Through the Stable Door

Wrestling with Divided and Family Ministry

2011-09-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

The thesis of the documentary Divided (available to watch for free here, and I encourage you to watch it before reading any response to it) is that the standard models for youth ministry are unbiblical (meaning antibiblical) and the mass exodus of teens and young adults in the church is either a direct result or a divine judgment upon parents and the church for a mutual failure in following scripture's instructions for how to disciple the next generation (I didn't know the Bible had instructions for that).

I found Divided through this blog post from Mark Oestreicher which also linked me to Walt Meuler's thoughts here. While I fully agree with the criticisms of these two men and disagree with many of the film makers' theological assertions what I have not seen yet is a synthetic solution to some of the film's criticisms.

First, there is the idea that age segregation is anti-biblical because it is not seen happening in scripture. I would acknowledge that it is abiblical. We don't have any evidence of children learning together with a single adult, but the film contends that this is borrowed from public schools which borrow from evolutionary theory and manufacturing processes to produce adults out the end of the school/sunday school/youth group chute. The way to bring this back within the guide of scripture is to eliminate all of these things. (They didn't specifically address homeschooling, but I bet these people are proponents of homeschooling to the exclusion of public/private schooling.) They want discipleship to be done by parents and led by fathers. For those who do not have a father or do not have a Christian father (or just an inadequate/lazy one?), the other fathers in the church need to step up.

I take issue with some of this (okay, a lot of it), but what I agree with is that (1) the congregation should not be divided in worship beyond having different service times to handle larger numbers than a building can support in a single service and (2) parents need to have an active and primary role in discipling their children. As a youth director, I will NEVER, NEVER, NEVER have a regular youth worship service. I believe that the church should worship together and I will always encourage families to sit together during worship services. I also am trying to figure out how to support parents in their roles as primary disciplers of their kids as well as how to incorporate more family activities into our ministry. I am currently being inspire by Mark DeVries' work at First Presbyterian Church in Nashville through him books Sustainable Youth Ministry and Family Based Youth Ministry. My other challenge is how to interpret scripture in such a way that avoids the same trap of biblicism (read Scot McKnight's first article of eight on The Problem of Biblicism) which the makers of Divided and the NCFIC fall into, but still regards its authority and inspiration.

My personal and professional plan of action is to read A Weed in the Church, a book prominently feature in the film. I also am working on ways that our youth ministry at FPCA is failing to disciple kids or stealing parents' thunder (whether by commission or omission). Not necessarily this year (being my first here and as a director), but I intend to evaluate consistently what we are doing, why, and how it promotes or hinders the ministry of parents to their children. Mark DeVries wrote in Family Base Youth Ministry that things bear fruit through either growth or pruning. What do I need to grow in my ministry? What do I need to prune out? What about you and your ministry?

More New Beginnings

2011-08-28T12:24:00.000-07:00

I've been in Asheboro, North Carolina for about two months now. I moved here, following God's call as the Director of Youth & Young Adult Ministries at First Presbyterian Church. After a crazy introduction which pretty much has just thrown me into the middle of the current, I am really starting to settle in well. My apartment looks mostly lived in. (Although the couple of students that have popped by pointed out my lack of a TV immediately.) I know my way around town. I am a member of the church, have been through committee meetings, sat in on session, assisted in worship, played softball, been in a car wreck (everyone was fine), partnered with Young Life, and fellowshipped with several other youth pastors in town.
I have such a confidence in this being the place to which God has called me, am enjoying the people at FPC and the broader Christian community. I love it here!
Tonight is huge for me. I will be kicking off the school year with the parents and students in a meeting, which I wish was going to be longer and more fun, but paperwork has to get done at some point. I am excited and certainly feel prepared, but at the same time I am stressed. This is my kick-off here and my first one as a director, so that is understandable. I am also wrestling with the weight of my call, and while I accept that whole-heartedly I am humbled that I am being entrusted with the lives and souls of these teenagers and in some senses, their families. Not that I bear that primarily or solely, but I bear it.
It is a burden that in the room tonight share. The primary responsibility parents to guard and guide their children's spiritual upbringing. It is the same as every other area of a child's development.
I am here as a resource to them, to help them parent better and to be there for the kids as a partner with their parents to disciple them and to foster a corporate environment where they might be drawn nearer and draw themselves nearer to Christ.
By the grace of God I go unto this great task.

New Beginnings

2011-01-27T19:14:00.000-08:00

Things Fall Apart.

This is a book that I read in high school. One that I don't remember particularly fondly, either. It also aptly describes my life from my last post through the end of 2010. The last several months of 2010 were the hardest -of my life. But I have found before that the hardest times in life - the deepest pains, the toughest situations, the greatest sorrows, the biggest frustrations, are the places where God is teaching me the most. These last several months have been no exception.

The new year has been a sort of new beginning for me. A fresh start. I was on top of the world last July and overcome by it in December, but the time for my mourning is over, though some sorrow will linger.

