Just Another Day In Paradise

The Story of Us: Part 8

2011-10-05T16:02:00.000-07:00

It's been a while! If you need to be freshened up on what had been happening between Amy and I, check out the last seven installments of The Story of Us: 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1.

The Kings game was the Tuesday after Amy's birthday, so March 29. April 1 was a national holiday: opening day. Baseball is more than a passion of mine; its an addiction that I gladly give into every chance I get. I am a Giants fan: I bleed orange. The 2010 season ended in World Series glory, and it was an incredible moment in my life to be able to attend two of the postseason games. The only unfortunate thing about being a world champion is that tickets for the following season are ridiculously expensive. I guess it pays to be king, literally. So for the price of one opening day ticket to see the Giants play, I purchased four opening day tickets to see the Oakland A's. It may not be nearly as sexy and exciting as Giants baseball, but beggers can't be choosers; and I had missed baseball season tremendously.

That Friday I made the journey out the bay area, had lunch at Primo's, and then loaded up the car with some friends to head to Oakland for the A's opening day. On the way to Oakland, my phone started acting up. I had been text messaging with Amy all week, and spent some time together Wednesday evening a few days earlier. Things were really going well.

When we got to the stadium, of course I realized that I had left the tickets in my desk drawer back in Modesto. So, as we sat in the parking lot having a small tailgate party, I called my mother, who hacked into my email to get the purchase order number of the tickets. Of course, my phone stopped working at that point. Technology is one of those things that never seems to come through in a pinch. I took the battery out, then the SIM card, and let it "reboot" for a few minutes. After turning back on, the Blackberry said it had 5% battery remaining, which I knew was not true. I couldn't get it to read the battery level accurately. It was shutting on and off, and giving me fits. This was a crisis! How was I going to be able to talk to Amy while I was at the game?!?! Then, just as I was giving up, I got the phone to revert back to normal. Arising victorious, and with our freshly printed tickets in hand, we entered into the ballpark.

As I sat in my bleacher seats in left field, it felt fantastic to be back at the yard. It had been a long winter of thirsting for more baseball. After all, the Giants began the season on a two-game winning streak: they won their last two games of the season in the World Series the year prior.

Amy and I were texting back and forth. The conversation was funny and light-hearted. I may have been watching baseball, my first love; but something inside me wished that I was back in Modesto spending my Friday evening with Amy. As we were texting, Amy asked where we were sitting. I replied that we were directly behind the left fielder in the bleachers. Amy's response was hilarious. "Make sure you tell the left fielder I think he has a nice butt!" Amy wanted me to yell this compliment at the player on her behalf, I thought to myself? I replied to the her text, "ha! I could just see how that would go. 'Hey left-fielder! My girlfriend thinks your hot!'"

Click. Send.

Amy's reply was one word: "girlfriend?"

I quickly realized what I had just done. I had inadvertently and sarcastically implied that Amy was my girlfriend. I began to back pedal, thinking to myself, "this is not supposed to be how I make this relaitonship official!" As I started to explain myself in short text message bursts, Amy stopped me, and said it was alright: she liked it.

Relieved, I sat back in my seat and began to watch the game. Then, out of nowhere, my phone died again. This time, I couldn't get my phone to turn back on at all. I tried everything: battery, SIM card, manual reset...everything, but no luck. Realizing that I had just somehow made things official with Amy, and then disappeared off the face of the earth, I knew I had to tell her I couldn't message her anymore. My best friend, Justin, was at the game with us sitting next to me. I could borrow his phone, but the problem was, I didn't have Amy's number memorized yet.

I ended up asking Justin to find Amy on Facebook on his iphone, friend her, and send her a message saying that I could no longer text and that I would talk to her the next day. I still don't know what Justin said to Amy in that message, but Justin was not amused that I couldn't wait to tell her that my phone had died and needed his assistance. After all, I was breaking a man-law by texting during a baseball game.

After much pleading, Justin finally obliged and messaged Amy. All was made well, and I got to enjoy the rest of the game. I don't remember who won that day. All I remember is that I had, via text message, just landed the last girlfriend I would ever have. And I couldn't wait to see her again.

Oh, and my Blackberry? Toast. Apparently cell phones can get viruses... But I'll trade a cell phone for a fiancee any time!

Leadership of the Heart

2011-09-27T11:41:00.000-07:00

Recently, I took my student ministries volunteer team to a two-day conference on leadership called the, "Leadership of the Heart Conference." The keynote speaker for the weekend was Dan Webster. Webster is an author, teacher, communicator, mentor, and founder of Authentic Leadership, Inc. Dan’s passion is to see leaders both discover and live into the person God has made them to be. For more than thirty years he has worked with and developed leaders ranging from youth pastors to company presidents. He has worked in education, probation, and on the staff of two of the largest and most influential churches in America: Willow Creek Community Church, Barrington, IL and the Crystal Cathedral, Garden Grove, CA. I wanted to give highlights here on the blog of a few things I picked up from the conference in hopes of encouraging you in your leadership.

First, there are two life-long works that ever leader must accept: there is work to do above the water line and below the water line. Think of a sail boat: the boat floating above water is dependent on the bottom of the boat being in the proper condition. The things that we as leaders must work on above the water line is the things in life and ministry that have our name on them: the things God wants to do using me. The things below the water line we are to work on are the things that God wants to do in me.

One of the graphics Webster shared with us youth pastors specifically in a private intensive we attended before the volunteer conference began was interesting to me. There are six cycles, according to Webster, that every youth pastor is going to go through.

1. Excitement Phase: extremely high energy, no boundaries. The world will never end. "Go get 'em, kid!" mentality.
2. Fundamentals Phase: marked by transition in personal life (marriage, kids, etc) that brings you into a, "this is what is most important" phase of life.
3. Responsibility Phase: now that you have a flow to life and some continuity, "this is the work that needs to get done."
4. Bored / Tired/ Disillusioned Phase: some will argue one doesn't have to ever enter this phase. I would say that the pace and normalcy of the responsibility phase can result in, "why am I doing this again?" Most of us call this burn out.
5. Introspection Phase: phase four can seem like the end of the world, however out of ashes can come beauty. Let yourself dig deep inside with the Lord and discover "this is what God has for me both above and below the water line."
6. Renewal Phase: when, through introspection, you discover or rediscover what God has for you, the renewal phase brings about healing, resulting in a relaunch of phase one again!

One of the best pieces of advice I received over the course of the weekend was this concept of listing out all of my responsibilities, and then labeling them A priority or B priority. I need to spend 75% of my time working on A priority things, and 25% on B priority. B things need to be given to others. There is so much incredible truth in this! It can be the most life-giving thing ever.

Being an authentic leader means that I am taking steps to both advance myself in competency of skills and also in character development. I need to get better every day at the work that God has for me with my name on it. That's a truth. But all of that competency that I can grow does very little good if I'm not willing to continually refine what's going on inside my heart in my pursuit of God. A major temptation of all youth workers is to do the work that God has our name on, but to do it disconnected from our hearts. Priority number one needs to be intimacy with God for me before it is that for anybody else.

I'm hoping to find some time to review the two break out sessions I went to as well in the coming week or so. Hopefully you find this encouraging. Keep fighting the good fight!

Why Do I Need a Theological Education?

2011-09-14T09:41:00.000-07:00

Rev.Curt Longacre, is the Regional Director forFuller Theological Seminary for the Northern California campus based out of Menlo Park. He completed his Masters of Divinity at Fuller, and then went on to complete his his Doctor of Ministry (DMin.) at Azuza Pacific University. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he also serves as an Associate Chaplain at John Muir Medical Center. You can follow him on twitter and find him on Facebook.

A number of years ago I attendeda church conference for pastors, leaders, and teachers. One leader asked me why he needed a theological education. Many people, he said, have highlyeffective ministries without a theological education. He cited as examples the apostles, most of whom hadnothing more than a basic education.

In the years since then, anumber of people have asked me the same question. The fact of the matter isthat there are many people with very successful ministries who have no formaltheological training. So why doesone need a graduate, theologicaleducation?

There is a saying, which Iam sure you have heard of before, which is “ask the wrong question, get thewrong answer.” The problem I havewith the question about needing atheological education is the assumption that the answer is binary, i.e., on-off,yes-no, one or the other. Inreality many things in life are much more complicated and nuanced than that andfall somewhere on a both-and continuum. Seminary may be right for some people, but not for others.

Though not specificallyarticulated in the question is the related issue of ordination. Somedenominations require a Master of Divinity (MDiv) to be ordained. Others denominationsordain people based on their gifts and call to full-time pastoral ministry, andmay not require an undergraduate degree. The point is that churches and/ordenominations determine the level of theological education that is needed forordination, not seminaries. Let mehasten to add that both are valid forms of ministry.

Another consideration has todo with gifting. Let’s face it,someone with a gift of preaching will most likely be an excellent preacherregardless of whether he or she has a theological education or not. The reverse would also be true. Someone without the gift of preaching maynot be as effective regardless of how much theological education he or shehas. Does that negate the need fortheological education? Absolutelynot! A theological education canonly enhance one’s ability to understand and communicate the Word of God.

I see this all the time inpastors who have been preaching for years who come to Fuller to deepen theirunderstanding of Scripture so they can lead their people into a deeper understandingof the Word as well. Fullergraduates with an MDiv degree (which includes courses in Greek, Hebrew,exegetical method, theology, church history, philosophy, ethics and ministry)should theoretically be able to translate something from an originalmanuscript, make appropriate decisions on textual variants (differences betweenmanuscripts) and write a commentary on that manuscript. Our world is becoming increasingly morecomplex, and we need people who can think broadly about many of the social,ethical, and political issues facing us today, and effectively communicate God’sWord to others.

Education (theological orotherwise) also expands one’s ability to connect with and influence a widerspectrum of people. To the personwho first raised the question about the need for a theological education,citing as examples the apostles, I could have responded with some examples of myown: Moses in the Old Testament and Paul in the New Testament. Both men were highly educated and had asignificant impact on God’s people both then and now.

Does one need a theological education to have aneffective ministry? No. Can Goduse those who have been called according to his purpose who have invested timeand energy into systematic study of Scripture, theology, church history andministry to significantly influence others? Absolutely! Like many things, it is a matter of call (which is another topic alltogether).

Agree or disagree? I would be interested in your thoughts.

Why Christians Are Panzies

2011-09-08T11:57:00.000-07:00

Andy Gill is a veteran youth worker and Francis Chan fanatic who loves nothing more than seeing people come to know the Lord. Follow him on twitter and find him on Facebook. You may also see him speaking and touring at a church near you with Other Tree.

A little while ago I was standing in line at Wendy’s, aboutto order my usual four Jr. Bacon Cheese Burgers (...don’t judge) and randomly I feltlead to pray for the people ordering in front of me. I guess some call it “praying behind someones back” which is simply asking God to touch their lives, and reach out tothem without them knowing I’m praying for them… I wish I could say this is anormal practice of mine… nonetheless, to my surprise I felt the “tug” or the“pull” to approach one particular guy who had received his food and wassitting alone at a table eating… I thought to myself, "God must have misunderstood when I asked forHim to touch and reach out to these people; I didn’t mean through me"… I meant,“Just do it in some crazy super natural way that doesn’t involve me…"

A little about me, I graduated from a bible college inPhiladelphia studying ministry and communications. I’m currently a pastor at alocal church in orange county… I deal with people on a day-to-day basis. Therefore approaching a guy at random should not have been such an impossible feat forme… but for some reason I resisted. In fact, I quickly got my food and left.I was a panzie. Now before you scold me for not 'listening to the Lord' or some other religious guilt trip phrase, I want to ask you to introspectively inquire how you would haveresponded in the same instance? Or better yet, how have you responded in this instance? Ignore the fact that thatthis was at a Wendy’s, and not some Harvest Crusade and you didn't have a worship band playing in the back with chimes to cue the Holy Spirit. How have you responded to that person sitting alone atchurch, awkwardly standing by themselves at the coffee cart, or eating lunch bythemselves at school? Did you drop the ball too? Where you a panzie?

I’ve, unfortunately, come to notice that one of the biggeststruggles for Christians is simply learning how to share ones faith… but even a step a further is the struggle of gaining the courage to share ones faith. Francis Chan differentiates theseby saying,

"Perhaps it'snot theology we're missing, but rather theologicalintegrity. Many have the knowledge but lack the courage to admit thediscrepancy between what we know and how we live."

In the same way, Ithink many of us reading this blog right now, know what to say, and how to say it. Knowledge is not what we’relacking: we know the four spiritual laws. It’s the courage we’re lacking. But whether you’re a “soap box” kindof person, or a “build a relationship” type of person; the question is,“How do we gain this ‘theological integrity' to live out our faith andsimply make the effort to reach out to the lost?

Being a youth pastor, one of the hardest things to watch is new students walking awkwardly into the youth room only to find no one to warmly welcome them, and leave disappointment. As Bill Hybel’s says,“If we could only learn the power of simply, walking across the room…” I wouldventure to say if we could simply look beyond ourselves, beyond our comfortzones and/or our cliques of friends and reach out to those who aredisconnected; then things could be different. So instead of using a blog as a means to vent at how we suck atoutreach and how current-day Christians don't fight for their theological lives, I thought it would be more productive to give a few ways, that we(including myself) can practically take steps in the right direction inimproving our out reach:

1. Approach:simply approach someone standing or sitting alone… make Sunday morning a time,NOT for you to connect with those you’re already connected to, but to connectwith those you’re not alreadyconnected too.

2. Invite: simplyinvite that person, couple, or family you met a few weeks ago at a church eventout to lunch, coffee, or even to your small group. If the only time you ever see a new person is at church, your community is not authentic enough.

3. Initiate: Here's a big secrete: pastors LOVE it when their people take initiative! Take the initiativeand set up group dinner, prayer meeting, training session, or Sunday School class in your church thatwould better help and encourage others to reach out to the new comers and disconnected. Then put those things into practice.

4. Pray: Pray foropportunities. As Sunday approaches pray that God would give you an opportunityto put these steps listed into action. Pray for that person you met a few weeksago: that they would cross your path again today and you would remember their name. Pray for the courage to walk across the room, and pray for the words tosay.

This topic of being missional and aggressive in evangelism hits close to home for me. What FINALLYconnected me to the Church was a 45-year-old mother who saw me standing alone atchurch as a youth and walked up to me and then connected me to the Church through relationship. I haven’t leftsince…

Lets be honest; sharing your faith with someone new orsomeone you’ve known for years has the potential to be incredibly awkward.It’s not the easiest thing to follow through with. But remember: courage is not the lack of fear in ones life,courage is the act of moving despitethe fear in ones life. Take courage, be bold, and make a difference for the Kingdom.

Andy Gill

Speeding Up and Looking Back

2011-09-07T09:31:00.000-07:00

Brendan Cheney is a veteran youth worker and current High School Pastor at Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church. Make sure you follow him on Twitter and visit his blog for a different perspective on how to frame things in life.

It seems to be that the older I get, the faster things move. Especially working with teenagers, I’ve found that as soon as I’m on board with (read: I’m suddenly cool) the latest band/movie/vampire book series, it’s no longer in fashion (read: I’ve gone back to being my boring self).

But it’s not just trends that are accelerating for me. Technology plays a huge role in the way my life is speeding up. When I was in high school, no one had a cell phone and only the rich kids had pagers; we used to line up to use one of the two pay phones to call home for a ride. I kept a stash of quarters in my backpack until I figured out I could call collect and my dad would decline the charge. Everything is speeding up, making it harder to keep track of the world around me, let alone what’s come before me. As Ferris Bueller put it, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

The easiest course of action is to live in the present and the future, and forget how we got here. It’s especially comfortable to do this because I’ve developed an arrogance that somehow my generation is better than the one before me because WE invented the iPod. What on earth does the past have to offer me, particularly the ancient past?

As it turns out, a lot.

As my generation grows up and steps into more leadership within churches, there is a distinct temptation to assume that we know best. I have my finger on the pulse of Christianity, and the church just won’t work like it used to. At least, that’s what I’ve convinced myself of. Churches are on the cusp of having to decide whether to do things the way they’ve been done before or stepping out into new territory. My pride declares that a new way is the choice, but in order to influence anything, we have to know where we’ve come from. Andy Crouch says, “Before we can be culture makers, we must be culture keepers.”

This means I can’t just abandon the church tradition that doesn’t suit me. Two thousand years of triumphs and mistakes have planted us in the place we’re in; I can’t assume that I know better than those people who have laid the foundation for me.

There are no easy answers here; it’s not as simple as declaring that Sundays have two hymns, two Tomlin songs and close with David Crowder. I wish it were that simple. Instead, I think it means we have to take the following (difficult) steps:

1) Read. Regardless of age, education, experience or position in the church, we have a responsibility to know the past story of the Church as well as what’s happening right now in the communities that are striking out on creative territory. Familiarity with just one or the other is insufficient.

2) Find Old People. If you’re young, get to know someone in ministry who is older than you. Ask what’s worked and what hasn’t in the course of their Christian life. You might just discover that your great new idea isn’t actually all that new, and youth ministry in the 70’s already tried it.

3) Find Young People. If you’re older, ask the advice of someone younger than you. Granted, someone 20 years younger than you has less life experience, but that doesn’t mean they have less wisdom. Good ideas often come from a fresh set of eyes instead of those who have been looking at the problem for years.

I stated that these are difficult steps, and I firmly believe that’s true. The reason this is so hard is because it requires humility. We have to be humble and acknowledge that we don’t yet know everything nor is our experience all there is to running a church.

I’m less interested in creating a church that encompasses both traditional and relevancy as I am concerned with a community that sees the value in them and lives into that relationally. That’s much more appealing than a debate about whether or not the drums are too loud.

Brendan Cheney
High School Pastor

Burn-Out, Balance, & Baby Ducks...

2011-09-06T09:29:00.000-07:00

Shawn Stutz is the Pastor to College & Young Adults at Big Valley Grace Community Church. Make sure to follow him on Twitter.

A few months back I was chilling with my son, Eli, and we were watching a silly cartoon show together. Cartoons today make even less sense today than in days past. I mention that because the main characters were a raccoon, a bluebird, a gumball machine, and a lollipop looking guy (see what I mean).

The episode was about a magic keyboard that when you sing and play it, one's wishful lyrics come true. Unfortunately (or predictably) the cast gets into this crazy bind when they send their oppressive gumball machine boss to the moon (weird I know... but oddly funny). In hopes of rescuing him, the remaining characters plan a trip to the moon. While the bluebird rounds up the crew, the raccoon is left alone sitting on their magic golf-cart spaceship. Soon enough, they arrive at the moon to find not just their boss, but a plethora of random items littered on the moon; including a monster-like vending machine and a bunch of baby ducks.

The tall cynical bluebird turns to the goofy raccoon and asks, "What did you do?" In reply the guilty rodent shares, in flashback style, about how when left alone in the golf-cart he sang a bunch of songs about stuff he wanted to send to the moon (via the magic keyboard’s transporting powers). The funniest part of the whole show was watching the flashback of this animated varmit singing, "Bunch of baby ducks-- send them to the MOON!" For whatever reason, that day, I found that hilarious!

You may be asking, "What in the world does this have to do with anything?" or "Is this an acid-trippy dream?" Fair enough. The point is this: When we are stressed or facing undo pressure, we make can often make stupid decisions. Sad enough, most the pressure we face is not externally applied but more than likely internally generated.

Maybe you haven't sent a bunch of baby ducks to the moon. However, that might be more preferred compared to the last pointed conversation you had or the recent rushed ministry decision, relationship blundered. When's the last time you found yourself tired, distracted, hungry, and yet still working (days without true rest)? Even worse for a pastor, when's the last time you felt this way and you were sitting with a soul trying to offer counsel or advice for their stressful situation? When is the last time you felt like you were spinning your wheels in the mud; not getting anywhere, but sure making a mess?

This unhealthy phase of life is called burnout! Are you there? If life feels chaotic and you want to quit more than you feel you're thriving, then you're probably there. We all get there though. In the fast-paced flow of life, it's easy to lose focus and get our priorities way out of balance. Work-- achievements, accomplishments, what we produce or do-- begins to run our lives. The worry about our reputation and productivity pushes us our natural limits. In this place, we end up working out of our own power and not that of the Holy Spirit. In fact, we even find our identity in these places at times-- more than we do as a child of the Most High God.

So what's the answer? How do we prevent ourselves from getting burned out and imbalanced? I think the answer is the same as it is for the Israelites fresh out of slavery in Egypt. The command of God, number four on the famous list, was to rest; to cease from all working. See, the people of God as slaves of Pharaoh were defined by their work. To not work, to be still, to truly stop forced them to look up and find their identity in God (at least for a day).

The practice of Sabbath is still a command for the people of God today. There must be a day that we stop striving and know that He is God. A friend of mine encouraged me to think of Sabbath rest in three ways; holiness, rest, and joy. I love this idea. So for part of my Sabbath day I lay down and rest, sleep. I also read the scriptures or find ways to focus on the holiness of God and thank Him for His blessings in my life. And finally, I choose an activity of joyful fellowship with God and/or others. This activity is not for accomplishment sake, but refreshment.

People often say, “I know you’re busy.” And for me, busy has so many connections to an imbalanced and burned-out life. I have started answering people by saying, "I'm not busy, but I am intentionally active." My reasoning is simple. I’m actively seeking to do only what God intended for me to do, nothing more. Then I take time to rest, reflect, and renew myself to do it all again. Besides I don’t think Jesus was busy as we think of it, but I do think He was highly productive and effective. Let me, let us, be like Him.

Shawn Stutz

Pastor of College/Young Adults

* Note: My Sabbath day is not Sunday, because as as a pastor, Sunday is work for me. My Sabbath is Friday, today actually... and writing is definitely my segment of JOY. For more great insights about Sabbath and burnout, you should visit Alan Fadling's blog.

Guest Bloggers

2011-09-01T14:29:00.000-07:00

I'm excited to be welcoming some new voices to the blog in the next few weeks. Several of my friends from around the country will be writing posts on all sorts of different areas of life, ministry, and faith. Make sure you stay tuned to the blog!

Also, I have been asked to guest post a few different times. My most recent post not here actually went live today! Check out my friend, Shawn Stutz, and my post on his website here.

If you have a post you would like to contribute on Just Another Day In Paradise, please email me directly at Dan.Navarra@hotmail.com.

The Story of Us: Part 7

2011-08-24T15:57:00.000-07:00

I know I left everybody on a cliffhanger in Part 6, but that only makes sense if you read parts 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 - - so go catch up before you read this one!

Monday was Amy's birthday. I started out her big day with a phone call at midnight; you know that from part 6. What you don't know is that I originally had no plans at all to see Amy on her birthday. Mondays are work days for me, with youth group typically allowing me to get home around 9:30 at night. This particular Monday, my high school ministry, REALM, was having a guest speaker. Remember back to Part 2 where Heather Mazza was introduced to the story? Well, the date that I had booked Heather to come and bring a refugee to speak to my students was this particular Monday, March 28.

All day, Heather and I were emailing back and forth, trying to get her powerpoint and other presentation details ironed out. And then, right in the middle of the afternoon in the middle of us figuring out everything for later that night, we started emailing back and forth about Amy. Heather asked me quite casually, "so are you trying to talk Amy, or what?" This is in an email, mind you. I wasn't even sure what that meant! Was I trying to 'talk' to Amy? Well, we spoke all the time; was this a new slang term I wasn't aware of yet? My reply was equally as crafty (or so I thought). I emailed back Heather, asking her if she was running reconnaissance over email like a high school gir; and then blew my cover by saying that if that was in fact what she was doing, that it was working splendidly, and I was in fact trying to 'talk' to Amy. In fact, I was trying to do way more than that. I was blown away by this girl, and had extremely high hopes of our budding friendship / relationship / whatever it was at that point. Heather emailed me back with an encouraging note along the "go get 'em!" mentality. And that was that.

About 3pm, I decided to bust out of my shell a little bit and 'make a move'. Hey, I had a crush. Time to do something about it! I grabbed a bag of car windshield markers I keep in my desk at work and drove the short drive to Amy's house. As stealthy as possible, I took out a few markers and started drawing on her large bay windows that overlook her front yard. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" in big bold bubble letters soon decorated the front of her home, and I was on my way again. The two young girls that had been staying at her house saw me drawing on the window and came outside to help. I swore them to secrecy though, saying they could never tell Amy that I was the culprit.

Back to church I went. Youth group came and went that evening. Heather and her refugee friend finished their presentation. As students started to roll out, I anxiously awaited the chance to talk to Heather about Amy. As we began to chat, I decided that not seeing Amy on her birthday was not an option. In a split second, at 9:30 at night, I decided that Heather and I were going to go to Amy's house, kidnapp her, and take her to frozen yogurt.

This idea was pretty much genius.

I texted Amy and told her I was picking her up in 5 minutes and she had no say in the matter. She agreed, and off we went! We traveled a few short miles after stealing Amy away from the typical social gathering that was taking place at her house and found some fro-yo. It was a nice simple conversation and things were going really well. I bought for both ladies of course, because that's just how I roll. I didn't know at the time, but that Monday, and the events that went down that day, ended up beginning a domino of events that would lead to me getting engaged just two and a half months later. For that reason alone, Monday was one of the greatest days of my life. Oh, and somehow Amy found out it was me that drew all over her front window...but she thought it was cute, so I guess that worked out too!

On the way home from yogurt, Amy and Heather invited me to join a group of people the following night at the Sacramento King's game. I, of course, had no plans and agreed to go. They said they had an extra ticket. I was pumped! Another night with Amy and my new group of friends!

The next day, as Amy, Heather, and I swapped texts and emails about the game and working out rides and times to meet, I discovered that somehow everybody had backed out of going to the game except for Amy, Heather, and Heather's boyfriend Russell. While to this day, Amy says it was pure coincidence, I still think there was a mass conspiracy to create a double date. I guess we'll never know (and I'm not complaining anyways!)...Not being one to back down at this point, since I felt like I clearly had my foot in the door with Amy, I declared the night a double date over email to Heather. I didn't have it in me to call it a date to Amy. I was nervous, but at the same time I was strangely comfortable and confident. I was determined, yet not wanting to be pushy. Honestly, I had no idea how I had gotten to this point: it started with coffee to talk about a book, which led to a dinner date, then fro yo, and before I knew it I was driving the four of us to Sacramento on a double date. Oh yea, the Kings were playing too, I think?

