jtcochran's blog

Angels from the Realms of Glory

2011-12-07T07:50:00.001-08:00

Last week I shared the history of the Christmas Carol GodRest Ye Merry Gentlemen. The material came from Ace Collins book, StoriesBehind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas, which happens to be on sale for$2.99 in the Amazon Kindle store. I've also discovered that you need to take Ace Collins writing with a grain of salt. He tends to blend fact and fiction and has sloppier research. For future reference with hymns and carols, I recommend: KennethW. Osbeck's two books , 101Hymn Stories and 101 More HymnStories; and Robert Morgan has fourbooks, ThenSings My Soul, ThenSings My Soul Book 2, ThenSings My Soul Book Three, and ThenSings my Soul Special Edition.

Today, I’d like to share briefly about the carol Angels,From the Realms of Glory. This carol was written by James Montgomery, the sonof Moravian missionaries who died on the mission field. James dropped out ofseminary and pursued a writing career. He spent many years in poverty workingfrom one job to the next until he was hired by the Sheffield Registry. As anIrishman, James desperately fought the war against British rule with his pen.Collin’s writes, “When Montgomery was not waging an editorial crusade againstEnglish rule and slavery, he was reading his Bible in an attempt to understandthe power that motivated his parents’ lives and ultimately led to theirdeaths.” On Christmas Eve 1816, James penned the poem, Nativity, the story ofthe Savior to all people (Irish and English). James Montgomery later left theIrish revolution, returned to the Moravian church and became active in missionand writing hymns.

It was Henry Smart, one of England’s finest organists andcomposers, who wrote the music to the poem and renamed it to the carol, Angels,from the Realms of Glory. Henry was a musical revolutionary who brought new andbeautiful music to Churches. At this time the Church was in conflict becausemany traditionalists wanted to retain the ancient chants and not introducemusical accompaniments into the Worship. Henry was virtually blind and it islikely that he had heard the poem read to him and was inspired to put it tomusic.

Today the Montgomery/Smart collaboration has touched heartsall over the world. This four verse carol describes the role of the Angels,Shepherds, and Wise Men who witnessed the advent of Christ and calls the Saints(all of us) to look forward expectantly to his second advent.

May we look forward in expectation to Christ’s return as wereflect on his first coming.

An excellent arrangement of this song can be downloaded fromDownhere’s Christmas Album, HowMany Kings.

Here are the words to Angels, from the Realms of Glory:

Chorus –

Come and Worship, come and worship,

Worship Christ the newborn King.

Verse 1 –

Angels, from the realms of glory

Wing your flight o’er all the earth;

Ye who sang creation’s story,

Now proclaim Messiah’s birth.

Verse 2 –

Shepherds in the fields abiding,

Watching o’er your flocks by night,

God with man is now residing,

Yonder shines the infant Light.

Verse 3 –

Sages, leave your contemplations,

Brighter visions beam afar;

Seek the great Desire of nations,

Ye have seen His natal star.

Verse 4 –

Saints before the altar bending,

Watching long in hope and fear,

Suddenly the Lord, descending,

In His temple shall appear

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

2011-11-30T08:27:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite Christmas carols is God Rest Ye MerryGentlemen. This carol clearly and accurately portrays the Christmas story.Written over 500 years ago by a peasant poet when songs of joy were not envogue in the Church, this carol’s opening line is often misunderstood.

In Ace Collins book “Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs ofChristmas” Collins writes, “When people today say “Merry Christmas!” the wordmerry mean “happy,” When “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” was written, merry had avery different meaning, Robin Hood’s Merry Men might have been happy, but themerry that described them meant “great” and “mighty.” Thus, in the Middle Ages,a strong army was a merry army, a great singer was a merry singer, and a mightyruler was a merry ruler.” Later he writes, “The word rest in “God Rest Ye MerryGentlemen” simply means “keep” or “make.” And to completely uncover the finalkey to solving this mystery of meaning, a comma needs to be placed after theword merry. Therefore, in modern English, the first line of “God Rest Ye MerryGentlemen” should read, “God make you mighty, gentlemen.”

The closing stanza reinforces us to be mighty by exhortingus to praise God and love one another.

Now to the Lord sing praises,

All you within this place,

And with true love andbrotherhood

Each other now embrace;

This holy tide of Christmas

All others doth deface:

May we dismay over nothing during this Christmas season asothers try to deface the Glory and wonder of this season because we find outhope and might in Christ our savior.

Have a Mighty Christmas!

The Entire Lyrics of God Rest YeMerry Gentlemen are below:

God rest ye merry gentlemen,

Let nothing you dismay,

Remember Christ our Savior

Was born on Christmas day,

To save us all from Satan’spow’r

When we were gone astray;

Chorus:

O tidings of comfort and joy,

Comfort and joy

O tidings of comfort and joy.

From God our heavenly Father

A blessed angel came.

And unto certain shepherds

Brought tidings of the same,

How that in Bethlehem wasborn

The Son of God by name:

Chorus

“Fear not,” then said theangel,

“Let nothing you affright,

This day is born a Savior,

Of virtue, power, and might;

So frequently to vanquish all

The friends of Satan quite;”

Chorus

The shepherds at thosetidings

Rejoiced much in mind

And left their flocksa-feeding,

In tempest, storm, and wind,

And went to Bethlehemstraightway

This blessed babe to find:

Chorus

But when to Bethlehem theycame,

Whereat this infant lay

They found him in a manger,

Where oxen feed on hay;

His mother Mary Kneeling,

Unto the Lord did pray:

Chorus

Now to the Lord sing praises,

All you within this place,

And with true love andbrotherhood

Each other now embrace;

This holy tide of Christmas

All others doth deface:

Chorus

Thanksgiving

2011-11-15T14:14:00.001-08:00

Psalm 136.1-3 “Givethanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever. Givethanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

Our God the Father,His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit is the Triune God who is most highand deserves all praise, honor, and thanks. My prayer for you is that thisThanksgiving will be a time that brings honor and glory to Him.

“Love is a principalingredient in the grace of thankfulness. There is a counterfeit thankfulness inwhich there is no love. But there is love in exercise in all sincerethankfulness. And the greater any person’s love is, the more will he bedisposed to praise. Love will cause him to delight in the work. He that lovesGod, proportionably seeks the glory of God, and loves to give him glory.”Jonathan Edwards, Thanksgiving Sermon, November 7, 1734.

Praying for Our Children

2011-11-10T13:19:00.001-08:00

Each parent wonders what will become of their child. It isan innate characteristic of our role as nurturers and providers. Who will theybe 5-10 years from now? How will I have shaped their life? What kind ofinfluence do I have today? Today I thought I would share with you an excerpt Ihave found from Jonathan Edward’s Diary from when he was 19 years old.

“I now plainly perceive, what great obligations I am underto love and honour my parents, I have great reason to believe, that theircounsel and education have been my making: though, in the time of it, it seemedto do me so little good. I have good reason to hope, that their prayers for mehave been, in many things, very powerful and prevalent that God has, in manythings, taken me under his care and guidance, provision and direction, inanswer to their prayers for me. I was never made so sensible of it as now.”Saturday Night May 18 1722

Your children may not realize now in the throes of theteenage years how invaluable and influential you are in their life, but theywill recognize it soon. You may not even fully realize how your relationshipwith them will be their “making”. Perhaps the most important insight Igleaned from this diary excerpt is the emphasis on prayer. It is impossible topray too much for your children. May your prayer time for your child bepowerful and prevalent.

What Does Female Modesty Look Like?

2011-10-07T08:06:00.000-07:00

What does Female Modesty look like? You probably might already guess that to me modesty is more a lifestyle then a list of measurements or a black list of clothing styles. Modesty is when a woman puts on a pair of light pants and light jacket on after she works out, rather than traveling around town grocery shopping, picking up her kids from pre-school, and running other errands in her extremely short Nike shorts and sports bra. I have no argument against wearing performance related attire. Comfort for exercise is utilitarian, but a sports bra and short shorts in wal-mart is unnecessary. Modesty is when a woman consciously wears a one-piece when guys are going to be around and saves her two piece for tanning in her own backyard by the pool. Modesty is choosing to layer tanktops or low neckline shirts in a stylish way rather than leaving the opportunity for a guy to look down her shirt and see her breasts when she bends over to pick something up. Modesty is remembering to cross your legs or not sitting on the floor when you wear a skirt. Modesty is choosing not to wear a skirt when you will be on a stage and the front four rows will have a clear view straight up that skirt (granted there is an architectural design flaw with that issue as well). Modesty is choosing to wear a skirt that goes down to your knees and not make the excuse that, “No designer makes skirts that long.” Better, modesty is choosing to wear a pair of pants rather than wear a skirt, when you don’t have a skirt that goes down to your knees, rather than say, “This skirt is the longest skirt I have, and I don’t have anything else in my wardrobe appropriate.”

As you can see, I’ve had to wrestle with this issue far more than I would like, and dream of having more adult female leaders, mothers, and one day a female associate youth director that would champion the concept of modesty and model the concept as well. I am very thankful for the women around me who live modestly and promote modesty. Many of the descriptions above are direct statements from women I know who make a conscious effort to live modestly. These women make daily intentional decisions to be modest and also plan to be modest in their lifestyle. I am especially thankful to my wife who will often ask me to do a modesty check on her tops or bottoms that she wears. Her thoughtfulness is valuable to me. She is valuable to me, and I am proud that she has been an ever-present model of modesty for my daughter.

Where is the place for grace in matters of female modesty? I recently heard that at the Village Church, a group of teen cheerleaders entered the worship service wearing their cheerleading outfits. Apparently there was an audible response from the congregation, a murmur within the crowd, because these girls arrived late and took seats near the front. In Matt’s announcement and greeting time, he tactfully mentioned that the Village Church cares for people where they are at in their lives, and desires to reach them at that point as well. I am by far not a prude, nor would I ever institute a dress code, but I do desire to cultivate an environment where women have the freedom to hold one another accountable and live out the example that Paul presents in Titus 2.3-5.

Titus 2.3-5

³ Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, ⁴and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, ⁵to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

Closing statements for this blog series on female modesty? It ought to be of utmost importance for us to honor the Word of God and live by it. I care for my sisters in Christ, and desire for them to walk in accordance to the Word. My hope is that when they read a passage of scripture like 1 Tim 2.8-10, their hearts would be filled with the love of God rather than feel like they have been burdened with a yoke to great for them to carry. Christians are a people set apart, and our lives are supposed to set us apart from others. When people see a godly woman dress elegantly and stylish, yet not provocatively, I hope that people will see this example and praise God.

May men not dispute and may women be adorned with their good works.

1 Tim 2.8-10
⁸I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling;⁹likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, ¹⁰ but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.

How Do I View Female Modesty?

2011-10-01T12:43:00.000-07:00

How Do I View Female Modesty? With these observations of my own culture in mind, how do I view modesty? Our Worship Pastor once quoted C. J. Mahaney on the issue of modesty. When Mahaney addressed his congregation on this issue, he defined immodesty as anything that draws attention to one-self. Inherently the issue lies in the purpose of the clothing. For a man, immodest clothing might be a Polo or Brooks brand shirt, because it draws attention to one’s status and position financially. On the other hand, there is the example of my good friend Aaron Olson in seminary. He was known for his own personal dress code, a pair of jorts (jean shorts) and a blue pocket t-shirt. That is all he wore day in and day out, until he met Danna, his future wife. Aaron would be an example of modesty.

How does this affect the way that I see a girl? The immodest dress that shows a lot of skin is a cry for attention. Girls who dress immodestly regardless of whether they are Christian or not are looking to be noticed. The attention that is received is going to be sexual in nature, because that is what they are appealing to with the guys that they are attracting. They are exploiting physical/sexual appeal with their dress. If a woman is sexing herself up for a time of pleasure with a guy, then she will find exactly what she is looking for with immodest dress. Unfortunately, what she is looking for is fleeting and ultimately dissatisfying.

However, if a woman is looking to be loved, then she will not find it through immodest dress. Every woman must eventually asker herself what am I looking for? Sex? Or Love? If she is looking to love and to be loved, then her dress should reflect what love looks like. Here are three characteristics of love as pointed out from 1 Corinthian 13. Love is patient, which means she should not be in a rush to get in bed with someone and should not present herself in that way. Love is not self-seeking, which means she does not need to draw attention to herself. Love is not jealous, which means she does not need to exploit her figure to keep the sole attention of the guy she loves. If that guy is a faithful guy, he will only desire her anyway.

There is a big difference between being a sexual object and being loved. Immodest dress turns one into an object rather that a creation of beauty. Yes, immodest dress causes a fella to stumble, but more than that, immodest dress robs a woman of being appreciated the way she ought to be appreciated. How does a woman want to be valued? On television shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Gilmore Girls, Sex and the City, Friends, and One Tree Hill extremely attractive female characters will try on an outfit and look at their friend and ask for their opinion. Usually, the question is along these lines, “Does this outfit look slutty?” Even the writer’s of this show, whom may or may not be believers, recognize that there is a line between dressing attractively and dressing trashy. These writers recognize that women want to be valued and that there is a distinction in value between being attractive and being trashy. Likewise, on the TLC Network there is a show called, “What Not to Wear?” The hosts, Stacy London and Clinton Kelly, focus on pulling out inner beauty and elegant style from their guests. All of their guests deal with a poor self-image. On this show, the writers and hosts value modesty.

When I see a girl dressed modestly, I see someone who values themselves. I see someone who is making an attempt at being professional, mature, and elegant. Those words indicate beauty to me.

Sadly, some women have a lost a picture of what beauty is and have settled for a counterfeit. This counterfeit is characterized with immodest dress that draws attention to oneself. Ironically, today's current fashion among teens operates counter-intuitively to the idea of drawing attention to oneself. It is common place for teen girls to wear extremely short nylon Nike shorts, with a boyfriend low v-neckline tee and a pair of Chacos. For those of you that are youth pastors, you recognize this unwritten and cookie cutter dress for many teen girls from freshman to senior. In fact, I could easily ask 10 teen girls on a Sunday night to come forward and stand in a line in front of the youth group. Invariably, the majority of these girls would be dressed in the aforementioned outfit. In this example, we see immodesty and a cry for attention that ultimately fails because it lacks creativity because no one girl is differentiated from another in her dress.

In the next post we'll discuss what modesty look like.

A Response to Fred Wolfe on Divided the Movie

2011-09-29T14:32:00.000-07:00

Recently another blogger responded to my post on Divided the movie. This blogger's post can be read here. In a recent e-mail I commented on some of his observations. I am supplying these responses since his review is publicly readable. For those of you who would like to know more about Fred Wolfe, please visit this link.

Here are my responses:

There were a couple comments that I would like to address from your post.

"Cochran is obviously not as familiar with Scott Brown as he is with Rob Bell..."

First of all, I am not that familiar with Rob Bell. Because of my role as a youth pastor, I've had to watch a few Nooma videos in my day. I've only watched these videos because I need to be equipped to give parents an informed response to why I do not use his material. I've actually only read Velvet Elvis, and quite honestly my time could have been better applied elsewhere. I do concede that your comparison is accurate. I had never heard of Scott Brown until I watched the documentary, but your comment makes it sound as if I am intimately acquainted with Rob Bell, especially in light of your later comment which is addressed in my fourth and final observation.

Second of all, I'll own the fact that I had not read Scott Brown's book A Weed in the Church at the time that I watched the documentary or wrote the review. I was unaware that the scriptural reference I had used had been responded to in his book. Since the time I wrote the post, I'm sure you would be happy to know that I am nearly done reading his book. I found this book to be helpful in understanding the views of NCFIC. I intend to keep on reading other books connected to this issue and reviewing them in turn. I have also watched a number of the videos that you have posted on your blog. Thank you for making them accessible.

"In my experience, nailing your theses to the door of an inexperienced youth minister..."

Third of all, I am not an inexperienced youth pastor. I'm not sure what you know about me or how much study you have done on my bio or background. But I have been serving in youth ministry for twelve years. It is true that only two of those years is in a full-time paid capacity, but there is a decade of solid commitment to living life-on-life relationships with young people and their families, meanwhile studying and preparing for my full-time commitment to youth ministry.

"In other words, 'We’re comfortable. This kind of message rocks the boat. What’s true for YOU is your truth, what’s true for the rest of us is OUR truth. The Sufficiency of Scripture for the discipleship of youth isn’t a major like reaching the lost’. Quite frankly, that is what Rob Bell sounds like."

Fourth and finally, I would say that these two sentences are a gross misinterpretation of my closing paragraph. I am not a moral relativist and that paragraph was not intended to be read that way. I heartily support the Doctrine of the Sufficiency of Scripture. Unfortunately I do not support a doctrine of sola scriptura est veritatem, "scripture is truth alone." Phew, my understanding of Latin is in a fetal state, and it took me a minute to put that phrase together. My argument here is that it appears that the NCFIC views that all truth is limited to the scriptures rather than all truth is God's truth. I believe that there are many freedoms in structure that God gives his people. These freedoms include how they might meet and gather and where they might meet and gather. I even believe that God at times mandates age-segregation just as he mandates age-integration. In the future, I plan on presenting biblical cases where age and gender segregated gatherings of God's people did occur in the bible, because indeed they did and were mandated (Ex. 24.1-2; 9-11). I believe that it is a fallacy to understand that where scripture is silent, we should not act. There are many issues where the Christian Community might be frozen and helpless if we were to take this hermeneutical approach.

Does Female Modesty Matter?

2011-09-29T09:18:00.000-07:00

Does female modesty matter? Why or Why not? Anemphatic yes is my response. Obviously as a sexual being I am capable of beingcaught in lust. This temptation is greatly assuaged when females practicemodesty. Unfortunately, modest dress is not in common practice where I live. Even among the female population of committed followers of Christ, modest dress is not well-practiced. Much of this is likely due to Church leadership's silence on this subject. I am not speaking directly about my Church or any Church for that matter. Honestly, I think men feel uncomfortable with the burden of addressing this matter. To us guys, we feel like it is out of line to reproach our church-going women on the matter. Yet, I think it is important for guys to have a voice in this matter. As I have casually brought up the issue of female modesty of dress with ladies, I have had an overwhelming response from them. The overwhelming response is that they long to hear a guy's perspective on the issue. The women that I have talked to about the matter have said that they don't really hear a response from guys, and they need to hear what we think. My prayer is that churches throughout america will have an acute awareness about this issue and will desire to address the issue. I know that this will take courage on the part of church leadership, but this is an important matter. I am thankful that there are those who are addressing this matter, and I hope to provide resources and tools that will guide any reader who has concern about female modesty.

I think when discussing the issue of female modesty context is very important. For instance, in some cultures their are certain areas of the body that are more important to cover than other areas of the body. An acquaintance, who happens to be a missionary in Africa, recently observed that in his cultural environment the area of the upper calf to the hip and the shoulders are important areas of the body to cover. Whereas, he observed in America, that the physical features of the female body that should be kept modest are the breasts and the buttox. This is one example of how context is particularly important.

So let's discuss my context. South Tulsa is where I live, and I imagine South Tulsa is an accurate sampling of much of America. South Tulsa's particular demographic happens to be afairly affluent area. Where affluence is present, there is also an extreme emphasis onstatus. For the wives of South Tulsa's successful businessmen, status is attained inphysical appeal. They workout daily, maintain an excellent diet, and are byfar very attractive. In turn their dress typically compliments their body anddisplays their figure. Many of these twenty and thirty somethings do not realize how immodest their dress is, or they do realize the immodesty of their dress but feel compelled to dress that way. Popular culture tells them that they need to flaunt it while they've got it, and they need to use it to keep the attention of their husbands. Sadly enough, thesewomen recognize the attention they receive because of their dress, and like anyoneelse, they enjoy the attention, as fleeting and ultimately dissatisfying as it is.

With this model in place, I find that the little sisters and daughters of these twenty and thirty something women dress immodestly as well. In fact immodest dress for these girls starts extremely early, as early as the toddler years. Designers make immodest clothing for little girls and the parents dress them in that clothing because it looks cute to the parents. My wife and I often have to evaluate the clothing that we put our daughter in, because even for a toddler, the clothes available for her are often too mature and guite honestly, immodest, so we are selective in the clothing that we purchase for her. In fact, the claim that many women make about the difficulty of finding modest clothing is true. Women and teens are hard-pressed to find fashionable clothes that are modest. Yet, there are organizations out there that put forth an effort to help women think about modest dress and even instruct them on how to be both fashionable and modest. One such organization is Pure Freedom. For any reader who is interested in learning more about this organization please follow the link above. Pure Freedom has an excellent resource for girls and mothers to use as a guide for dressing modestly.

Clearly you can see that modesty matters to me, and that I have formed my own opinions about issues relating to modesty. Female readers, please understand that I do not think that all females care not about modesty. I think that many women do care about modesty. I also think that many women feel helpless about the situation. I also think that there is a great number that are unaware of the impact that immodest dress has on guys. That being said, here is a link to a video about what guys think about modesty. If you watch this video you will realize, that my voice is not a lone cry of concern about immodesty. Many men share the feelings expressed in this video. Though the men portrayed in this video are college students, I contend that there is a growing number of post-graduate, working class husbands and single men who heartily share the same feelings as the college guys in this video.

