Bibles for leaders

Thought I would share this pic with you. It is one of the village chiefs and pastors in Chikudzulire receiving a bible purchased by Vision Africa. My church sponsored Chikudzulire almost a year ago and if you had anything to do with Vision Africa, here is just a glimpse of what you have helped accomplish. Also, notice the feeding center you helped build in the background!

I just got a foot washing

I am one who is constantly in need of humility. I have had my feet literally washed before and it was uncomfortably humiliating but also an emotional and somewhat convicting experience. But last week, while I was gone at summer camp, I got a foot washing again… but this one floored me and blessed me more than I had been in a while.

I left my car to be “looked at” by a man who volunteers in the student ministry and happens to own his own garage… we will call him “Ron” because he is the kind of guy who wants to be anonymous. My car was making weird noise and he said he would check it out for me FOR FREE, so I left him my Pathfinder with the key and sincere, “Thanks!” When I returned home and finally settled into my car, which he left at church, I found a door-hanger on the seat that said, “Thanks for giving us the opportunity to serve you,” and it was signed by three guys.

Then it started.

I noticed immediately that my car had been washed and cleaned inside and out. It had a FULL TANK OF GAS. The spare tire was put back under the back and the damaged tire had been repaired and put back on. The A/C was colder than ever. The oil had been changed. The brake rotors had been replaced. Oh, and that noise… it was gone. And that was just what I could tell from my “non car guy” eyes.

I was totally blessed.

I prayed for Ron and his business and thanked God for him all the way home. It wasn’t later until I found out that the guys who signed the note were high schooler from his small group who had all worked on my car together while praying for me, my family, and talking about Jesus washing His disciples feet. I have heard of these things happening in other places to other people but never to me.

I imagined this is what a foot washing must feel like. I was humbled but in a good way. I genuinely felt the Holy Spirit’s encouragement through the actions of Ron and his small group. And I also felt like I had a lot to learn from men like him.

When was the last time you washed feet? When was the last time someone washed yours?

On Josh Hamilton

I was going to blog about this today but Peter Gammons beat me to it and said all I wanted to. Read his words HERE. I would have cried if he had won the derby.

New arrival!

Eat your heart our Mark Driscoll…

This is low…

…even for anger-filled Republichristians.

Summer Camp Blog: FINAL

I actually blogged day five but there was some weird stuff going on with my Mac that day and so it never actually posted. I assume it was trying to update itself but couldn’t get through the PLNU firewall. Anyways, here are some final thoughts from camp.

First, I love Hume. I like that the people who run the camp are down to earth guys who seem to genuinely care about my students, and it shows in the way they run things. The programming is always excellent and they always manage to keep things fresh from a design and look perspective. I do wish the cost was less, but c’est la vie. I look forward to returning next year.

Second, it seems like every year the seventh-graders keep getting younger and younger. There were times this week I felt like I was doing children’s ministry… that frightens me and frankly I never want to feel that way again. I’m not sure what the cause of this is… some say I am just getting older, that is just ridiculous.

Third, my volunteer staff are awesome. They spent a lot of time with the students this week and I never had to tell them to. Each one proved to me at times that they also cared about the students and liked being around them. Me, on the other hand… kidding.

Fourth, I realized how protective I am of our girl students at camp. If you are a father of a junior high daughter reading this, know that I have your back when she is at camp. I had 3 girls totally mad at me on Friday because I wouldn’t let them say bye to their “really good friend,” at camp who happened to be a baby-faced skater boy from Orange County. I felt the “murderer of love” from Dan in Real Life. And that was before I took their cell phones away for the ride home! I’m not sure I would make a good dad to a girl after all… she would run the house as a cute little girl and then be kept in a safe as a teenager.

Fifth and final, it is true that the youth group takes on the personality of the youth pastor. Here was a conversation I over heard at the outside BBQ dinner on Thursday night between a few of my guys and few from another church. Apparently, someone had put a Mountain Dew bottle in the bronze hand of a Jesus statue on campus and they were arguing over it. (My guys thought it was hilarious)

Other church kids: “Stop laughing! This is disrespectful to our Lord and Savior!”

