One HELL Of A Meal

This past Sunday, Christ The Savior, went down to Meet Me Under The Bridge to be with our friends that are homeless or are on the fringes of society. We go down there the third Sunday of each month and even though it was rainy and nasty, the smiles on their faces were very bright today. They were thankful to come into a garage building and have a dry place to rest for awhile and have a meal. With it being Thanksgiving week, we decided to make a full Thanksgiving meal.

We had over 20 families that donated food this month. We had one small group leader who had her small group (teen girls) make take-away meals for them. My wife and one of her works worked hard to put the meal together w/o the use of the kitchen. We had crockpots and roasters hooked up to every outlet that we could find down the educational wing.

We had 17 individuals in 5 cars loaded up with 140 lbs of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, rolls and pumpkin pie for dessert. It was a great feast for them.

As I stood by the trash can lifting up the lid and putting the lid down so people could dispose of their plates; one of the older gentlemen put his arm on my shoulder and said, “Jeff, that was one HELL of a meal, thanks.”

In a since, it is “tough” work organizing the meals, getting the volunteers coordinated and then spending 4+ hours commuting and serving and fellowshipping. But, on the other hand, it is really so simple and the sacrifice (if we can even dare to call it that) is not that big. But, the rewards are so immense. We are truly blessed to be able to serve with them.

The other conversation that I will remember from this past Sunday was from “Jim”. As he stood next to me taking a bite of the pumpkin pie; he said the following: “Jeff, the only thing that could make this meal better would be if this pumpkin pie was a sweet potatoe pie”. He then smiled and shared his early memory of going to his granny’s for Thanksgiving and had sweet potatoe pie in her kitchen. I love stories.

I am so thankful that we are blessed enough to give our friends one HELL of a meal.

The Land In-Between

On Monday night, we had our Board of Leaders meeting and our Associate Pastor opened up the meeting with an exercise on “the land in-between”. It was a study on Exodus 15-17 (which she will be preaching this Sunday).

For you see, we are in a time of “the land in-between”. Pastor Joe founded CTS 30 years ago and has been the Senior Pastor for all those years. He resigned and his last Sunday was Sunday. We had our Board of Leraders meeting the following day and has Pastor Libby shared, we are in the land in-between. We will have an interim come in while we search for the next Senior Pastor.

In Exodus, they had no food, no water and were at war. They were mad and angry at God at times and they were looking back to the past and wishing that they were back in the past and with the familiar and the comfortable — even though the comfortable was slaves.

To be honest, I do not know what is going to happen. But, I am excited about the possibilities and I have to put my faith and trust in God. I know that He is with us in this journey and we will “ride any storm” that we may encounter.

There are many great things that are occuring with CTS and I believe many great things will happen in the near future. Let us get ready for the ride.

Listening To These Words

This morning, I read an article from Perry Noble and it was words that I have heard before but they were words that I needed to read again. The article was on areas in your life where you do not need to apologize.

#1 – Never Apologize for Dreaming Big!

#2 – Never Apologize for Your Passion!

#3 – Never Apologize for Wanting to Lead!

#4 – Never Apologize for Not Embracing Someone Else’s Agenda!

#5 – Never Apologize for Expecting the Best from Others!

#6 – Never Apologize for Wanting to Reach More People!

#7 – Never Apologize for Saying “No” to What You KNOW You Need to Say “No” To!

Never Apologize

The #1 Reason Is …..

In many circles, even in this book, we hear individuals talking about the silver bullet. Give me the silver bullet, so we can suceede. So, many of us are seeking the silver bullet in “sticky faith”. What can we do that will make faith stick ?

In the book, they state clearly that they have not found the silver bullet. However, they have found there are a few things that seem to help faith stick and there is one thing that seems to consistently come to the top. Here is the statement:

Involvement in all-church worship during high school is more consistently linked with mature faith in both high school and college than any other form of church participation.

I find it interesting that many churches keep pushing students being in separate areas for worship. As I have researched and asked questions, I think that the reason that most do it is the following:

1. Consumer Convience (everyone gets in and out in an hour)

2. Believe students will not come to “big church”, so we create attract models to bring more in.

I think that those who have separate ministries often do have higher numbers. But, are they connecting and will their faith stick. The counter argument is that they are casting the larger net and planting seeds. I think that it is a sticky (no pun intended) situation. A page later (on the kindle), it states the following:

The more teenagers serve and build relationships with younger children, the more likely it is that their faith with stick.