After having read many of the comments about the video link, I would encourage everyone who watches the video to recognize that this video is a snippet of a much larger sermon by C. J. Mahaney found here. There is no doubt in my mind that the letter writers from the video or Pastor Mahaney had any intent to shift blame on women for the sexual temptation that men experience, nor do they fail to take ownership for not holding every thought captive. I believe that the heart of the message of Mahaney and the letter writers from the video is to raise awareness so that our sisters in Christ recognize that guys have a struggle. Women are enabled to alleviate some of that struggle by being sensitive about their dress.

Tomorrow, I want to continue this discussion by addressing my views on modesty.

Youth Ministry to the Whole Family

2011-09-20T12:53:00.000-07:00

Periodically our youth ministry has an Adult Leader Lunch. We offer these free lunches to our adult leaders to 1) spend time in prayer, 2) disseminate information, and 3) brainstorm about ministry.

This past Sunday at our High School Adult Leader lunch we brainstormed about how our youth ministry can minister to the whole family and not just the teen.

Someideas shared included:

1. Having a mother/daughter or father/son cell social. This would be a normal Wednesday night small group meeting where the parents would be invited to participate.

2. Another idea is putting together a “Parents of Teens L2L Groups.” L2L Groups at our church is our adult/family small group ministry. The concept would be to have a seasoned couple or empty-nesters lead a small group of parents who have teens. They could spend time in prayer together, go through a relevant study on parenting teens, and share about the challenges, joys, and victories of being a teen's parent.

3. We also discussed the importance of communicating to parents through e-mail and texting, making sure to praise their student, raise any issues that need to be addressed, and provide important information of upcoming events.

4. Finally we concluded with the simple value in being a faithful cell group leader, which naturally opens the way to being available when neededby the family.

These were all great ideas! Do you have any ideas of how a youth ministry can better minister to the whole family? Comment below with your ideas.

5 Tips When Reviewing a Blogger's Thoughts (How to avoid eSin)

2011-09-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

Recently I was honored by having a blog post of mine reviewed by another blogger...very cool, huh? Perhaps. It depends on how one gets reviewed. In fact the review I received has been the genesis of this post. Often bloggers impersonalize those they review. In the Christian Community this leads to eSin (electronic sin). I'm not sure what is out there on the topic of eSin or if there is another phrase that has been coined for this issue, but I'd like to allow this post to delicately address this concern.

Here are five tips for reviewing a bloggers thoughts, in order to help you avoid eSin:

1. Write a blog review post in the evening, let it sit overnight, and proofread the post in the morning. This will prevent you from drafting a knee-jerk response to a post that you do not care for.

James 1.19 This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;

2. When writing your blog post, get to know the person you are critiquing beforehand. Most bloggers keep a bio and picture on their blog site. Get to know that person a little before evaluating their post, hopefully this will prevent you from becoming impersonal and/or committing eSin.

1 Thessalonians 2.8 Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.

3. Stay away from character assassinations. If you disagree with the ideas of a blogger, that is well and fine. Do not let your vexation towards ideas be turned towards the writer by insulting their intelligence, research ability, writing skills, views in your blog post. Most of us are amateurs at best and if anything we simply need encouragement.

Rom. 13.8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

4. Take the blog post at face level or surface level. Most of us realize that blog readers only have patience for reading so many words in a post. Also, many of us do not wish to excessively or exhaustively comment on any subject. Bloggers will be selective on what they write about, which meets the end of the purpose of their post. So if you feel like the blogger did not cover every part of a subject or did not adequately give a hearing to something they reviewed then simply point that out, but don't dwell on how the blogger really doesn't understand the subject. It may very well be that the blogger understands the subject to a limited degree based on his or her current exposure to the subject matter.

Eph. 4.25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another.

5. Defend your view. It is not really necessary to attack another persons view, nor is it likely to be helpful. Rather, focus your attention on defending your view. Put together a well thought our purpose for your post and argument that supports that post. If necessary, mention that this is a response to another's post. If there are specific points of disagreement, then quote those points and defend why you view the matter different.

1Pet. 3.15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;

These are merely 5 points at which one can avoid eSin and appropriately review a blogger. Do you have any other tips to add? I'd love to hear them.

WHAT IS CELLS?

2011-09-08T08:24:00.000-07:00

I think it is imperative to clearly share what I feel are the most valuable components of cells. Here they are below. I would love to hear your comments as well. I encourage you to comment below.

1. Accountability and Prayer: Cells is an opportunity for young men to have accountability with one another and for young women to have accountability with one another. This involves developing trust. This involves an intentional twenty to thirty minutes of focused time with one leader to approximately four students sharing about struggles, victories, petitions, and praises.

Up until now, I have always recommended ending the night with this accountability and prayer time. Honestly, I am beginning to think instead of finishing the night with this time, it may be best to front load the night with this time of accountability and prayer. This would set a great tone for the discussion time. This would make it less awkward for visitors and inviting guests. If a group of guys or girls were to covenant to meet from 6:30-7:00 for accountability and prayer, then that group would be able to proceed with their normal study time at seven. I would like to see a couple test runs of this concept this fall. Let me know if you initiate this model with students and how it turns out.

2. Small Group Discussion: Leaders, please see yourself as a small group facilitator not a bible study teacher. There is a distinct nuance between the two. A small group facilitator facilitates a discussion about the scripture or a biblical/theological topic. This person asks questions to get the participants to interact with one another. Whereas a bible study teacher dispenses a series of propositions and guides participants through a track of learning/argument that ends with the participant internalizing an understanding of a biblical/theological truth and hopefully a related application. Yes, the bible study teacher will ask questions or participants may ask questions, therefore a bible study teacher is highly interactive with his or her audience, but the central focus of the time will be on that person. With a small group discussion, no one person is the central focus, but the small group facilitator guides the group through a discussion.

Much prep may not have to go into your discussion time, if you are sticking to texts of scripture. I recommend sticking to scripture and books of the bible. I do believe that there is a time for topical lessons and book studies, however studying the bible should be the norm. It does take great skill in facilitating a discussion, and I conceive that there ought to be a future Impact course for this topic. By the way, if you eagerly desire to be a bible study teacher, then I encourage you to discuss with me about you teaching for our Foundation Class this Spring.

A small group discussion is different than a small group answer/response time. For instance, last night with the sophomore guys, I facilitated a small group answer/response time. I asked a question. Students gave an answer. I asked another question. Students gave another answer. Yes, I reward myself an F for facilitating a small group discussion last night. No discussion really existed. Students did not discuss with one another about the concept. In fact, an honest critique of myself would include that I heard myself speak way too much. A great small group discussion involves the leaders less and the students more. This means that a leader has to resist the urge to fill the silence with the sound of his own voice. I hope that makes sense.

3. Student Leadership: I see small groups as a strategic opportunity for student leadership. Whether this involves leading in song or facilitating the small group bible study and discussion. By the time each student graduates, it would be nice to know that each has had an opportunity to facilitate a small group discussion and may have confidence in facilitating their own. In fact, I dream of a youth group where each of our senior’s is facilitating his or her own small group of class mates from school!

Writing Wherever and With Whatever Device You Have

2011-08-27T10:23:00.000-07:00

Today my world changed yet again because of technology. I thought I'd pass on some advice for those who want to get the optimal value out of their many devices. So here are some of the cool applications and tricks I've learned about those application in the last few months including the one that I learned today. Many of these tricks involves multiple applications working in tandem together.

1. Having a Good E-Reader: Kindle
I exclusively use Kindle. The prices are far better than on Nook or iBooks. The selection is wide, and the software is versatile. I love how it syncs between all my devices. I love how I can have as few or as many of my books on the device as I would like while keeping the others archived. For instance, on my iPad I have access to all my books. However, on my iPhone I only keep the ones that I am currently reading on the device. This helps me save hard drive space.

I like being able to highlight and now share quotes via twitter. However the coolest feature is that I have the power to take my highlights and import them into Evernote from my own kindle.amazon.com page. With Evernote I can then copy and past the quote into any document. Cool, huh? For more thorough instructions on this specific functionality see: Michael Hyatt's Blog Post.

2. Having a Great Cloud Drive: Dropbox
Dropbox is my go to cloud drive until iCloud releases in the coming months. Dropbox provides 2 gigs of space for free, which is really all that I need. I enjoy being able to access my pdf or Word documents from anywhere, but especially from my iPad and iPhone.

3: Having a Great PDF Reader: GoodReader
I use GoodReader as my PDF reader for my iPhone and iPad. I am easily able to view PDF's and send them to other via e-mail with GoodReader. What more, I am able to sync folders from Dropbox to GoodReader. As documents are updated and edited I can then sync them across all my devices.

4. Having a Great Document Editor: Pages
I use Pages to do all document editing on my iPhone and iPad. There are some hoops that you have to jump through to make Pages be able to have functional communication between all devices, but allow me to now use an additional application, Dropbox, and GoodReader to show you how to change your world.

I want to be able to edit the same document from anywhere on any device. Let's say that I am a writer and am working on a book. Thoughts occur to writers almost anywhere. Yet, you don't always have your laptop. Here's what I have done.

First, I've stored the document in my Attachment Folder in DropBox.

Second, I have synced the Attachment Folder in Dropbox to my GoodReader application.

Third I've created an e-mail account with sendtodropbox.com and stored it in my address book under my own name.

Now all I have to do is make sure that my document sync between GoodReader is current with Dropbox. I can then open the document in GoodReader, and send it to Pages.

I can edit the document in Pages. When I am done editing the document, I go to the tools function, select share, and e-mail attachement.

I then e-mail the document to my sendtodropbox e-mail address. The document automatically is sent to my attachments folder in dropbox and replaces the old file of the same name.

Let's say I did all this on my iPhone. If I get on my laptop and access my dropbox folder, the file will be current. If I get on my iPad and perform a quick sync with GoodReader and Dropbox, then the file will be current on my iPad too. This means that I can edit a document and keep it current on as many devices as I would like. Crazy huh!

A Different Type of Restless

2011-08-16T04:48:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up unexpectantly at 5am. I think it was because of indigestion. We had Pizza Hut last night. I was restless and could not return to sleep, so I went downstairs to get some water and check out the twittosphere. I've found twitter to be my new source for news. I follow AP, BBC, and TulsaWorld, which is my three sources for global and local news.

There is a different sort of news I also follow in the twittosphere. For lack of a better term it is the "What's Hot in Christianity" news. This news is pretty easy to follow, if you're keyed into the right people in the twittosphere. This morning I stumbled upon the recent hoopla about John MacArthur's blog posts about the YRR's (Young Restless and Reformed). There is quite a stir within the Reformed community about these matters, which can be tracked through a number of blogs and postings (MacArthur, Freeman, Raymond).

As I siffered through all this reading in the midst of my own kind of restlessness, I appreciated most what Erik Raymond had to say, "we are about the gospel, the glory of Christ and the primacy of the mission of the local church." In spite of the brew-ha-ha, you'll get the pun when you read the posts, here's a guy who wants to focus on the majors, which appears to be the general tenor of the YRR's.

You know who is another guy who focuses on the majors, John Piper. This hit me strong this morning when I read his tweet, "If you're facing something impossible, 'Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?' Jer. 32:27." I found this significant because it was posted at 5AM.

At this point in my morning restlessness I realized that from 5:30-6:00am I was caught up in the peripheral, "What's Hot in Christianity!" and had not even dug into the Word. My immediate response to this revelation was to get right at it and dig into the Word. How about you? Right now, are you majoring on the majors? Are you reading the book that John Piper recently described as the only "must-read" in one of his recent tweets. Have you read this book today before you entered the blogosphere or any of the many social networking sites you frequent?

The Indispensable Youth Pastor by Mark Devries

2011-08-09T23:34:00.000-07:00

Later this month I have the privilege of going to the ReGroup Summit to hear Mark discuss this book. I just finished the book myself and really look forward to discussing the book with him and others at the conference. I heartily recommend this book. It is easily digestable for the reader who only has a few minutes at a time. Each of the chapters are no more than five pages.

Besides the structure of the writing, the content is extremely practical with helpful anecdotes that serve as modern day youth ministry parables. These parables illustrate life lessons that Youth Pastors like myself should carefully take into account. Otherwise we might find ourselves down the same dangerous path that other Youth Pastors took to a short career or stay at a Church.

This book is helpful to any Youth Pastor regardless of what season they are in as a Pastor. I believe that I will find myself returming to the different sections of this book frequently as I go through the different stages in my youth ministry career. There are three sections to the book: Landing Your Dream Position, Keeping Your Dream Position, and Loving Your Dream Position as a Youth Pastor.

Specific chapters that influenced me and were timely include: Farewell Eeyore and Eat Your Broccoli. These chapters impacted me because they are areas where I struggle. Farewell Eeyore is about being the critical Pastor who ends up fostering a critical atmosphere. Since I am my biggest critic I fear that my own assessments might lead to an unhealthy atmosphere. Eating Your Broccoli is a chapter that ought to convict all Pastors. It is about making those phone calls, holding those meetings and addressing those issues that no Pastor wants to address but knows that he must.

I encourage you to give this book a read and then share some of your thoughts on this post.

Things to Come this Fall on Joey's Blog

2011-08-08T09:34:00.000-07:00

I thought it might be wise to give my readers a heads up on what's to come this fall on my blog. Below are two overviews of blog series that I will be writing.

1) With the release of the New International Version 2011 (NIV11) translation of the Bible, I thought it might be helpful to write a series on the translation process for the scriptures, some of the issues regarding the many translations we have today, and a review of this translation in particular, including the practical implications of the use of this translation in my Church, Fellowship Bible Church Tulsa. I hope you find this series helpful.

2) With the growing publicity of the Family Integrated Church model through the movie Divided, and the books A Weed in the Church and Family Driven Faith, I have decided to write a blog series that is both a response to this movement and a commentary on the family and youth ministry. I hope this series will also prove beneficial.

A Brief Devotion with Edwards

2011-08-08T08:55:00.000-07:00

Below is a paragraph excerpt from Jonathan Edwards work a Treatise Concerning Religious Affections. I have been slowly reading through this classic work of Edwards during this last year. I've literally been stalled at this paragraph for a few months, which I feel has been superintended by the Spirit. Ironically, this paragraph concerns spirituality. Please read this devotion with me now.

"And it must be here observed, that although it is with relation to the Spirit of God and his influences, that persons and things are called spiritual; yet not all those persons who are subject to any kind of influence of the Spirit of God, are ordinarily called so in the New Testament. They who have only the common influences of God’s Spirit, are not so called, in the places cited above. It has been already proved, that by spiritual men is meant godly men, in opposition to natural, carnal, and unsanctified men. And it is most plain, that the apostle by spiritually minded, Rom. viii. 6. means graciously minded. And though the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, which natural men might have, are sometimes called spiritual, because they are from the Spirit; yet natural men, whatever gifts of the Spirit they had, were not, in the usual language of the New Testament, called spiritual persons. For it was not by men’s having the gifts, but the virtues of the Spirit, that they are called spiritual; as is apparent, by Gal. vi. 1. “Brethren, if any man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness.” Meekness is one of those virtues which the apostle had just spoken of in the verses next preceding, showing what are the fruits of the Spirit. Those qualifications, therefore, are said to be spiritual in the language of the New Testament, which are truly gracious, and peculiar to the saints." (Edwards, Religious Affections, Part 3, Section 1, Paragraph 3)

Of great import in this passage is the contrast of carnal men and spiritual men paralleled to the contrast of those who have merely been influenced by the Spirit and those who demonstrate the virtues of the Spirit.

Spiritual men have been influenced by the Spirit of God and demonstrate the virtues of the Spirit, thereby they are known as godly men. However, Edwards is careful to point out that there are those who have received the common influence of the Spirit of God, yet do not demonstrate the virtues. These are merely the carnal men or natural men. They are those who have no demonstrable religious affection for spirituality or Christ. They are spiritually dead, not knowing the power of the resurrection and the regeneration found in the Holy Spirit. This is argued by Edwards prior and post to this passage.

This devotion ought to be sobering to those who are engaged in Church activities, attend Church regularly but have no affection for Christ. In others words they do not wish to hear the Word of Christ preached and taught but do want to have fun and "fellowship" with others. Fundamentally, I'm saying if you go to Church but cannot wait for the end of the message, or if you are a young person who wants to delay the message or dissuade the Pastor from teaching, you might not have an affection for Christ and you might not be regenerate. You see, I have "fellowship" in quotations because it is not divine fellowship with other believers when you are honestly not a believer. It's just hanging out with some friends in a building on a Sunday morning.

Explore yourself. Reflect deeply on the mystery of Christ, the Holy Spirit, and spirituality. Are you a spiritual person or natural person? If you are a natural person, I urge you to earnestly pray that the Holy Spirit would reveal Himself to you that you might enter into His grace and live by His virtues.

Praise God for a man of great wisdom who taught and wrote with such conviction. Thank you Jonathan Edwards for your present ministry to God's people.

Psalm 25.11 and the NET

2011-08-05T21:35:00.000-07:00

Psa. 25.11 "For the sake of your reputation, O LORD, forgive my sin, because it is great." NET

I relish in the precision of the New English Translation (heretofore NET). It is such an excellent translation from a literary, readability, and exegetical standpoint. One of the concepts that I am reflecting on in this season of life is how God protects His own reputation.

In this verse, David entreats God to act redemptively in order to protect His reputation. Forgiveness is essential where holiness fails. Had David acted holy and righteous in this instance God's reputation would have been protected by David's righteousness. Yet we recognize the universal depravity of humanity and the hopelessness and helplessness of humanity to rescue itself and preserve God's reputation. So God must act on His own behalf and preserve His own reputation. He accomplished this by giving of Himself to humanity. God the Father sent His only begotten Son to be His representative of Holiness and our representative of humanity in order that He might protect His reputation and by redeeming us from our helplessness.

Forgiveness is truly sweet. Just as I relish in the beauty of the NET translation, we should each relish in the glorious grace of God who redeems our depravity and preserves His reputation. God's favor to humanity (grace) primarily portrays God's perfect character and God's protected holiness.

Today be thankful for the gift of forgiveness! For he gave us Himself in the death and resurrection of Christ so that He might be great, and we might make much of His forgiveness.

Let us make much of what He has done for us through Jesus Christ!

The One You Need by Shane and Shane

2011-08-05T05:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I downloaded the pre-release of Shane and Shane's new CD, the One You Need. This CD kicks off with a delightful folk-rock song, Liberty. Another two songs that I have really taken to during the first day of listening is the title-cut song and the track following, Miracle.

Shane and Shane prove over and over again that they are simply two of the best musicians musically (redundancy) within the Evangelical Christian Community. They make no effort to fly under the radar or be a cross-over band, but they unashamedly proclaim the Gospel and the mysteries of Christ in their lyrical writing (redundancy). I am proud of these two for their commitment to not waste the platform that Christ has given them to exalt His name.

In particular, I've found in this album the treasure of seeing into their lives. The One You Need is actually a song written to Shane B's daughter, portraying that Shane B will always do his best to love and care for his daughter, but he knows that ultimately he will fall short and that Christ is ultimately the One she really needs. What a treasure when musical artists give you a window into their own souls, which makes it so that there is a window into the courts (Prop to Shane E!) of God.

As a long time supporter of their ministry, I've been waiting for this CD to release for a couple months, and it totally delivered on all my expectations. Thanks Shane E. Thanks Shane B.

You may purchase this album for a limited time and Shane and Shane's Website.

A Review of Tim Challies

2011-08-02T16:59:00.000-07:00

This is rare! I've never reviewed a person before on my blog. I don't even know if this is appropriate, but I'm doing this anyway. Honestly in the process I'll also be reviewing three of Tim Challies books, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment, Sexual Detox, and The Next Story.

So why review Tim? Well, during the last two years of my life, I keep on encountering Tim. Parent's have referred me to his blog because of articles of his that they found deeply edifying. When Kendall and I arrived at Tulsa we discovered that the Senior Class at FBC goes through a spring study on Tim's book, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment. One time on the web this last year I had someone from MBC recommend Tim's blog on facebook. It really seems like every time I turned around Tim was there.

What were my initial thoughts about Tim? Well, when I first heard about him, I thought, who is this dude? Where does he come from theologically? What is his expertise? Why are people so enamored with him? So I started sorting through all those questions on my own by reading his blog. My initial observations were that he stuck to his guns, he was clear and honest about his views, and he did not care to win a popularity contest with his readers.

In January I started committing myself to checking out his blog weekly. I also committed to reading his book, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment. After all, you can't really use a book as part of your curriculum when you haven't read it yourself. In the process, I continued to find myself more and more impressed with this guy. His blog post review of Love Wins was thorough, precise, and accurate. His blog post on Piper's interview of Rick Warren created a major stir of discussion in the blogosphere. His reading club on J Gresham Machen's Christianity and Liberalism was stimulating. I continued to get caught up in what was being said in the "Tim Challies" community. Meanwhile, I was reading the Discipline of Spiritual Discernment. Simply put, it is the right read for our High School students just before they launch into college. Simple, understandable, yet thought provoking, the book really makes one reflect on how seriously one takes the Scriptures, biblical leaders, and one's source of truth, namely Christ.

