Please Pray...

This is the beginning of a crazy week for me. After lunch yesterday, LuAnn and the kids took off to visit family for a few days while the kids are out of school. If it weren't for the upcoming Spring Thing event this weekend, I'd be with them, but as it is, I'll be pulling together the last few things before students show up on Friday.

So naturally, I started out the week with an all nighter in our empty house watching Lord of the Rings with a couple of my students. One of them hadn't seen it yet, so we had to fix that right away! They both fell asleep sometime around 1:00 AM, just before Helm's Deep was occupied - so we finished this morning when I got home from a 6:30 prayer meeting. (Just a side note: "Mercy" is falling asleep at the youth minister's house while he's still awake - and being able to leave the next day with your eyebrows still intact! You guys can thank me later.)

The point of this post is actually to ask you to be praying for my preparation time this week. I'm pulling together thoughts that God has been bouncing my way for about 10 years into 4 messages, so there's way more content to pare down than a weekend's worth of attention span can handle. Distillation may not be my strongest attribute - I'd rather take a seed and extrapolate the potential branches. Please be praying that what is left when I'm done hacking away at the myriad of impulses etched on my gray matter would be only whatever God wants to use to penetrate the hearts of His people who gather this weekend.

With no family at home, and my weekly routine completely out the window, also pray that I'd stay focused enough to line up all the ducks - and relaxed enough to shoot them when the time comes. I'm not above losing large chunks of time to distraction, so I'd appreciate that not happening this week.

On a somewhat related note, I've been contacted twice in the last couple days regarding a request for an insurance quote for my '92 Volvo; they have my name and number right, but I've got no Volvo to insure. I'm hoping this is just a case of sloppy data entry, but just in case it's more of an ID theft issue, if you see me this week ask me for the super secret handshake just to make sure it's really me!

Thanks for your prayers.

Praying With Strangers on the Phone

I just got off the phone with a representative from a well known youth event/evangelism/promotions organization. I have to disclose that I'm predisposed to simply flush when the hype seems to be getting too high, and I get that vibe a lot with this particular organization. I'm also, as a full fledged member of the human species with a fully developed frontal cortex, predisposed to say no to sales calls. Consequently, I was probably looking for the exit sign very early in this conversation. The easy out presented itself when I learned that the end of his spiel concludes with an invitation to bring my students to an event whose date conflicts with another event to which we're already committed.

At the end of the phone call, he asked, "Is there anything I could pray for you about?" I'm not sure I can articulate exactly why, but this felt really strange. Does this seem awkward to anyone else? Am I an unspiritual jerk because I didn't really want to tell him anything to pray? Anybody else experienced a 'sales' type call that ended in prayer when you actually did want to share requests and pray with a stranger on the phone?

See You At The Pole - Scottsbluff

Huddle at Bluffs Middle School

I remember a sort of nervousness as a high school student heading out early for See You At The Pole. Who would be there? What if I'm the only one? What are they thinking as they walk by? Hey, why didn't that kid stop and pray with us? As a youth minister, I've seen the same anxious thinking in my students when they start thinking about SYATP (or other very public evidence of their faith). They deeply want to know they're not the only one...

This is my first year as a parent of a Middle Schooler, so I got an even closer look at that angst in my own house this time around. Emily was nervous that she'd show up early and be stuck like "the cheese", standing alone. Her fear was assuaged a little bit by the fact that her friend Faith was riding with us and would be there, too, but it was obliterated when we rounded the corner and she saw several of the older Middle School students already there. "There's Austin... and Maddy... and Emily... and Liz..." The list continued.

Praying at Bluffs Middle School

After dropping the two girls off with a handful of friends, I drove a couple blocks to a coffee shop where I've been meeting a group of men for our own time of prayer on Wed. mornings to let them know I wasn't going to be staying today. I was hoping to stop back at the Middle School to pray and take a couple quick pictures. By the time I got back, the cluster had grown to include more students, a couple teachers, and a few parents and younger siblings - and everyone gathered to pray.

The SYATP Remnant at Scottsbluff High School

Hoping to make it over to the High School, which was starting a little later, I snuck away as the students prayed. As it turned out, the High School kids had bumped the time back up so that the band students could be there. They were mostly done when I arrived, but half the group was still there, so I got to wrap up the prayer time. I'm proud of our students who've stepped out and brought people together to pray. God is working in our students and they're eager to see what He will do.

