Church Gone Wrong...

Saw this story today about a lady suing her former church where she hit her head and apparently did some damage. Something's definitely at work here ~ but it sure doesn't seem like the Holy Spirit I know.

It's Not Brain Surgery...

I used this story of a young writer, from Eugene Peterson's Under the Unpredictable Plant for this week's newsletter article. Thought I'd post it here as well... with some bonus comments.

The young man longed to be a writer. As he grew up, that’s all he wanted to be. As he prepared to go to college, his mother took him aside, with good intentions, “I know you want to be a writer, but why don’t you become a brain surgeon instead. You’ll keep a lot of people from dying… and you’ll make a lot of money.”
“But mama, I don’t want to be a brain surgeon, I’m a writer.”
This conversation continued for years, in bits and pieces sprinkled over vacation conversations and holiday dinners, always with the same refrain, “You’ll keep a lot of people from dying, and you’ll make a lot of money.” Eventually, the ‘suggestion’ became a little more pointed.
“You’re wasting your time! Why do you insist on this writing business? Be a brain surgeon! You’ll keep a lot of people from dying. You’ll make a lot of money.”
“Mama, I don’t want to keep people from dying, I want to show them how to live!”

Too much religion has settled for keeping people from dying. I’m glad that WestWay is a place that doesn’t stop there. Please pray for our student ministries as we seek to show students how to live. This summer will begin a new phase for Wind and Water Student Ministries that is specifically targeted to show students how to live as disciples of Jesus. Be praying for the students and leaders of our small discipleship groups. May we all know how to truly live!

My family was supportive of my choice to go into youth ministry. Several teachers and counselors at school, however, echoed the words of the mother, "You're wasting your potential." After over 10 years of living with the repercussions of that decision, I can honestly say they were wrong. What I've chosen is not brain surgery or rocket science. I don't build bridges or fly airplanes or design great buildings. My name will never appear on some great scholarship endowment or public library. But what I do matters. What I do helps some students know how to live.

Legacy

Spent this past weekend with about 200 Middle School and High School students at an annual event some of our area churches do called Spring Thing. It was the 25th year of the event, and the focus was on leaving a legacy. Central Church of Christ over in Gering hosted the weekend this year. Shane, from here at WestWay put together a really good band to lead worship, and Rob Maupin of Lincoln Christian College did a great job as the speaker. He grew up in the area and used a lot of stories from his time here to detail the idea of leaving a legacy by being a disciple of Jesus - actually doing what He says as opposed to just hearing what He says. He had a lot to say that the students and leaders need to hear, and did it really well. As far as spiritual impact for me, his messages were the highlight of the weekend. I hope the students got as much out of them as I did.

I have to say, that I did not like the medievil banquet (greasy chicken thrown on to the table to manhandle-share with whoever else happened to be in reach - tear off a piece and pass it around) but everything else went really well.

Another highlight for me was Saturday afternoon's paintball tournament. I've never done paintball before and even had to borrow stuff to use, but it was awesome. It was 3 man teams and our team got second. We lost the final to a team with a former prison guard with a little SWAT team training, so I really don't feel too bad about that. The few bruises I ended up with were well worth it, but there was one episode that caused me a little more angst - I made a girl bleed. She wore shorts. I shot shin. She bled. In three spots. I felt bad about it, but she thought it was cool. Reminded me of some of my soccer girls, who loved to get bruised and beaten on gameday.

Looking forward to what we'll do next year as we're looking into making a few changes. Possibly working with the Cheyenne church to have them host for the first time. Lots of possibilities...

Good News - Bad News...

The good news is I got a new vehicle. I've been wanting to find something that will tow a small load without paying a huge amount and found this: It's a 1990 Toyota 4Runner. What I would have loved to have 15 years ago mom before it had 175,000 miles! It's weird buying a vehicle that I couldn't afford in high school after all this time... Just wait through only 4 years of college, 4 kids, 8 years of ministry and 15 years of living - and all your vehicular dreams could come true, too! Ha! (The kids love the sunroof!)

The bad news side of the story is that I'll be getting rid of the Avenger. Just don't need the driveway to look like a car lot! I'm sure it will when our kids are older and driving, but for now...

Also, as part of the deal, I will not be drinking pop until the truck's paid for. If you know me, you know how traumatic this is. I am not physically/chemically addicted (I'm not) to Mt. Dew - I just really really like it. No actually, it's just a habit. But... it won't be for now. (By the way, not drinking pop alone is not going to save enough to pay for the truck. Sheesh, I'm not that bad!)

Leeland's "Tears of the Saints"

Found another video today that really captures a great deal of what student ministry is about...

Car and Radio!

I've been working on the race car lately trying to be ready for the start of the season - very soon!. This is pretty much what it looks like at the moment. Not much to look at, but it'll be a lot of fun. Actually right now, it's up on jack stands waiting for us to put the transmission back in. Had some help today from Greg and Kyle to put in a new clutch.

