Searching for Meaning and Purpose...

After this morning's See You At The Pole prayer time, I was really moved by how awesome God is. 40 some odd middle school students and 8 youth pastors, teachers, and parents prayed for each other, their school, their parents, their friends, their nation, and their world. That by itself was great, but this evening seeing the 100+ students gathered outside at the park, was incredible. Yeah, things didn't work exactly as planned (the lack of lights meant we had to pull some cars up and kick on their headlights, it kinda felt like a Diehard battery ad) but God was there and God did what He wanted to do. I am so convinced that this is a special time and group of ministers, parents/volunteers, and students who are really working towards making things better in our community. It is really pretty incredible to see an event with the Baptist youth guy leading worship, the AG guy running the game, the Xian church guy giving stuff away and cooking up the grub, and a crazed Presbyterian ...

As we attempt to navigate the worldview waters out there, I am struck by how many people who go to church have a non-biblical worldview. Now, some might say, "So what?" and others are appalled but then there are some who look and go, "Huh?" The vast majority of students fall into the last category. They could care less about what undergirds their lives because that isn't important. I hear it all the time: "Well, they believe it so it's true for them." or to put it another way: "Dude, it was okay for me to lie to him cause he didn't need to know." At issue here is the idea of absolutes and morality. In the post-modern world the idea is that it all comes down to our story, there is no bigger story we're a part of. However, in the Christian world, we must acknowledge the bigger story we are merely a small part of. These two fundamental differences shape everything else that is believed, thought, or done by most people. Those...

We just ran our kick-off lock in for junior high and it was insane! Which leads me to my thought: is running a lock in merely clinical insanity writ large or is it really worthwhile? I have an answer based on what I saw, but still had to ask. At our lock-in it brought out our regular crowd and most of my junior high leadership team, but it also brought out 8 brand new faces (people who have never been associated with our program before!). Thinking about that, this evening allowed me to meet and spend a LOT of time with students who have never been here before and most of whom don't have a church background or church home! So, with that in mind, I say that doing this insanity (and the $100 we spent on food, etc.) was well worth it. Which leads me to the second point: when we do things on purpose, it leads to results most of the time. We planned this lock-in to reach out. The whole purpose of the lock-in was to allow us to reach out to and bring in students who haven't eve...

Summer is at an end! The school year officially begins for most of my students tomorrow and brings to an end a REALLY busy summer. But, looking back there are three things I'm really proud of: Mission El Dorado Mission Arkansas Mission Mexico In each endeavor we were being Jesus where people were. And not just around the country or world, but right here in our backyard. Jesus said to take Him to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and all the Earth. This summer we did that: taking Jesus to our city, our nation, and the world. Plus, nothing beats seeing how hard students can work and how much they can get done! I realized again I am very blessed to be a part of a church that so values DOING something with our faith...

After a great weekend of master's classes and the Frequency conference at Indiana Wesleyan University, I am thinking, a lot! I am going to deviate from thinking about what it means to be a Christ follower into what it means to "minister" and what a "ministry" really is. Ministry is a broad term, covering anything someone does in the name of Christ (minister means to give aid not someone who is of the clergy, that's something we associate to it, not the original meaning!). So in theory, feeding someone who is hungry is a ministry (particularly as we fit both contexts, the idea of doing something in Jesus' name and the "professional" idea of someone who does things for the church) especially as it was something Jesus told us to do? However, should there ever be separation between the "professional" idea of ministry and the actual process of giving aid? I think not, but we've made it so. Is there a place for preaching? Yes. Is...

After reading more and thinking a lot, I keep wondering what it really means to be a Christian. If you haven't read it, check out the book "UnChristian" by David Kinnaman. It's a must read for those in ministry and for anyone with a heart to reach people who are disconnected. The book is based on research from people who are NOT Christians on their perspectives of the "church." The results are pretty scary, but there isn't anything uncorrectable or fatal there. The things he lists include: judgmental, hypocritical, anti-homosexual, too political, sheltered, and focused only on "saving" people. Each of those rebukes is true. Partially because the church isn't a homogeneous group, but mainly because it's true! People are turned off by us not being real or by putting on a persona. To quote DC Talk (yes, I am a child of the 80-90's): "The single biggest cause of atheism today are Christians who confess Jesus at church the...

I really like this idea: the current generation (Gen Y, iGen, whatever title you give it) is moving towards real change not just talk. Their focus isn't necessarily on themselves. In fact, I would say there is a concerted movement to focus on others! After the CORE (Dan Jessup was awesome and I think my students soaked up quite a bit) I am totally stoked about finding something we can DO (note: that means the students finding something not Matt) to change the world. Right now one thing is we're "adopting Grannies" from Vintage Place (isn't the name great? Doesn't sound like the normal nursing home, it's vintage, not old!). That is as simple as talking to them once every other month or so, baking cookies, making cards, just investing ourselves in their lives! And it makes a huge difference for the people we talk to. They might not have anyone visit them regularly, but my students do! However, I think there is SO much more we could do (in fact, it...