For many months, even years, God was teaching me to trust him. And now I am in the season of practicing that trust.

I may or may not choose to discuss details of what specifically happened, but rest assured that I am going to be posting again with some frequency and a renewed sense of purpose. I am getting back in the saddle and hopefully be back in ministry before too long, God willing.

Until the next post.

Jeff

Worship Music

2010-09-24T10:08:00.000-07:00

Worship is one of those things about church, if not the thing. Americans (maybe others too) obsess over the style, quality, production, lighting, sound equipment, arrangements, volume, distortion, hymns vs. praise songs/choruses, liturgical vs. not, structured vs. free (in the Spirit, of course...), and the list goes on and on and on and on...

Everyone has there opinions, including me, but more often than not, our opinions are merely our preferences and have little bearing on what is honoring to Christ, truly worshipful, what others may find helpful to them, reflect good/bad or mere/specific theology, etc.

All that to be said, the one thing that I absolutely love about certain worship songs, regardless of age, style, or anything else is their focus on Christ. Not all songs fit into this category, but I recently stumbled upon www.reformedpraise.org while reading through my RSS blog feeds on Google Reader. Justin Taylor, a blogger from the Gospel Coalition, posted about them. I was intrigued, so I followed the link, eventually downloading both their albums and linking to them here, on Facebook, and Twitter.

I don't usually promote things for sale here, but I love these albums and will put them in my regular rotation of worship music listened to, alongside Stuart Townend, Keith & Kathryn Getty, David Crowder Band, Chris Tomlin, Passion, and old Vineyard stuff.

Here's a link to their new album, which just dropped three days ago: http://www.reformedpraise.org/store/albums/merciful-to-me/

Five Questions with Timothy Eldred

2010-05-27T14:59:00.000-07:00

Read this brief article first: Five Questions with Timothy Eldred | Youth Specialties. Then read my reaction and commentary.

I just read this article on YS and was hit with this statement: “Never do anything for a young person they can learn to do for themselves, and young people can make the same commitment to follow Jesus Christ as an adult.”

I am in full agreement with the second part of Eldred's statement, but the first has me scratching my head a bit. I find it intriguing, but I also am asking myself if this is true the way that he and Endeavor (Eldred's organization in Michigan) believe this so profoundly and if it has been working for them for the last 129 years, then why haven't I come across the concept before? Why wasn't this a part of any of my youth ministry classes in college? Why have I not tried this approach? It's not revolutionary. It's merely the logical end of the idea of integrating student leadership into a youth ministry. Instead of mini-leaders or assistants, the students become the primary leaders of regular programming, both upfront and behind the scenes.

I lied to you a second ago. I said that this is not revolutionary. It is. It is the logical end of the student leadership concept, but it is terrifyingly revolutionary. I am reminded of the late great Mike Yaconelli and his concept of messy spirituality (the concept within the book of that title which you need to read if you haven't already). Placing this amount of responsibility and authority in the hands of high school students, and dare I think it - middle school students(!), would be messy indeed!

If this model of ministry is to be embraced, then the church (or organization) must be committed to it's success from the onset as success may not be quick or apparent as adults adjust to their new support roles and students adjust to being the leaders. Students leading worship, Bible studies, giving messages, etc will be unpolished and must be given encouragement, support, and freedom to fail. They may say the wrong thing, misinterpret a text, use a terrible illustration, be awkward, and much more.

I think that those drawbacks (not risks, as they are sure to happen) are worth the exploration of this concept in integrating it within the current framework of the ministry. I don't know that adults should never speak or pray or lead. We need to be good examples to our students and I don't like the idea of relegating myself to a coach and supporter only. That said, I also believe that there is great merit here and that this could be the best way for students to grow and for the group of students to take ownership of the ministry in ways that will be conducive to their making it a priority in life and I think that it will, as Eldred says, foster students being committed members of churches beyond high school and throughout life. And that is the ultimate goal of youth ministry: to create lifelong disciples of Christ.

Laziness, busyness, and holiness

2010-05-15T09:15:00.000-07:00

Some days, I am just plain lazy. In many ways I have been lazy about this blog. I was going great in February and March, but the last six weeks I have been doing other things. There have been times that I was inspired to write, that I wanted to, but I didn't. I guess that either means that I didn't really want to or that I just have better things to do. Both are probably true. I just hope that laziness over sharing my thoughts over this blog don't reflect anything greater than that. I am eager to spend a day or two hear and there doing nothing but reading, driving, maybe enjoying a friend's company. Lazy days. More aptly, they are my days of rest. My Sabbath. But that is a whole different thing than lack of effort for something like this when I do indeed have plenty of time.Thank God it's this blog that has been neglected over my ministry, family, or job search. May I continue to neglect the least important things in favor of those that God has directly given me for his glory.

