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?
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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.)

10ST - 2nd Rate Worship Experiences

10ST will be an ongoing series digging into Geoff Surratt's Ten Stupid Things that Keep Churches from Growing and how those stupid things keep youth ministries from growing as well.

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This chapter, the third, had 10 practical suggestions for "improving your weekend experience." While, Surratt's suggestions focus on the Sunday morning worship time, I think there is a lot to glean about the role worship plays in a growing student ministry. As a youth pastor, you may or may not have a whole lot of influence on what happens from one Sunday morning to the next, but applying a few of those suggestions where you do have influence could be critical to your ministry's health:

• Ask the hard questions. What exactly are we trying to accomplish?
• See the guest's perspective. What's it like for a new kid to walk in to your ministry?
• Improve your music. (see below for more thoughts regarding this issue)
• Update your technology. You don't have to rob a bank to get the latest and greatest, but if your sound system (or lighting, computers, projectors, etc.) limps along like the Frankenstein that it is... find a way to make improvements. Don't be stupid about spending, but don't just settle for the crappy old equipment that's no longer good enough for the adults to use anymore. Set your priorities, decide on a budget, and do what you can to sharpen your tech-tools.
• Overhaul your preaching. Call it teaching, leading discussions, facilitating... whatever. The method you use to communicate the truth God reveals to you... get better at it. Always.
• Get creative. As Surratt says, "Americans don't do boring." Enlist the help of a team of your students to creatively approach topics, passages, messages, etc. in your youth ministry. Why be lazy and just rinse & repeat?
• Create an atmosphere. What can you do to make your place of meeting, a place where students want to be? (Ask them, they'll tell you...)

Within my first week of being full time on a church staff, I recognized a problem that I knew I'd have to address quickly: my students were not engaging in worship when the church met together on Sunday mornings. They were mostly quiet and polite, but they were enduring a service, not worshiping the Savior. Recognizing this problem was one thing, finding a solution was another.

3 Thoughts on Worship

Nervous isn't quite the right word, but whenever I lead worship I get a little bit concerned. There's a certain level of angst present leading up to our time together. Maybe there shouldn't be, maybe it's a sign of a distracted, fragmented mind that should be better focused. At any rate, last week was that kind of week, since I was leading worship Sunday while Shane was at our couples retreat (which I'm hearing was a great weekend).

It's not that I don't like to lead worship, or that I haven't done it much... Most Wednesday nights include a significant worship time with our students. I'm not delusional enough about my musical ability to have any kind of performance anxiety... But as I sit down and pray and try to craft a service that will leave people wanting to step out of the sanctuary and worship with their lives, I often lose track of who will actually be in the room and the musical preferences they bring with them. (I can also cause people to run out of the sanctuary covering their ears, but that's not really the same thing is it?)

I'll study songs, scriptures, videos, & other service elements and then, often too late to do anything about it, I'll realize I've picked a bunch of stuff that will be completely unfamiliar to half the people there. For the most part, I'm ok with that - but with a caveat; too many times, when people don't like the songs, they project that on the song leader. I don't like to be disliked, so that puts me in a bit of a bind - my therapist says it's because I was coddled as a child and rewarded too much for being so likable, but I think he's just making stuff up to make me feel better. Thus, the concern. 

An older gentleman told me that he really enjoyed the music, and his follow up comment really caught me off guard. "It's fun doing those old songs." Totally not what I've ever been accused of... He put the whole service into the "those old songs" category. He's not a musical guy, not a song critic by any means, but he liked it. Now, "liking it" isn't the point of a worship gathering, I know, but it's not supposed to be torture, either, so I was glad he left with a favorable disposition toward the experience.

Here's the kicker-fact to his comment, though: 1999, 1939, 2000, 2010, 2010, 2005.

Those were the copyright dates of the music this week - 1 song that legitimately qualified as old, 2 that can't even walk yet, a kindergartner, and a couple slightly awkward tweens! As I pondered that between Thursday night after practice and Sunday morning, I was a little apprehensive. Too many songs. Too many new songs. Uh-oh... people are gonna get mad... pot-roasts will be dry... But the more I thought about it, the more I was convinced the selections would be used. We prayed, the service went well, I'm sure there were some that would have preferred a more familiar palette of music, but God is being worshiped.

