Let wonder replace worry

Thoughts on Yac

Back in 2002, I had been in youth ministry for 10 months and had the opportunity to attend the National Youth Workers Convention in Sacramento.  I had never been to a youth conference before and it was really needed needed.  I needed new ideas and perspectives.  I went to California alone.  The first night of the convention, I was in the registration area and had just registered.  This was later at night, after the exhibit hall had been open for awhile; so there were not many people around.  I stepped away from the tables and looked over and saw Mike Yaconelli talking to the workers.  He looked over at about the same time and I nodded and said "hi there" or something dumb like that.  I went back to going through all of the materials I had just picked up and someone came up from behind me, put an arm on my shoulder and said welcome.  It was Mike Yaconelli.  He asked me about my church, my ministry, and if I was there alone.  For about 5 minutes he stood there and talked to me, a brand new 22 year old youth worker.  Just before he walked away he told me, if you need anything this week, let me know.  Not, let one of these volunteers know, or a staff member know.  He said let me, the owner of YS, know.  What an amazing was to start the convention.   I was so impressed with him.  About 15 minutes later, I pulled my camera out of my bag and thought, man what a perfect time to get a picture with him.  I thought that I would not bother him this year, since he had already talked to me for 5 minutes ot so, and most other people would never get that.   So, I thought that next year I'll get a pic with him.

Well, I never had that chance next year.  Mike was killed just a couple of weeks before the convention I attended in St. Louis.  It was a honor to be in St. Louis though, his legacy was shining bright.   Yesterday marked 2 years since his death.  I am sure there are thousands of stories people have of him, but for 5 minutes in Sacramento, he fired up this youth minister.  I will never forget him for that.  Thanks Mike, I look forward to meeting you again one day, although I am sure the line is going to be long, but I am going to want to let you know, what you told me in Sacramento, I have remembered and I am still doing.

Bad news

Wow,this is tragic.

I have a good friend who goes to church there.  I am trying to get ahold of him to see how the church is holding up.  It is going to be challenging I am sure.  His family is in my prayers.

Halloween

I found out today that there are a couple of churches in town that are encouraging their members to boycott Halloween.  They are having alternative "Harvest Festivals" instead.  Now, I would be the first to say dressing your kid up in a Satan costume or as a demon is not a good thing to be doing; but is Halloween that bad?  Neighbors who may not speak at all for the rest of the year will be welcomed at each others door.  I guess if some churches in town had it their way, none of the Christian neighbors would stop by.  The funny thing is that these same churches that are encouraging parents not to send their kids to Halloween parties at school on Monday will be challenging the school board to keep Christmas in the school less than 2 months from now. 

That's really all I have to say about this, I do not have kids so it is tough for me to know how I would handle this situation.  Besides, I have to go plan the High School Group Halloween party for tomorrow night.  It is going to be so much fun, and we are closing with a really cool service from "The Book of Uncommon Prayer."  I'm excited

Cable news and dumb radio hosts

Check out what I just saw over at The Drudge Report: 

CABLE NEWS RACE
THURS., OCT 27
VIEWERS

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 2,612,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY/COLMES 1,645,000
FOXNEWS BRIT HUME 1,615,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 1,604,000
FOXNEWS SHEP SMITH  1,552,000
CNN LARRY KING 1,311,000
CNN AARON BROWN 1,198,000
CNN ZAHN 858,000
CNN ANDERSON 786,000
CNNHN GRACE 724,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 494,000
MSNBC  OLBERMANN 469,000
MSNBC RITA 399,000
MSNBC SCARBOROUGH  344,000
MSNBC TUCKER 296,000

Fox News once again clearly knocks out the competition combined.  This is happening on a daily basis now.

The reason I bring this up is that earlier this afternoon I was listening to talk radio while running some errands around town.  I switched over to the liberal talk station in Seattle, Air America, and this guy, whoever the host is, was just railing Fox News.  Calling it Republican nonsense and on and on and on.  Well, if what this guy says is true then his party is in alot of trouble.  So what is it?  Do only conservative people watch cable news, or are you completely wrong?  It seems to me that he would be trying to convince everyone that Fox was not conservative news, but fair. 

I am a loyal fox news viewer and have been for years.  They are no more conservative than any other station.  Wise up liberals, start saying fox is your mouth piece.  Why would you want to associate such amazing numbers with your opponents?

And to think, there are people who make lots of money telling this very type of thing to political hopefuls.

Church Ladies

There is an interesting discussion going on over at the World Magazine Blog about a Wall Street Journal headline last week titled "Church Ladies: Women dominate America's pews." A recent survey revealed that 61% of the typical US congregation is female. 

Is this true in your experiences with churches? 

Is it a problem? 

If so, what is the solution? 

Tuesday Night Bible Study

Romans 1:16

16For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
www.biblegateway.com

At our Tuesday night bible study, we are going through the book of Romans.  Tonight we made it through just one verse.  We may be studying Romans for awhile.  We observed 4 things that just jumped out at us in this verse:

1. It is truth.  Paul comes right out and says up front, I am not ashamed.  Why is he not ashamed of this gospel?  He believes in this gospel with every fiber of his being.  All through church history there are so many times that the church has silenced someone who was seeking truth.  If this gospel is true and we are not ashamed of it, we have nothing to fear from anyone (be it a scientist or a doctor) who attempts to contradict it.  For we know there feeble attempts to contradict an universal truth will fail each time.
2. It is powerful.  It is the power of God for salvation.  Not for what you can do for Him, bt because of what He has already done for you.  Through this power alone can salvation be attained.
3. It is for everyone.  This gift of salvation is avaliable to everyone who believes.  No matter what family line you are from or who your parents may have been, this gift is for you.
4. It is universal.  To the Jew first and also to the Greek.  How did Jews respond to this?  How did Gentiles respond?  If Paul were alive today, I have the feeling he would take one look at the world and immediately notice that nothing has changed.  All of us who know this truth still argue with one another more than we proclaim the truth of this gospel and declare that we are not ashamed.