Then one night, while casually reading Tim's blogs I discovered something that highly interested me. Tim lived near Toronto, which happened to be where our High School Summer Mission Trip was to be. So I e-mailed him and asked him if he'd be available for a speaking engagement with our group. Surprisingly, he promptly replied within 30 minutes indicating his interest. Of course he was going to have to pray about the decision and run it by the elders in his Church. Over the coming weeks Tim and I exchanged a number of e-mails about our visit to his home and his visit to share with our team.

When we finally arrived to Toronto and attended the Sunday evening service of Grace Fellowship Church, we found an assuming, friendly, and thoughtful guy greeting us at the front door of Timothy Christian Academy where Grace Fellowship Church meets. His wife was charming and his kids were adorable, especially his five year old daughter who visited him at his seat during the service twice. It reminded me of my own 2.5 year old Chloe, whom I sorely missed at the time.

On Wednesday evening, Tim joined our team and shared about his new book, The Next Story. At that time, I had just finished chapter 7 and was ready to hear more good stuff from that book. I was already really impressed with his discussions on how technology changes us, how there are great risks in the use of technology, and how we were meant for face to face relationships. I appreciated the books practical tips for managing one's use for media and looked forward to what more Tim would share about the Next Story. Tim was polite yet direct in his responses to our questions. He really got us all thinking about how we use media and technology, the risks of media and technology, and how it impacts our lives. That evening, we had tons of technical difficulties with our a/v equipment, which only played into the topic of conversation. Tim graciously used these difficulties to point out the limitations and the risk of depending too much upon technology. Altogether, Tim was gracious, friendly, and very easygoing. He also was a great conversationalist over the dinner table and quite humorous. During our dinner conversation, I mentioned how I had enjoyed The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment and The Next Story and I enquired about Sexual Detox. He challenged me to read Sexual Detox, and I decided to take him up on that challenge.

By the end of Wednesday evening, I knew that I wanted to get Tim's perspective on Sexual Purity, so on our bus ride home I read the entire book Sexual Detox. It was the first book I've read on sexual purity that really gets to the heart of the matter. It was not just a book training you how to condition yourself to be sexually pure. Sexual Detox tackles the heart matter conveying God's heart and disgust with impurity. This book really draws one to desire what God desires for purity.

Though I have only met the guy twice and interchanged a couple weeks of e-mail, I feel like I know the guy well because his blog gives others a window into his soul. Since our meeting, I've found myself praying more and more for the health and well-being of his family, because today's Christian Community needs more guys like Tim who are brave and courageous to speak the truth and have the integrity to stand by it. I heartily encourage all readers to subscribe to his blog and read each of his books. They are well worth the investment of time and resources.

Divided the Movie Review

2011-07-29T07:29:00.000-07:00

Thanks goes to Divided for giving us youth pastors stuff to chew on. I’ve been pretty familiar with the Family Integrated Church agenda, having listened to Baukham speak on it a number of times at conferences, so this movie came as no huge shocker.

Kendall and I watched Divided last night and found that we agreed with many of the comments. At the same time, we also felt like the agenda is too extreme. The movie Divided seems to paint the picture that every youth ministry undermines the work of parents. Our Church must apparently be some anomaly to this standard because Fellowship Bible Church views the youth ministry as merely a supplement to what happens in the home. We make intentional efforts to assist parents and connect with them as a support network as they disciple their families. In no way do we try to replace a parent or undermine their parenting.

Ironically, I had a conversation about Divided the Movie with Tim Challies over dinner last week in Toronto. He’s written a review of the movie, which he and I discussed. I heartily recommend his review. Below is some of my critique from the movie.

Much like how Rob Bell has blatantly ignored scriptures about hell in his book Love Wins, the Family Integrated Church (FIC) agenda has also ignored clear scriptural mandates that indicate that older people, besides the parents, play an important role in the spiritual development of younger people, namely Titus 2.1-6. Despite this mandate, (FIC) argues that any functional spiritual leader (Youth Pastors) will turn the face of a child away from his or her parents. Or do they argue that any functional spiritual leader will turn the face of a child away from his or her parents? They never seem to say the same about themselves as Senior Pastors. I don’t quite gather how Senior Pastors are distinctly beyond reproach whereas a Youth Pastor is considered anathema. If they wish to be consistent, why do they not argue for a Mennonite gathering where the council of elders meet and have ecstatic teaching at the assembly?

In fact, the whole video seems a little inconsistent and arbitrary. How these FIC leaders arrive at what is worldly and what is biblical is beyond my comprehension. Loud music and people jumping up and down with dim lights and fog does not seem to be either biblical or non-biblical to me. I wonder what the FIC leaders would have thought had those people at the concert stripped down to their knickers like David did as he danced before the Ark on its return to Jerusalem. This is just another example of the apparent inconsistencies.

The form under which older people mentor and lead younger people may not have been clearly delineated from the scriptures, but nonetheless that does not make the form invalid or, as the Family Integrated Church agenda argues, non-biblical. Strangely, these men argue that age segregated learning began in the 19th century, but it seems that they have completely overlooked how a young Jewish boy including Jesus would have been educated. All Jewish boys memorized at minimum the Torah during the times of Christ, and they did not do it in the home alone. They went to synagogue, sat with their peers, and learned the law from a Rabi.

Sadly, I know that this issue will continue to haunt evangelical Churches and cause a lack of confidence in the current structures. I hope that FIC’s find that their form works for them and that they will then exert their energy to focus on the majors like reaching the lost, discipling the saved, and enjoying the redemption found in the glorious resurrection of Christ and his future return, rather than spreading strife and dissension within the body of Christ, all with the aim to gather more financial support for their blossoming denomination.

Toronto Update Three

2011-07-21T20:58:00.000-07:00

Wow! This week has been a whirlwind, yet all of us are exhausted. Both the music and drama camp and the sports camp have been a blast. We have seen so many opportunities to plant seeds and witness to children about Christ. The street teams also have many stories to ahare about how the Holy Spirit has been living and active in their midst.

Wednesday night's guest speaker Tim Challies was such a huge blessing to our group. His thought provoking discussion about his new book The Next Story really gave each of us something to digest. Our lives really do run the risk of being overly digitized with our electronic devices.

Toronto Update Two

2011-07-18T21:26:00.000-07:00

Music/Drama Camp, Sports Camp, and Street Ministry all kicked off today. Our teams are stellar! They did such an amazing job remaining flexible and courageous with perseverance.

We are already seeing God work in mighty ways as He is moving us into divinely appointed conversations with strangers and new friends for the week. Please pray for us that the Lord would give us boldness in both speech and action for the sake of His Name that He might be Praised in all the nations.

This evening I shared with our students from Isaiah 66. I encourage you to read that chapter of scripture for your own edification. It's empowering and delightful to know that we serve not for ourselves but for the Glory of His Name so that every tribe and tongue might praise Him.

I am so thankful that God appointed Israel to be a light and that this promise and appointment is fulfilled in Israel's High Priest and King our Lord and resurrected Savior Christ Jesus.

Praise Him!

Toronto Update One

2011-07-17T21:38:00.000-07:00

We safely arrived at Humber College Sunday night around 1:00am. We had a late start leaving the Niagara Falls after dinner. It was also hot in the bus. Sunday morning we discovered that the A/C had quit working in the bus, so we actually had to halt all Sunday plans while the bus got fixed. We moved our 1st service visit to Rexdale Alliance Church to the the 2nd service. Praise God that by the end of the second service the bus was fixed. We had a challenging time shuttling everyone over to Rexdale Alliance Church with just our 12 passenger van.

We ate lunch and visited the Flea Market and Gurdwara. It was funny because the management at the flea market noted the 60 people enter the premises and they got on the PA and invited the bus driver up to the main office. He got a free t-shirt and hat for bringing us all there. Students really got to see the diverse culture while at the flea market, and they also got to see the big picture of Sikhism at the Gurdwara. This was a great reminder to spiritually prepare ourselves for the coming week of reaching South Asian kids.

After the flea market and Gurdwara visit we went to Grace Fellowship Church. It was encouraging being at an extremely like minded Church plant in the area that we are ministering. An elder of the Church preached that night on giving. He did such an excellent job tackling our scriptural mandate to give of ourselves. We were encouraged by the closing song of worship, All I have is Christ. It was exciting to sing a song that we sing frequently at Church with brothers and sisters in Christ who are 1200 miles from our home.

During the evening we had a breakout session with Peter Koropatwa and our teams met to plan the next day of ministry. Please pray for us that our lives would be ministering spirits that extend the love of Christ to these precious creations of God. May the Holy Spirit open the eyes of the blind and set free the captives from enslavement to sin through the power of the resurrection of Christ. We ended our evening with a time of Worship through praise music.

I hope to make another update tomorrow.

Erasing Hell Book Review and Study

2011-07-06T14:51:00.000-07:00

Today we're having a swim and study for high school students at the home of the Steele's. The topic for the study is about hell. Below is the study material I put together for the discussion. I'm sure you'll find it interesting. It is built off of Chan and Sprinkle's new book Erasing Hell, which was released yesterday. This is a recommended study on this issue.

Summary:
Hell is a hot topic, especially right now. Rob Bell’s recent book, Love Wins, has stirred up the heat on this area of doctrine that for much of Christian History has gone unchallenged. Many authors have quickly responded to this challenge to the doctrine of Hell. Tim Challies wrote a well argued book review on Love Wins. Dr. Darrell Bock also wrote a thorough review with a separate post for each chapter of Bell’s book. Also, Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle also have written a response to Love Wins. Their book, Erasing Hell, provides a biblically consistent background, study, and theology of the doctrine of Hell. This study will be built primarily off of Chan and Sprinkle’s book Erasing Hell.

The Issue
Is Hell a real place where people experience everlasting separation from God and judgment for sin because they rejected Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? Or, according to Rob Bell, is Hell a figurative picture for the suffering and evil in the world, and does God ultimately win by giving everyone salvation either in this life or the next?

These are the two opposing views that have been stirred to the surface during this last year 2011. The former view is the traditionally accepted view by orthodox Christians. The Later view is labeled as Universalism.

The Argument

1st Century Judaism
Bell argues that the 1st century Jews thought of Hell as a garbage dump, a disgusting place filled with burning trash. He compares it to the suffering and the horrors of this world. He leaves it at that, disregarding most of what the 1st Century Jews thought of Hell. A 1st Century Jewish view of Hell is far more developed than Bell leads people to believe. 1st Century Jews thought that Hell 1) is a place of punishment after judgment (See 4 Ezra 7.32-36, 38, 80, 82; 1 Enoch 22.10-13; 27.2-3; 2 Baruch 30.4-5; 44.15; 54.21), 2) is described in imagery of fire and darkness, where people lament (See 2 Baruch 44.15; 1 Enoch 90.26-27; 100.9; 103.5-8; 108.3-4; 2 Enoch 10.2; 40.13; Judith 16.17), 3) is a place of never-ending punishment (See 1 Enoch 53.3; 56.1; 62.11; 63.1-7; 2 Enoch 10.1, 3; 40.13; 2 Baruch 59.5-12; 4 Maccabees 12.12).

What Jesus Said
Matthew 23.33; 25.31-46: Hell is a place of punishment after judgment.
Matthew 13.30, 40-43, 49-50; 18.8-9, 11-12; 22.13: Hell is described in imagery of fire and darkness.
Matthew 10.28; 18.8; 25.31, 41, 42-44, 45-46; Mark 9.44, 48: Hell is a place of never-ending punishment.

Discussion Questions
1. Why do you think this discussion is significant to you and important to the Church?

2. Does studying this issue give you a sense of urgency about the destiny of the lost?
“This forces me back to a sobering reality: This is not just about doctrine; it’s about destinies.” Erasing Hell, 72.

3. What role does discernment play in this issue? What are some steps you can take to be more discerning about what you are taught?

Missions and Ministry

2011-07-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

As our High School students approach the time that we leave for Toronto, I've invested some time on reflecting about missions and ministry in relation to high school students. This is the time of the year where students get to slow down from the pressures of school and high school athletics and make time to press into Christ. It is unfortunate that all of the year long pressures often steal away people from spending more time with the Lord but such is the state of many middle class american evangelical families. Now I do not wish for these statements to be misunderstood. It is not that families do not have a balanced relationship with Christ during the fall and spring. It is simply that there is such a disparity in the pace of life during the fall and spring in comparison to the pace of life during the summer.

For instance, many families at our Church will send their children to a summer camp near Siloam Springs called New Life Ranch. Now I have had minimal experience with New Life Ranch up to this stage in my role of serving with my Church. I've attended a family camp during the weekend in the fall of 2010. I've also brought our students to NLR for our fall retreat. Both experiences were incredible. All my interactions with their staff has also been incredible.

Yet, there is a complex tension that occurs when a student is fully immersed in camp for two weeks to three months. The tension involves the re-assimilation process into the normal day to day life when one returns home. It is a tension between the Summer lifestyle and the day to day lifestyle during the school year. I fully understand this tension because I used to work at a Christian Summer Sports Camp called CrossCamp. As a counselor I experienced the same disillusionment related to re-assimilation. What was my experience?

Well everything is just so incredible at Camp. Guest speakers are amazing, the music is well performed, dramas are well executed, counselors are so relate-able, and the connections with new friends are powerful. It's all part of a product that includes a staff of 25-50 full time staff that can devote their undivided energy to shepherding relationships and putting together spiritually enriching experiences. Then at the end of two weeks up to the entire summer everyone goes home to the hustle bustle of the day to day life with only one to maybe four people that are able to provide the attention and care that 25-50 were able to provide during the summer. Not only that but those connections made to the summer are strained because that summer staff has returned to their conventional life and so have those new friends. Then all you have are those reunions and the moments of nostalgia that can be shared with others.

Needless to say one can easily see the complex feelings, frustrations, and even sense of discouragement that might occur when one is reinserted into the normal day to day life. This sensation does not just happen at Summer Camps. It also happens on Mission Trips. It also happens at Mission Trips. It also happens at Mission Trips. Now that we've let that soak in, let's discuss.

A Missions Team will have the same sense of connection, investment, focus, and immersion in a single minded ministry task as campers experience at Camp. One subtle difference is that the emphasis on a mission trip is external. Missionaries are primarily focused on others. Whereas the emphasis on summer camp is primarily internal. Campers go to camp to personally become close to God and to receive spiritual training. Both Missions and Camps have noble purposes and are critical for spiritual growth. They simply each have their distinctive focus.

So how does a camp Staffer or Pastor help students transition from camp or mission trip mode to every day life mode? First of all, I want to humbly admit that I don't have all the answers and would really appreciate feedback from my readers? What thoughts or feedback do you have to share?

Here are a couple helpful thoughts I've had over the years:
1. Recognize the Issue
If one's aware that there is going to be a struggle, then one can prepare for it. If one recognizes that every day life is going to be extremely different, then one can adjust expectations appropriately.

2. Maintain Spiritual Disciplines
If one stays spiritually sharp by being in the Word and prayer, one will adjust much smoother to every day life. That daily habit developed at camp or on a mission trip needs to translate to the home-front.

3. Connect and Share Stories
If one connects in with people at home and shares the lessons learned from the summer and encourages others with the stories, it will encourage others to participate next time and also will bring the experiences home. In fact it may challenge others to learn from the camp experience. I don't know how many ideas I've implemented from the testimony of summer camp experiences, but it is more than I can count.

4. Commit to Ministry
If one plugs in at home and expends energy at home in the same way as others did for that person at camp or on the mission trip, then the camp or mission trip accomplished its purpose, life change. Application is everything and applied Christian living is transforming. Please, plug in, get involved, and lead as God intended for you to lead.

Now those are merely four principles that I've considered imperative to re-assimilating after a mission trip or camp experience. What are some of your thoughts?

Thanks to the People who Love the Hurt, Ignorant, and/or Lost

2011-06-27T17:30:00.000-07:00

Today I read an incredible post by Tim Challies on his blog. This blog post reminded me of how lost I was as a sinner and how God used particular people to draw me closer to Him. When I was an infant believer as a sophomore and junior in high school, there were a few guys that reached out to me and showed me what it is like to be a godly guy walking in a true relationship with Christ. Their authenticity and genuine friendship would not have been possible without their parents and the adults that were leading them. Not only this but one parachurch program in particular proved to be a critical vehicle in my spiritual growth. That program is Young Life. Young Life excels in loving the hurt, ignorant, and/or lost teens. Thank you Young Life and thanks to the parents of my closest friends in High School for allowing your son to hang out with a jack-leg like myself. Thanks also to my High School youth pastor who invested incredible amounts of time just chillin with us guys and showing us what it means to walk with Christ.

Parents, please read Tim Challie's blog post about the enemy next door. It will give you much to chew on as you consider the risks and benefits of living an intentional life that reaches the lost. I for one am thankful for the type of parents who are modeled after Tim Challie's parents, because I am a product of that kind of ministry.

For those who have reservations about this kind of ministry, I have a brief anecdote for you. After having served in my home church for a number of years as a young adult and at that time a newly wed and second year seminary student, I was invited to a meeting about youth ministry. In that meeting there was a discussion about how the Young Life program was meeting in our gym facility on Monday nights. One parent railed on the Young Life ministry and the risk that it posed for our all-American evangelical teens. That parent expecting me to be in their corner asked for my perspective. My response caused a def silence in the room. First, because many then became very aware of how little they knew about me. Second, because the response stood in direct opposition of the agenda that some parents had to have Young Life expelled from meeting at our facility.

My response to the question was very simple: "Honestly, had Young Life not met at our church, I would not be with you now in this room. My parents are Catholic, and the only reason I ever came to this church is because Tim Rawson invited me to Young Life and the Youth Pastor of our church was involved in that ministry. I am the product of how the Young Life ministry benefits the evangelical community. Now I am in seminary and have a passion for youth ministry. I would never desire to have Young Life meet anywhere but here."

Needless to say, Young Life continues to meet at that Church today.

Please consider the weight of this anecdote. Ministries like Young Life are essential for the evangelical community. People with a ministry philosophy that is willing to be open to loving the lost and people that possess faith large enough for the risks of that type of ministry should also go deeply appreciated. Not every parent has the gift of this type of ministry because it takes a special dispensation of courage from the Holy Spirit to take on this ministry. May God give you discernment on what the Lord desires for you and your family as you consider how to best reach the lost for Christ.

If you'd like to support Young Life, you may do so at the following link.

Asher Thomas Born 6/17/2011

2011-06-23T08:57:00.000-07:00

This last Friday, Kendall arrived at the hospital in the morning to undergo major surgery whereby our second child was born through the method of a C-section birth. C-sections have there strengths and weaknesses. Strength - mom can get dolled up before it happens and everyone knows what's going to happen. Weakness - mom knows what's going to happen and isn't distracted from the anxiety of surgery by the pain of labor. Strength - baby looks really cute as he exits the body and doesn't get a misshapen head. Weakness - mom is in pain and discomfort for a couple weeks and is limited in her ability to nurture. Strength, dad gets to help mom and baby recover and gets to have a lot of fun in the process.

So far, Asher has been a delight. Would I say otherwise? Absolutely not! He looks like a boy. He's pretty quiet and easy to handle. He knows mommy and daddy's voice. He is extremely soothed by mommy's touch and voice. He's got wide and lively eyes. He grins when he toots, and he's pretty squirmy.

Chloe thanked us for her new baby. She seems to think that he is hers. She enjoys holding him and gently kisses him on the forehead when she holds him. She's been a great help. She'll grab diapers, wipes, or anything else we need for Asher.

Lenny is also very curious about the new addition to our home. He's sniffed Asher a couple of times and he's also licked him successfully. Overall our little white ball of fluff Maltese has been extremely friendly to our new son.

Mommy and Daddy also really enjoy our new addition and look forward to telling more stories about our cute little buddy.

The Lost World of Genesis One Book Review

2011-06-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

Recently I finished reading a second book by John Walton, The Lost World of Genesis One. This book was simply the best book that I have read this year. Walton argues through a series of propositions for a functional ontology rather than a material ontology of the creation account in Genesis One

Walton essentially argues that Genesis One simply does not speak towards the age of the earth nor is the text defending how the creator brought the material creation into existence. Rather the culture and presuppositions of the Ancient Near East so assumed the material quality of creation resulting from the creator that the text primarily discusses the functional purpose for the creator bringing about creation. Furthermore these functions of creation were meant to explain to people about the character of the creator and the ultimate purpose of creation, which was to create a dwelling place of the creator to be with His creation. In Genesis One the climax is the fact that the creator rests at the end of the creating process. Walton argues that this language indicates that the Garden of Eden was meant to be the dwelling place of God and that he took up residence upon the earth within the Garden to dwell with His creation.