I received an encouraging e-mail Monday morning regarding the way the service was being used by God to reveal a glimmer of hope and a salve for someone's loneliness. Part of the e-mail was worded in almost carbon copy language of what we prayed backstage just before beginning the service.

A few, final thoughts:

• His grace really is amazing. I love it when my efforts are maximized by a team of people who draw together for God's purposes and He steps in and moves beyond what we imagined.
• We need to pray for our worship leaders and thank them for what they go through week in and week out to musically inspire, comfort, challenge, correct, rebuke, teach... Don't let this be a thankless, can't-ever-please-everyone job in your church.
• If you lead, be sure your attempts to appease the worshipers don't get in the way of pleasing the one we worship. When it comes to music - someone's always going to prefer something else.
• And just for the record, a good gravy and a can of pepsi will do wonders for a dry pot roast.

More than Open Chords & Goosebumps

The last message for the series I've been doing with my students on Wed. nights is focused on worship. I want our students to live in a permanent attitude of worship - the way Jesus did. That doesn't mean they walk around singing the doxology all the time. It doesn't mean they sing loud and and proud at church gatherings every Sunday and Wednesday without fail. It means they consistently offer themselves to God for service in His mission to reconcile what's been broken in this world.

I wonder if music has become a worship idol for us? Can you worship without it? Can you worship without your preferred style of it? Worship is more than open chords and warm, fuzzy feelings on a Sunday morning. I was looking at the site for Catalyst Dallas today (anybody I know thinking about going?) and came across a great quote from Michael Gungor that captures this idea:

"If leading worship is just about bringing a group of people into a room so we can get goosebumps and sing songs together, there's not much value in that. But if leading worship is a means to an end, that we leave this place as a different kind of people, as part of a new humanity that God wants to create - the people that are caring for the widows and orphans, that aren't bound by the systems of this world but becoming free, becoming fully engaged in our world - then that matters."

Worship is about how we live our lives - engaging with God and caring for those He loves, offering our selves to Him to be transformed...

How have you been worshiping lately?

How will you worship tomorrow?

A Few of My Favorite Things of 2009

No raindrops on roses here, or even whiskers on kittens... but since the year is winding down, here are a few of my favorite new and not so new things from 2009:

Experiences:
Lucid -WestWay hosted the 2009 rendition of the Spring Thing youth rally this year. The rain was incessant, and the attendance was low - but One Time Blind was awesome and God was simply amazing. It was a great weekend of worship and being challenged to deeper faith. Here's a post with some after thoughts regarding the weekend.
Catalyst West Coast - Immediately following Lucid, I headed to the west coast for Catalyst with my good friends, Jimmy and Rodd. (No that's not a euphemism for a couple travelling goodies packed away in my suitcase, it's the two names of two guys that I drug to California in April.) Catalyst was a great experience from which I took away so much that I'll spare you a rehash here.  But check out my posts from late April to see what we were gleaning from a great rented Mustang ride, Andy Stanley, Perry Noble, Guy Kawasaki (and the rest of an incredible speaker lineup), as well as In-n-Out, Jack in the Box, and Chick-fil-A induced euphoria.
The Coldwater Mission - This was the summer when I finally was able to pull together a group of students and adults to go on a mission trip to an unknown location with an unknown job to do.  We depended on God and got to see Him work in some exciting and wall-paper-scraping ways! Most of these posts from August revolve around Coldwater.

Books:
Sustainable Youth Ministry - A lot of youth ministry is not sustainable. It just can't keep going the way it's going. Youth ministers burn out, volunteers flame out, and students check out. This book will go a long way toward helping a church that wants to build a youth ministry with a larger view than the next big event. Any church looking for a youth minister needs to have the search team (or whoever is responsible for the selection) read and discuss this book early in the process.

Primal & Wild Goose Chase - Goose Chase is a challenging look at the Holy Spirit as the guiding force of our lives. We don't need to be in control as much as we need to be responsive. Primal digs into what is really at the essence of Christianity - and what is all too often deficient in our day to day living: loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, & strength. I really appreciate how Batterson pulls together so many different fields of interest in illuminating Scripture.

An Unstoppable Force - The first book by Erwin McManus I came across several years ago, I still think it's his best. I don't re-read very many books, but this one is one of my annual favorites. The church can (and should) be so much more than what most people (even many of those on the inside) think it is. I gave away my copy this year, but will definitely be buying another in 2010.