Double Date Awesomeness

I did not watch one minute of the game. I could have cared less who was playing or who won. I spent the entire evening talking to Amy. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. And for some reason, she couldn't take her's off of me either. We were still not officially dating at this point, even though we both clearly had a thing for each other. I chickened out in the parking lot when I thought I had a chance to do the whole hand-hold thing as we walked back to the car that night after the game. I was never going to push this thing faster than it needed to go. As the ring that now rests comfortably on her finger indicates: it went perfectly fast all by itself. But what a night it was. I got home and texted my brother and my cousin telling them how incredible of a night I had. I was ecstatic. I was in awe. I was in the beginning stages of discovering my future wife.

Now, all we had to do was make this dating thing official...

The Story of Us: Part 6

2011-08-17T09:51:00.000-07:00

If you have are late to the party, check out parts 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5!

A picture taken at Amy's surprise party!

The next day was Saturday, March 26. I was heading up to the snow for a day on the slopes with one of my favorite families from church. I also was invited to a surprise party for Amy at her mom's house that evening. The theme of the party was 'pink' - so of course I had to bust out the pink collared shirt for such an occasion as this. The party was tons of fun, but one thing stuck out to me specifically: there were only four of us guys at the party in time to yell surprise when Amy came through the door. The rest of the guys were late. Plenty of Amy's girlfriends were there, but I was clearly in the minority. That evening was spent talking and laughing like I had been in this group of friends for months. I was still learning names, but that didn't matter: I was having the time of my life. And somehow, I always was close by Amy.

Sunday church at Big Valley came and went and was promptly followed by the usual post-service dinner trip. El Rosal is a Modesto favorite when it comes to good quality Mexican food for an affordable price. That evening about twenty or so made the short pilgrimage down Tully road to the restaurant. Within minutes, our massive table was completely full. I was thrilled to be right in the middle of all the action, but Amy was glaringly missing. Some five minutes later, Amy came dredging into the restaurant and the look on her face was of utter frustration. It was that look that just said, "you have no idea what kind of a day I had!" And, to make matters worse, there were no seats left at the table. In an incredible act of God, the seat across from me and slightly to the right was a booth up against the wall. The girl in the booth encouraged Amy to come sit with her and they would squeeze in together. Amy's spirits seemed to instantly lift. I know mine were excited, as I somehow found myself right next to her, again.

After dinner, people began to trickle out of the restaurant. By the end of the trickling, there were only a small handful of us left, standing in the parking lot simply talking about life. Amy was one of the handful. AS we were talking, a homeless man approached our group and asked if anybody had money. He wanted to go buy an item off the dollar menu at McDonald's across the parking lot. Everybody in the group shrugged and sent the man on his way. As he was walking away, something in my heart moved with compassion and I jogged after the man, put a dollar in his hand and told him to be blessed. The evening ended, and home we all went. It was Amy's birthday in only a few hours, as soon as the clock switched over to midnight.

As I drove home, I decided that I was going to stay up until 12:01 and call Amy right after the clock changed over to Monday and be the first to wish her a happy birthday. What a fun idea! I sang on the phone and everything. As I layed my head down on my pillow to sleep that night, I had no idea that Monday, her birthday, would be one of the most important days of my life.

The Story of Us: Part 5

2011-08-05T14:51:00.000-07:00

Part 4 ended on a cliffhanger. Parts 1, 2 and 3 are worth reading too! What will Part 5 hold? Read on...

I only had an hour to get ready for the big date. Quick, turn on the shower! Where's my razor? Do I have a shirt that's pressed? Crap, my car is a mess! Which cologne should I wear? Do I wear a blazer, or is that me trying too hard? Is this a date? Or does she think we are just friends having dinner? Questions, questions, questions...

I quickly decided on the location I would take Amy: Outback Steakhouse. Even though I'd been in town for over a year, I didn't know many places in town that were "date worthy." Well, Outback is only a mile or so from my house. I knew the food quality was good. Plus, hey, anything with 'Steakhouse' in the title had to be a winner for a first date, right? I called the restaurant and made a reservation, just in case they were busy.

An hour later, I was off to go pick up my date. Amy was unaware at the time, but there was a surprise party scheduled for her the following night for her birthday (Part 6 preview!). I had already gone out and got her a present earlier in the week to give to her at the party, but instead decided to give it to her tonight: my excuse for taking her out was her birthday after all. If you've ever been to Amy's home, you know she has a wall of clocks as decorations. I figured it was a slam dunk to buy her a clock for her birthday! Inside the card i cleverly wrote, "Thanks for making it a fun 'time' whenever we hang out!"

I nervously drove up to her house ten minutes before I told her I would pick her up. Knowing that showing up early could seriously stress out a girl who was probably getting ready for a first date, I parked my car a block away from Amy's house and turned the ignition off. After a quick word of prayer (because I was nervous!), I drove around the corner just as the clock ticked to 6:00; right on time! I walked up to the front door and nervously knocked. Amy opened the door and invited me in for a moment. I walked in, and the two little girls that Amy had staying at her house were there. I turned the corner into the kitchen and one of Amy's friends was sitting there. Amy had asked him to babysit the girls so she could go out! As if I didn't already feel a little awkward picking her up for a date in front of one of her friends, one of the girls blasted out of her mouth, "are you going on a date?"

Amy and I had not used the word date to describe our time together tonight. I was simply taking her out to dinner for her birthday. Amy deflected the comment, grabbed her purse, and off to dinner we went. After opening the door to the car for her (duh...) I asked her if she was good with going to Outback. She replied in affirmation and down the road we went. We pulled into the parking lot, parked and walked into a packed restaurant. Amy told me that on a Friday night we were for sure going to have a wait on the way there. We walked in the door, and I walked right up to the front desk: "Dan, party for two. I have a reservation." After a few minutes of waiting for our table to get wiped down, Amy and I smoothly bypassed the hour-long wait and were quickly seated at our table. She was impressed that I had made a reservation. I was relieved that I hadn't done anything to screw this up yet.

After our drink order was taken, I handed over my present for Amy, wrapped in red Christmas wrapping paper. Don't hate; it's all I had! She liked the clock and got a chuckle out of the card with my clever writing. So far so good. Dinner progressed: drinks came, appetizer came, food came, and all of it went. The conversation was great. Her smile was incredible. Her eyes were absolutely magnetic. I couldn't believe that I was sitting across from this breathtakingly beautiful woman. Her heart was so full. Her faith was vibrant. I felt like I was really learning who Amy was at her core. And I was really impressed.

After a few hours, we headed back to the car. I drove her home, walked her up to the front door, snagged a quick hug, and promptly returned to my car and drove home. I told Amy I had a great time and that we should do this again. She agreed with that smile that is worth 1,000 words.

The date was over: a complete success, and the last first-date either of us would ever go on.

The Story of Us: Part 4

2011-08-03T16:17:00.000-07:00

Check out Parts 1, 2 and 3 to get caught up!

The last week of March is one for the books. It's pretty much straight out of a fairy tale as far as I'm concerned. Tuesday, March 22, was the day that Rob Bell's newest book, "Love Wins" came to me in the mail. Amy and I had spoken about the book several times in the last few weeks, seeing as she manages a bookstore. I don't really read a whole ton, but I was overly-intrigued by Bell's new book because of the criticism he was receiving as a universalist in his theology. Some big-time theologians have thrown some grenades at him. Never being one to not enjoy a good conversation about theology, I ordered the book.

It came that Tuesday and I had read the whole book before 6pm. It was a great read and I was excited to talk with Amy about the book. I texted her (because I had her number by this point!) and told her we needed to get together to talk about the book. She texted me back saying that she had driven all over town and could not find it anywhere. Her bookstore even didn't carry it. Everywhere in town that sold books was sold out of this one. Not being especially attached to my library, I offered her to come and borrow my book and take it to read for herself. She arrived at my house at about 9pm that evening. I only expected her to stay for a minute, but I frantically cleaned my house just in case she didn't have anywhere else to be and wanted to stay and chat. Amy didn't leave until midnight. I have no idea what we talked about. I do know I played some guitar for her though.

Don't act like you're surprised. I had a crush. What did you all expect me to do?

She left and we agreed to meet up Thursday afternoon to talk about the book at Queen Bean, a local coffee house I had never heard of. That conversation couldn't come soon enough. My motive for spending time with Amy was still not trying to date her by at this point - but she was clearly becoming one of the people I felt closest to in my new group of friends and I wanted to deepen that friendship. I had made plans to run out to Danville after coffee to spend the night in Danville with friends and drive back after lunch Friday. Those plans meant I only had about an ninety minutes to meet with Amy. Our conversation started on the book, but continually kept digressing into the more important things that made up our lives.

Ninety minutes later, we parted ways. I was sad to leave, but still (unfortunately) had my heart in Danville where I could hang with friends and get away from the daily grind of ministry. And so, off to Danville I went. After spending the night and then having lunch the following day (Friday), it was back to Modesto. That afternoon, even though it was my day off, I had agreed to attending a swim meet for one of my students at 3:30 in the afternoon. I got back into Modesto at 2:30, expecting to get a quick rest before I took off to go cheer on my student. About 3pm, I got a text saying that the swim meet was canceled because of bad weather! I had just driven an hour back into town in time to go to this swim meet, and now it was canceled! I was bummed because now I had no plans for Friday night.

I got out my blackberry and hopped on Facebook. Scrolling through my news feed, I noticed that Amy had posted that she wanted to skydive for her birthday, which was the upcoming Monday; a mere three days away. In our conversation the day before, during one of our digressions from Bell's book, we talked about her fear of heights and her desire to skydive. I had just recently gone and done simulated skydiving in San Jose with my family, so we spent a chunk of time talking about my experiences. I told her I'd love to go skydive with her sometime, and that was that. Well, now, only a day later, she was posting and open invite on Facebook for people to join her! After a quick exchange online about her post, I decided to text her instead and sent the simple message, "we should go do the simulated one right now." She replied with an excited something or other. I looked at the clock: 4:30 on a Friday night. This was going to be tricky.

I got on the phone and called the simulation place. They were booked. She had begun to call her girlfriends to see if they wanted to join us: they were all booked. As this text message conversation unfolded I realized that Amy had no plans. I remember vivdly the exchange of characters across our cell phone screens that evening.

Me - "Wait, so you have nothing to do tonight? It's Friday night of Birthday Week, and you have no plans?"
Amy - "Yup"
Me - "Well, let me take you to dinner to celebrate your birthday. Somebody around here [obviously talking about her only a few weeks earlier] told me that birthdays are a big deal in this group of frinds!"
Amy - "OK"
Me - "Pick you up at 6"
Amy - "OK!!!!"

And that was it. I had a date.

The Story of Us: Part 3

2011-07-28T19:53:00.000-07:00

If you're behind, check out Part 1 and Part 2!

Happy Birthday to me. After our encounter at the Ash Wednesday Service, I was looking more and more forward to the next Sunday when I would get to see Amy and the crew again. Only one small problem: Amy was leaving town for the weekend! She contacted me on Facebook on Thursday, asking if I worked Fridays: turns out she wanted to bring me cookies at work for my birthday (what a sweetheart!). But unfortunately I had already made plans to spend the weekend out in Danville. Sunday evening, when church came around, I went, knowing that Amy wasn't going to be there, but still looking forward to connecting with my new community.

That evening, dinner after church was at BJ's Brewhouse; a now-favorite date spot for Amy and I. Dinner was a ton of fun. The bill came, and one of Amy's friends, Misty, refused to let me pay for my meal. For those of you who know me, you know that I don't typically let people pay for things I do. I was raised to never participate in something unless you can afford to pay for it. I was stubborn and tried to sneak a $20 bill into the money stack. Misty caught me however and was determined to not accept my payment. After several attempts to stuff the money in my pocket or give it back to me, finally Misty stuck it under my windshield wiper blade of my car and left! I was super impressed: after only two weeks of knowing me, this group of people were already going out of their way to make me feel special. Again, this theme of, "birthdays are a big deal around here" kept on coming up. It was a great birthday with lots of laughing and fun.

But Amy was not there.

A few days later I took a short vacation down to Arizona with my parents for spring training. This was my sixth trip to Arizona, but my first in a few seasons. I loved my time away from Modesto on vacation, but was secretly awaiting the time when I would be back in town so I could see my friends again. I had begun to have lunch and hang out with some of the guys outside of church: Travis, Aaron, Kyle...good times and good relationships were forming. I was ecstatic!

I returned to Modesto on Saturday evening. As I finished unpacking, I whipped out my blackberry and jumped on Facebook for a few minutes. I gave a quick status update (pictured) wondering what was going on in Modesto. Within twenty minutes I had plans! Amy responded to my post inviting me to ice cream to celebrate her friend Meagan's birthday. I found out later it was also half for her birthday as well, which was quickly approaching. At any rate, I was excited to go out on a Saturday night. Somehow, by the grace of God I got to sit near Amy. Well, actually, we sat in back to back booths. Ok, so maybe I intentionally sat in the booth next to her so I could stay close to her. Not only was this new girl drop-dead beautiful, but she actually was giving me attention and making me feel like I was a part of the group. I had to be near her. Eventually, after this picture was taken, I moved into her both and we spent more time talking. One of the things I noticed about Amy early on in our friendship was that every time she opened her mouth to talk I became more and more impressed by her. I felt like every time we spent time talking I was gaining a better understanding of the beautiful heart she has. It was fun, too!

Something that was especially impressive about Amy at this fun hang out was who she brought with her. Amy brought with her two little girls who, through a series of unfortunate circumstances, were left at her house for her to care for. Amy, never lacking in compassion for those in need, willingly adopted these two girls for the better part of a month! She fed them, took them to school, helped with homework, and even took them to her own social functions and babysat them while maintaining her own relationships. I was in awe. How could a woman so young be so motherly and mature to children that were not her own? It started out as a mystery to me, but as I continued to learn about Amy's heart, I just grew more and more attracted to the core of her. This was one incredible woman.

The next day was Sunday, March 20. I was so in the habit of looking forward to Sundays by now: Big Valley's College / Young adult service is truly an edifying and life-giving ministry. The post-church activity that evening was not dinner with a big group of friends like it typically was. I found out that Amy was leading a group on a mission trip to Africa this summer, and that she had planned an ice cream social and silent auction at her bookstore, Beardsley's, for that evening after church to raise money for the trip. Eager to support my new friends and things that were important to them, I purchased a ticket to the fundraiser and attended.

The night was a ton of fun! It was a good time for me to get to know a lot of the group as I mingled around the room. I also came home with a bunch of auction items I won: candles! My bachelor pad was in desperate need of some "class" - and candles always seem to make a room 'warmer.' When I got home late that night, I took a picture on my phone and uploaded it to Facebook where all of my new friends ragged on me for buying candles. What a man I was!

It was a cool movement in my heart that evening to support missions. That has been an area that God has really spent a lot of time refining in me over the last few years. As a younger Christian, I always had the attitude that if the people who flew across the world to do ministry would just do ministry in their own town, and the people who flew to America to do missions work would just stay in their country and do ministry, everybody would get ministered to and the Church-universal would save a ton of money. That attitude has since been reshaped to appreciate the work that Christ does both in the mission field, and in the hearts of those who go on the mission, as I have seen people's lives transformed by their time in other parts of the world. My heart was continuing to expand every time I was around Amy, and by this time I knew that I had a crush on one of the most incredible woman I'd ever encountered. Little did I know that a small crush was only the beginning!

The Story of Us: Part 2

2011-07-25T18:36:00.000-07:00

Find chapter one here!

A week later, I returned to Big Valley's Sunday Night Service excited to continue the relationships I had formed earlier in the week. Before I had even gotten home from dinner the week prior I had several Facebook friend invites waiting for me of people I had just met that evening. I arrived at church and frantically looked for Jordan: he was nowhere to be found. I spent a few minutes talking to Shawn, and then just settled into a seat and waited for church to begin. After church, Shawn came up to me and explained that a bunch of people were going to a house party tonight. It was Kyle Trent Mohler's birthday. Kyle and I are now good friends. He does great work with Love Modesto; check it out. Anyways, Shawn invited me to ride with him to the party, and I gladly accepted. Even living in Modesto for a year, I didn't really know my way around too much yet because (simply put) I didn't get out much.

Shawn and I rolled up to a small home a few miles from church. It was Amy's house.

Amy is a social butterfly, just like I was back in Danville. I always was having people over, always coordinating the social gatherings, and always hosting the parties, whether at my house or at my restaurant. The house was packed! I remember saying to myself, "this feels like a college party without red cups or college kids." Even though many of the people there were in college, the group felt more mature and less post-high school. I was impressed. I spent most of the night having two conversations: one with Amy, and another with one of her friends, Heather.

This is myself, Dirk, Amy & Heather at Kyle's Birthday Party!

Heather works for an incredible organization called World Relief and is the Church Relations and Volunteer Coordinator for the organization. She told me all about her job and what World Relief does: which is relocate refugees from other countries here in Modesto. I explained to her that I worked for a church in town as the youth pastor and that we should meet up sometime soon to discuss having her bring a refugee out to share with my ministry. I was so excited: my ministry network was extending, and I had gotten to know Heather and Amy really really well that night. Heather and I agreed to meet the following Wednesday in the morning to outline a night for her to come and share with my group.

That Wednesday meeting was on March 9. This date may not mean much to many of you, but it is an important day in the Christian Calendar: Ash Wednesday. My meeting with Heather went really well: we pinned down March 28th as the day she would come share with REALM, and we both were excited about the event.

As our meeting was concluding, Heather casually invited me to an Ash Wednesday service at another church in downtown. Her and Amy had agreed to spend their lunch hour at an Anglican church to try out a little bit more of a liturgical service, since Big Valley did not have a service offered. I checked my calendar and quickly agreed to meet them. Hey, I had friends now!

For whatever reason, that church service is mostly a blur to me. I remember two things about it: I was wearing shorts, flip flops, and a black Goonies shirt with a skull and crossbones on it; that and a short funny story about Amy:

Like many churches, this church had a "meet and greet" time where in the middle of service, people were invited to stand up and shake hands of the people surrounding them. At the conclusion of this time, myself, Amy and Heather, all sat back down and the service continued. Then I noticed Amy fishing around in her purse. She pulled out a small bottle and squirted a liquid on her hands and began to rub them together. Instantly I thought Amy was putting hand sanitizer on her hands after shaking hands with people! I am in no way a germaphobe. I couldn't believe that Amy was THAT anal about her hands getting germs on them that she would whip out her sanitizer right there in service. I leaned over and offered a sarcastic, "really?" - as though she had just taken a sharpie and drawn a mustache on the Mona Lisa. However there was one thing I failed to realize: that small bottle of liquid was not hand sanitizer.

It was hand lotion.

And there we have the story of the first time I put my foot in my mouth with Amy.

That day ended with us going our separate ways, and me still looking forward to hanging out with my new friends the next Sunday at church, after-all, the next Sunday was March 13: my birthday! At the birthday party for Kyle a week earlier Amy had made it very clear that, "in this group, birthday's are a BIG deal."

The Story of Us: Part 1

2011-07-18T15:54:00.000-07:00

The Story of Us will be a series of blog postings writing the story leading up to July 16, 2011, when I asked Amy to be my wife. Enjoy the first installment.

Chapter 1: Get Up and Move

Once upon a time, I moved to Modesto. Upon my arrival, I proceeded to not make friends very quickly, but instead found myself working 60 or 70 hours in a week and going to school. Dedicated as I was to my calling to the local church, I knew that I was not being healthy.

A warm February day brought an end to that. Spring Training had only begun a few weeks earlier. With spring in the crisp February air, one Sunday afternoon I came home from church and proceeded to plop down on my comfy recliner to spend the rest of the day watching TV. Typically, I would come home on a Sunday afternoon around 1pm, and the TV would not go off until midnight. I didn't leave. I didn't call anybody. I didn't invite people over. That was my life. But this one particular Sunday I had an itch to go out and throw the ball. Typically, in my time out in Danville, when the whether turned good, it meant it was time to call up a buddy and go play catch. I love baseball. However on that early spring day, I came to the harsh reality that I really had nobody outside of ministry that I could call to hang out with. I didn't have one non-ministry-related friend within an hour of me.

As I sat in my recliner, mid-afternoon, the silence surrounded me. Flashes of Psalm 46:10 filled my head: "Be still and know that I am God." As I sat silently, my heart yearned for community. I was dying. The Bible says that the Lord knows the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4), and I believe that in that moment of silence, the Lord's heart broke for my broken heart and it was there that the blessing of a lifetime began.

Those who know me well know that I don't particularly like the idea of going on adventures. I always enjoy adventures, but getting me motivated to actually get going is not an easy thing to do. That's why I know it was the Lord that day that prompted me to get out of my chair and get up and move.

I recalled in my head that another church in town had a Sunday evening church service geared towards young adults. If I was going to go meet people, I didn't want it to be at the gym or at a bar: I wanted to meet people who would be a healthy fellowship for me. However, when I first moved to Modesto I attempted to go to a different church's young adult service and found it to be mostly college students in their late teens who just weren't allowed to go to youth group any more. It was a weird dynamic for a twenty-five year old guy to be around who was already done with college and a third of the way through his Masters. Even with that bad experience in my head, I decided to give this other church in town a shot that evening.

Big Valley Grace Community Church has a College / Young Adult service at 6pm every Sunday night. I showed up at 5:45. Being that I am in ministry myself, I am fully aware of what standard protocol is when a new person is spotted at church. I was excited to see what this community's plan of engaging me was, because the last young adult group I attended nearly a year prior was completely unimpressive. I walked in to a mostly empty room, sat down in the back corner of the last row, pulled my hat down over my eyes to avoid eye contact, and pulled out my blackberry to give my best attempt at looking like I was doing something important. As much as I am outgoing and yearned for community, I also see now that I was not making it easy for anybody to be let in to my life.

Then, within a few minutes of me arriving, Shawn Stutz, the teaching pastor for the young adult community, approached me, shook my hand, and within two minutes completely disarmed me guarding myself from getting plugged in. I wanted to hold back that I worked for a church; Shawn asked me what I did and where I was from and how I got to Modesto. Boy, did that make it difficult to not share about being in ministry. I cracked, and told him everything. Oddly, however, was Shawn's second question he asked me. After getting my name, Shawn cooly asked, "hey man, are you single?" I replied yes, because it was very true. Shawn's reply: even more ironic these four months later: "cool man, well there are tons of amazing single girls in this group. And I mean like really amazing, beautiful, and Godly women." Thanks, Shawn. However, I wasn't interested. I was not seeking a relationship; I was seeking community.

Shawn walked away after a short conversation. Back to my cell phone I went. After several minutes Shawn returned with a guy named Jordan. Jordan basically asked me the same arsenal of questions Shawn did. But Jordan was not the pastor. He didn't talk to me for two minutes, and then move onto his other responsibilities. Jordan sat with me, and even talked me into moving out of the back row up unto the front next to another group of guys. As Jordan and I talked, he mentioned that everybody in the group of friends usually goes out to dinner after service together and that I should go. I agreed: I was hungry and had purposely not eaten before church in hopes that I would be able to make friends and hang out after. I was in luck!

Church started, and it was incredible. The Holy Spirit was there, to be sure. Shawn's message was challenging, inspiring and it was geared towards people like me: mid 20's and single! The worship was authentic and excellent. It was the first time in a year I had gotten to not go to church and worry about fifty different things while I was there, and instead just worship and be fed. An hour and a half later, church was over.

I quickly turned to Jordan and asked him if he was going to dinner. "Naw man, not tonight. I gotta get home." Slightly bummed, I approached Shawn and asked him if he was going to dinner only to get a similar response. However, Shawn pointed across the room and said there was this girl named Amy who typically told everybody where to go for food. Somehow, I ended up meeting Amy in the next flash of minutes. 'Mis Compadres' was the destination of choice that evening. And so, without my safety blanket of Jordan or Shawn, off to dinner I went that night with twenty people I'd never met before.

It was amazing.

The community and friendships in that circle of people was heaven-sent. I hadn't laughed so hard in ages. I had an incredible time that night. I got home around 10pm, and couldn't help but tell somebody about my experience. I called my parents and told them the whole story, and how I couldn't wait to go to church next week and see them all again. While I didn't think it could get any better, little did I know that the party was just getting started.

Psalm 13: Will You Wait On The Lord

2011-07-13T10:39:00.000-07:00

Psalm 13

¹ How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?
   How long will you hide your face from me?
² How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
   and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
   How long will my enemy triumph over me?
³ Look on me and answer, LORD my God.
   Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
⁴ and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
   and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
⁵ But I trust in your unfailing love;
   my heart rejoices in your salvation.
⁶ I will sing the LORD’s praise,
   for he has been good to me.

This Sunday, I'll be preaching on Psalm 13, and I must say: I am excited to be bringing the Word this week! As I've prayed and sought after what God would have me share with the congregation this week, I've been wrestling with the importance and concept of 'waiting on the Lord.'

Why is it that us as humans are constantly thinking we know what is best for us? If God, who is our perfect Father in Heaven, loves us perfectly; why would I question Him when I am going through a desert? It just doesn't add up in my life. As I prayed and meditated on this idea of trusting God completely and trusting His timing completely, I felt an overwhelming sense that I am not alone in this struggle. Christians everywhere are demanding of God and that he move according to our watches.

Yet Psalm 13 paints a picture of David's attitude in the midst of the desert that reminds us to worship and praise God in the midst of deserts, trials, tribulations. For if God chooses to refine us and bring us towards a greater reliance on Him, we should be honored.

Make sure you get to church this Sunday, or if you can't make it to the 11am Contemporary Service at Trinity, you can always download the sermon for free from the website.

The Story of Summer Camp 2011

2011-07-03T20:20:00.000-07:00

Packed! Sunday School on the morning we left for camp

Saturday I returned from my church's high school summer camp experience for this year at Hume Lake Christian Camps. Many of you will recall that I am quite the fan of Hume's ministry. This week added to that momentum of love in my heart for the Holy Spirit does at Hume. Here is the blow by blow of our week, complete with some highs and some lows. Twenty-three students, four staff, and one incredible week of seeing God move. Here we go!

