YOUTHINTHECORNER

My life was changed forever.  Emily was born and I was immediately wooped!  She had spikey red hair and the biggest eyes I had ever seen (actually looked like a troll).  She was the nurses favorite, one nurse actually came and got her at 3:00 AM to show her off!  She has alwaysbeen my princess.  Her hugs melt me and her sweetness is contagious.  When she was a baby no one could quiet her cries like her daddy.  I have never wept quite as much as when I held her in my arms the first night.  I thank God for the priveledge of raising her.

Happy Birthday sweetheart.

There are some of you that have not registered for ACCESS.  That is SHOCKING!  Register at www.pointenorth.org.

There are a lot of things that as I have grown more mature in my faith that have become non-essentials theologically.  Then there are a few things that endure the test of scrutiny.  This month we will be looking at undeniable truths.  When they are stated…it is the END OF THE DISCUSSION.

Last night was one of the best nights ever at Alive.  We had 240 students, 11 first-timers and 25 adults!  We had a time of worship that was UNBELIEVABLE!  I am amazed that I get to do this for a living.  In the middle school service we had students going after Jesus some for the first time.

The message was basically to get to an intense place of worship we must surrender, submit and become shameless! Since it is our own agendas and pride that block us from truly worshiping Jesus it is going to take Surrendering unto the Lordship of Christ, Submitting your life to him and becoming shameless in our expression of our love for an almighty God

The foundational scripture was Gal 2:20, so during a creative moment we had students go to the crosses and leaders placed a red dot on their hands signifying their submission to Christ.  After the MS service I heard there were girls in the bathroom crying and looking down at their hands.  Loving Jesus.

In the HS service students were once again GOING AFTER IT!  Towards the end of the service the band (which did an amazing job) punched it and dozens of hands went STRAIGHT UP!  I have never seen that many students going after Jesus that hard before.  It was amazing.

You should have been there…and if you are not serving anywhere and you go to Pointe North, I mean that quite literally.

By the time the students get to me the game is half over.  I understand that though it is me on the stage screaming my guts out it is YOUR prayers that have tilled the soil of the hearts of these teenagers so that they may be sensitive to the Gospel.  When I accepted Christ it was after a lot of running from God.  My Grandmother however, never stopped praying for me.  When I told her she grinned and said “I knew it!”.  Every night this old lady sat in her bed with her Bible in her hand and prayed for a grandson that needed Jesus.  This was years before I prayed for Jesus and entered into a Church.  So, was it my youth pastor that led me or those prayers…both.  However, I know that it takes YOUR prayers for these teenagers to come to Jesus.  So, I emplore you.  PRAY!  Send this blog to your friends and have them pray.  If you know of a student who comes to our ministry and yet their parents attend another church, send this to them and have them PRAY!

Because by the time they get to me, the game is half over.

Today is MLK memorial day.  I hope that you are using this day to at least pause and think about where we have come as a people and as a nation.  The ignorance and hate of our parents and grandparents generations is beginning to diminish and there is no greater example of that than tomorrows inauguration of Barack Obama.  MLK jr was of course an instrament of change in the arena of civil rights but he was also an incredible thinker and an incredible Christian.  In a world of sound-bites and boiled down theology, it makes me long for great thinkers and orators.  I am thankful for Rob Bell, Mark Batterson, Brian Mclarean.  Great thinkers that are questioning things.

Here are some quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and reasons why I love this man.

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”

”Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think”

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

“A man can’t ride your back unless it’s bent.”

Take a moment and ponder things for a moment.  Ask a question.  That will be an appropriate way to remember a great thinker.

Now that my mistake series is finished I wanted to blog about something personal.  My 6 year old gave me an “odd” gift for Christmas.  She gave me a Batman pillow.  I don’t know why?  I have never asked for a batman pillow.  I have never speant a lot of time talking about Batman or pillows but according to my wife she was adament about getting me this pillow.  They had to go to 3 stores to find it!  When I opened it Christmas eve morning she was BEAMING!  She was so proud of her gift.  I admit that I teared up watching her joy.

Tomorrow, many of us will be going to church.  Many of us will sing songs, read the Bible and give our offerings.  You ever wonder how small our offerings of worship are considering the AWESOMENESS of God?  However, I bet just like that little pillow warmed my heart, if you go to God with YOUR GIFTS  with ALL your heart.  I believe God’s heart will warmed.

May God be blessed with all of our versions of B atman Pillows tomorrow.

mistake #1 – not doing this a year ago

I wish I would have done this a year ago to learn from my mistakes in 2007.  Many of them were the same.  Unfortunately many mistakes of 2009 will be similar to those in 2008.  However, if we WOULD take the time to ponder our mistakes and develop a strategy for correcting the mistakes our ministries and lives would improve drastically.  I have enjoyed this series, It has been sobering yet enlightening to realize I have so far to go as a Pastor and as a man.

I hope you have the courage to think on the mistakes you have made and seek the guidance from the Holy Spirit to make shifts in your life so that your 2009 can be the greatest year ever.

That being said I am out of ideas for blogs so if you have any questions or ideas shoot em at me.

mistake #2 – the comparison game

Honestly, I do care about numbers.  I care about how many students we have in our program.  I don’t think you can get too many people in Church.  I mean when do you cap it off?  At what point do you tell the next kid, “I’m sorry we are all full, go to hell.”  That is why though we are running 250 students in Moncks Corner and by any persons standards that would be great, I am still not satisfied.

All of that to say that last year one of my biggest mistakes wasn’t that I cared to get a large youth group.  My biggest mistake was looking around rather than looking up.  My standard was not seeking who God could use us to get into the kingdom this week.  Often times it was wanting to the biggest, the most influential, the most impressive.

I loved that we were up there with the “big boys”, Northwood, Seacoast, Cathedral of Praise.  I am ashamed that last sentence was typed by me.  However, if I am going to share my mistakes you deserve to hear the ugly ones.  I compared something as precious as teens souls to other churches like they were pieces of furniture.

One thing that I often teach others is that vision should be 1) given by God 2) God sized 3) not swayed by outside influences.  When you begin to look around rather than looking up, your vision can get off course.  Then you are in trouble.

We didn’t have too much trouble with that last year but only because I have a great team that often won’t let me make stupid mistakes.

I have prayed, asked forgiveness and moved on but that was one of my biggest mistakes of 2008.