I enjoyed stopping by the closest 2 schools this morning to pray with my students and their friends and teachers and a few parents. I wish I could have made it to my students in other schools that aren't so close, but I'll just have to wait until tonight to see how their mornings went.

2011 See You At The Pole

During my freshman year of high school, a small group of kids in TX had decided to go pray at some area schools one night. They went and prayed for their friends and teachers at school during a weekend discipleship retreat they were having. I didn't hear a thing about it. Why would I? It was just some kids a thousand mile away, praying for their schools like God was urging them to.

I may not have heard about it, living several states away, but God was up to something that I did hear about not long after that first year. Their little prayer time together became the epicenter of a movement of prayer that is still re-shaping lives and schools, not only in Texas, but around the world. Later that year, about 45,000 students in several different states met at their school flagpoles for the first See You At The Pole. This week, over two million students worldwide will take part in this time of prayer.

"I am there with you."

 -Jesus

SYATP isn't about taking a stand or some political agenda for forcing God back into schools. It's not about staking a claim to anyone's rights... It's about the dependence of God's people on Him. It's about young people humbly begging Him to use them to reveal Himself to their generation. It's about recognizing His powerful presence "where two or three are gathered..." It's about depending on that powerful Presence to help us become what we've been created to be.

This Wednesday (the 28th) is the official day of See You At The Pole 2011. Take some time Wednesday morning to pray for students you know, for their teachers and administrators at their schools, and for the leaders of our communities. (If you're a student, get to school early and meet the others at the flagpole to pray.) And listen with an open heart for His side of the prayer conversation. God used the obedience of a handful of school kids about 20 years ago to spark something that's still burning bright. What will He do with yours?
---------
Here at WestWay, we're getting a number of community youth groups together that night at 7:00 to celebrate what Jesus is doing as His people converge to reveal Him to the world around us. If you're in the area, you don't want to miss it. (Our building is located at 1701 W. 27th St. here in Scottsbluff.)

A Quick Thanks

I want to thank those of you who had been praying for our elders and pastors last weekend.  We started out the weekend with a video from Dean Trune of Impact Ministries. It was a great reminder of our need to be in prayer. We need to consistently beg God for His direction for our lives and ministries.

We had some really good, healthy discussion about the way we get things done, and how we can improve on that. It will be exciting to see God work as we implement some ideas to help WestWay be everything God is calling us to be.

A Simple Request with Huge Implications

I don't often ask for much on this blog - a little conversation, feedback, a free exchange of ideas... but today I'm going to ask. Because I need something. The ministry I lead needs something. The church in which I serve needs something.

Tomorrow and Saturday, our team of elders and pastors will be getting out of town for a little bit for a leadership retreat. To be totally honest, I don't know exactly what's on the agenda for the time we'll be spending together, but I do know that this trip is coming at a pivotal time for us. And that's where you come in...

I'm asking that on Friday night and Saturday, you'd be praying for these needs of our leadership team:
We need to hear from God and together be drawn deeper into His mission for WestWay.
We need to humbly accept what He calls us into and boldly move forward into whatever that may be.
We need to listen well, both to the Spirit and to each other.
We need to communicate clearly within the group and avoid being misled by assumptions.
We need to follow up when we return, diligently doing what we commit to and faithfully caring for the community in which we've been planted.

If you're a part of WestWay, I hope you already pray for your leaders, but especially this weekend, please be praying for us. Thanks.

(If any of you who will be on the trip have anything specific you'd like people to be praying about, feel free to click on 'comments' under this post to detail your request.)

Thinking about Joel...

"Pass the awful story down from generation to generation."

The last bit of the Jewish nation was facing devastation as God spoke to them through Joel. Everything they knew of their way of life was being stripped away as they inched ever nearer to a destruction they were powerless to stop - a destruction justly brought by God Himself. It may have been a punishment deserved, but God was not eager for the judgment. Over and over again throughout the Old Testament writings, we find Him patiently reminding His people of all He'd done; every trial through which He'd led, and every danger from which He'd rescued.

And so, again, God opens a door of escape. "Turn to me now, while there is time! Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Don't tear your clothing in your grief; instead, tear your hearts." It wasn't just an outward change that God was asking for, He desired the very heart of His people.