Luggage drop was at church at 9:30am Sunday morning, just in time for students to sit in Sunday School with one of my volunteers while I packed the bus. We had 27 students at church that morning for Sunday School: more than we've had on any Sunday morning since I started at Trinity! Then, at 11am, all of the students sat in Trinity's Contemporary Worship Service where we were brought up in front of the church and prayed over as I gave a small explanation of what we were going to experience at camp. Service was PACKED that morning: perhaps the most people we've ever had for a Sunday in that service?

all aboard the TUPC express!

After service, students all loaded up and off we went! We arrived at Hume safe and sound in time for dinner. After dinner, we all went into Ponderosa Chapel for our first chapel program of the week. It was incredible, to put it simply. Hume's program staff is top notch: they put together 56 minutes of video footage for the storyline for the week in a western-themed version of David and his journey to becoming Israel's king. The 'opener,' as Hume calls it, was a half video / half drama / half Blue Man Group performance. While incredibly entertaining, it also really set up the story well of Saul and David not getting along, complete with Saul "unfriending" David on Facebook after David kills Goliath.

Rich Baker, one of Hume's High School Program Directors did an incredible job of challenging the students and being very upfront about the goals Hume had for the week in terms of what they defined as a win for students going do the mountain six days later. After that short sermonette, it was off to cabin time. Cabin time, as you will find in this post, was an interesting roller coaster this week with incredible highs and heart-crushing lows. Monday night, for the most part, was a quiet night for students as they didn't seem to share much across all four of our cabin groups.

Our theme for this week: ALL IN

Monday held much of the same, spiritually speaking. Our speaker, Josh Riebock, was connecting well with students and engaging their minds, but the overall consensus from staff was un-excitement for the most part. Cabin discussions were quiet and frustrating as we continually asked students what God was speaking to their hearts about during chapel time. My emphasis on that question came from a renewed sense of getting away from head knowledge or trying to understand God; but instead trying to focus on feeling and hearing God. It was not going well. But hey, the week was still young.

Tuesday night is "decision night" at Hume: students are given the Gospel, clearly presented, with an opportunity to respond. That's the whole point of camp, right? One of REALM's students gave his life to Christ that night, which was an obvious high. The guys' cabins started opening up a bit, but the girls were all still clammed shut. My staff and I met after Tuesday night's speaking shot, and were rather dissapointed in the response from our students. There was a feeling of frustration among us in the lack of response from students we had hoped and prayed would receive Jesus. That feeling carried over into cabin time, and also Wednesday.

Wednesday was the breaking point for me.

The rhythm of camp had been developed in the students, and I was not pleased by their level of engagement. I felt like there was an incredible spirit of passivism among my students. They seemed to refuse to step up to challenges, checked out during worship and speaking times, and just overall didn't seem to be interested in anything but hanging with their friends. This came to a pulsating head during and then chapel Wednesday night. I spent much of chapel on my knees praying for students who I could visually see un-interested in anything going on that had something to do with God.

There was an hour gap between chapel and cabin time. I walked out of chapel and spoke with two of my staff and just began to express my discontent with the spiritual vitality of our students. I felt like our students had no idea how to hear God, and had not been trained or raised with a spiritual sense for hearing God's voice. I was so discouraged. I'm talking about many of my core students not being able to express out loud, and clearly internally confused by the concept of God speaking to their hearts. I was questioning my own sense of calling and whether I was at the right church with the right students, since they obviously (to my then twisted mind...) needed a leader who could somehow connect them with God in a way other than what I was doing. I resentfully remember saying to my staff, "I wish I had a boss right now who I could ask what to do so I don't have to make a decision about what direction to take cabin time tonight." I was obviously frustrated by my own ability to lead my ministry and felt like a failure. I went so far as to say I would never take students to Hume again, because obviously these students didn't need the Gospel and that was the number one priority of Hume. I nearly vowed to never take this group to camp again, but instead just take them on retreats where we feed the homeless and study the Bible: as boring of a trip as possible compared to a camping experience like Hume's. I was seriously out of whack, and spiraling quick.

My intern, in all of her splendor, correctly pointed out to me that I had a boss, and his name was Jesus. I chuckled, knowing she was right. I told my team I was off to go "talk with the boss" and seek the Lord. I also told them that if I didn't find them before cabin time to tell them what God told me about the direction I wanted them to take discussions that I trusted their judgement. So off I went down to the edge of the lake in the quiet of the night with 45 minutes to hear God. I quickly started off my time with the Lord by telling him that I was going to stand in the same place until the cabin bell rang or he spoke. "There," I pridefully thought to myself. "Now I've given this to the Lord. It's up to him to solve my problem." After about 20 minutes, I gave up. I was expecting a cloud formation or a sign written in stars I think.

I felt abandoned by God. And I'm the youth pastor. I know, right? Pretty great feeling, huh?

I started walking back to the cabins, emotion overwhelming me. I decided that I wasn't going to lead a cabin discussion since the Lord hadn't given me my answer: the teaching that night specifically mentioned how David waited on the Lord for an answer in a time of need. I wasn't going to talk about something that wasn't from the Lord...So I resolved to talk about nothing. No cabin time. Just lights out.

Had I been deserted by God? Was I useless for ministry? Had I used up all my Holy Spirit Swag? Did God not want me to be a pastor? Was I a fake? How can I lead students to a God I'm not near to? Would Amy still love me if I wasn't a pastor? I seriously ran the entire gammet of emotions in the five minute walk from the lake to the path above the chapel. I was a wreck.

And it was on that path that everything began to change.

As I was walking by the chapel, I distinctly heard a student crying down in the pit where the front doors of the chapel are dug into the ground slightly. I stopped walking up to my cabin and ventured over to investigate the sniffles I heard to make sure nobody was hurt. I walked down into the pit and saw nobody. The chapel door was cracked open, so I looked inside to make sure the student was being taken care of. There was no student. I walked into the chapel a few steps and looked around. Mostly empty with a few people standing in the middle of the pews, all the house lights on illuminating the stage.

Oh the stage of Ponderosa Chapel.

That's me with the blue an yellow beanie on

Instantly, my mind raced back to the winter of 2004: my first winter at Hume. On decision night, I responded to the altar call that was extended. The premise of the call was that if there was anybody in the chapel who had not given an area of their life completely to the Lord to come up on stage and commit. I came forward. I remember it vividly: I know exactly where I knelt on the stage with the bright lights pounding down on my beanie cap-covered head. Afterwards I met with my youth pastor. He asked me why I responded, knowing full well I was saved. I simply told him that I had not yet given God my future career and wanted to do so. I was going to be an architect and had been on that path since freshman year...but had never given that to the Lord.

Almost a year later, I received my call to ministry. I remember leaving camp that weekend with a sense that maybe God wanted to use me in that way, but with the business of life back down the mountain, the whisper of God was drowned out by my own noise of life.

When I went into ministry, my parents bought me a small Bible for preaching. I had that Bible in my hand as I now sat in the back row of Ponderosa reliving my moment of having God speak to me. As tears overwhelmed my eyes and began to trickle down my cheeks, I looked at the Bible and wished I knew where to turn to comfort myself with scripture. I felt like a failure.

In the cover of my Bible is a note my parents wrote to me. That note says this:

Son,
Your mother and I are so proud of you. In this Bible and this Bible alone may you always find comfort, love, and grace as you spread the Gospel to those who the Lord entrusts to your flock.
Love Mom & Dad

I read that note, and lost my composure completely. God had spoken. There was grace for me in my moment of impatience. At the 9th hour, God came and spoke to me. And he didn't even give me a plan for cabin time: he just merely told me that I needed to not not have a plan.

I left the chapel, eyes still watered with fresh tears and began the walk up to my cabin. And within ten steps of being out of the chapel doors, there were two of my staff, as if the Lord had just placed them there for me to run into. I shared my experience of the last hour with them and told them the plan was to not just quit on cabin time. I had no plan, but I knew that God would show up once cabin time started.

We prayed and left for cabin time as the bell rang. God showed up. I ended up sharing my story with the entire group of guys, with more tears involved than I care to admit. However, it began a chain reaction of vulnerability. My spirits were lifted, and I again knew that God was with me, even as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

Thursday came along quickly and I had a new bounce in my step. That evening, again students were asked to respond in a recommitment fashion. A few of our students stayed behind that evening after chapel was concluded to talk through things with my team: an encouraging sign from two nights prior.

Then the floodgates opened. A few students came and asked me if they could talk with me. Then a few more. Then a few more. Off to cabin time we went. And the girls had a breakthrough! One student shared with the group that they had a tough time hearing God. The entire rest of the group raised their hands in agreement, and all of a sudden our girls were unified! It was as thought they realized they weren't doing this thing called life alone. Girls started sharing, and walls came tumbling down. It was a powerful night. Meanwhile, back in man-land, the good times kept on coming with great discussions and intense questions.

Friday, the momentum continued to carry. Students continued to share, and relationships deepened. One of my students asked if the guys could all do a footwashing and affirmation ceremony that had been done the year prior on the last night of camp on our houseboat summer camp. I emphatically encouraged the student to set it up, and he did. Our time ran well into the morning, with every student being encouraged and served by their peers. It was an enriching time and the beginning of a great tradition among the guys that I'm sure will survive for many years.

Saturday we returned home and there was a different buzz in the bus. Students were already asking about winter camp and next summer. Some were caught reading their Bibles as we ascended the hill and then coasted back down. There was an excitement among newly formed friendships, and a sense of accomplishment held by nearly everyone. We arrived home to parents waving and bags full of dirty laundry. It was a great week, and one that I surely will never forget.

A Tiny Spark

2011-06-22T11:04:00.000-07:00

"Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips." - Proverbs 4:24

Have you ever been cut by someone’s words? How did it feel? What did you think? Have you ever encouraged somebody and had it make a difference in their life? How did that feel?

Last night I got a late phone call from a dear friend of mine. He was on the verge of tears, and was incredibly hurt and frustrated. I could hear the tension and anger boiling in his voice like a pot full of steam about to blow off it's lid. I listened to him vent and rant for several minutes.

Then, I encouraged him. I spoke truth into his life. I got to be the blessing he needed in a time of darkness and deception. When we hung up, I prayed for him. I will continue to pray for him in the coming days and weeks.

James 3 tells us the tongue is a small thing. However small it may be, its impact on life can be incredible! Like a tiny spark setting an entire forest on fire or a rutter steering an entire ship. Paul encourages us to not let corrupt words proceed out of our mouth, but to speak only what edifies others and imparts grace to the hearers in Ephesians 4:29. I plead with you: if you have a chance to be light in darkness through your words, choose light. You can make an incredible difference in the lives of those you have contact with by choosing to honor God with your mouth.

Trusting God When You Would Rather Not

2011-06-15T22:04:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, my former church asked me to preach on "Stewardship Sunday" - a Sunday where we combined our two church services into one mega-service and gave people an inspirational and scriptural charge to give pledges and commit to tithing for the next fiscal year of the church. I saw this as quite the privilage, since the "success" of Stewardship Sunday's message would have huge implications on the budget for the next year in a church where money was, generally speaking, tight.

The title of my sermon that Sunday was "Trusting God When You Would Rather Not." The title of that sermon has always been stuck in my mind because I could have preached that sermon on ANY Sunday: trusting God doesn't just have to do with finances. It covers everything in your life.

This week in my quiet time, I spent some time looking at Abraham and the would-be-sacrifice of his son Isaac. For Abraham, this was a trust exercise issued by God of monumental proportions. The 30-second version of the story is this: Abraham has his son Isaac, who is supposed to continue the line of Abraham after Abe and his wife, Sarah, are given a pregnancy by God in their old age. God comes to Abe and asks him to sacrifice his son. Abraham, displaying all of his faith and trust in the Lord, sets out to sacrifice his son as a burnt offering. Right before he is about to cut his son's throat, the Lord intervenes, provides a bull instead, and they live happily ever after.

It was a perfect story of Abraham having to trust God with his most prized possession (his son) when he would rather not.

I found myself in a similar situation this week. God didn't ask me to sacrifice anybody as a burnt offering or anything, but I found myself needing to trust God with something I care deeply about.

Amy left for Africa to lead a mission trip with some members from our young adult group at Big Valley three hours ago. I left Modesto to lead worship for a buddy's summer camp on Monday. Amy arrives back in the states two days before I return from my own summer camp at Hume Lake with my students back in Modesto. All in all, Amy and I will not be able to see each other, much less communicate in any way for 21 days.

Gasp.

I know, right? Doesn't sound like a big deal, right?

Wrong.

You see, I care about Amy deeply. If you know Amy, you know how incredible she is. If you live in Modesto and are around the two of us, you know what she means to me and how much I love her with every fiber of my being.

That being said, I get nervous when Amy does something as trivial as driving home from my house in the middle of the night after watching a movie on my couch. What if something happened to her on that short three mile drive? What if she wasn't quite paying attention all the way because it was late; and she drifted off the road into an accident? I would never forgive myself for not driving her home myself or preventing it in some other way. I make sure she calls or texts me every night when she gets home: one because I love her, and two because I worry about her. I just want to know she is safe.

And so, for the next 19 days, I find myself trusting God when I would rather not with the thing that matters most to me. This is like exercise: it hurts when you work out your muscles, but its good for you in the long run. This is going to be healthy in the long run...it just hurts like heck right now. Any time I want to control something and see to it that it goes smoothly that serves as an indicator that I'm not trusting completely in the Lord like I ought to be. It also says under the surface that my will is more important than the Lord's if I'm not constantly seeking after what God wants for my (and Amy's) life. I did not want Amy to go to Africa: I wanted her to stay and be with me. I'm not ashamed of that, and don't think its shallow one bit. That is my natural and selfish desire: I love the girl and want to spend every minute possible with her. But God wants to use her in Africa, and me at the camps I'll be at for two of the three weeks she is gone. God has a bigger plan than I do. I need to trust him.

All that to say, I still miss her like all heck...and it's only been three days. We booth appreciate prayer during this short season of being away from each other. I know the quote, "distance makes the heart grow fonder." I see that perspective as true to a degree, but really feel like "distance makes the heart impatient" is more of a reality in our lives. I want her home so bad, it hurts. I get emotional just thinking about coming home from camp this Friday and not being able to hold her. But ultimately, I know this is what God wants for now, and that if God wants it; in the end it will be beautiful.

Airplane Mode

2011-06-03T16:05:00.000-07:00

I received my first cell phone for my 18th birthday as a senior in high school. Up until that point, I had about seventy-five phone numbers memorized. If I needed to get a hold of a friend or family member, I always had their number on the tip of my tongue. My father and I had "pager language" where he would know that I was paging him from an unusual number if he saw the digits "1313" at the end of a page. That meant I needed him, and he would always call as soon as possible.

When I received my first cell phone a few months before graduation, I took it everywhere with me. Along with the glamor of finally being caught up with the rest of my friends who were sporting Nokia bricks, I also formed some bad habits that have stuck with me to this day in regards to my cell phone usage. Most notable of my bad habits is never turning off my phone. I've been infamously caught checking my phone at the dinner table, on dates, and even during a wedding. My argument was always (simply and logically, of course...) that if somebody was calling me, it was probably important. What that translated to was, "whoever is calling me is more important than whoever I am actually with face to face."

I've turned the corner.

I now have an iphone, complete with all the bells and whistles that make my cell phone a short leash for anybody who needs to get a hold of me. I love using the social networking aspects that make the iphone such a fantastic tool for both ministry and my personal life.

But I've discovered something in the last few months: I don't have a yearning to pick up my phone now every time it vibrates. When I am out of the office and it is evening time and work is done for the day, I find myself not caring where my phone is. And even better than having the temptation to look at my phone when it does ring is setting it to airplane mode! When I'm spending quality time with Amy, I find myself just wanting to shut my phone off so I can solely focus on her. And I'm not doing that as a service to her, or at her request. I'm actually doing it because I don't seem to care about anything else other than her when I'm with her and it's our time together. I love my cell phone. But I love Amy more. Sweet, huh?

What a beautiful release from my cell phone addiction it has been. So as a service to those around you, I encourage you to prioritize your cell phone usage: is checking your phone more important than the relationships that are physically right in front of your eyes?

My Very Own SCL: "Get The Kids In Service"

2011-05-27T15:17:00.000-07:00

Stuff Christians Like (SCL) is one of my favorite websites in the interwebs. Jon Acuff is hilarious.

This Sunday is my church's "Graduation Sunday" where kids and students make the transition into the next grade. I've seen churches do this transition a lot of different ways with a lot of different names. My personal favorite was "Senior Sunday." On that Sunday, the graduating seniors from high school go to lead the entire church in service for the morning: worship, testimonies, ushering - everything! The name was hilarious because many of the more seasoned members of the church somehow thought the morning was dedicated to a them: as in "Senior Citizen Sunday."

At any rate, the church where I serve now makes this Sunday not just for graduating 12th graders. We celebrate children making it through preschool, graduating from Kindergarden, and then also grades six, eight, twelve, and of course anybody graduating from college, trade school, or a even graduate work.

Why?

The answer is simple: Christians like to see people, besides the pastor, on stage and participating in service; and this is especially true of children and students. Getting children who still think that Christ is the last name of Jesus to sing the 10 Commandments Song on stage is cute. There may not be a ton of theological significance, but we still love our kids, don't we?

So this Sunday, enjoy seeing some of God's little people share the spotlight and when you ask yourself why the sanctuary is being overrun by little kids, jsut remember Christians like seeing kids in service.

Cruciform Discipleship

2011-05-20T16:40:00.001-07:00

I've been reading (gasp!) a book by Michael Gorman called Cruciformity. Last week, for those of you who keep up in the blog, I wrote about some reflections on Ephesians 5 about love, marriage, and the sort. As I've been studying atonement models for seminary this quarter, I've seen different purposes articulated for why Christ went to the cross and what that means for me, some 2,000 years later. The idea that the cross represents a mode of discipleship: that we should sacrifice like Christ did, and that this applies to the most sacred relationship we can have on this side of heaven, marriage, is pretty exciting. That means, whenever I give of myself, I'm loving the way Christ loved the Church. Pretty cool stuff.

"The connection between the husband's responsibility and the narrative cruciform paradigm of Christ precludes any interpretation of the text that would grant the husband some sort of power over his wife that contradicts that self-giving, altruistic love of Christ...In fact, the love to which husbands are called in marriage is a death experience, in which the self denies is own will and gives itself to another for the others good." - Cruciformity, 265-266

How beautiful is that? To some who haven't experienced the love of God, the death of to self of marriage would sound like a prison sentence. But to those of us who have been given new life, hope, purpose, and passion by account of Christ going to Calvary for me, well, we experience that death in the most life-giving of ways. I'm looking forward to this new level of discipleship.

Hume Lake YP Retreat #7 - What It Was Worth

2011-05-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

My time at Hume is almost done. I'm a meal away from heading back down the mountain. Any time you get away to a place like Hume, you better take inventory of what God has done in your heart and life, lest you miss what God actually had for you to take home with you. It's a great practice to avoid the "camp high" that is an ever present risk associated with being engulfed in God's presence for a few days like one can be at Hume.

Here are a couple of things that I'm taking down the mountain with me. Here's what this retreat was worth:

I'm ready to pull volunteers into a more central role in partnering in ministry with myself.
I'm positive that I'm more in love with Amy then I was when I left for Hume, but that's par for the course. Not a day goes by where that doesn't happen it seems.
I'm refreshed by spending time in worship that was so high of quality in production that I couldn't help but not be critical. Every distraction possible was eliminated, and it was there that I found the face of God several times.
God is sovereign. What else is new? Just a reminder.
Hume cares for people's souls. They aren't just all about the smoke and mirrors of running an extravagant program.
The program staff of Hume are incredible people on the inside and out.
Never forget your friends in ministry. There is nothing better than an encouraging word.

In reflecting, I'm glad that God spoke to me about my public ministry before my private life. And yet, I'm glad that he spoke to me about both. God is faithful, loving, beautiful, and worthy of praise.

Hume Lake YP Retreat #5 - Hume's "Other" Programs

2011-05-20T16:26:00.001-07:00

Today, after lunch, I took a ride up the hill from base camp at Hume Lake to get the grand tour of a few of their "other" programs that they offer. I put other in quotes there because Hume is known for its Cadillac-Camping Ministry with all the smoke, mirrors, bells, and whistles a camp can have; but beyond the base camp that they offer, there is a ton more going on at Hume that really invokes a deeper sense of passion about the ministry of Hume Lake.

The first "other" thing that Hume offers is called Wildwood. Wildwood is for high school students who want a deeper challenge in their faith. My home church has a long history of attendning Calvin Crest for summer camp, and then also sending up students who are looking for "something more" in their faith to AIM during the summer. Wildwood is Hume's version of AIM, I think. Its a servant-discipleship camp where you pay to come and the goal is go deep. I visited the camp ground. It was gorgeous! The view from Inspiration Point was breathtaking.

I have a huge heart for discipleship: I love students who want to push themselves. This is the camp for them. I would give anything to take a handful of my students away for a week to Wildwood. Hume has counselors go with their students, too; which I think is a great idea. I like the idea of being present for major spiritual moments for my students so I can help the process and also hold them accountable once they come down the mountain.

The second "other" thing that Hume has that I got to experience today is the Joshua Wilderness Institute. Joshua, as it is known by the locals as, is a one year post-high school discipleship school that has at its heart creating fully-devoted followers of Christ. Young people go to Joshua and are taken out of their context: there is no music, no TV, limited internet access, no magazines, newspapers, and few other things of the world that distract from God's still small voice. With about 100 other students, a Joshua attender will attend classes, serve, and grow in their faith in very practical ways. Every student memorizes the entire book of Philippians. Students are not allowed to get rides up the mountain side to the Joshua housing building (pictured): they must walk the mile long trek every day. I spoke with one Joshua student who said he lost twenty pounds, in spite of eating camp food every day for a year!

The Joshua Campus. Bomb.com

The experience is unique. The facilities are first class: it's like staying in a Tahoe resort for a year straight. I've had a few friends do the Joshua experience, and they constantly have raved about it. If you are post high school, up to about 24 years old, I would encourage you to consider Joshua for a year to ground yourself in the Word and in Christ himself. The cost is about $11,000 for a year, and that covers a trip to the Dominican Republic and Israel, on top of all your housing, food, and education. What an incredible experience and value.

The bottom line is that I was truly impressed by Hume's "other" offerings. Everybody knows them for their incredible music, videos, marketing, and massive budget. But few people are aware of the deepening things they offer beyond "just camp." I love this place.

Hume Lake YP Retreat #6 - The Point of No Return

2011-05-20T16:26:00.000-07:00

And as He stands in victory
Sins curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

Tonight, I had a conversation with a youth pastor. Our conversation was aimed at a simple question: at what point in the struggle of being a fallen person is it best for a young person to take a break from ministry, rather than have somebody push and pull them towards being the vocational minister that they are called to be? Basically, at what point does a person screw up so bad that its better for them to hide than it is for them to keep on keepin' on?

This verse from In Christ Alone came into my mind that I put above.

I've been through some "interesting" things in my six years of ministry. I've had my fair share of struggles, hypocrisy, lies, and deception in order to keep on "running the race" of ministry that I felt called to. Or, at least that was my justification for not reaching out for help at the time or talking to my various reporting superiors. Every step of the way these last six years I've had people encouraging me that ministry is for me, that God wants to use me, and that even Paul says he's the worst sinner of all...and look how God used him! I don't recommend competing in the race of being the worst sinner, but the point is there: God uses broken people all the time for great things. Moses, David, Saul/Paul...the list goes on. Heck, how many Messiahs have a prostitute in their blood line?

I tend to be gracious when a fellow brother falls publicly from good graces with a church. Why can't the church care for its own? Is it too dangerous to the rest of the flock to have a shepherd who needs some extra shepherding? Are we that scared that God can't "stand in victory" and "sin's curse can lose its grip" on a person in a split second? I've been studying atonement in seminary lately, and a common theme found in several atonement theories is that Christ conquered the kingdom of Satan on this world when he rose from the grave. If that's true, then relinquishing control of our lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ is all the more important: read, we must make him the King of our lives because there is no other kingdom.

Food for thought. I know if I had been disposed of because of the error of my ways in the past I wouldn't be where I am today: living a life that is (finally?) above reproach and making some serious dents in this world for the Kingdom of the Risen God.

Cruciform Discipleship

2011-05-20T16:22:00.000-07:00

"The connection between the husband's responsibility and the narrative cruciform paradigm of Christ precludes any interpretation of the text that would grant the husband some sort of power over his wife that contradicts that self-giving, altruistic love of Christ...In fact, the love to which husbands are called in marriage is a death experience, in which the self denies is own will and gives itself to another for the others good." - Cruciformity, 265-266

Hume Lake YP Retreat #4 - Ephesians, Husbands, and Wives - Oh My!

2011-05-10T21:48:00.000-07:00

I'm a Rich Baker fan. It's pretty much a man-crush. Since my first Hume experience in 2004, and for a year before that, Rich has been in charge of Hume's High School camp as program director. He's been a driving force in making camp exciting for myself and students for many years.

Tonight, Rich was sharing with the youth pastors at the retreat. He shared a verse that had been stretching him lately: Ephesians 4:1, "As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received." He went on to talk about how that looks and what convicts him in his every day walk with Christ and where he doesn't live up to the calling. That is found mostly in the rest of chapter 4, and also chapter 5 of Ephesians. I've studied Ephesians quite a bit over the years. Nothing on the list Rich would go on to talk about came as a surprise to me: sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or greed, or obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking. It goes on and on...Those are things that I've heard before though. Not to say that I don't struggle, but it was not new ground for me to hear.

Before Rich touched on all those things, he went straight to the thing that gets to him the most. Scroll down a few verses to Ephesians 5:22-33. I normally skip this section of the chapter, not because it doesn't mean anything or isn't important. I usually skip the section because it's all about wives and husbands, and I am neither of those as of yet.

Ephesians 5:22-33
22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Tonight, I did not skip this section.

I recently met an incredible, beautiful, smart, funny and passionate woman of God and our budding love has gotten both of us thinking of making this a....more permanent thing, if you catch my drift. That's the short version of that. But for the first time in my life, I read this section with some context and passion behind it.

Amy & I at Murphy's for Mother's Day 2011 with her family

Amy (that's her name, by the way) and I have a habit of telling each other all the time about how much our relationship has helped us to know God and his abundant love better. Its not forced or scheduled. It just happens. This is part of my rotation of things that I love most about Amy. It has to come up in conversation at least once a day I feel like. At any rate...Tonight, Rich - before mentioning any other part of Ephesians 5 - challenged the men in the room with how they love their wives, since that is a huge part of the calling with which we as men have over our lives. I don't have a wife yet, but I'm rather sure that Amy and I fit the context of the passage. And if we don't yet, well...then as a non-married couple, practice should make perfect for a day not too far away where we do, together.

