YOUTHINTHECORNER

Wigglesworth says “I believe we are on the wrong side of the cross.  We say Love, Love, Love when we should be saying Repent, Repent, Repent!”

The work of your ministry begins with the willingness to repent.  All great moves of God begin with that action and yet it is something that we treat so flippantly.  Repentance isn’t crying or feeling bad…repentance is turning away from sin and toward righteousness.   If you are feeling powerless in your work repent.  If you are feeling confused in a direction you need to go.  Repent.  If you are finding yourself overwhelmed.  Repent.

Only when we get this discipline down in our lives will we ever truly understand what Power the Holy Spirit wants to impart upon us.  Operate on this side of the cross and on your knees repent, then get up and work in righteousness the work of the Lord.

I am praying for you all now.

Lord, I pray for all of my fellow workers out there slugging it out for the cause of your name.  I pray for a spirit of repentance to pour out onto our leadership.  You are the author of our work, Lord.  We recognize that we try too often to do ministry in our own strength.  We recognize that we allow pride, ego, and temptation of every stripe enter our spirits.  We ask Lord for your forgiveness, we beg Lord for your forgiveness.  We plead the cross for the strength to work in your strength.  To work in your Spirit, in your ways, in your righteousness.  Give us your eyes, your heart, allow us to be your hands.  In Jesus name.  Amen

No offense to Walt Mueller but I am sick of the word culture.  It has become the most overused word in church vernacular since relevant.  I am sick of how some use the word as a diseased amoeba that we must protect ourselves from.  I am sick of how it is used as a convenient way to over generalize important issues of our day like media influence, social networking, violence, racism, war and a world economy.  I am sick of the way the Church acts as though it is not PART of culture.

Simple fact of the matter is that you can’t separate Church and Culture.  The religious influence on the people is one of the crucial marks of culture in society.  We should be asking not how is this culture affecting this people group or that organization but rather ask how is the New Testament Church affecting Culture.

The internet is here to stay, so are TV, Movies, Democrats, Republicans, Hate and Love.  How do we as a church navigate through this world and proclaim Jesus.  I strained a ligament in my knee a few weeks ago and last night I tweaked it playing with my 3 year old…holding it in pain she saw that I had a small scratch and went to get a band-aid for my booboo.   In her world if she fixed the scratch the pain would go away.  Church, stop focusing on the scratch…stop focusing on the surface level evidences of pain and let’s go deeper into the soul and offer healing. Healing that comes only from Jesus.   Then, the church will begin to AFFECT culture not simply be observing and commenting on it.

Study Jesus and you find someone who went out of his way to AFFECT culture not to comment on it.  Even when he commented on it he was stirring the pot of the establishment.  I pray that you who read this read it with it’s intent to encourage spiritual leaders to LEAD with love, compassion and mission.  Let other people study why.

Psalm 20:4-5 “May he give you the desires of your heart and make all your plans succeed. We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the Lord grant all your requests.”

One problem that I have whenever I attend a youth ministry conference is Youth Ministry Guilt.  This is a condition that comes about when people who are smarter than you question what you are doing and how you are doing it.  Or they point out the NEW way of doing ministry which is really the OLD way of doing ministry.  All I know is that I often feel like MY way of doing ministry is wrong.

The prevailing thought from many of the speakers is that numbers is getting to much attention and discipleship is getting the shaft.  On that note I totally agree.  However, I am not ready to throw the pizza out with the light machine just yet.  After months of praying and weeks of fasting I believe that God gave me the vision called “HALF”.  This vision was not to bring attention to our numbers rather more to spread our tent of influence throughout our community.  I want God to be Glorified throughout Moncks Corner.

We are year 2 into our 5 year campaign and all goals have been met.  That leads me to the purpose of this blog.  The cure for youth ministry guilt is to point out that this is not about me, my numbers or my plan.  this is about giving Glory to God.  So, if you will allow me to share with you some victories.

• Every year for the last 3 years we have doubled.  2006 = 50, 2007 = 100, 2008 = 250
• We had a young lady at Breakaway thought she was pregnant and considering suicide and now is on fire for God and meeting regularly with one of our leaders.
• I meet with 2 young men every week that very well may be future pastors, they are hungry for God and his Word.
• We have a presence on 2 of the campuses every week.  ACTS at St Johns and Teen Extreme at Berkeley Middle
• Students are engaging in worship more and more every week.
• Our student ministry was able to provide hope and comfort to 4 tragedy stricken families
• We have students serving in the tech team, worship team, children s ministry, nursery and service teams.
• We took up over $150 for a family whose home burned down
• We took up over 150 care kits for the homeless
• We collected over 10 bags of groceries for Salvation Army
• We take up a monthly offering to support an internet radio station ministry called radiofree.cc
• We have baptized over 50 students this year

All of these are Victories that belong to Jesus.  We lift up the banners in the name of Jesus.  We have a long way to go but I believe that we are on the right track.  Thank you God for allowing me to be a part of your work.