Tribes - This book was a freebie from Catalyst this spring. Glad I got it! Lots of great stuff about how a group of people can come together with leadership. I'm still not completely comfortable with calling someone my "tribe" but there is a lot of wisdom to be found here.

Jim & Casper Go to Church - Henderson and Casper let us in on a great experiment: church guy and atheist visit churches together all across the country and share perspectives/observations with each other. Lots of eye-opening stuff.

They Like Jesus, But not the Church - Kimball shares the stories of a generation who has grown very skeptical of the church, but still have a pretty high opinion of Jesus (even if it's based on an incomplete perception of him). Enlightening thoughts about some areas where we (the church) may not be reflecting Jesus as well as we think we are.

UnChristian - Completing the "take of the insider-blinders" trifecta, this book, based on solid research, shares what young people outside the church see when they look at the church. Perception is important, and younger generations are not perceiving the church in a very healthy light - we need to do better.

Crazy Love & Forgotten God - Are we really in love with Jesus? Does our faith make too much sense? Francis Chan opens his heart and shares a glimpse of what it looks like to really love Jesus in Crazy Love. Forgotten God focuses on the "third person" of the Trinity: the Holy Spirit. Why is it that we don't seem to talk about Him near as much as the Father and the Son? Is He really just a "silent partner" in the Godhead? I don't think so, and Chan does a great job leading the reader into a deeper walk with the Holy Spirit.

Music:
new worship music - Steve Fee led a number of the sessions of worship at Catalyst West Coast with the Hillsong United crew leading a couple times. The passion with which these guys approach their craft sparked something within me that's been a little dormant for way too long. The church needs to continually create great art that is an expression of worship given to our Creator.

Websites/Tech:
NewSpring Community Church - After being so encouraged by their pastor in April, I began to dig into the website of this church in South Carolina. These guys are doing awesome stuff with technology and teamwork. Check out their services sometime (either live or archived).
Twitter - I'm usually way too wordy for only 140 characters, but decided to give this a shot earlier this year. It's a fun and interesting way to share thoughts. I've especially loved getting a peak into the everyday workings of some leaders I greatly respect. You'll find me as 6drews on twitter if you're dying to see if I can really say anything with such a restricted word count! One thought that twitter has brought to mind is that if I can't tweet a sermon (summarize it in 140 characters), the people I'm talking to probably don't know what I'm talking about either...
Friends Starting Blogs
Several friends have started blogging this year - some often, some not quite so often. I'm excited to see what will develop as my WestWay friends share what God is doing through this forum. I've gained a great deal from blogging and am praying they will too. Check the "Blogs of Local Friends and Family" area on the left side of this page to see what they're saying.  Feel free to castigate any of them who have not posted lately!

Family:
Mine is awesome! No additions this year, but Liz turned 3, Josiah is still hilarious, Dakota is the coolest 1st grader I know, and Emily is closer to the age I was when I got married than to the age she was when she started to walk! Their mom spent the year being incredible. She is definitely my favorite.

Heard of Advent Conspiracy?

Some great stuff over at Advent Conspiracy. If you haven't heard of this, do the world a favor and spend a few minutes at their site. See what happens. Christmas CAN still change the world.

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...

WWmark 1 - A Permanent Attitude of Worship

One of the marks of maturity that we want to develop in our student ministry is a permanent attitude of worship. Christians often tend to narrowly define worship in terms of Sunday morning sing-a-longs and sermons. But worship is much more than what happens on Sunday morning and Wed. nights in the church building. We want our students to understand that worship is the way we live our lives.

Romans 12 describes worship as offering ourselves as a living sacrifice to God. At its heart, this offering is the alignment of our lives with His mission. Taking into account the mercy He has shown us, what other response could be more appropriate than to give ourselves to His mission to restore humanity to relationship with Him? This isn't a once a week event - it is a consistent lifestyle of transformation. It is continually placing ourselves before God with humility, asking Him to shape us for His service. It is sincerely loving His family, including His missing children.