How do I do at loving Amy? How do I do at loving her like Christ loved the church? That's a tall order! And yet, I find myself loving to love her, if that makes sense. How beautiful is that? Like, I can imagine that Christ loved loving His Church in a way similar to how I love loving Amy. I'm not comparing my capacity to love to Christ's. Paul is, in Ephesians. So don't get angry at me; get angry at Paul. At any rate...it was a great reminder of my calling as a man in passionate pursuit of a living God: love well.

Hume Lake YP Retreat #3 - Awestuck Wonder

2011-05-10T19:43:00.000-07:00

Here is a verse of an extremely popular worship song called, "Revelation Song."

Filled with wonder,
Awestruck wonder
At the mention of Your Name
Jesus, Your Name is Power
Breath, and Living Water
Such a marvelous mystery

When was the last time you were seriously struck by the wonder of the mere name of God? Sure, its easy to be in wonder of God when cancer is healed, or a relationship is restored that was thought to be beyond repair; but what about in the daily business of life? Are you awestruck by the wonder of God?

Lately, my heart has been filled with some serious awestruck wonder at how God has been at work since the beginning of time to bring me to where I am right now in life. But that's an incredible movement of God that I have taken notice of. What about a less-noticeable blessing or movement of His still-small-voice?

Today I took a boat out from the docks of Hume Lake with a trolling motor rigged up. I took the boat, under beautiful blue skies, with a gentle wind at my back, and went directly to the middle of the lake. I killed the engine.

I took off my sun glasses and just took it all in. I spun in circles with the slow breeze just looking at the great detail with which God set this place on earth. My high schoolers would call this a Psalm 46:10 moment: "Be still and know that I am God."

I was awestruck.

And when I took a minute to pray and reflect, I was in even greater awe that the God of the universe who makes the world spin and float, and also makes the wind blow, the trees rustle, the fish swim, and the sin shine, also crafted my journey in life to bring me to where I am. God took the same power that created everything that is beautiful in the universe and also created me. And with the same path he draws the wind to blow on, he has drawn my life path that has brought me to this moment.

And he's done the same with you.

Be filled with awe.

Hume Lake YP Retreat #2 - Why God Made Me With Two Hands

2011-05-09T20:35:00.000-07:00

I spent some time basking in Exodus 18 this evening. It’s a chapter from the OT most people won’t recognize. Ever heard of Jethro? Me neither. Here we go.

Jethro is Moses’ father-in-law. Right as the Exodus is starting and Moses is starting his ministry as the Judge over all of Israel (600,000 men…probably over 2 million people all together). Moses is the Judge for all these people. They would line up day after day and one dispute at a time, Moses would teach God’s statues to the people and settle their disputes.

Then Jethro, at the end of a day where Moses had just worked himself to the bone doing what God had called him to basically asks Moses, “Hey Mo – what are you doing?” Moses politely explains that he is teaching the people God’s statues and settling disputes. Jethro makes a suggestion: why don’t you find some able men and make them judges over thousands, hundreds, and tens of people.

I can’t do it all.

God made me with two hands. Often in ministry I find myself doing things where I really wish I had a third hand. The planning, teaching, budgeting, vision casting, programming, and everything else that I do in ministry: its too much. Too much to do well, at least. Maybe you can relate? You ever tried to nail a board up to another board when its over your head? Its impossible to do with only two hands: you need a hand to hold the board, a hand to hold the nail, and a hand to hit the nail. If you don’t have three hands, you have to go slower: set the wood on the ground, set the nail, then lift the board, then finishing nailing the nail. Ministry is a lot of the three handed jobs that I end up taking on with only two hands.

Its time to get help.

Moses took Jethro’s advice: he appointed some reliable people to judge smaller groups and divvy up the work. When they had an issue, they come to Moses and he settled it…but besides that, all Moses had to do was teach the statutes.

So, I also am going to take Jethro’s advice. I’m going to hand off, to reliable people, everything I can. Especially now that I have a new found love interest and a corresponding social life that is outside of my I’m-a-pastor community of the church where I serve, this is even more important for me to do. I need to not “let go and let God” like the popular bumper sticker slogan preaches, but instead just work with people, or even work behind people. I’ve always thrived off of enabling others in ministry. I love leaders. I love mentoring people who are ready to be trusted with the Good News. Heck, it’s my life verse, 2 Timothy 2:2! I need to get back to that.

And that’s why God only made me with two hands: so I get other people to be the third.

Hume Lake YP Retreat #1

2011-05-09T16:17:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be blogging a series of posts about my reflections while up at Hume Lake for the next four days. The content will be varied, so hang tight as a reader if you aren't inspired to weep by my first post...

On the way up to Hume, the weather was gnarly. I drove my humble (and lowered) Mazda3 up to the lake, and I was not ready for the amazing amount of snow we encountered. I've driven tons in the snow in my life, but never in a manual, and never without 4-wheel drive at my disposal. The roads were covered in white at several points, and cars were pulling over to get behind the snow plows. At any rate, we made it safe and sound.

And this place is amazing.

I'm constantly reminded how good God is when I'm at Hume. I'm here with two youth pastor buddies: Johnny and Wade. Wade said he could see it all over my face when we pulled into camp that I'm at home here at Hume. Hume will always have a special in my heart for both what it did in my life as a student and what God has done to students that I have brought here in the years since. For more on my past Hume experiences, make sure to check out my blog from earlier this year here and here.

Stay tuned, and get ready to get a glimpse into my heart these next several days. I'm tagging these posts "porch" because this week is going to be a porch-type of week: lots of reflection and internal growth.

A Post Dedicated to Mom

2011-05-08T09:29:00.000-07:00

This blog would not be a complete reflection of my thoughts if I did not have a post dedicated to my mother. Denise Cherezian Navarra was born on August 4 (I'll let you guess what year...), and the world has been a better place ever since.


my mom and I celebrating my 25th birthday in Arizona

My mom is the best mom. If you came to argue for yours, stop reading now.

She loves the Lord, loves her children, and loves her husband. She gives without ever needing to take. She serves without expecting anybody to ever raise a finger to serve her. She cooks, cleans, drives to baseball practice, kisses boo-boo's, is always good for a hug or two, and never complains when my brother or I fall short of caring for her the way she cares for us.

When most kids get dropped off at school, they get away from their parents as fast as possible because, hey, being around your parents isn't very cool in junior high. Apparently I missed that memo. I always saw getting dropped off at school as a chance to smooch my mom right in front of all my friends, yell I love you, and climb out of the car and let my friends be jealous that I had a mom worth kissing and telling I love.

Happy Mother's Day, mom. I couldn't have drawn you up any better myself!

How Many Cooks Are In Your Kitchen?

2011-05-05T11:00:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been in one of those church meetings where the leader comes in with a game plan that has been thought through, prayed over, and put together with a purpose...only to have a person speak up with their "brilliant" idea and lead the meeting into a discussion that should have never happened?

Of course you have.

We all have. In fact, many of us have been that self-anointed voice of reason a few more times than we would like to admit. Yes, I'm talking to you, too.

Very few leaders command those they are leading well enough to not have dissension in the creative process. But the best leaders out there are kings of navigating the waters of a closed door meeting with the grace and elegance that still has people walking out of the meeting feeling validated, yet the vision the leader walked into the room with is not compromised.

John Maxwell, a leadership genius by most standards, comments in his bookshelf staple The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership that, "Anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a true leader to chart the course." The difference between a good leader and a bad leader is not necessarily all wraped up in the direction that a person wants to take a group (or in our case, a church). What makes a good leader is their ability to chart the course that gets the group to where the leader feels it needs to go. Do you consider yourself a leader? If so, are you settling at setting the destination only and then watching the ship be controlled by eighteen different captains? Or are you a professional navigator and path charter that knows exactly what is around the next turn? How can you become the latter?

Two ideas:
Questions. Questions are a big key to charting a good course! As the leader, you are charged with asking as many questions as you can before you walk into a creative team meeting and knowing the answers before the questions are asked by somebody else in that meeting. What does the budget look like? What do we need the visual package to accomplish? What scripture are we going to use for the series? Who is our target audience? How do we define the win? What key people who are not on staff do we need to have involved to make this a success? Will there be food? Did I mention 'what does the budget look like?'

Organizational flow charts also help leaders lead. Part of the reason church leadership teams suffer from inefficiency and sometimes get stuck in discussions that should have never happened is that there are often 'too many cooks in the kitchen.' When a team meets together and people are unsure of their role on the team, it leads to what can amount to unnecessary collaboration. And nobody ever walks out of an unproductive meeting excited about the next meeting.

An example of this: your teaching/vision team have been seeking the Lord about what theme the church needs to focus on over the summer. After much prayer, fasting, discussion (among the teaching/vision team only!) everybody on that three-to-five person team feels the Lord's annointing on spending the summer looking at the importance of Fellowship. Maybe your church has satellite services or campuses and the vibe around campus is disconnect? Maybe a few new families commented that they don't feel like anybody knows them? Whatever the reason, the teaching/vision team want to address this from God's perspective. They piece together eight weeks on fellowship, with scripture, sermon titles, even some visual aide ideas for sermon illustrations, and small group questions. They are really feeling some positive momentum in their work and are excited to begin to bring people on board to their vision. The next step is to invite the creative team into the vision to figure out how to package this in a way that is relevant, exciting, engaging, and intriguing. So a meeting is called with the teaching/vision team and the creative team to make the vision come to life.

But...

The creative team doesn't know they are the creative team. For whatever reason, they think that coming up with taglines, campaign titles, etc, are exclusively their responsibility. They failed to realize that their job is defined as making the teaching/vision team's vision come to life in a collaborative effort. They don't have to like the content of the series to make the series come to life. And notice support staff are not even a part of this meeting yet. Your youth pastor, children's pastor, tech team, missions pastor, and church secretary are not involved yet unless they are on the teaching/vision team or the creative team also. They are implementers of a greater vision than just their ministries or jobs. Its not their job to come up with that greater vision. Its their job to bring it to their people they are specifically shepherding.

An organization flow chart would define those roles better. Visually map out your organization's process and the roles each team member has on the team. Also, map out when that team member comes into play. Where are people invited to be a part of the process? SHRINKthehurch.com, a free web resource dedicated to helping churches become more efficient, which I have written for several other times, has a simple example of what this could look like available as a free download. Check it out here! There are a hundred different ways to organize your leadership team to get your ship from the dock to its destination. No one way is right or wrong, as they will always need to be tailored to your specific application. But do the work ahead of time to get something in place.

Bottom line:

Make sure that when you go to start cooking you don't have too many cooks in the kitchen...

...by being organized ahead of time and clearly defining roles. Your team will function within their gift mixes and you will see a much less stressful and frustrating process of implementation when that happens.

Ding-Dong, The Witch Is Dead?

2011-05-02T11:24:00.000-07:00

People say there are a few moments in history where you will never forget where you were when you heard the news. I've heard Pearl Harbor and JFK's assassination listed as two. Still a third is September 11, 2001.

I still remember that infamous day in 2001 clearly.

I was a sophomore in high school. I had made it to school that morning without hearing the news. Before the first bell, one of my friends came running through the school hallways exclaiming, "we're going to war! they attacked New York City!"

He was excited. As though war was like it was in the movies: Private Ryan always gets found and delivered home. And yet, it was a strange day, nonetheless.

9/11, as it has conveniently been labeled in remembrance of the first responders who lost their lives running into a collapsing building, unfolded with the emergence of terrorist activities being taught in history books starting the next year. It was like the light went on for America: that there were people out there who did not like "us."

And now, Osama bin Laden, the poster child for terror inflicted on America over the last ten years, was killed yesterday. Initially, I, like many others rejoiced that perhaps some Americans could sleep a little easier that night knowing our country had one less person threatening it. But as I have reflected on the events of Easter, and what happens when religious extremists are killed, I can't help but slow myself down from joining the parade of glee over bin Laden's death. Do not read that as me comparing Jesus to bin Laden; I was just intrigued by the rejoicing our country is doing right now, and how it must have been similar in Jerusalem among the Romans when Jesus was crucified: indeed, perhaps the Romans would have said, "finally, we can sleep a bit easier knowing there is one less religious lunatic out there threatening our perfect world."

God grieves when an unsaved person enters eternity separated from the Love of God. Ezekial 33:11 says, "Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’" And if I am to be more like God and align my heart with his perfect heart and will, then I ought to grieve too: not just for bin Laden, but for the 88 year old grandfather who passed from natural causes who was also was not saved, and also for the 10 year old killed by a drunk driver who never got to go to youth group to hear the good news.

If anything, bin Laden's death gives me an increased sense of urgency to reach and save the lost.

And so while people all over the world are celebrating as though the Wicked Witch of the West is dead, singing songs of jubilee, I am going to grieve those who I could have reached with the Gospel, but instead have entered eternity apart from God. Because nobody is too far from the redemptive power of Jesus Christ, that even this evil of a man was untouchable by the never failing love of God. If you don't believe me, talk to my friend, the Apostle Paul.

Good Friday?

2011-04-22T19:51:00.000-07:00

Today is the day.

Jesus saved humanity the day he rolled the stone away, flung wide the pearly gates, and paved the way for us to spend eternity with Him. But before Sunday, comes Friday.

I recently went through my church's new members class with a group of my students taught by Rev. Steve Hanna. Steve takes great pride in his "Come and See" class where he exposes interested individuals to the basics of Christianity, as well as what it means to become a member of our church. In his class, he does an entire section on what Jesus actually had to go through when he was crucified. It is really a time that leaves one short of words. Christ endured a gruesome, terrible, awful death at the hands of some seriously pig-headed people. When Steve would talk about flesh coming off the bone, how the nails would sit in between the bones that make up the wrist, what Jesus was whipped with, and how incredible it was that He actually made it to the cross. By most standards, he should have been in severe trauma.

What's "Good" about that?

Ah, but the best is yet to come. See, come Sunday, when the tomb is empty, and we celebrate the destruction of Satan's reign on this planet, all things are made new, and the suffering of Jesus is often forgotten. In the theory of theology of Christus Victor, Christ defeated the powers of Satan that oppressed all of humanity. In the Penal Substitution model of salvation, Christ went to the cross so that we can be made righteous before God. If you combine those two concepts, Easter makes for a pretty incredible holiday. But every victory party comes at the great expense of an often-costly war.

My Savior had to die. And for that, today I am sad.

Love and Other Difficult Things

2011-04-21T15:24:00.000-07:00

These past three days I have been up in the Oakhurst hills surrounding Bass Lake at a retreat center called Calvin Crest. I wasn't there to retreat, however. I led a service-oriented missions trip (with a retreat feel, might I add...) to Calvin Crest with 20 other people to help rebuild the roof of their infirmary and also clear pine needles around their cabins to meet fire code.

Each of the two nights we were there, I led a worship and speaking time that was a rabbit trail to the devotions I had put together for our students to do every morning, including when they arrived at church at 5:45am on Monday to leave for the trip.

Now, take a step back in time with me.

When I was a high school students, all church trips meant free time. And free time meant guitars. Somebody would pull out a guitar and a binder full of worship charts, and within minutes a dozen people flocked to the melodies for an impromptu time of worship. That was the culture that was created in my high school group those many years ago, and it was also the culture I had seen in a few of the other churches I have worked with over the years. I live for those moments.

After program Tuesday evening, I dismissed the students to free time, and out of the meeting room almost all of them went. I was a little sad. For whatever reason, it seemed like this was one of those moments where I had a guitar in my hand, and it was time to extend worship. So I did. By myself.

I threw a capo on the third fret and played every song I could think of. 30-45 minutes later, I finally finished my one-continuous-song on the verge of tears. I stopped and prayed. My heart was full. I was overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit. As I sat worshipping, God was stirring something in my heart. I sat and prayed for the students of my ministry, and not just prayed, but pleaded with the God of the Universe for them. My heart was broken for them. My heart was busting at the seams with passion for them to be on fire for the Lord.

As I opened my eyes after my worship time, there was one of my fellow staffers in the room, stoking the fire. I asked him two simple questions: what does it look like to love a person in the head-over-heels-crazy type of way that is beyond a simple, "I love you;" and then how does that translate to how we love Christ in that type of way? Is there a difference? We exchanged answers for a few minutes. I had been praying that God would do a work in students' lives over these three days, and as our last night of program came and went, I was pseudo-angry that there was no indications that anybody was going to go down the mountain any different than they were when they got there. The whole reason we did this specific trip was to give students a chance to grow spiritually in the serenity of Calvin Crest....not just to serve or have fun.

Then two students walked into the program room. They wanted to play cards with me. Instead, I asked them to sit down next to me; that I had a deep philosophical question to ask them. They eagerly sat down, and I asked them what it meant to love somebody. I left out the God piece for a bit. I wanted them to describe the type of love that they think a person should have for another. They were mostly dead on: they talked about sacrifice, prioritizing, giving, etc. They also threw in a few mushy things...but overall, it was a good answer. A few more students walked in while they were answering, and then a few more. Eventually I had seven or eight students sitting in a circle, talking about how to Love God in an over-the-top-head-over-heels type way. We talked about what it means to catch fire for Jesus, and how fire is a 'consuming thing' that is always looking for fuel: which means there is a hunger inside to grow and to love God more and more every single day; the same way people who are in love talk about their love growing every day. We tackled some tough issues, like why we have fun things at youth group and just don't devote all of that time to teaching, prayer, and worship.

See, when I was in high school, speaking, prayer, and worship...those were the reasons I went to youth group. Yea, my friends were there, and yes I knew it was always going to be a good time...but I was hungry for more of Jesus! I felt like I had let my group of students down in some regards because I think many of them come to youth group to see their friends and to play the fifteen minute games, shoot pool, or play video games. I needed some strong evidence that there was life-change occurring in my students. I was discouraged. I was frustrated. And I decided that God was answering my prayer that was only a few minutes old when students started just wandering in and sitting down by me to engage in the conversation. I decided that I should just take a plunge and go for it.

It was a total God moment, and to me, made the entire trip worth it. If we had built a roof, burned some pine needles, read a little scripture, and sung some songs...and that was it...I would not have been satisfied. Trips are supposed to do more, right? Maybe I have too high of expectations for my students, but I don't think so. Maybe I just expect that the God of all creation, who can walk on water, heal the leper, and raise the dead, can do a mighty work in the lives of my students.

Let's see how different things are when the students go down the mountain.

Rob Bell #5: Bell Comes Clean!

2011-04-07T10:07:00.000-07:00

That is all.

Together We Are Giant

2011-04-06T10:25:00.000-07:00

I'm a Giants fan. I live and breath Jesus, family, baseball, and pizza; in that order.

The marketing campaign for the Giants this year is "Together We Are Giant." It is a clever ploy to keep the bandwagon fans from last years improbable playoff run and World Series victory as part of the family that is San Francisco Giants Fans. Watch this video.
.

"If you don't believe that the collective will and shear desire of 42,000 beard-fearing, panda-hat-wearing, long-hair-sporting, rally-thong-waiving fans can change the course of history; then you've never been there. Because once you're inside, we're a part of you. And together, we're Giant."

That was the voice of Bruce Bochy, the manager of the bunch of misfits known as the 2010 Giants. I've made plenty of jokes about Bochy's voice over the years, but I've never envisioned his voice playing the roll of God. Take that quote from above. Doesn't it sound like the Church (minus the panda-hat-wearing and rally-thong-waiving part...)?

If you don't believe that the collective will and shear desire of 42,000 God-fearing people can change the course of history; then you've never been there. Because once he's inside, he's a part of you. And together, we're Giant.

Yea, it's a little cheesy. But the point is simple:

People of God: we can change the course of history.

The question is: will we do it?

Refuge For Refugees

2011-04-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

I've never really been into the whole helping the poor or feeding the hungry thing that Jesus talks about. I've never really had a chance to care for a widow, other than my grandmother. I was raised with the understand that salvation is determined by praying a prayer to accept Jesus. No other action was required.

Let's just say, I've been born again in the last few years. Having been taught the Sermon on the Mount in a more real way, I have new convictions for helping those who need help.

Last month I made friends with Heather Mazza who works for an organization in Modesto called World Relief. World Relief Modesto is an accredited 501(c)(3) that works with local churches, hundreds of individuals and community groups to offer a wide range of services to the refugee and immigrant populations in our community. Over 90% of their clients are low income and many have fled war, torture and persecution to resettle in the United States with government approval. They offer programs such as refugee resettlement, health services, ESL classes, and immigration legal services. Their desire is to assist refugees, immigrants and members of our community to be fully functioning, self-sufficient integrated participants in society. Recently Heather came to my high school ministry with a real-life refugee from Iraq who has been displaced to Modesto. The refugee shared what it was like needing to leave his country for religious reasons and what life in America has been like for him. It was an awesome night of exposure for myself and my students.

On May 7, World Relief is hosting a fund raiser. If you live in the Central Valley area, it would be a great investment of your Saturday evening in the furthering of the Kingdom of God by coming and supporting this great organization.

So here is the deal...

Queen Bean Coffee House
1124 14th Street, Modesto
3:00 pm – 7:00 pm

The evening will include numerous vendors, live music, raffles every half hour, food and beverage, and an opportunity to meet some of Modesto’s newly arrived refugees and hear their stories.

If you're interested in purchasing vendor space or donating items for the raffle, please contact World Relief directly at: (209) 614-0988 or wropportunity@gmail.com.

10 Ways To Use Facebook For Ministry

2011-03-31T16:48:00.000-07:00

I am a huge fan of social media. I often say, if there were something I were to ever write a doctoral paper on, it would probably be on something in the world of social media, marketing, and ministry. I'm not sure how that would work, but I love all three, and they all relate on some level.

Does your ministry use Facebook? On a scale of 1 to 10, what would you give your ministry or church as a rating in how much leverage Facebook gives you in marketing your church brand and communicating to your people? Is your rating number a little low? Here are 10 easy ways to use Facebook for ministry that may kick you up a notch.

1. Create a Page, Not A Group

The biggest difference between pages and groups is the "fan" element. When a person clicks like on your ministry fan page, they get the updates in their news feed. Also, pages are open to the public: you don't need to be a fan to see the page. Groups offer similar features, but people are in general more reluctant to join a group if they are fringe attenders, or just part of the "crowd" your ministry has influence over. But people are far more willing to "like" a ministry because it shows less commitment. The point of Ministry and Facebook is to be as inclusive as possible. Also, this allows you, as the page admin, to post things NOT as your own personal Facebook profile, which helps to make the ministry more generic, and not dependent on your individual presence if you change churches or ministries.

2. Create Groups For Small Groups & Leadership Teams

My small group of high school guys recently determined that they wanted to create a private and locked group on Facebook where they can talk about "stuff." It has been a great tool for reminding them of meetings, events, and having discussions. It has also led to some students who would rather not associate with the group, but who are friends with guys in the group, have gotten our brand in their face again.

3. Post Pictures Quick

Don't wait a week to get your event pictures up on Facebook. Ride the buzz of your last event and get them posted as soon as the event is over! The name of the game is momentum! I know you just got home from a week of camp and haven't slept in days, but this needs to happen before you take your comp-time vacation. Always tag at least one student in every picture. They will take it from there and the memories from your event will live in internet history forever!

4. Always Create Events For Your Special Events

Flyers are on their way out. No matter how cool and sexy I make my ministry flyers, students just don't take them and pass them out to their friends and an acceptable rate. Plus they can get expensive to print if you want them to look trendy and do full-bleed stuff. Everything is virtual now. So create a slick image for your special event, upload it to Facebook, create an event with it, and then encourage your students to "share" the event, or to invite their friends. It literally is a click of the button way of them inviting their friends.

5. Have Facebook On Your Mobile Phone

Many have seen the stat that has anticipated by 2012, 80% of all cell phones in use will be internet ready - which means tons of your students are going to have Facebook in their pockets all of the time. That means you should have it in your pocket as well. Create boundaries by logging out on your weekend or Sabbath, but during your "ministry" hours, be ready to make quick replies and wall postings while on the go.

6. Tie Your Facebook Fan Page to Your Twitter Feed

For your students who don't have Facebook Mobile, they can receive tweets from your ministry sent to their cell phones as text messages by texting "follow @myhypotheticalministry" to 40404 without quotes. You can tie your Facebook to Twitter so that when your fan page posts a status, it automatically tweets it out. Students can get "Youth Group starts in 20 minutes!" sent straight to their phones. If you pay for a ministry text messaging service, dump it now.

7. Check Your Personal Facebook and Ministry Facebook Daily

Social Media is only a positive force if you use it. If a student or parent doesn't need an instant answer, they can leave a voicemail or email. But most students expect that Facebook is the fastest way to get a hold of a person if they don't have your personal mobile number. Don't write dissertations in reply, but acknowledge everything. The "like" button is your friend!

8. Never Miss A Birthday

Always post on your student's wall on their birthday. It reminds them you exist and makes you seem more accessible.

9. Use the @ Sign To Link People To Your Fan Page

When you type a status update about your ministry, use the @ sign and then type your fan page name in, and it will create a link in your update. This is just another open door that can allow for click-throughs to your fan page. It's also easy for students to share that link with their friends if it is in their news feeds.

10. Post Video Announcements On Your Fan Page

If you have a webcam, you can upload easy and quick announcement videos with literally two clicks of the mouse to your fan page wall where students will have the video pop up in their news feed. Videos are eye candy. Students will watch them just to see what the video is of. And try to come up with creative titles too.

A Note For Worship Leaders: The Power of Connection

2011-03-29T16:03:00.000-07:00

I'm addicted to American Idol.

Seriously, I'm in love with Jacob Lusk's ability and heart for what he is singing. Go watch that video. Seriously. Amazing. Don't bash me. Just embrace it.

I've also grown up a big fan of Jennifer Lopez; after all, the "J-Lo Booty Shake" originated when I was junior high trying desperately to dance with girls way out of my glasses-wearing-league. Her new single is pretty good too. Jennifer is known for her body and maybe her voice, but never for her brains. That's why, when Lopez was chosen as a judge for Idol, I was extremely surprised. I thought it was going to turn into Celebrity Deathmatch when Steven Tyler joined the team as well. However, both judges have been a pleasant addition.