Saw this on Josh Griffins Blog…yeah, I haven’t even begun to be creative.  This is amazing…great song, great use of visual arts, great way to connect to the Creator God.

Reading through Amos I came across a passage that scares the begeezes out of me.
Amos 5:21-27

Are our assemblies pleasing to God? Are our songs pleasant to him or “noise”? Are our sacrifices blessed by God? As I am finishing the set/sermon for Wednesday night that is my biggest prayer. Lord, Be Glorified!

What is cool though is while wondering why did God’s people offend him so much? Look to chapter 6. they were complacent. They were phoning it in. There was no more than the basics given. The people of God rested on simply being the people of God. One thing that we try very hard NOT to do…is be complacent. We try very hard to give the very best this week and the next. We are constantly trying to give a better gift. Why? So that we can impress the masses, NO! We want to give the best…the best songs we have to sing, the best prayers we have to give, the best environment we have to provide so that the Spirit of the living God can move freely into the hearts of those in this place.

I pray we are succeeding.

We had Baptism yesterday and because we don’t have a baptismal in our church yet we set up a pool out back and set it up there. It was COLD! However, it was the coolest thing ever. That is one of my favorite parts of being a Pastor is participating in Baptism. To be part of such an important aspect of someones spiritual journey is extremely humbling. I remember being baptized 16 years ago. I still remember Pastor Jimmy’s talk. I remember the feel of the water and the really baggy white robe and I can still hear the water dripping off as the congregation clapped.

On a side note yesterday I had a great time with a student that I am mentoring. He is a good guy and I believe will be in full time ministry one day. It is such a privilege to pour into people’s lives. And tonight I am going to hang out with 20-30 of the coolest people on the planet and that is my youth ministry team. They are fun, devoted and passionate…we are gonna cast some vision and then sling some bowling balls. I can’t wait.

Basically, I love what I do. Thank you Jesus with allowing me to live my dream.

Stealing a page from Steven Furticks playbook I want to share with you what God is dealing with me on. I am deciding now to rededicate myself. It is amazing how I don’t remember losing my deidcation to certain areas. However upon reflection it is obvious that my passion/energy has waned…but now it is time to get things back the way they need to be.
So I re-dedicate myself to…
… a life of prayer and meditation on God’s Word.
… Caring about individuals.
… developing a “culture” that longs to see teens love Jesus
… doing anything short of sin to see teens become fully devoted and passionate followers of Jesus
… falling madly in love with my wife again
… being a daddy that leads his home with the love of Jesus

That is my list…have you strayed a bit and not realized it? Does you life need refocusing? Take a minute and put together a re-dedication list of your own. Then go after it!

Last night we had about 220 youth and about 50 adults come together for the first Moncks Corner “Gathering”. We had some awesome times of worship, prayer and connecting with other youth ministries around the community. Our volunteers did an amazing job of making everyone feel welcome and part of the crowd. Of course our kids lit it up in worship! I love my Church, Youth Ministry and I love my job!

The Gathering was a time to promote an event called See You At The Pole. A day where thousands of students come together to pray for their schools, friends, and country.

This morning we had over 50 at the Berkeley High School SYATP, 40-50 at Berkeley Middle, tons at St Johns, Macedonia and Timberland had a good showing as well.

How many times has someone shared news with you and you responded by saying, “I will pray for you”? How many times do you forget or simply toss up a courtesy line to god? How many times do you have a bad day or a frustrating situation arise in your life and you know you NEED to pray? In my small group last night during a discussion on prayer I felt the Spirit leading me to an idea that prayer is NOT the end. Prayer is the means to FAITH, which IS the end. Jesus never replied, “your prayers have made you well.” It is our Faith that heals.
How is your faith? The faith that God longs for requires prayer but not micro bursts of prayer based upon life’s circumstances, however it requires a LIFE of prayer. A constant connection to God.
Jesus healed many…not all. How did he know who to heal and who not to heal? It was his connection to the father. As we walk in faith there WILL be times when we can look at someone dying of Cancer speak to the sickness and watch them be healed. There will also be times where we pray for comfort and peace during these last moments. How will we know which one? We must walk in faith and be connected to the Spirit of God.

So, I encourage you to pray today…not so much for something as much as it connects you with the person of Jesus.