Busyness is something that I too familiar with. I was a busy kid in high school. I was a busy college student, to the point that I overwhelmed myself more than once. I am still busy, but it is a different busyness. I have fewer things in my life that are more time consuming and they don't wear on me like my schedule did in college. I see busyness every day. I work at a busy church, with busy staff, busy congregation, a busy building, and my job is to minister to busy busy busy teenagers. They seem more busy than I ever was at there age. That may entirely be an illusion, but it is my perception. The single greatest source of my stress when it comes to busyness right now, however is my job search. Transition is hard. Figuring out how to balance my current ministry and continuing to minister well, to serve well, to invest well, to listen well, all the while I am looking for the next ministry and the next set of kids I will do all these things with is harder than anything else I have done professionally. Busyness for me right now is tied to the almost fifty applications I have filled out, the ten-ish interviews I have done (with multiple interviews with some churches). It is hard like nothing else I have done.

Holiness is the slow progression of becoming more and more like Christ is our desires, thoughts, intentions, and actions. Christ, in his holiness, would have the right balance between the laziness and rest, between busyness and overcommitment, between ministry now and searching for that which is to come. I am screwing it up. Not in big ways, in fact, I would say that I am doing a decent job of this balance as far as my own abilities and human perspective are concerned. But those are not my standard of measure. I am striving to be like Christ and to figure out what all Christ would have me do in order for my character to be ever more conformed to his. It is hard. And I am screwing it up good. It is messy, as the late Mike Yaconelli would say. It is part of my spirituality, my pursuit of the one who is pursuing me first.

Maybe all this is morbid, narcissistic ramblings, but there is a peace about setting thoughts and feelings down in written word. There is something comforting about writing and so I return and will try to balance this with the other things in my life, realizing its relative unimportance. May it never become greater than its actual importance.

Good Friday (oh, and I'm back!)

2010-04-01T20:06:00.000-07:00

So I am back from Ensenada and have been for a couple of weeks. I regret not writing during this time, but I have been very busy, especially in regards to recovering from the trip, conducting interviews for next year's intern at First Pres (my replacement), Holy Week preparation and the events this week (we have 12 services!!!), and interviews and applications for finding a ministry position for myself after First Pres. I will give updates on some of this in the coming days, but for now, all I offer is one of my favorite poems for Holy Week. This is to be a reflection on Good Friday... It is Four Quartets, 2. East Coker, IV, by T.S. Eliot:

The wounded surgeon plies the steel
That questions the distempered part;
Beneath the bleeding hands we feel
The sharp compassion of the healer's art
Resolving the enigma of the fever chart.
Our only health is the disease
If we obey the dying nurse
Whose constant care is not to please
But to remind of our, and Adam's curse,
And that, to be restored, our sickness must grow worse.
The whole earth is our hospital
Endowed by the ruined millionaire,
Wherein, if we do well, we shall
Die of the absolute paternal care
That will not leave us, but prevents us everywhere.
The chill ascends from feet to knees,
The fever sings in mental wires.
If to be warmed, then I must freeze
And quake in frigid purgatorial fires
Of which the flame is roses, and the smoke is briars.
The dripping blood our only drink,
The bloody flesh our only food:
In spite of which we like to think
That we are sound, substantial flesh and blood—
Again, in spite of that, we call this Friday good.

--

Have a blessed Easter weekend.

In Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior,
Jeff

Baja 2010

2010-02-26T16:53:00.000-08:00

In two weeks I will be driving several high school students en route to Ensenada on our spring break mission trip that will combine The Core (our HS ministry) and The Source (our college ministry). We have about 22 people going, 6 leaders, 13 college kids, and 4 high school students. It is going to be a great trip and I cannot wait to see what God is going to do in and through us!
Your kingdom come in us and by us, Lord - on earth in Fort Collins, in Ensenada, and in our hearts.
Amen.

Spiritual Disciplines: Silence

2010-02-26T16:48:00.000-08:00

It has been too long since my original post on spiritual disciplines. Because it is the first discipline in Tony Jones' The Sacred Way, the book I am reading to guide myself through some disciplines, I have been practicing silence. Let me say that this has been a struggle to say the least.
When I was a kid, my mom used to tell other adults that I could "talk the hind legs off of a donkey." No joke. I have yet to hear this turn of phrase from another human being besides my mother, but it hasn't happened. My family is weird. Regardless of the oddity of family phrasing, it's definitely true. This is why I should never talk to a donkey. PETA would be all over me! I am a talker. I also have ADD-like thought process and attention span in that my brain is always grinding quickly and never on the same thought for more than a few minutes. This is why I am in youth ministry. I have the natural attention span of a seventh grader!
Thus, silence is a difficulty for me. It is not my natural posture. That is also why it is a discipline and not something that is done lightly.
Over the last month or six weeks or however long I have been working on silence, I have had three successful times of silence. One lasted a few hours, the other two were less than 30min. All three give me hope that I can be silent before God, to listen to his word in scripture and to apply what I hear to my life. I am not quite ready to move on to another discipline, but this one is definitely hit or miss for me.
Part of this is that it takes me such a long time to quiet myself that silence is not a discipline I am able to drop it into a spare half-hour. My longer-timed success came when I had an afternoon off from the office and was able to settle in, read John's Gospel, pray out my questions and concerns, and then sit quietly before the Lord. May I receive mercies from the Lord to be able to do that again soon.