I don't think I'd be too far out on a limb to say that outside of this type of loving life of service, adherence to a Sunday morning ritual is pointless. It doesn't matter if you attend a 'worship service' every week of your life, if your life the rest of the week doesn't reflect His transforming work. It doesn't matter if you hear all the greatest sermons, if you don't ever let the Word of God come alive in your actions and attitudes. Real worship isn't about 'going to church'. In fact, I pray often that people would quit going to church - and learn to BE the church.

A permanent attitude of worship:

- Relies on the mercy of God - always

- Engages in a life-long process of transformation

- Works humbly with whatever gifts God has given for the benefit of His Kingdom

- Loves sincerely both inside and outside the church

May we learn to live as an offering to Him.

Distracted from Worship

I really enjoyed leading worship Sunday. It really is a joy and an honor to be able to meet with people who genuinely want to worship God. But I am saddened a little at how easily Satan can distract us from giving ourselves wholly to God. Petty thoughts or even physical discomforts come and steal our attention from the One who matters.

It's a mystery that no climate change theorist can explain, that on Sunday morning nearly every worship room in every church building is both too hot and too cold. Music is simultaneously too mellow and 'making-my-ears-bleed loud'. Church leaders are at once too human and so spiritual that they're out of touch with reality.

Satan is crafty. And I'm reminded this week that he'll do anything he can to steal our attention from God. That happened Sunday. Someone was distracted from the holiness and grace of God.

I still hope to be in touch with the anonymous commenter I mentioned earlier, but until that time, I wanted to offer a few comments here. The commenter was distracted by what she felt was some behavior that morally disqualified another believer from serving in the praise band. "Why are some leading in worship who also have alcohol in their grocery carts. How sad for this. Should we hear more teaching on this?"

Yes, I think maybe we should.

Certainly, the irresponsible consumption of alcohol has lead to many problems and a great deal of heartache for a lot of people. We need to be aware of the dangers associated with alcohol. Millions of people also consume alcohol responsibly, without it being a problem. To say that buying alcohol disqualifies a person from helping to lead worship is a leap that I'm not sure we can make. (This seems like a good time to remind everyone that what I write here in this blog is a representation of my own thoughts and studies - not any official proclamation or policy.)

I have yet to find a scriptural basis for absolute prohibition that really holds water. Without a Biblical mandate, who are we to say "You may not drink."? Can we really prohibit what God does not explicitly prohibit?

What do you think?

Grace & Holiness

Marshall's preaching this week about our response to homosexuality and I am leading music this Sunday. I am usually pretty careful to choose songs that meaningfully connect with the message (at least in my mind there's a connection) so this was a little bit of a challenge. (There aren't a whole lot of songs that treat homosexuality in the context of worship!) But I've been thinking lately about how hosed we'd all be without God's grace. He's holy and he can't stand sin - any of it! We may have a kind of gag reflex to some sins that seem particularly heinous to us, but it all causes God to wretch. It's easy for us to be judgmental about sins that we might not struggle with, but the truth is that without God's grace, we're in the same position as those we condemn.

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...

Worship Resource

I found a cool site called Movie Tools that can be a great resource for people who lead worship. Just thought I'd pass along the link. I used a few of the loops in worship Wed. night. Here's a sample of what's on the site to dowload FREE.

Curious Sidenote: The site appears to be run by a guy in Halle, Germany (on the Saale river). This is the same Halle I went to in a 1 month foreign exchange program during high school. I lived with a family (the Kuehne-Laehne family) out in Petersberg, a little community north of the city. I'm not sure what kind of guest I was, but they were great hosts - I'll never forget Ingolf, Claudia, Georg and their parents. We were a short distance from Wittenberg and I got to visit the place where Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Roman Catholic church. Thinking about it now, I really miss Germany. I should go back there sometime.

Producers 2

"Making Donuts" follow up #2

"Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives."
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A couple years ago, I was feeling like lots of stuff was bottled up inside me that wanted out. I thought painting might be a good outlet/release. I'm the kind of person who can't draw a straight line without a ruler and art as it's usually thought of has never been my forte. A wood planter I made in 8th Grade ended up as a pencil holder - but that was better than the clay pottery bowl that became grandpa's ashtray/coin cup. (Don't ask.)

I'm not sure I've ever really painted anything, so I'm not sure where the desire to paint was coming from. My mom made me do fingerpaints with my brother once, but I'm way too tactilly defensive for that I guess. Seriously, have you felt that stuff squishing between your digits? And for some reason, the fingerpaint smell has always made me gag. So naturally, with my newfound desire to paint and a little Christmas money I bought a paint set and a couple brushes and some little canvas boards to start out with.