As part of his discussion he addresses how this cultural, historical, and exegetically sound approach to understanding Genesis One contrasts to the view of those from other camps who interpret Genesis One, whether it be evolutionary, theistic evolutionary, young earth, intelligent design, or a theological view of Genesis One. As Walton develops this contrast he also kindly and gently points out all of the weaknesses and issues of eisegesis committed by those of these other camps.

This is simply a must read for someone who wants to better understand both hermeneutics, theology, and issues relating to science. It will change how you look at the text and science and will remove any straw mans or points of conflict that many on every side of the issue have propped up.

The City Harmonic Album Review

2011-05-09T16:23:00.000-07:00

I rarely do a music review but this album warrants it. Among my favorite artists is Switchfoot, Anberlin and Future of Forestry. This band may very well make it in the same company. Rarely does one discover truly unique music within the Christian genre. Most of Christian music is so overproduced that one can hardly distinguish one band from another. Somehow the City Harmonic has uniquely preserved their sound in spite of the efforts of Nashville. You should definitely check out this album and download it ASAP!

Scripture and the Authority of God by N. T. Wright Book Review

2011-05-09T15:43:00.000-07:00

Let's just start by saying that N. T. Wright is a beast! Many after having read my review on Think by John Piper, will be very surprised by this comment. This is because many view N. T. Wright as being the Antithesis of all that is Piper, but he is not. In fact, from my reading of Think, Wright is the fulfillment. Wright demonstrates in this short book how he has fully engaged in the study of scriptures with a desire to expose the truths that God has for those who desire to know him personally.

N. T. Wright's word pictures and illustrations flow across the page as uniquely and digestible as any of his thoughts or propositions. His gentle rebukes for the American Church are potent and timely. His reasonable exegesis of scripture is both discerning and introspective. He explores carefully how scholars and leaders treat the scripture and charges himself and others to approach the scripture with a congenial respect for every tradition and approach to studying scripture.

In this book, Wright first establishes the derivation for confidence in the authority of scripture. That confidence is derived beyond the internal evidence of what the scripture says about itself. Confidence in the authority of scripture is first found in confidence in the authority of God. If we can be confident in the fact that God is authoritative over every area of our life then we can be confident that scripture is authoritative because the scriptures spring forth from the Triune-God.

Second, Wright walks through the history of how the Church has studied and applied the scriptures and its authority, exposing its weak times and highlighting its strengths.

Third, he proposes his own form of properly approaching the scriptures as he shares his five acts in the story of the bible, which appears to this reader to being some modified form of dispensationalism that Wright propagates.

The important conclusion is that the readers should study the scriptures in light of what stage is set for the revelation of God's Word. This study should also be in response to all the other stages God has set throughout the time of his revelation. In this the fifth and final act of God's story, the scriptures should be interpreted in light of the restoration and renewing of the Kingdom as it approaches its final fulfillment in the second advent of Christ.

The book ends with Wright providing two case studies one on the Sabbath and the other on Monogamy as two issues that require an appropriate approach in order to properly understand what is meant for believer in today's day and age.

I heartily recommend this book for studies on Bibliology. In fact, I think this book would be a great work for students to read in an Introduction to Theology course.

Recovering the Real Lost Gospel by Darrell Bock Book Review

2011-05-09T15:27:00.000-07:00

This short little addition to the Gospel discussion will play a pivotal role in the conversation. Dr. Bock displays, yet again, his skillful exegesis along with his simple and concise language, providing a readable contribution to the popular and academic community alike. Simply put, Dr. Bock argues that the Gospel does not result in simply a transactional experience whereby one is saved, though it does do that, but more than that the Gospel initiates a life changing relationship wrought through the Holy Spirit in submission to the Lordship of Christ as the Gospel-receiver participates in kingdom work henceforth of the point of regeneration.

One of my favorite quotes from this book is the following, "Faith is not a mere act taken in a moment; it is a fresh orientation of responsiveness to God." Here Dr. Bock encapsulates the point. The Gospel is a revolution and it reorients the receiver to participate in the revolution.

I heartily recommend this book, may it freshen your perspective on the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Think by John Piper Book Review

2011-05-09T15:13:00.000-07:00

Rigorous Anti-Intellectualism is becoming a larger and more prevalent issue in the Church. I have a handful of personal testimonies where I might share about the persecution I have received from being an offspring of "The Academy." Sometimes I wish I never went to Seminary. So many form presuppositions about those who have been educated, and it is extremely sad when one does not feel accepted by someone who would name themselves the name of Christ. I am the first to agree that many become educated that shouldn't and many take their education and use it as a weapon rather than a farming tool. That's why Piper's most recent work, Think, is so critical in today's day and age.

Piper's premise is that the passion for scripture and the knowledge of scripture should be wedded in a bliss of sweet religion. One should come at the scripture deeply rooted in an affection for Christ and a posture of prayer, meanwhile one should listen to our esteemed scholars in the faith and engage the scriptures with one's whole mind.

Piper argues that reconciliation should be in order between rigorous anti-intellectuals and intellectuals alike. There should be a profound appreciation for the lay-worker and evangelist and the scholarly minded student of the Word. So many accept a level of mediocrity and teach the Word with little preoccupation with the study of the Word. Piper rebukes this generation from being lazy in the study and in the passion for the word.

This work is a very important and timely work. I believe that every incoming seminary student should read this work as pre-seminary preparation. I also believe that every Pastor in America ought to read this work. It will refresh both their mind and their heart as it should. Thank you John Piper for such a timely contribution to the evangelical community!

iPad/Kindle Review

2011-05-09T15:06:00.001-07:00

Before I write my next two book reviews, I'd like to take a moment to express my sincere appreciation to my wife for my birthday present this year. This year for my birthday Kendall got me an iPad2. It has been amazing and revolutionary to my life. I am now moving towards having a fully digital reading library, which will eliminate clutter in our life. We will always have an appreciation for conventional books and bookcases but having a digital library is amazing! I just highlighted a book for the first time in my life. I've never had the discipline to take notes or to highlight, but the Kindle software makes it so easy and accessible. I'm excited about being able to refer to my highlighting and use the notes for future writings.

Second of all, the iPad is so cool. I can listen to music and read books at the same time. I no longer need to carry a backpack with me because everything I need is on the iPad. Furthermore, I can keep PDF's from work on my iPad, which is great. There are so many times when I run into someone who needs to know something and I can simply pop open my iPad and show it to them. It's amazing!

Kudos to iPad and Kindle.

New Birth or Rebirth Book Review

2011-04-18T17:26:00.000-07:00

New Birth or Rebirth by Ravi Zacharias is one of the most accessible introductions of comparative religion between Hinduism and Christianity. The format of the book follows a conversation between Krishna the epic hero of Hinduism and Jesus Christ the Son of God. This 90 page book is great reading and smooth dialogue that introduces one to the essential value and thinking of Hindus in contrast to the values and theology of Christians. This book exposes the many different internal contradictions and shortfalls of the Hindu system of thought.

Fellowship Bible Church is using this text as the missions reading text for its High School Students as they prepare for their trip to Toronto this Summer.

Plowshares and Pruning Hooks Book Review

2011-04-15T21:53:00.000-07:00

Finally, I really understand how to study and interpret prophetic and apocalyptic literature. This book opened my eyes to this genre of literature as much as DeSilva opened my eyes to New Testament Backgrounds. D. Brent Sandy accessibly provides illustrations from numerous texts to support his views on the hermeneutics of prophetic and apocalyptic literature.

This book truly serves as the voice of reason for Apocalyptic interpretation by cautioning those who seem to see such a plain and transparent understanding of what is to come in the future and yet challenging those who think there is nothing yet to happen but Christ's return.

This book teaches the reader how to discern what is figurative language and what is literal in such a way that the reader is equipped not only with discernment but also with confidence in safely and responsibly handling the biblical text.

By the way, when I said Sandy accessibly writes this book, I truly meant what I said. I think any student of the bible is ready and able to handle the material in this book. Pick this one up and read it, it will revolutionize your study of prophecy and apocalyptic literature.

The One Who Is To Come Book Review

2011-04-15T21:33:00.000-07:00

Joseph Fitzmyer's The One Who Is To Come is an excellent summary and overview of Messianic studies. Fitzmyer proves his mastery of biblical and extra biblical studies as he introduces a critical study of the development of Messianic thought and evolution of Messianic thought throughout the history and especially during the intertestamental period. Fitzmyer's mastery of the pseudepigrapha and Qumran texts is especially helpful in steering one to the critical texts in Messianic studies. Much appreciated is Fitzmyer's initiative in offering the original text and his own translation in all his references. This is especially helpful when many of these texts are not readily accessible to the common student.

For anyone in advanced biblical studies in the Old or New Testament, this book is heartily recommended. Warning should be given that Fitzmyer's conclusions on the development of Messianic thought will not match up with an evangelical understanding. This is because he is reading the text not as someone who is looking back on the text based on his current understanding of the Messiah. Rather he is reading the text based on how the readers in that day would have read the text, hence it is a study on the development of Messianic thought, which could never fully be understood until the One who is to come actually came.

The Radical: Book Review

2011-03-21T18:45:00.000-07:00

David Platt is an amazing Pastor with an amazing platform for Jesus Christ. If you happen to listen to him on a regular basis then this book comes as no surprise to you. I would almost describe this book as the best of the best thoughts and anecdotes from one of Americas great preachers of the Word. On more than one occasion, I heard the same stories and thoughts that I have heard in the past four years of my exposure to David. This is not a critique. I would no doubt do the same thing if I were to write a book. I actually found the repetition affirming. It reinforced and refreshed some of the many lessons that I need to continuously learn from the Lord.

I heartily recommend this book if you want to be open to life change. If you want to experience a paradigmatic shift in how you look at the American Dream, read this book. This book hits home for one who is in his late 20's and is thinking about mortgages, budgets, savings, vacations and child raising. This book comes with a gentle but direct rebuke of how we think about world missions, the lost, and our finances. This book is a must read for every American follower of Christ in the 21st century.

The Faith of Jesus Christ the Pistis Christou Debate: Book Review

2011-03-13T18:33:00.001-07:00

"The Faith of Jesus Christ" is a collection of essays on THE hottest topic in my opinion within scholarly circles of Orthodox Christianity. Lay people see the fallout of this discussion from writers like Piper who responds to N. T. Wright in "The Future of Justification" or Gilbert's book in the 9 Checkpoint series called "What is the Gospel." Since at least WWII many scholars have discussed the complexity and difficulty in properly translating, interpreting, and theologically understanding the phrase the faith of Jesus Christ in texts such as Romans 3.21-22, Galatians 2.15-16 Philippians 3.9, Ephesians 3.12.

Many people do not even understand or know about this discussion that is going on in scholarly circles. So here is a brief rundown of the discussion. What is the main issue of translating the faith of Jesus Christ? The matter fundamentally comes down in understanding whether the term "pistis" meaning faith is a subjective or objective genitive. Of course some scholars believe that this term is neither subjective or objective, which one will see when they read the book, but the general consensus is that the term is either subjective or objective. What does it mean if the genitive is subjective or objective? Essentially, if the term is objective then you translate the phrase as "faith in Jesus Christ." This phrase then refers to a believer demonstration of placing trust in Jesus Christ. This translation is the common evangelical believers understanding of these texts.

On the other hand, for many year scholars have considered whether it is more accurate to see this phrase from a subjective standpoint, meaning "the faithfulness of Jesus Christ." This differing perspective would argue that rather than thinking in terms of what a person believes about Christ, one should think of how Christ is faithful to his true character and attributes. People who subscribe to this perspective argue that thinking in terms of Christ's faithfulness puts the entire saving act upon Christ and does not take away from the historical understanding that people place their trust in Christ, because after all our entire doctrine of Soteriology does not rest on this phrase. Incidentally, I have not found these arguments compelling and still think it is best to think in terms of the objective genitive, "Faith in Christ." This is a synopsis of the discussion. I do not wish to rehash, defend or argue for either view here in this post. May the responsible person read the book and come to their own conclusion.

Of course this book covers more than the above listed texts. This book provides a wonderful background of the debate. It also covers the major texts in contention within the debate as listed above. It also walks through the exegetical and hermeneutical issues surrounding this debate within other important Pauline texts. Finally this book covers the debate in the wider New Testament and some of the Theological implications of the debate.

This is a truly academic level book. If you have no study in New Testament Greek then you will be lost in the research and discussion. This was an excellent study in a very small niche in New Testament studies. I'm very thankful for Bird and Sprinkle for putting this study together.

The Missing Gospels: Book Review

2011-03-12T11:57:00.000-08:00

Are you looking for a great reference copy and introduction to gnosticism and gnostic writings? If so, then "The Missing Gospels" is a must own. Darrell Bock guides the reader through the most recent discussion on "the other gospels" made popular by Dan Brown, Elaine Pagels and Bart Ehrman.

Bock carefully guides the reader through the history of gnosticism and the current popularity of these writings. He does an excellent job of providing a brief overview of all the major writings within the Nag Hammadi, a collection of texts found in North Egypt, and the likely dates of these writings. He then walks through the body of the major Nag Hammadi texts by introducing a topic of theology that is distinctive of orthodox Christian doctrine and then guiding the reader through what the gnostic writings have to say about that doctrine.

In every way, Bock does an outstanding job showing the inconsistencies within the body of gnostic writings along with presenting the consistency of the Christian texts on the orthodox doctrine. "The Missing Gospels" is a must read for anyone interested in New Testament Backgrounds, early Christian heresies and the study of early Christian orthodoxy and canonical texts.

2011-03-11T07:16:00.000-08:00

The below link is an excellent review of Rob Bell's new book, "Love Wins."

http://www.challies.com/book-reviews/love-wins-a-review-of-rob-bells-new-book

This review only reinforces my perspective from my recent blog. Rob Bell is one of those people who throughout history has forced the Church to engage in reinforcing, refining and articulating orthodox Christian doctrine. My greatest hope is that many people will read reviews, such as Challies, and be challenged to think about these matters. These matters are truly the heart of what we believe.

If there is no hell for humanity to be saved from, then there is no real need for Christ. If hell is simply a word picture for theodicy, the problem of suffering in the world, then why has it been so difficult to extrapolate that conclusion from our New Testament text. Why is it that Rob Bell 2000 years later purports this conclusion?

I am deeply satisfied with Challies analysis of "Love Wins." His review discussion about Rob Bell's exegetical gymnastics only supports what I have past said publicly about Bell. Though he appears to be well read, he also appears to be selective in his reading, nor does he support his conclusions with solid research. He appears to be an authority in matters that he is not.

I still look forward to reading this book for myself, so that I can further wrestle with these matters and learn how to better communicate my doctrine of hell, Jesus, salvation, and the future.

Incidentally, in my last blog I never mentioned that in fact sometimes the Church needs heretics in order to have orthodoxy. Where would we be if Athanasius, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Naziansus had not challenged Arius? Where would we be if Augustine did not go toe to toe with Pelagius?

Two of G. K. Chesterton's classic books are "Heretics" and "Orthodoxy." Chesterton wrote in the introduction to "Heretics", "The word 'heresy' not only means no longer being wrong; it practically means being clear-headed and courageous. The word 'orthodoxy' not only no longer means being right; it practically means being wrong. All this can mean one thing, and one thing only. It means that people care less for whether they are philosophically right." Do you care that Rob Bell's perspective about hell is wrong? Do you really care what is the right perspective, what is orthodox?

I have no trouble with people like Rob Bell being wrong and communicating it. It's frustrating and I wish he'd have an orthodox perspective, but heresy will always rise up in the Church. I do have trouble with people not caring that he is wrong or not even engaging his message and heartedly accepting it as truth. Heretics will always exist. What I most have trouble with today in Christianity is that people are more attracted to what sounds cool, hip, and trendy more than they care about what is right or wrong. Don't listen and follow people that have crafty speech or a provocative message. Follow people who preach truth. Thank you Tim Challies for doing an excellent job of deciphering Rob Bell's message and upholding truth.

Pastoral Staff: Necessary Evil or Essentially Elders

2011-03-09T13:27:00.000-08:00

Pastoral leadership and Elder leadership has been a hot topic percolating in my brain as of late. I serve in a Church in transition and this Church is doing its best to articulate the role of leadership from the lay on up through the chain of serving. Interesting enough, if you look at the only leadership flow chart that our church has, it does not even include pastoral staff on the sheet. When pastoral staff is discussed, often we, not my Church in particular, but the Church world-wide, often treats pastoral staff as a necessary evil. After all, we are a priesthood of believers. Everyone should be engaged in ministry. Sometimes the load is so large that it makes sense to pay someone to organize, administrate, and make sure that ministry is effective. However, is it true that in an ideal situation, the Church would not have pastoral staff? Is it true that pastoral staff serve as a necessarily evil in the throes of a pragmatically designed system of Church? I think not.

Rather, one should think of pastoral staff in the same light as one thinks about elders. Now obviously, some pastoral staff aren't qualified to be elders. For instance Joey Cochran serves as pastoral staff, yet he is young and does not have a proven record as a father, husband, and household manager. Sure, he's doing adequate in these areas now, but he is no empty-nester. Another example, female pastoral staff, clearly in Titus and 1 Timothy there is no designation of a female elder role. So obviously I'm not proposing that all pastoral staff should essentially be elders.

However, why is it the case that usually the only pastoral staff member serving on the elder board of an elder ruled church is the Senior/Lead Pastor? Is this the way God designed the system of leadership for the Church. I am a proponent of having a blended board of elders made up of both qualifying pastoral staff and lay leaders within the Church body. This provides insight from both a professional and a lay person's perspective. It also creates added accountability of communication and philosophy from the staff elders to the rest of the pastoral staff. Surely, most Churches of medium size (300-1000 in attendance) could support multiple staff elders.

Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Book Review

2011-03-07T16:30:00.001-08:00

Recently while teaching to our High School students a student challenged me with a difficult question. That question, though I answered it sufficiently, jettisoned my studies into an area that I had not gone in past research. I embarked on studying Ancient Near Eastern thought. As a student in the New Testament department during seminary, I never really took interest in Old Testament Backgrounds or Ancient Near Eastern studies. I inquired on what introductory texts to study on the Ancient Near East and every professor recommended Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament by John H. Walton. So I picked up this work and read it.

It opened my eyes to so much in the Old Testament. Many people question what is so unique about the Old Testament and the God of the Jews in comparison to other Ancient Near Eastern religions. If you have an questions, this book will lay them to rest. Walton carefully and meticulously dissects every area of thought in the Ancient Near Eastern and substantially contrasts the God and religion of the Old Testament from the rest of the Ancient Near East(ANE). Walton covers this material in a methodical manner. He first discusses the literature of the ANE, then the Gods, then ANE creation accounts, then ANE peoples and religious practices.

At many points he declares the distinguishing markers of the God of the Old Testament. Examples include other ANE people looking for favor and the Jews looking for holiness, Monotheism vs. Polytheism, the role of prophecy vs. magic, celestial objects as creation rather than Gods, and so forth.

I heartily recommend this book for your reading if you have any interest in understanding the Old Testament within it's Ancient Near Eastern context.

Why the Church Needs Rob Bell

2011-03-06T14:41:00.000-08:00

The PR on Rob Bell's new book, Love Wins, has caused quite a stir in the Christian World. I cannot even count how many people have approached me with the question, "Have you heard about Rob Bell's new book?" Dialogue is taking place all over America and camps are being assembled. Are you for Rob? Are you against him? Such an amazing stir has occurred. Some call Rob Bell the next Billy Graham. Others might even be calling him the next Martin Luther. What is it about this man that is so compelling and yet causes so much unrest within the Church? Is it because he challenges all of our paradigms and forces the Church to build new ones? Is it because he exposes some tensions that have always existed but go often ignored? Is is because he calls people out who may be too narrow-minded or might possibly be more subjective in their interpretation and understanding of the ancient texts?

I do not wish to endorse Rob's views and teachings nor do I wish to defame him. What I wish to do is expose a misconception that we all are guilty of adopting. This misconception is that there might be a person or group out there that holds a rubber stamp on what is right, what is wrong, what is biblical, and what is non-biblical and I am that person or group. Do not let this person or group know that they don't have a stamp because they have been running around and stamping on people's names and books for far too long with their heavy handed endorsement. These people run around and say "John Piper is right. Mark Driscoll is emergent, Rob Bell is evil, Dispensationalists are misguided, The Lords Supper isn't for every week, and I have a rubber stamp to back me up." These people love having others, less informed than they, be influenced by their powerful rubber stamp. Why does the Church need Rob Bell?

The attention given to Rob Bell and his views should remind each of us that only one has the rubber stamp. There is in fact only one rubber stamp and that stamp is in the hands of Jesus Christ the risen, living, and judging savior of the world. I suspect, though I have not read Love Wins, that this will be the message of Rob's book. If not, then it falls utterly short of whatever the facts may be.