Last week, I had a "try-out" for a worship team I want to volunteer with at the young adult group I attend on Sunday nights. I lead worship every week for my youth group, and also occasionally play songs in my church's contemporary worship service. I've been leading worship in various capacities for over ten years now: some back-up instrumentation, and others pastorally. I've got a decent idea about the contemporary worship scene, and try and keep my itunes updated as best I can with the latest and greatest. However, recently, Lopez gave some advice to one of the Idol contestants that I think is important to pass along to worship leaders because I found it a valuable reminder for myself as well.

“When we are saying open your eyes and do those things it’s because we want you to connect. You are writing a letter. You’re telling a story. I don’t want the intensity to come from you wanting to do well. I want the intensity to come because your heart is breaking.” –Jennifer Lopez

I've never been the "best" worship leader. I am a mediocre guitar player with a mediocre (being generous...) voice. But I've got heart, and I try my best to lay it out whenever I take the stage. The way I see it, there are three relationships to the "worship triangle" – Congregants to Worship Leader, Worship Leader to God, and God to Congregants. The triangle needs to work in all three directions, and cannot be broken in any if it wants to be effective. Worship Leaders must be "good at" both worshiping God and connecting others to worship God, otherwise they aren’t leading people to worship God, but simply performing music.

At the end of the day, I want my heart to break when I lead worship, but sometimes get away from that. Sound issues, band issues, or just not practicing enough: there are a million reasons I don't accomplish this at times. I want to get lost in the lyrics (not like, actually lost, but figuratively lost...you know?), and I want to always go for the high note. Several years ago, I got to spend some time with a band called MOI (one of the best arrangements of Marvelous Light, ever). Their lead singer, Moises Navarro (no relation to Navarr-A for those of you who always misspell my name...) sings everything about 3 steps higher than it was written. He was asked why, and he had two reasons. The first was because his voice can do it. The second was, dare I say, theological. Moi believed that when people went for higher notes, they had to commit their entire body to the note. You can't hit a high note with anything less than 100% of your mental or physical self behind it. Sometimes, I can't hit them anyways....but the point is we are connecting our entire selves with God and leaving nothing behind. I love that perspective.

Love Wins: Rob Bell #4

2011-03-28T09:21:00.000-07:00

This is my latest interaction with Rob Bell's newest book, Love Wins. If you want to review the journey myself and hundreds of other readers have made on this blog over the last month in regards to this book, please visit post one, two and three. Post two is rather long, and is mostly theology quoted from another book, so you can skip that one if you want. See how reasonable I am?

This post is a review of Bell's thoughts in an abbreviated form, combined with some of my interactions with those thoughts. Main quotes from Bell are in red, with some other minor support items just quoted in my reflections. Prior to reading these thoughts, however, I think its important to establish a few things before we get started, so you the reader don't think I am dabbling in heresy: At my core, I believe a few simple truths: There is heaven. There is hell. Jesus is the answer to both of those questions. How that looks is complicated. Because, as Bell says several times in his book, "we are swimming in a wide stream."

OK. now that everybody is caught up...on to the text.

So when we hear that a certain person has "rejected Christ," we should first ask, "Which Christ?"

Chapter 1:What About The Flat Tire // Page 9

In the first several pages of Bell's book, he points out that in traditional Christian circles, 'accepting Christ' is the win. Bell describes how this Christ that people are accepting is articulated in many different ways: performing a specific ritual or rite (baptism, take a class, join a church, pray a prayer, raise a hand, come to an altar, act a certain way). And to that end, Bell wonders if you salvation rests in an others hands: all of these rituals are guided by others and brought to us by others.

This all raises a fundamental question about the ministry of the local church: have we defined the win incorrectly? I'm a big Andy Stanley fan. In one of his books, Creating Community, Stanley has an entire chapter focused on helping churches clarify their goals. "So what is the point? What's the point of your church? What's your mission? What's your goal?" (Stanley, 53). Now obviously, the vast majority of churches have goals that sound nice and also reside on their church stationary. However, In my limited experience, many churches I have been able to observe have an unsaid goal of something like getting people to raise their hands in response to something. One church I have even attended (which I absolutely love, for the most part) even has a system in place for people who raise their hands to respond in their church services where, after the service is over, they are encouraged to walk over to a table with a banner over it that simply reads, "I raised my hand." The question that Bell raises is, does the ritualistic response of raising one's hand (or any other ritual, for that matter) save you?

The answer is no.

I'm waiting for the gasp, and the online traffic on my blog to diminish quickly.

Still reading? Thanks for not kicking me off your screen.

The big words, the important woeds - "eternal life," "treasure," "heaven" - were all there in the converdsation, but they weren't used in the ways that many Christians use them.

Chapter 2: Here Is The New There // Page 29

How do we get to heaven? Its a fundamental question that has fueled more hand-raising (or, for the more advanced reader, insert whatever religious ritual you so fancy). The answer usually takes the form of a system: the A.B.C.'s (accept, believe, confess) of being a Christian, or the Four Spiritual Laws/Truths/Whatever, or perhaps my personal favorite: the altar call, complete with tears and long hugs with your favorite camp counselor. Is any of that really wrong? Obviously not. However, these systems seem to point towards going to a heaven that is, as Bell relates it, "somewhere else" (Bell, 24). Bell spends a good chunk of his book arguing that God is far more interested in restoring this world, the one we are on right now, to its original form. To participate and partner (as Bell says) with God in taking the world somewhere, like Adam and Eve were to have done in naming the animals and being "fruitful."

I like the argument. Its rather convincing. "This participation [in restoring the world] is important, because Jesus and the prophets lived with an awareness that God has been looking for partners since the beginning..." (Bell, 36). By restoring the world, things of this world that have no place in the original world are to disappear. Bell lists things like rape, greed, injustice, violence, pride, etc. We, the Christians, are to be partnering in restoring this world. With the rich man who asks Jesus how to get treasure in heaven he must sell all his possessions, since he has already kept the commands. Jesus takes the man's question about his life in the future and makes it about the kind of life he is living in the present. We should pay attention to that.

Jesus consistently affirmed heaven as a real place, space, and dimension of God's creation, where God's will and only God's will is done. Heaven is that realm where things are as God intends them to be.

Chapter 2: Here Is The New There // Page 42

Well that about settles that.
Bell believes in hell.
Now put your pitch forks and lanterns away.
The witch hunt is over.

Bell makes a striking claim in the eyes of those with a traditional view of heaven being "somewhere up there" (as the point to the sky). Bell points out that Jesus, the prophets, and all of Jewish tradition point to a day where heaven and earth would be one. Its that whole part of the Lord's Prayer where we pray in church in a monotone voice "your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." It actually happens: Revelation 21 says, "God's dwelling place is now among the people." That is what we have to look forward to: life in the age to come.

The important point that Bell makes about heaven is this: "How we think about heaven, then, directly affects how we understand what we do with our days and energies now, in this age" (Bell, 44). Taking heaven seriously in this light then means we are drawn into action now. That's what happens when the future is combined with the present.

God gives us what we want, and if that's hell, we can have it. We have that kind of freedom, that kind of choice. We are that free.

Chapter 3: Hell // Page 72

Bell has a thematic vibe of a fundamental belief that eventually, "ever knee will bow, and every tongue will confess." That's from the Bible if you are new to the program. However, where most of us traditional Christians always pictured that happening in one moment, like as though the King walked out on his porch like the Pope does, and every person in the quad of the castle got down on a knee simlutaneously, except that would happen all over the world. Bell sees this happening across the walk of time, even past the point of death. I'm not sure about that. But the idea that people would know they were not in heaven, and still choose to stay in hell is intriguing.

In fact, it makes some sense.

People choose hell every day. Bell says, There are individual hells, and communal, society-wide hells, and Jesus teaches us to take both seriously" (Bell, 79). People choose to hate instead of love, to get 'theirs' instead of give, to avoid instead of embrace, and stand pat instead of evolve. People choose hell every day. Why would that ever change when we were in the presence of God? Israel has a long history of knowing that God existed and was on their side; and yet they consistently chose to do the opposite of what God wanted. God has been in the business of redeeming his creation in spite of our attempts to choose otherwise since the beginning of time. Why do we think that this chance at redemption ends with bodily death? That's a conversation worth having; however this should not change the way we live this life: in pursuit of a Christ-like life.

Will all people be saved, or will God not get what God wants? Does this magnificent, mighty, marvelous God fail in the end?

Chapter 4: Does God Get What God Wants? // Page 98

Bell says this boldly, and it presupposes that God wants all people to be saved: that he didn't predestine anyone to spend eternity in its entirety in hell. He lists a bunch of scriptures that support this idea; and quite frankly, I like it. The notion that God created some people knowing they would live outside of his perfect design forever seems far fetched: a chef wouldn't make a dish that wasn't meant to be eaten. Bell explains, "This insistence that God will be united and reconciled with all people is a theme the writers and prophets return to again and again. They are very specific in their beliefs about who God is and what God is doing in the world, constantly affirming the simple fact that God does not fail" (Bell, 100). It returns to this notion that God has been redeeming the world for thousands of years: why would he stop? Is it acceptable that a human only has the set amount of years they are on this planet to somehow "accept" Jesus (whatever that looks like?) and that if they reject that notion during their time on earth, they will forever be stuck in this coal mine full of flames with Satan? Or does the story get better? Is there better "good news" than that? Is the good news that God does not stop pursuing us, and that even after our bodies fail, he still pursues us? After all, he knew us before we entered this world. It would only make sense that he would after we leave it as well.

Do we get what we want? And the answer to that is a resounding, affirming, sure, and positive yes. Yes we get what we want. God is that loving.

Chapter 4: Does God Get What God Wants // Page 116

Where Bell takes this is brilliant. If I follow his thoughts correctly, God allows us to choose love (God is love, therefore choose God), or choose the opposite of love. Its a simple truth that Christians have proclaimed for years: God cannot force us to love him, otherwise that wouldn't be love. It would be some robotic form of hypnotism. And therefore, if we are to choose God, the predestination and free will argument really has no place. We are all predestined to freely choose God. It just may take some time. I think that is the point Bell wants us to get. In that regard, he is a universalist: everybody will eventually end up confessing with their mouth and believing with their hearts that Jesus is Lord. It just make take some time: time long after our bodies on this earth fail. That's an intense conversation on multiple levels. It even makes my head spin. Questions like, "what about those who die now, and have already chosen love? Where do they go, for now?" I have no idea...

How many people, if you were to ask them why they've left church would give an answer something along the lines of, 'It's just so . . . small'?

Chapter 5: Dying To Live // Page 135

Bell argues that the Jesus didn't just come for us. He came for all of creation. The Gospel story is so much bigger than just little-ole-us. When we realize that instead, God rescued all of creation, we are then invited to see our story in the context of a far larger story. That is exciting. very exciting. In fact, its worth telling everybody you know about. "A gospel that leaves out its cosmic scope will always seem small. A gospel that has as its chief message avoiding hell or not sinning will never be the full story" (Bell, 135).

Now, a pregnant pause.

Still pausing.

I was raised with the understanding that accepting Christ has, at its primary foundation, the result of going to heaven when one dies. The idea that God sent Jesus to allow us to be in relationship with him is a truth. But the nature of that relationship is different to me now that I have been challenged in the past several years in my understanding of how I read scripture. Its not a relationship like two friends or a father/son. Its a relationship in the sense of us partnering with God in achieving his purposes of giving him the most glory and worship imaginable. And having all of creation sing that song.

The student [who has been raised in the church] can potentially become so anesthetized to Jesus that she in unable to see Jesus as the stunning, dangerous, compelling, subversive, dynamic reality that he is. She has simply sung so many songs about Jesus that the name has lost its power to provoke and inspire.

Chapter 6: There Are Rocks Everywhere // Page 152

I don't have much to say about this. I just think it is dangerously true. That's all.

What he doesn't say [about John 14:6, "I am the way..." is how, or when, or in what manner the mechanism functions that gets people to God through him. He doesn't even state that those coming to the Father through him will even know that they are coming exclusively through him.

Chapter 6: There Are Rocks Everywhere // Page 154

Bell gets pointed here. There is one way: Jesus. This is extremely exclusive. The problem is that under this veil of exclusiveness, there is an all-inclusiveness of not knowing how that mechanism (Jesus, that is) works. For no other reason than this section do I suggest you read this book. Bell has been very gray up until this point. But now, he launches a campaign of universalism. I think the Bible doesn't support the idea that people who are unaware that Jesus is paying the price for saving them to this place we have interpreted as heaven where there is no hell-ish things.

But conversely...

None of us have cornered the market on Jesus, and none of us ever will.

Chapter 6: There Are Rocks Everywhere // Page 159

We are swimming in a wide stream. Jesus is the answer, but what has become unclear is 'what is the question?' Are we asking what we must do to inherit eternal life? Are we asking how to avoid hell? Are we asking what this has to do with the here and now?

The Bible points to God wanting to redeem all of his creation.
So I think whatever the question is, it beckons to be asked in that context. "He is the answer, but he is also the question, the hunt, the search, the exploration, the discovery" (Bell, 161).

Hell is our refusal to trust God's retelling of our story.

Chapter 7: The Good News Is Better Than That // Page 170

Bell's concept is that the good news is simply that no matter what our story is, God wants to retell it with him in it. And that this retelling is brilliant, beautiful, and awe-inspiring. It is at this retelling where we find worth, acceptance, purpose, hope, justice, and most importantly: love. When we choose to not accept grace, we are choosing to tell our story our way, and not through the lens that God sees us through: his perfect lens. "When the gospel is understood primarily in terms of entrance rather than joyous participation, it can actually serve to cut people off from the explosive, liberating experience of the God who is an endless giving circle of joy an creativity" (Bell, 179). That's really the essence of this book: join in the adventure God is on. We are invited to trust that God's story of us is far better than our own. Taste and see.

Overall:
I liked the book. It makes me want to try harder to manifest the kingdom here in this present world, as I think God and Jesus originally intended it. This idea is relatively new to me. One of my seminary professors first exposed me to it, and I literally felt a conviction to re-accept Jesus as the Lord of my life after I came to grips with the reason that I originally joined in the I-want-to-be-a-Christian camp was not why God wanted me to be a Christian. My life needs to point towards love. And that love will point towards God. And that makes him smile.

For All The Single Guys Out There

2011-03-23T09:56:00.000-07:00

I recently read a disturbing article on how it is hard for single men to get hired as pastors at evangelical churches. As a single guy myself, it makes me feel like I have no hope of ever making it in ministry (cough, cough, sarcasm, cough, cough).

Well, today, I discovered the remedy.

Rob Bell #3

2011-03-15T11:13:00.001-07:00

This is a new record for the blog: I've now posted three times on one topic. I've been fascinated by the drama surrounding Rob Bell and his newest book: Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. You can read my first post here, and my second post here. If you would like additional insights on the chronology of the saga, here is a great resource to learn the month-old story.

Yesterday, Bell released his book. He also did an hour-long livestream of a Q&A forum that was tuned into by thousands of people across the world from New York. I was one of those people who tuned in. The video is below. I will address a few of Bell's thoughts after. Oh, and the actual discussion starts at about the 10:00 minute mark.

Watch live streaming video from lovewins at livestream.com

In General:
I thought Bell did what any good forum participant does: not answer questions with simple and straight answers. I really admired how incredibly well Bell spoke off the cuff, since he was not prepped on the questions ahead of time. As I listened to him interact with the discussion questions, I knew what many of my answers were, and I contrasted my own answers to those of Bell. What I discovered about my answers is that they are "done deal" answers. Like, the conversation is over, to me. Bell, admirably so, does not want to make any assumptions about heaven, hell, salvation, or grace. He instead continues to poke the fire, hoping that it will ignite a flame. This has purpose, as I'll comment on later: for many of us, the fire of our faith is dimly lit in the grand scheme of things. But, more on that later...

First quote:

"The essence of grace is that if we are left to ourselves, we are all in big trouble."

Its true. When Bell was asked if God wants to save everybody, this was part of Bell's response: there is no cosmic arm that swoops and takes everybody, willing or not, to heaven. To me, that definition settles in my mind that Bell is not a universalist in its most fundamental form. Everybody does not get to go to heaven. But there is a scent of universalism in his comments that comes from a fundamental belief that God is less interested in bringing us to this "other place" called heaven. God is more concerned with restoring this world: Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. One of my professors at Fuller, J.R. Daniel Kirk, already converted me a few years ago on this idea. I was resistant at first to have my view of a streets-paved-with-gold heaven up in the sky be crumbled, but in general, I now agree: God wants his kingdom to be on earth when its all said and done. Anyways, this idea that Bell conjures about a paradigm shift in what God's design for heaven is directly influences his view of hell.

"I think there is a hell because we see hell everyday."

If the kingdom is to be on earth, then right now we are not in that kingdom, which means we have much of what Bell amounts to the hell that we see right in front of us. And the fact is, as Bell puts it, that many people are choosing to continue in a hell-centered life. By continuing things like poverty, genocide, disease, hunger, etc, we are in fact rubbing shoulders with hell: and many people are choosing to "get theirs," rather than choosing love. That's where Bell's title makes so much sense: Love Wins.

Bell commented that "God is love. God is freedom. I believe God gives us what we want." And giving us that is giving us a choice: to love or not. This was a dodgy way of surmising that Christ died on the cross for all. I disagree with that, in principle. I like the idea that ultimatly, throughout history, God has been redeeming his people and saving them from themselves; and I understand that at the end of the day, He sits on the throne of judgment...But I also think the Bible gives us humans some responsibility in the equation (if it actually is an equation?). Its not merely enough to be a good person in order to be saved. Restoring the kingdom on earth is only done when you know what king you are restoring for.

"The real challenge to Christians in evangelism is 'do you really think this story is incredible?'"

I love it. I have had a few conversations this week where I have said a statement with similar DNA. Christians are too caught up in the religion of being Christian, and they forget awe-factor of the fundamental story: that God loves them. The incredible magnitude of that statement gets watered down in the repetition it is given. Like a first kiss: by the 100th kiss, it is a bit less special. The first time many of us heard the incredible story of how God sent Jesus to redeem mankind, we had something happen inside of us that is beyond explanation: an emotion that welled up and overcame or darkest fear that we were destined to die alone and cease to exist.

But instead, that story ends with paradise. When we first found out about this new ending God affords us, many of us couldn't help but shout it from the rooftops! It was contagious to the hundredth degree. But as time passed, the message became less excitable in our minds. And now, we are so unimpressed by the story of God redeeming his people, that we subconsciously think nobody else would be impressed by the story. And we stop telling it. That's as much a sin as not loving somebody, from my point of view. Because, by not telling the story, we are not loving people. We tell the story with our actions, our voice, and our lives.

I hope Bell's book agrees with that, when I finally get to read it.

More on If Everybody Goes To Heaven

2011-03-14T11:23:00.000-07:00

I wrote a blog a few weeks ago about Universalism in relation to a Rob Bell book coming out pretty soon. Much has been made of the book in the past month or so. Go read my previous blog and watch the video to catch up. It's good stuff.

I'm a big fan of Mark Driscoll, the teaching pastor at Mars Hill in Seattle, WA. His blog, The Resurgence, has been mentioned here on my own blog before. I want to share a recent post of his on hell, and how it relates to the idea of universalism. He is extremely articulate, and I'm a big fan of his response.

Parts of this post are adapted from Doctrine by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears, © 2010, pp. 407–436. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org

Every once in a while, someone of note questions or denies the classic Christian belief of a literal hell with eternal, conscious suffering. Then a debate rages and becomes personal between representatives of various perspectives on the issue.

Meanwhile, the average person’s questions about hell can remain unanswered. So, rather than attacking any individual, I thought it might be helpful to address the issues by answering some of the most common questions about hell. Ministry leaders, including myself, are often asked these questions, and I asked these questions myself as a non-Christian and then as a new Christian in college. Rather than selling you, I will seek to simply be honest and say what the Bible says and allow you to make up your mind for yourself. I will be pulling from a few sections of a book I wrote with a friend who is the former president of the Evangelical Theological Society.

What happens when we die?

God created humans as thinking, feeling, moral persons made up of spirit and body tightly joined together. Death is not normal or natural, but an enemy, the consequence of sin. Death is the tearing apart of these two intertwined parts, the end of relationship with loved ones, and the cessation of life on this earth. The body goes to the grave and the spirit goes into an afterlife to face judgment. The Bible is clear that there will one day be a bodily resurrection for everyone to either eternal life with God or eternal condemnation apart from him in hell.

Christianity differs from all religions in that Christians believe our eternal status depends on our relationship with Jesus. We really believe that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” It may not be politically correct, but our lives are shaped by the reality that “whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

Jesus talks about hell more than does anyone else in all of Scripture.

Upon death, a believer’s spirit immediately goes to heaven to be with Jesus. Jesus gives us a picture in Luke 16:19–31 of existence after death. Lazarus, the godly beggar, goes to be with Abraham, while the self-indulgent rich man is in a place of torment.

Jesus, who has come back from death and is thus the expert on what awaits us on the other side, was emphatically clear that a day of judgment is coming when everyone will rise from their graves and stand before him for eternal sentencing to either worship in his kingdom or suffer in his hell. At the final judgment, all—even you—will stand before Jesus. Jesus’ followers whose names are written in the Book of Life will be with him forever. The Bible could not be clearer: “if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."

What judgment awaits non-Christians at the end of this life?

A day is coming when God will judge the living and the dead through the Son. When the Son of Man comes to sit on his throne, all will stand before him for judgment. From the beginning of creation to the end, the Bible makes it clear that the basis of God’s judgment is our deeds.

Jesus made this very clear, saying in John 3:36, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” Jesus’ death propitiated God’s wrath against sin. Those who refuse this gift have the double penalty of wrath for their sins and for rejecting God’s Son. Jesus himself taught this in John 3:18, saying, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” Unlike Jesus’ words to the sheep, to the goats on his left he will say, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

However, this does not mean that the relatively nice sinner suffers equally with Satan or his most committed human servants. There are degrees of punishment in hell like there are degrees of reward in heaven. Both in life and in hell some sins receive more severe punishment, because that is just.

What does Scripture teach about hell?

Jesus talks about hell more than does anyone else in all of Scripture. Jesus’ words come in the context of the rest of Scripture, which says that God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Furthermore, he “is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

Despite God’s love for and patience with sinners, it is a horrid mistake to dismiss the Bible’s clear teachings on hell. Richard Niebuhr characterized the ongoing attempt of liberal Christians to deny hell as “a God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.” Jesus said more about hell than about any other topic. Amazingly, 13 percent of his sayings are about hell and judgment; more than half of his parables relate to the eternal judgment of sinners.

Christianity differs from all religions in that Christians believe our eternal status depends on our relationship with Jesus.

The Bible does not give us a detailed exposition of hell, but there are many descriptions of the fate of its inhabitants in that place of eternal punishment. They include:

fire
darkness
punishment
exclusion from God’s presence
restlessness
second death
weeping and gnashing of teeth

Satan will not reign there. Hell is a place of punishment that God prepared for the Devil and his angels. It is where the beast and the false prophet and those who worship them will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night.

At the end of the age, the Devil will be “thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Hell will be ruled by Jesus, and human and demon alike, including Satan, will be tormented there continually.

People who reject Jesus in this life will not rejoice in him after this life.

Hell is real and terrible. It is eternal. There is no possibility of amnesty or reprieve. Daniel says that some of the dead will be resurrected “to shame and everlasting contempt.” Jesus says, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. . . . And these will go away into eternal punishment.” Paul tells us:

God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.

Perhaps the clearest and most gripping depiction of hell in all of Scripture is the frequent mention of hell as “Gehenna.” The name refers to an area outside of the city of Jerusalem where idolatry and horrendous sin, including child sacrifice, were practiced. Gehenna was a place so despised and cursed by God’s people that they turned it into the city dump where feces, refuse, and the dead bodies of criminals were stacked. Jesus spoke of Gehenna as the hellish final home of the wicked. Since Gehenna is described as a fiery abyss, clearly it is also the lake of fire to which all the godless will ultimately be eternally sentenced, together with Satan, demons, and unrepentant sinners. So when the Bible speaks of hell as a place where the fire is not quenched and the worm does not die, the original hearers would easily have remembered Gehenna, where this reality was ever present outside of their city.

What are some of the major objections to the Doctrine of hell?

A loving God would not send billions of people to a horrible hell

In a very important sense God doesn’t send anyone to hell. The only ones there are those who have rejected his revelation, choosing to suppress the truth he made plain to them. God made people in his image, after his likeness, with the power to say no and to reject the universal revelation of himself. Subsequently, sinners have no one to blame but themselves if they are damned.

To get to hell someone must reject the God who shows them his goodness and out of love for all “gives to all mankind life and breath and everything”; reject the Spirit who “convicts the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment”; and reject the crucified Son who said, “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” Obviously, God has been exceedingly gracious to sinners.

People who reject Jesus in this life will not rejoice in him after this life. Hell is only for those who persistently reject the real God in favor of false gods. So in the end, people get to be with the god they love. To paraphrase C. S. Lewis, either people will say to God, “Thy will be done,” or God will say to them, “Thy will be done.” Not only is God loving, but he is also just. Heaven and hell are the result of his love and justice.

A loving God would be more tolerant

People who judge God need to really consider if they would be more pleased if God were tolerant of everyone, including rapists, pimps, pedophiles, and even those who have sinned against them most heinously. The idea is completely absurd and unjust. Not everyone in hell is a rapist, of course, but everyone there chose sin over God throughout his or her entire life. . . .

A loving God protects his children from sin and evil by separating them. In this way, God is a father who is tolerant of all who obey him and are safe for his children. But he is intolerant of those who sin against him and do evil to his children. Subsequently, God is intolerant in a way that is like our own cultural intolerances of those who drink and drive, steal, rape, and murder; we, too, demonstrate our intolerance by separating such people from society. To call such actions on God’s part intolerant is shameful, because tolerance would denote both approval and support of evil.

Hell is mean

To understand what love is, look at what Jesus did at the cross. He suffered and died for the ungodly, for sinners, for his enemies. Or, to say it another way, Jesus suffered and died for mean people. A God who will suffer and die for mean people is not mean. In fact, such a God alone is altogether loving; to be condemned by a God of perfect love shows how damnable our sin truly is.