I still haven't painted anything. The set is in the woefully misnomered 'work'shop in our back yard. Sad.

How often do we bottle up the creativity God's placed within us?

A friend of mine who is the worship leader here at WestWay recently uncorked. He's an insanely gifted musician and has been leading worship about 10 years or so. Actually, I remember him playing drums for worship back when churches didn't allow drums... a bit more than 10 years ago! So he collaborated with some friends with the equipment & talent to pull the project together, and released a CD of music he's written for worship over that time. It's fun to hear people commenting on how they've enjoyed or been touched by what he's allowed to bubble up. (You can hear some of Shane's music here and buy the CD as well.) When we release the God given creativity within us, He is producing tools that will benefit those around us.

Got a CD in you? A painting? Books or stories?

What is it that's building pressure?

Let it out.

Pay attention...

This has been a pretty crappy summer. Kids were sick, LuAnn got sick, the basement flooded, LuAnn got E.Coli (went septic and had blood pressure low enough to scrape the pavement) and a kidney stone, my race car got wrecked... and it's not even August yet! It seems like every time one thing gets better, something else is smashed to pieces. It's been really discouraging.

I had to miss Jr. High camp alltogether and most of High School camp. By last Wednesday, LuAnn was feeling enough better that I went up for the last full day of camp. The worship time was very encouraging (thanks Adam - who is, by the way, soon leaving for the planting of Whitewater Christian Church and would be a great recipient of some of your mission-giving budget). I was struck by how my level of intimacy with God has suffered over the past couple years and how that's affected everything else in my life. My ministry is weaker, my inner life is pretty 'scattered', my ability to develop deeper connections with students has deteriorated...

After coming home from camp, about a dozen of us got up Saturday morning and left for Denver to go to Heavenfest. I'll try to post more about this later, but to sum it all up - it was awesome! More than a typical music festival, it was a time of artful worship. Over 12,000 people there, with 70 some bands, but what mattered most was that the 1 God was there.

After this great weekend, I was trying to distill some thoughts for a short newsletter article this morning. Here's the summary of what I've been chewing on this weekend:

Have you ever forgotten that God still speaks? It’s easy to become so preoccupied with the everyday activity of life that we forget to pay attention to God. When we simply meander through life from one task to the next, we miss the real details of life… we miss God.

Like me, maybe you need to be reminded that God is still speaking. He’s still desiring to commune with us. Maybe you need to get out of the habits that are deafening you to the Voice that created you. Maybe, like me, you need to form new habits that heighten your perception of God – that draw your attention to Him.

Thank God for His patience with us. His grace and mercy continue, even when we’re too busy to notice. Stop. Notice. Listen.

Team Leading

The Coops were out of town for a funeral this weekend, so I was asked to lead worship Sunday. Even though it was kind of last minute and the preparation time was less than normal I really enjoyed it. There were a few awkward moments during practices - mostly because the songs that I'd chosen were not familiar to all of the team. I really appreciate their flexibility. Things went pretty well, and the feedback has been positive.

I have done a lot less leading music lately and I've missed that. Our Wed. night student crowd seems to like it when we do music, but I haven't been able to put together a team to lead. So usually I'm leading with just my guitar. It was nice to play with a band again!

This weekend reinforced for me a couple thoughts I've been having lately:
1) I need to be doing more worship musically with our students. There are a few students who have been learning guitar and drums. I need to do more to foster their development and encourage them to use their musical gifts to lead people in expressing our love for God. When I first started in ministry, I could barely put three chords in the right order. God broke through that wall and enabled me to lead anyway, then eventually provided some students who learned to play. For whatever reason, I've been hesitant to follow that same path here. I've been afraid to let kids play who are more prone to mistakes - too concerned with the shiny, glossy finish on the music. I'm done with that. If the rhythm is off or a chord is out of whack once in a while - it's still worship if the heart is right.

2) I need to be leading the student ministry with more of a team. There are a handful of wonderful youth leaders here who really care about the students and are heavily investing themselves in the students. But we need more - we need to be functioning cohesively. Which is why I'm hosting a brunch this weekend for a group of people that I hope God is moving toward a place in that team. We need to define our process of discipleship more simply and make sure we all see where we can most help in that process.