You see, I have never listened to a "famous Christian speaker" that I fully agreed with, including John Piper and Rob Bell. Nor have I listened to the common Sunday School teacher or Pastor where I fully agreed with every statement and every proposition. In fact, I can include myself. There are those things I felt or thought ten years ago that I no longer agree with today. However, I have one guarantee. What Christ said and what Christ did is all truth and Christ alone holds the entire truth market in his hands. Why does the Church need Rob Bell?

Rob Bell challenges the Church to think, rethink, and think again. People who lost interest in spiritual matters are buzzing about spiritual matters because of Rob Bell. Rob Bell has opened conversations to more people outside of the Church than anyone else as of late. Rob Bell has received the attention of secular social media and created a platform where Christian thought can be recognized and discussed.

Is Rob Bell a universalist? We'll find out after the book releases. Is Rob Bell a Christian? I'm not qualified to answer that question, but I follow the one who is. Is Rob Bell a good guy? Probably not, I mean really, who is. Is Rob Bell influential? Yes, more so than you and I, that in itself gives value to why the Church needs him.

What do I mean by the statement, "The Church needs Rob Bell." By that statement I do not mean that we need to convert him to evangelical Christianity or we need to get him to get in line with others, for example, let's say John Piper the protestant pope. What I mean by the statement is that the Church needs people who cause us to think and who influence us to dig down deep and really evaluate what the scripture says.

Some of you might have picked up on the word play in this article title. It may resonate with another famous article by a much greater journalist, Lois Lane. She wrote a provoking article, "Why the World Needs Super Man." Now I do not believe that Rob Bell is anywhere near equal footing with the Man of Steel, nor do I think I am a writer of Lois Lane's caliber. Nor do I think Rob Bell is some kind of savior. I do think that Rob Bell has influence and persona. My hope and prayer is that his influence and persona is infused by the Holy Spirit that lives in Rob Bell. Because if it is not, then we are all in great danger my friends. Time and results from Rob Bell's activity will be the measure of this man. Not cleverly worded thoughts or mind blowing images.

Please note that my use of John Piper as an example is not meant in ill will. He's awesome. I do not think he thinks he has the rubber stamp, nor do I think he considers himself to be the protestant pope. I just think that there are those that look at him as their spiritual leader and have stuck a pontifical hat on his head and a rubber stamp in his hand. Those people have bought into the misconception but John Piper has not. I'm certain that John Piper would say that the only one who may fully satisfy our spiritual hunger is the risen savior Jesus Christ who hold all things in his hands and is the embodiment of truth.

Show Them No Mercy: Book Review

2011-03-06T14:17:00.001-08:00

Recently I finished reading the counterpoints book Show Them No Mercy. This entire series is fantastic. If you are looking for a book on a specific topic in cannonical theology, this series probably has a book that addresses that topic.

The topic of Canaanite Genocide has been of interest to me as of late because I've noticed that Yahweh War has been a target of more than one Anti-Theists arguments against God. Many anti-theists argue that God cannot exist because the portrayal we have of Him from the bible is not altogether moral, an example being the initiation of Yahweh War. In other words, Anti-theists are now arguing that God himself engages in heinous and evil acts. This charge is possible if one's definition of morality is determined apart from God. Whereas any Theistic perspective would argue that all morality falls under God's moral law. Therefore God is the arbiter of all moral law and determines that which is moral and that which is immoral.

Show Them No Mercy provides four viewpoints on Canaanite Genocide in the Bible. Those views are Radical Discontinuity (C. S. Cowles), Moderate Discontinuity (Eugene Merrill), Eschatological Discontinuity (Daniel L. Gard), and Spiritual Continuity (Tremper Longman III).

I found this book to be of inestimable value on this topic. Show Them No Mercy provided a concise overview and dissemination of that latest research on this issue. I particularly found the work of Eugene Merrill and Tremper Longman III to be most helpful. Both did an excellent job of supporting their view with numerable passages and strong exegesis of those passages. Admittedly, both commended one anothers work and commented that they have but a few nuances between each others views and nothing more.

If you're one who struggles with the concept of why God not only permitted but also charged the Israeli people to war against other people groups and take conquest of Israel, then this book will help you understand the lawfulness of war and the moral purpose of Yahweh War in particular.

What We Heard from the Beginning: Book Review

2011-02-28T16:41:00.000-08:00

I have to thank Dr. Will Johnston for sending me a free copy of this book for review. I actually finished reading it this past summer. The two of us were supposed to write a book review for it in BibSac, but I think he got distracted and never contacted me back about it.

This book is unique in that it is a new genre. The editor assembled the best scholars in Johannine studies and asked them to write their story of studying Johannine material. They were to relay how they fell in love with studying John's writings. Many of them talked about the history of their study and their core disciplines. The editor covered the gammit of critical study in both exegetical and theological studies. The scholars also wrote about what they are currently studying in John's writings and/or submitted a uniquely new contribution to the study of Johannine material.

This book was extremely helpful in catching me up to the last 50 year of critical scholarship in Johnannine studies. This book is for the scholar or theologically astute and might be very tiresome for anyone who has not studied undergraduate, graduate, or post-graduate levels in bible and theology.

I honestly don't know if there will be many more book like this written in the future. I believe this is a major experiment for Baker publishing and that they will find that their niche audience of scholars will appreciate this book but won't have the patience to read it in it's entirety.

On the other hand, I particularly enjoyed this book because it inspires and encourages serious bible students to pursue their studies and be enraptured by the text of the Bible. Love for John's writings leap off the page and the felling is contagious for the reader.

Doctrine By Mark Driscoll: A book review

2011-02-28T15:56:00.000-08:00

It's been since August that I've written a review. I actually owe this one to the good people at Crossway who sent me Doctrine by Mark Driscoll. As a youth pastor I've had the privilege of thumbing through this book on bible doctrine for a number of months. I've found it to be uniquely accessible and concise. The research in the book is exquisite. Driscoll make use of real scholarship in the 21st Century.

He stands apart from others who have simply rewritten other Systematic Theology's or reference other Systematic Theologies over and over again. I was pleasantly surprised by the caliber of scholars that Driscoll is familiar with and references. For instance, when I was utilizing his book to prepare some material for H.S. students who needed to know more about hamartiology, I was pleasantly surprised by his reference to Sailhamer, the premier scholar in the Pentateuch.

Driscoll's writing flows naturally and his material is unique. He is not the emergent person that people have tenaciously called him. He is a reformed gentleman of great intellect who reaches a unique audience. This book should be on any pastor's shelf next to Ryrie and Grudem, two other solid introductory theological works.

Happy Valentines Day Chloe: 25 of Our Favorite Chloe Moments

2011-02-14T21:44:00.000-08:00

1. Chloe: "Daddy's Gassy. I'm Gassy!"
2. When she broke mommy's sunglasses, she hid them under the bookshelf. When Kendall asked here where they were, she guiltily brought her to them.
3. Chloe: "Daddy's a Pastor. I'm a Pastor. Cinderella a Pastor?" Daddy: "No Chloe, Cinderella's a Princess." Chloe:"I'm a princess too!"
4. When Chloe built a gun out of blocks and shot mommy.
5. When she got prunes all over face.
6. When she wrapped her blanket hooded around her and pretended that she was the Beast from Beauty and the Beast.
7. Daddy: "Chloe, what sound does a lion make." Chloe: "RARRRRW"
8. When we moved she liked to play hide and seek in the box.
9. Mommy: "Chloe, say temperature." Chloe: "Temprature" Mommy: "Chloe say pen." Chloe: "Pe."
10. Chloe wears her Cinderella shoes to bed.
11. Chloe would let one of her Cinderellas shoes fall off so that Daddy would put it back on her foot, just like prince charming.
12. Chloe loves the character Bob in Monsters vs. Aliens so much that she calls the movie Bob.
13. Chloe's first movie to watch was Monsters Inc.
14. Chloe would jump out of her swing on her swing set and gleefully yell, "I FALL!"
15. Chloe like to look for things to jump off.
16. Chloe likes to try to feed Lenny food from his bowl but he runs off scared. Actually, much of the time Lenny runs away scared from Chloe, but that doesn't stop her from giving him bedtime kisses.
17. Chloe is the first to point out that Lenny pooped or peed in the house. Only if she would tell us when she needs to use the potty.
18. Chloe went from crawling to running in two month.
19. Chloe gets sad when others get sad. She is very sympathetic.
20. Chloe started folding her hands and praying at around 18 months.
21. Chloe's favorite books are Fidgety Fish, Nighty Night Noah, any Sandra Boynton book, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, or anything with Mickey.
22. Chloe's favorite tv show is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
23. Chloe will get out of bed about 10 minutes after being tucked in and say, "I wake up!"
24. Chloe liked to write on walls and doors and especially the sofas in the living room. She better be a great artist.
25. Chloe likes to spin and be swung in circles but she gets dizzy easily and can't walk straight.

Senior High Winter Trip Day One Blog

2010-12-27T21:18:00.000-08:00

Day one of the Sr. High Winter Trip went incredibly smooth. We made great time! We ate Lunch in Hays at Subway and McDonalds. Then we cruised to Denver without event. We did discover that Sophomore boys have smaller bladders than the six girls on the trip. We only had one slight controversy when we had to debate on whether we would keep our call ahead at Chili's or go to Qdoba. Though I was tempted to go to Qdoba because I favor their chicken quesadilla over almost any other meal, we stayed with the plan and went to Chili's.

We drove through the mountains and arrived at Snow Mountain Ranch without event. Tonight everyone is relaxing in the lodge. Even as I blog we have one group playing a friendly game of hold-em and another group playing spoons.

Temptation, Dessert, and Christmas

2010-12-16T07:33:00.000-08:00

Let’s think about the word temptation. Does that word necessarily have to be a negative connotation? Can we be tempted to do good and not just evil? If I can’t be tempted to do good does that mean we only really “attempt” to do evil. Should we remove using the term “attempt” from any effort that is good because it comes from a word group that bears only a negative connotation?

Furthermore, are you saying that when I’m tempted to have a piece of cake, chocolate or pastry, that’s actually negative. All this time I thought it was a good thing to be tempted in that way. That’s why I always give in and not only attempt to finish the dessert but also succeed.

Last, should we have contempt for those that only use the “tempt” word group for evil connotations, and is having contempt good or only a bad thing to do?

I tend to have contempt for people who have intentionally withdrawn the greeting “Merry Christmas” from their vocabulary and substituted it for “Happy Holidays” or “Seasons Greetings.” Yet, the real question is should Roman Catholics have contempt for all the evangelicals that have readily adopted “Merry Christmas” when evangelicals never celebrate the Mass part of the term or at least Mass in the terms of how Roman Catholics view Mass.

The Valley of Vision

2010-12-01T05:47:00.000-08:00

The topic of my life for 10 months has been vision. This is not an agenda I have set, but one that God has set in my life. Ironically like Jonah, I've been running from the concept. When I first arrived in Tulsa, I was challenged to discover my vision for the High School ministry. In fact, our three youth pastors took a weekend retreat to New Life Ranch to explore our vision. We returned blind and decided to wait until we found our vision again.

Recently vision has also been the topic of our staff meetings. Our staff senses a need to clarify a vision for FBC. We've spent weeks discussing the concept and pondering all the different programs and changes we could implement. However, when it comes to vision for the Church, I still feel like our Worship Pastor, Matthew Goodman, said it best. "Shouldn't our vision be GOD!" A simple and profound statement bearing only truth.

Remember the the first stanza of BE THOU MY VISION? Hear are the lyrics.

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,
naught be all else to me, save that thou art;
Thou my best thought by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

I think this is exactly what Matthew meant!

Why should God be our vision?

Today I was reading a prayer from the Valley of Vision. Two of the lines were as follows.

That nothing is good but thee
That I am near good when I am near thee

Perhaps the reason why God should be our vision as opposed to a bridge or a pithy saying or a program is because though these things may bring success they very likely will not bring God unless we are close to He. I believe I want good for my life and I believe God is good, so I should want to be close to the Good God and fix my vision on He and He alone.

Good Day!

Sharing

2010-11-21T09:34:00.001-08:00

The other day I was invited to share a devotional with all the preschool teachers at my daughter's preschool. I shared with them three sections of scripture from Ecclesiastes:

Ecclesiastes 2:11, 24-26; 5:19-20
“Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.”

“There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God. For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him? For to a person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good in God’s sight. This too is vanity and striving after wind.”

“Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God. For he will not often consider the years of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart.”

I shared with the teacher about an experience I had with my daughter that very morning. Chloe walked into the bedroom holding her socks and she said, "My shocks! My Shocks!" Well normally that shouldn't be a big deal, but as of late Chloe has become quite possessive. Every day we hear, "My couch! My movie! My jacket! My puppy! My bed! My car! My bear! My blanket!" Now I also understand that she is at the two year stage where she is trying to understand the world around her. As of late she's figured something out. Some things are hers and some things are others. Some things can be shared and somethings are not shared.

I told the ladies that morning that Chloe wants to desperately learn about this world now and so I believe I should start teaching her a biblical understanding of the world. So when Chloe on that morning said, "My sock!" I responded, "Well Chloe, those are God's socks. He's sharing them with you. Daddy bought those socks for you and we get to share them with God." Chloe looked at me with a puzzled look and then said, "My socks?" I laughed and I said, "You'll understand soon enough."

That's my prayer. That Chloe will get it soon enough. It's never too soon to teach your children that God made everything, has put us in stewardship of all things, and we can not enjoy what God has blessed us with apart from Him.

Whole Foods Canned Food Drive for John 3:16 Mission

2010-11-13T14:29:00.000-08:00

Today Kendall, Chloe, and I had a great time with a handful of our awesome teens serving John 3:16 Missions by holding a canned food drive at Whole Foods. I don't know about you but the very concept of standing at the entrance of a grocery store to ask for donations is a little bit awkward for me. I think some of it has to do with the massive amounts of rejection I've given fundraisers in the past. Of course I usually dished out the rejection for people who were fundraising for some ridiculous sporting event/destination tournament. Here are some canned food fundraising tips. One, use a tool/flier to put in the hands of the shopper. Two, use a concise statement that fully explains what you are doing in one sentence. For example, the statement I developed for our event is "Good morning, we are accepting canned food donations at the exit today for John 3:16 Missions." Typically people understood what we were doing and how to help after having heard that statement. Some people asked follow up questions for further explanation. Those people were the most likely to donate. Another important fact to keep in mind is that some people don't buy canned foods. You can help them support your cause by making sure that the flier notes what aisles the canned foods may be purchased. Likewise, some people would rather hand you a donation of money rather than look for the items, especially if they are in a hurry. Be prepared to accept cash donations. Finally, plan to have plenty of fliers in hand for the day. However, if you run out you can probably wander the store and find discarded fliers or check the cart return. Don't dumpster dive, that's a turn off to people. Don't worry, we didn't discover that from experience. Those are the techniques and lessons we learned today. You should definitely make an effort to feed the hungry this holiday season.

Adult Leader Tip of the Week: 10/22/2010

2010-10-22T10:46:00.000-07:00

Using technology is a great way to contact students and stay in touch with them. Facebook and texting are kind of the new standby’s for people in youth ministry to communicate. However, e-mail and evite’s are still alive and useful means to communicate with students. Having your own blog is also a great way to put your ideas and thoughts on the internet for people to get to know you. Of course there is always the security and safety aspect that you have to keep in mind. Don’t put too much information about yourself on the internet. Bad people like to take that information and use it. Anyway, if you don’t use these devices to communicate to students, you might want to give them a chance.

On the flip-side, technology has become so over-used that at times it can be a less meaningful means of communication. Some of the best and most valuable ways to communicate to students and encourage them often come from the old-school methods. Perhaps sending a student a note by mail or making a little gift bag for a student and leaving it at his or her door might say more than a text or a wall-post. When I was a teen, my youth pastor communicated and encouraged us guys through the old slurpee or coke technique. He’d offer to buy us a coke and then spend a half-hour encouraging us and listening to us. These are some of the best ways to communicate. Here’s my secret weapon of encouraging students! Are you ready for it? I call their parents up out of the blue and tell them something great about their son or daughter. That’s a double whammy. You encourage the parent, and the child is sure to hear it later too.

What Do I Love?

2010-09-10T08:04:00.000-07:00

As I’ve reflected on the series on sin that I have been teaching for our youth, I’ve come to terms with one valuable question that each of us should ask ourselves daily. Do I love what my Father in heaven loves? Because when I love what my Father in heaven loves, then I will have no desire to practice sin.

“Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness…Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous…” 1 Jn 3.4, 7 (NASB)

Today I encourage you to take a personal inventory of your life and ask yourself the above question. Your students needs to see you love what your Father in heaven loves.

Free-Stylin it Yo on Ephesian's 4

2010-08-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

Tonight I'm teaching the Sr. High youth Ephesians 4:17-24. I'm pretty excited and pretty nervous. We have some deep thinkers in our group, and they are not afraid to ask hard questions, which puts moi on the spot. The topical series that we are addressing is SIN. Last week we defined sin, which the definition was built off of Romans 5:12-14.

Anyway, I've done a lot of reading this week to prepare myself and absorb a lot of the discussion on sin. This is always dangerous for a High School Pastor because then I regurgitate a lot of what I read and do not simplify it for a High School context, granted most of these guys and girls are super-brains, it still needs to be simple sound-bites.

Also, I want their brains to be able to absorb the material. I'm trying to find a healthy balance of images, illustrations, theology and bible so that they can digest it all. I guess my biggest weakness are my conclusions and applications. For most of us DTS guys that ends up being a weakness.

Essentially my prayer is that I would stop thinking about all of this, and I would let God's truth be proclaimed for His people, which happen to be high school students in this instance.

Brief Review of Four Books: 7 Practices of Effective Ministry

2010-08-27T10:12:00.000-07:00

Alright, last review. Andy Stanley, Reggie Joiner, and Lane Jones are awesome! I don't really have to say much other than get this book and read it. Then read it again. Then go to the Drive Conference at Northpoint, return home, and read the book a third time. Adopt the principles and make them a part of how you minister in the church. I'm not even going to tell you a whole lot about the book, otherwise I might give you so much information that you may not go get it. I'm leaving you curious because you simply must read this book. Enough.

Brief Review of Four Books: What is the Gospel by Greg Gilbert

2010-08-27T09:39:00.000-07:00

Okay, so Greg Gilbert serves under Mark Dever in Washington D.C. This book is part of the 9Marks series and is a great little read. If you are an evangelical and you need an accessible book that clearly explains the fundamental essential of the gospel this book is helpful. It is clear, concise, and complete. The strengths of the book is that it is easy to follow.

However, I found many weaknesses. First, it really isn't accessible to non-believers thought it claims to be. The theological language is too Christianize without enough explanation. No explanation of imputation is given. No explanation of regeneration is given either. Though both are mentioned in the discourse. Sometimes he gets so caught up in his well written exposition that it slips into classic Christian language, very reminiscent of Augustine, Edwards, and Calvin. Great statements but not understandable today. These statements would have been great to keep if they had been explained.

Second, it didn't really help me understand the problem. The premise of the book is that their is confusion about the gospel in evangelicalism (another term not explained for non-believers). However, he doesn't explain the source of the confusion, who's confused, and who's confusing who. He makes statements that quote what people say, but they are not referenced or cited. I'm guessing he is trying to be diplomatic, but his diplomacy is not helpful. If their is unorthodox teaching then we need to know who is doing it and who to avoid.

Third, he makes the Gospel clean and cut. However, if you read the New Testament it is not that cut and dry. The term "Gospel" has a broad field of exegetical and theological meaning in the New Testament. However, the evangelical popular understanding of the Gospel is very narrow.

Unfortunately I felt like this book too narrowly defines the scope of the gospel's definition. I feel like how Gilbert defined a part of the Gospel is exactly right.

I also feel that these elements are essential to the Gospel, and that they cannot be absent from a definition of the gospel. I just think that the "good news" also is about the Kingdom of God and Christ's lordship. I also believe that the "good news" includes the future restoration of all things. All of these points make up essential elements of the Gospel. I believe the elements that Gilbert believes are essential are most essential to the conversion of someone outside the family of God into the family of God. However, there is more to the gospel then being converted. The Gospel is a deeply sanctifying, ecclesiastical, and eschatological term.

I guess I expected him to name names like N. T. Wright, James Dunn, Douglas Campbell, D. A. Carson, and John Kostenberger. Obviously, this wasn't meant to be a piece of scholarship, but it would have been good for lay people to understand the scholarly discussion on an accessible level.

Overall, I did think it was a great book. I thought Greg is a great writer. He had great images and kept me interested in the topic. I just was looking for more specificity.

Brief Review of Four Books: Thriving Youth Groups by Jeanne Mayo

2010-08-27T09:34:00.000-07:00

First of all, thank you Group publishing for this complimentary read. Second, thank you Jeanne Mayo for your consistent leadership and wisdom from a long career of serving in the youth ministry trenches.

Overall, this book was extremely helpful. I would consider changing the title to Jeanne Mayo's programmatic tricks and event ideas.