Eternal torment in hell is an unjust punishment for people who sin for a few decades

Some argue that the punishment of sinners is annihilation. This means that after someone dies apart from faith, they suffer for a fitting period of time and then simply cease to exist so that hell is not eternal in duration. In question is the nature and length of the punishment.

Annihilationism is simply not what the Bible teaches. Daniel 12:2 says, “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Jesus teaches the same thing and speaks of those who “will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Grammatically, there is no difference here between the length of time mentioned for life and that for punishment; rather, there is simply eternal life and eternal death.

Satan will not reign there. Hell is a place of punishment that God prepared for the Devil and his angels.

The Bible tells us that “the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image” and “they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” The word forever (Greek aion) means unending.

This is why the Bible speaks of hell as conscious, eternal punishment. One summary of the Bible’s teaching on the pain of hell says:

Those in hell suffer intense and excruciating pain. This pain is likely both emotional/spiritual and physical (John 5:28–29).
Hell is a fate worse than being drowned in the sea (Mark 9:42).
It is worse than any earthly suffering—even being maimed (Matthew 5:29–30; Mark 9:43).
The suffering never ends (Matthew 25:41; Mark 9:48).
The wicked will be “burned with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12).
Those in hell will be thrown into the fiery furnace and will experience unimaginable sorrow, regret, remorse, and pain. The fire produces the pain described as “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30).
The intensity of the suffering seems to be according to the wickedness of the person’s behavior (Romans 2:5–8).
Hell is utterly fearful and dreadful (Hebrews 10:27–31).
This punishment is depicted as “coming misery,” “eating flesh with fire,” and the “day of slaughter” (James 5:1–5).
Those in hell will feel the full force of God’s fury and wrath (Revelations 14:10).
They will be “tormented” with fire (14:10–11).
This suffering is best understood as endless since the “smoke of their torment rises forever and ever” (14:11).
This suffering is constant because it is said that those in hell “will have no rest day or night” (14:11) and
“will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (20:10).

In summary, annihilationism is not biblical. For this reason, it was condemned by the Second Council of Constantinople (AD 553) and the Fifth Lateran Council (1513).

Today, though, it is becoming popular to hope that sinners will eventually repent and everyone will end up in heaven. This is universal reconciliation, the ancient view of Origen. However, there is not a shred of evidence for post-mortem repentance. The continual teaching of the Bible is that we die once and are then judged, without any second chance at salvation. As one clear example, Hebrews 9:27 says, “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.”

Do people who have never heard about Jesus go to hell?

Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” Peter preached, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” The conclusion is simple: there is only one way to the Father and that is through Jesus Christ. All other religious roads lead to false gods and a real hell.

But there are many ways to Jesus. While the norm is responding to the preached Word of God, there are biblical examples as well as life experiences where God gives special revelation of the Messiah to unsaved people in other forms, including direct speech, dreams, and visions. God called Abraham directly. He gave Pharaoh dreams. He spoke to the treacherous prophet Balaam in a vision so that he prophesied about the Messiah. He appeared to Cornelius in a vision, which resulted in him being saved.

Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father except through me.”

There are many such stories. The reality is that anyone who is searching and willing to respond to the goodness of God as Cornelius did will receive special revelation. God is perfectly able to bypass the “normal” channels to accomplish his purposes.

No one who comes to the Lord will be cast out. As Paul says:

For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Therefore, while there is no salvation apart from faith in Jesus Christ, there is also no reason to overlook the creativity of God to get the gospel out. His creativity includes using us to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth as pioneering missionaries to unreached people groups and generous givers to ministries that translate the Bible into new languages.

Am I going to hell?

The closing verses of the Bible say, “Come!” as an invitation for all who desire to receive God’s saving grace as a gift. Jesus died and rose and is exalted in heaven. If you repent of sin, change your mind about who or what is Lord of your life, and believe, trusting that you can stake your life and eternity on the truth of what God says, then you will receive full forgiveness of all sin, new life in and by the Holy Spirit, membership in the church of Jesus Christ, a meaningful part in his rescue mission in the world, and citizenship in his kingdom. You will be with Jesus and his people now and forever.

I want this for you.

Have you confessed your sins to Jesus Christ, seeking forgiveness and salvation through his sinless life that is your righteousness, death that is your payment, and resurrection that is your salvation?

The Fast & The Furious

2011-03-09T15:42:00.000-08:00

I've been confronted lately by a simple question: "how do you hear God?"

I've been mulling this thought a ton lately, and it keeps resurfacing that they key to hearing God is being still (Psalm 46:10). Everything else in our life of Christian disciplines seem to start there, whether it is reading the Word, prayer, worship, etc. Instead of being still and listening to God, mankind, in all of our sinful business, seem to be moving too fast to hear God. We don't give it the time necessary. This probably makes God pretty furious: that his people are moving too fast to be with him in relationship.

I'm pretty excited for my youth group to dig into some of the disciplines of the Christians faith, starting first with being still and listening for God.

I made a short teaser & promo video for the series. Here it is!

Before Creation

2011-03-04T11:04:00.000-08:00

I'm currently working on a journal for my Pentateuch class at Fuller. In the journal, the professor has asked us to reflect and write on particular elements we have discussed and read about throughout the quarter. One of our assignments was to address the question of "what was God doing before creation?" I wrote my response in a short-story form, and wanted to share it with you. Enjoy!

Before Creation
By Dan Navarra

Creation is a story. The entire human existence is a story: it’s a novel that has been composed by the Creator. It only follows that, before time began, God was simply writing the story.

I imagine God as a large elderly black woman sitting in a rocking chair. Her hair is graying, and the weight of her skin has begun to take its toll on her once-refined face. There is an old transistor radio, or even a record player, going in the background with an unfamiliar tune. It’s simple and melodic.. The chair is on the front porch of a house by the river, and the breeze coming up off of the water is just subtle enough to keep the perspiration from the high sun off of God’s brow. God, half into a big glass of lemonade filled to the brim with ice, had just woken up from an intriguing dream. A dream where, somehow, God took on a more physical form: God could smell and touch differently, taste less, and even see, in ways that were now limited by mortal means. God, in the grayness of just awakening from slumber, tried to recall the dream before it escaped her. She wrote down her thoughts on a scratch pad of paper; scribbling every detail as if she were counting the hairs on a friend’s head; not wanting to miss a single one. Her attention to detail was astounding.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity there writing on the porch, just as the sun was casting a pink hue over the sky as it dipped halfway over the horizon, God scribbled an emphatic ending paragraph to her tall tale full of earthquakes, a blaring choir of trumpets, fire engulfing and overcoming all, and a triumphant re-entry into a mortal world of the babe that was now sitting in her womb. The story was personal. It was a great tale of redemption and unfathomable love. A love that included even her son. In fact, the story was written in need of a hero, and as her baby lay kicking inside her, she knew that she carried the hero already.

As she competed with the descending light to finish her novel, she dashed to the concluding page and quickly jotted ‘the end.’ Closing her manuscript, she gingerly got up from the simple rocking chair. Her lemonade was now long gone, and the ice had since melted in its place, leaving a rash of condensation caressing the side of the glass. She grabbed the glass, turned and entered into her house through the screen door. She set the glass in the sink, and walked back outside on to the porch with which she had just come. Pausing for a moment to look out over her front yard and taking a moment to reflect on the beauty surrounding her, she stretched her arms up towards the darkening sky and let out a audacious yawn that resembled the roar of a lion. Knowing she was in for a long week, she hobbled down the familiar cobblestone path to the workshop across the front yard. Sliding open the big barn doors, God rushed over to the counter and put on a pot of coffee just as the last light of day crept behind the rising mountains across the river. Then, sliding the barn door shut, darkness overcame all.

Turning instinctively, God blindly rustled through a once-familiar drawer for a lighter. Grasping it finally, God lit a brand special new candle with a scent of apples. And then there was light. A small smile crept across God’s face. As her eyes adjusted to the new light, she peered around heaven and whispered to herself, “this will do just fine.”

The End

Rob Bell & Universalism

2011-03-03T13:26:00.000-08:00

All the buzz in the universe right now is about Rob Bell's new book set to come out at the end of March entitled, LOVE WINS: A Book On Heaven And Hell And The Fate Of Every Person Who Ever Lived. If you are not up to date on the book, and the barrage of issues it raises, please, check out this teaser video. It's worth the three minutes.

LOVE WINS. from Rob Bell on Vimeo.

Bell begs some seriously intriguing questions in his video, but they all seem to point towards the question of whether or not God's perfect love dictates that he loves every person, regardless of rejection or acceptance of Jesus Christ, enough to spend eternity in heaven with them. This notion in academic and ministry circles is referred to as Universalism.

Right off the bat, you should know that I do not hold a universal belief in redemption, and that I believer Bell is off his rocker if in fact he is suggesting that all humans go to heaven.

I understand the argument that if God loves all of his creation, why would he judge anybody into eternal damnation, but here is where I think it looses traction on a philosophical level: God's love does not equal God's salvation. God's love for humanity does not mean that he saves all of humanity, it merely means he loves it. A man could love many women, but just because he loves them does not necessarily mean he marries them. A person could love potato chips, but just because you love all potato chips does not necessarily mean you choose to eat all of them.

God extends salvation to all. However, not all choose to accept salvation. Only those who choose to embrace Jesus as savior from sin, and Lord of life take advantage of salvation. That's the Gospel, duh.

Now that opens up an entirely different conversation of pre-destination and free will that is so large and audacious, there simply is not enough cyberspace to hold all of it. What is important to know, however, is that this works either way you fall in the pre-destination / free will debate. If God chose who would open the gift or hear the gift of the Gospel before time began, that doesn't mean he doesn't love those he did not choose. It just means that in order for us to be able to begin to quantify God's love, we need to know what not having that love means. To say that the idea of hell is to not know the love of God is not nearly as valid as saying the eternal destination of hell is to not know the love of God. And conversely, if we choose God, then the argument is as before: The Creator extends his hand to all; its up to the creation to take hold of it. There are theological libraries and thousands of years of history devoted to predestination and free will: no agreeable outcome has been reached, and one won't be reached here. I just wanted to summarize how universalism being invalid is not contingent on creation being predestined to eternal life or death, or creation being able to choose eternal life or death.

So, back to Bell.

I've been a Rob bell fan for many years. I've seen many NOOMA videos, and used them before for sermons, etc. I've read many of his books (and even finished them!). However, it seems like the idea that love conquers rejection of Jesus is not biblically grounded, according to the Bible I read, at least. Throughout the OT, God's judgment on those who disobey Him is evident. In the NT, why did Jesus not tell both men on the crosses next to him that they would BOTH be joining him today in paradise? Only one got that invitation. Universalism is simply a way for people to not have faith, but still reap the rewards. Its like getting a huge salary to play baseball, and sucking. You have to actually DO SOMETHING to get salvation. Don't hear that as, "works-based salvation." Its not that type of 'doing something' - though deed is part of faith in action. All you have to 'do' is accept Jesus.

This is like saying on Christmas morning, to get your presents, all you have to do is unwrap them. You don't have to walk eight old ladies across the street before you can have your present. You get the present, but there is still a little bit of work involved. Now, your parents may say to really use your new remote control car to its fullest, you'll want to live your life a certain way: get good grades, don't hit your sister, and make your bed every morning....but you have the gift.

Salvation is the same way: unwrap the present by initially asking Jesus to save you from your sin, and be Lord of your life. Then, if you want to get the most out of your present, there are a few suggestions you may want to look into that essentially add up to being Christ-like.

Universalism is a cop out on those suggestions, and even unwrapping the present in the first place.

Use The Internet To Belong?

2011-03-02T14:52:00.001-08:00

I can't seem to get this infographic to cooperate and fit on my page. So go check it out for yourself. Good stuff.

A Window In

2011-02-24T16:16:00.000-08:00

I've recently been reading (I know, GASP!) My Generation, by Josh Riebock. Josh is going to be speaking at Hume Lake this summer during the week I am taking my high school group to camp, and I'm thrilled!

Josh reminded me of an important principle in his book today as I was reading.

To summarize, as Christians, one of the greatest ways we can be a witness to who Jesus is and what he has done in our lives is to simply invite others into our lives in a way that allows them to see the difference our lives have versus those without Jesus. In ministry circles, we call this incarnational ministry. The idea is quite simple really: if you have a love for God and a character that is shaped by that love for God, then just be yourself and be around people; and that will further the Kingdom of God.

Its easy to forget what Josh was sharing as Christians live in the world that is not of God. But the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.

When I was an intern, I found an old youth pastor's hard drive in a church closet. I plugged it in, and commandeered as much information off of it as I could. As I browsed years of ministry files, I came to one file that surprised me: "personal goals for 1999." I opened the document. In it, there was a letter to the youth pastor's boss, outlining the goals he had set for himself in three areas: spiritual, social, and physical. His spiritual goal was something outrageous; like memorize three verses a week, for an entire year. His physical goal was to bench press, like, 250 lbs. His spiritual goal was to create friendships with 10 non-Christians in the next year. He actually was intentional about making friends with non-Christians, with the expectation that as he invited those people into his life (to meet his family, talk about careers or money, play softball, play cards, go to sporting events together, or watch TV, etc), that these non-Christians would get glimpses of Jesus in his life. Pretty gutsy stuff.

Today, we Christians, via social media, have an incredible opportunity to create relationships with non-Christians that would otherwise never be creatable. I am part of the increasing population of people that think one of the principle duties of up-and-coming Church leaders is to figure out efficient ways to leverage the new tools that are increasingly available in social media, marketing, and networking in order to create the "biggest net" for catching metaphorical fish with our relevancy and transparency in who we are and what our character is. We really have an opportunity like never before to create a window into our Jesus-filled lives.

So there is the challenge: create relationships in new ways (while not forgetting the old ways too!) with the expectation that by people seeing your online presence, they will get to see glimpses of how different your life is because Jesus is the Lord of it.

Privilaged

2011-02-23T20:35:00.001-08:00

If you are reading this, than you probably know that I am a Youth Pastor -- errr, Minister to Youth -- at a great church in Modesto. Tonight is one of those nights where I have look back on the evening and can only smile.

When was the last time you felt like your dent in the Kingdom was a big one?

Tonight we had our Junior High small groups. I taught on the first part of Moses' life: the Exodus. I ended the story with Pharaoh's army chasing the Hebrews into the desert. Some of my students know what is coming next. Some don't.

We left our speaking time and split up into our small groups: we have two - one of guys and one of girls. I only have grades 7 and 8 in Junior High, so it's not too huge of an age gap. The students have all become pretty good friends, and the group has really gelled well in the last six months since we split them off from the high schoolers in August.

We started doing small groups about a month ago, and it has been up-and-down with my guys group. I have an incredible co-leader in Tom Hardy. Tom is former Younglife guy, and (sort of like my own father) is tailor-made for Junior High ministry. Together we make a pretty good team. He was a lifesaver too! When we made the split to Junior High without High School, I had about 4 students I knew would show up that first night. Myself and one other female staff leader: my jack-of-all-trades-all-star Elder Monique. Well, that first night, we had 15 junior highers. I literally asked Tom as we were about to start youth group if he could hang for one night and help out. He agreed. I asked him after if he would help out every week. He agreed. What a blessing! He even taught for me one night!

Anyways, tonight, we had a great small group discussion. But that wasn't even the best part of tonight.

Tonight, student leadership applications were due! The application I put together wasn't too complicated. Basically, all I wanted was a 2 page paper from each student telling me three basic things: what is their testimony, what is a leader, and why do you want to be a leader.

The answers students have me were fantastic. I was so humbled to be part of some of the testimonies: some students have felt like I have helped them to become better Jesus-followers in the short year I have been in Modesto. But the transparency each student showed in where they are in their faith and where they are in wanting to lead their peers and others was mind blowing.

I truly am privileged to be the shepherd of this flock.

Through Hell or High Water

2011-02-21T09:52:00.000-08:00

I stumbled across this from Tony Morgan. I highly recommend him.

This excerpt from Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson’s recent book Rework keeps reverberating in my mind today:

“When you stick with your current customers come hell or high water, you wind up cutting yourself off from new ones. Your product or service becomes so tailored to your current customers that it stops appealing to fresh blood. And that’s how your company starts to die.”

That’s consistent with one of the key attributes of churches in decline that we talked about a few months ago. When churches become inward focused and start making decisions about ministry to keep people rather than reach people, they have also started to die.

Jesus said it this way:

“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? (Luke 15:4, NLT)

Why do you think some churches slip into the mode where they’re so focused on keeping people that they neglect trying to reach people who are outside the faith?

Valentine's Day

2011-02-16T14:20:00.000-08:00

I am perhaps the biggest fan of Socialnomics, a groundbreaking way of looking at social media and how it affects our lives. Here is their latest offering, on how Valentine's Day was saved by social networking. Enjoy!

Comfort Things

2011-02-11T11:28:00.000-08:00

Do you have a comfort food? Maybe its mac & cheese, or perhaps your mother's chicken soup? Growing up, my comfort food was always IBC bottled cream soda and chips & salsa. It was what I lived on through high school.

In the last six years, my comfort food has shifted towards a "comfort location." Primo's Pizza in Danville is it. I know; big shocker for those of you who know me remotely well. When I am at Primo's, I can let my guard down, relax, not worry, and be authentic. There isn't a worry in the world when I am there. When I am out in the world day to day, I (like may others) tend to put on an image that is mildly common and acceptable; for it is this image that my public desires. This is not such a terrible thing in small doses, but a word from one who has struggled with image - don't let your people-pleasing image become who you are. God created you one way: don't mess it up!

At any rate, I wonder if it were possible for the Church to be a person's comfort zone? Walk with me on this thought: people come to church all the time and act a certain way. For students, they don't swear or do odd and inappropriate behaviors (most of the time, at least...). People come to church and "act Christian" all the time. And then they leave the parking lot and are right back to yelling at their children, or lying to their parents, or whatever it is that you do outside of church that you would never dream of doing on "hallowed ground."

What is the Church was the place where people went to be authentic? What if the Church was a safe place for people to give others and accurate view of who they are; a real transparency? I think it is possible.

I once had a Bible study that met in my backyard. It was a group of guys, anywhere from age 13 to 30, who all met for a common purpose: to study scripture, worship, and pray together. It was a total God thing how this Bible study even started, but that's for another blog at a later time. Anyways, the only rule I had for the Bible study was that all participants were to be who they were outside of the Bible study when they were at the Bible study. If you swear at school and argue all the time, it was those students who I didn't want to fake it at Bible study. I simply believe that God doesn't like a fake. Putting on your "church face" doesn't help anybody know who you really are under that mask. I challenged the guys to eliminate the masks they wear around church folk in an effort to be more real with each other.

It worked. Guys came to Bible study and felt safe. They didn't have to act. They could worship freely. They could struggle in their faith publicly. They could ask for prayer in areas where the average Christian would be ashamed to even mention some of the sin in their life. It was a beautiful picture of how the Church ought to be everywhere. Oh, and for those new to the program - it was after these Bible studies that "the porch" ministry was born.

As I leave to go get some Primo's for lunch, I was reflecting on comfort foods, comfort places, and how the Church needs to be a place that offers similar qualities as those things that help us relax and be ourselves.

Is Your Mom on Facebook?

2011-02-02T09:20:00.000-08:00

Everybody knows I love a good infographic! I particularly enjoy the average ages of the various social networking services. Enjoy!

The Pastoral Quarterback

2011-01-25T15:34:00.000-08:00

I watched the Bears & Packers play last weekend. The game was decent. If you watched, you probably noticed that Jay Cutler, the quarterback for the Bears, left the game after hurting his knee on the second-to-last series of the first half. The training staff did not take him to the locker room, as Todd Collins came into the game as his backup. Cutler sat on the sidelines in a huge coat doing nothing. Not even a clipboard in hand. It looked as though he had given up.

This was the biggest game of the season for the Bears: if you lose, you go home. And tons of people thought that Jay Cutler was quitting on his team. His official status on the injury report was that he had a knee injury and his game status was questionable. Not doubtful (to return). It looked and sounded like Jay just wasn't feeling what was going on around him.

Here is the flip side of Cutler's actions.

Monday, after the game, it was reported that Cutler had a torn MCL. He actually played after he injured his knee, too. He gave it 100%, and tried to gut it out on the biggest stage. Yet, ultimately he had to come out of the game.

Unquestionably, the leader of a football team is the quarterback. Just as the leader of a church is the pastor. How many times has a church had a pastor who could not get the job done (like Cutler), and took himself out of the game and grabbed a seat on the bench for the good of the team without complaining or arguing? It doesn't happen.

If you look back at the Bears game, Todd Collins came in as Cutler's replacement, and was terrible. Their third string quarterback actually made the game interesting, and brought the team within a touchdown of tying the score. But what was most impressive about the second half of the Bears and Packers game was the rest of the team. When their leader went out, the entire team stepped up their game. The defense forced turnovers, and held the Packers within striking distance, giving their team a chance to win. Everybody saw their leader take himself out of the game, and realized they needed to step up in their niche on the team if they wanted a chance at winning.

We need to hold our pastors to the same level of expectation, and support them by stepping up in times where they need to not carry the team.

There are times when pastors need to grab a seat on the bench to heal, regain some energy, get a game off, or to even allow the second stringer to have a chance to play. If the pastor of your church feels like he/she can't miss a Sunday because the wheels will fall of the church bus, your church needs to reevaluate their leadership structure.

Brett Favre, one of the most successful quarterbacks in NFL history is a good example to look at. Favre has won the most games and thrown for the most touchdowns in NFL history. That's the pastoral equivalent of preaching the most sermons and leading the most people to Christ (or something like that...). He also owns the records for most career losses, most interceptions, and even the most un-retirements. You can't expect your pastor to deliver every single time, just like you can't expect Brett Favre to deliver every single time.

There needs to be space for your pastor on the bench. Just like their was for Cutler. And its not bad space - I'll call that Donovan McNabb space on the bench. That is not the type of benching I'm talking about. I'm talking about for the good of the team, you take a seat. And despite the critics, Cutler made the right move by taking himself out of the game. And trust me, there will be critics if your pastor isn't front and center every week. But it's still the right move. And the best part about Cutler's injury and everybody questioning him quitting: his entire team backed him up and wrote those people off as ridiculous. We need to have our pastor's back like that.

The Evolution Of Social Networking

2011-01-25T13:56:00.000-08:00

Everybody knows I'm a huge fan of infographics. Especially ones related to social media and networking. Do people even remember the days of AOL and AIM anymore? I was a 5th grader when that stuff came out. I also remember when MySpace was all the rage.

Information provided by: onlineschools.org href=

What will be the next "thing" on this info graphic in the next 3-5 years?

A Prayer for Youth

2011-01-22T11:50:00.000-08:00

I have been reading The Son of Laughter by Frederick Beuchner this week for my seminary class. I stumbled across this prayer online by him, and thought I would pass it along to you.

A prayer for students.

…Be present especially with the young who must choose between many voices. Help them to know how much an old world needs their youth and gladness. Help them to know that there are words of truth and healing that will never be spoken unless they speak them, and deeds of compassion and courage that will never be done unless they do them. Help them never to mistake success for victory or failure for defeat. Grant that they may never be entirely content with whatever bounty the world may bestow upon them, but that they may know at last that they were created not for happiness but for joy, and that joy is to him alone who, sometimes with tears in his eyes, commits himself in love to thee and his brothers. Lead them and all thy world ever deeper into the knowledge that finally all men are one and that there can never really be joy for any until there is joy for all. In Christ’s name we ask it and for his sake. Amen.

- Frederick Beuchner, The Hungering Dark, page 33

The Fill Full Fall

2011-01-19T10:23:00.000-08:00

This last weekend myself, four other volunteers, and twenty-two high school students ascended to 5,200 feet where Hume Lake Christian Camp resides. I have been to Hume several times before, and you can read about those experiences here if you are new to the program.

This trip was not done with out the usual drama that accompanies me making large decisions in the ministry I pastor. Parents were concerned about cost (among other things), since Hume costs roughly double what our church was used to paying for their past winter camp weekends. I persuaded my team to go along with this, and that the camp would be worth every penny.

It was. Here is the blow by blow.

Thursday night, students all showed up at church to drop off their luggage. Excitement was in the air. You could just tell that everybody was anticipating an incredible weekend ahead.

Friday, the church bus and a pickup truck got to church before the students. We loaded up the luggage, and eagerly awaited the students arriving. Jen Irwin, one of my incredible interns from this summer volunteered to skip class Friday and make the long drive from Redding to Modesto in order to join us on the trip. She arrived a bit before lunch, so naturally, we did a quick In N Out run before things got crazy.

About 2:15 PM on Friday, students began to arrive straight from school. Can I just say that one of the biggest blessings is not having people run late when you are trying to get on the road to get to camp? All my students were on time. We actually left the parking lot a few minutes after 3 PM - which meant we were on time.

After a quick bathroom stop in Fresno that also allowed us to rendezvous with a student from San Luis Obispo that was joining us for camp, we took off down highway 180 towards the mountains. Cal Trans closes 180 directly after the turn off to go to Hume. The roads were clear all the way to camp, even at just under 7,000 feet elevation, before we began our descent into Hume.

The 3 mile one lane road into Hume can be treacherous. Hume is responsible for sanding and plowing that road, and I've seen it take 45 minutes for some church charter busses to make the drive because of icy conditions or blizzards. Our bus driver is a champion, and there was no trouble for us at all. But we did see a suburban that had slipped into the side of the cliff. I'm so thankful for the gifting of my volunteers.

We arrived at camp and went straight to dinner. All you can eat pizza is a great way to start camp. Period. While the students (all 1,014 of them at camp that weekend) stuffed their faces, the staff and I booked it up to Memorial Chapel for a counselor meeting that was already in progress once we got there. After getting briefed for the weekend, we took the short stroll to Ponderosa Chapel where program was that night.

Hume is the best I've seen at creating excitement and energy out of thin air (literally). They don't open the doors to chapel early. The students stand out in the cold, packed into an entry pit like sardines, anticipating the doors opening. Everybody can hear the loud music inside the chapel with bass line kicking. There are small peep holes in the chapel doors where students can peer in and see the lights going crazy and the stage all lit up with haze. By the time the doors open, students are stampeding into the chapel to get seats up front. The balcony is packed as well. They use every inch of that room.