My guys: “No its not, its funny! Show me in the bible where it says, ‘Thou shall not drink Mountain Dew’!”

Other church kids: “Ummmmm” (no comeback)

My guys: “Besides, its just a statue, it sounds like you guys are worshiping an idol statue if you ask me.”

Other church kids: (looking at each other dumbfounded)

Then I stepped in and told my guys to drop it that it really wasn’t THAT funny and that they were just being contradictory for the sake of arguing. Then it hit me that I was raising a bunch of cocky, cynical, born again breach Christians… just like me! I am not sure yet if this is good or bad. What do you think?

I am glad to be home and not having to worry about some 8th grader putting deodorant on my pillow when I am not looking.

Photoshoppers for hire!

If you aren’t an idiot and you know how to use basic Photoshop skills, the Iranian government has a place for you! Please contact the President’s Office to apply. Click HERE to see why we could use you today!

Wordle

This is hours of fun, plus it has lots of potential. Wordle is an online app that allows you to put in text or a URL and it randomizes the content into a collage of words. HT to Prophets for this.

Summer Camp Blog: FOUR

I love it when I get the chance to start the day right. For some reason, I slept like a champ last night and woke up this morning early to go to my favorite spot at Point Loma and reflect. It is cliff overlooking the ocean and in flip-flops, it is somewhat treacherous to hike down. I perched myself on a rock and took in the view, the smell of the saltwater, the sound of crashing waves, and watched some surfers wait for sets. I remembered to last summer camp when I came to the same spot and I pulled out my journal and read my entry from that morning. Not much had changed. It seems that I am still struggling with the same stuff and am mostly in the same spot spiritually that I was a year ago.

That realization was blinding for me. I vowed in this morning’s entry to not let the same be true next summer when I come to that spot.

The morning featured seminars taught by Hume staff for chapel. The most popular option was Chris Simning telling his story about his disability, how God has used him, and how God used others to save his own life. I debated briefly on going to give the poor sap teaching the Creation vs Evolution seminar a hard time, but I resisted and stayed to hear Chris. For second time in two weeks I was moved by this man’s journey.

I managed to take a nap during free time. It was one of those “drool stuck to your face and pillow” naps. I felt refreshed. For dinner, Hume took the youth pastors to Pizza Nova. There, I got to hang with other “industry dudes” and talk ministry, I dropped Ministry on Zero on the guys, and I sampled Lobster Bisque with Jay.

Chapel was long. I looked over and noticed several of my guys blatantly sleeping. During the response time, many of my sleepers went forward. I blood boiled. It was on. We marched the dudes back to the dorm where I reminded them of the rule about disrespecting the Holy Spirit in chapel and then informed them that since they were so tired, I had generously decided to let them go to sleep at 10.

Now, I am in my room and silence rests gently outside my door.

Above my head is a different story. Grrrrrrr.

Summer Camp Blog: THREE

Halfway done as Tuesday winds down.

I was remembering the days when I used to be a part of a youth pastor summer camp co-op deal and each pastor would have specific duty to perform at the camp (ie music, speaking, rec, free time, emcee, etc). It added to the stress of the week and just kept me away from my students and staff. That being said, I love Hume (and camps like it) because it allows me to just hang with my students, let my staff lead, and relax. Camp is something I look forward to.

The highlights of Tuesday include a very sick video that was shown during morning chapel that was a b & w visual adaptation of some spoken word song called “Legacy of Faith” I think. I am still trying to track it down.

For free time, I managed to convince a van load of my girls to let me take them to Pacific Beach instead of Mission so I could sit at Starbucks and read and work on the Ministry on Zero site. Of course, the female staff went too and of course I had to buy them ALL Starbucks…

…which turned out to be good thing because my church credit card was declined causing me to realize that someone hadn’t paid the bill. Good thing I found this out now instead of on Friday when we would have to fill up all of our vans with gas.

Tonight was “decision night.” Chris dropped it like it was hot (or so I heard), and 6 of my students got born. One of the most beautiful things to see is a junior high student who has been visibly shaken and is in tears over an encounter with God that they can’t reason with.

Days like today, I love my job.

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