This book was less about a philosophy of ministry, then it was Jeanne disclosing the program elements she has in place to create a thriving youth group. I really wish she focused more on the concepts and less on the forms. However, her message did get a cross and she did a great job of explaining what the important elements are to a thriving youth ministry culture. I found this book helpful in thinking about managing and understanding cliques. I also found this book helpful in thinking about how important it is to have a guest friend youth ministry. Though I may not apply the exact same tactics for damage control with cliques or creating guest friendliness, I now have both of those issues on my radar to manage.

Thanks Jeanne for an overall helpful and accessible book.

Brief Review of Four Books: Relationship Unfiltered by Andry Root

2010-08-27T09:24:00.001-07:00

So it's been a while since I've posted a blog. I've been so crazy busy. This summer blew past. The Sr. High Ministry took to sanctioned trips. One to Chicago and the other to McAllen Texas. Both trips were mission experiences. Then I joined a crew of our sophomore guys and their leaders on a 16 mile float down the Buffalo River. After that we had the lock in, so I've barely had time to breathe with getting everything geared up for the Fall semester.

However, I haven't stopped reading. This spring I've read four books that I have yet to review. I will do so in four brief paragraphs below.

RELATIONSHIP UNFILTERED BY ANDREW ROOT:
Andy Root proposed in this book that we focus to much on conversion and results in ministry. The premise of this book is that Youth Ministers should stop tainting their ministry with a result oriented motive for caring students. Rather, Youth Ministers should experience relationship with students in the purest most compassionate form. This means that when a student doesn't respond to counsel or the gospel, pastors should still pursue to shepherd that individual.

This book was a challenging book from a paradigm perspective. Superficially I disagree and agree with the premise. I don't think it biblically defensible to say that Christ didn't expect people to change. I believe that results are important to Christ and that life-change is an expectation. However, I don't think Pastors should cut bait and run when students don't change or grow within our impatient pastoral time-frame. I think Pastors need to train their spiritually strong students and adult leaders to continually care for the weak and struggling. We do need to have a Hospital-Ministry to people. But one pastor can't do it all and sometimes he does have to make war-time decision like any medic in battle.

Anyway, this was a good book and a challenging read.

McAllen: Day Four

2010-07-23T07:07:00.000-07:00

Thursday the momentum really picked up on the weeks projects. We sent a group back out to the rec field to deal some deadly blows to the fire ants. We actually decided to burn them out. By the way, these fire ants are legit. I mean they're pretty huge and they burrow underground creating pits that are four feet in diameter. Just think of them in terms of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. Anyway, our painting crew put the second coat on the wall we're painting. Then we had a group working on filling water balloons for the wet games that night. We also had a team of people do our major project which was to take out one of the levels of the stage area in the church so that Maranatha could have the drum kit all on one level. That project was crazy. It involved power saws and sledgehammers, sheet-rock repair and all sorts of other stuff.

I spent most of the day with Morgan Medders and Pastor Franc Ortega, giving Franc lessons on using their Mac computer that they have. We also had a group go out to Franc's house to paint a shed but they were stopped by a huge wasp nest. On friday they will end the wasp nest and finish the shed painting project.

In the evening we had an awesome time with the students. By the way, our worship and drama team are amazing. They spent a good amount of time rehearsing and preparing for the drama. They presented the drama flawlessly on Thursday night and it had a huge impact on the students that were there. Our music team also did dan outstanding job leading the group in worship. We did a reading from Matthew's text on Jesus walking on water. I continued to teach on believing in the impossible, emphasizing on the need that we each have of one another just as the disciples really needed Jesus to come out to them in the lake and bring them to the shore.

Afterward, we went out to the rec field. By the way, we've had around 80 people involved in all areas from spectators to participants during the sports camp. Anyway, here are the games we played on Thursday:

1. Water Balloon Toss:
Object—To toss the balloon to your partner from the furthest distance.

Rules—Each set of partners starts 5 feet apart. At each successful catch each partner takes a step back creating more distance between the partners. The partners to be the last ones standing wins.

2. Wet T-Shirt Relay:
Object—To fill up a bucket with water from a wet t-shirt.

Rules—Each team has a bucket of water with an extra large t-shirt in it. The first person puts on the wet t-shirt, runs to the end of the field, take off the t-shirt and squeeze the water from the shirt into the empty bucket. They run back to the other end of the field and throw the shirt in the bucket. The next person continues the relay.

3. Bobbing for Squirt Guns Relay
Object—Be the first team to have a tablet dissolved on everyone’s forehead or the most dissolved in 10 minutes.

Rules—Large bucket with little squirt guns at end of field. Run to bucket bob for squirt gun. Run back to other end of field. Team-mate will be seated with an alka-seltzer tablet stuck to forehead. Squirt gun the tablet until it dissolves. If you do not fully dissolve it before the squirt gun empties then you have to bob for more squirt guns. Once the tablet dissolves the person seated bobs for squirt guns.

4. Wet Knock Out Ball
Object—To knock the other team out.

Rules—Conventional dodgeball rules but when the person who knocks you out gets knocked out then you go back in. Use wet
large sponge balls

5. Sponge Transfer
Object—Transfer water from one bucket to another as fast as possible.

Rules—Team must pass the sponge over the head and then between the legs down the row until they get to the last person who squeezes the water into the bucket.

6. Water Balloon Ultimate
Object—Pass the water balloon down the field. The person who catches it in the end zone crushes it on their head for the point. The most points win.

Rules—Follows conventional Ultimate rules. If the balloon breaks or is dropped then it is a turnover. The other team starts in the middle of the field by the trash can with a fresh water balloon.
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Anyway, all the games went really well. They really wanted all of us to play wet games again on Friday night. They like it a whole lot. It was funny because when all the older kids got to the field, they didn't want to play at first. But they got sucked in by the water balloons and they went crazy. It was funny.

We closed the night out with a time of prayer for our group. Our music team was rehearsing for Sunday night, so we were unable to do music. But we had a great time of prayer.

McAllen: Day Three

2010-07-23T06:49:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was our first day of the Sports Camp. We sent out a group to buy some work supplies in the early morning. We got paint for repainting the wall that we scraped the day before. We also bought a new garbage disposal and a new lawnmower for the church. The day before we only had one working lawnmower. We sent a group to finish mowing the field. That group continued to mow lawns in the neighborhood. We had a couple people change out the garbage disposal. We had a bunch of people weed the garden. We had another group paint and another group give the whole church a good cleaning. In the afternoon we sent a group to buy rec supplies for the sports camp.

The food all week has been amazing. I'm just thinking about how good breakfast was today. Our cooks have done a great job feeding us. All the students have done an awesome job cooking and preparing the food. We broke all the students into work teams to develop a rotation for cook and clean up duty. Each day one team got to go shopping for our food. After shopping they got to go to Sonic and enjoy a drink.

In the evening we had Sports Camp. We kept it simple for the first night, so that we weren't overwhelmed with how the rec time would work. We played a few songs and then I taught for 10-15 minutes. The theme of the Sports Camp is BELIEVE! The first night I taught on John 6, the feeding of the 5,0000. The main concept taught was on believing that the impossible could be possible. We shared the gospel with the kids that night and encouraged them to go talk to Franc or Abi. We then went out to the rec field. For the first night we played team building games with all the students. Below is a list of the games we played with them and how the games work:

1. Ultimate:
Object—Score the Most Points in 10 minutes of play.

Rules—Pass the Frisbee down the field. Once you catch the Frisbee you are frozen in place. Must pass the Frisbee into end zone to a team mate. Losers Walk for kickoff.

2. Spider Ball:
Object—First team to get the other team all seated wins.

Rules—Dodgeball except you sit down where you get hit. If a ball comes close to you, you can throw it from a sitting position. If you hit someone you can stand back up.

3. Crab Soccer:
Object—Score the most goals in 10 minutes of play.

Rules—Must play by moving on your hands and feet like a crab. Kick the dodgeball down the field and score on the goal. No standing and no using hands to touch the ball.

4. 2x4 Relay Race:
Object—To race down the field and reach the finish line first.

Rules—Each team gets three 2x4’s. Each member of the team must make it down one stretch of the field walking on a 2x4 path made by team-mates. A team-mate holds each side of the 2x4 waist high and the walker steps from one 2x4 to the next.

5. Balloon Stomp:
Object—To stomp out all the balloons of the other team.

Rules—Players tie a balloon filled with shaving cream to their ankle. They run around and stop out the other teams balloons.

6. Obstacle Course Relay:
Object—To get your team all the way through the relay before the other team finishes.

Rules—The next person cannot start the relay until they are tagged by the person who just went through the relay. If a person messes up a stage of the relay then they must start that stage over.

7. Tire Fight:
Object—Your teams player is the first one to get the tire to your side.

Rules—Number each player on a team. Call out a number from each team. The first person to run to the center of the field, pick up the tire, and carry it to one’s own side, wins.

8. Flag Ball Snatch:
Object—To possess the most of your team balls and other team balls at the end of 10 minutes.

Rules—Each player wears a flag. If someone from the other team removes your flag while you are in their territory then you sit out. Your goal is to protect your bucket of balls from the other teams. Your other goal is to fill your empty bucket with as many of the other teams balls as you can. To do this you must enter their territory and steal balls from their bucket with out having your flag taken from you. Only one guard per bucket of balls. Guards must stand no closer than two feet from the bucket.
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All of the games were super fun, and all of our students did an outstanding job leading the games and encouraging everyone to play.

Wednesday night we closed the evening with a time of worship and prayer as a group. It was awesome!

McAllen: Day Two

2010-07-23T06:42:00.000-07:00

on Tuesday we got geared up to do some of our projects. We went shopping a few times to make sure we were able to get a good start on what we were doing. The shopping part and the discovery of what projects we were going to do took a huge chunk out of the day. We sent a group out to the field that we were going to use for the rec games during the Sports Camp. They mowed the field and treated it for fire ants. Another group worked on scraping paint off of a wall so that we could go back and repaint it.

In the evening time we had a meeting to review what we would do for the sports camp, then we played soccer in the parking lot with some of the local kids and adults.

We closed this evening with a time of prayer, sharing, and songs.

McAllen: Day One

2010-07-23T06:40:00.001-07:00

We traveled all day without trouble. We arrived safely at McAllen around 9:30pm. We moved all of our gear inside and got settled for the night. We watched a bunch of movies on the way down to McAllen and we played some games too. It was pretty awesome.

SEMP: DAY FIVE AND SIX

2010-07-16T08:11:00.000-07:00

Alright - the long awaited day five and six expose is ready to release. Many of you will never get the opportunity to read this one because it was so late in it's release.

Day 5 - It was a great day. It started with a white mocha and an orange muffin on my part. I think the rest of the students stomached something that appeared to be eggs and french toast for breakfast. In the morning time we finished our training in Evangelism and Apologetics. Much of what we learned was review of the past three days. In the training we especially highlighted how to select people for our letter writing and what kind of letter we should draft. By design, SEMP wants students to take the skills that they learned in evangelism home with them. So on the last day students are sent to various locations to write four letters to friends. There are a number of intentions behind the letters. A student could write a letter to share what they believe and ask their friend if they'd like to sit down and talk about it more. Another intention could be to ask a friend if they had any questions regarding objections to Christianity. The student could list off the objections that most people have and then ask if the friend wants to meet and talk about any of them in particular. Another option is for a student to encourage a friend and see if they could meet at anytime, at which point the student would then share the gospel with that friend.

In the afternoon, we went to Millennium Park and wrote our letter. After we wrote our letters our youth group went to Gino's and got deep dish Pizza. It was super good pizza and if you have never had a Chicago style deep dish pizza, then you must do so as soon as possible.

In the evening time we had a great time of worship followed by a time of encouragement at our Church time. We spent an hour passing around a wadded up piece of paper and sharing one thing we plan on doing in response to this week. We then selected someone to encourage. After encouraging that person we through the paper ball to them and they got to share. It went well, but we ran out of time.

Day 6 - We loaded into the vans and left Chicago at around 7:30am. Pretty good time. The trip was uneventful. I ate breakfast at Subway because I was tired of McDonalds. I ate a turkey sandwich. I don't trust Subway's breakfast food. After breakfast we drove a couple hours and tried to stop at the Grand Prairie Knife Shoppe. Larry was really excited. Amy also, she wanted a knife. Anyway, we didn't go to the Knife Shoppe because we got lost due to construction. Long story. So we ended up stopping at Metro Community Church outside of Troy Illinois and using the bathroom. Then we ate at a McDonalds for lunch. We drove a long way that afternoon. My van mostly played mind games like: The bottle game, black magic, I'm going on a picnic, and Bang. For dinner we ate at Cracker Barrel in Joplin. My table had apple butter, and it made me very happy. Yea for SEMP!

By the way parents, there is going to be a SEMP reunion at the STEELE'S HOME on Wednesday August 4th at 5:00pm. Their address is 10648 S Erie Pl Tulsa OK 74137.

SEMP: DAY FOUR

2010-07-09T07:51:00.000-07:00

Thursday was a powerful day. Before I start, I want to share that I am deeply proud of all of your sons and daughters. Everyone has been amazing. Their faith, courage, and boldness challenge me. Yesterday, our training was exceptional. It gave us great confidence. Then we experienced deep humility. We were all challenged in many ways. We went to the beach to reach the lost. As a youth group we spread out across the beach and witnessed to the lost. Two of our students shared Christ with two strong atheists. The two that they shared with were not like any of the others before. They were very challenging to our students. After an hour in a half discussion I approached the scene because we really needed to leave. We exited the beach and returned to Moody. Here are some thoughts that our students shared. In the conversation the guys were rude and insulting to their faith. They called them lunatics. They told them that they need to glorify themselves and experience the world. They compared Christianity to the smurfs. Our two students felt something very evil about the situation.

After hearing them share at Church time, we encouraged them with a lot of scripture. Scripture about the faithfulness of God. Scripture about experiencing persecution. Scripture assuring those of the faith. Our students faith were deeply challenged. In that challenge we truly believe that their faith was made stronger. It was a sobering experience for us all. It taught us all about how important it is to be prepared, not just with answers but with the reality that their truly is evil in the world. It is active and it is dangerous. It wishes to kill, steal and destroy. Many will suffer at it's hands and many will be persecuted because of it.

Let us all be reminded that we are in a true battle. If we are to believe in a physical resurrection, then we must believe that there is also a physical threat from our enemy. Yet, God is faithful. God is faithful.

SEMP: DAY THREE

2010-07-08T17:42:00.001-07:00

Yet again, Wednesday proved to be a very challenging day. In the morning we had our second day of Evangelism and Apologetics training. The Lord has truly provided our group with challenging, thought-provoking, and skilled instructors. Our students have especially enjoyed the apologetic lessons. For the sake of brevity, I will not outline the extent of our classes, but I will say that Semp has done well with preparing our students to share the story of God creating and rescuing us with a future restoration of His people in mind.
In the afternoon we went out to our ministry sights. My group went to Millenium Park. They have a giant chrome jelly bean. It’s pretty cool. Some of our group played and sang worship music in the shade of the park, while others witnessed to people. We had a couple people making balloon animals. Funny story. Apparently balloon animals can be perceived as a method of panhandling. We actually had a cop request that four of us exit the park because we were making balloon animals. Rather than arguing with them, we took this as a sign to leave the park and witness elsewhere. It was God’s good desire for us to do so. Meanwhile, others from the group got to stay in the park and continue witnessing. One of the stories from the Park is pretty encouraging. Lauren Griffith started a conversation with a lady from France. After transitioning to a conversation on spiritual matters, Lauren discovered that the French lady was a believer. Lauren spent a little bit of time learning more about the lady and her perspective on Christianity from the vantage point of France. Lauren found this conversation to be encouraging. Here we are in Chicago sharing the gospel with all these people, and there are others here in this big city that already recognize, worship, and trust the God who created and redeemed His people for His purpose. Praise God for this story. It is a simple reminder that when we sometimes feel alone, we may be assured that we are not alone.
I apologize that this blog is late. My laptop battery died when I was attempting to draft and post this blog. Tomorrow morning we will continue with our scheduled blogging.

SEMP: DAY TWO

2010-07-07T05:29:00.000-07:00

The Death Star is fully operational. So Tuesday...was awesome!!! We had two great training sessions in the morning, one on evangelism and the other on apologetics. Our session leaders were excellent, and I felt a lot of peace of mind after hearing them teach. Only because this is my first time at SEMP, and I am super pleased with the speaker and trainers. I add this because for many of you, this might add peace of mind in your minds.

Since our group is rather spread out, and I mostly only know what my group is doing, I'll let you know what we did to give you a picture of what the ministry experience is like. Our group went to the subway. It was a lot of fun because most people had never been on an underground subway. We simply boarded the subway, rode down the line, and then returned. On the subway, students simply met people and shared the gospel with them. It was great watching the dynamic of students working together to serve the Lord. By the end of the day we saw and heard some amazing stories of how guys and girls shared the gospel and had conversations about spiritual matters.

Here's one story. Michael Whitten was sitting on the bus and he introduced himself to a guy who happened to be Jehova Witness. They engaged in a conversation that lasted for quite some time. The two had a very good conversation where they were able to politely dialogue back and forth about their beliefs. By the end of the conversation Michael had built enough rapport to find out if the Jehova Witness guy wanted to get more information about Christianity. This was an amazing seed planting opportunity for one of our students, and we have at least a dozen other stories like this one.

In the evening we had a great time of worship. The speaker spoke about the importance of self image in order to be a servant of God. It's hard for someone to be used by God if they are constantly concerned with how they are perceived by others. The speakers points were very simple and pointed. 1) What you look like on the outside is not as important as who you are on the inside. 2) God desires for you to be beautiful on the inside. 3) God was actively involved in your creation. 4)Christ died for you. After a long day of intense training in apologetics and evangelism, this message was a welcomed change for our students to be a little introspective on how they view themselves.

After worship, we had solid time as a group sharing about the challenges that we have faced this week and the pain that we have experienced in our lives. After a packed day of training, ministry, and worship, we were really looking forward to our beds, but as is usual on events like this one, when everyone returned to the dorms informal share time continued between friends.

Tuesday was a great day!

SEMP: DAY ONE

2010-07-06T05:36:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone:
This is day one of our series of SEMP Blogs. Here's an overview of what has transpired so far.

We left at 7:45 on Sunday Morning. We visited the 2nd Largest McDonalds in America at Vineta OK. Then we drove and drove and drove with a few stops to Normal IL. After eating at Steak and Shake in Springfield IL and seriously discussing whether we'd visit the Lincoln Presidential Library, we got to Grace Church, our wonderful hosts for Sunday Night. Sunday Night we played a lot of Ultimate and saw a great firework display in downtown Normal IL. Sunday night we went to sleep b/t 11-midnight.

Monday we got up at 7 ate pancakes, cooked by a team of our awesome girls, and departed for Chicago at around 8:30. We safely arrived in Chicago with every student, leader, and baggage item at around 11:30am. We checked into our dorms and went to Ed Debevics just down the street. After being thoroughly insulted by our waiter for over an hour, and enjoying it, we took a leisure 10 block walk to the Navy Pier. We spent an hour at the Navy pier speculating the enormity of Lake Michigan. We returned to Moody by bus and had dinner at Moody's quad. Afterwhich we had a leadership meeting and then went to one of our large group worship gatherings. We had a sweet time of worship and then our students were sent to meet with their pods.

A pod is a group of 20 students and 4 - 5 adults from a mixture of churches. These groups are our teams for when we go to ministry sites in Chicago and engage in street witnessing. Our group of 26 students and leaders have been broken up into 5 pods. We have about 4 students and one leader in every pod.

Spirits are high among our group and every one is having a great time. We have a great group that the Lord has brought together, and I expect to be sharing a number of amazing stories over the duration of this week.

I should have this post written every morning before breakfast. Today's post is a little late because Dan Spader wanted to have coffee with me this morning as a result of a chance encounter at the cafe.

God Bless and you'll hear from me again soon.

P.S.
No students or leaders have been harmed at the hands of Larry and Marguerite.

Sustainable Youth Ministry by DeVries Book Review

2010-06-28T18:37:00.000-07:00

Sustainable Youth Ministry by DeVries might very well be the best youth ministry book I have ever read. This book teaches Youth Pastors how to think through ministry. The whole book is built on the concept of fostering systems that last in a ministry. One of the main points that DeVries makes is that Churches typically build their youth ministry around a Youth Pastor. Then when that Youth Pastor leaves another comes in and starts over from scratch. DeVries argues that a sustainable youth ministry outlasts the Youth Pastor by creating systems that are core to the ministry. Once a Church decides on the core values of that youth ministry, those values should stick. Youth Pastors should be hired because they adhere to those values. A systems based youth ministry has an intentional entry and exit point with an end product in mind.

For instance, students at Fellowship Bible Church should have three vital relationships, one with the Lord, another with other believers and the last relationship is with non-believers. For FBC that means that students should be reaching the unreached and should be connected to the local Church long term. One of FBC's goals is for students to be launched successfully into their career or college with an established and faithful relationship to a local church. So FBC programs the High School ministry with that end goal in mind. This is a core value that will always remains the same regardless of the who is the High School Pastor.