Brenton Brown and his band, The Worship Republic, is the 2011 winter worship team. My church actually brought them up to do a concert two weeks before camp, so many of our students already knew the band, and were comfortable with the worship time. They were fantastic. The band wasn't like MOI from a few years ago. MOI was much harder, and probably a bit more youth oriented. Brenton is a more traditional worship leader, and you can tell. It wasn't bad or anything. In fact, it was great.

Our speaker for the weekend was Chuck Bomar. He was probably the best camp speaker I have ever heard. Period.

He was teaching out of Ephesians 3:14-19, specifically how Paul prays about how the Christian needs to be FILLed with the FULLness of God, and that fullness needs to overflow and FALL on everything around them. That's where the theme, "The Fill Full Fall" comes from. Hume used four short videos that were all done in stop animation in-house. The four videos explained the fullness of God, the problem of sin, God's desire for us to not want to sin, and our need to reflect God. They were incredible and really complemented Chuck's teaching. In particular, I really appreciated Chuck saying plainly that Christians need to read the Bible and pray. In my discussion times with some of my students, that really cut through for them. Student's hearts were changed over the weekend. Many saw a need to step up their faith practice by seeing the lack of fullness in their own lives.

Aside from the spiritual excellence of the weekend, Hume also puts on incredible recreation. The broom hockey tournament (and corresponding rules video for this year) was awesome. Our students didn't fair very well; in fact out three teams combined didn't score a single goal. But our students had fun trying and rooting for one another. Our sportsmanship was good, and the pictures were great!

A new thing at Hume since the last time I attended is the Boxsled Blitz. On Sunday night, at 11:30 PM, the entire camp gathered at the tube run. Every church brought to camp with them cardboard and duct tape to make a sled that was to hold two to ten people in it. REALM's sled was awesome. We actually held first place in the judges voting with straight nines for half of the night. Our sled hit the jump built into the tube run perfectly, and got some great air. Here is a picture.

Many of my students played paintball as well this weekend. $10 for two hours is a pretty decent deal. We had students jump off the Screamer - a 42 foot platform. Some of our students had never been to the snow, and several of them got to snowboard for the first time. The tube run is always super-popular, and this year they had a tow rope! That meant no more hiking up the hill for twenty minutes for a short 30 second ride! Hume N' Beans is now located out in Meadow Ranch underneath the new OK Chalet. The snack shop over by the lake was closed. I used to spend all of my time there. The OK Chalet is sort of a combination of legends (without the past themes up), and an old western-styled bar. They have a mechanical bull in there, and also the best milkshakes known to man! Also this year, Legends in the Ark is no more. They have taken down all the old theme stuff, and painted the walls purple. The pool table, foosball, and other game-stuff is still up there, but it doesn't have the same homey feel Legends did back in the day.

All in all, the trip was amazing. The students had a really fun time, while also being challenged from God's Word. Many of them have already expressed a desire to return next year.

Ephesians 3:14-19
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

The History of Me and Hume

2011-01-18T16:46:00.000-08:00

Friday, I embarked with my high school ministry on a fantastic journey to one of my all-time favorite places: Hume Lake.

Before I describe my weekend with my high school students, a little of my Hume history is in order. I will create a separate blog post soon to elaborate on my experience this weekend shortly hereafter. But for now, "a long, long time ago, in a galaxy just outside Fresno...."

I first attended Hume in February of 2004, the year I graduated from high school. I attended with my "second" church in town that I was going to at the time. My primary church, CPC, was were I was heavily involved in student leadership: every week I was doing ministry more than I was being ministered to. This was a common theme for many student leaders, so many of us found secondary churches to get plugged into where we could just "attend" and participate. I found Creekside Community Church, where a girl I had started dating the first week of senior year attended. I had gotten plugged in to a small group and was also being discipled by their youth pastor, Nate. All was well. The girl and I broke up right before Christmas, but I decided to keep attending the youth group, after all I was there for Jesus, and not her. They were going to Hume Lake for winter camp. Small side note that makes this story all the great - I actually was a worship intern for Creekside in 2008. Its funny how God works sometimes. Here is a picture of many of us. I'm the guy in the obnoxious blue and yellow beanie cap and teal shirt with pink writing.

Also, our girls team won the cup that year! They are in the second two pictures. And yes, the girl I was dating is in these pictures. I'll let you guess on which one though.... :)

Anyways, I went to Hume on Valentine's Day weekend of 2008 looking for friends and God. I found both. I had started playing guitar right after I had been dumped in December as a coping mechanism for the breakup I had just experienced (I know, lame right?). I learned every worship song on the guitar I could, and actually got decent pretty quick....like in two months I could play pretty well. I made a zillion friends that weekend. The key was the fact that I brought a borrowed guitar to camp and walked around with it all weekend. I would just post up at a coffee shop around campus, sit down, and play worship music. Rule of thumb: people, especially girls at camp, flock to guitars. Everybody wanted to meet me. It was awesome.

That weekend, during the call to respond and make decisions, I actually stayed back and made a decision during chapel after all the other students were dismissed. I talked with my youth pastor that night and told him I needed to give God "my future." This was the first time I had ever really considered asking God if I was meant to be an architect, and was probably the first time I ever thought about being in ministry. It is incredible to go back to the place where the journey of ministry began for me.

Also, for the record, it was this weekend in 2004 that I met Amanda at Hume, who would later turn out to be a romantic interest for me on and off for about five years. I wouldn't see her again for a year after that weekend, and when we re-met in college in January of 2005, we didn't even realize that we had met at camp the year prior until I saw a picture of myself on her wall in a collage from that weekend one day as we were hanging out at her house. Small world.

So anyways, that was my first Hume experience.

Winter of 2005, I was on volunteer staff with Creekside, and attended Hume with my small group of freshman boys. I love those boys, and am still close with a few of them. I don't remember much about that weekend, other than that I had just decided to go into ministry and ditch architecture a few weeks prior. I actually filled out an application to work at Hume that weekend, which I never would turn in, since I shortly thereafter began my intern time at CPC where I would be for the next two years.

Winter of 2006, I did not go to Hume. CPC put on their own winter camp that year called Avalanche. Amanda and I were interns at the time, and the camp was a good one; but it was no Hume. Our ministry did not have a director at the time of the camp, but the person who was hired as the director was at camp, Jen DeVries. Amanda and I rode home with her from camp, and spent the entire ride lecturing her on why we should go to Hume Lake next winter.

We did.

That camp was amazing. We took 86 high school students, my brother included. My brother's broom hockey team, the "Carebears," made up of a bunch of non-athletes that nobody else wanted on their team actually WON the Kurth Cup that year. They prayed before every game. They played like a team. They had great sportsmanship, and really were an incredible story. The camp was great. CPC did Hume one or two more years I think after that - but I was done going as an intern for those trips.

I went to Hume two other times while I was in college. Both of those trips were unplanned, spur-of-the-moment-trips where my best friend Justin and I decided we could go for a milk shake, and randomly decided to drive to Hume. Don't ask me why we did the 3.5 hour drive from Danville to Hume just go get milkshakes...but we did. And it was always worth it. Hume N' Beans makes 'em the best. Period.

Basically, Hume will always have a special place in my heart. I met a lot of cool people, and have had God do some pretty cool stuff in my heart there over the years. This year was no different. Stay tuned for a summary of how this last weekend went, but for now, here is a small teaser video.

Obsessed with Facebook

2011-01-13T16:36:00.000-08:00

I often wonder what the next "big thing" to experience Facebook-like growth will be. Ideas?

What To Do With Idle People

2011-01-07T14:09:00.000-08:00

As a church leader, how do you speak to people at your church who have been there for an extended period of time, but are still not engaging the way you want them to? I'm not talking about the type of people who have been off and on attendees over the last six months: those in your crowd or community. I'm talking about people who have become a part of your church family in some significant way, but have still not truly engaged in a spiritual life that really...matters.

I've often wondered if the expectations of church leaders for their people are not high enough. Or, worse yet perhaps, is that the perfectly healthy expectations church leaders have for their congregations are not properly communicated to their people in a way that make them desirable or worthy.

Here are some ideas on how to jump start your congregations' collective walk with Jesus:

1. Start a regular prayer gathering. It is a shame to me that prayer teams are usually only made up of a church's prayer warriors. Baseball organizations have the minor leagues and spring training for a reason: so that the less experienced or less-qualified players can rub shoulders with the superstars on the team, and get shown the ropes of the Big Leagues. Treat your prayer team the same way! Invite people who aren't comfortable praying, and let your stud-prayers rub off on them. You may see a greater level of confidence grow! And when the Spirit moves in a prayer gathering, it is contagious!

2. Launch a new campaign. Not a series. There is a difference. A series is the next grouping of sermons your church will hear on Sunday. A campaign is an entire philosophical change and approach. You campaign for a specific goal and result. Your church doing the "40 Days of Purpose" is really part of a campaign to become a purpose-driven church. If you don't believe in being a purpose-driven church, then why would you do the 40 Days of Purpose curriculum? Launch some sort of a campaign that inspires your people in a fresh way. Use words like challenge, grow, push, vibrant, and extreme. From the top down in your church's staff and volunteer structure, have everybody get excited about a new campaign with a fresh philosophy and goal - and it starts with YOU being excited about it.

3. Do something you have never done before. Usually, wherever you find stagnant people you also find a stagnant church. Look at your church calendar from the last year: how many things did your church do that have never been done before at your church? If your calendar is 100% full of traditions that your church has always done, you might want to consider thinking outside of your own box. That's not to say what your church does or always has done is bad. The idea is that you keep people wondering. There is excitement in the adventure of something new, and that might just get people more interested. Try having a concert, a giveaway, off-site gathering, combining services together for one large worship gathering for one week, or throwing a party of some sort. The sky is the limit and no idea is a bad one.

If you find yourself leading a church where you have high expectations, but struggle to communicate them well, here are a few things to get your creative juices flowing on how to better alert your people that they are not rising to your standards for them.

1. Re-work your church's website. Find a few underwriters, and try a Clover website. They are slick and simple, and only cost about $20 a month for hosting and upkeep after $1,000 initial set-up fee. There are plenty of other great church website companies out there. Don't settle. Your church branding depends largely on this simple tool. Also, make sure you have the right people in place to manage this website. Owning a sports car doesn't matter unless you know a good mechanic to keep it running at 100%. Technology is the same way.

2. Social Media. (Cue the gasp!) Its generally free, and once you learn the full capabilities of how to use a few key tools, your efficiency in communication can skyrocket. Your staff all ought to have Facebooks, at an absolute minimum. Did you know that there was 922% growth in Facebook users over the age of 55 in 2010? If you think the elderly in your congregation won't make the jump into using Facebook, you are likely mistaken. Seeing pictures of the grandchildren are just too hard to resist! Also, maybe start a pastoral blog giving commentary on Sunday's sermon! If you have small groups at your church, this is a great free tool for average people in your congregation to wrestle with your message from Sunday. And you can use it to spread messages, announcements, and philosophical ideas you have that people may otherwise not hear. If you disagree with using social media, ask yourself this: What are you communicating by not communicating?

3. Staffing. In this new age of instant information, churches are being slow to admit that they need extremely well-qualified people with lots of time, experience, and passion heading up their marketing, image, media, and production. Outsourcing production can be a step in the right direction, but in reality, you need somebody on your staff who can carry your church's "media stuff" over the next ten years as more and more tools develop. Remember when it seemed far fetched to need an IT person who would oversee your church's computers and/or network? That was only about 1995. You probably have one now! And if you don't, you probably wish you did. The same will be said about media ten years from now: you either will have somebody who specializes in this stuff, or you will wish you did have somebody. Be proactive! Don't wait for the curve to catch you! Be ahead of the curve!

There are tons more things churches can do to jump start their people's engagement. This is the tip of the iceberg. Share what you would do in the comments section!

Things I Resolve To Do in 2011

2010-12-31T19:58:00.000-08:00

Its that time of year again. Here are the things I resolve to do in 2011.

1. I resolve to get published quarterly. For those of you who have been following the blog for the past six months, you know that I have been published twice over at SHRINKthechurch.com. I want to keep that trend going, and possibly get published on a few larger blogs. I'm fascinated with social media and its implications for the Church moving forward, and there just is not a lot of writing out there on it. I resolve to create some.

2. I resolve to get A's in two of the four classes I will take this year. I've been a 3.0 student my entire life. I get tons of B's, a handful of A's, and very few C's. I have one F to me record, and one D in my grade school undergrad, and grad school combined. My GPA in high school was 3.5, with minimal effort. In college it was 3.3, again with minimal effort. My grad school GPA is 3.04, and for the first time I can honestly say to myself that that is just not good enough. I want to commit to attacking school with a higher level of desire. I know that when I put my mind to something, I usually achieve it. I'll be excited to see my results on this one next December.

3. I resolve to get back into the habit of memorizing scripture regularly. When I was in high school, I memorized three verses a week my entire senior year, thanks to my youth pastor bribing me with free breakfast every Thursday morning before school at 6am. It was the best thing he ever did for. Psalm 119:9-11 says that if a man wants to be pure, he should hide the word in his heart. The best way to put scripture in your heart is to memorize it. I would be happy to memorize a verse a month this year. Like really, really get it down good. This is going to be tough.

What do you think?

Who Is Using Twitter & How They Are Using It

2010-12-30T12:30:00.000-08:00

Check out this graphic produced by Pew Research. Have you ever wanted to know who is using twitter and how they are using it? Here ya go!

But here is the question the church leader must ask when they see this graphic. Who are we aiming our ministry at? Is twitter effective for your target reach demographic? Is it effective for your present demographic (meaning the people you already have reached)?

How can we leverage social media to reach the lost in our surroundings? Its cost-effective, trendy, efficient, controllable content that we can communicate to a specific group of people: young ones. Surely every church wants to reach the "missing" 18-29 year old demographic?

How Crowdsourcing Can Save The Church...And Hurt It

2010-12-28T10:30:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite shows on televsion right now the sitcom, "Outsourced." In the show, a young American business manager is sent to India to manage an office full of Indian people who work for less money than a similar work force in America would cost. Its a comedy, and I enjoy it.

The Church has skipped outsourcing as a way of being more efficient and better stewards, and gone straight to what WIRED magazine calls 'crowdsourcing.' The concept is simple: take jobs that professionals (pastors and other church workers) are supposed to do, and chunk them into small jobs that anybody can do with a bit of training. This way, the professionals aren't spread so thin with non-critical things that they can't do any one thing well. If you find yourself spread thin, crowdsourcing may be for you!

We already do this in several ways as the Church. The concept of recruiting volunteers is not a new one: any time the Church gets people to work for free, it is a good thing (or so we think!). In fact, Church leaders often say that volunteering is an indication of a servant's heart, and thus an indication of spiritual maturity. The mentality is, "if you serve, you are really a good Christian." And there is a slice of truth that we can glean from that ideology, but let's not take it too far. We don't want people serving because they are programmed to show their spiritual maturity in only that way. We don't want people thinking, "oh man, I better volunteer if I want everybody to think I'm spiritually mature!" That defeats the whole purpose.

So say for instance you, the Church leader, mobilize an entire army of volunteers to make a ministry happen. That's a good thing, right?

Let me give two examples of this: one is a real example, and another is a hypothetical example. The real example is a healthy mobilization of volunteers. The other example is an unhealthy one.

Example One: The Bayside Cafe
The Bayside Cafe is run by Debbie Carapiet, who also happens to be my aunt. If you click the link above and watch the video on the right hand side of the screen, that is her. She is a full-time employee at Bayside Church in Granite Bay, CA. Her entire job is running the cafe. They are open from 7am to 8pm every single day of the week, and the cafe is completely run by volunteers. Debbie has over 75 volunteers involved in the 'ministry' that volunteer in three or four hour blocks once or twice a week to make the cafe run. Debbie, even though she in charge of the cafe, does not need to be there on Christmas Eve, the busiest day of the year at Bayside in terms of foot traffic, because she has a volunteer team that is trained and competent at their jobs. When something unexpected comes up in the form of a problem, all the volunteers know who to call: Debbie. All volunteers go through orientation and training before they are expected to do their task themselves, and their is always somebody there who knows how to do the job the new person is doing as they get experience. There are no questions that can be asked where a chain of command struggle exists, and there are not volunteers managing other volunteers, especially ones with less experience managing somebody with more. The volunteers do everything: they get ice for drinks, stock paper goods, sweep, mop, take out trash, prepare food, make drinks, and run even the register and handle the money. The volunteers are periodically given appreciation parties, and most of them will say their "job" is actually fun. Bayside has managed to make service an enjoyable endeavor - which is the ultimate formula for avoiding burnout. The Bayside Cafe is a healthy example of how crowdsourcing can make a ministry successful, and in this case extremely profitable.

Example Two: A Mega-Church Worship & Arts Department
Church X has a full-time worship pastor/leader. This person is responsible for Sunday Morning worship at Church X, and this person loves their job. They have experience, education, and the necessary skill sets to thrive in their position - which is why they were hired for the job. The leader, we will call him Jim, has decided to crowdsource his ministry as much as possible to avoid having to hire professionals to do some jobs; a noble and brilliant idea! He put an article in the church bulletin and got about fifty responses from people who wanted to help with worship: from vocalists, instrumentalists, people who wanted to do technical things, and even some who wanted to start a drama ministry. Jim had everybody gather together in the church lobby one Sunday after church to meet them and get them plugged in. When it was all said and done, Jim had the perfect number of people who wanted to serve in all the right areas. Things were going smooth.

The next Sunday, one of his teams of volunteers came to church to help Jim produce the worship service. It was chaos. The sound was weird, the powerpoint didn't work half the time, the band was "just off" thanks to a rough mix in the monitors that didn't get resolved, the lighting was not on cue, and the video the pastor wanted to show during his sermon wouldn't work for some reason. The band was late getting to church, and they practiced right up until people were walking in the church, only to get back up on stage 15 minutes later for service. They were wiped out by the time service was over, and Jim was very, very frustrated by the time he went home for the day.

Have you ever felt that type of frustration after a day of ministry? The "I thought volunteers were supposed to make my life easier?!?" feeling? What went wrong in example two? Jim had all the right people in all the right places. Why did this not work?

Crowdsourcing is only a good thing if the training of volunteers is top notch. Jim had not spent the necessary time with each individual volunteer training them in their area, and it showed during service that Sunday. Even worse, it will continue to show every Sunday until either the volunteers figure it out themselves, or until Jim goes back and equips his people better. I once heard Paul Baloche say, "it's always easier to add slowly to a team than it is to subtract quickly." What he meant is that if you take the time to not just throw a volunteer into the mix, but instead train them, equip them, and show them how you (as the leader!) expect them to perform their task, you will avoid needing to (or wanting to) try and subtract people from a problem situation because their will be less problems.

If Jim had spent the time up front equipping his volunteers, he would have people who are not just qualified, but also competent helping him run service. This means teaching your powerpoint (or mediashout, easyworship, whatever...) person how to use the program, or even how to create the lyrics presentation. It means your light person needs to spend some time in the sanctuary midweek learning the light controller. Everybody knows a worship leader needs to trust his sound person: for that to happen, it requires that the sound person know what the worship leader expects, and it requires that the sound person know what is not good enough when it comes to catching cues, doing the EQ on a house mix, and also dialing in the monitors. Jim needs to have the knowledge in all of these areas, or find somebody who does, that can train people. That may mean, for some of these really technical production jobs, you may have to pay for a volunteer to go take classes or attend a conference so that they really have a firm grasp on what they are doing. Furthermore, the band needs to know that the first note drops at such-and-such time, and being late is not allowed. If you have stuff to set up and practice is at 7pm on Wednesday night, don't waltz in at five-till and expect to have your keyboard set up and ready. Get their early and set up your stuff. Practice is a priority. Listening to the songs midweek to learn the dynamics is an expectation. This way, there is less confusion on Sunday morning or midweek at practice. This list does not need to stop. Expectations set by a leader are important.

It all comes down to leadership.

Do not crowdsource your ministry if you, as the leader, don't have the time or desire to properly train your people. Even something a simple as being a greeter at the door to your sanctuary takes five minutes of training: people need to be told to smile, shake every single person's hand, and also be reminded that you are the first impression a person will have of the church as they walk in the door. Greeters need to be told that if they have bad handwriting, they should not make their own name tag! Something that simple can affect whether or not they are effective at their job! It only takes a few minutes! But when a leader recruits a team of people, and just throws them into the fray with minimal expectation or explanation, they are setting themselves up for a "learn on the go" ministry. This type of ministry is fine - and God can bless anything. But only settle for that style of ministry if you as the leader are willing to accept that there is going to be a level of un-professionalism, frustration, and all the other negatives that come with a learning curve. Its the job of the leader to minimize the curve.

And finally, the chain of command is an important piece to crowdsourcing. Inevitably, there will be questions that come up or unexpected problems your volunteers encounter - no matter how good your training and equipping is. Ask my aunt Debbie if you don't believe me: she get's calls all the time from the Cafe when something goes awry. The important thing to train for is that when somebody has something go wrong, they know who to ask if they need a judgment call to be made. So your media person needs to know who to go to if there is a problem they can't solve. Your musicians need to know what to do if a string breaks mid-set. Your greeters need to know who to go to if the church runs out of name tags or welcome brochures. Expecting people to figure this out for themselves, or learn along the way is not an efficient model of leadership; and we all know that the Church needs to become more efficient if it is to survive in the future.

Do not neglect this. Make no mistake: crowdsourcing could save your church if the load is to much for one person to carry. Or it could cripple your ministry before your volunteers get their feet under them. Take the time to crowdsource well, and reap the benefits.

Evaluating 2010

2010-12-28T09:19:00.001-08:00

Its that special time of year, even ESPN is doing year-in-review type programming this week as the world gets ready to flip its calendar to 2011. Last year, two days after the New Year began, I blogged about the things I resolve to do in 2010. I thought it would be good to grade myself on how I did.

The first thing I resolved to do was call my sister-in-laws more often. While I have been infinitely better in 2010 at calling them to catch up than ever before, it is still not an equal amount of talk time to what I have with my brother and cousin. Although, I guess to be fair, I don't have nearly as much to talk about with the girls as I do with the guys. The guys are not only family, but they are my two best friends.

Grade: B
All throughout college, I got tons of B's. It was indicative of the amount of effort, not the quality of the work. My education was defined by giving as little effort as possible while still actually learning the material in a satisfactory manner (to myself, of course). Naturally I got lots of B's because in academics I just have never been an A-type of guy. I gave minimal effort to call my sister-in-laws after about March, but when we did connect it was good stuff.

The second thing I resolved to do was make Modesto my home. This is a tricky one to gauge. In many ways I have been successful. In many ways I have failed.

The good: I have extended my lease another year - which means I'm not going anywhere. I actually put in for a change of address on my bills and financial statements, and even changed the zip code on my credit card. I cut ties in a dating relationship from the bay area that had me traveling out there regularly, or at least it had me spending time thinking about things other than my surroundings. I also have made a handful of friends in Modesto who I hang with for lunches and such pretty often. I have also fit into the network of youth pastors in this area, and have fallen in love with job and church family. In between random hangouts with families and students from church, I have had a good amount of down time as well. I also made the wise decision to invest in DISH Network.

The bad: I still am out in the bay area around 3 weekends a month: 2 for school, and one because I usually have another reason to go out there (family, friends, whatever). Then the 4th week in a month, I usually spend a good part of that cleaning my house. Also, my best friend, Justin, is still in Danville, but he actually comes out to hang with me around once a month, which means that he doesn't always expect me to come to him. When I'm home for the weekend in Danville, I hang with him as much as possible.

Grade: I'm going to give myself a B+ on this one. I would have bumped myself to an A-, but I really don't have a group of friends not associated with church or ministry in Modesto that I can connect with like I did at Primo's. Maybe in 2011....

The third thing I resolved to do in 2010 was have biblical service become more a part of my life. Surprisingly, I think I actually have enjoyed this resolution. There have been a handful of times in the last year where I have gone way outside of my 2009 self in serving the poor, feeding the hungry, and serving the elderly. Often times these things came outside of my ministry job with students - which means I wasn't necessarily getting paid to do them. I just did them because I knew that Jesus would have done the same thing.

Grade: A-. I still have some ways to go, because by my own standards, I'm not gung-ho about service still...but the progress in my life in this area is a massive improvement over 2009 where it was barely on the radar. I always liked teachers that would give good grades based on how much you improved over the course of the year; as opposed to grading the entire body of work.

You all in blogosphere can expect a 2011 resolution post this weekend while I again retreat to bass lake with family and friends for some much needed time off.

Not The Same

2010-12-25T12:04:00.000-08:00

This Christmas was different.

This is the second Christmas that I have not been with my family for our large Christmas Eve gathering. Christmas Day isn't quite as big of a deal as Eve in our family, for whatever reason. Two years ago, Christmas Eve was like this year: a work day. The privilege of working for Christ's Church means that when Jesus has a birthday, us pastors and church workers get the joy of leading people to the manger, and prayerfully to Jesus. My Christmas Eve dinner that year was at Denny's with my then-girlfriend's father, who also didn't have a place to go. This year, it was Jack in the Box in my office in between services. It probably sounds much sadder than it is. I love my churh and my job. I really do look at it as a privilege.

But that wasn't the weird part of this Christmas. Today was Christmas morning. Usually that means the family down in the living room around the Christmas tree. I drove home from Modesto last night at midnight so that I could wake up in my parents house for Christmas morning. Somehow though, I missed the memo that my brother was not going to be with our family Christmas morning.

My brother is my best friend. We have done life together every step of the way. This last July he got married to his high school sweetheart. I love my new sister (we don't use in-law lingo: she's my sister). But this morning when I woke up expecting to battle my brother for shower time, he was nowhere to be seen. It was weird opening presents with my parents, and no brother. It was like trying to have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without jelly, or something dramatic like that.

I guess all of this is to reinforce a recent blog post about Christmas: its not about Christmas, the holiday. It's about Jesus. It doesn't matter who can make it to what family events, or who gets what presents. Its about remembering that, as Pastor Steve said last night as the clock neared midnight, God took on flesh. And that's incredible.

Gloria in excelsis Deo

Presence or Presents?

2010-12-23T16:13:00.000-08:00

About fifteen years ago, my brother and I "teamed up" to ask my parents for a trampoline for Christmas. We had the perfect backyard for it, and were very excited to jump around for hours on end.