From these two statements, it would seem that if we want individuals (students) to have a faith that sticks that we will attempt to have them in church-wide worship and serving/mentoring in the children ministry.

What are you doing ?

For us (CTS), when I came here, we had confirmation (7-12 with peer guides) during worship. We moved confirmation off of that time frame to give the students an opportunity to worship with their family and the church-family at large. They did not have the opportunity beforehand. We have also changed how we have structured the children ministry. We have created community groups (crews) and we have junior high and high school students who are their mentors/guides. Thus, we have taken a step so they can worship and serve. We will see how it works.

I recently saw that Adam is going through Sticky Faith and it just so happens that they are on the same chapter. Adam and Kristen share their thoughts on this chapter and do a great job. Check out their insights:

Sticky Faith: Adam and Kristen’s Thoughts

 

More Caught Than Taught

In the book Sticky Faith, one of the non-shocking statements in the book talks about the fact that when they talked to college students, youth group activities were hardly mentioned when it came to them talking about how they (their faith) was formed.

Yet, we in student ministry, seem to spend a lot of time focused on activities. What was even mentioned less than activities was the youth group talks and we spend tons of time, money and resources on crafting messages that are engaging and relevant. There is nothing wrong with that, I am a full component in message; as it is one of the five Orange pillars as well. But, if we want to have their faith stick and it is not these, maybe we need to focus on what matters to them and what helps their faith stick.

So, what was mentioned:

What was mentioned was the legacy of the youth leaders – a legacy derived not from what the leaders said or what they did, but more from who they were.

Students emulate better than they listen, which is good news for us as we lead our lives out with passion, love and trust. Here is a final paragraph for us to chew on:

As you live out your trust-centered life, your life will never be static, stale or boring. You will be disappointed, discouraged and maybe even thrown around a bit at times. You likely will even wonder if life is really worth it. But as you faithfully hold onto God who has taken hold of you, the life you live and model will be a beacon of hope and direction that “no sin management gospel” can hope to achieve.

Go – trust the Gospel.

 

Learning about Jesus

The average student will learn more about Jesus from the way you greet her when she walks into your youth room and then listen – really listen – as she describes her day, than she will from your wonderful talk about Jesus at the end of the night.

I think that we most know this but it is a reminder that we need to keep in front of us.This quote from Sticky Faith comes after their conversation on Romans 8 and about us reminding them that NOTHING can separate them from the love of God.

One of the things that I attempt to do at youth ministry opportunities is to greet each student. the reason is simple: people are much more important than the lesson, organization or ______________(fill in the blank).

We, as youth ministries, must reach out and touch each student. we need to make sure that we are building relationships.  the relationships will help them build a faith that sticks.

it is also why we try to create learning experiences through serving. Our students will “catch” faith more when we are partnering with them and serving side by side than the lesson on serving and no action.

I think that this segment ties in beautifully the Orange Philosophy. One of their philosophies is community. Community(in student ministry context) is placing a caring adult into their lives while they are meeting with a consistent group of peers. When we have them in their community, the chances of their faith increases greatly.

Sin Management

We’ve given our youth group kids a shrunken version of the gospel that fits inside the small box of “sin management” I don’t blame them for tossing that gospel aside.

This is one of the highlights for me that came early on in the book. It comes after a discussion that many youth groups have adopted the gospel of sin management. I know that I have seen this in many youth groups and many conversations from fellow youth pastors. I think it is shifting a little, but it is still very prevalent.

Right before the quote above, there was this quote as well:

Our kids can stuff the gospel into a corner for many reasons, one of which is that they have somehow picked up that living as a Christian means following a list of what they should and shouldn’t do.

The gospel of sin management definitely is not close to what Paul had in mind when he was preaching and sharing the message of Christ. He constantly reminds us about “freedom”. Freedom though is a dangerous word. I think that many of the parents of the students attending student ministries across the world would love if we were “into” sin management. They want their children to have the wonderful do / don’t list down.

Sticky Faith nails it with this statement:

The concept of freedom can cause a little anxiety when it comes to our youth ministries, because many of us have been taught, or at least modeled (usually unintentionally) that freedom doesn’t actually mean freedom, but rather switching from one bondage (sin) to another (the gospel of sin management).

So, what are we do it ?

We must point to Jesus and help them discover and strengthen their trust and faith in Jesus Christ. We must be in the pursuit of trusting Jesus BECAUSE the good news is that Christ is already pursuing us.