Prayer for and Reflection on Deer Creek Middle School

2010-02-24T09:18:00.000-08:00

Great God in heaven. I do not know why our sinfulness and brokenness as fallen human beings leads some to lust and steal while it leads others to rape, kill, and destroy. My heart breaks for the students, parents, faculty, and neighborhood at Deer Creek Middle School. Thank you so much that no one was killed. Thank you for the actions of the teacher who stopped the man with the gun from hurting your children any further. God, I have so few words, but so much emotion... Lord, you read from the prophet Isaiah while you were incarnate on earth. You said that you had come to bind up the broken hearted, to comfort those who mourn, to restore ruins. DCMS is broken, they are hurting, they are scared, they are grieving this violence, they are angry, and they are in ruins. May your peace and your mercy reign in that place. I just listened, with my own middle schoolers this weekend to how your grace is sufficient. May your grace be sufficient for DCMS and all those who have fears and questions and hurts who are not part of their community. May your Church step in and bring comfort and anything and everything else this community needs. Be with Rachel, Lord. Be with the Malinky's daughter. Be with Bri. Thank you Lord.

I was sitting in my 6th grade history class when Euclid Middle School went under lock-down on April 20, 1999. My world changed that day - the day of the worst school shooting in US history happened at Columbine High School. Almost eleven years later, the Littleton community is rocked again.
Last night I had two long phone conversations, with my girlfriend and with my mom. Rachel alerted me to what happened and shared her feelings. My mom offered comfort and perspective as well as a personal connection to one of the teachers there. And for me, as a youth worker, this sort of thing is one of my greatest fears for my students. May God indeed be gracious and merciful to us all.

Amen.

What's in a name?

2010-02-16T16:44:00.000-08:00

Last night, my small group was down two men, so the remaining three of us met at a coffee shop in Old Town (Fort Collins' downtown area) and quickly gave up our weekly study in Romans for the stories of Chris' recent trip to Liberia. You can read about his trip at their blog here: http://peanutbutterhouse.org/.
One thing that really stuck out to me as Chris recalled the challenges and triumphs of the team was a question that one of Luther's Boys (orphans they worked with and for) asked him: "Are you a Christian or are you a follower of Christ?"
Another of the boys explained the meaning of the question, distinguishing between the claim of following the Christian faith and ongoing action which would showcase a person's dedication and seriousness to their faith claims. In short, the question becomes, "do you claim to follow Christ or are you actually doing the things he commanded his followers to do?"
I am struck by this question. It seems that it is a much simpler question in a place like Liberia, a simplicity that I somewhat envy. For in my life, these options exist on a continuum, within a color gradient that allows for little in the way of absolutes. From my own perspective, I would say that I act in accordance with my claims, that I walk my talk some of the time, but not all the time. I attribute this to the paradox of that Christ has already justified me by his grace through my faith, but as a fallen person the new creation in me continually struggles against the latent desires of a sinful person. At times I choose to give into sin, while others I do the good works that God has prepared for me.
I see this privately (mostly), publicly, and in my ministry (yes, I don't always follow Jesus, even in as I am getting paid to...). I think of my life experience and of Scripture such as Romans 7 and how true it is that my sinful nature continually rebels against God and what I know is right. But I also know that I am a new creation in Christ (2Cor 5, Gal 6)! These two truths wrestle with one another, even as the paradoxal knowledge of each in my mind and heart.
May I choose to be a follower of Christ much more than I choose to be called a Christian, may the same be said of each of my sisters and brothers in the Lord.

Spiritual Disciplines: Intro

2010-02-15T16:54:00.000-08:00

About a month ago, I picked up Tony Jones' book: The Sacred Way: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Life. I read through Foster's The Celebration of Discipline a couple times in college and I found it invigorating. With Jones' book, though, I decided that I would practice each discipline for at least a week.
I have since been engaging in the discipline of silence and I will detail my experience with that in a another post.
The point of disciplines is to bring us closer to God, not necessarily in feeling, but in actuality. This is what I seek, to deepen and strengthen my own relationship with God and hopefully some of these will prove very useful for years to come.

Here goes nothing!

Looking Forward to Snowbound!

2010-02-15T16:47:00.000-08:00

This weekend we head up to the mountains with our middle school students to Snowbound. This is our annnual middle school winter retreat that mirrors our High Altitude camp for high school students. The theme this year is "Enough." Not being on the design team, I do not know much more than that, other than our speaker is Larry Lindquist.

Last I saw, we had 14 kids signed up. If we get 20, Joe and the kids get to shave my head. I doubt we'll reach that number, but there is always hope! If we do, I'll include a picture with my follow-up post.