That Christmas morning, as we shredded through present after present and tissue paper flew everywhere, we got a whole mess of gifts. But no trampoline. We would never show our disappointment in front of our parents: we were of course grateful for what we had received, but you could probably tell if you looked at the two of us that we were a little bummed. My brother and I had never not received what we asked for at Christmas.

We cleaned up the gift boxes and took our usual seats at the kitchen table for the breakfast spread my mother cooks every Christmas morning: usually a breakfast casserole of some sort. As we sat eating our food, I can remember my dad asking me to open the kitchen blinds and let some sun light in the room.

What happened next is important.

I opened the blinds and there in the corner of our backyard was a trampoline, blue spring cover and all! My brother and I, still in our pajamas for the morning, raced out of the kitchen, through the family room, out the sliding glass door and across the back yard lawn. With one smooth leap we both simultaneously jumped onto the trampoline with joy written all over our faces. It was about 40 degrees that morning. The night had been frigid and the trampoline was covered in a layer of ice from the dew the night before. Soon our feet began to go numb from jumping on the layer of frozen tundra, but that didn't stop us from being excited.

Finally, after several minutes, and four sets of nearly frost-bitten toes later my brother and I retreated back into the warmth of the house to our parents. It was one of the best presents we ever got. I found out some years later that after our big family Christmas Eve party that night, after my brother and I had gone to bed, several of our uncles came over and helped my father until the early hours of the morning in the freezing cold put the trampoline together so that my brother and I would see it all set up in the morning. It truly was an incredible present.

-- // -- // --

The reaction my brother and I had that morning must have been a perfect picture of the shepherds in the fields that were approached by the angles on that first Christmas twenty centuries ago. It seems according to the Gospel of Luke that the shepherds had a rather mundane reaction.

"When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them." Luke 2:15-18

I just imagine the shepherds being overwhelmed with joy! Luke says the spread the word after they saw baby Jesus. I just imagine them shouting it from the rooftops: "Today! A Savior is born to us! Gloria in excelsis Deo (Glory to God in the highest)!"

See, the greatest of all Christmas 'presents' is the Father giving us his Son's 'presence.'

Don't forget that this Christmas.

The Giants of Youth Ministry

2010-12-19T14:57:00.001-08:00

It seems like only yesterday my dad and I were shouting the lyrics to "Don't Stop Believing!" walking down 3rd and King after the Giants game 2 win against the Texas Rangers in this last years World Series. I'll never forget that walk to the car. What a blast. Sorry if you have been living under a rock for the last few months, but the Giants won the World Series for the first time in over fifty years. Upon being crowned World Series champions they are known to the baseball world as the best team in the world! I know, right?!

In a little under two hours, I am having a Christmas party for the volunteers, commission members, and their spouses that work with my ministry at Trinity. This is one of my favorite things to do throughout the course of the year for a few solid reasons: 1) to celebrate Jesus, and 2) to celebrate my team. Not me. Them. This blog post is all about them.

See, my ministry team is a lot like the Giants from where I see it. They are the best in the world.

Every single person has a function in our family of ministry leadership and they are all important functions. I'm really blessed to have inherited such a passionate team of lay leaders when I took the job in Modesto right around this time last year. Some churches hire a youth pastor hoping to have him/her build everything from the ground up, and they expect that person to do it alone. Trinity was not one of those churches. From the minute I walked in the door, I had almost as many passionate and devoted volunteers and commission members as I did students in the actual youth group. With God's grace, that has changed in the last 10 months: the ministry has ballooned, and God is doing great things in students' lives to the point where I'm constantly on the look out for new recruits. But when I arrived, I walked into a team that was deep in every position on the field.

And its through my team that God is moving here at REALM. The Holy Spirit is working through a bunch of normal people who happen to care about students. And that my friends, makes them world beaters. They are the tops. They are touched by angels.

I recently had a heated discussion with one of my volunteers who was upset because I hadn't asked this person to participate in helping produce a large concert my church is hosting January 5. I know for many people in ministry, their number one problem is finding help so they don't have to do everything all by themselves. I have no such problem. I have people actually getting upset with me because I'm not involving them! What a great problem to have! And what does that say about the servant hearts of the people on my team? They are so solid.

My elder for student ministries that I work in direct conjunction with is a 'servaholic' - if there was ever such a thing. She volunteers with high school, junior high, our contemporary worship service, serves on session, meets with me for two hours a week, never misses an event, drives her van any time we need seat belts, and is out at church meetings at least three nights a week. Sorry, I just had to brag. She's amazing. And I could write similar short paragraphs about every single other one of the people on my team. They are all awesome.

As office Christmas parties go, the boss usually gets up, says four words about sales for the year and then everybody toasts their champagne glasses and enjoys an evening of free dinner on the boss while trying to avoid that random co-worker that you don't quite care for and introducing your date to the whole company.

This Christmas party will be different. I want to affirm my team. I want to praise their hearts and efforts. I want them to feel so treasured as individuals who make essential contributions to the ministry and mission that I just happen to pastor. And I want them to know that they are loved. I can't wait for this party to begin so I can celebrate Jesus and celebrate my staff. Without them, I'd be toast.

To Get Her

2010-12-17T15:33:00.000-08:00

I have always been pretty good with spelling.

When I was young, I learned to understand word structure on a rather basic level, and it really helped me to understand the English language: you have the root word, prefix, and suffix. A combination of those three things make up just about every word. You don't have to have all three parts...but there aren't a lot of words that we use regularly that have something in them that doesn't fit into that mold.

One of the words I learned to spell at a very young age was 'together.' My mom taught me the easiest way to remember how to do it: just spell out 'to,' 'get,' and 'her' - and then mush them together and you have 'together!'

That principle rings true in the Church today.

Together = To Get Her.

For those who know me, I'm big unity guy. I'm not a big fan of denominations, I don't like people taking up arms against one another over non-critical disagreements, and I don't like competition when it comes to something like faith, where all of us Christians are supposed to be playing on the same team.

One of my favorite passages of scripture, Ephesians 5, talks about the Church and Jesus in terms of a bride and groom: Jesus is the groom, and his bride is the Church.

See, the bride of Christ is a 'her.' Plug that into my equation from earlier:

To Get Her means we must be TOGETHER.

You see what I did there?

To get the Church, we must be together. We must be unified. We must not only work together across denominational line, gifting differences, and stylistic preferences, but we must actually love one another as though we were loving a beautiful bride.

I recently had a fantastic conversation with a friend of mine in town about churches coming together in an area for a common cause. I have some experience bringing people together to worship a common God under a common purpose, so I naturally had quite a bit of passion on the subject. In my experience, the event I helped to create and produce was called "STAND: A Multi-Church Night of Worship." The entire idea behind STAND was that it would inspire students to take a stand on their campuses together. To be unified. To be one body of believers. Not this club, or that group, or this youth pastor, or that church. The idea was that we all did it together: so that we were mutually encouraged by one another and formed a "three strands of rope is stronger than one by itself" mentality.

Do you know how empowering it is to not feel alone as a Christian on your campus? I do. In high school, I went to a youth group of over 100 students. Over three-quarters of them attended one high school in town. I attended the other. I was one of the few solid Christians from my church that went to my high school. I didn't even know that there were other students on my campus who cared about the Lord like I did until my senior year when I happened to attend another church's youth group. I hated that I felt like I was doing it alone when it came to being a light on my campus. Of over 3,000 students on campus, I was the president of our Christian club that had about twenty regular attenders. We constantly felt alone and up against insurmountable odds. I would have treasured the opportunity to meet other Christians on campus from other churches and form new communities of believers.

It never happened, and that campus still many years later does not have near the Christian presence the other campus in town has.

Mark 3:25 says if a house is divided against itself it cannot stand. There's that word, 'STAND' again. If the Church is to stand, it must come together more than it has ever before.

In Modesto, I have found an insane amount of autonomy among youth ministries. It seems like every church has their own goals, and they want to do it themselves to build their program individually, in the name of the Kingdom. There are exceptions to that; but on the whole I have felt a lot of rivalry-type feelings since I moved here nearly a year ago. The big churches in town don't do things together, at all. This one has this conference, and this one has this rally, or this one has this mission trip - and they are all islands unto themselves, and then unto Jesus. I'm not bashing these churches: they are doing GREAT things in our valley. I just have an aching heart for doing things together.

I think of it in terms of fighting a war. If America was to go to war, we wouldn't want an army from California fighting, and army from Arizona fighting, and an army from Nevada fighting, etc. We would just want one big American Army fighting. There is strength in numbers.

if we are To Get Her, we must be TOGETHER.

I'm praying that in the next year, there will begin to be an unprecedented amount of trust between churches and leaders: that we could do something together that was bigger and better than anything any of us could produce on our own. That would be really coming together and taking a STAND.

Jesus Encounters

2010-12-16T16:04:00.000-08:00

Monday night in my high school guys small group our topic of conversation was the angels & shepherds. Our passage of scripture that we took a look at was Luke 2:8-20. In this passage we see the encounter the shepherds get with the angels that come to tell them of the coming Messiah. I especially love the response of the shepherds when they have their encounter with Jesus.

"When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them." Luke 2:17-18

What is our response when we encounter Jesus? What was our response like the first time we ever encountered Jesus? I'm sure I'm not the only person to notice how people who have believed in Jesus for a while sort of treat the emotion of encountering God like driving a car: the first time you ever took the car out by yourself was probably pretty exciting; but now its rather mundane and normal since it happens so often. People don't get excited about encountering Jesus after a while.

There is a war going on out there. A battle that we have been called to rise and fight in. There is no room for unexcited Jesus encounters! Every ounce of us that encounters Jesus needs to catch fire and glow for all to see.

I challenged my guys to notice their encounters with Jesus more over the course of the week. I challenged them to post them on Facebook so we can affirm each other. I want to see students who have come to church for years all of a sudden realize that when you encounter the Savior, like the shepherds, we must rejoice, worship, celebrate, and spread the news.

What If...?

2010-12-15T09:59:00.001-08:00

In the last few weeks, I have often asked my small group of guys a handful of hypothetical questions centered around Jesus' impending birth. Things like, "How would you respond to an angel telling you your girlfriend was going to be pregnant?" or "what would you do if you were in Joseph's shoes?" Things along those lines to help get students thinking about how difficult it must have been for Mary and Joseph to be faithful to what they believed in have lead to some pretty great discussions about who we are and how much faith we have as Christians.

One of my favorite questions from the last several weeks was the whole, "what if this [the story of the nativity, that is] happened in today's day and age?"

I have finally found my answer :)

Pastoring Pastors

2010-12-10T11:29:00.001-08:00

Who pastors pastors? I'm currently writing a seminary paper on pastoral ministry, and one of the areas I am to address is how I will be ministered to. If every Sunday I'm not concentrating on my own walk, but those who have been entrusted to me, and every time I meet with a small group I'm the one leading it, and every time there is worship, I'm the one who leads it, where am I getting my spiritual nourishment?

What do you do? Does it work? Do you find yourself running on spiritual fumes? Is just having daily devotions enough?

I would love to know your thoughts.

Church Membership

2010-12-04T08:24:00.000-08:00

I've often wondered, why should one become a member of a church? People join country clubs, Facebook groups, and Yacht Clubs because they have interest in the community of the group they are joining. I grew up living near the Blackhawk Country Club, where to buy a charter for membership used to cost upwards of $50,000. I never understood why people would pay such a high price just to have access to paying more money to golf in a rich part of town. Then I realized, people lived in Blackhawk and belonged to the country club less because it was a nice place to live or play golf, but more because it was a status symbol of having "arrived" in Danville where I grew up.

But why do people become members at churches? Is it like a yacht club or country club where you gain status? Is it like a facebook group, where you join any group you have a lined interest too? My church presently has a ten-week Sunday afternoon class that last a few hours each meeting that is required for membership. The church I grew up in had a five-week Monday night class for two hours. Long, short, medium, whatever....why should a person become a member of a church and go through some sort of process? What are the benefits? Make me a compelling argument! This question came up in my seminary class today on pastoral theology, and nobody seemed to have a rock-solid answer. Here are some perks:

-Voting privileges
-Access to deacon care
-maybe you get a shiny name tag?

Then what?

I can read about a church's history on their website if I want to know about it. I can meet with pastors, volunteer in ministries, even be employed by a church without being a member of it. Obviously I can worship at a church without being a member.

So, why become a member of a church?

To Not Be The Best Man

2010-12-03T17:44:00.000-08:00

The last two weddings I have been to, I have been the best man. My two best friends: my cousin and brother, both have gotten married in the last few years, and both times I have had the privilege of standing closest to them during the ceremony and playing the role of best man. It's a privilege that I have not taken lightly: planning bachelor parties, calming nerves, making speeches, praying for their marriages, and loving their spouses like the sisters I never had has been one of the highlights of my life.

Today, for my Pastoral Theology class at Fuller, I had to write a pre-marital counseling outline and a wedding ceremony sermon and outline. I have been looking forward to completing this assignment since I saw it on the prompt before the class started. The paper was supposed to be 6-8 pages long. Mine is 15. I just couldn't stop writing and creating.

Anyways, a full day of writing about wedding bells has gotten me hungry to get out of the bachelor life yet again. I go through phases where I love being a bachelor and phases where I can't stand it. Lately, I've loved not having to be home for dinner, working late, leaving my laundry on the floor of my bedroom, and not worrying about anybody but myself and my students. But as I'm prone to do, I keep thinking that I can't wait to move to a phase of life where I get to be with somebody forever. God created man and woman to become one and join in the covenant of marriage (see Genesis). I sometimes get the feeling that I'm just treading water and passing time, waiting for the person God has chosen for me to enter into my life and make her presence known. I'm trying to not be impatient, but its really hard. I guess I'm just tired of being the best man, and not giving my brother or cousin the chance to return the favor.

Being Thankful for the Journey

2010-11-23T16:42:00.000-08:00

I've been reading through Luke in my daily time with God for the last few weeks. I'm fascinated by Luke's attention to detail in his writing, and how he includes a handful of parables that are not found in any of the other gospels. In my journey through Luke, I have been reading accounts of how Jesus transformed people's lives.

Last week was the 1st Annual REALM Thanksgiving Feast and Turkey Bowl. The ministry I lead, REALM, has a tradition of doing a potluck-style Thanksgiving feast close to turkey day, and I like traditions, especially ones with food; so it was an easy choice to keep doing this event when I started working at Trinity. But one of my favorite youth group traditions is also turkey bowling. Yes, bowling frozen turkeys.

Well, after everybody got some food in them, but before we started the bowling chaos, I invited a former student of mine, former band member, and current worship director at Creekside Community Church in Alamo to come share a testimony with my students.

For those of you who don't know Dana, he is a stud. His story is intense. I got in my head that a good way to talk about Thanksgiving without giving a cheesy "give thanks" message out an outreach night was to talk about how as Christians we can harvest Jesus in our lives so that when we look back on our lives we can really see where God shows up and changes us; on both the inside and outside. And that change is worth being thankful for. I wanted to have a testimony of the power of Christ working in somebody's life that illustrated being able to look back and be thankful for how God changed them. Dana's story was the perfect match.

After Dana finished his testimony, I invited students to get on the journey. I invited students to live a life pursuing Christ in such a way that they will be able to one day look back and see how much God has gotten to mold and change them; and then be thankful.

In all, the night was fantastic. The students had fun, there were a handful of new students, and everybody was challenged in their journey with Jesus.

I'm finding myself with much to be thankful for in my life as I look back on "how far I've come." I may not be like Dana, who had to overcome abuse, drugs, etc, but I feel like God has carried me from ashes to beauty in so many ways in my life. I'm by no means out of the woods yet: I'm a sin-pool of work in progresses. But I'm transformed. God has changed my heart and my mind and my actions to better reflect Jesus. I'm a better disciple of Jesus today than I was yesterday, and better yesterday than I was before that. And that's really the challenge of living the LIFE of a fully devoted follower: to every day pursue Jesus and draw closer to Him.

What Would You Do?

2010-11-13T17:01:00.001-08:00

I just had a former student call me this afternoon from a friends cell phone. His parents have taken away his cell phone, car, and kicked him out of his house.

I asked why; I know his parents, and they are good people. It seems like a stretch that they would just toss out their oldest son.

He had stolen money from his parents to pay an over draft on his savings account. Apparently, this is the second time this has happened, and it was two times too many.

He called me.

Me.

I live an hour away, I see him maybe every couple of months now. I used to spend 3-6 evenings a week with him in an informal ministry setting (see my posts on the porch), and we used to lead worship together regularly. But now, I am barely in his life. I secretly blame myself for some of the decline in his walk: I was a bit of a lifeline for him to the body of Christ; and when I moved away ten months ago, it seems I took a chunk of his faith with me in that relationship becoming less prevelant in my life.

Why me? Why call me?

I was out in the bay area today for seminary, and was hoping to get home in Modesto by 6ish tonight to have a quiet evening to myself before church tomorrow morning. Now, it seems I will be putting my ministry hat on and trying to love and be Jesus to my friend.

What would you do, oh wise bloggosphere?

What If...?

2010-11-13T09:29:00.000-08:00

What if people got this excited about church?

Thump Thump, Zoom Zoom

2010-11-11T23:53:00.000-08:00

I've recently been mulling the idea that the Church in America does not know its Bible well enough. Warning: this may turn into a rant.

If the Bible is to be God's chief way of helping us fight sin (Psalm 119:9-11), a light for our otherwise-dark path (Psalm 119:105), and tells the narrative story of our God, then why don't we know it better? It only makes sense that if you have a very expensive sports car with all the options that you would want to read the owner's manual to make sure you knew how to get the most out of your car. Our relationship with Jesus is the same way people. If we want to get the most out of it, GET IN THE WORD. I was blessed to be pushed as a young student in the discipline of daily reading the Word. I was challenged to memorize scripture, sometimes three verses a week. I was challenged to not miss a day. I was challenged to not just read, but to meditate on the word: meaning I was to think about what I was reading until I figured out how it was to apply to my life.

I was lucky.

It seems like more and more people today come to church to get their fill of Bible for the week. It's like all I need to do is go to a driving class for an hour a week to learn how to master driving an incredible race car. NO! To get the best performance out of your car (and faith) it takes hours and hours of daily training. You think Jeff Gordon was born fast? You think Rick Warren just rolled out of bed and **BOOM** just knew scripture? Heck no. These people worked to become masters of their craft.

As Christians, we are called to relationship with Jesus. Any time you are in a relationship with anybody you care about you can't get enough of them. You want to walk with them, talk with them, read books about them, friend them on facebook, follow them on twitter, know the thinking behind their every move, and DO LIFE with them. Why should it be any different with your relationship with Jesus? The answer is simple: it shouldn't. And here's the cool part: Jesus already persues you that way. He is so in love with YOU that he can't wait for you to pick up the metaphorical phone and give him a call.

What holds us back from getting in the Word?

Some popular responses:
The Bible can be intimidating. The Bible can be hard to understand. The Bible is irrelevant to current day. The Bible is for pastors to teach and read, not me. I'm too busy to make time for reading the Bible. Blah blah blah. It goes on and on and on.

Those are valid excuses. But the bottom line is this: they are nothing but excuses. Its not about how many chapters you read a night. It's about how many chapter change your life. Will you stop trying to check reading the Bible off your list of godly things to do, and instead spend twenty minutes studying one simple small passage, apply it to your life; then get up the next day and do it again?

Get a devotional book to help you. Read your Bible with a dictionary right next you. Use Google. Use a concordance. Learn what a concordance is, first. Ask questions. Read a passage and ask a question on facebook or something and get people's opinions and answers. Take them all in, filter them, and come to a conclusion. Wrestle with the tough texts, don't avoid them. Read the geneologies. Did you know Adam is related to Abraham, who is related to David, who is related to Jesus? Did you know that the lineage of Jesus is in the Bible traced all the way back to ADAM? Go nuts. Soak up the Word.

The world has plenty of people who obsess about their cars, but not enough people who obsess about the Word. We need more Bible thumpers, and less racecar drivers.

Thump Thump. Not Zoom Zoom

Street Tradition

2010-11-09T15:58:00.000-08:00

I always love good material on traditional worship because of my current church's rich tradition in hymns, robes, choirs, and so on. Today, Sesame Street has given me a good laugh.

Who says traditional music is boring?

#Vacation

2010-11-08T15:54:00.000-08:00

I have been tweeting since Thursday with the #vacation hashtag. To follow my tweets from this week and the future, follow me at www.twitter.com/dannavarra.

Wednesday night, after youth group ended, I made my way home about 9pm to the beginning of my first ever adult vacation where I didn't NEED to take vacation time off. I've missed work for vacations like my brother's wedding, an anniversary party in Arizona, and some time off for a seminary intensive; but in many ways, those "vacations" were more taxing than a normal day at the office. So a few months ago I put in to take a Thursday through Monday off from church: meaning I got 2.5 full days off, combined with my Friday/Saturday weekend, and I am missing two point of connection with students: Sunday morning and Monday night Small Groups.

I'm a frim believer in the fact that leadership rises and falls on training other leaders. A wise man once told me, "you know you have done a good job of leading when you can step away and the wheels don't fall off." This was part of my taking off youth group: I wanted to test and see if everything is riding on me, or if those I have been leading and influencing for the last ten months can keep the ship floating. I trust that they are prepared, and can't wait to hear the positive results!

Anyways, my vacation has been super-awesome. Here is the play by play.

Thursday I slept in after staying up until 3am Wednesday to watch the rerun of the Giant's World Series Parade. I woke up, did some laundry, packed my bag, and headed off to Sacramento to meet up with my cousin and best friend, Anthony. We played a few sets of backgammon before taking his car up another hour and a hlaf north to Chico where my brother and his wife are living. The plan was we had no plan: play it all by ear and not get ourselves too busy.

It was fantastic.

Thursday night we had dinner at my brother's condo, which was a real treat: this was the first time Dave and Kate got to host me and Anthony at their house as a married couple. They did great, and Dave didn't even burn the lasgna! We played Wii mariokart, bowling, tennis and the old school Super Nintendo version of mariokart all evening while Katie had a few girlfriends over to watch Gray's Anatomy (can you say obssession? wow.)

Friday was awesome. I slept in again, and woke up in time to make an egg sandwich bagel with Anthony and Dave on the BBQ. It was delicious. Then we played more mariokart before lunch time. For lunch we went separate ways. Dave and Anthony went golfing and swang by the burrito truck, while I took my brothers car and went in to town to meet up with a friend for lunch. The friend was a girl named Crystal, who had sang at my brother's wedding back in July. Crystal is the college intern at Bidwell Pres where my brother works and Katie volunteers. She also worked in the Bayside Cafe with me for the Thriving Musicians Summit about six weeks ago, so I had seen her a few times before, but never really gotten to know her. Without going into too much details, she's solid. We had plenty to talk about and I really had a great time.

After lunch, the boys and I met up with Spencer, Chico's wackiest farmer and another groomsmen from my brother's wedding and went to the movies. We saw Due Date: not too impressive, in fact I sort of wish we had seen something else. From there, we retreated back to the condo for more mariokart (of course).

Soon, dinner was approaching, so we took off for Tres Hombres, Chico's classiest Mexican joint. Dinner was subpar, the drinks were good, but the highlight was Anthony daring Spencer to ask a girl for her number on the other side of the glass window we were seating against. Her father was at the table. It was hilarious and all in good fun, and gave us all a good memory. Spencer did not get her number, which made it all the better!

From Tres, we walked a few blocks to a place called 33 Steaks Booze & Jazz - an upscale bar and steak place that was hosting the Kelly Brothers - dueling piano show! These guys were incredible! the show start at 9:30, and the played until 2am, although we left at 11 and went back to Tres to relax and get out of the loud atmosphere. Plus a few people who met us at 33 hadn't eaten yet. We rolled into the condo about 1am and Anthony and I shared the tiny twin bed for the second night in a row.

Saturday, after a quick lunch downtown at an underground Chinese retaurant, Anthony and I hit the road to head back to Sacramento. We met up with his wife Julie just in time for me to go with them to their church in Roseville, Gateway Christian Church. Most everybody knows I love Bayside, and the mega-church in general; but Gateway was fantastic. They average about 4,000 on a weekend, and I can tell why. 45 minutes of incredible worship and 45 minutes of just mind blowing and challenging teaching make for one incredible, spirit-moving church service. If you are ever in the area, check them out!

After church, Julie took off to go hang with the girls, so Anthony and I had the evening to our selves. We went to the store and decided to buy materials to cook dinner ourselves. We decided on trying something crazy: bacon wrapped jumbo shrimp. Combined with our assorted cheeses and crackers for appetizers, it was a fantastic dinner! Gold star for us for being able to cook for ourselves!

Sunday we woke up, and I hit the road again, heading to Danville to see my parents and friends. I got home in time to have lunch with my dad, watch football all afternoon, and then have dinner with both parents before heading off to another old school evening of Sunday night at Primo's.

Today, I woke up late, grabbed lunch with a buddy at Primo's again, and then came home to catch up on emails and such, while watching ESPN all afternoon. I'll probably have dinner with the fam, watch some football, and head home later on this evening.

Through and through, this was a great vacation. I feel recharged and inspired to push myself again, after sort of coming off the emotional high of the Giants winning the World Series combined with seeing a handful of students accept Christ recently. I'm ready and excited for this week, and can't wait to see God show up!

My Newest Publication at SHRINK the church!

2010-11-02T09:17:00.001-07:00

Make sure you check out my latest publication over at SHRINK the church!

Worship Excellence vs. Worship Ministry; Which One Are You?

Leave comments, Retweet, and facebook share it to spread the word! You'll notice its an adaption of one of my recent blogs on this website. You, the readers, help to make my thoughts publishable. Thanks to you for helping to shape my writing!

-Dan

What is Worship, in Two Sentances or Less

2010-10-29T17:25:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting assignment for my current seminary course this week. I am in a pastoral theology class, which by far has been the most interesting and mentally igniting course I have taken at Fuller thus far. I've had some great classes with great professors, and had my theological boat rocked a few times, but this class has been the most enjoyable thus far. The coursework has been a pleasure to do - and that's saying something for me - as I am not the quintessential student. Anyways, our professor asked each of to describe what worship is, in two sentances or less. Here is what I cam up with:

"Worship is Our responses of adoration, joy, service, and love, to the evidence and experiences we have of God in our lives both presently and historically."
What is your two-sentance-or-less definition of worship?

Man On The Street - What is Worship from Alan Miles on Vimeo.