Not Again

As a youth pastor, how do you be what your students need when THIS happens?

From ASBO

Thanks again, Jon.

We’re pretty awesome

…note false arrogance. Anyways, my church got another write-up on ChurchMarketingSucks.com about our current building/vision campaign and the web/web 2.0 communication behind it.

You can read the article HERE.

Visual Worshipper

I am adding a link to my blogroll, Visual Worshipper. I got directed to this site/blog by Mike Work and have wasted a lot of time the last few days reading archived posts and discussions about lighting, sound, and projection display.

Right now there is a great one going on about IMAG in worship. I happen to feel that it is too much and a distraction to the worshipper, but I do not mind it during message/drama.

Anyways, take time to check it out and feed your creative bid-ness.

Ministry on Zero getting love

From the AZ Republic.

Focus on the Fear

I grew up with Focus on the Family. I remember long car rides made pleasant because of the Adventures in Odyssey tapes. I know that my parents gained valuable parenting skills from some of the publications that Dr. James Dobson produced.

That being said, Focus on the Family is NOT what it used to be.

It started a decade ago when Dobson entered the realm of political action groupage and pundicy. It has sadly taken a turn for the worst with THIS. (its a PDF).

Basically, it is a document designed to envoke fear into the minds and hearts of the weak minded and uninformed. It is called, A Letter from 2012. The letter, which is creatively written from a person in 2012 after Obama has been president for two terms, lists both ridiculous and legally impossible circumstances, for example:

1. The U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq prompts a take-over by Al Qaeda, which in turn has carried out terrorist attacks on four U.S. cities.
2. Home-schoolers are forced to use state-approved curricula, and rather than do so, many emigrate to New Zealand or Australia where they may teach without restrictions
3. The Supreme Court declares that “proselytizing speech” does not have the same protection as other speech, and Christian ministries are banned from college campuses
4. The FCC nullifies all restrictions on obscene speech or visual portrayals on TV, and it’s now a 24-hour non-stop diet of explicit porn

And the list goes on. I am fine with people who disagree politically and I have plenty of friends and family who are as conservative as they come and they would even cringe at this behavior on the part of FoF. I am saddened that such a once-powerful ministry that was used by God to equip parents has now shrunk to this. I hope they can find their bearings.

There’s probably no God

A campaign advertising atheistic slogans on buses was launched in the U.K. today. I understand why a person would be an atheist: they are mad at God or have been wounded by someone who they think represents Him. What I DON’T understand is how atheists can claim to have reason, logic, and intellect on their side. What reasonable, intellectual person would claim to know something they have no way of knowing. If you read the material on their site, the god they say DOES NOT exist sounds NOTHING like the God I know. They obviously have not done much research into it.

Similarly, the message doesn’t make sense. From my perspective, it should say “there probably isn’t a god so our life is meaningless,” or, “there probably is a God, so don’t worry, you can enjoy life.” The notion that the existence of a god equals human anguish and guilt is so overplayed and immature that it doesn’t even deserve a rebuttal.

Also, I am not sure what exactly they are trying to accomplish. What measurable goals do they hope to achieve? If I were an atheist I would probably be upset at how cliche and corporate the whole thing seems. It smacks of publicity stunt designed to bring attention to a select few and not actually move people.

Anyways, HERE is the link to the campaign site

Faith versus reason

If you have time, read the e-debate between Conservative Soul author (and Rethynk blogroller) Andrew Sullivan and atheist Sam Hill about faith and reason. If you saw Bill Maher’s film Religulous (I did not), you will appreciate the topic. *Spoiler*: God wins.

The dabate was hosted by Beliefnet HERE.

Total Abandon

I just finished a book I started 4 years ago. I first picked up Total Abandon by Gary Witherall when he spoke at my last church… during the transition of leaving that church I lost the book but I am glad I found it last week.

If you have heard Gary’s name before it is probably because his wife, Bonnie, was murdered by an Islamic terrorist while the two were missionaries in Sidon, Lebanon in 2002. But Total Abandon is not just a story of grief and loss and martyrdom. It is the story of God moving in the lives of real people who are sold on following him. While the story of Bonnies death and the grief that follows is the foundation for the book, the message that God showed me through is that God does not call us to a place, He calls us to himself.

Social justice issues in Christianity have become trendy today. It is always good to do unto the least of these and defend the defenseless, but doing so has kind of become the fashionable thing for Christianity. I have struggled with the cynical thought of just “going somewhere and doing something” while forgetting the truth in this book… God calls us to Him, not a place, not a ministry, not a church. Our desire should be more of Him. It seems that the few people I know in my life who actually get this are the ones who are “doing” those crazy works for God. But they aren’t THERE doing THAT because it is trendy, but instead because they delighted themselves in Christ first.

I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. John 14:4

The older I get, the more I hope that I can find this true in my life. Oh, to be delighted only in Christ and nothing else! Not because of where it might lead or what it might mean for me in the long run, but because that is simply why I was created.

I recommend this book and if you want to borrow it, just email me!

This happened

… an actual conversation in my junior high guys small group last night:

Student #1 : “Hey I heard that Noah’s ark is on a mountain in the Sahara Desert…”

Student #2 : “What?! I heard they found a piece of it and it’s in a museum in Russia…”

Student #3 : “Yeah, I heard that too!”

Me : “Really? Well, I heard they found Megatron buried in ice in Antarctica.”

*confusion, silence*

Next Page »