Beyond the music, the games, the crud war, and the general shenanigans and tom foolery, I am most looking forward to what God will do in our group. At High Altitude, we enjoyed some poignant sharing and I saw our group begin to draw together in a way it has not been. I hope that continues and I hope for something similar for our middle schoolers. Pray with me for God's work through us leaders, the speaker, the weekend program, and in the kids themselves.

Incarnational Ministry: Intro

2010-02-10T13:36:00.000-08:00

Years ago, Young Life began referring to the sort contact work they did with teens as incarnational ministry. Using the biblical metaphor of Christ's incarnation, they sought to be present in the flesh in the natural environments and home turf of the kids they sought to minister to. It has worked well for them and many other parachurch organizations from elementary school age (North Littleton Promise, Don Miller's Mentoring Project) to college (i.e. The Navigators, Campus Crusade for Christ, et al).

These organizations and others have proven that this sort of ministry works well and seems to be timeless. While parachurch organizations have known this for a long time, churches mostly either ignore it or leave it to those organizations. What we need to be doing is two-fold. First, we should establish relationships with those already engaged in this sort of ministry and then do some of it ourselves! I'll write about my philosophy as to how these two things should be done in a later post.

So what does this mean for those of us engaged in church youth ministry? It ideally means that we are either connected to those who are in the schools, sports clubs, etc or are present there ourselves. So volunteer for the prom at the local high school, become an assistant coach for a sport, teach guitar lessons after school, bring your kids and their friends pizza for lunch at their school or near it. BE on their turf. Engage them where they are natural and most comfortable. It will speak volumes about you and your church. It will open doors and create possibilities. You most often won't get the opportunity to preach the gospel here, but that's not the point. On their turf you start by being, then you observe and you most importantly listen. There will be much more on this topic to come.

Know that I am trying to practice what I preach. I recently got into the Poudre School District as a classroom volunteer at one of the middle schools where I am assisting in a wood shop class. The teacher, district, and students know I am a Christian, they know I am employed at a church as a youth worker, and they know that is part of why I am there. They also know and trust that I will not proselytize the students, but am present there to support the students' education. As I help out with projects and make sure kids don't hurt themselves, I am also hearing students' stories and challenging their minds and hands and skills. Hopefully they will benefit from my presence. I know I am and my ministry is already benefiting from this work.

Souper Bowl of Caring

2010-02-10T13:15:00.000-08:00

The Call, our middle school youth group, collected $487 and 482 food items this past Sunday for Souper Bowl of Caring. I am proud of our kids and our congregation. Their efforts combined to exceed our goals of $300 and 300 food items. The food is going to help stock our Deacons' Closet here at First Pres and just in time to partially stock their Easter baskets. The Deacons' Closet helps provide food for those in the congregation and outside it who are in need.
The money we raised will be split evenly between Catholic Charities Northern Colorado, a local soup kitchen which First Pres regularly staffs with volunteers, and McKinney McBackpacks, a charity project which provides food, clothing, and school supplies to impoverished families with kids in the Poudre School District.

Here is the first 80ish nonperishable food items that came in!

I am excited to follow these organizations as our congregation (and our youth groups) continue to offer support in terms of service and finances and to watch the great works the Lord is doing through these wonderful people and groups.

Soli Deo gloria.

Busy Week...

2010-02-08T10:19:00.000-08:00

I am trying to keep on top of this blog project and to do so I am beginning to plan out the topics for five weekly blog articles ahead of time. We'll see how it works. I decided this because this week is so busy. And I have three meetings this afternoon (staff, intern, and ministry center--which is like a youth committee meeting but includes children's min, university min, 20s/30s, and the church library as well as our supervising pastor, elders, and center leader...it'll be good, but long and tedious) and another one tomorrow morning. We are also coming off of High Altitude (a week ago, but you know the time curve on that if you have participated in retreats before), the Souper Bowl of Caring (I still have to count cans...), and looking ahead to a high school game night. All while battling a sinus infection that just won't go away.
Alright. Enough complaining. I am a firm believer that circumstances only dictate our lives if we allow them to, so I am attacking this week and this blog head on. Here goes something...

High Altitude HS Retreat Recap

2010-02-08T10:08:00.000-08:00

Here is Nathaniel, a good friend and youth leader taking a bullet for the sake of ministry (or at least entertainment) on our high school retreat a week ago:

Epic prank war between us (First Pres, FoCo) and New Day Church (Aurora, CO). It started with Weimer (spelling?), their youth pastor stealing Joe's (my boss and our youth director) foam sword (we had one for every person in our group). Joe got it back, but on Saturday afternoon, New Day got all of our swords... We took them back and stole their pillows... They threw our mattresses out of our room... We did this:

Inside of front door to New Day's cabin.

Half their mattresses stuffed into the door into their bathroom.

The other half of their mattresses blocking their back door as seen from the outside. They had to push through here to get into their room.