What are we doing?

I recently read this book by Jim Henderson and Matt Casper called "Jim & Casper Go to Church". Jim is a former pastor/author/house painter, while his friend Casper is an atheist. They went to church together to try to evaluate what is going on today in the American church.

While the opinions they offer are only snapshots of single moments in the lives of the congregations they visited, there were enough common elements to their visits to make me take notice. Those of us in ministry very rarely attend another church as a visitor. Because of that, I think we often lose the sense of how what we are doing in our gatherings is seen by those who are visiting. Casper's perspectives on some of what many in America see as the best of the best churches is very eye opening.

He often asks Jim a question that I think everyone serving in any type of church leadership capacity should ask themselves from time to time: "Is this what Jesus told you guys to do?" Both in large and small churches, from big budgets to small ones, Casper wondered if what was going on in Sunday morning services was really what Jesus was all about. Are "worship services" really reflecting the heart of our Savior? Is the way we "do church" really helping people learn to "be the church"?

Philosophy of Music...

"After they talk and stuff at church, why do they always play sad music while they pray?"

This question came to me after a time of response that followed a sermon at a youth event this last weekend. I didn't have a very good answer. A lot of things flashed through my mind, but none of them would have satisfied the inquisitive young man who'd asked the question.

To manipulate a desired response...?
To keep a mellow vibe...?
To encourage thoughtful response of what you've just heard...?
The only thing I could honestly say on the spot was, "I'm not really sure."

Something else struck me also: "sad music". If a song doesn't reach a certain tempo, that makes it sad? The reason this part of his question raised so many more questions for me is probably that I tend to gravitate toward songs that move along at a pace that allows me to think introspectively. (Maybe I'm a slow thinker, so that means slower songs.) But if what seems "thoughtful" to me seems "sad" to a good portion of my students, what am I communicating?

God is sad...?
God is slow...?
God is only found in the slow music...?

That's not the message I want my students to take to heart. Music's sometimes a tricky issue in the church. Everyone perceives it differently. It'll take a lot of work to form a well-rounded, healthy 'philosophy of music' in ministry. I've just been reminded I need to reevaluate that once in a while. Thanks Andrew.

Failure?

I've noticed I am really affected by "how things go" on a typical Wednesday night. Some nights just click and I go home with a ton of energy. My wife says she can tell how things went by my demeanor. I can't even go to bed for a while until the excitement wears off. Other nights, I get home exhausted.

Tonight was one of those nights. Things just didn't go very well. Lots of new students and "the group" wasn't really doing much to welcome them. Kids' attention scattered everywhere. I left out a song from the projection program (kind of hard for them to sing a new song when they can't even read the words). Didn't speak well enough to keep their attention. Clean up kids didn't/couldn't stick around.

Maybe I beat myself up a bit, but it just didn't go that well and I was feeling pretty down. When everyone was gone I plugged my Zune into the sound system and started to vacuum the room. Lots of popcorn and chips on the floor (no spilled drinks, though - a little silver lining for the night). As I finished cleaning the floor and put the vacuum away, I was reflecting on all of this and just how unhealthy it is - for me, my family, the ministry itself. I turned off all the lights and sat in the still room to pray and think about it. As I prayed, an awesome song called "Only You" from David Crowder played. It's really about how it's only God that matters. As I offered myself up to God I was reminded of how success/results/impact is really in His hands not mine. I need to be reminded of that often.

Maybe you do, too. So don't forget. Ours is the responsibility to respond in faith to His Voice. His is to accomplish what only He can.

Knowing God...

Getting the last few things put together this week for Jr. High camp next week. We're focusing on Psalm 46, leaning toward verse 10's "Be still and know that I am God." So I've been thinking of what it really means to know God.

I'm tired of church stuff that leaves people unaffected. Tired of churches and youth ministries that simply make their way around the carousel of activity without changing lives. I'd hate for this camp to be simply another full week in busy schedules that are filled with apathetic activity. My prayer for the week is that students would come face to face with their Creator.

Because that will change a person. I think, if you enter into a real conversation with God, you only have two options: outright rejection of Him or living a life of worship. I just don't think there's room for authentic encounter with God to result in.... more of the same.