...but I want to see what you guys come up with. Make me laugh or cry...or ignore...whatever.

Leave one memory that you and I had together.
It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember.
Don't send a message, leave a comment on here.
Next, re-post this as “memories" in your notes and see how many people leave a memory about you.

Something That Matters: Security Lines and Daughters

I had moment of clarity in the midst of the airport jungle of security lines, overcrowding, and unhappy stressed out travelers. It didn't look like we'd make our flight because our ride arrived 30 minutes after it was supposed to whisk us away toward a problem free journey. We were waiting in the first of two massive lines at the airport and a brilliant thought popped into my head.

"I have a daughter" I thought. It went on, "I have a daughter. I have a wife. I have a family." I realized, "I have a daughter to take care of on this trip, I have an amazing wife by my side, and I have a wonderful family to go visit."

After a moment to recall all the great things in my life, it was more difficult to remain negative. Sometimes I start to spiral in to negative and stressful emotions when things don't go my way on a journey, but yesterday I didn't care. Only my two girls mattered to me.

Blogging While Driving

I'm coming home from work listening to NPR's podcast "All Songs Considered."
I'm realizing that I like to learn about music as much as I like to listen to it.

By the numbers

I really like looking at the web stats from my site meter. It tells me how many people have been to the blog and other information about visitors. This morning someone visited from The Netherlands. I wonder who that was ;)? So far, I've had visits from North America, Europe and Asia. This has been a good discipline for me over the past couple of weeks. I feel more aware of what is going on and like life isn't passing me by if I capture just a little bit of it. Thanks for reading! Looking forward...