The best part of these pranks is that they were well received by both parties, nondestructive, and fun. Our girls were upset after their pillows were stolen so the pranks only continued with the boys. The leaders were all involved and made sure nothing went too far (we were policing each other, believe me). It was great fun. New Day did get the last word in with a last minute steal of swords out of our vans and proudly waved them at us as they passed us on I-70...good times...

High Altitude was not just about the games and pranks, though. The worship in music, messages, breakout sessions, and family time (my personal favorite) were so rich. We know how to have a crazy good time, but there was also a profound awareness of the presence of God and his movement in our lives.

The theme for the weekend was story. Our speaker was Mike Lawrie (I hope I spelled his last name right) and he told us his story the first night, God's grand story Saturday night, and on Sunday morning he spoke of the story of the Church (our corporate story) and our part as co-authors (my wording, not his). During the breakout sessions our guys listened to RJ Koerper tell his story of sin and pain and his redemption as he went from the professor who started the first youth ministry major/degree at a college to an alcoholic and felon and back. especially touching as he was the reason I went to Colorado Christian University and was my professor of homiletics. The second session was led by my friend and colleague Bill Wilkin and aimed at helping students tell their own story. We got poster board and filled it will color-coded sticky notes to show important people and events (yellow), lessons from those (blue), and our God sightings (red). I believe our guys got quite a bit out of it and I loved hearing bits and pieces of their stories as a result of the session.

My favorite thing about this retreat though is family time. That is when we all break up into our individual churches and processed Mike's messages together. This was where the good sharing was. It was in this context that I learned more about my kids than the rest of the retreat put together. The shared experiences are good, but nothing beats deep conversation and prayer over each other. As my own youth pastor, Larry, would say, "Now that is what I call church!" My task and prayer is to figure out how to incorporate the kids' stories into more and to keep up an atmosphere that allows and encourages the sharing which brings people together and edifies them as a local expression of Christ's Church...

High School Retreat and Great Quotation!

2010-01-29T13:14:00.000-08:00

Our high school ministry at First Pres, The Core, is headed up to High Altitude this weekend. I know it will be a fun for all and am hoping for much more than that.
This is a retreat that I used to attend when I was in high school in the south Denver suburbs. So there is a little nostaligia for me, but the real fun will be to see our kids worshiping, playing, and connecting with 300-some other kids from Fort Collins and all over Colorado. I can't wait to see what the Lord is going to do in our group and in the individual kids. My prayer is that we are all attentive enough to recognize it and obedient enough to not just go with it, but to spur it on ourselves.

Parting shot for the weekend: John, one of our middle school guys said on Wednesday evening at dinner (addressed at no one in particular): "I find that a small explosion usually works well." I love middle schoolers!

Until Monday, Peace in Christ.

Fly Swatter Game - Killing Flies while Killing Time

2010-01-28T23:11:00.000-08:00

This is a great waste of time and an awesome thing to challenge board teenagers to on a sleepy summer afternoon in your office...
Fly Swatter Game

The Necessity of Tragedy

2010-01-27T11:09:00.000-08:00

I just picked up the two Christmas albums by Over the Rhine, which is my new favorite band. The album entitled Snow Angels has an almost title track called "Snow Angel" (note the singular vs. plural). As I listened and re-listen to this song and particularly to the story in the lyrics, I was struck by the odd, but somehow fitting placement of a story of tragedy set at Christmas time. The song draws up a longing in me like a heavy bucket in an old well. It is bittersweet, both satisfying and painful, even as the poem ends with a glint of hope.
Being the obnoxiously introspective type, I began to wonder why I liked this song so much and after some pondering, I began to think about what might be the representational archetype of this story-song, what is the metanarrative of which the slain soldier and his love left behind tell but a piece? It was then that the song became reminiscent of others that I love, namely Jon Foreman's "Somebody's Baby", Nickel Creek's "The Lighthouse's Tale" and "The Hand Song", "Under Bridges" and "Estrella" (even "Heart Still Beats") by Brave Saint Saturn. There are others, but these stand out above the rest to me.
In the lyrics and music of these songs, in the harmonies and minor chords is something that you know from experience. These songs are loved, are embraced by us because they validate our pain and illuminate our own tragedies. Regardless of whether or not the world is imploding at any given point in time, we all know tragedy. Maybe you experienced it when your grandmother died or when that girl rejected you or when the guy you gave your heart to, broke it before causally throwing it back to you. It might have been a tragedy of failed business or of daily struggle for sustenance.
Tragedies come in various shapes and sizes, but they are real to us, regardless of their meaning to a world of cold spectators. Though publishing stories of tragedy is nothing new, it seems to strike a chord in the human heart. Whether the story is by Shakespeare or Sophocles. Those great stories handed down through eons...especially those of love and love lost such as Romeo and Juliet and Oedipus Rex. And certainly, the oldest portion of the Bible is the tragedy of Job (yes, it is a tragedy, restoration of wealth and family does not replace children who are dead).
I look at the recent earthquake in Haiti and see tragedy. And while our primary concern needs to be the alleviation and comfort of suffering people and a suffering nation, it is just as human to want to explain tragedy. Some, like Pat Robertson, explain this tragedy and others as divine retribution. And while that is a general possibility, I certainly don't think that it is the case in Haiti, at least not the way that Robertson is pushing the idea. But this sort of theorizing has always been a tendency of humanity. We have enslaved ourselves to rational causality!
Look at Job. After tragedy strikes, he is in mourning and his friends join him. Shortly, they begin to offer their views as to why Job's wealth, health, and offspring have been taken from him. They want to point to his own actions as causing his predicament. Job himself seeks the answer in his own questioning and in his defense against their hypotheses.
And as Rob Bell points out in his video "Whirlwind" (Nooma #24): after everyone has had their say, God speaks. Most of what God's words are questions directed at job which insult every human instinct and desire of explaining causal relationships in series of events. The bottom line is that God is sovereign.
The ultimate tragedy was the death of God himself, incarnate as Jesus Christ, the God-man. Even Jesus asked, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" I will not argue Christ's motive in this allusion to to the Psalms, but I will say this: God experiences our tragedy with us. It was necessary for salvation, for redemption. I believe that part of the reason we love tragic story is that redemption must come out of tragedy. Whether that is the fall which leads to salvation through Jesus Christ or the crucifixion, which leads to the resurrection. There is an intimate connection between tragedy and redemption.
Look to your own life. Look to your personal tragedies. Look to your music and to current events. Grieve for tragedy. And look for redemption. Look to God, see what he can do, what he has done already. And look to tragedies like the Haitian earthquake. Be part of the redemption. Help write the rest of the story and look forward to the final restoration when Jesus comes again.