To be a person of faith is to have that faith challenged. In the midst of being challenged, we look at the power this faith offers, see its universal appeal, knowing that it is for every person alive; including the person challenging us. At this point we stand up with the power the truth offers us and declare I AM NOT ASHAMED.

Group Magazine Live

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervitisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist ans lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.  The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.  Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

On Saturday, Nicole and I attended a Youth Ministry Training Event sponsored by Group Magazine.  It is the same concept that Youth Specialties has with The Core.  (Which I attended in September, read my review of the day here.)  We began the day with the Cambridge University Study referenced above.  As long as the first and last letters are in the right place, we can work on arranging the rest of the letters.  What are the first and last letters of our faith?  They are stated very plainly in The Shema, Love the Lord with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. 

Each session was called a different idea, and man were they all full of practical, take back and start using now ideas.  Idea #1 was "Pursuing The Real Jesus."  Thankfully the craze of wearing WWJD bracelets has faded over time (with the teens in my group anyway) and have been replaced with bracelets that support all kinds of things.  It is interesting to talk with students about what their bracelets support.  Anyway, Group suggested a new, catchy phrase, DWKJWETKWHD.  This lady sitting a table over from me figured this out almost immediately.

"Do we know Jesus well enough to know what He did?"

Wow, that is a powerful question.  They shared lots of ideas here, but the one I took away was creating a wall in the youth room with a line down the middle and "Jesus did" on one side and "Jesus didn't" on the other.  Then periodically put the group into small groups and assign a chapter from the gospels.  Have them read it and work together to pull out things that Jesus did and things that Jesus did not do.  Makes sense to me, how can we ask What would Jesus do, unless we get to know Him enough to know what He did.  Nicole and I did this with Matthew 15 and we had such a cool list of things that Jesus did and did not do.

Idea #2 was "Creating Experiences to Truth."  There we some great ideas here on leading discussions and asking great questions.  Also, taking experiences we have as a group (be it weekend retreat, going to a football game, and everything in between) and having a time of reflection on the event at a later date.  Talk about how we saw God move and work and find biblical interpretation.  This leads to application and understanding that God is in everything we do as a group, no matter if it is study, serving, or just having fun.  Lots more here on working with parents that as well.

Idea #3 "Leading kids into a God-centered Life."  Lots here on using cultural resources and teaching them ways to push back against the media influences.  I use movie clips alot, along with commercials, music videos, and TV shows.  I actually have a perfect lesson from The West Wing last night.  This session gave me a couple of new ideas on pursing this type of study and some great questions and discussions that teach students how to push back against these negative influences.

Idea #4 was on retelling Jesus' parables.  I did not take away much from this, other than some great storytelling ideas.  We finished up the day with the last letter, a session on loving your neighbor as yourself.

Over all, Group Magazine Live was amazing.  I left there with twice as many practical ideas as I have  had from any other 1 day training.  Something I loved right off was when they gave us out booklets, they did not have the stupid fill in the blank as we go along like they had at The  Core and that I ranted about in my review of the day.  I love that Group allows me to decide what is important for me and my ministry and take notes on those things instead of trying to make sure I get all the blanks filled in quick enough.  Someone at YS, please hear me on this.  I am sure that you are just waiting on one more opinion on how you should do things. 

GML was amazing.  Great information and great ideas.  My ministry to definitely better now.  Check here and if they are coming within 100 miles of you, it will be worth your time.

Amazing

I just saw the most inspiring story on 60 minutes tonight.  It was a story about 10 year old Rex Lewis-Clack.  This little guy has been blind since birth and is also mentally challenged.  From seeing his interaction during the interview, I would say he has the mental capacity of a 3 or 4 year old.   He  did not start talking until he was 4 years old.   Sounds like a tough life, huh?  Well, he is a musical geniuses.  He can hear any piece of music and play it instantly.  It is believed that instead of hearing 2 or 3 notes at a time, which is what the most experienced musicians hear, people like him can hear up to 10 notes at a time.  The story also highlighted other who are in the same situation.  It is a complete mystery as to why these mentally challenged, blind young people pick up on music so quickly and easily.  Why someone who cannot dress himself can remember and play on command every song he has ever heard.  Could someone actually make an intelligent argument that he evolved that way?  This young man (and the many others like him) is a gift and a reminder that no matter what our limitations may be, there is a reason and a plan for our existence.

Wow

Group Magazine live was great.  Unfortunately I cannot recap the day right now, the dishwasher is not acting right, so I must go work on it.  I'll make that situation worse I am sure; I am still learning about house repairs.  I'll post about GML tomorrow night.

Friday Night

Nicole and I are here in the Holiday Inn in Federal Way, WA.  Tomorrow morning, we are going to check out Group Magazine Live.  Everything I have ever seen Group do is really good, so I am pretty excited for a day of youth ministry training.  Check back tomorrow night as I'll be recapping the day right here.