It's been fun to learn a lot about the machine and stuff!

Another new thing lately has been the radio show I'm doing right now. A Christian station here in town let's some of us youth ministers come in and take over the air for a few hours on Saturday nights. It's been a blast!

What could be...

"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them become what they are capable of becoming." -Goethe

In youth ministry, and every other way of life, it's critical to be able to see past what is into what could be. It's so easy to label each other based on what is seen. But what if we were able to look past the shells we wear, the plastic faces we hide behind, and the mistakes we've made? This is what God does, it's what Christ modeled for us. With an impetuous man named Simon, he even changed his name to Peter (rock) to reflect what could be.

What could be for the people in your life? What potential are your friends falling short of? What if you treated them as if they were reaching that potential?

I wouldn't agree with Goethe on every line of thinking he ever explored, but this is truly a great thought.

Be Led to Lead

I just finished reading again a book that was suggested in connection with my last class. I don't read books more than once very often, but I was looking for a quote to use in my last paper and got wrapped up in the book and wanted to soak it in again. It's "In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership" from Henri Nouwen - a brief book sharing some lessons learned as Nouwen moved from a Harvard professorship to a community for mentally handicapped people called Daybreak. (For more about Nouwen, check out this website from Wil Hernandez - who incidentally was the teacher for my class.)

He points out a lack of spiritual depth in much of Christian leadership today and blames the pursuit of relevance, popularity, and power (though his description of relevance is a bit different than I'd always thought of relevance) and prescribes prayer, confession/repentance, and theological reflection. He ends "with the image of the leader with outstretched hands, who chooses a life of downward mobility. It is the image of the praying leader, the vulnerable leader, and the trusting leader. May that image fill your hearts with hope, courage, and confidence..."

He uses Jesus' comments to Peter about being led where you do not wish to go to draw this picture of servant leadership. Really made me think of my own image of leadership. How I've defined it for myself and what I've aimed for as a leader. I've got to say, I've allowed myself to be distracted by managing things ("Don't mess up.") to the point of no longer being led and leading.

But it's risky to be led by Jesus. If we're going to be able to lead the emerging generation to have any depth of relationship to God whatsoever - it's a risk some of us must take.

Trust

“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I [Paul] am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.” (Acts 20:22)

“Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, ‘Come, let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf…’” (1 Samuel 14:6)

I wonder if we require too many details of God’s plan before we’ll take action…
I wonder if we desire too much of a safety net before we’ll allow the Spirit to move us…
I wonder if we insist on knowing at the expense of trusting our Father…
I wonder if we follow directions instead of following Jesus…

Maybe it’s just me. I’ve been challenged lately to pay more attention to the Spirit of Christ in my life. But maybe it’s not just me. Maybe Satan has made it very easy for all of us to become complacent in our spirituality – to reduce our relationship with God to one of attendance and apathy.

Don’t allow him to do that to you. “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25) Walk with Him today. Don’t allow the fear of uncertainty to shackle you. Trust the Spirit that God has placed within you.

Maybe an uncomfortable thought, I know… but if you only follow what you already understand, you’ll only go where you’re already able to get to.

Bad News for People Who Prefer the Bad News First

Came across this spoof article I did several years ago on a forum with some of my kids. Please note 'spoof'. It's not real. Don't call a press conference!
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A new study, jointly sponsored by the UP, AP, CBS News, Reuters, and the International Bureau for Useless Studies and funded through grants from the Pew, Gallup, & Inane Polling Agencies as well as the UN Center for Resolutions on Meaningless Information, shows that those who take the Good News first, then the Bad suffer no adverse effects, as is commonly assumed.

The lead surveyor for this study, a libel-avoidingly nameless former news anchor (moonlighting for carreer options) noted that 87 of the 158 respondents seemed ok after receiving both the good news and the bad, no matter what the order.

Those who received the good news first, then the bad news, reported feelings of euphoria and elation, quickly followed by deflation and a "thump, thump, thump, thump" flapping sound. Bad news firsters simply seemed to ignore the bad news and concentrate on the rosy outlook of the good news - only to experience the cold, hard slap in the face of reality some time later (which is roughly tantamount to the thumping-flapping feeling on the International Scale of Stress Induced Ill Senses or ISSIIS).

Those who attempted the simultaneous assimilation of both the good news and the bad news as well as a series of mild to strong electrical pulses to the frontal lobe experienced extreme convulsions that could only be controlled by the consumption of several small town newspapers, which really contained no news at all. Scientists attribute this to the "no news is good news" theory of seizure modification, which was popularized of late by Marcel Marceau and other lesser known mimes throughout Western nations. Further studies are expected on the long-term effects of newsprint digestion.
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So do you want the good news first or the bad?

What Do You See? Pt.2

What Do You See?

Saw the video in the next post on Fess's blog and wanted to share. It says a lot about why I do what I do. Who will notice...