DeVries book truly is one of the most remarkable books I have ever read, and I expect it to replace Purpose Driven Youth Ministry as the most essential book for Youth Pastors to read.

Personal Reflection Retreat

2010-06-24T21:09:00.001-07:00

This Thursday and Friday I have an amazing opportunity. I left Tulsa at 4pm and drove to New Life Ranch in Siloam Springs so that I could spend some time in personal reflection and planning for the 2010-2011 year of ministry to our students at Fellowship Bible Church Tulsa.

A lot of Pastors find planning to be incredibly difficult. And it is, but I have found planning to be super rewarding. I feel more at peace and less stressful when I know what is on my calendar. I also enjoy the knowledge of knowing what I am going to be teaching and even getting ahead on my prayer, research, and study. Most of all, a planning retreat like this is extremely advantageous for bathing the ministry in prayer.

Double bonus for this retreat is that I'm going to reconnect to a friend in Arkansas who Pastors a Church. We're going to have breakfast in the morning at a Cafe in Siloam Spring. This is much needed. Pastors need to be connected to one another so that they can provide encouragement, counsel, and most of all the challenge to never quit.

Thanks is due to the good people at New Life Ranch for providing a free room for this High School Pastor to use for much needed cave time.

Here's some free advice. If you're a Pastor and in ministry, then you must take a day for planning. It is essential. Get away and go some place where no one can find you. Pray, study, and get some planning done. It will be super rewarding.

Psalm 29:11 Devotional

2010-06-18T15:14:00.000-07:00

Today I was “posing” as security in the Church front foyer while parent’s were picking up their children from Mother’s Day Out. My 1 ½ year old daughter toddled up and asked to be held in my arms. Before long she wanted to sit at the big desk with the large stool. I placed her on the stool and handed her a pen and some paper to color. I stepped away from the scene and watched as parents entered the foyer to see a little 1 ½ year old girl maintaining the Mother’s Day Out security. I couldn’t help but laugh, as did they, at the irony of the scene. Psalm 29:11 says, “The Lord gives His people strength, the Lord grants His people security.” Today, many people don’t believe in God and today, those who do, often make him out to be too small. God cannot be like a small child providing security for small children. If God is God, thne he must be like an adult who provides security for small children. If we are to believe in the security and strength that he offers, we need to start believing in a much bigger God, a God who rescues His people from Slavery, a God who rescues His people from Sin, a God who rescues His people from themselves.

Psalm 105:1-2 Devotional

2010-06-16T07:21:00.000-07:00

Recently the air conditioning went out in the downstairs area of our home. Thankfully, we had the wisdom to purchase a home warranty when we bought our home. Praise God, the claim went through…a near miracle in itself, and we should be getting a new air conditioner for our downstairs at a next to nothing cost due to the warranty. Sometimes God works in the little things and sometimes he works in the big. Either way, He deserves the credit and the praise. Psalm 105:1-2 says, “Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; tell of all His wondrous works!” When was the last time that you reminded your neighbor or a friend of the wondrous works that the Lord has done? Psalm 105 instructs us to make His deeds known among the peoples. Surely, God has acted in some way in your life recently for which you may praise Him before others. You have a story to tell about God’s work. There are people who need to hear that He has worked, is working, and will be working yet. What can you do to encourage someone today with the knowledge that we have a wondrous God working deeds that are worthy to be praised?

Sad Day!

2010-06-11T08:11:00.000-07:00

Today I got to relive my Jr. High Basketball Tryout experience. In Jr. High I tried out for the basketball team. I had a great tryout, but was chosen to be an alternate to the B team. I let them know that I was not interested in sitting on the bench for a whole year.

So how did I relive this experience again? Recently I submitted a paper to be read at the national gathering for the Evangelical Theological Society in Atlanta Georgia for this coming November. Today I received their response to my submission. I was told that my paper was not selected due to space constraints. However, the review board thought my paper was so good that I would be considered an alternate. In other words, if a reader cancels, then I get to go and read my paper.

Sad day! I was so close to be counted among some of the great biblical scholars of my time.

Titus 2:3-5 Devotional

2010-06-11T07:09:00.000-07:00

Titus 2:3-5 reads, “Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” This text is an excellent laundry list of characteristics that women are to teach other women. Titus 2:3-5 is in the greater context of how people are to train up one another according to sound doctrine. All of us need teachers in our lives, and all of us can serve as teachers to others. However, let us teach and be taught by a fitting teacher. This text instructs the older women to teach the younger women and its context teaches for older men to instruct younger men. There are some things that I’d love to teach my wife, and I’m sure there are many things that she’d love to teach me…like how I shouldn’t turn off her flat iron before she’s done with it or how I should stop throwing her coupons away. But sometimes, it is best to hear instruction from the teacher that is most fitting. So guys, stop clearing off the counter when your wife has plans for it. And don’t stand in the way of your wife’s good hair day to save some pennies on electricity. Make sure you have a teacher that best fits you and has earned your hearing.

Parent Tip of the Week: 6/9/2010

2010-06-09T07:19:00.000-07:00

There is so much to share with you, so I am going to carefully pick one thing to talk about. That thing is sno cones. When was the last time you took your family out for a sno cone? This is a great, inexpensive way to spend time together, enjoy something tasty, get out of the home, and have a meaningful conversation.

We’re all busy. Many of us forget that we are at the height of Sno Cone season, and I don’t want you to miss it. I remember one busy year for Kendall and I. We totally forgot about the greatness of the Sno Cone until October. We missed the entire Sno Cone season. We were sadly disappointed, and we vowed to never miss it again. So don’t you forget Sno Cones. They’re important. Not as important as Jesus or the Church. Yet, they’re more important than…let’s say…laundry, oil changes, maybe even grocery shopping. Hmm, I wonder how long someone could live on Sno Cones alone? Oh wait, man cannot live on sno cones alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Anyway, I recommend going to Josh’s Sno Shack on 91st and Memorial. Oh…and always add gummy bears. My wife likes the Pink Lemonade Shakeup with Sour. I try something different every time, but I always have gummy bears. Anyway, you should go to Josh’s and have a Sno Cone with your family! (This is a shameless plug for Josh’s Sno Shack)

Parenting Tip of the Week: 5/27/2010

2010-05-27T13:41:00.000-07:00

Last week I taught on media, culture and Christianity. In the process of preparing I found an outstanding resource that I would like to recomment It is a little pamphlet by Walt Mueller called, “How to Use your Head to Guard you Heart: a 3-d guide to making responsible media decisions.” If you’re not familiar with Walt Mueller, you should become so. He is the found of CPYU (Center for Parent-Youth Understanding). His website is a great tool for parents, www.cpyu.org .

Anyway, here’s a nugget from the pamphlet that a lot of people do not consider in their media decisions. Walt Mueller says, “As Christians, we’re called to carefully discern and evaluate all our music choices. We should avoid the extreme of accepting everything out there as “good,” “true,” or “okay” (yes, even “Christian” music) without using our God-given minds to carefully assess the music. In the same way, we should also avoid the extreme trap of saying “all popular music is evil” – as if God’s glory, way and will can’t be reflected in popular music. Instead, we should responsibly engage all music so that we can celebrate the good stuff, improve the weak stuff, and grieve over the bad stuff (emphasis mine).” Later he uses Francis Schaeffer’s 4 Standards of Judgment and under the third he remarks, “Don’t forget, a “Christian” artist can have questionable content, and a non-Christian artist can write and sing according to a Christian worldview even though he/she is not a Christian.” I found these thoughts to be deeply insightful. I hope this alone gives you a little bearing on how to handle the delicate balance of living in (not of) the world around you.

Adult Leader Tip of the Week: 5/19/2010

2010-05-19T14:15:00.000-07:00

Enjoy your summer break. Get rest and refresh. Study something in the Word that you can teach your students in the fall. There is nothing wrong with sharing your personal study with others. It’s called stewardship! Keep in touch with your group and maybe even do a fun summer event…the sky is the limit when you’re an adult leader.

Q Talks

2010-05-19T06:29:00.000-07:00

Today I listened to a Q Talk video of Chris Seay, brother of Robbie Seay the musician, teaching about the harlotry of marketing in the American Church. He used a litany of examples. A church offering a 26 Karrot gold egg in an Easter Egg Hunt, a large-screen plasma TV giveaway at a youth event, and Nintendo Wii giveaways for attending a church service, count among the examples. I found his Chris's talk to be challenging to my cultural view. He made statements like, "We're dialoguing in our family on whether we should have a Wii. I feel like if we had one that would be all I do is play Wii."

As I pondered these comments I returned to Paul's writtings in my mind. Paul understood the tension of tangling with the monster of a non-christian value system such as the greco-roman culture. Paul did what he must to win some to the Lord and not cause any to stumble. He was all things to all people. Now I own a Wii and this is no defense of me having a Nintendo Gaming product. I don't think that a possession I own has any bearing on my view of the Gospel or the truth of Christ's resurrection. I do know that if I spend too much time playing the Wii, then I lack self-control. I also would be prioritizing my time poorly.

Likewise with those who drink alcoholic beverages. The fruit of barley, grape, and honey is not evil, but too much honey makes the body sick. Too much wine, makes the body lose self-control, so I should not get drunk. In my case and in my staff position, I also should not drink at all, because it is a stumbling block to others and it is prohibited by my employer. However, because I am not permitted to drink the "frosty brew" or "have a heineken" this does not mean that I beat every home-brewing, draft-drinking, pub-visiting church goer with the bible stick. It means that I teach the truth and principles found in scripture plainly and I paint pictures from real life examples that prepare others to be cautious with their drinking.

Anyway, to Chris Seay's credit he commented about tension a lot in his speech. He also mentioned that his church may need to evaluate their decisions on how they promote their gatherings. Also, I completely agree with him about the harlotry that churches commit by selling their seats through lottery and giveaways. That stuff is silly.

I really appreciated the e-mail I got from Catalyst sending me to this video. Furthermore, I'm pretty excited about this website that the video was on. The website is Qideas.org. Q Ideas is an organization that means annually and discusses how the Church and Western Culture can and should work in tandem to propagate the gospel. Each year a number of well-known artists, celebritys, church leaders, and others are invited to give a talk, called a Q talk at the annual Q Gathering. This website has a bunch of the talks to video-stream and watch anytime because they want the American Church to access this valuable information. You should definitely check out the website.

By the way, I'm also going to give you more valuable information. This Q Gathering concept in not novel. Every year in Oxford the leading inovators in the world are invited to give a talk called a Ted Talk. You can watch Ted Talk videos online at Ted.com. I only know about this because I had lunch with Mark Matlock this past fall, and he told me about the website and the talks. It's Marks personal goal to one day be invited to give a Ted Talk.

If you like listening to good speakers and learning how to be a better communicator then you should check out these two resources.

Little by Little

2010-05-04T19:37:00.000-07:00

Today was the second day of the DRIVE conference in Atlanta. I saw a lot of well executed programming that one day would be nice to implement. When I say well executed I mean high energy, large budget, and a team of extremely gifted and professional level youth workers. For instance, there were four sound technicians in the sound booth for the high school ministry. All of which inspires one to dream big, not for a program, but for a team of people that are so consumed with a passion for honoring God and reaching the lost that all work of this team is done with total excellence. Now that is a big dream, but a noble dream. Excellence, can look very different from Church to Church. In my context it is entirely impossible to overnight reproduce what NorthPointe does. However, with thoughtful planning, I can take little steps that little by little can raise the level of excellence. I heard one quote today that concisely sums up the heart of these thoughts. Joel Thomas said in my first breakout session, "You should be better than you were last week, but not better than you can be next week."

Now this does not mean that I think anything I'm a part of is done poorly. FBC is a very thoughtful and intentional church. Simply, I am truly thrilled to be in such a strategic position to play an integral role as an agent of change that will impact a whole community.

If you are one of the few people who might accidentally stumble upon this blog, I would appreciate it if you prayed that our senior high ministry would cultivate a culture that is passionate about the work of God done with excellence and that I would be honest in evaluating who we could most effectively pursue this passion.

2010 Drive Conference: Atlanta Georgia

2010-05-03T20:32:00.000-07:00

Today, I have had the great joy of traveling to Atlanta Georgia with a bunch of the Pastor's at FBC and one outstanding volunteer. It has been a very enjoyable experience. Right now I am somewhat drained and in need of recharging, so I thought that I would take this opportunity to jot some thoughts down from the conference.

So far we have had one main session. The first session was an all too familiar experience for me. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. As I've reflected on this fact, I have felt a great sense of gratitude for how the Lord has placed me in strategic places throughout my spiritual maturation. I've gotten to be on a great summer sports camp staff. I've been to a number of awesome conferences such as Student Life or Youth Ministry Lab conferences. I've also gotten to see and be a part of some amazing and well executed ministries over the years (Denton Bible, Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, Irving Bible, the Village, and last but not least Mansfield Bible). All of these experiences have at various times breathed fresh life into my heart and refreshed my soul.

Yet again, I am experiencing the blessing of a well planned ministry. The Drive Conference has been outstanding. Andy Stanley taught a powerful message tonight. Ironically, it is the exact same message that I heard him teach at Irving Bible Church in 2004 for the Big Change Event. However, this time it touched me in a more powerful way. Before I didn't know what it was like to be on staff at a Church and to have dreams for it. At that time, I only had my personal objectives and goals in mind. Now is different. Now I am processing how I desire to vision-cast a big dream for a community of Tulsa teens.

My prayer is that the Lord will carefully direct my path and protect me from making naive and selfish decisions during these coming years. These early year of ministry at FBC are going to be critical for me to develop a healthy and sustainable perspective on ministry. Lord, as Christ said in the Gospel of John when he entered Jerusalem, glorify your name.

Adult Leader Tip of the Week: 4/30/10

2010-04-30T06:55:00.001-07:00

You are a critical component in Student Ministry. Sometimes adult leaders never hear how important they really are. So here it goes. I super appreciate each one of you and look forward to the leader appreciation dinner this month. I feel privileged that I have gotten to have lunch with many of you, and I look forward to more time spent with you.

Here are some thoughts that I would like you to be thinking about over the summer:
Did you know that most youth ministries thrive and grow during the transitional stages in the ministry (the time when there is no Staff Youth Pastor)? The reason for this phenomenon is that adults with a vested interest (mostly parents) pool their time and resources together to make sure that High School students receive the spiritual nourishment they need. Normally another phenomenon occurs when a youth pastor is hired. The Adult Leader (sponsor, volunteer, etc.) base depletes. Sometimes this is a conscious or unconscious effort. Sometimes this is because of the new Staff Pastor’s lack of communication or expressed desire and investment in the adult leaders, and sometimes this is because of the “burn-out factor” of the leaders. Yet, we know from this phenomenon that the more hands that are in the work, the more fruit we see from the work. Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers in to his harvest field (Matt. 9.37).”

Statistically we also know that the best Full-Time Student Pastor can shepherd between 50 students and 100 students with a strong adult leader base. The more adult leaders there are the more the Full-Time Pastor can manage a larger group. Once again, you are super important.

We also know that adult leaders should not lead alone either. Every adult leader should have a “buddy”, someone that they can partner with, peer mentor, and experience pain with, someone they can have to fill in when absence occurs, and someone who has a complementary perspective to share with students.

Who’s your buddy? When was the last time you met with your adult buddy outside of cells? The two of you need this time together. It is critical. You refresh one another, hold each other accountable, and pursue the goal of leading the students so that they are ready to launch out on their own as fully equipped believers and disciples.

Who might be your future buddy? Do you have a mindset for finding a future buddy? Cell groups are great between the size of 5-10 students and two leaders can successfully manage this number. However, as cells experience natural growth and grow to 11-20 people it becomes about time to replicate the cell. This means that there needs to be a cell leader ready to take half of the group and that cell leader needs a buddy to do this with.

The point of cells is to provide a small group environment for students who enter into our ministry, so that they may grow spiritually with Godly adults who shepherd the process. Cells are a great avenue to build accountability, a prayerful life, and the discipline of bible study. Each of us should desire to see every student in FSM Sr. High to connect to a cell group. Therefore, growth will occur, and cells will replicate. Please prepare yourself with the mindset that you may eventually be looking for a buddy to help you. Who would that person be and where would you find your buddy?

Landlords of Teenagers

2010-04-28T14:09:00.000-07:00

Let’s be honest! This is sometimes how you feel. Your student treats you like you’re the landlord, and they are the free tenant. What’s worse is that most of you pay your tenants either an allowance or on an as needed basis. You don’t see your tenants often. They’re awfully busy, but they check in every once in a while…when they stand at the refrigerator and say, “Hey we’re out of…such and such. When are you going grocery shopping? Can you pick me up some sour punch straws?” This is your life, and I know it. How? When I was in high school, a good friend of mine and I started a new term to call our parents, the parental unit. My parents honestly thought it was funny and it continued to be an on-going joke and endearing statement. My friend and I honestly did an intentional job of communicating to our parents what was really going on and we did our best to show them and give them the love they deserve. Not all teenagers do this though. Know that today I prayed for you and that you are much more than just Parental Units.

Adult Leader Tip of the Week: 4/9/10

2010-04-28T14:06:00.004-07:00

Show your students that you care about them outside of cell group time. I know all of you care about each of the students in your cell group. I also know how busy life can be in general. Try to make one contact with one student a week outside of your cell group time. Methods like texting, facebook, a phone call, or meeting for an hour for ice cream. The age old favorite contact is the, I’ve got an errand, and I’ll take a student with me trick. Students like to hang out with you guys and girls. They also like to get out of the house. Don’t be surprised if they are down for going grocery shopping, visiting Home Depot, or even getting an oil change. Who knows, you might even convince the entire group to help you with your lawn on a given Saturday morning. I like what Bruce says about mini-church and care groups, “Those meetings are a celebration of the ministry that has been going on for those weeks.” I think that is a good way to tack cells too!

Adult Leader Tip of the Week: 3/26/2010

2010-03-26T14:09:00.001-07:00

Offer L.O.V.E when counseling students. L.O.V.E is a great little acronym that can walk you through any counseling situation with a student.

L stands for Listen. Listening is an active process. As a student shares with you his or her troubles, be sure to give non-verbal cues or brief words of assent (yes, hmm) to let students know that you are tracking with them. Don’t hesitate to ask clarifying questions if they’ve lost you.

O stands for Offer. Offer students hope in their situation. They need to believe that there is a way out of their struggle and that you believe they can get out of the struggle. Give encouragement and wisdom from real life experience. Share stories of your past. You have a struggle that you’ve overcome. Even if it is not the same struggle, they can see hope in the fact that you overcame what you faced. Last, if you seem to be at a dead end, you can offer to connect the student to someone (a pastor or a professional counselor) who can take them through the next step of overcoming his or her struggle.

V stands for Validate. Validate students struggle. Many students are told to simply suck it up or get over their issues. They’re told to just deal with them. This invalidates their worth and makes them feel like a worm. Their struggles sometimes seem insignificant to us, but they are very serious to them. As you give them a more mature perspective in life, validate them where they are at. Be patient, listen, and affirm that you care about what they are facing. Until they see that you believe it is important, they won’t believe that they can overcome.

E stands for Eliminating Immediate Danger. Eliminate any immediate dangers that might be presented from a student’s struggle. This requires that you respond quickly to the struggle. Respond to the struggle. If you don’t know what to do, find someone to help. If you don’t respond early, then the student won’t feel hope. If you don’t respond early, then student will think you don’t really care. Empower the student with the feeling that there is victory over their struggle and that they have a choice. Last, expect God to work in their life. Pray with the student and invite God to be a source that they can trust as they walk through their struggle with Him.

Adult Leader Tip of the Week: 3/23/3010

2010-03-24T08:13:00.000-07:00

Struggles are difficult to share because it requires vulnerability to share them. Vulnerability requires trust. We want to build an environment of trust in student ministry. This starts by building a safe and caring environment.

One of the important parts of leading a ministry is developing a safe environment for students to entrust their struggles with others. This also takes a caring environment. Safe and caring environments take time to build.

As often as you can, tell your students that you care about them, and you desire a safe environment for them to share their struggles. Inform them that there will always be those who don’t care and will be immature. That’s why adults hop from church to church. Tell them that you want this ministry to be different and that you believe that every one of them (even the kid you’re thinking can’t right now) has the potential to make this environment safe and caring.

The more we believe our students can be mature, the more they will rise to the occasion. Asking students to take turns sharing something thoughtful or kind about another person in the group will also help build a safe and caring environment. Do this as often as possible. They can't just hear from you that you believe in them. They need to hear it from each other.

Angels and Airwaves: New Album "LOVE" Free

2010-03-18T09:11:00.000-07:00

Angels and Airwaves is a side project of Tom Delonge the front man for Blink182. They are characterized with an ambient sound that integrates electric synthesizers. Tom's lyrics are introspective. A search for meaning is conveyed through his music. He has gone far beyond his party driven lyrics saturated in pleasure from the last decade. Teens enjoy Angels and Airwaves along with band like Modest Mouse because of the introspective nature. This album is free for a limited time at modlife.com/angelsandairwaves. Clicking the blog title will take you straight to the download page. Enjoy!