He still does.

"I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. In those days, I will pour out my Spirit even on servants, men and women alike." What a turnaround! In response to genuine contrition, not only does God offer back all that they have lost, He also promises His own Spirit. Once again, an "awful story" redeemed by gracious and merciful God.

May His grace and mercy continue to break through calloused hearts as they are given fully to Him. May His Spirit continue to inspire His people to dream dreams that only He can bring to fulfillment. And May we lean completely on His presence for every breath we breathe.

A Frozen Walk with an Affirming Father

I need affirmation. Maybe I'm not internally motivated enough, maybe my confidence is not what it should be, but I need to hear how I'm doing from someone else's perspective. I settle sometimes for other people's perceptions, but what I really need is the affirmation of my Father. You do, too. There is a question in all of us that begs to be answered with God's "Well done. Come enter into my rest."

Last night after all the students had gone home, all the lights were shut off and the doors were locked, I headed home feeling as good as I've felt for a long time. The question we covered in our series last night dealt with the mystery of the Trinity - how can God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit be three and be one? The simple truth is I don't know how, but the question brought me to wonder again. If we stop wondering about God, we may begin to think we know all we need to know about Him - and that's a dangerous place to be.

God knows us more intimately than we can fathom, and He wants us to know Him more deeply as well. He is not merely a far-off overlord watching from a distance - He became one of us! He is not just an amazing teacher or caring humanitarian that used to live in the Middle East - He is THE creative power living inside of us!

I went for a walk late last night after I got home. Just a short walk - it was well below zero (about 20 below Celsius for my Canadian friends). Being that cold, there weren't too many dogs out barking, only a few vehicles passing by, and the more sane of our local species tucked away in their warm homes. It was incredibly still - a moment of rest. If anyone noticed me out there, they may have only seen some dope out wandering around in the cold, but I saw more. Fascinated by the God who made the cold, dry snow crunch beneath every step, who made every star I could see and every one I couldn't, and who drew out the longest-burning meteorite I've ever seen... I saw God.

It was as if He spread out His canvas for me to see and said "Look... I'm still here." And though I know there is much I can and should be doing better, it was a moment of affirmation. A reminder that I'm being obedient, and a nudge to keep being so. The designer of the Denver Art Museum, Daniel Libeskind said of the building "I hope the building has an openness that everyone can fill with their own imagination." I was reminded last night, in a frozen moment of clarity, that my life needs to have an openness, too. An openness to the mysteries of God. I hope my life has an openness that God can fill with His imagination. I pray yours does, too...

My Father's Son

Just listened to my dad's sermon from Sunday at WhiteWater - sort of 'guest-speaking' I guess about things that get in the way of moving closer to God.  He labeled those things 'rocks'.  I think one of the most pervasive 'rocks' that we carry around is a lack of prayer (which indicates a lack of an attitude of dependence on God).  Prayer was the focus of the service here that our students and I led.  We included a lot of stuff that was 'out of the ordinary' for a typical Sunday morning.

I found it funny that, while I had people wandering around the auditorium drawing with chalk and crayons, and sticking post-it notes to the walls, my dad made everyone hold on to rocks through their service.

I guess I really am my father's son.  We're odd like that...

Deeper Than Teacups

It was really good this morning to hear Kyron (my youth minister in Jr. High) speak. Partially, it was just good to see him and his wife again, but also, what he talked about is something I've been thinking about a lot lately. It's one thing to pray on behalf of someone who's filled out a request card - it's another thing to pray with someone who's just poured out their need to us (or had them exposed despite their efforts to appear to be well). Kyron talked about the thought of us carrying the light of God to dark places by praying with people who are hurting.

A couple days ago, I finished reading Red Moon Rising, the story of the beginnings of the current 24-7 prayer movement (which is an echo of Celtic and Moravian prayer movements in their own days). The book shares the story of a bunch of people around the world coming into a desire to pray light into dark places. They've started prayer rooms that are covering the globe in prayer 24 hours a day, and going out into the world to love people like Jesus does.

I wonder, if the church really is as shallow as pop culture seems to perceive her, is that largely due to being out of rhythm with the heartbeat of God? Can we learn to pray in ways that lead us to rediscover the depth of His love for humanity? What will be the cost - and will we be willing to sacrifice?