Please notice the pain and brokenness of the emerging generation. Don't pass by on the other side of the road anymore.

Listening to God

In Mike Yaconelli's book, Dangerous Wonder, he talks in one of the chapters about listening to God. Between the service the youth led ("Be Still...") and my papers on the Holy Spirit and Vision for ministry, I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Yaconelli quotes Sue Monk Kidd about the idea of waiting for God. She was told at one point that

When you are waiting you are not doing nothing. You're doing
something. You're allowing your soul to grow up. If you can't be
still and wait, you can't become what God created you to be.

I really like that thought, but it runs totally against the values of the world we live in. Work more. Play more. Live large! You're only as valuable to me as what you can do for me... These are the messages sent by a world where you are what you accomplish.

But the economy of Christ is so different. Jesus says, "Come follow me... Let them come... watch and pray..." In His family, it's not about what I can do for Him - it's God who is at work in me to dream and act out His ideas and hopes. And sometimes that means waiting. But waiting isn't being lazy and non-productive - it's growing up.

Don't Shoot - I Work Here!

Ok. So, apparently, not only do I look too young to be some kind of pastor - I also look like a hooligan! (At least at 1:00 in the morning.) Last night, I was leaving the office after having worked on a paper that's due this weekend. As I walked to my car, I noticed a car with a spotlight driving slowly through a group of storage rentals across the street. It seemed to be a police car, but then it seemed to be coming across the street toward me.

What should I do? Drive away and have them chase me down? Hide and hope they didn't see me? Just sit and wait?

I decided on another option. I closed my door - I wasn't quite in yet - and walked around to the front of my car, facing the officer's car.
Commence yelling "Get back in your car, sir!"
"But I wasn't in my car - is something wrong."
"Get back in your car."
"Are you looking for someone?"
"Get back in your car."

This was not the right option. I think it set the officer on edge and set the tone for the rest of what happened. I had a million things flying through my head. 'Keep your hands out and don't make any sudden moves' was prominent among them. I got back in my car and waited as the officer came and asked what I was doing here at the church so late, license and registration, etc. When I told her I was a youth pastor here, she called in to see if there were any outstanding warrants for my arrest! Do youth ministry and warrants really go together that concretely?

I offered to take her into the building, where I could give her a visitor packet that has my name on it to verify that I really was a pastor there. She took my up on the offer (I think she thought she was calling my bluff), but she didn't keep the visitor packet.

Sufficiently convinced that I did indeed work here at the church, (and more importantly to her that there were no warrants she could exercise and arrest me) she told me I could go - but gave me a warning about how this was pretty "unusual". The whole thing was kind of weird. But at least I know that next time I'm here late, there's someone else around who will confront anyone suspicious... that and "stay in the car!"

Be Still...

Some of the students and I led services this week. The focus was to "be still and know that I am God" from Psalm 46. Just thought I'd post a little follow up...

“...the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” Romans 8:26,27

Often, it’s hard to ‘be still’ before God because we don’t know what to say. The thing is, sometimes we don’t really need to say anything. God knows the things that hurt so bad we can’t explain them. And His own Spirit intercedes for us! Wrap your thoughts around that a bit: the Spirit of God crying out to God on your behalf!

It’s hard to ‘be still’ because it makes us think about our lives more deeply than we usually do… and sometimes we don’t like what we see. But never forget that God is in the business of transformation. If He doesn’t like what you see, He can help you to see what He sees: His child – maybe broken and hurting and wasting away, but His child, nonetheless. And He can transform the broken pieces of your life’s clay into a beautiful work – one that He’s proud of.

Even though it’s hard and uncomfortable and maybe a little awkward, be sure that you make time to ‘be still’ and just know that God is God. I know you’re busy, but I also know that we have the ability to make time for what we really want. Make an appointment to sit and stare at the Creator of the Universe for a while. Place yourself on His wheel as a lump of clay and allow Him to shape everything about you.

Hmm...

I blame my absence from this blog on writing seminary papers, but really that's just an excuse. Probably the real reason is that I'm feeling insecure enough that I don't feel like I can safely be as transparent as my writing usually ends up being. (See maybe that's too transparent!) And if I'm not going to write honestly, maybe I should just keep my fingers off the keyboard... (I did add a books section to the sidebar though that I think is pretty cool - haven't added all my shelves yet, but some of the highlights.)

Right now I'm working (or should be working) on a paper that's supposed to answer the question "How can we be increasingly available to the Spirit of God?" I think being available to the Holy Spirit means living a life that is directed by God. Not directed in the sense that He's out there barking orders at stage hands, but more that He's moving and I'm following His lead.

Willie always asks the question here, "Is this of me or is this of God?" Am I accomplishing something or is God? I like that question, as maddening as it can be, because it forces me to think about whether Mike is at work or God is at work in whatever the situation is. The key is to work less in my own strength, surrender to the mission He's working on, and work by His strength alive within me. Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing very well at that...