Parenting Tip (Spring Break Edition): 3/18/2010

2010-03-18T08:55:00.000-07:00

Parents
Spring Break is awesome…for students! Sometimes it is awesome for parents. When I reflect on my teenage years, I remember how my parents would get excited about going on a family trip, but by the time we were pulling out of the driveway they were already a little beat down. It takes a lot of work to have a family vacation. In fact, sometimes they aren’t a vacation because the trip gets packed with all sorts of stuff to do and little rest.

I remember when Kendall and I took our first family vacation. We went to New York, and we did so much on our first two days that we actually took a half-day off on our third day, slept in at the hotel and relaxed until 1. Then we hit the streets of Manhattan again. As events turned out, our flight was delayed a day and we got an extra day of vacation in New York. We just had to pay for another night stay at the hotel. It extended our trip, and we got to do a whole lot more than we had previously planned.

So here’s a vacationing tip. Either fix in a half-day break in the middle of your vacation or make sure you have a chill day when you return home. You’ve got to recover from your vacation. I hope your vacation was fulfilling and honoring to the Lord.

"Talking to God" by Tom Constable

2010-03-17T07:53:00.000-07:00

One of the men of faith who had a significant influence in my life has been Dr. Tom Constable of Dallas Seminary. I only took one class with him and shared lunch three times. However, the most significant interaction was before the above interactions. During my second year of seminary I played an active role on the Spiritual Life Board. The Spiritual Life Board was in charge of the campus prayer movement at that time and also had responsibility for the Prayer Chapels. It was our first prayer chapel and each key member of the board briefly shared an important concept in prayer. My point was from Swindoll's Grace Awakening, which said that prayer changes us rather than God. Sometimes it changes our attitude towards the outcome of a petition or it changes the desires of our heart. Anyway, before I could leave the stage, Dr. Constable came up and gave me a hug. It was extremely affirming and encouraging. Later I realized that Swindoll's understanding of prayer in Grace Awakening was greatly influenced by Dr. Constable's theology of prayer in his book "Talking to God."

Today, I was reading "Talking to God" and I came across a quote that I would like to share. Dr. Tom Constable says, "God's reputation should always be the primary concern of His people (Matt. 6.9; cf. 1 Cor. 10.31; Col. 3.17)." This said in the context of a discourse on Moses prayer in Exodus 32. This is the first clearly recorded prayer that appeals to God's honor as a basis of petition. These words are encouraging as was Dr. Constable's hug. My hope is that I would live as one concerned with God's reputation.

"Already Gone" by Ken Ham: Book Review

2010-03-14T07:41:00.000-07:00

"Already Gone" by Ken Ham stimulated my thoughts on parenting and youth ministry. This book was a very timely read in my spiritual walk. There is nothing about this book that is earth-shattering for any youth minister. Most of us, after reading the book, could have said, "I didn't need a survey done to figure out these results." You see, this book is the result of a survey that Ken Ham administered to 1000 20 somethings. The commonality between all of these 20 somethings is that they were churched kids who had now left the church. The astounding conclusion, which came as no surprise, is that these student had already "checked out" of the Church when they were in Jr. High or Sr. High. They were present in body and maybe even mind, but definitely not in heart.

Ken Ham shares a number of reasons why these students are "already gone." First, he indicates that there is an issue with Sunday School. He argues that these 20 somethings went to Sunday school but walked away from the Church. He then concludes that there is a problem with Sunday School. Unfortunately, he's making a logical fallacy. These kids also went to church, Wednesday nights, summer camps, and other church activities. Picking on one program is not the solution. It might have been better to say that students are not internalizing all they have learned because they have created a dichotomy of Church and the rest of life. This is because their parents create the same dichotomy. In fact, families in general do not bring church into every area of their life. Particularly, parents allow the church to educate their child rather than fulfilling Deuteronomy 6 themselves. This is because the collection of families who make up the Church have allowed this mindset to creep into the church doors. If we're honest, families don't prioritize Church over all the other areas of their life. Church is the assembly and community of the body of Christ. Many of the families genuinely prioritize God. However, they don't prioritize others also. Sadly, this doesn't fulfill Matthew 22.37-40.

The one argument for why students are already gone that Ham particularly camps out on is the Creation vs. Evolution/literal reading of Genesis/truthfullness of the scripture argument. He only gives lip service to sin, purity, and disenfranchisement with the Church as reasons for why students are already gone. Not surprising for an apologetic who's livelihood comes from the above studies, but probably a major dis-service to the issues of why student's are already gone. He truly makes the Creation vs. Evolution/literal reading/authority of scripture to be the backbone to the issue, when many of the students who left still hold to these arguments.

From an ethnological standpoint (cultural observer) the issue that Ham favors is the excuse and not the reason. It is like a student leaving a youth group and blaming it for being cliquish, rather than taking ownership of one's own sin, conflict resolution failures, and lack of desire for reconciling others to one self. The heart of the Already Gone issue is a spiritual bankruptcy in the hearts of men. It is called moral depravity. It is called sinful selfishness. It is called a desire for lawlessness and personal autonomy apart from God. Students and adults don't want reasons for God. Giving them apologetic reasons for God cannot be the answer alone.

I confess that Ham's ministry should be more appreciated in my heart and the heart of man in general. I confess that I really need to study apologetics more deeply, but not naively. Some answers are far to trite and canned for my tastes. The challenges of the scientific community are no small matters and not the arena for the uneducated in the area of science. My field is New Testament Theology, so I am going to trust the apologetics to scientists who hold doctoral degrees in their field and affirm biblical truth. I encourage you to do the same. Pick up the Case for a Creator by Strobel. Lee Strobel does a great job of finding the best in the field of study that supports divine design and interviewing them.

Thanks to Ken Ham for challenging me in this area of my studies. I pray that your ministry will be fruitful. I do recommend this book and encourage you to listen to Ken Ham. I affirm his message. I did feel that the areas of his study I critiqued should be reexamined and that their should be a more full treatment in the areas of family, purity (sin in general), and disenfranchisement with the Church.

By the way, I appreciate the quality of the survey administered by Ham and Beemer. I say this as one who holds a BBA in Marketing and has a particular interest in consumer behavior and marketing research.

Sharing the Gospel

2010-03-11T08:54:00.000-08:00

Sharing the gospel involves intersecting with other people in their daily lives. You must have your mind spiritually sober to do this. What I mean is that you have to be actively searching out opportunities to talk to others about spiritual matters. This can happen anywhere. It works best with people you have prior experience but this is not necessarily always the case. A great opportunity to share the gospel is on a flight. You’ll probably be sitting next to a stranger for at least an hour and that is plenty of time to strike up a conversation about spiritual matters. Ski lifts are another great place to share the gospel, especially gondolas. You’ll be in one of those for at least 15 minutes. Really, all you need is a captive audience to share the gospel. So, if you ever find yourself trapped in an elevator with others, then you’re in a position to share the gospel.

Here are some practical tips for sharing the gospel:
• Make good eye contact.
• Smile often (people need to see you care).
• Stay away from debates and discussions, simply proclaim the Gospel.
• People are more and more biblically illiterate. Know the scripture you share either by opening to the bible or having it memorized.
• Be prepared to leave them with a track or a napkin with the scripture on it. If you can boil the gospel down to the point where you can write it on a business card or a napkin, then it will help the person you’re sharing with immensely.
• Spend time listening to them. They may have hang ups with the bad news (sin), the Bible, Christianity, or the Church. They might need you to listen to them share about these things.
• Pray with them when you finish.
• Get their contact information and follow up with them.
• Make sure they get connected to a church.

Look for opportunities to share with others and pray for these opportunities as well. Perhaps you already have someone you wish to share the gospel with in mind. Pray for direction on who, when, and where to share the gospel. Plan 15 minutes + of time sharing the gospel with that person.

My prayer is that God’s name will be proclaimed through you and His planned work will be accomplished by His Holy Spirit.

Adult Leader Tip of the Week: 3/5/2010

2010-03-11T08:53:00.000-08:00

Adult Leader Tip of the Week:
This tip really comes from Laurie Polich in her book “Help! I’m a Small Group Leader.” Students can be classified into six different small group personalities. There are the Talkers, Thinkers, The Church Kids, The Distracters, the Debaters, and the Crisis Producers. Obviously some kids fall under a couple classification. Students probably also go through different stages in their life as they develop. I hope you find this helpful.

Talkers obviously like to talk a lot. They can easily dominate the meeting. They also can keep it going if it seems to be struggling. Here’s a simple tip for the talker. They make a great person to lead the discussion. Maybe assign them to lead sometime. If they aren’t leading, keep em close to you. That way you can give them a non-verbal cue, like gently touching their arm to let them know that it’s time to let others speak.

Thinkers are quieter. They have to be drawn out, but usually they have really good stuff to say. Try to position them across from you so that you can give them more eye contact. Try to find a connection point to draw them out. Use an interest of theirs as an illustration.

The Church Kid is obviously the kid who group up in the Church. They always have a neat and clean “churchy” answer. Try to challenge them to articulate their beliefs. Use a lot of follow up questions with them. Try to get them to talk about their feelings rather than display their knowledge. Maybe even play devil’s advocate with them.

The Distracters are what they are. I used to be one. They’re not easy to work with, but sometimes it can be rewarding, especially if years later you see a marked change in their life. Find a way to channel the distracter’s energy. Ask them to do stuff for you: Set up chairs, get drinks for others, pass out handouts, lead a discussion. All of these are great ways to utilize their hyperness. Keep them away from sugar and caffeine. Pray that they do not bring an energy drink to cells.

The Debaters are always a challenge. Set up ground rules in your small group to keep the debater at heel. Rule 1: It’s okay to share your opinion but don’t attack other for their opinion. Rule 2: Only one person speaks at a time. You can pull a “Lord of the Flies” and have a “Conch Shell” for the speaker to hold. I hear that hackie-sacks are plentiful in our group. Use one of those.

The Crisis Producer is in perpetual crisis. They can’t focus on the group because they are self absorbed. You have two options. Meet with the crisis producer before your lesson and let them vent or begin the small group with saying that at the end there will be a prayer and share time. This will hopefully compel the crisis producer to wait for the end to share.

Receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit

2010-03-04T13:27:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while, I like to blog about what I will be teaching about on Sunday. This kind of gets the mind cranking on the subject matter. I feel like the Holy Spirit uses this as an outlet for Him to do His work in me. Ironically, this Sunday we are talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. At the same time, we are doing a P2P event. A P2P event at FBC is outreach oriented. Students invite their peers to participate in something fun, and we share the gospel with those students.

There should be no bait and switch invovled in this event. Students should explain to their friends that at some point in the evening they will hear the gospel. However, I don't know if I explained that the students yet. Anyway, the P2P event for this Sunday is our Dodgeball Tournament. By the way, if you have great ideas for Dodgeball Champion Prizes, please let me know.

So as I was saying, P2P Event, Gospel Presentation, and the gift of the Holy Spirit all need to be tied into one neat and clean package at Rally on Sunday night. It seems complicated at first, but then when you look at Acts 2.38 alot of the complexities go away. Acts 2.38 is part of the first Gospel message presented by a believer, Peter, to the people in the streets of Israel. In fact, Acts 2.38 is indeed the climax of the message, and at that climax we have Peter charging the people to repent, be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

It's almost too easy, isn't it? It probably is, which brings me to my next question. What is the distinction between the gift of the Holy Spirit and the spiritual gifts? That my friend is what you have to wait for on Sunday night.

Book Review: Help! I'm a Small-Group Leader!

2010-03-02T13:28:00.000-08:00

"Help! i'm a small-group leader!" by Laurie Polich is a wonderful resource for youth pastors or adult leaders in any youth ministry. This tool is concise and easy to read. In fact, it is an extremely fast read but also extremely insightful. My favorite two parts of the book include starting a discussion - and keeping it going (beginning on page 36) and working with different personalities in a group (beginning on page 76). These two sections really help you think through the challenges that every small group leader faces.

The section on starting a discussion really helps the small group leader internalize the concept that small groups are not a question/response group but a discussion group. This means that the leader neither has the burden of asking questions nor is he/she the seat of authoritative answers in the group. Embracing this understanding will free your students from giving responses that are filled with uncertainty as if they are trying to find the "right" answer to a question.

The section on working with different personalities is so very entertaining. Every discussion leader is able to fill a real life person in each personality group that Laurie identifies, whether the student is a talker, thinker, the Church Kid, the distracter, the debater, or the crisis producer. In fact, as I wrote this sentence, I picked up on something. My youth pastor in High School always called me a thinker. I always took this as a compliment. Now I'm realizing that he might very well have been referring to my small group personality, which "the thinker" is the category that I would fall in. Perhaps, you'll discover what kind of small group personality you have in the process of reading this little book.

Parent Tip of the Week: 2/26/2010

2010-02-26T14:53:00.000-08:00

Never leave your teenager in the car alone so that you can get something you forgot in your home. You might find them in the driver’s seat and that’s a scary thought.

Adult Leader Tip of the Week: 2/26/2010

2010-02-26T12:58:00.000-08:00

Have a student lead/facilitate the discussion. This has probably come up a few times in my life over the past month or so. I’ve offered it up to cell leaders an option. If our goal is to produce disciple-makers, then it makes sense to offer opportunities for students to lead others also (2 Tim. 2.2). Having a student lead a discussion is pretty easy. It can be as simple as the cell leader sitting down and writing out the scripture to be discussed and a list of four or five questions for the cell group to discuss. Then all the cell leader has to do is hand the “discussion sheet” to a student before the lesson.

Students learn a number of things in this process. First, the student leading learns how difficult it is to keep things on track (hopefully they’ll be able to sympathize with you the leader). The student leading also learns that they CAN lead others. The students learning may start off goofing off towards their peer in the beginning, but generally they get more passionate about the discussion then they normally would. This is the typical result of giving ownership to students.

This method of allowing a student to lead is a good step toward the next level up of a student led cell meeting. The next step would be meeting with a student sometime before a cell group meeting and writing the cell plan together. This should be done in a public place. Try doing this sometime this semester with your students. By the way, any student can lead a cell group, not just the gunners. When I was at the Village Church I had the most distracting kid lead the discussion. All of his energy got channeled to leading, he received the much needed attention from me and his peers, and he felt personal worth. He also shined as a leader. It was awesome!

Music Review: Gateway Worship Living For You

2010-02-24T14:45:00.000-08:00

Recently I picked up the Gateway Worship Album called "Living for You." Gateway is a church in South Lake Carrol of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metropolitan area. This church is really well known for its music ministry, featuring Kari Jobe. I have had "Wake Up the World" for over a year, an earlier CD produced from the Church and have enjoyed it immensely. "Living for You" features two songs in particular that are of note, Revelation Song and The More I seek You. Both songs are powerful.

The More I Seek You presents a desire for closeness to the Lord. It expresses a strong element of intimacy with Him. Ideas of sitting at his feet, drinking the cup from his hand, laying against him and feeling his heartbeat indicate a desire for spiritual closeness marked with deep love. This song is difficult for the male mind to wrap around. Yet these are pictures that we see in scripture. This is legitimate figurative language of God's love and relationship with His people and likewise His people's response to Him.

Revelation Song is a remarkable exaltation of the Lord taken from scriptures out of the Book of Revelation. The content of Revelation Song is theologically accurate and the lyrics are theocentric in nature.

I recommend this CD for anyone who wants to spend time in "Sweet Religion" as Jonathan Edwards or David Brainerd would say.

Patience and the HP

2010-02-23T09:44:00.000-08:00

This weekend I lost a battle but one a war. In the effort both I compromised my patience and I quenched the Holy Spirit. What was I up to that brought on such results? Updating my home. I was engaged in lighting updates. Kendall and I had recently purchased new light fixture covers for our can lights, a new front entry light, a breakfast nook chandelier and a ceiling fan. The last of which was the source of my pain. Replacing the light fixture covers was easy. Putting up the front entry light was a breeze. It even worked. Then I decided to tackle the ceiling fan. I spent two hours trying to get the thing working. First, I had trouble getting the thing connected and fastened to the ceiling. It was heavy. Second, when I thought I finished the project, I turned on the power to discover that it wasn't wired right. When I took the fan apart, I found that the fan's white wire had slipped out from the cap connecting it to the house's white wire. After reconnecting it, I couldn't get the mount to line up with the fan and screw it back into place. My shoulders and arms were exhausted and I finally gave up.

I was so frustrated. My wife knew it, and she was super understanding. She too really wanted to experience the pleasure of an updated ceiling fan in our family room. I was frustrated with the process, the failure (something I rarely experience), and mostly with myself. I was letting the ceiling fan get the best of me and my family was seeing the worst in me. It was one of those situation where something frustrating rubbed on to every area of life and basically I developed a sorry attitude about everything. Anyway, it was definitely not a proud moment. But I think we can all relate. We've all been in those deeply frustrating circumstances, yet isn't it also true that the frustration is typically over something quite insignificant? Seriously, what is significant about a ceiling fan.

Ironically, I returned to the fan two days later, and installed it in 20 minutes. I think this is a situation where it wasn't the fan causing the issue. It was me. I was standing in the way of what could have been accomplished. It was entirely because of my sorry impatient attitude. I wish I would have chilled for a minute and prayed for calmness. I think that would have awakened the Holy Spirit's work in my life.

Are you standing in the way of the Holy Spirit's work in your life. Are you quenching the Holy Spirit from accomplishing what he wishes to accomplish? Is your poor attitude standing in the way of what you are meant to accomplish? Those are sobering thoughts. 1 Thessalonians 5.19 says, "Do not quench the Spirit." This is a direct prohibition. We should not stand in the way of the Holy Spirit wants to accomplish in us. We should partner with Him to accomplish God's work. How? Verse 21-22 explains. We should examine everything carefully, hold fast to what is good and abstain from evil.

Parent Tip of the Week: 2/19/2010

2010-02-19T14:08:00.000-08:00

Parent Tip of the Week
Howdy Parents –

I hope you had a wonderful Valentines retreat with your family this past week. Kendall and I went to a movie and dinner. It was our first Oklahoma date, and we really enjoyed it.

By the way, never stop dating your spouse. And if you haven’t ever had a daddy/daughter date or a mommy/son date then you should totally try it with one of your kids…umm, but don’t call it a daddy/daughter or mommy/son date with your H.S. kid, that won’t go over well. Just say something like, “I’m going to get Ice Cream, wanna go with?” Most kids don’t have the foresight to pick up on what you’re doing, they’ll just be thinking something like, “FREE ICE-CREAM? I’M IN!”

Adult Leader Tip of the Week: 2/18/2010

2010-02-19T14:00:00.000-08:00

Adult Leader Tip of the Week:
Be unpredictable and give the people you lead freedom. You don’t always have to do the same thing at cell group (ex. No cell leader vignette this week). If you want, come up with your own vignette, or just roll with what you’ve got planned. Better yet, try spicing things up with spontaneity, or…try spicing things up by adding minced chili peppers to your chocolate chip cookie recipe. That’s what Mark Matlock does for the 10th grade cell group his family hosts at Irving Bible Church. You may not believe it but chili peppers and chocolate chips are an epic combo when in cookie form. I fully believe that the Cookie Monster would endorse this product.

Anyway, the tip is to be spontaneous. Student’s love that stuff. I’ll let you craft what spontaneity will look like for your cell group. Otherwise, it wouldn’t quite be spontaneous, now would it.

Forgotten God Book Review

2010-02-17T14:07:00.000-08:00

After being at FBC for close to two months, I have finally settled back into the world of blogging. My first real undertaking will be a brief book review on the Forgotten God by Francis Chan. Let it be known that the purpose behind selecting this book is 1) Francis Chan has been the rage for the past couple of years and 2) I am teaching a series on the Holy Spirit for Rally, our large group gatherings on Sunday nights.

Forgotten God is a wonderfully accessible book on the Holy Spirit. Francis Chan hits on the major issue that evangelicals face today regarding the Holy Spirit. Chan does not pigeon hole himself in a Spiritual Gifting encampment nor does he isolate himself from conservative "fundies" (his word). The premise of the book is to awaken the heart to an understanding that the Holy Spirit indwells each believer and is active today.

Chan addresses important matters such as fear with the work of the Spirit, purpose of the Holy Spirit in our lives, what a relationship with Holy Spirit looks like. Most interesting is Chan's soap box on those who are searching God's will for their life, rather than zeroing in on God's will for right now.

Chan artfully presents models of encouragement at the end of each chapter. These models feature brief bios of influential people used by the Holy Spirit to accomplish a particular task fitting that persons gifts.

Overall the tone of the book is optimistic and refreshing. This book makes one feel as if they are sitting across the table and chatting with the author. I heartily recommend this book for anyone who needs Spiritual encouragement and a fast read. It also is a great primer for further study.

Warning: Don't count on a bibliography or helpful notes for further study. This book contains Chan's common knowledge and understanding from experience, which obviously caters well to the post-modern mind.