I have a ton of questions churning within me about praying. I'm convinced that a lot of what currently passes as prayer is only scratching the surface of what God desires. I'm convicted that I personally have often relegated prayer to something other than my expression of total dependence on God. But I don't have a lot of answers.

I talked with my small group and with my students and a few other people about the idea of a 24-7 prayer room. What would it look like to do something like that in our valley? I even went and looked at a building that is for rent downtown that would work out pretty well. Is it in the budget? I don't know... What will the other leaders of the church think about this idea? We'll see... Will people actually sign on to this idea and come to pray for an hour to 'staff' the prayer room? I don't know that either... But I do know that in the past few weeks God has been fanning a flame within me that has a lot to do with praying creatively and missionally and leading others to deeper streams of prayer than the teacups we've settled for.

I'd really appreciate your prayers as I continue to process through all of this and find the way forward.

First Act Of Service

We had a good time of prayer last night with a handful of high school students. We've just finished going through the book of Titus, where Paul concludes with the need for the church to be devoted to "doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives". I wanted to do something tangible together as an expression of our desire to do what is good.

The typical raking, cleaning, physical service projects came to mind, but I wanted to start somewhere less traveled. I think prayer is an often overlooked mode of service, so I decided to spend the time we had together doing just that. I put several topics in a hat - each of our staff members, our leadership team of staff and elders, friends, outreach to our community & schools, White Water Christian Church, national leaders, parents, etc. One of us would pull a topic out of the hat, we'd discuss how we could be praying for that particular issue or person, then that student would pray.

My hope is that they would continue to think about and pray for these matters as kind of a 'first act of service'. As we seek to meet needs, may we be reminded that there is really only One who can meet the most important.

Revival

A few years ago I read Jim Cymbala's Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire. I remember being impacted by the thought of what God could do if we, the church, would really humble ourselves and seek Him in prayer. I started reading the book again the other day and I'm still convicted of the same thing: the church, in large part, doesn't live a very full life when it comes to prayer.

Our prayer, too often, seems weak or even contrived. We pray because we're 'supposed' to pray - at meals, at bedtime, at church... We pray when we want something. But do we "pray continually"? Do we pray just so we can talk with God? Do we spend time praying just to hear His Voice?

After Solomon had the Temple built in Jerusalem, listen to what God told him. "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there." (2 Chronicles 7:13-16)

The eyes and heart of our Creator live where the prayers of His people are offered. If I'm not feeling very "in touch" with the heart of God, the first place I should look is at my inner life. Am I a person of prayer? Am I living a life that is characterized by a constant conversation with God? Only then will I be able to see the way He sees. Only then will I be able to love the way He loves.

A couple lines from my prayer journal last month asked God to "blow a fresh wind of Life into these bones." "I'm tired of feeling burned. Can I have some new life?" Shortly after those entries, I became acutely aware of the lack of depth to the level of intimacy in my relationship with God. In a worship time at camp, at HeavenFest, and in this book, I'm hearing God's answer: "Pray... Listen for Me... Stay with Me..."

It's been a good reminder. Maybe you needed it to. Seek the Face of our Father. Let Him do what only He can do.

A Thing That Made Me Go "Hmm?"

“Lord - Protect my family and me. Forgive me my sins, and help me guard against pride and despair. Give me the wisdom to do what is right and just. And make me an instrument of your will.”

A simple prayer. Protection... Forgiveness... Humility and Hope... Wisdom... Willingness... It's a prayer not too different from many I have prayed myself.

But a lot of people are upset about this particular prayer. Not so much the words it contains, but the source of these words. The prayer was actually taken out of a crevice in the Western Wall in Jerusalem. It had been placed there last week by Barak Obama while he toured the region.

Whatever your politics are, this raises a lot of questions:
Does the prayer tell us anything about what's really going on in the heart and mind of the Presidential nominee?
Why would a Jewish seminary student think it was ok in this situation to take someone else's prayer out of the wall?
Should the world really be privvy to private conversations with God?
Will this change any conservative Christian minds about who Barak Obama really is?
What is it that causes so many to be so skeptical of his motives/intentions/abilities?
Was this simply a strategic way to appear more spiritually minded?

What do you think?