Customer Service Kudos - Newegg.com

2010-01-27T10:49:00.000-08:00

In July of 2008 I purchased a 22" flat panel monitor from Newegg.com. Newegg no longer carries my model, but they do have it in the 20.1" size: here if you want to see it. It was a decent buy at $240 (with a final price tag of $180 after a $70 mail in rebate). Now I had a former roommate who had a smaller monitor (his was a 19" I think) from the same manufacturer, Sceptre. His monitor died after a while and mine just had the same problem. The issue appears to be an electric switch that tells the display whether to be in standby or normal mode. In both instances the switch failed to be always in standby: thus nothing on screen. Needless to say, it is a bummer to not be able to see anything.
My monitor was out of warranty by a couple months, but luckily I had purchased an extra year of coverage from Newegg. So step one was to make a claim with ServiceNet, the company handling the extended warranty. This went smoothly and I received instructions to ship the monitor sans cables to them for inspection and attempted repair. This went off without a hitch.
Shortly thereafter I received a call from Newegg conducting a survey of the customer service I had received, which I gladly raved to them about. I them waited for several weeks and then received a check in the mail for the full purchase amount! I then received a second survey call from Newegg wanting to make sure I was satisfied with their service. I again raved about it.
After all of that, I actually netted about $20 and the power, audio, and VGA cables which came with the monitor. I doubt I will buy another Sceptre display, but I will continue to use Newegg.com for the majority of my computer hardware purchases. For me, Newegg is not just about great selection and low prices, but primarily about good service. I stand behind them.

A Rhythmic Exercise in Paradox

2009-11-10T19:31:00.000-08:00

Those words which seem to contradict often do.
Or do they?

Heresy is an abstract concept in a world of paradox…
Love and wrath, equality and submission,
Doctrine and passion, activity and passivity!
Things which are said do seem meant.
But those meant do not mend well.
The mental mending of rent rentals
Oh the rendition of mental intention of idiots!
And parroted paradox perplexes intellect once again.

Words out of context,
Placed into ideas as
Post polls into post holes.
Support the creations of human kind.
Or do they?
Ideas sound soundly wrong, yet
Those voices sound strong
Upon the resounding masses.

Nice smiles and happy pretext set
To sell sex, text, and television
Advertising alongside those
Bonus gifts available only
To those whose passion is
Higher than thought.

Only twenty minutes left!!!

Rash decisions lead to poverty.
The perpetual poverty of the indebted attempting to out-debt their debtors!
The perpetual poverty of impoverished poets
The impoverished poet reads and writes well
But his meandering, morbid
Ponderings betray the empty heart
Of a hermetic hermeneutic.
Woe! sad hermit…

What of the context of pretext?
Presupposition supposes so
Frequently that the frequency is
Above the threshold of
Audibility. Ought we
Not to bring it down?
To frequent frequency of pain?

Pain...

Pain...the pangs of hunger, of
Want...want for things, want for love...
So much want that we are wont to
Do that which we not ought be wont to do.

For therein lies the death.
And that great paradox is paradoxically
Only available through the Great Paradox.
Found in fullness and the finite at once.

The death of that which cannot die.
The murder of death itself.
And that worthless redemption of the worthless.
At the cost of the priceless...losing what cannot be lost
...nor found.
That losing found the lost and chose those
Who might reject their own election.
Were not that election rigged!

O Great Scandal!

Thanks be for the impossible!
For in impossibility, impossible plausibility fulfills
The causation of the uncaused and
Certain damnation of undamnability and of damnation itself!
And the ineffable existential essence of paradox…

…

…that collision upon two intersecting lines.

Youth Group Game

2009-11-02T08:26:00.000-08:00

This is a game we played last night in youth group. Classic Young Life style setup. Audience is in on the joke, four participants have no idea what's actually going on. Except for the fourth one. She has a much better idea than I do. I am the head, by the way... Enjoy.

Google Wave!

2009-10-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

I am lucky enough to have received an invite to try Google Wave (from a friend, not from Google, so I can't invite anyone else, sorry). This is an amazing tool! My only limitation at this point is that I only have one friend on using Wave and while we enjoy many of the same things, he is in the video production/editing and computer business whilst I am a youth worker. Not a lot of common ground there for collaboration. If you use Wave and are interested in playing around with it, please find me so I have someone to try stuff out with! This would be especially awesome if you are also involved in youth ministry as I am particularly interested in testing ways of using Wave to improve ministry communication and collaboration.

Thanks!

And if you have no idea what Wave is, check this out:

And if you are really interested, here is the 80min Google I/O launch video:

Trust

2009-10-29T11:47:00.000-07:00

Trust is hard. Especially for those of us who are better at doing things ourselves. While I am eternally grateful for the strong work ethic and independent spirit that is bred in my family, it gets in the way of trust. I am in church ministry, I work with the teenagers, the youth. Though I am an intern now, at the end of my internship I will hopefully have a position doing the same thing (but for more than a year and hopefully for a few more dollars per year). My job and my field require much trust (in unique ways, but not entirely unlike most other professions). Trust is also necessary in relationships. Whether that be professional, familial, or personal.

Trust has been a big thing in my life lately. There is so much that the Lord is leading me to specifically trust him for, including my job, finding a job next year, family, finances, personal theology, friends. My finances have been huge as I am on my own for the first time and figuring out how to survive, plan ahead, tithe, give generously, and have some leisure cash all at the same time. And there's Rachel, my lovely girlfriend, and money spent with her and traveling to see her (she's in Denver and I live just south of the Colorado-Wyoming border). Of course there is quite a bit to trust God on there too which involves no money.

But the point of all this is built on my evolving understanding of what trust is. Trust is usually dynamic, though not always (see the story of George Muller). By this I mean that it is not generally done apart from progressive action. Trust is not passive. The trust God is leading me into mostly requires action on my behalf. Trust in finance requires budgeting and prudent spending. Trust with Rachel requires much prayer and open communication with her and also concerning her with certain trusted mentors.Trust in my job requires that I do my best while continually going before God in prayer. Trust in a job search requires networking, prayer, applications and resumes well written, interviews well prepared for, etc.

You might notice a common thread of prayer. You may think that I am some sort of crazy prayer warrior or super-Christian who spends all my time on my knees. Quite the opposite really. I believe strongly in the power of prayer. I don't know how to fit all that I think to be true into a nice, neat systematic theology, but I know that one of the best methods for me to be able to trust in God is to talk with him. That means I listen as well as talk! My other means are to be reading scripture every day and to seek council from godly mentors and friends.

So even as I endeavor and struggle to place my trust into the hands of the sovereign Godhead, I need to be about my disciplines to foster that trust. May you as well, and even better than I am.

Grace and Peace in our Lord and savior, Christ Jesus.

Further up and further in!

2009-10-10T20:48:00.000-07:00

In The Last Battle, by C.S. Lewis, there is a chapter by this title wherein the protagonists discover that after the Narnian apocalypse, there is a re-creation of everything they have known about the country which is "more real" than the one they knew before. After pondering this and at the prompting of Farsight the eagle, they travel all the way to the garden from The Magician's Nephew in the far west of Narnia and at the highest of elevations. Within the walls of the garden, it is as if Narnia begins all over again, though seeming larger and "more real". Borrowing from Plato and possibly the Apostle Paul (see 1 Cor 13.12, tho this is cited apart from it's context), Lewis shows that in this eternity or spiritual reality, things are truer than before. Additionally, they become progressively more so, the further up and further in the characters travel.
Likewise, on my own meandering journey through life, I find that the more I enter into something the bigger and more complex it gets (like the stable in The Last Battle, the namesake of this blog). Whether this is in my own theology, experience, my work with youth and as a minister of the gospel of Christ, relationships, etc... things continue to become larger and more intricate whether I desire that to be true or not.
This fact of experience (one which I believe is common to every human being) is the thread by which I will attempt to weave together my posts.

Thanks for giving my thoughts and opinions your time.